Awake!, October 22, 1955
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GOD’S GREAT HEALING PROGRAM
Are modern, faith healers performing miracles of God? --
How to Make Marriage Happier
Practical suggestions on this vital subject
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Visiting the Ruins of Ephesus
What the city that rioted against Paul is like today
Halloween Vandalism Honors Dead
What is behind the October 31 celebration?
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 selfoh Interests. "Awake I” 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 to 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* th?* 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 I” pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes ^nd subtle dangers, to championing freedom for aH, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of & right* eous New World,
Get acquainted with “Awake!” Keep awake by reading “Awake!”
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CONTENTS
Substitutes for Simple Truth
My Wife, Doctor?
God’s Great Healing Program
The Lure of the Church
Red Treasure—the Oil Palm
How to Make Marriage Happier
“Ues, Damned Ues!”
Biggest Jumpers on Earth
Case of Mistaken Identity
"Just the Opposite of
Juvenile Delinquency”
Visiting the Ruins of Ephesus
Keeping the Temple Clean?
Halloween Vandalism Honors Dead
The Armenians
“Your Word Is Truth”
"Acts of God”
Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach in AI] the Earth—Ceylon
Do You Know?
Watching the World
-VelumeXXXVI Broefcryn, N. ¥., October 22, 1H5
Number 2Q
Substitutes for Simple Truth
ANY humor in the cartoon surrounded the truthfulness of the situation it depicted. It showed two distinguished gentlemen reading the church bulletin board. Notices were headed; Oyster Supper, Bazaar, Play, Sale, Auction, Chicken Supper, Country Fair. Finally, bending low to read another almost hidden notice one man exclaimed: ‘Well, well! They also preach the gospel here!”
Many things besides the gospel are resorted to in order to get people into today's churches. Some organizations use ventriloquist preachers, "Gospel Puppets,*1 magic cr ultraviolet light to dramatize handwriting on the wall. A Colorado church passed out handbills that shouted: “Hey kids' Your Chance to Send a Balloon Sailing Through the Skies.... Bring Mom and Dad too,” And a Blackpool, England, clergyman even used an old-fashioned slingshot and a pistol loaded with blanks to color up his sermons. It appeals to the children, he said.
Often the most popular and respectable churches in town accomplish the same purpose by becoming social clubs—providing good times but little knowledge. They have parties, suppers, picnics, soft lights, sweet music, resplendent robes and a beautiful choir, but their members have a very shallow understanding of God’s Word. There is nothing particularly wrong with these things, but the point is that something is wrong when the churches must resort to them for attendance, membership or financial income. After all, the message should be more important than the trimmings.
Said The Christian Century last April 27: “Think of what is done with the church’s main chance: vapid pep talks, arid skull sessions, half-baked politics, halfcooked therapies, little Bible stories that completely miss the point of the Bible, outmoded, discredited stereotypes. This is our preaching, by and large. Men and women are ready to hear what God has spoken, and the preacher 'gets a few things off his mind,’ as one venerable parson defined his preaching,’1
Just a clear, simple and pointed explanation of God’s Word would be electrifying. The truth contained there is so different from the current religious diet that it alone would seize attention, stir controversy and jolt the people cut of the idea that all religions are the same. It is this very practice of rejecting controversy and difference on doctrine that prompts the apathy shown In today’s religions. It is because of this apathy that the churches must turn to socials, bazaars, plays, auctions, square dances and the like in order to draw attendance or to get the money they need. The fact that they must resort to these things shows that they have lost the urgency, faith and zeal that have always marked true religion.
Paul preached simple truth. But it was so startling that he did not need magic shows, gospel puppets or church bazaars to cause a sensation. When at Ephesus, he explained something that many people who bow to statues today do not know, namely, that “the ones which are made by hands are not gods,” This pure truth, simple as it sounds, so electrified the city that a great indignation mass-meeting was held and the whole city was filled with confusion. Early Christians were accused of turning the world upside down, not because they gave away free balloons and had picnics and church suppers, but because of the impressive truthfulness of their preaching.—Acts 19:26; 17:6, New World Trans.
They had none of the dullness of presentday religion, but had a real zeal for truth. It is through replacing that zeal for truth with men's theories, philosophies, economics, politics and little platitudes about life that today's religions have lost the vigor and enthusiasm that was an identifying characteristic of first-century Christians. And when the things modern religion has substituted for true worship fail to work, then rather than getting back to the view the apostles had, the churches go farther the other way, resorting to socials, bazaars, short sermons, long robes, a soft organ and a quiet atmosphere to lull and satisfy the people. But real spiritual benefit does not just soothe the mind with soft words and peaceful music, nor quiet the day’s cares with soft lights and flickering candles, but rather it helps you to get right with God.
True worship puts principle ahead of popularity- It is far more concerned with being friends with God than with the world. It finds that God's Word frequently disagrees with the world's course. It faces facts, explains facts and holds to them. Its truth is so startling in comparison with the world's present course that it can, as the apostles did,- seize attention, stir thought and awaken interest without having to use the “social” or “spectacular stunt*' approach.
Thus, it is through logic and reasoning, through impressing upon the minds of its hearers the simple truth of God's Word, that the fastest-growing Christian organization today operates. It deals with information rather than stunts, with teaching and with Christian education rather than with socializing. And though it is one of the smaller groups, it has had the largest of assemblies, having had even a fantastic 165 >000 wide-awake people at one hourlong Bible lecture in Yankee Stadium, New York, in 1953!
What is there about simple, easily understood Bible truth that, in this materialistic-minded twentieth century will draw so many people, and demand from them the same devotion that first-century Christianity had? That is an important question. It can most easily be understood through demonstration. So why not examine this activity of Jehovah's witnesses for yourself, to see what attracts so many earnest people, and what a religion is like that deals with the mind rather than with emotion, and with simple, clear Bible truths rather than with their many modern-day substitutes?
MY WIFE, DOCTOR?
“When my wife has a temper tantrum, she holds her breath until she is blue in the face or until I give In. Is this dangerous?”
"Holding her breath, no; giving in, yes.”—Ladies* Home Journal, May, 1955.
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Christ Jesus and his early disciples performed many miracles by the aid of God’s power. Can the same be said of faith healers today? If not, what is God’s healing program for today?
HEALTH and life are the desire of all intelligent persons. And that for good reason, for with health and life there is so much that we can accomplish, so much that we can enjoy. Medical science is trying hard to bring to the people more health and life, but the fact remains that in spite of all its efforts malignant and degenerative diseases as well as mental and nervous ailments are on the increase. As a result more and more people are turning to some form of “divine healing.”
Thus under the heading “What God hath wrought by faith!” America’s Healing Magazine, circulation 435,000, publishes in each issue testimonials by persons who claim to have been healed. Eighty-four television stations each week at a cost of $10,000 broadcast its faith healing program. And representative of the interest in divine healing in Europe is the series on the subject published in the Scottish Swn-day Mail. It also reported on cases of healing, told why a Glasgow minister became a faith healer and how the British Medical Association was co-operating with the Church of Scotland Commission on Divine
Healing.
However, while good physical health is very desirable, there is something far more important, and that is spiritual health. Spiritual disease with its fruits of immorality, strife, confusion, superstition, ignorance and hypocrisy leads not only to the grave but to annihilation in view of the fact that we are in God’s judgment period. That is why the Bible puts the emphasis first on spiritual healing. In fact, all of man’s physical troubles are merely the outgrowth of his having first become spiritually sick, even as the Bible tells us: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”—Romans 5:12, New World Trans.
So that man might get healed from his spiritual sickness as well as from his physical diseases God sent his Son to earth, whom John the Baptist introduced as “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” While God was under no obligation to provide cure for man, * yet he chose to do so in order that his original purpose regarding the earth and man might be realized, namely, to have the whole earth a paradise filled with righteous creatures.—John 1:29, New World Trans,; Genesis 1:28; Isaiah 45:18.
God's Present Healing Program
Just as God had a due time for Christ to come to the earth, so he has a due time for men to gain the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice, to be healed spiritually and physically. While the Bible indicates that the physical healing must await the 1,000-year reign of Christ, not far away in view of the nearness of Armageddon, which is to prepare the way for that reign, God's spiritual healing program has been going on for nineteen centuries, it having begun while Jesus was on earth.—Revelation 16:14,16; 20:5, 6.
Then the "divine healing*’ being done today by these "faith healers” is not part of God’s healing program? No, and for that matter neither is that accomplished by Christian Scientists and at religious shrines. But did not Jesus and his apostles and disciples heal? True, but note that their healing was not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end, to establish the fact that this seemingly new religion was really of God. And note that to that end they were empowered not only to heal the sick, but to raise the dead, to feed multitudes on a few loaves and fishes. Christ had control over the elements, he could command the sea and wind to obey him, and both he and certain of his apostles and disciples were able to read the minds of men and to utter profound prophecies. And they healed all that came to them, not just a small fraction.—See Matthew 14:14-26; 24:1-25:46; John 11:38-44.
Their gifts being for the purpose of establishing the faith of others, we find that they did not use their powers for their own benefit. Jesus when hungry refused to change stones to bread; when he was weary he did not use his powers for his own benefit, but he rested. Paul had a thorn in the flesh and Timothy had stomach trouble as well as frequent cases of sickness. At one place Paul had to leave behind a co-worker because of sickness. Still, he did not use his powers for his personal benefit. Nor did any of these take up collections, solicit funds or charge fees for their healing.—2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Timothy 5:23.
Then how can we explain today’s seeming cures? First let it be noted that many cures are performed by healers not professing t« be Christian or to have faith in God. Second, emotions are often the cause of some sicknesses and emotions have been known to cure even diseases of a physical nature, such being known as psychosomatic medicine. And further, where there is no other explanation but the supernatural, then in view of the lack of the fruits of the pure worship of Jehovah, we have no alternative but to conclude that such instances of healing are examples of Satan’s transforming himself into an angel of light to mislead.—2 Corinthians 11:14.
Yes, though Jesus and some of his disciples healed, they back there put the emphasis on spiritual healing. “Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need,” Jesus said, not, "Happy are those who are physically sick for they will be healed.” His chief purpose in life was to glorify his Father by preaching the truth, even as he said to Pilate: "For this purpose I have been born and for this purpose I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” Thereby he caused the spiritually blind and deaf to see and hear, and that was far more important than curing the physically blind and deaf, for the benefits of such physical healing lasted only a few short years whereas spiritual healing "means everlasting life,"—Matthew 5:3; John 18:37; 17:3, New World Trans,
Today God is having a similar spiritual healing program carried on. By means of the preaching of the good news of his established kingdom a great crowd of goodwill persons are having their spiritual eyes and ears opened. Foretelling this modern healing work, which work received particular impetus in 1919, the prophets wrote: "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.” “I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.”—Isaiah 35:5, 6; Jeremiah 33:6, Beu. Stan. Ver.
This great spiritual healing program has brought into being a vigorous and prosperous New World society consisting of persons who have come to a knowledge of Jehovah God and his purposes and who have dedicated themselves to do his will and to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. They are making over their minds and personalities by studying God’s Word; they are putting off the selfish and degrading works of the flesh and are bringing forth the fruitage of God’s holy spirit which is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,-goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.”—Galatians 5:19-24, New World Trans.
Some half million Christian ministers in 160 lands and islands of the sea are taking part in this great spiritual healing program. It is far more important than any physical healing could possibly be, for any physical healing today is only temporary and can at best last only until Armageddon. Those, however, who, by ’seeking Jehovah, righteousness and m eelm ess,’ are spiritually healed can hope to be hidden in that day of Jehovah’s anger. Surviving it they will enter the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness dwells. —Zephaniah 2:1-3; 2 Peter 3:13.
In that new world God will give physical and mental healing in addition to spiritual health. And these benefits will be not only for those who survive Armageddon but also for the countless multitudes “in the memorial tombs” or in God’s memory, awaiting a resurrection from the dead. Gradually mankind will be brought up to mental, moral and physical perfection and eventually God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more.” What a marvelous prospect! —John 5:28, 29; Revelation 21:4, New World Trans.
So do not ignore God’s great spiritual healing program today for the sake of temporary physical healing. Put first things first and receive spiritual healing now. And then show your appreciation for spiritual health and the hope of physical health together with everlasting life in the new world by making known to others God’s great healing program. Having responded to the invitation to take of life’s waters free, show neighbor love by extending the invitation to others: “Come!”—Revelation 22:17.
<£ Many are the methods used by Christendom’s churches to lure worshipers into the fold. They range from serving free pancakes to floating gas-filled balloons above church buildings. But one of the weirdest on record appeared In the Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday Post (September 26, 1954): ‘The cheapest glass of beer on offer in Didcot, Berks, yesterday was at a Church fete. A beer drinking competition was held In the rectory garden of All Saints’ Church. Two cases of beer were ready on the lawn, but there were only 12 starters.”
RED TREASURE
-the Oil Palm
AVE you ever climbed a palm tree? Probably not. But most likely you have heard people talk about it and even seen pictures of how it is done. Just think what it must be like climbing fifty to a hundred feet up the long tapering trunk with nothing more than a piece of bush twine to help you. In Nigeria scores of thousands of Africans spend most of their lives climbing up and down palm trees with nothing more than that. Lengths of twine are twisted together to make a rope and joined at the ends into a simple loop which passes round both the trunk and the climber's body. Then leaning back into space with no other support than the rope, he "walks” up the trunk, at each step raising the rope with a jerk. And in a few seconds he is up at the top.
C Of course there are many kinds of palm trees and each one produces fruit. We are all familiar with coconuts, but do you know anything about oil palms and why so many Africans spend their Ilves climbing them? Only one Journey through the southern part of this vast country would be enough to show you that the oil palm plays a vital part in the very existence of millions of people. .Mention the oil palm to an African and two things come to mind^ first, the white frothy liquid he calls “palm wine," then a thick red oil called palm oil. Both of these are products of the oil palm.
<L If our climber Is after palm wine you will see him climb the tree with a small knife between his teeth and a gourd or calabash tied around his waist. Reaching the crown, he cuts away the fibrous growth where the nuts would normally form, bores a hole with the point of his knife and ties the calabash in position, so that as the frothy sap oozes up It will trickle into the calabash to be collected later. This sap or "wine” is diluted with water and is the national drink of millions of Africans. It can also be distilled and made into a very potent gin with high alcoholic content, but this is illegal in most parts of the country, although widely practiced.
By “Awake]'' <orr«ipofidenf in Nigeria
the the
<L But what about palm oil? This is
most important product of the oil palm and is real "red treasure.” Unless the tree is being used for palm wine, in which case there will be no fruit, you will see large clusters of red nuts nestling between the leaves. Here is the rich prise that our climber seeks. Up he goes with nothing but a machete slung around his waist. A few swift blows and down come the heavy clusters of fruit. The cutting finished, the heavy bunches of nuts are gathered up and carried home, where the nuts are stripped off the bunches and stacked in heaps. Each nut is covered with a fibrous substance that contains the red oil. The kernel inside contains another kind of oil. Both oils are very valuable.
<L When you visit a typical village home, particularly in the east pf the country, you will find whole families working under thatched shelters busily producing palm oil—the chief means of their livelihood. Go anywhere near an African kitchen and the smell of palm oil is the first thing that will greet you. it is also an important ingredient of native soap, is used in the preparation of native medicines, as an oil for lamps and in fetish ceremonies. Years ago, before the advent of money, it was used as a medium of exchange.
C Large quantities go to England, but other good customers are Holland, Germany, Denmark and France. Also Italy, India, the United States, South Africa and Canada have recently been added to the list of buyers. Margarine, soap, pomades and high-grade lubricating oil are among the finished products that come from the humble oil palm that nimble Africans climb so readily.
MANY young pee^e today approach marriage in anxious ignorance, expecting far too much. Dr. Abraham Stone, a leading authority on marriage, declared: Marriage ought not to be taught "in terms of the romantic values of a moonlight canoe trip but on the basis of the realities of family living.” And it is upon this basis that the Bible instructs regarding marriage and its responsibilities. That is why its counsel is sound and practical for everyday living.
The Bible teaches that a loving family atmosphere is essential to the happiness and prosperity of the home. And marriage counselors agree, saying: "Where love abounds, where there is a broad basis of understanding and companionship, common interest, similar goals and values, agreement on money, friends, in-laws, religion—and a determination to make the marriage work”—there marriage is at its best. Like a tender plant marriage must grow and blossom; it must draw its life from those within. “And how can it grow, how can It blossom,” asks one writer, “if those within give nothing to promote its growth and only stand and wait to pick the fruit which cannot ripen?”
A happy marriage demands emotional maturity, which in turn takes time, patience and perseverance. It is said that if a husband would be as patient with his wife as he is with his golf game, there would be more successful marriages. And if couples would take as many pains to hold to each other as they do to catch each other, there would be fewer unhappy marriages. Marriage is not a state of life for the proud. Rather than pride, it takes a humble, loving, understanding soul to make a go of marriage.
Experts point out that transcending all else, happy marriages are
commonest amopg people whose parents were happily marrried; and that good husbands and wives are made primarily by parents and not by college instructors, however good the latter may be. Parents are in position to instill in the young minds the responsibilities and true values of marriage. They will teach that reason should dictate the final choice of a life’s partner, and not emotion; that mate selection, marriage, adjustment and parenthood are an all-important part of life, and that each step ought to be thoroughly understood beforehand to lessen anxieties and tensions in the initial stages of marriage and to make room for happiness in the magic circle.
Also, by example the parents can demonstrate the difference between romantic love that springs from physical attraction and true love that is nurtured with patience and understanding. The child, then, will not be deluded into believing that “puppy love” can be a basis for marriage. It will be willing to wait for and develop true love, the kind spoken of in God’s Word the Bible. A love that is “long-suffering and obliging,” that is “not jealous,” that “does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked”; a love that “does not keep account of the injury”; that “does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth"; a love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” Such love never fails. And a marriage founded on this love will never fail. It will be lastingly happy.—1 Corinthians 13:4-7, New World Trans.
Such qualities are almost superhuman achievements. How, then, can one say that love can be attained at “first sight,” at the first glimpse of a passing man or woman? Love must be lived, “not in the delightful delirium of a moonlit moment but through long, lonely hours, through misunderstandings, under pain and shock and grief, ‘until death do us part.’ ” To be loved and to love in a Scriptural way is one of the greatest joys in life. To love in truth is to reflect the image of God, for “God is love."—1 John 4:16-19, New World Trans.
Understanding a Wellspring of Life
Another quality in marriage that makes for happiness is understanding. “Under-standing,” said the wise man, “is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it.” (Proverbs 16:22) It inspires harmony and adds riches and contentment to the marriage circle. Dr. Rosalind Dymond, psychologist, concluded from her studies that “husbands and wives who love each other most dearly also understand each other best.” Understanding takes care of the myriads of little things that otherwise tend to aggravate the smooth flow of marriage. For example, it will prevent partners from taking each other for granted. The husband who shows courtesy to the passing pedestrian, the people in the elevator, the waitress where he dines, will show the same courtesy to his wife, perhaps even . greater courtesy and recognition, she being as his own flesh. Wives will understand that to make a man happy is a full-time job. They will make a business of understanding "misunderstood” husbands. So when they listen to his likes and dislikes each day and night, they will know when to be quiet, when to speak, when to offer an opinion on his problems and when just to listen, when to ask about his work and when to wait until he wants to talk about it.
Understanding is something that is not achieved overnight. Rather it comes through a slow, drawn-out and sometimes painful struggle. Understanding parents will cherish the intimacy of family life. They will not betray parlor, bedroom or bath secrets, nor uncover each other’s bad habits, nor those of their children. Often this is done in humor, but these things cut deeply regardless, and they tend to assassinate the reputation of the one you love most. They will never criticize one another in the presence of other people or in the presence of the children. They will make all criticisms privately and as kindly and helpfully as possible. Add to your conduct good manners, and to your good manners, the deep respect of love, an& you have a very good recipe for a happy marriage.
Conversation—“The Most
Accessible of Pleasures”
Many husbands ask: “What’s wrong with my wife anyway? I bring home a decent pay check. We’ve got a new car, nice home, three healthy children. She’s got good clothes and furniture. What more does she want?” Perhaps all she wants is you. She married you and not the house and furniture. You are the other part of her, and she wants to know what that
other part is thinking. Do you converse with her? Do you have something pleasant and humorous to say? Do you talk over together such mutual concerns as finance, in-laws or children? She wants to hear you say that you love her, that you really care. No family can exist without affection. It is amazing how little material wealth can add to the true flavor of marriage. A new home, a new car, beautiful clothes are not what make marriage happy. Financial security is important, but never look at it as something that will patch up your differences and smooth out the rough spots, because it will not. It can serve only as a frame that can contribute a little in the way of atmosphere to a marriage that is already fixed upon a firm foundation.
Conversation, however, will do wonders toward happiness in married life. A leading psychiatrist stated that in 1,107 out of the last 1,400 problems handled by him as a marriage counselor “there were clear indications that somewhere along the line husband and wife had stopped talking to each other.” Wholesome conversation, humor, laughter aye gems that brighten up the atmosphere of the house, reduce tensions, cut down nagging and rekindle the spark of love and life. Robert Louis Stevenson called it “by far the most accessible of pleasures.” If married people would only realize that it is lack of talk that creates boredom, and boredom makes one feel like an old, worn-out, discarded shoe! Jehovah’s witnesses of all people do have something to talk about. They have the truth of God’s Word, the Kingdom message, their ministerial activity, their experiences, their weekly, national and international assemblies. They travel, meet people, and have something to say.
However, the Bible does advise us that “there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”; that "a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Husbands and wives must learn the proper time, place and things to say. This, too, comes with time. A choice word spoken at the proper moment is more comforting and reassuring than any form of physical contact. A sincere compliment, a surprise kiss, an occasional evening out will make the wife believe that life cam be beautiful! —Ecclesiastes 3:7; Proverbs 25:11.
Differences, Sex and Children
John Barrymore once said: “There are three things a woman can make out of almost nothing—a salad, a hat and a quarrel.” Well, to eliminate the latter, a little understanding will do marvels. The Bible admonishes: “Let the sun not set with you in a provoked state.” Solving problems on the day they arise will add to your marriage happiness.
Remember, happiness is never readymade, it must be achieved. It must be achieved in all phases of life, not in sex relations alone, as some wrongly think. Overemphasis on this point has destroyed or obscured the true beauty and significance of physical love between husband and wife. Said one authority: “We overemphasize the erotic. We concentrate on physical satisfaction as the sole criterion of success in marriage. And, in doing so, we neglect the other vital dimensions of human love.” Sex relationship is only one of a great flow of relationships that go on between husband and wife in a lifetime. Some of these interests are deeper than sex and go on undying even after sex desire departs completely.
The primary purpose of marriage, however, is not basically to fulfill human needs: the need for affection, companionship and “belonging." Rather, it is to fulfill the need for reproduction, to fulfill God’s purpose. To this end he created woman and commanded them, male and female, to “be fruitful and become many and fill
the earth and subdue it” The culmination of any marriage, therefore, comes with the arrival of the third member. Husband and wife become truly adult. With children come greater responsibilities and work. Yet, studies show that happiest marriages are those with children. And the best test of marriage is the happiness of children in the home. Children seem to add life and meaning to the marriage circle, A child is a miracle, a manifestation of God’s love to them, A greater impulse pervades among families with children to make marriage work,—Genesis 1:28, New World Trans.
Young people, perhaps, are not aware of it, but they are called on to assume a herculean task, that is, to build successful family lives in the midst of the worst failures in civilization’s history. More than a thousand times every day somewhere in the United States alone somebody’s marriage comes to an end. Yet, more people are marrying than ever before. And experts say that two thirds of all married couples are either “happy” or “very happy.” Much of this happiness stems from a desire to give—give of oneself. To respond wholeheartedly toward the needs of each other, says Dr, James S. Plant, “takes honesty, tolerance, courtesy, faith—things that are not taught in books,” but in the art of living together. These precious qualities are free to all, and they are what make marriage happier and endurable.
™ Scientists making experiments with hypno-tSzed persons have found that their subjects will give whatever result the scientist would like to have to support his theory. Their unconscious mind is influenced by their desire to please the one who has control over them. That persons often allow their judgments to be hypnotized by their inclinations is also a well-known fact. For a recent instance, note the following:
According to Time, June 13,1955, Dr. Hess, the newly elected president of the powerful American Medical Association, termed the findings regarding the relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer as “Lies, damned lies and statistics!”
A few days later, the ILS. News <£ World Report; June 17,1955, in telling of the presence of Dr. Hess at the annual meeting of the AM. A. early in June, 1955, reported: “At the AMA convention in Atlantic City last week, Dr. Hess puffed calmly at a cigarette while listening to a report branding cigarette smoking as a principal cause of lung cancer, big killer of American men. A pack-a-day smoker, Dr. Hess, gave up the habit a year ago, then went back, says: Td rather live 25 productive years enjoying the pleasure of tobacco, than live 40 years as a potato? "
What kind of intellectual leadership does the A.M.A. have when its president has so hypnotized himself that he considers that cigarette smoking makes the difference between 25 pleasurable and productive years and forty years as a potato? Can it be that his inability to stay away from cigarettes accounts for his labeling the evidence showing the relationship between lung cancer and cigarette smoking as “Lies, damned lies and statistics”?
No Honor Among Thugs
In Chicago two thugs held up Mrs, Dorothy Semenchuk and took $175 from the cash register in her grocery store. Then one of the crooks went into the back room and took another $70 from Mrs. Semenchuk’s husband. When the bandit returned, his partner asked him if he had got anything. The crook—with the $70 in his pocket—replied: “Not a thing!”
BIGGEST
Animal athletes, unlike human ones, seldom vie with one another in jumping exhibitions just for the pleasure of winning. The only contest nature’s jumpers are interested in is the contest of survival. With animals, jumping is a life or death matter, the means to win one’s living or to save one’s skin. But if we were to enter the biggest jumpers on earth in a contest, we cannot help but wonder who would win. What creature excels in the long jump? In the high jump? For its size which creature jumps the farthest? Which is the biggest jumper of them all?
Leap, leap, bound; leap, leap, bound!
Here comes the jack rabbit. Or rather, there goes the jack rabbit! Just alarm a jack rabbit and away he leaps in quick, springy, graceful bounds. The bound is extra high, probably to spy out the land. But when hard pressed, as when pursued by a coyote bent on a tidbit, the jack rabbit indulges in no such showy performances; he gets down to serious work with a series of rapid, low-stretching leaps. Each of the bounds covers 10 or 15 feet; some of the major hops may span a distance of 20 feet or more. Clearly, the jack rabbit is no trifler in the art of jumping.
But to the kangaroo the jack rabbit’s jumping is mere child’s play. And no wonder! Just let an "old man” kangaroo travel at top speed and he might dear 25 feet or more at a hop. Thirty feet, though, is generally about the limit. The greatest observed leap by a kangaroo, tape-measured for accuracy and duly recorded in The Western Australian Naturalist^ is 44 feet
ON EARTH
9 inches! Kudos for the kangaroo!
Leaping great distances is ordinarily thought to be the province of kangaroos and jack rabbits; but, as a matter of fact, many animals use jumping as their best defense.
When danger threatens, one good way to escape is simply to leave—preferably by air. And that is what the kangaroo rat does. Now the American kangaroo rat is not a kangaroo; he is a member of the pocket mouse family. This tiny jumper (only 4 or 5 inches long) hops along like a kangaroo. When alarmed this rodent athlete takes off like a startled grasshopper, and no snack-minded snake can predict just where or how far he will jump, since the kangaroo rat can easily make a long jump of from 9 to 12 feet, perhaps even 14 feet when badly frightened. This neat little trick doubtless saves many lives. Imagine the disgust of a fox that has rushed one of these Tom Thumb versions of a kangaroo only to see his tender lunch spring skyward. By the time the fox can turn, Mr. Kangaroo Rat is gone!
To the jerboa, the jumping rodent of Africa, the exploits of both the kangaroo
and the kangaroo rat are not worth boast* ing about. We can understand why the jerboa feels this way when we realize that this animal athlete can jump, in one hop, an incredible 15 feet! That is not the usual, everyday jump of this animal athlete, but it shows what can be done under the threat of being eaten. -
Amazing as the jerboa is, the jumping mouse counts his performance as quite unimpressive. This is because the jumping mouse is about as tiny as rodent athletes come: only 3 inches long in body length. But what a performance he puts on! On the hottest day a jumping mouse can make 8- to 10-foot hops without working up a sweat. When a farmer boy is hauling in sheaves of wheat, and a small animal suddenly makes a tremendous flying leap from the bottom of the shock, he may know that he has disturbed a jumping mouse. An American jumping mouse, kept in confinement by a naturalist, is reported to have made "progressive leaps of from 3 to 4 and sometimes 5 yards.” Indeed, Audubon considered the jumping mouse as probably the most agile of all wild animals.
Expert Long Jumpers
When it comes to the long jump there are several animal athletes that cause one to think twice before putting a crown on the kangaroo. There is the Argentine police dog that did 24 feet; there is the horse that jumped 27 feet. One of the most fleetfooted long jumpers is the white-tailed deer. It follows an unbeaten trail through thickets and woods, leaping high and far over fallen logs. This animal athlete can make a 30-foot long jump with ease. In Introduction to the Mammals of Pennsylvania Leo A. Luttringer says that whitetailed deer ''have been known to make a running jump of over 40 feet.”
Another serious contender for champion long jumper is the African antelope called "impala.” One of the most graceful of a race of graceful creatures, the impala sails over bushes and rocks with little apparent effort. In jumping, this animal field-and-track star seems to float through the air in graceful undulations very different from the springlike action of most antelopes. Not only does the impala bound over bushes and rocks, but often over its companions as well. That is real confidence! One observer saw an impala cover a horizontal distance of 70 feet in 3 successive leaps. One leap alone measured 35 feet. The most agile impalas are believed capable of jumping 40 feet. But even if the impala wins no crown for long-jumping, it ought to win one for matchless grace; for this nimble creature soars through the air with the grace of a bird rather than a hoofed animal.
The cat family has an outstanding performer in the puma, the second-largest American cat. Pumas are known to have jumped 38 feet. One puma made a leap, later measured in the snow, of nearly 40 feet. So just who is the champion long jumper is open to question. No doubt, though, many more people than the Australians will cast a vote for the kangaroo.
Master High Jumpers
Now as to the high jumpers. The lion, jumping to a height of 8 feet and possibly 10, does all right; but it must be remembered that the white-tailed deer and the impala can clear 8-foot-hlgh obstructions, while some kangaroos and American elk have leaped 9 feet high. The springbok, a South African gazelle, sails over the most difficult obstacles with ease and elastic spring motion. It leaps often to a height of 8 to 10 feet and sometimes to 12 or 13! But the springbok has competition in the puma. This big cat can leap 12 feet high. Says M. E. Musgrave, who has long experience in government predator-control work: “I have seen the lion [puma] spring from the
earth and land 12 or 15 feet above in a tree,” A prize for the puma!
But wait, we have yet to hear from the klipspringer (Dutch, ldip} “cliff”; springer, “jumper”), that puts in his bid for the championship. This animal athlete, a tiny, agile, African antelope some 3 feet long and 20 pounds heavy, has a fair claim to the high-jump reconi. Two klipspringers were seen to attain the top of a rocky pedestal, the sides of which sloped outward from bottom to top. The only possible way that the animals could have gained access to the top was from the ground—25 feet below! Though this feat has been questioned by some who think the animals had an unnoticed intermediate foothold, it seems that the klipspringers rate top honors. When startled these agile creatures bounce up the most precipitous rocks like animated rubber balls.
Among the tiny creatures there are some marvelous jumpers. Who does not know about the ability of a grasshopper? The small cricket frog, only an inch long, can jump three feet. And the American bullfrog has a reputation of making leaps from 7 to 10 feet. Then there are the jumping spiders, creatures so nimble that they can walk or jump backward, forward or sidewise! The jumping spiders find their dinners by using the same technique that a cat does. The cat stakes its chances for a mouse dinner on its spring. But what the cat knows about nimble jumping, the spider has already forgotten. This is fortunate; for if pussy cat performances approached that of the jumping spider in technique, there would be no birds left in our garden.
A naturalist once trained a jumping spider to jump on his hand for food. He gradually increased the distance until a leap of 8 inches was attained. Since they are such strong jumpers it is strange that jumping spiders are not used in acrobatic performances instead of fleas, especially since a spider “star of the show” could more readily be seen and, unlike the flea, would show no desire to become attached to the audience.
This brings us to that champion jumper, the flea. Certain fleas are trained to perform feats, such as jumping through hoops. Before they are trained to perform such feats, they are first trained to walk without jumping. Fleas escape captivity by prodigious jumps. So to cure this, prospective performers are placed in boxes covered with glass so that repeated headaches tone down the exuberance of the take-off. Certain energetic fleas can jump 8 inches high • and 13 inches in a long jump. This is about 150 times its own length along the ground and 100 times its own length Up into the air. To duplicate this performance, a six-foot man would have to make a standing high jump considerably higher than the 550-foot-high Washington Monument! Grasshoppers, kangaroos, klipspringers and human athletes are obviously outclassed.
Man, of course, does some nimble jumping. But the world's record is only 26 feet 8| inches for the broad jump and 6 feet 11 inches for the high jump. Animal athletes eclipse the best of us. But now who is the biggest jumper of them all? A certain kind of man called the evolutionist. This type of jumper should not object to his being discussed with animals, since he leads us to believe he sprang from one. In his long jump the evolutionist springs his way from a one-celled animal to man. He has jumped to one of the biggest wrong conclusions of all ages. The evolutionteaching jumpers may bring some glory upon themselves, but the animal athletes bring glory to the Creator, who says of these marvelous creatures: "All the beasts of the forests are mine,. .. And whatsoever moves in the field is mine.”—Psalm 50:10, 11, An Amer. Trans.
CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY
■■ HE Romans were so steeped In ancestor ■■ worship that they erected an elaborate structure to house the statues of their various gods, goddesses and ancestors. This building they called the Pantheon (pan-theoa, meaning all gods).
Even after pagan Rome was converted to Roman Catholicism many continued In their worship of the dead. Those more deeply steeped In superstition believed that the souls of the dead could do harm or good to the living. To eradicate this fear of spirits of "the living dead," and yet retain a fear of life after death, became a major project of the Roman Catholic Church. For if she were to teach the truth about the dead as expressed In God’s Word, the Bible—that the dead are dead, that they know not anything, that the memory of them is forgotten, that there "Is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave” where the dead go—the church would lose control of the people. —Ecclesiastes 9:5,10.
So to turn to its own advantage the superstitious fears of the pagan Romans, the Catholic Church brought about a compromise. Roman converts were taught not to worship indiscriminately all the dead spirits, but only those whom the Roman Catholic Church designated to be worshiped.
*Tn the 7th century Pope Boniface IV furthered this compromise by converting the Pantheon (which was donated to him by the Emperor Phoeos) to the Church of the Blessed Virgin and the Martyrs. Most of the statues of the pagan gods and goddesses were not even removed from the pagan structure but rather were just renamed to represent various Christian martyrs approved by the Roman Catholic Church, Thus statues which originally represented pagan gods and goddesses are now accepted as statues of Roman Catholic martyrs and the Virgin Mary.
"It is even claimed that a statue of Jupiter was removed from the Pantheon and taken to St. Peter’s in Rome, where it is believed to represent St. Peter. Declares the Catholic Encyclopedia, 'At the 4th pier to the right (in St. Peter’s) is a very important sitting statue of St. Peter, which has been erroneously ascribed to the 13th century, but in truth dates from the 4th or 5th century/ It is the common opinion of archaeologists today that this statement agrees with the fact that the statue now found in St, Peter’s Cathedral, formerly was a representation of Jupiter, but now Is adopted by Roman Catholic authorities as the fitting representation of Peter/'—The Converted Catholic Magazine for October, 1951.
For Peter, who would not allow Cornelius to do obeisance to him but, lifting him upt said: “Rise; I myself am also a man," to be worshiped in the likeness of a pagan god Jupiter is certainly a blasphemous twist. And for an infallible pope to grant such perVersion of identity within his own sanctum should be disconcerting to idol worshipers, to say the least. And for anyone beholding this befuddled idolatry it should call to mind Jesus’ words to the religious leaders of his day. Said he: “you worship what you do not know." “The hour is coming, and it is now, when the genuine worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for such kind to worship him. God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth." If the Roman Catholic Church would have followed Jesus* words it would not now be confronted with the embarrassing blunder of having mistaken Jupiter for Peter. —Acts 10:26; John 4:22-24, New World Trans.
JUST THE OPPOSITE OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Three teen-age boys, at Massapequa Park, New York, went out one evening for a walk. As they strolled by a bank, long after it had closed for the day, they noted they were too short of funds for sodas. Jokingly, they suggested calling at the bank for financial help. Continuing the joke, one of the boys pushed against the bank's door. Presto! it opened. The boys found themselves inside a bank with not a soul in sight. They called; no one answered. Alarmed by the unguarded, unlocked bank, the boys dashed to a store to call police. Bank officials rewarded the boys and lauded their action as "just the opposite of juvenile delinquency/*
Sy “Awakal" corr«pondait> in Turkay
EPHESUS is the city where a riot broke out against the preaching of the apostle Paul. Mobsters swarmed to the city’s Great Theater for a mass meeting of protest against Paul. This was because the apostle’s preaching hurt the sale of shrines of Artemis, the fertility goddess that dominated the life of the city with legalized prostitution and a wonder temple. What remains today of the temple that once was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world? And what remains today of the Great Theater where the mobsters gathered to protest against Paul’s preaching? A visit to the ruins of Ephesus will answer. But first some facts about the ancient city and its religious cult will heighten our appreciation of a visit to Ephesus.
The legendary founding of Rome was 753 B.C., but Ephesus was a going concern long before that. The city was founded in the eleventh century B.C. by Androclus, son of Codrus who was the last king of Athens. About the seventh century B.C. the Ionian Greeks settled there. Croesus of Lydia, the king noted for his wealth, and Cyrus of Persia in the sixth century B.C. and also Alexander the Great in the fourth century, left their mark on the Asiatic people and the Ionian Greeks who originally made up its population. Under Roman rule, which began about 190 B.C., Ephesus became a racial melting pot and eventually the most important city of Roman Asia. It was an unusually beautiful city and one with a good climate. Being situated on the crossroads of East and West, between sea lanes and highways, Ephesus became a flourishing commercial center.
In the cosmopolitan atmosphere of fabulously wealthy Ephesus, science, art and philosophy prospered. But • what prospered beyond all measure /Was magic and pagan religion.
Magic had its numerous followers and its commercial promoters in Ephesus, so much so that when some practitioners of magic accepted the truth and burned their magical-arts books it was found that the value of them was worth 50,000 pieces of silver. (Acts 19:19) Yet it was Artemis that was really the city’s center of attraction; for Ephesus was the “temple keeper” of the goddess, the image of which supposedly fell from heaven.—Acts 19:35.
The Cult of Artemis
How long had the worship of Artemis been going on? From the days of Croesus (about 560 B.C.) a Lydian fertility goddess dominated the city’s life. This goddess was similar to the Phrygian Cybele (called the “mother of the gods”) and the Phoenician Astarte (a goddess whose worship glorified prostitution in the name of religion). The Greek colonists in Ephesus identified this goddess with their own Artemis,* who was known to the Romans as Diana, A statue of Artemis was enthroned magnificently in the temple at Ephesus; this was duplicated in miniature by the silversmiths. The images could be seen in almost every home, and the making of the images kept scores of silversmiths busy and rich.
Artemis was depicted as a lewd goddess having four rows of breasts; her crown was decorated with signs of the zodiac. Around the statue the most resplendent temple .was erected. The temple took 220 years to complete. Pliny, who has given a description of it, says the temple stood one a large platform nearly 240 feet wide and over 400 feet long. The temple itself was more than 160 feet wide and 340 feet long. It was supported by 127 pillars 60 feet in height. Each was erected by a king or a prince. The pillars had drums 20 feet in circumference and 6 feet high with 8 lifesize figures sculptured on them. The roof was covered with large white marble tiles. Instead of mortar, gold is reputed to have been used between the joints of the marble blocks. Aided by the whole of Asia Minor, the Ephesians built a temple the fame of which was spread not only through Asia, but the world. So lavish was the praise for the temple of Artemis that the ancients placed it among the seven wonders of the world. Thus the magnificence of the temple became a proverb throughout the inhabited earth.
A great number of priests and priestesses served at the temple. They were required to be eunuchs or virgins. Married women were forbidden to enter the temple or Artemision under penalty of death. In the month of March great festivals called “Artemisies” were held, and visitors numbering up to 700,000 arrived from all parts of Asia. At such occasions the silversmiths who manufactured shrines did an extraordinary business. One feature of the celebration was the religions procession. The statue of the goddess would be paraded about the city in a most jubilant manner with throngs of people straining their necks to catch a glimpse of the goddess, the whole spectacle being much like a religious procession today when the image of a “virgin,” possibly reputed to have fallen from heaven, is paraded through a city.
The Tumult Breaks Out
A.D. 51 the apostle Paul came to Ephesus for the first time. His stay was short. A.D. 52 or 53 Paul came back a second time. He stayed for three years. For two years Paul gave daily talks in a school auditorium to enlighten the people about the true God, Jehovah, and his kingdom by Christ Jesus. The apostle told the people the truth, that gods made with men’s hands are not gods at all. Was his preaching effective? Indeed, so effective was Paul’s preaching that the silversmith trade, the gauge of the prosperity of the Artemis cult, fell off. The sale of shrines was the silversmiths’ living. There could be no doubt about that. No more shrines, no more wealth for the workers in silver. No more financial gain from their goddess. The leader of these silversmiths, a man by the name of Demetrius, had observed from the meager contents of his "cash register” that Paul had slowed down the sale of images. People were not buying as many replicas of Artemis as they had in other years. So Demetrius called the craftsmen together and gave them a talk:
“Men, you well know that from this business we have our prosperity. Also you behold and hear how not only in Ephesus but in nearly all the province of Asia this Paul has won over a considerable crowd and turned them to another opinion, saying that the ones which are made by hands are not gods. Moreover, the danger exists not only that this occupation of ours will come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be esteemed as nothing and even her magnificence which the whole province of Asia and the inhabited earth worships is about to be demolished.’’—Acts 19:35-27, New World Trans.
There was nothing crude about this talk; Demetrius was deliberately shrewd. He started his talk with finances and ended with faith. He began by waving the money flag and concluded by beating the religious drum. This double-barreled attack on Paul, Demetrius knew, was bound to be effective. So the men were left to draw their own conclusions. The result: a crusade for Artemis and a campaign against Paul. What followed was what one would expect—a riot, for there is nothing that so stirs people into frenzy as a religious battle cry based upon sound business principles!
The people poured into the Great Theater of Ephesus, shouting, yelling and dragging along with them any bystanders. Like a gigantic broom the mob swept people along so that most of them knew nothing as to the reason for the uproar. Luke reports: “The fact is, some were crying out one thing and others another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know the reason why they had come together.” (Acts 19:32, New World Trans.) After two hours of shouting, the city recorder quieted the crowd and made a speech. He advised the crowd to "keep calm and not act rashly.” He pointed out that Paul had never blasphemed the goddess, which, incidentally, showed how tactful Paul was in preaching the good news to the devotees of Artemis. This official reminded the crowd that there were orderly ways to settle grievances and then he dismissed the assembly.
HAat Remains Today
Today the glory that once belonged to Ephesus is gone. In the twentieth century we find the once famous city reduced to ruins. During the centuries the mouth of the river silted up badly and the harbor of Ephesus was reduced to a marsh. People moved elsewhere, especially to the town of Smyrna (modern Izmir) which grew more and more in importance. But let us drive from Smyrna to the small village of Seljuk to enter the neighborhood where the ruins of Ephesus are located. Since the city changed its location several times, the ruins are dispersed over a vast area.
What of the temple of Artemis, the wonder of the ancient world? The location of the temple long remained a mystery. But in 1869 a British excavator discovered the temple wall. The clue that led to the discovery was a Roman inscription that was found in the course of clearing the theater. The inscription described a number of gold and silver images of Artemis; it also gave instructions regarding the route the Artemis religious procession was to take from the temple and back again. Then in 1904 D. G. Hogarth discovered the foundation deposit of treasure under the great altar. But on the site of the temple there is little to be seen now. All blocks of marble of any artistic value have been removed to the British Museum and other museums. The site of the temple, where once magnificence and splendor blazed, is now a swamp, a stagnant pond. And at the place where the voices of thousands once praised Artemis now is heard only the croakings of frogs.
The most interesting ruin of ancient Ephesus is that of the Great Theater, the scene of the uproar incited by the silversmiths. The theater is one of the largest known of all that have remained to modern times. The site of the theater was the hollow of a hill. It looked out over the busiest parts of the city. The theater had an impos-
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