Consolation, November 12, 1941
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Contents
Education and Instruction 3
Religion in the Schools 4
"Think!" 6
Pioneering Among the Mormons 8
Under the .Totalitarian Flag
Americanism versus Catholicism 9
Canon Law of the Pope 10
The Wicked Partnership 11
Standing by Hitler 11
Revival of the Old Spanish Empire 12
La. 13
Railroads and Steamships 14
Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States 15
Counsel by J. F. Rutherford
"Holy Souls," Dead or Alive? 16
Forevision of German Invasion of Russia 18
Science 19
The New Government
More About St. Louis Convention 20
Overcoming Difficulties 21
The Devil "Having Great Wrath" 24
Stuck in the Mud 25
"Lovers of Pleasures"—2 Timothy 3: 4 26
The Bullfight Business 27
British Comment
Civilians Under Fire 29
Handicapped but Undaunted 29
From Full-Time Warriors 30
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Notanda
Man's Need of The Theocracy
(From the Valedictory on page 7)
The present extreme conditions are satisfactorily explained in only one way: by recognizing the fact that there have been unseen forces overreaching men and which have augmented the baser instincts of mankind until this generation has witnessed selfishness, greed and hypocrisy go to seed. Today commercial, religious, and political interests are combining to perpetuate this very unsatisfactory condition of things. This is done through propaganda and deceit. And can it be doubted that there is Satanic wisdom back of the deceptions of our day? It must be apparent to every reasoning mind that it will take a higher power, the rule of the Almighty Creator, to remove from this universe the Satanic forces which have been responsible for the prospering of wickedness and to cause right-doing to prosper instead and to cause those who work with unselfish motives to be rewarded. Such a rule, the great Theocracy, is man's only hope, and no education now is complete without a knowledge of its principles.
As previously stated, we are entering an age in which unselfish motives only will be rewarded. You ask, How can one learn to work unselfishly? To do that we must know that the Supreme One of the universe, JEHOVAH, is the complete expression of unselfishness. He never does or says anything for selfish reasons or personal gain. He being the source of all life and everything good, all the creatures in the world could not enrich Him in any way; therefore it is impossible for Him to do anything selfishly. A creature, however, being the recipient of all he has, could learn to do unselfishly only by showing proper gratitude to the great Giver of all good things.
So as we say good-bye to the members of the faculty and to schoolmates and express our appreciation of your efforts in instructing and helping us through our school days, may we leave with you this parting admonition that what one has learned or may learn is only of real value if used to the HONOR OF JEHOVAH'S NAME.
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXIII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 12, 1941 Number 578
Education and Instruction
THOUGH similar in meaning, the terms education and instruction show marked differences. Educate is from two Latin words meaning to lead forth or bring out; while the source of instruction has the thought of building in. So instruction has the significance of supplying something, while education suggests the directing or leading of something that already exists, in the sense of training. Both words are used in a variety of ways, but education generally implies a course of systematic instruction with a more or less definite goal in view. Instruction may be limited to giving orders or directions incident to the performing of some particular task or duty, but may also be used to refer to a course of learning, viewed chiefly from the standpoint of acquiring knowledge. Succinctly stated, then, education may be said to refer to a method of learning to do, and how, while instruction is likely to have the more limited meaning of learning to know, though with a view to doing.
Education has long been appreciated as conducive to the well-being of man. It may greatly enlarge his capacity for doing and obtaining good. Man is endowed by his Creator with a remarkable capacity for observation and reflection, and he therefore readily acquires knowledge as to natural and material things. This process of gaining knowledge may be speeded up and systematized, so that by a settled plan and orderly arrangement of facts not only is knowledge acquired more readily and easily, but higher degrees of knowledge are opened up to the insatiable thirst for knowledge with which man is endowed. By "precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little", understanding and knowledge increase by gradual steps.
But while humankind thus have the craving for knowledge deeply implanted within them, they have, since the fall, also acquired a proclivity for evading unpleasant facts and "hard sayings". They have learned to build up formidable barriers between themselves and the things that would be for their highest good—high things, heavenly things; great things, things of God. They have built up systems of false philosophy, systems of morality, systems of "propriety", so called, and systems of religion, imposing, astounding, intriguing, soothing, inspiring, but utterly vain in the last analysis. "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."
Dr. William H. Kilpatrick, professor of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, is on record as saying that the great fault in present-day education is the refusal by educators to teach the child to face reality, that is, to face the facts. Children should be encouraged to ask questions and have the "why" of what they do explained, he told a gathering of teachers. "If we coerce a child, he is not learning to face reality. If we bribe a child, he is not learning to face reality." Not only is this true of present-day education; it has marked education to a greater or less degree since Eve first tasted the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Accomplishments
It is not to be concluded that all education has been futile. Much has been done to equip humankind for the everyday things of life and for tasting more deeply the springs of knowledge. Educators in every age have sought to give others opportunity to enlarge their world by an appreciation of its many wonders.
In America such names as Horace Mann, Alexander Woollcott and William Holmes McGuffey stand out prominently as having contributed much to the improving of the means and methods of education. At the head of the school interests of Massachusetts for twelve years, Horace Mann's annual reports stand out as among the greatest educational treatises in the history of America. His Fifth Report was widely circulated outside of Massachusetts and by special vote the British Parliament reprinted a large part of the Seventh Report. Both were translated and widely circulated in Germany. McGuffey readers have had a wide influence, and have even been translated into Japanese, among many other languages. It is estimated that over 100,000,000 copies of these readers have been sold. Woollcott's readers have likewise been widely used.
In those days the school children were not ignorant as to the importance and order of the Ten Commandments, which were included in poetic form in one of the readers. Many other selections from and references to the Bible were likewise used. These have gradually been eliminated, so that now Rome can refer to America's schools as "Godless".
While in the nineteenth century the children had an opportunity to appreciate the Commandments of God, university students today "lightly esteem" them. At the University of Wisconsin Jehovah's Ten Commandments were presented to an advanced class of students, and it is significant that these misguided men and women listed as of first importance the six commandments that have to do with the relations of humans with one another, and of secondary importance the four commandments which have to do with man's relation to God. The commandment which the Creator placed first (and which a logical mind would place first) they placed seventh on the list.
Religion in the Schools
In an address at Institute, West Virginia, the State superintendent of schools, W. W. Trent, stated that "history is replete with illustrations to prove that nations that depart from principles of religion pass through periods of corruption, disintegration and destruction". The philosophy of this remark is that the Mohammedans should continue to practice Mohammedanism, the Hindus to practice Buddhism, the Chinese to practice Confucianism, and the Japanese keep right on worshiping their 8,000,000 deities, a la Shinto. Seems a bit silly, doesn't it, and as if he needed to know what religion really is—the teachings, traditions and practices of creatures, instead of obedience to the instruction of the Creator?
Yet educators and others like to use the ambiguous method in dealing with the subject of religion. After examination of an eleven-year-old child who had killed her mother a psychiatrist remarked that while the child was a member of a church-going family, she had lacked "religion", saying, "This child's mind seems closed to religion. Parents should take warning from that fact. The best safeguard against tragic incidents of this kind is a sound instruction in the fundamentals of religion." The gentleman overlooks the fact that crime is more frequently found among those who have had religious upbringing than among others.
It is a well-known fact that there are far more Roman Catholic-(educated) criminals, in proportion to population, than of any other group. The churches play an important part in the educational program, and it does not speak well for this most boastful religio-educational system that so many of its products turn out so badly. Catholics make up one-ninth of America's adult population; they supply nearly a third of the country's criminals!
It is not the prerogative of the school-teacher to influence the child's thinking. The schools are a means of enabling children to get at facts, so that these facts may enable them to deal with the problems of life as they arise. The teacher must be objective and impartial in the presentation of the simple facts. Textbooks, likewise, should not unduly influence a child's mind. The following is an extract serving as an example of such improper influence. "The Russian Revolution aims to effect a complete transformation of society—the establishment of a Communist economic régime and the acceptance of a Communist philosophy of life. This is why it is, of all the events of our time, the most interesting and perhaps the most important." The last sentence in this extract from a school textbook is by way of comment on the preceding statement, and tends to favorably impress the mind of the child with reference to Communism.
Commenting on this quotation, Geo. E. Sokolsky, a writer in Liberty magazine, says, "Is it more important, for instance, than our own efforts to maintain a democracy in the face of world pressure? Is it more interesting than the fact that in the United States 130,000,000 people are surviving a ten-year depression without revolution . . . ?"
He further presents the interesting queries: "Does anyone happen to have told your child that nowhere on the face of the earth, even after ten years of depression in this country, is the standard of living of the average family as high as ours?"
"Does he know that food and clothing are more expensive in Soviet Russia and that wages are lower than in the United States? Does he know that that is also true in Germany? . . ."
"The fundamental task of protecting the child from [improper influence] is up to the parent. Ask your child:
1. What role did the Bible play in the forming of American ideals at the beginning of American history? If the youngster does not know, find out why.
2. Ask your child whether it is true that no principle other than the class struggle motivated American life. If the child believes that, find out why."
The same writer points out that in many schools work is made so easy that lazy and indifferent children can get by, thus teaching the more industrious children that conscientious effort doesn't get one anywhere.
The honor system formerly in force in many schools of higher learning was based upon the supposition that every student was honest, or at least the majority were. Hence supervision of examinations was eliminated and the students were put on their own honor. The tendency in recent years has been to return to the proctor system, in many cases at the request of the majority of the students, and examinations are supervised to prevent the cheating which had become very prevalent, and which the students themselves, as a body, seemed not to have the courage to correct. The students, collectively, were to see to it that no one cheated, and if anyone did, he was to be reported to the student organization which would procure the permanent removal of the offender. Apparently the honor system broke down because there was not enough moral stamina among the pupils.
President Wilson once said something to the effect that he was amazed to see the lengths to which young men would go and the effort they would put forth to avoid the acquisition of knowledge. The painful process of thinking (or is it the art of thinking?) is something that few pupils seem to go for, and many are only too ready to reject with superior sophistication sentiments like the following:
“Think
“It’s a little thing to do, just to think. Anyone, no matter who, ought to think. Take a little time each day from the minutes thrown away—spare it from your work and play—stop and think! You will find that men who fail do not think. Men who find themselves in jail do not think. Half the trouble that we see, trouble brewed for you and me, probably would never be if we’d think! Shall we journey hit-or-miss, or shall we think? Let’s not go along by guess, but rather to ourselves confess it would help us more or less if we’d think!”
While religion should not be taught in the schools, for reasons already mentioned, pupils who are courageous enough to make the effort certainly have the right to write themes on things they believe. Such discussions, while highly dangerous to religion, would, if impartially conducted, prove most beneficial.
In a Nebraska high school the principal gave a talk on saluting the flag. He said that those who did not want to salute the United States flag had no right to live in the country. Grace brought the principal a booklet the next day. It was entitled Loyalty. She told him that, since there were two sides to everything, she would like him to read the booklet’s explanation why a true follower of Jesus Christ would not salute the flag. Thereafter there were discussions among the pupils as well as the teachers. Grace was questioned by all of them, and used the opportunity to witness to both pupils and teachers that she put Jehovah God first. In one class about fifty pupils were given a witness, and at the request of a teacher another class of about twenty pupils were witnessed to.
When a patriotic program was given on Washington’s Birthday, Grace showed her faith by not saluting or taking part. The principal, knowing why she did not wish to participate, looked on half-smiling.
On another occasion the science teacher had a discussion on the forming of minerals in the earth, particularly coal, which he said was formed by decayed animal and vegetable matter. Grace mentioned that many minerals were deposited by the falling of various rings suspended about the earth (as now about Saturn) in the period of its formation, according to a book by Judge Rutherford called Creation. The science teacher was interested, and was given the book to read. After about six weeks he returned it, saying he had read not only the chapter about the ring canopies, but also other matters.
Another teacher heard the lecture “Government and Peace” run on Grace’s phonograph, and obtained from her some of Judge Rutherford’s books.
Grace is getting along with both faculty and pupils, but has not hesitated to take a firm stand for The Theocracy.
At another high school, in another state, one of Jehovah’s witnesses graduated, and having the highest grade, was called upon to make the valedictory address. She selected an article that was not merely a collection of platitudes, but pointed definite truths, and included a witness to the supremacy of Jehovah God. She was preceded on the program by a judge of the district who pointed out the advantages of democracy in which everyone could serve God according to the dictates of his heart. Then Jean gave her address, while the judge and two preachers sat on the rostrum behind her. The school auditorium was packed, and all listened as Jean ascribed greatness to her Maker in the following words:
Friends and Classmates:
The onward-winging flight of time has brought us to the terminal where we must recheck and start out on new and untried roads. Old Mother High School has written “Finis” upon our pages and is sending us forth to prove the worth of her endowments. Our high school days are finished, yet they shall be ever present; we are carrying them with us, not only impressed upon our memory, but a very part of us mentally, morally and physically. On into the long years of the future this school training shall form an important part in our experiences and achievements. The opportunities of the classroom have passed, but the opportunity for making the most of what we have acquired in school is just beginning. What we are observing today is known as "Commencement Exercises", and that suggests to our minds that what we have just completed is really not our education, but rather a basis for our education.
To properly understand life's problems and to derive the most good from the experiences of life we need to know how to apply what we have learned. Furthermore, the present generation is confronted with new and difficult problems, as evidenced by expressions from some of the world's greatest statesmen, such as these: "We are at the turning point of the ages"; "The present trouble upon the world is an epoch-making one"; "Management of earth's affairs is beyond human control." To the properly instructed mind it is apparent that we are entering an age in which the motive back of our deeds is becoming more manifest. Therefore, if in analyzing this subject we can find a few points that will enable us all to derive the greatest benefit from life's experiences, as well as from the things we have learned during our school days, we shall be well rewarded for our efforts.
[For the concluding words of this valedictory, see "Notanda", on page 2.—Ed.]
Other youthful witnesses for Jehovah have testified to their faith and devotion before teachers and classmates by writing themes dealing with the purposes of the Almighty. The course of action followed by these conscientious students of "reading, writing, arithmetic" and Scripture shows that instruction at home must supplement education at school, or rather, right instruction at home makes supplementary education at schools effective for the upbringing of good citizens and honest witnesses.
It is inevitable that school life must at times present situations that call for independent action. The child that goes along with everything that is done without thought or question may be the ideal of some teachers, but other and wiser teachers will not fail to appreciate the courage and sincerity of the pupil who, conscientiously, will sometimes stand apart from the crowd and insist upon recognition of his right to be an individual. Children must be neither bribed nor coerced. Nor will the smooth course of school routine be seriously threatened if a child is sometimes excused from participating in merely incidental activities.
The parent is the natural and therefore the divinely appointed guardian and instructor of the child. Nor may the State through the school ignore or outrage the parent's undoubted interest in the child's instruction. Schools have no right, for instance, to teach as proved facts mere theories. The theory of evolution may be cited as an example. When such things are taught in the schools they must be counterbalanced by other concepts, as that of creation, as representing the other side. The preferable course would be to omit such speculative matter altogether, leaving it for the graduate to consider when the school has equipped him by giving him the fundamental qualifications of reading, writing, trained reasoning. Perhaps the most valuable training a school could give a child would be the ability to impartially consider facts, or even theories, and to tolerantly give ear to the views of others on any and all subjects, while yet not being too ready to give up an honestly held personal view.
In recent years pupils who refrain from saluting flags in schoolrooms have come to public notice. Such pupils invariably have an intelligent appreciation of the significance of the gesture, instruction at home having given them an understanding of that which many pupils perform without thought or comprehension. The value of the formal or routine salute has been widely questioned by thoughtful writers, while the obvious viciousness of forcing a salute has been roundly condemned.
Kenneth Porter, professor of History in Vassar College, observes: "It is, after all, possible to do one’s duty as a citizen without ever saluting the flag which to most of us symbolizes our country, just as Protestants are able to love and worship God without the use of crucifixes, images of the saints, and other symbolical ‘aids to worship’."
There is no reason why a child’s conscientious scruples in this or in other matters should be overridden. Why, by way of another example, should a child be forced to memorize a poem or selection of any kind that is distasteful to him for some reason, or which he may find objectionable on conscientious grounds? Why shouldn’t he be permitted to make his own selection, whether of poetic or of prose writing? Or, to put it more pointedly, what right has the teacher to ignore a child’s proper preferences? That wisdom is required in dealing with this matter is obvious. A child cannot be permitted to neglect those elements which are essentials of education. Proper discipline in that connection, together with the backing of parental authority, will prevent trouble here.
The great difficulty here, as in other fields of human activity, is the tendency to carry things to an extreme, playing one end against the other, or ignoring one altogether. That there must be discipline in schools, that children cannot be allowed to determine for themselves what they will or will not do, is (within reasonable limits) acknowledged. That they must, nevertheless, be treated as individuals, and their honest scruples and dislikes regarded, while they are helped to face reality honestly and courageously, is also important. Educators in schools, co-operating with parents, must continue to seek for the properly balanced method. Much progress has been made. More is still to be made. But at no time may a child be coerced into doing that which it honestly believes to be wrong and contrary to the law of God. This one thing cannot be overlooked with impunity; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Without it education is vanity.
Pioneering Among the Mormons
◆ Modena, Utah, is a Mormon town and was visited thoroughly. There were several Watchtower subscriptions taken and much literature was left. One lady, upon receiving the witness, declined to take the book Salvation. I suggested that I leave a copy for her to show to her husband when he came home, and I would call the next day. On calling, she was glad to see me and said she had read the book through, also Refugees and a sample Watchtower. She wants the whole set now, and is coming along fine.
I met some who gave permission to use the old schoolhouse for the “Government and Peace” lecture. We made personal calls on all the town (around 75) and asked them over. Lo, there were 28 who came in and heard! Many expressed a desire to hear “Fascism or Freedom” next week. The meetings are going to continue, and many who are of good-will toward God are manifesting themselves.
Kanarraville is another Mormon village of about 300 people. We took two subscriptions and will have free use of their “Relief Society Hall” on Monday evening for the “Government and Peace” series. The Mormon bishop announced the meeting in his church, and we expect most of the town. My mother and I were even invited to dinner by the wife of the bishop. She asked many questions and got her Bible and wrote the scriptures down.
In two weeks we have taken over 24 Watchtower subscriptions here and placed over 100 books. Our listeners are over the top! We all say “Aye!” to Judge Rutherford’s letter pointing to the pioneer field for the real joy.—David J. Longfellow, Utah.
UNDER THE TOTALITARIAN FLAG
Americanism versus Catholicism
◆ 1. Separation of Church and State. Americanism’s attitude on this vital subject is expressed in our Constitution, thus: “Congress shall make no law . . . respecting an establishment of religion . . .” That means, in plain speech, that there shall be no official State religion. Roman Catholicism rejects this idea as dangerous heresy. My authority is Pope Leo XIII (Great Encyclical Letters, pages 148 and 323), as follows:
Hence follows the fatal theory of the separation of church and state. But the absurdity of such a position is manifest . . . It would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the most desirable status of the Roman Catholic church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for state and church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced.
Thus speaks the infallible [?] pope. As the pope was discussing this great question officially, his words must be accepted as authoritative; and they are, in every syllable, opposed to the U. S. Constitution.
2. Freedom of Conscience. Americanism (here the Constitution speaks again) holds: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the free exercise” of religion. This means any American has the constitutional right to accept any form of religious worship or reject all religion. But what does Roman Catholicism say on this grave issue? Here again I quote from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclicals referred to above. The words below clearly deny the right to select any form of religion or reject all religions:
Let us examine that liberty in individuals, which is so opposed to the virtue of religion, namely, the liberty of worship, as it is called. This is based upon the principle that every man is free to profess, as he may choose, any religion or none . . . This is no liberty, but its degradation.
3. Free Speech and Press. Americanism (through the U. S. Constitution) says: “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or of the press.” And here’s Catholicism’s answer (again taken from Pope Leo’s encyclicals referred to above):
“The unrestricted freedom of thinking and of openly making known one’s thoughts is not inherent in the rights of citizens.”—Pope Gregory XVI. We must now consider briefly liberty of speech and liberty of the press. It is hardly necessary to say that there can be no such right as this.
4. Democratic Government. Lincoln, in his Gettysburg address, expressed the principle in this way: “We here highly resolve . . . that this nation . . . shall have a new birth of freedom . . . and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Again I quote from Pope Leo XIII’s Great Encyclical Letters (pages 120-122):
Amongst these principles, the main one lays it down that as all men are alike by race and nature, so in like manner all are equal in the control of their life; that each is free to think on every subject just as he may choose; that no man has any right to rule over other men. In a society grounded upon such maxims, all government is nothing more nor less than the will of the people, and the people, being under the power of itself alone, is alone its own ruler . . . Now, natural reason itself proves convincingly that such concepts of a State are wholly at variance with the truth.
5. Undivided Allegiance to the U. S. Americanism holds that the Stars and Stripes cannot be honored if one gives at least a portion of his allegiance to the Vatican State, a foreign political power. The pledge to the flag calls for undivided allegiance. But Pope Leo XIII, in page 304 of the Great Encyclical Letters, holds otherwise. The [Roman Catholic] Church insists that the pope is above all governments in matters pertaining to religion and morals. The pope has his own flag. Leo XIII said: "We (the pope) hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty."
6. Education Free of Sectarian Control. Americanism holds that the public school system is one of the foundation-stones of our democracy. It must be non-sectarian if it’s to be free. But Roman Catholicism rejects this principle. Here we turn to Divini Illius Magistri, Encyclical on Education, issued in 1931, from which I quote:
"Education outside the Roman Catholic church is a condemned heresy . . . The public school, open to all children, should be under the control of the Roman Catholic church." —Pope Pius IX, "Syllabus of Errors." "The mission of the Catholic church to educate embraces every nation without exception, and all men, within or without her membership, and there is no power on earth that may lawfully oppose her or stand in her way."
There is the record, in plain, blunt speech. It proves beyond debate that Americanism and Catholicism are enemies.—The American Freeman, January, 1941.
Canon Law of the Pope
◆ "I.—All human power is from evil, and must therefore be standing under the pope.
"II.—The temporal powers must act unconditionally of the spiritual.
"III.—The 'Church' is empowered to grant or to take away any temporal provision.
"IV.—The pope has the right to give countries and nations which are non-Roman Catholic to Roman Catholic regents, who can reduce them to slavery.
"V.—The pope can make slaves of those Christian subjects whose prince or ruling power is interdicted by the pope.
"VI.—The laws of the 'Church,' concerning the liberty of the 'Church' and the Papal power, are based upon divine inspiration.
"VII.—The 'Church' has the right to practice the unconditional censure of books.
"VIII.—The pope has the right to annul state laws, treaties, constitutions, etc.; to absolve from obedience thereto, as soon as they seem detrimental to the rights of the 'church,' or those of the clergy.
"IX.—The pope possesses the right of admonishing and, if need be, of punishing the temporal rulers, emperors and kings, as well as of drawing before the spiritual forum any case in which a mortal sin occurs.
"X.—Without the consent of the pope no tax or rate of any kind can be levied upon a clergyman, or upon any church whatsoever.
"XI.—The pope has the right to absolve from oaths and obedience to the persons and the laws of the princes whom he excommunicates.
"XII.—The pope can annul all legal relations of those in ban, especially their marriages.
"XIII.—The pope can release from every obligation, oath, vow, either before or after being made.
"XIV.—The execution of papal commands for the persecution of heretics causes remission of sins.
"XV.—He who kills one that is excommunicated is no murderer in a legal sense."—Ulster Protestant, December, 1940.
German Catholics Shame French Ones
◆ The West Virginia edition of The Register reiterates the popular fairy stories about the "dreadful ordeal" the "Church" is having in Europe (most of which is imaginary) and then straightens up smilingly to say: "But side by side with stories about the alienation of youth from the Church by the Nazi officials of Germany come reports that German soldiers are shaming the French people by their attendance at the Catholic churches in occupied France."
The Wicked Partnership
◆ On November 26, 1940, I heard Wythe Williams, the newscaster on Station WOR, state that the Belgian King Leopold was soon to be sent to the Vatican by Hitler to offer the pope the spiritual leadership even as Hitler is the political head of all Europe. On the following Tuesday evening, also at 8 p.m., he restated and confirmed this and explained that the usual way is for it to be done in secret. If all went well it would later be headlined, or if without success, no one would ever hear of it.
On the evening of March 11, 1941, at 8, Mr. Williams said: “As reported in my former broadcasts, Hitler has contacted the Vatican, but the diplomats there say that a treaty or concordat at the present time would be only a scrap of paper; that first the differences between the Catholic Church and the Hitler government should be ironed out.”
“It is reported now that while Protestant ministers cannot buy gasoline nor travel even in their own parishes, Catholic priests can go into remote sections, and even into Poland and other occupied countries where no one else is allowed to travel; also, as the following Associated Press dispatch reveals [Detroit Free Press, March 8, 1941], 50 motorized churches are now at the disposal of the priests to reach outlying points.”
Catholic clergymen are taking religion to the German people by means of especially built automobiles equipped with altars. Notwithstanding the nation’s gasoline economy measures, German authorities approved the plan because the motorized churches are intended to serve scattered garrisons and isolated hamlets. The priests do their own chauffeuring.
—Robert Hatzfeldt, New York.
The Crusade Against Christians
◆ In southern France there were many adherents of both the Albigensians and the Waldensians, especially in the county of Toulouse. At the beginning of the thirteenth century there was in this region an open contempt for the Church, and bold heretical murmurings were heard even among the higher classes.
Against the people of this flourishing land Pope Innocent III preached a crusade in 1208. An army marched from northern France into the doomed region and, after one of the most atrocious and bloody wars upon record, suppressed the heresy by wholesale slaughter. At the same time, the war checked the civilization and destroyed the prosperity of the most enlightened portion of France.
The most permanent defense of the Church against heresy was the establishment, under the headship of the pope, of a system of courts designed to ferret out secret cases of unbelief and bring the offenders to punishment. These courts which devoted their whole attention to the discovery and conviction of heretics were called the Holy Inquisition, which gradually took form after the Albigensian crusade. The unfairness of the trials and the cruel treatment to which those suspected of heresy were subjected, through long imprisonment or torture—inflicted with the hope of forcing them to confess their crime or to implicate others—have rendered the name of the Inquisition infamous.—The Story of Our Civilization, Vol. 1, page 160.
Standing by Hitler
◆ In The American Scholar, in the winter of 1940-41, George N. Shuster had an article entitled “The Conflict Among Catholics”. The article was condensed and reprinted in the Contemporary Jewish Record in February, 1941. The following selections from the condensation show how the Catholic people are being dragged along by the nose by the ones that are in league with Hitler:
Catholic men and women who had offered heroic resistance to Hitler were suddenly astonished to find their ecclesiastical superiors not merely eager to compromise but actually willing to believe Nazism a benign affair. The members of the Catholic majority in the legislative assembly of one federal state were startled to behold, as they were marched out of jail by their Nazi captors, their archbishop riding down the street in an automobile festooned with swastikas and giving the Nazi salute.
Thus, when an attempt was made to stop American participation in the Berlin Olympic Games, the anti-Hitler forces failed to carry the day because Catholic support was withdrawn at the critical moment. A few prominent pro-Nazis gained the victory.
Revival of the Old Spanish Empire
◆ Nazi propaganda is based on the cultural and historical prejudices of the people and is directed at the masses. During the last few months it has been taken over by the Spanish Falangistas, who are preaching a revival of the old Spanish Empire. They are using such movements as Accion Nacional and Sinarquismo to spread their doctrines.
Sinarquismo is made to order for Falangista intrigue. It is a Catholic movement. Former priests and nuns act as its agents. It is strongest among the peasants of Jalisco, Michoacan and Queretaro, where the Cristero movement was born. It preaches blind obedience to the church and leaders, acceptance of one's lot in this world, servitude for the poor and charity for the rich, the superiority of Spanish culture and the Spanish race, which must be accepted also by the faithful even though they may be Indian. It is a movement based on religious fanaticism. It is one of those which will fall into the reactionary front and at the proper time will be corrupted to serve Nazi ends.
The Nazis' objective is to induce United States intervention in Mexico. If they are successful, the rewards will be high. It will mean the complete breakdown of the Pan-American front. Obviously the best attack can be made through the Spanish Falange. In middle-class homes in Mexico it is not uncommon to find a picture of Generalissimo Franco hanging side by side that of the Virgin and candles burning beneath both of them. Franco is represented as the savior of Christianity and civilization.---Dr. Vincenzo Petrullo, in New York Times, February 9, 1941.
French Teachers Have Backs Up
◆ It isn't so easy to entirely stifle liberty in France. The teachers' committees are virtual trade unions. When Pacelli and Hitler seized the country it was at first thought that even in Unoccupied France all would be smooth sailing, old Mr. Petain would see that the teachers' committees were disbanded, the priests and nuns would move in to the schools and beads would be in and brains would be out. And now, all ye who want a good laugh, read these sad words from the London Catholic Times published only eight months after the loud crowing of August 1, 1940:
The Catholic Church in France hailed the new measures as a princely gift from the new government. Alas, the gift has been taken back. The reform of France is no simple or easy matter. M. Chevalier is no longer Minister of Education, and his successor, M. Carcopino, has reversed his decrees. Religion is again to be taught outside the schools. Catholics all over the world, who had hoped for great things from the new regime, will be disappointed. This education has become a sort of "test case"; if the decree remains in force, not only will there be grave disappointment among Catholics, but France can never return to her ancient glories.
Hitler and the Catholic Church
◆ Hitler himself---who was born of Catholic parents---continues to call himself a Catholic, and is recognized as such by the Catholic Church, which never excommunicated him. Hitler's Brutalitarianism is in strict harmony with the ideology of the Catholic Church. His Gestapo is nothing more than a streamlined version of the Church's Inquisition, an institution which I've shown the Church hopes to re-establish when circumstances permit. Totalitarianism is Catholicism expressed in political terms.
As for von Papen, Hitler’s ambassador to Turkey and the politician who more than anyone else was responsible for Hitler’s theft of power in January, 1933, he speaks of his leader’s regime, as follows:
“The third Reich is the first power which not only recognizes, but which puts into practice the high principles of the Papacy.”
Catholic-Fascism has had its points of difference with Hitler, but fundamentally both are the same.—The American Freeman, June, 1941.
Praying for Peace
◆ The pope says that when you pray for peace like he tells you to pray, the result is 500 days’ indulgence for the victims in “purgatory”. The prayer contains the request that Jesus’ blood will descend on the bombed sufferers. That figure of speech is absolutely meaningless. There is another request that a peace of concord and justice among nations may be restored. With bishops of Germany praying for German success, Italian bishops praying for Italian success, and British bishops praying for British success, there is a fat chance, is there not? Then the prayer says that Jesus wants peace. How does the pope know He does? He has all power in heaven and in earth and could get peace in ten seconds by an earthquake that would obliterate every fighter in the world. And then the pope prays for justice and charity on both sides, and in perfect balance, with “the reign of right restored”. There has been no such reign of right in the earth at any time in the past 6,000 years, as the pope and everybody else knows full well.
La.
To Mr. J. F. Rutherford.
Dear Sir:
Please excuse me, as I do not know how to address you. I have accidentally come across three of your books, Harp of God, Vindication and Preparation, and I am so truly interested that I want to hear and know more. You see, I am a born Catholic and all my life the Word of our Lord has been given to me as the priests have so decided. For several years I have been confused, worried and anxious to read and know more about our Lord. I do so enjoy your books and I feel so at peace while I’m reading and studying them.
Will you please send me some more literature or some word that will help me understand? I have bought me a Bible, and I love it so. Of course, my friends and priests will say I’m crazy, and try to get me to destroy them if they know of it; but I promise you truly to read and study everything you send me. It seems like I am in a fog, just coming out of a dark forest into a beautiful light when I’m reading the Bible or one of your books.
Please help me to understand. I feel I’ve been wrong all my life. I’ll send some money on the 20th of this month, as I get my salary on the 5th and 20th respectively. You see I don’t know what you charge to pray for me or help me. I have at last come to the conclusion (since reading your books) that my priest is entirely wrong. He says I’m not ever to read the Bible as I could not interpret it without his guidance; but I know better, because I’ve been reading it on the sly since I’ve found your books, and his version is not at all like the Bible.
Will you tell me what to read, and how can I pray for myself and receive response from our Lord? Please help me. I’ll send you all the money I can the next 20th of October. How much will you charge me to pray for me? I thank you ahead of time, for I feel like you will help me.
God bless you ever.
Sincerely,
A Catholic.
(To be continued) Railroads and Steamships
Growers Get the Worst of It
◆ A long-time resident of Florida explains that no matter how large or how small the crop, the railroads get a fixed price per box for handling the fruit, the packers get their regular fee, the commission men get their regular commissions, and the only people in the line who cannot be sure that they will get anything at all are the growers. He thinks the earnings should all be pooled, but that would mean a recurrence of the rebate frauds which stirred the United States mightily a half century ago, and the complete smashing of the Interstate Commerce Commission carefully built up to put an end to such frauds in favor of the strong and against the weak. Railroads now are compelled to treat everybody alike.
Busy Days for Ships
◆ These are busy days for ships. Britain's biggest and best passenger boats are busy carrying Australasian troops to Egypt and are loaded to the gunwales with Italians on the return trip, men that are glad as prisoners to be fed better than they were when fighting Mussolini's battles in Libya. Uncle Sam is busy building all kinds of watercraft, and has at Carderock, Maryland, in its 1,300-foot tunnel of ships, the largest naval testing laboratory in the world. The performance of every model of ship and seaplane is studied with extreme care. The fate of a nation may hinge upon the superiority of its design over one less suitable.
Great Lakes on the Seaboard
◆ Four years from now, if nothing happens in the meantime, all the cities on the Great Lakes will be virtual seaports on the ocean front for six months in the year. It is predicted that the channels contemplated, 27 feet deep, will lead to an immense development of shipbuilding in these sheltered inland waters.
Enterprising Advertising
◆ That was quite a piece of enterprising advertising by the Timken Roller Bearing Company to buy a $100,000 steam locomotive, fit it with Timken bearings, and send it all over the country visiting prospective railroad customers. The best of it is that the advertising man who hit on the idea picked a winner. Today 91 percent of all new locomotives being built in the United States are being equipped with roller bearings and the Timken Roller Bearing Company gets most of the business, and all because it was clever enough to select a novel, expensive but efficient method of convincing its future purchasers that it knew what it was about.
The Big Railway Pension Business
◆ The fifth-largest insurance business in the United States is that of the Railroad Retirement Board. Only the Metropolitan, Equitable, Prudential and New York Life insurance companies pay out more to their policyholders than the Board pays out in annuities and other benefits. Expenses are kept down, with the result that the expenses of the New York Life are 800 percent greater than those of the Board although the insurance company paid out to policyholders only 40 percent more dollars than the Board paid out in benefits and annuities.
Tickets by Rail and by Air
◆ It is now possible to obtain tickets good one way by rail and the other way by air. These tickets are between Boston and the Maine cities of Portland, Lewiston, Augusta, Waterville, and Bangor. It suits the habits of Boston businessmen to leave for Maine late Friday afternoon and return by sleeper Sunday night.
Many Americans will be interested to know that the whole of Siberia is now covered by air lines.
Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States
The State Guard
◆ The American Legion "demands" that the governor immediately organize and equip a "state guard" to take the place of the national guard that is now in training camp. It is authoritatively stated that it would cost about $150,000 to partially equip 2,000 men as such a "guard", and nobody has yet pointed out any necessity for such an organization. Governor Sprague says there is no need for it, and suggests that it would be much cheaper, if any emergency arose, to add additional men to the state police. He is right, and such a force would be more effective than the one demanded by the Legion bill which has been introduced in the legislature.
The bill provides that the "guard" shall be equipped with clothing, pup tents, blankets and eating utensils. What for? Is it proposed to put them in camp or barracks and maintain them there as a little state standing army? If so, for what purpose? Whom do they intend to attack? If, as is claimed, they are to take the place of the national guard, they could stay at home and attend to their civilian duties, being subject to call by the governor only when needed—and nobody can remember when that has ever happened in Oregon. There is grave suspicion that the intention is not to organize something to temporarily take the place of the national guard, but rather to take advantage of the absence of the national guard to organize and equip an organization with official authority to raise hell—a militarized goon brigade—not a "guard" at all, but a trouble-maker and inciter.
It may be all right for Oregon to have a "state guard"—but let's be sure it is the right kind. There are elements of our population which are fairly itching to secure authority to manhandle other elements without being penalized. They would institute a reign of terror; and that is the opening wedge for Fascism. Maybe that is what they seek.—Salem (Oreg.) Capital Press.
Not Interested in Minority Rights
◆ At Flagstaff, Arizona, Sheriff Art Vandevier explained that he is not the least bit interested in the rights of minorities, and that the oath which he took to uphold the law had no meaning whatever, either to him or to the American Legion. He believes in chasing Americans out of town if they do not believe just as he thinks they should. That, in substance, is the gist of a story in the Coconino Sun. Flagstaff must be proud of its sheriff. The Sun explains also that the commander of The American Legion at Williams, Arizona, is also an anarchist, willing to do what he can and all he can to make this country like Germany. These are not its words, but that is what the words mean.
Reading about the strutting "patriots" in Flagstaff and Williams it is perhaps but natural that the school children at Bisbee, in the same state, ganged up on all the cars that passed their school and demanded that the occupants do their will in this flag-salute business. The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, has brains enough to see and to say, "If good citizens are going to be called upon constantly to salute the flag, if every time they go to the movies they must applaud the flag, or sing a patriotic air, such a routine is bound to become wearisome and defeat its very purpose."
Needed Albert to Make Rain
◆ The Zuni Indians went before the draft board at Gallup, New Mexico, and asked that Albert, their rain priest, be given deferred classification under selective service, and the draft board wisely agreed that the rain priest is entitled to as much consideration as ministers of other religions.
COUNSEL
by J. F. Rutherford
"Holy Souls," Dead or Alive?
ENTIRE months of the year are given over to special devotions by certain sects. November is the month of "the Holy Souls in Purgatory". The clergy of the greatest religious system on earth teach the people that those of their sect who died in sin are now in "Purgatory", or torment. What is meant by "Purgatory"? "Purgation" means "cleansing" or "making pure"; and the alleged "Purgatory" is presumed to be a place for the cleansing of men from their sins, so that when a sinner dies he might be cleansed AFTER dying. The clergy claim that this may be done while he is "dead". They also teach that the prayers of the priests of their sect can be said for one in "Purgatory" and thereby his term of punishment be shortened and his release therefrom be much earlier. Many honest people have paid large sums of money to such priests to pray for their dead ones upon the theory that these could get them out of "Purgatory". It is therefore seen that the "Purgatory" teaching has been used as a means of obtaining revenue.
Where are the dead? Would you wish that question answered according to man's theory, or to have the answer as pointed out in the Creator's Word, The Bible? You will say that man's answer would be only a guess, because no sinner man has ever returned from the dead and told us where the dead are. The clergy teaching that the dead are alive and conscious either in "purgatory", in "hell torment", or in heaven, is based upon Satan's lie about the soul, to wit, "the inherent immortality of all souls."
Does every person possess an immortal soul? The correct answer to the question clears up many other confusing doctrines. The word soul means a living creature. Every living creature is a soul, and that fact includes men and animals. (See the marginal reading of Genesis 1:20, 30.) A man is a soul, but he does not possess a soul. The body and the breath of life which animates the brain and other organs of the body together constitute a soul or creature. In Genesis 2:7 it is written: "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man BECAME a living soul." This scripture says nothing about God's giving man a soul.
An immortal soul would mean one which is not subject to death and does not die. When God created man He said to him: 'In the day that you sin you shall surely die.' (Genesis 2:17) God's law did not mean that merely the body would die, but that the man himself, the soul, would cease to exist. In Ezekiel 18:4 it is written: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." That alone is proof conclusive that the soul is not immortal. In Psalm 89:48 it is written: "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" There is not one text of the Holy Bible that says that man has an immortal soul, but, on the contrary, all Scripture texts bearing upon the matter show that man is a mortal soul or creature.
The religious clergy teach that the human soul is immortal. Satan the Devil is the author of the false teaching that the soul is immortal. The Scriptures declare that Satan is the father of lies and always resorts to lying. (John 8:44) Satan deceived Eve, the first woman, by telling a lie. It is written, at Genesis 3:4, that Satan, "that old serpent," said to Eve in contradiction of God's law: "Ye shall not surely die." Satan's purpose in telling that lie was to turn mankind away from God. Ever since then Satan has deceived men and caused religious teachers to tell the people that there is no death.
Satan himself is not immortal. God has sentenced Satan to death, and, within a short time now, God will destroy Satan at the battle of Armageddon, together with all other wicked ones. (See Hebrews 2:14.) When the man Jesus was on earth He was not immortal, because it is written of Him that He was dead for three days and on the third day Jehovah God raised Him up out of death. The angels are not immortal, because it is written in the Scriptures that there are wicked angels and that all the wicked God will destroy. (See Psalm 145:20.) Man is made lower than angels, say Psalm 8:4, 5 and Hebrews 2:6, 7. From observation we know that men die. Who, then, is immortal? The Scriptural answer is that Jehovah God alone is immortal, without beginning and without end. (See 1 Timothy 6:16.) When God raised Christ Jesus from the dead He gave to Jesus immortality; so He cannot die again. (Romans 6:9, 10; Revelation 1:18) No others will ever get immortality except those who are the true spiritual followers of Christ Jesus and who remain faithful unto death. To the Christians who are begotten of God's spirit the Scriptures (Romans 2:7) say: "Seek for glory and honour and immortality." You know that a man does not seek what he already possesses. In addressing such true Christians the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:53, 54) declare concerning those who are members of "the body of Christ", or "the church": "This mortal must PUT ON immortality." It would be entirely inconsistent for God to give every man an immortal soul and then require Christians to suffer persecution and be faithful unto death in order to receive immortality as a reward.
The same Scriptures which declare that man is a soul and the soul that sins shall die also declare that when man dies he does not know anything, has neither feeling, hearing, nor any other sense. It is written, in Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10: "The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing." "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." In other scriptures it is written: "For in death there is no remembrance of thee [God]: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6:5) "The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." (Psalm 115:17) "Like sheep they are laid in the grave."--Psalm 49:14.
Why, in the face of these plain scriptures, do religious clergymen teach the people that the dead are alive? The reason is that the false teaching originated with the Devil, whose purpose is to reproach the name of Jehovah God and cause the people to walk in mental darkness, and the Devil has overreached the clergymen and causes them to teach false doctrines. Long ago he deceived men in the religious organizations and caused these false doctrines to be taught concerning the dead; and upon the false assumption that the dead are alive is based the false doctrine concerning "Purgatory" and "eternal torment". If the dead are entirely unconscious, as the Scriptures show, and do not feel, and have no knowledge of any kind, then it would be impossible for them to be suffering in "Purgatory" or elsewhere.
Furthermore, religious priests have no Scriptural authority to say prayers for forgiveness of sins of those who have died. Only God can forgive sins, and prayers for the dead are not heard by Jehovah. No man's prayers are heard until he believes on God and Christ and then consecrates himself to do God's will. To claim that souls are suffering in "Purgatory" and can be released by prayers of others is not only a false doctrine, but a defamation of God's name. The dead that are in the tomb or grave are awaiting to be awakened out of death under God's Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus. So says Jesus, at John 5:28, 29. Each one must decide for himself whether he desires to believe the words of imperfect religious men or to take the authoritative words of God.
Russia
Forevision of German Invasion of Russia
◆ Just ten days before Germany invaded Russia, Walter Duranty, in the New York Times of June 12, 1941, had the two paragraphs which follow:
Mr. Stalin is not deaf to the lesson of history and has good reason to fear that if Herr Hitler fails this year to reach a decision in his war with Britain, little choice will be left the Nazis save the attempt to seize the Ukraine and the North Caucasus as a new "colony" on Germany’s doorstep, to be held as solid spoils, no matter what concessions he may be forced to make in the West. Herr Hitler would then have additional advantage of being able to pose once more as Europe’s bulwark against Bolshevism, which will find a ready hearing in some circles in Britain and in this country, too.
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