Awake!, July 8, 1954
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PREPARING NOW TO LIVE FOREVER
How everlasting life is actually possible
Religion Dooms the United Nations
Why failure faces the peace organization
Planting by the Moon
Is the^old superstition founded in fact?
Was Jesus Crucified on a Tree or a Cross?
THE MISSION OF THIS JOURNAL
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues 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; it 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 io truth.
“Awake I” 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, in many languages, by persons of all ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its cover-age is as broad as the earth and as high as the heavens.
“Awake!” 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
Preparing Now to Live Forever
Living Forever No Fantasy
The Azores—Atlantic Steppingstones
Religion Dooms the United Nations
Vacation Wonderlands of the United States 13
The Grand Canyon and Yellowstone
Planting by the Moon
Man’s Mental Peak
Really Burning the Candle
Sierra Leone—the Lion Mountains
Childbirth the Natural Way
The Forgotten Man
Finding “Sheep” Along Newfoundland's Rugged Coast
“Yodr Word Is Truth”
Was Jesus Crucified on a Tree or a Cross?
Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach in
All the Earth—The British West Indies 27
Do You Know?
Watching the World
Preparing Now to Live Forever
"You May Live Forvvar." This c<a»m made in a spectacular article that was apparently tUaifnad lo catch attention and tell magarino*. But it does show cnan't desire for life. Would you like to know what God’s Word says about the possibility of life ? Than read the feature article here presented.
WrOL'LD you like to live forever? Do not be surprised at the prospect, because there are literally hundreds of thousands of people today that are preparing to do that very thing. They are preparing to live forever right here upon this planet.
Perhaps living forever in a world beset by wars and fears, famine and disease, old age and death does not present a pleasant prospect for you. But you must admit that everlasting life amid a peaceful world, free of disease, sickness and sorrow—a world where everyone would enjoy the boundless energy and carefree happiness, strength and vitality of youth—would be a most attractive prospect indeed! People today are preparing to live forever in just such a world,
From very early times mankind has diligently yet fruitlessly searched for the mystery of life. Ancient writers and philosophers, including Aristotle and Pliny, excited the imaginations of men by claiming they knew of men who had found the secret formula for a special life-giving fluid. In Aristotle’s Book of Secrets, and other writings, reference is made to various recipes telling how one could preserve his youth against the disintegration of old age.
Priests, wizards and the jugglers of demonic religious magic were the first to claim that they had special powers to unravel the mystery of life and rebraid it into a longer strand. After them came the alchemists of the Dark Ages, who searched for an imaginary “philosophers' stone," believing it was able to prolong life and restore youth. The Devil was thought by others to hold the mystery of life. Still others set out to the ends of the world, where they hoped to find some life-giving waters in golden pots at the end of the rainbow. Ponce de Leon, who explored Florida looking for the fountain of youth, was one of these. Yet none of these quests shed any light on the mystery of life.
In the nineteenth century France's foremost physiologist, Claude Bernard, declared that in a hundred years of physiological science man would be so completely the master of organic law that he would create life in competition with God. That day has net yet arrived. Scientists of this twentieth century with their electron microscopes, atom smashers and radioactive isotopes have renewed their attempt to solve the age-old mystery of life and death.
Thirty-five years ago microbes were accused of causing old age. Tests were made. Eighty-seven successive generations of fruit flies were bred and raised under totally antiseptic conditions. Results: The files
.1
died and so did the theory. Enzymes, those strange substances of organic chemistry, were next tracked down by researchers with the hope of shedding some light on the mystery of life, without success.
Probing deeper for an answer scientists closely examined the thyroid, adrenal and pituitary glands. Here lay the answer to the mystery, they thought. Again scientists were wrong. The discovery of insulin fired the imaginations of men. The Philadelphia Bulletin declared: “1,000-Year Life Span May Be Man’s Lot.” Beneath this headline the story read: “Science of the future will transform ordinary mortals into a race of super-men whose life will span ten centuries, according to Dr. Fritz Haber, eminent German chemist.” Twenty-five years later we learn that despite all “miracle drugs” life expectancy for a man of forty ‘has increased only two years—from 68 to 70—in the last century.’
But man’s desire to live is strong, instinctive and almost overwhelming, So the search goes on. William L. Laurence astonished the world with his article “You May Live Forever,” published in Look, March 24, 1953. He wrote of living forever, not as a plausibility, but as an absolute possibility through the efforts and achievements of science. According to Mr. Laurence, the studies of Dr, Oscar E. Schotte, at Amherst
College in Massachusetts, revealed that there exists in every living creature, be it a tapeworm or a human, a seed, entirely different and apart from the egg and sperm cells that give rise to offspring in the normal perpetuation of the species. “This newly discovered seed of perpetual life, verily the fountain of youth sought through the ages,” says Laurence, "has been identified by Dr. Schotte as the regenerative scar tissue that keeps the body in constant repair throughout life and without which life would be much shorter than it actually is.”
So by isolating this seed or “sculptor” and determining the sort of tools and working conditions it requires—aha! science will at last have learned the secret of life. So writes Mr. Laurence. A year later a United Press dispatch, carrying news from the world’s laboratories and testing grounds, had this to say: “All the reasons which make for long life are still a mystery to science.” A far cry from scientific predictions and excited imaginations of men.
Living Forever No Fantasy
Today there are hundreds of thousands of men who know that the reason why men have failed to find a grave-banishing elixir or the fountain of youth is that they have searched the wrong sources. The springs of eternal youth and the water of life flow forth from one Source, the “fountain of life,” Jehovah God. Instead of seeking life from this lofty and pure Fountainhead, Christendom with her wise men has turned aside to her own low, muddy pools that border on the swampland of demonism, where evolution theories, like polliwogs, spawn in profusion.
Yet, in spite of all that has been learned, and despite all the claims even to this day that scientists are on the verge of solving the mystery of life, it must honestly be
admitted that very few years have been added to the average adult’s age. Very little progress has been made in the treatment of degenerative diseases. Science Digest for October, 1952, reports that “a 60-year-old American today will live on the average no longer than his equally old ancestor of a hundred years ago.” After thirty centuries the truth as spoken by the psalmist still stands: “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?”—Psalm 89:48.
No happy, contented man cares to die. His innermost longing is to live. Therefore his search for life is but natural. The Bible reveals that man at one time had the possibility of living forever upon the earth, that his continual existence depended upon his perfect obedience to the law of God. This law, recorded at Genesis 2:16, 17, shows that God did not appoint the perfect man to die, but that Jehovah opened to man the opportunity of everlasting life in human perfection in the Edenic paradi'se. Only if the perfect man disobeyed would God sentence him to death. Death came as a result of disobedience of God’s law.
What provoked the perfect human pair to rebel against their Lawgiver? The Bible answers that an invisible spirit creature, presenting himself as an angel of light, turned Eve and Adam into the course of rebellion against their God, for which the penalty was death. Jesus identified this spirit creature at John 8:44 to be Satan the Devil.
Adam and Eve, being perfect, could easily have resisted the temptation Satan the Devil put in their way. Jesus, the “last Adam,” proved this possible. Rather than resist temptation, Adam and Eve gave way to it. God could justly have destroyed them at once for their sin, without letting them bring children into the earth. Had he done so none of us would have been born. But Jehovah chose to vindicate his name word and purpose by sending his Son to earth. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, did just that. “He became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him.”—Hebrews 5:9, New World Trans.
Just as Paul makes plain: “For'if by the trespass of the one man [Adam] death ruled as king through that one, much more will those who receive the abundance of the undeserved kindness and of the free gift of righteousness rule as kings in life through the one person, Jesus Christ.” “For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.” But the free gift of life is not for all humankind indiscriminately. Rather, the ransom was provided, according to John, “in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life,” And as Paul adds: “everlasting salvation to all those obeying him.” So faith and obedience are important requisites for everlasting life. —Romans 5:17; 6:23; John 3:16, New World Trans.
Who Are Preparing Now to Live Forever?
Not all men desire to live forever. Some prefer to die. A fourteen-year-old boy, when asked if he would enjoy living forever in peace and happiness, remarked in all seriousness: “No, not me. I would just as soon die. I don’t want to live forever.” The lad has not even begun to live and already his mind is bent toward thoughts of dying. This well illustrates the disposition and unappreciativeness of this old world toward the value of life. Wars and the miseries that stem from imperfection and sin add to the unattractiveness of living forever. The basic requirements for life, faith and obedience, the old world does not possess. It scoffs at and ridicules the ransom as of no value. Even its religious leaders belittle it. One prominent religious cleric declared: “Of course I do not believe in the Virgin Birth, or In that old fashioned substitutionary doctrine of the Atonement; and I do not know any intelligent Christian minister who does.”
God’s Word describes Christendom perfectly: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Christendom’s clergy prefer the musty old fables of evolution and the philosophies of dying men to the Word of the living God. The. Bible is too old-fashioned for this fast-living world. So they have supplied themselves with “new” principles of living. “Let your conscience be your guide” is one of these.-Jeremiah 2:13.
But the old world has no conscience, hence no guide. “Do others before they do you” is another of its policies. Honesty is no longer the best policy. Lying is called propaganda. Selfishness is termed selfinterest. Greed parades as profit. License disguises itself as liberty. Lust masquerades as love. Materialism is labeled security. What they have sown in abundance they now reap in an abundance: political grafting, corruption, crime, immorality and degeneracy, adult and juvenile delinquency and, shortly at the battle of Armageddon, total annihilation at the hands of Jehovah God.
The course of this old world is well outlined in God’s Word, which says: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened. Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish. . . . God gave them up to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting, filled as they were with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, injuriousness, being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious disposition, being whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, self-assuming, inventors of injurious things, disobedient to parents, without under, standing, false to agreements, having no natural affection, merciless. Although these know full well the righteous decree of God, that those practicing such things are deserving of death, they not only keep on doing them but also approve those practicing them.” For such willful rebelliousness this old world will perish at Armageddon. —Romans 1:21-32, New World Trans.
However, there are persons today who are not in sympathy with this old world and its manner of living. These are making preparations to survive this world’s end in hope of enjoying endless life in the coming new world of God’s promise. These persons are Jehovah’s witnesses, who make up the New World society. Jehovah’s witnesses have separated themselves from this old world by declaring themselves unreservedly for Jehovah God and his kingdom by Christ Jesus. Unlike this old world Jehovah’s witnesses find the Bible very practical. Throughout the world they abide by, uphold and declare its principles in word and conduct. So doing they are actually preparing now to live forever.
The. New World society is bound together with an unbreakable bond of love and unity. As one people, without distinction according to race, color, language, tribe or nation, they are linked to the one living and true God, Jehovah. They have one king and redeemer, Christ. A common law is over all of them no matter where they live, and that law is Jehovah’s theocratic law set forth in the Holy Bible. By separating themselves from this doomed old world they as a dedicated people are moving unitedly forward to the one country that Jehovah has made, the new world of His making. As one family of brothers and sisters through Christ they live moral lives, clean and happy lives. Those who prove rebellious or who do not wish to conform themselves to Jehovah’s rule of conduct are disfellow-shiped from the New World society. In this way the organization is kept clean, to praise and honor God.
Members of the New World society endeavor to make the Word of God an active force in their lives. To that end they study that Word diligently and apply its principles. Believing God’s Word and exercising faith in it, the hearts and imaginations of men of good will well up with hope in God’s promise of a new world. They announce this wonderful news to others, and thereby become preachers or proclaimers of that Word. This hope of a new world changes their whole outlook upon life. Their conduct changes. Their vocabulary, their thinking, their associations and pleasures all change. They become different personalities. They draw on a new personality conforming to the Word of God. At last, they have found something worth talking about and living for—the new world! Just imagine, each day of the year, on the average, 139 individuals march out of the old world and embrace the new. Year by year, 50,000 or more persons dedicate themselves to Jehovah God. Now we find 520,000 different individuals, scattered throughout 143 countries, colonies and islands of the sea, that are 'daily praising Jehovah’s name.’ It is life that these are after—life with all its goodness and happiness in God’s new world of righteousness.
Incentive for Living Forever
After Armageddon life will really be worth living—first, a thousand years of peace, contentment, joy and prosperity under God’s Messianic kingdom, a thousand years devoted to making this earth a glorious place to live in. “Look! the tent of God is with humankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.” All will desire to live.—Revelation 21:3, 4, New World Trans.
But survival into the new world of righteousness necessitates preparation. With this generation fast running out, the time to prepare is short. Armageddon will spell the end of this old world and its society. It will also mean the full realization of a new world with all its glory. So why waste time and energy on something that is doomed? Why live in constant jeopardy? Why die when you can prepare now to live? Everlasting life will come to men, butnot through the wise men of this world. They will continue like butterflies over many hills and dales in their pursuit of the fountain waters of life, never finding them.
Life can come only through Jehovah God’s appointed way, Jesus Christ, who said: “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life.” And Isaiah was used to proclaim this invitation: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy Wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatneps. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live.”—John 4:14, New World Trans.; Isaiah 55:1-3.
Now is the time to prepare. Do not wait until you see Armageddon before you start preparing, because then it will be too late. Now is the time to act. Act wisely. May you be among the great crowd that will survive Armageddon and enjoy endless life.
THE AZORES - ATLANTIC STEPPING STONES
By ,lAwak«t” in Portugal
EMOTE and yet accessible, small but of no mean importance, the Azores islands—nine
I pearls of the Atlantic—ever since the fifteenth century have been “steppingstones" for crossing the broad ocean. The rocky island of Santa Marla, 750 miles west of Lisbon, is a vital "steppings to ne" for commercial air liners, the metallic monsters that regularly wing their way between America and southern Europe and Africa. Off to the northwest Fay al island is one of the world’s most important submarine-cable centers, S&o Miguel, between Santa Maria and Fayal, is the main center for tourists, C Everywhere the tourists see cone-shaped mountains and volcanic craters. The main vehicle of transport throughout the islands is the oxcart, but in addition the amazed tourist sees dainty little carts drawn by sheep, and even dogs carrying baskets in their mouths 1 Also, there is a loc^l custom of marking sidewalks with an inlaid stone pattern, a distinctive pattern for each street, so that even those who cannot read can tell what street they are on, merely by the pattern on the sidewalk.
<L At Terceira island, some 90 miles to the northwest of Sao Miguel, the population of about 50,000 is famed for its love of fe-stas. The main feature of these celebrations is often a taurada de corda, or rope bullfight. A long rope is tied to a bull’s neck, and then the animal is let loose in the streets. While wiser pertons watch from the safe vantage point of a window or the top of a wall, many local lads, using, instead of a professional cloak, an old jacket or even an umbrella, match agility with the beast The rope is supposed to control the t bull m the event he becomes really dangerous, ' but the rope-holders themselves may be charged by the beast, to scatter and leave the bull to go where he pleases. Unlike Spanish bullfighting, no wounds are afflicted on the animal, but occasionally a daring lad, deficient in agility; may pay dearly for his foolhardiness 1 C The mountain of Pico, on the island of the same name, is the outstanding volcanic peak. Its name means “peak/’ and it towers majestically to a height of more than 7,500 feet. Smaller craters dot its vast slopes like giaht moles, and at several points the island has large solidified lava>flows (locally called jnisterios), caused by comparatively recent eruptions since the islands were colonized. The origin of their name is interesting. When the eruptions destroyed much good land, local inhabitants, in their affliction, turned to the clergy for an explanation. The reply, typical of teachers of the trinity and other unexplainable dogmas: "It is a mystery of God." The name "mysteries" stuck!
* Wine is a chief product, and the vineyards here are especially interesting. The vines are trained to grow low and trail over the ground, and each plant is surrounded by a low wall of cinders and rocks, so that at a distance the vineyard has the appearance of a collection of rough pigpens. The wall has the double advantage of being the dumping pl are for the volcanic rocks, and also of providing shelter from the strong winds. For the same reason orange trees are cut and the branches trained to, grow just a foot or two above the ground. In many ways the first colonists must have had to adjust their methods to suit local conditions,
<i Pico islanders are still whale fishermen, but no longer do spotters on the heights light two fires in direct Jine with the spouting whales to guide the whaleboats. Nowadays wireless telegraphy is used. However, the fishermen still use open boats and hand-thrown harpoons.
V The most isolated of the Azores archipelago are the two small islands of Flores and Corvo, 135 miles northwest of Fayal, Corvo, just six square miles in size, is the home of several hundred people who live a simple life with no police, prisons, doctor or pharmacist, and who do not even have locks on their doors. If that makes you think of the Scriptural promises of God’s new world, then meditate, too, on the fact that the Azores have no dangerous wild beasts, no venomous snakes, but plenty of birds and wildlife, and an abundance of fruit and flowers, with a humid but moderate and healthy climate. ^♦Yetj with all these benefits, the people of the Azores still have a basic need for freedom from false religion. A little group of exceptional people is working toward even that desirable end.
Religion Dooms
ORGANIZED religion is an intricate part of the United
Nations, even as it was of the League of Nations. But as it proved to be of no blessing to the League, so now worldly religion will prove to be of no blessing to the world organization. In fact, its very presence within the United Nations dooms the world organization to destruction. Why? Because in Bible prophecy this religio-political combine is identified as anti-God and anti-Christ. An early death awaits it in the battle of Armageddon.
Strong words, these. But you will find them not unfounded: they do have a basis in faett Because of what the United Nations really is and does, and the part it plays in the lives of men everywhere, it deserves a positive identification, one that Almighty God gives it, so that lovers of truth and righteousness may intelligently know whether it is a choice between “disaster and death or life and hope/’ as it claims to be.
Bible prophecy shows that at the close of the “appointed times of the nations,” or “Gentile times” as they are sometimes called, a kingdom would be born in the heavens; that that kingdom would be governed by “the Prince of Peace,” the resurrected Christ Jesus; that at the birth of that kingdom all angels in the heavens and nations on the earth were to recognize its sovereignty over them, and that this was the instrument that would bring everlasting peace to mankind. The time for the birth of that kingdom came A.D. 1914.
But the prophecies dealing with this time, recorded at Daniel chapter eleven, Matthew chapter twenty-four^ Mark chapter thirteen and Luke chapter twenty-one, show that instead of the nations* relin-
quishing their authority to the en-
throned
King they become angry and violently engage in total war. These prophecies warned that the nations would set up a counterfeit kingdom that would try to palm itself off to the public as the Messianic kingdom of God. This it could not do unless it had the backing and blessing of Christendom’s religions.
League Hailed by Religion
True to the prophecy, before World War I ended, instead of the heavenly kingdom of Christ being hailed by the nations as mankind’s only hope, the League of Na* tions with its world court was created, prescribed and provided as the implement that would bring everlasting peace and security. Christendom’s spiritual leaders did not expose this man-made creation as a counterfeit, but instead they united with worldly politics to make this blasphemous fraud a reality. In 1918 the National Committee of the Churches on the Moral Aims of the War prepared a brochure entitled “League of Nations Outlined for Discussion.” It stated, among other things, that in England the Anglican and free churches were in favor of the League. In 1919 the august body of ecclesiastics composing the council of the church federation issued the following blasphemous proclamation: “Such a League is not a mere political expedient; it is rather the political expression of the Kingdom of
God on earth. . . . The Church can give a spirit of good will, without which no League of Nations can endure. . . . The League of Nations is rooted in the Gospel.” With glib irresponsibility the clerics brushed aside as visionary the kingdom of Christ and misapplied the Bible promises concerning it to their political creation.
The prophecy at Revelation 17:3 shows this counterfeit to be “full of blasphemous names.” (New World Trans.) Blasphemy here means the ascribing to men that which belongs to God or which Almighty God alone can do. In connection with this association of nations it is noted that its creators and backers make for it promises that God’s Word plainly declares that he through his King Christ Jesus alone can and will fulfill. Thereby these false political and religious prophets paste the counterfeit with' “blasphemous names.” Note what the Report of the Federal Council of Churches of Christlor 1920, pages 157,158 and 313, has to say:
“The League of Nations. The supreme hope for the future is in the League of Nations. . . , The peace of the world and hope for humanity rest upon the proper strengthening and functioning of the League.” “We welcome, therefore, the development of a league of nations which shall be in truth an association of free peoples for the achieving of world peace. . . . We call upon our own nation to join with other nations in moving along this new pathway of hope.” On page 160 of this report it shows that not only leading Protestant denominations were enlisted in this drive to further the League, but “through the church peace union and the world alliance the Roman Catholics and Jews were brought in” in support of the League. The petition sheets that were circulated at that time had on them these words: “In a WORLD AS DARK AS THIS, WHY BLOW OUT THE ONLY LIGHT THERE IS?” But these political clergymen blew that light out of their lives when they thus embraced the League, because Jesus said of himself: “I am the light of the world." The clergy chose to hover over the League like moths over a flickering flame. Even when there was hardly a flicker left they clung to it. “Reverend” J. Bruce Hunter, B.D., D.D., LL.D., of Montreal, Canada, in an address at London, Ontario, declared that the League of Nations is “the visible spirit of Jesus Christ, expressing his will concerning nations and people; the greatest thing which has come into the world since Pentecost.”. Thus they labeled the League “beast” with blasphemous titles.
These religious and political backers of the League proved themselves “false prophets.” The League was not “rooted in the gospel,” as claimed; was not the "supreme hope for the future,” as was boasted; was not the “political expression of God’s kingdom on earth,” as proclaimed; was not “the only light”; was not “the visible spirit of Jesus Christ,” nor “the greatest thing since Pentecost.” It proved to be a fraud, a fake, a counterfeit, a makeshift, having no God-given power whatsoever. It ended up with fiasco in 1939, just as God said it would. It accomplished no deliverance of the peoples, because the “god of this system of things” is a “strange god” that cannot save or deliver. Even the League’s backers admit today that their glorified creation failed. God’s kingdom will never fail. It is an everlasting kingdom, which proves conclusively that the League was not of God, but of men.
Religion Rides the United Nations
This same prophecy that foretold the failure of the League also announced the rise and fall of its successor, the United Nations. It says: “The wild beast that you saw was [in the form of the League of Nations], but is not [after 1939, when it became ineffective during World War II], and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss [in 1945, in the form of the United Nations], and it is to go off into destruction.” (Revelation 17:8, New World Trans.) Is not this what the people saw? Before the second global world war was over the nations discussed the regirding of “peaceful nations” within a second but stronger league. In June of 1945 fifty nations assembled at San Francisco, California, and drew up the Charter of a new organization known as the United Nations. And before that year ended the Charter was adopted and the organization came into existence and began to get organized and take form. ‘The beast that was not came out of the abyss?
Immediately, it began to be glorified as “the best hope,” “the one hope,” “the last hope" and “the only hope” of the peoples. The secretary-general of the United Nations assured the world that ‘the United Nations will not fail as did the League of Nations after the first world war.’ On June 9, 1946, at the automotive industry’s golden jubilee in Detroit, Michigan, he said: “This time we are going far, far ahead of where we were before. We are going to do this with the co-operation of the individual nations, backed by the massed support of the people. We cannot fail, we will not fail.”
Behind the United Nations are worldly religious leaders plastering it with ‘names of blasphemy,’ even as they did the League, true to the proverb that says: “As a dog retumeth to his vomit, so a fool retumeth to his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11) They learned nothing from their previous experience with the League. The Protestant Federal Council Bulletin claimed that the scope of religious activity in relation to the establishment of the United Nations was “without precedent in the experience of American Protestantism.” In her press column of June 26, 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt stated that she "could not help but think that the representatives who have been working on the charter out in San Francisco have labored to bring forth something which will prepare the way for that kingdom of God on earth which we poor, faulty human beings have been ho long awaiting.” Sinking even lower in misapplying Scripture, clergyman Henderson Shinn of Ohio emoted, on July 29, 1945: “(Say among the nations that the Lord reigneth ... He shall judge the people righteously.’ The clear word of the psalmist, translated into terms of modem application, was definitely heard in the formulation of the Charter of the United Nations.” Even the cautious and wily Pope Pius XII at that time “expressed deep satisfaction with the progress and accomplishments of the San Francisco Conference.” Rabbi James A. Wax presented a paper on behalf of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the conclusion of which was as follows; “Because of the promise of peace and international co-operation that the United Nations Charter will bring immediately, . . . because of the promise of the ultimate establishment of the kingdom of God that we see in it, we American Rabbis, speaking for ourselves and for the men and women whom we serve and lead, plead for the speedy ratification by the Senate of the United States of the United Nations Charter.”
Nowhere does the Bible identify the heavenly kingdom of God with any religiouspolitical body on earth. In the second psalm, in Daniel chapter two and in Revelation chapter seventeen, the kingdom of God is shown to be “heavenly," “cut out of the mountain without hands," proving that it is not of human origin. These chapters further show the kingdoms of the earth as being in a conspiracy against God and his anointed, and that God has given
his ward that he will dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. This heavenly kingdom is mankind’s only hope. It alone has power to save. But false religious rulers and false religious prophets prefer to pin tnese hopes on their earthly makeshift, the United Nations. Thus false religion makes the United Nations a blasphemous thing in the sight of God.
On April 13, 1947, Unitarians in Washington, D.C., heard a plea that "Christianity should recognize the United Nations as a force which also has a role of salvation,” The American Unitarian Association’s president, Dr. Eliot, fumed: "Christianity must abandon its claim to a monopoly of the way to salvation.” A few days earlier Benjamin Cohen told a religious assembly in New York city that "the message of the Charter of U. N. was becoming the gospel of mankind.” The Federal Council spokesman Nolde declared: “The hope of mankind is now fixed on the United Nations.” On September 7, 1950, the chief executive Of the United States said: "The United Nations is our one hope to which we may look for a peaceful world.” Headlines in the papers read: “Pope Calls U. N. Hope of World”; "The Pope Tells the World Don’t Lose Faith in U. N.”; “Pray for the United Nations—Says the Pope.”
But what about the kingdom of God under Christ? Where is their support of it? There is none. They have smothered the hope of the kingdom of God with religious-political propaganda in behalf of the United Nations. They hail it instead. A United Nations’ pamphlet called the United Nations “Mankind’s best hope—for peace, justice and progress.” It further stated: “More than that, the United Nations today is the best hope—perhaps the last hope —for establishing conditions that could ensure peace. ... If, however, they let the United Nations fail, there can be no hope.
The choice actually is a clear-cut one—disaster and death or life and hope.” But the Choice is not the United Nations or chaos, rather it is the United Nations or the kingdom of God. The worldly religious forces actively support the United Nations as their “life and hope,” but it will prove to be their “disaster and death.”
Need more be said to prove that worldly rulers and their religious cohorts are not looking to the heavenly kingdom of God under Christ for pehce and security? It is clear they want no part of it. They look to the works, of their own hands, as Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, president of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, on March 5,1946, stated: "There are those among us who declare it is utopian to believe that the Kingdom of God can be built upon the earth. When I consider the works of man, the amazing miracles wrought in the realm of applied science, I am strengthened in my belief that we can and will build that kingdom on the earth.” God’s Word gives the lie to Bishop Oxnam’s words that imply man’s hands will bring this Kingdom. It says: "And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” The prophet Isaiah wrote: “The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.”—Daniel 2:44; Isaiah 9:7, Am. Stan. Ver.
What, then, can we expect of this hideous abomination ‘standing where it ought not’? We can rightly expect the words of Almighty God to come to pass, “And it goes off into destruction.” And justly so. Because it, like the League, is a counterfeit. It is not the promised Messianic kingdom of God. The heavenly kingdom of Christ, the true and only hope of mankind, will prevail. It alone is destined to fulfill the promises of God as given in his Word, the Bible.—Psalm 72:1-7.
HOW to get the most out of vacation traveling—this is often a problem.
When it is possible to obtain richly both enjoyment and education from one’s vacation, that is a wise investment of time. For the person who wants to reap such dividends in the United States, there is hardly a better vacationland than one of the twenty-eight national parks.
The national parks, generally speaking, may be classified as of four kinds: (1) Those that are remarkable chiefly for their extraordinary natural scenery and beauty, (2) those that display evidence of erosion, (3) those that contain volcanic phenomena such as geysers and (4) those that especially illustrate glacial action. Now a representative look at these wonderlands.
Yosemite National Park
This wonderland is renowned chiefly for its natural beauty. Located about two hundred miles due east of San Francisco it embraces an area of some 750,000 acres, Yosemite (it rhymes with extremity) Valley, the best-known feature of the park, tumble eight of the world’s piost beautiful waterfalls. As you view the valley from ^Jrigh vantage point, everything appears fantastically miniature—“toy mountains and waterfalls?’ But no toy waterfalls are these, for they are among the world’s highest. At Vernal Falls the Merced River descends for 320 feet in a sheet of jadegreen water to foam white among the boulders at its foot. Nevada Falls drops 594 feet, Bridal Veil Falls drops 620 feet, and the Slender Ribbon Falls makes a straight drop of 1,612 feet. Yosemite Falls has one sheer drop of 1,430 feet, and if we add intermediate cascades and another fall its total drop is half a mile!
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But the valley occupies only a small part of the total park area. There is so much more: the giant sequoia trees, the carpets of wild flowers, the snow plant that pushes up like giant red asparagus, the ranger-naturalist talks, the fabulous birds, the giant butterflies—blue, scarlet, pale green —the black bear and the half-tame deer. As you eat your picnic lunch the deer will haunt you, fearlessly approaching to eat out of your hand. Yosemite has a tremendous camping ground where for the single moderate admission the visitor may stake out ground, pitch a It is not uncomm people to come in June and S summer! And nb der! With its spi cliffs, many are prompted to say that Yosemite is the most beautiful park jn the United States.
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But defer judging until you have heard more. For in the northwest corner of Washington state is an enchanting yet little-known region of sublime and unspoiled mountain beauty, Olympic National Park. Here in some 900,000 acres is a wonderland containing one of the finest remaining virgin forests. Mount Olympus, the highest peak, reaches an altitude of about 8,000 feet. On the slopes of Mount Olympus, and other peaks, are more than fifty glaciers, permanent ice fields, glacial streams and lakes. Stands of Douglas fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, Sitka spruce, western white pine and white fir extend up the sides of the mountains. Roaring streams plunge down scenic valleys from great blue-white glaciers; green hills and lofty snow peaks surround sparkling lakes.
There is a variety of unusual wildlife in this wonderland, the most noted of which is the Roosevelt elk, nearly extinct in other regions. Black-tailed deer, Rocky Mountain goats, black bears, cougars, coyotes, beavers, minks, raccoons, otters, wolves, eagles, hawks and grouse are other wildlife denizens of the park. Just before President Truman left office he increased the park area by some 50,000 acres. This is mostly a magnificent fifty-mile stretch of Pacific shore line. So Olympic, in Mr. Truman’s words, is the only national park that extends “from snow-capped mountains to ocean beaches.”
However, the western United States has no monopoly on beautiful parks. There are three national parks in the East: the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee, Shenandoah in Virginia and Acadia in Maine. Acadia covers some forty-four square miles of the picturesque and rockbound coast of Maine. It comprises granite-cliffed Mount Desert island, once part of the old French province of Acadia, now Nova Scotia, and about fifteen square miles of the mainland. The park is a Sanctuary for birds and animals, and is unusual In that it is one of the two national parks that combine the fascinating scenery of mountains and sea coast.
Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah offer some of the most beautiful mountain scenery in all the United States, although the mountains do not tower so high as those in the West. The name “Great Smoky Mountains” xromes from the dense bluish haze that rises from the valleys to the summits of the mountains. Here is found the largest remaining hardwood forest. Canada hemlock, red spruce, silver-bell, yellow buckeye, mountain ash and over a hundred other native-tree species clothe the park with restful beauty. Shenandoah is also noted for its tree-covered mountains. Located among the most scenic areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains this wonderland has scenic gaps and mountain streams that form waterfalls at various levels and that flow down into hollows between the spur ridges. In the hollows and on mountain slopes about a hundred varieties of trees shade the park. There are numerous wildflowers, thirty-five kinds of animals and a hundred types of birds. Crowning the park’s regal splendor is the ninety-six-mile Skyline Drive that runs along the crest of the mountains, the entire length of the park.
Everglades National Park
This is the newest of the national parks and the most exotic of them all, for it is the only subtropical one in the United States. Unfortunately many Florida-bound vacationers pass up this fantastic subtropical region of jungle swamps and flowing “grassy waters” because they mistakenly think they must be wildlife experts to ap-
predate it Actually there are beauty and enjoyment for all kinds of human eyes and ears.
What colorful wildlife thrives here! There are snowy egrets. There are reddish egrets, even more rare. When seen against a patch of green marsh, the reddish egret is a delight to the eye, for when feeding it often clowns In TV comedian style. Here is the home of the roseate spoonbill, the bird whose rose-red plumes are combined with an odd feeding apparatus, a long spoon-shaped bill with which it scoops up small fish. Alert sightseers may also view cougars, white-tailed deer, American crocodiles and floating logs that suddenly turn into alligators. The Everglades is an enchanting wonderland. Its vast cypress swamps, its water lilies and giant ferns, its wild orchids that decorate the aisles of trees, its colorful water birds, its growing-side-by-side palms and pines and its adventurous atmosphere will surely captivate you.
The Grand Canyon and Yellowstone
Of those parks remarkable for their erosion the most extraordinary is in northwest Arizona. This is Grand Canyon National Park, which contains the most spectacular sections of the world-famous Grand Canyon. Here the Colorado River and its tributaries flow through a network of mysterious sandstone chasms. The entire canyon is dazzllngly beautiful. Its main gorge contains what^looks like a magically colored city of pagan temples, castles, minarets and towers. A paved road winds about the rims, and in places trails descend into the canyon’s depths.
Of parks featuring volcanic phenomena none are more famous than Yellowstone, a national park so large that it is nearly as big as Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Yellowstone is located mainly in Wyoming. John Colter made the first recorded visit there in 1810. His story of its marvels was discredited. Not .until when an expedition established the facts, did people generally believe what they heard about Yellowstone.
There are only three places in all the world where one can see the never-forgotten sight of tons of hot water shooting out of the earth. One is in Iceland, another in New Zealand, but the wonderland with the biggfest and most geysers is Yellowstone. Here are over a hundred geysers and more than 3,000 hot springs. Each boiling pool and snorting geyser has its own personality. The most famous geyser is Old Faithful. Its name is derived from its reliable eruption on the average of every sixty-five minutes. Preceding the eruption there comes a rumbling sound, as if a giant were preparing to speak. From the top of the cone wells a little water. Higher it rises, falls back, then triumphantly tons upon tons of steaming water surge skyward. Spellbinding is the sight, for the gazing crowd gasps, speechless. Great billows of steam roll off on the breeze. Higher, yet higher, leaps the stream, 100 feet, 150 feet, even higher. In four minutes the spouting flood has spent its power. t)ld Faithful’s high head sinks lower and slowly withdraws to her home in the earth.
Though Old Faithful spurts out about 10,000 gallons of water during an eruption, the loftiest spouter of all is Giant Geyser. When Giant shoots to a height of 200 or 250 feet at an interval of nine to twenty-one days, it discharges some 700,000 gallons of water—about seventy times as much as Old Faithful! Eiuptions last an ■ hour and a half, to compare with Old Faithful’s four minutes. At the height of Giant’s fury it spouts about twenty-two tons of water into the air at one time. As if spouting geysers and hot pools were not enough, Yellowstone has spouters of mud. Mud Volcano looks like a caldron of simmering chocolate.
Bui the mud volcanoes, geysers and hot springs alone do not make Yellowstone the magnificent wonderland it is. For there are bewitching Yellowstone Lake and the waterfalls. There is a wide assortment of geological oddities, from petrified forest to entrancing gorges. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is the supreme wonder. Its gorge penetrates deep into volcanic rocks of the park plateau. Towering pinnacles of rock take on fantastic forms, creating the Illusion that one is looking down upon decaying splendors of antique architecture. The Grand Fall of Yellowstone is more than three hundred feet high. Showers of spray are sent up which, when touched by the magic rays of sunlight, turn into innumerable varicolored jewels.
For wildlife enthusiasts Yellowstone rates high. More than 220 species of birds, including geese, hawks, eagles and the rare trumpeter swan, live here. Besides the grizzly and black bears, herds of elk, deer, moose, bison and buffalo roam the park. What feature is the most impressive? Some are fascinated by the bears, some by the birds, some by the gorges and some by Old Faithful. But one visitor’s impression is in a class by itself. Years ago an old Bannock Indian chief by the name of White Hawk was escorted through the park. Someone asked him whether Indians used to shun geysers, thinking them the abode of evil spirits. The old chief merely shook his head and gazed with practical
White Hawk,
Glacier National Park
Of the national parks characterized by glaciers, especially noteworthy is Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. Called Montana’s Switzerland, it has some sixty glaciers, at least 250 glacier-fed lakes and nearly one million acres of grandiose Rocky Mountain scenery. Cataracts drop from high-altitude snowfields down over tremendous rock walls into shimmering finality. Mountains blaze with brilliant verdure on their slopes and with snow on their peaks. In the ravines of this fairyland nestle milky jade lakes—daubs of green paint that make one rub his eyes in disbelief. Meadows of larkspur and Indian paintbrush border clear blue lakes. About thirty species of trees flourish. In the valley floors and alpine meadows more than a thousand varieties of flowers bloom. Animal lovers see moose, bighorn sheep, elk, bears, bobcats, deer, beavers, marmots, otters and mountain goats.
The famous Going-to-the-Sun Highway leads motorists fifty scenic miles across Glacier National Park, even roller-coaster-ing them across the Continental Divide. Here in Glacier National Park is a paradise wonderland of mountain crags, dazzling cliffs, dashing waterfalls, clear lakes, eternal snow and ice, primeval forests, wild game, blue sky and brilliant sunshine. Here the works of nature have not been marred by any destructive hand of man.
From this representative picture of national parks you can make the choice of the kind you would like to see. When visiting one of them, take a deep look at the Creator’s handiwork. It will give you some idea of the beauty with which the earth must be clothed in Jehovah’s new world. Yes, soon this earth must become a global Edenic wonderland, even as Jehovah has ordained, to compare with this description of his theocratic land: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God.’’—Isaiah 35:1, 2, Am. Stan. Ver.
PLANTING BY THE MOON
Beneficial or Superstitious?
rpoDAY many farmers and gardeners J. regulate their planting and harvesting by the appearance of the moon. They believe that the moon exerts a definite substantial influence on the growth and development of plantlife. On the other hand, there are farmers that call this “a superstitious practice as old as agriculture,” or they refer to it as just “pure imagination” or “nonsense.”
These latter farmers say: “Primitive man thought the sun to be a divine king and the moon a queen. She was to him ‘the goddess of fertility.’ The superstitious ancients did not know that the moon's light was merely a reflection from the sun, and as the earth gradually got between the two, the moon received less and less light to reflect until it was wholly invisible. They thought the first faintly illuminated edge was a reborn or new moon, and in due course, as the earth-shadow began to creep up again, that the moon was growing old and waning into death. But farmers today, who understand the phases of the moon and the pageantry of the firmament, know differently.”
But despite this fact, these farmers fail to realize that in addition to statements that have come down from ancient philosophers, and traditions passed from generation to generation of peasants and practical gardeners as well as savage tribes, there are “constantly being reported by intelligent, unprejudiced modem plant growers experiences which tend to make it impossible to discredit or ignore the theory of lunar influence on the time of seed sowing, planting, and other cultural operations.*’ So says the New Garden Encyclopedia, written by a group of horticultural experts and edited by E, L. D. Seymour, B.SA. “It seems logical, therefore,” says this authority, “to recognize the existence of this theory as something more than mere superstition, and to suggest that any gardener curious about it undertake careful, systematic, accurate tests that will assist him in making up his own mind regarding it. It should be remembered,” say these experts, “that even strong supporters of the theory are not necessarily astrologists and do not consider planting by the moon astrological practice.”
The assumptions upon which arguments for planting by the moon are based are: “(1) That the moon, in its monthly revolution around the earth, passes through twelve zones or ‘signs’ of the Zodiac, which is an imaginary belt in the heavens encircling the earth at right angles to its axis as related to the sun; thus the zodiacal belt does not coincide with the equator which is at right angles to the north and south pole axis. (2) That the influence of the moon varies according to the sign in which it happens to be at the time planting or other garden work is done. (3) That, in general, plants which bear the desired parts above ground (as beans, tomatoes, corn, flowers) benefit if planted during a waxing or increasing moon, that is up to the time of full moon; and that plants which yield below ground (potatoes, beets, parsnips, dahlias—if tubers are especially wanted—etc J benefit if planted during a waning moon, that is, after the full-**
Unfortunately, the subject, although highly controversial, has never been subjected to careful, intensive, scientific investigation over a period of years; consequently the theories involved and the claims made regarding them have never been conclusively proved or disproved. However, some experiments have been made and their findings have proved interesting. Francis Coulter, writing for House and Garden magazine, April, 1944, page 120, reports the following: “In England it was noticed that there has been a marked revival of ancient beliefs as to the effect t
of the moon on the germination of seeds and the growth of seedlings. To decide the issue, a very exhaustive series of tests was carried on from 1940 to 1942 at the John Innes Horticultural Institution near London- Many sowings were made, indoor and outdoor, to test germination, while to test seedling growth other very extensive plantings were made in greenhouses, where it was possible to control climatic and other physical conditions very largely, and so eliminate possible chances of error through adventitious factors. Day in, day out, careful measurements were made, readings recorded and tabulated, graphs drawn. Finally the trained observer reported that: 'The conclusion is inescapable: the moon has no consistent effect? ” The writer asserts that this was probably "the most extensively planned and carefully conducted demonstration of its kind ever made.”
However, this was not the only test ever made. Science News Letter for February 19,1944, page 120, tells of experiments on trees conducted by Professor Harold S* Burr of the Yale School of Medicine. The article describes the experiment in this manner: “Prof. Burr inserted a pair of electrical contacts into the trunk of a maple tree, about five feet apart and at a depth that placed them next to the cambium, or layer of actively growing cells that build new layers of wood and bark. They were hooked up to delicate electrical recording apparatus. Approximately once a month, he reports, the records show there was a 'tremendous and very sharp rise’ in the average potential difference over the path of living tissue between the two points* Close records were kept of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and other weather factors, and none of these were found in step with the changes in the tree’s electrical state.” Professor Burr is careful to point out that while the moon seems to be the readiest object to hold responsible for these electrical changes, thus far there has been no actual causal connection between the two. However, he states, “on the basis of the evidence so far collected, one could predict by means of electrical measurements the changing lunar phases within 48 hours.”
In folklore there are hundreds of theories and fantastic superstitions about the moon’s effect on crops and plants. It may surprise some to learn that there actually is a flower that blooms only in accordance with lunar phases. It is a South African member of the iris family known as Morea iridoides. Science Digest for November, 1951, reports this startling fact: “Prof. Knight Dunlap of the University of California, whose hobby is gardening, noticed that the Morcas bloom normally within two periods in each lunar month. 'One period commences on the date of the first quarter, and ends the day before the full moon. The other period runs from the date of the last quarter up tq the new moon. During full and new moon there are no blossoms? ”
This same authority asserts that “in animal life we have the seaworm Eunice viri-dis found in the South Pacific which spawns only during full moon. As the rays penetrate the w^ter, the worms emerge from their burrows and lay their eggs, responding as if their bodies were photoelectric cells and the moon some eerie goddess calling them forth and giving life.”
Theory Debunked
Despite these rare isolated cases, which are still far from understood, scientists as a rule seem to shy away from the idea that there is anything to the idea of planting by the moon. They seem to think that if there is any effect on the growth of the plant whatsoever, it is extremely negligible. In general, astronomers too have a tendency to scoff at the idea. The findings at the John Innes Horticultural Institution near London appear to debunk the theory quite conclusively.
Along this same line an extension specialist in vegetable crops from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, as recently as December 21, 1953, made some interesting observations, which also have a tendency to demolish the theory. He said that there are two good practical answers to questions relative to planting according to phases of the moon: “One is that the moon is in the same phase throughout the entire country at any given date. Plantings of almost any of the crops vary regularly with each crop from south to north even though the moon is in the same phase in each place. A second answer is that if you take careful notes of the recommendation of planting by the moon and the results that are to be expected with the different crops, you will find, I am sure, that the people who are most emphatic about these recommendations have contrary beliefs. In other words, one group of people may say that a certain crop should be planted when the moon is gaining in size and the other when the moon is waning. A third good bit of evidence is that some of our very large operators that are specializing in only one or two crops plant over a considerable period of time. It surely would seem that if there were any great influence on either the yield or quality depending on the phase of the moon when planted some of these people would have accumulated good substantial evidence.”
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