Consolation, January 17, 1945
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Contents
Spirits of Devils to the Kings of the Earth 3 A King Consults a Witch
■Grand Raffle—in Christ
Why Senator Bouchard Lost His Job
Church Syndicates and Education
r Religion! a-Babylonia-Ooughuppa
' Dual Citizenship
< “Purgatory’’ Nothing New
Bishop* Oxnam Asks for Information
“They Hate Everybody”
Who Supervised the Preparation of
■ T the United States Constitution?
Jehovah’s witnesses in Wintertime
A Courageous Australian Mayor
T Youths Enjoy Theocratic Songs
■ In Hitler’s Likeness
“Why We Don’t Smoke”
Rijstafel
Anti-Fatigue Advice to Women
. Teeth Need to Be Fed
“DCEpiscd and Rejected of Men”
80,(100 Species of Butterflies
Ulfilas, the “Little Wolf”
Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”
Practical Illustrations of Talk Introductions 29 That “Strange Stench” in the Bronx
Polio from Tonsillectomy
President Secretary Editor
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In Brief
Mary Baker Glover Eddy Versus the Sacred Scriptures
♦ Here are three quotations from Mrs. Eddy’s Science and Health:
The efficacy of the crucifixion lay in the practical affection and goodness it demonstrated for mankind. [Page 24, paragraph 1]
The material blood of Jesus was no more efficacious to cleanse from sin when it was shed upon the “accursed tree” than when it was flowing in his veins as he went about his Father’s business. [Page 25, paragraph 1]
Christian Science acts as an alternative, neutralizing error with Truth. [Page 162, paragraph 1]
Here are three quotations from the sacred Scriptures:
Forasmuch as yc know that yc were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.—-1 Peter 1:18,19.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.—Hebrews 9: 22.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which lie hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.—Hebrews 10:4, 19, 20.
Doctor Butler Has the Blues .
♦ Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, New York, characterized 1941. as “the most disastrous year in the history of civilization” marked by the “complete abandonment and wreckage of the rule of law, moral principles and mental obligations” and, We are swinging back into the jungle. We are compelled to suspend our whole life and civilization while we bend all our efforts to crush the most highly organized band of economic gain-seekers that the world has ever known.
CONSOLATION
CONSOLATION
“And in His name shall the nations hope?’—Matthew. 12:21, A.S. V.
Volume XXVI Brooklyn, N. Y», Wednesday, January 17, 1945
Number 661
Spirits of Devils to the Kings of the Earth
‘‘For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”—Revelation 16:14.
* <XX7HEN the wicked beareth rule, the
VV people mourn.” (Proverbs 29: 2) Do the people now mourn? It is not even necessary to answer that question. There has never been a time in human history when they had more to mourn about. The same proverb quoted above also states: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.” The undeniable physical facts convict as unrighteous and wicked the powers that bear rule.
But the fault goes higher than imperfect man: it reaches into the invisible realm of spirit creatures. Bible prophecy opens the eyes of understanding to discern the hordes of evil demons behind the wickedness and violence seen on every hand. These wicked spirit forces are organized under powerful princelings, and over them all and crowning the forces of evil presides the Devil himself, the god of “this present evil world”, the “prince of. the demons”.—2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4; Matthew *9:34 and 12:24, Am. Stan. Ver.
Satan’s organization, visible arid invisible, was seen in symbol many' centuries ago. The vision is recorded in the second chapter of the Bible book called “Daniel”. It was a great and terrible image, with head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part iron and part clay. A recent book published by the Watchtower Society and entitled "The Kingdom Is at Hand” discusses this vision, and shows that the head of gold represents Satan, the silver parts stand for the demon princelings, the brass belly and thighs the legions of lesser spirit demons, and the legs and feet foreshadow visible earthly governments, with plenty of religion commingled in. Concerning the brass parts just over the iron legs "The Kingdom Is at Hand” says (pages 185-186):
The legions of other spirit demons Satan the Devil formed into a subsidiary organisation under the demon princes. He appointed them to have immediate or closest touch with humankind upon the earth. They would be intermediate between man and the spirit princes. The assigning of this position to such demons or unclean spirits may be what is pictured in the Revelation as the dragon’s drawing a third part of the stars of heaven with his tail and easting them down to the earth. These keep in touch with religious humankind by means of spirit mediums, astrologers, magicians, and other religious racketeers, and spread their “doctrines of demons” by means of religious clergymen. (1 Timothy 4:1; Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Jsaiah 47:1, 12, 13) The religious clergy are the direct visible link between mankind and the invisible demons. The organization of this lower order of spirit demons next under the spirit princes is what the prophecy means in saying: “And after thee shall arise . . . another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rul$ over all the earth.” They correspond, therefore, with the ‘belly and thighs of copper1 in the terrible image, and are under the gold hgad. Brass (or copper), and silver, and gold, are superior metals, and henee are well used in symbolizing the unseen spiritual parts of '^Satan’s totalitarian organization.
4 Fantastic? It would be fortunate for <■ humankind if it were; but, alas, the physical facts fit too well for the foregoing to be brushed aside as mere fantasy. Repeatedly, and as recently as the previous issue, this magazine has published information on demon activity, the channels through which it works, and the stepped-up tempo of its assault in this present world crisis. The legions • of demons hover over humanity like a gigantic umbrella and move their human puppets in harmony with their will. In these perilous “last days”, for which the Scriptures foretold a demon blitz, the wicked spirits have pushed their all-out campaign into every field of human endeavor. Religion is their base of operations, and from there they have invaded the fields of entertainment, medicine, science, education, etc. .
But most importantzto men of today is the position of their visible rulers. Are they guiding governmental affairs in an attempt to block the demon invaders? Are they sticking to the high Bible plane of avoiding everything smacking of evil spirits? Or does an examination of the , facts bring us up face to face with the realization that they permit the demons to keep in touch with'and direct them through various channels, even such obvious ones as astrologers and spirit mediums? If so, then any branding of ■ the foregoing quotation as fantastic is false, and the mourning people must admit that they are under a wicked rule honeycombed by invisible demons.
The Axis Hillers
Look first at Germany. Little opposition will meet the claim that Nazidom is driven on by demons. Hitler is often referred to as a madman, which is one demon-possessed. In an article about Hitler’s being reduced to witchcraft William Seabrook, noted explorer and student of voodoo magic, said (Los Angeles Examiner, December 19, 1943):
Shaw Desmond, founder of the Institute of Psychical Research, says Hitler is so steeped in black magic that he never makes a decision without consulting his "demons”. “When in doubt,” asserts Desmond, “he retires to his dark hole at Berchtesgaden, which he believes is impregnated by the blaek vibrations of his ritual. Invoking his ‘guides’ or ‘demons’, he goes into a seeming trance, and is then ‘possessed’ by the supposed spirits who advise him. He feels a pricking in the thumbs when they come.”
In his public orations, there is a weird chanting effect that almost hypnotizes his hearers. It is an effect well understood by voodooists, who use it themselves. And, after hearing it just once, I was personally convinced that the mystic of Berchtesgaden had made a close and intimate study of diabolism. Personally, I don’t dally with witchcraft any more [his article tells of his seeing strong men turned into “hopeless cripples or mumbling idiots in a space of weeks” as a result of blaek magic]. But, if I did, . . . and if I wanted to know just when Hitler is going to come to the end of his road, I wouldn’t consult a military expert. I’d talk to a certain old Ubangi witch-doctor. And I rather think I’d get the right answer.
Hitler is a rabid stargazer. .A recent report shows how the demons are preserving, for the present, one of their star performers. Widely broadcast and published, the account was given as follows. * by one of the country’s dailies:
Hitler is very fond of strong black coffee, heavily sugared, drinking as many as 20 cups a day. After a long session in the Room of Stars in his Berghof home, he called for coffee. As he lifted the cup, his private . astrologer, Ossietz, looked up from his book on hermetic -sciences and shouted: "Mein Fuehrer, don’t drink that coffee! It is poisoned!” Analysis revealed the coffee eon-tained a potent and tasteless poison, the German. said.
A quick glance at Japan. Very little argument will be needed here, either, to convince “Christendom” of demon activity. The emperor claims to be the son of the ‘Sun goddess”, alias the “queen of heaven”. (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19) But it is not only the highest potentate of that land who is under demon control: the people are likewise in bondage. The following quotation, taken from the magazine Prophecy, September, 1944, starts off with a quotation from a book, and then continues with its observations:
“The Japanese are more than people. These that live and walk and work are not the real Japanese. For every Japanese, there is another invisible being, aside from his physical body. Don’t laugh. The Japanese live with these spirits, talk to them, know them. These spirits guide them and help them. The Japanese say they are gods. They are right, but they are evil, malicious gods. . . . The entire life of a Japanese is continuous black magic.”
There are doubtless those who will pass all this off as the ravings of a tortured mind. The Bible student, however, will not dismiss the story too lightly. If iniquity is approaching a climax in the world, and if the hosts of darkness realize the shortness of their time, it is not inconceivable that they are actually duplicating by a demon power every devil worshiper fighting with the Nips and the Nazis. It could account for the diabolical demonstrations of which we hear so much from our soldiers. “Gremlins” have come to be a joke in the popular mind, but the discerning Christian knows of the existence of beings of the realm of darkness, against whom we can battle only with the whole armor of God.
Evil Spirits to the Whole World
But these rulers of the Axis nations are not the ones who are going to create the postwar government arrangement, you say. No, they aren’t; neither are United Nations leaders: the demons will do it, using visible dupes. They control all the world leaders, whether the means be obvious or subtle. Satan and his invisible hordes control: “the whole world lieth in the evil one.” (1 John 5:19, Am. Stan. Ver.) See also John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4. Revelation 16:13,14 says:
“I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth ■unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world.”
They miss none.
Candidly consider the two most powerful combinations of peoples today, the United States and the British Commonwealth. First, Washington, D. C. Under the heading “Soothsayers Get Capital Boodle”, a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, October 25,1942, wrote:
The anterooms of the town’s fortune tellers are filled with customers. The “important” clients who are guided by the mystics rather than the constituents back home come by appointment and slip in the back door, so Washington gossip says. Palmists, fortune tellers, psychoanalysts, mind readers and tea leaf experts lurk in the potted palms of half of Washington’s restaurants and cocktail lounges. . . . Here, in this capital where the nation’s master minds mastermind the nation, even theater lobbies are infested with fortune tellers. They tumble out of the proscenium arch.
The article further stated that the most-sought-after seers are booked up solid two weeks ahead. But that was in 1942. Things have changed. Under the title “War Jitters Blamed as Capital Goes Occult”, the Washington Daily News, April 4, 1944, brings us up to date on the matter:
■ War-jittery Washington is turning to ouija boards, mystics and just plain gardenvariety fortune tellers to learn the answers to a wide variety of questions that defy answers. Indeed, a survey shows the urge has become so strong that some seers are booked up six weeks in advance, and stores cannot
keep ouija boards in stock. . . . About fifty spiritualists, connected with churches, have staffs of six to eight mediums each. They aren’t required to pay license fees because they practice for “spiritual or religious reasons”.
r Dr. U. L. Ghilini, employed to expose Frauds in Washington, says that if one wantg, to get ahead in the capital he "r should “see the clairvoyants, for these exponents of the mystic arts hold the ' ~ balance of power in the capital today”. * Some of his other expressions are, “If - you contact one palmist or crystal-gazer you automatically contact about 50 legislators directly or through their wives or sweethearts,” and, “I estimate the readers collect ten percent of the salaries : of fifty percent of the Washington political strata, both men and women.”
If the fortune teller you visit is a fake, you are wasting time and-money; if he is no fake, then it is the work of the wicked spirits and you are in danger. That fortune telling is the work of the demons, note the experience of some early Christians. In their travels they met a slave girl who “had a spirit of divination and was accustomed to bring her owners large profits by telling fortunes”, Her activities vexed the apostle Paul and he “turned round and said to the spirit, T command you in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from her? ” It did, and the owners of the girl realized that her career as a fortune teller was over, with the absence of the demon. —Acts 16:16-19, Weymouth’s translation.
It is reported that Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt has consulted a spirit medium regarding a political question involving her husband. The Defender, of October, 1941, published the following:
In the beginning of the Roosevelt administration a Chicago man, named Hadrian H. Baker, founder of an angel-worship cult, announced that the New Deal was the product of “high astrals”. He claimed that high officials at Washington, including the president him
self, received revelations. from astral spirits who appeared at intervals in the tribunals of the cult in Chicago, and dictated their advice and doctrines through an automatic device. Baker condemns other forms of spiritism, but his system does not differ materially from the teachings of others known as “familiar spirits”. '
In the Reader’s Digest article on Joseph Dunninger, mind reader and “master mentalist”, the statement is made, “President Roosevelt has had him to Washington twice. The last occasion was virtually a cabinet meeting.”
A previous article has shown the trend toward spiritism .in Great Britain. The following paragraph, quoted from The Christian Century, January 12, 1944, links together that country and the United States in their pursuit of demonfostered will-o’-the-wisps:
Nor is this craze confined to America. An English writer in the New Statesman and Nation asserted that there are thousands of private astrologers in England and, on the J basis of an investigation, declared that nearly two-thirds of the adult population glance at, or read more or less regularly some astrological feature. Both in England and in America, it is asserted, men prominent in polities and financial circles are regular subscribers to some astrological service, and many of them refuse to sign an important document or make an important decision on a day that -is not declared propitious by the astrological adviser. . . . Astrology is, of course, not a religious ism. It masquerades as science, and through its pseudoscientific method and language makes a certain appeal to a generation which in large numbers has rejected religion because it is not scientific.
The Height of Folly
Even the widely eulogized British prime minister sinks to Hitlerian depths of vanity and folly when he says that we “look ahead to those days which will surely come when we shall have finally beaten down Satan under our feet”. (In a lecture delivered at Harvard Univer-
sity on September 6,1943) That amounts to a declaration of power equal to that of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus; for it is not a man-sized job the prime minister is tackling, but one which only Jehovah through Christ can perform. To the monstrous Serpent the Almighty said, “He [Christ] shall bruise thy head.” Again, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Genesis 3:15; Romans 16:20; Am. Stan. Ver.) It is worse than twaddle for vain men made of dust to prate about crushing that mighty spirit creature, Satan.
Quite the reverse is true. The Devil and his demons have the masses of mankind held in their snares, of one kind or another, and the possibility looms up mightily that the majority of earth’s millions may find themselves alongside Satan under the bruising heel of Jehovah’s Vindicator-King, Christ Jesus. May it not well be that the demons under Satan are herding world leaders into an association of peoples and nations that will not stand, as it tries to palm itself off as a world-saver and Devildestroyer? Recall the warning words: “Associate yourselves, 0 ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand.”—Isaiah 8: 9,10.
“Christendom” claims to worship God and Christ. Yet, “they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God?” The foregoing facts show beyond doubt that the people and the rulers have not sought the Lord, but have fulfilled the words of the prophet, “They shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.” (Isaiah 8:19; 19:3) What will the result be? Divine history answers.
A King Consults a Witch
Turn back the pages of time some three thousand years. We find ourselves in the reign of Saul, first king of Jehovah’s covenant nation of Israel. This nation professed to be worshipers of God. They had requested a visible king, and at that time they were warned of the distresses into which he would lead them. “Ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:18) The course of the ruler would affect the ruled.
King Saul was instructed by Samuel. He knew of Jehovah’s law against delving into spiritism, and the death sentence to be enforced against spirit mediums. For a time he obeyed. “Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.” (1 Samuel 28:3) Then he backslid. Following Samuel’s death and before David’s enthronement a tide of demonism swept through the land of Israel, and it caught up King Saul and carried him to his destruction. Though he claimed to, Saul did not worship and serve Jehovah God, and he persecuted and sought the life of God’s chosen one, David.
Then up loomed a national crisis. The Philistines pitched themselves in battle array against Israel. King Saul was in doubt and perplexity as to the right course and Israel’s future. Religiously, he called upon Jehovah God for help. No answer. So he turned to the demons, the ones he served, for help: “Said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her.” All are familiar with the succeeding events: the visit to the witch of Endor, the request to speak with the dead Samuel, a demon’s impersonation of that prophet, and Saul’s death in battle with the Philistines. His demon gods did not deliver. (See 1 Samuel chapters 28-31.)
Spirit mediums and clergymen maintain that the witch of Endor did make contact with Samuel. She did make contact with the invisible spirit realm; she was not a fake. But it was a demon impersonating the lifeless Samuel and deluding the credulous, religious Saul, and perhaps the witch, also. The Scriptures plainly show that the dead are 'dead, in the grave, void of all knowledge or lif§ or power. (See Psalms 6:5; 49:12-14; 89:48; 146:4; Ecclesiastes 3:18-20; 9:5,10.) Hence it could not have been Samuel speaking through the spirit medium of Endor. The very existence of the witch was a violation of God’s law. God would not use her, Samuel, if he were living in a spirit world, would not be at her beck and call, because he was faithful to the Lord and would not deal through her. Circumstantial evidence, as well as the direct Bible testimonial evidence, is against any appearance of Samuelto backsliding Saul.
Let honest persons today be warned by this divine history. As Saul’s deflection to demonism resulted in a crushing defeat for all Israel, so the turning to supernatural, wicked spirits by world leaders at this time will involve the ones they rule. Now is a time of crisis. Many call on the Lord, as did Saul. But they do it religiously, calling for “more religion", alias demonism. They get no satisfactory answer. Why should Jehovah God answer them? They have “transgressed the [divine] laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant [concerning the sanctity of life]". The Almighty says, “Ye have forsaken me, . . . Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.” This world leaders are now doing. They will end as did Saul: “So Saul died for his transgressions which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; , . . therefore he slew him.”—1 Chronicles 10:13, 14; Proverbs 1:24-33; Isaiah 24:5, 6; Judges 10:13,14.
A Climactic Conclusion for Demonism
The modern “Sauls” continue to flock to Endorian witches and mediums and astrologers. In their dilemma they rush to the very source of the trouble for guidance: “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you.” (Revelation 12: 7-12) Blindly they welcome him with open arms. His working is with “signs and lying wonders”. (2 Thessalonians 2:9) And his greatest ‘lying wonder1 lies in the very near future: the postwar collective security combine of nations. The beastly total world-state will emerge from the fires of the present global war of “liberation”, and will take freedom from its supporters. Smeared with religion’s blessings, it will stand in the place of Christ’s kingdom, and constitute the abomination Jesus foretold. (Matthew 24:15,16; Revelation chapters 13 and 17) It will persecute and seek to destroy Christ’s faithful followers and their witness work. It will strike out in desperation at the only source capable of bursting the bonds of the invisible demon hordes, namely, the kingdom of God by Christ Jesus.
Honest people of good-will toward God will heed Jesus’ warning and flee from Satanic rule to God’s kingdom rule. They can now see the swing ofl^world leaders from Jehovah God to Satan and his demon agents. The Bible prophecy foretelling the demon blitz also shows the result: a conflict with God at Armageddon. From that battle they will not return alive. (Revelation 16:13-16) At the outset of this article reference was .made to the vision of Satan’s organization in the symbol of a terrible image. That prophecy describes the toppling over and destruction of Satan’s realm, visible and invisible, by Christ’s kingdom. (Daniel 2:34,35,44,45) That will be the climactic end of demonism. All mixed up in it will die at its fall.
How to Avoid It
The divine formula is: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:7, 8) Know the subtle devices of Satan and his demons and avoid them; draw nigh to the Almighty God by obedience to His will. The converse is likewise true: if one does not resist the Devil that wicked one will triumph. Is it not true that hypnotists and mental telepathists and other dealers in demonism say you must make your mind blank, become will-less, unresisting? The demons cannot overcome those aware of their devices and who keep up their Christian guard. This is done not by religiously reading a chapter in the Bible each day, but by studying the Scriptures and then acting in obedience thereto. The Bible is not some charm to keep away the “spooks”. Its instruction is what counts. (2 Timothy 2:25,26) Proving this, and also proving that the conflict with demons is not imaginary, Ephesians 6:11,12 counsels: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places.” (Marginal reading) The verses that follow describe the armor: a knowledge and understanding of God’s truth and zealous service in its behalf.
Jehovah gives signs that the end of the demons is near. Not spectacular ones, like the Jewish religionists demanded of Jesus, but “the sign of the prophet Jonas”. (Matthew 12: 38-41) As Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites was sign enough for them to repent, so the deliverance during World War I and the preaching of Jehovah’s witnesses thereafter is sign enough for these “last days”. The gospel is being preached, then the end comes. Also, people of goodwill are told to flee when they see the postwar abomination men set up in the holy place of Christ’s kingdom, and that the “Peace and safety” declaration the demon-controlled rulers will make is merely the forerunner of destruction. When spectacular Armageddon begins, with its dazzling display of Jehovah’s unlimited power, that is the sign for destruction of all the demons and their visible dupes. No fleeing then! Now, in the important present, is the time to shun, to resist the Devil and his demons and his visible agents. Now, too, is the time to draw nigh to God.
Grand Raffle—in Christ
WOULD you think that anybody would have the presumption to offer a grand raffle prize of $1,000 in cash in the name of Christ, and back it up with an offer to bless your automobile and furnish you with two home-cooked Sunday dinners, all you can eat, for 45c each? The chance to get the $1,000, which you are told may be the way to get a new mink coat or a new car, it is explained, will cost you 5c.
The offer is put out by St. Christina Church, 11005 South Homan Avenue, Chicago 43, Illinois, and is signed “Sincerely yours in Christ, Father Bendziunas, Father Rebedeau, Father Waldron”. It relates to a carnival, September 10 (Sunday) to September 17, 1944, explaining, “There will be a Booth of Chance Books on the Grounds.”
The temple at Jerusalem'was typically holy; when Jesus drove the moneychangers out of it, He had the honor of Jehovah’s name in mind. Of course, a modern church building is not God’s house in any sense of the w’ord, but those W'ho think that it is would certainly have a hard time explaining why they let these gamblers work their racket there without the least shame and even in the name of the One who wielded the whip of small cords in Jerusalem.
Why Senator Bouchard Lost His Job
FORMER speaker of the Quebec legislature, for some years a cabinet minister, and now one of Quebec’s senators to the Canadian legislature at ^Ottawa, Telesphore Damien Bouchard, . rose to make his maiden speech. The . subjeetjinder debate was that of uniform s and reliable history textbooks for all . Canadian schools. As a conscientious and - - capable Roman Catholic he modestly 4 stated what he knew to be the truth.
When he had finished, he had sufficiently exposed earth’s greatest racket, which is a sin that racketeers -never forgive. When he sat down, his political career was over, and Premier Godbout of .' Quebec flew to Ottawa and had him fired from the $18,000 a year job to which he had appointed him only two months previously, that of chairman of Quebec’s Hydro Commission.
Mr. Bouchard’s reaction was merely: “I knew what was coming when I made the charges. When I accepted the position of president of Hydro I did not give up my right of freedom of speech.” “After forty years of political activity in my province, don’t imagine that I did not expect what happened to me when I decided to denounce the secret menaces which have grown up in our province and in the French part of Ontario in the past few years, and which lately have menaced the unity of Canada.”
The reason why Mr. Bouchard so suddenly lost his $18,000 a year job is that he disapproved the plans and methods of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to take over and dominate completely every enterprise on earth, ecclesiastical, political, industrial, while all the time claiming to have only spiritual motives of the highest sort. In Spain it controlled the bullfights and the red-light districts, and entirely without shame.
Jesus Christ and Peter and all the other apostles except Judas were glad to serve the cause of the gospel without money and without price, but today a first-class parish may net a priest as much as $25,000 a year. This is made up of fees for baptisms, weddings, funerals, masses, and other like fandangos, and of these fees the priest never gives any accounting to anybody in the church or out of it. To illustrate, the Canadian Gospel Witness and Protestant Advocate tells this story of what happened to the family of a poor, hard-working man in the province of Quebec, as narrated to it by a lady principal of a Roman Catholic school in Quebec who had two teachers under her:
Wanted $175 to Attend a Funeral
In the school were six children of one family, children of a workingman who had ten children in all. The eldest of these children was barely sixteen, and not yet able to earn anything. The father of the family died, and the principal of the school gave instruction to her subordinates that, out of respect for the six children included in their list of pupils, belonging to this family, the whole school would attend the funeral service in the church. The principal sent a group of children who were directly under her hand to church, which was near by. In a few minutes they returned, saying the priest had forbade them to. enter the church. She then took the children herself to the church, and entered, the children following. The other two teachers, fearing the anger of the priest, did not attend, nor did their children. After the service was over, this school principal called upon the priest at his presbytery and asked his reason for refusing to allow the children to enter the church. His answer was: “The woman did not pay enough for the funeral to permit the children to attend. She would pay only $125.00, and I told her it would cost her $175.00 to have the attendance of the whole school at the service.”
Not only is there almost no end to the fees that can be collected by a cunning priest, but the taxpayers are robbed politically and persistently. With World War II at its height, building materials scarce and building permits of any kind hard to obtain, the government-subsidized Roman Catholic Indian mission of Alberta went ahead full speed with building operations on a huge scale at Calais, Spirit River, and elsewhere.
In the province of Quebec, when one buys a meal in a restaurant he pays ,3c and upward as a tax called a hospital tax. If you guess that the nuns have the management of the funds thus obtained, you guess right; and, no matter how much they already have, they are always after more. An item translated from one of the French Catholic papers of Montreal exults as follows:
One after the other, two pieces of good news have come to us: The grant of $250,000 from the provincial government for the construction of the Maternal School, inaugurated Thursday last, on the Boulevard Saint-Michel, and the additional. grant of several tens of thousands of dollars for the transformation and modernization of the [foundling asylum] on Dorchester street.
It has all been fixed up politically that debts contracted by the Province of Quebec for these purely Roman Catholic projects automatically become a charge of the federal government at Ottawa, and one can but wonder if, at least indirectly, some of the lend-lease largess doesn’t find its way eventually into this particular sewer.
Church Syndicates and Education
Had Mr. Bouchard seen fit to do >so, he could have readily made some interesting observations on the “Church Syndicates” and on education. He could have explained that throughout French Canada the church had been organizing labor unions called “Church Syndicates”, with a priest at the head of each; that wageworkers had been persuaded to leave their other labor organizations and to join these; that the threat had been made that if they did not do this they would be excommunicated and refused the so-called "last sacrament"; and that they had even been urged to put their “union” fees in the collection plate.
On the educational angle, had he seen fit to do so, he could have quoted the declaration of the Loyal Orange Association of Canada:
The Church of Rome is not like any other church. It does not demand liberty in order that it may be free to extend the principles of its faith, for it has the utmost freedom now. It demands liberty in order that it may destroy liberty. It is not simply a religious body, but primarily a huge political machine working for supremacy.
On the same general plane he could have quoted with disapproval Cardinal Villeneuve’s boast:
In Canada the role of the Church develops with greater grandeur. Mistress of all public institutions in the old province of Quebec, she progresses happily also in the others.
He could have said that for a church that claims to be the virgin bride of Christ to admit that it is a political mistress is almost too much of an admission, in view of what the Scriptures have to say about spiritual harlotry.
And he could justly and properly have read in the senate chamber these statements from the Gospel Witness and Protestant Advocate:
It is grimly humorous to behold a church that has kept its “faithful” chained in ignorance and slavery wherever it has held sway, now brazenly heralding its exclusive monopoly of true education. The Middle Ages, with their pestilences and the ignorance of the great masses of the people, were the inevitable outcome of the religious slavery that the Church of Rome exercised without rival for almost a thousand years. . .. The province of Quebec, where the bishops are the undisputed masters of the school system, is the most ignorant province of the Dominion of Canada, and if it were not for the competition of Protestants and the fine example of the English schools in the province, French-Canadians would still be as illiterate as they were when Wolfe’s soldiers first scaled the heights of Quebec in 1759.
But Bouchard Was Gentle
But Bouchard was gentle. He just explained in this maiden speech that the Jacques Cartier Order, founded in 1928 with the blessing of the Catholic and French clergy, was advocating a new , state that would be Catholic, French and 1 "corporative; that he did not wish to see < Canada’s free institutions sabotaged; > that Ke regretted anti-Semitism, and a teaching of history that is not in accord -u with the facts, and which would convey 4 to the pupil that the unclerical rule of . the past had been one of tyranny and oppression.
He gave samples of the false teachings as found in the history books in use in Quebec, saying:
I -have given typical examples of how our Canadian history is taught in Quebec. They clearly demonstrate this teaching cannot be according to the facts and that it is made intentionally, to prejudice young minds against our compatriots* of a different tongue and creed. It is un-Canadian and un-Christiah.
He objected that such false teaching would ultimately bring mob rule and civil war. He thought it unwise and unfair that in the Quebec schools English was taught so poorly and so stupidly that the parents could see that their children were making no progress in learning the English tongue.
He objected that the general president of the Jacques Cartier Order had sent out a message projecting a revolution of the type that had swept Spain a la Franco; and that it had been backed up by Monsignor Mozzoni, charge d’affaires at the apostolic delegation in Canada, when that gentleman exclaimed: “What we want and what we shall work to attain by all our means is a state completely Catholic.” Summarizing his objections to the Jacques Cartier false historical teachings he said:
Their ultimate aim was not only to disunite the people on lingual and religious matters but to disrupt confederation, to abandon the more human North American concept of a large nation composed of people of different religious beliefs and racial origins and to revert to the old European concept of smaller nations of the same religious and racial descent.
Actually, Senator Bouchard’s address was in the highest degree patriotic and unselfish. All such persons are persona non grata to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, and so the premier of Quebec had to hasten to-fire him off his Hydro job, and this will be followed by the removal of his political scalp as soon as conditions permit, Canada is to be congratulated for having such an honest and courageous man in its senate, even temporarily..
Religionia-Babylonia-Coughuppa
♦ “St. Christina Church, 11005 So. Homan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Dear Friend: Our greatest carnival will open on Sunday, Sept. 12 and close Sunday, Sept. 19 [1943]. Again we will serve another of those outstanding delicious dinners, that, for thirteen years have made us famous. ‘All you can eat for 45c’-—Armour Star Meats; Our booths will be packed with the finest merchandise money can buy such as blankets, bed sheets, pillow cases, towels, chairs, furniture, bisque dolls, scotty dogs, /'card tables, cutlery, and a good many articles that you do not see on your merchant’s shelves any more. Then there will be a number of catchy and attractive games for everyone. The prices on the merchandise will be practically the same as last year. In all of our years we have never mailed Chance Books to our friends unless they ask for them. This year we feel that many of our friends will want them because of the prize and the price of the chances. The prize is $1,000.00 cash —the price 5c a chance. If you desire a book of chances to buy a few and to sell to your neighbors drop me a card or call Cedarcrest 2060. Until the Carnival, Your old friend, Father Rebedeau. We will use all Armour Star Meat’’
Dual Citizenship
(As viewed by a Catholic)
HERE is a problem which I would like to see clarified. Just what is the status of an American citizen who is of the Roman Catholic faith and that of the Vatican state as a political state headed by a physical ruling head,, king, pontiff, or whatever title you wish to use? I am not confusing the issue with a religious or spiritual matter, but consider it on purely political lines. Nor is this a matter of stirring up a religious controversy. No so-called “enemy of the Catholic church” is concerned with the dogma or the way Catholics worship God. It is today, as it was centuries ago, the political collusion between the Catholic church and all nations out of which came the several reformations leading up to Luther’s time, which resulted in the Roman Catholic church’s being driven out of those countries; result: the disestablishment of the Roman Catholic as a state church, only to set up in its place a Protestant, Lutheran or some other form of state church. The evil was not entirely removed by so doing. It was merely setting up the same idea under a new head. It was still political corruption of the Christian religion as far away from God as it was under the Roman Catholic church as the political state church.
The Vatican state is the political center of the Roman Catholic church, and its empire extends into every country on earth. Every Roman Catholic is a subject of the Vatican state, and the pope is the ruling head as a political ruler with absolute authority. That is fact, not supposition. When a priest takes “Holy Orders” he gives all to the church and accepts the pope as his ruler who in his “infallibility” can do no wrong. In the final analysis he is subject to and of the Vatican state above and before anything else, even the nation to which he’belongs. If that is not absolute authority, what else can it be?
Of course, if that nation to which the priest belongs happens to be a powerful one, the pope leans a bit in that direction, whether it be Protestant or one like the United States, which recognizes no form of religion or church; even taking sides with that nation against Catholics when necessary; a sort of diplomacy, more correct, hypocrisy, to be on the side of the powerful in any event.
We see these non-Catholic nations , “playing ball” with the pope just to please him and they in turn have diplomatic envoys at Vatican City and also envoys from the Vatican state to these same countries. Supposing the Church of England or some other state church were to send their political envoys to this country, what then? There would be a howl of indignation go up, even from Catholics, against such political activities, and rightly so. Supposing the Protestant church in the U. S. and other countries were to unite under the head of the archbishop of / Canterbury and hold him in the same authority as the pope? "What then? There’d surely be a howl that we were becoming subjects of King George, as he is the head of the Church of England, not, the'archbishop of Canterbury, who is also a political figure in the House of Lords, a position handed down from the days when the Roman Catholic was the state church and religion.
There is a vast difference between the church as a spiritual body concerned only in the spreading of Christianity and the Word of God, and one that is a political institution which sets up God and Jesus Christ as political figures under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church and this church comes first. To be a real Christian one must first be a Roman Catholic (I). I am a
Catholic but I am not silly enough to believe that one. As a Catholic I believe Jehovah’s witnesses or any other group have the right to express their views, and if they point out some of the dirty spots the church should at once clean up those spots, not try to put a gag on r>-.them or use such contemptible methods j as have been used in order to choke off those'-whom the Roman Catholic Church does not like. If they call for tolerance this method is a poor way of showing it. If we have religious liberty we cannot let Catholics attack others not of their * faith and at the same time spew fhe venom of malice and hate toward nations whose form of government is not 0. K.’d by the Roman Catholic church. That is intolerance indeed.
Yet the Roman Catholic church seeks to send missionaries into all countries not under the Catholic faith to “convert” those peoples and at the same time forbids other missionaries to enter that domain where they claim ail rights and privileges. Under such autocratic and despotic rule a Catholic is a subject of 'the Vatican state regardless of nationality. To put it another way, a Catholic is one of that “nationality” and owes allegiance to the pope first of all, not to his native land or to the one of which he is a naturalized citizen. He actually serves two masters, first the pope and secondarily the United States, if that is his native or, adopted country.
A lot of discussion has gone on regarding the dual citizenship, and they have not proved anything different from that a Roman Catholic who is faithful to the Vatican state is a subject of the pope. All this talk of being a spiritual head of a religious body is absolute bunk. There was a mild excuse while the pope and the Vatican were, shorn of temporal, which means political, power, which it took centuries to do up to the time of Garibaldi, when he took the Vatican out of its political status. And it remained that way until Mussolini and Ratti made that deal espousing Fascism in exchange for' restored temporal power, as much so as restoring a monarchy from a republic to the pretender.
We never recognized the Greek or Russian Orthodox churches as political states, neither did we ever recognize the “schismatic” churches, which were still Catholic as much as they were under the papal yoke. Why, then, do we have to recognize the Roman Catholic church or the Vatican state as a political state? When we do that we too place God and Jesus Christ as political figures, which, to say the least, is an abomination in the eyes of those of us who hold our religious faiths, Catholic included, as matters of spiritual concern. To be more emphatic, it is blasphemy, and to set a man up in the exalted position where he is to be obeyed and venerated is nothing short of creating a man-god as much so as the emperor of Japan is the 'direct Son of the Sun god’. Ridiculous? No more so than to say the pope is the vicar of Christ and was appointed by Him through some mystical power, when the truth is he was selected in true Fascist political fashion by a “packed court” where Italians are in control and who see to it that only an Italian shall occupy the 'exalted throne of Peter’, to whom we Catholics must bow down and pay more homage than Christ himself would expect us to do. That is Roman Catholicism, not Christianity; despotism, not humility.
This is not an attack on the religion of Catholics. The object of this article is to find out just where Roman Catholics stand. We hear all this talk about dual citizenship. Catholics, including those not under the pope, are followers of practically the same dogmatic ideas. Even the High Church or the Apostolic Church are known as Catholic. This is from a religious standpoint.
Take it now from a political standpoint. When the pope was recreated a political head of a political state he became a sovereign ruler as much so as the duke of Luxembourg or any other ruling'head. All those faithful to the Vatican state are subjects of that state. That is fact, not supposition; leave out the emotional stuff; all the excuses that can be offered do not hide the facts. Why should there be a Roman Catholic political state? Just what has the political status to do with God? Furthermore, why should we recognize the Roman Catholic church as a political state? Our Constitution does not recognize such a political status of any church. The truth is, the Roman Catholic church has never recognized the fact that it was deposed as a political state. The “Holy Roman Empire” still exists, even though the Vatican.state is only a fragment of that empire. Its political influence is still used as a power. It is as much so as if the British Commonwealth were dissolved, leaving only England as a fragment of that empire, never giving up its claims.
Could a citizen of the duchy of Luxembourg become a naturalized citizen of the United States and still be under the rule of the duke of Luxembourg? Of course not. Would he be allowed to give support to that potentate? If he did, he would not be an American citizen, regardless of how his fidelity toward that potentate stood. No other church in the world exists as a political state and no other church meddles in world polities as does the Roman Catholic. It is time for it to remove itself from all this political action and corruption, or quit talking about its being a Christian institution.—J, R., Rhode Island.
“Purgatory”
THE glory of ancient Greece has long been extolled by historians. As is often the case, the story of Hellas has become whitewashed with the passing of the centuries. The blots of corruption, superstition, and ignorance are erased and only the contribution of culture remains in the memory of modern man.
The civilization of ancient Greece has, without a doubt, influenced tremendously the philosophy, art, and government of the later world. Not the least in influence has been Greek religion. In the Roman Catholic religion of today are perhaps most apparent the pagan beliefs and rites of ancient Greece. Eleusis was one of the many places in Greece where mystic rites were performed for the worship of Greece’s many gods. The chief festival held there was that of the goddess Demeter, in the autumn. The underlying theme of the festival was agriculture with various ceremonies, complete with priests, communion (the drinking of wine and eating of “holy” cakes), fasting, etc. The sowing of the seed and the harvest symbolized
Nothing New
the basic idea that as the seed is reborn so the dead have a renewed life. When almost everything else in Greek religion had been discarded, the great lie, 'Thou shalt not surely die’ (Genesis 3: 4), was retained, and became in the hands of so-called “Christian” religion the weapon with which to blind the Western world, ■ During the seventh century, in Greece there came into great prominence the doctrine of Orphic theology. This was based on the familiar legend of Orpheus, whose ability to charm wild beasts and even rocks and trees with his music led to his being worshiped as a god. He married the beautiful Eurydice and, heartbroken at her untimely death, descended into “Hades” to try to bring her back to earth. His magic lyre charmed the inhabitants of the underworld and he was allowed to lead his wife back to life on the condition that he must not look at her until they had reached the surface of the earth. Impatience overcame him and he looked back, only to have her snatched back to “Hades” again. From this legend Orphic
theology devised the doctrine that after death the soul goes down into “Hades” for punishment, the length of punishment depending upon how good or how evil one’s previous existence has been. The infamous doctrine of “purgatory” r is its counterpart. Both in Orphic theol-Vogy and in Roman Catholic theology the I unfortunate soul could be redeemed from the trtrture of this state by penances performed by priests at the expense of -the living.
This is only a brief sketch to show _ how one of the tenets ctf the ancient pagan religions parallels modern pagan religion masquerading under the banner of Christ. The true followers of Christ on earth today are free from the yoke oft religion, which from the beginning has been based on the lies spoken by Satan, ‘Thou shalt not surely die/ and “Ye shall be as gods”. They know that “the dead know not any thing” and that “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in [Hades], whither thou goest”. (Ecclesiastes 9: 5,1.0) They know, too, that ‘there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust’, and therefore have hope toward God for the future life of all who shall ultimately “be accounted worthy to obtain that [new] world [now dawning], and the resurrection from the dead”.—Acts 24:15; Luke 20:27-38. —E. P.-V., New Hampshire.
Bishop Oxnam Asks for Information
MOVED by the 21 cases of assault on Jewish children in Rhode Island, and the still greater number in Massachusetts, Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, of the Methodist Church, made the following statement in Boston which, by its omission of the sect that is always boasting of its numbers and power, indicates just where the trouble Ues. He said:
The beating of Jewish boys must stop. The' beaters must be apprehended and punished. The beating of any boys by gangs is bad enough .at any time. The beating of boys of a particular race is worse. But the real menace lies in the apparent fact that these beatings are an expression of incipient fascism, that they follow a similar pattern, and that, in one ease, at least, the beaters wore black shirts. Who is flooding the nation with antiSemitic literature, and why? Who finances these movements? . . . Why has Franco, the Fascist dictator of Spain, been extolled? The beating of Jewish boys is not the work of hoodlums. It is not a prank that can be passed by with complacency. Jewish and Protestant leaders regard these beatings as serious. . . . I was in Germany when these things began there. It is the same pattern in which organized gangs beat up a scapegoat race whether they be Jews or anyone else.
It may be that the replacement of that destroyer in the arms of Mary by a “Baby Jesus” a while back will quiet the spirit of those whose principal idea of Christianity seems to be to go out and bust somebody in the head who dares to think differently. What a silly idea it was, anyway, to have Mary carrying a warship around in her arms!
New York Cows Feel Insulted
♦ New York state cows, with a little gentle persuasion, used to proudly give fresh milk to the summer boarders in the Catskills, but, according to the Sullivan County News, the milk trust has worked it around so that summer guests and boarders must now pay more for milk and cream than the dealers charge in New York city, and the milk is not as fresh as it could be and should be. The cows feel insulted; for they do their best work in fields within plain sight of the best summer hotels.
“They Hate Everybody”
THE following early references to Christianity are found in Tacitus:
Neither religious ceremonies nor the liberal donations of the prince could efface from the minds of men the prevailing opinion that Rome was set on Arc by [Nero’s] own orders. The infamy of that horrible transaction still adhered to him. In order if possible to remove the imputation, he determined to transfer the guilt to others. For this purpose he punished with exquisite torture a race of men detested for their evil practices, by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians.
The name was derived from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius suffered under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea. By that event the sect of which he was the founder received a blow which for a time checked the growth of a dangerous superstition; but it revived soon after, and spread with recruited vigor, not only in Judea, the soil that gave it birth, but even in the city of Rome, the common sink into which everything infamous and abominable flows like a torrent from all quarters of the world.
Nero proceeded with his usual artifice. He found a set of profligate and abandoned wretches, who were induced to confess themselves guilty, and on the evidence of such men a number of Christians were convicted, not indeed on clear evidence of their having set the city on fire, but rather on account of their sullen hatred of the whole human race. They were put to death with exquisite cruelty, and to their sufferings Nero added mockery and derision. Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts, and left to be devoured by dogs; others were nailed to the stake; numbers were burnt alive; and many, covered over with inflammable matter, were lighted up, when the day declined, to serve as [lamps at] night.
For the convenience of seeing this tragic spectacle, the emperor lent his own gardens. He added the sports of the circus, and assisted in person, sometimes driving a curricle, and occasionally mixing with the rabble in his coachman’s dress. At length the cruelty of these proceedings filled every breast with compassion. Humanity relented in favor of the Christians.
The foregoing extract from Tacitus, the historian, writing about the year 90, shows how the Christians were used as scapegoats, the chief charge being that they were against the government. Like Jehovah’s witnesses today, they were accused, too, of “hating everybody”; a curious charge, in view of the fact that their truthfulness makes them the hated ones, for, as Jesus stated, the darkness hates the light.
Another early reference to Christianity is found in a letter which Pliny (the younger), administrator of the Roman province of Bithynia (A.D. 103), sent to the emperor Trajan, in which he sought advice as to how he should deal with the Christians. He .wrote:
It is, sir, a rule which I prescribe to myself, to consult you upon all difficult occasions. For who can better direct my doubts or instruct my ignorance? I have never beerf present at the resolution taken concerning the Christians; therefore I know not for what causes or how far they may be objects of punishment, or to what degree our complaints may be carried on against them. Nor have I hesitated a little in considering whether the difference in ages should not make some variation in our procedures, or whether the weaker and the more robust should be equally punished. Are those who repent to be pardoned? Or is it to no purpose to renounce Christianity, after having once professed it? Must they be punished for the name, although otherwise innocent? Or is the name itself so flagitious as to be punishable?
In the meantime I have pursued this method with those Christians who, as such, have been brought before me. I have asked them if they were Christians, and to those who have avowed the profession I have put the same question a second and a third time, and have enforced it by threats of punishment. When they have persevered, I have put my threats into exeeu-
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