Consolation, August 10, 1938
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Contents
President Roosevelt Comforts Jehovah's witnesses 3
Home and Health 7
Under the Vatican Flag 8
Eastern Europe 10
India 11
In the Esterwegen Concentration Camp 12
Protestantism 16
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford "Catholic Action" 17
Leper Asylum of Pirapitingui 19
West Indies 21
The Empire State 22
Cartoonist's Reply to Editor of Pittsburgh Catholic Observer 24
The Roman Notation 26
By Trail and Stream and Garden Path—The Hawk Moth 27
British Comment 28
Poplars in Moonlight 31
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Appetizers
Life's Greatest Racket
Three boys were boasting about the earning capacity of their fathers. The first one said: "My father can write a few lines, call it poetry, and sell it for five dollars."
The second one said: "That's nothing, my father is a preacher. He can write a few lines, get up in church and say them, and it takes six men to carry the money down the aisles."
Witticisms on Food
■ My opinion of food is that we make too little use of it. We don't use food as a weapon; but we should, because it is a weapon which is in everybody's hands. We extend ourselves and our credit to please people with food, but have you thought of punishing people with food?
Have you considered humiliating people or annoying people merely by serving them food? Have you thought of the twenty different shades of expression that you can achieve through the food you give your guests?
For people of the type who try to embarrass others there is revenge in embarrassing them with food. You can serve them crunchy food that they cannot eat silently, try as they will, or fibrous food that will stick in their teeth or food that is difficult to chase around a plate. Give others food that is hard to cut and chew, or give a whole meal of mushy food.
Or you might serve the finest foods that one would want to eat—with a strong cabbage odor coming from the kitchen. You can reverse that and greet your guest with a delicious odor from the kitchen and then serve second-rate food. And, of course, you can always give too little food, which is a complete revenge in itself.—Gilbert Seldes, noted author, in an address at the Gourmet Society, New York.
Rules
■ An old Scotsman was smoking in the waiting room of a railway station. A porter said to him: "Don't you see that notice on the wall, 'No Smoking Allowed'?"
"Yes, I do," said the Scot, "but how can I keep all your rules? There's another on the wall, 'Wear Spirella corsets.'"
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XIX Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, August 10, 1938 Number 493
President Roosevelt Comforts Jehovah's witnesses
Jehovah, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? Or who shall rest upon thy holy hill? Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt life, and doeth the thing which is right, and speaketh the truth from his heart. He that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbor, and hath not slandered his neighbor. He that setteth not by himself, but is lowly in his own eyes and maketh much of them that fear Jehovah. He that sweareth unto his neighbor, and disappointeth him not, though it were to his own hindrance. He that hath not given his money upon usury, nor taken reward against the innocent. Who so doeth these things shall never fall.—Psalm 15:1-5.
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT must be quite a student of the Holy Scriptures. He is on record as having placed the above scripture at the head of a story which he gave to the press on the morning of his fifth anniversary of inauguration, and as having said that it should be placed at the top of any story. It is well.
Here in the office the only translations of the above Psalm that are in regular use are:
American Revised
Authorized (so called)
Chicago University
Douay (Roman Catholic)
Fenton
Harkavy
Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
Leeser (Hebrew)
Margolis (Hebrew)
Moffatt
Moulton
Revised (English Revision)
Rotherham
Schofield
Young
These fifteen versions are all excellent, and so is the president's, which differs from all of them in many places in the words used to express the same thoughts. Probably the reporters made a slip in the expression "holy will"; and so this has been corrected to read "holy hill", to agree with the original text of the Hebrew. To further help the president: The word Jehovah is used twice in the Psalm, as in the original Hebrew. The president was misled into using the word Lord in both of those places. With these slight corrections let his translation stand. It is good enough to suit anybody.
"Them That Fear Jehovah"
The president believes that it will be well in the end with the one that "maketh much of them that fear Jehovah"; and that is just exactly 100-percent true. Jehovah's witnesses find great comfort in that promise. They stake their eternal destiny on their fear of Jehovah, and their unwillingness to turn from their devotion to Him, and their service of Him and His truth, though the Devil's "heavens" fall and his "earth" and all that is therein be dissolved into smoke and pass into nothingness.
Lamar Clay, seventy years of age, visited some people in La Grange, Georgia, talked with them about the gracious purposes of Jehovah to bring life and happiness to the people on earth and left with them some printed matter explaining the Scriptures. For doing this he was convicted of crime and sentenced to thirty days in a chain gang, with 55 others. He was incarcerated in a cow stable, so filthy and indecent that the city authorities responsible therefor were strongly condemned by the State Department of Public Welfare.
If the president desires, in this instance, to "make much of them that fear Jehovah", and desires to send some message of comfort to Mr. Clay for his courageous stand on Jehovah’s side, as against the clergy of the Devil, he will be supplied Mr. Clay’s full address on application.
Delinquency of Minors
James Dziatkiewicz, himself one of Jehovah’s witnesses, has two children who share his desire to do something to offset the stream of defamation constantly leveled against Jehovah’s name. Mary and John are pupils in the public schools. They use much of their spare time in visiting the people to tell them of Jehovah God’s kingdom and the blessings it will bring to humanity. For so doing they were arrested at Irvington, New Jersey, and charged with juvenile delinquency. The father and mother of these two lovely and lovable children were also arrested, charged with contributing to the delinquency of minors.
If the president desires, in this instance, to make public condemnation of such acts of intolerance against those that fear and serve Jehovah, he will be given full information on application. Such action on his part not only would fulfill his expressed desire to “make much of them that fear Jehovah”, but would put some fear in the hearts of religious inquisitors who are historically and actually the servants of the Devil, and it would do much toward keeping alive the liberties of the American people, now fast passing.
Roy D. Goodrich, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, was arrested and thrown into jail at West Palm Beach, Florida, where he was then beaten and maltreated to such an extent that he became a physical wreck, yet he had violated no law and no charges were ever filed against him. How would it do for the president to “make much of them that fear Jehovah” by public condemnation of such acts as were done in this instance in the West Palm Beach jail by those who have sworn, as has the president himself, to protect the humblest American citizen in his rights, and that regardless of whether he fears Jehovah or not?
Denial of Education
Walter Gobitas, a good American citizen, and one of Jehovah’s witnesses, is in the grocery business at Minersville, Pennsylvania. He has two children, Lillian and William. Federal Judge Maris said of these two children:
[They] are conscientiously opposed to saluting the flag, since they consider such action to be a direct violation of Divine commandments laid down in the Bible. Liberty of conscience means liberty for each individual to decide for himself what is to him religious. To permit public officers to determine whether the views of individuals sincerely held and their acts sincerely undertaken on religious grounds are in fact based on convictions religious in character would be to sound the death knell of religious liberty. To such a pernicious and alien doctrine this court cannot subscribe.
Lillian and William were denied education by the Minersville school board because they were conscientious in their fear of Jehovah. If the president, in this instance, desires to “make much of them that fear Jehovah”, here is a wonderful opportunity to publicly reprimand this school board that has undertaken to place its will as to what children must do above the will of Jehovah.
The president might be interested in the fact that numerous radio stations have received persistent requests for free time on the air from associates of a Roman Catholic Franciscan Father, Richard Felix, who is on record as openly advocating acts of intolerance and physical violence against Jehovah’s witnesses, and especially Judge Rutherford, for speaking and otherwise disseminating Bible truths in the public interest.
If, in this instance, the president desires to “make much of them that fear Jehovah”, he could very well use his high office to encourage open discussion between an accredited spokesman of the Roman Catholic organization and Judge Rutherford, whose whole life is devoted to aiding “them that fear Jehovah”. Why not a little team work with those that take no stock in the antique, fossilized racket worked from Vatican City? Why be afraid of the truth?
Denial of Right of Petition
Charles R. Hessler, in July, 1935, in Maplewood, New Jersey, circulated a protest and petition addressed to the mayor and city council and was trailed for two hours by an officer in a police car, whose presence in front of the homes he visited intimidated many who wished to sign but were fearful of retaliation on the part of the police.
At length he visited the home of a Catholic, who refused to sign the petition and demanded Hessler's arrest, which was what the police officer was waiting for. Copies of the protest and petition, which was lawful evidence in the case, were confiscated and Hessler was searched, all his belongings taken away, and he was held in prison twenty hours before being released in the custody of his attorneys. He was then tried and fined one hundred dollars, with an alternative of thirty days in jail.
The president desires to "make much of them that fear Jehovah". Here is another rare chance. If memory serves right, he holds a conspicuous place on the National Conference of Jews and Christians. Perhaps he could suggest to them that they individually and collectively abide by the law, and keep from such a course as the Jews of ancient time followed against the prophets and later resorted to to put to death the Savior of men, and which course is now fully approved by the Roman Hierarchy and the Protestant clergy in the injustices they so eagerly practice against those who fear Jehovah.
The president should be interested in the proposal of a judge at Northampton, Massachusetts, to send to a reformatory three children of Ignace Opielouski, Belchertown, Massachusetts, because they dared put God above the flag of their country. He might do something about that; also about the smashing of windows of the home of Jehovah's witnesses at Howard Beach, New York, where gangs took turns in the work, being encouraged to do so by the local Roman Catholic priest.
Denial of Right of Livelihood
George Leoles, Atlanta, Georgia, was a law-abiding citizen of the United States in business in that city for thirty years. His daughter became convinced that it is wrong to put the flag above obedience to Jehovah God. When she refused to salute the flag the American Legion and the Ku Klux Klan picketed his shop and destroyed his business. Their attitude toward "them that fear Jehovah" is worthy of severe executive censure.
O. R. Moyle, attorney, is one of Jehovah's witnesses. Because he defended these witnesses and "made much of them that fear Jehovah", Judge Holleran, of Irvington, New Jersey, threatened, "I will stab you in the back at every opportunity"; another judge intimated he would be held in contempt if he continued to aid the witnesses in their struggle to exercise their rights; and on another occasion the editor of this magazine was with him when both were threatened with arrest because Moyle called at a police station in behalf of his clients. Here is another chance for the president to "make much of them that fear Jehovah", and not make so much of some others. Moyle's address is O. R. Moyle, 117 Adams street, Brooklyn, New York. If the president or any of his aides desire to obtain information on any of these cases, apply there.
George Rossier was one of sixty of Jehovah's witnesses arrested and jailed in Plainfield, New Jersey, and held overnight in quarters crowded to suffocation, for the trial next day. One of those tried was a partially deaf woman. For daring to voice to the presiding magistrate a respectful offer to help that woman he was arbitrarily silenced by the magistrate and ordered locked up for five months. How about a little reproof of those that do not fear Jehovah, by one, who, if he means what he says, desires to "make much of them that do"? Why all the heavy silence?
Why the Ruthless Cruelty?
Charles J. Sandstrom, Ronkonkoma, New York, has a daughter Grace, who conscientiously believes the God-given command at Exodus 20:3-5 means what it says and that the flag should not be saluted. The parents were haled into court and convicted of a criminal offense on the charge of keeping Grace home from school, when the facts were that they were anxious to send her to school and did send her to school but the school officials would not allow her to stay because she did not "Heil Hitler" after their ideas. She was expelled from school, and threatened with incarceration in a reformatory, and except that friends provided private instruction the parents would have been sent to jail and the daughter committed to the care and companionship of politicians and prostitutes. Here is another good chance to say something in behalf of "them that fear Jehovah".
The chief executive should also be interested to learn of the arrest and imprisonment of Wallace Vick on the charge of violating the so-called "anti-Nazi law" of New Jersey. At the time of its enactment this statute was claimed by its sponsors to be a measure to prevent Nazi activities in the state. But although Nazi organizations are very active in New Jersey, Mr. Vick was the only person ever charged with violation of that law, and the real reason why he was charged with it was simply that he is one of "them that fear Jehovah", of which the president, so he says, is so desirous to make much. Well, let him go ahead and really make it. What is stopping him?
Harry Whittaker, one of Jehovah's witnesses, was sentenced to 90 days in the penitentiary of Hudson County, New Jersey, because he is one of such witnesses. That was the only real case against him. While in the penitentiary itself he refused to salute the flag and disobey God's law in Exodus 20:3-5. For this he was sentenced to solitary confinement in the dark dungeon, with nothing to do, no one to talk to, nothing to read, and only bread and water for food. Why the desire in America to ape Hitler?
Odd Treatment of Those That Fear Jehovah
Those that fear Jehovah receive some odd treatment in the United States. For example, in Chicago, Illinois, Mary Schlorchetka was fined $210 because she refused to salute the flag. At Peoria, on the demand of a priest, over a hundred of Jehovah's witnesses were arrested, some while sitting in their cars and others while walking on the streets or standing at street corners; their property was confiscated; they were denied the right to telephone for legal aid, were threatened with violence by police officials and were abused by them, and were confined in filthy prison cells and denied food while incarcerated. At Wheaton, Illinois, Mildred Slosser was fined $125 for informing her neighbors about God's kingdom for which, it is believed, the president prays.
And about Pennsylvania, where the editor lived for many years. It is the Keystone State, and in that state, only a few months ago, men and women were confined in the same cell of the prison, at Brownsville, because they were Jehovah's witnesses. About the same time, at Canonsburg, in the same state, children were beaten, choked, ridiculed, tortured, expelled from school, and refused medical aid because they refused to salute the flag. At Coatesville the mayor said Jehovah's witnesses must stay out of town. At Easton radio station WEST was boycotted for carrying the programs of Judge Rutherford.
At Mauch Chunk Jehovah's witnesses were jailed and the police admitted that the arrests were made at the behest of the clergy. At Millsboro officers of the law and a mob joined in beating, kicking, choking and striking Jehovah's witnesses, ransacking their automobiles, and taking and destroying the contents consisting of Bible literature.
At Monessen over a hundred of Jehovah's witnesses were convicted without evidence and without trial and thrown into prison for exercising the right of petition.
At New Philadelphia 44 of Jehovah's witnesses were assaulted and imprisoned on demand of priests of the town, their Bible literature destroyed, and their automobiles damaged, and they were fined $5 each. Their only "offense" was that of disseminating Bible truths among the people of the community.
At Philadelphia radio station WIP was threatened with boycott by Cardinal Dougherty and one of his priests, James Clarke, for daring to broadcast the Bible questions and answers of Judge Rutherford.
At Pittston the editor was himself arrested for calling at police headquarters to inquire as to others of Jehovah's witnesses who had been jailed. He was fingerprinted, made to sleep on a plank with no coverings, and threatened with physical harm, because he associated himself with Jehovah's witnesses.
When the president gets around to carrying out his program of "making much of them that fear Jehovah" it ought to be interesting to every true American. The most surprised of all will be Jehovah's witnesses themselves. Thus far the president's good will to those who love God has been expressed only verbally.
Four Million Houses Needed
◆ Some are surprised that the United States needs four million new homes, but President Roosevelt supplies the facts. In the seven years prior to 1930 the annual average of new homes built was 800,000; then it suddenly dropped to less than one-fourth that number, where it has since remained. Meantime there has been a growth in number of families needing homes, and 800,000 units per year for the next five years would not more than meet the real needs of the American people during that period.
Home and Health
The Healing Power of Wheat
◆ We hear a great deal nowadays about the nourishing and sustaining powers of whole wheat, but very few people know that wheat was once considered to have great external healing powers as well. An old Roman doctor mentions in his writings the case of a man who cured himself of dropsy by burying himself in a box filled with wheat, so that only his head was visible. The wheat drew out all water, and the man was sound again.
Whether or not they got the idea from this case is not stated, but it is recorded that the old Roman doctors healed gout by having the patient cover his legs up to the knees with wheat and remain so until he obtained relief.
For sore throat the Romans used wheat bruised, cooked in water, and strained, as a gargle. Carbuncles were treated with poultices of wheat, flour, chopped celery, and honey. Tetter, dry scab, ringworm and like ailments they treated with wheat flour mixed with incense and wine, applied as a plaster.
For sprains, they bruised wheat cooked in vinegar and applied it as a poultice.
Turbid wine or cider they cleared as follows: One part wheat flour, one part fresh milk, and one egg-white, mixed well and dropped slowly into the barrel. After four days they drew it into a clean barrel. When wine showed a vinegar taste, they put into a small sack one pound whole wheat and one pound yellow wax chopped fine, and hung it in the barrel.
While these last two items cannot be considered purely medicinal, they do illustrate the purifying quality of the whole wheat; and who is there to prove that wine cleared with whole wheat is not more beneficial to the system than more ordinary wine?—Dr. Carl Q. Schilling, New Jersey.
Sweeten Your Linoleum
◆ It is claimed that if a little sugar is added to the water when washing linoleum the result will be a brightening of the colors. It seems worth trying.
Clean the Cleaner Too
◆ When you empty your vacuum cleaner, turn the bag inside out occasionally and brush it vigorously. This prevents the pores from becoming clogged.—Exchange.
For Constipation
◆ The most obstinate case of constipation can be absolutely cured, and the body can be nourished in an extraordinary manner, by the following method, although I cannot speak with sureness in cases where the appendix has been removed. Those who have not yet had this unnecessary operation will never need it if they live to a million, with this feed.
Soak a handful or so, according to taste and age (and fastidiousness), of wheat as it comes from the farm, that is, before the sharks or millers begin to denature it, in water to cover it by an inch. Do this, say, at evening, and it is ready for morning's breakfast two days after (36 hours approximately). When breakfast is ready, drink off the water, put milk and fruit in a pan or dish, and fall to. Try to avoid poison sugars, etc., and after about five days' treatment the bowels will begin to function naturally; and if this treatment is continued throughout life, the doctor will not be needed. Do not soak wheat in aluminum, if you have any brains; and eat it raw, not cooked.
I have been on this wonderful diet for four years now, and have got others on it, too.—A. L. Philpott.
How to Embalm Mice
◆ A friend of Consolation, but not a friend of mice, one night mixed some flour and sugar together in a shallow tray and placed it where mice could get at it. They had a good time. The next night he did the same thing, and all the mice were happy once more. The next night the blooming rascal put out the same tray, with sugar, but substituted plaster of Paris for the flour. The mice came as before, ate freely, drank copiously, and lost interest in life.
Attic Floors Keep Heat In
◆ Studies made of consumption of fuel oil for heating purposes show that where attics are provided with floors the consumption is 5.6 percent less than where the floors have not been laid. Heat rises, and anything to prevent its escape at the top of the house makes that much difference in the cost of heating the home.
Under the Vatican Flag
"Received the Suggestion Coldly"
The "Venerable Brethren" at the Vatican are such ultra-liars that when the Japanese Catholic Admiral Yamamoto called on Cardinal Pacelli to urge that the Vatican appoint a diplomatic representative to Manchukuo, the newspapers had to send out the report, "The Vatican apparently has received the suggestion coldly." Why be so foolish over the announcement of the deal that has been cooked up between Japan and the pope? Nobody is deceived. The facts are, almost unquestionably, that it was the pope himself who fixed the interview between Pacelli and Yamamoto and issued instructions that the deal must first be denied, so that the Vatican's unbroken record of never telling the truth about anything might be maintained.
Trying to make it palatable
"Photograph" of Christ?
A long linen cloth, supposed to have been the shroud of Christ, is exhibited in certain Catholic sections. It contains stains and marks which dimly outline, in negative, the figure of a man about 5 feet 11 inches tall, and weighing approximately 170 pounds. Various evidences are adduced in support of the claim that this linen cloth was indeed the shroud in which the Lord was buried, it being folded over the head and covering the entire body. The cloth, therefore, is at least four yards long, as if taken from a bolt of white goods. Even if it be conceded that there is much about this relic that is remarkable, yet the Scriptures, the source of dependable information, state that Christ's shroud consisted not of one cloth, but of more than one, and that His head was wound about with a napkin; hence, the entire figure could not have appeared on a single piece of cloth. See John 20: 6, 7, which reads: "Then cometh Simon Peter following him [John], and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes [plural] lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." Hence, the shroud, even if a genuine shroud, is obviously not that of Christ.
The Language of Despair
The language of despair is easily recognized. It is that of a man or an organization that is caught in a network of lies and betrays in every sentence it utters thereafter that it is lying, knows it is lying, and knows it is caught; and that sooner or later it will have to quit lying, for the reason that nobody thenceforth will pay any attention. The Roman Hierarchy is like that. All the silly lies repeated in the following editorial set in boldface type, in The Register, ("boiler-plate" mouthpiece of the Hierarchy, published simultaneously in Denver, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Altoona and many other places), have been answered so many times that they need no further explanations, but the editorial is interesting, because it shows the real concern, the real despair of the Hierarchy because of the flood of truth that issues from Judge Rutherford's pen, and the activity of Jehovah's witnesses in putting these truths into the hands of the honest Catholic population. The Hierarchy well knows that once the people get the Truth, the jig is all up for the Hierarchy. What sensible human creature could ever say that, knowing a certain thing to be a lie, or tissue of lies, he preferred to believe it anyway, and pay the price?
THE REGISTER SPEAKS
THE JUDGE PROGNOSTICATES
There has never been an age like the present in which civilization could reckon so few thinkers. It is almost accepted as an axiom in our civilization that thought should not be controlled by logic or reason, but should receive its inspiration from the emotional nature of man. Even the laws of God—natural and supernatural—are tampered with, as our civilization gives forth the cry: "Let us make God to our image and likeness!" Protestantism has strained its supposed Christianity away from all the fundamental doctrines until at present there is nothing left to build upon.
Catholics are being influenced by the inertia of their civilization, and they bother little to learn and know the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. They have not the courage to fortify themselves with the knowledge that the Church has to offer. To acquire knowledge by the only way, the hard way of expended effort, is to them irksome. The light frothy literature, the sweet strains of music from the cinema and the radio are all that they are concerned with in life as they ply their way to shipwreck.
In the midst of this confusion we have the arising (we might say of another "false prophet," but we have no intentions of being generous) of an ignorant, raving demagogue. Daily or weekly we listen to the blatherings of a man who calls himself a judge, speaking via the airways, telling his radio audience that religion is a racket, and his racket the only religion. He is a brilliant contributor to an age of confusion. He is more apt at the art of confusing than any. If a businessman with no knowledge of medicine should suddenly take the stand and pronounce his views on the art and science of medicine as the only contribution of any value, he would be booed down by the attending audience. But if in theology one arises and pronounces his views as the final contribution to that science, he is listened to with eager ears.
We do not blame Judge Rutherford for his venomous tirades against the Catholic Church, since he is a madman, but we do blame those who claim to be his listening audience and who make up the contribution of the millions of dollars to keep this insult to our civilization in progress.
In case our reader is not familiar with the Judge's prognostications, we will itemize some of them as published in his works and proclaimed on the air:
The Judge claims to fight against all religions and says that he does not teach religion. He does not teach religion, that is true, but he pretends to teach religion and makes of himself the only infallible prophet. He is right in his claim that he does not teach religion since he is only a racketeer: "He mixes unwarranted assumptions, brazen falsehoods, agonizing prophecies, misapplied Biblical quotations, and weird interpretations of the Sacred Scriptures into an intellectual dish that must give many a 'Witness of Jehovah' a belly ache in the place where his brains ought to be."—(The Rutherford Racket, C. P. Windle.)
Our civilization has two types of ignorance. First, the simple ignorance of one who does not know but who is willing to learn; second, the compound ignorance of one who doesn't know, and claims that there is nothing worth knowing except what he knows, and we can call this type of ignorant man a "snob."
This is the Rutherford mentality, the snob. He knows nothing of exegesis in the interpretation of the Scriptures and pretends to know all. There is no infallible Church to him. He has the only infallibility in the world. He pretends to prophesy. He prophesied the end of the world in 1925, and, when 1925 came and went and found the sun still up in her heavens, he explained that the Lord extended a special grace to permit the remnant of the faithful to be gathered, perhaps as a special favor of grace through Rutherford.
In 1930 another prophecy hit the dust. Judge Rutherford went to a lot of pains to build a palace for King David to serve him when he should arrive on earth, but unfortunately the beautiful palatial residence remained untenanted.
His pretended interpretation of the Scriptures is infantile. For example a simple passage from the Bible: "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Gen. x, 9). Judge Rutherford with no knowledge of the original languages in which the Scripture was written, with no aid of any kind, gave the interpretation of this text as follows: "It is written of Nimrod that he was a mighty hunter before (that is, superior or greater than) the Almighty God." [*]
We repeat again, we do not blame Judge Rutherford for his work since he is an ignorant ranter, but we do blame those thousands who pour good American dollars into the coffers to finance a campaign of irreligion, fanaticism, and just plain nonsense.—A. J. G.
* McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume VII, under the head of "Nimrod", contains some information that the scholars (?) for whom The Register speaks could consider with profit:
But the preposition lipnei [Hebrew; translated "before"] has often, as Genesius admits, a hostile sense—in front of, for the purpose of opposing (Numbers 16:2; 1 Chronicles 14:8; 2 Chronicles 14:10) and the Septuagint gives it such a sense in the verse under consideration έναντίον Κυρίου, "against the Lord." The Targums and Josephus give the preposition this hostile meaning. The context also inclines us to it.
(To be continued) Eastern Europe
Prisoners in the Balkans
The detestable practice of solitary confinement persists in all the countries we visited, and far too often the first month has to be passed without books or work. The fantastic doctrine that the prisoner is well employed in thinking over the enormity of his crime was solemnly offered to us on several occasions. Until solitary confinement can be abolished every effort should be made to obtain some means of mitigating its dangerous effects by occupation. Its most horrible development is in dark punishment cells. We have heard of prisoners passing up to a month in such places, and of some whose eyesight has been ruined by the experience.
In Yugoslavia, after solitary confinement comes the second grade of imprisonment, ordinary within-the-walls treatment; after two-fifths of the sentence has been served a freer régime is allowed. At one village we saw men at this stage, coming and going freely, with carts or on foot, like ordinary workmen, without a guard. After half the sentence prisoners are eligible for conditional liberation. This system, unfortunately, does not extend to political prisoners nor to the unfortunate sect of the Nazarenes. These people are religious pacifists, condemned as "deserters" by the military courts. As they have not been "reformed" (unless they renounce their creed) they cannot benefit by remission as the ordinary criminals do. Moreover, when released they are liable to being sent back to the army, and the whole miserable business begins again, so that between 20 and 40 they are hardly out of prison.
In one country we heard on good authority of two recent cases where unfortunate men accused of murder were so cruelly ill-used that rather than suffer more they "confessed" with full details, and were saved from conviction only because the supposed victims turned up alive and well. One of these men suffered agonies from having the intestines inflated by a pump thrust up the anus. A lad accused of theft was actually killed by a police officer who jabbed at his temple with a fork to force an admission of guilt. The case was interpreted as suicide.—Margery Fry, in the Manchester Guardian.
The War on the Jews in Poland
◆ To make a place in the sun for "Aryan" peasant children growing up in their land Polish politicians are making it mighty clear to the 3,150,000 Jews (ten percent of the population) that their room is better than their company, and they are making it so warm for the Hebrews that in the last few years 36,000 Jewish enterprises all over the country have had to close their doors. The persecutions are only less brutal than in Germany. The politicians say quite frankly that they hope to force 50,000 to emigrate monthly, and to measurably solve their economic and unemployment problems by driving all the Jews out of the country within the next few years. It is the expressed purpose of the national government not to give even a street cleaner's job to a single Jew.
In the pogrom at Brest-Litovsk, lasting from seven at night until ten the next morning, 22,000 Jews were at the mercy of a mob, with no protection from the police. The mob aimed at destroying the Jewish sources of livelihood, and hence, in raiding business premises, smashed everything to bits, windows, looking-glasses, sewing machines and tools. When entering a home, not an article was spared. Pictures were cut in their frames; every article of clothing, including bed clothing, was slit to ribbons. In one case, hours after the pogrom, one of the destroyers came back for his axe, but his victim did not dare report him to the police.
Privileged Society for Exports
◆ One of the clever modern ways of robbing the common people has been in operation in Yugoslavia. In the year 1936, when Yugoslavian crops were good and world prices were high and rising rapidly the Privileged Society for Exports, which has a monopoly of the purchase of the country's surplus produce, was not allowed to raise its purchase price at all in June, July and August, during which months the bulk of the crops are sold, but in September, after the poorer peasants had been compelled to sell their grain to pay the tax collectors, prices were raised to the world level and the "Privileged Society for Exports" cleared millions as they unloaded the huge stocks of grain paid for at the bargain prices in force earlier in the season.
India
Christmas Wishes from Heathen
◆ This is to acknowledge receipt of a card showing photograph of the splendid Devkaran Nanjee buildings in Bombay, India. The interior of the folder explains that it is sent "with best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a bright new year". The gentlemen who had the card prepared are Choonilal Devharan Nanjee and Pranlal Devharan Nanjee, proprietors of three large concerns in the charming seaport and metropolis of western India. These gentlemen are very orthodox Hindus, who would no more think of identifying themselves with Christ than would a Christian of identifying himself with the Hindu gods. They sent the Christmas card merely as a matter of business. And that is all there is to the whole Christmas business. It does not now and never did celebrate the birth of Christ, and is a wholly pagan ceremony grafted upon or carried over into modern religion.
Poltergeist at Jaipur, India
◆ Deeds of poltergeist (malicious physical acts by invisible demons) are reported from Jaipur, India, in the Lucknow (India) Pioneer. On a certain site, years ago, many losses were sustained by such deeds. The house was demolished and rebuilt. Now the deeds have begun again. They consist in the malicious destruction of clothing by fire. No matter where the clothes are, even if in steel boxes, or if wringing wet with water, or if of any materials, they suddenly take fire and are reduced to ashes, and they have done this in plain sight of the police, sent there to investigate. There are similar cases in other homes near by, and one woman was burned to death.
What Is a Hindu?
◆ Most dictionaries describe a Hindu (or Hindoo) as "a native of Hindustan (India)". This, as far as India is concerned, is definitely an improper definition. In India and England the native of India is known as an Indian. The American Indians are distinguished as "Red Indians". The Indian usage of the term "Hindu" limits it to adherents of the Hindu religion, of which there are 200,000,000, by far the largest religious body in India, and for that reason, probably, the terms Hindu and Indian are generally used synonymously.
The Mayor of Madras
◆ Because the mayor of Madras, India, a city of a million persons, is of the untouchable caste there are streets upon which he may not walk, wells from which he may not drink, and hundreds of doors he may not enter. Many clerks in the employ of the city will not handle papers he has touched. Many shop-keepers will not sell goods to persons who associate with him, barbers will not shave them, mailmen will not deliver their mail, water carriers will not take them water, and teachers will not teach their children. But lowly as is the estate of the mayor of Madras, he is immeasurably higher than Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco or Horthy, because his sorrows are now and temporary.
Sir Jagadis Bose's Discoveries
◆ Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose, India's foremost scientist, is dead at 78 years. He was the inventor of the crescograph, a recorder of plant life capable of magnifying any movement as much as ten million times. By means of this instrument he convinced scientists that plants are sensitive to touch, to a passing cloud, to bad air, to poisons, to drugs, but not to sound. They become excited and fatigued, and when they die, they do so with a spasm at the instant of death.
Human Sacrifice in Punjab
◆ British police arrested a priest and 25 villagers at Gunpur, near Nahan, 800 miles north of Bombay, for seizing a young man of 23, a visitor from a neighboring town, parading him through the streets with a flower garland about his neck, and then beheading him before the village temple, to propitiate the rain god. The boobs who think that what the world needs is more religion instead of less should move to India and settle near Nahan.
Afghans in India
◆ For six months in the year several hundred thousand Afghans become British subjects and are safer in northern India, carrying on their trading, than they are in their own country. On crossing the border they have to stack their arms, but pick them up again when they return to their own land.
In the Esterwegen Concentration Camp
THERE were prisoners from all walks of life and views of world affairs in the Esterwegen camp. At that place there were Reichstag deputies, owners of factories and estates, millionaires, attorneys, high and inferior officials of the state and corporations, merchants, artisans, laborers, Communists, Socialists, freethinkers, Masons, Jews and Jehovah's witnesses, thrown together. The principal reason of their coming to the camp was that they entertained views along general lines other than as proclaimed in the book My Struggle, or "Mythology of the Twentieth Century", and had the courage to speak about it.
This camp dealt chiefly with people who had a conviction or a faith and, for that reason, did not want to be hypocrites. At any rate, there were always reasons which were not sufficient to give these persons a decent trial. When I was there, there were also a number of prisoners who were over 60 years old. One of them was 72 years old and, aside from that, there were two blind persons in the camp—a Communist and a witness of Jehovah.
The prisoners were separated into two divisions—"political prisoners" and "habitual criminals". All of the above-named persons—even homosexuals—were assigned to the section for political prisoners. The political prisoners wore green, threadbare uniforms which were marked on the backs with large yellow dots. The political prisoners were placed on the right side of the camp street, and the habitual criminals or "Bevauer", as they were called, on the left side.
The professional criminals were there in "precautionary custody". As stated by the Secret Service men and officers, the possibility of committing offense was first taken from them, through robbing them of their freedom, and, besides, they are to be frightened from doing again what violates the instructions of the Third Reich. Some of them were punished before. No hope for freedom was held out for them.
The prisoners were compelled to work daily in the marshes. On the way to the marshes they were compelled to sing songs. Songs always had to be sung when marching, no matter whether it was inside or outside the camp. Often they had to sing while running in step. Canals are dug in the marshes, in order to drain them. Then the peat is shoveled into rectangular piles and left there to dry. Besides that, new streets are built. In this way the extensive peat districts of Ostfriesland are brought under cultivation and, indeed, with the sweat, with the blood—even with the life—and with the money of the prisoners. Why? Because the prisoners have to pay for their upkeep in the camp as I had to pay for a stay in the sanitarium.
The prisoner has the "privilege" of paying more than two marks for every day of his stay in the camp, and if he is unable to pay, his property is taken from him as well as house furniture; and if he is entirely without means, he obtains emergency work and, from his insignificant remuneration, has to pay on a percentage basis each week, which is equivalent to extra punishment. It also happens that the parents are drawn into the matter of payment, or even other dependents who own property.
INSPIRATION FROM THE DEMONS. "On Friday night I was not even thinking of Austria. Then suddenly I knew that the deed and the hour was predetermined in history. I did not make the decision. It came to me. I did not consult anyone. I gave the orders."—Statement by Adolf Hitler.
--He does not receive any kind of monetary or material benefits for labor performed in the concentration camp, but must pay for every day of his stay in the camp for entirely inadequate food, miserable clothing, for mistreatment endured, for whippings and bodily injury; for all of this he has to pay more than 2 marks per day.
At times it happens that persons are employed according to their qualifications. Thus tailors have to make uniforms for the officials in the camp or for the S.S. men; also for other troop divisions. Carpenters have to make furniture—partly for the camp, partly for other officials; all without any compensation whatsoever and under threat of and use of every kind of persecution.
While I was there the Reichstag representative, Dr. Leber, a Socialist, and his colleague, Mr. Heilmann, were also in the Esterwegen camp. Dr. Leber and I lodged together in Barrack No. 9, and I had many opportunities to converse with him. One day he and Heilmann were penned in the dog kennel, where, next, both of them were ordered to act as if they were dogs. When any of the S. S. men went past the vicinity of the dog kennel, they—Dr. Leber and Heilmann—had to bark like dogs.
Not satisfied with that, Heilmann was compelled to drink his own urine, and Dr. Leber was compelled to eat his own excrement. The result of this was that Dr. Leber contracted a stomach and intestinal ailment which ruined him physically. In the camp there was a Secret Service physician who, in the rarest cases, relieves prisoners with inward ailments. So also in the case of Dr. Leber. Every novice could see, by the change of the color of the face, his state of mind, his physical breakdown and his continued condition of suffering, that these degraded methods had caused severe sickness.
All of this is not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the camp spirit. In addition to the daily routine are added exercises—fifty and more "bend knee" one after another; falling down on the floor and standing up again; leaping; hopping; rolling on the ground, etc.
The witnesses of Jehovah are daily the targets for every kind of persecution, terror and vile treatment. With the use of the aforementioned means and methods, an attempt is made to force them to give up their faith in Jehovah God and His Word, the Bible. Of course, they do not get any Bibles in the camp, nor at the present time in the prisons. Attempts are made with every possible and impossible means to force them to sign an affirmation declaring that they no longer want to be witnesses of Jehovah and that they no longer want to have any further contact and connection with Jehovah's witnesses, and that they do not want to read any more literature of Jehovah's witnesses.
In order to make them appear especially ridiculous to the other prisoners, they are called "paradise birds", "heaven clowns," "Jesus-graspers," and, occasionally, also "Jehovah". Those who do not yield and who maintain their faith unwaveringly carry as a sign, to make it known publicly and also because they belong to the punishment company, a yellow band below the knees. According to the opinion of the S. S. men, such are the worst traitors, the incorrigible, the offscouring of mankind.
The cruelties referred to in issue No. 370 are not the only ones that are applied to them. The report-leader, Tarré, himself undertook an attack on a number of Jehovah's witnesses in the bathing house for the prisoners. They had to undress themselves and were manipulated by Tarré personally with the splashing and jets of cold water. Cold water with special atmospheric pressure was squirted on the sex organs and on the abdomen.
During this mistreatment they were continually asked if they still wanted to remain a witness of Jehovah, and they were constantly threatened with a continuation of these measures until they would agree to no longer be a Jehovah's witness. As this admission was not made, he continued these terrible cruelties until the complete exhaustion of the victims.
The result of this beastly treatment was an abnormal swelling of the sex organs, combined with excruciating pain, so that finally they landed in the sanitary room. Here Tarré daily went past and asked if they still were Jehovah's witnesses, and threatened them with all possible other tortures, because they maintained their faith unwaveringly.
Not only are the blood-stopping chains pressed together on the wrists, but the fingers are also clamped together in a crooked position. But not only were these horrible tortures repeated so long that the fingers of the martyred became crippled, which I myself witnessed—they went even further, so that the final result was that their hands were completely paralyzed. The names of such victims can and will be made known as far as we obtain the consent of these tortured persons.
The Hand of Jehovah God
About fourteen days before September 28, 1935, it was announced what was to be done on this day to the witnesses of Jehovah who refused to sign the afore-mentioned affirmation. The most brutal and arbitrary measures pale into insignificance, compared with what was now to be done. They were daily threatened with "September 28". Even prisoners were incited to stand up against the steadfast witnesses, in order to instill dread in them from every direction.
But what happened then? The report-leader, Tarré, an arrogant and presumptuous brute who was always conjuring up new methods of torture and which would, if possible, deprive the prisoners of any time to relax and reflect, met with an accident with a motorcycle on the afternoon of September 27. Apparently the evening of September 27 was to have been a prelude at the sound of a bugle. Such a prelude they liked, as this was the preliminary for greater acts which were systematically prearranged. Instead of coming into the camp, he came to the hospital. He broke his arm in the motorcycle accident. As a result, Nazidom's support and strong arm was not in the camp on September 28. It was the quietest day Jehovah's witnesses had in the camp.
Jehovah's witnesses were usually assigned to the most menial work. So there was also a cesspool company to which at that time Jehovah's witnesses and Jews always were assigned. The excrement tank had to be emptied regularly with the bare hands, which, of course, also caused the clothing to become soiled with excrement.
It was reported to me that the Esterwegen camp was abolished some time ago. The report-leader Tarré, who was there, now lives as a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp.
As this camp is also notorious beyond the boundaries of Germany, Tarré can have a good opportunity there, to daily reflect on how bitter those cruelties are which he always himself indulged in, and also to think of how corruptly and brutally he himself had acted.
What, now, is the real purpose of these brutalities? All of these acts of terrorism are thoroughly predetermined and purposely performed at the command of the German government. I say "at the command of the German government" because the commander himself stated at the time of our discharge that this is a fact and, under threat, emphatically warned us not to divulge anything outside of the camp about the happenings in the concentration camp, as otherwise such persons are immediately again brought back to the camp; and what would then be done to them, we certainly knew ourselves.
Those gruesome Inquisition methods in the camps serve the purpose, according to their own statements, to instill the prisoners with fear and terror, so that every thought of opposition against the present system will be stifled, and every thought of any kind of resistance, and every free expression of opinion, will be ended.
What is here said may be severe, but it is the truth. But how much harder is it for the many thousands and hundreds of thousands who became victims of this gruesome maltreatment! Is it not bitter for them, when facts are disclosed, that the facts are not believed? I want to be silent about the frightful cruelties on the part of the Gestapo officials in the Gestapo cellars and cells, and the many acts of terrorism which were committed by the S.A. and the S.S. At "Christmas", 1935, a clergyman in a prison at Cologne said in his sermon that at the present time 2 1/2 million persons share the same fate with us. How many must there be now, when no fewer prisons and no fewer camps have come into existence, but just the opposite? There may be people who believe what the German government says.
The German government is aware of all the reports about the true conditions in the German concentration camps, with the assertion in return that these are lying reports and represent atrocity propaganda of the enemy. Now what does the German government do in order to make its assertions appear believable and to justify itself in the eyes of the world? It now and then permits foreign commissions to visit a camp. But that is at best a miserable farce and a further fraud; for these commissions never learn in this way the true state of affairs, and certainly not from the prisoners, who no doubt are questioned; for they do not risk telling the truth in the presence of their tormentors, because otherwise they would be tortured to death. I witnessed it myself as to how foreign commissions were informed that Esterwegen is only a "schooling camp" where the prisoners are taught for three months, and then when a prisoner, in ignorance of the state of affairs, though already here twenty months," the commander was not so likely to be embarrassed, because he, intentionally and knowingly, falsely, but with ease and self-complacency, informed the commission, by saying no, that this was an exceptional case, that he, the prisoner, really belonged to the incorrigibles.
The same fraud was committed in regard to the food. Either there was good food the day the commission came, or a great deal of meat was carried to the prisoners' kitchen during the camp visit; and when the commission had left the camp (with good impressions, it is to be understood), all the meat was again carried out of the camp. If the food in the camps is really as good as was told to the commissions, why does the prisoner need money in order to buy food?
◆ If what the German government states, namely, that all the exposures about the conditions in the camps and regarding the prisons and workhouses are lies, then there is but one way that is honorable to justify the assertion of the German government, and that way is that the maltreated ones who have become known be given their freedom; that passports be given them and that in foreign countries they be granted liberty to personally refute what was reported about them. But the opposite is done.
The first thing that the Gestapo did, when I was given my freedom, consisted in their taking away my passport and placing me under police surveillance. Although my wife, who was a foreigner, likewise ordered and paid for a passport, it was not given to her, as I had the intention to go to my relatives abroad in order to recuperate. Even the money for the passport for which my wife paid was not returned to us.
The Third Reich employs a notorious stool-pigeon system in the Gestapo; the German secret state police. The decoys or spies are persons who are bought by the Gestapo, who by no means are convinced representatives of National Socialism, a large percent being composed of hypocrites, which I witnessed myself. They are the paid treacherous tools of the Gestapo who continually spy on their fellow men.
These spies are special instruments of the Gestapo and the Third Reich. They are in the camps, in the prisons, in every city and in every place and are also to be found abroad. They spy on their fellow men, in order to deliver them into the inhuman hands of the Gestapo. They are a further reason that free expression of opinion and mutual confidence are vanished in Germany.
I am familiar with all these hazards and intrigues and the infamous dealings of the Third Reich. I know, too, that through these disclosures of facts I am liable to further persecutions by the Gestapo, but, notwithstanding this, I will not refrain from publicly making known the truth which the Third Reich suppresses with all the means at its command. In the interest of mankind I deem it my duty to speak about it, so that honest-minded persons who love righteousness may be assured that the many disclosures about the frightful acts of terror and the conditions in the German concentration camps are absolutely true.
This is not a complete, comprehensive report, as it deals only with particulars and personal impressions, in order that the reader may thereby get an approximate view of the situation. In order to corroborate the evidence of the truth and vouch for the authenticity, and, on the other hand, to do that which I fully and wholeheartedly realize to be my responsibility, and prove that I have taken up and will carry through the battle against lies, slander and brutality with determination, I wish to attest the afore-mentioned with my own signature and to encourage all persons who stand for truth and righteousness to actively take part in this fight.—Arthur Winkler.* [Translated from the German Trost—Consolation]
*[The courageous man who wrote this has doubtless ere now paid for it with his life.—Ed.] Protestantism
Dishonoring Jehovah's Name
Any person with a little education may, in a few moments, ascertain that the personal name of the great Creator is Jehovah, which name He gives to himself, to indicate His purpose that only justice shall abide forever. The name occurs 6,587 times in the Scriptures, which holy men wrote at His dictation. Translators have concealed this information from the casual reader, but, even so, the word Jehovah occurs four times in the King James version, and hundreds of times in combination words. But now one of these modern theologians, Prof. Julius A. Bewer, of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, has decided to get out a new translation, and will omit the name of the Creator altogether, using the appellation affected by Britain's titled aristocracy in its place. Professor Bewer's excuse for letting the Creator down to the level of a member of the House of Lords is that the name JEHOVAH has not been favorably accepted in American churches. The three-legged milk stool for him; and the sooner, the better. If anyone can describe what benefit accrues to anybody from listening to such a pious fraud, speak up.
Schnatzing at a Straw
◆ A church paper put out by the "Reverend" Arthur P. Schnatz, minister of the First Reformed church, Cincinnati, Ohio, urges his flock not to obtain any of the literature put out by Judge Rutherford and his friends because it "ridicules the doctrines of all the other established churches, which have a respectable history". Mr. Schnatz sees a time coming when he will have to go to work to support himself and his family; hence the outcry. It is true enough, in this instance, that "a drowning man will schnatz at a straw", but it will do no good. Honest toil is the only way out, and even that not for long.
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