Consolation, December 11, 1940

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Contents

Counsel by J. F. Rutherford

Demon Plot Unmasked 3

Mobocracy (Part 1) 5

Conspirators Divulge Agreement 6

An Archbishop Incites Riot 7

March of Mobocracy 10

British Comment

Plain Words by a Bishop 12

The Vicars Again 13

The Rain of Bombs 14

Department of Justice Inactive 15

The New Government

Awaiting the Next Storm 16

Persecution in Nigeria 16

Injustice in Britain Too 17

Too Much "Red-blooded" Bunk 18

An Honest Newspaper 18

"Let Us Pray" 20

Witnessing in Shakespeare's Birthplace 21

Stole, Lied, and Lost Her Money 22

Demonization at Rawlins, Wyoming 24

From a Resident of Rawlins 26

No Government in Rawlins 27

Under the Totalitarian Flag

The Cardinal of 100 Churches 29

"The Apostle of Peace" 29

"The Voice of Destruction" 30

Third Degree in Philadelphia 30

Petain and the Hierarchy 2

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Notandum

Petain and the Hierarchy

● An article in Reynolds News Oct. 20 is more than interesting. The writer, Marguerite Dasnieres, says, "The thin, quavering voice of a very old man, Marshal Petain, announced to the French people that the French State is now 'hierarchical'—the latest and most retrogressive camouflage for totalitarian rule, but it would be wrong to think that this hackneyed paraphernalia (named by Petain in his announcement) signifies that the aged marshal is trying to curry favor with the Nazi conquerors. He is not." The article claims that Petain is under the lead of others, in particular one Charles Maurras, a Roman Catholic, whose arduous and influential labors have for many years been directed to restore France, under a hereditary monarchy and the authority of the Roman Church, and she says, "This explains Petain's choice of the word 'hierarchical' instead of 'totalitarian'." No doubt this states the truth, and there is no question that the Hierarchy in Rome has striven to bring France under their control, and to destroy democracy in that land.

The Catholic Herald, perturbed by news published about the pope and the Vatican, and referring particularly to the report of the pope blessing Mussolini's army, says the press frequently gives garbled versions of events—which, of course, the Roman Catholic papers never do—says the pope's words by no means bear the interpretation that he favors Italy, and it adds, "In view of the many attempts made by sources hostile to the church to suggest that the Vatican favors totalitarianism and condemns the parliamentary countries (whereas it remains completely neutral) these would do well to believe nothing that purports to come from the Vatican until its truth is amply confirmed." But truth never found a home in the Vatican.—J. Hemery.

CONSOLATION

"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.

Volume XXII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, December 11, 1940 Number 554

COUNSEL by J. F. Rutherford

Demon Plot Unmasked

WHEN the child Jesus was born at Bethlehem it was the Devil and his associate demons who put the wicked Herod wise to that event in order that he could carry out the Devil's scheme to destroy the babe Jesus. The magi, or "wise men", who started the whispering campaign about the birth of a king, were clearly the servants of the Devil. The following facts prove this.

When the angel announced to Mary that she should bring forth a child whose name should be called Jesus and who would be the Savior of His people, Satan recognized this promised and unborn babe as the one who would ultimately bruise his, the Serpent's, head, as foretold at Genesis 3:15. The apostle Paul states that God sent Jesus into the world, one of His missions being ultimately to destroy the Devil. (Read Hebrews 2:14.) The enmity of Satan toward the promised One never abated. Learning of the promised birth of the child, Satan at once began to lay his plans for its destruction. He attempted to induce Mary's espoused husband Joseph to put her away and cause her to be put to death as an adulteress under the terms of the Mosaic law; but God prevented this by advising Joseph through His angelic messenger in a dream to fear not, but to take Mary for his wife.—Matthew 1: 18-24.

It seems unreasonable that the Creator Jehovah would have made a star move from the east and stand over the birthplace, Bethlehem. Stars do not move about the canopy of heaven in such manner as to lead men. Satan and his emissaries, the demons associated with him, have power to produce lights. Many instances are cited in history of these lights appearing near the earth. The "star" or light that guided the "wise men" was without doubt such a light, and not a star moved by the power of Jehovah.

The "wise men" residing in the east were sorcerers and magicians. They were star-gazers, followers of religion, or demonism. They sacrificed to and worshiped the Devil. (Read 1 Corinthians 10: 20.) Pharaoh the king of ancient Egypt was a type of Satan the Devil; and Pharaoh used wise men like these magi in the day that the Israelites were in Egyptian bondage. (Exodus 7:11) These were devotees of astrology and demon worship. Doubtless many of them were sincere, but they were the dupes of religion inaugurated by Satan. The Biblical record definitely fixes the fact that Herod, then ruler in Jerusalem, was a wicked man, under Satan's influence.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men. [(Greek) magi] from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." "Then Herod privily called the Wise-men [magicians, religionists], and learned of them exactly what time the star appeared." (Matthew 2:1, 2, 7, A.R.V.) Be it noted that these wise men went directly to Herod, a representative of Satan. If the star guiding them was sent by the Lord Jehovah, why would He guide them to Herod, a representative of Satan, and a mortal enemy of the babe Jesus? If the sole purpose of the star was to guide these men to the place of Jesus' birth, there was no need for them to go to Herod at all. The reasonable answer, then, is that Satan had prepared a great conspiracy with the object of destroying the babe. A conspiracy is a design to commit a wrongful act, in which two or more join in committing the act or some part of it. Sometimes persons are involved in a conspiracy and participate without knowing the real purpose of the one who forms the conspiracy. Such may have been the case with these wise men; but without doubt Satan had formed and directed it.

When these wise men came into Herod's presence, he was troubled, because he feared the new king would interfere with his reign; and he "gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people [clergymen, religionists] together, [and] demanded of them where Christ should be born". In other words, he demanded to know where the babe Jesus could be found. Then Herod, in furtherance of the conspiracy, privately consulted with these wise men. We now see Herod manifesting one of Satan's characteristics, to wit, deception, in that he pretended to desire to find the babe Jesus that he himself might go and worship Him; whereas all the facts and circumstances show that his real purpose was that he might find the babe in order to destroy Him. "And he sent them to Bethlehem; and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed: and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was."

We cannot for a moment believe that the heavenly Father would use a wicked one like Herod and aid him in carrying out his wicked purpose by having a star to direct these wise men to the place of Jesus' birth, in view of the fact that the king had demanded that they should return and report to him, and that it was King Herod's purpose to destroy the "young child". The fact is that the Devil and his instruments, Herod and others, would have succeeded in this wicked conspiracy and have caused the death of the child Jesus had not God interfered to save Him.

Reaching Bethlehem, the wise men found the child and brought their presents and worshiped. Without a doubt it was their intention to return and report to Herod. The result of such a return would have been the death of the child. But God here intervened and warned them in a dream. These religious magicians relied upon dreams. "Being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." Satan again was thwarted in his wicked purpose.

Herod's real intent in sending these wise men is disclosed by what subsequently happened, Herod's slaughter of all the babes in and about Bethlehem two years old and under, with the hope of destroying the one that was to be King and Savior of the world. Jehovah saved the babe Jesus from the slaughter by directing Joseph and Mary to take the young child and flee into Egypt; which they did.—Matthew 2:13.

We would not be justified, then, in presuming God was using these devil worshipers, the "wise men", for the purpose of being His witnesses to the birth of His beloved Son. On the contrary, the facts show it pleased Him to reveal this great truth to the shepherds and to use them as His witnesses.—Luke 2:8-18.

Nothing in the account of the wise men indicates that their mission was in any wise beneficial to mankind. This should serve as a warning to all who profess to be followers of Christ Jesus and who have been deceived by clergymen and been led to ignore the existence and power of the demons. Instead of following the admonition of the Scriptures, religionists known as "leaders" and the principal ones of their flock exalt these devil-worshipers or magicians by the ceremonies performed at what is called "Christmas time". Without doubt Satan has deceived multitudes of honest people into believing these men were the witnesses of the Lord, and has hid from their minds the fact that they in truth and fact represented Satan. "We are not ignorant of his devices."—2 Corinthians 2: 11.

Mobocracy

(In Two Parts—Part 1)

THE shameless mobbing of Jehovah's witnesses by Legion-led rabble is shocking to every law-abiding citizen. This has not abated in the least, but, on the contrary, the office of the Watch Tower is furnished with a constantly increasing number of accounts of the most beastly and inhuman attacks on those whose only "offense" is to bring "this gospel of the kingdom" to the people. The contempt for such outrages, expressed by many news editors throughout the country, has had no effect, because when the law itself is no deterrent or hindrance it could not be expected that public disapproval would avail. The instigators of these crimes have set up a MOBOCRACY and defied the nation to stop them.

MOBOCRACY means "rule by the lawless"; and the action of mobs is contrary to every law of the land. No honest citizen condones the casting away of all legal restraint, and the invoking of misrule by violence and rioting. To approve the attacks upon Jehovah's witnesses which have been made without any effort to bring legal charges against them, and the assaults on all or any who dared to defend them as legal counsel or simply to render them some pitiably small courtesy or kindness, implies the sanction of crime. It likewise implies distrust and contempt of all the laws for which the American flag stands as symbol.

Yet today there are in America high religious and political officials who openly approve of these felonious assaults and, furthermore, incite and promote more such violence. These same officials constantly salute with their hand America's symbol of law. The success of their evil efforts would dismay the hearts of all who love righteousness, except for the Scriptural proof that this momentary triumph of wickedness just precedes Armageddon. At this final battle Jehovah settles accounts with all violators of His law. "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever. But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore. For, lo; thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish: all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered."—Psalm 92:7-9.

Jehovah's witnesses do not call attention to these facts for the benefit of the evil instigators, because these have already been found guilty and sentenced to death by Jehovah. (Matthew 25:45, 46) But it is their responsibility and duty to warn all those who might be innocently duped into following such leaders, that to do so means death at the hands of Jehovah. If any have joined such mobs who seek the death of the messengers of the Most High, let them quickly turn away from such action and make any amends they can, lest they fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31) "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye"

perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."—Psalm 2:12.

The words and action of religious bishops, political officials and Legion commanders disclose a conspiracy to carry into effect the silencing of Jehovah's witnesses. Their initial effort was by 'framing mischief by a law'. (Psalm 94:20) These laws, whose similar wording throughout the United States clearly disclosed their common origin, were disannulled and declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the Lovell, Schneider, and Cantwell cases, all involving Jehovah's witnesses. Then the conspirators seized upon the adverse court ruling on the flag-salute case as a pretext for concerted mob violence, which reached such rabid proportions during the summer. The mobs, impassioned and incited by Roman propagandists, were relied upon to do what was forbidden by the American Constitution. Further evidence as to who are the chief actors in this conspiracy is disclosed by recent newspaper statements of those prominent in public affairs.

Conspirators Divulge Agreement

It has been found through experience in the prosecution of the law that conspirators will use the same words and often commit the same acts in the accomplishment of their unlawful purpose. This is well known in law circles. In the assaults upon Jehovah's witnesses certain similarities both in word and in deed appear which leave no doubt as to the motive and identity of the backers of the combine. Some of these points are here considered.

It was on May 23, 1940, that the conspirators started the Texas "blitzkrieg" to exterminate Jehovah's witnesses. Some sporadic attacks had occurred even a few days earlier. The time had come for action, and it appears to synchronize very closely with the Supreme Court decision against Jehovah's witnesses which was handed down on June 3. Bear in mind the time element; these outrages occurred more than a week before this bad decision was made public. Could it not have been that a Catholic "justice" gave the boys the 'GO' signal a little before the general populace received the news? Or had the outcome already been decided upon a month or so before?

Whether or not that is true does not matter. Note now the further progress. Judge Rutherford, in his speech delivered from Detroit on July 28, pointed out the coincidence that it was on June 10, only one week later, that two things happened. Mussolini stabbed France in the back, and National Commander of the American Legion, Raymond J. Kelly, called for summary action against Jehovah's witnesses, whom he classed as "fifth columnists". Everywhere the cry "Fifth columnists!" was taken up. In less than a month overt acts of the conspirators had occurred in 41 states of the Union, doing violence to person and property of more than a thousand of the Lord's servants.

All these facts are well known through newspaper exploitation, generally at the expense of the witnesses. Lies were hurled about pretty carelessly. A few corrections have been halfheartedly attempted, such as the New York Times' correction that the witnesses attacked in Del Rio were Nazi agents. They knew it to be a lie when they published it, but wanted to curry favor with the Hierarchy and do their bit to inflame the country against the objects of the conspirators' wrath.

At Detroit every spokesman for Jehovah's witnesses charged the American Legion with complicity in the Hierarchy's scheme to rid themselves of the witnesses. It might shake the confidence of some of this gang to note what Jehovah had to say about this arrangement a few thousand years ago: "For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee. Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison." (Psalm 83: 2, 3, 5, 9) Just in passing, Legionnaires will take note of just what happened to these ancient enemies of the Lord; says the prophet, "they became as dung for the earth." (10th verse)

As far as this writer is informed from a scanning of news accounts, neither the Legion nor the Hierarchy have ever denied their confederacy formed for the purpose of exterminating Jehovah's witnesses and replacing the American flag with the swastika. Instead they seem to be satisfied that all is progressing smoothly and the outrages are increased. This seems to be their answer. But if any doubt remained Archbishop Spellman's recent outburst at the Legion convention in Boston (September 20) removed all shreds.

An Archbishop Incites Riot

On September 22 Spellman was working overtime. He reviewed "15,000 members of 56 Italian-American branches" of the "Holy Name Society". These are connected with Fascist clubs, according to Il Mondo, Italian anti-Fascist weekly. The archbishop and a large gathering of priests reviewed the marchers from the steps of the expensive and elite Fifth Avenue cathedral, St. Patrick's. The intimate relation between prelates and Legion is disclosed in this paragraph in the New York Times, September 23, 1940:

A color guard composed of veterans from posts of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars also detached itself from the parade to stand at attention alongside the clergy. Religious banners were held aloft by some members of the guard of honor that formed on the cathedral steps . . .

At three o'clock Archbishop Spellman had to leave the cathedral steps to depart for Boston.

On arrival in Boston the archbishop lost no time in having his picture taken with Governor Saltonstall and none other than Raymond J. Kelly, the advocate of summary action against Jehovah's witnesses. In the speech which this agent of a foreign power gave to the Legion, he pleaded "for an armed nation to save our peace". Strangely enough, he did not mention Germany, Italy or Japan as the encroaching enemies, but he made unmistakable reference to Jehovah's witnesses when he used these words:

You cannot imagine an organization which openly teaches disrespect to the American flag and under the pretense of freedom of religion engages paid workers to go from house to house to attack the religion of others. And yet there is such an organization.

By vocation I am a man of peace . . . Unceasingly day and night I pray and ask my flock to pray for peace. "There is nothing to be gained by war that cannot be gained by peace," was the warning of Pius XII on the eve of the outbreak of the present European conflict.

Note how Jehovah foretold the words of such prognosticators: "Saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!"—Jeremiah 8: 11, 15.

But Spellman advocated no peace in the Legion's mobbing of Jehovah's witnesses. Of course, the statements are all untrue: Jehovah's witnesses respect the flag far more than any Catholic prelate who is working overtime to turn the country over to the Nazis; and they engage no paid workers to attack the religion of others. Jehovah's witnesses respect everything in this nation that is worthy of respect, but that does not include the promulgators of the religious lie that God has a place of torment for all those who do not tickle the palm of some skirted cleric. Abraham Lincoln had the same opinion as Jehovah's witnesses on this point, and even the Catholics pretend to revere his memory as a great American. Lincoln said:

The history of the last thousand years tells us that wherever the Church of Rome is not a dagger to pierce the bosom of a free nation, she is a stone to her neck and a ball to her feet, to paralyze her and prevent her advancement in the ways of civilization, science, intelligence, happiness and liberty. Though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our horizon. And that dark cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears of blood. It will rise and increase till its flanks will be torn by a flash of lightning, followed by a fearful peal of thunder. Then a cyclone, such as the world has never seen, will pass over this country, spreading ruin and desolation from North and South. After it is over, there will be long days of peace and prosperity; for popery, with its Jesuits and merciless Inquisition, will have been for ever swept from our country.

On the occasion of his speech to the Legion, some pronouncement regarding their attacks on Jehovah’s witnesses was expected by Legionnaires from Spellman. After all, they had not succeeded in killing all the women and children whom they had mobbed, but surely the “good” bishop must realize that it was harder to do this sort of work here than it was in Germany with a staunch Catholic like Hitler at the helm. So they looked to the archbishop for some words of comfort and encouragement much needed if they were to keep up the brave performance of beating up the outnumbered men, women and small children of Jehovah’s witnesses. Even some members of the Legion opposed mob action, so the job was not all as easy as smashing the face of a little girl.

And the archbishop came through with a splendid vote of confidence for his boys. He really spread himself. He knew the gang had done what they could, and, furthermore, he expected even better results in the future. For the organization whose members advocate felonious assault upon the weak and infirm instead of obedience to law, do not these words of praise seem somewhat extravagant?—

“Your honor is for ever secure. In military annals you belong to the company of the most knightly who fought without fear, without reproach and without thought of personal gain or national expansion.” This eulogy was addressed to the American Legion by Spellman, and while it sounds brave and laudatory enough, it doesn’t seem to fit the Legion, many of whom never came closer to fighting than in a Texas riot. But the Legion, no matter how despicable in the eyes of the law-abiding, immensely pleases the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, whose agent addressed them.

Honest people cannot fathom the intrigues and cryptic phrases of the Papacy. But one thing is clear in Spellman’s speech: there is not one hint of censure of the Legion, but, on the contrary, it was plain to all who had ears that their past conduct, including the vicious attacks on law-abiding citizens, was held in the highest esteem by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, represented by the archbishop. In plain language, what he meant was “You are doing a swell job, boys. Keep it up. You know the ones I want you to get; so go after them.”

The same words, the same acts, and the same targets, namely, those who truly represent Jehovah, are used the world over. The words are “Disrespect of flag”, “Fifth Columnists”, “Hiding behind religion,” and it does not make any difference which flag it is or what country is being betrayed by “Fifth Columnists” who disguise their sedition under “a cloak of religion”. A few examples cited from distant places will show how perfectly the conspiracy is directed from a central office.

Smith Weekly of Australia, issue of July 27, states:

MENACE OF “JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES” IS REALIZED. Mr. Tonking, N.S.W. [New South Wales, the state of Australia in which Sydney is located], Chief Secretary, has publicly declared the organization to be FIFTH COLUMNIST.

The news sheet has a rehash of American attacks on the witnesses and says further:

In America lately “Witnesses” have been causing riots through their unpatriotic and irritating activities. In recent weeks, scores of them have been gaoled as alleged spies, radicals, fifth columnists, and non-patriots. The writer also uses the stock term of the Hierarchy in this country, "subversive."

The fact that Jehovah's witnesses do not salute any flag or "heil" any man, whether it be American, British or German, would seem to refute the charge of "Fifth columnist" in the eyes of any sensible creature, even without the added evidence that Hitler has banned the organization in Germany and killed many witnesses. But no, the Hierarchy's agents around the world repeat the charge except that in Germany they are accused of being "fifth columnists against the German Fifth Columnists".

Also any flag will do. Note how the American and the Australian news swap items which reproach Jehovah's name. The New York Herald Tribune of September 20 carries this item:

RELIGION NO EXEMPTION FOR SECT IN AUSTRALIA. [Sydney, N.S.W.]

SECT SPOKESMAN MANHANDLED.

Hobart, Tasmania [a beautiful island south of Australia and under the central government], Sept. 19. (AAP)—A spokesman for the Jehovah's witnesses sect, who refused to rise for the singing of the national anthem, was dragged from a platform here today by twenty young men and tossed into a roadway. Bleeding from cuts, the spokesman returned to the platform. After refusing again to stand for the anthem, he was threatened by the crowd, but escaped in an automobile. Several of his followers were showered with rotten eggs and other missiles.

Now consider the words of a publication in Coughlin's stamping ground, Detroit, Michigan, some 11,000 miles from Tasmania. An editorial in the Strathmoor Press, August 1, 1940, accuses: "Jehovah's Witnesses is the first religious tribe to be so closely akin to Fifth Column activity." This editorial also uses the expression "Hitler's tactics".

Canada has suppressed Jehovah's witnesses as "fifth columnists" and as "subversive". It is well understood in Canada that this move was at the instance of the powerful Quebec bloc of Catholics whose unity makes them politically an almost insuperable minority. The facts of the case are difficult to get, because of the close censorship now imposed. But one probable theory has been advanced. Canada's Catholic anti-British sympathy in 1914-18 prevented the passage of a draft act. In the present conflict the same Quebec clique opposed the draft for a similar reason. The Catholic mayor of Montreal, even after the passage of the act, boldly declared it unconstitutional. To effect passage of the draft act a compromise between Canada's four and one-half million Catholics and seven million disorganized opposing groups was needed. The final arrangement seems to have been something like this: The Hierarchy, represented by their strong political adherents, was to have a Catholic in the saddle as dictator (Lapointe, Minister of Justice, and practical dictator, is a staunch Catholic) and license to suppress Jehovah's witnesses: and the other side, Protestants, and the like, were to have the draft. The facts seem to warrant the conclusion that this explanation is correct.* Canada thus puts herself in the fatal position of fighting against God.—Psalm 9: 17.

The Hierarchy, through Hitler, has succeeded in stopping the work of Jehovah's witnesses in practically all of Continental Europe.

That Hitler has done the will of the

* On April 7, 1940, Priest Charles Lanphier gave a broadcast over station CBL, Toronto, in which he devoted much time to a scurrilous attack on Jehovah's witnesses. For several years prior thereto Jehovah's witnesses had been refused the facilities of the Canadian radio stations on pretext that they violated a regulation forbidding "abusive comment on any race, religion or creed". Of course, this law was not intended to apply to Catholics, and "Father" Lanphier characterized the witnesses as "spreaders of bigotry and prejudice", "nauseating spectacle of paid agents" (compare Spellman's speech to the Legion), "enemies of our country," "peddlers of hate," etc. This Catholic outburst was undoubtedly the forerunner of the act of suppression. Appeasing the Hierarchy is what politicians cannot do enough of.

Hierarchy in the suppression of Jehovah’s witnesses is unquestionable from facts published in 1938 in the booklet Face the Facts. Under the subhead “Hitler and the Pope” the following is quoted:

The following statement, written by a Catholic priest of Berlin and published in The German Way under date of May 29, 1938, is proof of the conspiracy between the Papacy and the Hitler totalitarian government of Germany:

“There is now one country on earth where the so-called ‘Earnest Bible Students’ [Jehovah’s witnesses] are forbidden. That is Germany! The dissolution of the sect which, at that time, had found a strong foothold in Germany, did not come to pass under Brüning [chancellor of the German Reich before Hitler], although the Catholic Church in Brüning’s time urged to have this done. However, the ‘Most Catholic Chancellor’ Brüning answered that he had no law which authorized him to dissolve the sect of the ‘Earnest Bible Students’.

“When Adolph Hitler had come to power and the German episcopate repeated their request, Hitler said: ‘These so-called “Earnest Bible Students” are troublemakers; they disturb the harmonious life amongst the Germans; I consider them quacks; I do not tolerate that the German Catholics be besmirched in such manner by this American “Judge” Rutherford; I dissolve the “Earnest Bible Students” in Germany; their property I dedicate to the people’s welfare; I will have all their literature confiscated.’ Bravo!

“However, the American episcopate, even Cardinal Mundelein, is not able to have Rutherford’s books, in which the Catholic Church is slandered, to be taken away from the book-market in the United States.”

Cardinal Mundelein is now conveniently dead. Archbishop Hayes, also now deceased, has been replaced by Pacelli’s personal friend, Francis J. Spellman. The archbishop is moving fast to remove the complaint of the German priest. Pacelli, too, is rubbing his hands in gleeful expectation of the day when the progress of the “new order” in Europe will be duplicated in the United States. The faithful Legion under the guidance of his Italian priesthood can be counted on to lift the ‘blight’ of Jehovah’s witnesses.

March of Mobocracy

Given a free hand the Hierarchy is quick to don the garments of the ancient Inquisition. The methods are those calculated to inspire terror and bring about “peace and safety” in America in which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy will be free from the disturbance of exposure. Some may think these methods extreme, but the rule of the Hierarchy is that no crime is too unspeakable when committed upon an enemy.

The most damnable aspect of these atrocities is the close alliance between priests, officials, judges and the American Legion. To top it all is the connivance of the president of the United States. According to Lowell Thomas in his chain broadcast over WJZ, October 1, Mr. Roosevelt described the attacks on audiences of Mr. Willkie, the Republican candidate for president, as “reprehensible”. As for the shameless mobbings of Jehovah’s witnesses, not only was the chief executive silent, but he wined and dined one of the leading instigators. The New York Times of August 29, 1940, reveals an intimate relationship:

Archbishop Spellman of New York was entertained today at luncheon by President Roosevelt soon after the President arrived here [Hyde Park] for a holiday. The luncheon was private and neither the topics of conversation nor the names of the other guests were made public.

The president is similarly reticent about his conferences with Myron C. Taylor, his personal ambassador to the Vatican; but the American public is permitted to witness the results of some of those little private talks. Further results of these confabs may be expected in the near future.

America is far more advanced than England in the destruction of freedom and the substitution of mob rule. While the Catholics both in England and in Scotland have attempted to create prejudice against the witnesses by calling them “conchies”, “subversive agents” (a favorite term of the Hierarchy’s), and “Nazi sympathizers” (Scottish Daily Express, September 14, 1940), the press of the British Isles is fair enough generally to publish the answers of Jehovah’s witnesses to such charges. Says the above paper, for instance:

Thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses in this country, members of an American-born group of ‘Bible Searchers’, who have been called “conchies”, “subversive agents,” “Nazi sympathizers,” intend to reply to their accusers at a conference this week-end at Edinburgh. Their reply will be:

“(1) We have never dictated to witnesses’ consciences, never held an objection-complex, never interfered with individual freedom in the matter.

“(2) We are decidedly not subversive. We are not interested in politics, only and exclusively in God and preaching the Gospel.

“(3) Six thousand of our members are in German concentration camps. We could hardly be pro-Nazi.”

The Scotsman, September 16, quotes:

The British public today asked these questions: “Who are these witnesses? What do they stand for?”

Mr. Schroeder [convention chairman] replied that they were a body of true Christians. Jehovah’s witnesses were not pacifists, but were soldiers of Jesus Christ. They were peaceful, loyal, and law-abiding citizens of the State.

“The best answer to the slander that Jehovah’s witnesses are a ‘bunch of cranks’,” said Mr. Schroeder, “is to look at this vast audience and see the bright, healthy men and women who compose it. Do they look like a bunch of cranks? These are men and women who love God.”

It should be clearly known, he proceeded, that the Society, as an organization, was not interested in the question of conscientious objection, and had not interfered with its members in this matter. If an individual had an objection to war, it was up to the individual himself to make his stand.

An English prelate was also forced to publicly retract the statement that Jehovah’s witnesses were against the government and to pay a fine of £10. On another occasion a group of Catholic hoodlums attacked Jehovah’s witnesses and were arrested by fair-minded police and punished with sentences.

Contrast this situation in a country ripped by Nazi bombs and in constant danger of invasion with the events in Harlan, Kentucky, and Connersville, Indiana, U.S.A. At Harlan six of Jehovah’s witnesses are charged with the serious crime of sedition because they “advocated a government by one, Jehovah God”. Do not all Christians advocate such a government when they pray as Jesus taught them to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”?—Matthew 6: 10.

In Connersville two ladies were arrested who had witnessed for many years to Jehovah’s kingdom and were well-known citizens. They were tried and, even after an able defense, convicted of “conspiracy to riot” on an antiquated and apparently unconstitutional law; the sentence for preaching the gospel was “two to ten years” imprisonment. Even then the bloodthirstiness of the Legion-incited mob was not satisfied. Due to the intense prejudice whipped up in this town, counsel for the defense was forced to use a back door during the trial. The courtroom was customarily filled with Jehovah’s witnesses interested in the case. Just before the jury handed down the verdict, which was “cut and dried” from the beginning, the judge ordered the courtroom cleared. When the defense counsel, his wife and several friends returned in the evening to learn the verdict, they noted knots of men on street corners who jeered at them and cast rotten eggs and other missiles.

Other mobsters lined the corridors of the courthouse. Enemies had replaced friends inside. After the verdict, when the group attempted to elude the rioters by use of the back door they found this locked. There was but one exit left, and this led them into the hands of a howling mob. The judge had thrown them to the wolves.

No police could be found. They had conveniently disappeared. The surging crowd began to beat men and women alike, cursing and blaspheming Jehovah’s name. The attorney and his wife were separated from the two other of Jehovah’s witnesses. The car in which they had intended to escape had been driven away by Legion members. The woman was bleeding from cuts, and swollen about the face and breast from a torrent of blows. Loss of blood caused the lawyer to be so weak he was scarcely able to support his wife as they were driven through the rain towards the outskirts of the town. After hours of this torment, finally a friendly car picked up the couple. The two other friends were later rescued after receiving a terrible lashing and internal injuries. As to the instigators, both the judge and the prosecuting attorney admitted that they took orders from the Legion.

It seems certain that we have just begun to see the beginning of this terror. The bludgeon, the torch and the ax are on the march. Mobs are demonized and cannot be dealt with. Their unleashed fury is like a forest fire devastating everything in its wake. It is sated neither by victims nor by blood. It is the Devil’s own spawn and will obey his voice alone. This is the program for America under the heel of Catholic Action!

There is yet a more grisly example on record. This concerns the unspeakable crime of castration. In Nebraska a witness received an afternoon visit from several men posing as friends. They said, ‘We are Jehovah’s witnesses like yourself.’ The witness thus addressed stepped outside to welcome the visitors, and he was suddenly grabbed and forced to go with the gang. Their intentions soon became obvious as he was thrown on the ground in a near-by grove and forcibly castrated with a butcher knife. One of the tormentors shouted to the man writhing in agony: “That will teach you a lesson.”

The same organization that perpetrates such acts accuses Jehovah of even greater fiendishness.—Elton Groves.

(To be continued)

British Comment

By J. Hemery (London)

Plain Words by a Bishop

● The bishop of Chelmsford, Essex, has caused a commotion amongst the Roman Catholics, and has given their newspapers and journals something to write about, and the priests something to talk about a bit different from the usual rather maudlin pabulum which is dished out to their readers and hearers. At a diocesan meeting the bishop expressed himself freely about the Papacy and its attitude towards the war. He said, “One of the most melancholy aspects of the European situation is the abject failure of the pope to give spiritual guidance to the people who looked to him for spiritual leadership. The fact is (he said) that the Papacy is now, as was the case in the last war, and indeed always has been in the past 400 years, anti-British and anti-democratic. It is tragic that this is so, for otherwise the intervention of an influential neutral whose power was purely spiritual might shorten the war; but as things are, any peace proposals from Rome would now be fatally suspect.” Despite the outcry from the Roman Catholic newspapers and the many letters which have appeared condemning his plain words, both in the national newspapers and in personal letters, the bishop holds to his words. The Catholics tell at full length all the fine speeches made both by the late pope and by the present holder of that office. They have many to quote of the pope's love for peace, and of the heartaches, about which they tell, which give the "holy father" so much suffering. But none of these meet the statement of the bishop, nor touch the essential matter, which is that the Papacy is ever totalitarian in spirit and is contrary to democracy in whatever form it is found. Protestantism, though not now active as such, is a rejection of the claims of the totalitarian Roman church claims, and ever since Britain asserted its freedom from the thraldom of the Papacy its manner of life has been that of a democracy, no matter what particular phase of rule has happened. The Papacy has of late told the world of its admiration of the great democracies of the West, Britain and America, but those whose eyes are opened to the workings of the Papal Hierarchy as a great political power and schemer know how to measure the words of the pope's expressions, and such, remembering that the cabinet in Rome is working in the secrets of the Vatican, remember that its policies emanate from Italians. The Hierarchy ever keeps before the eyes of the world the "church" with its spokesman, the 'holy father', who claims to be ruler of all who are baptized in the Christian faith, and that whether baptized by a Roman Catholic priest or an alien Protestant parson. That great system, whose roots are in all places in the earth, hates and seeks to destroy all opposition to its claims, and it hates Protestantism, which from that angle is essentially democratic, as it hates Jewry and Freemasonry, neither of which accept the claims of the Papacy. It particularly hates the witness given by Jehovah's witnesses against its false claim, because its unscripturalness, and its false interpretations of the Scriptures in its own support, its additions to the Scriptures to deceive the people, and its scheming political intrigues, are exposed as never before; and it hates the spokesman, Judge Rutherford, whom God has raised up for His purpose in making clear the scheming and also in telling so clearly that which is the truth of the Word of God, so that both the error and the truth are set before the eyes of all who wish to know them in order to serve God, and save themselves in this day of judgment from the things which are coming on the earth in the collapse of Armageddon.

The Vicars Again

● Neither the Roman Catholics nor their relatives, the parsons of the Anglican church, appear able to tell the truth when Jehovah's witnesses are the subject of their words or writings. The vicar of Emmanuel Church, Northwood, near London, by title and name "Reverend" J. G. Downward, issues a warning to his parishioners about the books carried to them by Jehovah's witnesses. He says, "Much of their writing is contrary to Scripture," which is not true; he says, "They hold no belief in the Trinity"; which is certainly true. "They hold no belief in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ"; which must be designated as a plain lie; and further says, "They hold no belief in the all-sufficiency of the atonement as a guarantee of everlasting life"; which is another one. Why does not the parson read for himself instead of taking another parson's word? He ought to know his own kind, and that, when the interests of their church are in question, none of them is to be trusted, as he himself demonstrates. The parishioners who have been under the vicar's care are reading for themselves and are getting free from the bondage which the priests have put on the people. The vicar must know this, or this warning would not have got into his magazine. The profession of clergymen brings its holders into a false position; for, whether of the Roman or of the Anglican or of the Nonconformist sections, they are forced into a confession of faith and doctrines designed to support the institutions they represent, professing to build upon the Word of God, but each taking out of it such passages as support their particular dogmas or practices, and refusing all that does not happen to agree, or using them as mere illustrations for the moralizing they pass on to their congregations week by week. And in all the ranks of so-called "Protestants", were inquiry to be made, it would certainly be found that all, or nearly all, the parsons and preachers are non-accepters of the Bible as the Word of God.

The Rain of Bombs

◆ From the time when the Nazis began their preparation for continuing their Blitzkrieg to Britain there has been no cessation of the daily and nightly attacks on England, chiefly on districts in the North-West and Midlands, but particularly on London. By one of their easy ways of justifying the wholesale destruction of the great area of the city and suburbs, and their indiscriminate wrecking of the homes of the people, and the slaughtering of as many persons as possible, they made London a "military objective". That, to them, let them free for all that the evil conceptions and passions desired. Undoubtedly they have got much of what they wanted in scattering death and destruction, and in making attempts to interfere greatly with the business of the great city. Thousands have been killed; many more severely injured; thousands of homes have been wrecked or rendered uninhabitable. But that for which all this was intended, the breaking of the spirit of the people, and the panic which they hoped to create, with agitation to upset the Government, and perhaps influence its destruction and let in others who, as the Nazis thought, might have the same craven spirit or policy of those who led France into the power of the Nazis so readily—in that it may truly be said they have met with total failure. So far as one can read the signs, there is not the least impression made on the people, who at the first gave their full support to the Government when war on Nazism was declared.

The destruction in every area of London and the suburbs, and the towns between it and the sea, is a saddening sight, especially as one thinks of the homes wrecked and businesses, the means of livelihood, ruined. Yet London "carries on", and so do the other towns and cities. Great numbers of the people in London spend their nights in the shelters; most of these go into the Tube stations, taking their places from 4:30 in the afternoon till the "All clear" signal goes, perhaps about 6 o'clock next morning. Many go into public shelters, and, again, many into shelters made in their gardens.

This provides safety, generally, but it almost seems that there is no safety to be got from a direct hit by a heavy bomb, and some have lost life or been badly injured even when "sheltered". But while these shelters are giving a good measure of present safety, serious problems are arising. The nights are growing longer, and the questions of sanitation and feeding loom up; besides the evident fact that nights spent in shelters where sufficient rest cannot possibly be got must certainly weaken the health of the people.

The weather has been unusually mild: Britain as a whole has had one of its occasional good summers, and this has been favorable to the people. Almost all the nights of the "harvest" moon in September and the "hunter's" moon in October were clear; but this favored the enemy bombers, for London lay clear to them. As yet, with the exception of increased number and power of the anti-aircraft guns, it appears that little can be done to stop the night murderers. The tremendous noise of the guns precludes sleep, except to such as are "seven sleepers", and the power of their explosions shakes the properties they protect. However, it is certain that the raiding would have been much worse if the barrage had not been in action. It is still the case that hospitals and churches seem to get particular notice by the Nazis, though perhaps this is because any outstanding building attracts the enemy. The end is not in sight, but perhaps the fogs which London gets at this time of the year may bring some relief. Nature, by its clouds, may prove a protection. A few nights ago, during such a night as seemed likely to give the Nazis a good run from early evening till well on to morning, there was first a clear sky with a bright moon shining, yet after a few hours clouds came over the heavens. The Nazis dared not come below the clouds, and over them where they roamed they could not tell where London was, except by guessing, and the bombers went back to their dens, to wait for early morning. But though they then come over in droves they know they must fight their way through the air, and during the daylight they and their terrors can be dealt with.

Hookup with Hitler Long Contemplated

◆ Alexander Barmine, former Soviet chargé d'affaires at Athens, states that the reason why Stalin murdered 30,000 Russian officers, thus destroying Russian military effectiveness, is that Stalin had long contemplated an alliance with Hitler and wanted to remove all who he knew would object to such an arrangement.

Unwise Crowding of the Insane

◆ At the state hospital for the insane at Salem, Oregon, inmates were received faster than the state provided quarters for them, with the unhappy result that an insane man killed three others insane and then committed suicide, all because of the fact that the beds were put too close together.

Department of Justice Inactive

AMERICAN mobs are doing to Americans in America precisely what the Nazi Brown Shirts did to Germans in Germany. The spirit is exactly the same; the inciters are the same; the objective is the same; the results will be the same. The Department of Justice knows this to be true. It has issued no indictments against the scores of flagrant malefactors in almost every State in the Union; but it has done some talking, and that is worth something. In a recent address Solicitor General Biddle said:

The increasing cases of mob violence in connection with the Jehovah’s witnesses must arouse the deep concern of every American citizen. As part of their religious creed, they consider it improper to offer obeisance to anyone but their Creator, and refuse, as a consequence, to salute the flag. To us, to whom the flag means so much that is passionate and beautiful, I can see how this attitude is deeply offensive. But what happened? Self-constituted mobs are roaming the country, setting upon these people, driving them out of their homes. In one instance, a sheriff, pretending to lead them out of harm, brought them straight to where the mob was waiting.

Some people of good-will toward God are slowly awakening. The Michigan Christian Advocate stirred its readers mightily with its editorial quoted in part in Consolation No. 552. Letters from its subscribers thereafter expressed their keen interest in the dignified, graceful, pleasant manners of some of the young witnesses on the streets of Ann Arbor, where they were glad, not sorry, to wear “big sashes over one shoulder with ‘JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES’ printed on them in large capitals”. The Advocate’s subscribers wonder why Methodists cannot get their church members to do the same kind of work. The very first consideration is that one must have a supreme love for God. Unselfish devotion to God, first, last, and all the time, is what presses Jehovah’s people into the battle and makes them unafraid of consequences.

The Louisville Courier-Journal states that the only WPA worker in Kentucky to lose his job when the rolls were cleared of aliens was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. That is all regular. What else would you expect? Mrs. F. L. Herington, California, did not hit it so badly when she said, in the Lodi Times: “The persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses is not an upsurge of patriotism, but of hatred against faithful people of God.” There is real joy on the part of the Devil, and on those who have the spirit of the Devil, when anybody loses his faith in God and becomes like the rest of mankind, thankless and unbelieving.

RIGHTEOUS RULER

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

Awaiting the Next Storm

JEHOVAH'S witnesses lead the most interesting and exciting lives of any people. They are the special objects of Satan's wrath; he knows it, and they know it. Big events are impending. With calmness of mind and heart Jehovah's people await what may come. "Is anything too hard for Jehovah?"—Genesis 18: 14, A.R.V.

Some Americans are getting tired of too much big-mouth "patriotism". Collier's puts it like this:

Professional patriots are yawping that we've all got to take to saluting the flag at the drop of a hat—any hat anywhere—and the Supreme Court, no less, fell for one aspect of this guff in the recent Jehovah's witnesses decision.

Persecution in Nigeria

In every country the Devil has his emissaries. In Ilesha, Nigeria, 33 of Jehovah's witnesses were arrested, but the magistrate decided they had done nothing amiss, and discharged them. The dispatch from Lagos, Nigeria, says:

The native authorities are urged to see that they establish their case well before effecting arrests, since it is a waste of time and money to transport accused persons from Ilesha to Ife, and back to their original destination, as is the experience of the men involved in this case. The discharged Jehovah's witnesses have since been "glorifying" their Lord and Maker.

At Kingston, Ontario, Magistrate James B. Garvin ("church" unknown) is making it warm for the witnesses. The Kingdom Hall of the witnesses was raided and Charles Barney was given thirty days in prison on the following splendid testimony in his behalf given by the man who swore away his liberties:

I arrived at the hall, and we could not get the key so as to enter the hall. Charles Barney came up the stairs and asked what we wanted. We asked for a key and he produced one. We entered the hall with Barney and there was no other person in the hall. I asked Barney why he visited the hall and he said he called for a fresh supply of literature. I asked him if he had seen that the Jehovah Witnesses had been declared an illegal organization and he said "Yes." I asked him why he called for literature, and he said he wanted more for distribution. He said it would make no difference whether the organization was declared an illegal organization, and that he still would be one. I asked him if he would always belong to that organization and he replied, "Absolutely." He said that he would carry on with their teachings at the first opportunity.

After this appeared, a subscriber of the Kingston Whig-Standard, L. M. England, caustically and reasonably wanted to know, "What is the next religious organization to be called in question and brought to the court?" No doubt Mr. Garvin has the answer. Two days later Mr. Garvin sentenced Austin Held to ten days in jail on the same charge, and in this case the testimony convicting him was this:

I asked him his name, and told him that he was a member of an illegal organization; and he told me that in his estimation the organization was not illegal. He further said that the organization would not be declared illegal until Jehovah had decreed it. I placed him under arrest and seized his boat and bicycle.

Sanity in Louisville

In the general wave of intolerance against the witnesses it is encouraging to note the courageous stand of the Louisville Times. After noting the case of one of Jehovah's witnesses it said with the candor of the days when the men were men that:

Jehovah's Witnesses have been abused by mobs and public officials of late because their religion forbids them to salute any temporal emblem, including the flag. Many police officials have gone out of their way to bait them and the arrests have been pure persecution. The Supreme Court has held that school boards have a right to compel flag salutes, but that does not mean that street mobs have that authority nor that public officials can, without reason or upon whim, harass believers in what, to the majority, may be a strange faith. It will be no surprise if Justice STONE'S dissent from the majority opinion in this case some day becomes the law of the land.

You heard about Roseburg, Oregon? Looking over their school board, and quite probably realizing that none of them had any education worth mentioning, the board solemnly decided that it were better so, and thereupon passed a resolution that no one may have any education in Roseburg henceforth unless he violates his conscience by saluting the flag. It is a great way to develop and perpetuate patriotism. It is like a mother beating a child black-and-blue to make him love her more.

At Lumberton, North Carolina, Eugene D. Orrell, one of Jehovah's witnesses, was arrested and held under $100 bond for distributing handbills without a license. The Charlotte (N.C.) News had a stirring editorial on this outrage. After mentioning that from one end of the country to the other the people of various states have been disgracing themselves by hysterical assaults on the rights, property and persons of Jehovah's witnesses, and then what happened to Orrell at Lumberton, it said:

The whole procedure is grossly and flagrantly illegal. There is no law of North Carolina or of the United States which requires this man to salute the flag, and there can not be so long as the Bill of Rights is not overridden. . . . This man is being held for a nonexistent crime—which is to say ultimately because the authorities at Lumberton don't like his ideas and are usurping the authority to make laws against him on their own account.

Theocracy publishers, Colon and Panama

Injustice in Britain Too

Americans think, and properly, that British courts are mostly more fair than their own, but at Manchester Judge Frankland seems to have it specially in for Jehovah's witnesses and was small enough and mean enough to say to one of the witnesses in open court:

The more I hear of you people the more I am convinced that there is a good deal of sound wisdom in the Roman Catholic doctrine of keeping the Bible out of the hands of the ignorant. They are not fit to receive it.

Frankland wants his country to give up trying to educate anybody. Let the Roman Catholic priests alone have any education; make it only what they have to have to get by, and let them do all the thinking for the balance of the people, including such judges as himself. That seems to be his idea.

The Catholic Universe Bulletin boasts joyfully that Roman Catholic judges are socking it to Jehovah's witnesses all over the God-forsaken province of Quebec. Judge J. C. Langlois, on sentencing a 55-year-old witness, W. A. Mallette, to a month in jail, declared that all the pamphlets and documents published by the witnesses of Jehovah are of a seditious nature. They (Judge Rutherford's books) each contain upward of 1,000 Scripture citations. That's enough. That makes them seditious. Don't guess Judge Langlois' church. You don't have to. He received that with his mother's milk and that was as far as he got.

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