No. 211
During the year just past scientific achievements rank high on the list of current events. We are told that radar can now be employed to detect crop blight in plants before the farmer is able to see it, thus allowing for corrective action much sooner than could formerly be done. Also, consideration is now being given to the installation of windmills on our high buildings, which would aid much in the solution of our power problems.
It is sound logic that necessity is the mother of invention; and the efforts in outer space have played quite a role in this respect. On one television interview Wernher Von Braun, who heads this Government Department, illustrated the invention of fireproof paper. He displayed one sheet of paper, half of which was the regular fibre, touched a match to it and allowed it to burn away; but the other half the fireproof half – was not affected by the flame at all. The fire simply went out when the first half had been consumed. Along this same line, a material has been developed which will nullify lightning activity; but there is a deterrent here – this material interferes with radar, so it cannot be used in cities, or where airplanes operate.
But the moon shot last April (written Nov. 20, 1972) was once again the stellar scientific performance of the year. It attained a speed of 26,000 miles per hour, and the men involved were able to talk to their colleagues on earth almost as clearly as if they were simply calling on the telephone in the same city. Also, they landed almost to the minute, and at the exact spot in the ocean they had marked before leaving the earth.
The President’s trip to China also is entitled to mention in this respect. The television coverage of his visit there revealed it as clearly as if he had been right in his own neighborhood – which events tend to bring the human race in much closer relationship in this “time of the end.” (Dan. 12:1,4) This is a direct reversal of conditions of the past. In Gen. 11:1-9 there is related the attempt to build the Tower of Babel – at which time “the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” The confusion of tongues which resulted then tended to scatter the races; and the language barrier effectively kept the various nations pretty well separated. But Zeph. 3:8,9 tells us that in the “time of the end” this situation would be reversed – “My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms.” Thus, the “United Nations” assembly in New York is well named for this time. The enormous increase in speed of travel, and the easing of the language barriers have made their imprint upon human relations in a manner readily determined when we make comparison with events and conditions as they existed at the beginning of this century. The tragedy in all this is that the human race has not advanced in quality with the inventive genius that has done so much for the people of earth. In fact, it would seem that many of the luxuries that have resulted from the tremendous inventive efforts have hurt many persons more than they have helped them, so that the solid integrity is disappearing, which tended to maintain law and order among men.
IN FINANCE
The financial structure of the nations continues to “reel to and fro like a drunkard.” The amount of worthless paper now in existence is beyond the grasp of most men. The national debt of the United States is fast approaching the half trillion level – with no end in sight. Presently there is approximately fifty billion of foreign bank deposits in this country that are payable in gold upon demand; but there is only about ten billions of gold at Fort Knox with which to meet this situation. And some skeptics contend that even the ten billion is an exaggerated figure. If our Government bank examiners came upon any bank in that condition, that bank would not be allowed to open for business the next day.
In this connection, we offer some comments from one writer, who has a pretty good grasp of the situation, although he tends to be extreme in some of his statements:
“We keep electing new Presidents who seemingly promise faithfully to halt the world-wide Communist advance, put the blocks to extravagant spending, douse the fires of inflation, put the economy on an even keel, reverse the trend which is turning the country into a moral sewer, and toss the criminals into the hoosegow where they belong. Yet, despite high hopes and glittering campaign promises, these problems continue to worsen no matter who is in the office...
“The chief liberal gains in the past generally remain on the statute books when the conservatives recover power... liberalism grows constantly more liberal, and by the same token conservatism grows less conservative.”
An interruption to the quotation is properly in order here. The Assyrians under Nebuchadnezzar were waging war with Judah, in which they were increasingly victorious; and the conflict ended in complete triumph when they finally captured Jerusalem in August of 607 B.C., at which time they destroyed the temple that Solomon had built and carried away to Babylon the gold and silver vessels. (2 Kings 25:8-21) The Assyrians in that victory were typical of the radicals today that are attacking Christendom it their determination to wreck the present “establishment,” which they will eventually succeed in doing. The various successes of the Assyrians against the Jewish nation bare close analogy to the radicals of today in their onslaughts against the institutions of Christendom. If we keep this in mind, it will aid greatly in understanding the turmoil we see now in every quarter of Christendom.
Much of what this writer has to say may be classified as political, but it has a direct bearing on the financial establishment, so we use it under the latter caption: “Socialism is usually defined as government ownership – control over the basic means of production and distribution of goods and services. When analyzed, this means government control over everything, including you. All controls are ‘people’ controls. If the government controls these areas, it can eventually do just exactly as Marx set out to do – destroy the right to private property, eliminate the family and wipe out religion..... You know, the one thing I can never figure out is why all these very, very wealthy people like the Kennedys, the Fords, the Rockefellers and others are for socialism. Don’t they have the most to lose?... Men like Rockefeller, Ford and Kennedy are for every socialist program known to man which will increase your taxes. Yet they pay little, if anything, in taxes themselves. An article published by the North American Newspaper Alliance in August of 1967 tells how the Rockefellers pay practically no income taxes despite their vast wealth. The article reveals that one of the Rockefellers paid the grand total of $685 personal income tax during a recent year. The Kennedys have their Chicago Merchandise Mart, their mansions, yachts, planes, etc., all owned by their myriads of family foundations and trusts. Taxes are for peons! Yet hypocrites like Rockefeller, Ford and Kennedy pose as great champions of the ‘downtrodden’....
“In order to understand the conspiracy it is necessary to have some rudimentary knowledge of banking and, particularly, of international bankers. While it would be an over-simplification to ascribe the entire conspiracy to international bankers, they themselves have played a key role. Think of the conspiracy as a hand with one finger labeled ‘international banking,’ others ‘foundations,’ ‘the anti-religion movement,’ ‘Fabian Socialism’ and ‘Communism.’ But it was the international bankers of whom the Professor was speaking when we quoted him earlier as stating that their aim was nothing less than control of the world through finance.
“Where do governments get the enormous amounts of money they need? Most, of course, comes from taxation; but governments often spend more than they are willing to tax from their citizens and so are forced to borrow. Our national debt is now $455 billion (written more than a year ago—JJH) – every cent of it borrowed at interest from somewhere.
“The Public is led to believe that our government borrows from ‘the people’ through savings bonds. Actually, only the smallest percentage of the national debt is held by individuals in this form. Most government bonds, except those owned by the government itself through its trust funds, are held by vast banking firms known as international banks.”
Once more we would inject a few thoughts of our own: These international bankers are the very people who know very well that the money policies of the various nations are thoroughly unsound; but they never utter a word of protest about it because they themselves are continually growing richer – and without any risk at all on their part by the unsound course now being followed. This policy tends to encourage do-nothing by the very wealthy. Why should they risk their funds in various business ventures when they can garner enormous income from government bonds, which are as safe as the banks of those governments? The banks will stand so long as the government stands. Thus, it should be quite clear to even the ordinary reader that it is not the government in the money business; it is rather the money in the government business!
At the time Rothschild established his European banking system he placed one of his five sons in the central bank of five ranking nations – Germany, Austria, England, France and Italy. However, whenever a war broke out between any of those five countries, it mattered not to Rothschild which country won it – because he would reap a handsome profit from both sides. Thus, the Rothschilds became incredibly wealthy during the nineteenth century by financing governments to fight each other. As one commentator puts it:
“If you will look back at every war in Europe during the nineteenth century, you will see that they always ended with the establishment of a ‘balance of power.’ With every re-shuffling there was a balance of power in a new grouping around the House of Rothschild in England, France or Austria. They grouped nations so that if any king got out of line a war would break out and the war would be decided by which way the financing went. Researching the debt positions of the warring nations will usually indicate who was to be punished.”
One outstanding instance of the foregoing is the feud between England and Germany. When Napoleon was overrunning Europe it was England and Germany that combined to defeat him; and the German histories claim it was actually Von Bleucher with his elite German army that actually turned the tide at Waterloo in 1815; but the Duke of Wellington reaped the glory for the victory. But regardless of that, in the last two great wars it was England and France against Germany. As one Rothschild once said it, “Let me control the money, and I care not who makes the laws.”
Thus it could properly be said of them that they remained different from ordinary bankers in several ways: they were cosmopolitan and international; they were close to governments and were particularly concerned with government debts, including foreign government debts; these bankers came to be called ‘international bankers.’ After the outbreak of the great war in 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany made the remark that he had made one great mistake before that war began: The House of Morgan in New York had offered to lend Germany a half billion dollars, which the Germans declined because they did not then need the money. However, said the Kaiser, had he accepted that loan, the United States would then not have been influenced to enter on the side of England, without which help the Allied cause would have been lost. It is a matter of record that during our Civil War the North was financed by the Rothschilds through their American agent August Belmont, and the American South through the Erlangers, Rothschild relatives. Also, in the Fall of 1931 – when the great depression was at its worst – the Austrian Reichsbank failed, forcing England off the gold standard. And in that manipulation the Rothschild in charge ‘legally’ swindled the Austrian people out of $105 million dollars. Then, when Hitler annexed Austria to Germany, he immediately seized Rothschild and exposed him to such punishment that in 24 hours he agreed to repay that $105 million. That one event had a very far-reaching effect in the outcome of the 1939-1945 war; and probably more than any other one thing contributed to the defeat of Germany.
But, while wars and revolutions have been useful to international bankers in gaining or increasing control over governments, the key to such control has always been control of money; a creditor is in position to demand the privileges of monopoly from the sovereign. Solomon understood this matter very well: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Prov. 22:7) In keeping with this thought, money-seeking governments have granted monopolies in state banking, natural resources, oil concessions and transportation. However, the monopoly which the international financiers most covet is control over a nation’s money.
It is pretty much common knowledge that in the 1912 Presidential campaign Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt proceeded to whistle-stop the country trying to out-do each other in florid (and hypocritical) denunciations of the Wall Street ‘money trust’ the same group of insiders which was financing the campaigns of both. Back in the twenties Morgan & Co. on one occasion advanced ‘credit’ to the President to subscribe to 2,000 shares of a certain stock they were promoting; but by the time the issue came to the general public, it had gone up twenty points, netting a clear profit of $40,000 to the President – without the investment of one dollar by him. Such gratuities make it very difficult later on to refuse any request of the ‘philanthropist’ who had thrown such a windfall into his lap.
Quoting further from the above-mentioned writer: “Neither Presidents, Congressmen nor Secretaries of the Treasury direct the Federal Reserve. In the matters of money the Federal Reserve directs them! This power was admitted by Secretary of the Treasury David M. Kennedy in an interview on May 5, 1969... How successful has the Federal Reserve been? It depends on your point of view. Since Woodrow Wilson took his oath of office the national debt has risen from $1 billion to $455 billion. (It is even higher than that now—JJH) The total amount of interest paid since then to the international bankers holding that debt is staggering, with interest having become the third largest item in the federal budget. Interest on the national debt is now $22 billion every year, and climbing steeply as inflation pushes up the interest rate on government bonds. Meanwhile, our gold is mortgaged to European central banks, and our silver has all been sold. With economic catastrophe imminent, only a blind disciple of the ‘accidental theory of history’ could believe that all this has occurred by coincidence...
“As a concrete example – During the ‘war to end all wars’ (1914-1918), Insider banker Bernard Baruch was made absolute dictator over American business when President Wilson appointed him Chairman of the War Industries Board, where he had control of all domestic contracts for Allied war materials. Baruch made lots of friends while placing tens of billions in government contracts, and it was widely rumored in Wall Street that out of the war to make the world safe for international bankers he netted $200 million for himself....
“The farther a government goes into debt, the more interest is paid to the powerful Insiders who ‘create’ money to buy government bonds by the simple expedient of bookkeeping entries... The man who campaigned as Mr. Frugal in 1968 is, in his third year of office, out-spending by $80 to $100 billion what he said his predecessor should spend... While it took LBJ five years to run up a $55 billion deficit, Senator Harry Byrd notes that the accumulated deficit for Mr. Nixon’s first three years will reach at least $88 billion. Congressional experts are now predicting Richard Nixon could well pour on the red ink to a total of $124 billion in this term of office alone...
“When the government runs a deficit, brand new money in the amount of the deficit is put into circulation. As the new money percolates through the economy it bids up wages and prices... You could not have a wage price spiral if you did not have an increase in the money supply with which to pay it. This is not just economics, it is physics. You can’t fill a quart bottle with a pint of milk. To say that the wage-price spiral causes inflation is like saying wet streets cause rain... Now we see that Nixon has repudiated his own promises and carried out those of his opponent... There is little difference between the leadership of the two major parties.”
Perhaps more than enough has been given herein on the financial situation to give our readers a clear understanding of the trend of things, and to take whatever steps are possible for them to protect themselves in ‘this evil day.” Thus, we shall now offer a few comments:
IN POLITICS
The election in the United States in 1972 is now a matter of history, sufficiently detailed in the newspaper to need no elaboration here. However, while the President received a landslide approval, both houses of Congress are still Democratic, so there is certain to be plenty of friction in the sessions ahead. This time there was not much promised by the incumbent President; he simply won on his record of the past four years, coupled with the evident weakness of the opposition. However, sometime back one commentator summed things up pretty well when he said an election platform is like a railroad station platform; it is simply used to get into the train, but not to ride on. Considering the promises made by some of the candidates, one is forced to conclude that their chief stock in trade is their unlimited gall.
In this connection, one writer puts it this way: “In 1972, the Republicans will try to make you forget that Richard Nixon was elected on George Wallace’s platform, but has been carrying out Hubert Humphrey’s. The pitch will be ‘party unity.’ if not Nixon, then who?’ will be the typical response to complaints about Nixon’s actions. But unity with evil is evil. During the campaign of 1972, Nixon will again talk conservatively while the Democratic candidate will sound frighteningly radical to stampede you into accepting the lesser of two evils... The watchdogs tend to go to sleep with a Republican in office... The Insiders want the issues between the parties to be cloudy and gray, centering on personalities, not principles... In the near future we may anticipate restrictions on taking money out of the country and on the establishment or retention of a foreign bank account by an American citizen... Laws limiting the number of people allowed to meet in a private home.”
The above comments are simply the predictions of one individual; time itself will demonstrate how sound they are. As for ourselves, we try to be alert and informed on all important issues, although we are often limited by our inability to secure the correct information. Our studied observation concerning the political situation in all civilized countries is that it has deteriorated to the point of no return. It is presently impossible for any individual or group of individuals to restore order from the chaos that is so apparent on every hand. But, even if a Solomon should appear with a program that is 100% sound, the temperament of the people is such that they would not have the moral fibre to allow sufficient time for its demonstration. “The earth (the present social order) shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” (Isa. 24:20) One news item puts it this way: “The amazing thing about anybody arrested for disturbing the peace is that he found any.”
IN RELIGION
The religious morale continues to decline in keeping with the financial and political. In August a news bulletin discussed the Quadrennial Conference of the United Methodist Church, held in Atlanta April 16-29, 1972:
“The United Methodist Church is a case of great American success story that is going bad. Once a movement that leaped like brush fire along the 19th century frontier, the UMC has suffered a net loss of 518,000 members in the past four years – the biggest of any church in U.S. history. Over a longer time span Sunday school attendance has slid by one-fourth, the once-prized foreign missionary force by one-fifth. A recent survey by UMC program planners found that grass-roots Methodists bitterly distrust church officials.”
In contrast to the foregoing, we would now quote John Wesley, whom we consider one of the finest Christians that ever lived:
“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”
ITALY – Here is a news item concerning the Roman Catholic Church in Italy:
“A group of 33 progressive Roman Catholic theologians from seven countries have attacked the leadership of the church and called on all Catholics to resist the misuse of authority by the hierarchy... They said the church was going through a complex crisis of confidence and authority... It was signed by theologians from Holland, West Germany, Switzerland, Spain, the United States, Austria and Canada... ‘The credibility of the church is dissolving in a disquieting manner,’ they asserted... Justice and peace are preached where they cost nothing to the church and its hierarchy... The manifesto urged Catholics to speak up against decisions by the hierarchy which they considered wrong or harmful, and to adopt a policy of collective protest.”
Such talk would have been adjudged extreme heresy in the Roman church a hundred years ago. Follows now another news item:
ITALY DOWN THE DRAIN: “In recent months the flow of capital has reached the proportions of a tidal wave. Those in the know are preparing safe havens for the day when the country goes under. The threat of a Communist takeover in Italy has frightened more and more Italians into joining the renascent facist movement in the belief that this will protect them from the Reds. In the not-too-distant future the two movements are bound to collide. If the Reds take control, everyone with money or property is bound to be despoiled, even if he gets through alive. Meanwhile, civil warfare between the Communists and their fascist opposition is inevitable. So Italians with money are buying property and apartments across the nearest border in order to have a place to hide when disaster comes.”
Another news comment discusses various sects: “When Vatican II opened the doors to modern scholarship, especially biblical research, theologians were quick to seize their new opportunities. Within a few short years, some of them were questioning everything from the church’s teachings on sexual ethics to papal infallibility – even such root doctrines as the nature of the Eucharist and the divinity of Jesus Christ.. It lets students decide for themselves, for instance, whether Jesus was God; it offers the resurrection as an inspiring belief rather than historical fact. The authors are convinced that this open-minded approach is the best way to reach questioning teenagers.”
EPISCOPALIANS – “The Rt. Rev. John E. Hines recently startled a meeting of San Francisco priests when he called himself ‘the worst administrator of any Episcopal Presiding Bishop in history.’ Last fortnight his fellow Episcopal Bishops got a greater shock in the mail: a letter from Hines outlining his plan to retire as presiding bishop in the Spring of 1974, after the triennial general convention next Fall can elect a successor. Hines is the first Presiding Bishop in the church’s history to quit early for reasons other than illness, but he may have good cause to step down. His years in office have been marked by factional dissension, especially over a ‘Special Program’ which he proposed in 1967... has since paid out some $6.5 million in grants for ‘minority group empowerment.’ Some of the money went to groups that were non-Christian or were too radical for local Episcopalians. In some cases, congregations retaliated by cutting off contributions to the national church. Church financial receipts have since rebounded, but statistics of the Hines years reveal attrition in other areas. Membership has dropped from 3,616,000 in 1965 to 3,445,000 in 1971; church school enrollment is down 24%, confirmations are down 26%, infant baptisms 21%, adult baptisms 44%.”
PRESBYTERIANS – “For several years now, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern Presbyterians) has been rumbling with rumors and threats of schism. The mildly liberal majority of the 960,000-member denomination favor a merger with the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterians), which would heal a breach reaching back to the Civil War... Courts in Georgia have recently allowed congregations to take their property with them, and now six of the seven defecting Southern Presbyterian congregations (scattered from Virginia to Alabama) are trying to do just that by simply renouncing their ties with the national church. The 843-member West End Church of Hopewell, Va., however, is going through channels and has petitioned its district presbytery to ‘dismiss us with our property.’“
Our readers may not grasp the full import of the “minority group empowerment,” because it is composed of mild words which seem rather tame on the surface. But these “minority groups” include Communists, Black Panthers, the NAACP, etc. One church contributed $10,000 to the defense of Angela Davis; and her acquittal has caused acute resentment in a large segment of the American population. In fact, this was so pronounced in Detroit that the Roman Catholic University of Detroit was forced to cancel a proposed speech by her in their auditorium. Protesting parents informed the officials there that they would withdraw their children from the University, and cancel further financial support if the meeting were allowed; so it was called off.
Also, we have a news report from Rome that a new group of Roman Catholic priests and laymen, Protestants and unaffiliated intellectuals have warned (in July) that anti-Semitism was being revived in Italy. Some of the literature was said to be circulated by information services of Arab states, but printed in Italy, and disguised as left-wing material. Other anti-Jewish pamphlets were traced to marginal Roman Catholic factions and to neo-Fascist and Neo-Nazi groups. Jewish groups have lately protested against the desecration of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in various places in Italy. Jews have lately complained in Rome and in other cities that they had been attacked or were being threatened by anonymous letters and phone calls. The Italian Jewish community numbers about 40,000 in a nation of 55 million. A few hundred Italian Jews have emigrated to Israel during each of the last few years.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND LHMM – These organizations continue their downward path of error, and this aberration becomes more glaringly noticeable with each passing year. Their leaders are becoming increasingly confused and unclear on a number of subjects on which they once clearly had the Truth. This is in keeping with certain Old Testament types, which give the picture that the leaders of such groups would be given error to defend as a punishment from God in their Fit Man experiences. “Because they poured out the blood of saints and prophets (especially enlightened teachers in the Gospel-Age church), Thou gavest them also blood (error) to drink; they deserve it.” And, as they produce their errors, those teachers with the Truth expose their ignorance and their failures. “An exhortation will go out to invade the teaching, spirit and service of the Great Company in the Truth (and especially their leaders—JJH) as guilty of double rebellion – once in the nominal church, then in the Truth – and against the exposed ones. God charges that these spheres be utterly destroyed, and that they keep His pertinent charge.” (E-14:472, bottom)
In this treatise mention is made of the “attrition” that is now so apparent in some of the sects in Christendom; and it is well to note how this has occurred. For sometime they prospered in both members and money (“rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”—Rev. 3:17); but at that very time they were becoming “wretched, and miserable, and poor (spiritually), and blind (were embracing error which “blinded” them), and naked” (they were losing, or had lost, the fine Christian principles of the founders of their Movements – by forbidding to “prove all things,” and by disfellowshiping those who tried to “prove all things”).” “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” (Isa. 66:5)
The Witnesses have made great progress in numbers, influence and “increase of goods” – as has also the LHMM, although in a much less degree, of course – even as they tread the path of their “big brothers” in Christendom – “blind and naked” in doctrine and Christian principles. And because of this, God has especially “given them blood (error) to drink – they deserve it.” (Rev. 16:6) The “attrition” in these groups is also glaringly apparent in many areas.
THE JEWS – The Black September Band is a group of about two or three hundred fanatical Arabs who are dedicated to torment the Jews. It was members of this band that were responsible for the Munich massacre at the Olympic Games. They are young fatalists whose parents were displaced from their homes in Palestine; and they feel they have nothing to lose. This gives them a reckless bravado that is extremely difficult to subdue. Undoubtedly, they are playing a part – which will increase in the months ahead – in the second phase of “Jacob’s Trouble.” But, when “they (the Jews) cry unto the Lord in their trouble, He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psalms 107:19,20)
Observing the gloom and confusion so prevalent in many quarters, it gives us much pleasure to report that our own work in spreading the Truth has steadily progressed during 1972 – and the witness work has been more far-reaching than in previous years. Our activities at the Bible House are efficiently organized, which enables us to accomplish a maximum amount of work with a very small group of willing and devoted helpers. We are most grateful for the physical and financial strength that has been ours in accordance with His promise: ‘And my God will fully supply all your need, according to his glorious wealth by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19, Dia.)
“Now, thanks be to that God, who always leads us forth to triumph with the Anointed One, and who diffuses by us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. Because we are a sweet odor of Christ to God, among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing; To these, indeed, an odor of death to death, and to those, an odor of life to life; and for these things who is qualified? For we are not like the many, trafficking the Word of God; but really from sincerity, and as from God, in the presence of God, we speak concerning Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:14-17, Dia.)
With the coming of another year we send cordial good wishes to all our readers for their physical and spiritual health; and we reciprocate with much appreciation and thanks the many expressions of good will that have come to us during the Holidays. “The God of all Grace, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
Sincerely your brother, John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim