Awake!, July 8, 1971

Download: PDF — Awake!, July 8, 1971

Awake! — July 8, 1971

Source: jw.org

Contents

Why Do Things Wear Out

Peculiar Breeding Habits

Communism’s Challenge to the West

Learning to Swim

Champion Migrator

The Wondrous Clock of Living Things

Money Going to the Dogs

I Was A Witch Doctor

Stamp Collecting as a Hobby

Talking Drums

Surinam, the Land of Kottomissies

Three Seconds of Silence

“Happy Are the Mild-tempered”

Watching the World

Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose

What Is the Meaning of Life?

Why Do Things Wear Out

A PRINCIPLE called “entropy” operates throughout the universe. Entropy is defined as “the ultimate state reached in the degradation of the matter and energy of the universe.” It is the principle we sometimes complain about as our house deteriorates and needs repair, our clothing wears out and things rust away. The physical and chemical action of weather, and friction from usage, gradually tear them down. All material things are indeed corruptible. Left to themselves, they tend toward decay and disintegration, necessitating constant work and expense of repairs, as well as causing problems of garbage disposal. There is a continual running down of things, like a clock that needs rewinding periodically.

This scientific fact, observed every day, is a direct contradiction and refutation of the evolution theory. Evolutionists claim that order came from chaos or disorder and that dead, inanimate matter somehow became more complex and more highly organized, in effect, ‘raising itself up by its own bootstraps.’ But all evidence is to the contrary.

Entropy a Blessing

Aside from demonstrating that there had to be an original source of energy, and an intelligence to set in order the universe with its extreme complexity, the fact of entropy is a blessing. Jehovah God the Creator, who is “from time indefinite to time indefinite,” the incorruptible One who does not tire out, made the material, physical universe so that it undergoes constant change as a result of deterioration. Why?—Ps. 90:2; Isa. 40:28; 1 Tim. 1:17.

For the answer, think what the situation would be if nothing could deteriorate. This would mean that no chemical action could affect anything. Nor could friction wear it down. As a consequence, nothing could be cut or sawed; nothing could be changed. It would be a sterile world. There would be no work for anyone to do. In fact, life on earth would be impossible, for, since no chemical action could occur, no food could be either grown or eaten and digested.

Another feature of entropy that many of us appreciate is that the wearing out of some things, such as clothing, enables us to enjoy variety, an occasional change in colors, patterns, and so forth.

On the other hand, man has worked hard to make materials that are as nearly indestructible as possible. Of course, entropy still operates in these materials, but at a slow rate. While, there have been some advantages, some of these things have also created a serious problem. Certain plastics have been synthesized that are called nonbiodegradable, that is, bacterial action has little or no effect on them. It is extremely difficult to dispose of them, and if they are disposed of by a process such as burning, they produce poisonous gases that endanger life.

Renewal and Refreshment from the Creator

For these reasons we can thank the Creator for making things as he did. He tells us in his Word the Bible that, under the rule of his Messianic kingdom, mankind will be enabled to learn the right way of life on earth. Jehovah is the Great Architect; he knows how he wants man to use the things he has created to beautify and “subdue” the earth. Under the direction of his kingdom, even though material things will be subject to his established law of entropy and will continue the same process of deterioration, they will not get out of control and make the earth a tremendous garbage dump, as it is now rapidly becoming under man’s rule. For God has declared that it is his purpose to make the entire earth a Paradise.—Gen. 1:26-28; Ps. 119:105; Prov. 20:24.

But what about man himself, his own organism? In man’s present sinful, imperfect state, his body repairs itself as cells wear out. However, in old age, a point seems to be reached where the speed of deterioration exceeds the repair capabilities of the body. But God’s Word informs us that under His Kingdom rule by Christ this will be corrected. Entropy will still operate in human bodies (for bodies of blood and flesh are corruptible), but humankind can then count on fresh renewal of energy from the Creator. Man’s body, capable of self-repair, will be healed and made perfect. How? By the application of Christ’s ransom benefits. And just as a clock keeps running as rewound by its owner, earth’s inhabitants will continue to receive from God the sustaining “water of life” that will keep them living forever.—Rev. 22:1, 2; Ps. 103:3; 1 Cor. 15:50.

Christ Jesus himself spoke of “the regeneration,” when his Kingdom rule will be in complete control of the earth. (Matt. 19:28, ftn., NW, 1950 ed.; see also Kingdom Interlinear Translation.) He also said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” Here Jesus quoted the words of his Father, who demonstrated his ability and willingness to supply life’s necessities to his people when he provided manna for the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years. Clearly, God, who put into operation the principle known as entropy, can guarantee that it will work for the good of his servants, and not to counteract his purpose to bless them with eternal life.—Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3, 4; 29:5, 6.

So, when we have to repair things occasionally, or buy new clothing, let us be reminded that God wisely made things this way with the welfare of all mankind in view.—Rom. 11:33-36.

Peculiar Breeding Habits

● Several kinds of fish brood their eggs in the mouth until they hatch. Somehow they avoid swallowing the eggs. Females of the sea horses, and most pipefishes, lay their eggs in a pouch on the lower side of the tail of the male. The eggs hatch in the male brood pouches.

Communism’s Challenge to the West

“IF PRESENT trends continue, the United States, a very few years hence, will find itself clearly in second position—with the Soviet Union indisputably the greatest power on earth.”

Those words were not the boasts of a Russian politician. They were uttered by United States President Richard Nixon to legislative leaders in 1970.

Has the world’s balance of power really begun to turn? In particular, is Russia beginning to overtake the United States? What is going on in the struggle for global supremacy? How will it all end?

Communism’s Stated Goal

Although there are strong differences of opinion among the various Communist nations, they agree on one thing. They all would like to see the end of American power. Their ultimate goal is to see Communism triumph throughout the world.

That goal of world domination has long been championed by leading Communist personalities. Karl Marx, the ‘father’ of modern Communism, predicted the decline of capitalist, or Western, society. Friedrich Engels, V. I. Lenin, Joseph Stalin and other Communist leaders have said the same.

Nikita Khrushchev warned, ‘We’ll bury you.’ China’s Mao Tse-tung said: “The socialist system will eventually replace the capitalist system . . . sooner or later revolution will take place and will inevitably triumph.” Lin Piao, Mao’s heir apparent, stated: “Imperialism is headed for total collapse and socialism is advancing to world-wide victory.”

What progress has Communism made toward this stated goal of world domination? In 1848, when Marx and Engels issued the Communist Manifesto outlining their ideas, Communism controlled no part of the earth. Today it controls about one third of the earth’s population, well over one thousand million persons. Now much of the landmass in Europe and Asia is under Communist rule. Hence, World Book Encyclopedia of 1970 declares: “Communism has become one of the most powerful forces in the world.”

True, Communism is not the monolith it once seemed to be. Not all the Communist nations embrace Russian-style Communism. Each appears to be adapting Communism to its own needs, so that what prevails in these lands is a kind of nationalistic Communism. However, as Professor Leonard Schapiro of London said: “In the last resort every Communist party will side with the Soviet Union against the United States.”

Balance of Power Shifting?

For many decades, the United States, allied with Great Britain, has been the most powerful political combine in the world. Is that now changing in favor of Communism, particularly Russia?

Some point to the date 1962 as being crucial in this matter. Why 1962? In that year the United States forced Russia to withdraw the nuclear missiles it had placed in Cuba. This represented a humiliating retreat for the Soviet Union. But at that time, Russian negotiator Vasily Kuznetsov is reported to have said to his American counterpart: “This is the last time you Americans will be able to do this to us.”

Of that remark writer Charles J. Murphy commented: “Clearly, despite the circumstances, this was a cold threat: At the next showdown, it would not be the Soviet Union that would buckle for want of the strategic military advantage. That ominous danger is now rapidly materializing around us. In the aftermath of the Cuban miscarriage, Soviet planners made a crucial decision: to strike out for military superiority on earth. And, in the years since, Soviet military technology has exploded.”

With what result? On March 1, 1971, the chairman of America’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas Moorer, said: “I believe it is fair to say that the over-all strategic balance, during the last five or six years, has shifted drastically in favor of the Soviet Union.”

Political commentator Stewart Alsop, writing in Newsweek, observed: “The Soviet Union has been behaving, in fact, as though the true balance of power has shifted sharply in its favor. And that is, of course, precisely what has happened.”

Even allowing for propaganda on the part of those who have vested interests in promoting arms sales, it does appear that the evidence supports these assessments. This does not mean that Russia has replaced the United States in overall might. But the huge United States lead in strategic power has indeed disappeared.

Converging Trends

The evidence that analysts point to is the converging of several major trends. Among those usually listed are the following:

(1) The Soviet Union has passed the United States in the number of intercontinental missiles it has. Its lead is already wide and continues to grow, while the United States has been satisfied to maintain its present number, though seeking to improve their efficiency and destructive power.

(2) The overall land, air and naval forces of the Soviet Union and its allies have grown to a point that Western observers refer to as “flood tide.”

(3) The Soviet commitment in manpower, material, money and production to the quantity and quality of weapons is growing, while America’s remains nearly static.

(4) The trend in a number of other countries is toward ‘leftist’ type governments which are more friendly to Communist nations.

(5) There is a mounting hostility by ever larger segments of the American public toward involvement in foreign wars, and toward the ‘military-industrial’ complex in the United States.

Nuclear Striking Power

Of these trends, which one most clearly represents a shift in strategic power? It is the huge and growing force of Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s) armed with nuclear warheads.

The New York Times reports: “The number of operational Soviet intercontinental missiles is expected to reach 1,500 by mid-year [1971], compared with 1,054 American missiles.” Defense Secretary Melvin Laird warned: “This force, alone, would be more than enough to destroy all U.S. cities of any substantial size.”

In this arsenal, Russia has a giant missile called the SS-9, for which America has no counterpart. The SS-9 carries a load of 25 megatons, an explosive force equal to 25 million tons of TNT. That is well over a thousand times the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The number of SS-9’s is believed to be about 300 now, and of them U.S. News & World Report states: “The Soviet SS-9 ICBM force alone is capable of delivering a megatonnage of nuclear warheads several times greater than that of the entire U.S. force of ICBM’s and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.”

To try to counter this threat, the United States, while not adding to the total number of its missiles, has begun placing multiple warheads on their land and submarine-launched missiles. But, of course, the Russians can do the same, although how far they have progressed in this direction is not precisely known. In any event, it is conceded that they have the technical ability to do so if they desire.

Growing Power Elsewhere

Soviet power is also growing in other areas. The editor of Jane’s Fighting Ships says: “While the U.S.A. has been severely reducing her navy . . . the expansion of Soviet Maritime power . . . looks like [it is] rising to a flood tide in the 1970s.”

Many authorities picture the balance of naval forces, exclusive of the merchant marine, generally as follows:

United States Soviet Union

Combat ships 390 550

Auxiliary ships 290 1,900

Among these ships the United States has about fourteen aircraft carriers. The Russians have none, except for helicopter carriers. On the other hand, Russia has from 360 to 380 submarines, compared to 141 for the United States. In this force, America has forty-one submarines capable of launching sixteen nuclear missiles each. Russia is said to have more than thirty of such submarines completed or being built, with no letup in sight. At the present time America has no announced plans for expanding its missile submarine force.

Also, about half the ships in the American navy are twenty years old or older, while only 1 percent of the Soviet fleet is said to be that old. Thus, modern Russian fleets are now prowling all the world’s oceans and vital sea-lanes as never before in history.

These Russian naval forces are being joined by a vastly expanded merchant marine that the Soviets are building at a rapid rate. It is now the world’s sixth-largest and is ultramodern, about 75 percent having been built since 1962. America’s merchant marine, larger at present, is shrinking year by year, and many of its ships are very old. A large number of them date from World War II and are not in active service, but are tied up in rivers and bays, a rusting reserve fleet of doubtful value.

The already huge land forces of Russia continue to grow in power. According to some predictions, by 1975 the Soviet Union will have three times the number of tanks the United States has, and more than twice as many as the United States and all its European allies put together.

Russia’s air force is already larger now and that gap is expected to grow in the years ahead. Some experts also claim it would take six to ten years for the United States to match Russian air defenses even if the effort were made.

In Europe, Russia has formed the Communist alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. It includes Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia. American General Andrew Goodpaster, commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, says that the Warsaw Pact has massed together “a concentration of military power that exceeds anything the world has ever seen.”

Yet, this does not include other Communist countries such as China. While comparatively weak at this point, China has huge reserves of manpower. Its growing military arsenal includes nuclear weapons and missiles that have already launched earth satellites.

Thus, the single-minded purpose of Communist nations to attain military superiority has produced results very unfavorable to the West. This comes at the very time that America’s social and economic difficulties hinder her from spending more money on military budgets.

Industry and Agriculture

The United States is the world’s leading industrial power. But this lead is also being challenged by the Soviet Union, particularly in vital areas.

Note the 1970 production of some key heavy industrial items that have much to do with the sinews of military power. The figures, in round numbers, are in millions of short tons:

United States Soviet Union

Cement 73 105

Coal 590 688

Iron Ore 96 195

Oil 522 389

Steel 131 128

Of course, the overall production of consumer goods is much higher in the United States. But one reason why is shown by U.S. News & World Report: “While investing barely enough in the consumer field to keep the standard of living rising inch by inch, the Kremlin is diverting everything else into military and military-related production.”

In agriculture, the United States has long been viewed as the “bread-basket” of the world. Especially in corn does it out-produce Russia by a wide margin. But note other basic commodities for the 1968-69 crop year, expressed to the nearest million metric tons:

United States Soviet Union

Barley 9 22

Potatoes 13 102

Rye 0.6 13

Wheat 43 79

Thus, the overall challenge of Communism in military might, as well as industrial and agricultural production, grows. It is causing great anxiety in the West.

How Will It End?

Of vital concern is how this struggle for world domination will end. Some say that Communism’s growing power will make her more aggressive, and that more nations will turn toward the ‘left’ as the trend seems to indicate. For example, writing in Newsweek, Henry Wallich said: “Unless the trend somehow is changed, the United States within the lifetime of many of us may confront a Communist Latin America.”

But does this mean that Communism’s challenge to the West will be successful, leading to world supremacy? Humans cannot foretell the future with accuracy. But the Bible does. Do its prophecies actually shed light on this modern struggle for world domination and its outcome? Consider the evidence.

The eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel prophetically describes a struggle between two opposing powers: “the king of the north” and “the king of the south.” True, the prophecy’s starting point is in ancient times (Dan. 11:1-5), but its description of the surging back and forth of such opposing powers extends all the way down through history to the “time of the end.” (Dan. 11:35, 40) Note, please, the scene presented at the close of the prophecy and compare it with the modern situation reviewed in this article.

In this final period, Daniel’s prophecy describes the symbolic “king of the north” as demoting or downgrading all older forms of worship, even speaking against the “God of gods.” This “king” exalts himself and gives glory to “the god of fortresses . . . a god that his fathers did not know,” using gold, silver and other precious things to do so.—Dan. 11:36-39.

Ask yourself, do we see an outstanding world power today that is doing this? Is it not true that world Communism, particularly in the Soviet Union, has relegated existing religious worship to a very inferior position, giving glory instead to modern scientific militarism, a “god of fortresses”? Has it not done this at a cost of vast amounts of wealth?

But this is not all. The prophecy further foretells a pushing between the two kings that provokes the “king of the north” to ‘storm with military equipment and many ships and enter into the lands and flood over,’ thereby gaining control of great treasures and having many lands under his influence.—Dan. 11:40-43.

Again, have we not seen, particularly since World War II, a fierce competition between the dominant world power, the United States (with Great Britain as its closest ally), and the next most powerful force, the Soviet Union, with world domination as their aim? Have we not seen the Communist combine’s military strength build up to what modern observers call a “flood tide”? And has this not brought remarkable expansion of Communist influence in more and more lands, to the jeopardy of the Western powers’ economic interests?

What of the final outcome? Does the prophecy say the “king of the north” will topple the “king of the south” from his dominant position? No, it says that the “king of the north” will ‘come to his end with no helper for him.’ Yet it does not say he is destroyed by his opponent, the “king of the south.” (Dan. 11:44, 45) What can this mean?

Other Bible prophecies reveal that this foretold “time of the end” is when all political nations, large and small, are due to meet up with a force far superior to their combined military might. That force is the power of God. It is expressed through God’s own Son, Christ Jesus, whom He appoints to bring all the nations to account for what they have done on earth. Yes, the book of Revelation completes the picture in Daniel’s prophecy by revealing that this appointed world ruler, Christ Jesus, will “strike the nations” and “shepherd them with a rod of iron.” By such destruction he will bring a complete end to the political struggle for world domination and all the economic oppression and bloodshed it has brought. What a blessed relief this will be for all those who now put trust, not in the military power of any nation, but in Christ’s righteous government, his kingdom!—Rev. 19:11-16.

[Picture on page 7]

It is estimated that Russia has 1,500 ICBM’s, compared with 1,054 in the American arsenal

Learning to Swim

SWIMMING is a skill that requires real effort to learn. But it opens the door to many pleasures, including water-skiing, surfing and diving. It also provides the best of exercise. And it frees one from helplessness in the water, which may even save one’s life.

Do you know how to swim? Do your children? The value of knowing how is illustrated by a boat trip that the Christian apostle Paul took. A storm drove the boat aground off the island of Malta, where it began to break apart. Those who knew how to swim jumped into the water and swam to land safely. Could you have done that? If you know how to swim, you will be able to meet similar emergencies today.—Acts 27:42-44.

Methods and Mental Attitudes

Some think that a way to teach persons to swim is to toss them into deep water, forcing them to swim if they do not want to sink. But this can be a terrifying experience, and persons who have been introduced to swimming by this method rarely enjoy the water. They may even come to dread it. In learning to swim, it is much better to adhere to a step-by-step program that avoids such experiences.

Actually fear of the water, and not the mastering of the skill itself, is the main obstacle to learning to swim. Swimming is really quite easy, for the human body has natural buoyancy and will stay afloat. So swimming is merely a matter of using the arms and legs as paddles to move the body along.

But what if one is afraid of the water? Such a person should not be ridiculed or treated impatiently. Rather, efforts should be made to build in him confidence that he can easily learn to swim. He should be helped to appreciate the simplicity of the movements used in swimming, and that his body will not sink if he relaxes. Also, try to introduce each successive step of the swimming program in such a way as to avoid putting him in a situation in which he is likely to fail.

Preliminary Steps

Even before beginning instruction at a pool or other body of water, certain preparations can be made. A child can practice holding his breath, and then exhaling. This may sound very elementary, but if he has not tried it before, it may take practice.

A child can also practice splashing himself, especially getting his face wet. It is important that he get used to this. Another important accomplishment is being able to hold his breath under water. He might practice doing this in the bathtub, or even in a pan of water. Do not take even these small accomplishments for granted. Let the child know when he is doing well.

Next, he can practice exhaling under water. Tell him to breathe out through his mouth and that you should see bubbles as evidence that he is doing it. He may get to enjoy this, making a game of it by pretending that he is a motorboat. Then have him blow through his nose, with his mouth closed. But before he tries this, you might have him practice blowing air through his nose above water. Otherwise, he might instinctively sniff in, rather than blow out, while his face is underneath. This could painfully draw water up his nostrils.

But whatever happens, be careful never to raise unreasonable fears in a child. Such remarks as, “I almost drowned once,” or, “I was scared to death of the water,” can do just that. Make a conscious effort to represent swimming as something very pleasurable.

At the Pool

Although getting into a tub, and even putting his head under water, may not be so difficult, a larger body of water may frighten him. So take the child by the hand and lead him in, reassuring him that it feels good. If the water is warm, 80° to 85° F., he is more likely to enjoy it.

By your showing patience and offering encouragement, even a timid child can, in time, be helped to enjoy wading and splashing around in the water. Have him practice putting his face under water and exhaling, just as he did in the bathtub. Do not minimize this step in learning to swim. It is very important that a person get used to the water, and not be afraid to get wet all over.

Another important step in learning to swim is mastering the skill of rhythmic breathing. Bobbing is one of the best methods of learning this. Tell the person to hold your hand, or the edge of the pool. Then have him take a deep breath, dip straight down below the water, blow out through his nose, and come up. Have him do it slowly as you give the directions: “Breathe deeply, dip down, blow out, come up for air.”

Or you can do it together, making a game of it. Stand facing each other in water up to the chest, holding hands at arm’s length. Now take turns in rhythmically dipping below the surface in a seesaw motion. Remind the person to take a deep breath when he comes up, and to exhale below.

When a person first puts his head under water, he is almost certain to have his eyes closed. But it is important that he get used to opening them. For one thing, this will eliminate or relieve some fear of the water. And later when he learns to swim, it will be for his safety as well as the safety of others that he sees where he is going.

You might also make a game out of learning this skill. You can both submerge, and shake hands under water. Or you can hold up a certain number of fingers. Let the person count your fingers, and when you both come up, have him tell you how many fingers you were showing. Or another game that can be a lot of fun is this: In about waist-deep water go down to the bottom and pick up colored rocks, shells or coins.

When a person is able to do these things, let him know that he is making good progress. He is now ready for the vital step just preliminary to swimming.

Learning to Float

This step is floating. Try first the so-called “cork float.” While he is standing in about chest-deep water, tell the learner to bend at the knees until his chin is at the water’s surface. Next, have him take a deep breath, bend forward, and bring his knees up to the chest, wrapping his arms around them. He should float with his back at the surface, resembling a bobbing cork. This float is good to learn first because it teaches a person how to get back on his feet again from the prone float.

The prone or face-down float, is simply a matter of lying face down in the water with arms and legs extended. To achieve this position, have the learner stand in water a little more than waist high. Then tell him to take a deep breath, bend forward with his arms straight out, and to lie face down in the water. His legs should rise to the surface behind. After a few seconds, have him bring his knees to the chest, and resume a standing position.

It is important to learn this float, for it shows the learner that he will not sink when he is in the face-down swimming position. It also makes clear that swimming is achieved simply by propelling the buoyant body by arm and leg movements. But before trying these movements, teach the learner the prone glide.

Have him stand in about waist-deep water, with his back to the wall of the pool. He should extend his arms forward across the water, bend one leg back and place the foot against the wall. Now tell him to take a deep breath, put his face in the water and, using his foot against the wall, to push off gently. He should glide across the water in a position of straight extension from fingertips to toes. When momentum is lost, he should stand up again.

If a person has followed such a step-by-step program to this point, mastering each procedure, then he is ready to work on the swimming strokes themselves.

Attaining the Goal

First, practice the leg movements. Have the learner lie in the prone float position. He can hold onto the wall of the pool, or you might support him by holding your hand under his stomach. Now tell him to move his legs up and down from the hips in a flutter kick. This may begin to propel him along in the water, if you are holding him. Really commend him for this achievement. He is almost a swimmer!

Next arm movements are needed. A child may want to raise his arms out of the water as he has seen most swimmers do. But tell him that, to begin with, you want him to pull them under the water.

Have him assume the same prone float position, again placing your hand under his stomach for support. Tell him to reach out first with one arm and then the other. The arms should be moved in much the same way as a dog moves his legs in swimming. As one arm is reaching forward, the other is being pulled down and back.

It is now only a matter of simultaneously kicking with the legs and stroking with the arms to move the body along. When the learner can do this, he is actually swimming! He is using the so-called “dog paddle,” the basic swimming stroke.

Of course, there is much more to learn to become a good swimmer. In time, the person will lengthen his arm stroke, eventually finding that he can increase his speed by reaching out over the water. Now he is beginning the crawl stroke, the fastest and most popular one. But he needs to learn to synchronize proper breathing with his arm and leg movements to do it successfully. All of this takes practice, practice and more practice. However, knowing how to swim not only can contribute to many hours of pleasurable activity, but may save one’s life as well.

Champion Migrator

● The Arctic tern flies a greater distance than any other migrating bird. Every year it makes a round trip of about 22,000 miles from the northernmost islands of the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again. Without man’s complex navigational equipment, it travels that great distance with pinpoint accuracy.

The Wondrous Clock of Living Things

HAVE you noticed the marvelous sense of timing of living things? Each year plants germinate, grow and flower according to schedule. Not all are on the same schedule—some flower in the spring, others in the summer and still others in autumn and early winter. But each species knows the right time to carry out its various activities.

It is similar with animals. They breed, reproduce, become dormant, migrate and perform other functions as if they were following a precise timetable. Consider the insects that spend winter in a dormant state called diapause. Toward the end of summer, while the weather is still warm, they interrupt their busy feeding and reproduction activities and begin to settle into their dormant state. How do they know that winter is near?

Also, there are the birds that migrate to the tropics to spend the winter. With the coming of spring in the north, they head for home. Since the temperature in the tropics is about the same as when the birds arrived, how do they know that it is warming up back home? Many people have asked questions like these. Have you?

The Wondrous Timing Device

It is believed that the main timing device of living things is light. It used to be commonly thought that the changing temperatures of the season triggered the various responses in plants and animals. But temperature is variable; it is inconsistent from year to year. Light, on the other hand, is reliable. On any given day of the year the length of daylight will be the same. It never varies. Thus a living organism is provided with exact information on the advance of the seasons.

This is not to say that temperature or other factors may not also affect the seasonal rhythm of plants and animals. They apparently do. But the main timing device seems to be the length of daylight. That the activities of living things are scheduled by means of this wondrous clock is a relatively recent discovery.

An Important Investigation

In 1920 investigators were studying a certain variety of tobacco called Maryland Mammoth. They were trying to determine why it was late in flowering when grown near Washington, D.C. Although the plant was ready to flower for days, something prevented it from doing so until too late in the season for its seeds to mature.

Many experiments were conducted, but they failed to reveal the reason for the delayed flowering. Finally plants kept in a greenhouse were artificially given a shortened daily exposure of light. This did it! The plants bloomed earlier than those that were grown outside. This gave the clue as to why the Maryland Mammoth will not bloom until late in the season near Washington, D.C. It is because not until late summer has the daylight decreased to the proper length for this plant to flower!

Does light similarly affect the functions of other plants? Further research by these investigators showed that it does. It was discovered that plants can be divided into three groups, depending on their reaction to length of daylight.

First, there is the group that includes plants, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, that are not choosy as to the length of day. A second group are called “short-day” plants. These will not flower until the daily dose of light is below a certain number of hours. The third group are called “long-day” plants. These flower when daylight extends beyond a certain number of hours.

Consequence of Findings

These investigations answered many questions. They explain why plants of a given species can be planted at different times of the year, and yet all flower at the same time. And they reveal why certain plants bloom in particular districts, but will not flower at all in others.

Agriculturists now routinely determine the light requirements of plants. Some of them have very specific length-of-daylight needs. For example, various varieties of onions and soybeans do best only when grown within a belt of latitude of 150 miles. If they are grown either north or south of this region they may fail as a crop.

The daylight needs of plants can result in disappointment to flower lovers. While on a trip a person may obtain a colorful plant for his garden, but back home it may not bloom. Why? The daylight where he lives may not be of suitable length for the plant to flower.

For example, there is the rock-garden plant Sedum telephium, which grows in southern Vermont. But it needs a daily dose of sixteen hours or more of light in order to bloom. It receives this in Vermont. However, if one took it very far south it would fail to bloom because of insufficient daylight.

On the other hand, a person in northern Maine may be grateful that there is little or no ragweed there. Ragweed will not flower until daylight decreases to fourteen and a half hours. This does not occur in northern Maine until after August 1, so it does not allow enough time for seeds to mature before cold weather comes.

How Plants Detect Light

Learning these facts about the responses of plants to length of daylight made something else apparent. Plants must have something within them that detects the change in length of daylight and that causes them to respond accordingly. Just recently this substance, called “phytochrome,” has been isolated.

Phytochrome is a bluish, light-sensitive pigment that absorbs red light. It has been shown that many plants, when exposed to the red wavelength of light, mature more rapidly. Somehow the light acts on the phytochrome to regulate a plant’s growth changes, from seed stage to maturity. But it is not understood just how this is accomplished.

Manipulating the Light

Many gardeners now use to good advantage this knowledge about the responses of plants to light. By adjusting the length of exposure to light they can make a plant bloom when they want it to. Thus in winter they enjoy flowers that normally grow only in summer, and those that normally bloom in autumn they may have in other seasons.

A chrysanthemum, for instance, is normally an autumn-flowering plant. But it can be made to bloom in summer. Just cover it with a cardboard carton in the late afternoons, and remove the carton in the morning. The extended period of darkness will cause the chrysanthemums to react as if it were autumn, and they will bloom with the summer flowers.

On the other hand, a person may want to enjoy in winter flowers that normally bloom only in summer. By giving them daily doses of artificial light after the day has ended, these plants can be made to react as if the long summer days had arrived. Thus they will bloom during the short days of winter.

Effect upon Animals

After discovering the remarkable effects of the length of daylight upon plants, research was done to ascertain whether animals were similarly affected. As a result, many animals, too, were found to time their seasonal routines by the length of daylight.

The first bird experiments were conducted on starlings. Normally starlings mate in spring, when the days grow longer. However, the short days of December were lengthened artificially by turning lights on the birds after the sun went down. In a few days the starlings began to molt and take on the colorful plumage of their springtime mating season. Their breeding schedule was advanced four months by increasing the length of their daily exposure to light!

Similar experiments were conducted on ferrets, which also normally breed in spring or early summer. These small animals, too, mated in winter when they were exposed to extra periods of light. Both starlings and ferrets are long-day creatures. They are among those creatures that respond sexually to long periods of light.

However, many other animals, such as goats, sheep and deer, breed in the autumn. The shorter length of daylight affects them sexually. Thus sheep breeders, who want early spring lambs, limit their animals’ exposure to daylight late in the summer. By bringing the sheep into dark sheds toward the end of day in July and August, the reproduction process is started earlier.

Many interesting experiments have also been conducted on insects, including the silkworm. The eggs, laid in the fall, pass the winter in a dormant state. They hatch into larvae, or worms, in spring. The larvae soon change into pupae, and then into adult moths. But eggs laid in early summer do not pass through a period of dormancy.

Experiments reveal that it is the length of daylight that determines why eggs laid in early summer do not go into a state of dormancy while those laid in the fall do. By artificial regulation of the light, silkworm moths can be made to reproduce generation after generation without any of their eggs entering a stage of dormancy. But when the length of light exposure is changed, moths lay eggs that become dormant.

As with plants, there obviously is some mechanism within animals that triggers their various responses to length of light. It is believed that a hormone is involved. But few details are known as to how the light-length messages are received or transmitted.

Although man has learned much about the many marvels of creation, he is continually reminded of how much remains a mystery to him. The study of light’s effects on living things again illustrates this.

Money Going to the Dogs

It is estimated that an average of $115 is spent yearly on each of the 26,000,000 canine pets in the United States—a total of about $3,000,000,000.

I Was A Witch Doctor

AS TOLD TO “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN NIGERIA

FORTY-SIX of my seventy-four years of life have been associated with the witch-doctor business. I could easily perform magical feats, diagnose diseases and counteract harmful, even death-dealing, spells.

My parents were deeply rooted in fetish worship. In fact, my father was a famous leader of a fetish group called Logun. In our native Yoruba language this is the name of a war god. Barren women would come to him to have the fertility goddess Oshun appeased, believing this would make them pregnant. Warriors would also come to him to appease the war god Logun, seeking immunity from bullets and machetes. All this brought fame and prestige to my father.

Tutored in all my father’s rituals, I eventually became a priest for the Logun and Oshun deities.

Occult Powers

My father kept in close contact with a group of old women who were witches. These acted as mediums for my father in curing ailments of various kinds, to the amazement of others. I was in constant attendance with my father in consulting with these witches. He suggested that, if I myself could attain the mysterious powers possessed by the witches, I would gain more power than he had and would be able to wield greater influence over people.

So, at the age of about twenty-five, the time came to have imparted to me the occult powers of the witches. The witch group charged a fee of two pounds, two shillings (about $6) aside from items used for sacrificing to the spirits. They also demanded animals such as guinea fowls, pigs, snails and pigeons. After sacrificing these in a secret manner, the witches used the remains of the animal victims to prepare a meal at midnight.

When it was about 2 o’clock in the morning, we got together in a secret room, all of us dressed in white robes. Some mysterious medicines were injected into my head from four angles, and I was made to eat the meal that was to impart occult powers into my body.

Another special preparation was given me to be put under my sleeping-pillow, something never to be shown to anyone else. A white flag was also handed to me, and this was to be hoisted in front of my house. From this moment on, I began to find myself in strange company, with spirits who would present themselves as God’s angels. I heard voices from the invisible realm and saw things I had never seen before.

For ten years I continued in association with this group of witches, during which time I found them to be cruel and unkind, hostile to other people. Shortly I was to begin my own witch-doctor business.

Joining One of Christendom’s Churches

Some years before this I was reading a little book in Yoruba about a churchman who went to preach in a village filled with idol worshipers. For preaching against idols, the villagers did not lodge him in a good house but rather in one filled with such images. He started to break their idols of wood and to set them afire. When the villagers asked him why he was destroying their gods, he read Psalm 115:4-8 from the Bible. He added that, though these idols were shaped like humans and had eyes, noses, mouths, feet and hands, they were valueless. Immediately I thought of my father’s idols. I related this story to him, expressing the desire to desist from idol worship. I told him that I would like to get baptized as a Christian.

Greatly displeased, my father said that I would disappoint him and the family, as I was being prepared to inherit all his witch-doctor influence. I assured him that I would not put away all the idol worship nor my work as a witch doctor, but that I would go to church only on Sundays and carry on my other pursuits as usual.

So I was baptized as a member of the local church, paying all my dues and going to church services on Sundays. It seemed that this was all the church cared for anyway. In fact, it was after my baptism that I became a professional witch doctor. In time I was appointed to be a catechist in the church, so I combined my professional witch-doctor work with that of being a catechist. My church affiliation did not turn me away from magical and occult practices; to the contrary, it helped me in my witch-doctor business. Church members and nonchurch members alike would come to me for cures or looking for omens. They all knew that I had spiritistic powers.

Daily Life as a Witch Doctor

The mystic powers that I gained made it easy for me to diagnose people’s problems and ailments. One day a woman came to me because her children invariably died in infancy. I knew that spirit powers had been used against her by her enemies. Though this was the first time I met her, I immediately recognized that the child that she had with her was being killed by the spirits evoked by her enemy.

I related to this woman all her previous unfortunate experiences about the death of her children; I also told her what would relieve her and save the present child from death. Arrangements were made to prepare the witch remedies in which to bathe the child and also for the child to drink. The mother readily complied with the treatment. The child is still alive. Charges for witch cures of this type were never less than two pounds, two shillings (about $6).

Cases such as this were handled daily. This resulted in an increase of my weekly income to an average of no less than twenty-five pounds (about $70). Besides the financial benefits, my witch-doctor profession evoked fear and respect from others. They feared to offend me, believing that I could do them harm through my occult powers. Undoubtedly I could have harmed people, but I never did try to cast harmful spells on others, as is common with so many witches. So my clients esteemed me to be a very godly man, especially since I held a responsible position in the church.

Sometimes I would perform magical feats. For example, I had rings and other kinds of preparations that I could put on. Then I could withstand twenty able-bodied men, and they would not be able to lift me up or move me from a certain spot. Such feats also built up my reputation as a witch doctor.

Learning the Bible’s Truth

One evening in 1932 I was in Abeokuta, a town in western Nigeria. Walking along the street, I saw a crowd of people listening to an open-air Bible lecture. I stopped. The speaker, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, was discussing God’s coming judgment when all the wicked ones would be destroyed; he read from the Bible at Revelation 16:14, 16, about the demons gathering the nations to “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” He added that the churches would not escape God’s wrath, because they had misrepresented him in many ways—by false teachings based on pagan ideas and by tolerating idolatrous practices among their members. It sounded as if the speaker were talking to me personally; the points touched my heart. The speaker also used God’s name Jehovah. It all sounded strange but logical.

That very evening I had dreams in which the spirits gravely warned me not to listen to such talks again. They told me that I was already a catechist and knew the Bible, that I was blessed by them in my profession as a witch doctor, so “why listen to such junk?”

However, on two more occasions I stopped briefly to listen to the Bible talks sponsored by Jehovah’s witnesses. But these Bible truths did not greatly influence me until I married my third wife. She had relatives who were Witnesses. Not until after our marriage, however, did her interest in the Witnesses become aroused. As she continued attending the meetings of the Witnesses, she stopped performing certain acts that were customary among our people. When I questioned her as to why she was becoming rebellious, she explained in a mild way that the Bible’s counsel against creature worship, as well as her conscience, would no longer permit her to continue doing these things.

I reacted with annoyance. My decision was to go with her to the meeting of the Witnesses. I would challenge them, leaning heavily on my influence as a catechist and witch doctor. I requested to see the presiding minister of the group to ask him questions about my wife’s attitude. Though I was shouting at the top of my voice with pride, I was surprised to see this Witness mildly present answers from the Bible, doing so in a most convincing way. It all culminated with my accepting one of the Watch Tower Society’s books in the Yoruba language, and a weekly visit was arranged to answer more of my questions.

Our weekly discussions soon revealed from the Bible how deeply rooted I was in false religion. In a few weeks my three wives and I were attending the meetings of the Witnesses. Soon I desired to speak to others about the truths I was learning.

Doing God’s Will Despite Opposition

Opposition developed, my worst human opposers being my own parents. What a big disappointment I was in their view! My father had done so much so that I could inherit his witch-doctor fame, and now I wanted to live entirely by God’s will as expressed in the Bible. Fellow church members were bitterly incensed, the majority thinking I was going insane. Others thought I should be given a higher position than that of catechist, in order to allure me to remain in the church.

The demons too were active in dissuading me. And the entire group of witches thought something was seriously wrong with me, but I kept drawing comfort from the Scriptures, such as Isaiah 41:9-12 showing that God will uphold his servants. Despite opposition from demons and men, I was determined to do God’s will.

I soon found out that I could not combine witch doctoring with being a true Christian. The Bible makes clear the source of occult powers. And it strongly warns against involvement in any kind of spiritism, identifying the Devil and his demon angels as its source. (Acts 16:16-18; Eph. 6:10-13; Deut. 18:10-14) I really wanted to be baptized as a true Christian. To give evidence of my change to pure worship, I collected together all the instruments connected with witch-doctor practices—my white flag, the talisman under my pillow, my white robes and my images. All of these I dumped into a river. Other items I buried in the ground.

Determined to do God’s will as revealed in the Bible, I now knew that a Christian man, if married, should be a husband of only one wife. (1 Tim. 3:2, 12) So I divorced my secondary wives, to remain only with my wife that had the seniority.

Joys and Rewards of True Worship

Since taking up true worship, many indeed have been my joys and rewards. For example, when I attend an assembly of the Witnesses I am thrilled to hear the experiences of others who have also been liberated from bondage to spiritism. Recently I heard of a witch doctor who had been suffering physically for years; he himself had perhaps become a victim of the demons he worshiped, as is so often the case. One day he met a Witness, who was a full-time preacher of Bible truths. Upon hearing the good news from her, he made a confession to her that he was in trouble with his relatives because his fetish (juju) kept destroying his people, despite many sacrifices to appease the spirits. Impoverished now, he had sought help from his religious leader of the “Mount Zion” sect and even suggested to the priest that the juju should be burned. How surprised he was to hear the church leader say, “Not me! I don’t want this thing to kill me and destroy the lives of my people”!

With the church leader afraid to take action against the demons by destroying the juju, the witch doctor now begged the witness of Jehovah to help him. She talked to the presiding minister of her congregation, and he made immediate arrangements to have the juju burned. The people in the neighborhood, of course, expected that the Witnesses who destroyed the juju would surely die. But when nothing happened to them, they themselves decided to learn more about the true God, Jehovah, who is more powerful than any other. As for the witch doctor and his wife—they were freed from the demonic spell. They began attending the meetings of the Witnesses, and after six months were baptized. The former witch doctor is now a full-time pioneer minister himself and helps others to break free from the bondage of spiritism.

Though no longer enjoying the financial income of witch-doctor cures, I have true refreshment for my soul by doing God’s will as Christ’s disciple. (Matt. 11:28-30) And what joy it gives me to bring this refreshment to others! Now I can tell others that, not by witchcraft but by means of God’s King-Son Jesus Christ, He will perform permanent cures for all obedient mankind, bringing them to human perfection. (Rev. 21:3, 4) And how thankful I am that in the near future Jehovah will destroy all false religious practices, of which witchcraft is but one.—Rev. 22:15.

My joys keep multiplying. Four out of my nine children now share the hope of living forever in God’s new system of things. My younger brother, who joined my parents in bitterly opposing my becoming one of Jehovah’s witnesses, has had a change of heart and is now serving the interests of God’s kingdom. And at the age of seventy-four I have been privileged to attend a special course for congregation supervisors sponsored by the Watch Tower Society in Lagos, Nigeria. Truly great have been my joys and rewards since breaking free from spiritism and dedicating my life to the true God!

Stamp Collecting as a Hobby

SOME regard it as the finest hobby in the world. Others disdain it. Nevertheless, it captivates people in all walks of life, whether ninety years old or just nine.

It would seem that the earliest reference to collecting stamps was in England in 1841, the year after they were first issued. The Times of London carried this advertisement:

“A young lady, being desirous of covering her dressing-room with cancelled postage stamps, has been so far encouraged in her wish by private friends as to have succeeded in collecting 16,000. These, however, being insufficient, she will be greatly obliged if any good-natured person who may have these (otherwise useless) little articles at their disposal, would assist her in her whimsical project!”

Since that time, many stamp collectors have not only derived pleasure from the hobby but have found it tension-relieving. Others appreciate the educational side of it. Also the artistry of stamps attracts some collectors, while prospects of financial gain motivate still others.

What Made Stamp Collecting Possible?

Prior to postal service, people forwarded messages and letters via trusted travelers. By the sixteenth century an international postal service operated among a number of European states. But it was quite expensive and involved much delay in delivery. Then in 1680, a letter courier system was started in London, England, by a man named Dockwra. Letters were collected hourly from hundreds of mailboxes that he established around the city of London. Delivery took place ten times a day, and the cost was only two cents a letter!

However, since running a postal service was a favor granted to members of the aristocracy, Dockwra’s business soon came to an end. The policy of the noblemen was to make as much monetary gain as possible for minimum service. The result was corruption to such an extent that it gave rise to the expression “crooked as a postman.”

Yet, as the structure of commerce and industry built up, mail service was needed to other areas. People agitated for postal reform and this moved Parliament to appoint a committee to investigate. As a result, Sir Rowland Hill published a pamphlet in 1837 on “Post Office Reform.” He recommended that letters be delivered anywhere in England for a penny. The British Government followed through and in 1840 restored penny postage, issuing the first adhesive postage stamps for use on letters.

These were the famous one-penny stamps bearing a profile of Queen Victoria (now called “the Penny Black”) and the blue two-pence stamps. About two years later the first adhesive stamp in the United States was put in circulation by the Despatch Post of New York city. It prepaid a three-cent delivery charge on a letter mailed inside the city. Canada followed suit in 1851 with a three-penny beaver design stamp.

By 1966, one authority estimated that over 156,000 different types of stamps had been issued around the globe! Europe alone accounts for at least 54,228 of these. No wonder stamp collectors tend to specialize!

The Stamp Collector’s Tools

Innumerable books are available through public libraries and bookstores as aids to knowing stamp values and what to collect. For classifying them an album is very helpful, as well as a magnifying glass.

Some start by saving stamps from letters coming into their homes or places of business. Others build a collection by purchasing packets of various kinds of stamps. Most collectors find that the larger packets have the best stamps in them. In this way it is possible to obtain about 70 percent of world stamp issues.

Postal Panorama

A chronicle of human history can be seen through the picture window of stamps. Peaceful scenes, war and other human tragedies, scientific accomplishments, profiles of kings, queens, presidents as well as wicked dictators have all been depicted. During World War II postage stamps were converted into a medium of propaganda by the opposing sides. Commerce and industry have played a part in influencing their design.

Some collectors specialize in animal stamps and as a result assemble a regular zoological “Who’s Who” in their albums. The koala bear, the egg-laying platypus and that noted jumper the kangaroo have all had their pictures on Australian stamps. Peruvian stamps have illustrated the llama, while Liberian letters have been decorated with the crocodile. The lowly tortoise has appeared on Vietnamese and Ecuadorean stamps. Lions, leopards, gazelles, camels, wolves and the hippopotamus have stalked across the stamps of Denmark, Angola, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Somalia.

Our loving Creator has also graced the earth with a vast number of flying creatures. It is most interesting to get acquainted with them. Some people enjoy doing this by collecting stamps on which various nations have portrayed birds common to their lands. The farsighted eagle has a place on the face of Polish, Albanian and Syrian stamps, to mention only a few. Venezuela has featured the vulture, Hungary the raven, Spanish Sahara the ostrich, Korea the hawk, while Austria, China, Monaco and others have pictured the soaring wings of the gull. The rare bird of paradise is shown in all its glory on New Guinean stamps. Last but not least, the pelican has exhibited his huge mandible on the stamps of Yugoslavia, Mozambique and Antigua. The roll call of stamp-depicted birds is lengthy, much to the delight of many stamp collectors.

Plants, trees and flowers, as well as insects, have adorned stamps over the years. Bridges, dams, public buildings, besides rivers and mountains, have been used as stamp themes. Undeniably, through stamp collecting a wide range of topics can be followed up that are both educational and recreational.

Of course, some stamps tend to impart ideas and teachings that are contrary to Christian principles. For example, many stamps glorify political and military leaders as well as wars and conquests. Persons who are trying to live in accord with God’s Word are not going to be aided in this by devoting their time to collecting pictures that advocate another way of life.

…

Refine Search

Index Downloading...

Awake!, July 8, 1971