Consolation, September 3, 1941

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Contents

The "New Order" in America (Part 2) 3

Vicious Un-Americanism of the Legion 4

Proposed Legionnaire Army 5

"All This Is Happening Here" 7

The New Government

A Travancore, India, Convention 12

Satan Caught Napping 15

Counsel by J. F. Rutherford

Creature Worship 17

France 19

Under the Totalitarian Flag

"The Pope Is Not Neutral" 20

Ruthless Pursuit of Power 22

The "Right" to Murder "Heretics" 23

"Spiritual Instruction" from the Vatican 24

"The Earth Abideth for Ever" 25

Illinois 26

In the Carbondale Zoo 26

Motoring 27

The Tacoma Bridge Collapse 27

Invention 28

The Electric Eye 28

British Comment 29

German Prisoners in Isle of Man 29

Churchill Describes the "New Order" 29

No Shell Shock Among Adults 30

The Not-so-good Captain Wright 30

Not So Many Killed by Bombs 31

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Notanda

Why Does the Legion Violate Its Pledge?

◆ The preamble to the Constitution of the Legion is all right, if legitimate means were used to obtain their ends. It reads:

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY, we associate ourselves together for the following purposes: To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our association in the Great War, to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and good will on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.

But the Legion has done the opposite of all this, having been corrupted by the influx of agents of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. As a result they have been active in anarchistic attacks upon peaceable and law-abiding people, seriously injuring them and wholly disregarding their rights, in genuine "new order" style.

There was a more than implied rebuke in the statement made to the Legion by J. Edgar Hoover, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that there is no need for citizens to band themselves together to take charge of a situation already under control. Certainly it is no high recommendation of a government for citizens to resort to lawlessness and violence to "support" the government.

The Legion has usurped police powers in numerous instances, and in other places has dictated to the courts, and is justly infamous all over America as actually doing more to interfere with the rights of Americans than any other organization except the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, which is back of all such un-Americanism.

CONSOLATION

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

Volume XXII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, September 3, 1941 Number 573

The "New Order" in America

(In Two Parts—Part 2)

IN THE "new order" of the pope and Hitler, at present making havoc of Europe, civil rights do not exist. The people have only one right, and that is to do what they are told to do by the two supreme ruling powers, the pope and the dictator. This is also the plan for America. The increasing tendency to glorify the executive and to magnify his power has been noted in the preceding issue. Attention is here given to other elements in the "new order" setup.

Interference with Civil Rights

What organization in the United States has proved itself in the last year as "the most active agency of interference with civil rights"? That is an interesting question. To get the answer the American Civil Liberties Union inquired of its correspondents in 46 states and learned that their unanimous opinion is that it is the most blatantly "patriotic" organization in the country—The American Legion. Of course, this organization claims that its very first principle is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States; that it is committed to the maintenance of law and order; and that it aims to foster and perpetuate a 100-percent Americanism. Actually its activities have been the most unconstitutional, un-American and disorderly of any group in American history, without a single exception. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

The Toledo Blade contains pictures of the Legion entering Holy Rosary Cathedral on Armistice Day with 12 American flags, which stand for freedom of worship for everybody, and 12 Legion flags, which stand for the exact opposite. There is a fundamental agreement between flag-waving, lawless "patriotism" and image-worshiping, Godless religion. The latter is referred to in the Holy Scriptures as a "form of godliness, but denying the power thereof". The former is a form of "patriotism" wholly without principle. Both are characteristic of the "new order" that is now seeking to take over America.

In this connection mention must be made of the thoroughly amazing Supreme Court decision in the flag-salute issue, which in fact was not a decision, and which has puzzled the American people greatly. The influence of the Hierarchy was seemingly so evident in it that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the "decision" was inspired by some instrument of that system, even though, with real Jesuit cunning, the actual writing of the document was left to one who would be least suspected to be so influenced. Nor must the influence of the great adversary of God and man be ignored. The Devil is the one who would stress the symbol at the expense of the reality, the image at the expense of the truth. Flags are comparatively cheap. One can hang out an abundance of them at relatively small cost of personal sacrifice or physical discomfort. Real patriotism is made of sterner stuff. It consists of adherence to fundamental principles and laws and devotion to welfare of the many rather than of the few. But the flag-waving "patriotism", because it is cheap, makes a direct appeal to those who are accustomed to bowing before images, crosses and other inanimate objects. [See Notanda, page 2.]

Vicious Un-Americanism of the Legion

Recognition of the rights of conscience is the cardinal principle of democracy. Failure to recognize this right or to grant it to others marks a person or organization as basically and seriously un-American. Yet this glaringly vicious attitude is outstanding in the American Legion despite its pious but hypocritical claims. Commenting on the expulsion of a child from the public school because it declined on conscientious grounds to salute a flag, the Ludlow (Mass.) Post of the Legion said that such action is the "American way"!

At Stillwater, Oklahoma, the commander of the Legion announced in a column article in a local paper that expulsion of conscientious children from the public schools "is in keeping with the true spirit of Americanism which should exist in the hearts of every good American". Obviously Papal indifference to the rights of conscience are shown in these contradictory remarks. The man doesn't know what Americanism is, but he is obviously a suitable tool for the "new order" of totalitarianism.

Here's another on the un-American Legion. They called at a school in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, to see if they could not have the children of some of Jehovah's witnesses deprived of an education (for which they were taxed). But the president of the school board, after the delegation waited upon him, declared that in his opinion too much stress had been placed upon reverence to the flag, and not enough upon reverence to God. He hit the nail right on the head.

Freedom of worship is the keystone of the arch of freedom, as well as the foundation of all true liberty. God accepts no worship that is the result of coercion; for such worship is a mockery, the most Devilish mockery that could be devised. Jehovah accepts only those who "worship him in spirit and in truth". This is the reverse of the course taken by those of the "new order" persuasion.

At Clinton, Iowa, Arthur Miller, leader of un-American mobs, and commander of the American Legion of his city, together with his associates broke up a convention of Jehovah's witnesses who were worshiping God in the proclamation of His Kingdom of righteousness. He and his additionally overawed the lawful police of the city and caused Jehovah's witnesses to be arrested for "breaking the sabbath"! A typical "new order" piece of business throughout.

No wonder Raymond J. Kelly, when he was national commander of the American Legion, demanded a re-definition of the Bill of Rights. What had been produced at great cost by honest and conscientious men and defended over a period of 150 years by public-spirited and devoted judges was not to his liking. What he wanted was a bill that would make it less difficult for the Roman Hierarchy to seize control of America and suppress all real liberty.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer correctly evaluated the activities of the American Legion when it said, editorially:

If the United States gets into war it will be for the purpose of preserving human liberties. But if, in our preparation to battle for our liberties, we deliberately throw them away we shall have behaved as irrationally as the farmer who burned his wheat field to keep his neighbor's cattle from tramping it down.

One of the dreaded features of the Nazi rule in Germany has been the ability of unscrupulous individuals or groups to have persons against whom they hold a private grudge thrown into concentration camps as suspected traitors. Another has been the freedom given mobs to wreck the properties and even destroy the lives of their fellow citizens in the name of patriotism.

We had a taste of this sort of thing in the United States in the World War. Americans whose ancestors came to this country years ago to escape being crushed by the Prussian heel were occasionally subjected to mistreatment by irresponsible groups of so-called patriots. When it was all over we swore we would never do it again.

But we have done it again. In the last two weeks in various parts of the country, mobs have burned the headquarters of organizations whom they have assumed to be unpatriotic and have driven members of such organizations out of town or otherwise molested them.

Least excusable have been the attacks on a certain religious group which does not believe in saluting the flag. We won't win any wars for democracy by venting unwarranted fury against defenseless minorities at home.

This paper clearly recognized the fact that these shameless and unwarranted attacks upon those who are serving Jehovah God in spirit and in truth were and are prompted by the same spirit that has produced the Nazi reign of terror in Europe. It is this same spirit, emanating from the same age-old foe of true freedom, that is looking to the building up of a "new order" in America along the lines of that which now obtains in Europe, where Jehovah's witnesses were also the first to suffer.

Says the New York Journal-American: Nothing is more shameful in the United States than the outrages committed—from coast to coast—on the . . . Jehovah's witnesses.

While we profess to be horror-struck over the outrages and cruelties of the Nazis we see our own people drag unoffending men and women through the streets and beat them—merely because they do not believe in any form of war or refuse to salute the flag. That is no way to "educate" recalcitrant minorities or people with whom we differ. It's an edifying spectacle for Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin while we mouth about the rights of minorities.

We want no Gestapos or OGPU's in the United States. And an American mob is no better than a German or Russian mob. In fact, it's far worse, for we are a democracy and we profess respect for the religious and civic rights of all men. Let us live up to that ideal.

Proposed Legionnaire Army

As in Europe, so in America, the proponents of the "new order" seek to clothe their subversive acts in the garments of legality; hence the proposal, emanating from Legion headquarters, that the Legion organize a private army of citizens from 18 years of age up, "to help the government." The scheme had already been talked over with government and army and navy officials in Washington in the best Nazi style, when it was exposed and denounced by Major General Milton A. Reckord, commander of the Maryland National Guard. When Major General Reckord made his announcement, Raymond J. Kelly, the then commander of the Legion, and booked to be commander-in-chief of the new army, was at the important naval and military post of Norfolk, Va., and said that Reckord's release to the press was premature. He wanted to keep it dark—for good reasons.

Referring to this proposed "castor oil" army, and the fact that it was intended to jam it through in four days without any discussion, the always intelligently patriotic Baltimore Evening Sun said:

Mr. Kelly complains that publication of the details of his proposal was "premature". It seems to us, however, that June 26 is not too early for the public to be informed of a plan to protect them, beginning July 1 [1940], with a special army designed to co-operate with but not be responsible to the State and national defense organization. After all, such a step ought to be discussed for at least four days. Now that it is being discussed, the probability is that we shall hear no more of it. Unless Mr. Kelly's possible successor in this field has better luck with the surprise element, the American people can be relied on to continue their preference for public armies rather than private armies.

While the scheme of constituting the American Legion a private army has been temporarily scotched, it is well for Americans to keep an eye on it. The record of the Legion’s persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses for ever precludes any consideration of it for service where the public welfare is concerned. Nor is it amiss here to mention a number of examples of these persecutions by way of warning to others as to what they may expect if they come under the disfavor of the American Legion—and the Roman Hierarchy.

At a time when the refusal of Jehovah’s witnesses to render unto “Caesar” that which rightly belongs to God should have been hailed as a beacon light in a storm-swept world, the American Legion took occasion to inflict upon these Godly men and women indignities and injuries unparalleled in the history of America. And it is significant that a number of instances on record revealed the complicity or instigation of Roman Catholic priests.

One thing the Hierarchy has learned thoroughly, and that is how to turn popular feeling to its own advantage. The efficient tools of the Devil now, as in the days of the Lord and His disciples, are the religionists, and particularly the “patriotic” religionists, who are doubly vicious. There is no reasoning with these. No argument avails with them; for they are moved by ungoverned passion and are therefore fit tools for the demons, who readily possess and control them in their attacks upon all who love righteousness. This demonized activity is a mark of the “new order”.

Every informed American is acquainted with the fact of the persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses in such places as San Antonio, Texas; Kennebunk, Maine; Litchfield, Illinois; Rawlins, Wyoming; and in other places. These instances are matters of history, and thoroughly demonstrate the viciousness with which supposedly religious and patriotic mobs will attack a minority that has the courage to proclaim the Truth, and to stand by its convictions. The persecutions continue. While Jehovah’s witnesses are not concerned with the opinions of men, some press comments are mentioned to show that the Hierarchy, American Legion and other persecutors of the Lord’s servants are without excuse or justification, even if judged by the standards of decent men. Hereafter they will never be able to plead ignorance before the Lord.

William Brown, detective sergeant of the Portland, Oregon, police force, and an official of the American Legion, is reported in the Gresham (Oregon) Outlook as saying, “I wish all our citizens respected what the flag stands for as much as Jehovah’s witnesses do and then we would not have so much trouble.”

In an address in Toledo, Dr. A. D. Grey, pastor of the Washington Congregational church, made the statement:

The shocking persecution of the Jehovah’s witnesses is an evidence of Fascist and Nazi tendencies in this country. They are not fifth columnists. They are faithful Christians.

The Pennsylvania Grange News for January, 1941, has this to say:

The Grange has always stood for patriotism. The inculcation of respect not only for the flag but for those great principles of liberty, equality and justice, of which the flag is the symbol, are part of Grange teachings. We are not alarmed over the failure of a small religious sect, commonly known as Jehovah’s witnesses, which because of deep religious conviction refuses to go through the outward formality of a flag salute. Rather are we disturbed by those who, while giving lip and hand service to the flag, question or secretly sabotage the democratic principles which have made this country great.

At Gatesville, Texas, a mob estimated to number 800 to 1,000 broke up a convention of Jehovah’s witnesses there, and burned their Bible literature and even the plain wooden benches on which the witnesses sat while feeding on God’s Word. Edward S. Bayless, in the Gatesville Messenger and Star Forum, had the courage to denounce what the sheriff’s office had made no attempt to stop. He said:

Such action as occurred in Gatesville last Saturday could be the beginning of a dangerous attitude that whenever the majority opinion is reached either in religion or in politics, the minority must either concede the point, take a beating, or leave town.

If such mobs are allowed to run loose, no one’s property is safe. Unless we vote for the right president, unless we organize our church to suit the strongest fighters, our office furniture and our church benches may be the next to kindle the blaze which lights the leering faces of an angry mob.

Gatesville’s face is red and her heart is heavy as she reads in the nation’s papers that she has joined the list of those cities receiving dishonorable mention for having violated the American principle of religious liberty. For in all fairness let it be said that the action Saturday does not reflect the feeling of Gatesville. Nor indeed does it reflect the better judgment of those who, under the heat of excitement and under the influence of a few undesirables, allowed themselves to be swept into something which even now they regret.

Gatesville, though, must go a long way to redeem herself. She might begin by becoming, by pronouncement, a haven of religious and political liberty. She should make it known that Gatesville shall ever after be safe for all who worship God to do so without molestation; and pledge the twenty-four-hour-a-day protection of her peace officers for any who need it—and send such communication to the leader of these mistreated “Witnesses” signed by the Mayor and the Chief of Police.

“All This Is Happening Here”

Referring to arrests of witnesses at Greenville, Wallace and Lumberton, N. C., the Biblical Recorder (Baptist) marvels at the lawless attacks, jailing under heavy bail, raiding of homes and meeting places and beatings by mobs led by “officers of the law”, as in Germany. It says:

All this is happening here, in democratic and liberty-loving America, the land of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, with their solemn guarantees to every citizen of the rights and privileges of freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly and of worship! It sounds incredible, but it is nonetheless true.

The wave of intolerance hit Reno, Nevada, and the chief of police, instead of standing on his hind legs and protecting fellow citizens in their rights, went down for the count. The Reno Evening Gazette put it this way the next day:

Last evening Reno’s chief of police locked the doors of the Chamber of Commerce room and denied to . . . Jehovah’s witnesses the privilege of holding a religious meeting therein. The members of this sect, in other states, have declined to obey school laws requiring pupils to salute the flag and generally are opposed to war. They positively deny that they are opposed to the American form of government and insist that it has their approval.

According to Chief Welliver he closed the doors of the Chamber of Commerce rooms to prevent any possible disorder. There is an inference here that any such disorder might have been provoked by others than Jehovah’s witnesses.

During the evening the members of the religious society held their meeting in the room of a local hotel which was kindly made available to them.

This newspaper is reluctant to believe that there live in this community any persons so poorly informed and so hysterical that they would deny to any group of American citizens, however much their religious beliefs may differ from the general pattern, the right to peacefully assemble and worship their Maker in their own way, and to exercise their constitutional right of free speech.

The United States is not in the “new order” yet, although the “new order” is working there under cover. Strenuous efforts are being made to fight the Truth by the same crowd that betrayed Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The “new order” crowd inside of the Legion is working with the Hierarchy guides, but the courts resist, even as they did in the "horse and buggy days" before Roosevelt sent his personal ambassador to the pope.

On January 9, 1941, Harry J. Lemley, United States District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas, issued a permanent injunction against the city of Harrison, Ark., restraining it from interfering with the distribution of the Watchtower and Consolation magazines, and requiring it to pay the costs of the action in this behalf brought by E. C. Widle, one of Jehovah's witnesses.

On the same day Merrill E. Otis, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri, similarly enjoined the city of Excelsior Springs, Mo., and also required the city to pay the costs of the action brought by Lee Mickey. The injunction forbids interference with the distribution of tracts, pamphlets, books, periodicals or magazines by handing them or passing them to people in, upon or along the public streets, sidewalks, alleys or other public places in the city of Excelsior Springs.

The city attorney at Vincennes had thirty of Jehovah's witnesses picked up and held for two hours. He and the captain of police were for denying Jehovah's witnesses their God-given and legally recognized rights, but the mayor and chief of police were real Americans. So the witnesses were released and had a blessed time at their meeting that evening. The next day one of the witnesses went around an entire block with the message by phonograph and not one person declined to listen to the recording. The arrests were a good advertisement!

Vincennes, Indiana, is considered the key to the Middle West and the great Northwest. It was there on February 5, 1779, the question was settled as to who should govern the Mississippi valley for the next 150 years. Some of the Vincennes police, however, seem to have forgotten that the government was to be democratic. So when William Cass went down the street with his car covered with signs reading, "Armageddon near; read The Watchtower; hear Judge Rutherford," it was too much for one of them, who took him to the police headquarters. There Cass learned that 30 complaints had been made against him in 15 minutes by persons who thought Vincennes a suburb of Paris, France, instead of being located in free America. The chief of police, however, being an American, and educated enough to have read some of Judge Rutherford's books, knew he couldn't lawfully detain Cass, who was promptly allowed to go on his way.

Civil Liberty in Wartime

Robert E. Cushman, professor of government at Cornell University, in a 32-page booklet entitled "Safeguarding Our Civil Liberties", notes the growing sensitiveness to the value of civil liberty, especially now when the liberties of millions are being taken away:

There is reason to believe that public opinion is becoming more awakened to the seriousness of the problem of protecting civil liberty. This public concern has been heightened by the possible imminence of war. People increasingly realize that civil liberties were sacrificed during the World War and that that sacrifice was a national calamity.

It is not necessary to be content with worrying about our civil liberties. There are constructive measures which may be taken for their protection.

Of first-rate importance is the recent establishment in the Department of Justice of the new Civil Liberties Unit. The order creating this described its functions as follows: . . . to make a study of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and Acts of Congress relating to civil rights with reference to present conditions, to make appropriate recommendations in respect thereto, and to direct, supervise, and conduct prosecutions of violations of the provisions of the Constitution or Acts of Congress guaranteeing civil rights.

The loss of liberty on the part of some endangers the rights of all, and the hysteria of 1917-1918 furnished ample evievidence of the ease with which people can be aroused to vicious and stupid acts of violence under the guise of "patriotism". Says Hugh Russell Fraser, in Townsend National Weekly:

Nobody with an opinion was safe. Of some 5,000 instances of witch-hunting which the war hysteria made possible, the records of the U. S. Department of Justice today reveal THAT NOT ONE REAL SPY, NOT ONE REAL SABOTEUR, was found among this number. And yet the persecutions went on apace. And—don't forget this—the real spies who were caught and who were proved to be acting for foreign governments, were captured after patient, quiet investigation by secret service men, and in not one of these cases were they ensnared by any opinion they had expressed, verbose or otherwise. And the reason is simple: the first thing a spy learns is NOT to talk! The hysteria of the times jailed more than 2,000 men and women, all American citizens, whose sole crime was the honest, open and frank expression of an opinion.

Germany's venture into the realm of totalitarianism was at first Socialistic, and it still claims to be such. The economic crisis in America is hastening America in the same direction. On this point Professor Maynard C. Kreuger, Socialist candidate for vice-president, suggested:

This crisis runs throughout the whole capitalist system, not merely in this country, and it threatens the survival of democracy everywhere. But we are not going to defend democracy with battleships, or bombs, or conscript armies. The militarization of this country, if we go through with it, will destroy the very democracy which it is supposed to defend. And we aren't going to defend democracy, either, by putting on a propaganda campaign for it. These are the people on whom the propaganda for democracy falls like seed on barren ground: millions of unemployed and their families who get nothing but lousy relief, eleven million Negroes who have never had their full rights, millions of farm folk on the ragged edge of dispossession, and millions of youngsters who get out of school and cannot find a decent job. This was the sort of thing which made the people of Germany go Fascist, and these are the sort of problems which, unless we solve them, will produce the same result in this country, for the Fascist movement in this country will not grow out of the Bund, and it won't fly the swastika or salute Hitler. It will be a 100-percent home-grown, domestic American flag-waving movement, and it will grow out of the soil of unemployment and insecurity.

While the foregoing observation contains much that is both true and timely, yet the activities of foreign agents of the "new order" must not be ignored. America's efforts to protect itself must take into consideration such activities as the following:

Just last summer it was discovered that an important private telephone line in Washington had been tapped. The foreign agent, said to have been a German, took advantage of the fact that the switchboard of a Washington hotel backed up against a wall on the other side of which was a brokerage office. With smooth professional skill, he loosened a baseboard, cut into a main cable and listened in on the conversations said to be between the President and a high Government official at the critical time when Holland and Belgium were being invaded. [Richard Wilmer Owen, in Philadelphia Inquirer.]

The same writer reports that some silent spies went into the Bath Iron Works in Maine and filled 91 fire extinguishers with gasoline. This is mentioned as just one example of the ways of the "new order's" foreign agents in America. Internal conditions also tend to facilitate its progress here. James Conant Bryant, professor of Harvard University, commenting on the changed social conditions in America, in the Atlantic Monthly, says:

In the last 50 years we have seen in America the development of a hereditary aristocracy of wealth. Exploitation of both natural and human resources by a small, privileged class has hardened the social strata and threatens to provide explosive material beneath. Let us not shut our eyes to the realities. The vanishing of the frontier and free lands, the spread of large-scale manufacturing units, the growth of cities and their slums, the multiplication of tenant farmers, despairing migratory laborers and the unemployed, are signs of the passage from one type of social order to another. Have we, indeed, reached the point where the ideal of a peculiar American society, classless and free, must be regarded as of only historical significance?

This, indeed, is not nearly as improbable as it may seem to some. A little reflection on the following facts will show that the materials for a "new order" are increasing rapidly.

Labor Camps for Girls and Boys

Alfred M. Landon, one-time candidate for president, draws attention to the fact that President Roosevelt has followed the technique of Hitler and Mussolini in every detail: in the belittling of Congress, the belittling of the Supreme Court, the belittling of the freedom of the press, the promise of a more abundant life, and, finally, the proposal of concentration labor camps for American boys and girls, after the pattern of Mussolini's balilla and Hitler's Youth.

The "Reverend Father" Fulton J. Sheen recently told the New York 69th Regiment that America would have been far better off during the depression if it had put all the unemployed youth into the army and navy. That is an idea strictly in line with the "new order" plans, i.e., to make the poor not only the burden bearers of the rich, but also the protectors of their riches. If the youth do not like this idea, that is just too bad.

A survey of the 12,000,000 unemployed in America shows that one-third of them are between the ages of 16 and 24: that 40 percent of them have been unable to find work of any kind, and that the average time of vainly looking around for jobs is four years. The president admitted to representatives of these young people, "We have not yet found the method of spreading employment to more people when good times come. We have not yet eliminated the terrific peaks and valleys of production and consumption." He also told them they need not keep coming to Washington looking for federal handouts. Perhaps they "need more religion".

Congressman Dies said that if his committee continued to function it would result in the deporting of 7,000,000 aliens employed in American industries. Then the figures, based on the census of 1920, were published, showing that the total number of aliens employed was but 1,828,000, so that even if they were deported, an unthinkable, unsound and un-American proposition, there would still be over 10,000,000 unemployed. Meanwhile, Nathan Strauss, of the United States housing authority, is already worrying about what would happen if peacetime conditions should suddenly reobtain in America. He thinks it would mean that 5,000,000 men and women would then be thrown out of work.

These conditions and those related thereto need righting, and the "new order" steps forward with its "remedy", but at tremendous cost of liberty to the individual. The miseries which the people generally endure, whether their employment is that of the shop or of the farm, causes them nevertheless to lend an ear to the blandishments of their would-be deliverers. Commenting on these conditions Samuel B. Pettengill, in his book Jefferson, The Forgotten Man, remarks:

The liberty of private judgment is being driven back. Democracy is in retreat. Why is this? We can cuss the dictators until we are blue in the face. We can believe, as I do, that they are leading mankind backward, incurring a long penalty for a short gain. But adjectives will not save democracy. What is wrong? Why do the Hitler Youth and Italy's Sons of the Wolf march so proudly on parade?

There is indolence, there is the lure of bread and circuses, there is the pageantry of immense propaganda, there is the control of the press and the radio, foreclosing genuine debate, and there is the love of power, the most intoxicating wine man ever drank. All these enter the equation. Nevertheless it is childish to think that these millions are wholly the dupes of psychopaths with Messianic hallucinations. Why have these pressures against free institutions become so great that men have been willing to lay aside an ideal for which they have struggled for centuries?

"The Youth of Germany will never be free in their entire lives. And they are happy about it," says Hitler.

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," was the watchword of the American Revolution.

"Liberty, equality and fraternity," was the cry of the French Revolution.

What does Mussolini say? He says this: "What are the three words which form your dogma? Believe, obey, fight. . . . The watchword is this: More cannon, more ships, more airplanes, at whatever cost, with whatever means, even if it should mean wiping out all that is called civil life."

Yes, even if it means wiping out the liberty of all private judgment which Christians teach no State has the right to abolish. "Believe, obey, fight"—the language of slaves!

It need not be supposed that this tendency to render all things to Caesar is new, although it is the lodestone of the "new order"—the new order that is but the old in a new garb, the old, old deal of the Devil, which takes all and gives nothing in return.

Same Old Perambulating Corpse

The fraudulent "new order" so ecstatically hailed by the pope is nothing but the perambulating corpse described in Wells's Outline of History:

Through Charlemagne the tradition of the Roman Caesar was revived in Europe. The Roman Empire was dead and decaying; the Byzantine Empire was far gone in decline; but the education and mentality of Europe had sunken to a level at which new creative political ideas were probably impossible. In all Europe there survived not a tithe of the speculative vigour that we find in the Athenian literature of the fifth century B.C. . . .

Official Christianity had long overlaid and accustomed itself to ignore those strange teachings of Jesus of Nazareth from which it had arisen. The Roman Church, clinging tenaciously to its possession of the title of pontifex maximus, had long since abandoned its appointed task of achieving the Kingdom of Heaven. It was preoccupied with the revival of Roman ascendancy on earth, which it conceived of as its inheritance. It had become a political body, using the faith and needs of simple men to forward its schemes. It clung to the tradition of the Roman Empire and to the idea that it was the natural method of European unity. Europe, in a series of attempts to restore it, drifted towards a dreary imitation and revival of the misconceived failures of the past.

. . . Europe during those eleven centuries of the imitation Caesars which began with Charlemagne, and which closed only in the monstrous bloodshed of 1914-1918, has been like a busy factory owned by a somnambulist, who is sometimes quite unimportant and sometimes disastrously in the way. Or, rather than a somnambulist, let us say by a corpse that magically simulates a kind of life. The Roman Empire staggers, sprawls, is thrust off the stage, and reappears, and—if we may carry the image one step further—it is the Church of Rome which plays the part of the magician and keeps this corpse alive.

Wells, having no faith in the Word of God, fails to see that the monstrosity which he seeks to describe is the "beast" of Revelation which was temporarily out of the picture but which has now reappeared with the claim that it is a "new order", and that its approaching triumph will be short. For when, in triumph over the forces of truth and righteousness, "they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape." Ascending temporarily out of the abyss, the "new order" will go into perdition never to rise again. The Kingdom of God alone will endure forever.

RIGHTEOUS RULER

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

A Travancore, India, Convention

◆ There has been a convention of Theocratic publishers. I have attended conventions before, and may attend some more unless Armageddon is as close as I hope it to be; but never before have I been to one like this, and must tell you about it. I could not understand anything of what was said, and when I spoke to anybody it had to be through the kind services of witness Joseph; but I came away giving sincere thanks to Jehovah for the privilege of having been there.

The English pioneers working in India have much with which to contend. Most of our work is among arrogant and conceited English-speaking people, or among Indians that are religious to the point of putrefaction; and I do not know which is worse. We are accustomed to facing odds, but I think the greatest of all is to go a whole year without meeting another soul in the truth apart from your companion and meet only the types just mentioned. As we say, the early Christians had a comparatively easy time of it—they had only to be chewed up by lions. I tell you this that you may have a fitting background for what follows.

I was sent to Travancore on Theocratic business. Travancore is a native state, the most advanced in India, with a maharajah who has some consideration for his subjects; and who, the encyclopedia informs me, is entitled to a salute of nineteen guns, which ought to help somewhat. To be in Travancore is like being in quite another country, both as regards the scenic surroundings, which are vigorously verdant instead of arid, and as regards the people, who are humble, honest and clean in their person and habits.

This is due partly, no doubt, to the fact that the Bible has been an open book for centuries here, for about one-third of the people own allegiance to the religion falsely named “Christian”. It is stated, and is possibly true, that the apostle Thomas landed on this coast and the modern adherents to this counterfeit Christianity are the descendants of those real Christians that heard him and devoted themselves to God’s service; and it is further said that he was eventually murdered by the Brahmins, the Hindu priest caste, and, knowing these gentlemen, that is most probably true, too. Anyway, that is the setting.

The good news that The Theocracy is functioning and fully established has spread widely among these people, and many as compared with the rest of India have fled to the “city of refuge”. These have taken their stand under the banner of our conquering King; have most of the Society’s publications printed in their vernacular, Malayalam; and the Watchtower magazine brings them up-to-date food as it becomes due time for the Lord to spread it before His people.

But, as for material possessions, most of them are miserably poor; as, indeed, is almost everybody in these parts. For example, the other day I talked with an educated man who receives a salary of nine rupees a month (about three dollars a month) in State service with which to support himself and family. These of whom I am telling are mostly farmers, owning some few acres of land and growing rubber, coconuts, pineapples and tapioca; partly for marketing and partly for home consumption. But in spite of their poverty, as poverty is usually reckoned, they are well content. They count themselves rich, and not poor; for they have that which money cannot purchase nor wisdom acquire—a knowledge of the Creator, Jehovah, and of His purposes.

Witness Joseph, a Travancorean in charge of the Lord’s work in these parts and who has aged in his service, invited me to attend the convention sponsored by the Thottucaud company of Jehovah's witnesses to give a public address on "Religion as a World Remedy" and talk to the witnesses on some of the latest Watchtower articles. I accepted gladly, and that is how it began.

Thottucaud, Travancore, India, company of Jehovah's Kingdom publishersThottucaud, Travancore, India, company of Jehovah's Kingdom publishers.

CONVENTION HALL—30 cents. We drove to there in an old Ford house-car that had completed ten years on the roads and cart-tracks of India before entering into semi-retirement here. It rattled and squeaked, and you turned the steering wheel a quarter revolution before it affected the steering, and it was packed with steaming humanity until the sides bulged; but it went. It took us through green rice fields and coconut groves, twisting and winding, and at last climbed a track which ended at the top of a hill where was a rubber plantation: and there, in this rural setting, was the convention hall.

I call it a hall. They called it a "pandal". It comprised a shade-roof made from interwoven coconut-palm fronds supported between the rubber trees, assisted here and there by stakes; and this covered an area of about 150 feet by 300 feet. On the ground were woven rush mats, the only other furnishings being a table, two chairs and a few crude forms. Everything was homemade and from the jetsam that floats around these farms; and had cost nothing above the time required to collect it and put it together, which was done by the witnesses themselves. Oh, one thing they paid for—the wire that stretched overhead to support the roofing. This they obtained for fourteen annas (about thirty cents) by buying some edges of scrap motor tires from a distant town, and burning these to obtain the wire. If there is a possible way, trust Jehovah's witnesses to find it, be they black or white. A convention hall with seating accommodation for a thousand for thirty cents!

Over an hour before the meeting was due to start Witness Ooman stood outside and beat upon a bronze gong. Its invitation rang loud and resonant over the hills. Presently they began to trickle in, some arriving an hour before we were to begin, and would settle themselves down to wait. Time, that tyrant of the West, is a well-trained servant here. It is used with a prodigality that would indicate there is all eternity to draw from. And I, sitting there watching them come, as curious about them as they were about me, lifted my heart in thanks to Jehovah for the privilege of serving these noble sons of the soil.

Their clothing is as simple as it is serviceable. A single bed-sheet is as near as I can describe it, draped around the lower portion of the body. Some sported a shirt to go with this, the tails of which hang outside of the bed-sheet substitute for pants, and others a simple cloth that they could throw around their bare chest when the occasion demanded it; but mostly they were baked from the waist up and enjoyed the kiss of sun and breeze upon their bronze skin. The women wore a bodice besides the sheet, and one end of this latter covered their heads in the usual Indian manner.

Some of these came many miles, I know. They are wonderful walkers and think little of doing forty to fifty miles a day in bare feet. Several have walked that far to make the acquaintance of the speaker from overseas; or, as they say in most expressive idiom, to "see his face". And always they will bring some small gift—a pineapple or earthen jar of palm syrup—things of trifling value compared to the long journey they make. But they are like that. Sometimes I see a brown head peeping in through the bamboo screen that forms one wall of my small room, and I will try out a smile at it. If it lights up with heaven's brightness, then I know that it is a witness and somebody who means more to me than all my brothers after the flesh have ever meant. I cannot do much more than smile again. Not a word may pass between us, but a wealth of understanding has passed between the two minds. But I digress.

The "pandal" and old Ford house-car

Summoning the conventioners at Thottucaud

They seated themselves upon the rush matting in close proximity, their knees tucked up under their armpits in a posture that one from the West would find it impossible to adopt. The meeting started with the audience singing, "Give praise to Jehovah." The words were fine, but I found myself quite out of sympathy with their idea of music, although undoubtedly it was sweet in the ears of Him for whom it was intended. Each line was sung twice, first by two chosen singers and then by everybody else, and the first two singers took a deep breath for that next top note. And it was mostly top notes!

There were about three hundred present when I began to tell them about the failure of religion and its impending doom, and of the gracious provision that Jehovah has made for those who will accept His gift of life upon His terms, and the sublime hope ahead for distressed and bewildered humanity. They sat to the last word, every man. Not a sound was made. They gave careful and serious attention to every sentence. Even the little children sat perfectly still, as though they, too, were held in bondage to the spirit of serious urgency that filled the hall. I have never known a Western audience listen so carefully or show such consideration for the speaker.

When the winsome lad in the middle was expelled from school for conscientious refusal to salute the flag, his father threatened to have a constable come and get him and incarcerate him in a home.

But I think I enjoyed it best when I addressed the witnesses only, numbering about 70 in all; telling them about Eglon, the fat one; and the man who fought for the honor of Jehovah’s name, Ehud. They grinned when I asked them if they could guess whom Eglon pictured, and grinned again when the sword went in and the dirt came out. They know modern Eglon well, these servants of Jehovah. Their earnestness thrilled me. Every text quoted had to be turned up in their own Bibles, and I feel that when the article comes out in their own Malayalam Watchtower it will be well chewed and digested. Another thrill was when witness Verghise addressed a further gathering of strangers on “Armageddon”. I do not know his language, but I could gather much of what he was telling them, and many texts could be recognized. If you could have seen this youth turning up his Bible and producing a continuous flow of texts to support his statements, and marked the sincerity and force of his delivery, then you would have recognized him as one of Jehovah’s witnesses even had you fallen in from the skies.

Saturday morning was spent on a service drive with the Malayalam Watchtower. This is a new method of working for them, but now they are becoming Watchtower-minded. They hope to get Watchtower bags shortly, printed in their own vernacular.

Could Consolation spare the space, how much more could be told!—of the food that was eaten and where and how we ate it; of the homes of these people and of their daily lives; of their bright eyes and ready grin, but of instant attention upon any subject pertaining to the Kingdom cropping up; of all the little things that go to show that they are subjects of the Theocratic Nation, having our King, our courage, our language, our faith, our hope and, praise be to Him, our beloved Theocrat, Jehovah.—C. S. Goodman, pioneer, India.

Satan Caught Napping

◆ In spite of the great and terrible opposition put up by Satan against Jehovah’s purpose to have a Theocratic convention in America during 1940, Satan failed miserably.

The Devil had another shock in a small way locally, just before 1940 faded out.

Horses and donkeys carry books and phonographs in rural Mexico.

--If anyone had said it was possible to have a Theocratic convention in Eire, he would not have been believed. It seemed easier to have one in Russia or Italy. Yet Satan was caught napping and the miracle did happen.

Over 60 Irish witnesses mustered and made an onslaught on Dublin, one of the pope’s supposed strongholds. The demons were so angry that such a thing could happen. They caused a bomb to drop in Dublin a day or two later, destroying two Protestant churches and a synagogue.

A beautiful new Catholic church a few yards away had not a window broken, which makes one wonder if the invisible spirits guarding Eire are Roman Catholics.

There are only two pioneers in the whole of Eire, but Jehovah does not need numbers to carry out His purposes. He knows that there are some of the Lord’s “other sheep” in this country and is giving them an opportunity to flee before it is too late.—J. H. Corr, Eire.

A Day in the Service

◆ On Sunday at 1 p.m. Witness — picks up five workers and leaves town on our trip north. The first stop is twelve miles on the way, where the first worker is dropped off to serve four witnesses with a book study. The next stop is fifteen miles farther, where the next worker is met by a witness with a team (the side roads are impassable with a car at this time of year). They drive two miles in to a group of isolated friends, where they enjoy a Watchtower study. (Should there have been a heavy snowstorm the witness would walk in on snowshoes.) Three miles farther one of the young sisters is met by a girl of twelve with a dogteam; they take turns riding on the little sleigh to the home where the family are eagerly awaiting the visit. Before I go on I’d like to say that this family have very little of this world’s goods, but they are industrious, clean and hungry for truth. The little home is scrubbed till everything shines, even the children’s faces. These children are a real joy; they vie with one another to answer the questions and look up the scriptures, and are doing a real witness work by explaining to other children at school why they cannot conscientiously salute the flag. They have been keen to have a part in the service, and now that the time is ‘while darkness covers the earth’ they will have a share with their mother and older brother in the work. Now to follow the car: Two miles farther the driver of the car stops to pick up two sisters who have been watching for the car, and takes them on to the study at the end of the journey. This is a model study and is interesting because the conductor never knows how many will be there—anywhere from five to fifteen in attendance. The man of the house is doing a real work because he is in contact with men in lumber camps; he leaves the odd bit of literature, and then on his return trip often finds interest; and so the work of preaching this gospel of the Kingdom goes on in spite of opposition. After this last model study the car driver starts back, picking up his load as he goes, sometimes having to wait if the side roads have been heavy. We arrive home at about six, have a bite of supper, then on we go to our group Watchtower study at 8 p.m., which to us is the “end of a perfect day” in the service of the King of kings.—Three happy pioneers.

Working One Hundred Square Miles

◆ A pioneer seventy-five years of age worked one hundred square miles out of Overton, Nebraska, in bitter winter weather, walking five miles out [or getting a ride] and working his way back, often walking twenty miles in a day and arriving home late. What an example to the indolent and to those holding back from pioneer service because they have not the equipment they think they need!

(To be continued) COUNSEL

by J. F. Rutherford

Creature Worship

AS APPLIED to Almighty God, the word "holy" carries with it the thought of sacredness and awfulness, such as would befit our attitude of mind toward the One who holds the universe in the palm of His hand, and to whom we owe all we have, are, and shall ever be.

When the Redeemer of humankind was on earth and approached in prayer to the throne of heavenly grace He addressed Almighty God, Jehovah, in reverential terms. In His last night upon earth, facing Gethsemane, and when He knew He had been faithfully serving Jehovah, in reverential prayer He used the endearing term, "Holy Father." (See John 17:11.) It is passing strange why any human creature should want to take this title; yet some have. It shocks the sensibilities of a true worshiper of God Almighty that any human creature should be so misguided and so mentally deficient as to be willing to receive at the hands of anybody the title "Holy Father", which belongs to God alone. Men thus bring dishonor upon God's name.

Mary, whom many in "Christendom" religiously call "the mother of God", was a humble, truly devoted woman. Her name is now misused, and surely in a way that she would not approve. As a woman she possessed the fine sense of proportion which made her prompt to say when she was told she was to be the mother of the world's Redeemer: "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." She did not take the honor to herself, but gave the honor to God, to whom it belonged. Continuing, she said: "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and HOLY [sacred, awful] is his name."—Luke 1:47-49.

Referring to the much publicized new and revised edition of "The New Testament" translated by the Roman Catholic Confraternity of Doctrine and released this spring, the Philadelphia Bulletin has the following to say in a dispatch (AP) from Kansas City, dated February 18: "In the present text of St. John's gospel on the marriage feast, Jesus' much-debated reply to his mother's words, 'They have no wine,' is 'What is that to me and to thee? Mine hour has not yet come.' THIS HAS BEEN CHANGED TO: 'What wouldst thou have me do [woman]?' because, Bishop ———— explained, the present version gives too harsh an interpretation of a Hebrew idiom by translating it literally."

This "Hebrew idiom" occurs at 2 Chronicles (Paralipomenon) 35:21: "But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee this day, but I fight against another house." (Literally: "What—to me and to thee, O king of Judah?"—Young's translation) Also at 2 Kings 16:10 (Douay Version): "And the king said: What have I to do with you, ye sons of Sarvia? Let him alone and let him curse." (Also chapter 19:22.)

Exactly the same Hebrew idiom as at John 2:4 concerning the marriage feast occurs at Luke 8:27, 28, but here the new Catholic revised version renders, not as in regard to Mary, but: "A certain man who for a long time was possessed by a devil, . . . when he saw Jesus, he fell down before him, and crying out with a loud voice said, 'WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I pray thee, do not torment me." Also Luke 4:33, 34: "Now in the synagogue there was a man possessed by an unclean devil, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Let us be! WHAT HAVE WE TO DO WITH THEE, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to destroy us?'" Also Matthew 8:29: "What have we to do with thee, Son of God? Hast thou come here to torment us before the time?" Also Mark 1:24: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to destroy us?" Why this difference in translating the same ancient Hebrew idiom when Mary is addressed and when Jesus is addressed? The religious purpose therein is very clear.

Reads 2 Timothy 2:16: "But avoid profane and empty babblings." Surely the repeating over and over again of some words addressed to a creature, or even to the Creator, for that matter, is vain, and such is "empty babblings"; for they contribute much to ungodliness'. A striking example of "empty babblings" is this one invented by the religious Hierarchy, namely, teaching the credulous people to pray by repeating over and over again words to this effect: "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for me. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for me." And they are taught to fumble with each utterance a string of beads called "the rosary". Such a religious practice is entirely contrary to God's Word and could not possibly receive God's approval, but, on the contrary, God says that to Him it is an abomination. The credulous one so praying thinks he is praying to a woman.

For more than 1500 years sincere Catholic persons have been thus doing, addressing their "prayer" to Mary, the mother of the child Jesus. Did she ever hear the prayers of any such? and does she hear those prayers now and answer them? Certainly not; because she died more than 1800 years ago and could not possibly be awakened out of death until the Lord's second coming and the establishment of His kingdom over the earth. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16; 2 Timothy 4:1.) To be sure, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was devoted to Jehovah God; but she was a human creature born imperfect and required the benefit of His ransom sacrifice for her salvation; also her resurrection from the dead must wait until Christ Jesus appeared and began His reign, as the Holy Scriptures plainly so state. Surely, then, the prayers to Mary during the 1500 years past have been entirely in vain and the poor people have been induced by the religious leaders to thus act erroneously.

Furthermore, God never authorized anyone aside from Jesus and himself to receive and answer prayers. There is no scripture that warrants one to pray to Mary. To His disciples Jesus taught that they must pray to "thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking". (Matthew 6:6, 7) Seeing that the constant repetition even unto God is in vain, then certainly it is vain to repeat time and again words addressed to any creature, including Mary. As to the proper way to pray, Jesus gave this instruction: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven." (Matthew 6:6-9) Does Jesus or Jehovah God in any manner instruct men to pray to creatures or in the name of any creature aside from the name of the Lord Jesus? Certainly not, but, on the contrary, Jesus instructs as follows: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."---John 14:13, 14.

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