Consolation, February 21, 1940
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Contents
Protestantismus Defunctus 3
"Grape Nuts" 4
"Under the Alb" 4
Religious Monkeyshines 5
Habemus Mariam! 7
The Name of the Lord 7
The New Government
Czechoslovakia Under the Nazis 12
America and the Bible 14
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford
Baptism with Fire and Water 17
Education 18
Thirty-eight Poets 19
Under the Totalitarian Flag
Munition Makers in 1918 20
The Professional Patriots 20
Vatican Pressure Resented 21
Slavery of Whole Peoples 25
Japan and China 26
Shintoism, etc. 26
British Comment
The Current Scene 28
Blind Leaders of the Blind 28
"Their Eyes They Have Closed" 29
Will They See? Will They Hear? 30
Pity the Poor Bishops 30
Jehovah's witnesses Are News 30
Illinois 31
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Appetizers
Rules for Handling a Woman by Electricity
If she talks too long—Interrupter.
If she wants to be an angel—Transformer.
If she is picking your pockets—Detector.
If she will meet you half way—Receiver.
If she gets too excited—Controller.
If she gets up in the air—Condenser.
If she wants chocolates—Feeder.
If she sings inharmoniously—Tuner.
If she is out of town—Telegrapher.
If she is a poor cook—Discharger.
If she is too fat—Reducer.
If she is wrong—Rectifier.
If she gossips too much—Regulator.
If she gets upset—Reverser.
—From The Locomotive.
A Use for the Clergy
Old Mrs. McDuff was seriously ill. Her doctor warned her, "I must operate, and without delay."
To his relief she consented, but only with the understanding that the minister must be present.
"But—what for?" asked the astonished doctor. "What good could the minister do? I never heard of such a proposal!"
"Maybe no," replied Mrs. McDuff, calmly. "I ken that doctors is maistly heathens. But I ken whit's decent an' fittin'. An' I tell ye, if I'm to be opened at a', I'll be opened wi' prayer."—Labor.
Streetcar Pleasantries
The conductor helped the fat lady aboard the streetcar, saying as he did so, "You ought to take yeast, lady: it would help you to rise."
"Thanks, young man, and if you will take some yourself you will be better bred," she replied.
Overheard in the Subway
"We've got a chair that goes back to Louis the 14th."
"I know how it is. We've got a whole dining room set that goes back to Sears-Roebuck the 26th."
Courage or Recklessness?
Was it courage or just plain recklessness that made the Australian Consolation say that many a peach has been preserved in a beauty parlor?
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, February 21, 1940 Number 533
Protestantismus Defunctus
THE Yearbook of American Churches states that a total church membership of 64,000,000 in the United States consists of 38,000,000 Protestants, 22,000,000 Roman Catholics, and 4,000,000 Jews. It thus appears that of the approximately 130,000,000 people in the country less than one-half are interested in what the religious systems have to offer. This is not surprising when one considers what the churches hand out to those who pay out hard-earned coin to support them.
After twenty years of hard work the joint conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Methodist Protestant Church united as one body, at Kansas City, Missouri, and will hereafter be known as the Methodist Church. The new church starts out with 7,856,000 members, making it truly a Great Big Flock. Just a question here. Will the new church relight the old-time hell-fires, once an essential part of Methodism? The answer is, No! The clergy know there is no truth in the doctrine, and the worst of it, or the best of it, is that the people know it, too. The assets of the business are set at $650,000,000.
At a get-together convention of various kinds of Methodists, at Long Beach, California, Bishop William C. Martin made the remark that unless something significant should come of the Methodist unification the public would be disappointed, and, in his judgment, so would God be. The god who would be disappointed would, of course, be "the god of this world", who is the Devil; for the Methodist churches, all of them, whether they know it or not, exist for the one great object of doing dishonor to God's name and thus doing the will of the Devil, whom they unwittingly serve. The very suggestion that God would be "disappointed" shows that.
Judge Rutherford invited the big guns of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America to defend themselves publicly over the radio on the charge that they serve the Devil and not Jehovah God, the Creator. So far they did not perk up enough courage to say a word, even though eight of the biggest of them were sent personal invitations through the mails. Now two of their trusted employees or associates are accused of having embezzled something over $8,000 in two years, in hanging on to donations instead of forking them over to the racket itself. That seems to suggest it is best to be religious the regular way.
The "Right Reverend" Hayward Sellers Ablewhite, Episcopal bishop of Northern Michigan, is embarrassed because he cannot just remember what has become of some $90,000 of the diocese's funds. Inquisitive persons photographed some of his checks payable to Tony De Quarto's night club, the Royal Follies Night Club, Harry's New York Bar and other similar places where Abie the Bishop was known as a good spender, and then it came out that one of his dearest friends had been a guest in a Chicago jail when the bishop first met him, and that he had induced the bishop to take a flier in the street with the usual result. In a little while now the bishop may have to go to work, and he will be in luck if he can find any farmer that will want him to keep his cattle.—Zechariah 13:5.
Love of Money
The foregoing incidents suggest that the love of money is a factor in the clergy business. The following items give further proof. These are just picked at random from current happenings, but suffice to show the trend.
It is thought, generally, doubtless by religionists, that the United States Senate needs to be prayed for. One would think that the clergy would be glad to do this; and they are—for a consideration. It appears that the Senate needed only four prayers during the 1939 legislative session. Chaplain Zebarney T. Phillips went to the prayer mat for the Senate that many times for his regular salary of $1,680. That is $420 per prayer, which seems rather high. There is no record that the annual stipend was refused in view of the limited service rendered. Now, however, the official praymaster will have to go to the mat every day the Senate meets, and not just occasionally.
At Akron, Ohio, members of a colored congregation came in contact with the truth and then asked their pastor why they should support him. For answer he lost his temper and said, in substance, “I never did work, and I'ze not going to start in now, regardless of what you-folks says or thinks.” That was a bad slip, for his members then told him, “Parson, from now on you is getting no mo' support from us.” If the clergyman carries out his threat he may have to stop eating. But that might be a help to Akron chickens.
"Grape Nuts"
At evangelistic meetings of the Pentecostal outfit in St. Joseph, Missouri, on every other night the hell-fire-screecher passed out in the congregation slips of paper with names of different foods on them. All in the congregation were “privileged” to take one and the next night bring that food for the use of the preacher. One lady got a slip marked “Grape Nuts”. That food being relatively high, and the lady not feeling that she could afford the expense, she obtained grape nut flakes instead and took them to the meeting. The next succeeding night a personal slip was handed to her reading “Grape nuts, not grape nut flakes”. But the lady could not see she was being taken for a ride, and still loves the Devil's religion and hates the truth as much as ever.
The religious racket in Scotland is worked through the Church of Scotland. The farmers are compelled to pay a stipend or teind (tithe) for the support of this institution, whether they wish to do so or not. Recently the stipend in some districts was increased and farmers have to pay the new assessments or go to law and pay the assessments and a lawyer in the bargain. And what do the clergy, many of them, dish out for their subjects? Note the following:
Sneering at the Scriptures, the “Reverend” T. Vernon, in an address in the Hyndland, Glasgow, Parish church, is reported to have said that “there was something encouraging about the belief that man was the descendant of a large, hairy and athletic ape swinging from tree to tree, rather than the offspring of the dull and uninteresting couple, Adam and Eve, who lived in the garden of Eden”.
As the first couple left the hands of the Creator He pronounced them “very good”, and if they had not sinned they would be in the garden to this day and the earth would be fast approaching its promised perfect condition. Adam and Eve were sufficiently interesting that they became the ancestors of the “Reverend” T. Vernon. This particular item is not mentioned to their credit.
The fact that a so-called “clergyman” can make statements such as the foregoing and still hold on to his ecclesiastical meal-ticket condemns the whole religious outfit. Vernon is only a sample of a host of clergymen dealing out equally edifying opinions, and the rest of them co-operate with these in keeping the system in working order so as not to lose out on the money end.
"Under the Alb"
Meanwhile the clergy seek to cover their activities with an outward appearance of sanctimoniousness. They have a distinct preference for holy garments, generally of the type which in the common walks of life are reserved for women.
A British subscriber sends in a clipping entitled “Vicar Will Turn Out Trousered Women”, and wants to know why the vicar himself wears skirts. There is a manifest connection between this clerical leaning and the prophet's statement at Jeremiah 2:34, “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents.” Undoubtedly ecclesiastical “Christendom” is guilty of the blood of many millions that have died in wars and other conflicts, practically all of which have been backed by the skirted fraternity.
Sometimes the proclivity to appear in garb that distinguishes them from real men leads the clergy into odd directions. Here is an example: The Scriptures forbid a man to put on a woman’s garment (Deuteronomy 22:5), but nothing in the nature of a command from the Lord is allowed to interfere with religion; not in New England. And so the “Reverend” J. Sterling Ward, pastor of the Lakeside Methodist Episcopal church, and fourteen other men dressed as women and paraded back and forth across a stage in Lynn, trying to win prizes in a beauty contest. Three women were the judges, but they fell down on their job and decided that not one of them was fit to receive a reward.
One might say that this was bad enough, but the following is even worse, and one almost feels inclined to apologize for mentioning it. But the story is included as one of the exhibits in the case. "Reverend" Joe Jeffers has a church where one doesn't have to wear any clothes. At least he and his wife didn't when company called. Everything was going along fine, including champagne, when one of the male guests gave a signal, the doors were burst in, and the first thing he knew the "Reverend" Jeffers had been photographed with nothing on except what he was born with, and his wife the same, and the next thing he knew he was arrested for maintaining a religious establishment, or something like that. This was in Los Angeles.
Sermons and Their Source-Materials
The religionists like to convey the idea that there is some relation between steeples and marriage, though there is none whatever. Apparently trying to drum up a little marriage business on the side, a Baptist church at Lakeland, Florida, had a series of six sermons on the subject. Some of the titles were "Seventeen and in Love", "Will He Qualify as a Husband?" "Will She Qualify as a Wife?" "Love on Twenty Dollars a Week," and "The Challenge of the Cradle." The minister of the church, having not the least interest in the Bible, but a lot in raking in shekels, probably thought he would get at least a few dollars out of his racket in this way.
The Collegeside Congregational church of Nashville, Tennessee, was greatly uplifted when a dancer by the name of Ted Shawn danced the doxology and preached on an opening prayer, dancing the Twenty-third Psalm, dancing a sermon, dancing hymns, and dancing the benediction. Some of the men in the congregation pined for a woman dancer rather than a man, but as most of the congregation were women the show as a whole was well received. You might as well laugh. Nobody is looking, and it wouldn't make any difference if anyone were.
The sorry state of defunct Protestantism
One of the funny sheets shows a dominie in his study getting ready to prepare his Sunday talk. As his wife turns and looks at him he flips a coin in the air saying, "Heads I give them hell-fire and damnation; tails I preach brotherly love." The hell-fire business is a lie from beginning to end, and if the world is really in for another general war you will soon see almost all the preachers insisting that brotherly love means murdering your brother on the field of battle.
At the Philadelphia Baptist temple 72 persons, beginning at 3 a.m., and ending at 10:10 p.m., read the Bible from Matthew 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Thus it was once again demonstrated that the book can be read in about nineteen hours and that the religionists can be expected to do the fool thing every time. Certainly no one remained to hear the entire reading, and if anyone did he got no more out of it than the others who heard only a part. They were not there to learn anything. It was merely a religious performance, and worthless, to say the least of it.
Religious Monkeyshines
Once a year, in January, the religion of the Orthodox-Old Catholic Church in America makes it necessary for one of their bishops to bless the waters of the world, in Greek, and then cast a gilded cross into the waters of New York harbor, when, if anybody has the nerve, and is sufficiently foolish, somebody dives for the cross and brings it up. The bishop has a cord attached to it, so all the diver has to do is to follow the cord. The young man who recovers the cross gets his name in the paper. It is all perfectly foolish, perfectly absurd, but is religious from the word go, and many apparently intelligent people besides President Roosevelt seem to think that what the people need is more religion.
Something new in the religious business is that Episcopalians are taking an interest in the relic racket. At St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal church, New York city, what was alleged to be the holy grail (the cup shared by the Lord and the apostles at the Last Supper) was on exhibition. The police were requested to pay special attention to its protection, as it is rated as worth $300,000. It was shown only at certain hours. This is a grand preparation for the rush back to the arms of Rome, where such exhibitions are all the rage.
Blaming God for everything, and denying absolutely the Scripture teaching that the only hope for mankind is in a resurrection from the dead, the "Reverend Doctor" Harry Emerson Fosdick, in a discourse on human immortality, is reported as saying:
We Americans have flagrantly wasted the natural resources of our continent. We blame ourselves for that and for wasting human resources, being spendthrift and prodigal in our social disorder with the personalities of people. But if death ends everything, then of all wasters of human resources God is the worst. He forever produces people and throws them away half finished; he creates capacities He never uses.—In New York Times.
The "Reverend Doctor" Harry Emerson Fosdick is pastor of the Riverside Presbyterian church, New York. He issued a statement that when Pacelli was made pope he (Harry) found himself echoing the cry of the Roman crowd, "Habemus Papam" ("We have a Pope"). That will be a big help to the "Reverend" Harry when he gets ready to make the shift to the choice which is in his heart. He can point back to that statement and say to Pacelli and the others, "You see, I was with you right along, but I had to wait for a good chance to break away."
On the Death of the Pope
On the death of Pope Pius XI, the archbishop of Canterbury, for the first time in four hundred years, publicly notified an official body of the church of England of that event, lauded the dead pope to the skies, and called upon the Church Assembly of which he is the head to rise and pray for him. This request of an archbishop of Canterbury that prayers be offered for the repose of the soul of a dead pope of Rome is one of the strangest bits of news of this strange time.
The official teaching of the Presbyterian Church is as follows:
There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ, and the claim of the Pope of Rome to be the vicar of Christ, and the head of the Church universal, is without warrant in the Scripture or in fact: and a usurpation dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ.—Presbyterian Confession of Faith, chapter 27, section 6.
At Dallas, Texas, on the death of Pope Pius XI, Dr. Charles W. Welch, of Louisville, moderator of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., said (in New York World-Telegram):
The 2,000,000 Presbyterians whom I represent join all other Christians who experience sorrow at the passing of Pope Pius XI in expressing their sympathy to the largest body of religionists in the world at the great and indescribable loss of their wise spiritual leader.
Consider these two statements carefully and see if you can figure out why these 2,000,000 Presbyterians have all this sorrow, and why there should be such great and indescribable loss over the death of one who falsely claimed to be the vicar of Christ, the head of the universal Church.
The Southern Baptists are not quite ready to go along with the Episcopalians and Presbyterians—not just yet. The Southern Baptist Convention, meeting at Oklahoma City, passed resolutions deploring President Roosevelt's act in sending British ambassador Joseph Kennedy to the pope's coronation and also rebuked Congress for adjourning on account of the death of Pacelli's predecessor. It had the courage and the manhood to object to the use of United States troops at the funeral of Cardinal Hayes. Three of the committee were United States senators, all democrats, and they wanted it distinctly understood that they are against the extension of the Social Security act to employees of religious agencies and to bills pending in Congress to appropriate funds for sectarian schools. The pronouncement said:
We oppose the establishing of diplomatic relations with any ecclesiastical body, the recognition in the Congress of the existence of any ecclesiastical potentate, the extension of special courtesies by our government to any ecclesiastical official as such, and the employment of any of the branches held to honor any ecclesiastical leader.—In Times Star.
Habemus Mariam!
Any person familiar with the Scriptures knows that there is just one mediator between God and man. Mary had a most honorable place in bringing into the world the one who always addressed her as "Woman", asked her the question "What have I to do with thee?" and said explicitly that "whosoever doeth the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother". (John 2:3, 4; 19:26; Matthew 12:46-50) But Mary would never have claimed for herself the role of mediator or intercessor manufactured for her by religionists. Hitherto the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has had a monopoly of mariolatry, but it is spreading to Protestant churches, especially such High Church Episcopalian churches as chance to be under Jesuit influence. On February 5, 1939, one of the Protestant churches in the Pittsburgh district had a vesper musical service at 4:30 p.m., and went to the trouble to print the words of the Ave Maria which follows, and which words are unscriptural and a dishonor to God:
Ave Maria mighty, yet lowly, Pure and most holy, Hear from Thy starry throne our prayer: Though faithless friends may grieve us, Wealth and fortune leave us, Grant to our grief and to our pain Thy tender care. Sancta Maria! When we are tearful, When we are fearful, Give to us thine aid, To us thine aid, Thine aid of prayer! Ave Maria! Mother of the desolate! Guide of the unfortunate! Hear from Thy starry throne our prayer: If sorrow will await us, Tyrants vex and hate us, Teach us Thine own most patient part to bear! Sancta Maria! When we are sighing, When we are dying, Give to us Thine aid, To us Thine aid, Thine aid of prayer!
You may honestly believe the Scriptures, written by holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by the holy spirit. If that is your stand you will believe the apostle's statement:
We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin: as it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one.—Romans 3:9, 10.
◆ Or, if you do not wish to believe the Scriptures, written by the power of God, you might wish to believe instead the words of "Reverend Doctor" Burke Culpepper, evangelist, lately working for the First Methodist church of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Culpepper takes no stock in such writers as David, the psalmist, or Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. He takes more stock in the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Using a strictly Roman Catholic doctrine and expression, and not at all a Scriptural one, he described the virgin Mary as "Mary, the Immaculate".
The Name of the Lord
An anonymous deity, for some reason, seems to suit the Devil's purpose. The name of Jehovah was deleted from the Hebrew Scriptures on the pretext that it was too sacred to pronounce. For almost two thousand years it was kept in the background. At the time of the Reformation the name was again given place in God's own Word. It appears in such passages as Exodus 6:3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4, and Exodus 17:15. It is, further, a part of such common Scriptural names as Jehoshua (Joshua),¹ Jehoiada,² Jehoiakim,³ Jehonadab,⁴ Jonathan (Jehonathan),⁵ Jehoshaphat⁶ and others. To eliminate the name from the Scriptures altogether it would be necessary almost to obliterate them; something which the religionists are, as a matter of fact, not averse to doing. While the name appears infrequently in the Common (King James) Version of the Bible, it occurs more than 6,000 times in the original Scriptures, and is likewise used in the American Standard or Revised Version of the Bible, of which every Bible student should have a copy.
While lauding the pope and Mary, as noted foregoing, religionists despise the name of Jehovah, which they are responsible for pushing into a corner. They should have published the name of the Lord, instead of obscuring it.
The efforts of the Devil to dishonor the Creator progress in every land. In New Haven, the dean of the Yale University Divinity School, Luther A. Weigle, announced that the name which the Creator gave himself, and which appears over 6,000 times in the Scriptures, will not appear in a revision of the Bible on which he and others are working, "because 'Jehovah' is not a functioning religious term." In other words, modern religion has now gone to the extreme length of denying to the Creator the right to even mention His own name. What better proof could anybody desire that religion is the work of the Devil?
¹ Meaning "Jehovah saves"; which is also the meaning of the name "Jesus" (Greek form of "Joshua"). ² "Jehovah knows." ³ "Jehovah will set up." ⁴ "Jehovah freely gave." ⁵ "Jehovah gave." ⁶ "Jehovah judges."
"I AM THAT I AM"
In saying that the name "Jehovah" is not a functioning religious term, the clergy stray from the truth, as might be expected. It is, on the contrary, a fact that the name is found in many well-known songs. The versification of the 100th Psalm is an example:
"Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy."
This song was sung by Commodore Perry's sailors when he made his first visit to Japan, and greatly impressed the crowds along the water front of Uraga.
It is true, however, that the clergy, and particularly the modernist higher critics, have sought to discourage the use of the name of Jehovah, referring to him slightingly as the tribal God of the Jews, when they should know, and do know very well, that Abraham, the faithful patriarch, spoke of Jehovah as the Judge of all the earth. These clergymen have further sought to discourage the use of the improved American Standard translation of the Scriptures, not only because it reveals the name of Jehovah wherever it was used in the Hebrew originals, but also because it completely exposes the "hell-fire" error, by showing that "hell" refers to the grave. This error is dear to the clerical mind, and useful in the business of hoodwinking the credulous.
Take note how frequently, in the common version of the Bible, occurs the expression, "The name of the Lord," and reflect how meaningless the words would be if the Lord had not revealed himself by a NAME. Note that (in Exodus 3) Moses specifically inquires as to God's NAME, and his inquiry is answered as Jehovah reveals himself as "I AM THAT I AM", in verse 14, and identifies that (in verse 15) with "Jehovah", of which it is a variation.—See American Standard (Revised) Version.
In view of the overwhelming Scriptural testimony to the fact that the name JEHOVAH is of the greatest importance, it is with no patience that one hears the "wise" quibblings and sophistries of those who pretend to teach the Word of God while undermining faith in it. Such quibblers object that "Je-ho'vah" is not the way the Jews pronounced the name. And what of that, indeed? Neither is the English pronunciation of "Jesus" theirs, nor yet that of any other term or word or name in the Scriptures! "Jehovah" is a modern equivalent for "Y H W H", and comes closer to being a suitable rendering of it than any of the substitutes offered by these same faith-destroying, time-serving, money-loving hypocrites whose prototypes the Lord Jesus so scathingly denounced and excoriated as recorded in Matthew 23 (a chapter which every religionist should read often).
Romans 1: 21, 22 [Look it up]
"Rev." C. F. Aked, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D., All Souls' Church, Los Angeles, California, seems to be a success in trying to show the people how foolish he is.
He knows, or could know, that Jesus Christ constantly referred to Jehovah God as His Father, and quoted the words of His Father as authority for His own statements. Illustrations (A.R.V.) follow:
"Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah."—Deuteronomy 6: 4. Compare Mark 12: 29.
"Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."—Deuteronomy 6: 5. Compare Matthew 22: 37.
"Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods."—Deuteronomy 6: 13, 14. Compare Matthew 4: 10.
"Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God."—Deuteronomy 6: 16. Compare Matthew 4: 7.
"Jehovah saith unto my lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool."—Psalm 110: 1. Compare Matthew 22: 44.
"The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor."—Isaiah 61: 1, 2. Compare Luke 4: 18, 19.
In the face of these scriptures, and of the fact that the name of Jehovah appears in the original Hebrew more than 6,000 times in the Holy Scriptures, this man with so many self-glorifying titles published a "sermon" under the title "Jehovah, the Little Tribal God", in which he said, in part,
The American Revised Version is marred by the introduction of the modern, manufactured, meaningless and entirely foolish word 'Jehovah' as the name of God.
Now turn to Exodus 6: 2, 3 and see for yourself that the great Creator states that Jehovah is His own personal name, and see what an appalling fool a man can be.
They hating Jehovah, it is not surprising that religionists hate Jehovah's witnesses, of whom Judge Rutherford is one.
At Geelong, Australia, a schoolboy, at the suggestion of his teacher, asked his father if he had ever read any of Judge Rutherford's books. The father said he would like to make a bonfire of all Judge Rutherford's books. Two weeks later his house burned to the ground, completely consuming a library worth $1000. He is a clergyman of the Church of England. (Says Australian Consolation.) Was this merely coincident?
Bishop C. Bromley Oxnam, Omaha, addressing the Pastors' Union in Detroit, seems to sense the truth about racketeering in religion when, in speaking of some of his brethren in the ministry, he said of them:
Some of these men think they are ministers, but in truth they are nothing but supersalesmen, backslappers and politicians gone religious. They are actually promoters, not ministers.
Religion versus Christianity
Dr. Ralph H. Long, executive director of the National Lutheran Council, in an address in Toledo, said, "The world does not need more religion, there's too much religion now; but it needs more Christianity." He thinks the "Christians today could turn the world upside down just as the apostles did after the death of Christ, if they had sufficient sincerity". That is true, too. He must have been talking to one of Jehovah's witnesses. He also objected to Roosevelt's sending Kennedy to Rome to celebrate the crowning of the new pope. Wonder if he is reading Consolation.
"Reverend" M. D. Lowen, Baptist, of Brockport, New York, stirred things up at a convention of Baptist ministers at Albany. He could see, and stated it plainly, that there cannot be two bosses in "Christendom", and that with both church and state seeking ever-widening powers over the individual, there are bound to be constantly more cases where the individual will be called upon to decide whether to obey God or man.
Referring to the change in the New York State constitution permitting the use of public-school buses to transport children to sectarian schools, he thought this an unnecessary and undesirable link between the state and the church, and that it might be "the first stage of a courtship which may lead to an unhappy marriage at a later date".
He condemned the recommendation of the Social Security Commission that all church employees should be included under Social Security Law provisions. Churches will be taxed under such an arrangement, and, being taxed, would be under government supervision and possible closure for failure to pay the taxes demanded.
He also condemned the New Jersey law against Jehovah's witnesses, which practically places every witness in the criminal class for teaching what the Bible has to say on worshiping images and things, and demanded the repeal of the law.
"Reverend" Lowen has manifestly been feeding on the truth. Let it be hoped that he may continue to grow strong in the Lord and the power of His might and come into the full liberty of the light now shining.
Memories of Happy Days
Roy Goodrich writes to Orien W. Fifer, editor of The Christian Advocate, published by the Methodist Book Concern, at 420 Plum street, Cincinnati, Ohio. Fifer makes his living, in part, by lying about Jehovah's witnesses and quoting Roman Catholic papers to back him up in his false statements. Goodrich reminds him of the happy days of their youth, when they were members of the same "church", and of some of the holy brethren they knew: the choir leader who paid a $500 fine for selling whisky at his drug store; the Sunday-school teacher who shot his wife's fleeing doctor and afterwards fled town because of lying with his own daughter; and the man mighty in prayer who gypped an old widow of all her property. And then there was the anonymous letter-writer, and the willing workers that never did a tap of work, and the seminary where both were taught that their grandfathers were monkeys, the Bible was full of mistakes, the instructors were inspired in the same way as the writers of the Bible, and where the graduates did not know whether or not there is a personal God. Two paragraphs from Goodrich's letter follow:
Fundamentally, your digest errs in adopting the usual Catholic dictum that Jehovah's witnesses are a sect or cult, espousing the doctrines of one Rutherford, who anathematizes religion, governments, Christianity,---and what not? This dictum is not only false, but has not changed essentially since it sent Jesus to the [tree]; Stephen to stoning by bigots; Arius to banishment; John Huss to the flames; and countless thousands to the concentration camps of the Madman's Third and Catholic Reich. No Christian could be more "popular" with the religious status quo than was Jesus. It is of Bible record that Paul the apostle was stigmatized as the rabble-rousing ringleader of an unwanted seditious "sect". (Acts 24:5) Unwittingly, Catholic Action, which you quote with approbation, honors Judge Rutherford with that identical false charge as recorded in The Acts. All witnesses of Jehovah share this honorable reproach; but they are neither a rabble nor rousers, neither a "sect" nor seditious.
Jesus was accused of being a young upstart less than fifty years old, of doubtful birth and of no education; of being a deceiver, propagandizing the people with His own personal subversive opinions; and, at the last, of sedition against Caesar and of blasphemy against God! Today, the witness of Jehovah is doing the same work and getting the same pay as did his once crucified Leader. Under identical accusation, he cannot improve upon the answer which Jesus made to His critics, to wit: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:16, 17) If such doctrines of Jehovah, and such divine answer by His witness, shock the religious susceptibilities of parochial school graduates (or "Wesleyan" graduates), and arouse their ire to persecution heat, then the witness cannot assume responsibility. Such are fighting against God himself, as Gamaliel once admitted behind closed doors.
The "Best" People!
The old story that 'where religion thrives, i.e., where the churches are, there exist the best social conditions' has now been thoroughly exposed. As might have been expected, it is a tale woven out of whole cloth, a fib, a fabrication. In a three-year survey of American cities, Dr. Edward L. Thorndike, of Teachers College, Columbia University, has found that preachers (he wisely refrains from mentioning the priests) and church members are most numerous where "general goodness of life for good people" is at low ebb. That means that the more preachers and churches, the lower down the people. He asks, "What are the churches doing with their prestige and power if they are neither helping the health and education and recreation of a community nor improving its personal qualities of its residents?" Next time somebody asks you how you would like to live in a city without churches, show him this item.
The following may contribute something toward an explanation of the situation. It is, at any rate, an interesting bit of information. Says Jerome Davis, in Harper's Magazine: In cities and towns of five thousand or over, control of the church is now largely in the hands of the favored economic classes. Approximately three-fourths of the chairmen of the boards belong to the business groups or are subservient to them. Thus there exists an interlocking control of the church by the same capitalistic interests which control business. The churches themselves are huge commercial enterprises. The total value of church property in New York is more than $282,000,000. This does not include taxable property, such as real estate, stocks, bonds, and cash awaiting a "profitable" use. The investments of the church represented by its endowments and surplus funds run up into hundreds of millions of dollars. The church organization thus has a tremendous stake in the profit system. The annuity fund for Congregational ministers alone has large sums invested with 54 railroads, 9 governmental agencies, 2 industrial corporations, and 43 public utilities. In addition, it has stock in the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in the General Electric Company, and in vast real estate holdings. A single institution, Trinity Church in New York city, has real estate valued at $15,000,000. It has an annual income from investments alone of nearly $2,000,000. It is said that the aging Trinity Church steeple has come to lean some eighteen inches in the direction of Wall Street. Church welfare is bound up financially with the welfare of capitalism.
The nations (and the churches) do not want God. They want the pope and Mary, and prayers for the dead. Of course, this last innovation must be introduced very carefully; for Protestants are still a little wary about "Purgatory" and its proprietors of the clerical tribe.
It is not known just what organizations go to make up the Protestant National Christian Council of China, but it is known that the Presbyterian Church is in co-operation with it. The Council recently issued a prayer for the dead which reads as follows:
Let us pray for the departed. Almighty God, hear us when we call upon thee for all those who have passed into the unseen world. Grant that all that is good in them may be expanded and ripened; all that is evil and un-Christlike may be eradicated and all misconceptions of truth may be swept away.
The National Christian Council should take a little time off to study the Scriptures, of which Jesus said, 'Thy Word is the truth.' If they would do that, one of the passages they would run across that would help them to see how much chance the dead have to be expanded and ripened would be the following:
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [(Hebrew) sheol, hell], whither thou goest.—Ecclesiastes 9:10.
The dead know not any thing.—Ecclesiastes 9:5.
The “Reverend” Paul Harris, of Auglaize county, Ohio, should shame himself. When all the rest of the “Protestant” clergy were guests of the rector of Holy Rosary Catholic church, St. Mary’s, he had to be out of town, but every other Protestant clergyman in the city was there, at “a dinner, the pleasing memories of which will linger long, and add a chapter to the religious life of the city”. One can imagine the clergy who attended that feast as making a big fuss over Roman Catholic encroachments on American liberties. That is, he can if his imagination is big enough, but he would surely have to have a big one.
Shades of Martin Luther! Two miles from Ossining, New York, a prominent Catholic, Major Edward Bowes, donated his estate to the Lutheran Church for use as a retreat. Lutheranism, and all Protestantism, is in retreat, sure enough.
Archbishop Derwyn T. Owen, primate of the Church of England in Canada, has written to the Canadian prime minister assuring him that the clergy are back of him, just as in 1914, and willing to take as many jobs as chaplains as they can get.
Four students for the ministry went to Hyde Park, New York, to find out why the “Reverend” Frank R. Wilson had prayed in the presence of President Roosevelt that King George might “vanquish and overcome all his enemies”. They learned that the dominie was thinking only of the king’s spiritual enemies when he made the prayer, and not of Adolf Hitler; so everything was all right.
The “dogs” are beginning to bark for war. “Reverend Doctor” J. Frank Norris, of Fargo, Texas, and of Detroit, Michigan, in an interview in Shanghai, China, said, “I shall return to the United States as soon as I can to make a tour and to go on the radio in an effort to rouse the people of America to the necessity of going to war against Germany.” In due time he will have lots of company among the clergy, whose first loyalty is to the governments of this present evil world, and to the god of this world, the prince of darkness, Satan.
In an address at Washington, Pennsylvania, the “Reverend” C. S. Thomas, Presbyterian pastor, from Hickory, Pennsylvania, said, in part: We used to have wooden churches and granite preachers, and now in many instances we have granite churches and wooden preachers. We are deceiving ourselves when we say man-made schemes can rule the world. We are a nation of Bible-rejecting, machine-worshiping pagans.
Of similar import is the statement of “Reverend” Dr. Frank M. Sheldon, Congregational pastor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who said to the Federated Church Women of his city:
The United States is not a Christian country. Not even the church is Christian—it doesn’t dare to be.
So, occasionally some preacher who has not yet got clear of the sinking religious wreck begins to sense that not all is well. The foregoing are examples, and as a conclusion to this brief survey of the state of religion, and particularly effete Protestantism, the following observation regarding the state of “Christendom” is quoted from the pen of “Rev.” William H. Rogers, of the First Baptist church of New York city:
They tremble at the rim of an inferno to which they have resigned themselves as inevitable. Economic collapse threatens on every hand. All the governments have mortgaged unborn generations to care for present needs. In the midst of abundance, poverty has multiplied. Fear of the future haunts every land. These conditions are portents of the end-time.
The apostasy and worldliness of the organized church have greatly increased. Religious Babylon has adopted the methods of the world and the tricks of the Devil to run the church. Places of worship have been turned into dens of gambling and temples of thievery. People have become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
There has been an increasing intensity of national, religious and class hatred. A civilization which can give truth to such shameful persecutions which have marked the passing year is not worth preserving. “Where is God?” Just where the nations have left Him—ignored or forgotten!
While here and there a dissenting voice is heard, the clergy of both Catholic and Protestant denominations are drawing closer together, as has been shown. They are building their own kingdom, unwilling to recognize the Theocracy or to abide by its righteous rules. Their efforts will but serve to land both them and their supporters in the ditch. And when Armageddon has cleared the world of these opponents of righteousness a better world will arise, to the vindication of the name of the eternal Jehovah, whom they have despised.
RIGHTEOUS RULER
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Czechoslovakia Under the Nazis
◆ When, last September, the suppression of Czechoslovakia by Hitler became a reality I immediately set out from Prague, where I had been working, to pay a visit to my parents, in order to arrange certain family matters, and to bring back clothing and various indispensable articles.
I paid the cost of the entire journey, but the train came to a stop about twenty-five miles from home; so I had to finish the rest of the journey on foot. After walking for seven hours I suddenly found myself, about ten o'clock at night, in the middle of the Czech front-line troops. The sentries pointed their weapons at me, and ordered me to approach slowly. They then examined my papers, and allowed me to pass inside the barbed wire. Half an hour later I arrived in sight of my native village, near which I found an independent body of Sudeten Germans, consisting of armed civilians wearing badges. They commanded me to halt and give the password. I gave my name and stood motionless. The two sentries with fixed bayonets assured themselves by the light of their lanterns that my papers were in order and that I originally hailed from that locality. One of them said to me, "You have been lucky to get as far as here alive. All the week firing has been going on, and there have been a number of killed and wounded. We are now going to take you to the commander's quarters."
I almost thought myself dreaming when I found they were leading me to the house of the parish priest. "Ah," said I to myself, "here is yet a further proof that the Roman Catholic clergy are meddling with politics and supporting the rebellion." (According to the Munich agreement my native country came under the dominion of the German Reich on the 6th October 1938, but German troops were in occupation ten days before that date. The Czechs, desirous of avoiding new conflicts, did not offer any effective opposition to that anticipated occupation.) "But," I reflected again, "perhaps the priest has been compelled to put his house at the disposal of the insurgents."
However, I soon recognized my error when I saw the said ecclesiastic in the midst of the commandant's quarters, issuing orders and transmitting information by radio. If all Catholics could have seen that disgraceful spectacle of a traitor at work, their eyes would perhaps have been opened. If I had not personally witnessed these things I would never have believed that such close collusion existed between the clergy and the Third Reich.
As soon as I entered the room I was ordered to give the German salute "Heil Hitler". The usual "Good morning" and "God bless you" are considered anti-Nazi salutations, and are therefore condemned. But in spite of several punches in the face and kicks in the back, I could not bring myself to pronounce the blasphemous salute. I tried to show them that salvation could come only from God and Christ Jesus, as set forth in Acts 4: 12 and Revelation 7: 12, but my words were wasted. While I was being searched the sergeant major forcibly struck me on the head with four notebooks and a bunch of keys found in my pockets. "What did the keys mean?" he shouted at me. I bent my head forward just in time to avoid receiving full in the face a necklace of glass beads, which I had intended as a gift for my young sister.
Two booklets, Warning, by Judge Rutherford, and a copy of The Watchtower and another of Consolation were confiscated. One of the searchers said, "I know those books. A man came to my house offering them. I took him for an unemployed beggar, and offered him some small change. The fellow refused it, saying he was circulating the publications, not for money, but in obedience to God. So I threw the Lord's messenger out."
When Commander Schnitter came, he first questioned my persecutors, and then delivered himself of the following speech:
Young man, I know those books. I have read a number of passages in them, and I must say they contain many fine things. But they are for us, and not for you. What you want is plenty of hard work, which will not leave you a minute for thought, but in the evening will send you exhausted to bed, so that you will be glad to go to sleep. And I shall see that you have this. You will remain here for a time, and then you will be taken to a concentration camp for six months. There we shall teach you to obey and say "Heil Hitler". You are weak in the head and incapable of discerning the ruses of the Bible Students. You have been deceived and made a slave of the Jews. It is a pity you are by trade a cabinetmaker, but we shall not allow you to return to Prague. You belong to this district, and are therefore a German under the Reich.
Rear view of North London pioneer home
At two o'clock in the morning I was taken to be locked up in the town prison. However, as it happened, the warden knew me well, being one of our tenants. For this reason I was merely detained, and not locked up after all. I handed over to my acquaintance some money for my father with a request to inform him of my presence there.
In the morning I had to face a volley of insults from the municipal council. Some of the mildest of these were "Slave of the Jews!" "Traitor!" "Czech spy!" After this I was again conducted to the parish priest's house. Towards midday my father and younger brothers and sisters had permission to visit me and bid me farewell. I was then taken in an automobile to the general commander at Jauernig, where I was once again cross-examined. This was done by five civilians, and took place in a large hall. The officer commanding was an engineer. This examination again furnished me with the opportunity to say that the only Higher Powers are God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and that apart from them there is no salvation for anyone.
One of the Germans ironically asked me, "What would you do if I proceeded to kill you with a revolver bullet?" I replied, "I have no fear of that. You can kill me only if God permits it, and if He allows me to be slain, He will raise me up in His own due time, and for that act of murder, the greatest of all crimes, He will punish you severely." The Nazi was filled with rage and shouted, "It's always your God. If I drag you by your feet onto the railway line and leave you there, will your God help you then?"
All at once a change occurred. The commanding officer entered and said, "It is probable that you will return to your native village." Things began to alter. I was given a meal consisting of an excellent omelette, and then again I had to set out. The sergeant major, who had at first been like a raving madman, was suddenly transformed. He tried to convince me of the greatness of Germany, spoke of the possibility of my working in the Third Reich for a good wage, and then once more became threatening.
Kingdom advertising and Kingdom Hall, Honolulu
Immersion scene at Mobile, Alabama, convention of Jehovah's witnesses (Colored)
If you now choose to throw in your lot with the Czechs, you will be expelled by them as a German. Over there, too, the unemployed are more numerous than ever. And if you afterwards return to this district you will be looked upon as a spy and a traitor, and you know what fate is reserved for them. Now go to your home, and come at midday tomorrow, and tell me what you decide to do.
The following day I presented myself at the appointed time. "Well, have you made your decision? You are remaining at home, are you not?" asked the officer. "No," I replied, "I live at Prague. I have work there, and I am returning to it. Kindly give me a passport, so that I may have no trouble with the troops." My questioner became furious, hurled a flood of insults at me, and finally said, "You will have no passport. I don't give my signature for the Bolsheviks of Prague. Get back there if you can."
Well, to conclude my story. I did get back. I feared that I should be shot in the back when I passed through the cordon of sentries, and knowing how often this had happened to my Christian brethren in Germany, I expected no better treatment. I had a narrow escape, but my God, in whom I trust, delivered me from the net of the fowler.
Two of Jehovah’s witnesses in the district have already been taken away to Germany, and nothing has been heard of them since. Their relatives are persuaded they are dead. Two other witnesses have taken refuge in Czech territory, and are experiencing great difficulty in finding work, and in being tolerated by the authorities. All Jehovah’s witnesses in the Sudeten territory have very trying times in prospect; for how can they be true to God and give the Hitler salute?
But if they look to their Lord and Master Jesus, who also was put to death for bearing witness to the Truth, and if they recall the Divine precious promises, they can triumph in the fight, the issue of which is for them a question of life or death eternal.—Translated from French Consolation by F. R. Freer.
The FCC Would-be Censors
Acting under inspiration the Federal Communications Commission offers to become the Board of Censors of the United States of America, and names fourteen kinds of programs it would like to take off the air. One of these varieties, and this is the colored gentleman in the entire woodpile, is the right to cut off any program “offending religious or racial groups”. The Washington Times Herald says of this Commission:
Its current attempts to establish itself as a board of censorship of everything that goes on the air should be stepped on, and stepped on hard by both parties in Congress.
Unconditional Exemption
◆ In a London, England, court, in the second month of the war, W. Young, Glasgow, twenty years of age, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, was granted unconditional exemption when he took his stand as a conscientious objector and stated that Jehovah’s witnesses do not even vote. When asked if there are any adherents in Germany, Young replied that there are 2,000 but they are in concentration camps. The British White Paper of October 31, 1939, it may be remarked, pays a striking tribute to the stand Jehovah's witnesses have taken in Germany, and to the treatment they have endured in the concentration camps. The courageous and faithful witness to the name and honor of Jehovah God which has been given by Jehovah's witnesses in Germany under the reign of the Roman Catholic dictator, Hitler, is one of the most outstanding tributes to the great and loving Creator that have ever been given in the world.
Sound-car in action at Birmingham, England
Off to a Watchtower study
Happened in Alabama
◆ While witnessing in the mountains of Calhoun county I came upon an old helpless colored man, seated in his chair, unable to move. I gave him a witness with the record 'Religion is a snare and a racket', and further told him of God's purpose to shortly fill the earth with a righteous race of people, and that all religious institutions and religionists would perish in Armageddon, which is to come upon this generation. He seemed to appreciate what I had to say, and when I explained the difference between religion and Christianity he said to me that a white woman came into their community the year before and seemed to be very religious. She wanted to teach them and to pray for them. He also said that while the woman religionist was kneeling in prayer beside his wife she stole his wife's pocketbook containing $15—all the money they had in the world.—W. B. Crabb.
America and the Bible
President George Washington said:
The pure and benign light of Revelation (the Bible) has had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society.
President John Quincy Adams:
The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. The earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society.
President Zachary Taylor:
It was for the love of the truths of this great and good book that our fathers abandoned their native shore for the wilderness.
President Ulysses S. Grant:
Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of our liberties. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future.
President Benjamin Harrison:
If you take out of your statutes, your constitution, your family life, all that is taken from the Sacred Book, what would there be left to bind society together?
President Theodore Roosevelt:
Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon the teachings of the Bible.
President Woodrow Wilson:
A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world who has deprived himself of a knowledge of the Bible.
Daniel Webster said:
If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how suddenly a catastrophe may overwhelm us, and bury our glory in profound obscurity.
President Grover Cleveland:
No thoughtful man can doubt that to decrease the circulation and use of the Bible would seriously menace the highest interests of civilized humanity.
The story does not seem complete without some reference to the Bible-burning tub of Philadelphia, Dennis Cardinal Dougherty. Dennis is no blood relative of the late Dutch Cardinal Schultze or the present Al Cardinal Capone, but goes to the same “church”. He supervised the burning of the Bibles while in charge of his racket in the Philippines.
Vicious Flogging of Witnesses
◆ A report comes from Concentration Camp 5, Neusustrum, Emsland, Germany, that when new arrivals are received the chief of the camp commands that the witnesses of Jehovah shall step forward. He then asks, “Which of you wishes a Bible?” All apply for it. The chief then orders another official, “Go, fetch the Bible!” The “Bible”, when it is brought, is a cudgel, with which the chief beats each witness, and then says, “In case you still want a Bible, sometime later, all you have to do is to ask the chief for it and you will surely receive it,” by which another beating is threatened. German prison rules forbid the beating of a prisoner unless he shows himself rebellious, but Nazi officials pay no attention to the laws. They are a law to themselves.
Every Word Is True
◆ During an information march at a zone gathering a clergyman passing in an automobile observed the sign “Religion is a Snare and a Racket”, and picked out the first place he could find in the traffic and waited until the march came along. Asking one of the marchers, as they came abreast of his car, what it was all about, he was given a Face the Facts booklet and told to read it. The clergyman went home to a neighboring city, read the booklet, and the next day, Sunday, preached from the booklet, then held it aloft and told the congregation about the information march, and said of the booklet itself: “Every word of this booklet is true, but you people have gotten so far away from the Bible that it doesn’t pay to talk to you about it.”—K. H. Carpenter.
‘The Heavens Shall Laugh’
◆ Some time after the court case in Lismore over the destruction of a placard, when the police were obviously biased in the enemy’s favor, I was driving out of town late at night with four placards up on the car. Suddenly I saw a car pulled up in front of me by the police. They stopped me also, then a car behind me. It appeared that a man had been arrested by two policemen, and they required a lift into Lismore. Evidently the car in front was in a hurry, and they let it go. Then they read my signs and tried the car behind me. Apparently he was unable to oblige them either; so back they came to me. They bundled their prisoner on board and back we all went to the town. Driving along the main street I thought how strange it was that here were the very policemen who had locked me up for a night during the previous week, riding along with the selfsame signs that had caused them to arrest me. On arrival at the police station, they thanked me graciously and I drove off with their assurance that I was a very good and law-abiding citizen for so readily helping the police.—Australian Consolation.
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