The Watchtower, August 1, 1937
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“MOUNT PERAZIM”
The next testimony period, named “Mount Perazim’’, will occupy the dates August 7 to 15 inclusive. This falls due right in the midst of the special summer campaign; hence there will be no change in the special offers of literature to be exhibited during this testimony period, only that the kingdom publishers will arrange their affairs to devote as much time as possible during said period to place these special offers with the people. See the announcement elsewhere under “Summer Campaign’’, and also consult the recent issues of the Informant for fuller information.
SUMMER CAMPAIGN
The Lord’s storehouse is large and bursting with abundance. Appropriately a large and most attractive offer now features the summer activities and efforts of Jehovah’s publishers. Such consists of any six bound books, on a contribution of $1.00, or, better still, six bound books together with seven booklets, on a $1.25 contribution. The Informant goes into more detail regarding this campaign and the Society’s provision therefor. Let the publishers order now the extra literature needed in addition to what stocks they now have on hand for this campaign, which began July 1 and continues to September 12 inclusive.
VACATION
The office and factory at 117 Adams Street will suspend operations from September 11-26 inclusive. This will permit the members of the Bethel family to attend and serve at the Columbus convention and also to enjoy a few extra days in Held service or otherwise Before resuming regular work at Brooklyn.
All kingdom publishers will therefore anticipate their needs of literature to last until the end of September and should promptly send in their orders to this office so as to insure filling and shipping before the close on September 10. No mail will receive attention or be dispatched from here during the above period.
CONVENTIONS
The Watchtower further announces the following conventions for Jehovah’s witnesses and companions: Paris, France, August 21-23 inclusive, which will serve tor Great Britain and Continental Europe; Columbus, Ohio, September 15-20 inclusive, which will serve the United States, Canada, and others who may be able to attend.
The president of the Society expects to be present at both conventions. Make your arrangements tor vacations during those periods. Let all of his people ask Jehovah to make these conventions a great witness to the honor of His name.
See information in July 15 issue of The Watchtower.
Vol. LVIII
August 1, 1937
No. 15
RACKETEERS
“The wicked worketh a deceitful work.”—Prov. 11:18,
PART 2
JEHOVAH GOD has an organization, and all of his creatures who are entitled to life form some part thereof. God does everything in order, and all of his creatures that may remain in his organization must be obedient to God’s law. At one time Lucifer was a part of God’s organization, and until he became lawless; and since then he, that is, Satan the Devil, the enemy of God, is the complete expression of wickedness. He is the enemy of all creatures who try to do right. Satan is a mimic and has attempted to form his organization of rebellious creatures along a line similar to God’s organization. Satan’s organization is divided into two parts, that is, one invisible and the other visible to human eyes. The Devil’s organization, as originally formed, existed from Eden to the flood, and was there broken up at the time of the deluge, the visible part thereof being destroyed. After the Hood the Devil built up again his visible organization, which he has used to deceive men and to defame the name of the Almighty God, and by and through his organization Satan is determined to rule the world contrary to God’s will or to destroy the creatures thereof.
2 The scripture at Revelation the twelfth chapter discloses the two great opposing organizations. God's organization is described in symbolic phrase as “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars”. The Devil’s organization, in symbolic phrase, is described as “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads”. The word “dragon” symbolically means “the devourer”, that is, the one who seeks to destroy; and that name is in keeping with Satan’s determination to rule or destroy. “Red” fitly represents his blood-spilling course of destruction; and in keeping therewith the Devil’s religious chief representative on the earth garbs himself in red robes. The chief part of Satan’s visible organization is that of religion, and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is in the lead in all the religious movements in the earth. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy declares that the right and purpose of that organization is to rule the world; and where it cannot
rule, it has shown its purpose to destroy. It resorts to all manner of wicked and deceitful schemes to bring about the destruction of those who proclaim God's truth. The Roman Catholic “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction”, which rules or dominates the visible part of Satan’s organization, is made up of the most subtle and harmful racketeers that have ever afflicted the human race. They are slick, wily, deceitful, and desperately wicked. That Hierarchy of Jurisdiction practices deceit by carrying on a monstrous racket, and therefore is described in the Scriptures as extremely wicked; and it is concerning such that the words of the text are written: “The wicked worketh a deceitful work.” That organization falsely claims to represent God and Christ, but in fact it represents the Devil and is moved entirely by selfishness.
3 The Roman Catholic Hierarchy church organization is the most perfectly organized political body on earth and is the most powerful one of all organizations. The British Commonwealth of Nations holds the distinction of being the greatest world power that ever existed. Its claim is that its possessions are so far flung that the sun shines on some part thereof at all times. Made up of many peoples, kindreds and tongues, the British Commonwealth is truly cosmopolitan. Many good people of England are beginning to see the great danger that now threatens the Commonwealth and that such danger is the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. In practically all the colonies or subordinate portions of the Commonwealth Roman Catholic officials are in control and those office-holders utterly disregard the rights of non-Catholics. In both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, in West Africa, in the Fiji Islands, in Quebec and many other parts of the Commonwealth, political, religious Roman Catholics, under the domination of the Vatican, control the public offices. They manifest an outward allegiance to the British Commonwealth, but at heart those Catholic officials are loyal only to the Vatican. They suppress the truth and forbid the importation of publications that would enlighten the people of those colonies, particularly the natives, and thus they keep them in ignorance. If the people perchance get into possession of literature that enlightens them concerning God’s Word and his kingdom, Roman Catholic officials take immediate steps to prevent the further publication of such literature and the promulgation of the truth. Those Catholic officials do not hesitate to promulgate lies, charging true Christians with crimes of which such persons are in no wise guilty. Such lies are told to furnish an excuse to prohibit the people from possessing anything that explains to them the Word of God, which Word of God exposes the duplicity and crookedness of the Roman Catholic organization. From the subordinate parts of the Commonwealth pressure is being brought to bear, on England in particular, and it is only a question of time, and that a short time, until the British Commonwealth of Nations will be dominated and controlled by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Such a course of action is wholly inconsistent with that of a true follower of Christ, and those facts are cited here to prove that the Roman Catholic organization does not represent God and Christ but represents the Devil.
NUMBERS AND WEALTH
4 In the United States alone, it is claimed, there are twenty million of the Catholic laity, that is, “children of the church” or ‘‘Catholic population”, which population is dominated by thirty thousand clergymen. The Catholic Church organization in America holds title to property valued at billions of dollars. The Encyclopedia Americana, in an article published in 1927, shows that at that lime the Catholic Church throughout the earth had within its organization 294,583,000 persons. The material wealth of the Catholic organization is to be found in great sums on every continent and country of the earth, aggregating many billions. Whence does its tremendous wealth come? What representations and claims have been made by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy to induce the people to put themselves under the dominating control of that organization and to supply the money to so greatly enrich the religious, political organization?
PURGATORY
5 Without a doubt the source of revenue of the Roman Catholic church organization, that which has brought the greatest amount of money into the coffers of the Vatican, is the doctrine of ‘‘purgatory”. Millions of persons have put their trust in the clergymen and by the clergymen have been induced to believe that when a man dies it is only the body that dies, but that the soul of that man continues to live and that every soul goes immediately to one of the three places, that is, the righteous to heaven, the willfully wicked to eternal torment or hell, and those who have died in venial sin and who have not been cleaned up go to “purgatory”, there to remain for an indefinite period of time, the duration of which may be shortened by money contributed by living friends and paid into the hands of priests of the Catholic Church to say prayers on behalf of the dead. Also it is represented that the money thus contributed results beneficially to those who are living and that after death their time in “purgatory” might be shortened. Sincere people, believing such representations to be true, have rushed into the Catholic organization and have freely given up their money, hoping thereby to gain for themselves and their beloved dead great benefits and to relieve their dead friends from suffering the “fires of purgatory”. The result has been and is that billions of dollars of money have been poured into the Roman Catholic organization’s treasury, which money has been used and is being used by the Hierarchy, to carry forward its ambitious and cruel purpose to rule the nations and for the “higher-up priests” to live wantonly and fare sumptuously daily, while the common people suffer for the necessities of life. If the Catholic doctrine of “purgatory” is false, then it must be considered by every honest person that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is operating the greatest racket ever known, by which racket the people are robbed of their money, their peace of mind, and their prospects of a knowledge of God’s purpose; and this alone brands the Catholic organization as the instrument of the Devil and the enemy of God and of man. It is also further proof that the claim made that the Catholic church is the church of God is another of the Devil’s lies, told for the purpose of deceiving the people and turning them away from Jehovah God. That no one may have reason to say, as many Catholic priests have said, that their doctrine of “purgatory” is misrepresented to the people, the following is quoted from the book of Cardinal Gibbons, a renowned Catholic authority: “The Catholic Church teaches that, . . . there exists in the next life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted for those who have died in venial sin, or who have not satisfied the justice of God for sins already forgiven. She also teaches us that, although the souls consigned to this intermediate state, commonly called purgatory, cannot help themselves, they may be aided by the [prayers] of the faithful on earth. The existence of purgatory naturally implies the correlative dogma—the utility of praying for the dead—for the souls consigned to this middle state have not reached the term of their journey. They are still exiles from heaven and fit subjects for Divine clemency.
6 “. . . His soul will be ultimately saved, but he shall suffer, for a temporary duration, in the purifying flames of Purgatory. This interpretation is not mine. It is the unanimous voice of the Fathers of Christendom.”—The Faith of Our Fathers, pages 205-208.
7 This is a plain statement that the doctrine of “purgatory” is based upon tradition and not upon the Word of God, and according to the rule laid down by Jesus this doctrine makes void the Word of God, because it is false. (Matt. 15:3,6) For the purpose of laying the foundation for the doctrine of “purgatory” the same authority, on page 217, says this: “For what is death? A mere separation of body and soul. The body, indeed, dies, but the soul ‘lives [on].’ . . . It continues after death, as before, to think, to remember, to love.”
8 Such is the teaching of men in the Catholic Church organization, handed down for generations by tradition. You may choose to believe tradition or the Bible. "Which are you willing to believe? The Bible proof is now here submitted showing that the “purgatory” doctrine is wholly false and therefore of the Devil. The Douay is the Catholic Version of the Bible, and has the full endorsement of the Hierarchy. That Version says concerning the soul: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die.” (Ezechiel 18: 4, Douay) By their own version of the Bible the Catholic doctrine of “purgatory” is proved false. "What is the soul? It is a living, breathing creature. Every man is a soul, but no man possesses a soul. In Genesis 2:17 it is written: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” By what authority is the claim made that death is merely the separation of the body and soul and that the soul lives on? That claim is based wholly on the Devil’s lie. God declared that man should die if he sinned. The Devil says there is no death; and Jesus says the Devil is a liar. (Gen. 3:4; John 8:44) “All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.”—Ps. 22:29.
9 Catholic tradition says: ‘The dead continue to remember, to think and to love.’ The Catholic Bible says: “For there is no one in death, that is mindful of thee: and who shall confess to thee in hell [the grave (Auth. Ver.)]?” (Ps. 6:6, Douay) This same scripture, in the Authorized Version says: “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” (Ps. 6:5) “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” (Ps. 115:17) “For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.” “Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell [the grave], whither thou art hastening.”—Eccl. 9: 5,10, Catholic Douay Version.
10 Seeing that the Scriptures conclusively prove that the dead are not conscious anywhere and not undergoing punishment or suffering in “purgatory”, it is clear that the “purgatory” doctrine is another of the Devil’s lies employed by men to deceive and to rob the people, and to turn them away from God, and to carry on the most subtle, devilish racket on earth. Note now, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has always invoked the rule that the common people must not study the Bible by themselves but must receive and believe only whatsoever the Catholic Church teaches. See The Faith of Our Fathers, page 74, where it is said that “God never intended the Bible to be the Christian's rule of faith, independently of the . . . authority of the [Catholic] Church”. On the contrary, the Scriptures, written in the Bible at the command of Almighty God, were written to be man’s true and unfailing guide that the man of God might be fully equipped. (2 Tim. 3:16,17) There is no text in the Bible that supports the theory of “purgatory”; and, knowing this to be true, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy tell the people that they must not attempt to study the Bible independently, but must take the interpretation of the priests. “Purgatory” is a religious doctrine, invented by the enemy of God and man for the purpose of turning men away from God.
11 Any kind of scheme or trick that is operated to cause others to unwittingly part with their money is a racket. Three-card monte, the shell game, the lightning-rod scheme, the real estate schemes or the prize-contest scheme, or any other scheme that is used to improperly take away from the people their money, is a racket. Inducing people to invest their money in lottery schemes or suchlike is a racket; all of which are bad and are strictly avoided by honest and careful persons. When a man or organization gains the confidence of others and then takes advantage of such others and thereby wrongfully causes them to give up their money, that is a vicious racket, because the one robbed has no way of protecting himself. When a man or organization induces the people to believe that their dead friends are conscious and suffering in a place called “purgatory” and that contribution of money by the living can help such suffering ones, and the people are thereby induced to part with their money to the priests, such is the meanest, crookedest, most damnable racket that could be practiced. No man has ever received the slightest benefit for money given over to priests to say prayers for the dead or for the living; therefore the obtaining of money by the priests or clergymen upon the claim that they can benefit the dead is obtaining money under false pretenses and should be punished like all other similar crimes.
12 The Catholic Hierarchy makes it a regular business to call upon the Catholic population for money to supply what is called the “purgatorial purse” and suggests the contribution of specific sums for each person for whom prayers are made. The amount given for each name submitted is almost always suggested to be according to the ability of those who contribute. Twenty-five cents a name is sometimes used, and sometimes far greater sums. But suppose twenty-five cents per name is contributed by each of the twenty million “Catholic population” in America, and that this contribution is made once a week, that makes a very large sum of money that is wrongfully extracted from the pockets of the people. But suppose the amount is a dollar a week per person, on the average; that would mean for twenty million persons one billion and forty million dollars per year. Persons of moderate means or much means, who are permitted to have an audience with the "august” clergy, contribute much more than a dollar per week each. The claim is made that the Catholic population of the world today is upward of 300,000,000, and if each of these is held up for twenty- five cents per week for the "purgatorial purse”, that alone would amount to the enormous sum of $3,£00,- 000,000 per year. Add to that the other contributions that are regularly made to the Hierarchy, and, too, the weekly collections that are gathered in by the nuns from the laboring class, and it appears that there is a fabulous sum of money that continues to flow into the coffers of the Hierarchy as a result of the operation of the great racket, a racket that is greater than all other rackets combined.
CONTRAST
13 Radio stations frequently broadcast programs calling attention to the various rackets or fakes that are now being imposed upon the people, by which large sums of money are collected from people who are credulous. For instance, a puzzle scheme is advertised by which the public are told that those who successfully solve the puzzle will receive so many votes, and thereafter by expending more money they may draw a very large prize. By this racket great sums of money are collected, and the prize is never paid; and then the police make a raid on the racketeers and arrest them. The United States post-office department issues an order prohibiting the use of the mails to carry on such a racket, and properly so. Contrast this with the "purgatory” racket. A Catholic priest publishes a letter telling Catholics that by contributing so much money they can aid their ‘suffering’ dead in "purgatory”. That letter advises the people that for each name submitted a certain sum should be contributed. The money is sent in regularly, paid over as a result of a false and fraudulent representation that it will result beneficially to the people. The United States government has a Roman Catholic as postmaster general and in control of the post-office department, and who is in fact an agent and representative of the Vatican. Has anyone ever heard of his issuing an order forbidding the use of the United States mails to carry on the racket of collecting money from the people upon the representation that it is for the benefit of the dead? The "purgatory” racket is much more reprehensible than the prize racket above mentioned, because the people know they are gambling on the prize racket. As to the "purgatory” racket the credulous are taken advantage of, kept in ignorance of what the Scriptures teach, and prevented by the racketeers from knowing the truth, and then they are robbed of millions of money, and the post-office department piously folds its hands and says: ‘This is doing a good work.’ Does any sane and honest person believe that an organization or religious system that carries on such a racket could at the same time be the representative of God and Christ on earth? The proof is overwhelming that the claims and pretenses made by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization that it is the church of God are a monstrous lie, a great defamation of the name of Almighty God, and that the same are made for the purpose of robbing the people and turning them away from God.
REMISSION OF SINS
14 Another erroneous doctrine of the Roman Catholic church system is that the clergy of that system can forgive sins. The credulous Catholic population believe that the priest possesses such power and authority, and, so believing, they go to the priest at regular intervals and confess their sins that they may receive remission or absolution. One who commits the most heinous crime may do that and then straightway go out and commit another crime. A striking example is that of Mussolini. Until he made peace with the Roman Catholic Hierarchy he was an avowed atheist and a common gangster, but afterwards he went to the Vatican and made an alliance with the papal system and then went forth and committed greater crimes than ever before. He carried on a cruel war of conquest of Abyssinia in utter violation of God’s law, and no doubt received what the papacy calls "absolution” from the pope, because that "august official” attempted to "bless” Mussolini’s war activities. Men who believe that the pope or the priests have power to forgive sins embrace and practice that religion to ease their conscience and to steel their conscience for further crime. Says the Catholic authority: "It follows, first, that the forgiving power was not restricted to the Apostles, but extended to their successors in the ministry unto all times and places. The forgiveness of sin was to continue while sin lasted in the world; and as sin, alas! will always be in the world, so will the remedy for sin be always in the Church. The medicine will co-exist with the disease.”—The Faith of Our Fathers, page 333.
15 The Roman Catholic church system has assumed to perform this great act of forgiving of sins for a money consideration, and still does so. The foregoing authority further says: "Nor did the Pope exceed his legitimate powers in promising to the pious donors spiritual favors in exchange for their donations. For if ours sins can be redeemed by alms to the poor, as the Scripture tells us, why not as well by offerings in the cause of religion?” (Page 370) "And the Church having power to remit the greater obstacle, which is sin, has power also to remove the smaller obstacle, which is the temporal punishment due on account of it.”—The Faith of Our Fathers, page 365.
16 Every person familiar with the Papal history needs only to have it called to mind that John Tetzel, a Dominican monk, became famous through Germany and other parts of Europe by reason of the fact that he sold indulgences for large sums of money whereby the purchaser was authorized to commit any or all kinds of crime with impunity. That racket has been carried on for so long a time that even the priests are convinced it is their inherent right to receive donations of money from the poor and from the rich upon the pretext that the priests have power to grant absolution or forgiveness for the commission of sin.
17 It is not at all surprising that the political and commercial ruling element of Italy, Germany, Austria, and many other countries are supporters of the Vatican. Those men are steeped in crime, and they must have something to ease their conscience, and they are willing to pay for it. They are induced to believe that regardless of the crime committed they may receive absolution from the Papal Hierarchy. That racket, practiced by the Papal Hierarchy, has brought millions of money into the coffers of the Vatican ; and particularly the politicians are induced to believe that they must do their part by liberally contributing to the Catholic purse. It is not surprising that many of the officials of the ruling clement and the commercial giants of Great Britain and America are adherents of the Catholic religion and that they pay large sums of money in the nature of insurance premiums against loss by reason of their deliberate wickedness. Thus it is seen that the racket enlarges and that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has no real competitors anywhere in the field of racketeering. If the priests or clergymen of that system have no power to forgive sins, then their course is nothing else than a subtle scheme to filch money from the pockets of others and to bring reproaches upon the name of Almighty God. Now let us look at the real authority and see who can forgive sins.
18 The Scriptures show that God alone, through Christ Jesus’ merit, can forgive sins. If a man docs not believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and that his shed blood is the basis for the forgiveness of sins, then God will not hear his prayer or forgive him, but the wrath of God continues to abide upon that person, as it is plainly stated in John 3: 3G. It is written: “The blood of Jesus Christ his [God’s] Son cleanseth ns from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) “Without shedding of blood [the blood of Jesus Christ] is no remission [of sin].” (Heb. 9:22) Again it is written: “In whom we have redemption through his [Jesus’] blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:14) Jesus conferred upon his faithful apostles specific authority concerning remission of sins, as stated in these words: ‘‘ Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” (John 20:23) This authority, however, is limited only to those faithful apostles and applies to no one else before or after. No wonder the Roman Catholic Hierarchy advise the “Catholic population” to refrain from reading the Bible, but to take only what “the church” says. When honest and sincere people know the Word of God, they will break away from the Catholic system; and the racketeers know that, and when that happens their racket is done. The claim that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy priests have power to forgive sins is extremely blasphemous and is another part of their racket or scheme. Surely this racket could not be carried on with sensible and reasonable people if they were first informed in the Scriptures and believed in God and Christ Jesus. This is further and conclusive proof that the Roman Catholic church system is not the church of God, but that it is a Devil religious organization, carried on to the reproach of God’s holy name, and works great injury to the people.
CEREMONIES
19 The Roman Catholic religious organization performs certain ceremonies or mere formalisms. On entering the cathedral the finger is dipped in what is called “holy water”, and the people are induced to believe that even if that water had been pumped out of a pond, some man could make it holy. Then the man entering makes the sign of a cross upon himself; the priest then sprinkles the congregation with the same kind of water, reciting at the time parts of the Fiftieth Psalm, or some other scripture; then he proceeds according to the mass book (but not according to the Bible) by saying or repeating certain words in Latin, which probably no one present can understand. While doing this the priest wears peculiar clothing and continues to perform other acts, such as the above. Such is a religious practice, wholly unauthorized by the Scriptures, and is a reproach upon God’s name, and is but another means to induce the credulous to believe here is where they get their protection and salvation. Hoping to find some authority for those senseless ceremonies the Roman Catholic Hierarchy cite the ceremonies performed by the Israelites in connection with the tabernacle. They ignore entirely, however, the Bible statement that those ceremonies performed by the Israelites were merely moving or living pictures performed under the direction of Jehovah, particularly foretelling things to come to pass in the future. (Heb. 10:1; 1 Cor. 10:11) Such types performed by the Jews were no authority for anybody to perform those ceremonies afterwards, because they pertained to the law and Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and nailed it to his tree. (Col. 2:14) The ceremonies performed in connection with the tabernacle in the wilderness particularly foretold the coming of Christ Jesus and his great sacrifice to provide the ransom price for the remission of the sins of men, and the presentation of his blood in the Most Holy, that is, in heaven itself, there to make satisfaction for the sins of the people, (Heb. 9:20-24) Christ having fulfilled the law, then the Devil institutes a ceremony in mockery of what the Lord has done, and causes his agents, the clergy, to carry on senseless ceremonies to overawe the people, falsely claiming the same find authority in the ceremonies performed by Israel. He puts it in the mind of selfish and sinful men to arrogate to themselves the power to do what Jesus alone had authority to do. When Christ Jesus came and performed his work, all such ceremonies as were practiced in God’s law to Moses ended with His crucifixion. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:21) “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”—Romans 10:4.
20 Those ceremonies performed by the Hierarchy priests result in great reproach to the name of the Lord God and in furthering the practice of their racketeering upon the people. Neither Jesus nor his apostles after him indulged in any kind of formalism or ceremonies. Jesus instituted the Memorial of his death, which is celebrated each year as a reminder that those who have covenanted with God to follow in the footsteps of Jesus must be broken with him and suffer as he suffered (1 Cor. 11:23-20) ; and then the Catholic priests blasphemously attempt to change the emblems of wine and bread into the actual blood and body of Christ, and to induce the credulous ones to believe it, to the end that they may be further overawed and submit themselves to racketeering schemes.
21 Fixed and formal ceremony is entirely contrary to what Jesus instituted with his disciples. Such formalism is what the prophet of God referred to when he said what Jesus subsequently repeated, to wit: “Ye hypocrites! well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt. 15:7-9) This is further proof that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy organization is not the church of God, but represents God’s enemy.
IMAGES
22 Tn the ceremonies performed by the Roman Catholic organization they employ images. A Catholic authority says: “The Christian religion [not the Bible] has allowed the use of [images] statues and paintings to represent the incarnate Son of God, the saints, and angels, and these images are a legitimate aid to devotion.” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12) This practice of the Catholic church is diametrically opposed to God’s law. Jehovah God expressly commanded that no image shall be made and used. (Ex. 20:3-5) The use of images by the Hierarchy, therefore, further shows that the Catholic organization is not the church of God, because His church does not openly violate God’s law. Jesus always obeyed God’s commandments, and the members of his church must do likewise. To his people God gives this commandment: “Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” (Jer. 10:14,15) Of course, the Hierarchy would not wish the Catholic population to know that these texts are in the Bible, because that knowledge would ruin the racket and spoil the game of the racketeers.
23 But one says, ‘How about the statue showing Jesus Christ being crucified on the cross? Should not we have that kind of statue in our place of worship?’ Jesus was not crucified on a cross. God’s law provided that the accursed sinner shall be hanged upon a tree. The Catholic priests know this, because their Bible so states. (See Galatians 3:13, Douay Version.) (Deut. 21:22,23) Jesus died in the place and stead of a sinner, and therefore as a sinner, although holy, pure and undefiled; and his death complied with God’s law, and therefore must take place by his being nailed to a tree, and the facts show he was so nailed to the tree. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”—Gal. 3:13.
24 The wooden cross and shrines were used in the practice of religion by the heathen long before the birth or death of “the man Christ Jesus”. The practice of the Catholic system in connection with a cross was borrowed from the pagans. A well-known authority says: “The cross was worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the [birth] and death of Christ. ‘It is a fact,’ says Maurice, ‘not less remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the deity they adored, and having cut the side branches, they affixed two of the largest of them to the highest part of the trunk, in such a manner that those branches extended on each side like the arms of a man, and, together with the body, presented the appearance of a HUGE CROSS, and on the bark, in several places, was also inscribed the letter Thau [Greek].’ It was worshipped in Mexico for ages before the Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there, large stone crosses being erected, probably to the ‘god of rain.’ The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a sacred emblem, was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a head-band covered with crosses. This symbol of the Babylonian god is reverenced at this day in all the wide wastes of Tartary, where Buddhism prevails.”—The Two Babylons, page 199.
“ ‘The adoration of the statues of the Buddha and of his relics is the chief external ceremony of the religion. . . . The central object in a Buddhist temple, corresponding to the altar in a Roman Catholic church, is an image of the Buddha, or a dagoba or shrine containing his relics.’ . . . The form of religions worship contains many points (veneration of relics, auricular confession, beads, processions, etc.) which bear a striking resemblance to practices of the Roman Church, acknowledged by all, but explained differently. ... In the land of its birth, India, Buddhism had to endure a long-continued persecution, and was at last entirely driven out, after it had flourished there about twelve hundred years. The time of its introduction into the other countries is as uncertain as its early history in general.”—McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopadia, Volume 1, pages S07-910.
25 To bow before an image made of a cross is contrary to the Word of God, in violation of his law above cited, and is further proof that the Catholic church organization is not the church of God. Why pray publicly before an image of Christ and pretend you are praying to Jesus, when Jesus himself is fully alive in heaven? Teaching his followers to pray, he said: ‘‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” (Matthew 6: 6,7) Jesus then proceeds to outline a model prayer. (Verses 9-13) But the Hierarchy does not wish the common people to follow that model prayer,
26 The followers of Christ Jesus, who are of the church of God, therefore pray to God in the name of Christ Jesus, their Lord and Head, as directed by the Lord. (Matt. 6:9; John 14:13,14) “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7) Praying with beads and before statues and images is false worship. God is pleased with those who “worship him in spirit and in truth”. (John 4:23,24) Religionists are the enemies of God. because they have forms of pretended worship of God but they have no real devotion to God and to his kingdom. What is here said is not an attack upon men, but an expose of a devilish system, created and put in operation by God’s enemies, which reproach his name and work injury to the people.
27 The foregoing evidence proves conclusively that religion is a racket and that those who practice it for gain are racketeers, and that the chief ones among all racketeers are those who make up and form the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, who rob the people of their money, take away their liberty of thought and action, and put in jeopardy their lives. It is against such deceivers of the people that God speaks these words: “The wicked worketh a deceitful work.” (Prov. 11:18) The wicked are those who once had God’s favor by being placed in a position to know his Word, and who then employed what knowledge they obtained to use for selfish or pecuniary gain. Since Satan ’s world has reached its climax, the time has come for the people to have a chance to know the truth and to determine whether they want to follow their worst enemies or want to render themselves in obedience to the great God of the universe.
28 The nation of Israel had God’s favor because they were his covenant people, and that nation departed from the commandments of God, and their clergy taught them religion instead of God’s commandments. Likewise in the early days following the death of the apostles of Jesus Christ, men who learned of God’s purpose were greatly favored by him with some knowledge of his truth. It was then that ambitious men in the organization departed from the commandments of God and adopted and taught the doctrines of men and formed what is now called “the Christian religion ’, which is used and practiced in the nations called “Christendom”. Within such religious organizations, and particularly within the Catholic organization or under it, there are many persons who desire to know and to serve God faithfully; and God will now give them an opportunity. By his prophets Jehovah foretold the conditions which now exist and the record of which appears in the Catholic Douay Version of the Bible, and a part of it in that Bible reads: “For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.” (Jer. 5:26, Douay) These words of the Lord specifically describe the Roman Catholic “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction”, which rules the underpriests and the “Catholic population”, and which Hierarchy lays claim to being God’s people. The honest people under the Hierarchy must now hear the truth, that they may flee from that wicked organization and find refuge under Christ Jesus the head of Jehovah’s organization. For that reason Jehovah sees to it that all such persons of good will, who desire to know and to obey him, shall have an opportunity to hear the truth.
29 Further describing those selfish, arrogant, boastful, cruel clergymen, the racketeers in the organization (or “house”) which they rule, the Lord says to them: “Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withholden good things from you. For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men. As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit: therefore are they become great and enriched. They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the judgment of the poor.”—Jer. 5:25-28, Douay.
30 The Roman Catholic Hierarchy have “houses” all over the earth within which they practice fraud and deceit, carrying on their racket, and by which the credulous, honest, sincere people are induced to wrongfully give up large sums of money, which has greatly enriched that organization. The money, therefore, has been obtained by fraud and in the name of God. Aside from the honest and sincere people of good will under the Catholic organization, there are millions of others claiming to be Christians, but who are not, and who use their religion for selfish gain. Those include priests, politicians and other racketeers and prognosticators of what shall come to pass. Those men indulge in what is a horrible abomination unto God, and therefore he continues to say to them: “Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not my soul take revenge on such a nation? Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land. The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people [my pretended people, who practice religion for gain] loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?” —Jer. 5: 29-31, Douay.
31 The Roman Catholic Hierarchy have told the common people, or the “Catholic population”, that they must not read the Bible; and clearly such is for the purpose of keeping the people in ignorance of the truth. The truth when promulgated interferes with the racketeers in carrying on their racket. It must now be apparent, to all honest people of earth who have any knowledge, that the Roman Catholic organization is a religious, political organization, indulging in a selfish work, which blasphemes the name of Almighty God, falsely and fraudulently represents him, carries on a racket in the name of Christ, and is the great enemy of God and of the people. The Almighty God foretold exactly the conditions existing in this very day showing how the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is a selfish and devilish organization, operating under the misleading title of “Christian religion”, and desperately attempting to gain control over all the peoples of the earth in order to satisfy its selfish and ambitious desires.
32 The fact that the Roman Catholic Hierarchy practices deceit is conclusive proof that it is not the representative of God and Christ, for the reason that there is nothing deceitful about God and Christ Jesus. The so-called “Protestant” religious organization has entirely fallen away from God and Christ and, in fact, has become a part of the racketeer system. The proclamation of the truth offends the selfish leaders in that part of Satan's organization and causes them to berate the witnesses of the Lord, who proclaim his Word of truth. The religionists do not wish to hear the truth, because it burns their ears; and they do not wish others to hear the truth, because they know those who honestly hear and believe will withdraw from their organization and thus the pastures of the religious practitioners are spoiled and their source of revenue ends. Those religious systems and practices are the worst kind of a racket, for the reason that by such means the people are easily deceived; and all will be deceived except those who honestly and sincerely put forth diligence to gain a knowledge of the truth and walk accordingly with God.
33 In the Word of God, as set forth in the Bible, man is given instruction in righteousness in order that a man who desires righteousness may be thoroughly furnished and equipped for all good work. (2 Tim. 3:16,17) The person who equips himself with a knowledge of the Scriptures and is then diligent to follow the course there marked out must and will engage in doing good work, the chief part of which good work is to make known to others the goodness and loving-kindness of Jehovah God and the blessings that he will administer to his obedient creatures through Christ Jesus and his kingdom. Anyone today who proclaims the truth will of necessity be and must be the object of the attack, and that viciously, by Satan and his visible representatives. Let no one, therefore, who loves God and righteousness be discouraged because of such vicious attacks, but rather know that this is an evidence that there is enmity between the righteous organization of Jehovah and the wicked organization of the Devil and that all who are on the Lord God’s side will be hated and persecuted until the time the wicked are destroyed.
34 The end of the world is here, and the day of reckoning with the enemy is near at hand, and God’s announced purpose is to wipe out the enemy soon; but before doing so the warning must be sounded even that the enemy may hear and that the people of good will may be informed as to their only means of protection. God has commanded that this work of proclaiming the truth must be done, and he has assigned that task to the remnant and their companions. For this reason the Lord God now commands his covenant people saying: “Arise ye, and let us rise up against her [Satan’s organization] in battle.” (Obad. 1) It is the battle of Jehovah, and those who love God and who are now on earth will take great delight in engaging in this battle by declaring the message of truth. Their part of the work is to sing the praises of Jehovah and make known his name and his kingdom. All of the remnant and all of the people of good will toward God will now prove their love for God by boldly and fearlessly obeying his commandments in proclaiming his message of truth.
QUESTIONS FOR STUDY
1. Who of Jehovah's creatures form some part of his organization and will remain therein? Trace the development of the vast organization now determined to rule the world contrary to God’s will.
2. Identity the two great opposing organizations disclosed at Revelation 32. Describe the activities of the “great led dragon” through his chief visible agency on the earth at this time, as showing also the fitness of that name.
3. How do affairs in Britain, for example, give evidence of the duplicity and crookedness of the Roman Catholic organization? With what effect have such influence and pressure been brought to bear? What does it prove concerning that organization?
4. What is the standing of the Roman Catholic organization as to numbers, wealth, and sources of revenue?
5-7. What is the doctrine of “purgatory”? What has been the result of the teaching of that doctrine?
8,9. Show that the doctrine of “purgatory” is entirely unscriptural.
10. Account for the Hierarchy’s having so long held the “Catholic population” in ignorance of the falsity of its doctrines, particularly of the doctrine of “purgatory”.
11,12. What is meant by the term racket? Show that the doctrine of “purgatory” has made possible the most vicious of all rackets.
13. Contrast the “purgatory” racket with other prominent rackets; also the governmental official attitude toward that and these.
14-17. Explain and illustrate how the Roman Catholic doctrine concerning remission of sins serves to further sustain a wicked racket.
18. What do the Scriptures teach concerning remission of sins? What is here clearly seen as the reason for the Hierarchy’s advising the “Catholic population” to refrain from reading the Bible? What does this show as to the Roman Catholic system’s being the church of God?
19-21. Explain the Roman Catholic organization’s performing certain ceremonies similar in part to those performed by the Israelites, and whether such ceremonies can have any merit.
22. What do the Scriptures teach concerning the use of images? What does this prove regarding the Roman Catholic church?
23,24. ‘How about the statue showing Jesus Christ being crucified on the cross, and the use of such statue in prayer?’ Point out the origin of such practice.
25. With scriptures, show why the Hierarchy does not wish the common people to follow the Word of God in the matter of prayer.
26, 27. What does the foregoing prove concerning religion, and the position of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in its relation to the people?
28,29. Referring to Jeremiah 5: 25-31: Who are “my people” here mentioned? Who are the “wicked men” found among them, and how have they ‘waited as fowlers, and set snares to catch men’? What good things have been turned away from them, and by what iniquities and sins? How does verse 27 apply? Verse 28? Verses 30,31?
30-32. By what means has the Roman Catholic Hierarchy acquired its wealth and power now used for its selfish purposes? Why have the “Catholic population” been told not to read the Bible? Why is it that the religious leaders are the outstanding opponents of the proclamation of the truth?
33. What is the purpose of the Bible? To what will a proper study of the Bible, and diligent use of the knowledge gained therefrom, lead?
34. What is the nature and purpose of the message now to be proclaimed? Who will engage in the battle now on? How? Why? To what end?
WHY MUST JESUS DIE?
WHY should the great, the good, the pure, the sinless Man, Jesus, die in such an ignominious manner as that of being nailed to a tree? Was there no other means whereby man could live? The sacred Scriptures answer that there is no other way whereby man could get life. Divine justice demanded the life of the perfect man Adam and took that life because of his sin against the law of his Creator. Divine justice could receive nothing as a substitute for Adam except the life of a perfect human creature, the exact equivalent of the perfect Adam when in Eden. Adam was put to death because he was a sinner. The one who would redeem mankind must die as a sinner, yet without sin. And all this Jesus did.
It is important here for us to see why Jesus came to earth, grew to manhood’s estate and died. His chief object in being born into this world was to be a visible witness for Jehovah Cod, whom Satan the Devil was misrepresenting and reproaching before all creation. Jesus confessed this as his prime mission to earth when he said to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, these words: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18: 37) There was also a secondary object in his coming to earth and being made flesh. The prophet David, in the fortieth Psalm, verses seven and eight, speaking the words of Jesus beforehand, said: “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Hob. 10: 7-10) Thus we see that he had come to do God’s will. The prophet Hosea expressed the will of God concerning mankind when he said: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.” (Hosea 13: 14) Since Jesus came to carry out the Father’s will to ransom the human race, he must do this. This is the only means whereby man could live. Therefore Jesus said: “I tun come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”—John 10; 10.
Jesus likened his humanity or human nature to bread. He said: “I am that bread of life. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a num may eat thereof, and not die. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. As the living Father sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6: 48, 50, 55, 57) By this we understand that Jesus gave up his human life in order that the value thereof might be presented to divine justice in heaven as the great ransom price. To cat means to partake of food to satisfy hunger. He who hungers for righteousness and partakes of the value of Jesus’ sacrifice by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and doing the Father’s will, that one will have life and thus will satisfy his hunger. The apostle Paul makes it clear that the death of Jesus was for all those of the entire human race who believe, when he says: ‘Jesus, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man.’ “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” —Heb. 2: 9; 1 Tim. 2: 5, 6.
The Scriptures state: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “The wages of sin is death.” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 6:23) Adam transgressed the divine law and for this reason suffered the penalty of death, and this penalty came upon all mankind by inheritance. Jesus the perfect man permitted his life to be taken that it might be used for releasing all believing ones among Adam’s offspring from the great enemy death, and that they might have a full opportunity for life, lienee his life was made an offering for sin, or a sin offering.
For many centuries Jehovah foreshadowed this great event in the outworking of his purposes, arid this fact adds to the importance of it; in fact, without the sacrifice of Jesus it would have been impossible for any of the human race ever to live at all.
Looking back, then, at the picture (Leviticus 16) that Jehovah God made by the use of the Jewish people and their ceremonies, we sec that the bullock slain on the annual atonement day pictured Jesus the perfect man at the age of thirty years. The court surrounding the sacred tabernacle and in which the bullock was slain was a picture of the condition of perfect humanity and of justification on that account. Therefore the bullock slain in the court foreshadowed or pictured the fact that the perfect man Jesus died in that condition on earth as a perfect man. By his death he provided the ransom price. He did this to carry out the heavenly Father’s purpose.
In the picture, the slaying of the bullock was the beginning of the sin offering. After the bullock was slain its blood was put into a vessel and the high priest carried it in this vessel, ultimately reaching the Most Holy of the tabernacle, where it was sprinkled on the mercy seat. The high priest in the Most Holy offering the incense before sprinkling the blood pictured Jesus during the three and one-half years of his sacrificial ministry; and the high priest’s sprinkling the blood on the mercy seat pictures Jesus the true high priest, resurrected to life divine, appearing in heaven itself in the presence of God, there to present the merit of his sacrifice as the sin offering on behalf of mankind. —Heb. 9:24.
The Scriptures clearly show that Jesus was the antitypical or true bullock and was made an offering for sin on behalf of mankind; first on behalf of the true church, then on behalf of all other believers. As it is written: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3) ; “who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4); “for he [God] hath made him to be sin [an offering for sin] for us, who [that is, Jesus] knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”—2 Cor. 5:21.
The law that God gave to the Israelites merely foreshadowed what great things Jesus would do. Because of the imperfections of mankind, including the prophet Moses and others, that law could not accomplish the deliverance of mankind from death. Hence, Romans 8: 3 states: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
In the type or prophetic picture, the slaying of the bullock and the carrying of its blood into the Most Holy as a typical sin offering foreshadowed the fact that the redemption of man’s sins could be accomplished only through the blood of the perfect sacrifice. And for this reason, says the apostle Paul, “without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens [namely, the tabernacle and its furnishings] should be purified with these [that is, with the blood of these dumb animals] ; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” (Heb. 9: 22, 23) The patterns here referred to are the Holy and the Most Holy in the tabernacle picture, which foreshadowed or pictured the heavenly condition; and the entrance of the high priest into the Most Holy of the tabernacle with the blood foreshadowed Christ Jesus entering heaven. Even as the apostle Paul states in Hebrews 9: 24, saying: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
When Jesus died upon the tree on Calvary, he provided the ransom price, because his was the death of a perfect human creature, exactly corresponding with the perfect man Adam. Adam’s death, however, was the result of a forfeited right to life. Jesus’ death was a sacrifice. Adam was a sinner and died a sinner. Jesus was perfect, holy, and without sin; and while he died in the same manner, yet by his death he did not forfeit the right to live as a human creature. By dying he reduced his perfect human life to an asset or Kind of value that might thereafter be used to release mankind from death.
We here give an illustration to aid in understanding this point. For convenience we will call a man John. John is languishing in prison because he cannot pay a fine of one hundred dollars. He has a brother named Charles who is willing to pay the fine for his brother John but has no money with which to pay. Charles is strong and vigorous, has time to work, is willing to work and can earn money by working; but his strength and time and willingness will not pay the debt for John. Mr. Smith has some work to be done and is willing to pay money to have it done. Charles engages himself to work for Mr. Smith and earns one hundred dollars and receives that amount in cash. By bis labor Charles has here reduced his time and strength and vigor to a money value and has received that money value, which money has purchasing power and which can be used to pay John’s obligation and thus release him from prison.
Charles then appears before the court which has entered the judgment against his brother John, and offers to pay the one hundred dollars which the law demands for John. The money is accepted from Charles and John is released. By this means John is judicially relieved of the effects of the judgment and is set free, and bis brother Charles has become his ransomer or deliverer.
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