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Contents
Psyehiatry and Insanity Increase '
Freedom to “Think” Jeopardized
An Apartment Caretaker Learns in Court
. St. Patrick Causes Slight Delay
“Thy Word Is Truth”
Tremendous Investments at Stake
Can Dishonest People Pray Honestly?
Witnessing with The Watchtower and
Does “Irish Linen” Originate in Belgium?
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Published every other Wednesday by watchtower BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC. 117 Adame St., Brooklyn 1, N. Y., U. S. A.
President < N. H. Knorr
Secretary W. E, Van Amburgh
Editor Clayton X Woodworth
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In Brief
Lizzie’s Idea About Religion
♦ The state of California has passed a law robbing the children of some of their precious school hours each week, so that clergymen can cram it down their throats that they each have something they do not have (fGod only hath immortality.’—1 Timothy 6:16) and that there are three’ gods that are each only one-third of a god. Lizzie (her last name is withheld)'writes in that she is in grade 9A; that she lias, been taught that 2 4- 2 = 4; that she believes it; that in her school “it makes no difference what religion you are, some kid socks you in the face if you don’t happen to be of their cult” and that “it would be a good idea to quarantine religion permanently and put it on the contagious list”. Lizzie has something there, and parents who have children by the name of Lizzie, and who live in California, are not going to be told which Lizzie it was that passed judgment jon the new law and condemned it as ultra vires and worthy only of burial in the family ash can.
True, Isn’t It?
I have walked in summer meadows, Where the sunbeams flashed and broke, But I never saw the cattle
Or the sheep or horses smoke.
I have watched the birds with wonder When the world with dew was wet, .
But I never saw a robin Puffing bn a cigarette.
I have^ fished in many waters, Where the sucker crop was ripe, But I never saw the catfish
Sucking on a briarpipe.
Man’s the only living creature
In this-blooming vale of woes Who goes like a traction engine,
Blowing smoke from, mouth and nose.
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope?’—Matthew 12:21, AS. V.
Volume XXVI
Brooklyn N. Y., Wednesday, June 6, 1945
Number 671
Psychiatry and Insanity Increase
MENTAL illness is becoming big business, amounting to millions of dollars annually. The first state mental hospital was established at Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1773. By 1870 there were fifty public and sixteen private, or a total of 66 hospitals, with a population of about 17,000 mentally ill patients. In 1938 there were over five hundred mental hospitals, with a population of over 424,000 mentally ill patients, in the United States. The United States Bureau of Census, January 1, 1940, figures show a total of 536,397 cases of mental illness in the hospitals of the nation. The population of New York mental hospitals grew from 35,724 cases in 1918 to 73,120 cases in 1944; an increase of over 100 percent. Statistical figures as of April 1, 1940, show that 1,340,000 draftees were rejected as mentally unfit or deficient. Mental cases have increased from about 17,000 in 1870 to almost 2,000,000 in 1944!
Dr. Charles H. Mayo said: “Every second hospital bed in the United States is for the mentally afflicted.” Almost all the insane asylums or state hospitals are crowded beyond their normal capacity, and hundreds of new hospitals and additions to present facilities must be built to accommodate the constantly increasing number of mental cases. If this astounding and dangerous increase continues at the present rate at least one member or relative of every family in the United States may eventually be in an insane asylum! -
“It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.” “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” What is bad for some may result in profit for others. Insanity is no exception to this rule. It is a calamity for the individual judged insane, but it is the main source of profit and good fortune for others. Psychiatrists, mind specialists and their colleagues are situated to make money and profit from other people’s misfortunes (like the undertakers).
Profit from Insanity
From an economic standpoint, i.e., the gain or loss of money, the psychiatrists, mind specialists, their colleagues and others who comprise the personnel of insanity commissions, insane asylums, state hospitals and other agencies and institutions that specialize in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, are the only group of people in America that are situated to gain money and profit from mental disorders or insanity. Other groups either lose money or otherwise suffer irreparable damage on account of mental disorders or insanity.
Insanity has become “big business” in the United States during the past twenty years. Many millions of dollars are now spent annually to pay the salaries of those who specialize in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. The great increase in insanity constitutes a big business boom for this group. It makes more jobs for them, creates a bigger demand for their services, increases their financial income, enhances their professional status, and gives them greater social influence, pres-
tige and position. They are the benefactors and the beneficiaries in the insanity business. They are benefactors because they help to promote the recovery of patients who have mental disr orders, and they are beneficiaries because they are paid and honored for iheir services to suffering and afflicted humanity. People who are judged mentally ill or insane are their new custom, ers, their human merchandise, their commodify and their source of financial gain. The more people who are judged mentally ill or insane, the greater becomes the need and demand for the services of those who specialize in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
An editorial in the Chicago Tribune, in 1944, entitled “Mental Illness’’, said: “It has been calculated that at present a patient in a state hospital costs the state an average of $20,000 for his shelter and care by the time he dies or is released. Thus if we could cure the mentally ill for $10,000 or $15,000 a case, it seems that the state treasury would still be money ahead in a cold bookkeeping sense, without regard to the benefit to the patient.” Obviously, every new' mentally ill patient in Illinois is worth somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 to psychiatrists, mind specialists, their colleagues and assistants who comprise the personnel of agencies and institutions that specialize and profit in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
If the number of mental eases should suddenly decrease or dwindle, and finally vanish completely, then the psychiatrists, mind specialists and their colleagues would be out of jobs, their present source of income and profit would stop, and they would have to seek employment in other fields. So it is a debatable question whether the present large increase in the number of mental cases and “big business” boom in the field of insanity is wholly the result of natural causes or partly the result of this group’s desire to expand their field of business and increase the sole source of their financial income and profit. Is it not highly probable that many pretend to be helping the so-called “mentally ill” merely to make soft jobs for themselves on the public pay roll, by using these harmless, unfortunate souls as hostages and collecting a bounty from the taxpayers for each victim sent to a mental hospital?
An investigation begun by State Sen-. ator Seymour Halpern revealed, among other things, that the state taxpayers furnish the superintendent of the Creedmoor state hospital, Queens, N. Y., a $66,000, 24-room mansion and pay his household expenses, furnish him two servants, and pay him $6,000 per year, and, in addition, he may secure the services of such patients as he desires. This hospital cost the state $14,000,000, and has a population of 4,580 patients, 713 employees, and a staff of 21 doctors. This state hospital superintendent receives ajiigher salary than the governor of Kansas, Maine, Maryland, ’ New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee, or Vermont.
Much can be said in favor of the view that psychiatrists, mind specialists and their colleagues are often more responsible for the increase of insanity than are natural causes, because it is economically necessary for them to have a field in which to sell their services and derive their financial income; so it is a good business policy for them to expand as much as possible the existing field for ’their services.
Lawyer Archie O. Dawson, head of a commission appointed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey to investigate the scandalous conditions of New York’s twenty-six state mental hospitals, said: “Population of United States mental hospitals is rising rapidly, not because insanity is increasing but because more of the insane are being committed to state hospitals.”
Associated Press report, Washington, ■ D.C., January 29, 1945, by James Marlow, said: “Selective Service says Washington, D.C., had the second-highest draft-rejection rate for mental diseases. The cause of this high rejection rate was due to the fact that more psychiatrists were working with the draft boards in this district than elsewhere in the nation."
consolation
As the number of psychiatrists and mind specialists increases, the number of mental cases increases. The more mind specialists we have, the more cases of mental disorder we have. Is this mere coincidence or otherwise? There has been a steady advance in medical arid psychological knowledge. At the same time there has been a steady and -alarming increase in the number of cases of mental disorder. Isn’t thjs an illogical ratio? Shouldn’t it be the reverse, i.e., as medical and psychological knowledge increases is it not logical to expect a corresponding ratio of decrease in the number of patients in mental/hospitals ? Why is not this the case? Are the psychiatrists, mind specialists, their colleagues and others who specialize in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders to blame for the increase of insanity in the United States?
There are several reasons why this group can be considered accountable for some of the extraordinary increase in the number of cases of mental illness sent to mental institutions throughout ‘ the nation. (1) Psychiatrists, mind specialists and their supporters constitute the major part of the personnel of insanity commissions, mental institutions and other government and private agencies that discover, diagnose and treat mental disorders; consequently they are in better position to control the number of committals to, and dismissals from, mental institutions than any other single group of professionals. So they are to this extent at least partly responsible for the increase in the number of mental eases in the nation. (2) The question of whether a person is sane or insane often rests entirely upon the personal opinion of a psychiatrist or mind ' specialist. (3) Financial considerations rather than natural causes may be the reason why many people are judged mentally ill and then sent to some mental institution for an indefinite period of time at the taxpayers’ expense.
Ambiguous Terminology
Psychiatrists have a big advantage over other professionalists because of natural reasons in their favor. It is generally agreed that nobody is perfect; therefore something can be found to be wrong with almost any person. The ex-■ tensive and constantly increasing vocabulary and ambiguous terminology employed by modern psychiatrists and mind specialists can make any typical human mood or emotion appear to be the root and cause of a dangerous form of vicious insanity.
When it comes to making mountains out of molehills and chimeras out of ordinary conditions an unscrupulous psychiatrist or mind specialist has no peer or equal. They can find or invent something mentally unbalanced about anybody (except themselves) if it will pay them to do so. There are charlatans among mental specialists the same as there are among medical doctors.
Edith M. Stern, in Liberty, January 29, 1944, said: “Maybe what happened to my friend Bill G. has happened to you, or your son, brother, husband or sweetheart. Bill, a husky physical specimen, was all set to be a soldier. But he came back from the army examination murmuring shamefacedly that they called him a psychoneurotic.” And therefore he thought he must be insane. Over a million other draftees had this same thing happen to them. This sudden, shocking and astounding increase of mental disorder among so many American citizens caused much consternation and complaint throughout the nation.
Newsweek, May 29, 1944, reported: “The War Department revealed it had ordered mind specialists to abandon the label ‘psychoneurotic’ for that type of 4-F’s which many of them had found a black mark against them when they sought civilian jobs. Hereafter they will simply be listed as unfit for service.”
United Press, Chicago, Ill., July 25, i944, reported: "Christian Century, national Protestant religious weekly, „ warned the nation against exaggerating its mental ills. Psychiatrists, in rejecting 35 percent of 4-F draftees or dis’ charging 216,000 inductees up to February 1944, on mental grounds, might be having a ‘field day’,” an editorial said. “This is the first time that psychiatrists have had a chance on a large scale to apply their science, and there is a great danger of psychiatric exaggeration,” the editorial added. “It is easy to believe that an undisciplined boy with a spoiled-child complex, an aversion to army life, a dislike for doing what he is told, or a fear of personal injury, gets no help ■from having his tantrums or fears dignified into psychoneuter and phobias and learning to talk about himself in psychiatric terms,” the publication pointed out.
Dr. Henry C. Link, in the July, 1944, . American Mercury, sharply criticized the psychiatrists for their wholesale rejection of draftees because of nervous and mental symptoms and their equally wholesale recommendations on the same grounds for the discharge of these men. Dr. Link was concerned principally w'ith the fact that psychiatrists were making “mental” cases out of relatively harmless and insignificant symptoms.
Statistical figures as of April 1, 1944, show that 1,340,000, or 35 percent, of draftees rejected were classed as mentally unfit or deficient. If each of these mentally deficient 4-F’s require special trestt-ment for their mental disorders it is easy to see that this will constitute a big business boom for psychiatrists, mind specialists and their colleagues, who derive their financial income and livelihood from the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
The psychiatrists and mind specialists make, mistakes. Dana Adams Schmidt reported to the New York Times in January, 1945, that “there were 1,301 American soldiers in military jails in Paris, 400 of them charged with selling army equipment. They deserted the army and joined Paris gangs who hijacked trucks on the open highway and fought gun battles with the American military police. All of these American soldiers received a preinduction examination which was supposed to eliminate all the criminal and neurotic types.” Evidently the psychiatrists or mind specialists who certified these men for military service made many mistakes and have a lot to learn about the art of mental fortune telling or prognostication. Since they made the mistake oF certifying 1,301 bad men, it is highly probable they may have rejected a lot of good men, and it is certain, in view of these developments, that many 4-F’s do not deserve this classification; consequently all the so-called ‘mentally unfit’ or deficient 4-F’s should be re-examined in an effort to rectify the mistakes that psychiatrists or mind specialists may have made in these cases.
The number of psychiatrists and mind specialists has increased greatly in the past fifty years, and more people are now being adjudged insane than ever before in the history of mankind. Mental institutions all over the nation are crammed and jammed full of mentally ill patients only a few of whom will receive any specialized treatment for their mental illness, while the majority of the others are almost certainly doomed to spend the remainder of their lives in hopeless despair as hostages of the state at the expense of taxpayers. Many new hospitals must be built to accommodate this astounding and dangerous increase of mental degeneration of society, and millions of dollars must be added to the tax burden to pay the salaries of the psychiatrists, mind specialists, their colleagues and others who specialize in the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
The ambiguous terminology and diction often used to describe various forms of mental illness may confuse and frighten laymen and cause them to imagine that mentally ill patients are far worse than they actually are. For example, one kind of mental disease is called “paranoia” and is described as being a gradual impairment of the intellect. That sounds like something terrible until you ■ stop to analyze the matter and realize that every human creature has a gradual impairment of the intellect as he grows older and finally dies. Therefore, “paranoia” in this sense is nothing but a new name invented to designate the natural ravages of advancing old age, and every person therefore has paranoia, since every normal person has a gradual impairment of the intellect as old age creeps upon him.
In the case of Bateman v. Ryder, 106 Tenn. 712 (1901), the judge said: “The character of the plaintiff is attacked for credibility, and testimony is given by an expert physician that she is a lunatic of the type known as a paranoiac. It is explained that the effect of this special type of malady is a mania for litigation and an ungovernable desire and anxiety to be successful. It would appear that this species of lunacy or mania is more common among attorneys than among litigants.”
Ambiguous terminology and diction that mind specialists often use to describe mental illness can be ridiculous and very misleading nonsense and may cause innocent, harmless people to be treated far worse than they deserve, and it can promote much misunderstanding and animosity on the part of the general public toward innocent people who are presumed to have some mental disorder.
Competence of Mental Patients
The idea that all mentally ill patients in state hospitals are derelicts and incompetents is wrong. Perhaps all mentally ill patients have some degree of incompetence, but not one in a hundred is “totally” incompetent. The majority of mental patients are innocent, harmless and timid individuals who have caused no tangible damage or bodily injury to anyone. They are not dangerous, as the layman expects mental cases to be, and their average intelligence, moral conduct and general behavior is far above the level of idiocy or imbecility. Most patients have a grade-school education or better and can discuss many common subjects fluently and intelligently. They are not physically ill, as a rule; many are strong, husky and rugged individuals. They are good workers at ordinary tasks such as shoveling coal, washing dishes, mopping floors, and performing countless other menial tasks for the benefit of hospital maintenance.
Patients in state hospitals come from all walks of life. There are mentally ill doctors, lawyers, business proprietors, preachers, farmers, schoolteachers, inventors, factory workers, stenographers, university students, coal miners, engineers, musicians, etc., among the patients in state hospitals. They are judged mentally ill or insane principally on account of what they think.
Freedom, to “Think” Jeopardized
Freedom of thought is one of the cardinal virtues of all American citizens. It is not a special privilege for a select few, but is a national privilege acceded to all citizens by the Constitution. It is not against any constitutional law to “think” whatsoever one’s private conscience dictates. Nevertheless, many innocent people are now suffering the inconveniences and restraints of confinement in the subnormal environment of state hospitals or insane asylums because their “thoughts” and “ideas” were not considered “normal” by psychoanalysts or mind specialists. Yet these innocent victims of injustice have as much constitutional right to “think” according to the dictates of their private
JUNE 6, 1B45
consciences as any other class of American citizens. Furthermore, the United States Constitution does not give psychoanalysts, mind specialists or any other special group or clique authority to punish, penalize or deprive any person of his civil liberties solely on account of what h$ thinks. ’
How is it possible to take people’s civil liberties away from them solely on account of what they “think”, when the Constitution expressly grants them freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of thought, freedom of worship, freedom of enterprise, and freedom for the pursuit of happiness? These freedoms are the natural heritage of every American citizen. This gives each citizen a greater latitude or range of independence and opinion than is commonly supposed, and due allowance should be made for this fact when judging the condition of a person’s mind.
If people are to be deprived of their civil liberties solely on account of what they “think”, who is to be the judge of whether a person’s ideas are normal or abnormal, and by what standard or whose standards are such judgments to be made, in view of the fact that the Constitution gives nobody authority to be a supreme and infallible arbiter of human “ideas”, and gives nobody authority to punish, penalize or deprive anybody of his civil liberties solely on account of his “ideas”, or what he “thinks”? There is not a living person in this world today who does not have at least a few strange, silly or unorthodox ideas or thoughts in his mind occasionally.
Insanity and Witchcraft
In order to understand the presentday insanity business one must go back to the dark era of witchcraft and review the atrocities resulting from the queer mental phenomena which once afflicted people. Any person suspected of being a witch was considered a terrible menace to society, and it was the duty of neighbors or relatives to report “suspected witches” to the local authorities. Sometimes the unfortunate victim was brought before the authorities for a hearing or trial and there accused and convicted of every evil thing that ignorant, superstitious and hysterical minds could conjure up or imagine, and then the poor innocent and defenseless soul was put to death, murdered. But more often it was the custom for the accusers to make their complaint secretly. Then the local authorities would close in swiftly and suddenly without warning and nab the unsuspecting victim in his home or place of business and drag him to the public square and burn him at the stake without any pretense of holding any form of legal trial or hearing to determine the victim’s innocence ot guilt with respect to the accusations in the case.
Witchcraft murders commenced about 1233, and the lives of many innocent people were destroyed on the grounds of sorcery, heresy, evil-eye hoodooism, and other fantastic superstitions. Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans, was found guilty of sorcery7 and heresy and burned at the stake, May 30, 1431, at Rouen, France, at the age uf nineteen. Execution of so-called “witches” began in England about 1541. Some were burned at the stake, while others lost their heads by the executioner’s ax. Anne Higgins, apparently one of the first victims in America, was hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1656. During the outburst of the witchcraft mania in Mohra and Elfdal, Sweden, during 1669, thirty-eight children, seven to sixteen years of age, were executed as witches. It is estimated that at least 100,000 so-called “witches” were executed, mostly by burning them at the stake, in southern Germany prior to 1698. Sixteen women and five men were tried and convicted of witchcraft at Danvers or Salem Village, Massachusetts, and were hanged, during June, July, August and September, 1692. An old woman was tried and convicted of witchcraft, then stuffed into a pitch-barrel and burned to death, at Dornoch, Scotland, in June, 1727; her daughter also was convicted, but managed to escape from the executioner. Nobody can state accurately how many hundreds of thousands of innocent, harmless, helpless and defenseless unfortunate souls have lost their lives on account of such silly superstitions from 1233 to the present day merely because somebody imagined they were a “danger to society”.
The present-day attitude toward and treatment of a person suspected of being mentally ill or insane is not much different from the old superstition in regard to so-called “witches”. About the only difference consists in allowing the unfortunate victims to live out their natural lives in an asylum instead of burning them alive at the stake or beheading them with an ax or hanging them.
In some states a secret request or complaint made by one or two citizens is practically all that is required to force some innocent person into a state hospital or insane asylum for the rest of his life. In many instances an insanity commission in secret session decides the accused person named and described in the secret complaint is guilty as charged and then makes all necessary arrangements to commit him to the custody of a state hospital or insane asylum. Many an innocent person is illegally taken to a state hospital or insane asylum against his own wishes and forced to stay there until the officials decide to let him out; and he can’t help himself, because this hijacking procedure deprives him of all lawful means of defending himself.
There are patients now in custody of a state hospital, and others who have been paroled and dismissed from custody, who will tell you they were secretly arrested at their place of residence without warning, by armed officers of the law, without a warrant. They were taken secretly to a state hospital, without a personal hearing or trial, and placed behind locked doors and iron-barred windows, deprived of virtually all their civil liberties, and held in custody and treated like convicts in a penitentiary or dumb animals in a cage. They were peacefully occupied or were causing no disturbance of any kind at the time they were illegally taken into custody and deprived of their constitutional rights, and they traveled many miles, in some cases over a hundred miles, from their place of residence to a state hospital, and arrived under their own power, i.e., they were able to walk, talk and fight if necessary; so they were not in any Avay “helplessly sick”. They had caused no actual tangible damage or bodily injury to anyone and had never been legally convicted of violating any statute law; so they were technically innocent individuals according to the Constitution. No adequate investigation by due process of law was made to determine if the accusations against them were true or false. They were given no intelligence test, or personal hearing or trial of any kind to determine scientifically and accurately the true condition of their health, or their innocence or guilt with respect to thei accusations stated in the complaint against them. They had no opportunity to speak in their owm defense or to be defended by legal counsel before they were deprived of their civil liberties and sent to a state hospital as a chattel-patient-prisonerhostage in custody of the state. Their friends were not notified and therefore were unable to give aid and assistance in time to save them from the disgrace, humiliation and irreparable damage of being adjudged mentally ill or insane and committed to a state hospital or insane asylum. The general public was unaware of the action on account of its secrecy. No test was made to deteri^ne if the one or twTo parties who made tjie secret complaint in the case had sufficient intelligence, moral decency and the good health necessary to make them qualified and competent to recognize and diagnose symptoms of mental illness. No investigation was made to determine if the secret request or complaint involved ulterior motives or not.
Only a careless and incompetent judge would call a person mentally ill or insane without seeing him, or call him “guilty” without giving him an opportunity to r speak in his own defense or to be defended by legal counsel. In such procedure as i this the insanity commission acts merely as a "rubber stamp” and does little more than translate a secret request or complaint into psychiatric terminology. Where such careless procedure as this , prevails it is highly probable that much injustice exists and many innocent persons are ruined for life merely to please the one or two individuals who trumped up the secret complaint in the case.
There is nothing scientific about such rubber-stamp commitment as this. It makes a farce of justice. It is nothing more riOr less than a shameful system of appeasement for and political concession to the one or two individuals who make the secret request or complaint in the case. It promotes mob rule and violence; encourages the strong to oppress the weak without justifiable cause or reason. It promotes bigotry, neophobia and the evil practices that destroyed hundreds of thousands of innocent and harmless persons solely on account of other people's superstitions during the era of witchcraft mania from 1233 to 1750.
The principles upon which insanity (or witchcraft) action like this is conducted threaten to undermine the Constitution of the United States and jeopardize the safety, security, property and general welfare of every American citizen. This “witchcraft” practice of snatching an innocent person from his place of residence and treating him like a criminal is a shameful desecration of American ideals and traditions of justice and is a violation and repudiation of the Constitution.
In the field of so-called “mental illness” relatively insignificant, inconsequential faults and commonplace errors are often classified and put in the same category with manslaughter, rape or murder; for the penalty can be just as severe. Patients whose original offense was no worse than disturbing the peace of one or two persons, and who have never caused any tangible damage or bodily injury and who are technically innocent citizens according to the Constitution, have been stripped of all civil liberties and human rights and forcibly held in custody by mental institutions more than forty years at a cost to taxpayers exceeding $10,000. Many persons are sent to state hospitals and held in custody there for the remainder of their lives on less evidence than the average police court considers sufficient to justify a thirty-day sentence.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is relatively a new profession. It is the latest and newest of the sciences. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick says: “In the development of the sciences astronomy came first, and after that geology, biology, sociology; until last of all came psychology.”
More books have been written about the human mind and mental disorders in the last fifty years than during all previous history, and the number and nature of the inconsistencies, contradictions and conflicting opinions among the authors of these books is unparalleled. Some of the “monstrosities” described in these books have no counterpart anywhere in the world; they are, in fact, nothing but imaginary creatures dreamed up by the hallucinated imagination of the author.
Hundreds of new names for so-called “mental disorders” have been invented; so there are now ten reasons for calling a person insane where there was only one reason fifty years ago. More people are being adjudged insane today than ever before in the history of mankind. One of the mental tests given by some mind specialists employs “ink splotches” from which to deduce personality classification. Others might be using ouija boards to detect symptoms of mental disorder. Psychiatry is still in a category very closely related to fortune telling, astrology, mesmerism, numerology, phrenology, mind-reading, hoodooism, witchcraft, and the occult sciences. Whether present-day psychiatric fortune telling is an improvement over witchcraft or merely a modern version of the same thing masquerading in a new dress is a debatable question.
Psychiatry is a relatively new field in which a great amount of theory and experimentation and lack of general agreement still abounds. New theories, new drugs, new treatments, new cures, new experiments and new discoveries of all kinds are in process of development in this field. Many of the 500,000 or more mentally afflicted patients in mental institutions throughout the nation serve as the experimental “guinea pigs” in this field of so-called “science”. Shock treatments by artificial fever, insulin, metra-zol or electricity are still in the experimental and research stage, and it is roughly estimated by the highest authorities on the subject (viz., the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute, 912 South Wood St., Chicago, Ill., as reported by Effie Alley, January 14, 1945, staff writer for the Sunday Her aid-American) that only about one-third of those treated by this method recover. This ratio of survival is about as good as that of nine shipwrecked sailors among a school of man-eating sharks: three of them might reach shore alive. If shock treatments make two worse and one better out of every three persons treated, then it is evident such treatments are doing more harm than good, and are therefore dangerous and may imperil the lives of innocent patients who are subjected to the excruciating ordeal. Patients who have had shock treatments by metrazol have been heard to plead and beg the doctors not to give them any more of such treatments. Therefore these shock treatments that are becoming a popular method of torturing patients are about as merciful and beneficial as being hit on the head with a blackjack. Little can be said for such treatment of innocent, harmless and helpless patients even if it be claimed that thus it is hoped to find the cause and cure for mental illness and insanity.—John F. Needham, Iowa.
Ungrateful
IT SEEMS that the Danes were ungrateful over the seizure of their country by the Pacelli-Hitler “new order”. It appears that twice within a period of five weeks British parachutists dropped in to see some of their Danish friends who were guarding Danish industrial plants where certain war equipment was being made. The British suggested that they be allowed to plant bombs; and while the Danish might have thought there was something a little irregular about such a request, yet, after thinking things all over, they concluded that would be a neighborly act, and the bombs were planted. The Nazis heard about it, and, do you know, not only did they dislike it, but they disapproved of it. They
Denmark
thought the Danish guards ungrateful in allowing it. J
There were numerous other similar incidents. Some Danish boys robbed German soldiers of bayonets, revolvers, ammunition and hand grenades, and before they could put their boyish plans into execution they got caught and were sent to prison for terms up to five years. A younger brother of one of the boys smuggled in a saw, with which the boys cut the bars of their cell. For many nights in succession, the boys climbed out of their window, balanced along the wall, reached freedom, carried out intensive sabotage against the Germans, and returned before daybreak to their cells. All went well until one night when
the R.A.F. came over and the boys were caught on the streets and dared not go to a public shelter, knowing that they would be recognized. The result was that ■they were tried again, and this time two of the boys were given ten-year sentences, while the third was given fifteen years. While the Danish people enjoyed i this boyish exploit hugely, the Nazi authorities were much displeased.
There was another occasion for displeasure. A Danish fish peddler had been sent to prison for three months for . shouting, “’Nice fat fish, as fat as Goering.” It was thought that he had been disrespectful to one of the most important men of the “new order”. When the three months were up, a crowd of 20,000 Danish citizens met him, presented him with a new wagon loaded with fish, and' followed him through the streets, shouting, “Nice fat fish; as fat as they were three months ago.”
Taking It Out on the Jews
Shortly after this last occurrence the Nazis decided to resort to acts of retaliation, and, as usual, made the Jews their scapegoats. Deportation of these unhappy people began, to destinations of horror in Germany and Poland. The . Swedish government nobly offered homes to all those who had had prewar homes in Denmark. The Nazis rejected this kind offer. They wanted to see human suffering, and they saw it. More than 1,000 of the alleged 10,000 fled to Sweden in a single night. It cost them up to $750 each to get fishermen to row them across the strait, at least two miles wide. Many tried to swim it. German Navy gunners killed many, who otherwise would have escaped.
Within the next week great numbers of Danish Jews committed suicide; the number is unknown, because the Nazis do not permit the publication of death notices. In another week came the infamous order that all Jews in Denmark must wear the yellow star. King Christian of Denmark promptly and publicly
announced that he and all his family would wear the star and consider it an honor to do so. ■ ’
The next step was to strip the Jews of all their property, if they were poor. Of course, the Nazi officials accepted bribes, thus “giving those who could afford to pay huge ransoms a chance to ‘negotiate’ ”. The Devil’s idea, as exemplified in the "purgatory” racket, is that all favors are for those w’ho have the cash that in a pinch they can put down on the head of the barrel. As far as the poor are concerned, the Nazis and the Hierarchy have the same idea. Christ Jesus was one of earth’s very poor. Either one of these crowds would, without hesitation, have robbed Him of everything He had, including His last garment, and of all hope of everlasting life in a better world. Also, and important, Christ was a Jew.
The robberies were carried out in the most barefaced manner imaginable. In the case of the Jews that had fled, their furniture was seized and taken to Germany. When deported, the same course was followed. In short, in every Nazi-, occupied country the Jews are being robbed of everything they have; and others are being treated similarly.
The last act of the Danish Jew tragedy came two months later, when 52 little Jewish children who had been in the Vester prison in Copenhagen for that time, were finally entrained to follow their parents to Germany or Poland. Those who witnessed their departure to the land of the Nazis said it was “the most terrible scene yet witnessed in Denmark”.
Denmark Loathes Dictatorships
It does not suit the Finns, Swedes, Norse or Danes to be bossed even by one another. Originally all of one race, they manifest the strong differences of temperament and individuality which mark them wherever they go. They like to run their own affairs in their own way. At the last Danish election the Nazi leaders called on the electorate to abstain from voting, with the result that 15 percent more voters appeared than in any previous election.
Denmark has or did have old-age pensions for all over 65, and in no other land were the poor so secure against ill-treatment or neglect. Many of the large factories have rooms in which babies can be brought to be nursed by working mothers. Illiteracy is down to not more than one-tenth of one percent. The Papacy is ignored and held in the contempt that it deserves. A high sense of honor is sought. A Danish workman, after paying rent for twenty-five or thirty years, becomes the owner of the flat in which he lives.
The 1,500 co-operative dairies are models for the rest of the world. Every farmer is within one mile of one. Danish industrial workers have or did have insurance benefits of all kinds, against illness, accident, unemployment and widowhood. Hospital service and medical attendance are or were free to stricken members of trade unions.
The Danes have the reputation of being the most hospitable people in the world. They take the best care of animals ; there are laws protecting them in circuses, menageries and zoos. Danish pigs are the world’s top-notchers. The average yield of milk per cow is almost twice that of the average American cow.
King Christian X, 74 years of age, is the tallest, most informal and most popular of European kings. On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark although a ten-year pact pledging Germany not to make war or use force against Denmark had been signed 313 days previously. How the Jesuit-trained Hitler could possibly have been true to a promise for that length of time is not known.
An Apartment Caretaker Learns in Court
High Court Vindicates Tenants’ Right to Receive Jehovah’s witnesses
WITH a final self-satisfied snort, William Walgren, caretaker of a pretentious apartment building in a fashionable section of Minneapolis, Minn'e-sota, wryly dusted his hands in tribute to the conspicuous “no peddling” sign at the building entrance as. he watched two blue-coated policemen hustle George Korich, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, off to jail. And why shouldn’t he feel exultant? Hadn’t he falsely convinced the ' officers that Korich had surged into the building as a demented crusader, wildly banging on the walls and pulling at the doorknobs in an attempt to peddle some books he was carrying ? Hadn’t he pleaded to the police how he had asked the intruder to leave and how Korich stubbornly refused to hear? Yes, he had, he said. The police were enthusiastically ' convinced by Walgren that they had indeed rounded up a real rascal.
, Although lacking the “color” of the caretaker’s story, the facts of the incident leading up to the arrest are of considerable interest to those who are concerned with the preservation of the people’s right of freedom of worship. The incident took place substantially as follows :
In the course of his duties as a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses, George Korich, in February of 1943, was personally calling on all the people residing in the neighborhood which he served and was providing all persons of good-will toward Almighty God with Bible literature explaining many perplexing problems and timely questions.
Never supposing that the twenty families residing in the well-kept apartment building at 3320 Nicollet avenue had any less right than their neighbors to receive this literature, he proceeded to call at their doors and explain his mission just as in other cases. While he was thus in-
terviewing these people, Mr. Walgren, the caretaker, put in his appearance and informed Mr. Korich that it was against the rules of the building for anyone to peddle from door to door without his prior permission. Courteously, Korich s explained that he was not a peddler or I' solicitor but was a minister of the gospel 1 engaged in interviewing the individuals residing in the building and that the peddling rule did not apply to him. Unconvinced, Walgren still insisted that the work be stopped. Finally, after more dis- cussion, it appearing that Walgren would not reason on the matter, Korich left. .
A month later Korich returned to the building to visit with a man of goodwill who had, on his previous visit, manifested a desire to learn more about God’s purpose as expressed in the Bible, by inviting him to return. Hardly had he entered the building, however, when the caretaker rushed up from the basement, grabbed him by the shoulder, and demanded : “Didn’t I tell you to get out and stay out?” Calmly, Korich asked him to remove his hands. He then tried to ex’ plain the purpose of his visit. But Walgren was much too excited to listen, and summoned a fearful tenant to call the police. Walgren then went downstairs, where he was joined by the janitor from the adjoining apartment house, and the two stood guard at the entrance to prevent the minister, Korich, from leaving. Very shortly the police arrived and, after listening to the caretaker’s misrepresentations concerning the incident and his demand that Korich be arrested, gladly consented to take him to headquarters and prefer charges.
Without giving him a chance to demonstrate the falsity of the charges, the desk officer ordered that Korich be locked up on charges of disorderly conduct. Desiring to be more specifically informed about this charge, Korich' re-■ quested a copy of the complaint, to which the desk officer snapped, “1 wish I had shoes with brass plates to kick you, and that would be your copy of the complaint.” Thereupon Korich was locked up in jail, where he remained for five days, pending a hearing in the municipal court.
St, Patrick Causes Slight Delay
The city attorney, Leo P. McHale, displayed the same enthusiasm that seems to be characteristic of many prosecutors given the chance to prosecute Jehovah’s witnesses. When the trial was called, the defendant asked for a continuance, and the court adjourned the case to March 17. This date, however, was not at all satisfactory to prosecutor McHale, who immediately objected on the ground that Marcli 17 wTas a “semi-holiday”, being “St. Patrick’s day”. Considerately to the prosecutor the judge set another date, which would not conflict with veneration of St. Patrick, and released defendant Korich on a $200 bond.- When the case was finally called for trial, despite the earnest efforts of defense counsel, Korich was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $10, and in default thereof, be imprisoned at hard labor for ten days in the city workhouse. From this judgment an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Minnesota.
In fi brief filed by Jehovah’s witnesses it was carefully shown that Jehovah’s witnesses were engaged in doing a good work for the public welfare and their visits at the homes of the people did not, as a matter of law, constitute disorderly conduct. It was further argued that the people residing in the apartment house had a constitutional right to have Jehovah’s witnesses call on them, and this right could not be destroyed by- the arbitrary action of the apartment-house management in assuming to keep Jehovah’s witnesses from carrying on their activity in the building. Finally, it was shown that if the conviction was upheld the ordinance must fall because of the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, press, assembly, and worship. Squarely submitting to the court the vital issue in the case, the brief concluded:
Now the vital question for this court to decide is: Shall a sincere follower of Jesus Christ be free in fact in this country to serve Almighty God without censorship, let or hindranee, as such freedom is secured for the country’s every inhabitant; or shall local authorities through dictatorial methods be permitted at will to jail and mistreat citizens engaged in a lawful, orderly and Christian work? If the power of local officials is thus extended, then each individual’s service to Almighty God will only be under the- direction of the “'police power”. Such is the miserable condition that now afflicts the people on the blood-soaked soil of Europe.
Visibly anxious about the case,. the prosecution filed its reply, citing many out-of-date and inapplicable decisions by means of which it was hoped to sidestep, the legal argument advanced in behalf of Korich. These counter-arguments were then pointedly answered by counsel for Jehovah’s witnesses in a hardhitting reply brief and the case was submitted to the court for decision.
A Sound Decision
On February 19, 1945, the Supreme Court of Minnesota announced its'decision, a remarkable victory in favor of the people’s right to worship God as He has commanded! Brushing to one side the highly colored statement of facts manufactured by the State, the Supreme Court proceeded to show that Korich’s activity in the apartment house was entirely lawful and that the caretaker had no right whatever to interfere with his orderly activity in the building. In reversing the conviction, the court pointed out that Korich
was proceeding in a quiet and orderly manner when he was suddenly confronted by the caretaker, who grasped him by the shoulder and demanded: “Didn’t I tell you to get out and stay out ?” Without raising his voice, defendant requested the caretaker to remove his hands, and then, in a calm and courteous manner, stated that he was a minister of the gospel and that the building rule against solicitors did not apply to him. None of the tenants appeared to testify that they had been disturbed by defendant or that he had acted improperly in addressing them. When the police officers appeared, he again calmly explained that he considered himself a clergyman, and he presented his card for identification. In a peaceful manner, he accompanied the officers to the station. His calmness and courtesy may have been annoying to the caretaker as well as to the police officers but such annoyance does not justify a finding of disorderly conduct. Not every annoyance is born of culpable conduct. No commotion or disturbance is shown to have been caused by defendant. There is nothing in the evidence to show that the reasonable tendency of defendant’s actions was to arouse anger to the extent that a disturbance or a breach of the peace would result.
The dignity with which this Christian minister, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, deported himself in the face of exasperating circumstances stands in sharp contrast with the childish, tantrum-like conduct of those who attempted to stop his activity. Vindicated by this courageous decision, the right of Jehovah’s witnesses to visit apartment-house residents in their places of abode, for the purpose of discussing in an orderly manner the purposes of Jehovah God, as revealed in the Bible, stands on surer footing.
Apartment-house caretakers who have heretofore attributed some mysterious legal omnipotence to signs warning against “peddling and soliciting” should reflect long enough on this decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court to realize that such signs are no magic incantation that would give them the right to arbitrarily rule out the constitutional right of their tenants to receive Jehovah’s witnesses in apartments they have rented. Apartment tenants have the same legal rights as do the tenants of any other landlord in so far as the right to be educated concerning God’s Word is concerned.
Who Fight at Armageddon?
ALMOST six thousand' years of human history is behind us. Upon every page of it appear the marks of - Satan the Devil. In all that time he has reproached God, defied Him and turned the people away from Him. God has permitted this for Satan to have full opportunity to carry out his boast against God. He has promised, however, that the time will come when He will put an end to the fraudulent deception of the human race, and that He will open the eyes of the meek ones of earth and deliver them. He will put an end thereto by the battle of Armageddon.
Taking the perspective given us by the prophetic Scriptures, imagine that the hour has arrived when God sends forth His beloved Son Christ Jesus as Field Marshal, to lead the fight against the entire Devil’s organization, including the postwar organization of the nations upon this earth. It is God’s fight; but He acts through His Son, whom He has placed upon the throne and who is the priest forever of the Most High God. In this great conflict Jehovah is the right-hand support of His faithful Priest and King.;—Psalm 110.
The prophet Jeremiah was given a vision of the day of God’s wrath, and he wrote: “The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” “Therefore prophesy thou .against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. . . . Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” —Jeremiah 10:10; 25: 30-33.
God’s consecrated people on earth, the true Christians, do not engage in the actual combat at Armageddon. This is the fight of God Almighty; and the fight is led by His beloved Son, the Priest of whom Melchizedek was a type. Long ago Jehovah’s prophet recorded concerning Him: “The Lord [Jehovah] at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the [nations], he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” (Psalm 110:5, 6) He is also fighting for the salvation of the people who have taken their stand for Jehovah God and His Theocratic Government under Christ Jesus. He does so that they may be delivered from the oppressor.
The visible wicked ruling system, symbolized in Revelation, chapters thirteen and nineteen, as the “wild beast” and made up of profiteers, politicians and clergy of religion, is taken captive at Armageddon. Its mouthpiece, that wicked system known as the “false prophet”, is also taken; and these are destroyed without leaving a trace, all being thrown, figuratively speaking, into the burning flames of everlasting destruction. (Revelation 19:20) Those wicked systems of oppression fall, never to rise again. Then the Lord seizes the invisible enemy, Satan the Devil and all the demon hosts of his Dragon organization, and destroys them. Thus Satan the Devil is bound and cast into the abyss, that he ftlay deceive the nations no more.—Revelation 20:1-3.
Thus is Satan’s complete organization swept from the universe into oblivion. The name of Jehovah God as Universal Sovereign is vindicated, and that without the true Christians’ striking a blow amid that great battle. The reason these do not is that Jehovah has said: “The battle 'is not yours, but God’s.” To them He has said further: “I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.” (2 Chronicles 20:15; Isaiah 51:16) The hand of the Lord is over His little ones; and they that trust Him implicitly and that will prove faithful to Him are free from harm and will continue to sing His praises until the end of Satan’s organization.
A description of that final battle is referred to, at Revelation, chapter seventeen, as a 'war between the beast and the woman that rides it and the Lamb’, in which the Lamb, Christ Jesus, is victorious, because He fights the battle on the side of Jehovah. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”—Revelation 17:14.
Let no one deceive himself into thinking that the battle of Armageddon is a mere fight between men; or that it is only a picture. The Scriptures make it clear that it is real. It is the battle of God Almighty, in which He will clear the earth of the wicked system that Satan has used to blind the people for all these centuries. Satan has already been ousted from heaven; he, has been cast down to our earth. Now he is making a desperate attempt to destroy those who witness for God, and to blind * all others and turn them away from God. But with the end of Armageddon, when his systems have been cast into utter destruction and when he is restrained, then will be fulfilled the prdphetic utterance long ago made concerning the Devil: “The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing . . . Since thou art laid down.”—Isaiah 14; 4-8.
The Christian’s present position as we face Armageddon is illustrated in the procedure of Jehovah’s faithful servant Gideon against the hordes of Midian. The Midianites were the enemies of God’s people, and encamped in a valley in Israel. Gideon, who is a type of Christ Jesus, was directed to put them to flight. What his followers did well pictures what the Christian’s part will be in the great and final conflict. When it came to the time of going into action, Gideon had only three hundred men. These he divided into three companies, and put in each man’s hand a trumpet and an empty pitcher and a lamp within that pitcher. His orders were that these should be stationed on three different sides of the camp of the Midianites, and that they should watch Gideon; and that when Gideon should give the command each one must blow his trumpet, break the pitcher which he held in his hand, and hold high his light and shout: “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” When this was done in actuality, the Midianites in their fear fell upon each other and slew one another, and the army of the Midianites perished.—Judges 7:16-20.
Even so the Scriptures teach that in these closing days of this world of wickedness, and with the battle of Armageddon coming on, it is the duty and privilege of those who are really consecrated to Jehovah God to lift high the light of truth and sing the praises of Jehovah God, proclaiming the message that He is God and that Jesus Christ is His “King of kings”. For “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come”.—Matthew 24:14.
Renovating (?) the World
AFTER fifteen centuries of bungling, during which time the world has become progressively ten times more the r child of hell than it was in the first place, ^the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, by its 4 spokesman Archbishop McNicholas, of Cincinnati, made the following boast:
In renovating the world the Catholic Church alone can take the initiative and can give that guidance assured by Christ when ■ he said: ‘I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the world.’ A total moral order in the nations can be inaugurated or strengthened in a postwar world only by the Church divinely established by Christ.
Mr. McNicholas made that statement during the three-hour ceremony in which he was breaking in a new bishop. Five persons fainted while the performance was going on. Another voluble spokesman of the same organization, Fulton J. Sheen, backs up Mr. McNicholas with the assertion, "We must fight for a new order based on justice and morality.” Bishop Noll, America’s unofficial censor, has the same idea.
Under the circumstances, it seems fortunate that a subscriber in New England, a Catholic, and a broad-minded, educated one, saw fit soine time ago to write this expression of his own views:
The Roman Catholic Church is an Italianized political state which is and shali be Italian-controlled. Under its political status it is ruled by a political head, who functions as an absolute monarch who is infallible. As such, it ceases to be a religious institution, but a sect, and the first law of this sect is to be obedient to this state before God. In other words, one must accept the Roman Catholic Church first in order to serve God. A Catholic must serve the church, and be at all times obedient to its discipline. This is in no way an attack on Christian religion or the doctrines of Jesus Christ, which I follow as my religious persuasions.
God Not Confounded with Politics
I do not confound my God, nor Jesus Christ, with politics, but this creating a political body and state with its potentate as the ruling head is dragging the religion into a political cesspool and thus makes God and Jesus Christ political figures under the domination of this Italianized political, state, ruled by an Italian named Pacelli at the present time.
This is the only organization or political state which claims the sole patent rights on the use of the word Christian, and this head the only one to claim to be the authorized deputy of Christ on earth, claiming the title of vicar of Christ on earth. Every Roman Catholic is a citizen of this Italianized political state, and Catholics in the United States contribute more money to the support of this political state than any other people on earth. For all this we have had only the four horsemen (cardinals) as our representative proportion, yet there are more Catholics in the United States than in Italy, the home of this potentate who rules over the Vatican state. If this is not taxation without representation, what is? And as far as “packing the court”, notice every time a new cardinal is created how many more “princes” are added to the Italian list.
And this Italianized political state is not concerned in the politics of any nation! Could there be a greater falsehood than that, when we see the part it has played in Spain, France, Germany, and other countries? The Vatican made “concordats” with Hitler’s Nazi regime; it did the sarfie in France when Petain and Laval, the Hitler stooges, took over France and the Fascist , “new order” was put in force, and the present Pacelli recognized him as the representative of the French government. In Spain'Franco was blessed as the savior of Spain by the late Achille Ratti. In Italy this same Ratti espoused Fascism and recognized Mussolini and gave full support to him and his “new order”. In exchange for this bribe, Mussolini restored the temporal power of the Vatican, thus re-creating the political
status of the church which Garibaldi destroyed.
Why Democracies Are Opposed
In every country where there has been trouble with this church, the causes have been more political than a question of dogmas. Wherever the governing power sought to break the political statue of this church as the state church, the Vatican opposed it. It has opposed any democratic form of government which makes it a point to separate the church from the state. That was the main cause in Spain and Portugal, as well as in France and other countries where it functioned as the state church and religion.
It has been the avowed enemy of the Soviet Union under the mask of fighting the “menace of Communism”. It has been the same in the United States, but, if the Soviet Union would make any deal favorable to the Vatican, we would hear none of this anti-communistic propaganda as far as, the Roman Catholic Church is concerned.
The latest piece of political hypocrisy of the Vatican was the receiving of an “envoy” from Japan, that heathen nation ruled by a direct son of the sun god, in the face of all the stories of atrocities on Catholic missionaries, nuns and priests. While the Vatican cries out against Communism and Communists, it makes pacts with the Nazi and Fascist nations. This is' nothing less than blasphemous hypocrisy; to be on the winning side, no matter how this war turns out.
A Dip into History
When did this Chureh become a political institution ? From its start, when apostate Christianity fused with Roman paganism in Constantine’s time, and increasingly so since Charlemagne created the Holy Roman Empire. In the early days, as now, Christ’s true chureh was a body composed of evangelists who were concerned in the spreading of Christ’s doctrines. Long before the foundation of this Roman Catholic Church those early Christians served God. There was no such thing as a Roman Catholic Chureh.
The Ethiopians had the Coptic church long before the Roman Catholic was founded. Even in China the Nestbrians were functioning. They were followers of the early Christians. Even in Ireland and England those founders of Christianity were the early Christians. Yet this Italianized political state claims everything.
Well, how about the Greek Orthodox, which claims to be the original Christian church? Is there anyone yet who has disproved that claim? And that break came about through politics, two popes at the same time, each claiming to be the right and only successor of Peter, but I never have yet heard the Orthodox claiming to be the vicar of Christ on earth. And the Roman Catholic Church hates its twin sister more than it does the Protestants. It is really funny, like two people in * an argument, and then some outsider steps in and takes over the whole show.
The Roman Catholic Church claims God was driven out of the Soviet Union. Well, from the looks of it, He must have left Italy in disgust. The Roman Catholic Church is certainly suffering from its own sins again and maybe there are heretics (?) in that political group who will start another great Reformation, and as those tortures of the Holy Inquisition are outlawed today, so there will be no more burnings at the stake. In all that body there must be some Savonarolas, Giordano Brunos, Joan of Ares, John Husses and other martyrs, some of them canonized saints today by this same “Christian” body which inflicted those tortures on them.
Tremendous Investments at Stake
This Italianized political state is one of the greatest capitalistic institutions in the world, which is one of its reasons for espousing Fascism and for being a deadly enemy of 1 Communism and the Soviet Union. To go into details regarding the holdings and investments would take up too much time and space, but the reason for its opposition to and its hatred for Communism is because it seeks to continue the capitalistic system with all its exploitations, for, if Communism came into being, that would destroy capitalism, and all these holdings and investments would
be liquidated. It is also the greatest holder of untaxed property and real estate, which is the private property of Vatican City. Its cardinals and bishops arc princes and Jords of this Italianized political state, and the priests are the body politic, while those comuni cants who comprise the whole have nothing to say regarding the administration of affairs, the election of popes, cardinals, bishops, or other of the hierarchy, but must contribute to the support of these overlords.
We hear a lot of talk these days about democracy. How’ about a little democracy Iiere? “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” If Roman Catholics are not victims of that, what are they? But there used to be a time when the laity had some say in the politics of the church, until it became a powerful body. Then came the time when the 1 clergy ceased to be the servants and the laity were pushed out. They were not intelligent enough to be concerned in the politics of the church; that should, be left to the clergy. Here we see Fascism existing long before Mussolini and Hitler were even thought of.
Freedom of “Religion”
The Roman Catholic Church is the loudest advocate of freedom of religion, tolerance and such talk, but when it comes to being tolerant, we see them attacking Jehovah’s witnesses, and using their influence to have other groups gang up and have them put off the air, and other un-American methods to silence them. “Freedom of religion for those who do not oppose us, or who do not tell the true facts and history of the Roman batholic Church,” is their idea of tolerance. In other countries they try to prevent any other denomination from functioning, claiming the I sole rights to those territories, like a gangster who runs a certain section for some racket, saying “Keep off, or else—.'”
The idea of saluting the flag is merely a custom; there is no law that compels a person to do that. There is no harm if a person refuses to doff his hat as an outward sign. If Jehovah’s witnesses look upon it as against their principles, why force them to salute the flag ?’When Geslcr, according to the story in William Tell, placed his hat atop a pole, and compelled those who passed to bend the knee in salute, that was the act of a tyrant. Those who defied his order were persecuted. A Catholic raises his hat when passing in front of a Catholic church. That is silly to some people, but it is a custom which becomes a force of habit. If anybody criticized a Catholic for that there is reason to believe that an argument would be started. Saluting the flag doesn’t make that person any more patriotic than the one who does not. Many a scamp uses that method, like waving the flag, as a cloak of decency to cover a dirty hide. Is there anything more ridiculous than bending the knee and kissing a bishop’s or a cardinal’s ring, or kissing the pope’s foot ? There are some Catholics who look upon all this stuff as silly nonsense. The whole thing is submission and humility to serve: “When in Rome do as the Romans do.”
The Exposure of Hypocrisy
The greatest menace to this Italianized political state is Jehovah’s witnesses, because they expose hypocrisy, and the political aspirations of this political body. If we want to find intolerance and bigotry, we need not look into the Ku Klux Klan, but right among Catholics themselves, who are so egotistic as to think they hold the keys of heaven and the sole patent rights on Christ and the disposition of souls. If that were true then it would be God help the rest of the world; we’re going to “sizzle in hell”. If that were true I think I would prefer that to being in company with some who are supposed to be in heaven.
We claim to have the greatest nation on earth and boast of all our freedoms, the right of fret: speech, press and religion, no racial animosities, etc. Yet we burn Negroes at the stake, and lynch ’em. We give them only the menial jobs to earn their livelihood. Wc use the Jim Crow law on them; forbid them to travel on our trains, only in Jim Crow cars. The same applies to hotels. To those who call Russia a godless country, we can ask if such disgusting conditions exist there that we find in this so-called “godly” nation.
If any institution needs a purging from corruption, the Boman Catholic Church can very well stand it for its own good. As long as it is a political state it ceases to be a religious institution, concerned in God. Let me aide this question: Is the Boman Catholic Church any more godly under its present political status than it was previously?
It would take New England to produce ap American Catholic that could write a letter like that, ,
Reformation Comes Too Late
It will be observed that all three of these gentlemen, Mr. McNicholas, Mr. Sheen and the one from New England, see the need of reformation, but they vary as to what is to be reformed and who is to do the reforming and how far the reforms are to go. Jehovah’s witnesses cry, “Forsake her, ... for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.” (Jeremiah 51:9) Let’s call up six more Roman Catholic witnesses. Here they are:
In 1527, the Abbe de la Roche Arnauld said:
Do you wish to provoke revolutions, to produce the total ruin of your country? Call in the Jesuits. Suffer them to overthrow the fundamental principles of society and government; let them -sow the seeds of hatred and dissension, and let them goad the people till they destroy each other for opinions they do not understand.
In 1602 the “Reverend Father” Humphrey Ely, in writing of the Jesuits, referred to them as
those unnatural bastards that do attend to naught else but conquests and invasions.
In a letter to Montholon (date not at hand) Napoleon I said:
The general of the Jesuits insists on being a sovereign over sovereigns. Wherever they are admitted they will be masters, cost what it may. Their sooiety is the irreconcilable enemy of constituted authority. Every crime, however atrocious, is a meritorious work if committed for the interests of the Jesuits.
In 1859 Alfred Michiels, the Roman Catholic Austrian imperial archivist, in Secret History of the Austrian Government, declared:
The ferocity of the Jesuits has been kept in the shade, while their craft has been brought to light. But their cruelty was superior to their craft. History offers nothing comparable with the butcheries organized by them. The ax at home, the sword abroad, were their means of propagandism. The chalice in one hand and the cross in the other, they organized a fearful butchery, before which the historian halts in stupefaction. Entire peoples must be exterminated. The number of victims did not disturb them; the solitudes created by murder did not terrify them -, the law of nature was annihilated. If all their victims could have issued from the tomb—the heroes who perished by the sword, the martyrs sacrificed on the scaffold, the population buried beneath the ruins of burning totvns, whole families exterminated by famine, young girls assassinated after innumerable outrages, infants tortured to obtain the conversion of their parents—the interminable procession would have covered sixty leagues. The Reign of Terror (in France 1789-93) was an idyll, a pastoral, compared with the oppressions of Ferdinand II. The Jesuits and Dominicans destroyed more victims than the whole of the ' Revolutionary Party since the beginning of the world. In fifty years they destroyed 20,000,000 human beings.
In 1871, in his Lecture on Re-union of the Churches, Rome’s great historian, Dr. J. I. von Dollinger, said:
The experience of three centuries shows that the Jesuits have no lucky hand. No blessing ever rests on their undertakings. The proverb about the Turk may be applied to them: “Where the Turk sets his foot grass never grows.” Their missions in Paraguay, Japan, Abyssinia, the Levant, the Greek islands, Persia, the Crimea, Egypt, have long since gone to ruin. The Society has devoted its best service to Spain. The result was the
bankruptcy and depopulation of that once powerful kingdom, and its loss of one possession after another; so that by the end of the 17th century it had become “an inanimate corpse, the skeleton of a giant”. They cooperated with the Inquisition for 200 years, mso that the higher education has been crushed, ^the scientific spirit strangled, and the country ruined in every department of life. Well might a Spanish diplomatist in Rome say: “The Jesuits are the wormwood that gnaws bn our bowels.”
In 1874, Lord Acton, another famous 'Roman Catholic historian, wrote:
The Vatican system Stands or falls with the doctrine that one may kill a Protestant. A man’s opinion of the papacy is determined by his opinion about religious assassination. If he accepts the primacy . . . with unconditional obedience he must have made terms with murder. ’
In 1876, Dr. von Dollinger, already mentioned, said:
By the proclamation of the infallibility,of the pope, the Bull of Leo X . . . whiclf declares that the burning of heretics is a work of the “Holy Ghost”, became an infallible idle of conduct.
In Law-abiding Arkansas
EVER since 1864-1865, when Arkansas had two state governments, a Confederate one with its capital at Washington, in Hempstead county, and a Union one with its capital at Little Rock, some of the good folks in that rich and fertile state have seemed to be somewhat confused as to just what laws to obey. That was the case, apparently, in September, 1942, when a priest with four bodyguards, and backed by eighty cars of armed mobsters, attacked Jehovah’s witnesses for exercising freedom of worship in Little Rock. The mobsters, most of them' drunk at the time, and egged on by the Arkansas Gazette, no doubt honestly thought the priest was the lawn The Little Rock police department thought so, t'oo, for as soon as the mob had beaten some of the Witnesses they promptly arrested the Witnesses, cursing them as they did so.
The Indians that live at Little Rock are too well educated and too good Americans to do a thing like that. When the officers of the 127th Field Artillery had it all fixed up to dress the regiment’s eight Sioux Indians in feathers and war paint, and put them behind a .75 millimeter gun, the Indians did not start in on their officers and scalp them or beat 22
them up because those officers tried to dress them wTith turkey feathers; not at all, they just insisted on eagle feathers or nothing, and after a while they got the eagle feathers all right, as was fitting.
There are some real good courts in Arkansas, and -some real goqd people along with the other kind, as there are everywhere. Near Helena, Albert Sydney Johnson, 50 years old, planter, had not heard about the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, apparently, because 79 years after the war was over he was given 2% years in prison for holding a man against his will to perform labor in payment of a debt, and a woman likewise, by threats and putting her in fear of a debt claimed. When suit was brought he even threatened persons in the case.
There was another courageous court at Jonesboro, in the northeastern part of the state, 100 miles north of Helena, last mentioned. There a lawyer and two other persons were given two-year terms in prison for causing the arrest of innocent persons on trumped-up charges, man-handling and extortion. When a case is settled like that it' does a lot of good; for the news gets* around among the lawless.
Can Dishonest People Pray Honestly?
' It seems that the Arkansas state police and other officers had honestly tried to clean up illegal handbook establishments. It also appears that the executive committee of the American Legion of Hot Springs, not knowing anything about any laws made by anybody outside of themselves, permitted Ben Harrison to put in telephones, and use runners, and dispense racing information. And they did this after one of their own committeemen, Marion Townsend, had warned them that they were liable to get into trouble. They did. The superintendent of the state police explained:
We did not consider that we were raiding the Legion. Our officers understood the room was more or less separate and apart from the Legion headquarters. The door opening on the stairway leading to the second floor bears a sign reading 'American Legion Headquarters’. Of course you have to go up those stairs to get to the back room, but I’m not sure whether you have to go through the Legion’s club rooms. I didn’t go up there.
It. seems that what is needed in Arkansas is a law specifying that nothing in any law shall be used to interfere with the activities of any mob engaged in attacking Jehovah’s witnesses, and that the American Legion is above and beyond all law, being a law unto themselves.
Ten days later the American Legion Founders, Milwaukee, dictated the words of a prayer, suggested to be offered in all churches, for a National Prayer Sunday. The prayer, if it follows Arkansas practice, ought to specify that the Legion is above all law, of any kind.
Maybe It Is the Religion
Maybe it is the religion that gets things wrong side up, upside down, back end to, and inside out. It used to be that way with fleshly Israel. Now in Arkansas there was Daniel Roy Stewart. He lived at Fort Smith, Arkansas, but he was studying theology at Kansas City, and was expecting to go into the preaching business, in which he probably hoped to clean up when some old man or woman in the congregation would fork over a life’s savings so that he could thenceforth live on Easy Street. Aleantime he was working, off and on, for the Farm Security Administration, where he thoughtlessly forged and uttered United States checks to the amount of $544. Uncle Sam arrested him, but maybe it may do him some good yet, if this religious business has not taken every shred of honesty out of his makeup.
It is sad to have to say it, but the natural language of the clergy is blasphemy. That is the only way to understand the words of “Reverend” Thomas L. Harris, pastor of the First Baptist church of Little Rock. The Arkansas Gazette reports him as having said, “God is depending upon America to be the world’s savior. We are his last hope.” Just to see the depths of blasphemy into which Mr. Harris has descended, compare his statement with that of Almighty God himself: '
The Lord [Jehovah] of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have’ thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand . . . This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord [Jehovah] of hosts hath purposed, and vtho shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?—-Isaiah 14:24, 26, 27.-
Mr. Harris’ mind has become befuddled by trying to believe that three times one is one, and that infinite love and wisdom and justice has a brimstone torture-pot awaiting all who do not accept the crazy theology of the days of -Torquemada. t
You Said It I
This is a crazy world; ' Its wonders never cease.
All civilized nations are at war;
All savages, at peace!—Selected.
“But God Meant It unto Good”
IN Miami, Fla., about seven years ago, _ I was sitting out in the front yard of our rented cabin, reading the Watchtower literature and looking up the s texts in my Bible, when along came one ^of Jehovah’s witnesses. We enjoyed discussing the Bible, but a feminine relative who shared the cabin with us was extremely hostile toward the message and showed her contempt for the witness.
We were very anxious to get a more ' comfortable place to live, and the witness was kind enough to speak to his landlady about a nice, roomy apartment she had for rent. We went to see the apartment; it was just what we wanted, so we gladly rented it. I was very grateful, but the feminine relative not only showed no appreciation, but blindly expressed further contempt for the message and for the witness, and sought to use her influence in the home against the good work that the witness was doing.
I defended his right to preach the message, and felt .indignant that a relative should say such unkind things about him. At the time, it was a rather disturbing experience, but it caused me to love creatures less and the Creator more, and I see now, as Joseph saw in Egypt, that God causes persecution to work out for good to those who love Him.
Now I, too, am a witness, and have been witnessing publicly for five years, going out at every opportunity. Last month I had the pleasure of being in the service 115 hours.
The witness that performed the kindly act of helping to add to our comforts, and who may have been wounded by some of the gibes and thrusts that came his way, will be rejoiced to know that my husband recently made a donation toward building a Kingdom Hall in the town in which I am now a witness. It is a great blessing to me that he speaks with appreciation of Jehovah’s witnesses; he believes that they are on the right track about the Bible. Apparently still remembering the act of the witness in finding us the apartment, he says of the witnesses that they are unusually fine people. As for the feminine relative, we have not seen her since we left Miami seven years ago, .
I think that many of Consolations readers will be interested in this illustration that the faithful witnessing for Jehovah extends to every avenue oflife; the Lord seems to have indicated that in the parable of the good Samaritan, did He not? Anyway, I know that the witness, “Shorty” Coup, that performed the act of kindness seven years ago will be glad to know that his labor was not in vain in the Lord.—H. C., North Carolina.
Witnessing with The Watchtower and Consolation in California
THE accompanying nine action pictures show Jehovah’s witnesses proclaiming the kingdom of Almighty God by the distribution of* the Watchtower and Consolation magazines, in Los Angeles, California. (1) This witness is stationed in front of a large market, and finds many an interested inquirer. (2) A friendly chat, about the Kingdom, of course. (3) The bank is closed; so the little witnesses are not in anybody’s way. (4) Street-corner testimony on South Broadway avenue. (5) This inquiring sailor accepted a booklet, which he promised to read. (6) Giving the witness on Central avenue. (7) Witnessing in the colored section. (8) A Kingdom smile and a hearing ear. (9) This faithful worker, nearly blind and menaced by paralysis, places many a magazine.
Witnessing with The Watchtower and Consolation in California
Pierre Abelard
Pierre Abelard (ab'e-lard) was a renowned philosopher and teacher of the early part of the twelfth century. . His real name was Pierre de Palais, \but his companions, when a young bnan at school, called him Bajolardus, meaning bacon-licker, Pierre asserted that he would be one who had the bacon, and called himself Havelardus (bacon-haver), which name later became , Abelard. The name stuck.
Pierre was not exactly born poor, but he gave up his inheritance to his young'er brothers, and while still very young went forth in quest of learning, leaving the little town near Nantes, where, A.D. 1079, he was born. Having mastered all that the province of Brittany could provide in the way of knowledge, he proceeded to Paris and became a pupil of Guillaume de Champeaux, a famous teacher in the Cathedral University of that city. Guillaume (William) was first charmed by his able pupil, then somewhat annoyed, and finally thoroughly disgusted, for Abelard took pleasure in showing off his ability as a disputant to the discomfiture of his master. It was not long until he was invited to leave. He was now 21. He removed to another city, Melun, where he opened up a school of his own, and soon had so many pupils that his health broke under the strain of his activities, but not before he had rfcmoved his school nearer to Paris, for more direct competition with his former teacher. Untiring for a while to his home, he returned to Paris in 1108 and found that William was no longer at the Cathedral school, but at a monastery outside the city. He renewed the controversy, and remained victor on the field.
Abelard now took up the study of divinity under another noted teacher, Anselm, and after a while became the rival of his instructor here also. Meanwhile his reputation became such that he was given the chair of instruction in philosophy at the Cathedral University, about 1115.
Abelard was, besides being learned, a man of fine appearance, having also distinguished manners, which made him most popular, so that he was surrounded by thousands of students, from all countries.
Abelard had now reached the pinnacle of fame and was feted and feasted to such an extent that he became convinced that he was about the only real philosopher left in the world. About this time.he made the acquaintance of a young girl, Heloise, who was both fair and intelligent, versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Abelard was attracted to her, and managed to become acquainted through her uncle, her guardian, and maneuvered things so that he also was invited to become her instructor. In this position ,he had unlimited opportunity to court the young lady, who returned his love with deepest sincerity. Not only did Abelard begin to neglect his work, but he made no effort to hide his relations to his pupil. Everybody knew of it, after a while, except her too-trusting guardian, Canon Fulbert. Heloise was, above all things, concerned about Abelard’s prospects of advancement. The conflict of love and what was believed to, be duty resulted in tragedy, the birth add death of a son, a secret marriage, a separation through misunderstanding, and an attack upon Abelard by the infuriated uncle, who entered his chamber at night and mutilated him.
Heloise retired to a nunnery, and Abelard, broken in body as well as brokenhearted, sought to bury himself in the Abbey of St. Denis. Upon urgent entreaties he went back to teaching (1120) and also took up writing, preparing a theological treatise in which he cautiously questioned the so-called “orthodox” doctrine of the “trinity”. His enemies were not long in charging him w’ith her-
esy and calling a council at Soissons to condemn him (1121). He was not convicted of error, nor was any real examination made of the ease, hut he was compelled to recite the Athanasian creed and to burn his book with his own hands, and was afterward sent to a monastery for correction. He remained there for but a t short time, however, being set at liberty and returning to his own monastery, but finding no consolation there. lie retired to a wilderness lodge, constructed of sticks and weeds, which, when it was noised abroad, attracted pupils to him in great numbers, who built a place where both they and their teacher might carry on. However, he was not satisfied, and being invited (1125) to be the abbot of the monks of St. Gildas, in Brittany, he continued with them for nearly ten years, striving to bring about some kind of decency among the disorderly and vicious 'Toly men” with whom fie was obliged to live. They at last so much resented his efforts that they were ready to kill him, but Abelard escaped their brotherly attempt upon his life.
He now took up writing again, and produced a story of his life, which he called “Story of My Calamities”, a book of great contrasts, Misfortune continued to follow him, and his enemies,
under the leadership of Bernard, again charged him with heresy. Bernard was the preacher of the crusades and had a “faith” that could swallow anything, whereas Abelard sought for understanding in the things he believed. Knowung that he would not get a fair hearing at the council before which he was called to appear at Sens, he appealed to Rome. Bernard, however, succeeded in having him condemned without a hearing, and forwarded information to Rome which resulted in his being condemned there also. On his way to .Rome Abelard wras obliged to halt at a place called Cluny, and the local abbot took him in, treated him kindly, and brought about a reconciliation between him and Bernard. He also succeeded in mitigating the sentence that had come from Rome. Abelard decided to stay with Abbot Peter, and died at Clunv after a short stav, on April 21, 1142. ' '
In spite of his misfortunes Abelard had an undeniable effect on the mode of thinking of his time. Free inquiry into things and a reasonable discussion of them were placed on a firm footing as a result of Abelard’s vigorous activity and able teaching, and the beginning made by him resulted in ever-widening circles of freedom of thought and expression.
A Clever
TWO 12-year-old boys did $10,000 worth of damage on the inside of an Episcopal church, Bayside, L. I., N. Y. They smashed glass doors, tore prayer books and hymnals to pieces, ripped kneeling cushions, shattered electric light bulbs, ripped a poor box from the wall, bent the cross on the baptismal font, ripped and tore the Bible that was on the altar, and pulled out and trampled on ten pipes of the pipe organ. As the boys left, they penciled “Hell to you” on the altar floor and on walls.
The reporter had all that information down pat, and though “it further; seems
Cover-up
to be common knowledge that one of the boys is a McCarthy” “and the neighbors in the vicinity of the church are of the opinion that the boys in question are Catholic”, all that escaped him. But he has to eat, and he knows full well who and what to cover up, and he made a good job of that, and deftly threw suspicion away from parochial to public schools by winding up his story with the probable fairy tale, “One of the boys, w'ho were not named, was said to be the son of a schoolteacher.” Said, said, said, said, said. -It is easy enough ■ to say anything.
Does ''Irish Linen'’ Originate in Belgium?
IT IS always a shock to learn things;
so it is a surprise to be told by the News from Belgium: ■
s t Most of the “Irish” linen is originally | Belgian, although international snobbism prevents it from being labeled as such, but well-informed people know that the Kortrijk flax and linen is of “unapproached excellence”.
The Belgians seem to know what they ■ are talking about. They give the facts. The valley of the Lys (or Leie) river, which flows into the Scheldt at the city of Ghent, seems to be the idesjl place for the growing of flax, and though there are plenty of other places on the planet where this useful textile plant can be grown, yet even the Russian flax-growers- send their product to the Lys valley to be made ready for the looms of the weavers of fine linens.
The way the flax is made ready is by retting it. It should be explained that retting is an aristocratic word for rotting. But that is getting ahead of the story. In the district of Kortrijk, Belgium, 50,000 workers grow flax in the low marshes along the river; then they weed it with their faces to the wind, so that they will not be sickened by the unpleasant odor; then, in the fall, they pull out the whole plants and bundle them in sheaves to dry. A year passes. Then comes the retting process. The dried flax is put into shallow trays and sunk in the river to rot. The rotting can be overdone or underdorie, but it just gives off a rotten smell from start to finish; though, if one is a Belgian, it would probably be wiser to refer to the odor as a retting one. Anyway, the Belgians claim that the whitest linen is that which is retted in the Lys river. And they appreciate their linen industry so much that the river is commonly called by them “The Golden River”.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND
With all nations shackled by World War II this proclamation is received with welcome as it is sounded forth in the ears of righteous God-believing people. Increasing joy and hope will be your gain as you follow the Scriptural truth to this heart-cheering con-. elusion through the pages of the new 384-page book entitled ■
Its 21 chapters are followed by valuable subject and scripture indexes, all contained within a beautifully designed and gold titled and embossed deep-maroon cloth cover.
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Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Argument to God’s Glory
SON, be wise, and make my 1VX heart glad, that I may answer him that rep roach eth me.” (Proverbs 27:11) Thus the Father admonishes His children, Jehovah’s witnesses. Being a spectacle to the entire universe, Jehovah’s witnesses are favored with having a share in settling the world-old controversy, “Who is Supreme?” For that reason, it is paramount that each servant of God know how to exercise the wisdom from above so as to furnish, by word and action, the required answer.
A course' of action dictated by strict adherence to Jehovah’s commands, as set forth in the Bible, will furnish that answer. The action of the servant of God in carrying out his divinely-directed free-education work must be positive. He who aggressively pushes the battle to the gate has God’s approval and protection. (Isaiah 28: 6) However, since that battle is not a carnal one, but is directed against the Devil, his invisible hosts and his demon-inspired doctrines taught and disseminated by the religious clergy, one must, to be properly equipped for that fight, appreciate the necessity of proper Scriptural argument and be adept therein.
S’he anointed witnesses are commissioned (and in this they are joined by their Jonadab companions) “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10) Jehovah’s witnesses can and do, by argument, under the direction of the holy spirit, root out, destroy and throw down the “imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God”. (2 Corinthians 10:5) When such false reasonings of the Devil’s agents are destroyed in the minds of those of goodwill, then, and only then, can the planting and building up be effective. An excellent example of this ‘throwing down’ and ‘building up’ by argument is found in the booklet Uncovered. Many have become active publishers of The Theocracy through that persuasive Scriptural argument.
Though the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom incidentally wreaks havoc on the Devil’s visible organization, making the priests thereof gnaw their tongues for pain (Revelation 16:10), the primary purpose of such proclamation is to expose the God-dishonoring doctrines expounded by the clergy and comfort the hearers with the truth. As long as those of the “prisoner” class, in bondage to the Devil’s organization, are not aware of the hypocrisy of that system, they see no reason to flee therefrom to God’s “mountains” for refuge and salvation. Positive, convincing argument is required to cause them to forsake Babylon and take their stand for God’s kingdom. Such argument, based solely on God’s infallible Word, is offered by Jehovah’s witnesses in behalf of God’s side of the issue. It doesn’t go unanswered, for the Devil sees to it that his agents continuously carry on propaganda against the free-education work of Jehovah’s witnesses. However, such propaganda, having no Scriptural basis, falls unheeded on the ears of sincere seekers of righteousness.
Job, a prominent actor in the drama of vindication, told his opponent Eliphaz, in this connection, “How forcible are right words! but what doth your [religious] arguing reprove?” (Job 6:25) Job, desiring to set his cause right with Jehovah, prayed that his mouth might be filled with arguments. (Job 23:4) In ‘discipling all the nations’ we must fill our minds and mouths with proper Scriptural arguments so as to be. always prepared with a satisfactory explanation concerning The Theocracy. To do this, not only is it important to have a thorough knowledge concerning the Kingdom, but equally so to know how to
convince onr hearers in order that they may “hear, and say, It is truth”. (Isaiah 43: 9) Consequently, it is necessary that each Theocratic publisher learn how to convince by argument, reasoning, refutation, persuasion.
I ' Jehovah’s witnesses today are engaged lin continuous “argument”. Every testimony to God’s name and kingdom submits, for the careful consideration of the hearer, facts that are vital for salvation. When such facts run counter to the usual . and accepted religious notions, it is required that proof be submitted in support thereof. Such proof must stand the test of opposing argument.
The fact that statements made by Jehovah’s witnesses are not readily accepted by others at their face value is to be expected. Hence, as wide-awake servants of God, we must be equipped to “argue” the questions at issue. Persons of goodwill are entitled to know the “whys” and “wherefores” to assist them in hurdling . the religious obstacles placed in their path by Satan’s agents. To refuse to thus “argue” the questions with them is in effect ‘withholding from the stranger his right’, and may endanger future service privileges.—Malachi 3: 5.
In order to aid one of good-will to intelligently face important issues it is necessary to give him the Scriptural reasonings on such matters. Likewise, we should be qualified to give argumentative proof from the Bible in support of what, to some, appear to be dogmatic statements, such as: God’s kingdom was set up in 1914; Jesus came to the temple in 1918; the anointed bride class is limited to 144,000 persons, and the remnant thereof alone now properly partake of the Memorial emblems; etc. To the “stranger” class, fresh from religious bondage, these and kindred statements are vague and perplexing, and require explanation.
Few of such questions can be successfully argued at the door or on the street corner. Rather, a back-call should be arranged, when the matter can be thoroughly discussed and the Scriptural proof submitted. In the course of a book study, at times' questions such as those mentioned come up, being suggested by statements made in the book but not enlarged upon. Rather than stop the study to discuss such, it is preferable to wait until the study has concluded, in deference to others present, or. a specific time then and there set when argument inay be presented to clear up the question at issue. Also, it may be necessary to give the question some study before presenting argument. In this connection, it is folly, when the answer to a question is not known, to guess at the answer. We should be honest enough to say we don’t know, when that is the case, but will give the matter due study and discuss it later.
We do not seek arguments with the Devil’s religious .agents. Nor should we waste time with those who seek controversy merely to cause trouble or to advance some pet religious belief. Occasionally some religious dupe, embarrassed by our straightforward presentation of the truth, may try to engage one of Jehovah’s witnesses in argument not pertinent to the Theocratic issue, by asking catch questions. While such questions can be answered, usually no good is accomplished thereby, and many times a “wrangling” argument ensues. Remembering that the Devil uses various ways to discourage the preaching of the gospel, we should be careful to avoid a trap whereby, instead of supplying the Lord an answer, we would actually aid the Devil’s cause. Consideration can be given, in this connection, to the wise handling of just such a situation by the Lord Jesus when questioned by the chief priests as to His authority to do His work. Jesus could easily have answered the question. An embarrassing question propounded by Jesus closed the matter. (Matthew 21:23-26) So when engaging in argument, let us be sure it is proper argument, and always cap it with a ‘thus saith the Lord’. Insincere inquirers don’t deserve an answer. An argument, even a "proper Scriptural argument, is wasted on such. The Lord reminds us: ‘‘If a wise man hath a controversy with a foolish man, whether he be angry or laugh, there will be no [peace],.”—Proverbs 29:9, Am. Stan. Ver. ..
The preaching of the Kingdom message as the only hope of the world is the means used by Jehovah’s witnesses today to uphold Jehovah’s side of the issue. Jehovah’s witnesses, “s^t for the defence of the gospel,” are also in an aggressive warfare against demonism. For the benefit of the people of good-will, re- , ligion is exposed as a deadly thing. In such exposition, Jehovah’s witnesses must and do present Scriptural argument, especially at back-calls and book studies and at other specially arranged occasions. In thus exposing the Devil and tearing down his religious fallacies, a groundwork is laid for the good, healthy, spiritual growth of those of good-will. Thus, too, Jehovah’s heart is gladdened and a small contribution made toward the vindication of his name and Word.
Little Publishers in Colorado
IWAS working with the magazines on 16th street here in Denver when I was approached by two boys six and eight years old. The oldest one, pointing to "The Truth Shall Make You Free,’", which I was holding in one hand, said, “I got one of those books from a lady on the street here yesterday and I have read two chapters in it.”
Then looking up at the Consolation he said, “Can anyone do that ?” I said, “Sure; anyone can do this.” He said, “Can I do it?” Surprised, I returned, “Sure you can if you want to, but there is no profit in it. like selling the Denver Post." He said, “I want to.” So I handed him two Consolation, showing him how and where to work.
Then the little six-year-old fellow piped up, “Can I do it ?” I gave him the two Watchtower I had, with instructions, and left for more magazines. ' •
Soon an old lady, so soaked in religion it was dripping off, came up to the elder boy and said, “Do you get paid for selling that stuff?” The little fellow, with big innocent eyes, replied, “No, we don’t get paid to do it.” That was too much for her, so she waddled off; I expect she was wondering why she could hardly get her little boy to go to Sunday school even if she bribed him, while these little servants of Jehovah were glad to serve Him even with such as herself opposing.
After standing there in the cold for an hour the smaller one was shivering; so I told them I thought it best for them to go home for the day, as they were not dressed for such cold weather. The little one replied, “It’s too much fun.”
They worked another half-hour before they froze out.
Before they left they asked if they could do it again and if it would be so they could work next summer too when school is out. I assured them they could, as the Bible says ‘whosoever will may come’. They didn’t place a magazine, and as we were about to part the elder one said, “I think Mamma would take one, she bas the hook about all read; I believe Grandma would too.” I gave each a magazine to place with Mamma and Grandma, telling them they could keep the nickels they received for them; but the older said, “That wouldn’t be fair; I’ll bring you the nickels.” I insisted they must keep them. Then with bright eyes and honest, happy hearts they left for home, saying they would have Daddy bring th€m to the Watchtower study. I had never seen them before, but they will be called on soon. Oh, the joy of seeing His little ones come and take their stand at His right hand!—Louis 0. Freeman, Colorado.
STRANGE
seems the proclamation
i . ■
( ■. - ■
when viewed in light of presentday world events, with many nations at issue over control of the earth’s surface.
Nevertheless, this new 32-page booklet shows convincingly how that very thing is in process of accomplishment. As the absorbing theme unfolds the meek ones are identified and earth’s beautified condition is portrayed.
We invite you to send for your personal copy and also for additional copies to present to your friends and neighbors so that they too may learn of the grand opportunity awaiting the meek.
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32
CONSOLATION
