Consolation, July 23, 1941
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Contents
A Post-Mortem for Protestantism 3
Condemned out of Their Own Mouths 3
The "Protesting" Nation 6
The Bible in "Universal" Languages 9
The "Authorized" Version 9
The "Vulgate" 9
A New Catholic Bible 11
Indifference of the American Press 11
Under the Totalitarian Flag 12
Uruguay Handles Nazi Agents 15
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford
When Money Won't Talk 16
Africa 18
Making War in the Nude 18
Brilliant, Misinformed, Troublesome Man 19
The New Government
Theocratic News from Japan 20
A Courageous Witness in Florida 22
Persecution in Australia 23
Animals in the War 25
Facsimile pages from Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States 26, 27
Pennsylvania 28
British Comment
Civilian Casualties 29
"The Sword of the Spirit" 30
Bad Record of Catholic Children 30
Jehovah's witnesses 31
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Notanda
Must Try God Now
◆ The New York Times, issue of June 17, 1940, had the funniest headline ever written. Trying to help boost religion it said of a sermon by the "Reverend" Doctor Norman Vincent Peale, Marble Collegiate Church, Fifth avenue and Twenty-ninth street, New York city, that "Dr. Peale says human leadership has failed and world must now seek Divine guidance". In other words, having raised every possible kind of hell for 6,000 years, and being now in a jam up to its ears, it is willing, as a desperate alternative, to—er—let the Creator see what He can do in a pinch. If He isn't as successful as the New Deal, why, Roosevelt can have a fourth term, might be the idea.
None Believe the Bible
◆ The Pentecostal Evangel says that of the 7,000 ordained ministers in New England only 1,000 believe in an authoritative, infallible Bible. This is just to say that there are not 1,000 nor is there even 1 and the Evangel itself does not believe. When to all these the plain proof is cited that the dead are dead; that they know nothing at all when in death; that Jesus was thus dead and thus in the Bible hell; that the dead are in their graves and that the only hope for any is in a reawakening of the dead, they all with one accord begin to get red and yell for the police. They can't take the truth: it is too true and too plain.
Why the Alarm Clock?
◆ Somebody sent in a clipping wherein a minister wanted to know why some of the unsold used cars, good-looking ones, could not be turned over to the worn-out preachers so that they could go out and serve the unchurched communities. And then, skillfully, the one who sent in the clipping drew an alarm clock at the top, and it awakens memories of the long ago. The man needs a clock, not a car.
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A.R. V.
Volume XXII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, July 23, 1941 Number 570
A Post-Mortem for Protestantism
CENTURIES ago courageous and sincere men separated themselves from the Roman Catholic Church in vigorous protest against the abominations committed therein. Others joined with them in their protest, and despite cruel and relentless persecution by the Hierarchy's inquisitioners, the movement grew. Thus started what is now known as Protestantism and is a matter of history. Though its adherents are in every part of the earth and numbered by the millions, less protest is heard from these millions now than was raised by its handful of founders 400 years ago. Why? Certainly the evil against which the original protest was made has not been remedied. On the contrary, the "Mother of Harlots" is more active than at any other time in its history. Having crushed continental Europe and established its "new order" there, it is now spreading out to encompass the entire earth and subjugate the world. And yet, at this crucial time, Protestantism is silent. Not only is it silent, but it hinders others who would protest, saying we must be "good neighbors", presumably even if that neighbor were the Devil himself.
Why the change of sides just as the battle reaches the climax? Protestantism no longer exists. It is dead. It has not been killed in action, but has collapsed internally. What are the conditions within the organization which caused its death?
Protestantism has deserted man's true guide, the Bible, and set up its own teachers, resulting in confusion. This is largely responsible for its deterioration. People desiring instruction in the Scriptures find none, and turn elsewhere. Here are two samples: The Albertan (Calgary) reports the "Reverend" E. Melville Aitken as stating, in substance, "Armageddon had nothing to do with this day and age. It was a predicted battle in the days of Israel which had not taken place and would not occur." Jehovah said, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name . . . I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed."—Jeremiah 14:14, 15.
The second is from the Dutch Reformed Church, South Africa. A committee was appointed to draw up a brochure setting forth the church's view on the second coming of Christ. After working one year the committee produced a pamphlet which said no thousand-year reign was to be expected! So the Lord's Kingdom, for which He taught His followers to pray, is out so far as the Dutch Reformed Church is concerned. Is it any wonder Protestantism is on the skids? It holds out no hope for the distressed peoples of earth who are mourning.
Condemned out of Their Own Mouths
Let's examine the testimony of some of their own witnesses concerning this internal disintegration. Dr. Charles C. Morrison, in a work entitled "What Is Christianity?" declares of Protestantism that it "stands limp and frustrate before its own civilization to whose cry for salvation it has no answer".
Lucky Baldwin, otherwise known as "Reverend" Christopher J. Balfe, says, "Hell is so full of religious people that their feet are sticking out of the windows." "Lucky" has been chaplain of the Cook County Jail and Bridewell Prison, Chicago, for 31 years, and should know. Eighty-five percent of prison inmates come from organized churches. But why does he not also disclose the fact that Catholicism furnishes by far the larger part of this criminal quota, although numerically constituting but one-sixth of this country's population?
The Wesleyan Methodist contains an article by the "Reverend" Ural T. Hollenback, Fairmount, Indiana, in which he laments, "Spiritual death reigns supreme in many religious morgues."
Bishop Karl E. Block, of the Episcopal diocese of California, speaks on finances, a subject dear to the hearts of the clergy. He said:
The church of Christ is a pitiful spectacle when it must be supported by dances and card parties; . . . when, because of the indulgence of officers of the State, we engage in raffles and other forms of gambling to sustain the one agency primarily commissioned to usher in the Kingdom of God.
The "pitiful spectacle" here described is not the church of Christ, but religion; and when Jehovah God fully ushers in His Kingdom such gambling dens of religious thieves will be ushered out, nor can they shift the blame to indulgent State officers. While they have not developed the gambling racket to the extent the Catholic Hierarchy has, they tag along behind the "old lady" the best they can.
The most damaging testimony is that offered by "Reverend" Paul Piper, in the Commentator:
Most of us ministers over forty might admit in our most honest moments that we are hypocrites and whited sepulchres, full of dead men's bones. We are ignorant, lazy and stupid, often liars, thieves, fakers, figurative murderers, moral cowards, narrow-minded bigots. But the public seems to take us seriously!
One thing seems quite clear to me. Either the scribes and Pharisees, the preachers of the synagogue whom Jesus railed against in His seven woes, were hypocrites, most monstrous, easily identified, known and shunned by all decent folk—or they were such smooth and suave creatures that people mistook them for genuine. If the former, we may be glad their ilk is diminishing. If the latter—well, excuse me while I wipe the cold sweat from my brow!
Their honest moments should be more frequent. It is seldom the clergy so aptly apply Bible prophecy. However, the striking thing is not so much the burden of the confession itself; for people who observe and think for themselves have long been aware of these facts. But rather it is the calloused coolness with which the confession is made. Evidence will be later submitted showing the trend of Protestantism to Catholicism. Can it be they are already so imbued with Catholic doctrine that they believe that after "confessional" they have absolution and are delivered to do all these abominations? The religionists fail to appreciate the full import of Jesus' scathing denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees; that applying it to themselves as their league has done is in effect signing their own death warrant.
That Protestant sectarianism is today merely a barnacle on the ship of state and about ready to be scraped off as a useless weight and impediment is forcefully stated by Dr. A. C. Volkmann, who, according to the New York Times, asks the pertinent question: "The State has had to take over the major portion of the welfare problems of the peoples, and now if it is to be asked to take over their religious problems also, what function does the church serve?"
Thus out of the mouths of two and many more of their own witnesses they are condemned. The admissions themselves are of little worth, since they are not accompanied by expressions of sorrow.
row and repentance, much less any remedying action. The Protestant clergy are very tolerant—tolerant of the filthy conditions within their organization and the blasphemies against which their founders protested even unto death. Their only protest now, in unison with the Hierarchy, is against Jehovah's witnesses.
If by these confessions they are trying to beat someone else to the punch, it's too late. For years Jehovah's witnesses have been calling attention to the facts showing the religious leaders of today as the counterpart of the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day. Such witnesses have suffered much opposition and persecution for so doing. Now many of the clergy admit the truth of this testimony, but they continue to howl against the witnesses of Jehovah in undiminished fury. If the religious leaders were sincere they would take vigorous steps to remedy the degeneracy of their organization or get out. Instead of this, however, the cry still goes out for "more religion" (there are hundreds of varieties; they haven't specified the brand, yet). Never can they plead ignorance; for they acknowledge the state of affairs, and are apparently satisfied.
However, many of their flock are not so indifferent. Business is not so good. One example will suffice to establish the point. Dr. Nathaniel Forsyth, chairman of the International Council of Religious Education, made the statement that in what was formerly the Methodist Episcopal Church the enrollments in the Sunday school had decreased 1,000,000 in the last twenty years and that in many districts the Sunday schools are threatened with extinction.
Here's what that million and many more are going to miss, according to a report of the First Presbyterian church, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. Among the departments of the church in whose activities its members may participate are finance, home week, ushers, sexton, benevolence offerings, afternoon tea, needlework guild, Girl Scouts ... and the list drones monotonously on with some fifty-odd trifles. Each of these departments has its subdivisions, one as many as fourteen. This set-up is typical of the insipid program offered the people by Protestant religious groups. Surely there's enough variety in this religious hash to satisfy the taste of any man—every taste but spiritual. They dabble in everything but the weightier matter of doing the Lord's will. (Matthew 23:23) There's no time left for that. It's little wonder business is poor and those who attend incapable. As one "Reverend" complained, "out of 700 in one church, the prayer meeting averaged eight," and that "out of five hundred in another, five could lead in prayer, but two had to be notified the day before".
Here's one of the many proposals to stem the exodus. Believing that in union there is strength, "Reverend" Paul V. Galloway, Methodist and graduate of Yale Divinity School, urges in fine dictatorial spirit the following: That a Council of Religion be formed, of one ritualism; that all Protestant churches be compelled to unite therein; and that the state subsidize the church and support it! They want the public schools to teach their religion for them. Now they ask the State to keep them. What purpose, if any, do they serve—besides their own belly? Perhaps "Reverend" Galloway would accept the job of Protestant Inquisitor General to do the compelling necessary in uniting the 200-odd Protestant sects of this country. It would mean the ashcan for the Constitution of the United States, but that would doubtless be agreeable with him, too.
The Catholics might be included in this arrangement. They favor ritualism, union of church and state, and governmental doles to their church. As for the Constitution, their representatives have already threatened to blot it out!
The Return Trip
As Rome boasts compatibility with pagan religions and the ability to incorporate such pagan doctrines and ritual as a part of her own, so she is now absorbing Protestantism. Lacking the courage and strength of purpose of the early Protestants, those of today fall easy prey to the crafty cunning of Rome. Some go completely over to Romanism. Two cases in point: A Buffalo Methodist advertises a midnight mass (curtains for Wesley!). In Pennsylvania the hounds were blessed before tearing a fox to bits to entertain religionists, and this was done, not by a Catholic, but a Presbyterian minister. Appropriately his name is Capers, and the excuse for this one was that such things used to be done in the Middle Ages!
Instead of resisting this trend, Protestantism’s leaders urge collaboration with the Vatican. Note the following examples:
“Reverend” Edgar Warren, in the Exeter (N. H.) News-Letter, states: “Catholics and Protestants are coming more closely together. ‘Rev.’ Raymond Calkins, at the first meeting of the preaching conference sponsored by the Boston University School of Theology, advocated and commended an influx of Catholic theology into Protestant preaching.”
In an address at Rochester, New York, Bishop Charles Flint, head of the Eastern States area of the Methodist Church in the United States, urged “diffused religion” as the only effective source of co-operation, good-will and good faith, and of “fidelity to contracts so ably set forth in the pope’s recent encyclical”. The “fidelity to contracts” does not refer to the contract they claim to have with God. Fearing the double-cross so common among thieves, reference is doubtless made to the concordats and secret agreements for dividing of the spoils among the gangsters now overrunning the earth. The Protestant leaders are looking out for themselves and desire a place in the pope’s “new order”. Little do they realize that co-operation with the Vatican means eventual subservience to Rome. In their simplicity they have overlooked the “death for heretics” policy of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy! Apparently there is a “fifth column” sell-out in the Protestant organization. The traitors would call it “an honorable peace”.
While Roman Catholicism has been put on an equal footing with the heathen and idolatrous religion of Japan in that country, the denial of foreign support to mission establishments comes as a great blow to Protestantism there. This was to be expected. Japan is in the Axis with Catholic Hitler, the pope’s champion, with the result that the pope’s religion flourishes—the Protestants’ suffers.
The “Protesting” Nation
Just as the Protestant clergy have ceased protesting, so have the nation and its leaders. The men who settled this country fled religious tyranny in Europe in search of a place where they might worship God as they saw fit. The fundamental law of the land was framed that this freedom might be guaranteed and left as a heritage for their children. They were Protestants, and established this nation as such.
Now the president sends an envoy to the Vatican; bills are introduced into the legislatures of the nation to protect the Hierarchy from exposure and protest; the public press treats that religious “whore” as a sacred cow and shields it and misrepresents those who would expose it as an implacable foe to the nation’s welfare; and the un-American Legionnaires mob Jehovah’s witnesses because they uncover her wickedness.
In response to an invitation issued September 8 by the chief exponent of ‘good neighborism’, President Roosevelt, the Catholics, Protestants and Jews gathered together to pray for peace. It so happened that this date was what Catholics call the birthday of ‘Virgin Mary, the Mother of God’. This “coincidence” will help along the infiltration of Catholic theology now being slyly slipped over on Protestants. The Jews don't accept Christ, contrary to Catholics and Protestants. The Protestants believe, according to their creeds, that the Church of Rome is the 'Mother of Harlots'; which leaves out the Catholics. Catholics claim there is no salvation outside the "Church"; which puts everyone else in hell. How is it they can all pray together so harmoniously? There are two reasons: They pray to their common father, the god of this world, the Devil. It's good politics.
War
Another one of the inconsistencies of the clergy which cause them to lose the respect of the people is their position on wars. For instance, during 1914 they were solidly against war; in 1917 they blessed it; and after the war they went back to their position of 1914. Now the trend is back to the 1917 philosophy. They are as unstable and changeable as the popular whim or fancy of the moment, and are subject to it. The flock leads and the shepherds clumsily follow the best they can. The Protestant ministers are not so adept in executing these mental flip-flops as the pope, who has developed such tactics to a fine art. Here are the sentiments of some of the vanguard in the rapidly growing rush-to-war blessing:
The Anglican archbishop of Melbourne, Australia, now says, "I believe we should humbly accept His call to save the world." They did in 1914-1918, and it's the worse for the saving. Christ Jesus is supposed to be the Savior, but apparently the archbishop thinks the job too big for Him.
Bishop Ernest M. Stires, Protestant Episcopal diocese of Long Island, said:
Why should they [the 1940 candidates for the presidency] hesitate? Some of us were in France in 1918 and are quite ready to go again if we are needed. As we meet here, planning for the extension of the Kingdom of God, His world is reeling under the most infamous attack ever made.
He further places full blame upon Catholic Hitler, but not one word against his chief backer at the Vatican. The only world that is reeling and he is attempting to extend is this "present evil world".
The slide is gradual at first, but gains momentum. The statements issued by the leaders of the Y.M.C.A., the Methodist Church, the Protestant Episcopal Church, along with others, put them on the band wagon. They say, in part: "The churches in the United States are under obligation to lead their nation to assume a responsible relationship to the present conflicts. Christians in neutral countries cannot evade the ethical issues involved and the consequent claim upon their sympathy and support. It is mistaken to suggest that Christians have no alternative between total abstention from war on the one hand and the proclamation of a 'holy war' on the other."
The only holy war now in progress is that waged by Jehovah's witnesses against entrenched religious lies, but the clergy are "conscientious objectors" to that fight.
Exceptions
Up to this point the discussion has been general, depicting the deplorable condition of Protestantism as an organization. The statements of its representatives have been quoted to show that it is extinct. However, in all fairness, attention should be called to some individuals who do protest.
At an address in Ravenna, Ohio, "Reverend" Howard Callahan, pastor of the First Methodist church of Akron, drew thunderous applause from his audience when he denounced the "downright rotten policy of forcing members of Jehovah's witnesses' faith to salute the American flag", and observed that "such measures are in direct opposition to the patriotic attitude we try to instill in every American".
At Kinston, N. C., the pastor of the First Baptist church urged tolerance and civil liberties for Jehovah's witnesses, and expressed his wholehearted admiration for the zeal of those witnesses and their willingness to endure persecution, which, he said, was "a severe rebuke and a challenge to the conventional church". He realizes the sorry state of religion and that it suffers by comparison.
The Rocky Mountain Churchman, Denver, truthfully said that "the Jehovah witnesses that we know are American-born, sober, simple, sincere, industrious people—of that class known as the common people". Such were those who heard Jesus gladly.
A letter written by a Protestant and published in Cavalcade (England), really hits the troublemaker squarely on the jaw:
The pope did not dissuade his bishops from aiding Abyssinian murder. He declared the victory of the butcher Franco to be a "Catholic victory". He did not excommunicate Cardinal Innitzer, who used his power over Austrian Catholics to induce them by Pastoral letter to vote for Hitler—Antichrist. The pastoral ended, "Heil, Hitler." He did not disagree with Father Tiso, S.J., in Slovakia, in espousing the cause of [this] Antichrist.
The letter further mentions the course of action followed by "Father" Voroschen of Hungary, of Catholic King Leopold of Belgium, and of the Catholic traitors of France and North Albania.
Some are beginning to wake up to the truth of the warning sounded by Judge Rutherford several years ago concerning the conspiracy between the dictators and the Vatican.
Conclusion
The foregoing is just a meager portion of the abundant evidence that Protestantism is dead. It has not been presented with intent to ridicule, but in the public interest. From these facts herein cited, the following clearly appears: That Protestantism's foundation is sand, having substituted religious tradition, ritual, social functions and philosophy of men for the Word of God; that its leaders and members realize its plight, and disintegration is progressing rapidly. From it the people of good-will are going, the protest having gone. Hence there's no further justification for its existence, and indeed it doesn't exist except in name, which is a mockery. Its supporters don't have what it takes to finish the fight. They have capitulated to the Church of Rome. They are quitters! The system has not kept faith with the Lord or its early founders, but both are forgotten, and it is now making the return journey back to its "mother church", doubtless to remain there until both are destroyed by Jehovah of Hosts at Armageddon, along with their father the Devil and his demons! It has returned to its wallowing in the mire from which it rose centuries ago.
Is there a source of comfort and hope for the honest people, regardless of religious affiliations? The solution voiced most frequently by the ruling element is the "more religion" theory. Religion has been tried, countless varieties, for thousands of years. It has failed. The nations of "Christendom", with their so-called "Christian religion", surpass all others in wickedness and oppression. Religion is not the cure. There's no use trying to patch up the old garment.
The Theocracy is the only place of safety and comfort, and the contrast between it and the nations of this world is sharply drawn. Separation of the people is under way and all will be in one camp or the other—the Devil's kingdoms of this world or Jehovah's Theocratic Government. We are now at the crossroads and each one must choose for himself. Make your choice!
Never Heard of God's Kingdom
◆ As if they had never heard of Jehovah’s Kingdom, for which Jesus taught His followers to pray, that in it God’s will would be done on earth as in heaven, 300 Protestant church leaders in Philadelphia made an appeal to American churches to support an international system of world government.
The Bible in "Universal" Languages
The "Authorized Version"
The common language of the "civilized" part of the world in the days of our Lord on earth was Greek. Therefore the writers of that portion of the Bible written after the death and resurrection of Jesus, i.e., the apostles, made use of the Greek language, although that was not their "native tongue". For the same reason the English language, as that which is most widely known throughout the world, is most used for the announcing and publication of the Kingdom message. It is an interesting fact that the Bible which has attained the widest circulation of all translations, and also greater than in the original language in which it was written before printing was discovered, of course, is the English Authorized Version.
The press recently announced the new edition of the Greek Dictionary of Liddell and Scott, tying in therewith some striking reflections. Among other things the observation appeared: "The first poets, historians, philosophers, orators, mathematicians and physicists were Greeks; and the first fountains of Christianity appear in Greek documents. Greek has continued to exist in spite of the military conquerors of the bloody age."
The "Vulgate"
The other language which at that time occupied in the "civilized" world a predominant position next to Greek was Latin, the language of the Romans. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy continues until the present to attach a sort of mystical sanctity to this language. It is the official language of Vatican City. The highest authority for their translations of the Bible is not the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts of the earliest ages, but a Latin translation known as the Vulgate, and which also includes the Apocryphal books as a part of the Bible, although these Apocryphal books did not constitute a part of the Bible which Jesus used in Palestine when He was on earth. The collection of Bible books stored in the synagogue at Nazareth when Jesus, according to Luke 4:16-32, read out of the book of Isaiah, included all the books of the Bible from Genesis to Malachi; but not one of the Apocryphal books. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate, knew this and maintained, and rightly so, that the Apocryphal books do not constitute a part of God's Word. But, in spite of this, the Hierarchy have inserted these books in their Bible among the genuine books of the Bible as if they did constitute a part of God's Word.
The fact that the Bible used by Jesus did not contain the Apocryphal books, although these already existed, is decisive for any reverent and true follower of the Master. But not for the arrogant head of the Hierarchy.
Liddell and Scott's Dictionary
To mention again the revised edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek Dictionary: The appearance of this work at a time when the nations are involved in the second world war, the second great travail of the present evil world (Galatians 1:4) just before it is finally cleared from the earth by Christ Jesus, furnishes much food for thought. The extension of this war to a violent battle between Greece and Italy involuntarily carries the mind back to the time when the old Romans, the rulers of ancient Italy, subdued ancient Greece and in turn yielded to the refined civilization of the Greeks. One of the Roman poets of the days before our Lord acknowledged this fact with the words, "Conquered Greece has conquered her uncivilized conqueror."
The refined civilization of the Greeks cannot, however, give lasting peace of mind and heart. An Afrikaans educator who is an authority on the old Grecian civilization, a professor of Greek in the University of Pretoria, said, in 1938: "Our souls are athirst, and therefore we make so much of the symbolical migration of the oxcart."
Another thought which connects the admirers of the old Greek civilization with the appearance of the revised edition of Liddell and Scott’s Dictionary is that the “continuity of Greek in spite of many reverses and periods of obscurity in forgetfulness, is an encouraging sign”. One of the prominent cabinet ministers of the present Union government is also a noted authority of this Greek civilization. He speaks currently, together with others, of the “new order” that will be established after the war that is now raging. In this connection he recently gave an unexpected and absolutely unwarranted application to the words of Jesus, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” by saying, “If there is one thing that must be emphasized today it is that the most important change the world needs is not political, constitutional or economic change, but moral and spiritual change. If we seek this, all the other things shall be added unto us.”
The “Old” and the “New” Order
These men do not realize that the present evil world, of which the ancient Greek civilization constituted and still constitutes a leading part, has since 1914 been in process of disappearing from the scene. They do not realize that the Overlord of the new, true and everlasting civilization of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government is Jehovah himself, and that His great Field Marshal, Christ Jesus, now stands ready for the final destruction of the present “civilization” in the great battle of Armageddon now at the door. There are still many honest persons who do not realize the significance of the great complications originating in 1914. Among the men that occupy positions of authority as rulers there are, however, also persons who do not hate the coming civilization of God’s righteousness, which can be brought in only by The Theocracy, in contrast to their man-made “new order”, with such bitterness as does the pope and his mates Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and others. Therefore they interpose no obstacles of government woes in the path of the proclamation thereof. Because Britain and the Union of South Africa thus far are counted among the countries that have not yet fallen into that darkness of barbarity, the Theocratic message is still made known with power to the people in these countries as well as in other countries. When the pope and his totalitarian comrades shall have extended their power over the nations in such measure that they everywhere shall make an end of His proclamation, that shall be the sign that the battle of Armageddon will soon begin. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) In that battle the Lord will finally make an end of all that has been built up in the earth since the days of the Flood, and will deliver those who center their hope solely on The Theocratic Government; and to them and their children will He give the earth to live upon in everlasting peace and joy and without death. The ancient Greek civilization, together with all other civilizations of the present evil world, will then be for ever a thing of the past, and shall not even be brought to mind. —Isaiah 65:17.
Ravens Bring Food to Elijah
Nevertheless, such publications as Liddell and Scott are not useless works. The various translations of the Bible used by Jehovah’s witnesses for closer knowledge of the contents of God’s Word are in most instances translated by men who were and are supporters of this present evil world and not of The Theocratic Government, and who were and are not even witnesses of Jehovah. Jehovah used ravens, an unclean kind of bird, to bring food to Elijah by the brook Cherith. (1 Kings 17:4-6; Leviticus 11:15) So today Jehovah provides that along with the special Bible helps prepared by His own organization men who have studied particular occupations come forward as translators of the Bible, compilers of (Bible) dictionaries, concordances, etc., even though they have not been sanctified by consecration to Jehovah God through Christ Jesus. In this sense we welcome also the publication of the revised edition of Liddell and Scott. But as a sign of the survival of the ancient Greek language and civilization as a foundation for the coming world-order we cannot accept it. The foundation of the "new world" is the Son of God, Christ Jesus, and that in harmony with the prophecies of old which Jehovah gave to His witnesses of the past to record for the profit of and as guide for His witnesses of today.—Afrikaans Consolation.
A New Catholic Bible
◆ A revision of the Catholic New Testament has made its appearance and is being given something more than the usual scant attention paid to the Bible by Catholics. A great number of copies are in the hands of the Catholic reading public and Catholics will now have an opportunity to see for themselves the remarkable fact that this Bible does not, any more than the Protestant Bible, have anything to say about "purgatory", "papal supremacy", "confession to priests," "indulgences," and the numerous practices that are so common in the Roman Catholic sect. An interesting change in this revision is made in the passage where Mary tells Jesus there is no more wine (at the wedding in Cana). He asks her, "What wilt thou have me do?" This rendering is the direct opposite of the original, in which Jesus advises her not to seek to influence Him. Another point of interest is where, at 1 John 5:7, it is admitted that many oldest manuscripts do not mention "the Father, the Word, and the holy [spirit]" or state that these three are one. The book is printed in a style similar to that of the well-known Weymouth translation, and is modernized in expression to a considerable extent.
Indifference of the American Press
◆ The indifference of the American press at the sufferings unjustly inflicted on Jehovah's witnesses attracts the attention of the editors of The Quill, University of Missouri. It notes, "A free press merely smiles when freedom is denied Jehovah's witnesses," and yet notes the self-evident fact that newspapers, to defend freedom of the press, must necessarily fight to preserve the civil liberties of the witnesses, as well as others. It notes also the indifference of the American citizens, remarking that when the witnesses are driven from a community by mob violence the large body of citizens do not object.
Another example of those who are aware of the sinister prevalence of flag-saluting "patriotism" is Enoch H. Doble, who writes like a genuine old-time American to the Quincy (Mass.) Patriot Ledger, as follows:
Last summer I talked with a young journalist from Vienna who a few months before had been released from a German concentration camp. He spoke of the perfected cruelties of the Nazis and the many suicides amongst the prisoners as a result. But one group of people, he said, had stood out as an example of courage to them all. This group refused to salute Hitler, and nothing that the Nazi torturers could do could make them. They were called "Jehovah's witnesses", he said.
Two extremely intolerant letters to this column lately have attacked this same group here in Quincy, and it leads one to wonder if we do not have our own Nazis in-the-making right here at home. To my knowledge the single law that any of these people has ever broken is that about saluting the flag; and that, causing no real harm to anyone, is in fact only following the very principle for which the earliest founders of this state and nation crossed the Atlantic and braved savages, sickness and starvation in the American wilderness—namely, the freedom to worship God as they saw fit.
UNDER THE TOTALITARIAN FLAG
Got His Degree in Four Months
◆ Four months after the earl of Athlone, governor-general of Canada, banned the teaching of the Bible by Jehovah’s witnesses, and complied with the request of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to have the organization declared illegal, he was given an honorary degree at the Catholic University of Laval, Quebec. On that occasion he gave an address praising religion. How very appropriate!
It is a good illustration of how the politicians and religionists work together against The Theocracy. The same thing occurred in Ohio when Bricker was up for re-election. He did the Hierarchy's will against Jehovah's witnesses. The Devil loves and cares for his own. He, Bricker and the Hierarchy are of one mind.
Elbert Hubbard on Religion
◆ Savonarola martyred, Spinoza hunted, tracked and cursed, and an order issued that no man should speak to him nor supply him food or shelter, Bruno burned, Galileo imprisoned, Huss, Wycliffe, Latimer and Tyndale used for kindling—all this in the name of religion, institutional religion, the one thing that has caused more misery, heartache, bloodshed, war, than all other causes combined.—Elbert Hubbard, writer of the famous “Message to Garcia”.
Winant’s Catholic Connections
◆ The new ambassador to Great Britain, John G. Winant, is not a Catholic, like Kennedy, but is an Episcopalian, like Roosevelt, with Catholic connections. Just before he left for his post, his daughter, who had previously been wed to Carlos Valando, of Peru, in a civil ceremony, was married to him all over again by a priest in the rectory of St. John’s Catholic Church, Concord, N. H.
Advertising the Book “Religion”
◆ Cardinal Hinsley broadcast to the United States and made the cheering statement that in Britain and in all other civilized countries there must be a return to RELIGION. That's right, Arthur. Wait a little and you will see plenty of copies. The cardinal wants all British soldiers to wear crosses. The reason is apparent. Unable to catch them with either salt or sugar, he wants the name of it, anyway.
Dressed in a New Scarf
◆ Dressed in a new religious scarf (what is the name of those blamed things?) Cardinal Hinsley blessed 100,000 crosses “for soldier crusaders”. He had to make two jobs of it. The first 50,000 went to those who had already ordered them. The balance will go to those who can be persuaded that the wearing of this silly bakelite will make any difference whatever in any place where it matters.
“In Accordance with Our Principles”
◆ With profound truth and unreserved sincerity did Veuillot, the champion of Roman Catholicism, say to the liberals of France: “When you are the masters we claim perfect liberty for ourselves, in accordance with your principles. When we are the masters, in accordance with our principles, we refuse it to you.”—The Roman Catholic Church in the Modern State. Marshall.
The Things That Are Caesar’s
◆ The education of Americans is in the hands of the people themselves and is put into effect by the public-school system, in which all American children are educated and 2,500,000 Catholic children besides. It has been well stated that in this matter of public-school education “no regard is due to the opinions of a close corporation under the control of a foreign potentate”: Villeneuve and Mussolini
◆ It was not long after Cardinal Villeneuve put Catholics in his archbishopric on bread and water fasts for peace until the pope was urging every Catholic in every country at war to give up his life in combat against his fellow Catholics, and thus to show his patriotism. Meantime Mussolini's bishops were telling him to wipe the new Palestine off the map.
Persecutions in Southern Rhodesia
◆ At Shabani mine twenty of Jehovah's witnesses, some of whom had served the mining company faithfully for over ten years and the majority of whom have wives and families, were dismissed simply because they refused to remain silent but insisted on their right to publish the good news of the Kingdom in their own time.—Yearbook of Jehovah's witnesses.
Food Rations for Vatican City
◆ The Associated Press reports exceedingly generous food rations for Vatican City. Each citizen may consume a pound of coffee a month, and 4 1/2 pounds of sugar and 22 gallons of gasoline in the same time; a quarter of a pound of butter a week and 3 1/2 ounces of meat and two small loaves of bread daily.
Birth Rates in Switzerland
◆ Switzerland is rapidly losing its Protestant predominance by the simple excess of Roman Catholic births. The London Catholic Herald asserts that there are 185 children born annually to every 1,000 Catholics, while there are but 130 to every 1,000 Protestants, and only 75 to every 1,000 Jews.
Says the Dictionary
◆ Says the dictionary, Merriam-Webster's New International, Second Edition, 1934, "Whore. 2. a. A community or a religious group accused of idolatry or idolatrous practices:—commonly applied (more fully whore of Babylon) to the Roman Catholic Church or its head in the 16th and 17th centuries." (Page 2922)
Education in Quebec
◆ In the province of Quebec, Canada, education is entirely in the hands of the Roman Catholic clergy. Some of the natural results are that 75 percent of the children leave school before they are twelve years of age; the percentage of illiterates is more than double what it is in Ontario; the number of public libraries is only one-twentieth the number in Ontario, and the circulation of books is in the same proportion.
Taught and Craving Idolatry
◆ Taught and craving idolatry, citizens of Amecameca, Mexico, several years ago made a "religious image, 'Christ of the cornstalks,' which is made of stiff stalks of corn." So says Pennsylvania Grit for March 16, 1941. The image is honored each Ash Wednesday, says Grit, which recently panned Jehovah's witnesses.
What Did They Do?
◆ The Roman Catholic Register has a headline and a couple of inches to the effect that a Roman Catholic bishop, a priest and a nun were exposed to public view in an iron cage for six hours before being expelled from Siam; but it didn't say what they did to get the advertising, so it rather spoils the story.
The Art of the Spawner
◆ French Canadians take obediently to the urgings of the priests that they should have as many children as possible; and they are getting results. In 1916 there were 2,881,361 Catholics in Canada; now there are 4,662,970. It is claimed that of every 100 French-speaking inhabitants, 97 to 98 are Catholics.
The Priests and the Quintuplets
◆ The Dionne quintuplets received the Papal "blessing" and their first communion when they reached the interesting age of 6. It took five priests to do the job. That made it an easy year for the priests, because the Dionnes are now rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
White Dove Was a Gray Pigeon
◆ Newspaper slop writers sent out a report all over the world that a white dove had flown into the Vatican and settled on the pope's throne (April 12). Now it turns out, after the ravaging of Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium and France, and nearly every other country in Europe, that the white dove was merely a gray pigeon, that it did not settle on Mr. Pacelli's throne, but cowered in a corner of the room, and stayed for only a minute or so, anyway.
Protestants Wonder
◆ Protestants wonder at the nerve of Franco the Baby-killer in confiscating and pulping 110,000 Bibles after he had granted a permit for their entry into Spain, and wonder at the lack of nerve of the New York Times, which mentioned the matter in its early morning edition of October 6, 1940, and deleted it from the second and subsequent editions.
Looks Bad for the Germans
◆ The new Roman Catholic prayer books in Germany contain for the first time special prayers that the Germans may be successful in the world conflict now under way. As such prayers always work in reverse, it looks mighty bad for the Germans.
One More Horrible Blasphemy
◆ "When a man makes up his mind to pray, and when he prays well, prayer equals and surpasses sometimes the power of God. It triumphs over His will, His wrath, even over His justice."—Our [Australian] Sunday Visitor, February 25, 1940.
Died the Same Day
◆ King Alfonso XII of Spain was very ill with heart trouble in Rome. So he was sent the Cape of Pilar, Madonna of Zaragoza, supposed to have miraculous qualities in facilitating cures. He died the same day. You might know it.
Hitler Needs More Religion
◆ The pope says that "negation of God [the Roman Catholic 'Church']" and irreligion are to blame for the awful jam the world is now in. His argument seems to be that Hitler, his own protege, needs even more religion than he already has. But if he had any more of the same kind of religion that he now has, how could the world endure it?
Prayers for Victory
◆ At the prayers for a British victory, held in Montreal on February 9, 1941, there were present nineteen archbishops and bishops, and a special prayer was read both in French and English in all Roman Catholic churches in Quebec.
Hitler Controlling Italy
◆ Hitler now controlling Italy, it will be very easy, when he gets hard up, for him to call on the pope to disgorge, and unless he does so Hitler will take it anyway. So suggests The American Guardian, and previously The Watchtower.
Blessing Heathen Japan
◆ When the Japanese foreign minister called on the pope he was given a 65-minute interview, and at its conclusion the pope gave his "blessing" to heathen Japan. If the Devil were to call on him he would do the same thing.
And So They Were Married
◆ A dispatch from Berlin (in the Brooklyn Eagle, February 8, 1941) shows that 32 German Catholic chaplains were awarded the first class Iron Cross and 71 chaplains of the same "faith" received the second class Iron Cross.
Business Falling Off
◆ The church business is falling off. The Official Catholic Directory for 1940 admits a net loss of 3,371 persons since 1939. Many more than that number accepted the truth as proclaimed by Jehovah's witnesses.
(To be continued) Uruguay Handles Nazi Agents
FOR some time the republics of both North America and South America have been looking for a formula to cope with the subversive activity of Nazi agents. This was supplied by a revolutionary ruling by Acting Supreme Justice Julio Cesar de Gregorio of Uruguay when, on February 1, he held eight Nazi leaders in jail without bail on the charge of plotting to overthrow the government.
More important, he ruled that those who plot to overthrow and change the existing form of government at the expense of political independence had no recourse to the constitutional guarantees of freedom of political action. In a significant passage, the acting supreme justice stated:
We are not dealing with delinquents who consider the nation's Constitution defective and dangerous for the people, and attack it with the intention of changing it but still leaving us with our independence. . . . What they are attacking is the very essence of our existence as an independent nation.
Arnold Fuhrman, leader of the eight men held in jail, planned a bold attempt to seize Uruguay in the name of Germany to be used as a wedge to conquer South America. Heads of storm troopers and propaganda groups, and two members of the Gestapo, were among those seized.
The justice remarked that the plot strongly resembled ones used by the Nazis in the conquest of other nations. He delved into the details of Fuhrman's plan, and named seven reasons why those arrested were beyond the pale of constitutional law. The reasons included the tie-up between the Nazi party of Uruguay and that of Germany, the maintenance of youth and shock troops, plans for military strategy and propaganda, a plan to divide the country into military districts, and the maintenance of glider organizations.
The pattern is certainly familiar, and follows the methods used in the smaller European countries. In Europe, the democracies protected the Nazi organizations under their constitutional clauses guaranteeing political freedom. The result was conquest followed by enslavement. This decision of the acting chief justice of Uruguay indicates that at least one republic of this hemisphere has profited by the mistakes of Europe, and intends to protect itself from Nazi subversive activity.
It is noticeable in the United States that all Nazi, Fascist or Communist groups who have run afoul of the law have screamed for their constitutional rights, despite the fact that they admittedly seek to overthrow the government set up by the Constitution. It is hard to convince the average citizen that there is anything in the Constitution that says it cannot protect itself from attacks from within as well as attacks from without the United States borders.—M. B., in The New Age for March, 1941.
"Honorary" but Dishonorable Consuls
◆ "Honorary" consuls of South American countries, domiciled in Austria, Poland, Latvia, Germany, and Sweden, received huge sums (sometimes as much as 6,000 marks) for issuing visas to Jews desperately anxious to get away from Europe to any land where they might live in peace. When the ships bearing these unfortunates arrive at destination, the Jews are not permitted to land, are without funds and are booked for return to Europe with horrors on the way there and after they arrive.
Argentine Gift to Britain
◆ Argentine packers made a gift of 6,000 cattle to Britain and processed the cattle free of charge, and British warships visiting Buenos Aires are provisioned with beef free of charge.
COUNSEL
by J. F. Rutherford
When Money Won't Talk
WITH divine authority the apostle wrote: "The love of money is the root of all evil." Money is a medium for measuring value and carrying on merchandise. The merchant or trader is one who traffics in material things for selfish gain. Money, within the meaning of the Scriptures, is that which is a measure of personal gain or which brings gain to the person. It may be gold and silver or the approval of men, or the gain of influence and power over others.
Love for money or that which money represents started Satan on his wicked course. Satan began to make merchandise of the human race for his own personal gain, and therefore that was the beginning or root of evil. He foresaw rising from the fountain of perfect man and woman in Eden a sea of human creatures, and he determined to use them for his own personal gain. Hence he commercialized and trafficked in the human race. When mankind had grown in numbers Satan brooded over that symbolic sea of human creatures and brought forth the wicked beastly organization by which he has since ruled the world. In his organization he has made prominent three elements, to wit, commerce, religion and politics; and with this organization, all of which is mercantile, Satan has filled the earth with violence.
All the violence of the earth may be properly laid to commercial religion, for the reason that all world religions have been used for the selfish gain of creatures, and not one of them for the honor of Jehovah's name. Wherever commerce itself has gone there has been a form of religion accompanying it to furnish a sanctimonious screen behind which Satan, the chief of demons, has operated.
Religion is demonism. That so-called "Christian religion", with its candles, and other paraphernalia, has adopted pagan demon religion, note the authoritative statement of Cardinal Newman, in his essay on Development, published in London in 1878. Quoting from chapter six: "The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of PAGAN ORIGIN, and sanctified by their ADOPTION INTO THE [ROMAN CATHOLIC] CHURCH." [Page 373]
Concerning the commercialism of religion Revelation, chapter 18, verse 23, says the time will soon come when "the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy MERCHANTS were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived". This shows religion is a snare.
Professed servants of God who are religious leaders of "Christendom" today depend upon their influence and material wealth to deliver them at the approaching battle of Armageddon, but the prophecy (Zephaniah 1:18) says otherwise: "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land." Those worldly-wise men who have relied upon their own building of so-called "civilization" have laid up on earth treasures by which they hope to protect and save themselves. Thus they have heaped up their treasure for the days of evil as a kind of insurance against disaster. All the dictators have large amounts of money stored up outside of their respective countries from which they are liable to be chased by the enraged people. Hitler is reported to have large accounts or deposits in the name of agents in nine foreign countries, but none in Germany nor in the land of his fellow dictator in Italy, whom he does not fully trust. When he is compelled to flee and to seek a place of hiding and refuge he will find that his earthly treasure thus laid up will do no good for him. This is also true with reference to the other dictators and political "big shots".
It has been said that the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, has stored up a fabulous amount of earthly treasure. That great treasure of silver, gold and precious jewels has been gathered from the various countries of the earth. Even from the poor peons of Mexico as much as thirty million dollars a year was taken to the Vatican, until that institution was somewhat curbed in Mexico. Added to that treasure the Hierarchy have their intake from the "purgatory" racket, fraudulently operated among the credulous hangers-on! Added to the "purgatory" fees is that collected from the "masses for the dead"; and the holdup collection plate passed by the ushers; the "Pay-as-you-enter" charge for a pew in the church building; also the religious bingo games; gambling games, and the great piles raked in therefrom; also their ill-got gains from raffles of this and that; and money contributed by the state, as in Germany and Italy, which has been wrongfully taken from the people in the form of taxes; also the sums that have been wheedled out of many upon their deathbed, and large sums of money collected out of the insurance policies paid by insurance companies to the widow upon her husband's death, or some other dead relative; also the profits from the numerous commercial deals and investments, such as Monte Carlo, Wall Street, liquor manufactories and breweries, and in stocks and bonds, and in grain and other products dealt in upon the stock exchanges; and, added to the foregoing, numerous "charity" drives operated upon the general public, Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile, and responded to by numerous persons because of their fear to go contrary to the influence of the mighty men of the Hierarchy; also great revenue derived from their enslaving "houses of good shepherd", orphanages and hospitals operated for selfish gain; Peter's pence to the "poor" pope; also the sale of candles, beads, "holy water," and many other things too numerous to mention here. But wait till Armageddon begins and "the dictator pigs begin to root" after they have finished exploiting and robbing the Jews.
At the universal war of Armageddon, of Jehovah's organization against Satan's organization, no amount of money or other treasure will "talk" or serve to bribe Jehovah and His great Executive Officer Christ Jesus, the "King of kings and Lord of lords". No amount of accumulated earthly treasure "shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath". The Almighty God will receive nothing as pay to keep that hypocritical religious crowd out of the shambles and to save them from destruction. Deuteronomy 10:17 announces: "For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." Ezekiel 7:19 predicts: "They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold . . . shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity." Furthermore says the Lord God: "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing; but righteousness delivereth from death." (Proverbs 10:2) God's organization is the only place of security and safety.
Africa
Making War in the Nude
◆ Somehow it doesn’t seem just right for a soldier dressed only in the nude to pick up a general as a prisoner; but it happened at Bardia. There being nothing exciting on hand, a British colonel was taking a swim when an Italian general, Francisco Argentino, ran by him and hid in a cave. A British sergeant saw it, and armed the colonel, and they persuaded Argentino to come out and henceforth be sure of his meals, which he was glad to do. The British had so much fun at Bardia that they even arrested one of their own cooks, because they mistook him for an Italian. Nobody was mad at Bardia, and everybody had a good time except those that got away.
The March into Libya
◆ Of course, there was some fighting, when the Australians came marching through Libya, or rather riding on those good trucks made up there in Canada, but for the most part the Italians seemed glad to see them. The British fed the Italians well, but the Italians supplied the food. The farther they got into the country, the more storehouses fell into their hands. Sixteen Italian generals threw up their titles and some 114,000 Italian troops surrendered in six weeks of marching and fighting.
As this is written, British and German soldiers are fighting it out, for control of the road into Alexandria and Suez.
Glad to Be Among Friends
◆ The Italians at Bardia seemed glad to be back among friends. The British have always been friendly to the Italians, and so when the British came strolling along down the Libyan coast the Italians greeted them like long-lost brothers. They surrendered in groups of 30 or so to one Australian, and 2,000 of them entrenched in a cave surrendered to a single British officer.
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