Awake!, February 8, 1960

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Aey Are Pursuing Peace

RAGE 12

wrto Rican Priests in Politics

PAGE 16

e Fascinating

Versatile Fabric—Fiber Glass

PAGE 24

JANUARY 22, 1961

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!” has no fetters, ft recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. Ji Is not bound by political ambitions or obligations; it is unhampered by advertisers whose toes must not be trodden an; it is unprejudiced by traditional creeds. This journal keeps itself free that it may speak freely to you. But it does not obuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.

‘‘Awake!” uses the regular news channels, but Is not dependent on them. Its own correspondents are on all continents, in scores of nations. From the four earners 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 ail ages. Through its pages many fields of knowledge pass in review—government, commerce, religion, history, geography, science, social conditions, natural wonders—why, its coverage is as broad as the earth and os 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 “Awakef"

m— 1,1, ■ m

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The Bible translation aw# In "Awake!" Is the New World Translation of the

When other translations are e»d the following aymtools will appear behind the citations:

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AT - An American Translation 50- The Emphatic Diaglott

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CONTENTS

Light, Crime and Corruption

Why Poison Your Mind?

The Miracle of the Snowflake

They Are Pursuing Peace

Seven Years Without Water

Puerto Rican Priests in Politics

Having Bahy the Malayan Way

Overwhelmed

Thirteen-Year Discrimination Ends

The Fascinating, Versatile Fabric

—Fiber Glass

“Your Word Is Truth”

Capitalist? Communist? or Christian? 27

Watching the World

ii/^RIME in the United

\_u States is perhaps one of the biggest businesses in the world today,” said Dr. Paul L. Kirk, a noted criminologist. In 1959 crime cost the American people $22,000,000,000, according to J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Despite this colossal bill, crime is still on the increase.

The great ally of crime is darkness. Across the world the shadowed streets, the dark alleys and the unlit hallways breed murder, rape and burglaries about as fast as filth breeds disease. One report states: “There are 12 times as many crimes of violence at night as in the daytime. Another study reveals that all the murders in Canton, Ohio, Binghamton, New York, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Hempstead, New York, were committed at night after dark, as were 90 percent of the robberies of Fort Wayne, Indiana, In Salt Lake City, 96.5 percent of all aggravated assaults took place at night; in Minneapolis, 92 percent of the burglaries happened after dark; in Pittsburgh, 85 percent of stolen cars were taken under cover of darkness," Add to this list the number of crimes of adultery, fornication and drunkenness that flourish at night and the conclusion is irresistible that crime, corruption and darkness go hand in hand.

If darkness is a “friend” of crime, then light is its “enemy.” Cleveland Police Chief Frank W. Storey said: “Light always works on the side of the law." Recent experiments with modem fluorescent and mercury vapor lamps in crime-infested areas have proved this true. New

York city, for example, had tried about every way to eliminate crime, with only partial success. Then the city set aside 111 crime-ridden blocks and bathed these in white light. All crime dropped immediately. There was an 18.3-percent reduction in adult crimes, a 30-percent drop in juvenile delinquency. Crimes of murder, assault and rape were cut 49 percent.

That light is a deterrent to crime is further revealed in this report by Don Murray. He states that Chattanooga, Tennessee, “had a 12-block area with a fantastic, homicide rate. The city flooded the area with light, and crimes of violence were cut 70 to 90 percent. Denver cut assault complaints a third by relighting some streets; Brookings, South Dakota, and Marion, Indiana, virtually eliminated vandalism in certain areas by expanding lighting; in Austin, Texas, new lighting cut some categories of crime 90 percent, ... A street lighting program in Flint, Michigan, cut felonies 60 percent in the downtown area.” Everywhere reports are about the same regarding light and crime

Still, in the United States major crimes have increased 9 percent in the first half of 1960. J. Edgar Hoover stated that “crime has been rising four times as fast as population.” What is the cause?

While bright lights unquestionably inhibit crime, they obviously do not remove the cause. Many of the roots of crime lie in the mind. To nip these roots, the dark inner disturbances of the mind that drive men to wrongdoing must be reached. This can be done, not with lamplight, but with the light of Bible truth. “The truth will set you free," said Jesus, This truth can release men from their inner conflicts that lead to crime.—John 8:32.

The truth of God’s Word is a powerful force, capable of energizing the mind to want to live a better life. “How will a young man cleanse his path? By keeping on guard according to your word,” writes the psalmist. “Your word is a lamp to my foot, and a light to my roadway.” The apostle Paul appealed to Christians at Ephesus to allow the truths of God's Word to actuate their minds. Paul knew that the mind must be freed of wrong thinking before right thinking could take root. Therefore, he urged the Ephesian Christians not to “go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds, while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them. ... You did not learn the Christ to be so,” says the apostle.—Ps. 119:9, 105; Eph. 4: 17-20.

The fact that Christians have an accurate knowledge of God and Christ and belong to a common brotherhood by virtue of their faith should be more than enough reason to want to put away the old personality with its .corruptive desires and to put on a new personality in true righteousness and loving-kindness. This can be done, Paul says, by applying the principles of Christianity in daily life. “Put away falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor .. . Let the stealer steal no more, but rather let him do hard work." “Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth, but whatever saying is good for building up . . . Let fornication and uncleanness of every kind or greediness not even be mentioned among you.” He emphasized that decent Christian lives can be lived if Bible truths are allowed to activate the mind. “From every bad path I have restrained my feet, in order that I may keep your word,” wrote the psalmist. —Eph. 4:21-5:3; Ps. 119:101.

Bright, shining lights in themselves will not stop crime. The corruptive roots of the mind, where crime breeds, must be reached with truths that uproot evil thinking and inspire men in the right direction. These truths are not found in movie and television programs that glorify crime and criminals. Neither are they located in obscene comic books, salacious magazines and pictures that are capable of poisoning any mind at any age. Such filth pots can spawn only one thing—crime and corruption.

Truths that build up the mind come from God through his written Word, the Bible. They are truths that speak of a righteous kingdom, of God’s love, of the wicked being destroyed and the righteous inheriting the earth. They tell of things that are of serious concern, chaste, lovable and praiseworthy. “The very disclosure of your words gives light, making the inexperienced ones understand.” (Ps. 119:130; Phil. 4:8) As Paul writes of true Christians: “You were once darkness, but you are now light in connection with the Lord. Go on walking as children of light, for the fruitage of the light consists of every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” —Eph. 5:8, 9.

YOU appreciate health and life, do you not? Of course! You would not knowingly take poison, would you? You know that poison disrupts the processes of life and may lead to death. Should you accidentally take poison, you would do all in your power to counteract it. But people in general are not nearly so careful when it comes to taking mental poison, poisonous ideas into their minds; yet they should be even more careful.

What is mental poison? It will help us to identify it when we note that all knowledge may be divided into three distinct classes. There is art, which concerns itself with the appeal of the ideal, the beautiful, to the senses and to the mind and heart of man. There is science, which concerns itself with practical things, primarily with how man can wrest from the earth the things he needs to survive. And then there is religion, which fills man’s need to worship, to keep in touch with his Maker and Life-giver.

Not all three of these classes of mental food are equally nourishing. Least important is art; next in importance comes science, and most important of all is religion. Most important because, as both Moses and Jesus Christ said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” If we are wise we will not only remember the relative importance of these various kinds of knowledge, but we will carefully avoid any mental poison that may appear under the guise of one or the other of these.—Matt. 4:4.

The Scriptures further tell us that the sayings of God, as recorded in his Word, “are spirit and are life.” It follows, therefore, that everything that contradicts the principles and teachings found in God’s Word must be death-dealing mental poison. While a Christian will not knowingly feed his mind on what he knows to be corrupting to faith and morals, unless he is alert he

will do so unwittingly, to his spiritual harm.—John 6:63.

Moral Poison

For example, we are told that “the minding of the flesh means death, but the minding of the spirit means life and peace.” To be minding the flesh is to do the works of the flesh, among which are “fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct,.,. fits of anger, . . . drunken bouts.”—Rom, 8:6-8; Gal. 5:19-21.

Today the world is filled with minding the flesh under the guise of art: music, drama, literature, and so forth. For the sake of profits, “art” is made to appeal to man’s inherited sinful tendencies. A Christian must therefore guard against reading newspaper scandal, salacious articles in magazines or prurient modern novels.

He should exercise the same care as to his entertainment. More and more the moving picture industry is “Dishing the Dirt,” as the moving picture reviewer for the New York Times (September 25, 1960) named his article in which he gave example after example of motion pictures that were “shocking and depressing in the extreme.” Immorality and violence are also featured on the television screen. All such is moral poison and, if countenanced, will weaken one’s ability to “distinguish both right and wrong.” In fact, it will deprave one so as to prefer evil togood.—Heb. 5:14.

This minding of the flesh that causes death reaches out also to the popular songs one hears today on every hand. Many of them flagrantly violate Scriptural principles and therefore should never be on the lips of a Christian. Some forms of dancing also arouse one’s passions, especially in teen-age boys and girls, and therefore should likewise be avoided.

For the same reason Christians must watch as to the company they keep: “Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits. Wake up to soberness in a righteous way and do not practice sin.” One who desires to please God may not choose the company of those who show by their actions that they say in their hearts, “There is no Jehovah.” Emphasizing the deathdealing nature of all immoral conduct are the apostle’s words: “The one that goes in for sensual gratification is dead though she is living.”—1 Cor. 15:33, 34; Ps. 14:1; 1 Tim. 5:6.

Science So Called

Just as in the field of art there is an abundance of morals-destroying poison, so in the field of science there is all manner of faith-destroying poisonous propaganda, set out by foolish or wicked men. Having settled once and for all in our minds that God truly does exist and that the Bible is his inspired Word, we will not poison our minds with theories that deny these truths simply because they parade under the name of science. That is, we will not consider any such wholly disinterestedly, as if we wanted to determine whether they are true or not. We know they are false! Our only concern therefore will be to prove them so. As a man who deeply loves and has full confidence in his wife and has no reason to suspect her will not entertain scandal about her but will dismiss it as simply not possibly true, so with the Christian, but even more so. We know that nothing that doubts the existence of the Creator or the validity of his Word could be true, even though it comes to us in the name of science—falsely so called.—1 Tim. 6:20.

Is this a narrow view? Not at all. While tq many reason alone argues that God does indeed exist, there are many others, atheists and agnostics, who deny his existence or doubt it. That does not need to disturb us, for “faith is not a possession of all people.” Further, we know that no line of reasoning could possibly refute the combined testimony in favor of the Bible’s authenticity : archaeology, geology, candor of writers, harmony of writers, highest principles, its influence for good, its preservation and, above all, its prophecies. Surely, God’s "word is truth.”—2 Thess. 3:2; John 17:17.

Along with the other “scientific” mental poison that is widely distributed is the evolution theory. Many have had their faith destroyed by this poison, while others naively think that they can reconcile it with the Word of God. No better proof as to its poisonous nature can be adduced than the effect it had on its popularizer Charles Darwin, and not only on his beliefs but also upon his morals. In his youth he had studied medicine for two years and then dropped it for the study of theology. After graduating, instead of becoming a parson, he dabbled in geology. When he first began to study theology he “liked the thought of being a country clergyman,” and he “did not in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible.” When traveling on a ship, the Beagle, he was “heartily laughed at by several of the officers . . , for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable authority on some point of morality.”—The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin.

But his preoccupation with the evolution theory changed all this. Soon to him “the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos." He even doubted the existence of God.

Formerly he had believed that man could prove the existence of the Creator by reasoning from effect to cause, but now “arises the doubt, can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from the mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions?” Proceeding on this false premise, “Charles called the Christian concept of salvation through faith ‘a damnable doctrine,’ argued cogently against all revealed religion, and roundly proclaimed himself at the'end no theist but a thorough going agnostic.”—Scientific American, August, 1958, p. 118.

Darwin’s speculations not only played havoc with his faith in God and the Bible but also with his personal integrity. This is not surprising since for him man’s moral nature was also the product of natural selection. Thus he tells that his five years at university were “worse than wasted," but he so enjoyed those youthful revelries that he could not “help looking back to those days with much pleasure.” He discarded religion on the basis of his theory; yet when asked about his religion he replied: “I have never systematically thought much on religion in relation to science, or on morals in relation to society.” In his first edition of Origin of Species he used the expression “my theory” forty-five times, although it was not at all his theory. Challenged, he saw to it that subsequent editions contained this expression less and less.

Further, Darwin stands charged, by Oxford University Professor C. C. Darlington, of “equivocation on the central issue of selection versus direction,” of confusing “the alternatives on all possible occasions. . . . He was able to put his ideas across not so much because of his scientific integrity, but because of his opportunism, his equivocation and his lack of historical sense. Though his admirers will not like to believe it, he accomplished his revolution by personal weakness and strategic talent more than by scientific virtue.”—Scientific American, May, 1959.

What Darwin’s taking up with the evolution theory did for him it has done for countless millions of others world-wide. No sound scientific proof has ever been produced that has moved the theory of evolution into the field of fact. It is still the “evolution theory.” It is not an array of scientific evidence that causes men to lose their faith in God and his Word the Bible. Rather, godless evolution appeals to men who want to throw off accountability to the Supreme Being, Jehovah God, and who do not want to submit to his righteous laws. Their selfish craving for personal glory or for a life that is not circumscribed by the requirements of the Word of God regiments their thinking in an endeavor to produce evidence, no matter how shallow, to uphold their theory that there is no God. Thus it proves to be poison, a baseless theory that destroys faith both in God and in his Word and weakens integrity.

Religious Poison

Just as the mental poison of immoral “art” runs counter to God’s righteous principles and the mental poison of pseudoscientific theories of men runs counter to the inspired divine Revelation, the Bible, so there is religious poison distributed by professed Christians that runs counter to God’s method of dealing with his earthly creatures. From the very beginning God has had a channel of communication for instructing his creatures upon earth. Thus Adam instructed Eve; Noah, his family; Abraham, his household; and Moses, the nation of Israel. John the Baptist taught the Jews, and when Jesus Christ came he served as God’s channel of communication. After Pentecost God used a "governing body,’’ the apostles and older men of the Christian congregation at Jerusalem, as his instrument to instruct the early Christian congregation as to Christian doctrine, principle and policy, under the direction of the holy spirit and in harmony with the Word of God. There were other religions, but they were not of God.—Acts 15:1-35.

The facts show that today Jehovah God is using a “faithful and discreet slave” class, a body of dedicated and anointed Christians, to direct his work upon earth. This body, also known as the “remnant” of the body of Christ, is the nucleus of the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. This society bases its teachings solely upon the Word of God; it carries out the prophetic commission that “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations”; and it brings forth the Christian fruitage of the spirit, ‘love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control.’—Matt. 24: 14, 45-47; Gal. 5:22, 23.

However, just as in Jesus’ day some became disgruntled and said: “This speech is shocking; who can listen to it?” and “would no longer walk with him,” and just as in the days of the apostles there were ‘those who created divisions and causes for stumbling,’ so we find it today. Having settled it in our minds what instrument brought us the truth of God’s Word, what instrument is obeying God’s commands and fulfilling Bible prophecy and bringing forth the Christian fruitage of the spirit, we need not read all the literature published by those who dispute these things.—John 6: 60, 66; Rom. 16:17.

Does a Christian missionary have time to study all the sacred writings of the Oriental religions? Does he have time to study all the beliefs of the some 265 religions that claim to be Christian in the United States? Certainly not! He does not have sufficient time to study the Bible and the Bible-study aids that he knows to be the truth. Of course, as he comes in contact with various points of teaching of these religions he will equip himself to refute them, but that is all.

So also when a Christian is handed literature, the contents and spirit of which is that of ‘beating his fellow slaves,’ he is not driven by idle curiosity to examine it. Having settled it in his mind who is being used by Jehovah, who is bringing forth genuine Christian fruitage and fulfilling Bible prophecy, he neither wastes his time nor risks tarnishing his loyalty by perusing such publications. Having built his faith on a knowledge of God’s Word, he knows that there can be no facts that dispute his position and that therefore malicious slander can be nothing but assertions. In this way also he avoids knowingly taking poison. He wisely uses his time to study the Bible, letting it mold his thinking. —Matt. 24:48-51.

The course for those who would be wise is therefore clear. To keep their integrity by upholding God’s righteous principles, to keep their faith strong as ministers of God's inspired Word and to remain loyal at all times to the channel that Jehovah God is using in this day, they will distinguish between mental food and mental poison and will avoid the latter even as they would avoid poisoned material food; yes, and more so, because not merely temporary life but everlasting life is involved.

Tire of tlie

BEFORE you lies a city of steel and concrete. Its arteries are in full swing with bustling traffic. Its shops are crowded

with customers and its streets are teeming with people dashing about, too busy to look upward.

Then a fragile snowflake falls, then two and three; the sky is white with them! With the stillness of a falling feather, each delicate crystal dances downward, alighting on face or street. Now there is an inch, now a foot, now many feet. Traffic is stilled. The shops are deserted- The streets are empty. A muffled silence hovers over the inhabited area. Dirty streets show pure and clean ’neath winter’s sheet. Warmly lit dwellings seem cozier with ermine blankets draped across each roof. The whole world seems transfigured, fair and white when softly, softly falls the snow!

What priceless blessing these tiny crystals, the frailest of nature’s treasures, have bestowed! They have brought peace and a moment of tranquillity to hurried souls and an opportunity to meditate and reflect on the question that God himself asked man: “Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow?"—Job 38:22.

In these storehouses there are symmetry and geometry. There are endless modifications of classes of crystals whose architecture, beauty and variety are beyond description. Here in these regions, most remote from human observation, fragile jewels are born in perfect balance and exquisite in design, each altogether admirable. Here takes place the most delicate of miracles, the birth of the snowflake.

Snow is the solid form of water that grows while floating in the atmosphere. It is formed when the temperature is below

freezing and the water vapor in the air changes from gas to solid without going through the intermediate liquid state.

Scientists claim that the water molecule needs a foundation on which to build before it can become a snowflake. This foundation is found in the air. The upper atmosphere is “polluted with small particles such as dust, salt crystals

from the ocean, pollen from plants, bacteria, volcanic ash and even star dust. According to author John S. Collis, 2,000 tons of star dust falls from outer space to the earth daily.

In sub-freezing temperatures the motion of these tiny particles is slowed down considerably. A water molecule will attach itself to one of these particles. The particle thus becomes the nucleus or foundation for the formation of a snowflake. As soon as one molecule fixes itself to a dust particle, other water molecules will scramble aboard, only “in an orderly sequence in accordance with the system and class of symmetry peculiar to oxide of hydrogen.” When the particle becomes overloaded with water molecules, it becomes too heavy for air flow to support it and begins its glide earthward. Thus is born the snowflake, and we behold with joy the falling snow!

Shapes and Sizes of Snow

What shape and size the snowflake will be when it reaches the earth depends greatly on the temperature and the amount of moisture in the air through which the flake passes on its way down. Snowflakes often take the form of beautiful crystals, generally having a hexagonal design or pattern. Some crystallize with trigonal symmetry. This type is usually born in high clouds and in zero weather. The larger crystals form in warmer sub-freezing temperatures. “The variety of appearance is inexhaustible,” writes Collis, “but very often (though not always) a hexagonal shape is adhered to, so that each Is a little star with six rays crossing at an angle of 60 degrees. If the crystal looks like a composition of fems it will have six outpointing leaves; if like a windmill, it will have six sails; if like a starfish, it will have six ribs; if like a fir tree, it will have six stems with plumes set in perfect symmetry.”

In 1885 Wilson Bently acquired a photomicrographic camera. With it he took pictures of snow. Out of 5,300 pictures that he took during his forty-six years of study, he was unable to find two that were identically alike in shape. A scientist has estimated that 1,000,000,000,000 flakes may fall on an acre of ground in an averagesize snowstorm, and all of them different! “Yet this is not surprising,” says Collis. “It is a wonder of wonders that the dance of the molecules produces these geometrical designs in the first place; it would be too much to ask that the exact same shape be duplicated,” In recent years snowflakes have been preserved with a transparent plastic fluid that hardens rapidly. Preserved snowflakes can be filed on glass slides to be studied under microscope or photographed at leisure.

How big are snowflakes? in low temperatures in the polar region the tiny crystals known as “diamond dust” rarely exceed .005 of an inch in diameter. This snow is too rough for a ski blade to glide through it. A flake of this type may take many hours to fall just a thousand feet. Whereas huge cottony flakes that often measure several inches across will fall the distance in from eight to ten minutes. An average snowflake will travel a few miles from its place of birth before it lands; unless, of course, it was formed in the high cirrus clouds. In that case the traveling distance is much greater.

Weight and Color of Snow

Newly fallen snow is very light, having much air space in its captivating structure. It is only one fifteenth as heavy as ice, and ice, in turn, due to expansion at freezing, is only nine tenths as heavy as water. It takes about twenty inches of dry snow to produce an inch of water, but normally ten inches of snow will make that amount.

Even though snow is comparatively light, it is deceptively heavy. To shovel a five-foot sidewalk for a hundred feet after a thirty-inch snowfall would mean lifting close to four tons of snow, not counting the weight of the shovel! No wonder you gasp, “My aching back!’’ after clearing the sidewalk. The Halifax Gazette stated: “Ten inches of snow covering one square mile weighs 72,320 tons. 123 inches on ten miles amounts to 8,895,360 tons. But if you are waiting for it to melt, give a thought to it. That quantity of snow when changed to water will turn to 1,779,072,000 gallons.” So these tiny crystal buckets do bring to earth oceans of water.

When thousands of billions of these fragile flakes fall, huge banks of white mount up. Highways are covered over. Often cars, trucks and houses are buried. Everywhere the eye can see there is nothing but white, yet scientists tell us that snow is not actually white. When snow crystallizes in the sky it is transparent, like glass. But when snowflakes bunch together on the ground, the myriad minute surfaces of the crystals reflect the light in all directions and create a pure whiteness.

Of what value is snow? Besides beautifying the earth and sky, forests and mountains, it serves a most useful purpose in the economy of nature. It conserves the heat of the earth and protects vegetation from the intense cold of the winter. The soil needs the moisture that is absorbed more easily in the form of snow. Animals burrow into nature’s fluffy blanket and are protected from severe winds and kept warm. Eskimos insulate their igloos with snow. It is so effective as an insulating agent that heat from the human body can keep the igloo room warm.

Besides purifying the air for the city dweller, the fragile snowflake represents “money from heaven” for the farmer. As each snowflake glides down on its microscopic dust disk, it washes out of the atmosphere certain elements such as nitrogen and sulphur that enrich the soil. Back in 1936 these nitrogenous substances deposited in a winter’s fall of snow and hail were said to have a financial value of “$14.08 per acre.” If you ascertain the number of acres under cultivation where it snows and multiply that by $14.08 per acre, you will get a stupendous sum of real money! “Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow?” asked the Creator.—Job 38: 22, AS.

While in the abstract snow’s manifestations are beneficent, yet in reality some of them are otherwise, at least in this system of things. In the city there is the aggravating disruption of the transportation system. In the country the farmer may be stranded for weeks. Sudden melting of deep snow over large areas can cause floods and the destruction of property. Massive snowfalls have caused the death of man and animals, and whole villages have been annihilated by snowslides.

Perhaps the greatest use of snow is still in the future when it will be used as a weapon of destruction at the battle of Armageddon. Jehovah God, the Creator of the snowflake, says that he has reserved snow and hail “for the time of distress, for the day of fight and war." (Job 38:23) The deluge of Noah’s day brought down water, snow and ice upon the world of the ungodly of that time. A supernatural use of these same elements is foretold for the war of the great day of God the Almighty. “He is giving snow like wool; hoarfrost he scatters just like ashes. He is throwing his ice like morsels. Before his cold who can stand?” (Ps. 147:16, 17) Yes, at Armageddon Jehovah will call into service a vast number of these tiny, fragile crystals for a most glorious purpose—the vindication of his great and holy name.

pursuing District Assemblies held by Jehovah’s witnesses during the past year lend proof to the fact that there are actually persons who are not only seeking peace but who have already found it—peace with God, peace with their fellow man and peace with themselves.

The convention servant of the assembly held in Vienna, Austria, writes us as follows: “The ancient Danube city of Vienna has experienced numerous invasions. In 1529 and 1683 it was besieged by the Turks, in 1805 and 1809 it was captured by the French, in those dreadful March days of 1938 it was swallowed up by Hitler’s Reich, and in 1945 it was snatched away by the Red Army. How the city has suffered! All those pushing into it were pursuing war and therefore left suffering, hunger, disease, oppression, rape and despotism behind them. In July of this year Vienna was invaded by a people not nearly as numerous as the Turks, French, Germans or Russians, but this time it was a peaceful invasion. Instead of artillery weapons, cannons and tanks, this time there were three special trains that rolled into the West and South railway stations loaded down with peaceful witnesses of Jehovah. Instead of being armed with crooked sabers, rifles and pistols, and instead of displaying severe grimaces of war, each of them carried concealed in his briefcase or suitcase the sword of the spirit, the Bible, and it was

Jehovah’s witnesses also met together in Berlin, which has become a focal point in the conflict between East and West, a symbol of division and of the world’s lack of peace. From there we are told: “It did not look as though many Witnesses from Eastern Germany, where they have been banned since 1950 and are heavily persecuted, would be able to seize an opportunity to slip quickly through a hole in the Iron Curtain into Berlin as they have done in previous years in order to attend assemblies. Because of this fact, only visitors from West Berlin were actually expected. Sure enough, three weeks before the assembly was to begin, East German police began visiting all known Jehovah’s witnesses in Eastern Germany and were asking them—some trumped-up reason being given for this—to surrender their personnel cards. Without these they would not be able to travel to Berlin.”

But when the time came for the baptism of those symbolizing their dedication to Jehovah God, those being baptized walked past a table where they were counted and asked, "West or Blast?’’ One heard: "West" — "East” — "West" — "East” — "East”. — “East" — "West.” Yes, Witnesses were here from Eastern Germany; they have not stopped pursuing peace even though banned and persecuted there. This results in many more continuing to associate with them, in order to find peace with God, with their fellow man and with themselves.

Peace with Their God

During a time when the nations are pursuing war, there are numberless difficulties encountered by those striving to pursue peace. The eventual winners in this conflict are indicated by the report from Hannover, Germany: “In the midst of the tempo of the times and the mad pursuit after material things, in the midst of this old world surrounded by war and atomic danger, Jehovah’s witnesses celebrated a festival of peace. During the 1939-1945 war, Hannover was severely bombed and the ruins were scooped together and piled together on a huge dumping ground. Later the Nie-dersachsen Stadium was built on top of this pile of debris. In this stadium, on top of the ruins left by the now-disappeared ‘thousand-year Reich,' Jehovah’s witnesses held their district assembly this year.” Was this not indicative of victory for those pursuing peace, for those who were not ‘learning war any more’? (Isa, 2:4) Yes, they have come to be at peace with God through Jesus Christ, and for that reason God blesses them with success.

Even the exterior surroundings at the assemblies stressed peace. That platform in Stuttgart’s Neckar Stadium was decorated with 2,500 flowers and in representing a small paradise certainly reflected quietness and peace. The platform in Dortmund was similar. The Westdeutsche Dort-munder Tageblatt wrote about this on July 30: “Where the platform is normally found [in the Westfalen Hall] a mountainous landscape has been erected with a pool in the foreground springing from a bubbling fountain in the background. The motif of this platform decoration is taken from Revelation chapter 22. Accordingly, a stream of clear water springs forth from the rocks. In front of this stand two persons scooping up the ‘water of life.’ ”

Peace with Their Brothers

In Dortmund’ over eighty of Jehovah’s witnesses asked if they could come early and help in making preparations for the assembly. Not one of them wanted to be paid for this work. They appreciated the privilege of working in the house of Jehovah and in preparing a pleasant place for their brothers to- assemble, where they would feel at home. The report from Hannover also shows their willingness and reads: “During installation work a mechanic was heard to say that we should not take the work away from them. He was told that he could certainly do the work if he wanted to, but would have to db it on the same condition as we, that is to say, without pay. The immediate answer: *Oh, no, that’s all right—you people just go ahead and do it.’ ” A businessman going through the stadium in Stuttgart saw a large sign reading “Volunteer Service.” He observed over fifty persons standing in front of the sign, all waiting to be assigned work. He said, “How different this all is. When we look for just one single worker, we can’t find anyone at all, and in front of your ‘Volunteer Service’ sign there are over fifty persons.”

Outsiders were heard to say over and over again: “This is a completely different world; here there is real peace, no complaining, no swearing, yes, even a different language is spoken here.” The fire chief in Dortmund praised the willingness of the Witnesses to work as ushers, which made it possible for him to reduce his crew of fire watchers to just a few. Neither had the police much to do, since the Witnesses even directed their own traffic. The Stutt-garter Zeitung printed the comments of an observer in the following article on July 27,1960: “On Sunday, week before last, in the stadium. Jehovah’s witnesses were directing the traffic, too. They discovered a car which had been parked improperly.

One of them pulled out a note book, but not to write the license number down. He wrote a note, placed it on the windshield, and then went on. I curiously read what it said: ‘Dear Brother, you have parked in the wrong place. Please, be kind enough to move your car to the proper place.’ I was curious what the owner of the car would do, so I waited. He came, paused a minute, read the note, took it off the windshield, climbed into his car and then parked correctly. The driver was—a policeman!”

Peace with Their Fellow Man

As these thousands of volunteer workers were pursuing peace through serving their brothers, the others of Jehovah’s witnesses were not inactive. They were expressing their confidence in total peace by sharing their love and knowledge with the citizens of the assembly cities. The newspaper Luzerner Neuesten Nachrichten wrote a half-page article praising the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses. The article read, in part; ‘‘It can easily be the case now that anyone in Luzern walking down the street may be stopped by two polite ladies or gentlemen and invited to hurry along to the large hall there on the Allmend where the Swiss annual convention of Jehovah’s witnesses is being held . . . Since there is no such thing as a passive member among them—for each is obligated to advertise his belief—many friendly persons are drawn into an extensive discussion with them almost without knowing it. But why not? It will harm no one to speak about something for once other than about time off, wages, relatives, recipes, the Congo and movies.”

Jehovah’s witnesses prove their love for God and for their fellow man by deeds. Outsiders see this and appreciate it. The stationmaster in Dortmund praised their orderliness. The Hasper Zeitung, in reporting about the Dortmund assembly, headlined the report “Faithful Servants of the True God.” A Stuttgart businessman said he only wished all his employees were Jehovah’s witnesses. An interesting experience was had in Berlin in connection with a leading man in a company supplying chairs for the hall. “After watching for quite some time, he began to confide in one of the Witnesses standing nearby, and expressed his amazement that the preparation work was being carried on so smoothly. He said something like this: ‘We have often provided chairs for religious conventions, but I see that everything is done completely different here with you folks. Everyone is working so quietly and rapidly with one another, and in spite of all the work to be done they are all so friendly to one another. Not long ago while preparing for a religious meeting we were almost driven to despair by all the demands that were made. Last of all, extra-special easy chairs had to be placed in front for the top honored guests, the next section of chairs were to be of the second-best type for other guests and then the rest of the hall was to be filled with normal chairs. You people make no such differences. Aren’t you expecting any honored guests?’ In answer, he was told that about 10,000 honored guests were being expected; he understood exactly what we meant.”

Some were not so friendly to the Witnesses. In Vienna, for example, Catholic church leaders called on the faithful to refuse accommodations for Jehovah’s witnesses. Likewise in Switzerland: “It is true that periodic warnings were issued from the pulpits and the population was asked not to provide any accommodations for the Witnesses. Due to this about one hundred rooms were canceled. But a special campaign to find rooms shortly before the assembly began resulted in our having more accommodations than were needed. The hosts were all very friendly, and because of the friendly attitude shown by Jehovah’s witnesses many prejudices were beaten down. This peaceful and Christian conduct on the part of the Witnesses toward their hosts was well received. Almost everyone who had kept Jehovah’s witnesses was heard to speak words of praise about the guests afterward. One gentleman who had offered a double room met one of Jehovah’s witnesses he knew on the street and stopped her to say: ‘Now, there’s just one thing I’d like to tell you. At church the preacher said we should not rent our rooms to any of Jehovah’s witnesses. But I rented one of mine to your people anyhow. And I must say, the zeal and the spirit of my guests has amazed me. If the people in the Catholic church had this same spirit, then things would be a whole lot better in our church. I’m going to invite you over sometime in the near future so you can tell me more about your faith. I see how happy you are and how well trained your children are. Your belief can’t be anything bad.’ ”

Jehovah’s witnesses are convinced that their belief cannot be anything bad, for it is based upon what is taught in God’s Word. They will continue to seek peace and pursue it. Already they are happily looking forward to their large conventions to be held next summer in New York, New York, June 20-25; Houston, Texas, June 27-July 2; Vancouver, British Columbia, July 4-9; Copenhagen, Denmark, July 11-16; Hamburg, Germany, and Turin, Italy, July 1823; London, England, July 25-30; Paris, France, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 1-6. Thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses and other Bible-loving persons of good will are planning to attend these assemblies. Jehovah’s witnesses would like to invite you to be present. Prove to yourself that they are persons who are really pursuing peace—yes, that they are persons who have actually found it!

SEVEN YEARS WITHOUT WATER

In The Voice of the Desert Joseph Wood Krutch discusses plants that can go a long jj time without water; his candidate for first prize is not the barrel cactus but a plant that < stores little water. “Wander down into the !' driest desert region in northern Sonora, Mexi- J, co," he writes, “and you are likely to find lying about under thorny bushes certain amorphous J; masses of grayish wood eight inches or more [> in diameter. They look rather like a gnarled bur from some old apple tree; they have nei- J ther roots nor stems, and they seem about as [I dead as anything could be. Pick one up and i[ you will find it heavy as well as dry, and !; quite hard—as little like a living plant as [! anything you can imagine. ■[

“This, however, is the resting stage of Ibervillea sonorae, a member of the gourd [, family. Sometime towards the end of May, i[ it comes to life by sending out a few shoots upward and a few roots downward.... Sonora's one season of scanty rainfall is about due and ... it must be prepared to take advantage of it. If the rain does come, flowers and fruits appear before the whole thing dries up again into a state of suspended animation which seems almost as complete as that of a seed. At best, Ibervillea is not much to look at: a few straggling stems, small yellow flowers and, finally, a small berry-like fruit rather like a small, soft gourd,...

“Some years ago a specimen of Ibervillea was placed on exhibition in a glass case at the New York Botanical Garden. There was no intention to have it grow, but it showed what it is capable of. For seven years, without soil or water, simply lying in the case, it put forth a few anticipatory shoots and then, when no rainy season arrived, dried up again, hoping for better luck next year.”

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By "Awahl"

In Puarto Bico

A FIERY debate rocked the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico in 1960, from the month of May down to election day, November 8. The Roman Catholic clergy were on one side; government and educational the Popular Party of Governor Mufi Marin. The reaction was immediate.

Some parishioners walked out of churches when the pastoral letter read. When the governor’s wife walk out of the church in Arecibo, the pries shouted: “Get out, all those who wish; yo are not needed in this church.” Priests, in a few instances, were booed; and for the first time in history the San Juan diocese and the old cathedral in San Juan were picketed—by protesters of the pastoral letter.

Governor Marin denounced the pastoral letter as an “incredible medieval interference in a political campaign," adding: “I could never believe that in a modern community like Puerto Rico, so closely associated with the United States, such an incredible position could be taken.”

An Old Dispute

What is the story behind this clerical plunge into Puerto Rican politics? There has long been a quarrel between the Catholic church and the party in power, the Partido Popular (Popular Party) of Governor Luis Munoz Marin. For one thing, the governor’s predecessors had instituted birth-contr linics, and these the gover-

or has continued, to the isgruntlement of the tholic clergy.

Back in 1951 Puerto ico was drawing up its own constitution under its new status as a Com-onwealth of the United ates. The Organic Act, ich the new Constitution would replace, contained a clause in its Bill of Rights that stated: “Never will public money or property be as-or support of any priest, preacher, minister or other religious instructor." This “clause 19” became a focal point of battle.

Bishop McManus of Ponce called the clause “a blot on our constitution.” Monsignor Vasallo of the San Juan diocese added: “If our demands are not taken into account then we will have to declare war against a constitution that is unjust and humiliating for the purposes of the Church in Puerto Rico."

The Constitutional Assembly drew up the new constitution with the disputed clause removed; and the people, on March 3, 1952, voted approval of the new constitution. The Catholic clergy were exultant over the extinction of clause 19, but two phrases in the new constitution disturbed them: (1) “There will be complete separation of the church and the state" and (2) “There will be a system of public instruction . . . entirely nonsectarian.”

Puerto Rico's public school system thus came under attack by the clergy. The director of the Catholic University Center called the public school system “completely atheistic." A bishop called the school system “antidemocratic and, in addition, antireligious.”

Bishop McManus of Ponce rapidly became a leading figure in the 1952 preelection campaign. He condemned education without religion and the distribution of birth-control information. He urged 25,000 Holy Name Society members not to “vote blindly.” He urged “Christian politics against lay politics.”

As the campaign progressed, the promoters of clerical politics published a booklet declaring three of the four candidates for governorship unacceptable, leaving the Independence Party candidate as the only one open for the Catholic vote. To those in doubt as to how to vote the counsel was: “Ask your parish priest.”

But when the Puerto Rican people went to the polls, the Church-approved candidate lost; and Governor Marin and his Popular Party won by an overwhelming majority.

In the spring of 1960, a bill was presented before the Puerto Rican legislature providing for “released time,” an arrangement whereby children might receive religious instruction on school time. Attempts to pass such a bill had failed in years past. The clergy concentrated their efforts to push this bill through. On May 22 a reported 100,000 Catholics gathered before the capitol building in San Juan to hear the bishops urge them to insist that the “released time” bill be passed. The crowd also heard the bishops warn the legislators that if the bill were not passed they would not get the Catholic vote in the coming November elections.

The legislators decided to “table” the bill, and it died. The bishops now declared war on the Popular Party and its head Governor Marin.

Promoting the Catholic Party

The bishops’ next major move was their approval for the formation of a Catholic political party, to be called Partida Accitin Cristiana (Christian Action Party). In a joint pastoral letter Bishops Davis and McManus urged the people to support the party’s registration and thus “purify and Christianize public and private life.”

A wave of protest came from all sides, and columns in newspapers began to fill up with letters approving and condemning the clergy’s action. In answering the critics, Monsignor Grovas cited the Vatican newspaper L/Osservatore Romano of May 18: “The church cannot be agnostic (or Indifferent), particularly when politics touches the altar, as Pius XI said. It is, then, its duty and its right to intervene even in this field.”

On July 4 government officials publicly denounced the clergy’s actions, and Governor Munoz Marin, though brought up q Catholic himself, warned the people: “If the prelates and priests were to be accorded the right to be obeyed in civil life, the vote, the legislature, all the democratic organs, including the Press, would be superfluous, and freedom would be dead.”—El Mundo, July 5,1960.

Undaunted, the bishops continued their campaign. They instructed the priests to aid in registering members of the new party. The bishops even said that the use of Church property for this purpose was permissible.

A report from Sabana Grande, in El Mundo of July 18, said that the local priest, Blas Steffany, arranged for a talk in the City Hall and that he went to the public plaza to recruit listeners. On returning to the City Hall, he entered the headquarters of the Popular Party and invited the men seated there to his talk. One of them asked the priest if his talk would be on religion or on politics. The priest became irritated, and some of the men said: “Let’s get out of here; remember the Inquisition.” A heated argument ensued and calls of “aba jo los curas” (“down with the priests”) were heard. Finally the assistant priests had to come and pull priest Stefiany out of the crowd that had gathered.

The Catholic party was registered; it chose the Catholic colors of yellow and white and selected as its party insignia a rosary with a papal emblem inside. Typical of its meetings was one held in the mountain town of Barranquitas. At 5 a.m. a reported one thousand persons gathered on a hill, and the meeting began with cries such as “Viva the Most Holy Virgin” and “Viva the Pope.” Similarly extolled was the Catholic political party. Then came the saying of the rosary. Afterward the group attended mass in the local church.

Election day was drawing near; and it was now that the bishops dropped their bombshell, the pastoral letter forbidding Catholics to vote for the governor and his Popular Party. The pastoral letter said, among other things: “As the bishops of Puerto Rico . .. , we are interested in and are concerned about the chapter of the official platform [of the governor's party] which is entitled ‘Religion and Politics.’ This section starts by saying: ‘We are profoundly concerned about the intent to mix religion and politics. ... Clericalism is not the noble performance of the functions of the religious services. . . . Clericalism is the intervention of the clergy in politics? We see in this part of the [party] platform an antidemocratic attempt to limit the clergy solely to the religious functions.”

No Open Contradiction of Letter

Coming as it did at a crucial point in the election campaign in the United States, the pastoral letter produced front-page news for many continental United States newspapers. Democratic candidate for the United States presidency, John F. Kennedy, had been working hard to counter charges that the Catholic church believes it has a right to tell its members how to vote and its adherents what to do in office. Kennedy’s political camp worriedly sought advice from Roman Catholic theologians, only to learn that no Roman Catholic prelate in the United States would be likely to issue an open contradiction to the Puerto Rican bishdps’ pastoral letter.

Thus Richard Cardinal Cushing of John Kennedy’s home state of Massachusetts did not contradict the letter but merely said: “It is totally out of step with the American tradition for ecclesiastical authority here to dictate the political voting of citizens.” Cardinal Cushing did not say, however, that it would be “totally out of step” with the Roman Catholic tradition.

Though Catholic prelates in the United States were cautious in; their remarks, there were some forthright comments, such as that expressed by The Tablet, official publication of the Catholic diocese of Brooklyn, New York, which said that the bishops “are definitely within their rights in advising Catholics of their diocese not to vote for the Popular Democratic candidates.”

Governor Mufioz Marin declared that he would take up the bishops’ action with Vatican officials. It did not appear that he would get much help from the Vatican. A guarded statement from the Vatican said that Puerto Rico’s bishops were within their episcopal authority in forbidding church members to vote for the governor, stressing that the bishops’ action was restricted to Puerto Rico and to the “particular and special conditions of that island itself."

And campaigning prelates and priests were busy citing Popes Leo XIII, Pius X, Pius XI and John XXIII to show that the Church has the right to insist on obedience in public life.

The Election and Clerical Confusion

The election campaign neared its climax, and full-page advertisements appeared in newspapers urging the people to vote for the Catholic party. The messages were printed against a variety of backgrounds, such as enormous pictures of the virgin Mary, St. Peter’s Basilica and Pope John xxiii.

A second pastoral letter was read in the churches on October 30, the bishops stressing that failure to heed their previous letter would indeed be “a sin.”

Election day, November 8, arrived. A record number of voters went to the polls. That night the count showed that the governor and his party had won all but three of the island’s over seventy municipalities and had received some 100,000 more votes than the other three parties combined. The governor received 58 percent of the vote from the predominant Catholic electorate. The Catholic party received only about 6 percent of the total vote.

Clerical confusion followed. Catholics who voted for the governor wondered if they had sinned. The woman mayor of San Juan who campaigned for the governor was ordered to do public penance before she could receive communion. “As it now stands,” said the San Juan Star, “the faithful do not know whether violation of the Pastoral urging is a sin, whether they will bum in hell, simmer in purgatory, rot in limbo or float upwards, unblemished.” Later, while attending a church meeting in Chicago, the archbishop of San Juan sent word: “To all is extended the pardon they desire.”

Important Questions

What does it all mean? Was it a wild crusade embarked on by a few impetuous bishops? Or was it a revealing position of the basic tenets and true aims of the Catholic church? Comments by various Catholic authorities, already mentioned, give the answer. In the United States and other countries where its members are in the minority, the Catholic church professes belief in tolerance and freedom of worship. It denies interest in exercising control over political officials and educational systems. But as events in Puerto Rico and other countries such as Spain show, the Church operates under a double set of standards, and it practices a chameleonlike changeableness according to the conditions of the country.

Of greatest importance is the question: Does the practice of priests in politics reflect the pure Christian example of God’s Son? Jesus Christ said of his true followers: “They are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17: 16) Just as a man’s wading into a mudhole to wash a pig would not result in a clean pig but would make the man dirty, so priests in politics will never make the world Christian but it does make the priests and the church they represent worldly. “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father,” says the Holy Bible, is “to keep oneself without spot from the world.”—Jas. 1:27.

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