Awake!, June 22, 1951

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IS WORLD WAR NEAR?

The people <?( Europe were here is what they said

British View of Anglo-American Relations T^c sides to every s torv—■the Bro oh frankly1 toll theirs

The Modem “Dying Standard”

Funeral oasts necessitate moron te the mourners

The Bee Is a Masterwork

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

New* sources that are able to keep you awake io the vital Esaus* of our time* mart be unfettered by censorship and sel&h Interest*. ‘Awake!” ha* no fetters. It recognizes facts, face* facts, is free to publish facts. It hl net bound by political ambitions or obligations; it 1* unhampered by advertisers whose toes must net be trodden on; it is unprejudiced by traditional creed#. This Journal keep# itself fret that it may speak freely io you. But it does not abuse its freedom* It maintains integrity io truth.

“Awake use* the regular news channel*, but is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, In scores of nations. From the four corners of the earth their uncensored* on-the' scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal’* viewpoint Is not narrow, but is international. It is read In many nation#, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its cover* age is as broad as the earth and a* high as the heavens.

"Awake?* pledge* itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for .all. to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of a righf. eous New World.

Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading ‘‘Awake?*

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CONTENTS

This Changing World

Brit’ah View of Anglo-American Relations 5

Eemoeracks Dare to Differ

Is World W'ar Near?

Rearming, Belgium Hopes fcr Peace 10

Reluctantly Germany Rearms

Norway’s Fate Tied to the West

Unleashed Fury!

Outwitting the “Disease Demons"

The Modem "Dying Standard”

Bible Light on the Dead

The Bec Is a Masterwork

A Murderous Queen

Honeymoon and Homicide

"Your Word Is Truth"

Speaking in. "Tongue^' Today?

The Twilight of MoraJs

You Cannot Scare People into

Being Good

l,Let Us Eat and Drink, for Tomorrow—,r

Watching the World

AWAKE/

“Now it is high time to awake’—Romans 13:11 &

Volume XXX1I Brooklyn, N. ¥., June 22, 1951 Number 1g

THIS CHANGING WORLD

POPULAR custom allows the right of change to fashions, the weather and women's minds. But this is an unstable world. Principles that last, moral values that all respect, and rulers that everyone recognizes are unknown. The most solemn oaths are subject to change without notice. Men may laugh at changing fashion; but the design with which he garbs his principles alters at every election or assassination or political coup. They may scorn the changeable weather, but storms cloud up man’s political promises of sunshine with far less provocation. And strong man scoffs at woman’s “prerogative” to change her mind; but the history of the past few years records changes by political strong men to shame any woman who ever lived.

Consider the international checkerboard of the past decade. Ten . years ago, Germany, Italy and Japan swung on a three-way axis bristling with totalitarian armed might and ambitions of world rule. Russia, recoiling from Germany’s sudden stab-in-the-back invasion of 1941, rose to become the great Eastern ally of the democratic West. China, by natural philosophy and her long-standing enmity with Japan, stood in the Allied camp. Franco Spain coyly lingered about the Axis pantry while her generalissimo exchanged love letters with Hitler and Mussolini. Though the Allies, even in their darkest hour, did not apparently seem far enough gone for Franco to jump into the shooting war against them, he did coo consolingly to Hitler when the fuehrer appeared to be firmly entrenched in Europe and in history: “I stand at your side . . . and decidedly at your disposal, united in common historical destiny.”

Thus were the sets deployed on the world stage in 1M1. Since that time many actors have entered and exited and much change in scenery has taken place. The Axis lies a broken hulk, her armies dissolved, her industry dead. The riddled Russian forces of Stalingrad have surged over the comeback trail, first made possible by American assistance during the war years. Now these loom a terrifying military monster, motivated by the Marx-Lenin philosophy of world conquest. Outside their own sprawling borders squats a ring of satellite powers, among which is warlike Red China, successor to the Nationalist regime of pro-West days. Recent developments in Indo-China and Korea indicate that China has replaced Japan as the tyrant of the Far East. In. Europe the satellites snort and stamp at Russian dictation, just as now they form a threatening belt around Tito’s Yugoslavia, last holdout against the Kremlin on the central and eastern European continent.

In what has all of this resulted? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization came into being to cement the common defense of the United States and Western Europe should the Reds try to march to the Atlantic* However, defense of ths Western continent has called for the assistance of Western Germany.

At the mere suggestion of this, an appalled Russia growled and threatened. Rearming Germany must proceed in face of constant danger that at any time the Reds will consider the development inimical to their welfare and move to the attack. If this does not happen, other considerations must be made. Should a formidable German army become a reality, a full-scale arms race between Western Europe and Russia might reach maddening proportions and prove the economic downfall of Europe. Also, there is always the possibility in this topsy-turvy world that a rebom German military machine might turn, Frankenstein-like, on her creators and set forth on her own campaign of conquest for the third time in a generation. It is not even inconceivable that she would align herself with Russia in a deal for divided world domination.

Of course, some may question the moral advantage in rearming the Germans. True, the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia swore by the Potsdam pact in July 1945 to keep Germany disarmed in the interests of world peace. However, Russia violated the pact almost immediately in isolating her own zone of influence from the rest of Germany, by trying to drive the Western powers out of Berlin, and in forming an army of 50,000 East Germans.

Another great switch has already been made by the West in Europe. In the summer of 1950, the U. S. Congress approved a $62,500,u00 Joan to Franco Spain, and recently reopened diplomatic relations with that land by sending the first American ambassador since the 1946 condemnation of the Franco regime by the-U.N.

Those seeking.a moral excuse for this ac* tion can find it, too, in the U.N.’s repeal of its condemnation, a repeal made possible largely through American influence.

In the Far East, -to halt Stalin’s “man Friday”, Mao of Red China, similar rearming of Japan is contemplated. To this possibility, too, Russia has stormed forth with protests, and China is none too happy. Here as in the European case there is also at least the remote possibility that a rearmed Japan would be a dangerous Japan.

So there are changes other than with fashion, the weather and women. This world is a changing world. If it becomes regarded as a world without common trust there can be little wonder. If nations make sworn compacts realizing that selfish interests may quickly end their force, if the expediency of the moment is to outweigh all moral value, then the world seems due for constant change, unrest and violence. Thus it is that world peace, for want of lasting trust and a ruler all can respect and principles that will be upheld without change, remains an illusion.

Rejoice, though, that a great commander has been installed upon a heavenly throne who will command and receive the lasting respect and obedience of all who live. This commander is Christ Jesus, of whom one of his apostles once said: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8, NW) No leagues does he enter with worldly rulers only to toy a while with them, then stab former allies in the back. Firmly, his code of principles, the Bible, states that he shall rule the (present) nations with a rod of iron, dashing them like a potter’s vessel. He stands unequivocally for the kingdom of his Father, Jehovah God. All peace seekers victimized by the tom and twisted design of present global politics can now with good cause welcome in that kingdom, pray for it, live for it.

By "Awtikd” 8ft In

T'N BRITAIN there is a. good, deal of adA verse criticism of the United States of America. Great care, however, is taken by responsible, newspapers to acknowledge in appreciative terms the help 'that has been nxeived in the form of Marshall Plan aid, for this has been the prime factor in assisting tl'us country to again stand upon her feet economically. Nor is 'the nation unmindful of America's contribution 'toward the cause of defending Western Europe against Communist aggression. But run* ning across this grain of gratitude are certain fissures which at times widen into

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regrettable gaps in Anglo-American relations. From the British point of view, the recent fissures have been caused by the U. S. A. attitude m China, and some phases in the conduct qf the Korean, war.

Xt should be pointed out that the general altitude of the British peopxe h not. so much. anti-American, in the sen.se of antag-onhm or antipathy, as it is the reaction of a fr^donidoving' people who have borne the brunt of Uto worid ware and who are

Most disturbing to Britain in. recent months was 'the decision of the United States Congress to secure United Nations* action against Communist China's aggres« sion. in Korea,, which action, at first was to have included sanctions against China, with the possible bombing of Manehuitan bases.. It ■ is believed in Britain. that eco noxnic sanctions and a coastal blockade of China would aggravate the Chinese and possibly lead to an extension of 'the conflict, and, if it becaine a general war, then Soviet Russia would no longer' he contained. .In that unfortunate event Mtata sees herself as an- island aerodrome—-ah ready it: is accommodating mcreajsiing numbers of American and British war plarm —under heavy and continuous bombard* •went, which, undoubtedly would be the primary objective of Russia's air force*

■ Furthermore, China h a nation with which Britain has had mo^: friendly rda-lions, The Briton likes the Chinaman, and 'trade with. China is adtao an important consideration. When all. these things: are taken into consideration perhaps it may be ap*.

not keen on the idea of being dragged into

predated a little more in the United States

a third, if by any why Britain moves-

Another less direct factor that weighs with people in Britain is the conviction that Chiang Kai-shek should be disowned. On the other hand, the American official view is believed by many in Britain to be that Formosa is regarded as -an American diplomatic outpost and thatChiang’s army might be a useful deterrent or bargaining factor.

As Others See You

A leading British newspaper, the News Chronicle, sums up the diversity of views between the two great democracies of the West in an article entitled “On Guard”, from which the following extract is taken.

“When the average British citizen reads the latest reports of the American reaction to China’s turndown of the U. N. peace proposals he experiences a chill of apprehension.

“This, he thinks, is precisely what we all fear. Here are these impetuous Americans charging into the breach, breathing fire and slaughter, with only the haziest idea of the consequences. They want to brand China as an aggressor and to deny her a seat in the United Nations. They want to hang onto Formosa, and still talk of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government as if it were the rightful ruler of the Chinese masses. They want to drag us into a war with China which would involve a dangerous military adventure on the other side of the earth when our real and pressing need is to defend Western Europe.

“On the other side of the Atlantic the average American is in the same kind of frustrated, bewildered mood. But he looks at the problem from an entirely different point of view. He is reading about the British reaction to the same news. And his thoughts run something like this;

"This is exactly what we feared. Here are these timid, dithering British still trying to call black white, still trying to appease the unappeasable. They can not, or will not, see that this is a clear case of aggression by Red China, that the Communists in Korea will be satisfied with nothing less than the complete destruction of the U. N. armies—which are 90 per cent American anyway. They will not realize that unless we take a firm stand now aggression will once again pay dividends. Western democratic prestige in the Far East will collapse. The Communists will move into Malaya, Indo-China, Burma, and even India. Are the British blind?

“These are the majority points of view in the twp great democratic nations. Each is reflected in the policy and actions of its respective government. The chance of an open break in the Anglo-American alliance is real and immediate. The Russians are straining every nerve to bring it about.

“It would be the greatest diplomatic victory they could possibly gain—-comparable in significance only to Von Ribbentrop’s pact with Molotov when he secured Russian neutrality just before the second world war.”

Other Causes for British Wrath

At other points the relationship of the great democracies are also severely strained. Take, for example, the selection of top-ranking officers for the newly created North Atlantic alliance. Whereas there was great jubilation on both sides of the Atlantic over the appointment of General Eisenhower .as supreme commander, there was equal indignation here in Britain over the announcement that another American, Admiral Fechteler, had been selected to head the Allied naval forces. In a storm of protest, Mr. Churchill expressed the personal feelings of many in this proud seafaring nation when he bitterly asked Prime Minister Attlee: “Was there no British admiral capable of discharging these functions? Does not Great Britain lie at the very key to all communications across the

Atlantic with Europe, and are not the sea approaches to our island, in the event of a submarine attack, vital to our life? How is it that when our experience is longer and wider than that of any other country of the submarine evil [Britain sank 535 German U-boats compared with 174 by the United States], and when we have agreed with so much pleasure that General Eisenhower should be in command of the armed forces on land, we should resign any claim we might be thought to have of command of the sea on the Atlantic?”

Only when soothing balm came a fortnight later did this deep wound begin to heal. That analgesic announcement declared that Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery had been appointed as second in command under Eisenhower, while Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Saunders was named to head the international Air Force and Admiral Sir Patrick Brind was made chief of staff of the northern European fleet

When on the basis of a broad analysis an assessment is made of the feeling of the British people toward their American friends, one cannot say that they are antiAmerican so much as reacting like members of a family circle. It is as if one member of a family was proposing or undertaking something which another member did not agree with and which the latter thought would seriously affect the future well-being of all. This feeling here is not confined to one class, nor are the general feelings of the politicians different from those of the people. In reflecting these feelings the public press is reasonably discreet, and while pressing the British point of view, it is not inclined to disturb the over-all amicable relations.

Indeed, the press seems very much concerned lest the close friendship of the English-speaking world be seriously impaired. “It must be realized that any and every difference of opinion between Britain and America is bound to be exploited by the enemies of us both,” declared the London Evening News (Jan. 24, 1951), hence, a great deal is at stake: "the integrity and strength of UNO, Anglo-American friendship, and that unity of purpose between the British Commonwealth, Western Europe and the United States which is vital?’

In an article, the “Price of Partnership”, the Economist, issue of December 2,1950, says: "For better or for worse the American and British people are tied together and those who wish it to be for the better should do what they can to make it a harmonious partnership. ... To that end it is right to stifle irritations and to moderate criticism. But partnership will work very much better if there is real agreement between the members?*

Democracies Dare to Differ

Speaking at a dinner given in his honor in London on January 9, the American ambassador, Mr. W. S. Gifford, offered this bit of philosophy: "This freedom of opposition is an essential part of democracy. Communists do not dare to differ. We have our arguments within the family and these are the disagreements of two free peoples who know and trust each other so well that they do not fear to say frankly to one another what they think.”

So Americans and Britisher^ will take their full measure of this freedom. British criticism of the Americans, however, is usually couched in such a complexity of words and phrases as to often hide their biting scorn and ridicule. Summarizing the matter of British and American relations, there appears to be a deep-rooted feeling on both sides that any difference of opinion between the two nations must not be allowed to interfere with their co-operation, which is considered so essential to mutual security.

The war dr unis and propaganda trumpet* ot Russia and the United States are booming forth at full volume. Everyone can hear them. But to be fully Informed on world affairs you must listen to the minority as well as the majority; you must hear the voices ot both small and great. What do Europeans think about the posaiblllty and nearness of another world war? How do they view the rearming of We&tern Europe? AwateZ correspondent& stationed in several European capitals recently surveyed public opinion on these and other Important questions, You will find this summary of their unbiased and uncensored reports very enlightening and authentic.

ALARMISTS in America would have us believe that any day now, next week or before another winter comes, the sensitive fuse on the atomic powder keg will blow up and engulf the entire world in another frightful global war. Are they right? What is your opinion? Or are you like the majority of people, not too sure, really confused and bewildered by the conflicting propaganda hurled from all quarters? If this will be a global struggle between opponents on opposite sides of the sphere we do well to have a broad, global viewpoint of the matter rather than a narrow, nationalistic vision. What do people in the buffer states of Europe think about the threat of war? Let us first look at this intemationalproblem through French eyes.

France, 1914! Immediately one is reminded of the sorrows of World War L Such towns and places as Nancy, Arras, St. Quentin, Mame, Verdun, were written on the pages of history with the blood of hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen. France, 1940! Twenty-six years later, and again peace was shattered as Hitler’s hprdes swarmed across Belgium and France to the Atlantic. Again thosenames appeared on the pages of history, and again they were associated with the same sorrows—war, misery and death, France, 1944! The terrible impact of the most concentrated invasion in history hit the Cherbourg peninsula. Three times in a single generation beautiful French cities have been reduced to ashes overnight and the hearts of’millions broken by the horrors of global war. So now, after so short a respite, how can the French people forget the past? Impossible! They hate war and all that it means, and are anxious to escape another.

As to the immediate threat of war, they see the trend of events in relations between the United States and Russia. They see the possibility of Russia taking over all the smaller countries. They see the great preparations going ahead in the race to rearm. But the French do not think there is an immediate danger of open conflict While France does not view the rearmament of Germany with enthusiasm, yet she realizes that Germany lies between her-feelf and Russia, and therefore accepts the program as a safety measure.

Whereas in the capital, Paris, which is always politically alive and active, Eisenhower has been warmly received as the man for the job, yet the common Frenchman looks upon his appointment With the same great indifference with which he views political issues in general. Politics in this country is so unstable and complicated the man in the street regards it as something for the politicians themselves. Even radio and press announcements are received with skepticism by many, having been so badly deceived in 1939 on the issues of another war.

In short, the average Frenchman looks at the future with pessimism, with almost an air of abandon, the possibility of a real peace being for the French too much to hope for. On the other hand, the more informed classes have their attention* focused on the colony of Indo-China where the French have suffered severe setbacks in the fighting against the Communists. They feel that Indo-China contains the answer to how soon France will become involved in another world war. If the French are pushed out of Indo-Chin then France would join forces with the United States against Communist China, they think, but if the colonial war goes well with the French then war in Europe is not likely to come for four or five years.

From the British Viewpoint

London reporting. Here in Britain the Communist element is so small as to be Quite a negligible quantity in public opinion. Very few people have taken notice of a statement issued by the Communist party in Great Britain to the effect that Elsenhower’s mission to Europe is to impose the will of American warmongers on a peace-loving people. Even if it had caught the eyes sufficiently to arouse interest, the vast majority would regard it as utter nonsense. The rearming of Europe with American aid and the acceptance of Eisenhower arid an international army under his supervision are received in Britain as necessary corollaries to the contribution which the United States is making toward European security.

What upsets average British citizens and makes chills of apprehension run down their backs is to hear of the hasty decisions made by their impetuous American allies. At

times, policy-makers in America seem, to charge around in an irresponsible manner, as if to impress everyone with their muscles. Britain, on the other hand, has followed a more conservative, go-slow policy in the Far East, using every precaution to avoid full-scale war’which would drain off her limited men and resources from the defense of the home islands. So while she discourages all efforts to build up strong forces in the Orient to combat Communism, Britain is highly in favor of mobilizing Western Europe as a check on Communist aggression. Such is the general attitude of the British people toward the present preparations for war.

One thing is sure, a point completely overlooked by the vast majority of carnal, materialist-minded people here in Britain, and it is this: No matter what the nations may do, Jehovah God’s righteous new world will soon supersede the present unsatisfactory order, bringing life and peace in its train. Present world events and Bible prophecy attest to this fact in no uncertain way. Then, under the new system of things international wars and defense programs will no longer exist. '

Clouds of War Hover over Land of Dikes

Fearfully the people of the Netherlands ponder over the possibilities. Will Russia tolerate the rearming of Western Germany? Will East Germany attack West Germany as North Korea attacked South Korea? Having the power to drive across Europe to the Atlantic within 20 days, will Russia turn our country into a battlefield?

The big men in political and commercial circles expressed their different? opinions and gave their advice in the public press, as, for example: "In

JUNE 22, 1951

the next year and a half a war is impfob-able.” (Vrij Nederland [Free Netherlands] Feb. 3, 1951) “What else should the Russian bloc... now do than talk, so long as it holds the western world not yet inwardly weakened enough in order to administer the death-thrust with military might?’ (Financieel Dagblad [Financial Daily] Feb. 9,1951) But General Kruls, the highest figure in Dutch military forces, declared: “There really is danger of war. . . . The survival of our nation depends on our army.”

Well, how do the men in the streets look at this? To say that they think so and so on the matter would not be giving the true picture, for their opinions also vary a great deal. In one section of the country the people are said to be quite sober, and though they are worried, they try to appear unconcerned. In another part of the country, in the town of Edam in North Holland, to be specific, a storekeeper exclaimed: “The people? They are very fearful. The first thing they think about is material goods, how they can get enough of this or that. They are buying my store empty.”

In their fear the majority are going along with the idea that rearmament is their only salvation, but because the burden of cost is so great they are willing to submit to United States leadership for the help received. This explains their apparent enthusiasm over General Eisenhower’s appointment. The grim aspect of rearming Western Germany is the big thorn in their side. Raped and robbed by the Nazi madmen a decade ago, it is not easy for them to accept the rearming of that nation again. A “senseless adventure”, “the repetition of a dreadful historical mistake,” etc., it is called by some.—Vrij Nederland, Jan. 20, 1951.

Small wonder, with so many diverse opinions, that this people are in anguish, “not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men became faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” (Luke 21:25, 26, MV) Not because there is no way out, for the message being proclaimed here in obedience to the command at Matthew 24:14 definitely points out the way of escape. But because the masses refuse to heed the Lord’s wise counsel they grope along and stumble in the gross darkness that blankets the earth. No other place than right here in the Netherlands is the proverb more true: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”—Proverbs 29:18.

Rearming, Belgium Ropes for Peace

Even though Belgium has been the battlefield of two global wars within this twentieth century the people as a whole are more calm and manifest less war hysteria than those living in the United States. Their philosophy is something like this: Come what may we are here today, so let us not worry about possible war tomorrow. Declared Mr. Spaak in the Chamber (Mar. 1,1951): “I do not believe that war is either inevitable or near. I would like the country to believe that.”

However, Belgians are definitely in favor of rearmament, and this is understandable when one appreciates their extremely individualistic nature and passionate love for liberty. They abhor the philosophy of Communism and look upon ft in the same way the minister of state, Mr. du Bus de Warnaffe, describes it, when he says: “As to individual liberties there is no room for them. Man came cut of matter, only to return to matter and has no personal and individual destiny. He is a cog in a machine and is only worthy to turn in the machine on condition that he plays the part assigned to him, otherwise the machine must pulverize him.” (Le Sotr, Mar. 3, 1951) Such a philosophy as this, which restrains the individual’s liberties, Is so obnoxious to the independent temperament of Belgians they have come to regard. rearmament as the only preventive measure against Communism, Though they utterly hate the idea of another war, fear of totalitarian aggression drives them to prepare for war.

Some farsighted individuals here in Belgium, however, wonder how the building up of huge armies with their deadly weapons can bring lasting peace and prosperity to a war-weary world. Many of such thinking people are accepting the fact that only the establishment of Jehovah God’s righteous kingdom will put an end to totalitarian aggression and provide mankind with a true and enduring state of individual freedom. Under such divine kingdom rule those who now destroy the earth will themselves be destroyed and the basic cause for wars will be forever removed. —Revelation 11:18.

Reluctantly Germany Rearms

The German people are likewise nervous, dissatisfied with present conditions, and fearful of the future. Among certain circles the question as to a possible third world war is hotly debated. But while the guessing game with the big long-range international questions is played in the more elite circles, the common people of Western Germany continue to fret and worry over more local, immediate matters. The greatest concern of German nationalists is over the Eastern and Western division of their fatherlahd.

All seem to appreciate that negotiation will not cause the Communist government in Soviet Germany to resign, their slogan being the same as the Nazis’—rule or ruin’ So, as much as they dread the thought, almost all Germans believe that “only war can bring us freedom and democracy, and so let us hope and wait for that war”. On the other hand, they cannot picture a war with German fighting German, therefore they reason that if worse comes to worse, Soviet-trained Germans will rebel against their overjprds rather than take up arms against their Western brothers. But, then again, they fear it might turn into a third world war, and so many desperately hold tight to the negotiation straw in the hope that as long as the negotiators keep talking everything will remain as it is—no better, no worse.

If all this seems like muddled, bewildered thinking, a going round in circles, it is because it is just that. It is a clear picture of the postwar German mud puddle. People are in a state of confusion, a dilemma. Nor have the advocates for rearming Germany, the powerful Catholic party and the present government of Western Germany, cleared the waters any by all their splashing. The Protestants have rebelled and said they cannot see any difference between arming for war and arming for peace, but those clamoring for rearmament think it is just a case of wounded pride, the fact that the rearming is to be supervised by the conquerors. Says the Swiss daily, Der Bund' (January 22, 1951): “In spite of the fear of the Russians, the Germans do not want to leave the sulking-comer toward the Americans. Their wavering and very often negative attitude in the question of rearming and in the relationship to the Americans generally often resembles that of a boy who stated, ‘it just serves my father right if my fingers freeze because he didn’t buy me h pair of new gloves/ Now that the gloves ought to be bought they again object. ... It is such irrational ideas so foreign to reality which move the masses?’

Norway’s Fate Tied to the West

Norwegians experienced the Nazi dictatorship, both mentally and physically. Thousands were thrown into Nazi concentration camps. They therefore do. not relish the thought of having a peace like Czechoslovakia has received. In his New Year broadcast Prime Minister Einar Ger-hardsen declared: “All want peace, that question is clear, but we also have to make a choice between national extinction under a dictatorship, and freedom. Most Norwegians have already made their choice/’ This is Norway’s official view, but the opinion of the people is more complex. On the whole the common man does not seem to be so enthusiastic about the program. He is afraid the pouring of American arms into the country may incite the Russians to invade prematurely.

It is reasonable to conclude that the fear of war is greater in the United States than here in Norway. An atom bomb is more likely to be dropped over a big city in America than over insignificant Norwegian villages. Moreover, the public pre$s has not excited and frightened people over here as it has in the States. A great many Norwegians think that war between East and West is unavoidable, but they believe or they hope that such a war will not come in the near future. They fear this war, of course, but they do not write and talk so much about it. They prefer to take one day at a time, drifting along toward a dark future, looking hopefully and fearing the worst

In Aloofness t the Swiss Feel Secure

In policy, Switzerland has made strict neutrality a state doctrine. She is not a member of the United Nations. And according to her maxim she will not participate in an international army nor intervene in a war unless she is first attacked. She therefore looks upon the rearming of Western Europe objectively.

The Swiss people are really not too concerned over the threat of another world war. They feel very secure in their Alpine fortress, even to the point where they tend to boast of their military strength. The fact that every soldier has his personal equipment including his rifle with him at home and all borders can be manned within 24 to 48 hours gives the Swiss their proud feeling of security. As a result, one observes very little nervousness or fear among the population. Blithely they go about their daily tasks with the feeling that even if war is launched it will bypass this country, as the last two did. What little worry is manifest is purely an economic one: whether Switzerland can continue importing what things are needed, since the country has few natural resources. She therefore busies herself laying up reserves of strategic food and materials.

It is certainly manifest from this brief survey that Europeans, like jittery Americans, are suffering from the same disease, namely, fear’ Perhaps the attack is in a less severe stage, yet the symptoms are the same—confusion, bewilderment and fearfulness over the future. Foolish people! Blindly following their blind leaders; both headed for the great Ditch of Destruction! (Matthew 15:14) A possible third world war looms large in their minds, yet they utterly fail to see that Armageddon, the Battle of God Almighty, is just ahead of them. Driven by the demons, they fail to see that their all-out armaments race is in fulfillment of prophecy. “Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your priming-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong." (Revelation 16:13-16, NW; Joel 3:9,10, AS) But you sincere and honest-hearted people of all these nations-who “sigh and cry? because of Christendom’s abominations, seek righteousness, seek meekness, and you will have a good chance of surviving this world’s endl —Ezekiel 9:2-11; Zephaniah 2:3.

By “Awake I” cor re* pendant in New Guinea

TEN years ago scarcely one person in a thousand had heard of New Guinea. But World War H changed that, for names like Port Moresby, Milne Bay, Kokoda, Aitape, daily appeared in the news of the struggle between white man and yellow for possession of this island that lies immediately to the north of Australia. In January 1951, long after New Guinea had slipped back into comparative obscurity, its name appeared again on the date lines of the world’s newspapers. Peaceful Mount Lamington had blown off two thousand feet of its top and, ingoing so, had snuffed out four thousand human lives.

Ever since the white man has been in New Guinea Mt. Lamington has been inactive. But, still further back, from the days when it was alive and turbulent has come native tradition that keeps the “fuzzy-wuzzies” in superstitious fear of the '‘haunted mountain”. They. believe that an evil spirit dwells there. None will approach beyond the low foothills, and no amount of bribery or reward will induce them to climb its slopes. It is taboo!

Last December first sounds of subterranean activity were heard. But the deep rumblings seemed so far away that the administration officials thought them to be from another old volcano away in the Owen Stanley range. The natives, however, were not so sure, As the days went by they became restless and frightened. Some who were not attached to the mission stations thought discretion the better part of valor and “went bush”. But nothing alarming happened until Thursday, January 18. From the deep growl of the past weeks Lamington now began to snarl and snap; its fury no longer concealed. With a sudden burst of life it shot smoke and ashes thousands of feet into the air. The local authorities thought over this showing of teeth, but decided that its bark was worse than its bite. The daily routine of plantation life went on in its easy tropical tempo. But not for long!

On Sunday morning, January 21, Lamington seemed more savage than ever. In place of its rumbling and shaking there was a mighty roar that rose in pitch higher and higher to a terrifying crescendo. Then, 10:42 a.m. The fire-breathing monster burst its bonds in a shattering explosion that was heard and felt, in Port Moresby, miles away over the Owen Stanleys. Smoke and pumice were catapulted seven miles up into the sky in a matter of moments and then, mushroomlike, it spread out and came cascading down to earth. Soon it was indescribably dark, blacker than any night. And the one question in the minds of those still alive was, ‘that river of boiling lava, is it now bearing down upon us in the darkness?’

No one knew at the time, of course, but thi$ eruption was of the Pelean type in which the flow of lava is not the killer. It was the “burning cloud” type, much more deadly because of its speed and scope. In an article, "Beautiful Cones of Destruction,” Awake! of April 22, 1950, said about such eruptions: "Evidently the lava in this type of volcano is so thick that it solidifies and entirely stops up the chimney of the volcano. The gas pressure inside builds to such a tremendous pressure that it lifts the weight of the ‘stopper’, the heated gases and pulverized lava managing to escape from time to time between the stopper and the walls of the chimney as a powerful blast.”

On that fateful Sunday morning the pressure in Lamington’s chimney was so great that it blew the side clear out of the mountain, killing thousands, and then let loose a fiery cloud of white-hot ash and pumice that gravity quickly brought down to hug the earth in a searing embrace, choking the life out of any man, beast or vegetation that escaped the blast. Nine villages were wiped out

The Ruin in the Blast*s Wake

Sangara was not caught directly by the blast. But the cloud of death in its wake was just as diabolically efficient. It cooked hundreds of natives alive. Those near enough staggered into the mission station with their flesh hanging from their hands like old oversize gloves. The mission staff did all that they could to make the injured comfortable until help arrived, but the natives died like flies around them. The sight of their burnt bodies, the sound of their cries of agony, the stench of their roasted flesh combined to hammer the senses of the helpers. A ghastly sight makes man ponder values.

Some whites managed to escape from Sangara by the skin of their teeth. When the mountain exploded they raced for their cars and drove furiously for the airstrip at Popendetta, fifteen miles from the volcano. One of the party described the trip in these words: "The mountain exploded like an atomic bomb. A dense wall of jetblack burning smoke came rushing down the mountainside toward us. Suddenly it stopped for a moment, held back by a sudden gust of wind. We escaped.” That gust of wind saved their lives.

But at Higaturu no one escaped. When the mountain exploded it blew out a segment three-quarters of a mile across and left a chasm varying from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a half wide from the crater straight to Higaturu, nine miles away. Death came instantly to all who were caught in the fan-shaped course of the horizontal blast.

A government search party was soon on the job. So gruesome and heart-rending were the sights they saw that when one of them was reporting by phone to Canberra he broke down sobbing and could not continue. For some time the fierce heat kept the rescuers a mile and a half from Higaturu (ten and a half miles from the volcano). When they did get through they found what had been 120 square miles of luxuriant tropical plantations and jungle now a bleak desert utterly devoid of life. The few trees still standing were leafless and bent over at grotesque angles as though they too had been trying to escape Lamington’s scorching breath. A white shroud of pumice covered the countryside, in places to a depth of ten feet.

The estimate of 4,000 dead was soon found not to be an exaggeration. There were dead natives strewn everywhere. Hundreds were found along the roadsides and hundreds more in each village. Some had their clothing blown right off them. Some were driven head first into the ground. Some were found dead in denuded trees, where they had climbed away from the hot ground. A jeep was blown up into a tree ten feet off the ground. The district commissioner, one of thirty-five whites who perished, was at the wheel of his car not sixty yards from his residence. The walls of the residence had been blown right out. In another place a search party found nineteen persons in a small room in a village. The room was intact but they were all dead. Probably the swirling volcanic fumes had asphyxiated them.

The task of burying 4,000 corpses was terrible. Already they had begun to rot in the tropical heat. The stench was nauseating. Nor was there any time to dig graves, for Lamington was still snarling defiance. The helpers simply covered the bodies with white ash. Fearing another eruption and the outbreak of an epidemic, the authorities soon closed the area within a radius of sixteen miles around the volcano. Having evacuated 3,000 natives, they left the monster sulking in its den.

The volcanologist was right! The mountain did erupt again on the following Friday. He had made close inspections of the crater by plane and had concluded that the banked-up pumice on the north half of the mountain was acting as a gigantic stopper and that the forces below might blow it to smithereens any moment. When it did lift the stopper the blast was vertical and did no damage. But it threw ash up 20,000 feet. On the following Monday it repeated the performance.

Appeals for assistance received prompt response. The Australian government immediately appropriated £25,000 for relief. Food and water had to be flown in because the ash had polluted every tank and stream within a hundred miles. Even then it was difficult to get it to the afflicted area, for smoke hung in the air for days, limiting the visibility as far away as Port Moresby to as little as thirty yards at times. In accordance with the current medical fad, the Red Cross sent by air 180 bottles of blood and 62 transfusion-giving sets.

Religious Issue Raised

And now, who was to blame for the shocking catastrophe? Was it God’s punishment? Pertinent is the report In the Perth West Australian on January 31: “A native victim of the Mt. Lamington blast told a representative of AAP-Reuters today that missionaries in the area had told natives that the volcano would not erupt if they wore shorts and came to church regularly. He said that many natives who had believed the missionaries had lost their faith in religious beliefs. Most natives in the area had been used lo going naked or wearing only a flimsy loincloth. They had obeyed the missionaries when Mt. Lamington first began erupting mildly, in the belief that this would prevent a major blast. When these methods failed the survivors blamed the missionaries for the disaster. ‘But I still believe in God and every night I pray to Him to heal my wounds/ the native informant said.”

In the next day's paper the Anglican archbishop of Perth called the report “fantastic nonsense”. The editor added that he thought it was probably native missionaries who had used such unorthodox methods to gain converts. Six weeks later the same paper carried a letter from the bishop of New Guinea, In which he spoke of the paper’s “clear duty to withdraw a statement which gives an entirely false impression of the true state of affairs and to apologize for its original publication”. Replying, the editor saicj: “We have no means of knowing whether the native was speaking the truth but we saw no reason to doubt that he said what he Is reported to have said. The sinful truth Is that we thought some of our report mildly amusing and not inherently improbable/*

Your Awake! reporter cannot express an opinion one way or another, but at least the idea of holding the burning mountain as a terrible threat over the heads of the natives Is not out of harmony with the Anglicans* doctrine of hell-fire torment, That doctrine Is wrong and a gross defamation of Jehovah’s name and so is any suggestion that He caused this disaster, News of the death and destruction brought by the blast of Mt. Lamington’s explosion and its burning cloud makes thoughtful people sad. Tragedies like that emphasize the truth that death is man’s worst enemy. Yet the great nations of the earth today, all of them, are feverishly preparing for war. They try to harness the atom so as to match Lamington’s blast.

They work on atomic clouds that will rival its Mean death cloud. They deliberately plan to loose these man-made holocausts on their fellow human creatures. What monsters' they are! How addled their brains’ What apt pupils of their father, the Devil, the first murderer.

Is there to be no relief for decent, Godfearing men? Indeed,, yes. And it is right at hand. Christ Jesus, Jehovah’s Champion of right, will soon “bring to ruin those ruining the earth”, demonic and human. Then, peace with God, the elements and our fellow men.

< Among the heathen, diseases are considered the result of 'the coming of “disease demons” to reside within the afflicted one’s body. We learn from Sir James G. Frazer, in his book Tfte Golden Bough;

"Thus the Alfoors of Minahassa, in Celebes, will sometimes transport a sick man to another house, while they leave on his bed a dummy made up of a pillow and clothes. This dummy the demon is supposed to mistake for the sick man, who consequently recovers. Cure or prevention of this sort seems to find especial favor with the natives of Borneo, Thus, when an epidemic is raging among them, the Dyaks of the Katoengouw river set up wooden images at their doors in the hope that the demons of the plague may be deluded into carrying off the effigies instead of the people. Among the Oloh Ngadju of Borneo when a sick man is supposed to be suffering from the assaults of a ghost, puppets of dough or rice-meal are made and thrown under the house as substitutes for the patient, who thus rids himself of the ghost. In certain of the western districts of Borneo if a man is taken suddenly and violently sick, the physician, who in this part of the world is generally an old woman, fashions a wooden image and brings it seven times into contact with the sufferer’s head, while she says: ‘This image serves to take the place of the sick man; sickness, pass over into the image.’ Then, with some rice, salt, and tobacco in a little basket, the substitute is carried to the spot where the evil spirit is supposed to have entered into the man. There it is set upright on the ground, after the physician has invoked the spirit as follows: ‘O devil, here is an image which stands instead of the sick man. Release the soul of the sick man and plague the image, for it is indeed prettier and better than he. Batak magicians can conjure the demon of disease out of the patient’s body into an image made out of a banana tree with a human face and ^rapped up In magic herbs; the image is then hurriedly removed and thrown away or buried beyond the boundaries of the village. Sometimes the image, dressed as a man or a woman, according to the sex of the patient, is deposited at a crossroad or other thoroughfare, in the hope that some passer-by, seeing it, may start and cry out, <Afif So-and-So is dead’; for suell an exclamation is supposed to delude the demon of disease into a belief that he has accomplished his fell purpose, so he takes himself off and leaves the sufferer to get well.” (From pages 492, 493, abridged edition, 1949)

Funeral costs often necessitate mourners for the mourners

SPIRALING costs make the living standard a popular topic of conversation. Often, however, little thought is given the “dying standard” until in the throes of bereavement for a loved one. Then if by chance a mortician with fewer scruples than dollars should be engaged, fast talking at a time when emotion overpowers judgment may induce a funeral far beyond the means of the mourners. Too frequent occurrences like this make this discussion timely. Ridicule of undertakers, the majority of whom must certainly be honest, considerate men, is not the object. Rather the concern is to eliminate the problem's true cause, popular misconception of the death state, helping all to view it with greater intelligence and less emotion.

Society with its “blue books” stops short at the grave. There, despite their different caskets, prince and pauper sleep alike. In vain will you search records of the early Christians of the catacombs to find sympathy with showy funerals, eulogizing of the dead, £tc. Back, though, to ancient Egypt and its demon gods can you go for abundance of such evidence. From their earliest records the Egyptian’s uncanny embalming art was worked to the full in behalf of their dead pharaohs, who were treated to the splashiest of gala funerals and finally entombed in a massive pyramid. Food, drink and even cosmetics (for men as well as women) were provided in abundant stores within the burial chamber or in adjoining rooms.

Of course, these practices hinged upon the ancient belief in the immortality of the soul, the Egyptian counterpart of which included, in addition to the soul, a vital force accompanying the body through life, called the ka. In tombs of dead kings were often found statues exactly resembling the deceased. The statues were placed in the midst of the food stores provided for the dead, with the intention that the dead man’s ka would inhabit the statue and feast upon the provisions. Vanity paced the funeral processions. Soon other nobles of the realm added the royal touch and splurged on their funerals. In the face of such new competition, the pharaohs retaliated in their own behalf to keep a safe lead. So like a modern-day “Hollywood premiere” did their burial become that Breasted, in A History of the Ancient Egyptians, states that such affairs became a serious economic drain on the state.

But costs in no way hampered the practice. Instead it spread to the common people as well in relative degrees, thus accommodating a vastly expanded undertaking profession. Placing himself and his reader in a somewhat later period, the author of the book just cited has this to say, on page 205: “But these elaborate mortuary customs are now no longer confined to the Pharaoh and his nobles, the necessity for some equipment In preparation for the hereafter is now felt by all classes. The manufacture of such materials, resulting from the gradual extension of these customs, has become an industry; the embalmers, undertakers and manufacturers of coffins and tomb furniture occupy a quarter at Thebes, forming almost a guild by themselves, as they did in later Greek times.”

Bible Writers Disagree with Egyptians

It is interesting to note that early Bible writers were unimpressed by the Egyptians. Said one of these men, Solomon, while he enjoyed divine favor for his proper wisdom: “Vanity of vanities ... all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”—Ecclesiastes 1:2, 3; 9:10.

However, its head in the clouds, the Bible tucked unopened under one arm, twentieth-century Christendom has pitched headlong into the very mire that once dirtied the ancient Egyptian By the quartercentury mark, around 1925, protests filled the air in the wake of a restlessly growing undertaking profession. John Gebhart's book, Funeral Costs, was outstanding. The author contrasted a common $8 funeral of 1829 with a $1,700 extravaganza of 1926. Much more book-writing, indignationexpressing and resolve-making followed without noticeable results. While the 1,500-or 2,500-dollar funerals remain out of the ordinary, the consistent $500, $600 or $700 variety, accommodating profits of from $300 to $500, continues to excite wrath.

A few years ago, local clergymen of Elgin, Illinois, launched a “crusade” to liberate parishioners from any feeling of obligation toward excessively expensive funerals. Encouragement was offered to donate money saved from needless “extras” to the church or to worthy charities. At once the local undertakers stormed forth, flanked by their allies, the embalmers and florists. To avoid open warfare, a meeting was called, then another. At one tender moment, a florist cried out to the clergymen: “You men want to take this sum that is to be saved and use it for your own purposes. You ought to consider if there aren’t other ways in which you can derive income from funerals without interfering with our business.”

While the clergy elsewhere have waged similar protests, the press accounts have generally favored their cause. Reporting the Elgin case, The Christian Century of January 7, 1948, made reference to the salesmanship and “artificially stimulated public pressure” that combined to run so many funerals out of the essential cost brackets. Further, that magazine said respecting the undertakers: “That the business is not completely unscrupulous is due only to self-imposed restrictions in a highly competitive business.” Time, January 12, 1948, accompanied its report of the same incident with a reproduced 1948 calendar distributed as advertising material for a Washington, D. C., funeral concern. Portraying a beautiful young woman against a dark backdrop, the calendar announced: “Beautiful bodies by Chambers.”

Conditions in Canada

In the Canadian Forum, June, 1948, Patrick Waddington called attention to Canada’s funeral problem in his article “The Corpse Taken for a Ride”, He noted the overcrowded conditions in the mortuary field in Canada, illustrating with Montreal, where in 1920 there had been but fifteen major funeral directing agencies. At his article’s writing there were nearly

200, many with “antiquated equipment, unsanitary buildings and unskilled employees”. The vicious competition tends to make morticians eager for as large a profit as possible on every job. Speaking of the unethical director who maliciously schemes to run an ordinary $30<? ftrneraf to over a thousand dollars, Mr. Waddington adds:

“The lower income groups are especially victimized by these practices. Funeral directors who deal with this group pay tipsters to inform them as soon as death occurs, so that they may be first on the scene/’

But despite the malevolence of even the most dishonest undertakers, such men are no worse than a clergyman who “takes over” after the funeral to solicit prayers-for-pay on behalf of the “departed”, to rescue his soul from "purgatory” or similar mythical stopover. Nor are they any more to bJame than some of the rlergy who themselves revel in sharing in the gaudy funerals accorded many dignitaries and spread all over the newspapers. Who can deny that these men too are preying on the popular credulity regarding the dead? And how many times have you heard the funeral preacher lament the loss of the dead one to great lengths and add to the general grief by his own grave tone instead of joyously holding forth the Bible hope of a resurrection and elaborating thereon?

Bible Light on the Dead

This is certain: Man’s Creator, in sentencing the first disobedient human pair to death, did not intend that they or their descendants should serve a purpose of religious or commercial exploitation at their graves. The only way to avoid this now is for one to be aware of the state and hope of the dead, and the good purpose that can be fulfilled in funerals.

Unlike the pagan Egyptians of antiquity, true Christians know that the exact body that dies has nothing to do with the life of the, individual thereafter. And yet there is certainly hope for the dead, for Jesus taught it very forcefully, saying that at the specf/Jad time those in the menra-rial tombs will hear his voice and come out”. (John 5:28,29, New 'World Trans.) feut in resurrecting an individual is it necessary for God to bring back the same maimed, deformed or afflicted body in which the man may have died? Certainly not! No Bible texts can be cited to prove this, Tate Jesus' case as an example. His being raised in the spirit shows conclusively that his literal body in which he . lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years was not used in his resurrection. Neither does God have to literally reassemble the very same parts of bodies of persons who are destined to live on earth. He can easily restore the life force and personality to a similar new body.

Gone then are any grounds for the “corpse worship” of ancient Egypt or for the "purgatory prating” of modern Christendom. With these few simple truths in mind, funerals can be turned into occasions of a grand witness to the merey and h?ve of Jehovah God and of his glorious purpose of the resurrection of the dead. In the end, the most persuasive of clergymen or morticians can only do what the mourners prescribe. Why necessitate mourners for the mourners by expenses beyond means, or through services that leave one more disconsolate than before ? How much better to contemplate God’s promised hope: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, , . . And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”—Revelation 21:1, New World Trans.

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