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Contents
In Brief
Why Not Excommunicate Hitler T
Discouraging False Advertising
Kirksville Proofreader Not So Very Bad
“Thy Word Is Truth’’
Field Experiences in Australia
“Pope Asks that Africa Not Be Land of Sects” 1.9
Eudoxius, the Forgotten “Bishop”
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Practical Use of “God’s Word
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The Santa Claus Racket
♦ Children are naturally honest, and they have to mingle with adults for quite some years, and watch them closely, before they learn to lie so that nothing they say can be believed. One of the most successful methods yet used to turn children into liars is the Santa Claus method. When the child learns ■ that both papa and mamma lied about Santa Claus, it naturally tries to imitate them.
There is now maintained in western New York an actual school for helping storekeepers to work this racket more thoroughly. It covers one week’s instruction in the art Among the 18 Santa Claus subjects taught are: Origin, history and evolution of Santa Claus; art of make-up for Santa Claus; costumes for Santa, their care and how to wear them; what the store expects of Santa, what the customer expects of Santa, what the parent expects of Santa, what the child expects of Santa; various and most efficient settings for Santa Claus _ in the 'store; science of Santa Claus mechanics; Santa Claus showmanship; child psychology; etc., etc.
In large type the proprietor of this Santa Claus school inquires regarding the clerk or salesman who might take up the course of instruction, “Does he create a preference in the minds of the children and parents so they will bring their children to your store in years to come?” and then, in one paragraph, he tells the following truth which ought certainly to make him wish to get into ‘ some other line of business:.
Your Santa Claus, among all your personnel, comes in closest contact with the dearest , thing your customers have—their children. The impression that your Santa Claus leaves with these children not only has its influence on the parents but also on the child as a future customer (and truth-teller.—Ed.].
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A.&.'F.
Volume XXVI Brooklyn, N. Y<, Wednesday, December 20, 1944 Number 6S9
Where Hitler Can Go •
AMAN with a unique “Charley Chaplin” mustache waited in the nuncio’s drawing room. He was not exactly nervous, for he had far too good an opinion of himself, but still this venture of his was a rather bold move, and he could not be altogether sure of its outcome. However, since the fact that he , had been admitted to the nuncio’s palace at all carried some significance, he was not entirely pessimistic about the situation. Presently the nuncio entered, and the man with the funny mustache fell upon his knees, kissing the cardinal’s ring. Rising then he assured the lean ecclesiastic before him that he was, despite appearances to the contrary, a good Catholic. What was more, he was a Catholic with plans, having in mind no less than a countcr-Reformation movement that would bring back Germany to the feet of the cardinal’s own superior, the pope of Rome. The cardinal viewed the strange man inscrutably, while not a flicker of a smile appeared on his features. He was too astute a politician and too clever at evasion to give an answer that would mean either yes or no to this rather wild dreamer. He put him off with well-chosen words. After all, who knows what changes the future might bring to distraught Germany. Almost anything might happen, and the nuncio pigeonholed the entire incident for possible future reference.
Years pass, and the newly-elected moderator of the Free Church Federation in England is giving his induction address. He remarks:
Nor can we exonerate the Papacy of a measure of responsibility for the rise of Hitler to power. The Roman Catholic vote in Germany was reckoned at eleven millions and turned the scale in the final election which gave Hitler his small majority. This was made possible through Catholic diplomacy. Von Papen, expelled from America in the last war, had his Catholic clique in Germany and at the Vatican. Rarely has Hitler shown more cunning than when he sent this scoundrel to negotiate agreement with the Papacy. The present pope, who had spent much time in Germany, while Nazism was fighting for power, and at that time was secretary of the Papal state, signed the concordat. So determined was the Vatican to secure privileges for itself it entered into an agreement which turned millions of Roman Catholie votes in Germany to the support of the Nazis.
The intervening years had witnessed tremendous events. The man with the funny mustache, together with his Nazis, had greatly increased his outlook and his ambitions. Instead of merely bringing back Germany to the fold of the “shepherd” in the Vatican, he would bring the whole world into subjection to the sway of the “pastor of pastors”. But he must not let the world know his purposes. So he said:
Germany wants nothing that she is net ready to give to others. . . . War would be madness. Our one great task is to assure the peace of the world. . . . We have no thought of invading any country. ... We do not wish to oppress or subjugate other people. . . . We are filled with the unconditional wish to make the greatest possible contribution to the preservation of peace in this world. . . All we ask is the Sudetenland. ?. > We neither intend nor wish to annex Austria. . . . The Germans and the Poles ought to live together in harmony. ... We assure all our neighbors of the integrity of their territory. . . .
All that Hitler, the man with the funny mustache, said he would not do, he did. All that he said he would do, he did not do. However, while he lied atrociously, he did not lose his religion.
While many years later a noted writer might say, “Hitler would not have happened if it had not been for our indifference,” that still did not exonerate Hitler; and while others were disposed to blame his backers instead of him for the worldengulfing tragedy which he provoked, that still did not lessen the blame that rested upon him as the instrument of th'e hidden conspirators.
Tried to Enslave the World
Said Sumner Welles in his book The Time for Decision:
No verbal interposition by the United States in the winter of 1940 would have been effective. Only one thing could have deflected Hitler from his purpose, the sure knowledge that the power of the United States would be directed against him if he attempted to carry out his intention of conquering the world by force.
That, of course, is but one man’s opinion. Another man asserts that Hitler was fully prepared to invade the United States. This man is J. Carlton Ward, Jr., president of the Fairchild Engine and Aircraft Company, who told the subcommittee on war contracts of the Senate Military Affairs Committee that Hitler planned to invade the United States with armored forces from Mexico after a feint through Newfoundland. The attack was to come after England had been defeated.
As a matter of fact, Hitler did not really make a secret of his intention to conquer the world, and his Nazis had a favorite song, “Tomorrow the world!” which they delighted to sing.
High Nazi officials had some very definite ideas on the subject, too. Walter
Darre, in 1940, in a speech to a group of inner-circle Nazis, said:
A new aristocracy of German masters will be created. This aristocracy will have slaves assigned to it. These slaves to be their property and to consist of landless, non-German nationals. Please do not interpret the word slaves as a parable or as a rhetorical term. We actually have in mind a modern form of medieval slavery which we must and will introduce because we urgently need it in order to fulfill our great tasks. These slaves will by no means be denied the blessings of illiteracy; higher education will in future be reserved only for the German population of Europe, . . .
The reference to medieval times is interesting, for it is the period often referred to as 'the age of faith, when Roman Catholicism ruled’.
Conditions -among unskilled Danish 1 workers in Germany illustrate what the Nazi ideal (for other nationals) really is. A Danish report states:
The worker rises at 4: 30 or 5 a.m., dresses and makes his bed,-etc. Then he gets his breakfast, about one quarter of a liter [| pint] of coffee;. two slices of bread, and about 10 grams of margarine (in addition he gets 50 grains of sausage twice a week). The work goes on without a break until 12:30 p.m., when there is a rest period until l.p.m. The worker then eats the piece of bread kept over from the morning meal, but gets nothing else * to eat. The work continues until 6, when the workers are marched back to camp. The workers are unable to obtain any kind of drink during the day, even water. It happens frequently that a worker collapses during the work. The warden then tries to encourage him with a beating, and if that does not help he is left until he recovers or until the end of the working day, when his fellow workers can bring him back to camp,
“Slaves” Lack Appreciation
A strange thing about “slaves”, however, is that they do not generally appreciate beiflg slaves. Many of thoseof other lands imported by the Germans to do their work for them, or at least the more objectionable kinds of work, have made consolation their escape. Hence we read that some 50,000 escaped men terrify Germany. They have become “desperate killers” who roam the country in squads of about five, though some go singly, and with them it is a case of kill or be killed. “Slaves” are so unreasonable I The German people, and particularly those in more or less isolated sections, live in constant fear of these escaped “slaves”. The slightest noise at night makes German farmers jump, for they do not know but that they may see an escaped “slave” the next thing, one that is armed, and sometimes in uniform, obtained by the simple expedient of killing a German soldier. A hand grenade in one or more pockets completes the slave’s equipment.
Of course, the Germans have not exactly made themselves the most loved of Europe’s heterogeneous population. ■ And it is a case of the innocent suffering with the guilty. Most of the better Germans are in concentration camps, or dead, and now those that have thus far managed to save their hides have these foreign “slaves” with which to contend. But why should Germans be hated? True, they have sold their souls to Hitler, as it were; but does that make them respon-sihle’' for his deeds? Surely they bear great responsibility, particularly such of them as have endorsed or condoned the things the wholly unprincipled dictator has brought about.
Most Terrible Place on Earth
Notable among the crimes of the fuehrer are the ghastly extermination camps. While Jews have been the chief sufferers, the wholesale executions have by no means been limited to those of that race. The notorious Maidanek extermination camp is called the most terrible spot on earth. There was a torture stdff there that even included German women, whose duty it was to torture women prisoners. This camp had a capacity of 45,000 prisoners, and executions have run as high as 18,000 in a single day. The Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes charged that 1,380,000 bodies had been burned at the camp, 600,000 of them in special furnaces made to burn four bodies in fifteen minutes. The members were first cut off. Others were burned on bonfires in a near-by forest or in the immediate vicinity of the crematorium. The commission stated that 820,000 pairs of victims’ shoes had been found, among them many belonging to children.
Other camps of extermination were located in Auschwitz and Birkenau in Upper Silesia, where more than 1,715,000 Jewish refugees were put to death , between April 15, 1942, and April 15, 1944. Victims were led to fake bathing establishments and ordered to strip for bathing, after which cyanide gas was released, killing them in from three to five minutes. Jews and non-Jews suffered the same treatment. At Birkenau alone there were fifty separate, furnaces used to burn the bodies. The accounts of these atrocities, carried in large part under the direction 6f the inhuman Himmler, are fully corroborated, and not the least _ doubt exists in the minds of Russians' and other nations of Europe that they are true.
Added to the evidence of the thousands of pairs of shoes left by the unhappy victims are the thousands of suitcases with personal effects and the endless heaps of clothing salvaged for the use of the German people. Many of the shoes found belonged to children, some about a year old.
Still another camp, similar to the one at Maidanek, was located at Sobibur, Poland, where executions were carried out by means of gas-filled chambers. Says the New York Times: ■
For a long time the Germans hauled the bodies into a near-by forest, and buried them in mas? graves, but toward the end of 1943 they began to burn the bodies in a huge openair, multi-layered crematory.
As regards the murder of 102,000 civilians and prisoners in the Rovno region of Poland, a reporter says:' .
I frequently saw how Ukrainians, Russians, Pole$ and Jews—-Soviet citizens—were killed. They usually were brought to the place of execution, forced to dig their graves and then forced to undress and lie face downward in the graves. They were shot in the back of the head with tommy-guns. Then another layer of people were disposed of. Others were killed with exhaust gas in sealed trucks. . . . Many groups of bodies have been burned by the Germans, since the bodies bear proof of torture inflicted before death.
Besides victims of every nationality, Hitler is now charged with having murdered a fifth of the entire Jewish race. The February issue of Jllackfriars, monthly magazine of the Dominicans, was devoted to a symposium on the Jewish question; rabbis, priests, and Catholic laymen being among the contributors. “Everyone roust have asked himself what is the reason and how is it possible that Hitler should have already butchered nearly a fifth of the whole Jewish race,” the editor whites in a preface.
Torture, the Devil’s Mark
Escaped prisoners tell of the sickening cruelty of German captors. Captured after his ship had been sunk by a raider, Michael McPartland; British merchant seaman, suffered fiendish torture. He says:
I was’ tortured for one hour every day for fourteen days. They cut round the nails of my fingers and toes and then pulled off each nail with pincers. Then they pushed red-hot needles down my fingers . . . The knowledge that I had to go back for more at the same time every day was almost worse than the pain.
Another prisoner, Harry Baur, film actor, told the German Gestapo, “1 would rather die standing up than live on my knees.” He died of the effects of torture after emerging from prison covered with sores and having lost seventy pounds of his 'weight.
A Stockholm dispatch to the London Daily Express, early in 1944, reported that 47 British and other Allied prisoners of war, including airmen, were massacred by a group of guards who shot at prisoners haphazardly in barracks, courtyards and workshops.
Another who suffered torture at the hands of Nazi captors is Kurt von Schuschnigg, whose son was beaten to death by guards in the notorious Sachsenhausen concentration camp. At last report the former Austrian chancellor was living under surveillance in a small Prussian village. The report came from Vatican City.
On October 3 sixty persons were killed in a Vienna food riot, due to curtailing of food rations to an intolerable degree.
Violence is the habitual tool of the Devil. Hitler has. sought to instill this quality into the minds of German youth, a youth that has now been so thoroughly corrupted that their return to normal and civil conduct after tlm war is despaired of for the most part.
Further Evidence of Torture
During the years of occupation the French patriots have struggled with the Gestapo, at the cost of 50,000 lives in Paris and at least 200,000 in France as a whole. The torture rooms of Paris tell a grim story, according to the Manchester Guardian, which says:
More than .one elegant mansion in the Avenue Foeh contained the padded torture chambers of the Gestapo, which had its headquarters in a large building in the Rue ties Saussies,< formerly a branch of the Surete Generate, whose detailed archives no doubt served the Germans well. Here today in a little room on the top floor I saw the simplelooking bath in which prisoners of the Gestapo ■were immersed until they lost consciousness; there are other rooms with four1 stakes driven in the wall to which victims were tied and the electrical devices with which they were tortured. One padded wall bears the deep marks of fingers that dug into it in agony . . .
The Belgians are determined not to forget what the Germans have done to their patriots. They are going to preserve the torture house of Breendonck. On the outskirts of this little Belgian town stands a rambling, gray building marking the location of the German concentration camp, one of the most notorious in the country. Thousands of patriots have been tortured and killed here. Says the Scranton Times, in an article by L. S. B. Shapiro:
Here is where the German mania for efficiency made confluence with the German tradition for ruthlessness and rampant cruelty. The niceties of modern torture are still on display here and they constitute the most damning evidence I have yet seen of the Nazi regime’s capacity for unbelievable inhumanity.
The reader will not desire the details. Too much has already been recorded of the horror of Nazi brutality. Suffice it to say that the record takes the mind back to the Dark Ages, sometimes blasphemously called “the age of faith”, when torture was the order of the day and the Inquisition did its gruesome work with the approval of Catholic clergy. Nor is there want of relationship, for the work of the Nazis was inspired by the same tool of the Devil. This fact has not been overlooked. Many observers have boldly announced the evidence of kinship. Calling attention to the genesis of the Nazi segregation (and extermination) of Jews, the Weekly People said:
The September 1, 1941. German police decree is the offspring of the Fourth ^ateran Council presided over by Pope Innocent III and made up of 412 bishops, 800 abbots and priors and the deputies of almost all the Christian [ 1] rulers of Europe. By Canon 68 of that council all Jews and Saracens “of both sexes in every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other peoples through the character of their dress”.....Today the
“Christian” origin of the yellow badge is conveniently ignored. ,
Attempt upon Hitler’s Life
In view of the untold misery he has provoked it is not surprising that an attempt should be made upon the life of the Nazi dictator. Aside from the murder to his personal credit, that of his little niece, previously corrupted by him, Hitler has so many indirect murders to his credit that he can take his place with Torquemada, Cortez, and other noted murderers of history without blushing. The “mine” which was intended to blow him to pieces, however, only slightly injured him, though a number of his aides were.more seriously injured. Some contend that this attack was faked to give Hitler an excuse for another “purge” and to rally waning German sympathy for the fuehrer. Various silly stories were published concerning the event. It was said the bomb or mine was imported from Britain, that “a Jew of Moscow ordered” the assassination. It was fatuously claimed that the Almighty had spared the murderer’s life. Ley, one of the Nazi leaders, addressing the German people in a broadcast, said:
On your behalf I ask the Almighty to preserve Adolf Hitler for us as you have preserved him so far. . . . Inflict us with whatever you like. Send us work, burdens, bombs, shells; all this we will bear, no matter how hard it may be. But the one thing we ask you: preserve us Adolf Hitler.
Ley’s indirect prayer to his “god” via the German people by radio must have been touching. He erred, however, in addressing this god as “Almighty”, for he is not that, though his power is not doubted. See 2 Corinthians 4:4. There is only one “god” who could possibly be interested, Satan, “the god of this world.”
Adolf Hitler himself considered the attack the “worst crime in German history” ; an indication of his modest estimate of himself. Screaming his rage over the radio he insisted that the report of his. assassination had been greatly exaggerated. Meanwhile^ things were put to rights in the German army, and additional murders were added to Hitler’s vast list. He asserted that “in the end we will win this war”, though he did not say how. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels took occasion to warn the German people that if the Reich is destroyed Germany “will not have a chance to repeat this struggle for another ten, twenty or fifty years”; which 'is something for everybody to think about. He said the fuehrer had bad a miraculous escape. The source of the “miracle” is questioned. Dr. Ley said, “I do not believe in miracles, but one may say the Lord had a hand in this game.”
Many aspects of the bombing lead to the conclusion that the whole thing was a badly planned hoax. The story is full of holes. The Manchester Guardian questions whether there was any plot back of the bombing, and. compares the deliberately planned purge with the one of 1934, as follows:
After June 30 [1934] many of the so-called “ringleaders” were stated to have committed suicide, and this also has found its eeho in the latest news flashes from Germany, as has the announcement that others implicated were shot by the security police.
Hitler, however, found he had friends. Priests preceded their sermons with prayers of thanksgiving at Hitler’s escape from death in the bomb plot. The pope also sent congratulations to the fuehrer on his escape. Afterwards he took it all back, saying, in effect, that even if he had sent congratulations, which he didn’t think he had sent, or not even any of his assistants, it wouldn’t mean anything anyway. That, of course, is understood.
Concordat Still'in Force
But, in spite of all that, the pope wants Hitler to know that he hasn’t forgotten altogether that Hitler made a brave attempt to make Germany what a previous pope said it must be, “the sword of the church.” After all, Germany at one time had the official title “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”, and its kaiser was considered the successor of Caesar, whose title he wore. (Kaiser is a variation of Caesar.) And was it not the present pope himself, when still nuncio in Germany, that had arranged with the one with the funny mustache for a concordat between Germany and the Vatican, a concordat still in force in every detail? And had not the pope ordered the dissolution of the Catholic Center Party so as to give Hitler his chance ? And let no one think that Hitler was the mere ignorant and innocent tool, op Germany the unwilling and irresponsible instrument of the pope’s will to power. The Vatican -uses innocent and ignorant tools, to be sure, but not for the job assigned to Hitler and Germany, and which job was undertaken with such bestial and unequaled 'ferocity. The Papacy does not intend to drop Hitler— yet. It does not drop a friend until it is certain that it has absolutely no further use for him.
But Hitler does seem to be in a tough spot. The New York Times pictures him as having no place to go, pointing out that Sweden has joined Switzerland in denying him right of asylum. Spain and Argentina are none too sure that they want him. It would be embarrassing to have him around. So, although Hitler’s super-submarine is reported to be all ready for the getaway (it can cover 20,000 miles without refueling), he has no place to go, maybe. But look at this headline in the Philadelphia Record!— “Vatican City Would Give Refuge Even to Hitler.” It is shown to be authentic, too. But the “even” seems to be unnecessary. So it is possible that the man with the mustache, who knelt and kissed ■ the cardinal’s ring in the nuncio’s palace so many fateful years ago, may kneel before the same man in another office, and under immeasurably different circumstances, at the Vatican. Hitler and the pope are still interested in winning the peace, although they have quite obviously lost the war that was to establish Germany as the “sword of the church” once and for all. Many are now rooting for the pope, saying they want
“God” to have a seat at the peace table, as chairman, maybe. No one can rightly object to honestly taking God into consideration at any time. But in this case, once again, the wrong “god” is being pushed to the fore. Nor does anyone who is informed doubt that the “god” will have his innings at the peace table, but it is insisted by the pope-pushers that “god’s” representative must be there too. And if he is, it will not be an unforeseen development.- Scripture counsels us to be awake to what is happening these days.
Why Not Excommunicate Hitler?
Some ^have foolishly clamored for Hitler’s excommunication from the Catholic church, wondering idly why this has not been done. The California Jewish Voice (in this country the Jews still have a voice) says:
Why has not the Church excommunicated him? . . . The Church has many times excommunicated not only individuals, but entire countries. Thus Pope Gregory V excommunicated the whole of France in 998, . . . Henry IV, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 and later had to wait 3 days barefooted in the snow, in front of the Pope’s palace at Canossa, before he was permitted to enter and recant, His transgressions were mere nothings, when compared to the murders and inhuman atrocities of Hitler, Why then is not Hitler excommunicated?
Foolish question. Will a man excommunicate his right arm? Will a mother excommunicate her devoted son? Yet, the “Church” can be stern, when “great issues” are at stake. Thus two Italians of the Milan diocese were excommunicated recently for disregarding a “miracle by Our Lady”. The Vatican radio itself officially gave out this information. . It becomes apparent which is the greater sin in its judgment, that of Hitler being entirely “venial”, though it has been “mortal” enough as far as the lives of millions of unoffending humans is concerned.
In view of the/foregoing, it is not difficult to see why American soldiers in North Africa learned that their prisoners, Hitler’s Nazis, are completely con-', 'need of Hitler’s Catholicism, refusing to believe that Hitler persecuted the Catholics. In fact they knew very well that this was not the case. German propagandists make the following assertions quite seriously:
Whether the incredulous believe it or not, whether they know it or not, Germany is, at this critical point of history, the sole defender of .Christian values. For Christianity, Germany is the last hope in Europe. ... It is as clear as daylight that at the present time Germany is defending Christianity.
All this is completely understandable when one considers the following facts, well known, but coming once again from a far-away source, the New Zealand Standard, which says, with tongue in cheek:
A recent cable (in the daily press) suggested that to ensure peace, etc., the pope and Church leaders should take part in the peace conference. While admitting the need for greater morality in world affairs it is doubtful if these dignitaries have sufficient knowledge of the ramifications of world politics to be entrusted with the responsibility. As papal nuncio to Germany the pope ranged himself and the Catholic Front Party on Hitler’s side, thereby helping him to power. (The result we know to our sorrow.)
And the New York Herald Tribune, noting the direction of the wind, says: . . . if [the pope] was also speaking for a negotiated peace with the Nazi evil—and it is inevitable that his carefully guarded words, produced at just this critical juncture in the development of the battle, should be so interpreted by many—then the address could only be regarded as an unneutral intervention in favor of the Hitler conspiracy in the moment of its greatest peril.
And it was nothing else I Just listen to this from the pope’s lips:
We should, therefore, wish that governments and people should keep before their minds, at least as an ideal at whicl\ to aim, the fundamental thought which, inspired the words spoken. in compliment to Marcus Claudius Marcellus by the most distinguished orator of ancient Rome: "To conquer oneself, to curb anger, to spare the vanquished, to raise the fallen enemy—a man who does this I shall not compare to the greatest of men, but indeed as most like to a god,”
But the pope, even when quoting pagan orators, is fooling very few people these days. The general impression, and an accurate one, was expressed by the Negro commentator in “The People’s Voice”, Ben Richardson;
The besetting evil of Catholicism in Europe and America is its connection with and its basic espousal of Fascism. It is a dictatorial system that stifles the individuality of its adherents. It blinds them to anything collective outside of the church scheme. It has no place for the divergent thinker who would question its doctrine or dogmas. It is a Jim Crow Church as far as Negroes are concerned. . . . The presence of Fascism and its sympathizers in the world at all is a threat to the welfare of all people. That a church should embrace this dastardly wrong is almost beyond belief.
London Cavalcade also sees, riot too dimly either. It says:
Shortly before^the fall of Rome, the pope made one of his appeals for lovingkindness. The motif was "Don’t be too hard on poor Hitler”. Next the Germans evacuated Rome, leaving it virtually 'undamaged; in striking contrast to the treatment of other towns. Meanwhile, discreet peace proposals were passing between Berlin, Rome, Madrid, and Lisbon.
They Never Give Up
The suggestion is also cautiously advanced that the United Nations should build a new Germany around the Catholic church. Since that is what Hitler has been trying to do, there. is really no change of plans. ’
Conditions inside of Germany show that order there is breaking down, if the Nazi control of the situation may be dignified by the name of "order”. Already hundreds of persons simply vanish every day. Some are executed and others imprisoned, while still others are Nazis killed by infuriated Germans. A neutral observer remarks;
Hatred and violence and terror prevail in the Reich as the armies reel back under Allied ■and Russian blows. A woman I Saw in a Berlin shelter during an air raid burst out loudly saying, “We Germans bombed Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and other places. This is our retribution. We deserve it.” She wras unmolested.
But 500,000 anti-Nazis are in peril. Germans who have not backed the murder-regime of Hitler are ie danger of final liquidation to prevent the formation of any alternative government under the Allies’ control and to destroy any leadership that might sign an armistice.
Finally it is of interest, and significant, too, that as soon as the American army entered Germany Archbishop Spellman, a great friend of the pope, was on hand to say the first mass in the conquered territory. The press dispatch says, religiously ; .
Drawn together by the invisible bonds of religious brotherhood, American soldiers and German civilians knelt shoulder to shoulder last night in the Parish church of Roetgen as Archbishop Francis J. Spellman of New York celebrated his first formal mass on German soil. . . . From here he will return to Paris and thence to Rome.
And how long will the simple simply be simple? The evidence is overwhelming that the one thing that still-keeps Hitler going is the moral support he is receiving from Rome, whither and whence the ubiquitous Spellman flits with his messages of ‘peace’ and other considerations. So that to the picture of the man with the funny mustache kneeling in the drawing room of the nuncio’s palace ' we may add the cherubic figure of the American archbishop hovering in the background; and the works of his father he will do.—John 8: 44.
The Use of Tobacco
THE Encyclopedia Britannica suggests that the best way to study the tobacco problem is to consider the consumption in various countries per head of the population. This seems like a good suggestion. The Britannica gives the following figures (pounds per year). The figures for the United States are official; those \ for other countries are approximate:
It will be of interest to inquire what the United States is receiving in the way of health in exchange for a tobacco rate more than twice the consumption of Italy or France or Britain. Some further facts on consumption in the United States are available. In the 14 years from 1915 to 1929 the ordinarysize cigars manufactured in the United States were slightly reduced in number; the number of very small cigars was cut to less than half; the pounds of tobacco and snuff dropped off 15 percent; yet the total leaf tobacco used went up from 551,687,780 pounds to 781,676,000 pounds.
Into what did all this extra tobacco go? You know the answer; for you see the answer everywhere. It went into cigarettes. And it did not go into the large cigarettes either; for they were reduced in the interval by one-third. 'But the number of small cigarettes went up from 17,964,348,272, which would seem to be quite enough for 122,775,046 persons (1930 census) to smoke in one year, to about seven times that number, or 119,038,841,560, in the year 1929. The babies don't smoke; not all the school children smoke; not all the young folks; not all the women; not even all the men. But it is perfectly obvious that those who do smoke cigarettes average more than 1,000 a year each.
What Do They Get for It?
Physicians -and druggists make eon- /
DECEMBER 20, 1944 stant use of the National Dispensatory. Any one of them will be glad to lend you the book long enough that you may read (fifth edition, page 1576):
The cases of serious illness produced by the emanations of tobacco, and by its application to the unbroken skin, are innumerable, and many instances of fatal poisoning by tobacco are recorded; some of them being due to its being swallowed purposely or accidentally, some to its use medicinally in .an enema, and some to its application to eruptions on the skin. Nicotine stands next to prussic acid in the rapidity and energy of its poisonous action.
A single drop of nicotine on the unbroken skin of a rabbit has caused its death. The nicotine in a single cigarette, if injected hypodermically in an abstainer from the use of tobacco, is sufficient to kill him. A baby has been killed by a grandmother’s nicotine-laden kiss.
When tobacco is burned only 30 percent of its nicotine is inhaled; the other 70 percent is turned into deadly pyridine (used for denaturing alcohol), collidine and carbon monoxide. The latter forms a fixed compound with the coloring matter of the red blood cells, and ultimately destroys these valuable citizens, and the function of the blood in conveying oxygen to the ti^ues. If smoke is inhaled with the air with which your blood is cleansed, in the two thousand square feet of internal surface of your lungs, then the cleansing process is im-pededj Trying to handle its job of caring for a system that is filled with w’orn-out cells which it cannot remove, the heart has to work harder, and at length skips a beat now and then. In such cases, smokers’ heart has arrived.
Effect on Brain and Nerve
Tobacco’dulls the memory. Those who are bright with it would be brighter without it. Cigarettes destroy precision of thought. Most gunmen, gangsters and prostitutes use them excessively. In nine cases out of eleven, where insanity has resulted' from excessive drinking, it has been found that the primary cause was smoking. One who uses both liquor and tobacco can hardly stop drinking unless he first gives up smoking. '
The effect of nicotine on the brain is depressing. That is why smokers say that they smoke in order to quiet their nerves. But the more their nerves are quieted by that means, the more necessary .it becomes for them to have more and more to get the quieting effect. At length the nerves go in the opposite direction, and the smoker is almost sure to seek relief in strong drink. Whisky and cigarettes are cousins.
A French physician, Ceisne, who examined thirty-eight boy cigarette smokers between nine and fifteen years of age, found that twenty-two had circulatory disturbances and heart palpitation, thirteen had intermittent pulse, eight had anemia, four had ulcerated mouths, one had consumption, and several had nosebleed, insomnia and nightmare. Tobacco stunts the growth of boys meritally and physically.
Judge Gemmill, of Chicago, says that cigarette fiends lose the faculty of blushing; their ideas of property rights and of the‘value of telling the truth are distorted ; they are firone to lie, to steal, to become addicted *to liquor, and almost every youth who goes to the chair goes there smoking a cigarette.
A very incomplete list of employers that have objected to the use of cigarettes by their employees are the H. J, Heinz Company, Pennsylvania Railroad, Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, National Cash Register Company, Cadillac Company, Fifth Avenue Bank, Larkin Company, Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Marshall Field, John Wanamaker, Morgan & Wright Tire Company, and Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Thomas A. Edison refused to employ cigarette smokers, at all, asserting that the acrolein poison generated in smoking “has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneracy of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys and is permanent and uncontrollable”.
"Smoke in Your Eye#’
Under that very catchy headline, In Fact has a copyrighted story by Dr. Hal Bieler which is presented herewith:
What happens when concentrated tobacco smoke is blown into your eyes? After three puffs the inclination to get the eyes away from the smoke becomes imperative. But if the smoke continues the eyes grow red, inflamed and very painful. The conjunctiva becomes swollen and there is a watery exudation. The final result is a pair of painful, red^ wet, and swollen eyes. ■
Now, compare the eye to the air-cell of the lung. The eye is a delicate organ, but the aircell of the lung is exceedingly more delicate and more sensitive, and it also has a much richer blood and lymph supply. The membrane lining the air-eeU controls the chemistry of respiration. It is thin enough for gases to permeate, while the blood supply is so rich that these gases can be diffused quickly to the cells of the whole body. Oxygen gas is absorbed and carbon dioxide-gas is eliminated. The absorption of oxygen allows for tissue oxidation, and oxidation is life. This process of oxidation in the body tissues is controlled by the internal secretion of the adrenal glands. The lungs necessarily receive a rich supply of adrenalin through the blood stream. Likewise it is important to note that the lungs have a thick network of lymph vessels which help to carry away irritable wastes.
Now, the difference between the response to irritation in the eye and the air-cell is dependent upon the sensation of pain. The conjunctiva of the eye is extremely sensitive to irritants and registers irritation as pain, which pain impels the. owner of the eye to move his eye away from the source of the irritation. But the air-cell of the lung contains no sensory nerve. Consequently, great damage can be done to the air-cells without the owner of them feeling pain. On the other hand, the air-cells of the lung have a rich sympathetic nerve supply which is under the control of the solar-plexus or ‘'abdominal brain”. The protective function of this “abdominal brain” is to send more adrenalin to the injured air-eells and thus allow for deeper and Quicker oxidation and the consequent removal of the irritating poisons. Now, it is well known that when the adrenalin content of the blood stream is raised there is a feeling of well-being and a surcease from nervous tension, and to get this reaction is the average smoker’s reason for smoking. Since the air-cells, lacking sensory nerves, can register no pain to their smoker-owner, they just lie still and “take it” while the chemical response made to this smoke misleads the smoker'as to the real effect. The eyes, on the other hand, being “sensitive” and “irritable”, cause a , motor response which protects their own chemistry and preserves their healthy state.
What is it that these air-cells “take”? Literally they are smoked. The action of smoke on the delicate air-cells of the lung is quite similar to the action of smoke on a fresh ham hung in the smoke house to be “cured”. The irritants which the smoke contains shrivel and dry and preserve and harden the exterior of the ham. The surface of the ham js so thoroughly embalmed and mummified that it becomes impervious to the action of bacteria, even at fairly warm temperatures. When smoke is inhaled into the lung the same irritating process takes place. The lung becomes red, wet and inflamed and there is cough and exudation of serum. When the stethoscope is applied “smoker’s rales” are heard over the entire respiratory tree. The body’s defense mechanisms are called into activity and the battle starts between the embalming effect of the smoke and the ability of the adrenal glands to neutralize the irritation and destruction. The absence of actual pain makes the culprit oblivious to the damage and the gentle bath of extra adrenalin enshrouds him in a fool’s paradise. Ue is unaware that his lung lymphatics are getting black with tar-like irritants; that the actual breathing capacity of his air-cells has been diminished more than one-half of the normal, and that his resistance to lung cancer, respiratory diseases or to severe infections has been decreased by more than one-half of the normal.
It Is Admitted
It is admitted that many physicians smoke; many of them use morphine also. It is not to their credit. Writing on this subject, and mentioning that an Alabama farmer used morphine every day of his life from the age of 18 until his death, at 94, Dr, Raymond Pearl, of Johns Hopkins, said:
, “There are none so blind as those who will not see,” and just about the meanest trick of human nature is that a- man or woman who has become a habitue of morphine, alcohol or nicotine not only believes that the drug he uses is harmless, but he often succeeds in getting his family and some of his friends addicted to the particular narcotic which soothes his nerves. It is said that the physician addicted to morphine leaves an average of seven opium addicts behind him when he dies.
Those who smoke, chew or dip snuff are not permitted to handle young tomato plants; they spread the tobacco disease of mosaic among plants, and insects continue the spread of the disease through the greenhouse; so says Science News Letter.
“The sensation of sucking a cigarette gives abnormal stimulus to the sex instincts.” “A baby born of a cigarettesmoking mother is sick. It is poisoned, and may die within two weeks of birth. The post-mortem shows degeneration of the liver, heart, and other organs. Sixty percent of all babies born of mothers who are habitual cigarette smokers die before they are two years old.” These are statements of those who have given attention to this subject. And ex-Presi- * dent Herbert Hoover once said:
There is no agency in the world that is so seriously affecting the health, education, efficiency, and character of boys and girls as the cigarette habit. Nearly every delinquent boy is a cigarette smoker. Cigarettes are a source of crime.
$50,000,000 Annual Fire hoes
In July, 1944, a single cigarette, flicked from a public rest room, landed on six inches of excess canvas dropped on the ground by Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus at Hartford, Connecticut. In ten minutes the tent, 520 feet by 220 feet, was in ashes and at least 164 had been burned to death, with hundreds more seriously injured. Regret on the part of the smoker that he caused so much suffering will not bring back those that were slain. If he could be located, it could also be said to him that the odor that arises from a confirmed smoker is exceedingly distasteful to many, and it would have been better for him to remain away from the show, anyway, fire or no fire.
The Vancouver Province is at hand with a story that has a headline spread across four columns, reading as follows: “Blaze Threatens to Spread into Alberta; Soldiers Flown In to Battle Gigantic Fires Ravaging Forests from Yukon to Alaska Road; Only cAet of God’ Can Check Inferno Destroying Valuable Timber." In the year 1929 the three leaders in the cigarette business, Reynolds Tobacco Company, American Tobacco Company, and Liggett and Myers, had net earnings of $84,406,254. This seems to suggest that the manufacturers of firebrands can scatter them all over the earth, and burn up $50,000,000 or more of forests and other valuable property every year, and only an “act of God" can square the account with them for the tragedies -of which they are the cause. Isn’t there something grotesque about expecting Almighty God to follow around three concerns that make upward of 119,038,841,560 cigarettes a year, and put out the fires that thtsse start?
One of the smaller cigarette concerns, Philip Morris & Co., in a single year spent $1,352,582 to advertise their particular brand of cigarettes, and on January 8, 1941, the Federal Trade Commission ordered the company to cease and desist from making false and unwarranted claims about them.
Discouraging False Advertising .
On August 31,1942, the Federal Trade Commission denied that finger stains disappear if one smokes Pall Malls, or that Pall Malls cause less finger stain, or that they protect the throat by filtering out all the irritants. On the same date the Federal Trade Commission denied that Lucky Strike cigarettes were toasted, or that they are smoked by most tobacco experts, or that they are less acid than any other brand, or that they offer throat protection, or that they contain better or higher-priced tobacco than competing brands, or that they afford protection against coughing, or that they are made from the cream of the tobacco crop, or from lighter or finer tobacco.
On March 9, 1943, the Federal Trade Commission denied that Old Golds are lowest in nicotine and throat-irritating tars and resin content when tested with seven leading brands, and declared that the differences between the brands are small. PM represents the commission as saying in substance that the differences are, in the first place, too insignificant to have any effect on anybody’s throat and lungs; and, in the second place, no such .test means anything, because there is so much variation of the cigarets of every manufacturer, variations due to changing weather during the tobacco growing season, variations in the mixing and blending, variations in the density of packing, variations in methods of handling and distribution, and even variations in climatic conditions after manufacture. All anybody can test is an infinitesimal sample of the total number of cigarets on the market, and all the test shows is the composition of those few cigarets at that particular time and place. Other tests at other times and other places would show other results.
The Truth About Cigarettes
Never having read any cigarette advertising, and being therefore unaware of his great blessings, a leech that sucks the blood of a cigarette fiend will drop dead instanter. The human creature that sits stupefied before a radio loaded down with cigarette nonsense, or reads a paper loaded down with more nonsense of the same kind, is helped some by T. Swann Harding in an article in The . Progressive under the headline used above. Says Mr. Harding:
The funny thing about cigarettes is that they are not what they seem to be to the casual observer. They have metaphysical qualities known only to advertisers. Scientists appear to be unaware of these esoteric characteristics.
For instance, experts in the Department of Agriculture will tell you that whether one cigarette is better than another is a matter of the smoker’s individual taste. It is true that the tobacco of which the average cigarette is made may come from several different barrels each containing the weed of a different type. But the blend, and the flavoring materials used, determine cigarette quality.
Buyers call for the cigarette with the most appealing flavor, and, remember, a cigarette is more than a mere blend of various tobaccos. It contains likewise many aromatic/flavoring substances—-tonka beans, vanilla, licorice, chocolate, maple sugar, rum, alcohol, fruit flavors, essential oils, sugar, resin, tobacco oils, glycerine, and so on. In general, different manufacturers keep their flavors a great secret.
When blindfolded, consumers altogether fail to sense these mysterious metaphysical qualities of cigarettes advertisers yawp about. In other words, if they can see the package, they can tell what kind of cigarettes they are smoking. But, if they are blindfolded, and the cigarette brands are shuffled, they can’t tell one from the other, unhappy people.
Kirksville Proofreader Not So Very Bad
KIRKSVILLE, Missouri, is a nice American town of 10,080 people; it is the site of Kirksville College of Osteopathy and Surgery, and of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, but it is so busy educating proofreaders and sending them out into the world that none can be spared for home-town work. This comes out in a note,from one of Jehovah’s witnesses residing in that city. The witnesses advertised that on a set date they would study “The First-fruits of the Resurrection”, and the proofreader thought it had something to do with the World War, so he changed it to read “Fronts” instead of “Fruits”. That wasn’t so bad. The next line of the advertisement was intended to read, “And let him that, is athirst come.” The proofreader pondered that for a while; then he went and took a drink and changed the word “athirst” to “Athiest”, seeming to have the idea that it would be a good place for an Atheist (he muffed the spelling) to come and learn something. That wasn’t so bad either.
But the best part is to come, and. at this point it is only right to quote from the letter of Joseph A. Dengle, of Kirksville, which not only proves that one word in the advertisement was correctly spelled, but shows also that it pays to advertise the Kingdom, no matter what the proofreaders do to cover things up:
After witnessing to the lady she said, “I have slammed the door in your people’s face many a time, but I shall not do so any more. I have been a Methodist all my life, but I was completely disgusted last Sunday at church when all they did was to pass the plate around. I turned to the lady next to me and said, “I am getting tired of this, and I believe that I shall go to the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses; for they advertise in the paper, ‘No Collection.”’ “Yes,” said her elderly neighbor, “but you have to stand on the street corner and sell The Watchtower.” Result: One bound book, two'booklets, a Watchtower, and the best laugh for many a day.-
Angels vs. a “Star”
THROUGH tricks of religion put over upon pleasure-seeking persons desirous of celebrating Nimrod’s birthday, the peoples of “Christendom” have been led to make a pretense of celebrating the birth of Jesus Chrfst at this season of the year. In the celebration they mix angels, “star in the east,” wise men, Santa Claus, Yule log and “Christmas” tree and toys all together in one religious hodgepodge, and bring reproach on both God and Christ.
All Bible and historic calculations are that Jesus was born early in autumn, about October 1, and not on December 25, which is Nimrod’s reputed birthday. At the time of the real birth what a great thrill must have gone through the holy creatures of heaven! All the heavenly host must have been on the alert as to what was now about to take place. The specially honored messenger moved forward to his position of vantage over the fields of Bethlehem; at the given moment this angelic officer stood forth to 'the view of the shepherds guarding their flocks by night, and delivered his message which has thrilled the hearts of millions of people adown the centuries. With authority he said: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”—Luke 2:10,11.
This angelic officer was not alone. God had provided him with an angelic train, a mighty host to accompany him to earth on his wonderful mission. With befitting dignity these stood by until the honored officer had delivered his message; and then this great multitude of heavenly creatures stood forth, praising God, as they sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Since the creation of man no event compared to this had occurred. Mark well whom Jehovah ..God chose for His -earthly witnesses to establish the fact in the minds of men. The Pharisees and • the financiers, the lawyers and the priests, the wise men, big business, big politicians and big preachers who ruled Israel—not one of these was honored by being asked to witness to the birth of Jesus. The reason why is that they were a part of the Devil’s organization. God honors them that honor Him. To please God we must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
A little band of shepherds had brought their flock to a hillside across the ravine to the east of Bethlehem. These were humble men, earning an honest living. They trusted the Lord and the promises He had made to father Abraham, They had brought their sheep into the corral, and there kept one of their number on watch to guard the flock from the wild beasts while the others slept.
The Lord’s angel appeared unto them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Evidently the reflected glory of the Lord, sent forth from His angel, attracted their attention; for they all were awakened and listened to the message delivered by this heavenly officer. These shepherds humbly hurried forward to see the child and to relate their testimony to others. They took no credit to themselves. Had they belonged to the Devil’s organization they would have swaggered about in long robes and said: "Behold, what honored men we are. Look up to us!’
On the contrary, the shepherds gave glory to God and praise to Him for-all the things they had heard and seen, and that were told them. This is in exact harmony/with all of God’s arrangements. God resists the proud and shows His favor to the humble-minded. (1 Peter 5: 5) All His intelligent creatures should learn from this. Whoever exalts himself will be abased, but he who humbly submits "himself to God’s holy will in due time will be exalted.
But-—did not God send these wise men from the east to be witnesses to the birth of His beloved Son? Should not we revere the memory of these three wise men on December 25 or on January 10? Herein has that "Old Serpent”, Satan, deceived the people. He has kept prominently before the minds of clergy-ridden people “three wise men” as though they were sent of God. So, to answer the above questions properly, we must look for a moment at Satan’s organization.
Whereas Jehovah uses good angels, Satan the Devil is a mimic god and uses the angels he first deceived and drew after him and who .became wicked demons. These the Devil uses in his organization to blind humankind to God’s arrangement for man’s salvation.
Satan knew God had declared that the ‘Seed of promise’ should bruise the head of the Serpent and his seed, and that the promised seed should bless all the families of the earth. (Genesis 3:15; 12:3) Satan, through his emissaries, set out to destroy this Seed. He had been inEden, the garden of God; and from the time Adam was driven therefrom Satan has resorted to every known means to destroy those who have striven to be obedient to Jehovah. He caused the persecution of all of Jehovah’s prophets. He sought the death of Jesus’ human mother. From all these wicked attempts God protected His own.
The so-called “wise men”, of whom the Bible does not state whether there were three or more, were astrologers or soothsayers who lived in the east^ possibly Persia, well known to be of those who communicated with evil spirits. Their stimulated powers of vision saw a light rise to the west, because they were in the east, and they were instructed by an unseen power to follow this light. This light was called a "star”. But stars do not move about in this manner. The Devil and his angels exercise this power even today, and cause lights to move about to deceive others. These “wise men” were just dupes of the adversary and his demons, and therefore fell readily into a conspiracy against Jesus’ life. They did not go directly to Bethlehem, where they would have gone if God had sent them. They first went to Jerusalem and presented themselves to King Herod. And why? Because Herod belonged to the Devil, as his prior and subsequent acts show. The Devil knew that Herod would want to kill any possible rival. Therefore he drew these wise men or magicians into the conspiracy with Herod for the purpose of destroying the “young child” Jesus. In this attempt God thwarted him and delivered His beloved child, and did not let the magicians report to King Herod on the child’s exact location. “Then Herod saw that he had been tricked by the astrologers, and he was very angry, and he sent and made away with all the boys in Bethlehem and in all. that neighborhood who were two years old or under, for that wms the time he had learned from the astrologers by his inquiries,”—Matthew 2:16, Smith-Goodspeed Bible translation.
To cover up such nefarious work and blind the people to the truth, Satan has induced the Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy throughout the centuries to magnify these astrologers in the eyes of the people and to have “Christmas cards” printed with the pictures of “three wise men” on them, and has caused people tq worship lights and stars and the commercially-made images of the “wise men”. All of these religious trifles emanate from the Devil. To offset the work of Satan’s forged “star”, let" it be noted that the Lord God Jehovah used His heavenly messengers or angels as His officers to protect the child Jesus and guide Joseph and Mary, and thereby deliver Jesus from the wicked conspiracy of Satan and his co-conspira-tors. With enlightened understanding read the account in Matthew, chapters one and two, and then refuse to view with awe and veneration or to glorify longer the actors taking part in a dastardly conspiracy engineered by religion's author, Satan.
Field Experiences in Australia
A VICTORIAN pioneer publisher of God’s kingdom relates this experience:
Remembering the honesty and impartiality of a magistrate before whom some of the brethren were onee summoned, I recently forwarded him some of the latest literature and a covering letter. The magistrate sent the following reply:
“I am most appreciative of your letter of 10th inst. which has just reached me, together with accompanying literature.
“I have given a good deal of thought to religious questions from time to time, but my difficulty has always been twofold so far as the Bible is concerned. Firstly, the story it tells appears to me to be so improbable that I cannot believe it, and, secondly, it is so obscure in many parts that I cannot make any sense of it anyway. However, I have been familiar for many years with interpretations placed upon the Bible by earnest students, as distinct from the orthodox churches, and I am bound to say that events have supported their conclusions in a very marked degree. I fully realize the gravity of the world situation today, and from my personal knowledge of economic and social problems I am of the opinion that it is now impossible for the human race to avoid calamity by its own efforts. It seems to mb that the predictions of Bible students as to future events are well on the way towards fulfillment.
“However this may be, I have a great respect for people like yourself who have the courage to stand for what they believe to be right, regardless of personal consequences. It is a sad reflection upon our civilization that men should still be persecuted for their opinions, Happily, in this, country at any rate, people are gaining a greater degree of tolerance, and enlightenment. It is time that we learned to welcome the man with new ideas upon any subject.”
The above letter expresses an attitude which is held by many in authority in this country. For example, a special publisher working in, what used to be one of the strongest opposition centers in Queensland, a town of 20,000 population, relates that she is now regularly back-calling on the mayor and a bank manager.
The following comes from Adelaide, South Australia:
In the course of the house-to-house work I encountered a clergyman of the Greek Orthodox Church. When this “gentleman of the cloth” learned that the ban on Jehovah’s witnesses had been completely lifted he was anxious to know more about the work. I ran the record “Awake”, and he pronounced it very good. When I showed him the books he said, “I will have some of those; I am interested in the Bible.” He took five bound books, almost emptying my ease. During the discussion which followed, he produced a Greek version of the Bible and enthusiastically compared it with the English translation.
Another experience with a clergyman comes from Ipswich, Queensland:
While witnessing on “Boxing” day I happened to pass a church. The clergyman who ■was standing at the door gave me a friendly smile, so I approached him and talked to him about the Kingdom. He told me that the extreme hot weather must have affected his congregation, as no one had turned up to the ' service that morning. I invited him to our meeting that afternoon, and, sure enough, ho came along. He showed good interest in the message and we have hopes of helping him to a true appreciation of the Kingdom.
“Pope Asks that Africa Not Be Land of Sects”
HAVING invited all persons not Roman Catholies to keep out of South America, and to stay out, the Hierarchy now extends a similar invitation as respects Africa. Under the foregoing headline, the Denver Register, early in 1944, carried this New York correspondence:
The mission prayer intention of the Holy Father for March is “The Preservation of Africa from Sectarianism”, it was announced by the Rt. Rev. Thomas J. McDonnell, national director, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Monsignor McDonnell’s statement said (in part):
“According to a survey made in 1938 there are some 8,447 foreign workers in Africa and they are assisted by native staffs totaling 81,625 members. Twenty-four pages of regularized book pages are required to list the various denominations to which they belong and we find that during that one year $6,336,244 was at their disposal to further their works. In view of such fact:? and figures, it is not surprising that the Holy See requests the prayers of the faithful during the month of March for 'The Preservation of Africa from Sectarianism’. Regardless of this apprehension there must be no feeling of defeatism in regard to the prog less of the Catholic Church in Africa.”
Sore About Abyssinia
It is easy enough to see what is disturbing the pope. He has access to the figures. He knows that, of the 147,900,066 people of Africa, 55,538,211 are Mohammedans, and he doesn’t stand the chance of a rabbit of getting one of them. There are 5,868,089 Orthodox (Eastern) Catholics, and he cannot get any of them, to speak of, whether they are listed as Russian Catholics, Greek Catholics, Albanian Catholics, Bulgarian Catholics, Rumanian Catholics, Serbian Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Armenian Catholics, or Coptic Catholics. There is just one thing on which all nine of these varieties of so-called “Orthodox” or Eastern Catholics agree, and that is that they don’t accept1 the pope of Rome as the vicar of Christ, and they do not accept the Roman Catholic church as the church of Christ.
Is the pope disturbed about the 542,869 Jews that live in Africa? Not at all. Is he as badly disturbed about the 2,782,864 Protestants, whose work he has analyzed, as he seems to be? It is very doubtful. His sect alone has more than twice as many followers (6,866,072) as all the Jews and Protestants put together. Well, is he bothered very much about the 76,301,961 Africans that still bow down to sticks and stones and are swallowed up in forms of demonism other than his own? In a way, yes. If he could control the governments that bear sway over these dusky millions, and if he could keep Jehovah’s witnesses and other Bible teachers away from them, it would add a lot of strawberries to his shortcake.
But the thing that Eugene Pacelli is manifestly most disturbed about is the way the Abyssinian bargain with Mussolini turned out. Prior to Mussolini’s invasion of their land the pope had constructed an Ethiopian college on Vatican ground, and there is no question that Paeelli’s predecessor fully expected that the religious business of Abyssinia would be his for keeps. Indeed, after Mussolini had seized the country all Protestant missionaries were expelled, but in 1943 _ they were all invited to return. Nothing could be a much more bitter dose, for the Hierarchy than to have a political scheme like that go haywire. ■
Didn't Get Away With It
It always makes a gangster sore when he tries to get away with something and then falls down on the job. But there were some who saw what the Hierarchy was up to in regard to Abyssinia. At the time of Mussolini’s invasion, the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Courier said:
Consider the Catholic cliureh in Italy. The other day Cardinal Schuster of Milan, one of its great princes, wished “peace and protection” for the armies of Italy which are murdering Ethiopians with air bombs and poison, and blessed them for “opening the doors of Ethiopia to the Catholic faith and the civilization of Rome”, adding:
“We must eo-operate with God in this national and Catholic mission, above all at this moment when on the fields of Ethiopia the standards of Italy carry to triumph the cross of Christ to break the chains of slavery and open the paths for the missionaries’ gospel.”
As for the “civilization of Rome”, it has been characterized during the past 2,000 years by every act contradictory to the preachments of Jesus. Murder, robbery, civil war, rapine, treachery and boundless cruelty pockmark its history from Augustus Caesar to Mussolini. Alongside the murderous achievements of this monster, the paltry bush wars and mild chattel slavery of Ethiopia pale into insignificance.
It is singular that neither Cardinal Schuster nor any other prince of the Catholic church made any audible complaint when Mussolini’s black-shirted thugs were murdering workingmen, destroying their unions and co-operatives, assassinating their spokesmen and representatives and committing other acts of unspeakable hooliganism and Vandalism. The Church protested only when Mussolini was threatening to interfere with its income. And since II Duee and the pope signed their concordat, all has been well along the Tiber, no matter how many liberals and free spirits were beaten, murdered and herded into prison camps.
Incidentally, Haile' Selassie seems to have learned something about the religious business, following the throwing of his country to the Fascist wolves, as a result of the deal between Britain and France, He thinks, now, that he is just as well off with the Coptic Catholic Church vs. Mohammedanism as he would have been with the Boman Catholic Church in the same position. He has even gone a step farther. It is believed that he will decline hereafter to accept Coptic archbishops appointed by the Egyptian patriarch, and may switch over to one of the other anti-papal Catholic churches, maybe the Greek Orthodox. So the pope is getting gravel in his mouth, and he doesn’t like it.
Spellman Flies Back and Forth
Not content with his long-distance daily telephone communications with the pope, Archbishop Spellman spends a considerable portion of his time in the air, flitting back and forth between America and Vatican City, at Uncle Sam’s expense. No sooner does one hear that he is in New York than he gets pictures of him in Uganda, in the heart of Africa, “as a side trip on his touj of U. S. military establishments overseas.” Thanks, awfully, for the explanation. It’s so simple. Uncle has the money, and Spellman has*the opportunity. It’s just as easy as that.
A few days later he is “pictured with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in their wrecked chapel at Tripoli”, What do you bet that Uncle Sara doesn’t have to rebuild that chapel, and make it twice or ten times as elaborate as it was in the first place? Just what there is about Catholic missionaries in Uganda or Algiers that should so excite American politicians that they would wish to foot the bills to ram the archbishop all over creation is not just clear. While at Algiers, if he said anything about the priest Cordier that put young De la Chapelle up to the job of murdering Admiral Jean Francois Darlan, a few months before he was there, the newspapers here failed to record it.
But he had time to go to Vatican City (and while Hitler still had it, too) and the “Military Vicar of the Armed Forces of the United States” got three columns through about the pope’s “countless sorrows that had throbbed in his heart [and] had also etched his face with grief and care”. He stood up for the pope all right, “unconditional surrender” or not. You can judge whether he was standing up for America’s comm an de r-in-chief or was standing up for his own personal boss when he w’rote this slobber:
No one understands more clearly than the pope the horror and the devastation of war, and of this war. No one suffers more poignantly, more deeply than he. He feels the sorrows of all. He sees the blood and the tears of all. He sees tremendous masses of men increasingly efficient in mutual massacre, increasingly enmeshed by tentacles of brutality and hate. He realizes that hate begets hate, that brutality spawns brutality and that revenge cries fpr revenge. The juggernaut of war crushes forward and backward over nations and peoples. Men aflame with savage goadings rush onward crashing other men aflame and thus the conflagration mounts, spreads, devastates and consumes.
The pope thinks, works, prays and literally dies for peace. He wishes the conquerors to be not only just with the conquered but also merciful. He knows full well that revenge is a bitter, gnawing thing. “All nations, great and small,” he says, “have a right to live.” He exhorts nations and their rulers to make their actions agree with their principles.
Well, how about Ethiopia? Did that have a right to live? And how about the smaller sects? Do they7 have a right to live? Pacelli’s answer to the last question would have to be, “No.”
Libel Case
ALLEGING libel on the grounds of statements appearing in several issues of The Watchtower during 1939, suit was filed by Olin li. Moyle, of Wauwatosa, Wis., against the two corporate societies, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, of Pennsylvania, and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., of New York; and, on the other cause of action, against J. F. Rutherford and eleven associates in the organization. Action for damages to the amount of $50,000 on each cause of action, or a combined total of $100,000, was commenced October 11, 1940. Less than two years thereafter the defendant J. F. Rutherford died, but the suit continued to be pushed. ' '
This unique libel suit came up for trial before Judge Ughetta of the New York Supreme Court in Brooklyn’s Supreme Court Building on May 10, 1943. After an extended trial continuing until May 27, the jury rendered a verdict, voting ten to two, against the defendants of the case and awarded the complainant Moyle $15,000 on each count, or a total of $30,000 damages. The presiding judge denied all motions
Terminated
by defense attorney for alternative ruling and decided in agreement with the jury’s, verdict.
Appeal was at once taken from this decision to the court’s Appellate Division, Second Department. After due reargument by opposing attorneys before this court of five judges, followed by judicial deliberation, decision was rendered. It was three to two in affirmation of the judgment of the Supreme Court, but reducing the damages one-half, to $15,000. _ _
According to due process of law, again the defendants took appeal from the decision, now to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals at Albany7, New York’s capital. After due reargument and deliberation, this court of seven judges let their decision be known on November 22, 1944, affirming decision of the lower court, affixing the costs, but offering no opinion on the case.
Their decision being unanimous, and the defendants being unable to move for reargument of the case, the $15,000 damages was duly7 paid over, with interest accrued, to plaintiff Moyle, thus terminating the matter. > . ■ <
H. G. Wells, in Crux Ansata
HAVING arrived at his allotted threescore years and ten, and then added another eight years for good measure, Mr. Wells, in his now famous book “Crux Ansata—An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church”, has compressed what he had to say, between page 7, where his story starts, and page 113, where it ends, A paragraph beginning on page 7 sets out what he had in mind in writing the little book, and is reproduced herewith. And the concluding sentence of the book gives his idea of what he thinks is ahead, when the pope gets into the saddle, and this sentence is also reproduced:
Not only is Rome the source and centre of Fascism, but it has been the seat of a pope, who, as we shall show, has been an open ally of the Nazi-Fascist-Shinto Axis since his enthronement. He has never raised his voice against that Axis, he has never denounced the abominable aggressions, murder and cruelties they have inflicted upon mankind, and the pleas he is now making for peace and forgiveness are manifestly designed to assist the escape of these criminals, so that they may presently launch a fresh assault upon all that is decent in humanity. The Papacy is admittedly in communication with the Japanese, and maintains in the Vatican an active Japanese observation post. [Page 7]
Before mankind gets rid of it, the Papacy may be drowning our hopes for the coming generation in a welter of blood—in an attempt to achieve a final world-wide St. Bartholomew’s Eve—and it will riot add an inch to his stature nor alter the fact that the pope, any pope, is necessarily an ill-educated and foolish obstacle, a nucleus of base resistance, heir to the tradition of Roman Catholicism in its last stage of poisonous decay, in the way to a better order in the world. [Page 113] . There are 23 chapters in the little book. The 18th is entitled “The Continual Shrinkage of the Roman Catholic Church”. After paying homage to the once “Very Reverend Father” Anthony (13 years a monk and priest but now plain Joseph McCabe) Mr. Wells explains, based on Mr. McCabe’s studies, that:
Even in comparison with Fascism and the Nazi adventure, Roman Catholicism is a broken and utterly desperate thing, capable only of malignant mischief in our awakening world. The pope is now the head of only about fifty million of semi-literates scattered about the planet, trailing after them a blind entirely ignorant multitude of “Faithful”; a following of ignorant men, women and children that does not exceed at the outside 120 million all told. [Page 79]
Tired of Papal Propaganda
The ordinary politician can never get enough Roman Catholic support to suit him, so he wallows on his belly in the dust beseeching more and ever more “religion” in the hope that the result will show up in the ballot box. The ordinary businessman never can get enough Roman Catholic customers, so he too goes on his belly; and that is true especially for the papers in which he advertises his wares. The religionists themselves, if not Romanists, dance most skillfully, like the daughter of Herodias doing her strip-tease act, but they don’t say anything. It’s their graceful bending toward him that the pope likes, and insists on having, and not their chin music. But Wells has had a bellyful of all this, and so he comes out with this plain talk:
For four war years Great Britain officially has been behaving like a Catholic country determined to emerge from a deplorable past. The Rev. So-and-So, S. J., and the Very Venerable So-and-So, S. J., have had a disproportionately large share of our broadcasting time. Non-Christi an voices have been relatively inaudible, although the great majority of peoples in the British Empire do not prqfess to be Christians.
The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church puts the “Faith” before any other social or political consideration, and the Roman Catholics in any country and under any form of government constitute an essentially alien body. The overconfident liberalism of the early nineteenth century enfranchised this body of outlanders, believing it would in some mysterious manner play the game of mutual toleration which seemed so natural to the essentially skeptical .and secular liberal mentality. Nothing of the sort ensued. Steadily, persistently, .the Catholic Church has worked for the destruction of that very liberalism which restored it to political influence. Persecuting relentlessly where it was in the ascendant, and canting about individual liberty of conscience wherever it was faced by a modern organization of society, this mental cancer has spread itself back to destroy the health and hope of our modem world.
As this present world war goes on, and even if there is some sort of temporary half peace before it degenerates into a tangle of minor wars, it will become plainer and plainer that it is no longer a geographically determined warfare of governments, nations and peoples, but the world-wide struggle of our species to release itself from the strangling octopus of Catholic Christianity. Everywhere the Church extends its tentacles and fights to prolong the martyrdom of man. Through St. Cyr and Vichy ism it assails the fine liberalism of France; it dominates the policy of the British War Office and Foreign Office, and through these the B.B.C. and the press; by a disciplined Catholic vote, a casting vote in endless elections and a sustained organization of menace and boycott, it silences the frank discussion of its influence in America. [One wonders if Mr. Wells knows how the Hanne-gans, the Hagues, the Flynns, the Kellys, etc., etc., ran things at Chicago.—Ed.] It works counter both to the old nationalisms that broke away from it at the Reformation and to the emergence of a scientifically guided 'world commonweal from the initial experiment of Russian communism. Like an octopus it has no creative impulse but only an instinct to survive. In Ireland, Spain, Italy, reactionary France, North and South America, Japan, and wherever it can stretch a tentacle it seeks allies in every element that is socially base that will help it to continue its struggle against the awakening liberalism .of the <fUnited Democracies”, as it is our hopeful custom to call them. [Pages 97-99]
"This Shinto Catholic Pope”
If it is lese majesty to refer to Mr. Pacelli as “this Shinto Catholic pope”, then Mr. Wells has given him plenty of company in his statement that:
The point to note is the intense fear of . Moscow and the frantic disposition, to get together with anyone professing to be proChristian, even with Franco and his Moslem (blackamoors, against this dreaded new thing in the world. Ramsay, Mosley, Mussolini, Dean Inge, the king of Italy, De Gaulle, Petain (not the gallant French aviator but the old man of Vichy), and at the apex of the pyramid this Shinto Catholic Pope, Pius XII! What a motley crew it is! United only in one thing, and that is fear and hatred of a sane scientific equal itarian order in the world. [Page 110]
As some may not be familiar with Shintoism, now officially adopted by the Vatican as one of the expressions of “religion”, Wells explains:
The basis of Shinto is the Kojiki, a compilation of the eighth century A.D. It is readable in its entirety only by scholars, its language being far more remote from the Japanese of today than eighth-century Anglo-Saxon would be from current English. For various reasons only portions of it have been modernized for general use. It begins with a sort of storm of gods neither made nor begotten but passing away. From this tumult emerge two highly sexual figures, Izanagi and Izanami, who might be described in Hollywood language as male and female “sex appeal”. They respond to each other with tremendous vigor, begetting gods and islands and at last a Fire God who burns up his mother Izanami. But by this time Izanagi is so set on procreation that everything about him procreates; he throws off his clothes and they become sea gods and land gods. Finally he produces the Sun Goddess from his left eye, the Moon God from his right eye and the headlong Susa-no-o by blowing his nose. After which he seems to have retired and the Sun Goddess and Susa-no-o occupy the stage.
After various remarkable adventures, no doubt of the greatest spiritual significance and full of lessons for the true believer, Susa-no-o meets a formidable damsel-devouring dragon with eight heads and other alarming accessories, intoxicates the beast with saki, kills it and cuts it up. But one of the tails resists and breaks his sword, because a better sword is hidden in it. This he presents to his
sister the Sun Goddess. It lies today, thickly swathed in brocade, in the Family Shrine of the Imperial House in Tokyo. It is one of the Three Sacred Treasures, the sword, the mirror and the jewel, which the Sun Goddess transmitted to the divine emperors, the living Gods of Japan. [Page 103] *
The earth will never be a fit place in which to live until the Vatican and the - Imperial Palace in Tokyo have been reduced to holes in the ground and the “son of heaven” at Tokyo and the son of the god of this world at Vatican City have for ever'ceased to be.
“A Final
WEDNESDAY, April 5, 1944, at 10:30 a.m., a final back-callwas made on Air. Roy Lux of Encinitas, California. We say final back-call because Roy Lux was being buried this day and his family had requested Jehovah’s witnesses to conduct the funeral services.
Mr. Lux was a person of good-will toward the King and Kingdom, and a book study was held regularly at his home up until his death. He was past commander of the American Legion, but proved he was of good-will by defending the stand of Jehovah’s witnesses on the flag salute controversy, after some misguided members of the Legion had forced a boy, young in the truth, to salute the flag.
Wednesday was a beautiful day when the brethren who were to conduct the services left for Encinitas. We were told that although there would be a large crowd present, due to Mr. Lux’s many friends and members of the Legion (who were to take over when we were through), we were not to expect many inside for the discourse as most.of the townspeople were opposed to our conducting the services. '
We arrived at 10:00 a.m. to arrange the program. Everything is now in order and it is twenty minutes after ten.
Back-Call”
We look into the chapel, and the “handful” of people we were told to expect have all brought a friend. The room is full, and now they are filling all available standing space. It is now 10: 30 and the brother conducting this final back-call rises and begins his talk entitled “Comfort”. We look about us and notice the attentiveness of the audience, and as we look to the rear we note that the double doors are open and the yard is filled with people eagerly straining forward to catch the words of the speaker. (And we make a mental note, hereafter to take along our sound equipment.) The speaker finishes, and the “handful” of people begin to file past the casket. We count them as they pass, and lo, the ‘Tiandful" has turned out to be 275, not counting the many who were outside and did not come in.
Two brethren are outside holding Hope booklets for those who want them. These are not passed out promiscuously, but given only to those who wanted them; and in this manner 105 are placed.
This territory is now well prepared for many follow-ups, and we start for home, thankful to Jehovah for the wonderful privilege of publicly conducting a back-call with such good results.—Paul T. Trask, California.
Peter Was Never in Rome
THE editor of The Converted Catholic Magazine, L. H. Lehman, many years a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, briefly sums up the evidence that Peter was never in Rome, and thus removes the foundation from under the whole topheavy structure built at Vatican City, when he says:
For several years he seems to have resided mostly at Jerusalem. There Paul met him when he went from Antioch to Jerusalem to discuss the question of circumcising Gentile converts. This was about the year 49, fourteen years after the conversion of Paul. (Galatians 2:11)
Not long after this we find Peter at Antioch, where he “dissembled through fear of the Jews”, refused to associate with Gentile converts, and acted contrary to the decrees passed at Jerusalem, For this he was rebuked by Paul. He received this criticism in a Christian manner, convinced, no doubt, that it was deserved.
After this Peter went to Corinth, where he spent some time. The church of Corinth at that time had become divided in regard to its1 ministers. Some declared that they were of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas and some of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:12) Later we And him at Babylon, probably New Babylon in Assyria, in the neighborhood of which many Jews had resided since the captivity. It was from this place that Peter dated his first epistle.
[The Hierarchies sole claim that Peter was ever in Rome is based on their unfounded supposition that Babylon was really Rome. If that were true, then Rome would be identified as Mystical Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, by many, and as the Scriptures fopetell Babylon’s destruction, not conversion, jhat would be embarrassing even to the Gr^Ct Whore herself.—A’d.J ‘
According to Origen, Peter’s last missionary labors were chiefly among the dispersed Jews in the regions of Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia. This agrees with the statement of Paul, that while he was commissioned to go to. the heathen, Peter was to be the apostle to the Jews. This also harmonizes with the action of Peter himself, who addressed his first epistle “to strangers”, i. e., foreign Jews scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.
Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans about the year 57, long after Peter was supposed, according to the Catholic contention, to be 'bishop of the church in Rome. Yet there is not a word in it about Peter, nor any intimation that he or any other apostle had ever been there. In the last chapter, Paul sends salutation to beloved Christian friends in Rome, mentioning each one by name and stating distinctive things about them. Not a word do we find in regard to Peter!
A few years later Paul himself arrived in Rome as a prisoner and was received with great favor by the church there; but still no mention is made of Peter. Paul dwelt for two whole years in a hired house in Rome and while there wrote several epistles to other churches. But not in a single one of these do we find the slightest allusion to Peter.
Peter Not the First Pope
Mr. Lehman is entirely correct when he says in the same article: “As a matter of fact, the very term ‘pope’ (papa) was applied for centuries to any bishop (caretaker).” Peter never claimed to be the head over God’s church. The heavenly Father gave that position to Christ Jesus. When the early church tried to . select a successor to Judas, they did not ask Peter to name him; nor did they ask him to name the servants selected to run the cafeterias; and it was James, not Peter, who was chairman over the council ^ Jerusalem. The Scriptures nowhere state either that Peter was the first pope or that he was ever in Rome, or that anybody in Rome was ever, to be the head of the true church. .
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Witnessing in Dixie Land
Determining to put her house in order and devote more time to Kingdom service, Mrs. Nola Broyles turned (1) into (2) and was soon on the way to Alabama territory. En route she met two other Theocratic announcers (3) of Petersburg, Va., and had a good time visiting with them. Continuing her journey, she passed through the beautiful Carolinas (4) and finally arrived at Foley, Ala., where she soon had a Bible study on “The Truth Shall Make You Free'1, with ’most all the neighborhood children (as well as some grownups). See (5). The lady holding the baby gladly opened her home, and the boy farthest to your right came ten miles to atftend the study regularly. The study conductor herself stands back of him, upper right. The colored people of Dixie Land (6) are also eager for free education, willing to be taught of Jehovah and more than glad to receive His witnesses. Also active in the vicinity of Foley are these two publishers (7) of Loxley, Ala.
Eudoxius, the Forgotten “Bishop”
EUDOXIUS (u-dok'si-us) was given short shrift by the encyclopedia makers, although he attained to the eminence of being made patriarch of Constantinople, a position which, taking the time into consideration (A.D. 360-370), was riot inferior to the archbishopric of Canterbury in the present day. Short is the paragraph that makes mention of Eudoxius in the McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia, while the Americana makes mention only of the Eudoxians (supposedly his followers). .
The trouble with Eudoxius was his so-callcd “Arianism”. He believed that Jesus Christ tvas what the Lord himself said He was, subject to the Father, who sent Him into the world. In other words, Eudoxius held to the Scriptural testimony concerning tlje one true God, that He is one, and God alone. This at a time when the trinitarian heresy, then in the process of developing, was unpopular, to say the least, although the number of people who held to the truth was by no means inconsiderable. For a (time they were as numerous as, if not more numerous than, the trinitarians, but4he latter had chosen the side of the emperor and the world, and hence the place of power. They became the persecutors; while the
Christian believers in the one true God continued to be persecuted.
Eudoxius was an Arian, then, and that' was against him. He is also accused of a few other things, among them that he became a follower of Aetius, w’hich simply infers that he saw some truths in a clearer light, and was not afraid of being identified with another who stood for the truth, even though doing so was frowned upon by the big religionists. Eudoxius sympathized with the so-called “Aetians”, They and he had much in common. Both Eudoxius and the Aetians believed the Bible rather than the human formula which the trinitarian religionists wanted to force upon the people. Aetius wms called an atheist, altogether gratuitously, and Eudoxius shared his ignominy. See Consolation No. 658.
Eudoxius was born at Arabissus, in Armenia, and first comes to notice as “hishop” (caretaker or overseer) of the congregation of Germanicia (near Mount Taurus), in Asia Minor. He was made bjghop of Antioch about A.D. 356. This watj a center of Christian learning and activity, having been such since, in the days of Paul, “the disciples were called ■Christians first in Antioch.”—Acts 11:19-30. .
He was accused, however, of obtaining the position by trickery (a charge which may be doubted), and a synod, assembled at Scleueia, “deposed” him, but he kept right on being bishop at Antioch until, A.D. 359, he was assigned to Constantinople, in connection with which p»o-motion no fraud is charged against him. Eudoxius wrote a treatise on “Becoming Flesh of the Word of God”, with reference to the fact that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among men. He did not believe in the religious doctrine of “incarnation”, as it suggests the idea that the Word, the Son of God, merely took upon himself the body of flesh, as one wears a garment, a thought Which the Scriptures do not support. While on earth Jesus was truly man, albeit a perfect man. Gariy writers on the subject did not, in every case, clearly understand the matter. What Eudoxius wrote on the subject is known only in part, for but a few fragments of his writings remain extant. He continued as “bishop” of Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, until the day of his death, A.D. 370.
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Practical Use of
“God’s Word on Vital Subjects”
IT AL means fundamentally essential. Therefore the subject might, just as well be worded “God’s Word on
Life-sustaining Truths”. Without knowledge and understanding of such vital subjects man cannot gain life. Jehovah is the fountain of life. From this source flow the waters of life-giving truth, being made available to man through God’s Word, the Bible. Sufficient information necessary to man concerning God’s purpose is fully covered therein, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. A few of the more vital subjects are specifically called to attention in the Watchtower edition Bible (Authorized Version), under the heading “God’s Word on Vital Subjects”.
Consecrated servants of the Almighty God have but one real objective in life, and that is to walk obediently before the Lord, and make full proof of their ministry. To do this they must handle aright the Word of God; not with outward show, attracting attention to themselves, but teaching the people in meekness and fear. To have fear of Jehovith means the creature will Jo all possible to see that all glory and honor is reflected to the Father. So doing, the witness fpr Jehovah will speak with Scriptural backing, and hence speak with authority.
To enable the servant to speak with authority by giving abundant prooftexts, “God’s Word on Vital Subjects” sets forth accumulated scripture on given topics. These are divided under subheadings, such as “Ordination”, “Ordination (not by sectarian theological schools),” “Commission to Preach,” “Manner of Preaching,” and “Obedience to Commission”. Such scriptures are of first importance to the minister. He being thoroughly familiar with the texts applying under headings aforementioned, his appreciation and deeply-felt obligation as a minister will manifest themselves in his daily course of consistent activityi as a gospel pro-claimer. ' .
It is interesting to note that, unlike many Bibles with additional information on scriptures regarding given subjects, this Theocratic Bible lets the scriptures explain the facts, no additional comments being necessary by the publishers. Thus the scriptures are sufficiently clear and copious to completely establish the truth on these vital subjects. Following this same।principle the minister should let the Bible answer questions of vital importance; hence, authoritative answers will be given. The Lord’s “other sheep” hear His voice, not within the religious wrangling® of hypocritical “Christendom”, but in the plain unadulterated truths of the Bible.
Hope offered to the people by rulers of this world holds out nothing to be desired by the righteously disposed, who soberly consider the Lord infall their ways. World rulers create by their selfish exploits conditions so miserable and unbearable that it ultimately results in a world slaughter on the battlefields. Then to a war-weary people grasping for relief these same rulers set forth a “new order”. Religion jumps on the bandwagon and bestows what they claim to be the Lord's blessing, and the stage is all set for another cycle lasting about a generation. The mass of mankind accept this because they know of nothing better, and, since they refuse to consider the Lord as a means of relief, the mad rush to Armageddon continues. On the other hand, the meek and honest heart, seeing the hopelessness of things, continues to sigh and cry for blessings of
Kingdom rule, even though, to a great extent, in ignorance of these blessings. Therefore this good news of the Kingdom shall be preached, and the faithful servant will strike a responsive heart when he reveals to such truth-seekers the scriptures listed under the heading “Blessings of the Kingdom Rule”. Their attention will be instantly gained upon hearing such promises as, “Thou open-est thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing”; “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end”; “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord Gon will wipe away tears from off all faces”; “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”; and, “The righteous shall never be removed.” Can anything this world has to offer, now or in the future, compare with such blessings? The advocates of the postwar world are bound to admit such blessings can never be attained therein. However, they will hastily add that these promises are an utter impossibility; not only that, but too unreal to even consider. To suchlike these promises are hopeless fairy tales for the consumption of the simple. They will immediately go into a lengthy dissertation expounding the wisdom of this world in support of their side, which God has declared to be foolish.
World’s Most Essential Book
The HOLY BIBLE
The Watchtower edition of the Holy Bible contains the unaltered King James Version, printed in minion type, with copious marginal references, 1 and diacritical marks, as shown below:
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PSALMS 73, 74. End of the wicked. Desolation of the
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The regular text is most beneficially supplemented by a 76-page appendix supplying an index of proper names and their meanings, a unique concordance for locating vital Scripture texts easily, and four maps.
" DECEMBER 20, 1944
WATCHTOWER
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Please send me a copy of the Wateh-tower edition Bible, for which I enclose a contribution of $1.00.
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The “other sheep” can not and will not be turned aside by such arguments of old-world advocates, but will rejoice in reading of such blessings promised under Kingdom rule and will be eager to have more information. It seems, therefore, that the “Blessings of the Kingdom Rule” should be among the first scriptures cited for persons of good-will. With this joy set before them they will be desirous of knowing more concerning God’s purpose and the course they must take to conform thereto. In other words, the question in their minds will be, “What must I do!”
The Theocratic minister again will bring into play information listed under “Vital Subjects” and will continue to speak with authority. In order to show what God requires of creatures the commission should be outlined, as is done under the subheading “Commission to Preach”. “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached”; and to impress the importance quote Jesus’ words, “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach.” Having in mind information received through religious teaching, the inquiring person of good-will begins to wohder how it would be possible for him to become a preacher, not attending school and lacking in education. The minister will follow through with scriptures on “Ordination”, and “Ordination (not by sectarian theological schools)”. With these texts clearly in mind the individual seeking truth will see that Jehovah anoints and ordains His own ministers, that He pours out His spirit upon all flesh that will subject themselves to Him.'Thus all sham and hocus-pocus ritual of religious men anointing and ordaining other men no longer hold places of respect in their minds.
Subjects of this sort can only be briefly covered on the first call as the minister covers his territory; nevertheless, the seed is sown and the wTay opened for further calls. As time advances and calls continue the scriptures listed under “Manner of Preaching” and “Obedience to Commission” will begin to weigh heavily on the minds of the “other sheep”. Fear of -creatures will have to be overcome. In other words, their love for Jehovah and the Kingdom will have to increase to a point where it will completely overshadow any carnal fears. Scriptures listed under the heading “Integrity Toward the Kingdom” will do much to cause one to appreciate the position of a Christian and his relationship to the world. “Jesus answ’ered, My kingdom is not of this world”; “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world”; “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus -Christ”; and, “Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, w’hich is great and terrible.” As the Lord reveals His purposes to such they begin to associate with the Lord’s organized servants at their Kingdom Halls. Step by step the Lord has led them to living fountains of water, they have drunk freely and are now in turn ready and anxious to bear the “Standard of Christians”. Their manner of preaching or bearing of Christian standards will be the same as that of the Lord Jesus and the apostles. Teaching “publicly, and from house to house”, in complete obedience to the Lord’s command, they “go through, go through the gates; . . . gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people”.
To gather out the stones of stumbling they will use the same instruments that were used on them; and perhaps one of tjiem was the Watchtower edition Bible, with its “Vital Subjects” feature in back. One of the stones gathered out by this instrument is the doctrine of “hell-fire”. This hideous and blasphemous doctrine taught by religion can quickly be proved false by the treatment given in comparative readings of scriptures dealing with the word “hell”, as set forth in the Authorized, Douay and American Standard versions of the Bible. Thus the Scriptures interpret themselves and the truth-seeker need not be deceived.
Besides the great aid “Vital Subjects” is to the minister in his door-to-door and back-call work there is the support it renders when used in court cases and before boards of various kinds. To illustrate this, note how pointed common questions can be answered with authority. Following are a few examples:
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(1) What Scriptural authority do you have for chiming ordination f
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach , . etc.
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(2) How can you apply this scripture to yourself!
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; . . . upon the servants and upon the handmaids.”
(.3) Why do you call yourself one of Jehovah’s witnesses?
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have' chosen.”
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(4) How do you determine your commission? and why do you take it so seriously? •
“The gospel must first be published among all nations”; “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” ■
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(5) Why preach from house to. house! Why not build a church!
“And he said unto me, . . . Go, get thee unto the house of Israel.” “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman . . . . therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me”; “And daily in the temple, and in every house.”
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(6) What Scriptural authority do you have for refusing to stop preaching!
• “Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces”; “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.”
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(7) Why do you refuse to work in the interests of this world! .
“Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth”; “I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, . . , having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that . . . they may by your good works ,.. glorify God in the day of visitation.”
These are only a few of the many everyday questions that can be answered to the point by quick reference to ‘Vital Subjects”. Truly it can be said these are life-sustaining truths, both for the anointed minister in maintaining his integrity in faithful devotion to his commission, which he must do to ultimately gain life, and for the “other sheep” that must come to an understanding through the continual feeding upon such truths;
Kidnapers Got What They Deserve
SINCE the enactment of the Federal Kidnaping Law, approved June 22, 1.932, the FBI has performed investigative activity in 156 cases involving actual kidnapings. Of the cases, 154 have been solved and in the other two investigation is pending toward the identification of the. perpetrators. In these cases, 317 persons have been convicted; in federal hfid state courts, the sentences irnbosed having included 12 death sentences, 42 life sentences, and other sentences totaling 3,649 years 8 months 6 days; 8 kidnapers committed suicide, 8 were killed by law-enforcement officers, 7 died by murder at the hands, of their gang numbers, and 2 .were lynched,
Best Neivs in 19 Centuries
GOOD NEWS is always welcome. Doubtless very few people can see in the troubles and distress of our generation any proof of the coming of the greatest good in ail man’s history. To assist you in pointing out such happifying good news the Watchtower Society has published the new book—
The kingdom here announced is God’s kingdom, and this Bible textbook of 384 pages describes from the sacred Scriptures what this kingdom and its rule will mean to humankind. It shows from Bible prophecy and modern-day facts that this perfect and righteous government is at hand, to operate for God’s victory and for lasting peace on earth to men of good-will.
KINGDOM
HANI)
No news could be more important or more comforting and cheering than^the message of this book. Adding to the already high value,of this book are the indexes: one of all-Scripture citations in the book, the other an alphabetical subject index. The Society will mail you a copy postpaid upon a contribution of 25c.
PREMIUM—-With each copy of this book will be given free the new, timely, action-inspiring 32-page booklet "The Kingdom of God Is Nigh”. ■
WATCHTOWER, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N.Y.
Please send to me a copy of ‘'The Kingdom Is at Hand'1 and "The Kingdom of God Is Nigh”, for which I enclose my contribution of 25c.
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