Awake!, April 8, 1964
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Appreciate Your Relationship to the Most High PAGE 5
World Violence=-What Does It Mean?
PAGE 9
Man's Tiny Friends-Bacteria
PAGE 13
God's Word in the Land of the Morning Calm PAGE 17
APRIL 8, 1964
THE REASON FOR THIS MAGAZINE
News sources that are able to keep you awake to the vital issues of our times must be unfettered by censorship and selfish interest. "Awake!" has no fetters. It recognizes facts, faces facts, is free to publish facts. It is not bound by political ties; it is unhampered by traditional creeds. This magazine keeps itself free, that it may speak freely to you. But it does not abuse its freedom. It maintains integrity to truth.
The viewpoint of "Awakel" is not narrow, but is international. "Awakel" has its own correspondents in scores of nations. Its articles are read in many lands, in many languages, by millions of persons.
In every issue "Awake!" presents vital topics on which you should be informed. It features penetrating articles on social conditions and offers sound counsel for meeting the problems of everyday life. Current news from every continent passes in quick review. Attention is focused on activities in the fields of government and commerce about which you should know. Straightforward discussions of religious issues alert you to matters of vital concern. Customs and people in many lands, the marvels of creation, practical sciences and points of human interest are all embraced in its coverage. "Awake!" provides wholesome, instructive reading for every member of the family.
"Awakel!" 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 God's righteous new order in this generation.
Get acquainted with "Awake!" Keep awake by reading "Awake!"
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CONTENTS
Meeting the Challenge of Waiting 3
Appreciate Your Relationship
to the Most High 5
World Violence—What Does It Mean? 9
Man's Tiny Friends—Bacteria 13
Letters Galore 16
God's Word in the Land
of the Morning Calm 17
The School That Never Rings a Bell 21
Zip Codes—How They Speed the Mall 24
It Started in the East 25
"Your Word Is Truth"
When Did Jehovah and Christ Begin
to Rule as Kings? 27
Watching the World 29
Meeting The Challenge OF WAITING
WAITING! Waiting! Waiting! We cannot escape it, waiting is the common lot of man, woman and child.
Does not the farmer have to wait for the harvesttime? As the Christian disciple James well observed: "Look! The farmer keeps waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, exercising patience over it until he gets the early rain and the late rain. You too exercise patience." Why, your very existence testifies that your mother waited about nine months from conception until she gave birth to you. And once born, did you not have to wait long years to experience the satisfaction that comes with being a self-reliant, self-supporting adult? You are not done with waiting. You must still face the day-to-day waiting for bus, train or plane, or because a relative, friend or business associate is late.—Jas. 5:7, 8.
Do you want to take the sting out of waiting? Then view it as a challenge to be met. How? In various ways; one of which is keeping busy, "buying out the opportune time" for yourself. The farmer not only waits but keeps busy taking care of the fields until the harvest. Likewise with her that has conceived; she finds she has much to do until the time for the child
to be born. In invariably there is something that you can profitably do while waiting. —Eph. 5:16.
Are you waiting for a promotion, a pay raise or some other form of recognition? Busy yourself in the meantime with doing the best you can, taking a keen interest in your work or your present assignment. Then the wait will not seem so long and you will be more likely to obtain the thing for which you are waiting.
Or are you a young woman waiting for the right man to come into your life? Here again, rather than engaging in mere wishful thinking, keep busy. Work at improving your mind and heart; cultivate an outgoing personality, a sunny disposition. Look for opportunities to bring happiness into the lives of others and you will find that waiting has comparatively little sting.
The same principle applies to the day-to-day waiting that can be so trying at times. Have you an appointment with a physician, dentist or other businessman? Anticipate waiting by taking along some worthwhile reading, and you will be in position to increase your storehouse of knowledge instead of idly and impatiently wasting your time waiting.
Are you waiting on a street corner for a friend or a bus? Even this time need not be wasted, as one Christian minister found not long ago. While waiting he engaged a stranger in a Biblical discussion, leaving him some Bible literature. It was not long before this stranger, the pastor of a congregation of more than a thousand members, was studying the Bible with the help of this minister.
Or is the waiting you have to do within the family circle? Then instead of letting your vexation be known because of having to wait, make good use of the time. You might wisely use the time to reflect on whether you have forgotten or overlooked something. How often, after starting out, families discover that they have forgotten this, that or the other thing.—Prov. 12:16.
After you have considered whether anything has been forgotten, how about doing some reading for the remaining minutes? Or look around; is there some untidiness that you could take care of, putting away things? Or do the house plants need watering? If you are inclined to be tense while waiting, perhaps it would be even better to force yourself to relax and give your nerves a badly needed rest. It will certainly be worth the effort.
Another fine way in which to meet the challenge of this day-to-day waiting is by being as helpful as you can. Is your wife or mother late because she has to clean up after the meal? If so, how about helping her out? It is better to be helping others than idly, impatiently waiting; besides, thereby you cut down on the waiting time. Remember, it is the privilege of the 'strong to bear the burdens of those not strong.'—Rom. 15:1.
Empathy, or putting yourself in the other's shoes, will also help. Make allowances. The one who is keeping you waiting
may be the victim of circumstances over which he has no control. If not, still love "bears all things," including the burden of waiting for others.—1 Cor. 13:7; Gal. 6:2.
And how about a sense of humor? It will also help to keep you from grumbling or scolding and from taking yourself too seriously.
Waiting might be said to be a form of mercy, and God's Word counsels: "He that shows mercy, let him do it with cheerfulness." Waiting is also a form of giving, giving of your time, so why not be a "cheerful giver"?—Rom. 12:8; 2 Cor. 9:7.
However, there is another side to this matter of waiting that ought not to be overlooked. There are times when schedules must be met or appointments be kept. At such times one can ill afford to wait.
Perhaps you find that your children are prone to be careless about getting ready on time. If so, what should be done? Do not pamper them, but exercise a firm yet kind hand. Train them in punctuality. It will be beneficial both to you and to them.
Or is it your wife who invariably is late, apparently having gotten into a bad habit? If appeals to reason and self-respect are in vain, it might even be necessary to give an object lesson that will be remembered. On an occasion when being on time calls for it, you might say, 'Dearie, I'm going now; you can take the bus when you're ready.' That may come as quite a surprise to her. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances that is the way to meet the challenge of waiting. But remember, if you require punctuality of others, you must be punctual yourself.
Make it your objective not to be the one who inconsiderately keeps others waiting. But if you must wait, meet the challenge; use the time well.
Appreciate Your Relationship TO THE MOST HIGH
Who is the Most High in all the universe? How do you view your relationship to him?
WHAT does that expression "the Most High God" mean to you? To whom do you apply those words? There are many, yes, hundreds of gods who are worshiped in different parts of the earth, but it is only sound reasoning to conclude that, of all these gods, just one is almighty and most high. Why, the very expression Most High indicates that this one is higher than all
others. So just who is the Most High God? And what should be our relationship to him? Let us reason for a while on the subject and at the same time go to the highest authority on such matters: God's Word, the Holy Bible.
Who Is the Most High?
A God-fearing man who lived many centuries ago identifies just who this one is, and we find his words recorded at Psalm 83:18: "That people may know that you, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." King David looked around him and saw the wonderful works of God, and he marveled at what he saw. He was filled with reverence and awe and recognized that the Creator of all these things was, indeed, an exalted and powerful God. In one of the songs of praise that he composed he states: "The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the
work of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, and one night after another night shows forth knowledge."—Ps. 19:1, 2.
Yes, it is Jehovah who is Most High over all the earth. Listen to what he himself tells us by means of his inspired prophet so that we might realize our littleness in comparison to
him: "Look! The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted. Look! He lifts the islands themselves as mere fine dust. 'But to whom can you people liken me so that I should be made his equal?' says the Holy One. 'Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. . . Have you not come to know or have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the extremities of the earth, is a God to time indefinite.'" (Isa. 40:15, 25, 26, 28) Surely, this one who created all things has a right to be first in our lives, the right to our worship and implicit obedience.
There are many who have not believed that Jehovah is the Most High and they have raised themselves up in opposition to him—so much so that he has had to demonstrate to them in no uncertain manner that he is, indeed, the Most High, and that all creatures in heaven and earth must bow to his will.
With the exception of just eight persons, a whole generation refused to acknowledge Jehovah's exalted position and so were destroyed as unfit to live on the earth, which is God's creation. In the year 2370-2369 B.C.E. Jehovah God caused a great flood to come upon the earth, yes, billions of tons of water swept away the defiers of Jehovah's sovereignty and only those who appreciated their relationship to Jehovah were saved in the ark. What a great demonstration that was of the fact that he is the Most High! Whether those scoffers called on their false gods for help the Bible does not say, but the Bible account of false religion before the Flood gives us to believe that they would call upon their deities for help. However, it was of no avail. None can fight against Jehovah and win.
On another occasion Jehovah found it necessary to demonstrate his supremacy in connection with Pharaoh of Egypt. Listen to the defiant words of Pharaoh: "Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away." (Ex. 5:2) What foolish words to come from puny man against the Most High God! If only Pharaoh had come to know Jehovah and appreciate his relationship to Him in the right way, he would have saved the lives of thousands of Egyptians, but because of his defiance Jehovah brought ten destructive plagues upon Egypt and then annihilated Pharaoh's military hosts in the Red Sea.
Jehovah the Almighty
Jehovah God, being the Most High, is also the Almighty God. The apostle Paul, in speaking of this Powerful One, said: "His invisible qualities are clearly seen
from the world's creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship." (Rom. 1:20) Does it not indeed take an Almighty God to 'stretch out the heavens like a fine gauze,' placing in their proper places thousands upon thousands of heavenly bodies, some of them weighing millions of tons? How great and powerful is Jehovah, who can create the burning sun and keep the earth circling around it at just the right distance and speed so that life can be sustained on all parts of the globe!—Isa. 40:22.
Where is the hundred-year-old man on earth who can cause a woman ninety years of age to give birth to a son, as Jehovah did in the case of Abraham's wife Sarah, or again, what human creature can cause a virgin girl to give birth to a perfect son, as God did with Mary the mother of Jesus? Man with all his boasting just cannot do such things. But the Almighty God can and has done these very things. To strengthen Abraham's faith at the time of such a miracle, Jehovah said: "I am God Almighty. Walk before me and prove yourself faultless." (Gen. 17:1) And to the wondering Mary the angel Gabriel said: "Power of the Most High will overshadow you." (Luke 1:35) It is well for all of us to stop and consider just what power resides with Jehovah the Almighty. It is time for us to remember the words of King David: "For Jehovah is great . . . and he is to be feared more than all other gods." —1 Chron. 16:25.
Let none think that Jehovah is asleep as to what is occurring on the earth. No, Jehovah is not asleep but is working out his own purpose. He is Almighty and none can stay his hand. God's Word tells us concerning the earth that it was not created simply for nothing, but, rather, was formed to be inhabited, and this in accord with God's purpose. (Isa. 45:18) Those of mankind who scoff at the idea of an Almighty God, and who set themselves up as gods to be idolized, and who act wickedly, destroying the very earth that Jehovah created, should take heed to the words at Revelation 11: 17, 18: "We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, ...
because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king. But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time ... to bring to ruin those ruining the earth." So the Almighty God is not unmindful of the deeds of ungodly men, but his eyes "are in every place, keeping watch upon the bad ones and the good ones," and soon he will use his almighty power to destroy all his enemies.—Prov. 15:3.
Appreciating Our Relationship to Him
How do you feel when mention is made of the Most High God? Are you filled with awe and reverence? As you consider the almighty power of Jehovah, do you feel small and insignificant? Yes, are you humbled and brought down to size, as it were? But more than that, are you affected in a practical way and so do you realize how important it is to live in harmony with the will of the Supreme One of the universe? Many are the expressions of worldlings who speak of the Most High God in glowing terms, who even cause to be engraved on coins the words "In God we trust." But do they really trust in God and recognize his supremacy?
Many people will wait for hours in the cold or in hot sunshine just to catch a glimpse of some "famous personage" as he passes by. Thousands of people will wear their hair in a certain style or dress in a certain fashion in imitation of a well-known dignitary. Whole nations out of fear will do the bidding of a cruel dictator because of his high position and power over them. But what of Jehovah God, the Most High? Are these same people willing to serve him? Do they desire to imitate him
and pattern their lives according to his image? Will they do his bidding because they recognize his position and so follow him even to the death? The great majority in this present system of things foolishly ignore and rebel against Jehovah the Most High God.
But what of you? How do you feel about the matter? The apostle Peter had the right mental attitude and wrote: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God." (1 Pet. 5:6) Yes, we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and realize our utter dependence on him. We should realize that he is a just God that will express his wrath against all evildoers, remembering, too, that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31) The apostle Paul also gives us some good counsel, as recorded at Hebrews 12:9: "Furthermore, we used to have fathers who were of our flesh to discipline us, and we used to give them respect. Shall we not much more subject ourselves to the Father of our spiritual life and live?" Our subjection should not be out of morbid fear, even though it is true that we should fear Jehovah's great power and indignation, but, rather, should be out of love, because "perfect love throws fear outside."—1 John 4:18.
The apostle Peter realized the need for a deep appreciation of our relationship to God and of the need to be vigilant in how we walk, especially so in view of the exalted position of the Most High and in view of the coming wrath against the wicked world of mankind. Wrote Peter: "Yet Jehovah's day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion!"—2 Pet. 3:10, 11.
The above-quoted words of Peter really strike home! "What sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion!" Appreciating your relationship to the Most High God will make you want to do his will in ALL things. Your very life should be molded according to the pattern laid down in God's Word, because it is the Word of the Almighty. Are you a young person still under your parents' control? Then you will want to be obedient to your parents in order that you may be obedient to God too. (Eph. 6: 1-3) Maybe you are a Christian thinking of marriage. If you really appreciate your relationship to Jehovah and in truth consider his law and fear to displease him, you will most certainly not choose a companion who is not a Christian, but will follow the counsel given to marry "only in the Lord." (1 Cor. 7:39) A Christian is commanded by God to meet with his brothers in worship and to preach the "good news of the kingdom" of God. Surely if you believe that this command comes from the Almighty God, and you really appreciate that fact, you will earnestly endeavor to avoid taking on responsibilities that will cause you to miss out on meetings and encroach on time that is dedicated to declare abroad the good news. (Heb. 10:24, 25; Matt. 24:14) At all times you will recognize the supreme law of God. Just because many business people are crooked and deal in underhanded ways is no reason for you to do the same. Because thousands flout God's law on the use of blood, on morals and on other matters, is no reason for you to follow the same course. Remember that
"the fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad." (Prov. 8:13) Appreciating your relationship to Jehovah the Most High will indeed bring you many blessings and cause you to walk according to his will.
Stop for a moment and consider. This earth is just a speck in the vast universe and you are just a very, very minute speck on the earth. Over all the great creation Jehovah God the Almighty holds the highest position, his law is supreme and in his hand is the life of all living creatures. Soon he will destroy all wickedness and usher in a new order of righteousness and endless life. He himself tells us, "The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways." (Isa. 55:8) So now, be wise. Do not take in vain the expressions Most High and Almighty, but, rather, show that you appreciate their meaning and also your relationship to Jehovah the Supreme One. Study his Word, learn to think as he does. Pattern your life according to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, and so according to the image of God himself. Appreciate that your very eternal existence depends on Jehovah the Almighty God and so take steps to put your life, yes, every detail of your daily life, in harmony with his supreme will. Then when he finally demonstrates his almighty power against Satan and all his wicked followers, you will be safe and secure, even as the psalmist foretold: "Anyone dwelling in the secret place of the Most High will procure himself lodging under the very shadow of the Almighty One." (Ps. 91:1) And you will enter into a perfect new order where none will Ignore or rebel against Jehovah's sovereignty, but where "every breathing thing" will praise Jehovah the Most High and Almighty God.—Ps. 150:6.
What Does It
Mean?
DANVILLE, Virginia, a quiet textile center in the United States, with a population of about 46,000, one third of whom are Negroes, was recently the scene of a protest demonstration by some sixty-five Negroes. A fracas started, one that should have been easily settled. Instead, a water hose was turned on the demonstrators, and under cover of the water barrage the Danville police charged in swinging their clubs. Violence erupted. Forty-seven Negroes and whites were injured. The community was shocked.
In South Africa troops were used to put down demonstrations by the black Bantu who were protesting new restrictions of the "white supremacy" government. In Tanganyika the army revolted and violence reigned unabated for days. In Japan 6,000 leftist-led students tried to storm the Parliament building in Tokyo. Thirty policemen and one hundred demonstrators were injured.
On five continents riots, uprisings and violence of varied origin have exploded recently. Students in Panama, France, Turkey and other places have taken to the streets. Rebels in Zanzibar, Algeria, Venezuela and Paraguay have risen up in arms. Workers in France, East Germany, Russia and Poland have braved death to demonstrate their grievances. Terrorists in Cu
ba, the Congo and Vietnam have struck against
main have struck against existing governments. By chance or by design, violence has taken the stage from peace talks. Everywhere the world displays an uncomfortable impatience with old methods of settling differences and getting things done. It wants what it wants and now! Yes, now, even if it means violence and bloodshed.
Youth Violence
More often than not the firebrands of change and violence are the youths of the world. They have been taught that they are as good as anybody else, that everyone is equal, that they have a right to what they want. They are told that they should get jobs and work, but not all of them can get work and others do not want it. Their frustration and boredom turn to violence. They smash windows, beat up people who have what the youths have not been able to acquire. They rape, torture and kill. And there are literally millions of such youths on the move in all parts of the world.
But it would be unfair to blame all the mounting violence in the world on "disturbed" youths. For it is obvious today that the pattern of violence is not confined to any one nation or to any one part of a nation or any one kind of person. When violence shamed Little Rock, Arkansas, be fore the world six years ago, and Birmingham, Alabama, last year, many in supposedly civilized social circles, men and women of education and substance, took an active part in the violence.
Even in Panama the violence that followed the flag-displaying issue on January 7 of this year was not solely because of youth. Violence erupted when adults with old, bitter political and economic animosities joined the youthful demonstrators.
Violence Concerns Adults
The fact is that most of today's violence concerns adults—adult oppression of one form or another. In many instances it has to do with racial, religious and political issues. Violence reflects an overpowering desire for change, sometimes from majorities, sometimes from militant minorities. It has become a way to power—force as a solution to problems. It is a scorning of law and order. It represents a world without faith in God or man or in the institutions built by man for his own protection.
For example, when the South Koreans were dissatisfied with the one-man-rule of Syngman Rhee, the recourse was to mass force. A bloody upsurge of violence followed, and the Koreans got their new regime. In Turkey the situation was much the same. The people demanded an end to the one-man-rule of Adnan Menderes. There were demonstrations, violence and finally a change in government. Under the banner of patriotism and nationalism, mobs gave themselves license for violence in word and deed against the very constitutional principles they claimed to champion.
In South Vietnam opposition to the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem gathered like a thunderhead. The Buddhists charged that they were being discriminated against and persecuted by a Roman Catholic minority in power. Buddhist
monks martyred themselves by becoming flaming torches on the streets of Saigon. The government replied to the people's demands with oppressive brutality. There were demonstrations and a revolt. In the wake of violence, success, but it was success tempered with caution and sadness, for men had died, others were cruelly mained and the future of the country was still anything but assured. About three months later another government seized control.
Religious, Racial and Economic Causes
Not all violence has its roots in political unrest. Racial and religious differences, difficult working conditions and poor living standards have all provoked uprisings. For example, in Moscow's Red Square, on December 18, 1963, some 500 Africans grappled and scuffled with Soviet policemen. The Africans were protesting the death of a Ghanian student who allegedly was killed by Soviet citizens because of racial discrimination.
In Srinagar, Kashmir, a stolen hair from the Hazratbal shrine resulted in riots that left sixty persons dead and scores injured. Moslems believe the hair came from the head of the prophet Mohammed. The incident made it clear that old animosities between the Hindus and the Moslems were still close to the surface.
At Nowa Huta, an industrial suburb of Cracow, Poland, the Communists removed a wooden cross from its site. The townsfolk swarmed to the scene and fought the steel-heldmeted police to prevent removal of the cross. The riot continued for hours before order was restored; but the cross remained. Religious superstitions are highly explosive issues quickly erupting into violence.
In Temir-Tau, a new steel town in the Karaganda coal-mining region of the Soviet Union, a small group of fifty adult workers protested the poor living conditions.
When the Communist government replied with "speed up" pressures, the workers revolted. Before the riots ended, 1,500 workers fought Russian militiamen, even troops supported by airplanes. Trials and executions followed.
Behind the Worsening Trend
Everywhere one turns today violence lurks close to the surface. But why are people so violent? How did they get that way?
The reasons are many. People in general no longer truly believe In the existence of God, One who is the Judge of all mankind. They neither love, nor trust, nor exercise faith in a sovereign God. This is one of the main reasons for mounting violence. As the Holy Bible says: "Because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off." (Matt. 24: 12) And it has.
Man has allowed racial and religious discrimination to eat away his better nature. He has permitted national prejudices and wars to tear down the good in him and to build up hatreds. Unemployment and poverty have also contributed to his embitterment. Cold wars and the omnipresent menace, of total A-and-H bomb warfare have added their share to his hopelessness and frustration. The indoctrination of war and its propaganda have gnawed away what little he thought of the dignity of man and the sacredness of life.
As if these were not enough, a steady flow of reports on violence and brutality through the news channels has all but completely warped man's sense of values and respect for law and order. Newsreel shots, and colored-picture spreads in national magazines, about all the aspects of warfare certainly do not instill a respect for
human life. Reports on spy activities, including plots to overthrow "unfriendly" governments, do not build respect for law and order. Sermons, editorials and speeches advocating violence in international affairs and even against citizens with whose views the inciters happen to disagree do not contribute to peace and security.
Further, television and the movies often highlight violence as man's legitimate response to any situation that irks him. The Ladies' Home Journal, February 1960, stated that through moving pictures "a child may see more violence in 30 minutes than the average adult experiences in a lifetime." So much brutality is featured today in what is called "the entertainment field" that both children and parents have come to view it as normal.
While there has been some cutting down of television horror shows and a toning down of some books, yet any close examination of television programing still reveals a daily parade of crime, violence and murder, and any perusal of paperback books and others shows, at the very least, a perversion of values and a dependence on fist, gun and verbal threat for "entertainment." The effect all this has, especially on young people, was described by a United States Senate subcommittee that said: "The predominance of brutality in television is making our nation's youth insensitive to human suffering. They are becoming so accustomed to an overwhelming amount of crime and violence that death and pain are becoming meaningless."
Is it any wonder, then, that authorities say there is a "cult of violence" in the United States and a strange growing fascination for it? Is it any wonder that words such as "kill," "murder," "gum," "rape" and "strangle" have become everyday household terms? Is it any wonder that in the space of a few months America should be the scene where a president was assassinated, where a Negro civil rights leader was killed from ambush, where four little girls met death in the dynamitting of a church, where mob violence disgraced a university campus and where more children died of parental beatings than were killed in auto accidents?
The divine principle is plain: 'Whatever a man is sowing,
this he will also reap." (Gal. 6:7) That the world has entered a season of reaping there can be no doubt.
Violence—
A Warning Sign
But there is a greater meaning behind the violence in the world, one that God's Word the Bible
to this generation of the end of this wicked system.
But, for those with faith in God, that portends better things ahead. How so? Because the time for God himself to take action is at hand. His attitude toward men of violence has not changed since Noah's day, nor has he forgotten his promise to establish a new order where righteousness
NEXT ISSUE—SPECIAL!
EXAMINING THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN-DAY RELIGION
Why People Belong to Religious Organizations.
Built Around the Affairs of This System of Things.
—What Is Looked To as Authority?
Babylonian Origins of Modern-Day Religious Concepts.
The Future for the Religion Disapproved by God.
—Build Your Faith on a Solid Foundation.
reveals. At Revelation 12:12 this warning is given: "Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time." Yes, "woe for the earth" because the chief instigator of violence, the Devil, knows that his end and the end of his wicked system are near.
Note how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, foretold world violence before this wicked system's end. He said: "For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be." (Matt. 24:37) And what was it like in Noah's day? The Bible answers: "The earth became filled with violence." "The end of all flesh has come before me," said Jehovah God, "because the earth is full of violence." (Gen. 6:11, 13) The violence of Noah's day was a warning sign of that system's end, and world violence today is no less a warning
is to dwell. (2 Pet. 3: 13) So it is the course of wisdom to mold our lives in harmony with the counsel recorded in God's own Word at Psalm 37: 34: "Hope in Jehovah and keep his way." And if we do, what will the result be? "He will exalt you to take possession of the earth.
When the wicked ones are cut off, you will see it."
Hoping in Jehovah and keeping his way means more than looking to the time when he wipes out men of violence; it requires that we conform our thinking and our conduct to his ways now. If we do this, we will not feed our minds on literature and entertainment that features violence, but we will fill our thoughts with things that are righteous. (Phil. 4:8) If we are wronged, we will not take the law into our own hands, but will heed the advice: "Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.'" (Rom. 12:19-21) Moreover, we will avoid being around people that engage in violence, and we will not adopt their ways. Rather, we will listen to God when he says: "Do not become envious of the man of violence, nor choose any of his ways."—Prov. 3:31.
Man's Tiny Friends
OPERATING the family automobile on bacteria power might sound fantastic, but it has become a very real possibility. From batteries filled with bacteria, it could draw electrical power for moving silently and swiftly about the streets. Any organic matter such as sawdust, ground corncobs, lawn cuttings and other organic wastes could serve as fuel. What has made the development of such a car a very real possibility has been the comparatively recent discovery that electrical power can be drawn from bacteria.
Just to look at bacteria through a microscope, you would never think that such tiny plants could move a heavy automobile. They are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye but must be magnified a thousand times or more. Their various shapes give no clue to the power they are able to release. Some are shaped like balls that might be clustered together or strung out in strands. Others resemble rods—short rods, long rods, curved rods and straight rods. Still others look like cork-screws. Those that can move about do so either by flexing or bending their one-cell bodies or by using slender, whiplike attachments that might grow from one or both ends of their bodies.
Usually we do not regard bacteria as being friendly because we associate them with sickness. Some cause pneumonia, bubonic plague, syphilis, scarlet fever, dysentery and many other diseases. But what those generally classed as bad ones do
should not be allowed to blind us to how very useful the friendly ones can be. There are far more bacteria that are useful to man than harmful ones. About one out of every 30,000 is classed as bad, and that is a better ratio than for humans in some countries. In the United States, for example, about one person out of every 17,000 is recognized by society as being detrimental to the public welfare.
In Man
In the human intestines, bacteria thrive to such an extent that their bulk exceeds that of the food and wastes there by a ratio of two to one. There is a natural balance between the friendly and the harmful intestinal bacteria that is important to human health. A normally healthy person harbors different kinds of harmful bacteria, but he is unaffected by them because friendly bacteria keep them under control. When this natural balance is disrupted, sickness often results.
One of the troublesome side effects of antibiotic drugs used for killing harmful bacteria is that they also kill the useful variety, and this can cause complications —diarrhea, for example. A successful treatment of antibiotic diarrhea has been to give patients some harmless intestinal bacteria to replace those that the drugs killed. With them flourishing in the intestines once again, the diarrhea stops. Sometimes a vigorous treatment with an antibiotic drug may succeed in eliminating a certain type of infection but at the same time cause another type to appear because of having upset the bacterial balance in the patient.
But even infection-causing bacteria can, at times, be of good service to man.
There have been cases where cancers have regressed after a person has had a severe bout with an infection. Some doctors have concluded that the body's reaction to bacterial infections may be a factor in the retarding of cancer or in reducing the possibility of developing cancer. A few years ago Dr. W. B. Coley of New York used bacterial substances to treat cancer with what he said were promising results.
Industry
Aside from the food industry, in which bacteria are well known for playing an important role in making fermented foods and fermented drinks, there are industries in which friendly bacteria are performing important services. These services might seem to the average person to be as unlikely as that of supplying electricity for operating the family car.
In the processing of certain ores bacteria can be very helpful. Some feed upon ore wastes so that metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be recovered. With their help it is possible to extract many times the amount of metal that could be extracted by other methods. In the case of manganese, bacteria make possible the recovery of as much as 99 percent of the metal from low-grade ore.
The type of bacteria that obligingly eats the sulfur found in ore wastes give off sulfuric acid as a waste product. They can extract sulfuric acid from ores at a cheaper rate than is possible by other methods. These same sulfur-eating bacteria can even serve man by reducing smoke pollution. One of the irritants in coal smoke is sulfur dioxide. It gives coal smoke an offensive
smell. By treating coal with sulfur-eating bacteria before burning it, the evil smell can be substantially reduced. Within seventy-two hours the bacteria can eliminate most of the sulfur in the coal.
There are a number of chemical compounds that can be produced more cheaply by bacteria than by the usual method of chemical synthesis. For example, lactic acid, butyric acid, butyl alcohol, acetoin, acetone and propyl alcohol can all be produced for man by these tiny plants of the microscopic world. Even in man's efforts to recover oil, they are proving useful.
Oil-bearing shale deposits may before long be giving up oil with the help of bacteria. Experiments revealed this possibility when researchers found a type of bacteria that has an appetite for shale. Another type may prove to be helpful in releasing oil from limestone deposits. It is thought that bacteria can be used to get oil from such deposits that could not otherwise be brought up economically. The method involves the injecting of bacteria into oil-bearing limestone formations. It is reasoned that the acid secreted by them will eat holes in the limestone and open up wider channels that will allow the oil to flow out.
Even with the problem of industrial water pollution bacteria come to man's assistance. Water used in petroleum refineries becomes contaminated with phenol compounds that pollute the streams into which it is dumped. By treating the water with bacteria that eat these compounds, it is purified and ceases to be a stream pollutant. There are many chemical wastes from industry that bacteria can be trained to eat. To mention another, there is the case of cyanide wastes that were killing fish and even the bacteria in the sewage disposal plants of an American city. Certain sewage bacteria were trained to feed on pure cyanide, and they quickly solved the pollution problem.
Many communities that have found that their increasing volume of sewage is polluting streams and rivers are establishing sewage treatment plants. Here, with the aid of bacteria, the sewage is treated and the liquid that is finally dumped into a river or stream is free of contamination. In the treatment process air is applied to settled sewage for several hours, during which time bacteria act as oxidizing agents, changing the suspended matter into a granular brown mass that settles to the bottom of the treatment tank. The sediment is activated sludge that consists largely of microorganisms. They make it possible to convert sewage into uncontaminated water.
Source of Power
Of all the useful services bacteria are capable of rendering to man, the most surprising is just now being discovered. It is electrical power. Automobiles, ships and even entire cities could be supplied with ample electrical power by bacteria. That this is feasible has been proved by what is called the biochemical fuel cell.
One of the pioneer developers of the biochemical fuel cell is Dr. Frederick D. Sisler of the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1961 he succeeded in getting some electricity from two test tubes containing bacteria, organic matter and seawater. In one of his experiments, he obtained sufficient electricity to operate a small radio transmitter.
The biochemical fuel cell differs from the chemical fuel cell in that it uses bacteria and organic matter to get electricity. The chemical fuel cell generates electricity directly from chemicals and chemical reaction. In the process hydrogen and oxygen are combined to form water. These same gases are involved in the biochemical
fuel cell, but they are combined by bacterial action.
All organic material contains hydrogen, and when bacteria feed upon such material, hydrogen is forced to combine with oxygen. Bacterial enzymes appear to pull electrons from hydrogen atoms and to give them to oxygen atoms during the process of decomposition of organic matter. Although this process produces heat and not electricity, it is in this transfer of electrons that the biochemical fuel cell becomes possible.
By preventing hydrogen electrons from getting to oxygen until they have first passed through a wire circuit, researchers were able to get electricity from the biochemical fuel cell. Three test tubes of greenish seawater were able, in one experiment, to put out a current of two volts. On a feeding of only one gram of sugar the bacteria in these tubes were capable of generating electricity for two months or more.
According to Dr. Sisler, bacteria action on chemicals in seawater creates electrical currents in the seas that man could use. He pointed out that the Black Sea is a rich source of such currents. If big enough electrodes were put into it, the Black Sea could serve as an immense biochemical battery capable of supplying parts of Europe and Asia with electrical power. On a smaller scale, ships could be designed to draw electrical power from the seawater under their hulls and to use that power for sailing about the world.
The uses to which electricity-producing bacteria could be put are many. They could be used for providing heat and light for homes and even cities. From their own organic wastes cities could be provided with electrical power while bacteria disposed of the wastes. Such power could be produced at a cost much less than power produced by steam, hydroelectric techniques and nuclear reactors.
Further research with bacteria as an energy source has resulted in a bioelectric fuel cell in which inorganic material is used. This cell has an advantage over the biochemical fuel cell that uses organic matter because no heat is generated in the process. For some uses to which man might put it, this is desirable. It has two compartments, each with an electrode and a weak acid solution. An inorganic material such as pyrite is dropped into one compartment, where the acid frees electrons and hydrogen. The bacteria in the other compartment attracts the electrons through a connecting wire. They then consume the electrons and combine oxygen with the hydrogen, forming water as a waste product. The electrons passing along the wire create a usable electric current.
The development of this bioelectric fuel cell confirmed the belief that some researchers had that bacteria use electric particles for energy rather than the organic or inorganic materials they break down. Since the bioelectric fuel cell feeds bacteria with electrons, almost any type of bacteria could be used in it.
Essential for Life
As man has gained more knowledge about bacteria, he has learned of more and more ways to use them. Although their role as a producer of electrical power opens up a large new field of service to man, we must not overlook the fact that our very existence is dependent upon bacteria. Without them we could not live.
The soil that produces our eatable plants is fertile because of the bacteria in it. Without that bacteria no plant could grow, and that would mean we would have no food. By producing essential chemical changes in the soil, bacteria make it possible for more complex plants to grow. Among other things, they take nitrogen out of the atmosphere and put it into the soil in the form of nitrogen compounds that green plant life can use. Green plants are unable to use atmospheric nitrogen. They must get their nitrogen from the soil in the form of these compounds.
Phosphorus is also essential for plant nourishment, but here again bacteria are required to put it into a form usable by green plants. The same can be said of iron. A certain type of bacteria changes iron into a soluble iron compound that is nourishing to plants. Still another type of bacteria makes sulfur available to green plants from the hydrogen sulfide gas given off by decaying organic material. Thus it can be seen that the existence of soil bacteria is vital for man's existence.
Rather than regard all bacteria as enemies because a few of them cause sickness, look upon them as tiny friends that faithfully serve you. Whether you eat fermented foods or drink fermented drinks or eat fruits, nuts and vegetables, you are indebted to bacteria. Now that these microscopic plants seem able to give you power for operating the family car and for lighting your home, you have further reason for being grateful to the Creator that he caused useful bacteria to exist.
LETTERS GALORE
New York City handles more mail than the entire British postal system, former U.S. Postmaster General J. Edward Day pointed out. But even more astounding: "The United States Post Office Department handles twice as much mail as all the 112 other postal systems in the world put together."—New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1962.
GOD'S WORD
IN THE
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By "Awake!" correspondent in Korea
ACOLD storm swept south across the Yalu River pouring sheets of rain onto the village of EuiJu in North Pyung An Province, Korea. The rice paddies, filled to overflowing, spilled over the fields into the roads, turning them into a sea of yellow mud. An angry merchant, unable to conduct his business, fled to the refuge of a tavern, where he was living during his stay in the village. He muttered his disgust for the foul weather. Business was bad; now the unpleasant prospect of a dull, boring day alone in his room. After shedding his wet outer garments, he lay on the hard clay floor contemplating his tiny cell and its walls pasted over with insulating wastepaper.
The wastepaper was the standard size for official documents and, on first glance, was no different from the flood of documents that were pasted on the walls of buildings all over Korea. However, upon a closer examination of the Chinese characters, the words on these pieces of wastepaper were different and infinitely more interesting. Words like, "Happy are you poor, because yours is the kingdom of God. Happy are you who hunger now, because you will be filled."
According to legend, this is how God's Word, the Bible, was read in Korea for the first time—pages of the Gospel of Luke pasted to a tavern wall. Pure legend though it is, it is nevertheless based on some fact.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, a missionary named John Ross became interested in Korea. While his work was primarily confined to China, he decided to attempt a translation of the Bible into Korean. He posted a servant at the Korean Gate in Manchuria to find him a Korean that could help him translate. In due course such a man was found, but he had to work in secrecy, even from his family; the penalty for assisting a foreigner in such work was death. Luke was chosen as the first book, and work was started in 1874. When Luke was finished, it was distributed among Korean refugees in the Yalu Valley. However, this first portion of the Korean Bible met its first great barrier; it was forbidden entry into the country.
Korea proudly traces its history back centuries before the Christian era. According to legend, Korea's founder, Tangun, gave his country the traditional name Chosen, which means "Morning Calm." Known as the Hermit Kingdom, it resisted all foreign influence with a passion and forbade any contact with the outer world except China until 1876, then added only Japan. It pointed proudly to its own culture, a culture that produced movable type before Gutenberg; telescopes and observatories dating back to ancient times, and ironclad vessels long before the Monitor and Merrimac of American Civil War fame. In 1871 the United States proposed a treaty with Korea.
The answer: "Korea is satisfied with her civilization of 4,000 years and wants no other." No treaty was made and, among other things, the door was slammed shut on God's Word.
However, Ross was not easily dissuaded. Korean merchants went north into Manchuria regularly to buy wastepaper. A good supplier was found in the used forms of government offices. Ross, observing this, had unbound copies of Luke made in the same size as government forms and sold to paper merchants who sent them across the border as wastepaper on the backs of coolies. A reliable witness reports actually having seen pages of Luke pasted on the walls of a Korean home; hence the legend.
Another load of Bibles got into Korea earlier, in 1866, under tragic circumstances. Robert Thomas, a representative of the National Bible Society of Scotland, was traveling aboard the American ship, General Sherman, to Korea to sell Bibles in the Chinese language. The ship ran aground in shallow water and was promptly boarded and looted by Koreans. After burning the ship, they killed all the crew and passengers. As the ship blazed, Thomas uncreated his Bibles, then threw them to the Korean people who lined the shore. Then he himself jumped to the sandbar to hand a Bible to the first Korean he met. The Korean impaled him on a spear.
Finally, in 1882, the Government of Korea relented and permitted Protestant missionaries to enter. In 1887 Ross published the entire Greek Scriptures in Korean.
Ross's translation was used enthusiastically, but it soon became apparent that improvement was necessary. Translation work began. The Greek Scriptures were completed in 1900, revised in 1904, then revised a second time in 1906. This latter edition became known as "The Korean Authorized Version of the New Testament." In 1910 the Hebrew Scriptures were finished, bringing to completion the entire Korean Authorized Version. Hardly had the Authorized Version been completed when, because of the complexity of the Korean language, the need arose to revise it once again. Work began in 1924 and was not completed until 1939, just before the second world war.
Still a great problem remained for the Bible to surmount in order to be understood by the common Korean man. The first versions could be read and understood only by the scholars. The problem was the Korean language itself. Nouns have a possibility of seventeen variations, while it has been said a verb may have a thousand possible variations, in spite of the fact that Korean verbs do not express number or person. The variations are acquired to express different degrees of politeness.
Producing the Bible in Hangul Characters
Even with the completion of the revised version there was still more to be done to facilitate common use. Korea has two ways of writing: Hanmoon, the old style of writing with Chinese characters, and Hangul, a phonetic, alphabetic style of writing that has come into popular use in later years. Particularly for younger readers it was necessary that the Bible be written in Hangul. The task of yet another revision began. In June of 1950 the job was well along. Four hundred pages had been typeset, many had been proofread and printing had begun. It seemed that at last Korea was going to get a Bible understood by a majority of the people.
A strange and heart-chilling sound caused the printers to look up from their work: the sad cry of air-raid sirens. Communist bombers slipped down from the north, passed the saw-toothed mountains and roared over the city of Seoul. When they left, Seoul was blazing amidst the terror and confusion of war.
The translators of the Hangul Bible hurried to the printing shop to learn the fate of the new version; the printing shop was one of the first tragedies of the war and all the four hundred typeset pages were lost.
There was no time to repair the damage and start again, for the Communist armies were racing down from the north and the fall of Seoul was imminent. No one doubted the fate of the Bible manuscript or its translators in the hands of the atheistic Communists. One of the translators of the Hangul version took the manuscript and went into hiding. Many times Communist soldiers came to his home seeking the manuscript and the translator. The soldiers paid little attention to the pile of firewood neatly stacked in the courtyard against a severe Seoul winter. Had they known, the person they sought was secreted right there in the hollowed-out center of the woodpile along with the manuscript.
The translator stayed in the woodpile about one month, until the Communists caught on to the woodpile device, then he fled Seoul to the farm of a relative, where he buried the manuscript in an earthen jar. On August 26 U.S. Forces recaptured that part of Seoul where he hid; then on August 29 he retrieved the manuscript from the vegetable garden. He quickly found a new printer to start work again, but while he was negotiating with him to do the typesetting, UN Forces began to withdraw. This time he fled to Pusan. From there he went to Japan to try to get the Hangul Bible printed there. However, they had no type in Japan with Korean characters. He spent a year showing them how to set it up. Then, in September 1952, the printing finally done, Korea had a version of the Bible in its own language and its own alphabet, after seventy-eight years of translating and revising.
The Hangul Bible has many fine features; one of the outstanding of which is the use of the divine name, Jehovah, each time its use is indicated by the Tetragrammaton. Also, the spurious words of 1 John 5:7 are omitted entirely. The last line of verse six is separated from that verse and called verse 7 to keep the numbering the same. Footnotes on difficult words do much to help the reader gain a better understanding of the text. Many proper names, as well as some Greek and Hebrew words difficult to translate, are left in the original language but put into the Korean phonetic alphabet. The pronunciation is changed somewhat but is very similar to the original. For example: Jehovah is pronounced Yo-ho-wah; Logos, Lo-gos-su; Jesus Christ, Yea-su Ku-ri-su-to; and Gehenna, Gay-henna.
However, as previously stated, there are some limitations due to translating, and, along with this, many of the expressions are in archaic language not easily understood by today's Korean; a situation similar to that involving use of the King James Version in English. In order to correct this, a modern translation has been started, but it is estimated it will take over ten years to complete it. Imperfections notwithstanding, this Bible is an excellent and powerful means of teaching the good news of Jehovah's kingdom.
Received Eagerly by Korean People
The Bible enjoys great respect among the Korean people, even among those who do not profess Christianity. When the Hangul Bible was published in 1952, the Buddhist Minister of Education said: "I envy you Christians; here you have a Bible in the latest system of spelling, but we Buddhists cannot issue our scriptures in any form whatever." Many times Jehovah's witnesses, while preaching from house to house, encounter Buddhists or Confucianists who state emphatically that they are not believers and never will be. However, when the Bible is read to them, they listen with interest and comment, "The Bible does not lie," or, "The Bible has good words."
All records were lost in the Korean War, but it is estimated that 30,000,000 volumes of the Bible, or parts thereof, were sold between 1896 and 1952. Since the war, over 7,000,000 have been distributed. In spite of the difficult economic conditions that prevailed after the Korean War, each of these Bibles was bought and paid for. The Korean Bible Society does not make a practice of giving away Bibles, for fear the receivers will think them of no value. The whole Korean peninsula has a population of about 32,970,000; so it would seem that every man, woman and child should have a copy of God's Word, but this is not the case. Many Koreans have never read a Bible, but those who do have them wear them out reading them.
The Bible, Oriental in origin, contains many ideas, customs and illustrations easily understood by the Korean. For example: A wise guest, invited to a social gathering in Korea, will do well to follow Jesus' advice at Luke 14:7-11 and save himself the possible embarrassment of being asked to move to the bottom of the table to make room for a more prominent guest. Women drawing water at a public well are a common sight all over Korea. (John 4:6, 7) The male head of the house may have a secret name of deep meaning known only to himself or a very close friend, excluding even his own wife. (Rev. 19:12, 13) Seoul is still a walled city and watchtowers are used by farmers to guard against intruders in their fields. Farmers well appreciate Jesus' words at Matthew 9:37 about the harvesttime, because the rice harvest is a time
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