Consolation, September 2, 1942
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Contents
Acts of the Theocracy in New Jersey 3
Persecuting the Children 5
"The Pan-religious World" 6
The Ku Kluxers Also Pro-Hitler 7
Pseudo-Theocracy in New Jersey 8
Crucifix Gave Him Away 9
British Comment
The Seamy Side of Dublin 12
Helping Cardinal Hinsley to Understand 13
1942 Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah's witnesses 14
Education — No Solution but The Theocracy 15
Proof of the Flood 16
"Thy Word Is Truth"
Must All Be "Born Again"? 17
Fighting 'Witnesses' 19
Warned to Leave Bristow 19
They Often Fight Back 20
Saved by a 'Sister' 20
Have Been in Many Riots 21
Flag Salute Minor Matter 23
Most Contacts Friendly 23
Renders a Double Service 25
Presenting "This Gospel of the Kingdom"
Differences in Bible Translations 26
Translators — Style of Translating 27
When to Use a Free Translation 28
What Japanese Occupation Would Mean 29
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Notanda
Kudzu for Poor Soils
◆ The Southern Farmer, Montgomery, Alabama, is in a position to know the facts and declares that kudzu, which grows and thrives on the very poorest of soil, produces more hay per acre than alfalfa does on the very best of soil. It starts growing with the first warm days of spring and grows rapidly and vigorously until killed by the frost in the late fall. The four cuttings of 2 1/2 tons per acre yield 10 tons to the acre in a season. This leguminous plant turns poor or worn-out land into rich new soil. Once planted, 450 plants to the acre, no cultivation is required, after the first year, as the vines take root at the joints. It chokes out all weeds and plants, but if plowed under in the fall it disappears.
Planting Trees by Machinery
◆ It is now possible for four men with a new tree-planting machine to plant about 8,000 trees and shrubs of different species in an eight-hour day. By previous methods it took a crew of twelve men to plant 6,000 trees and shrubs in a day. Hence the new system is four times as efficient as that previously employed. By the previous method each man accounted for 500 trees and shrubs; now each man takes care of 2,000 and the machine itself does all the hardest of the work, including packing of the soil around the roots.
A Million Tons More Sugar
◆ The government had intended to use 1,300,000 tons of sugar in the manufacture of smokeless powder, but a way was found to accomplish the same result by using only 400,000 tons for that purpose. At the time of the change of plans the sugar warehouses all over the country were overloaded with the Cuban product and the odd fact appeared that the housewives were not buying even as much as their ration cards permitted. So there is small chance of a sugar famine.
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."--Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXIII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, September 2, 1942 Number 599
Acts of The Theocracy in New Jersey
NEW JERSEY has been relatively more active than any other state in the Union in persecuting Jehovah's witnesses. In a single year, in Hudson county alone, 136 of these representatives of God's kingdom, The Theocracy, were jailed for preaching the good news of that Theocracy. The record of the state as a whole in this connection is most unenviable.
At Elizabeth, a priest, in an unguarded moment, admitted to one of his parishioners that the Hierarchy hate these witnesses. He said they were spoiling his business. The parishioner had been interested in the work of Jehovah's witnesses when she learned that Peter, supposedly the first pope, was married and that he could not "bless" his own mother-in-law. These incidental points proved to her that there were some things she did not know, and she was anxious to learn. The priest had come to "bless" her house, at so much per "bless". Such blessings do not cost the priest anything, and, from the record, he is the only one who profits from them.
The officials of New Jersey have been under the thumb of a representative of the Hierarchy to a large extent. There are, however, some exceptions, and one of Jehovah's witnesses, calling on officials, found at least one who listened attentively as the literature was shown to him. He had read the booklet God and the State and said, "I can see now that Judge Rutherford is right about that; they are making the flag an idol."
The same publisher of The Theocracy called on a doctor of philosophy who is supervising principal of a large school district. He had received The Watchtower and the booklet Satisfied, and said he found the WATCHTOWER literature very valuable, and appreciated the fact that so much care had been exercised in doing the research work.
Faithful Publishers
Publishers in New Jersey have been zealous in carrying on their work, in spite of the virulent and continued opposition thereto. They conducted "information marches" in which numbers of them carried signs advertising important public lectures, as was done in other states. In sections where no marches were conducted illuminated signs in windows shone out the invitation to seek and find the Truth. One worker, living in a section of religionists, got a cold reception in her efforts to talk to them about God and His purpose for mankind.
She tried to show them the futility of religion by painting a large sign to the effect that "Religion is a snare and a racket" and putting it in her front window, above a sign flashing out an invitation to knowledge and understanding. She did not want her neighbors to miss anything. The howl they put up when the sign appeared showed that they did not miss that, anyway, although they did fail to see the real benevolence back of its appearance. They went to the landlord and told him that if he did not put her out, they would get up a petition against her. The landlord was easily persuaded, as his brother is a Roman Catholic priest. When the Kingdom publisher moved, she left the large sign in the window, in back of which she wrote some Scripture quotations which constituted a fair warning to anyone who destroyed it. The new location from which the publisher carried on was quickly marked by the electrically illuminated sign. The landlady thought it looked nice, and wanted several of the books. She had already read some of the literature, enjoyed it, and passed it on to her niece.
The same publisher made the following report:
I have a friend upon whom I have called many times, inviting her to the meetings, but she never came. One day I went to see her and she told me that she had given a party, inviting the minister and intending to have him baptize the baby while at the house. The minister asked if she and her husband attended church regularly, and, being informed that they did not, said it would be too great a responsibility upon him to baptize the baby at the home. The lady then said she wished I had been there at the time, to talk to the minister about the Bible. I remarked that if I had been there I would have asked him why Jesus waited until He was thirty years of age before He was baptized, and told her that if she would read the WATCHTOWER books she would be able to talk to him herself. [Arietta Rhoads, N. J.]
Witnesses for The Theocracy
Those who know Jehovah God are anxious to extend the blessings of The Theocracy to others. One of these blessed ones, Wm. E. Burger, writes as follows:
I am an epileptic, in an institution for such unfortunates, but since I learned of the value of fasting and prayer I have had but one hard attack in over three months. When I feel the spells coming I lift my heart silently to Jehovah God and experience wonderful relief. This cannot be chance; for in this manner I have been relieved of at least twelve attacks.
The way in which the truth came to me was this: My mother obtained The Harp of God, Reconciliation, and Life, at the door, and placed them on the library table. I picked up The Harp of God, read two chapters, and then declared I would not lay it down until I had finished it. The way in which the reading of this book calmed my nerves and cut down the number of my attacks was a blessing I can never forget.
Now that I have received the truth, and knowing that it is better to give than to receive, I do my best to let other epileptics get informed and stop their worries about eternal torment. When I entered here nine months ago I asked to be excused from attending religious services, and the superintendent physician said that he knew Jehovah's witnesses preach the true gospel. He gave me the excuse gladly.
While Jehovah's witnesses seek to extend the blessings of the knowledge of The Theocracy to others, those who are the victims of religion vehemently and viciously oppose them. Early in 1941 New Jersey furnished an example of that mob action which had been directed against the witnesses in a great many other states. Mrs. Rose Weaver and Mrs. Alma Kessler were attacked by a mob of some fifty demonized men and women while witnessing in the Highland Park section of Gloucester. There a Mrs. Thompson, who lived on Greenwood avenue, struck Mrs. Weaver in the face repeatedly. When the witnesses realized that a mob was forming they tried to get to their car and leave, but the religious ruffians prevented this. When the police arrived they arrested, not the lawless mob, but their victims. This was becoming the regular thing along about that time. The perfectly harmless witnesses were arrested on the charge of "disturbing the peace". The complaint was signed by the peaceable Mrs. Thompson, a Mr. Dobbins, and another religious person, all of whom lived on fashionable Greenwood avenue.
The trial was held, and the mayor, John Gorman, who is also the police recorder, presided at the trial. The trial almost broke up in a riot. Somebody was again disturbing "the peace", but it wasn't the witnesses. There were about forty of the lawless religious mobsters in the courtroom and corridor, and they really conducted and tried the entire farcical case. It was hard to decide who was the most malicious, Mayor Gorman or his fellow religionists. The mayor fumed and raved and cursed as he expressed his hatred for Jehovah's witnesses and the message, which, however Scriptural and true, he called "dirty, filthy and rotten", epithets seemingly popular among certain Catholic religionists. He gave a "pep talk" which further infuriated the mob. Then he leaned back in his chair and smiled while those who witnessed against the Theocratic publishers lied to their heart's content. He did not so much as attempt to maintain order while the religious mobsters wrangled and argued among themselves, several talking at one time. Several of the fanatics attempted to strike the publishers of the Kingdom, but they were gently restrained by one of the officers.
Mrs. Kessler gave a good witness to the truth, reading the statement and running a phonographic recording entitled "Instruction".
Mayor Gorman, for all his prejudice, was obliged to dismiss the case, saying that Jehovah's witnesses had the law on their side and that they carried on their "dirty" work behind the law. He remarked that if the men who formed the Constitution had not made the grave mistake of writing the Bill of Rights Jehovah's witnesses would be cleaned out immediately. He admitted he was opposed to freedom of speech, and, while he could not meet the demands of the mobsters, they could take the law into their own hands and do what they wanted to do to Jehovah's witnesses. He opined that even if the highly religious people killed one of these witnesses when calling at their home, no judge or jury would find them guilty. They had made the mistake of not attending to that little matter when they had the opportunity on Greenwood avenue, where he himself also lives. Had he been home, he confided, he would have kicked them under the chin. The mobsters shouted that the next time the witnesses came to their fair (?) city they would mob them right. The mayor then told the publishers of The Theocracy that if any of them came to that city again they came at the risk of their lives. He would give them absolutely no protection.
At this point, one of the mob rushed forward and screamed that he was a Catholic American Legionnaire, and, holding up a Kingdom News (No. 7), called for a vote from the Catholics in the courtroom that they would take this matter in their own hands, since the law gave Jehovah's witnesses the right to do their work.
Undoubtedly it was under Jehovah's guidance and protection that twenty of his witnesses, who were present at the "trial", were permitted to calmly file out of a back door to their cars, leaving the crazed crowd glaring at them and making the vilest threats against the lady witnesses who had tried to enlighten them.
Persecuting the Children
Lawless mob action against Jehovah's witnesses is one of the ways of showing contempt for The Theocracy. Another is to persecute children who conscientiously refrain from compulsory flag-worship. The following is an instance in point: The board of education of Oaklyn expelled two little witnesses from school because they respected the flag intelligently rather than ceremonially and formally. To salute the flag, an inanimate object, is contrary to their proper prior allegiance to Jehovah God, the Most High. Having expelled the children, the board awaited an opportunity to further persecute them, and in due course sent the following registered letter to their parents:
It has been brought to the attention of the members of the Oaklyn board of education that your daughters were not attending school during the week of November 24. In order that we may have a record, and that it will not be necessary for me to write again or whenever the girls are absent from the school they are attending, will you be so kind as to give me the name of the school and location of the same? As long as you reside in Oaklyn it is the duty of the board of education to see that all children in the town are being properly educated.
They looked for an answer, and got it right away, reading as follows:
Your solicitude on behalf of our children’s education is most incredible in view of the fact that you twice expelled our children from the public schools of Oaklyn. Your interest in their education should now cease, unless, and this is more credible, your interest is feigned and your real motive is to persecute them further. We have an exact counterpart of this in the Bible, where Herod pretended interest in the whereabouts of the child Jesus ‘in order to worship him’, while his real purpose was to persecute Jesus to death. In this Herod manifested one of the characteristics of his father, the Devil.
My business is preaching the gospel of Christ’s kingdom [The Theocracy], and it would be in harmony to exhibit your letter to those who will hear, to show how you persecute children who have the testimony of Christ, because they hold fast their integrity. “A little child shall lead them”; “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou [Jehovah] hast perfected praise”? Be assured that it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in Armageddon than for Oaklyn, and especially the school board of Oaklyn, and all those who have had a part in throwing our children into the “fiery furnace”. It is no secret where our children are. I told one member of the board myself, and under Inquisition the children told their principals where the school is. In fact, it took two unprincipled principals to browbeat these children when expelling them from school and to taunt them about this Kingdom School.— [Signed] Alma Kessler.
The foregoing is typical of the manner in which those who stand for freedom of conscience are hounded at every opportunity. On the other hand, the Roman Hierarchy demands public support for its parochial schools while seeking to introduce its impossible religious teaching into the public schools by hook or by crook.
The parochial school system and the demand for its support from the public treasury is not only anti-democratic, but also and specifically anti-Theocratic. The Theocracy claims the heart-devotion and voluntary allegiance of the individual. The religious systems are built upon the coercive method, demanding that traditional and anti-Scriptural demands be met regardless of the conscience of the individual concerned. In a democracy justly administered the individual is left free to render obedience to the Kingdom of God, The Theocracy, in harmony with the dictates of his conscience. At least in theory democracy respects the integrity of the individual, although in practice it is often hindered by the anti-Theocratic principles of totalitarianism and those who hold to such principles. The religious systems, and particularly the Romanized Catholic cult, incline toward totalitarianism. In fact, in the case of the Roman system, there is a definite allegiance between the religious Hierarchy and the totalitarian setup. Evidence of this fact is abundant, and some examples of it in the state of New Jersey are herewith presented.
“The Pan-religious World”
In an address at Passaic, Dr. F. W. Ingvolstad made reference to “the pan-religious world” who are, so he said, “moral allies on the side of Hitler.” That’s what they are, inevitably; for the religious setup, like the totalitarian outfit, seeks to use the individual for its own ends. But the “moral” is wrong.
The “Reverend Father” James A. O’Connell, professor of history at Seton Hall College, in an address at Newark made the statement that it is all baloney that Hitler wants to rule the world; also remarking that Hitler’s seizure of Norway ‘was no different than President Roosevelt’s “seizure” of Iceland. O’Connell may have changed his tune, but that’s all he has changed. His sentiments are unquestionably still the same—for Hitler and the pope.
The complete sympathy of the Roman Catholic anti-Theocratic clergy with the totalitarian was further shown in an address in the same city by Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, Catholic big shot, when he said, “There are many things in American life which are not worth saving.” Then he said that his fellow Catholic, Hitler, “might be an instrument sent to punish the world for its sins.” He had previously, in Canada, said that the best thing that had taken place in the war up to then was the destruction of France. Wonder what he thinks of Pearl Harbor. Quite probably he shares Coughlin’s sentiments on that feat, but he is a bit (not much) more careful than Coughlin in what he says.
Another Hierarchy spokesman in New Jersey is “Reverend Father” James M. Gillis, who used to run a series of articles “What’s Right with the World?” Now Mr. Gillis, who seems to have slacked off on the “What’s Right?” series, announces that, in his judgment, of the four freedoms mentioned by President Roosevelt, “Freedom of worship comes first in importance.” That is rich. Jehovah’s witnesses have been mobbed in New Jersey and almost every other state in the Union for exercising their admitted right to worshiping God by house-to-house visitation with the message of The Theocracy, and in most of these instances those mobs have been caused by Roman Catholic priests. None of these priests want freedom of worship for anybody but themselves. (Look at Spain—and New Jersey.)
The Ku Kluxers Also Pro-Hitler
When the Roman Catholic Hierarchy obtained the headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan, to be used as a monastery, it seems to have taken in the Klan along with it. It is certain that the Klan shows more and more that it is in the control of those that think the dominance of this country by the pope would be a good thing. An evidence of this was seen in the love feast between the Klan and the Bund held at Andover, in late 1940. At the time an effort was being made to switch the Klan completely from anti-Catholic sentiment to anti-Jewish. A split threatened, but the Klan has not been much in the news since. At Atlanta, Georgia, however, it showed its complete opposition to The Theocracy in the persecution of a little girl’s family, because she did not indulge in flag-saluting. It was sometime thereafter that the Klan lost its headquarters to its worst enemy. But that was in Georgia. It was in New Jersey that it showed its spiritual affinity for totalitarianism.
The way in which the Hierarchy has kidded the Klan and measurably brought it under its control is illustrative of its methods. It is also interested in getting as much power as possible in the New Jersey schools, as elsewhere, even though it has parochial schools of its own. The idea is to get those independent Catholics and others who will not give up the excellent public school and its educational advantages for the greatly inferior instruction and indoctrination of the parochial schools. Linking religious instruction with the public schools in any way is unconstitutional, and is the first step in the direction of union of church and state. At a conference of Jews and “Christians” in Union City, there were seven “Protestant” ministers, seven Catholic priests and one rabbi in attendance, trying to decide how to divide the public schools among themselves in such a way as to reap the best returns.
In the same connection one of the New Jersey state senators called attention to the fact that the public schools are there for all children and if others preferred to go elsewhere of their own volition that is their business. He argued that for the state to provide free bus service for the parochial schools was equivalent to saying that the public schools are a failure, which is not the case. But such voices of protest are few, and, between religious schools and religious "instruction" in the public schools, the Hierarchy is getting its way over those who do not take the trouble to get this instruction in the only way that is legal in a democracy, that is, in the "churches", so called.
Pseudo-Theocracy in New Jersey
The main idea of religion is to keep a priestly hold on the people. Such a rule by priests is sometimes wrongly designated "Theocracy", but is in reality pseudo-Theocracy. Its evils have been demonstrated again and again. But it still dishes up its theories for public consumption and advertises itself at every opportunity.
Recently the Passaic Herald News stated that 8,000 to 10,000 Catholic men would meet in the high school stadium and pray for peace, as instructed by the pope.* Just how many actually did come is not known, but, in any event, this advance notice is contrary to Jesus' instructions to pray without publicity. It isn't hard to identify the hypocrites, and especially not in these days. They are only too eager to advertise themselves.
* 70,000 were expected to do the same thing at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pa.
O.K.! O.K.!
One or two other significant and typical religious New Jersey items that have recently come to the fore (in the newspapers) follow:
At Hammonton, when statues of the virgin Mary (supposedly, for no one knows anything about what she looked like) were carried in procession something like $1000 was pinned to them. Not bad! It was doubtless a "colorful ceremony". Nothing like having stuff like that colorful.
Once a year, up where the northeastern corner of New Jersey meets the state of New York, another "colorful ceremony" is performed. Men and dogs (that ought to be in better business) gather to chase a poor frightened fox to his death. The hounds are "blessed" (in the last-mentioned instance by "Reverend Father" Fassolla, of St. Anthony's church, Northvale), and then they go after the poor little fox and tear it to pieces when they get it. All very colorful.
And then there is the advertising matter of "Reverend Mother" Mary Veronica, O. Cap. Sup., Ringwood, New Jersey, who lets it be known that—
We have been fortunate through the kind assistance of our benefactors to have been able to erect outside stations of the cross on the hills surrounding our mother-house. In the base of the stations we have arranged a Petition Box in which we will place this petition after the Novenas have been finished. [This, too, is very colorful.]
Of course, the invitation to pray for the living and the dead (none of which prayers will receive the least attention from Almighty God, because not made in accordance with His instructions) is accompanied with the delicate suggestion that the petitioner shall enclose a certain number of dollars for the praying.
While on the subject of prayers, mention may be made of William Zuposky, who was executed for a murder he had committed. The "Reverend Father" Frank Halloran, Catholic chaplain at the prison, is on hand to help such criminals out of this life. When with Bill on the scaffold he found that Bill had trouble with the prayers which he was supposed to "say". He comforted him with the assurance, "That is all right, Bill. I'll answer the prayers."
Then there is the United Press story in the Newark Star Ledger of December 9, 1941, that two Catholic priests visited a 19-year-old four-time murderer "and gave him a Bible. The killer leafed through it and said he couldn't understand a thing in it." Very cleverly done! It works out as an advertisement either way—for the pseudo-Theocracy and against the Bible. That was the intention. The man was undoubtedly a Catholic in the first place, and learned long ago the doctrine that he did not need any Bible; that all he needed was a priest. That is one reason that he became a murderer. It is so easy to confess to a priest, and go ahead, after absolution, planning for the next murder.
Crucifix Gave Him Away
In Jersey City a purse-snatcher was picked up by some of Hague's men, and swore a blue streak that he was innocent. That is, he did until a woman identified as her own a crucifix he had hung around his neck; and then he admitted that he was a member of her "church".
Maybe you did not think there would be any religious misbehaviors like that in the realm of Frank Hague. But that is not all. A Hackensack lad got 3 to 5 years for robbing 40 Catholic churches; and a Catholic professor in St. Joseph's College at Princeton stole a $3,000 diamond-studded chalice, sold part of it to a pawnbroker in Boston, and was arrested when he went back the next day to sell some more of it.
And here is another purse-snatcher. This one attended St. Joseph's Catholic church, Passaic. It was 6:50 in the morning, and while a young woman was praying over her beads so as to get time off in "purgatory" her purse disappeared from the bag lying beside her. It contained $210. Maybe the snatcher had been stung enough in the bingo ritual, and felt it was just as honorable to get it in one way as in another.
Perhaps you did not know that there is a close connection between "prayers" of the religious kind and bingo. The Converted Catholic calls attention to the fact that one of the major industries of the religious business in New Jersey is "The New Saint Bingo". The average cost per attendant is about $2, and the results are wholly evil. Prizes, bought wholesale by priests, are of inferior quality—like the prayers. In the language of the grand jury of Passaic county, "the operation of bingo and bunco and like games was all conducted, we found, by churches and fraternal organizations, and in our opinion, come clearly in the category of gambling." These unreligious juries must be a great trial to the prayerful bingo-players. However, they were kind enough to omit the word Catholic in the indictment, although that cult is entitled to full credit.
When the Elks, the Father Matthew Society, and St. Mary's Roman Catholic church got in wrong about the bingo ritual, Judge Walter Hetfield tried to have the grand jury excused from the last sixty days of their term of service, but he did not get away with it. They told him they were not finished. The jury called all the police chiefs before it for a lecture on the suppression of gambling and told the chiefs that any of them who took gambling lightly in his bailiwick might lay himself open to prosecution for nonfeasance or misfeasance. This was a great shock to the police, who had no idea whatever that they were supposed to enforce the law against religious criminals.
"Police Turn Women Away from Church"
The headline could have read that way, but it didn't. What it did say was, "Thousands disappointed as bingo is halted after Union county jury calls it gambling." One of the places the police would not let the women enter was St. Mary's Parish Hall. Maybe that isn't the same as a church, but it is next door to it anyway. This was in Elizabeth, where a sudden spasm of law enforcement made it temporarily embarrassing for the steady bingo racketeers.
The Newark Sunday Call made an impassioned plea that the law against bingo should not be enforced against "church" [guess the "church"] and fraternal organizations (that is, organizations fraternal to the "church"). It is all O.K. to close up the racket elsewhere, but let the "church" continue to rake in all she can by every means, fair or foul, as long as the ignorant will bite. It helps to feather the nest of the priests, and enables them to buy stock and other similar items of interest. Note the following.
At Jersey City the "Right Reverend" Monsignor Ernest J. Monteleone brought suit against a trust company, claiming that it had sold 700 shares of his stock without his knowledge, whereas the stock was sold at his request and he was given a full accounting of the transaction. The monsignor's attorney admitted that he had "no valid cause of action", and he had to pay the costs and $200 counsel fee besides. When a man is rolling in wealth, and travels with a convivial crowd, it is hard for him to keep track of all his filthy lucre. It comes so easy (via bingo, mass and "prayers") that he hardly knows he has it before it is gone. But he always knows where to get more.
The bingo-mass-and-"prayer" victims of this pseudo-Theocracy, on the other hand, are hard put to it to meet the demands it makes upon them. Little wonder, with the ready provision for absolution, that they turn to crime as a natural consequence of having learned to gamble a la bingo. There is cause for reflection in a couple of New Jersey items. Westbrook Pegler, himself a Catholic, says of the crooks in New Jersey that "most of the crooks on top of the [water-front] racket are Catholics". He calls them "candle-burners" and says that their Irish names and church connections will cause scandal.
Who told these crooks that their candle-burning would be acceptable, even if they did go in for crime? How come they could get the candles and have them lighted and accepted, when they necessarily would have to confess their sins? The deduction is obvious. The candle-burning was in offset for the sins. Easy.
While the workers of iniquity flourish in New Jersey, and how! the police are very brave and courageous and clever in hunting down in their community anybody who is interested in helping the people get a better understanding of the true Theocracy. Having no understanding of it themselves, and knowing that Wm. Muller, 64, one of Jehovah's witnesses, does have such an understanding, they arrested him for giving some bread to birds in the wintertime, and that oh so able and just magistrate, Frank H. Stroby, found him guilty of "disorderly conduct", though he suspended sentence. Just incidentally, he warned Muller that he must not preach the gospel any more in Secaucus without a police permit. Naturally.
Not all New Jersey judges are that way, however. At Pennsauken, Jos. J. Kelly, manager of a movie theater, had one of Jehovah's witnesses arrested for "blocking the streets", because he offered the Watchtower and Consolation magazines to passers-by. (The streets of Pennsauken must rival those of Boston!) The judge on the bench could not see it Kelly's way, however, and Kelly had to pay the costs.
At Hightstown, Police Chief Carlton Conover, anarchistically jailed 28 of Jehovah's witnesses, holding them until midnight, without charges being filed against them. This is typical of those under the pseudo-Theocracy's thumb. The name of the priest in this case is not known.
It is significant to see the activities of those who hate the true Theocracy. One line of activity of the Roman cult's Hierarchy is to land all the jobs they can for their own religious supporters and also to prevent decent Americans from even making a living at all. Note the following statement made by D. E. Morgan, ex-sergeant United States Marines, 22 West Hamilton avenue, Englewood, New Jersey. Morgan sent copies of his statement to the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, American Civil Liberties Union, Governor Charles Edison of New Jersey, the public press, Consolation, Watchtower, the Civil Service Commission, W. J. Ellis, A. W. Magee, and all State departments. The statement itself, which should be interesting to those Americans who still have non-religious intestines, says: The following is submitted as a matter of public interest.
George Zeigler, chief inspector, New Jersey State Motor Vehicle Department, boasted of his allegiance to a foreign religious power, then abused the power of his State office in demanding that I change the faith of my children. Refusing, I lost my job as M. V. inspector.
Dr. Lloyd N. Yepsen, director of Education Department of Institutions and Agencies, abused the power of his State office when he raised the religious question in connection with my employment as a Reformatory officer. For one hour and five minutes I was illegally required to testify regarding my faith as one of Jehovah's witnesses. Again I lost my job.
The religious issue discriminately raised by Dr. Yepsen and Chief Zeigler is of vital national importance, and a further examination thereof is of public interest and necessity. The attached documents, God and the State, Fifth Column Uncovered, compiled by J. F. Rutherford, will greatly assist in identifying America's most treacherous enemy within.
The Roman cult is strong in New Jersey, perhaps stronger there, proportionately, than in almost any other state in the Union. This accounts for the opposition to The Theocracy which has so long continued there. It also accounts for the political totalitarianism of the state as represented in dictator Hague, whose power, like that of the Hierarchy itself, is about at an end. The totalitarian monstrosity, wherever it lifts its head, whether in Germany, Quebec, New Jersey, or elsewhere, unmistakably marks itself by intolerance and corruption and by persecution of those who represent The Theocracy. The history of New Jersey in recent years furnishes a striking example of what the domination of the Hierarchy will do to a state or nation. In a way it has been the proving-ground of the Hierarchy's campaign against The Theocracy in the United States. It has also been the state where Jehovah's witnesses have most steadfastly demonstrated their unswerving devotion to Jehovah God. In some other states the persecution may have been more intense and vehement. In New Jersey it has been protracted, malicious and persistent. But the representatives of The Theocracy continue to give their witness and give thanks to Jehovah God, who gives them the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Next Generation
◆ More than 30,000 poverty-stricken school districts, serving 3,000,000 children, are forced to curtail their school year by three months; 2,400 schoolhouses are actually locked for the year; 12,000 more schoolhouses will be locked if teachers demand full payment of salaries; 1,400,000 pupils sit in schoolhouses condemned as unsafe or unsanitary; 1,000,000 attend classes in tents, lodge halls and stores; 500,000 go to school only half a day, because of lack of space; 800,000 attend no school, because their neighborhood is too poor to provide one, or they are too poor to go; in Iowa the resources per child in the richest district are 275 times as great as the resources per child in the poorest district.—“Survey Graphic,” Labor, October 3, 1939.
Public Libraries
◆ Some public libraries are not yet wholly subservient to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. One of Jehovah's witnesses recently placed an entire set of Judge Rutherford's works in the library of a large eastern city, and on calling subsequently found that all but one of the books was out in the hands of seekers after truth. Name of the city is withheld, for prudential reasons.
Something New in Education
◆ Something new in education is the building of a hosiery mill at Athens College, Athens, Alabama, where the girl students may work four hours a day at 25c to 40c per hour, and thus actually pay their way through college, at the same time learning a useful business.
British Comment
By J. Hemery (London)
[Compiled, this issue, in America.—Ed.]
The Seamy Side of Dublin
◆ Dublin's slums are reputed the worst, the most dangerous to meandering sight-seers, of any in Europe. But certainly they did not look it, though they are cruely overcrowded, with whole families living in single rooms . . . Miserable, dark, stenchy places; yet the girls do not seem to take to the streets. There is next to no professional immorality, they say, in Dublin, which wiped out its red-light district some years back and turned the houses over to nuns. The Irish Free State claims the lowest illegitimate birth-rate in Europe; and birth-control is hardly known even by name to the masses. Yet the social problem of Ireland, one of its rare non-Catholic officials confided, is infanticide. For the inexperienced and decent girl who slips is inclined to leave her baby on a dung-heap rather than face the fulminations of the Church.—Harry A. Franck, in "Foot-loose in the British Isles".
The Legalizing of Bigotry
◆ In Dublin, Eire, a Jewish dentist bought the practice and leasehold of another dentist. His landlady put him out because he was a Jew. Mr. Justice Gavin Duffy found in her favor and denied any appeal, on the ground that her anti-Semitism "was notoriously shared by a number of other citizens". On the basis of that unjust ruling any citizen whatever could be dispossessed because his landlord or landlady did not approve of his religion. Catholics, Jews and Protestants would all be in hot water, and be able to rent only from members of their own clique.
Real Joy versus Pleasure-Seeking
◆ I feel I must write a few words of gratitude on behalf of my sister and myself. We are so happy from learning of the truth of the Bible through your books and booklets, and the kindness and patience of witness Headley, who gives us a model study once a week. How we look forward to Monday afternoon!
I am crippled with arthritis and can walk only a few yards; so you can imagine the great joy we had last week when two witnesses very kindly took us in their car to the convention at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester. We have never before been amongst such a happy gathering of people; it will be a lifelong memory. I used to think I was happy when I went to that same hall dancing, before my illness, over fifteen years ago, but I know now that one cannot find real happiness without knowing the truth of God's Word and of His Kingdom. My sister joins me in thanking all witnesses who helped me to get to the convention. We pray for God's blessing and help to all in their glorious stand for righteousness.—[Signed] E. H. & F. H. (Leicester, England).
Chiropractic Treatment by Bomb
◆ For ten years William Albert Bowden, of Wingham, England, was paralyzed and bed-ridden. The United Press said of his case (Indianapolis Star, December 26, 1941), "Doctors held out no hope that he would ever be able to return to his work." Well, a bomb exploded near the house in which he lay in bed. "And all of a sudden he felt what he described as a 'tap' down his spine, and in a moment he was bathed in perspiration." In other words, he received an osteopathic or chiropractic adjustment. Now he is looking for a job. This writer once knew an almost helpless invalid who fell off a streetcar, and shortly afterwards went back to work as a molder. He said he could hear his vertebrae snap back into place when he landed on his back on the pavement.
Helping Cardinal Hinsley to Understand
◆ When Simeon at the temple said to Mary, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul” he did not mean that some ruffian would stab her with a literal sword. Nor did Jesus have reference to a literal sword when He said, at Matthew 10: 34-36: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Read the following account of Cardinal Hinsley’s address in London, January 1, 1942. Compare his first paragraph with the last sentence in the second paragraph, and see if you don’t agree that he needs help if he is ever to understand the Scriptures.
The struggle is a grim but glorious one. How grim it is we know full well from what we have all suffered, from what our men, women and children have suffered on land, sea and air by the pitiless savagery of our opponents.
Yet the conflict is glorious, because we know we are contending for the right against the might, for justice, truth and Christian fellowship. Do not let us imagine that Christ’s peace is peace at any price. He foretold that His cause would be violently opposed. He came to send, not peace, but the sword.
Leaving Almighty God Out of It
◆ Leaving Almighty God out of it, Monsignor James Dey, “Bishop of the Forces,” is alleged to have told his hearers, “In your strength and skill lies the fate of Christianity”. That is a large order. How about the statement of the Son of God, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”? (Matthew 28: 18) Or this one: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us [Christians] from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Romans 8: 38, 39.
“It Is Happening in New York”
◆ The Committee for Defense of Public Education, 114 East 16th street, New York, gets out an interesting leaflet bearing the foregoing title. In it the committee wants to know “What is this anyway, Hitler Germany? A schoolgirl’s home is invaded at night by a process server; people are fired on wild accusations of anyone with a grudge; a teacher is thrown in jail on trumped-up charges of perjury; union membership lists and records are seized; union members are being shadowed by plain-clothes men; a young student is questioned behind closed doors, while her father is forced to wait outside; secret hearings are being held. Where is all this taking place? Munich? Berlin? Vichy? No! Right here! Right now! In your city! And the Coudert Committee is doing it.”
That isn’t all of the leaflet, but it is enough to indicate that some teachers are good and mad and have good reasons to be. The teachers want a chance to face their accusers and question them, and the right to defend themselves. What is wrong about that? and why?
All Expletives Are Evil
◆ When the Lord Jesus said, “Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil,” He meant just what He said. “Darn” is another word for “damn”; “Gol,” for “God”; “Gee,” for “Jesus”; “Cripes,” for “Christ”; “Holy Smoke,” for “Holy Ghost”; “Egad,” for “by God”; etc. Foreign names for the Deity are similarly corrupted. The Polish “Gazabo”, meaning “God”, is used to refer to human great ones. The French “Mon Dieu”, meaning “My God”, becomes “Man Dea” or simply “Man”. These are only a very few of the many terms in common use. Others, such as “Begorra” or “By golly” manifestly have the same meaning as “Egad”.
1942 Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah's witnesses
THE biggest yet! That correctly describes the coming assembly of Jehovah's witnesses this month, according to plan. And again the world will sit up and take notice. This is not stretching the matter for such an unpopular minority, because every general assembly of these witnesses of Jehovah has proved momentous, and the political and religious elements of society have been deeply stirred. Any persecuted group that can attract to one place 115,000 attendants, as at St. Louis in midsummer last year, certainly has a challenging position and message that bear watching. Already there is a lot of religious uneasiness over this announced convention. Strange, that the strongest religious organizations should, of all people, be disturbed by a small body of Christians who adhere with such conscientiousness and faithfulness to the sacred Scriptures and their message of the kingdom of God! Religion betrays thereby that there's something wrong with itself. Why fear the Bible, and more Bible? Evidently it is not the same as "More religion!"
Those Jehovah's witnesses are reportedly small, but facts and figures show they believe in things in a big way, plan things in a big way, and accomplish things in a big way. There's a powerful reason. They have the biggest thing ever to hit or adorn this earth to advertise, and it must be published to not a favored few but to all who are due to be touched by coming world events. What it is is contained in the announcement "THEOCRATIC ASSEMBLY". It is the Theocratic Government of God Almighty that they are publishing, and not afraid to do it, either. This is something vastly different from and superior to autocratic government or democratic government, to which latter forms of imperfect human rule religion has hitched itself. The Theocracy is the kingdom of God, which government will survive the collapsing human political systems of every kind and which will make all things new on this war-scarred, religion-infested earth. Talk about freedom from want, freedom from fear—well, The Theocracy is the only Government with power to secure permanently those freedoms, and it will add to them the freedom from death and Devil. However, this is not meant to be an enthusiastic dissertation on The Theocracy; to hear and learn more about it you will have to attend the announced Theocratic Assembly.
The dates are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 18, 19 and 20. Where? At a city and place very convenient to each one of you in these war-times; for this Assembly will be nationwide and be held simultaneously in 53 cities in the United States alone, while metropolitan cities in other countries not overrun by Nazi-Fascist hordes will also participate. In our next issue it is hoped to carry the list of cities in America. The key Assembly place will be in Cleveland, Ohio, and the present outlook is for land wires to connect all American cities with the platform at Cleveland for the principal events each day. In all other respects the joint convention program in each and every city will be identical daily and will be served by capable representatives of the Watch Tower Society. Fifty-three cities marks a new top-notch number for a unified convention of nationwide proportions held by any organization in world history.
There has never been a dull and lazy moment to any Theocratic Assembly thus far held. Great field activities are planned for the 1942 one, putting in the hands of the distressed and mourning people the message of the Righteous Government that brings healing and life with joy, peace and plenty to all lovers of righteousness.
There is widespread intense interest as to the public address to be delivered by the president of the Watch Tower, on the subject "PEACE—Can It Last?" The situation is laid for a great speech. What with the earth rent in twain by a global war and with the totalitarian monstrosity slugging his way with mailed fists through the earth and the means not yet at hand to stop the brute, the public address on Sunday, September 20, promises to be of historic importance, which statesmen, religious leaders and other planners of the "New World order" might wisely study before proceeding with their schemes.
Just three days being allotted for the Theocratic Assembly this year, each day will be crowded and crowned with a special feature. To miss one day means to deny yourself a special thrill and privilege. It calls for each and every person, if possible, to be present at the very start of the Assembly, on Friday, and to stay clear through. Will Consolation be there? Well, we have not passed up one of these epoch-marking assemblies of Jehovah's witnesses yet, and do not propose to. Will you be there? All persons of good-will, including readers of Consolation, are cordially invited. World-shaking events are impending, according to the combined testimony of prophecy and course of human affairs. Hence it bids no one well to forget Jehovah God in this black hour of man's existence on earth. This Theocratic Assembly will mean much in determining that your eternal destiny shall be one of joy and blessing to yourself and of honor to the great Theocrat, Jehovah God, and His Righteous Government. Arrange now to attend.
Education
No Solution but The Theocracy
◆ In an address in New Haven, Robert M. Hutchins, president of Chicago university, declared that the world is closer to disintegration than at any time since the fall of the Roman Empire and that unless something is done instantly the present civilization will vanish. Even with respect to the United States, there are problems, apparently insoluble, that must be solved, but that cannot be solved by technical skill or scientific data. If solved at all they must be solved by real wisdom and goodness. President Hutchins did not mention The Theocracy, the Kingdom promised and proclaimed, but he proved that it alone can rescue mankind from the grip in which the demons now hold it.
Her Pledge of Allegiance
◆ In the public schools of Douglas, Arizona, the children were required to write out their pledge of allegiance to the United States flag and the government for which it stands, and one little girl handed in this, which conveys some idea of what the mechanical repetition of such pledges accomplishes. She had heard the pledge recited repeatedly and this was what she got out of it:
I pelaga legions to the flag of the U. S. of Amer. and to the Re Publianz for their witches stand. One may shun the devil with liberty and justice far off.
College Trips to America
◆ Trips that once took many American college boys to Europe now take them to all parts of the United States. More than a score of American universities operate summer tours which between them visit every part of the United States, and the professors and the lessons go right along for the three, six, eight or ten weeks that the group is on the road. Geology, history, botany, biology, geography, sociology and economics are studied right on the ground. Universities along the way are glad to lend their classrooms and other facilities. Seems like a good idea.
Proof of the Flood
◆ The president of the British Academy of Sciences recently asserted that we had come to the end of the evolutionary theory.—Statement made by Dr. David de Forest Burell, Williamsport, Pa.
On December 11, 1933, the Smithsonian Institution announced through the public press that they had just discovered a "Noah's Ark of the Ice Age", in the Allegheny mountains. It is a cave which contains a collection of about fifteen kinds of prehistoric animals. These skeletons, so they say, are not arranged in stratified layers, but are all mixed together. This great animal graveyard contains skeletons of crocodile-like creatures, bats, tapirs, peccaries (wild pigs), etc., that live today only in the warm tropical climates. There are also skeletons of wolverines and lemming mice, which are said to live only in subarctic climates.
The known facts regarding fossil remains all indicate, not the work of millenniums, but the sudden convulsion of some great catastrophe, world-wide in extent.
Other fossil findings, as well as these already mentioned, indicate that during the era in which they flourished the earth had an equable climate over its entire surface. Not only was there no extreme cold in the arctic regions, but there was no extreme heat in any part of the earth, for in all geological research there has never been found any fossil remains of desert plants. On the other hand there have been numerous fossil remains of oaks, elms, magnolias, birches, grapevines, sequoias, and even palms and other semitropical trees, found within the Arctic Circle.
This equable climate came suddenly to an end by some WORLD CATASTROPHE, which buried trees, birds, fishes, and animals, all at one time.
As the veteran geologist, James D. Dana, expressed it: "The cold became suddenly extreme, as of a single winter's night, and knew no relenting afterwards."
Thus the "animal graveyard" recently found in the Allegheny mountains is a mute witness to the fact that these animals were all living contemporaneously at the time of the Deluge.—George T. Smisor. [See Judge Rutherford's book Creation for a fine, Scriptural treatment of the Flood.—Ed.]
Homework for Children?
◆ Dr. Jay B. Nash, professor of health and hygiene at New York University, surprised all the teachers and parents when he denounced homework for the little folks as legal criminality. He said: "A child will spend a day straining his eyes and ears in school, and sitting in a chair that keeps his feet from the floor and hits against his knees and then he will go home, and when he should be playing or resting or sleeping an extra hour, he has to strain his eyes more with homework." That was pretty savage, wasn't it? But Dr. Nash did not stop there. He said he knew of a school where a class was taught twelve rules of hygiene and every one of the twelve rules was violated in the same school. So the teachers are like all their pupils, old and young: they know what to do, but it just isn't done.
Illegal Religious Education
◆ It is illegal in the United States to use public tax money to pay for teaching falsehoods about "purgatory", "hell-fire," "holy water," "masses for the dead," "three-headed gods," and other unscriptural nonsense. But New York state has fallen for the threats and pleadings of the racketeers, and so, even in New York city, the children are now excused at 2 p. m. so that they can go and have this kind of demonism pumped into them each Wednesday. Extra work and extra stationery are necessary to keep the records required, and the religionists intend to wheedle the cost of these out of the long-suffering and illegally treated taxpayers.
"THY WORD IS TRUTH"
— John 17:17
Must All Be "Born Again"?
FROM and after 1918 all western civilization, called "Christendom", was challenged by the bold declaration that "millions now living will never die". Much insistence has been laid on the doctrine held by religionists that anyone, to be saved, must be "born again". What, then, about those now living who will never die off the face of this earth but live on it in a new world?
It was a Jewish ruler, named Nicodemus, who called forth the subject. "The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."—John 3:1-5.
It is because the "kingdom of God" is heavenly, composed of spirit creatures, that one who is a human creature to begin with must be "born from above". (Marginal reading) "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." (1 Corinthians 15:50) Is not this, then, the meaning of the Master's words to Nicodemus, namely, that he could not see the kingdom of God except he be brought forth by the spirit or power from above, which is God's power? He must know the truth, symbolized by the water, because it is by reason of the truth and the power of God exercised toward the creature that he enters into the Kingdom. Hence it is written: "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."—Ephesians 5:25-27.
To be of that church one must become a new creature while on the earth, being brought forth by the will of God and His Word. He must have a training here as a new creature while on earth and grow up into the full stature of the man Christ Jesus before he can have entrance into the kingdom of glory above. (Ephesians 4:14-16) While on the earth the new creature has an organism of flesh, of course. When he is abundantly ushered into the kingdom of glory he shall be granted a glorious body and will then be a new creature brought forth in heavenly glory. That he is a new creature while on earth the apostle's words, at 2 Corinthians 5:17, clearly state: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."
When all the Scripture texts containing the word "begat", or "begot" or "begotten", are considered, the conclusion is irresistible that the begetting applies to the father of the child and means that the child is brought forth as the father's child. The word "born" applies particularly to the mother and means that the child is brought forth from her. In the original Greek text the words "beget" and "born" are derived from the same root word.
When the human child is born the mother cannot possibly deny that she is the mother of the babe, but the question might arise as to who is the father. The mother, by her course of action, says, "This is my son." The father stands by and looks upon the new-born babe and says: "This is my son, and I am glad he is mine." At that very moment it would be proper to say the mother has given birth to the son and the father has begotten the son, both meaning that the son has been brought forth and identified as the child of the man and the woman. The act of conception or gestation by the woman is not at all involved. The words "beget" and "born" apply at the time, and then only, of the bringing forth of the child. In this manner the words are used in the Scriptures, as to new creatures in Christ.
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