Freedom For The Peoples (1927)
Download: PDF — Freedom For The Peoples (1927)
FREEDOM FOR THE PEOPLES
By J. F. Rutherford President
International Bible Students Association
Author of
Deliverance! The Harp of God Comfort for the Jews Millions Now Living Will Never Die Comfort for the People Where are the Dead? etc., etc.
MADE IN U. S. A.
Published and Copyright 1927 by
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION BROOKLYN, N. Y. U. S. A.
Also: London, Toronto, Melbourne, Cape Town, Stockholm, Magdeburg, Berne, Copenhagen, etc.
FOREWORD
THE broadcasting of Judge Rutherford's lecture by the National Broadcasting Company was conceded even by our enemies to be the greatest hook-up of broadcasting on earth. The response by the people has been phenomenal. So great has been the demand for copies thereof that we have determined to issue it in the cheapest possible form so that the poor may have it. It voices a declaration of independence of the peoples of Christendom from that unholy alliance that has so long oppressed them.
We append hereto an introductory chapter setting forth some of the sufferings of the common people, also a concluding chapter showing the Scriptural reason for the passing away of the World Powers. Both were written by Judge Rutherford. You will read this booklet with great interest. You will want to keep it in your homes and read it to your children.
The Publisher CHAPTER 1
The Oppressed
THE common peoples of all nations have suffered great oppression. Their real defenders have been very few. By the common people are meant those of the rank and file who labor with their hands and thereby produce the wealth of the land. There was a time when America was said to be an asylum for the oppressed. That day has gone! To what country could the common people now flee and find protection, aid, peace, freedom of speech and freedom of action? There is none under the sun!
The World War has furnished the common people of Christendom with much food for thought, and they are thinking as they have not heretofore thought. They are beginning to realize that they must think and act for themselves. They have been deceived for a long time by those upon whom they relied. They cannot be deceived always. They were told by those who represented selfish interests that the Great War would make the world safe for democracy. The result has been the very opposite. With the ending of the World War practically all the liberties of the common people have been taken away. Big Business and professional politicians, aided and supported by faithless clergy, have fastened the shackles upon the wrists of the common people. They continue to suffer and they are seeking the way of relief and freedom. As an illustration of some of the things suffered the following is here related.
In June, 1914, in one of the northwest states of "free" America, lived Jacob Christmann with his wife Martha, Elsie his only daughter, and two sons, William and John Christmann, twins. That was a happy family. Their acreage was small but rich, and yielding to their hard labor produced a sufficiency for them. Because of the manipulation of the markets they found it difficult to sell their produce at much profit; yet they were able to get on, and they had the love and sweet companionship of each other, and hence they were content.
Jacob Christmann was born in Germany and emigrated to "free" America when a mere lad. His older brother, Henry Christmann, remained in Germany, married there and reared several sons and daughters. Martha MacDonald was born in Scotland and came to America with her parents. She became the wife of Jacob Christmann and the mother of the above named Christmann children. Gilbert MacDonald, a brother of Martha, resided in Scotland his native land and there reared a family of sons and daughters, among them Gilbert Jr.
The three Christmann children in America from time to time exchanged letters with their cousins in Germany and in Scotland. For some time prior to 1914 the war lords of Germany made it so burdensome for the Christmann boys that often they wrote their American cousins of their purpose to come to "free" America to live and thus escape the war and the burden of the war machine. The American cousins spoke often with their parents about their kinsmen across the sea, and of course there was a great desire for personal acquaintance.
In August, 1914, the World War began, and the Christmann boys of Germany were hurried to the front and, of course, that precluded their visit to America. At the same time the British entered the war and among those sent out to fight Germany was Gilbert MacDonald, Jr., the young Scotsman. It was therefore blood relation sent out to fight blood relation in a deadly combat and that without the desire or consent of either one to fight the other.
After much agitation by subsidized American newspapers and hired preachers America entered the war in 1917. At the instance of Big Business a conscription law was quickly enacted by the American Congress. Thereafter young Americans were not asked if they wanted to fight but were told they must fight or take the consequences, which consequences usually were imprisonment and cruel and unusual treatment at the hands of the prison keepers. Among those drafted early in the war by America were the Christmann twins, William and John. A pall of blackness fell over the modest and once happy home of the Christmann family. The two boys were torn away from their parents and their only sister. They were sent to war together and they tried to stay together throughout the war. Upon the battlefields of France they saw much real military service.
For more than forty hours the great battle between the Germans on one side and the British and their allies on the other had been raging furiously. A fresh American division was sent to the front to relieve the remaining men in the shattered lines of the allies, and in that American division which went forward were the two privates, William and John Christmann. A charge was ordered; and the Christmann boys, together with thousands of others, obeyed the command. William came suddenly upon a German soldier lying upon the ground and drew his bayonet to strike him through; but seeing that the German was already mortally wounded William did not strike. The dying man looked with pleading into the face of William Christmann, who moved with sympathy gave the German water from his own canteen. The drink revived him. The wounded man then addressing William said: "I am dying. Why have we fought? I had nothing against the French or English and surely not against the Americans. I have some dear cousins in America that I love much." Then William inquired: "Who are your American cousins?" The German replying in broken speech conveyed the message to William by which the two men learned that they were cousins, who had often communicated with each other by letter. William's brother John was near by, and seeing his brother with a German rushed to his side and learned the real cause. At that moment a ball pierced William. The two cousins, knowing that they had but a few moments to live, affectionately embraced each other and died in each other's arms.
Later the official report came to America which merely read: William Christmann, killed in action. The sad information was conveyed to his mother. She died from a broken heart. It was afterwards learned that in that same engagement Gilbert MacDonald, Jr., the Scottish cousin, was also killed.
The Christmann homestead in America was mortgaged. The family had depended upon the two sons to pay the interest. The mortgage was held by a loan company, financed by a few multimillionaires who produced nothing but required much of the produce of the farm to pay their usury. The mortgage became due; and no one of the Christmann family being able to pay the interest or principal, it was foreclosed. Jacob Christmann and his daughter Elsie were compelled to leave their home. No information had yet come as to the fate of John Christmann, the other twin son. The war ended and broken regiments of soldiers began to return. But John was not with them.
Jacob Christman was a member of the Lutheran church. The minister of that church denomination where his membership was held had been among those who preached the boys into the war and aided and abetted in the enforced draft. It was difficult for Elsie to understand how he could be a minister and consistently take that course. Elsie and her father had now found a modest little house for their temporary residence. They anxiously awaited some information as to John, hoping that he had survived the terrible war. Many hours of sad reflection were passed by her and her father. She came upon him on one occasion and found him reading the Bible. She plied him with a number of questions amongst which were these: "Does not America claim to be a Christian nation? Is not Great Britain also one that lays claim to being a Christian nation? Have we not always understood that Germany claims to be a Christian nation? Do not all these nations claim to serve and follow Christ, the Prince of Peace? How can these nations and the preachers in their churches claim to be Christians and yet advocate war and compel the people to go to war and fight and kill each other and to kill their own blood relatives and that against their own wish and consent?"
The oppression upon this poor soul and the bitterness that she had suffered caused her to propound these questions to her father. She further said to him: "Father, who is responsible for this terrible war and for the dreadful sorrow that has been brought upon us? Can you support a church which claims to follow Christ and which participates in bringing upon us such burdens of sorrow?" The father of course was unable to answer the question. He, too, was suffering great bitterness of heart and was seeking consolation in the Word of God. He had not found it in the church. The burdens of oppression and sorrow became too great for him; and shortly thereafter Jacob Christmann died; and Elsie, alone, with no one to care for her, drifted away.
The terrible fate that befell the once happy family of Jacob Christmann has befallen thousands of other homes. And what became of John Christmann? When the hospitals began to give up their inmates, as the grave some day will give up the dead, John was brought forth. He was blind, one arm gone, and his feet so mangled that he moves about only with the aid of crutches. He is a helpless cripple so far as there is ability of man to aid him. Millions of other young men in Christendom are in this same condition. They have suffered and continue to suffer, daily dying. Added to their bodily pain is the mental anguish that this condition was forced upon them.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR
Did the common peoples of the nations of earth vote on the question as to whether or not they should go to war? No, not one of them! Did any one explain to the common people the necessity for the great World War of Christendom? No one! Who then is responsible for the war? A few selfish and ambitious men desiring to increase their power were willing to hurry millions of human beings into death in order to accomplish their purposes. A petty excuse was seized upon for declaration of war, and the war began. Big Business constructed the machinery for the war and furnished the initial money necessary to do so, knowing that they would reap a thousand percent in return. The professional politicians enacted conscription laws to make the war machine work. The dishonest and faithless preachers of various religious denominations, while claiming to follow Christ, urged the people into war and acted as war agents. Hypocritically they preached war from their pulpits. In many instances they were paid for so doing by the big financiers who desired the war for private gain. The common people were forced by them to bare their breasts to shot and shell and to have their property and their lives taken away in order to satisfy the wicked and selfish ambition of men. The people are beginning to see these things more clearly. There is reason now for the common people to think.
RESULT
What is the result of that World War? Everybody knows that it has resulted in the destruction of the democracy of the land and the taking away of the freedom of the people; and that it has resulted in a new crop of millionaires in whose thoughts God finds no place. It has also resulted in great corruption in the high political offices and has proven that the clergy have denied the name of God and Christ and that they are forsaken by the Lord. It made it possible for selfish men, high financiers, bootleggers, and preachers to fasten upon the people a hypocritical and cruel prohibition law which both the clergy and "Big Business" insist on enforcing against the common people while the "High ups" openly violate it themselves. Men in high places make and dispense illicitly intoxicating liquors. If one of the common people is found in possession of a small quantity he is severely punished. The unholy alliance maintains customs officers at the border principally in the United States to browbeat and insult innocent men and women and to ruthlessly destroy their property, abuse and humiliate them without even the semblance of a cause or excuse. The war was seized upon as an opportunity by the Devil and his unholy agencies to fasten the shackles tighter and tighter upon the arms of the people and take away their liberty.
Democracy means a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. No such government now exists in what is called "Christendom". On the contrary in the land fraudulently called "Christendom" the government of the peoples is by the unholy alliance of "Big Business" and big politicians supported by big preachers, and in the interest of the unholy alliance and against the interests of the common people. The oppression does not stop there.
Millions of money raised by oppressive taxation from the common people are being expended in further preparation for war. The common people of no nation on earth desire to fight the common people of another nation: but the selfish ambitious men, few in number compared with the multitudes, are the ones who prepare for war, compel the common people to bear the burden thereof by unjust taxation and the further burden, oppression and suffering by laying down their lives upon the battle-field. Is it any wonder then that the common people now are beginning to ask themselves: What good has Christendom brought to us? Can we ever hope or expect to have any relief from our burdens brought to us by or through Christendom? They are seeing and seeing plainly that Christendom so-called is a fraudulent name used to deceive the common people and hold them in subjection.
Is it possible then for the common people to ever have relief and freedom from any source? Yes; there is one absolutely certain way and about that way the people must now know. The time is at hand for the great God of the universe to hear the cries of the common people and to act in their behalf. It is plain from his Word and from the facts before us that his due time for the people's relief has arrived. It is therefore the time for him to first give the people some knowledge of his purpose.
RADIO
No man has ever been able to explain what radio is. It is an unseen power by which the human voice is carried through the air and a message given to others in the far distance; but what it is man cannot say. Certain it is that God provided the radio because he foretells it in his Word written by the prophet centuries ago. (Job 38:35) The due time must come, in the unfolding of his plan, for the use of the radio. That time has come, and God will use it for the benefit of mankind. God has repeatedly used human agencies to carry out some of his purposes. It should be expected therefore that God would use some human agencies to proclaim to the people at this time his purposes concerning them and that he would use the radio in connection therewith.
Those men and women who are wholly and entirely devoted to the Lord naturally would be the ones whom the Lord would use as the witnesses. In his Word it is written concerning such: "Ye are my witnesses, that I am God." (Isaiah 43:10, 12) The truth that is proclaimed is not man's truth but it belongs to God. "Thy Word is truth." (John 17:17) The Lord has made it clear that he will not always turn a deaf ear to the cries of the common people. It seems certain that his due time is here to give ear to their cry.
ARRANGEMENTS TO BROADCAST
The International Bible Students Association is not a religious organization. A religious organization is composed of men and women who observe certain forms and ceremonies in the acknowledgment of a supreme power. The International Bible Students Association is made up of a body of men and women who are Christians, fully consecrated to do the Lord's will. Of course there are some amongst them who are not wholly devoted to the Lord, while many of them are completely devoted to God and his cause. These Christians have come out from denominational systems because they love the Lord and want to serve him. They have no selfish purpose to accomplish. Knowing that the relief of the people and their blessings must come from Jehovah God these Christians are anxious to tell their fellow men about God's gracious provision for such blessings. A real Christian is one who follows Christ. The purpose of Christ on earth is expressed in his own words: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." (John 18:37) All true followers of Christ therefore must likewise be witnesses to the truth. They must tell the truth in the love of the truth and for the love of their fellow man. This being God's due time to have the witness of the truth given all loyal Christians desire to have a part in giving that witness. They want to please God and they know that to please him they must do his will. (Matthew 7:21) It is the will of God now that all nations of Christendom be told about God's kingdom. (Matthew 24:14) True Christians are faithfully endeavoring to obey this command of the Lord.
The International Bible Students Association held its annual convention for 1927 at Toronto, Canada, from July 18th to the 25th. Christians came from many countries to attend this convention and to participate in giving the witness to Jehovah's name. A short time prior thereto at a hearing before the Federal Radio Commission at Washington, D. C., a condition arose which led to the completion of an arrangement to broadcast an address by the president of the International Bible Students Association from the Coliseum at Toronto. It came about in this manner: During a hearing before the Commission the president of the National Broadcasting Company, Mr. Aylesworth, was on the witness stand testifying in behalf of that corporation, which operates three chains of radio stations in the United States. He was being cross-examined by the president of the International Bible Students Association. A question was propounded to Mr. Aylesworth as follows: "Your purpose is to give to the people by radio the message of the greatest financiers, the most prominent statesmen, and the most renowned clergymen of the world?" To this Mr. Aylesworth answered in the affirmative. Another question was propounded to him: "If you were convinced that the great God of the universe will shortly put in operation his plan for the blessing of all the nations and families of the earth with peace, prosperity, life and happiness, and that the great Creator desired that this message be broadcast would you arrange to broadcast it?" The answer was in the affirmative and led to an offer by the president of the National Broadcasting Company to broadcast the address of the president of the International Bible Students Association. The arrangement was made to broadcast from Toronto, as above stated.
The attending facts and circumstances show conclusively that the Lord made it possible for such a broadcast. No association nor any man could have arranged it. It was the Lord who did it for his own glory. By means of telephone wires fifty-three radio broadcasting stations were tied together. The address was delivered at the Coliseum at Toronto, transmitted by wire to radio station WEAF, New York City, and relayed to other stations to the number of fifty-three, reaching from Maine to California, and from Canada to Mexico, and including two super-power stations which easily reach Europe, South Africa and Australia. In the language of one of the New York dailies it was "the greatest hook-up in radio history". It was the means adopted to quickly give a witness to Christendom of facts which they know to be true when they hear them.
On that occasion the president of the Association presented to the convention a resolution which is really a message to the peoples of Christendom. His address was in support of the resolution. He emphasized the following points, to wit: That Jehovah is the only true God; that Christ Jesus his Son is the Redeemer and Savior of man and the rightful King of earth; that there is a true Christianity composed of those men and women who faithfully represent God and Christ; that there is a false, deceptive and fraudulent organization called "organized Christianity" or "Christendom" which misrepresents God and in fact represents the Devil; that God created all men of one blood to dwell upon the earth and that there is no just cause or excuse for them to engage in war; that the ruling factors of "Christendom" which in fact constitute "Christendom" are, to wit, high financiers, professional politicians, aided and supported by faithless clergy; that this unholy alliance produces nothing but lives upon the honest labors of the common people and the common people have long been oppressed by carrying such as a burden; that the ruling element provokes war between nations for selfish reasons and compels the common people to go to war and fight and kill each other without any cause or excuse; that the people have long been oppressed and have suffered untold miserv at the hands of the rulers in Christendom and that without the support of the common people Christendom could not stand; that the time has come when the common people must forsake and for ever abandon the fraudulent system of Christendom and give allegiance to God and to Christ; that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and that through God's kingdom the people will receive their heart's desire, namely, peace, prosperity, life, liberty and happiness; and that through his kingdom the burdens of sorrow will be lifted from the people, and they will be given joy and health, strength and life.
So convincing and heart-cheering was the address in support of the resolution that the great audience amidst tremendous enthusiasm arose and unanimously adopted the resolution, which resolution, together with the address in support thereof, is set forth in the next chapter.
Since the adoption of the resolution and the delivery of that address thousands of letters and telegrams have been received from every quarter of the American continent. requesting copies thereof. This booklet is adopted as a means to get it to the people.
CHAPTER II
The Appeal
M R. ROBT. J. MARTIN of New York City presided at the meeting. In introducing Judge Rutherford he said:
After hearing Judge Rutherford, you will desire to have a copy of his lecture, that you may carefully consider it at home.
I am authorized to say, that any person in this, or in the unseen radio audience, who will address a letter or card to Judge Rutherford, Brooklyn, New York, requesting a copy of the lecture, will be mailed a copy, free of charge.
Among people in every walk of life, throughout the civilized world, a profound interest in the stirring events of the present day has been aroused by Judge Rutherford's latest book, entitled Deliverance. For the benefit of those who are in the audience here in Toronto, arrangements have been made to provide a copy of Deliverance at the conclusion of this lecture. See the ushers on your way out.
The thirty million volumes of Judge Rutherford's books which are in the homes of the people everywhere, constitute a sufficient introduction for him, both to this audience and to the far-flung invisible audience.
It is now my pleasure to ask Judge Rutherford to proceed with his address.
The speaker said: Mr. Chairman, my audience seen and unseen: What I shall say here is in the interest of the common peoples of earth, and especially in behalf of those of Christendom. First, I offer the following resolution and then I shall speak in support of that resolution. The resolution reads as follows: RESOLUTION
TO THE PEOPLES OF CHRISTENDOM:
The International Bible Students in general convention assembled send greetings:
As Christians and witnesses to the name of Jehovah God we deem it our privilege and duty to call your attention to the following vital facts:
FIRST. That God made of one blood all peoples and nations of men to dwell on the earth, and granted to all peoples equal rights. There is therefore no just cause or excuse for one nation to make war against another nation.
SECOND. That the foremost nations of the earth claim to be Christian nations and, taken collectively, they constitute "Christendom" or "organized Christianity", so-called; that the men chiefly responsible for the claim that these are Christian nations are the clergymen of the various religious denominations, who call themselves by the name of Christ but who in fact have denied him; that their purpose of claiming that these nations are Christian is to induce the peoples to believe that said nations, although military and cruel, are the representatives of God and his Christ on earth; that such claim is fraudulent and false and has turned the minds of millions of honest people away from the true God and from his Christ; that the invisible ruler of the nations of "Christendom" or "organized Christianity", so-called, is Satan the Devil, who has fathered the scheme of forming "organized Christianity" to deceive the people and to keep them in subjection to himself and his agencies.
That the masses of the peoples of the nations are entitled to self-government exercised by the people for the general welfare of all; but instead of enjoying such rights a small minority rules; that the money power of the world has been concentrated into the hands of a few men called high financiers, and these in turn have corrupted the men who make and execute the laws of the nations, and the faithless clergy have voluntarily joined forces with the high financiers and professional politicians, and that said unholy alliance constitutes the governing powers that rule the peoples; that the masses of the peoples acting under a misapprehension of the true facts have borne up, carried, supported and maintained organized Christianity; and that without the support of the common people the unholy alliance constituting organized Christianity could not long exist.
THIRD. That for centuries the privileges enjoyed by men have been wholly unequal and unfair. The multitudes have produced the wealth of the world, but have been unjustly deprived of the fruits of their labors. That the leaders of Christendom instead of teaching the children of men the doctrines of Christ, whom they claim to follow, teach them to murder their fellow creatures; and that now the rulers are amalgamating the common people with the military, in order to make all the peoples a part of and subject to their great war machine; that by unjust laws the common people, contrary to their own wishes, have been compelled to go to war against each other, resulting in great sorrow and suffering, multitudes of broken hearts and millions of untimely graves; that "organized Christianity" has turned a deaf ear to the petitions and entreaties of the people for relief, and now the cries of the oppressed people have entered into the ears of Jehovah God, and his time is at hand to give the peoples deliverance and freedom.
FOURTH. That Jehovah is the only true God, the Friend and Benefactor of the peoples. He has now set his beloved Son Christ Jesus upon his throne, and bids all the peoples of earth to hear and to obey him who is earth's rightful King.
FIFTH. That the kings and rulers of the earth, to wit: those constituting the said unholy alliance have been duly notified that God has set his King upon his throne and that his kingdom is at hand; but they refuse to understand or to take heed, and they walk on in darkness. Therefore God has decreed and declared that there shall come upon the world a time of tribulation such as never was known; and that during that trouble "Christendom" or "organized Christianity", so-called, and all of Satan's organization shall be destroyed; and that Christ Jesus, the righteous King, will assume complete authority and control and will bless the peoples of the earth.
SIXTH. That it must be now apparent to all thoughtful peoples that relief, comfort and blessings so much desired by them can never come from the unrighteous system of "Christendom" or "organized Christianity", and that there is no reason to give further support to that hypocritical and oppressive system. In this hour of perplexity Jehovah God bids the peoples to abandon and for ever forsake "Christendom" or "organized Christianity" and to turn completely away from it, because it is the Devil's organization, and to give it no support whatsoever; and that the peoples give their heart's devotion and allegiance wholly to Jehovah God and to his King and kingdom, and receive full freedom and the blessings God has in store for them.
SEVENTH. For four thousand years the cherished desire of Jews has been God's Messianic kingdom. For nineteen centuries that kingdom has been the hope of real Christians. It is now at hand. True to his promise God by and through the reign of Christ will lift the burdens of the peoples, free them from war, fraud and oppression, from sickness, suffering and death, and give to them a righteous government and the blessings of everlasting peace, prosperity, life, and happiness.
Upon the reading of the Resolution the following speech was made in support thereof, which was heard by 15,000 in the Coliseum and broadcast throughout the country. The speaker said: Freedom for the Peoples
GOD made of one blood all nations of men to dwell upon the earth and gave to them equal rights. Foreknowing the evil influence that would be exercised over all governments of men God foretold that a small minority would rule and oppress the great majority; that during that period of oppression and suffering the peoples would desire freedom and a righteous government administered for the general welfare of all; that they would be disappointed and suffer; that the cries of the peoples would ascend unto God and in his due time he would hear them; that he would deliver the peoples from the oppressor into full freedom and give to them a government of righteousness under which they shall enjoy peace, prosperity, and the blessings of life. Therefore he caused his prophets to write concerning the present time these words: that "the Lord . . . hath prepared his throne for judgment; and he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble" (Psalm 9:7-9); and "a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment".—Isaiah 32:1.
Only by the Lord's arrangement can freedom come to the peoples. God's due time has now come when the peoples of earth must know the truth concerning the cause of suffering and the remedy for relief. All true Christians are doing their part to tell these facts to the peoples that God's name might be glorified and that the peoples might know that their freedom is near.
"CHRISTENDOM"
The foremost nations of the world jointly call themselves "Christendom". The rulers by this term claim that they are Christians, having and exercising faith in God and in Christ, and that their combined governments constitute "organized Christianity". The claim is not only untrue, but it is fraudulent and hypocritical. By such false and hypocritical claim the multitudes of peoples have long been held in bondage and have been deprived of their just rights and privileges. God's due time has come for "organized Christianity", so-called, to be placed before the people in the proper light.
There is a true Christianity composed of faithful men and women who unselfishly follow in the footsteps of Christ. There is an organized system called "Christianity" or "Christendom", which is false and is the instrument of oppression wielded by the hand of the Devil. Jehovah through Christ established true Christianity on the earth, and in the days of the apostles it progressed. A few ambitious men, influenced and directed by Satan, defiled true Christianity; and their fraudulent course has made Christianity, as it is generally understood, a stench in the nostrils of honest men. This exact condition God foretold through his prophet Jeremiah (2:20) who wrote concerning professed Christianity: "Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?"—Jeremiah 2:21.
"Organized Christianity" or "Christendom" today is Satan's organization fraudulently parading under the name of. Christ. Early in the history of man the Devil caused men to call themselves by the name of the Lord and to thereby bring reproach upon God. That same Devil has caused ambitious and selfish men to organize and carry on what is now called "organized Christianity". The purpose is to deceive the peoples, turn them away from the true God, and to keep them in subjection to a selfish and unrighteous system of government, of which Satan is the invisible overlord. (2 Corinthians 4: 3, 4) A government that oppresses the multitudes of the common people and shows special favors to the wealthy, is an unrighteous government and therefore an ungodly nation. Such could not in truth be called Christ's kingdom or Christendom. It is therefore apparent that when the name of Christ is given to an unrighteous and oppressive government that name is fraudulently so used and for a wrongful purpose.
WHO RULES
The kings and presidents of the nations are not in fact the rulers. They are ordinary men filling their respective places and are mere symbols of rulership. The ruling power behind the seat of authority that shapes the course of the nations of "Christendom" is Satan the Devil. He is the opponent of God and the enemy and oppressor of men. Satan's visible instruments are those selfish men who combine and form a system of government which rules and controls the peoples. The three classes of men that make up these ruling powers are, to wit, high financiers, called "big business"; professional politicians, called "statesmen"; and the orthodox clergy, called "religious leaders", who manufacture and dispense religion. These three classes in combination constitute the small minority that rules. Disregarding the obligations laid upon them the selfish men composing the ruling minority have lived wantonly and recklessly for their own pleasure and at the expense of the multitudes. For a long time the peoples have borne them up and supported them and thereby endured great suffering and sorrow. And now I submit the testimony of their own witness which proves beyond a doubt that "organized Christianity", so-called, is a fraud and deception, a great system of oppression, and a menace to the general welfare of the peoples.
HIGH FINANCE
The multitudes, in the sweat of their faces, produce the wealth of the world. High financiers are few in number but great in power. They produce no wealth but obtain it through fraud and deceit practised upon the peoples, and then use it for their own wicked pleasure and to oppress the multitudes and to keep them under control. High finance fixes the price at which the producer must sell his products to the distributer, and also fixes an exorbitant price which the consumer must pay to the distributer. High finance has established chain stores all over Christendom, and the producer must sell to these stores at a ridiculously low price or not sell at all, and the stores in turn sell to the consumer at exorbitantly high prices, which the consumer must pay or starve. The producer gets but little, the consumer pays much, and the high financiers that produce nothing reap enormous and unreasonable profits. The result is that the small merchant is pushed to the wall, and the chain stores do the business, and the peoples pay the bills.
The financial record in the United States Treasury's office discloses that in one year (1919) seventeen woolen mills made a clear profit of 100 percent on their capital stock; that corporations operating canning factories that can the fruit and vegetables produced by the hard labor of others in one year made a profit of 2932 percent; that clothing stores made a profit in one year of 9826 percent; that the aluminum trust with a capital of only $20,000.00 in one year (1923) made a profit of 1000 percent.
The wealth of America is constantly on the increase, but today in that land there are 524 banks less in number than there were six years ago. The large ones are swallowing up the smaller ones. Big Finance is taking possession of all. Kirby Page is authority for the statement that 20,000 men control practically every bank, trust company, and business enterprise in America. From Samuel Untermeyer, the distinguished American lawyer who for a long while represented Big Business, I quote: There has been greater concentration of the Money Power in the past five or ten years . . . than in the preceding fifty years. The process of absorption is likely to continue until a few groups absolutely dominate the financial situation of the country. . . It has come to pass that less than a dozen men in the City of New York are for all practical purposes in control of the direction of at least seventy-five percent of the deposits of the leading trust companies and banks in the city and of allied institutions in various parts of the country.
The Federal Trades Commission in America in 1922 reported that six corporations controlled then one-third of the American water power; eight corporations controlled more than three-fourths of the anthracite coal fields; and two corporations controlled the great portion of the iron-ore reserve.
These heartless corporations profit in the lives of human beings. To them the life of man is nothing except to be used for their selfish purpose. Recently it was disclosed that forty percent of the milk sold in New York City is adulterated and that with the connivance of the Public Board of Health. It is then sold at a large profit to the poor, and the babes and the sick and the afflicted suffer by reason thereof.
These facts and figures I am giving as they relate to America. Other nations of "Christendom" or "organized Christianity" are equally as bad, and many of them much worse. In every nation of "Christendom" the minority is favored and the great majority are oppressed and suffer.
STATESMEN
The so-called statesmen of the nations are those who hold the offices and feed at the public trough upon the fat of the land, and of course produce nothing. Their jobs depend upon obedience to high finance. In fact high finance is the bulwark of "organized Christianity", so-called, and its power and influence have corrupted the politicians of every nation. The politicians are the men that make and enforce the laws.
Before the last American Congress a bill was pending to build a great dam at Boulder Canyon, in the Colorado River, for the purpose of reclaiming millions of acres of arid lands and to produce electric power for the benefit of the public. Josiah T. Newcomb, solicitor for Big Business that opposed the bill, declared:
I represent an investment of nine billion dollars and we do not propose to let the government enter into the power business at Boulder. The bill has no chance to pass. It will not pass as it is.
It did not pass. More than 120 million Americans cannot reclaim the arid lands of the desert and produce electric power for their own use without the consent of a few heartless men who are known as "Big Business". This gang of highwaymen is a part of "organized Christianity", so-called.
The corrupting hand of Big Business has been laid upon men in high political positions and corrupted every department of every government of "Christendom". Senator Reed, of the United States Senate, recently declared in a public address: "The time has come when the people should rise up and drive out the leprosy of corruption which has spread through the nation's capital."
The peoples go through a form of election supposedly to select their public servants. But most of these political statesmen are elected and controlled by the defiling influence of "Big Business". From Mr. Justice Ford, long in public life and who speaks with authority, I quote:
In my experience I have found the public service corporations, the street railroad, the telephone, the lighting companies in particular, to be the most prolific source of political corruption in the state. They are more directly dependent upon governmental favors than any others, and indeed the profits of their business flow from the special privileges which they procure and hold from the government, both state and municipal. In my day at Albany these corporations plied their nefarious business of corrupting the people's representatives so openly that a blind deaf-mute could learn what was going on. Not that legal evidence could be found against them. They were too shrewd for that. But every public man there was morally certain as to what was going on, and in private conversation it was freely talked about. These public service corporations pollute the very fountains of public virtue; they debauch our public servants; they subsidize party organizations for their own purposes. All the powers of government are subverted to their base ends; and government of the people, by the people, for the people, is made a mockery.
Even the courts are corrupted by Big Business. When Big Business is pitted against the common people the people have no show in the courts. The words of Mr. Untermeyer are pertinent on this point:
Nowhere in our social fabric is the discrimination between the rich and the poor so emphasized to the average citizen as at the bar of justice. Nowhere should it be less. . Money secures the ablest and most adroit counsel. . Evidence can be gathered from every source. The poor must be content to forego all these advantages.
When "Big Business" desires to increase its holdings, and war seems to be advantageous to its selfish interests, it does not hesitate to provoke war between the peoples of different nations. At the bidding of "Big Finance" the politicians enact the necessary conscription laws which compel the common people from all parts of "Christendom" to kill each other while the representatives of "Big Business" and their allies hide in their holes. When the war is over, millions of the common people sleep in the dust of the earth; and within the brief period of blood and carnage there has been born another crop of millionaires, and then there follows greater lawlessness amongst the politicians than ever before. Upon this point a member of the United States Senate, Mr. Norris, is quoted: The millions of our youth who went into that orgy of murder were promised a new and better order of things. Here, ten years later, they can see special privilege and the power of money more securely enthroned than ever in the seats of the mighty. For the thousands of our young men killed, for our billions spent, for the countless millions of heartaches, we have what? We have political corruption such as was never dreamed of before.
These conscienceless politicians defiled by Big Business and the oppressors of the people constitute a part of "organized Christianity" or "Christendom", so called that rule and control the peoples.
THE CLERGY
Who are the responsible ones for naming the harsh, cruel and paternalistic governments "Christendom" or "organized Christianity"? I answer: The clergy of the various denominations. Ambitious for the approval and plaudits of men and with a desire to live in ease and comfort they have joined affinity with Big Business and professional politicians. The clergy pose before the peoples as representatives of God and of his Christ and hypocritically induce the peoples to believe that they are Christians, and at the same time go exactly contrary to the Word of God. Jesus declared that Satan the Devil is the prince or ruler of this world and that he is the opponent of God. (John 14:30) Again in 2 Corinthians 4:3,4 it is written that Satan is the god of this evil world.
The world means organized forms of government under the supervision of the invisible overlord, Satan the Devil. In God's Word it is written (James 4:4) that he who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God. The clergy have voluntarily become a part of the world and friends thereof and therefore the enemies of God and of Christ and the enemies and oppressors of the common peoples. They call themselves and their allies, "Big Business" and professional politicians, "organized Christianity" or "Christendom," and have the effrontery to claim that these rule by divine right.
In God's Word true religion is defined in these words: "To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Contrary to this plain statement of the Word of God the clergy not only fail to comfort the widows and orphans but they advocate war, preach men into the trenches to die, and thereby make millions of widows and more millions fatherless children. Instead of keeping themselves unspotted from the world they are literally spotted all over by the world because they are a part of it. In the recent World War their church edifices were recruiting stations, and almost every clergyman advocated the shedding of human blood. For this reason God, through his prophet, says of and concerning them now: "For in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these." (Jeremiah 2:34) What class of men wear skirts except the preachers or clergy? They are the guilty ones.
Upon this point I submit the following indisputable facts: Admiral Fiske during the World War said: "The Christian religion is at this moment being made to exert a powerful influence, not toward peace but toward war." Secretary of War Lane said: "The War could not have been won without the churches."
Christ, whose name these clergymen have fraudulently assumed and by which they have named their "organized Christianity", said: "Thou shalt not kill." But the clergymen are the most ardent advocates of war and the most vehement and vindictive in their expressions against their fellow men. Before America entered the World War an election for mayor in the city of New York was being held. One candidate was opposed to America entering the war. The distinguished clergyman, Dr. Van Dyke, on that occasion said: "I'd hang everyone, whether or not he be a candidate for mayor, who lifts his voice against America entering the war." And this is a sample of the dispensers of religion from "organized Christianity".
Rev. Chas. Ganster from his American pulpit "advocated the organization of an association to murder those persons who do not stand up when the Star Spangled Banner is played".
The clergymen of Germany told the people that they represented the same God and the same Christ that the clergymen of England and America represented. Although Christ is the Prince of Peace, and declares against killing, the clergymen of Germany urged their people to kill in the most fiendish manner the common people of the allied armies of Britain. Likewise the clergymen of Britain and her allies urged the killing of the German people and their allies, and the clergymen of both sides tried to induce the people to believe that they are Christians. In proof that the clergymen are a part of the world and the allies of "Big Business" that makes war I read the testimony of the Rev. George Parkin Atwater, to wit:
The complete representative of the American Church in France is the United States Army overseas. Yes, an army, with its cannon and rifles and machine guns, and its instruments of destruction. The Church militant, sent, morally equipped, strengthened and encouraged, approved and blessed, by the Church at home. The army today is the Church in action, transforming the will of the Church into deeds, expressing the moral judgment of the Church in smashing blows. Its worship has its vigil in the trenches, and its fasts and feasts: its prayers are in acts. and its choir is the crash of cannon and the thrilling ripple of machine guns.
Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, was one of the most vehement advocates of America entering the World War. Did he act upon the authority of Christ? No; not Hillis. The American Bankers Association commissioned him as a missionary to Europe. He did the bidding of that heartless and cruel financial association. He prepared the sermons which hundreds of thousands of other pastors throughout America delivered, advocating war, urging the young men into the trenches and the people to buy bonds.
Dr. Hillis was not content with urging men into the jaws of death by which he earned and drew his pay from the American Bankers Association, but went to the extreme in expressing his malice. When the war had ended, instead of visiting the widows and the fatherless and bringing them comfort, as Christ had commanded, Hillis still breathing vengeance of blood against an unfortunate and helpless people wrote:
Society has organized itself against the rattlesnake and the yellow fever. Shepherds have entered into a conspiracy to exterminate the wolves. The Boards of Health are planning to wipe out typhoid, cholera and the black plague. Not otherwise, lovers of their fellow man have finally become perfectly hopeless with reference to the German people. They have no more relation to the civilization of 1918 than an orang-outang, a gorilla, a Judas, a hyena, a thumbscrew, or a scalping knife in the hands of a savage. These brutes must be cast out of society. There will shortly be held a meeting of surgeons in this country. A copy of the preliminary call lies before me. The plan to be discussed is based upon the Indiana State law. That law authorizes a State Board of Surgeons to use upon the person of confirmed criminals and hopeless idiots the new painless method of sterilizing the men. These surgeons are preparing to advocate the calling of a world conference to consider the sterilization of 10,000,000 German soldiers and the segregation of their women, that when this generation of Germans goes, civilized cities, states and faces may be rid of this awful cancer that must be cut clean out of the body of society.
No general, no man in the army, nor any war lord ever gave utterance to such diabolical and wicked words as those written by Hillis. These clergymen are the ones who, with pious faces and sanctimonious words, tell the peoples that their organized system of oppression and murder represents Christ on earth and therefore constitutes "organized Christianity" or "Christendom". They have been defaming the name of God and of Christ.
A few ultra-selfish men constitute "Big Business", and they control the commerce of the world. They do it by the power of money unjustly wrung from the hands of the multitudes of toilers. They control the elections because the politicians elected to office enact and enforce such laws as they want. They own and control the public press and publish only what they desire the peoples to read. This lecture I am now giving will not be published by them because they do not want the peoples to hear it. The radio, which God has brought to light for the benefit of the peoples, the same selfish interest is now seeking to control. The same power controls the clergy and uses them for selfish purposes. In time of war they use the clergy as recruiting officers to hurry men into the jaws of death. This is the unholy alliance that hypocritically calls itself by the name of Christ and has induced the peoples to believe that it is the political expression of God's kingdom on earth. On the contrary the Scriptures declare this unholy alliance to be a part of Babylon and of the Devil's organization. All nations have been made blind drunk by its false representations and teachings.
Now the unholy alliance is pursuing a systematic campaign to amalgamate the common people of all Christendom into great military organizations. The false slogan of the World War was that it would "make the world safe for Democracy". Every sane man knows that it destroyed democracy. "Big Business" and its allies now hope to hold the common people in subjection by making them a part of the harsh and cruel war machine.
Succeeding in this the Devil, in his ghoulish glee, and to the reprcach of God and Christ, would say: "This is Christendom or organized Christianity."
BURDEN BEARERS
The unholy alliance called "Christendom" or "organized Christianity" for its support and maintenance depends upon the multitudes of the common peoples. It holds up the peoples and robs them of their just rights and the fruits of their honest labors. Without the consent of the multitudes of peoples the poor are forced to fight and to kill their fellow man without a just cause or excuse. This "organized Christianity", fraudulently so-called, has caused the common peoples to bear great burdens of unjust taxation in order that the few might live wantonly and recklessly. It has caused the peoples to bear the burdens of war that a few might gratify their selfish desires. The multitudes of suffering ones, with bent bodies and broken hearts, have gone into untimely graves. Those not supporting the unholy alliance are told by the clergy that to them death is but the opening of the gates of a burning hell wherein their torture will never end.
HOPELESS
The great desire of the peoples is for peace and prosperity and life in a state of happiness. It is now apparent that there is no hope of the peoples' realizing their desires by anything that "organized Christianity" can give them. "Organized Christianity" or "Christendom", instead of being the friend and benefactor of the multitudes, is the enemy and oppressor of the common peoples. With great pomp and glory that unholy system rides upon the backs of the peoples. Without the support of the common peoples that wicked system called "Christendom" could not survive. When the peoples withdraw their support therefrom, "organized Christianity", which is a part of Babylon or the Devil's organization, will fall like a great millstone into the sea.
GOD THE PEOPLES' FRIEND
There is one true and almighty God. Jehovah of Hosts is his name. He is the Friend and Benefactor of man. Through his Christ and his kingdom of righteousness he will grant to the honest peoples of earth their heart's desire.
God created the first man perfect. Because man violated God's law he was sentenced to death. Thereafter his children were born; hence they were born sinners and imperfect and without the right to life. (Romans 5:12; Psalm 51:5) God in his loving kindness promised to produce a "seed" through which all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 22:18-22) Then he made it clear that Christ is that promised "seed" and that there is no other name whereby men can be saved. Galatians 3:16-19; Acts 4:12.
God so loved the world of mankind that he sent his beloved Son to earth and permitted him to die that man might have an opportunity to live. (John 3:16) Jesus Christ died for all men and all men must know that fact in God's due time.—Hebrews 2:9;1 Timothy 2:3-6.
Christ means the Anointed One of God, the Messiah, the One appointed by Jehovah through whom the promised blessings must come to the people. For the purpose of deceiving the peoples and turning their minds away from God and his gracious provision for their blessing, Satan the Devil organized the false and wicked system made up of "Big Business", professional politicians, and faithless preachers, and calls it by the name of "organized Christianity" or "Christendom". That wicked system now controls and for a long time has controlled and oppressed the common peoples of the nations.
By his Word God discloses that he would not interfere with Satan's nefarious work until the end of the world, at which time Christ Jesus, his beloved Son and earth's rightful King, should come into possession of the affairs of man and rule and bless the peoples of the earth. That world ended with 1914, and according to the Lord's prophecy was marked by the World War, famine, pestilence, revolutions, return of the Jews to Palestine, and by general distress and perplexity now existing on earth. (Matthew 24:3-22; Luke 21:10-26) A period of time elapses from the beginning of sorrows, which marks the end of the world, until the final end thereof, during which the message of the kingdom must be proclaimed to the peoples.—Matthew 24:14.
Now God has set his Son Christ upon his throne, as foretold by his prophet in the Second Psalm, and bids all the nations and peoples of earth to hear and obey him. The old world has ended and God's kingdom is at hand. The rulers of the earth were duly served with notice of this fact a year ago. The unholy alliance has received due notice thereof. But instead of heeding the message from the Word of God the rulers of the world, to wit, those constituting the unholy alliance, walk on in darkness and continue to oppress the peoples. The doom of "organized Christianity" or Babylon is sealed! The groans and cries of the peoples oppressed by that wicked system have ascended up to the God of heaven. To the oppressors composing that evil system the great Jehovahi now says: "Go to now, ve rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you."—James 5:1-6.
The day of God's vengeance is at hand; and he will punish that wicked system calling itself "organized Christianity", because it has oppressed the common peoples.
A city is a symbol of an organization. The unholy organization called "Christendom" or "organized Christianity" in the Scriptures is called a "city". To that wicked city God now says: "For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. . . . A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind [of trouble] shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape."—Jeremiah 25:29, 31-35.
…