Awake!, August 22, 1952

Download: PDF — Awake!, August 22, 1952

The Last World Died Violently!

Powerful proof of the Bible flood is carved in the crust of the earth

Mighty Mammoth Laid Low

What sudden tragedy befell the giant beasts?

Wresting the Land from Italy’s Feudal Lords Medieval slavery stubbornly clings to Italian soil

Injecting Bias into God’s Word

Sacrificing scholarship for creed

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that ore able to keep you awake to the vital tauee of our time# must be unfettered by censorship and selfish Interests* “AwakeI” has no fetters. It recognizes facte* faces facte, is free to publish facte. It Is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it te unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden on; It is unprejudiced by traditional creeds* This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

“Awake 1’* uses the regular news channels* 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-acenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal's viewpoint is not narrow* but is international. It is read in many nations, 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 coverage is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.

“Awake 1” pledges 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 righteous New World,

Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”

Published semimonthly By WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC.

117 Adams Street Brooklyn 1, N. Y„ U. S. A.

N. H. Knorr, President Gbant Suiteb, Secretary

Printing this issue: 975,000 Five cants a copy

Uniiaju In wkleh the h prblhhtg;

Semimonthly—Afrikaans, Endlsh, Flndth* French, German, Hollandlsh, Nonreturn, Spanish, Swedish, Monthly—Daniab. Greek, Fortuities^ Ukrainian,

Offices Yearly ,ubscription Btte

Amerlu, IIA., in Adams St, Brooklyn 1, NA. »1 AsitnHi, 11 Beresford Bd., St rath field, N.ELW. 8 s CtMO, 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 5, Ontario *1 Eniland, 34 Craven Terrace, London, w. 3 Ts Stith Africa, PrirstrBtj, P.O. Elands to nteio,

Tran sraa] . 7 s

Rinittiiim ebnuM tn to office In your country in compliance with rrtUUticM to guarantee Bile dellr^ry of money. Btmlftucec an leeupteff at Brooklyn from countries where no otftoe 1* loafed, by international money order only. Subscription rata in different countries ere hrfe staled In local currency. Not Im of wIfiUm (with renewal bluk) is sent at least two issues before subscription capites. Chans* »f aggress when sent to our office mar be expected eff actin within one month. Send your old as well as new address,

Entered as second-clsss matter at Brooklyn, N. ¥, Art of Warth 3, 18T9. Printed in 1L 8. A.

CONTENTS

No Steel for the White House

The Last World Died Violently!

The Old World Left in a Hurry 6

Scoffers Advocate "Slow Death”

Mighty Mammoth Laid Low

Sudden Death and Global Change

Climate Change at the Flood

The Last "World's11 Lesson for This One 12

Nwankwo Takes a Wife—How They Do

It in Nigeria

Religious Notes

The Totempolar Region

A Winner at 13!

Wresting the Land from Italy's

Feudal Lords

Troubled Minds in Today's World

"Your Word Is Truth”

Injecting Bias into God’s Word

The Purge

Watching the World

£/ “Now ft is high time to awake.”—Romans 13:11 &

VoTum* XXXIII ~ / Brooklyn, Y * Auguat 22, 1952 Number 16

No Steel for the White House

ON April 8 President Truman issued an executive order seizing the nation’s steel mills and placing them under government control and operation. Reason for this was offered in the fact that the United Steelworkers of America, C.I.O., was about to execute a nation-wide steel strike. Because of defense needs in the present emergency and his own expressed sentiment favoring the cause of the union in its dispute with steel management, the president considered his action justified. At once the private owners appealed to the courts, and following hearing of the case federal district judge David A. Pine ruled on April 29 that the president had exceeded his powers and that the seizure was unconstitutional The United States Court of Appeals stayed action on Judge Pine’s decision, allowing government appeal to the Supreme Court, and at President Truman’s insistence the union held back from a strike threat. On May 12, 13 the Supreme Court heard the case and on June 2 ruled against the president, upholding the lower court by a vote of 6-3.

More than the mere unprecedented seizure of a basic industry was involved in the decision. It was a historical move in the long dispute over centralization of power that dates from the birth of the American republic. It is the Thomas Jefferson-Alexander Hamilton or the Theodore Roosevelt-William Howard Taft controversies anew. For long now the trend toward more and more federal power has threatened to all but destroy completely the magnificent structure of popular rule known to our history as “Jeffersonian democracy". The Supreme Court’s action in the steel case was a long-awaited deterrent to this trend. A review of the Court’s stand reflects these ancient and basic issues.

Voicing the majority opinion, Justice Black said: “The founders of this nation entrusted the law-making power to the Congress alone ip both good and bad times. It would do no good to recall the historical events, the fears of power and the hopes for freedom that lay behind their choice, Such a review would but confirm our holding that this seizure order cannot stand."

Chief Justice Vinson wrote the dissenting opinion and attempted to allay fears of spreading dictatorial powers, saying: “One is not here called upon even to consider the possibility of Executive seizure of a farm, a comer grocery store or even a single industrial plant.” Appealing to the government’s argument that the national emergency justified extraordinary executive action, he added: “Such considerations arise only when one ignores the central fact of this case—that the nation’s entire basic steel production would have shut down completely if there had been no government seizure."

But the majority opinion was not fighting President Truman the man. Their view was long-ranged* regarding the office. Their concern involved the placement of ruling power. Justice Douglas, concurring with the majority, stated succinctly:

“We pay a price for our system of checks and balances, for the distribution of power among the three branches of government. It is a price that today may seem exorbitant to many. Today a kindly president uses the seizure power to effect a wage increase and to keep the steel furnaces in production. Yet tomorrow another president might use the same power to prevent a wage increase, to curb trade unionists, to regiment labor as oppressively as industry thinks it has been. regimented by this seizure.”

And Justice Frankfurter added significantly: “The powers of the president are not as particularized as are those of Congress. But unenumerated powers do not mean undefined powers. The separation of powers built into our Constitution gives essential content to undefined provisions in the frame of our government.”

For a democracy the majority opinion is a refreshing renewal of faith in popular rule. When Thomas Jefferson became America’s third president many were the die-hard Federalists who forecast an era of “mob-rule”. But he was to prove such troubadours of trouble wrong. His administrations firmly established the security of American democracy, the conviction that men could govern themselves. Now the Supreme Court has expressed new faith in that principle, that self-government by a great people is possible “in both good and bad times”. Government by law, not decree, has been given judicial vindication.

But what a responsibility this places on Congress as the law-making body! No court can by legal decision implant wisdom and strength into the legislators. As Justice Jackson said: “I have no illusion that any decision by this court can keep power in the hands of Congress if it Is not wise and timely in meeting its problems.” A congress can hardly act with wisdom if its members busy themselves with home district “pork barrel" projects at the expense of time needed on pressing issues of national concern, if they cater to the interests of lobbyists or are absent while bills are being passed. Ancient Greek democracy failed because it became corrupt. They had 'their five-percenters too. And if mink coats did not cause government scandal there might have been some bribing with sheep-wool cloaks or tunics. In our day the charge of corruption is leveled more seriously than ever and against the strongest, most successful democracy on earth. What does it mean?

It means that at its very best human government is afflicted with inherent weaknesses traceable directly to the exercise of satanic control over the' affairs of earth’s governments. (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:12) The greatest corrupter' and grafter of all time, the Devil, has fought a losing battle for six thousand years to wrest the government of all the universe out of the hands of Jehovah God, the Almighty. Not five per cent, not even two per cent, not one-tenth of one per cent will those get in return who follow him, but only .death and loss of everything, at the latest, in the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:14-16) For that reason Christians point out the way of deliverance through the newly installed heavenly government of the Prince of Peace. They appreciate liberal human government just now that better facilitates their preaching work along with the exercise of inalienable human rights. With absolutely no fear of misused power or cruel oppression men everywhere can now trust in this “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Futurity, Prince of Prosperity”.—Isaiah 9:6, Rotherham.

Ties of drawn-out actions. Tn .despair some have resorted to ’‘‘momentary catastrophes” in an effort to approach a rational explanation of otherwise inex-plair.able evidence. Creep-i ing glaciers or sheets of ice hundreds or thousands cf feet thick are offered, all of which sound dangerously close to catastrophic. TTie prominent physicist, George

OURS is not the? first world. Not if “world” refers to the arrangement or system of things prevailing over a specified period of time. Planet earth was formerly the home of a world very different from ours, to which its stratified rock, fossil cemeteries and numerous occurrences in its crust yet bear witness. Our oldest reliable history booK, the Bible, relates the strange fate of that world in the following few swift lines: “There were heavens in ancient times and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God, and by Those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water.” —2 Peter 3:5, 6, New World Trans.

Today’s geologists are not supposed to believe this account of the last world’s end. Growing up along with Darwinian evolution since the middle of the last century, the theory of ’uniformitarianism has enslaved learned scientists to the conviction that they must explain every change in earth’s past by moans of very slow, gradual processes/ Thus have they been forced to describe such enormous acts as the appearance of mountain ranges and the seesawing of continents and ocean beds through a monotonously molasses-like se-

• The trends 1r modern gecloay. development and sYioriooTrJnBS of the unJformitarlan theory are discussed in our but issue August 3, on paje H. In the ari’cJe, "Earth's Fast— Calm nr Cataclysmic? ‘

Gamow, grows bold beyond words in honestly estimating a series of twelve “revolutions” of the past during which earth development processes were immeasurably speeded up. Follow now the account of the latest of these revolutions as he words it:

“One of the first great achievements of th? Cainozoic revolution . .. was the giant (‘rumpling of the crust in the southern part of Asia, which raised the brand-new mountains of the Himalayas high above the surrounding plains. This crumpling was accompanied by terrific volcanic activity, and unprecedented quantities of basaltic lava were spread over the surrounding regions. The Deccan plateau, for example, which includes a large part of the Indian peninsula, rests upon basaltic rocks 10,000 feet thick, the cooled-down lava poured over the surface of the Earth during this period of upheaval.”*

Whatever else the severest critic might say, there is no denying that words like those bring the Biblical account of the catastrophic Noachian deluge entirely within the realm of science. The universal flood, last of earth's early cataclysms, would hardly require more than one of Gamow's “revolutions”. True, he says the latest of these occurred about forty million years ago, whereas the Bible allows only

mH- .■ ■!

* Biography of the Earth, by George Garr.ow, p. 154. forty-three centuries since the flood. But do not forget that events that happen, suddenly do not require vast time periods to account for them. Furthermore, in our last preceding issue it was shown that the fabulous.time scales of evolutionary scientists were admittedly largely the product of guesswork and void of results in supplying proof for evolutionary changes. The very cornerstone of uniformitarianism, Sir Charles Lyell, confessed the hopelessness of trying to assign “a chronological value” to any of the geological periods except the latest.1 Uniformitarianism, then, has replaced the older theory of catastrophism with guesses, not facts; so we need not fear to quote the older geologists as if they were outdated and disproved. W. B. Galloway, M.A.,t a writer of the last century, gives us the views of Cuvier, who was to the older geological school what Lyell became to the later one:

“ ‘I am well aware,’ says Cuvier, ‘that some naturalists lay prodigious stress upon the thousands of years which they can call into action by a dash of their pens. In such matters, however, our only way of judging as to the effects which may be produced by a long period of time is by multiplying, as it were, such as are produced by a shorter known time.’ And this remark he applies to the question of the fixity or the transmutation of species,—a question which grew up alongside of the assumed vast periods of the geologists. In regard to the periods that preceded man it is unnecessary here to speak; but as to the Diluvial or Boulder deposit Cuvier is very decided. ‘By a careful investigation,’ he observes, ‘of what has taken place on the surface of the globe, since it has been laid dry for the last time, and its continents have assumed their present form, at least in such parts as are somewhat elevated above the level of the ocean, it may be clearly seen that the last revolution, and consequently the establishment of our existing societies, could not have been very ancient. This result is one of the best established, and least attended to, in rational zoology; and it is so much the more valuable, as it connects natural and civil history in one uninterrupted series.’ And again, after taking notice of the traditionary evidence of many nations, as well as the narrative in the book of Genesis, he says in his concluding reflections, ‘I am of opinion, then, with M. Deluc and M. Do-lomieu,;—that if there is any circumstance thoroughly established in geology, it is that the crust of our globe has been subjected to a great and sudden revolution, the date of which cannot be fixed much farther back than five or six thousand, years ago.’ ”

The Old World Left in a Hurry

The evidence is overwhelming that the last world left as suddenly as it did catastrophically, nofhaving time to neatly pack before moving. Galloway furnishes an authoritative account of wondrous boulder drifts, the apparently aimless scattering of massive rock formations, often far from native settings, as if some' Gargantua had grown weary of his building blocks and with a sweep of the hand had hurled them earth-wide. “With these,” we read, “there are also long and lofty ridges of sand and gravel, mingled with boulders, stones, and shells, stretching from northward to southward in approximately parallel lines, while in extensive tracts, both on hills and in deep hollows, sometimes to the depth of a hundred feet or more, there are masses of clay intermixed all through with angular stones and blocks, partially rounded or blunted at their comers and edges, occasionally scratched or striated, and not at all stratified, but confusedly mixed pell-mell, as if by the prodigious rush and stirring of some unmeasured power, like plums all through a pudding. And this vast deposit contains abundant animal and vegetable remains, bones of fossil elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, lions, tigers, bears, elks, and other denizens of warm and temperate climates, with walruses also, and mixed sometimes, in its lighter portions, with arctic drift of shells . . . and these animals, which largely belong to species or varieties now extinct, appear to have all at once suddenly perished, seemingly from the operation of the same cause which has covered the earth with the prodigious and overwhelming drift that still ifribeds them.”2

Sir Henry H. Howorth, nineteenthcentury flood geologist of much stature professionally, agreed emphatically with such conclusions, considering these depositions sure signs of a great flood. He added too that water’s denuding power qualified it as the cause of the evident cataclysm as much as its depositing qualities. He pointed to districts where any flood waters would surely flow with particular force and speed and emphasized the consistently bare nature of these areas, all debris swept aside into clefts and hollows. He indicated that the great boulder deposits were generally in northern regions, the rocks thinning out to the southward and the softer debris, sand and loam, etc., increasing. Then he adds: “It would be natural if there was a great flood that the softest and finest of the materials which the water swept away should be carried the furthest and left in wide-spreading layers; but this is quite inconsistent with any action of land ice, or the diurnal [daily, hence regular or normal] operation of water, and, in fact, of any other agency than that of a great flood.’2!

* The Testimony o/ Science to the Deluge pp. 7-92 t The Glacial Nipbtmare and the FZood, p2 863,

Scoffers Advocate “Slow Death”

Modem scoffers, armed with their doctrine of uniformity, convinced that nothing has ever happened in the past for which there are not now processes somewhere in operation, claim that the world before us, to use a figure of speech, quietly passed away in its sleep. They visualize all of earth’s past ages gliding serenely by, stratified sedimentary layers forming in ocean beds or by glacial erosion and deposition, the continents and sea bottoms ever so slowly changing places.

However, Professor H. W. Clark attacks this position, saying: “Nowhere on earth today are the rivers laying down sediments that even resemble the deposits found in the stratified rocks.” He applies this in turn to well-known rivers like the Amazon and the Mississippi and, as well, to the very swift-flowing streams of British Columbia and Norway. Even in the latter case what boulders and gravel might be brought seaward in the flood season are, he states, “dropped into deep fjords or left as delta deposits in narrow canyons. There is no evidence anywhere of the formation of vast plains covered with gravel and sand as we find in the rocks in the interior of our continents.” What these continental sedimentary plains are like he shows, referring to an Oklahoma limestone deposit2 in one place over 7,000 feet thick and to the Spring mountains in southern Nevada where 16,000 feet of sediments are reported, the upper 5,000 feet of which is limestone.! Explaining that such solid lime deposits cannot be accounted for by any known processes now going on in the seas, Clark next cites another authority, W. B. Scott, whose words fill the listener with wonder:

“In the East this great limestone has but a limited extension southward, but south-westward it stretches for nearly 1,000 miles, to Wisconsin and thence across Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and western Tennessee. Many scattered outliers in Manitoba and the region west of Hudson Bay indicate the probably former extension of the limestone unbrokenly to the Arctic shores and islands.”3

Clark states that the earth’s great mountain ranges were produced by the upheaval of thousands of feet of sediments previously laid down in long, narrow troughs, which earlier depositing process points over and over to torrential running water. As to oceans performing this chore, George McCready Price says: “The ocean currents are very superficial in their action, and at the bottom of the deep seas there reigns a perpetual calm; so that no true stratified formations are row forming there at all. Yet all of our stratified rocks on the continents contain deep-sea fossils interbedded with other fossils from the lands—conditions which are wholly without explanation in the light cf present-day conditions.”! Howorth presents compelling evidence to disqualify the sea, rivers and especially melting glaciers as the deposition agents in a gradual process. On the latter point, the cause of floods from melt-

Ing ice at the close of the glacial age, he says Interestingly of the quick entry of warm temperature this would necessitate: "The change of climate involved must have been very sudden, cr very rapid, much more sudden and rapid than is consistent with any uniform!tar:an theory.”3

Driving home appreciation of the power that the evidence shows the all-important water must have carried with it, one of Howorth’s sources declares: “The impulse of an ocean upturned from its bed, rolling impetuously over the land, and carrying everything before it, may be supposed competent to such a work.” f Thus on every hand multiplied evidence mounts to point in the same direction, toward a global flood of universal scope and sudden occurrence. Yet, because of having to upset the entire accepted theory of modern geology to establish this point, we next proceed to the flood's most outstanding physical proof of all. one that best points up its dimensions, its suddenness and its following effects on the earth. In mind are the globe’s great fossil cemeteries, in quest of which in the succeeding article we first turn our attention to the wastes of the now frozen north,

* TAP GLirlal Mohtmare aticf tfie Flood, p. 814.

t From Dr+ Mitchell's appendix to the American laiion of Cuvier's works, published in 1818 and entitled, "Observations the Geology of N, America/' Incidentally, he here argues that American k/and lakes are rem rants of a once vast sheet of vaster. This has been upheld elsewhere for all inland seas and former inland seas of the world See Jotr, □/ Trtwsac. of the Victoria last, Vol. LXn. 1930. p. 79.

God M our refuge and strength, a vert/ present help in trouble, Therefore wiZJ we not feart though the earth do change, and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the teas; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountainff tremble with the swelling thereof,—Psalm 46;l-3, Star., Ver.

dining when lulled; we hear that they perished of a gradual change in climate, but they were hale and hearty, not at all pale, wilting or undernourished. Death by other animals, local diseases or plagues—each suggested “normal” cause fails. The carcasses are found whole, bones are found ungnawed. Moreover, not alone the mammoth, old and young and in vast herds, perished, So did all other forms of life. Ho-worth cites the tropical hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses and hyenas, as well as the more northern bear, glutton, musk sheep, reindeer, snowy owl, ptarmigan, etc., that tasted death in the same swift catastrophe. Clark lists others, creatures many of which we no longer are acquainted with: ‘titano-theres, huge rhinoceroslike creatures; hy-racotheres, like horses; giant pigs; eventoeci ungulates resembling modem deer, cattle and antelopes; great dogs, wolves, and the saber-toothed tiger; series of camels; and in the water many queer forms, including the zeuglodon, a whalelike creature 75 feet long.”4 What disaster cut down the mighty mammoth and his awesome entourage?

Sudden Death and Global Change

Where the carcasses are not preserved and only bones remain—often a conglomeration of mixed parts from innumerable species—we learn further lessons. Ho-worth, the distinguished Joseph Prestwich f and others consistently agree with Galloway cited earlier in supporting the aimless, “junk-heap” piling together in which these bones are found. Such deposits in caves and fissures, or completely cluttering the soil of concentrated areas like the islands Howorth mentions off Siberia, are found the world over. We read of one of

* The New DilnviaHsm^ p. 24.

t See his book, On Certain Phenomena Belonging to the Close of the Last Geological Period and on Their Bearing upon the Tradition of the Flood, 1895. pp, 6, 7, 30, 31.

these cave deposits in America that yielded bone sizes all the way from “a house mouse to a mastodon”.4 Many different sources all point out that the bones are broken and scattered with anything approaching a complete skeleton very rare. This fact amply answers the uniformitarian opposers who contend these beasts slipped and fell into the fissures.

On this point, in fact, the hopelessness of their cause should appear plainly to all: To detour around the admission of a great overwhelming catastrophe like a global watery deluge that would sweep the bones of one and all into common burial vaults, jthey obligate themselves to^supply an indi-viduaFcatagtrophe Jor 1 every single^skele-tonjor carcass! It is only fair to warn them that some^estimate as many as^,000,000 n^mffloths_ alpn^ d^d in whafeyer syddezl c^uss^enjed the^last geological period^ Supplying so many disasters will indeed be hard on the quiet natures of easy-going evolutionary-uniformity advocates of continual calm.

Now for extremely direct evidence that a deluge of waters did indeed cut short the careers of the mammoths and company. Says Howorth: “The first piece of evidence I would quote is of a singularly direct kind, and we owe it.to the experienced skill of Professor Brandt. Speaking of the famous rhinoceros found on the Wilui by Pallas^ he says, ‘On a careful examination of the head of the Rhinoceros Tichorinus from the Wilui, it was further remarkable that the blood vessels and even the fine capillaries were seen to be filled with brown coagulated blood, which, in many places, still preserved its red colour? This is exactly the kind of evidence we look for when we want to know whether an animal has been drowned or suffocated. Asphyxia is always accompanied by the gorging of the capillaries with blood, and the facts justify at all events a probable inference that this particular rhinoceros was the victim of drowning?15 Howorth’S own conclusion satisfies logic and the evidence of the case:

“We want a cause that should kill the animals, and yet not break to pieces their bodies, or even mutilate them, a cause that would not merely do this as a wide-spread murrain or plague might, but one which would bury the bodies as well as kill the animals, which could take up gravel and clay and lay them down again, and which could sweep together animals of different sizes and species, and mix them with trees and other debris of vegetation. What cause competent to do this is known to us, except rushing water on a great scale? Water would drown the animals, and yet would not mutilate the bodies. It would kill them all with complete impartiality, irrespective of their strength, age, or size. It would take up clay and earth, and cover the bodies with it. This is the very work it is doing daily on a small scale. Not only could it do this, but it is the only cause known to me capable of doing the work on a scale commensurate with the effects we see in Siberia.”!

Moreover, this source exhaustively recounted examples showing identical circumstances to those in Siberia existing in Europe, in all Asia, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, in short, in all the world, i Note his account of elephants buried sixty feet deep with shells

* This Is a very general finding in the mummified heads sufficiently preserved to be so examined. See Jour, of Transaa. ol the Victoria InsL, Vol, LXII, 1930. pp, 65-70, Also, the news report regarding the earlier mentioned mammoth found In 1926 told the same story in that case. Of another rhinoceros Howorth says the examiner. Sehrenck. found its nostrils '’wide open, and tn the case o£ the one on the right side, which was uninjured, a number of horizontal folds were ranged In rows about It. The mouth was also partly open, whence It may be concluded that the animal died from suffocation, which it tried to avoid by keeping the nostrils wide asunder”.—The Mammoth and the Flood, pp. 184, 185.

f The Mammoth and the Flood, p, 184,

t Besides the above book see also The Glacial Nightmare and the Flood and Ice or Water by same author. and underdeposits forming one continuous, undisturbed strata near L^ke Ontario; or take his reference to Darwin who was once shown some imbedded mastodon skeletons in South America by guides who, not understanding how they got into the cliff, thought the monster was once a burrowing animal! Bone deposits being found in the highest places, Howorth argues that the lower lands for vast distances about were automatically covered by any waters attaining the peaks. Hence the deluge was continental, and, since the signs are found everywhere, global as well.5

Climate Change at the Flood

From the mammoths found standing upright it is apparent they sank straight down into their earth tombs. This means Siberian soil must have been very soft at that time. Yet the ground had to become frozen immediately after enclosing them to account for the complete preservation of so many carcasses. Howorth underlines the futility of the great tropical mammals’ subsisting on the barren, frozen, treeless tundras of today's northern' Siberia: “They cannot graze close to the ground like oxen. They live on the foliage and small branches of trees, and on juicy canes and long grasses (which grow shoulder-high in the jungles and the beds of African rivers).” Do not forget that fragments of their preferred food are found between their teeth so that any doubt whatsoever is removed. Though some uniformitarians weakly argue that the animals migrated northward, Howorth quaintly reminds that even so “we cannot conceive trees doing so”; yet there buried with the mammoths are the remnants of the rich forests that once surrounded them. f

The evidence pieced together, then, depicts an earth of old that luxuriantly flour-

ished in warm climate, soft soil and rich vegetation far, far north of all such bounds today. It was an age of giants, not only in the plant kingdom, but among animals too, an age of the last of the great monsters. Painstaking study long ago revealed to geologists how it ended, the only way conformable to the multiplied facts: by a great global flood. These facts have never changed, but in geology, as in other sciences it has influenced, the atheistic doctrine of evolution points in the way it chooses, obstinately ignoring facts. Only because they have become enslaved to evolutionary philosophy and oppose the Bible as a part of their evolutionary creed, not because they have uncovered new evidence, have modem geologists rejected the older, well-proved views which conform with the Bible. Thus they have had to invent circumstances to fit the facts and push the close of the last geological period far back into the dim past.

Still, the surface of the earth, the rock layers, the gouged canyons, rugged up-heaved mountains and the world-wide cemetery of mixed bones and frozen carcasses all tell of a time when an unparalleled deluge poured down from on high, when the earth shook, its very seams split and its oceans scooped out their might from their beds and hurled it flush at the land. Imagine the effect of the continual supercloudburst, the oceanic tidal waves pounding in never-say-die fury, animals (and where they existed, men) scattering to hilltops only to wait a bit longer for the mounting waters,6 Left behind was an earth mutilated and, as Wallace long ago put it, “zoologically impoverished.’’ In just this way does the Bible confirm that “the world of that time” met its violent end.

The Last “World’s” Lesson for This Oiie

“World”? By this we mean more than geologists would have in mind. Noting the verse from Second Peter found in our open-6 ing paragraph, it is seen that besides an “earth” “there were heavens in ancient times.” The “earth”, that is, the ruling factors thereof and their society, being entirely wicked before God, as Genesis tells us, it is evident the “heavens" or superior part of that world was likewise evil. The Bible is clear that Satan and other disobedient angels that had forsaken their trust by the time of the flood composed this superior element (2 Peter 2,-4; Jude 6) Of course the flood waters had no effect upon the satanic heavens, but they were nonetheless overturned in such a way as to require reorganizing. The effectiveness till now of Satan’s revamped world organization is very evident. But most important of all, Second Peter goes on to state: “But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.”—2 Peter 3:7, New World Trans.

The battle of Armageddon ending this present system of things will bring a wave of destruction far beyond that of even the flood. Most interestingly, besides the past revolutions in earth’s history of which he speaks, physicist Gamow describes-another one coming, featuring wild volcanic activity, crumpling and shaking, and says that the earth will not then "be a very comfortable place”. He admits his inability to predict the date for this holocaust, and, truly, neither does the Bible tell us that. But it tells us more important details. It assures us that Armageddon does not depend upon geological calculations, that it is a certainty for the same reason the flood was, God’s judgment against wickedness. Jesus likened our day to Noah’s and urged our awareness of the flood’s lesson for us. —Matthew 24:37-39.

The Bible is the most competent source in pointing out the way of deliverance for the godly. Some learned men who found evidence of a former global flood had to exempt some remote areas where life could flee so that they could have an explanation for life’s continuance to now. As to just where these places of refuge were, they are not usually very specific. However, the Bible alone shows how the limited amount of life preserved was carried over and yet remains consistent with the geological proof that the flood covered the whole earth. As the ark saved then, so does its counterpart, the new world society under the Greater Noah, Christ Jesus, offer salvation now to those who believe what they see in the earth and in God’s written Word.

By 1‘Awake!

family, whether girl’s mother is

the B sus-

—How They Do It in Nigeria

prosperous farm

er. Being considered a “big man" in the community he has eight wives and all together about fifteen children. His firstborn is a daughter and is the favorite. She has been blessed with an education which many of his other children have not had. She is now seventeen and has left school. Her name is Mgbkfo.

In the same village is another well-established family. The husband has three wives, and his eldest son, named Nwankwo, is twenty-four. They keep a general store in the village and Nwankwo works under his father. Nwankwo wants to marry, and his eye has come to rest on Mgbafo.

Nwankwo belongs to the populous Ibo tribe and his marriage will conform to Iho custom. Nwankwo tells his father, who makes secret inquiries about the status of Mgbafo’s family. They include such matters as the reputation and integrity of the pected of witchcraft, whether there is any serious disease in the family, etc. Also the local juju will be consulted. Offerings of chickens or goats may be made and with suitable incantations the juju priest will say whether the juju approves the match.

Next the fathers meet, the proposition is made and finally agreed upon, the girl’s consent being automatic in accordance with her father's wishes. But what about the price? Yes, you cannot get a wife for nothing in Nigeria! Dowry must be paid in hard cash. How much? Mgbafo is an educated girl, the eldest and the favorite. Mazi Ijoma demands £120 ($336.00) for her.

After much haggling, £100 is agreed upon, two-thirds of which must be in cash.

Bride price varies throughout the country, Formerly the payment of dowry was a mere token and sums demanded were moderate and often strictly regulated. But not now! For educated girls sums from £80 to £150 are common and for illiterates up to £50 may be demanded. Many are the complaints about exorbitant bride prices, and the common people are tiring of such practices. In one area the local Native Administration fixed the price at £10 and got the wholehearted support of the local community. One man demanded more for his daughter and the enraged populace broke his house down to the foundations.

Fattening the Bride

Unlike Western women, reducing is not a problem for the African bride-to-be. African husbands like them plump. So now follows the strange custom of fattening. A special room, known as the fattening room, is set aside in Mazi Ijoma’s compound. Here Mgbafo will be more or less confined for quite a long time. It may be a few months, it might even be over a year. While fattening, Mgbafo is allowed to do very little work, just a few domestic chores. She must bathe three times a day and eat only the richest food. Every day she rubs into her skin a mixture of oil and powdered redwood. As the wedding day approaches, all kinds of elaborate patterns will be tattooed on her skin with certain plant juices that leave a deep stain, In some communities a special day is appointed when all the fattened brides in the neighborhood arc brought out into the market place to be exhibited to admiring onlookers amid much merriment, drumming, singing and dancing. The fattened girls are carried around shoulder-high.

With the wedding day come many elaborate arrangements. Gifts are presented to the bride, her father, mother and relatives. Many items of native food and drink will be provided, such as yams, palm oil, kola nuts, palm wine, bamboo wine, walnuts, alligator pepper, palm gin and other things. Various gifts of money will be paid to Mghafo’s relatives according to local custom. Strange customs are found in some tribes. "Hie Urhobos wash the bride’s feet and sacrifice a he-goat, placing blood marks on the foreheads and toes of both husband and wife. In some cases wedding celebrations stretch over several days and there is much merriment, dancing, drumming and feasting. Finally, after dark, at the close of the final day of rejoicing, Mgbafo will be led to her new home, to start life with Nwankwo.

Polygamy

But African marriage, with all its varied customs, is tainted and defiled. Heartaches and wrecked homes are not peculiar to the Western world, by any means, Polygamy has always been practiced, but with the “last days" the evils and abuses it has brought, and the trail of marital wreckage that strews the country, stagger the imagination. More particularly has this been the case since World War II, with the return of thousands of Nigerian soldiers from the Far Eastern battle fronts, A recent article in the Daily Times estimated that one in every eight marriages now ends in divorce, but this tells only a small fraction of the real story. As an example of the general moral collapse, it is reported that in the Ijesha tribe, in former times, if a clergyman or a teacher was found with more than one wife he would be severely penalized and relieved of his position. But not so now! One so-called "Christian father" is reported as having four wives and numerous concubines, such being general knowledge in the district.

Domestic troubles in polygamous households are many and serious. The first wife is always considered the senior and it is upon her that the husband is expected to bestow most attention. Woe betide him if one of the junior wives oecomes more attractive tc him! One report tells of an unhappy man with but two wives. They poi-

soned each other and poisoned him at the same time. Both women died, and he recovered only after a long and costly illness. If the senior wife has a daughter and one of the junior wives a son (who is heir), the senior wife may try to kill him. Among the Ijeshas the practice of poisoning children has become so widespread that some children will renounce their father’s property in order to safeguard their lives.

One motive for multiplying wives is to obtain help for working the land. Wives are cheap labor and do more work than the men. One Ibo man is reported as obtaining three extra wives to help on his farm. He transferred his affections from his first wife to one of the new ones. Off to the medicine man went the senior wife. After the next meal he and his two sons were found writhing in agony. The poison did its work and all three died.

The custom of demanding exorbitant bride prices has encouraged immorality. Unable to find the money to buy a wife, many young men will seek the easy way out, and fornication has become rampant. At one time it was frowned upon and even to this day, in Agbor, the name of a fornicator will be incorporated in some popular taunt-song, which will be sung publicly in the streets to the shame and embarrassment of the offender. At one time an Ibo woman caught in adultery would have her head shaved anid the skull of a dog would be bound to her head.

Marriage by proxy, practiced mostly by the Ibos, brings much trouble. A man living many hundreds of miles away will write to a relative and ask him to find a wife, sending down whatever dowry he is prepared to pay, and probably a photograph. The relative acts as a go-between and concludes all arrangements, and the wedding day is the first time the girl will have set eyes on her future husband. Imagine the complications! A recent newspaper story told of one such girl traveling to the north of Nigeria to meet her husband. On the railway platform she was introduced to a rough, ill-mannered “bulldog” whom she was told was her husband. After an embarrassing ‘’scene” in public, she took the next train home. Another account tells of an Ibo girl rushing into the bush and hanging herself after the first meeting with her husband-to-be.

The birth of children gives rise to many curious and elaborate ceremonies. At one time the birth of twins was considered an ill omen. Both children might be put to death and even the mother done away with for fear the juju would bring a curse on the village. Sometimes just one child would be killed and the mother banished to the bush in isolation for about three months, because considered polluted. But more recently there has been a complete about-face in some tribes. Some Ibo communities look on the birth of twins with great joy, and among the Ekitis they may be reverenced and even worshiped. Superstitions connected with the birth of children include the widespread belief in reincarnation. Ibos believe that if their children manifest some particular trait that was present in a dead relative, that child is-a reincarnation of that person. The belief is also shared by other tribes. Even those professing Christianity still cling to such superstitions.

To those who regard marriage as a sacred arrangement, and the birth of children as a blessing from the Creator, the above account is truly a sad story. But it will not last much longer. In the new world there will be no polygamy with its attendant evils, no exorbitant bride prices, nor will there be domestic quarrels, hatred, jealousy and murder. All that will be gone. Nigerians, like all others, will be able to enjoy true theocratic marriage.

Pghpow Successes Questioned the ones expressed by the fourteenth-century

€ "The churches must find a better ‘measur If Roman Catholic knight, Thomas Stitny, who Ing rod* lor their successes or failure than || has been termed "the father of Bohemian the counting of heads and the number of 8 prose”. Said he; "A sermon of St. Augustine church buildings, a sociologist suggested Mon- a| has encouraged me to be bolder in writing day,” said a December 11 Associated Press re- g Bohemian books which relate to the Holy port from Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania. "Dr. 1 Scriptures; for from it every one can see how William G. Mather, professor of rural soclol- S good a thing it is to read the Holy Scriptures, ogy at Pennsylvania State college, told a con- y And those who condemn books in the Bohe-ference of the National Council of the Church- ■ mian language, even if good ones, wishing es of Christ In the LT. S. A, that the 'measure perhaps to be the only persons who appear of religion* can no more be gauged by church || wise, might well dread the vengeance of God, membership *than the counting of the number 1 when they reflect how guilty those are who of people In an area is a measure of health? ” § wish to stop the letters and necessary mes-Dr. Mather proposed the church’s ability to sa^es therein, and to prevent the Lord God, change with the times as a better measuring B the Eternal Bridegroom, from teaching His rod, but even that does not get to the base of 0 bride His will, and comforting her in her dis-the problem. The test of the success of any S tress thereby. Yea, Justly would he be in terror teacher is what the students learn. The g wbo should stop the letters of a king ad-church's failure can be observed by asking a dressed to his queen, if he knew that the king your friends a few simple Bible questions. • was aware of it. And how much greater is the | Lord God than any king! How much dearer Who Turns On the Sun? S t0 111111 is Hls bride—that is, every soul that

<L Not only was the communist god, Stalin, S l°n£>eth for Him—than was any queen dear to baited as "Infinite, Like light and the waves of S king. Wiser men understand this, and the ocean", by a Moscow radio commentator ® know that a Bohemian is as precious to Him on April 4, but the extent of this Red religion S a °/ the Church, Shel-

was shown by a Time magazine report, Jan- g don* Vol. 2, page 428.

uary 21. On a special children’s broadcast on s

the Soviet home radio, the narrator told "Saint” Buddha

of a group of youngsters visiting the Kremlin, <L Perhaps you were surprised to learn that

They stood awestruck under a lighted window w Thomas A Edison had been added to Japan's laje at night, imagining Stalin to be working B list of demon gods (see Awake! October 22, there. One said: "And then, I suppose, the y 1950), but the January 21 issue of Life pointed light goes out and he—actually goes to sleep. 1 out that Roman Catholicism had even made Well, do you know, frankly, I simply can’t S Buddha a saint! Defending its statement imagine him going to sleep just like anyone S that "when the Roman Church heard of else. No, no, I know it-fi silly. I know he must S Buddha, it made him a Christian saint”, Life have sleep, like other people. But it’s just that 3 reported: "Before canonization became offi-I can’t Imagine it, somehow. Not him. And do I dal, it was common Christian practice to you know, whenever the sun rises over Mos- B venerate holy men, Including those of other cow I always think it’s he, Stalin, who switch- 8 religions. One of the most popular holy men es on the light ..." S was Buddha, whose story and legends had

u spread through Christendom. Although Bud-Gregory VII versus Sritnj of Bohemia 1 dha himself was never canonized, the first

<t Pope Gregory VII of the eleventh century R authoritative list of saints, drawn up tn the expressly thanked God that the Bible was S 16th Century, included a Saint Josaphat who, written in Latin, a dead language, so that the S according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, was common people would not be able to read it. g 'a Christianized version of one of the legends In striking contrast with those sentiments are I of Buddha? ”

By "Awoke I" correipondenl In Canada

THE Indians are coming! Those dread words sent a cold chill down the spine of many an early American settler as he hurriedly prepared for fight or flight. When and how these first inhabitants arrived, how they lived and spent their time, etc,, are questions that have engaged the attention of many writers and filled numerous books. Not all are based on fact, for the wildest and most weird imagination was often the main spring from which such stories issued. But, paper is cheap, pens are docile and fiction goes unchallenged.

The story of Indians cannot be told on a few pages. Their language, habitation and customs can be traced from the Straits of Magellan to the Arctic circle and are as varied as the changing scenery of the Western Hemisphere, Nor were they all isolated or nomadic. Some were as permanently settled as their white brothers are today. But their marvelous prowess, sagacity and powers of endurance were often exaggerated. Neither were they always the savages that careless writers de

picted. This account does not claim to be a complete description of the red man. We propose to discuss only those tribes settled along the British Columbia coast where the totem pole is found.

Much misunderstanding has surrounded the use of the totem. Guesses that they were idols and worshiped as such are wrong. The fact is that they were visible records of family prestige. The more crests a man had the higher he stood in his own esteem, and in the opinion of the tribe. Each crest or totem represented a clan, as, for example, the bear, eagle, hawk, salmon, whale, etc. And each had to stay rigidly within his own clan; the only way another coveted totem could be acquired was through marriage. This did not enhance the success of marriage, but it was good for the totem business.

Owning and erecting a totem was not simple, it had to be accompanied by much traditional custom and ceremony, as in the white man’s lodges or in his awarding of decorations. The owner had to qualify. If he assumed a position higher than his station in the tribe permitted, he became the laughingstock as a fraud. Skulduggery and chiseling often went on as one owner vied with another in keeping up with the Joneses. Among the Kwakuitl there were nobles, commoners and slaves. Nobles had special privileges and inherited rights, such as the ufee of family crests, songs and dances, Only the nobles took part in the complicated ceremonial rites of the tribe, and only they were permitted to wear the ceremonial regalia, such as elaborate button and Chilcat blankets, carved masks, and feathered headdress. Nobles had all the privileges, A commoner might raise his status if he could accumulate enough goods to give a great potlatch, but a slave was always a slave.

The Potlatch

The potlatch (meaning gift) became popular as a means of attaining special position and favor. A chief scraped up everything in his possession and went into limitless debt to accumulate valuables, such as guns, knives, canoes, blankets, utensils, foodstuffs, etc. Then a great feast was proclaimed and hundreds, sometimes thousands of Indians were invited, where they gorged and feasted, sang and danced while the greatness of the host was extolled by paid proclaimers and hired singers, until his dusky highness decided upon the propitious moment to play Santa Claus. Then everything was given away according to the receiver's status in the tribe. These potlatches became so lavish and competitive that the owners often suffered complete destitution until the government stepped in and stopped the custom. But these potlatch gifts were not without strings, because each receiver was obliged to return them upon demand of the bestower, sometimes at exorbitant interest. Thus, besides the social elevation, the Indian viewed the potlatch as a kind of insurance policy that would net him profitable returns when required. It was on these festive occasions that totem poles were raised and set into place. It everywhere represented Indian history carved in wood.

The elaborate complex structure of Indian life called for continual effort to accumulate wealth for potlatch ceremonies. This desire for prestige and self-aggrandizement became their chief stimulant to creative genius, giving birth to bizarre, highly imaginative and vigorous art. Not only were crests carved on poles, dishes, canoes and masks, they were even tattooed on the bodies of highborn people. There were heraldic poles, memorial, house and mortician poles. Some honored not only the dead but also served to proclaim the worth of the successor. Totem poles, therefore, in general, signified not only a chief or noble's crest, but those of his wife, and the hereditary crests of both sides of the family. They were genealogical trees. The Haida Indians on the Queen Charlotte islands carve4 totems from stone. Intricate and artistic were the designs, the more weird and terrifying the better. Totem, song and dance makers were highly skilled specialists who carved and composed exclusively for their employers, and woe to the thoughtless Indian who sang his neighbor's song!

Skillful Improvisers

Besides totems the Indians had other uses for cedar. Weird masks were ornately carved with sea shells, human hair, animal skins, animal and bird claws, rattles and drums. Boats were made of cedar and the famous Indian dugout was chipped out of a solid log sometimes sixty feet in length. Some of these war canoes held forty men and were surprisingly seaworthy. One of these, decked in and equipped with sails, was sailed around the world in a 40,000-mile cruise by a Captain Voss. It is now on exhibit at Victoria, B.C. It withstood the ocean's shock and returned in one piece. A remarkable testimony to the red man's skill.

Unlike the white man the Indian was no inventor. Primitive indeed were his tools until he learned of and accepted the white man’s machines, which he quickly learned to use. But until then, his food, clothing and shelter came only by the laborious work of his hands. It made him a keen hunter. Empty stomachs have a way of demanding action. His vocation was that of the permanent sleuth and the methods of obtaining his ends were often ingenious.

Blankets were made from mountain goat wool with yellow cedar bark designs so expertly woven that not a flaw could be detected. Watertight baskets made of spruce roots and cedar bark were used as con-tamers; buoys were made from seal bladders. Leather was softly tanned and dyed or painted with native-made colors of mellow tone and permanent quality. Human hair headdresses were worn only by fully graduated members of secret societies. Of their designs it may be said that no machine has yet been able to duplicate their intricacy and workmanship. These people had developed an art that, for class and style, was second to none.

The Hunter's Religion

The men were the hunters. To kill the wild game by hand in their own elements requited shrewd tact and toughness, it meant do or die, quite often both; so when the men delivered the game that was considered sufficient, the women then took over. The braves generally loafed around, conserving their strength for the next ordeal. No doubt, too, like their white brothers, they would bluff and brag while describing the big ones that got away.

As with other races, so the Indian always considered his own tribe the superior. Also in their religious beliefs they greatly differed. Myths, legends and superstition had a tight grip upon all. Like the modem patent medicine pill, the medicine man's mystic relic, whether a bone, a doorknob or pebble, had miraculous curative powers and was good for anything from an earache to a broken leg. A few mystic whirls and the patient was either cured or buried.

Also, like apostate Christendom, they believed in an immortal soul, only everything had a soul and all were people, as, for example, the “salmon people”, the “whale people”, etc. They believed that they had themselves transmigrated from the animals and at death would return to the animal world. The animal carvings on their totem poles portrayed this. Therefore, even now in places when a body is buried extra clothes, trinkets and usable articles are buried with the body for later use. They know the articles themselves rot, but the soul does not; thus, everything buried with the body becomes good for its owner's use in the afterlife. How they need the truth!

The white man’s religion has been pushed upon the Indian and all reserves are under some kmd of “church” administration; but while he outwardly conforms^ inwardly his beliefs are doubtful. In many reserves the churches are cobwebbed and musty. The Indian ignores them.

New World Hope

Theocratic new world instruction has come to the Indian along the coast by boat for some years, but the natives have been exploited by the white man so long and successfully that everything a white man brings is under suspicion and distrust. The native Looked but said nothing. However, since the full-time ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses had nothing to sell and nothing to join, gradually this reserve broke down and now in many places the publishers are openly greeted as “Tillicums” (friends) and many heart-cheering acceptances are experienced. Along the coast there are now some valiant fighters among the native people, whose dexterity at handling the truth has made many a white domine take to the tall timber in retreat. The movement is growing, and once these people take hold of the new world instruction themselves there is no telling the final number that may be affected. The Lord will have all kinds of men in his new system of things.

But the day of the totem is past. In many villages ancient relics still silhouette the sky but they are mere memories of a past that has faded, their one-time pomp and ritual gone, their present dilapidation proving Soiomon’s conclusion: “All is vanity?7 Soon the white man's “totem pole” civilization

will follow along the same road to oblivion. Only the tourist agencies are interested and still use them as advertising attractions. Except for commercial purposes no one makes them anymore.

Today the Canadian native Indians ask for education. They want their children to stand equal to the white man’s; they demand the franchise. They own and operate a fine fleet of boats. They drive streamlined cars and many of their homes are as up-to-date as those of citizens. The truth is they are reaching for equality with all ather men. And why not? The Creator has made of one original man all nations.—Acts 17:26, New World Trans.

It is most thrilling to see our red-skinned brothers engaging with us from door to door and on the street in the education campaign of exposing the fallacies of an old, antiquated ruinous order and punching home the logical, practical-working possibilities of the new. What is more practical than a new system ushering in one world, one government, one people, where all barriers are removed and mankind is again forged into one united family? Under such a regime no settler will be frightened by the dreaded war whoop. There will be no international conflicts. And there will be no totem poles to bind men to boastful excesses or mystic superstitions. The truth will make them free. (John 8:32) For tVie first time since Eden mankind will be so satisfied that “the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind”. —Isaiah 65:17, Am. Stan. Ver.

…