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1945
Consolation
Magazine
Contents
"As It Was in the Dayscof Noah"
_ "A World Possessed"
Subtlety of Demon Snares
Religion's Mask' for the Demon Invaders
Demonism via Spiritism
"Non-religious" Mediums
Pope Blesses Spiritist
Snares for the Intelligentsia
Education and Science
Whither, World Rulers Y
The Undesired Medal
Ephraem Syrus and the Codex Ephraemi
Ephraem Was Obedient
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
"Thy Word Is Truth"
Ecclesiasticism Tempted
Reconstruction Follows in Religion's Wake
Reconstructors Theocratic Convention
The Convention's Official Opening
Reeonstruetion Work Identified
Gilead College Forwards Reconstruction
Accommodating the Visitors
Reconstruction Work
in
Australia
Forward, Reconstructors
I
Presenting "This Gospel of the Kingdom"
Studying
The Watchtower
Result of a Book Study in Washington, D. C.
A Church That Founded Itself
In
Brief
3
Mexican Convent Hidden for 77 Years
3+
The St. Louis Roman Catholic
Regis-
~
fer
contains a story with a triple-column
6
heading reading "Sisters Were Buried
7
Alive for 77 Years; Mexican Convent
8
'That Disappeared Used Today for
1~
Subtle Attacks on Religion".
It
is illus-
H
trated by a cut also three columns wide
12
showing the long narrow room in which,
13
unknown to the civil authorities, the
14
religious business of the Convent of
15
Santa Monica was carried on. There is
16
no hint in the Scriptures that Mary, the
18
mother of Jesus, and of his brothers and
18
sisters, Ewer lived in a .convent; nor are
20
such institutions even hinted at in God's
22
23
Word, though they are common enough
24
in paganism and heathenism. What is
26
it that the monks and nuns are ashamed
28
of,
and are trying to hide l Probably the
.best answer is in the word of the Lord .
29
31
himself that "every one that doeth evil
31
hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved".
(John 3: 20)
It
would be impossible to
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CONSOLATION
2
•
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope. "-Matthew 12: 21,
A. S. V.
Volume XXVI
Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, January 3, 1945
Number
660
"As
It Was in the Days of Noah"
"As it was in the days of No'e, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the
day that No'e entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all."
-Luke 17: 26, 27.
H E earth is in chains. Not the chains
• of enslavement forged by dictators
or any other human agency are they,
but chains invisible to man. Man cannot
even touch them, much less break them;
yet they bind millions of humankind in a
grip so deadly that comparatively few
will escape the cataclysm of destruction
to which they inexorably lead, a catas-
trophe that will dwarf the deluge. of
Noah's day. Total war will never shatter
those bonds. On the contrary, the post-
war world of man's building will find
itself more tightly bound than ever,
more hopelessly enmeshed in coils
etronger than steel. Strangely, the war
of liberation now raging is forging those
chains into mightier links, and will result
in a monstrous creation that will strike
at the only source of possible release.
How so? you ask in
amazementv
or,
perhaps, demand in resentment. Soberly
consider the facts before reaching a
conelusion.
, The discussion hinges upon this: Who
are the "chains"? The key unlocking that
mystery in this time of Christ's second
presence and the "last days" is the Scrip-
ture text above quoted. "As it was in
the days of Noah"-and how was that l
The above words of Christ Jesus fore-
tell for these "last days" a materialistic
human society devoted to self-service,
and totally unconcerned about the divine
T
reckoning impending at Armageddon.
But the record of Noah's day found in
the sixth chapter of Genesis sheds
further light on the prophetic conditions
existing then. "GOD saw that the wicked-
ness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually."
Why such depravity? The context dis-
closes that wicked spirit. creatures of
Satan's realm had materialized as giants
or Nephilim and were running rampant
in the earth. They had, either directly
or indirectly, induced other spirit crea-
tures, the "sons of God", to materialize
and cohabit with the daughters of men.
Race contamination ensued. The result-
ant. offspring were hybrid monstrosities.
With
the masses of the people under
control of evil spirits and freakish
giants, humanity was swept along in a
boiling tide of wild revelry and violence.
The demon hordes of Satan were on
the loose!
.
"A World
Possessed"
And so it is today. The same evil
forces grip humanity in a vise-like clutch
that will call for more than an earth.
wide flood of waters to break it. Think-
ing people sense the presence of sin-
ister forces at work, and wonder. Note
the typical comments of Pierre van
Paassen:
JANUARY 3, 1845
We are living in a crazy world, a world
possessed. Our Puritan ancestors might well
have called it a world possessed of the
Devil,
Eer
evil and violence' and heart-rending
anxiety seem to have gained the upper hand
for the time being, so that even the most
"\Qhristian and the most peace-loving nations
¥>n earth are caught in a seething whirlpooL
The Pillars of society have begun to shake.
The foundations of truth and humanity, of
-e,
reason and justice, which we thought of··
enduring character and
oflasting
value, some-
.times seem to be disintegrating. At times we
feel as if the very ground under our feet
were trembling, and we no longer know, on
what to build or where to take our stand.
The future weighs upon us as a terrible, in-
comprehensible burden under which nobody
dares to plan and scarcely anyone dares to
look ahead. Thoughts of the future darken
the high hopes of the young, and they fill with
gloomyforebodings the eventide of our elders.
What is going to happen
~
How is this crisis
in human affairs going to end
~
Will it pass,
as other great crises have gone
by~
Or. are
present events merely harbingers of still more
cataclysmic happenings
~
What can we do to
prevent the further growth
of
the evil! Who
is responsible for these disasters! and what
can yet be done to stay the spread of the
blight that has come to darken the skies of
this entire generation
~
in blindness. This, also, is typical of
modern thinkers. '
The fact stands true: the only explana-
tion of startling and shocking events
occurring daily is, it is the operation of
invisible wicked spirits.
It
is not based
on ignorant superstition, but the infal-
lible testimony of the Bible is its founda-
tion. A little girl in New Jersey goes
next door, grabs a baby's bottle, hits
him over the head with it, and kills him.
In Ohio a youth of 16 yearsedraita
killing a 6-month-old baby girl. In
Pennsylvania a boy 16years old
murders
two women, each over 80. The accounts
could continue indefinitely; papers every
day add to the mounting toll. The killers
have no motives, just an unexplainable
and overwhelming urge of the moment
to kill. Horrible sex crimes, so ghastly
and inhuman that one shudders to read
of them, are reported daily. Juveniles
swell the flood of moral delinquents of
all ages. Whole nations go mad and
oppress and torture and kill with light-
ning-like rapidity. From the least to the
greatest, humans are acting inhumanly,
yes, demoniacally.
l
Subtlety of Demon Snares
Becoming more specific, What are
some of the channels through- which the
invisible demons workt They are many
These are the thoughts and questions that and varied. They are fashioned to entrap
harrow and torment us. Nor do they any different classes, all classes, of human
longer torment us solely in the empty hours society. Religion plays the major role.
of the night, when the flame of life burns In Africa it is the' tribal witch doctor,
low and the surrounding gloom becomes with his ceremonies, his magic potions,
peopled with all kinds of fantastic images his' casting of spells, his calling forth of
and nightmares. Today the facts stare us in curses, his conjuring up of. the spirits;
the face, and our feelings of disaster rest on all of which "smart, civilized" peoples
sober judgment and observation.
[Woman's
brush aside with the airy comment,
Day,
August,
1942]
.
"Poor savages." Nonetheless, the sav-
Mr. van Paassen remarked, "Our ages are thereby held in chains of bond-
Puritan ancestors might well have called age by the demons.
.
it a world possessed of the Devil." But
. But turn attention to self-satisfied
this, he infers, is too old-fashioned a "Christendom". How do her millions
view for this practical, realistic, scientif- fare
t
Just as badly; they are bound just
ic modern world to hold; so he turns his as securely as the hapless ones they
back on the underlying answer to his dismiss as "poor savages". The only
perplexed questionings, and gropes' on difference is that the fetters take on a
4
CONSOLATION
different outward appearance; but, for
all their innocent appearance, they are
just as strong as those enslaving the
credulous savage. The sly devils invisible
to man use more subtle things as .they
reach out to bind those that are more
educated; but no class, because of
worldly wisdom, is free from the clutches
of the far wiser demons of Satan. A
source of protection stronger than these
invisible evil forces must be drawn upon
for a way of escape. Yet in their smug
wisdom and vain self-satisfaction "Chris-
tendom's" millions feel superior and
secure. Their vain conceit makes them
.easy victims.
Wherein lies hope of release and free-
dom from demon snares' A knowledge
of the truth concerning demonism.
Christ Jesus said, "The truth shall make
you free." (John 8: 32) Striking at the
very core of the difficulty, the apostle
Paul, warned Christians to be on guard
against the evil spirits, saying, "Lest
Satan should get an advantage of us:
for we are not ignorant of his devices."
(2 Corinthians 2: 11) But the masses of
humanity are ignorant of Satan's
devices, and he does get an advantage
over them; and that advantage is the
deadly one of "secret weapons". Learn
about them. Your life hangs in the
balance.
in the Washington (D.C.)
Times-Herald,
June 12, 1944.
Holiness faith-healers, their fervor fanned
.to fever heat by a rhythmic hypnotic chanting
of old hymns, proved their faith in their
religion by their indifferent· handling of the
snake from whose fangs, easily visible at
20 feet, spurted at intervals a creamy liquid
of potential death. While grey-headed women,
pregnant women, and young girls screamed
their. ecstasy in "unknown tongues", jerking
convulsively and jumping about a rope-
enclosed .outdoor square, the faith-healers
passed the diamondback and an ugly two-foot
copperhead from hand to hand. They took
off shoes and socks and tramped on the
reptiles.
They appeared insensitive to the flames of
a kerosene torch in which they held their
hands, their arms and their hair. Their skin
blistered; but they went on singing and shout-
ing [if this had been from the Lord, not even
a hair would have been singed (Daniel 3 : 27)].
While some 200 persons watched in mingled
horror and amusement, the faith-healers (coal
miners all and their wives and children)
acknowledged the core of their dangerous and
spectacular conviction to
b~
a quotation from
the 16th chapter of Mark: "And they shall
take up serpents."
The Bible text above quoted is Mark
16: 18. Verses 9 to 20 of that chapter are
spurious, not being found in the m?st
ancient manuscripts of the Greek Scrip-
Religion'S Mask
'for
the Demon Invaders
tures. Such pathetically deluded persons
.Foremost in the ranks of demonism have fallen into the snare Jesus avoided
tramps religion. Look at the religious when the Devil tried Him. Satan chal-
frenzy of the Holy Rollers and Pente- lenged .Him to show His faith in God by
costals when they "get the [evil] spirit". casting himself down from a pinnacle of
Certainly they have not sprung very far the temple, but Jesus brushed aside such
from the savage African witch doctor a foolish demonstration with the words,
and his flock. Indeed, as one reads the "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
following account of a meeting of the God." (Matthew 4: 5-7) Paul was not
Holiness Church of God, staged in the tempting God when a deadly viper sank
mountainous area where the three states its fangs into his hand, because the
of Virginia,· Kentucky and Tennessee. mishap was entirely accidental. (Acts
join, he may well believe he has been 28: 2-6) Any protection the God-tempt-
transported to a tribal ceremony in the ing faith-healers may have from the
Dark Continent. Both claim to be and writhing reptiles they fondle comes from
are
religious,
Read the report given the great Serpent, Satan.
JANUARY
3, 1945
5

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