Awake!, May 22, 1954

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BAPTISM BY BOMBS

Japan’s reaction to the nuclear blasts in the Pacific, as told by "Awake!” correspondent in Japan

"Created It Not a Waste”

Blame creeping deserts on man, not God!

From Pagan Cults to Modern Sects

Heathenism in so-called Christianity

— -.....—---

The Central Nervous Syster

Marvelous human organism shows wisdom of divine Creator

MAY 22, 1954 SEMIMONTHLY

THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL

News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital mwuca of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interests. “Awake 1” has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; tt is 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!” 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*scenes reports come to you through these columns. This journal’s viewpoint is not narrow, but is international. It is read in many nations, tn 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 I” 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!”

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CONTENTS

The Need for a prophet

Baptism by Bombs

Worrying About the Wrong Thing? 8 From Papan Cults to Modern Sects

“Created It Not a Waste"’

Why the Growth?

Toronto Goes Underground

Right to Teach Bible Upheld

The Bible Again Proved Right

At Least He Had Ambition!

The Central Nervous System

“Enlightened Nagging"

Which “English" Do You Speak ?

They Are More than Pets!

“Your Word Is Truth"

Righteous World Without Decalogue 25 Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach

in All the Earth—Nyasaland

Do You Know?

Watching the World

Volume XXXV

Brooklyn, N. Y., May 22, 1954

Number 10

The Need for a Prophet

TO MANY people the world’s future looks bleak. This is not because man lack’s inventive powers, or because of economic conditions, or because man lacks strength to survive difficulties. Man has all these things in good quantity. The bleak outlook surrounds man’s inability to create peace so as to enjoy these conditions.

Representative W. Sterling Cole, chairman of the United States Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, said last February 17 that man is stepping into an age where one hydrogen bomb can unleash a "destructive force exceeding all the TNT dropped on Germany, Italy and Japan combined throughout all of World War II” I The test of a hydrogen device in the Pacific in 1952, he said, “completely obliterated” the test island and tore a mile-wide crater in the ocean’s floor, 175 feet deep at its lowest point. This crater, he explained, could swallow all of downtown Chicago.

According to the New York World-Telegram and Sun, such an explosion could split New York’s Manhattan Island in two, linking the Hudson and East Rivers, obliterating the Empire State and Chrysler buildings, leaving Wall Street’s towers cracked and broken, windowless, gaunt and fire-singed, destroying massive bridges, tunnels and railroad stations, killing two million persons, and injuring 1.5 million. More powerful bombs have been tested.

Not a very pretty picture, is it? Not a firm hope or shining prophecy. It is the sort of thing that makes some people turn to religion. But speaking a short time earlier to a Methodist Student Movement meeting in Lawrence, Kansas, Boston University’s Professor Harold A. Ehrensperger said, January 2: “We have identified our religion with the powers of this world, and there are no true prophets to sound our doom, to shock us into awareness of our sins and to stab us awake before we destroy one another.” Religion, he said, has become “a name, an institution, not an experience in life. What we lack are prophets—there are no prophets any more.” He further pointed out that if cultures are to be transformed, men must be transformed; that if a man really becomes "a new crea-tiire in Christ, he begins to live a transforming life. Everything he touches will be transformed . . . Thus are cultures genuinely transformed.”

Can it be that there are no such true prophets today? Or is it rather that, as it was many times in the days of Israel, the prophets are in the minority and the people in general just will not recognize them as such and listen? A true prophet is usually disliked by the world, not honored by it. The true prophet, looking to the interests of those who want to do right, must show where the world is wrong. The world rarely appreciates being shown this. It wants to go its own way rather than God’s. That is proved by Biblical examples. Elijah was a true prophet. Because of his activity Jezebel threatened his life. (1 Kings 19:2) Jeremiah was a true prophet Because of prophesying truly he was smitten and jailed. (Jeremiah 20:2; 38:6) Zechariah was a true prophet. He was stoned for warning: “Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of Jehovah, so that ye cannot prosper? because ye" have forsaken Jehovah, he hath also forsaken you/’ —2 Chronicles 24:20, 21, ‘Am, Stan. Ver.

The purpose of true prophets is to warn, not just of impending wars, but of God’s wrath, of the necessity of properly serving nim. This need is even greater today, but those who want a prophet do not want this kind. They want someone to tell them how to avoid atomic war, rather than someone who will tell them the even more important thing: how through Jehovah’s blessings to receive everlasting life in peace and happiness.

True prophets were those sent by Jehovah; the lack of true warning in today’s religious organizations indicates these organizations are suffering from a lack of Jehovah's blessings.

Ancient prophets that the Bible shows were true foretold the vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty. That sovereignty, not politics, was foremost. Many of today’s religious leaders appear to have forgotten this. Desirable conditions will come with the vindication of God’s sovereignty; but his sovereignty comes first, man’s desires second. Today's religious prophets have the proverbial cart before the horse, and that is why their solutions have proved hollow.

While true prophets, who really put God’s will first, may be small in number, may be as John was, “a voice of a man crying out in the wilderness,” yet their voice is being uttered with ever-increasing volume. Like John’s voice it is being heard! (Matthew 3:3, New World Trans.) It is now a half million strong. It is not just “a name, an institution,” as Professor Ehren-sperger recognizes today’s religion is. Rather, it is a voice that calls out a warning, that is more than “an experience of life/’ but points to a way of life, a way of living, a dedicated way, the way of Jehovah. Those who utter such true counsel do not speak on their own. Rather, they speak with the greatest authority behind them. How is this? Rather than putting forth their own ideas, they prophesy in a way that publicly tells forth what has already been stated in God's Word, the Bible. Its prophecies are sufficient. The Bible's prophecies predicted the very time of trouble earth now sees. They showed the reason for this trouble. They stated the outcome. (Mathew 24; Revelation 12:12: 21:1-4) What prophet could be expected to do more than that?

In general today’s religious leaders, as this Methodist movement’s lecturer pointed ■ out, have failed to shock the people into an awareness. But throughout the earth people who were formerly of all religious and political persuasions are awakening by the tens of thousands, and are listening to this true word of prophecy. A thousand a week are taking hold of this message of life. True prophets are sounding the old world’s doom, are pointing to the scriptures that tell of this, are shocking sincere people into an awareness of the entire world’s sin, so those persons can seek protection before Jehovah destroys this wicked system.

The awakened ones face the brightest 4of futures. They are creatures living new and transformed lives, looking to the peaceful conditions that further Bible prophecies show are at hand, and helping others to see these same things. Are you listening? Have you heard these prophets? Are you awake to the vital importance of their message? It will not affect your survival of an atomic attack, but it will remove the blackness of world conditions, and it may mean your very life!

BAPTISM BY BOMBS

Japan1* reaction to the nuclear blasts in the Pacific, a* told by ''Awoke!" correspondent in Japan

TIE morning of March 1, 1954, looked like an early sunrise to the twenty-three sailors of the No. 5 Fukuryu (“lucky dragon") Maru. But that flashing fire in the east, followed by its rolling thunders, was an unhappy omen for the Lucky Dragon. After some hours darkness covered the real sun and a white dust started to fall, atomic dust, the “ashes of death.” Rubber equipment crumbled, and the sailors felt their bodies strangely aglow. That glow was only the preliminary of illness and aftereffects that may continue for years. One physician, a professor of Tokyo University, has even stated that the effects may show up again in freaks among the future offspring of the victims.

The hydrogen-bomb blast touched off at Bikini that morning did more than shatter the scientific expectations of its creators. It left 28 Americans, -236 Pacific natives and the 23 Japanese suffering varying degrees of radioactive burns. It “activated” the fish over a vast area, so that 100 and more tons of tuna fish have had to be destroyed on arrival in Japan. It has removed fish, a staple food of Japan, from the tables of millions of households. And it has torn an ugly rift in already precarious American-Japanese friendships.

The Japanese were the first to be baptized with atom bombs, in time of war. Now, m time of peace, they have been first to undergo baptism by the hydrogen bomb.

implications of the “Hydrogen" Crisis

To understand the seriousness of the crisis one must understand the worsening problems of Japan. Fish has been a staple food of Japan for years, not only because Japan is an island empire, but because her teeming population cannot subsist on the produce of her land alone. There are 85,000,000 mouths to feed, and less arable land than in the state of California. As another 1,000,000 are added to the population each year Japan’s fishing trawlers plow farther and farther into the surrounding seas. The fishermen ef Japan do not generally have the seaworthy equipment of fisherfolk of other nations. It is a hard, uncertain life, braving the furies of the deep. Oftentimes they do not come home at all.

The people at home respect the labors of the fishermen. Hence when the crew of the Fukuryu Maru arrived home with atomic burns and a radioactive cargo of tuna, the tide of resentment was higher than mere promises of “compensation” could assuage. Whoever was responsible for the misjudgment of the hydrogen blast at Bikini will have to go far, far deeper than dollar compensations in order to win back the confidence of the Japanese people.

The outcry covers not only the radiation injuries and the loss of fishing catches. The Japanese are also protesting wider issues, and principally the violation of the “freedom of the seas." This is a big issue to Japan, as she is beginning to find her fishing seas restricted on every side. The

Nihon Keizai of March 27 pointed out that Japan’s fishing boats cannot operate freely in northern waters and the East China Sea, because of the Communists; in the Sea of Japan, because of Korea’s “Rhee Line’’;; in southern waters, because of the Arafura Sea pearl-fishing dispute with Australia; and now the United States’ “closed area” cuts off the routes to other southern fishing grounds. The newspaper concluded: “It is clear and explicit the establishment of the zone violates the principle of freedom of the high seas.”

The Specter of Fear

Adding weight to the Bikini catastrophe is the Japanese memory of what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The sufferings and agonies caused by those bombs of nine years ago have been publicized in Japan as nowhere else in the world, and many of the Japanese people have learned of those horrors by firsthand eyewitness accounts. Those bombs are real to them! They shudder to hear of the new bomb, 500 times as powerful as the bomb at Hiroshima! When America came to Japan following World War II and gave Japan a constitution that outlawed war, the Japanese welcomed this sign of repentance. However, Japanese nationals have again suffered from American nuclear bombs. The Japanese do not dislike Americans because they are Americans, but here is another event in a lengthening train that is building up distrust of America and endangering Japan’s alliance with the West.

The Japanese have a deep fear of radioactivity. So deep is that fear that for a month or more aU fish, whether from the deep seas or the nearby seas, has come to be suspect. Most of this fish is free from all possibility of contamination, but fear has gripped the stomachs of the people, and for many has banished fish from the everyday diet. Sound-cars sponsored by the ship merchants tour the streets of Tokyo, and posters have appeared on the streetcars, assuring the population that it is safe to eat fish. But fear remains, and the fish trade has hit so serious a slump that it would probably take some millions of American dollars to make amends on this score alone. Certainly it would take more than dollars to compensate the Japanese gourmand for the loss of that delicacy, tuna o-saxhimi. (raw sliced tuna), served with green horse-radish at banquets.

Jehovah's witnesses are not people to be affected by hysterias. However, the spread of the fish crisis to all classes of the community is illustrated in the following examples. At a recent wedding of Jehovah’s witnesses all guests but two at the wedding breakfast declined the course of o-sashimi. Of the two, one was a foreign missionary and the other a doctor. At a circuit assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses, more than 30 per cent of the diners refused fish at one of the cafeteria dinners, contenting themselves with rice and vegetables.

The hydrogen-bomb crisis in Japan is a big crisis.

What the People Think

There are many people in Japan who still like America for her benevolent treatment of the Japanese during the occupation. They see the widening rift and they hope that America will not become “bomb happy” to the extent of completely estranging the Japanese. What comparison *is there really to be made between a few experimental bombs and the friendship of 85,000,000 Orientals?

The following letter was written by a schoolteacher to the Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo, and appeared under the caption “The Lessons of the ‘Ashes of Death’

“With a worried look on her face, my wife told me when I returned home from work that she had served fish to the chil-

dren and wondered whether to give them a laxative. Until she heard about It over the radio, she hadn’t known about the radioactive fish. I, too, read about it in the paper on my way home in the train and was surprised and worried. . . .

“Why can’t the manufacture of the frightful atomic weapons be stopped? Can it be that the people of the world have never heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? It is too early yet to forget about them. Others may have forgotten, but we Japanese still remember. .'. . Let us appeal once again to the peoples of the world to arouse the conscience of those carried away by enthusiasm for atomic weapons.”

The AsaAi Shimbun, Nagoya, received the following letter:

“Tuna from Bikini have given us a big shock. It Is indeed a dreadful thing. Come to think of it, countless millions of fish living where the ‘ashes of death’ fell may have swallowed some of these ashes. Moreover, the radioactive ashes may dissolve and be carried by the currents of the sea to Japan. Will there not be a danger of fish in Japanese waters being contaminated?

"I realize there is no end to worrying and that we must await the verdict of specialists as to whether the fish are fit for human consumption. But if we deprive the Japanese of their fish, they will have to eat meat, which is too expensive for the poor. So they must have fish, and so there is a danger of the entire Japanese race being contaminated by radioactive food. . . . Atomic tests in the future will probably spread havoc over wider and wider areas. This will mean that more and more fish will be swallowing radioactive ashes. It is horrible to think of.”

Another letter, published in the Tokyo Shimbun, contained the following:

“I am employed at the Tokyo central fish market. Ilie day the ‘radioactive’ sharks and tuna . .. arrived, the place was truly a mad-house. It is indeed dangerous when people of no experience disturb the public by talking, without any evidence whatsoever, about the effect of eating the fish. There were no buyers even for yellowtail caught in waters off Japan, for flying fish or for fish processed in Hokkaido (northern Japan) about a month ago.

“If such a situation is allowed to continue, it is clear that every fish market in the country will b£ faced with a crisis. America should pay compensation not only for direct but also for indirect damage such as this.

“There is no way for Japanese fishermen to live if they are deprived of their fishing grounds by these atomic tests. Before aiming at the conservation of fish through the North Pacific Fisheries Agreement, America should ban ‘hydrogen bomb tests' in the Pacific. As the name implies, I would like to see peace and tranquillity in the Pacific. At least, the Pacific Ocean should be left open to the Japanese.”

Two weeks after the first “scare” there were further jitters when the Welfare Ministry announced on March 30 that it had condemned as radioactive another 74,000 pounds of tuna, valued at $10,000. This tuna was caught in mid-Pacific after the March 1 blast, by the No. 13 Keoi Maru. At the same time, 100,000 pounds of tuna had been detained three days on a third trawler, No. 5 Myojin Maru, up Sendai way. Fish dealers were saying that they would not now handle this stale cargo even if it were released. On April 4 came the announcement that radioactivity had been found in the clothes of the crew of still a fourth returning trawler, the No. 7 Dai Maru.

Outlawing the “Ashes of Death"

The Japanese government itself has taken a conservative stand. While deploring the crisis and asking for just compensa-

MAY 2S, J95.J

tions, it is not raising objections to further American nuclear experiments in the Pacific. Some American authorities have excused the incident in saying that American personnel were also burned. But the big question remains, Why does anyone have to get burned at all? As pointed out by the Tokyo Shimbun of March 26, the March 1 bomb was very much more powerful than it was believed by scientists to be, and the damage caused by radioactive dust was mdre extensive than expected. Does it not appear that nuclear fusion experiments may get out of hand altogether, and endanger the lives of the citizens of the entire world?

So, what to do? The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 26, espoused an immediate ban on the use of atomic weapons and restriction of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. The left-wing Socialist party called for the same measures. The Nippon Times of March 29 said: “The wider implications of the holding of these bomb tests . . * call for international action on the broadest lines under the leadership of the best brains humankind can supply?’

“The best brains/’ says the newspaper. Whose “brains”? What “brains”? During World War I the “best brains” planned a world made “safe for democracy” and later engineered the League of Nations.

However, that brain-child died an unhappy death* During World War II the “best brains” conceived four freedoms for all mankind, and other “brains” brought forth the United Nations, a sickly infant to this day. What “brains” are now to be found, better than those of the past, and capable of leading man away from the terrible destiny of a world-wide nuclear baptism? Selfish “brains” of a selfish world are caught in a dilemma of their own making. While each brain insists on being more powerful than the other, the problem will keep on mushrooming like the now-familiar mushroom of the nuclear explosion.

A prophet of 2,500 years ago put it pointedly: “O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jeremiah 10:23, Am. Stan. Ver.) Certainly it is not in man of this atom-crazed twentieth century to direct his steps* This present evil and confused world is appointed to destruction, not by a mere worldwide hydrogen-bomb baptism, but by the Armageddon baptism from Jehovah God, In that fast-approaching day the mind that created all the universe and its forces, the infinite mind of Jehovah himself, will direct the way of preservation for the meek peoples in Japan, America, the Pacific and every other part of the earth*

r !■■■■ I nm If IllTlKTZ TZ. _|Wil l| I IBlIBn—m— Worrying Abou f The Wrong Thing

<■ The following is from a reader's letter published in Newsweek, April 12: “A lot of people in this country are in a state of terror about what might happen if a bomb fell on them* At the end of World War II, when Japan was out for the count, we dropped two atomic bombs, instantly killing hundreds of thousands of noncombatants and bring’ ing about the death of hundreds more by radiation cancer* Some time later we moved the natives of Bikini away from their homes. Those that were too old or Infirm to walk were hauled into ships by cranes. We then obliterated what had been their lifelong homes and the resting places of their dead; those places that were to them just what our homes, churches, and synagogues are to us* Now we have terrified Japan again and infected 23 men with a dose of radiation that might possibly lead to a death more horrible than any by the most dreaded of natural diseases and caused fear and financial loss to thousands. Isn’t it about time that some of us stopped worrying about what might be done to us and started worrying about what we are doing to others?”

FROM PAGAN CULTS

TO MODERN SECTS

By “Awak«!'f correspondent in the Nethedondi

THE Dutchman is not slow but cautious*

An expression that he readily admits is applicable to himself is, “Wait and see which way the cat jumps.” He means by this that he is not too anxious to snap at something new, that he prefers to cautiously observe the trend first and then decide. The universally known traditional clothing representing various sections of the Netherlands proves this true. It shows the Dutchman rather reluctant to break away from the old. This is even more apparent in the customs upheld by the people. The Netherianders’ forefathers were Germanic and many of the Germanic religious rites and practices were sustained by the various Dutch ‘/Christian” denominations.

Since that time, in the distant past, when their forefathers departed from under Noah’s patriarchal rulership they have adopted many customs and practices, forgetting, however, the true worship which their communal father Noah exercised. None brought the pure worship with them into the Netherlands.

Upon the moor of Drenthe are the surviving traces of the oldest inhabitants of this land, the Hunebeds. According to

archaeologist Dr. J. H. Holwerda, Jr.F these must have been built about 1200 B.C, If this is true, then this all took place when the nation of Israel was under the jurisdiction and leadership of the judges. The Hunebed culture testifies to the prevalence of demon worship. Just as caves and tombs were used in Egypt and Greece by the “death cult,” so the natives of the lowlands gathered large chunks of stone and built tombs. Their concern for the dead had its origin in their belief in the immortality of the human soul.

In the course of time the Netherlands became the home of the Germanic tribes. Their dependence upon animals for food accentuated the undue importance attached to the fertility of animals. The fertility cult played a prominent part+in their lives. Plastic figures were found with skulls on top. In this way the worshipers believed they maintained power over the animals, that is, they possessed the right to kill them and at the same time to ensure their preservation. They worshiped many gods of earth, water and air. Their supreme deity was Wodan. In addition, there were numerous other gods that personified natural phenomena.

In south Netherlands, on Walcheren island, a so-called “holy stone” was discovered bearing the image of the goddess Nehelennia, From an inscription it appears that she was worshiped during the period of Roman ruler* ship. The fortunate paid their vows to her. Also prominent in the religion of this Germanic tribe were trees. They had their “holy oak,” which,

according to Tacitus, became a divine symbol preserved in the forest.—Winkler Prins Encyclopaedia, page 408.

Near the end of the seventh century there ensued a systematic "Christianizing” of the Netherlands. Through a declaration of Pope Gregorius I Anglo-Saxon missionaries were encouraged to assume or adopt the customs and morals of this Germanic tribe and to give them Christian names. In other words, the same heathen customs were carried on in the name of Christianity. Even in this twentieth century there are many ancient pagan practices still in vogue. Substituting for Wodan’s pagan priests are the priests of the Roman Catholic Church, who patronize and bless these pagan fertility rites.

Paganism in the Name of Christianity

On December 23, 1952, a Dutch radio broadcast told its listeners that the celebration of Christmas is of pagan origin; that candlelight and the ringing of bells for the purpose of dispersing evil spirits are also of pagan origin. Professor Schrij-nen, contemporary educator at the Episcopal College in Roermond, Netherlands, declares that in the seventh century at the feast of “Our Beloved Lady Lightmass” Pope Sergius had consecrated the wax candles in order to substitute the torchlight processions honoring the goddess Ceres, The halos that adorn the heads of the idols of modern-day "saints” are adopt-, ed signs of paganism. The images of the old fertility goddesses have now become the images of Mary and other Catholic saints. The month of May, marked by the budding of nature, was for the ancients a month dedicated to the goddess of fertility. Today this month is dedicated to Mary.

Sacrificing of animals is also not entirely extinct. In Diest, Belgium, cows are sacrificed to the honor of St. Brigitta, and in Meeuwen and Limburg pigs’ heads and chickens are sacrificial victims. In Korten-bosch a pound of butter is laid upon the altar for curing sick animals.—De Katho-lieke Encyclopaedia, page 156.

In the rurals of South Limburg, during the "feast of our blessed woman's ascension,” the villagers’ children dedicate themselves to the church. These are provided with a supply of herbs attached to a bouquet. The herbs are blessed by the priest. Then when a thunderstorm breaks out all one needs to do is to take this bundle of kroetwosch and burn a few twigs therefrom. The smoke is supposed to be a remarkable lightning arrester. In Kennemer-land the farmers try to safeguard their property from lightning by walking through their farm buildings sprinkling “holy water” everywhere with a palm branch. In Flanders, Belgium, every St. Stephen’s day the priest goes off on a visit of the farms, where he raps the cows with a mallet. This procedure is called "Stephen-ing.” In this manner the lucky cows receive a blessing from the priest. All these superstitions originate, not with Christ, but deep in paganism.

Carnival time is an exceedingly happy time in south Netherlands. Mothers bake pancakes, cracknels and fritters for the feast. The youth dress up in gay costumes. But here again the feast originates with the ancient fertility rites. The banqueting has to do with worshiping the sun god, and even the evening fires recall old pagan cults. In Meerveldhoven near Eindhoven the goddess of fertility appears in the form of Mary, hanging on a dry oak in front of the village church. In Belgium images of “Our Beloved Lady” are hung up on oaks, and, according to M. Utrecht Dresselhuis, this too appears to be a remnant of worship rendered Germanic images. The oak represented the divinity, earth.

In southern Limburg the fertility goddess is also named St. Brigida, patron

saint of cattle and horses. Every year on the second Saturday after passover she receives a May pole placed in front of the chapel, which is called St., Brigidatree. In Fosses, Belgium, St. Brigida has a chapel that is opened but once a year, the first Sunday in May. For this occasion she receives a visit from pilgrims who are all provided with a white stick that previously had been blessed by a priest. With this stick they touch the three saints, St. Brigida and two others. The stick is believed to be now endowed with the power of healing. If an animal becomes ill or diseased, striking it with this stick is supposed to aid its recovery.

Both Protestant North and Catholic South are fond of St. Nicholas. Behind the whiskers of the "jolly good fellow,” who is especially popular with children, hides in reality the Germanic chief god Wodan, the Wild Horseman. The children today offer St. Nicholas straw, which was earlier an offering for the pagan god Wodan. The chimney served earlier as a link between man and the spirits. So when the modem St. Nicholas descends through a chimney he links himself with the nature of his real predecessor, the Germanic god. After the Reformation St. Nicholas was given a hard time in the Netherlands. The reformers saw in this celebration unlawful idolatry. But the people kept on venerating him and later the Protestants became reconciled and dubbed this celebration a harmless feast for the tots.

Early Christians were instructed to keep only one celebration, and that was the memorial of Christ’s death. The apostle Paul stated that he “received from the Lord that which I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be harided over took a loaf and, after giving thanks, he broke it and said: ‘This means my body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me/ ” No other days, months or years were they commanded to keep. Never did Christianity parade around in pagan garb. The early Christians would not tolerate pagan customs or practices regardless of how they were colored. Paul warned those interested in pure worship of the only true God, saying: "No; but I say that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with the demons. You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of ’the table of Jehovah’ and the table of demons.” —1 Corinthians 11:23, 24; 10:20, 21, New World Trans.

Despite the strong hold of paganism on modern cults, pure worship of Jehovah continues to expand in this land. The cautious Dutch have seen which way the ‘cat has jumped,’ and the righteous are favoring the kingdom of God. God’s Word, the Bible, has freed them from religious superstitions and the practice of demonism. They no longer need the superficially aroused festive mood to make them happy. Their happiness is continual because it rests in Jehovah, the only true God, and in the good news of his kingdom, which is a perpetual feast. “The cheerful man enjoys a perpetual feast.”—Proverbs 15:15, An Amer. Trans.

Just Listening Might Do it

Enough sleeping pills were manufactured last year to put the entire nation to sleep for 20 days. After listening to the wranglings of certain congressmen and senators, I think that might be a good idea.

--Frank Edwards

proves that climate alone is not responsible for the desolation in these areas. In northern Syria over a hundred cities once found

IFOUR earth was meant to be a paradise, as some claim, what, then, has happened to the land along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, once suggestive of the Garden of Eden; rich lands, whose people lived well, built flourishing cities, established governments and developed arts and culture? Today that elaborate civilization is lost under mounds of drifting sand. Why? Where is the rich brown earth that once covered the limestone hills of Syria and the plains of North America? And where are the immense forests that enriched the lands of the Mediterranean and Palestine? What provoked the vast wastelands .of China and Asia? And why were the ancient cities of North Africa buried beneath a sea of blowing sand? Most of these lands once maintained fabulous empires, enormous cities and huge populations? Are climatic changes to be blamed for their disappearance? True, nature played its part, but nature’s forces alone are not entirely to blame*

Recorded history shows that there has been only a negligible change of climate in China during the last 3,000 years, Syria, Asia and Palestine have precisely the same weather they had in Bible times when those nations flourished. Testifying to this fact grows a group of Lebanon cedars that have stood untouched for many centuries because men believed them to be sacred. Had the weather changed severely means of sustaining themselves; today among vast wastelands only their skeletons protrude above the denuded earth. In North Africa an olive grove encircled with desolation has stood since the days of early Rome, Their productive condition today is living proof that weathef conditions had little or nothing to do with the devastation that surrounds them. Without doubt, nature played its parts in desolating these areas, but man himself was intimately involved. In what way?

The surface of the cultivable areas of our earth is, or rather, in its natural state was, covered with a layer of productive soil. It is a most vital machinery, because upon this medium all life on earth depends. Its average thickness over the whole earth is no more than a foot. When the soil goes, men go. The earth becomes as lifeless as the moon. The soil is referred to as living, because it harbors an infinite quantity of minute living forms of plant life known as bacteria and minute animals known as protozoa. These are nature’s chemists. They convert the fallen limbs of trees and leaves of plants to rich topsoil. Without these microscopic creatures the soil becomes dead and barren. Their life has been provided for by Jehovah God the Creator, who in his infinite wisdom delicately balanced the relationship of all things.

Men in relationship to the earth were to be not only benefactors and consumers but

these trees would not have survived, which also cultivators and protectors of the soil.

They were to work in understanding with nature, rather than in conflict. By thus co-operating this great delicate system of things created by God would work to the benefit of man and to his everlasting blessing. Rains would fall at the proper seasons, crops would grow luxuriously, the soil would maintain its richness and stability and men would prosper.

Even the Israelites who were to take possession of the Promised Land, “a land,” as Moses stated, “that Jehovah your God is caring for,” were to abide by the laws of nature. The Creator provided that one full year in every period of seven the land was to rest: nothing should be planted, nor sown, nor should the soil be worked. This would allow' the soil to recuperate, build up its productive strength and regain its normal stability. The soil was not to be selfishly exploited. It was not to be a means to wealth, but a mode of life. The object was to live on the land and not off of it. But selfish men of the past as well as those of the present fail to recognize this principle. They see the soil as a means to wealth instead of a mode of life. Their objective is to live off the land rather than on it. Under mismanagement nature reacts violently, even to the point of expelling man from the soil. When the nation of Israel failed to give the land its proper rest God evicted the Israelites and the land was not worked for seventy years, enforcing his Sabbath law upon the land.

Nature’s Course Vindicated

The wastelands of China, India, Asia and Africa are not to be blamed on nature, because nature’s laws are set. Man must learn to co-operate with these laws. The interdependence of all elements is a set law. The sun, for example, makes all life on earth possible. It is responsible for our rainfall and vegetative growth. The sun is nature's free “irrigation system.” It governs the hydrologic cycle—the movement of water from the air to the land and eventually back to the air, usually by means of evaporation from rivers, lakes and oceans. It manages to soak up some 80,000 cubic miles of water each year by this method and then it returns it by rainfall. If the sun were negligent the least bit, rivers would cease to flow, lands would freeze or dry up, plant and animal life would perish. Both the sun and water are essential parts of nature’s machinery. Without them no life on earth would be possible.

While an abundance of water falls on earth it does not always fall in habitable areas. To maintain a regular and adequate water supply the Creator prepared extensive forests in watershed areas, where the streams and rivers have their sources. These are natural dams and an ingenious method of draining water in. a regulated flow to habitable regions. For example: When it rains, the forest duff, a vegetable mulch, absorbs the rain water and releases it downward slowly by gravitation. The vegetation shades the soil and slows down evaporation. Roots bind the rich clay tightly together, permitting none to be carried away with water. Erosion is brought to a standstill. Rivers in their natural state ran clean. The open plains and prairies were provided with a thick sod on which grasses grew waist-high, shielding the soil from blistering winds, torrential rains and a scorching sun. The rich prairie soil held moisture over long periods of time. Dust bowls were unknown under these natural conditions.

Upsetting Nature’s lialanee

Water scientists have proved that when nature is left undisturbed there is a “natural balance between the re-charge of water and the discharge of water." But what has man done? He entered these watershed areas and indiscriminately cut

down the trees and brush; with his plow he ventured to the prairies and turned un* der the grasslands for bigger money profits; and sections unsuitable for cultivation he overgrazed. He disrupted or destroyed the hydrologic cycle, the natural water control system, with devastating results to himself.

With the natural protection of the soil gone, the mulch of vegetation accumulation begins to disappear. The uncontrolled rain water rushes downhill carrying productive topsoil with it to streams and rivers. The fine silt and clay cause rivers to rise. Small streams once beneficent to organized life become menacing torrents. The hills stripped of their trees become gashed with fissures and gaping with chasms. Grasslands exposed to the sun and wind lose their stability and the wind carries away the lifeless soil. Dust bowls form. It has been proved that with the disappearance of topsoil and natural vegetation the effectiveness of rainfall is permanently reduced. And while erosion continues the effective rainfall decreases until the land is reduced to an arid waste, Man is forced to irrigate his land and to pump water to towns and cities, with the result that he pumps out more water from rivers and lakes than the clouds bring back.

In the United States in 1948 “the pumping of water from ground water sources had jumped to 20 billion gallons every single day from only 10 billion ten years before that,” And the greater part of this water is not fed to the land but to industry, “After the Korean War started, the excessive pumping of water all over the country further weakened this essential natural resource. For example, in Louisville, Kentucky, in making chemicals, synthetic rubber, etc,, it was found after the Korean War started that the industrial plants were pumping from along the Ohio River basin the tidy sum of 60 million gallons of water every single day.” One manufacturer In upstate New York uses, for example, a total of 25,000,000 gallons of water each day. More than 260,000 gallons of water are consumed in the manufacture of every ton of steel. This excessive pumping has caused many large rivers to run dry.

The Rio Grande was a navigable stream fifty years ago, steamboats went upstream regularly as far as Rio Grande City and sometimes even as far as Laredo. Today you can walk across the river bed without getting your feet wet. The municipal and industrial use of water in Texas has increased almost thirty times what it was in 1890, and that together with increased irrigation has caused the river to dry up. To further aggravate the situation are man’s industries. Studies by Dr. Gilbert Plass of Johns Hopkins University reveal that heat is greater in the vicinity of industry, thus causing a rapid evaporation of moisture in the air. He found that industries add six billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. And he asserts that the location of industry means less rainfall and more cloud cover.

It is quite obvious that greed and selfishness, plus misunderstanding and mismanagement, have brought about the wastelands, the “creeping deserts,” of the world. The natural deserts, which the Creator made, have a distinct beauty, and he gives his word that he will cause these to blossom like a rose. But man-made wastelands are weird oceans of desolation without meaning. Even with present knowledge these desolations increase. The Yellow River transports an annual load of 2,500 million tons of soil to the sea. American conservationists estimate that over “three billion tons of soil material are washed or blown away each year.” If this soil were spread out in a blanket twelve inches thick, it would cover more than 1,500,000 acres. It takes man but a moment to cut down a

tree that would preserve some of this soil, but it takes nature from fifty to a hundred years to replace it. It takes nature, under the most favorable conditions, including a good cover of trees, grass or other protective vegetation, anywhere from 300 to 1,000 years or more to build a single inch of topsoil. Man through carelessness can remove that much in a year or even in a single day.

Van Not a "Rain Maker”

To overcome some of their blunders men have tried to make productive soil and rain. But so far they have found productive soil impossible to make in any large quantities. The best they have been able to do is to make fertilizers. But these are supplements and no more. They merely aid in restoring certain elements to depleted soils. As “rain makers,” here, too, they have proved themselves to be miserable failures. Look magazine staff writer William H. White shows that the matter of making it. rain is not a simple one. He writes: "Strange as it seems in this age of atomic research and miracle drugs, science does not know how it rains. Meteorologists have found that a water cloud is composed of tiny droplets—so small that 10,000 of them could fit on the head of a pin. Raindrops, however, are roughly two million times larger. Thus, for rain to fall, two million cloud droplets must somehow be brought together to form one raindrop.” Instead of being “rain makers” W. Baxter says they are “rain stealers.” They hasten precipitation by chemical methods, causing moisture to fall on an immediate area when nature itself would have carried the moisture to a more distant spot. Meteorol*. ogist Irving P. Krick admitted that they “cannot make rain unless it’s going to rain anyway, but if the right clouds are there, we can increase the amount of rain.” However, he said, “we can’t whistle up rain clouds when we want them.’’

To outsmart nature man has built mammoth dams and irrigation projects. But meteorologist Tikhomirov says, according to one authority, that the use “of the waters of the Volga for dams and irrigation means that the Volga has less water to contribute to the Caspian Sea, so that the area suffers what the irrigated area gains. In effect, then, it is something like the work of the ‘rain makers’ who really only ‘steal’ precipitation from the area where nature intended it to fall and send it elsewhere. We | America] are finding out the ‘hard way’ that, by damming up rivers like the Colorado River, and using it for irrigation, other areas suffer.” So, nature leaves man pretty much in a dilemma. Scientists who were out to outsmart nature have outsmarted themselves.

In drought areas men bewail the explosion of atom bombs and brand them responsible for the drop in rainfall. Others believe that a few atom explosions would create rain. But the truth is that “even a moderate rainstorm . . . releases energy at a rate equivalent to several hundred atom bombs a minute. And the great dust storms of the Thirties raised clouds with a billion times the dust concentration of an atomic cloud without perceptible effect on rainfall anywhere in the country.... Close study of test blasts shows that they'do not even produce local rainstorms.” It is quite apparent that only God can make a tree and only God can make it rain.

Soil Increases Its Fertility

The experience Western European farmers have had with their soil proves the soil durable and lasting if managed properly. European farmers have for centuries been tied to the soil by necessity or affection. They regarded the land as an inheritance to be handed on to the next generation in

at least as good condition as when they received it. Therefore the soil was well cared for. In spite of being subjected to the most intensive cultivation in history the soil has enormously increased its fertility, to such an extent that today “the agricultural production of even such a small and industrial country as Britain equals in value that of all Canada.” This demonstrates that under proper management and care not only man but also the soil flourishes. It argues that if the lands of China had been properly cared for man-made deserts or wastelands would not be. The forests of Asia, Syria and Mesopotamia would still be standing, acting as natural watersheds, slowly feeding waters to their fertile valleys. Like the redwoods of the High Sierras and Olympic Park, the cedars and forests of the Mediterranean area and Palestine would add their beauty and service.

With the virgin forests stripped from the earth and much of her topsoil exhausted or washed away, man must turn to God. God made the soil. He can make rain. He makes the trees grow and the flowers bud. This earth is his, he created it, it belongs to him. He has promised to make it a paradise. How will he do it? By and through his King Christ Jesus.

Under his kingdom rule the land will be properly distributed as it was when Israel entered the Promised Land. There will be no great land barons around to hog the land and crowd the common people into smoky cities. Families will have entrusted to their care a piece of land to beautify and make productive. It will be tax-free. No one will take it away as long as it is properly tended.

The hills, no doubt, will again flourish with stately trees and resume their job of controlling the waters that fall from heaven. The plains will be covered with grass on which animals will pasture. The cultivated soil will be guarded from erosion, Jehovah gives his word that he will make it rain at the proper seasons and that the land will prosper. Want will disappear off the land. There will be no poor. As the population increases and spreads over the earth, so it will be beautified. At the close of a thousand years men and angels will witness a paradise earth in full vindication of the One who said:

“For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and retumeth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited : I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” —Isaiah 55:10, 11; 45:18, Am. Stan. Ver.

Why the Growth?

♦ In discussing what New Zealand's census showed about that land's religion the Auckland Herald said, December 31: "The increase in Immigration is reflected in some of the totals. The Dutch Reformed Church, for example, had only 37 followers in New Zealand in 1945, but by 1951 it could claim 264. No such simple reason can be found for the increase of Jehovah’s witnesses from 650 to 1756 in the same period/' The reason for this growth was a better one than immigration. It is that many New Zealanders have, like the young Presbyterian who is told of on page 206 of Jehovah’s witnesses’ 1954 Yearbook, learned more about the Bible right in their homes in a few weeks’ study with Jehovah’s witnesses than in years of going to the various churches.

TORONTO

....... U|'- - -■

VS UNDERGROUN

6y “Awake!” correspondent in

TORONTO now takes its place among the cities of the world whose inhabitants travel the subterranean. Sophisticated Torontonians can be whisked from place to place in underground style. British-built subway ears can be shuttling north and south under Toronto’s Yonge Street. Downtown traffic of this congested metropolis can be stepped up from its present snail’s pace as Canada’s first subway makes its debut.

Interest of the citizenry in this project has been very keen; “sidewalk superintendents” have watched the progress and patiently endured torn-up streets and rerouted traffic. Automobile ownership in Toronto has reached the amazing density of one car for less than four persons. With an estimated 200,000 cars daily competing with slow-moving streetcars on narrow streets, there is little wonder that traffic painfully inches along during “rush hours.” Provoked commuters are prepared to blame everything and anything on a transportation system that “rushes” them home at a pace little better than walking. The solution ? A subterranean route to relieve the overtaxed surface system.

Sample digging for the Yonge Street subway first took place in 1944, although construction did not start on a large scale until 1949. Con-

Canada

struction of the project has extended over five years.

The major problem confronting engineers was sinking a horizontal shaft 4.57 miles long through the heart of this bustling metropolis. Toronto Transportation Commission decided it was more practical to have the subway as close to the surface as possible for economical and convenient transfer to the streetcars and buses on the surface. This brought them face to face with a maze of gas mains, sewers, water lines and telephone services. No small problem to avoid damage and keep these utilities in operation!

The method of excavation used is known as “cut-and-cover,” being just as the name suggests. As a preliminary step trenches are dug along the edges of the street to locate utilities. Long steel piles are then driven down into the earth at regular intervals along these trenches. Earth-moving machinery is then brought in and the road is excavated between the rows of piles. This excavation is carried down to a respectable depth so that equipment like power shovels and drag buckets can work under a temporary' decking of twelve-by-twelve timbers. When the timbers are in place the normal traffic is resumed and the balance of the work finished out of sight of surface traffic, to the chagrin of would-be sidewalk superintendents.

Mechanical behemoths

moved in on the jon ana proceeaea to gouge out a big hole in Toronto's main street, excavating some 1,710,000 cubic yards. A small mountain of earth! Part of the hole was filled in with some 400,000 tons of concrete, which required more than one million bags of cement. A whole “forest” of lumber, fifteen million board feet, was used in the project! The road is supported and concrete reinforced by nearly 30,000 tons of steel. Months grind into years; power shovels gnaw away at the earth; trucks shuttle back and forth; stations crop up; cars- arrive from England; and Toronto’s citizens watch with close interest as the subway steadily takes shape. By completion more than fifty million dollars will have been poured into the “big hole” on Yonge Street.

The finished subway presents a very clean and modern appearance. The fifth on this continent, it has benefited from the experience of other cities. The starting point on the south is located opposite the main railway depot, Union Station, From there it stretches north, swerves under buildings, sometimes underground and sometimes open-cut, and reaches its northern terminal 4.57 miles from its origin.

Of the twelve stations along the route some are located underground, others are separate modernistic structures on the surface. Colored glass was adopted for the modem interior walls because of its “public proof” qualities. Subway walls take a beating from those who seem to be seized with an uninhibited urge to display their artistic skills; this easily cleaned surface will help workmen keep them free from scribbled messages and mustachioed ladies.

The subway cars, built by an experienced English firm, are connected in pairs to form two-car units operating in off-peak hours. As traffic increases additional two-car units can be added and a maximum train oi eight cars (four two-car units) can be accommodated at the 500-foot plat* fonns. The operation of eight-car trains can accommodate some 40,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Maximum speed of an empty train on level track will be fifty miles per hour and it is hoped that an average speed of twenty miles per hour will be maintained throughout the length of the track during rush-hour operation. This will be at least twice as fast as the present surface system. Safety is a feature that has received considerable attention. If an operator fails to stop at a red signal a mechanism automatically brings the train to a halt

Toronto subway riders are not subjected to the deafening, boiler-factory clatter generally asso ci ate d with u ndergr ound travel. Every rattle and vibration is usually amplified to ear-splitting volume by the long, hollow tunnels, but the Toronto Transportation Commission engineers have given the subway special treatment to minimize the noise. Under the tie plates on which the tracks are mounted are placed rubber pads which act as cushions for the rails and insulate the tunnel from the rattle and clatter of the underground rolling stock. Even the cars themselves have sounddeadening material in the body, to reduce noise.

Whether or not this subterranean shuttle service will be adequate to carry away the volume of traffic that funnels into Toronto and bogs down on its Yonge Street will remain to be seen. Even before its operation the Toronto Transportation Commission envisioned a 10-year plan for a network of subways, costing more than 113 million dollars, to supplement the Yonge Street subway. The Yonge Street subway is far from the world’s biggest, but it does hope to earn the reputation of being the cleanest and quietest subway on the North American continent.

Right to Teach Bible Upheld

By “Awake!" corraipondent in Italy

BIKE many other towns and villages in Cath-olie Italy, Loreto Aprutino, located in the region of Abruzzo in central Italy, is steeped in religious customs that, though called “Christian” by the worshipers, actually stem from paganism. One of these customs, openly practiced in Loreto Aprutino, is described for us by a popular weekly magazine known as La Settimana Enigmistwa, issue of November 1, 1952.

€, On page five of this particular issue a picture of this town of 8,000 inhabitants is shown and the following question is asked: “What strange custom is practiced here?” Then in a separate paragraph on the same page the answer is given: “The day of the feast of the patron saint, San Zopito, an ox mounted by a child dressed in white is brought into the church. The ox is made to kneel before the statue of the saint. From the excrement of the ox the farmers receive their hopes for the future harvest.”

C, Bible truth would free these people from such false superstitions and pagan customs. But in Loreto Aprutino, as elsewhere, there are a handful of unscrupulous individuals who are not anxious to have sincere people break away from such pagan rites. They prefer to keep the people in Ignorance of God’s Word and allow them to practice pagan customs as long as they remain “good Catholics." These religious pastors not only fail to provide the people with sound Bible teachings, but they even oppose those who do bring Bible truths lo the people, namely, Jehovah's witnesses. €, Such opposition was manifested in Loreto Aprutino when the “gentlemen of the cloth” put pressure on the police to stop the work of Jehovah's witnesses in this locality. A briga-iliere was sent out to get the witnesses, who were tracked down to a private home while explaining the Scriptures to some people of good will. The two witnesses who were preaching the good news of God’s kingdom from house to house, even as Jesus preached, were two young ladies. According to the false charge brought against them by the police brigadiers, they were accused of distributing literature in “public places,” "exalting their religion (Jehovah’s witnesses) without author-g ization.” In cases of misdemeanor the judge g may apply a fine even without a hearing, if it 3 appears that the law has been violated. On g the other hand, the accused have the right to S a trial and can refuse to pay the fine. The j two witnesses were fined 1,000 lire (about

$1.50) plus the costs of court. But they refused

…