November 8

The “Jesus People”​—Modern Phenomenon

THE “Jesus people”​—youths in old clothes, with bountiful hair—​walk Hollywood’s famed Sunset Boulevard handing out invitations to meetings. Sixteen thousand of them gather for a meeting in England. In many cities these youths, dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts, take to the streets to urge others to “accept Jesus.”

Also called “Jesus freaks,” or “Street Christians,” they put up Jesus posters, wear Jesus buttons, and emblazon their car bumpers with stickers that say: “Honk, if you love Jesus.”

These young people are common where the hippie culture is prevalent, but not all were hippies. Many have been involved in youth revolt groups, but have come away disillusioned. Thousands were formerly on drugs. Some testify that they have put aside prostitution and black magic.

They have mass baptisms and carry Bibles. They have religious coffeehouses, distribute psychedelic newspapers whose “far-out” art appeals to today’s youth, and have set up religious communes in which many converts live.

The “Jesus movement” is not an organized activity with an individual leadership or a central spokesman. Nor do the various groups necessarily agree among themselves.

The “Jesus people” are former Catholics, Jews, and Protestants of every persuasion​—as well as being people who had no religion at all. “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Jesus,” proclaimed a poster being carried by hymn-singing young people, who were shouting “Love, not lust,” in front of a cinema showing pornographic films on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.

A young girl, who said her parents were “Jewish atheists,” commented that she moved into one of the “Christian houses,” or communes, in Los Angeles when she saw the “joy and happiness” of friends who had “accepted Jesus.”

There is no carefully reasoned acceptance of what they are taught. The appeal of the “Jesus movement” seems to be: “This works, try it.”

How did this come about? Why did the religion their parents followed fail to attract these young people? Why have they rejected “organized religion,” and turned to what they consider simply to be the person of Jesus?

Religion’s Failure to Reach the Young

THERE are many youths today who question ideas that have been passed down for generations. They do not see how having more material possessions than your neighbor does​—a bigger car or more ostentatious home—​is a worthwhile goal in life.

Many reject a materialistic society that often is too prone to judge a man by how much money he earns, rather than by what he is as a person or by what he does. Some even reject the dress code that marks one as being a part of the prosperous, established community, which they feel has oppressed the poor and needy.

They see the world’s injustices, and the falsehood and hypocrisy of materialistic churches. Many youths consider their parents’ churches to be mere social clubs.

They recognize, as Methodist minister Charles Merrill Smith said in his book The Pearly Gates Syndicate, that many people “join a religion for reasons having nothing whatever to do with spirituality​—such as because it is popular, or socially advantageous, or is a source of promising business contacts, or is good politics, or for any number of other laudable but not exactly spiritual reasons.”

These facts have not been lost upon the highly critical and keenly observant youth of today. Time magazine reported that converts to the “Jesus movement” often “speak disparagingly of the blandness or hypocrisy of their former churches.”

“America is spiritually starving to death,” said Joseph Laiacona, a former Roman Catholic seminarian who joined one of the “Christian communes” in New York state.

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a noted Protestant clergyman, said in an article in Reader’s Digest: “For years we watched a spiritual vacuum growing among our young people.” The churches provided “meager fare for the spiritually starved,” he said. “‘Go away,’ we said to them. ‘Take a bath. Cut your hair. Put on conventional clothes. Accept our values. Then come back and we’ll talk with you.’”

The churches became more concerned with the world’s social ills than with the “Christ Gospel of salvation,” admitted noted Catholic priest Fulton J. Sheen. “When the pulpits no longer resounded with that Name ‘above every name,’ the young began calling themselves ‘Jesus people.’”

These young people ask: “What is the satisfaction of a house, new car, and a career if you have only lived to die, and all mankind is no more than 20 minutes from extinction?” Nobody wants the human race to be blotted out in twenty minutes in an atomic holocaust. “Nobody wants to believe that his life has no meaning,” they say, adding: “Jesus is meaning.”

Today’s “established” religions have a foot in both worlds. They claim to follow Jesus, but are involved in the world’s social and political life. And certainly they do not require obedience to the strict principles of morals, honesty, doctrine and zeal that Jesus specified for his followers.

The churches’ concern with non-Biblical matters has moved them away from the teachings that produced such zeal among the early Christians who lived in Jesus’ day and shortly thereafter. Many youths have seen little in today’s churches to hold them. Some have dismissed religion as “irrelevant and hypocritical.” “Jesus people” stress the fact that they are not returning to “religion,” but to “Jesus.”a

Why Attracted?

What, then, is it that attracts so many persons to this movement? The “Jesus people” do not care what a person looks like, or how he is dressed. Someone, either one of their ministers or a member of his flock, has gone out particularly to interest these youths, and whether a person has a shirt or socks does not matter to them.

Sometimes the service is conducted by a young person, who says he too took drugs, but that he found the drug scene just “isn’t where it’s at.” Young people who hunger for God are made to feel at home. And, liking companionship and being of a nature to help others, they bring their friends.

Another thing that attracts these young people is the opportunity to participate. They may clap and sing. Some raise their hands to heaven and moan. They offer “testimonies” about how they abandoned drugs, prostitution, or other vices.

Many persons would be surprised at the interest with which so many young people listen to a discussion of a Bible book such as Hosea​—and to the effort that is made to apply it to their lives. The interest in Biblical explanation is great; it is only that the churches have ignored this need, and many youths have turned away from them to half-correct explanations, not knowing where to find something better.

But what is wrong with the explanations? And is there something better?

[Footnotes]

Time to Return to Truth

THE “Jesus people” are fervently convinced that we are in the “last days,” and that Christ’s second coming is imminent. They teach Biblical principles that say you should live a morally clean life​—rejecting drugs, magic, and so forth. Commendable conclusions, since so few believe or practice these Bible-based teachings in this modern age.

However, they teach a number of things that they do not realize are not in harmony with the Bibles they read and carry. Many of these ideas come from the independent Protestant clergymen who have made a particular effort to interest these youths.

These young people are Jesus-oriented, but there is a need to go farther. They need to learn also about God, the Father. Jesus came to earth to reveal the Father. He was sent by the Father to teach, to set a proper example for us, to give his life as a ransom for sinful mankind. But in all of this Jesus gave the primary attention and prominence to his Father.

Jesus’ model prayer, given to instruct his followers on proper prayer to God, begins with the words: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” (Matt. 6:9)a The Bible gives the Father’s name. The Hebrew characters for God’s Name, JEHOVAH, appear thousands of times in the original Hebrew-language Bible, and that name is found in the King James Version at Psalm 83:18 and Exodus 6:3, as well as other places.

Jesus, being the mediator between God and man, instructed: “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” (John 16:23) But rather than instruct his followers to worship him, as do the “Jesus people,” Jesus said: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”​—John 4:23.

True, the Scriptures say: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31) But ‘believing on Jesus’ means believing that he told the truth​—that he was right in what he said. And that includes what he said about taking in knowledge not only of himself but also of the Father, whom he called “the only true God.”​—John 17:3.

One young person correctly explained this proper viewpoint to another: “That doesn’t mean we don’t love Jesus​—it is just that he is not God. The Bible shows he is the highest one in the universe next to God. We have great affection for him​—the only one for whom we have greater affection is Jehovah God himself.”

An “Immortal Soul”?

The movement teaches non-Biblical doctrines that long have been taught by sects of Christendom. One is the idea that man has an “immortal soul” that will suffer in “hellfire” if man is not saved. But the Bible does not say that an “immortal soul” lives on to receive rewards or punishments. Rather, it says just the opposite. It says the soul dies.

Open your Bible to Ezekiel 18:4. There, according to the King James Version, you will not read that the sinning soul goes into “hellfire.” Instead, it says: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” See also verse 20.

According to the Bible, the dead could not be suffering in “hellfire.” The Bible specifically says, at Ecclesiastes 9:5: “The dead know not any thing.” Ec 9 Verse 10 of the same chapter adds: “There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Psalm 146:4 says of the day a man dies: “In that very day his thoughts perish.”

If the dead know nothing, and have no thoughts or knowledge, they obviously could not be suffering torments or pain, as the “Jesus people” believe.

“Then what about the word ‘hell’?” you may ask, adding: “It certainly appears in the Bible!”

Bible writers used the Hebrew word “sheol” and the Greek word “hades,” which some Bibles translate as “hell.” But sheol and hades did not mean a place of torture at all. Instead, they simply meant the common grave of mankind​—including men like Jesus who obeyed God. Yes, the apostle Peter applied Psalm 16:10 to Jesus, saying: “David speaketh concerning him [Jesus] . . . thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [Hebrew, sheol; Greek, hades], neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (Acts 2:25-27) Surely none of the “Jesus people” will argue that Jesus went to hellfire when he died!

In several instances Jesus used the valley of Hinnom (Greek, Gehenna), Jerusalem’s community garbage dump, to symbolize the complete destruction of those who willfully disbelieve. No resurrection hope is held out for those “pitched into Gehenna” in contrast to those in the common grave of mankind.

The “Rapture”

Many of the “Jesus people” believe that the hope for all men who have accepted Jesus is the “rapture,” when, they believe, all persons who have accepted Jesus will suddenly be taken to heaven.

However, the Bible shows that, while there will be a limited group, a “little flock,” in the heavenly kingdom, the hope for the majority of mankind is for everlasting life right here, on a renewed earth.​—Luke 12:32.

David of ancient Israel did not pray to go to heaven. Such a hope was not even open to him, for the small heavenly class had not yet begun to be chosen. Instead, he confidently declared: “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”​—Ps. 37:11.

Some of the publications used by the “Jesus people” make general reference to the “new earth,” but people who attended their meetings for some while said they had heard nothing of such a wonderful hope. Hence, the need to go further in their search for the truth and the real hope for the future.

Jehovah God used Isaiah to foretell the righteous conditions that would prevail in the “new earth.” Then, another person will not exploit you, to benefit from the house you build, or the vineyard you plant​—as is often the case today. Instead, the prophecy promises that each one will enjoy the benefits of his own labors​—and the people “shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” (Isa. 65:17-24) Referring back to this promise, the apostle Peter wrote: “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens [God’s righteous heavenly government] and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”​—2 Pet. 3:13.

A problem for young people today is where to go when they “cut out” from this world’s vain and selfish pursuits. If a person truly loves right and just conditions, he will not need to look farther than God’s paradise earth, now very near to being a reality.

“Jumping Around”

Many of the “Jesus people” frequently refer to body-jerking “Pentecostal” manifestations. They speak of “jumping around,” speaking in “tongues,” performing “healings” and other such actions. The apostle Paul identified such manifestations as speaking in “tongues” with the ‘babyhood’ of Christianity. (1 Cor. 13:8-11) After referring specifically to gifts of “tongues,” he said: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” According to the apostle’s own prediction, these have now passed away.

Consequently, these manifestations must now come from a different source than did the “gifts of the spirit” evident in first-century Christianity. Today such hearing of voices and seizures involve spiritism. Thus the need to heed the warning by a close disciple of Jesus: “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.”​—1 John 4:1, NW.

Interest in Doctrine

The existence of the “Jesus movement” indicates that spiritual matters really do interest many of today’s youth. A few have gone farther. They have seen that, despite its Bible reading, the “Jesus movement” has not fully returned to true Bible doctrines and has carried over some teachings from Christendom that are completely false. After going deeper into the Scriptures in their studies with Jehovah’s witnesses, they have seen the need to put aside their former beliefs that are rooted in paganism, rather than in the Bible, such as immortality of the human soul, hellfire, the Trinity, and so forth. Now they are actively teaching the Bible’s thrilling truths to others.

People who study with Jehovah’s witnesses find that this is not a matter of “instant conversion.” Study is required. They must learn Scriptural teachings, principles and prophecies. They develop a really sound basis for their faith​—a deep conviction, based on knowledge, rather than enthusiasm for a passing fad.

“What really interested you about Jehovah’s witnesses?” a former participant in the “Jesus movement” was asked.

“Doctrinal things,” she said. “It made sense.”

She explained: “I stomped into the Kingdom Hall and said: ‘Answer my questions!’ The answers were based so much on the Bible that you couldn’t fight it. I was looking for loopholes, but there just weren’t any.”

An understanding of the magnificent hope the Bible holds out for earth’s immediate future removes the need for drugs, or for shouting, clapping, stomping, emotion-charged meetings. An understanding of these promises produces a calm and reasoned determination within the individual, who then finds great joy in sharing this wonderful hope with others.

[Footnotes]

Marks of Real Christianity

ALMOST anyone would agree that a large church or long-standing church membership does not mean one has the marks of real Christianity. But what truly should those marks be? Note the observations made by E. M. Green in his book about evangelism among early Christians:

“One of the most striking features in evangelism in the early days was the people who engaged in it. Communicating the faith was not regarded as the preserve of the very zealous or of the officially designated evangelist. Evangelism was the prerogative and the duty of every Church member. We have seen apostles and wandering prophets, nobles and paupers, intellectuals and fishermen all taking part enthusiastically in this the primary task committed by Christ to his Church. The ordinary people of the Church saw it as their job: Christianity was supremely a lay movement, spread by informal missionaries. . . .

“This infectious enthusiasm on the part of such diverse people of differing ages, backgrounds, sex, and cultures was backed up by the quality of their lives. Their love, their joy, their changed habits and progressively transformed characters gave great weight to what they had to say.”

Hence, zealous evangelizing by all in a congregation, by old and young, as well as the evidences of real Christian transformation​—these are marks of true Christianity.

En Route to Adventure

ON Monday, August 14, in Sarafand, Israel, two Arab girls were sentenced to life imprisonment for their share in hijacking a Belgian airliner and forcing it to land at Lod airport in Israel. One of the judges had favored the death penalty.

Three months earlier, as news of the skyjacking was flashed around the world, on May 9, radio broadcasters related what was taking place in the tense drama that was unfolding at Lod. We listened.

How does it feel to know one is about to land at the same airport later in the day? Members of our party were jumpy! In a few minutes we were to board a British European Airlines DC 9 and leave London’s international airport en route to Israel. What would happen when our flight arrived? We wondered.

Four members of the Black September Arab Commandos’ organization had hijacked a Sabena Boeing 707 and threatened to blow it up, killing all on board, unless a hundred Arab guerrilla terrorists were freed.

Reports said that the airplane was packed with plastic charges and that the hijackers were carrying grenades. Tension mounted as negotiations between the Arabs and Lt. Gen. David Elazar, Israeli armed forces Chief of Staff, continued during the night.

Our plane would not arrive until seven hours later. Surely by then​—we were trying to reassure ourselves—​the problem would be resolved.

Security procedures at the London airport did nothing to allay our fears. Passengers were X-rayed before they boarded the plane. Everything was thoroughly checked​—baggage, purses, even lipstick tubes were opened. Only then were passengers cleared for boarding.

Passengers a Mosaic of Israel’s Population

What a varied group we were! The contrasts were remarkable! In one of the new, well-appointed seats a sun-bronzed patriarch, dressed in flowing robes, watched through his window as the plane sped down the runway at over 150 miles an hour. A white kerchief bound to his head by a double row of braid framed his deeply etched face. The passenger shifted his legs, exposing his well-worn leather-thonged sandals. In this era of supersonic speed, it seemed that he had stepped out of the past. The Bible patriarch Abraham might have been so attired when Jehovah promised him that his seed would inherit the Holy Land.

Our busy air hostess was probably unaware of the incongruous scene she had created when she ushered two women to seats beside this traveler. Jewish Americans, they were traveling to Israel in bold, color-splashed, printed pant suits. Their dangling bracelets clanked in rhythm with the gestures that accompanied their animated conversation. Still, with the high cheekbones, aquiline noses, tawny hair, the proud carriage, the traces of beauty were there.

And there were children. One daddy juggled three dark-eyed moppets from knee to knee during the long flight, but his irritation showed. Here was the imperfect human, lacking the patience of Jesus, who took young children into his arms, not in irritation, but to bless them.​—Mark 10:16.

Immigrants, tourists, Arabs, students, priests​—our passengers were a miniature mosaic of the diverse population of Israel itself, for the country is a collection of minorities coming from remarkably disparate backgrounds.

Why the Land’s Attraction?

What is the candle that attracts people like moths from all over the earth to this land? Surely it cannot be a search for peace, for Israel is not a land of peace. It teeters precariously on the brink of war and is surrounded, to a large extent, by the lands of enemies that have sworn to destroy it. Israel’s sheep are still made to lie down in grassy pastures and are conducted by well-watered resting places just like those described by the psalmist David, but today the shepherd carries a rifle over his shoulder.

In Biblical days Moses was commanded by Jehovah to send spies to scout out the land before the children of Israel possessed it. They found a richly productive land. But the spies did not have to carry submachine guns. Today, as the hay is baled and the land again yields its increase, girls wearing faded army fatigues and carrying weapons oversee the operation. Male or female, almost everyone does military service. Even women who are automatically excused if they come from Orthodox families, in many cases decide that it is their duty to join forces that will defend their country.

In this land military reminders are everywhere. At the Sea of Galilee where Jesus preached, “Happy are the peaceable, since they will be called ‘sons of God,’” tractors are armored; children play near air-raid shelters. They have been alerted by parents to listen for the sirens that signal danger.

At the Mount of Beatitudes, where there is a natural amphitheater with acoustics so superb that thousands could have heard the Sermon on the Mount, barbwire fences, a grim reminder of war, remain. For relative peace in the area has existed only since 1967, when the Israelis were victorious after a six-day war with the Arabs, Previously guns and mortars had, for nineteen years, shelled residents from the heights.

On roads running close to the Syrian border small red triangles dot the landscape, warning that danger may still be lurking there. These and the occasional overturned tank remain as evidence of political hate and intimidation.

Such were the feelings that were behind the hijacking that was being attempted at Lod airport now. Officials of the International Red Cross were also involved in trying desperately to negotiate a settlement. The hijackers, two men and two girls, were becoming impatient. At stake were the lives of the ninety-seven passengers aboard the Sabena jet. Still, throughout the incident, Israeli officials refused to budge. They were determined to demonstrate that the State would not tolerate air piracy and blackmail as a means of gaining the release of imprisoned guerrillas. The situation was critical. What if the terrorists blew up the plane and destroyed the runway on which we were to land?

No, truly, the thousands of tourists who visit Israel each year are not seeking a land without tension. More often they hope to step back in time, gain deeper insight, and strengthen their faith by returning to the land where ancient religious dramas took place. In this respect the Holy Land lives up to its promise, for it has been the focal point in the development of three of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam​—here the cherished symbols and edifices are intricately mixed.

Events of the Past Come to Life

For the Christian the land is a treasure-house. There is Nazareth, boyhood home of Jesus, a hilly town. The terrain is a reminder that when Jesus returned here to preach, the inhabitants, convinced that he was merely a son of Joseph, became angry at his words and “led him to the brow of the mountain upon which their city had been built, in order to throw him down headlong.” (Luke 4:29) In the marketplace, people and donkeys still share the narrow streets as they did in Jesus’ day. Artisans still ply ancient crafts. A blacksmith fashions a scythe by hand. The well where Mary may have drawn her water supply is a favorite attraction.

The Bible really comes alive as one stands on Mount Tabor and visualizes Barak descending with 10,000 men behind him to defeat the forces of Sisera after Jehovah had thrown the enemy force into confusion. Mount Gilboa, standing between the river Kishon and the Jordan valley, is a reminder that here Saul and three of his sons were slain. And what was formerly the small village of Nain brings to mind the happiness of a lonely widow when Jesus raised her only son from the dead.

In and around Jerusalem, the capital, a visitor can walk through thousands of years of history in a few minutes. Here are the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, Mount Zion and Calvary. Here is the famous Jewish wailing wall; also the place where Herod reigned. And here Christ wept over the city: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,​—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you.”​—Matt. 23:37, 38.

And Jerusalem was indeed destroyed. After this, many of the Jews took refuge at Safad, a city built after the destruction. Today the routes to this city are picturesque because of the storks, birds with a height of four feet and a magnificent wingspan, and which regularly migrate through Palestine from their winter quarters in Africa.

Here in Israel the scholar can follow the path that Jesus walked, examine the Oriental features of the inhabitants of the modern State, see the traditional garments that Jews have worn for centuries, and hear Greek, Arabic and Hebrew spoken as events of the past come to life. Movement, life and color are added to the written Word. In an age of cynicism and doubt, reverence is felt; the need for worship is reinforced.

Truly the words of Goethe especially apply to the historic state of Israel: “If you want to understand the poet, visit his country.” This is why we came.

Arrival at Lod

For over half an hour our plane circled the runway. The airport was alive with activity and we could not land. Then clearance​—and relief! We were coming down. There was the Sabena jet surrounded by army trucks.

Israeli troops, disguised as airport mechanics, had taken control of the aircraft. In the assault the two male Arabs had been killed, one of the girl hijackers wounded and the second one captured. Passengers leaped, climbed and slid from the plane. Israeli authorities who had not given in for fear that such action would encourage further attempts at guerrilla extortion were victorious. The two girls now were faced with life-long imprisonment.

As we waited at the curb for our taxi, ambulances roared past. It seemed as though half the population of Israel must have been at the airport to see the drama. Among them was Moshe Dayan.

Tension, relief​—our feelings were mixed as we headed for Haifa. The incident was over, but the opportunity to visit the sites that marked the lives of the patriarchs and the founders of Christianity, the real adventure, was about to begin.​—Contributed.

Home Barbering​—Is It for You?

A BARBER in Brooklyn, New York, recently visited some friends and, as he frequently does as a gesture of kindness, volunteered to cut the boy’s hair. When he finished fifteen minutes later, the mother said: “Do you know how much I paid for his last haircut that looked no better than that? Ten dollars!”

Prices for everything have gone up, but the cost of a haircut has risen more than most things. In St. Louis the regular price is $3. In downtown Philadelphia it is $4, but some shops in metropolitan areas charge much more, as evidenced by the experience above. In smaller towns haircuts cost between $1.50 and $3, and prices run around $2 in countries such as Denmark and Germany.

Thus, depending on where a person lives, he may pay $25 to $75 a year for haircuts. If there are three, four or more boys in the family, the expense can really add up.

It is not surprising, then, that in many families one of the parents does the hair cutting. This practice is more widespread than you may think. It is estimated that several million home hair clippers have been sold in America. Barbers who cut the hair of the more than 1,500 workers at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York report that more than one out of four of the workers, before coming to live here, had their hair cut at home rather than at a commercial barbershop.

However, saving money is not the only reason why many parents prefer to cut their children’s hair. This is evidenced by the experience of a professional barber who offered to cut the hair of a friend’s children regularly. The father thanked the barber for his kind offer, but said that he would rather do the cutting himself. He explained: “You see, this gives me an opportunity every two weeks or so to be alone to talk with my boys.”

Some parents find it more convenient to cut hair at home than to take young ones to a barbershop, wait for them, and then bring them home again. A young child’s first trip to a barbershop can be a frightening experience. So the home, some feel, is a more reassuring environment in which to introduce their young ones to buzzing clippers and snapping scissors.

It is noteworthy that commercial barbering has been in a decline recently. In the state of Michigan, for example, there were 1,000 fewer barbershops in 1970 than in 1965. However, the principal reason for this is not an increase in home barbering, but the change to longer hair styles.

Early Barbering

Human hair grows a half inch to an inch a month. To control this growth, haircutting no doubt originally was done at home by a family member. But specialists apparently soon became common. Over 2,500 years ago the Bible spoke of the “barbers’ razor.” (Ezek. 5:1) And about that time the Greeks reportedly had lavish barber salons.

In those days barbering enjoyed considerable prestige, especially when barbers also began practicing surgery about 110 C.E. These so-called barber surgeons, besides cutting hair, pulled teeth, dressed wounds and, in particular, practiced bloodletting, a very common therapy in the Middle Ages. In 1292 there were 200 barbers in Paris.

The red-, white-and-blue-striped pole with a ball on top is the familiar barbershop identification in many places today. Originally on top of the pole was a basin, said to represent the vessel in which the leeches used in bloodletting were kept. And the red-and-white-painted stripes on the barber’s pole had their origin with the blood-stained bandages hanging out to dry, which once were the recognized emblem of the barber’s profession. The pole’s blue stripe is a later addition.

In 1745 barbering and surgery were separated in England, and there was a continued slow decline of the barbering art. By the end of the nineteenth century barbershops had generally become untidy and unsanitary.

In the present century, however, improvements have been made. Many barber schools have been established. These teach not only haircutting, but sanitation, scalp treatments and related subjects. Schooling consists of some 1,000 to 1,800 hours of training.

The barbering art thus has risen again in stature and, at the same time, so has the cost of a haircut. From as little as ten to fifteen cents at the turn of the century, the price has reached thirty and more times that amount today. It is particularly this price rise that has caused many families to turn to cutting hair at home.

Is home barbering for you? Can you learn to cut the hair of members of your family? It may not be as difficult as you think, especially since you need not contend with a variety of hair styles. Also, the hair of children can be the least complicated to cut.

Barbering Equipment and Its Use

Proper equipment is important in doing a presentable job. Home-barbering kits, which feature a barbershop-like electric clipper with snap-on clipper guides, can be purchased for as little as $15 to $30. These kits may have such accessories as a comb, barber scissors, neck brush, and so forth. In a family with several children, the kit can pay for itself in two or three months.

The snap-on clipper guides can be especially useful. These comblike devices simply snap onto the clipper’s cutting head. They hold the clipper’s cutting edge a certain distance from the person’s head, making it easy to obtain a uniform hair length.

Tapering the hair around the back hairline and sides of the head can be somewhat of a challenge.

However, barbering kits often have tapering guides. For example, there is one for the right side of the head and another for the left side. When these are snapped on, you can run the clippers over each side of the head (around the ears), and the hair will be cut shortest near the hairline and progressively longer higher up the head. By learning to use effectively the various clipper guides, you can do a good job of cutting the sides and back of the head.

You should remember that the hair should taper or graduate upward, getting progressively longer as you go higher from the hairline. A clipper guide that allows hair to be cut quite short, perhaps an eighth of an inch, may be used from the back hairline up the head about an inch or so. Imagine that the clippers are a little airplane, and that the end of the area to be cut using this clipper guide is the end of the runway. This means that as you get to the end of this area, the clippers should have made a slow takeoff and be in the air.

To cut the next section, an inch or two higher up the back of the head, another clipper guide should be used, one that does not permit the clippers to cut the hair as short. After completing these steps, work with the clippers is completed.

To finish the haircut from where your clippers have left off, the scissors and comb are the best instruments to use. The scissors and comb should be used to continue tapering the hair from the shorter length, making it progressively longer as you go higher up the head. Finally, to do the top of the head, some prefer to comb through the hair and grasp the strands between the middle and the index finger of one hand, and use the scissors in the other hand to cut the ends off at the desired length.

The razor comb is another home-barbering instrument, and it costs just a dollar or two. It is a plastic comb into which a razor blade can be inserted. Caution should be exercised in using it, however, for too much pressure on the comb can result in a botched-up job. But with practice some parents have become adept at giving haircuts with this simple device.

Home-barbering Tips

Should you decide to try your hand at home barbering, here are some general tips: For very young children, it is helpful while cutting their hair to have someone hold their head still. It is also wise not to try to give a haircut when either you or the child is tired. Seat the child high enough so you do not need to stoop over to cut. Choose a well-lighted room.

Also, be alert for lumps or bumps on the head. When the clippers hit these they can leave odd-looking bald spots. For safety, it is recommended, while the clippers are plugged in, to keep both the barber and the subject out of reach of other electrical appliances, radiators, or other plumbing.

It is good to work slowly. Do not dig or chop. Keep your fingers and hand relaxed, not stiff or tense. Hold your comb and other instruments lightly. Hair is a delicate fiber and cuts easily, so cut with a light action.

Do not expect excellent results right off. It takes practice. But with the advantage of working on the same persons time after time, many parents learn to give excellent haircuts, at great savings. You, too, may decide that home barbering is for you.

The Tearoom​—Part of Life in Korea

By “Awake!” correspondent in Korea

IN Seoul, the capital city of Korea, there are 2,800 tearooms, or about one for every 2,000 persons! That may seem as if people in Korea are very thirsty. But tearooms here are popular for reasons other than the drinks they serve. They are a place to socialize.

A person may unexpectedly meet someone on the street and want to have some quiet, confidential talk. Or it may be that businessmen want a place where they can meet. Usually homes are small, and families are large. There is little privacy there. But tearooms, located in every neighborhood, have long been natural meeting places.

It is becoming increasingly common for youths in their late teens and early twenties to meet their “dates” at a tearoom. It is true that dating is not considered in good taste in Korea unless the couple are engaged, and then it is expected that there will be a chaperon. However, many young people have broken away from older customs, and for them tearooms have become a place to rendezvous.

Tearooms also are used by parents to arrange marriages. This is usually done through a go-between, or mediator. This one will often meet with the parents in a tearoom and, while having something to drink, he will search out the background of the family, as well as the qualities of the prospective bride or bridegroom. After negotiating, parents of both sides will meet together​—in the local tearoom.

Then, too, restaurants serving Korean food do not serve coffee or tea. So persons may go to a tearoom for after-dinner drinks. Also, people use tearooms for waiting. Often tearooms adjoining theaters are just for that purpose.

These tearooms are filled with small, low tables. There is often little or no daylight inside, and the lights are turned low. Music adds to the mood. It may be loud and brassy, or of the milder type. Frequently there is a big television screen showing some sports event or a daily drama.

Usually the owner is a widow or a mistress of some businessman, attired in attractive and expensive Korean dress. Working for her are very polite and friendly waitresses called reji. They are usually in their early twenties and attired in miniskirts.

Circumstances vary in each teahouse. Some cater to particular types of people. For example, in the downtown business district there are those designed to appeal to businessmen. Other places in the city cater to entertainers, and still others to college students. Many are designed for no particular clientele, but just for anyone who may want to visit.

Competition between tearooms is great. In order to win customers, they try to keep ahead of other tearooms by means of attractive decor. Their names are selected to add to the atmosphere. For example, there are the “Paradise,” “Crossroads,” “White Bear,” “New World,” “Rose,” and so forth.

Most tearooms serve the same things. There are tea, coffee, fruit juices, health drinks made from herbs and, in the summer, iced drinks. Many also serve whiskey tea and other things alcoholic. There is also raw egg in hot coffee, called “morning coffee.” However, tea and coffee, syrupy sweet with sugar, are the mainstays of the business.

A feature of tearooms that some people like is the telephone, since not all homes have one. Calls can be made for a nominal charge. And if a call comes in for a person, he will be paged. Some businessmen with no office of their own will use a certain tearoom as the center of their operations. They may even print the telephone number of the tearoom on their business card and make their phone contacts there. Tearoom management, however, does not approve of the practice.

At the entrance there is usually a fancy cloth-covered message board. There a neatly folded message can be inserted, with the name showing of the person for whom it is intended. This communications system costs nothing. Newspapers, too, are available at tearooms and are passed around from table to table.

A person may spend considerable time in a tearoom, even though drinking is only incidental. In such case the money for something to drink is called cha-ri-kap, the price for the seat taken, rather than for what is consumed.

These places may be called tearooms, but really they are more than that. They are a part of life in Korea.

“Help! Garbage Needed!”

By “Awake!” correspondent in West Germany

TOO little garbage at a time when mankind is threatened by a garbage avalanche? At present the mountain of garbage in Germany is estimated to contain about 262 million cubic yards. With this amount an area of about 770 square miles could be covered with a layer four inches deep.

The garbage problem is international. England and France have already formed departments for the preservation of the environment. Former American Senator Joseph Tydings of Maryland expressed the opinion that $4,000,000,000 should be set aside for garbage disposal over a five-year period.

How, then, is it possible that anyone could be sending out an SOS for garbage? Well, of course, most places are not desirous of more garbage; they have too much already. But there are localities where the message, in effect, is: “Help! Garbage needed!” Why? Of what value is garbage?

About thirty years ago the Netherlands government discovered its value for agriculture. The city commissioners of The Hague were planning an expensive project for the burning of garbage; however, the government induced them to give up their plan and to turn the garbage into compost instead. So valuable was this compost to agriculture that I. R. Teensma from Amsterdam said: “In the Netherlands the demand for garbage is so great, that only half can be supplied.”

The situation has been similar in other countries. In 1971, in Switzerland the demand for compost made from garbage was far above the supply, and in Germany the demand was so great that there were difficulties in obtaining enough compost for the Olympic grounds in Munich. Reports from Blaubeuren in the neighborhood of Ulm, where a compost factory is located, reflect the problem: “We haven’t enough garbage [in the vicinity] to satisfy our customers with garbage compost.”

Garbage Disposal

For the disposal of garbage there are usually three methods: dumping, burning, and composting. The demand for garbage compost indicates that there are interesting possibilities for this type of disposal or, more correctly stated, this type of use. What is garbage compost and how is it manufactured?

The best example of the manufacture of compost whereby animal and plant matter is slowly decomposed, can be found in forests. Leaves, pine needles, dry wood, and so forth, fall to the ground. On the forest floor innumerable creatures, from earthworms to microorganisms, work to decompose this material. About 90 percent of the material passes through the digestive system of worms, thus being processed into a well-prepared compost that will then be further decomposed by other organisms. Bacteria and fungi take care of further decomposition of the “forest garbage,” the resulting humus enriching the soil. This natural process, of course, is too slow for garbage compost preparation.

What is needed to meet the demand is “express” composting. But how is it done? And how can good-smelling garden soil or even pig feed be made from refuse? Let’s take a closer look at the operation of a compost factory.

A Compost Factory

The incoming garbage truck dumps its contents into a shaft. A conveyor belt transports the garbage into a screen grater. This machine reduces glass, wood, plastic and paper into small pieces of about one to one and a half inches in diameter. Larger pieces such as tin cans remain in the screen. The material that has gone through the grater has all remaining pieces of metal removed by a magnet.

Next, the mixture comes into the kneading press. Here the garbage is pulverized into minute pieces. Also, sewage sludge is added. The rotting process, facilitated by the sewage, now takes place in high bins. The supply of oxygen and moisture is automatically regulated, creating ideal conditions for the microorganisms contained in the garbage. Carbon dioxide that develops is piped off. With this method there is no bad smell.

Since the sewage sludge is an especially dangerous reservoir of germs, what happens to these dangerous organisms in the composting process? The very first day in these large bins a temperature of 175° to 185° F. develops. This destroys disease germs. Those resisting heat are destroyed by other bacteria. Even the tough Bacillus anthracis is destroyed. The result is a purification of the dangerous sewage sludge.

What happens to the glass in the garbage? According to Dr. Spohn of Heidelberg, pulverized glass is also decomposed during the rotting process. It loses its sharp edges due to the activity of microorganisms. A folder from the compost factory in Blaubeuren says: “Pieces of glass and such things are not to be sorted out! They are part of the manufacturing process and are rendered completely harmless.”

After about two weeks of rotting, the resulting compost is taken out of the bins and stacked for about a month, for it to mature properly. The result is a mature compost with the original content of the garbage completely digested. It looks like good garden soil and is free from harmful bacteria.

Value to Plants and Pigs

Though garbage compost is not a fertilizer, it does revitalize the soil and improves its ability to retain air, moisture and warmth. When the soil retains more air the microbic life processes can be increased and maintained. With proper use, garbage compost can renew and maintain the health and productivity of the soil.

Good-tasting healthy vegetables grow in this soil, enriched with garbage compost. Plants are much more easily protected against diseases when grown in this soil. They are so healthy that they remain astonishingly parasite resistant without insecticides. For example, in experimental fields potato plants were hardly touched by potato bugs. Research showed that, as a rule, parasites attack only sick plants.

But what does garbage have to do with pig feed? In the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany, compost made from garbage has been used for hog feed, especially for young pigs. In the Netherlands about 1,500 tons of compost were used for this purpose in 1966. Many countries are supplied compost for this purpose from the factory in Blaubeuren. This “pig dirt” is not a complete feed but an interesting supplement with valuable nutrients.

An analysis shows over forty different microorganisms that are intestinally valuable. Natural hormones, vitamins and enzymes not contained in the normal feeds nor in sour milk are also present. Reports from farmers show that a supplement of “pig dirt” for a period of four weeks makes regular iron shots and the use of antibiotics unnecessary, diarrhea is prevented, and it protects against worms.

Question As to Use

Instead of considering garbage and sewage sludge as annoying refuse, there are authorities that encourage saving it and using it as a source of raw material. Agriculture has long ago gone over to the machine age, so why not use machines to help convert garbage into a rich source of raw material?

The Netherlands sells annually nearly 200,000 tons of compost. Compost factories in other countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland have also been successful. Some operators of compost factories are of the opinion that more garbage could beneficially be turned into compost, especially for regenerating the soil.

Until now it has always seemed to be simplest and cheapest just to take the garbage to a dump. But the garbage avalanche is growing and the possibilities of dumping it are dwindling. In addition it presents dangers to our environment and ground water. Thus more and more localities are faced with the question, Will their garbage be simply annoying and even dangerous refuse, or will it be used to produce valuable products?

Treating Burns

◆ Recently a letter was received at the offices of the publishers of Awake! It was from a reader in Wisconsin. He said:

“Last Sunday my wife was making coffee, and as she removed the filter it dropped. Coffee and coffee grounds spilled all over [my daughter] Judy’s right arm. My wife quickly washed the grounds off our daughter’s arm. Yet her arm seemed scalded and Judy was in a lot of pain. I remembered reading in the Awake! magazine [the issue of July 22, 1966] that cold water was the best thing for burns. I quickly put a cold washcloth on her arm and filled the kitchen sink with cold water. When Judy put her arm in the cold water, she immediately experienced relief.

“I could see a large patch of skin was blistered, so I decided to call our doctor. The first thing he asked me was: ‘What are you doing for it?’ I explained that she had her arm submerged in cold water. ‘Excellent,’ he said. Then he asked to see us later that same morning. In the meantime Judy was to keep her arm in the water. Later we went to the doctor’s office and he put some medication on the arm. But he was very impressed that we knew about the water treatment. I told him that I had read it in Awake! magazine. All he could say was, ‘Marvelous.’

“I couldn’t help but be thankful that we had faithfully read the magazines as they came to us.”

How to Trap Appetites with Tasty Cheese

By “Awake!” correspondent in the Netherlands

ONE of the most common foods eaten by people around the world, from the poles to the tropics, is cheese in its endless varieties. Why, they even eat cheese ’n’ crackers on the moon, those astronauts! Cheese has the reputation of being one of man’s oldest here-to-stay foodstuffs. Not only are there over seven hundred varieties made from the milk of cows, goats, ewes and yaks, there are even far more ways than that of serving them.

Some countries have excelled others in the art of cheese making, the Netherlands being one of these. Besides exporting large quantities for the enjoyment of many people around the globe, Hollanders themselves also consume a great deal of cheese. They have, as a result, a number of suggestions for serving this nourishing food that they would like to share with you.

The next time special company comes to your house, why not treat them to something out of the ordinary in the way of a tasty cheese tidbit, or even a more elaborate cheese dish? But why wait for “special company” to come, when your own family will thoroughly enjoy the same treat?

There is an almost unlimited number of hors d’oeuvres in the cheese family that will excite the appetite of young and old alike. Try just setting out small cubes of several different kinds of cheese for your guests to sample, and then dress up some of the little cubes with a variety of toppings​—pickled onions, gherkin pickles, confitured cherries, walnuts, dates, pieces of ham, bits of sausage meats, and sprinklings of seasonings, like ginger. On the side include an assortment of salty crackers. Then if an even larger display of goodies is desired, add several cheese dips to the menu.

If the occasion warrants, serve a little wine or other alcoholic drink along with these cheese snacks. Milk is also compatible with cheese and is much better for children and many older ones.

This is important: before-the-meal hors d’oeuvres should excite and tease the appetite, not kill it. So, be generous in the variety, but sparing in the quantity served. Let your guests come hungry to the meal that follows.

Other Interesting Suggestions

For a snack or light meal that is more substantial than just appetite teasers, here are some combinations you can try. Many people like a cheeseburger (a hamburger topped with a slice of cheddar cheese), or a toasted cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich. If you enjoy Danish blue cheese, slip a generous slice into a regular hamburger instead of pickles. Beer goes well with these.

Or try this one​—pineapple coupe. Mix yeast extract with soft cheese and spread generously on toast. Then top with a slice of pineapple and in its center insert a slice of bacon. Now slide under the grill until the bacon is crispy.

Mini pizza is a contribution from Italy. For the base, use cream crackers or toasted halves of English muffins on which you smear anchovy paste from a tube. Lay on each a slice of mozzarella cheese and top with tomato paste or catsup, or a slice of tomato. Add a dash of olive oil, a sprinkling of crushed oregano and powdered garlic. Place on a baking tin and leave under the grill until the cheese is melted.

Here is a Spanish dish that is different: For each serving take a pork or veal cutlet about three eighths of an inch thick. Salt and rub with olive oil; then brown in butter for three or four minutes. Top this with a slice each of ham and cheese, and continue the frying until the cheese is melted. Serve along with fruit salad to which a dash of sherry wine has been added.

Another treat is Swiss raclette. Butter individual heat-resistant bowls and lay in each a half-inch-thick slice of a rich cheese like Tilsiter. Place in a preheated oven so the cheese starts to melt. Peel previously cooked potatoes and lay two or three alongside the melted cheese in each bowl. Add onions and gherkins and give the pepper mill a few turns over the top.

Why Not Serve Fondue?

This name is of French origin, meaning “melted,” but whether the French or Swiss or someone else made and served it first is not certain. For a serving of four you need a pound of cheese, a pint of white wine, a clove of garlic, two teaspoons of cornstarch, lemon juice, nutmeg and a small glass of kirsch.

Briskly rub the garlic on the inside of the caquelon, as the fondue cooking pan is called. Add the lemon juice and wine (a Moselle or medium-dry table wine), and heat until it is fizzing. Premix the cornstarch in a little wine and add it now with the cheese, which has been grated. There are a variety of cheeses to choose from​—ripe Gouda, Tilsiter, Gruyère or Emmentaler. Or you might combine some, like four parts of Gouda and one part of Kernhem.

Bring the whole dish to the cooking point, at the same time continually stir with a wooden spoon or wire whip until smooth and creamy. Care must be taken to get the right consistency. If only slightly thin, just let it cook a little longer. If considerably on the thin side, add more cheese or whip in a little cornstarch that is first mixed in a little wine. The cornstarch will bind it together. On the other hand, if too thick, add a little warm wine. Finally, with the consistency right, season with pepper, nutmeg and a dash of kirsch, and transfer it to the center of the table, placing it over an alcohol lamp to keep it hot.

Here you have a complete meal, needing no entrée and no dessert. Each person is given a special fondue fork on which small bite-size pieces of French or brown bread or toast are placed. After dipping and twisting until drip free, one has a mouth-watering morsel that is a real treat. If during the feast the fondue thickens, add a little hot wine. Should it curdle, return it to the stove and whip in a little lemon juice or vinegar.

There are many variations on this fondue theme. For example, use curry or paprika instead of pepper. Or season with mustard, cumin, dill or basil, even use various spices to suit your taste and fancy. If there are side dishes of cooked mushrooms, small meatballs, shrimp or olives, these can be dunked along with the bread. Side dishes of lettuce, celery, carrot sticks or other fresh vegetables are enjoyable and help to heighten interest in the fondue centerpiece.

We trust you enjoy these dishes as much as we cheese eaters here in the Netherlands do, for cheese is both nutritious and delicious.

Changing to the Right

BY “AWAKE!” CORRESPONDENT IN NIGERIA

AT SIX o’clock Sunday morning all traffic on Nigerian roads moved from the left side to the right. Crowds of people were already gathering by the roadsides at strategic intersections in the nation’s capital city of Lagos to watch the spectacle.

The time had been carefully selected well in advance. The day of the change was Sunday and the next day was a public holiday, providing two days of reduced traffic flow. The speed limit within all towns was also restricted to twenty miles per hour, and a large corps of the traffic control wardens and policemen was organized to direct the traffic. The authorities who planned the changeover knew that this was necessary so as to ensure greater control as the road users tried to adjust their reflexes that had been trained in the habit of driving on the left.

All traffic had come to a standstill on the left side of the road at midnight to provide a “cooling off” period. As the hour for the change approached, there was a murmur of excitement among the crowds. At 6:00 a.m. the waiting vehicles slowly crept from their parking positions and followed each other, nose to tail, out from the left, across the white median line of the road to the right-hand side. The crowds erupted into cheers. The line of traffic gradually gathered speed until there was a steady flow at twenty miles per hour, but it was not long before impatient drivers began overtaking others, totally disregarding the precautionary speed limit.

The enthusiastic bystanders continued to watch with interest, responding spontaneously with shouts of warning or laughter or good-humored bantering when a motorist would momentarily forget and begin to veer toward the left side of the road.

Since the traffic was not heavy during the first two days of the changeover, everything was comparatively smooth. However, on Tuesday, in Lagos city, traffic was brought to a standstill. The Federal Commissioner for Works himself, who spearheaded the work of changing to the right, normally drove to his office in twenty minutes, but this day he was on the road for more than two hours. Traffic was so hopelessly entangled that some workers who were expected to start work by 8:30 a.m. reached their offices at noon.

What went wrong? Was the nation fully prepared for the changeover? Above all, why did this nation of 60 million people decide to change to the right?

Setting Standards of Traffic Control

History shows that the question of whether to drive on the left or the right was often influenced by the local customs. The British custom of driving on the left was extended to the lands that belonged to England’s colonial empire, just as other colonial powers that drove on the right side of the road imposed this arrangement on the lands that came under their influence.

This explains why, in Africa, some nations drive on the left while others drive on the right. Even when these countries gained independence, the new laws were generally based upon the principles of the colonial mother countries.

Nigeria Made the Move

In October 1961, there was a meeting of the West African Transport Conference in Monrovia and an agreement was made that traffic control among West African countries be standardized. Also, a resolution made by the Economic Commission for Africa in 1964 recommended the change from left to right for all African countries.

In keeping with this, traffic in Nigeria moved from left to right on April 2, 1972. In doing this, it was believed that economic ties with other West African nations would be strengthened. For example, among Nigeria’s neighboring countries traffic is on the right. A person coming to Nigeria from these countries will not need to learn a new set of traffic laws before he can drive with ease in Nigeria.

To further facilitate trade among African countries, preparation is now being made to construct a Trans-African highway from Nigeria to Kenya, covering approximately 4,400 miles. A proposition has also been made to construct a Trans-West African highway from Nigeria to Senegal. With the changeover to the right and further cooperation between the West African countries, Nigeria envisions an expanded market for her products.

Throughout the world, as in Africa, only a minority of countries still drive on the left, and many of these countries are seriously considering changing over to driving on the right. Most car-manufacturing countries drive on the right and manufacture mainly left-hand-drive cars. With more countries considering a switchover to driving on the right, the time is anticipated when the giant motor companies of the world would not find it worth while to continue to produce vehicles built for left-hand traffic. “Therefore,” a Nigerian pamphlet concludes, “if we do not change now, motor vehicles will in the near future be more expensive.”

Preparations

Nigeria started giving serious consideration to changing from left to right in 1969. From then on, much effort was put forth to achieve the aim. “Are we really prepared for the changeover?” “Will it not result in a number of accidents never before experienced in Nigerian history?” “Even if the people in the state capitals were educated on the traffic changeover, how will the people in the villages be educated to get used to the changeover?” were questions people asked.

On January 30, 1970, the Federal government set up the National Commission for Right-Hand Traffic. Attention was given to recruiting traffic control personnel, persons especially trained as road wardens to reinforce the present strength of the traffic police.

Consideration was also given to the road. Some of the existing highways had to be reconstructed for the changeover. New road signs for right-hand traffic were provided. All public passenger vehicle owners were ordered to change the doors of their carriages from left to right.

While other preparations were on, the Federal Ministry of Information was educating the people about the changeover. Use was made of the press, radio and television. Posters, handbills, booklets and car stickers were distributed free of charge to the public. A new highway code was made, billboards and banners were displayed. Cinerovers (mobile film vans) were sent to tour the country. In some states rehearsals were conducted to familiarize the people with the procedure of changing over smoothly to the right. All preparations cost the nation about LN3 million ($9,000,000). With all arrangements in order, Nigeria made the move from left to right.

The Result

Early on Sunday morning, April 2, 1972, I traveled about three miles to my congregation territory in Lagos on a bus to preach the good news of the Kingdom. I was also interested in seeing firsthand the outcome of the traffic changeover. Traffic policemen and road wardens could be seen at strategic points. But it seemed that the majority of motorists decided to take no chances on this first day of the changeover and so chose to stay at home.

Also, the day before the changeover, the Association of Minibuses had resolved that on April 2 no minibus should ply the road and that all drivers should gather their buses at a rendezvous to worship “Ogun,” the god of iron, who is said to be also responsible for the production of steel for making motor vehicles, in appreciation for the significant change in the history of the Nigerian driver.

But why the heavy congestion of traffic on Tuesday? Many reasons were given. Mr. Femi Okunnu, the Federal Commissioner for Works, explained that “the statutory limitation of Vehicular speed to 20 miles per hour . . . was bound to slow down the normal flow of traffic.” Furthermore, he said: “Many motorists . . . had refused to take advantage of the Easter holidays in test driving on the right so as to familiarize themselves with their new routes. Most, or indeed, all of such motorists caused a great deal of this morning’s traffic chaos, as they had to beckon at every traffic warden to show them their way.”

There is an interesting result of the changeover. Whereas death resulting from road accidents had increased by 54.4 percent in April 1971, compared with the corresponding month in 1970, it decreased by 77.6 percent in April 1972, the first month of the changeover. Also, motor accidents decreased by 55.8 percent, compared with the corresponding month in 1971. If traffic holdup was the only major inconvenience resulting from the changeover, in view of the hundreds of lives that were saved, it could be said that the changeover was very successful. But there is apprehension that the drivers, after getting used to the changeover, will return to their old habit of careless driving.

In retrospect, it must be admitted that the decision to change over was a bold one. Carrying it through involved overcoming many serious problems. By and large this was done successfully.

The Body’s Amazing Reflex Action

◆ The body’s capability of performing reflex actions is a safety factor, often preventing further injury. For example, were a hot coal to fall on your toe, sensory nerve impulses would travel to the spinal cord and there make contact with motor nerves. The motor nerves then would route the impulses to muscle fibers in the leg. These would contract, removing the foot from the hot coal​—all this in a bare fraction of a second. This reflex action involves no conscious thought. Not until the foot draws away and the sensory nerve impulses, continuing their journey, reach the brain is pain felt. Thus in initially bypassing the brain the nerve impulses involved in reflex actions get the body out of danger almost immediately. Truly this testifies to the purposeful design of a loving Creator.

River Giant of Central Africa

By “Awake!” correspondent in the Republic of Zaïre

ALMOST silently it moves, snaking between lush, tropical growth. Its brown, undulating surface reflects the rays of the glaring African sun. No jungle serpent this​—but the second-longest river on the African continent and the sixth-longest in the world.

This is the mighty stream known to many as the Congo River. The river was renamed the Zaïre (pronounced zah·EER) by the Republic of Zaïre last year. Far from being a babbling brook, this river giant disgorges from its four-mile-wide mouth over 10,000,000 gallons of water every second. In terms of water volume, it is exceeded only by the Amazon of Brazil.

Taking a Trip Upstream

To get acquainted with this natural wonder, come with me on a trip up the river. It will take us nearly 3,000 miles, and you will see the sights that fascinated Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley, noted explorers of the nineteenth century. It is truly an explorer’s paradise.

Before we start our journey, notice how strong the river’s current is at its mouth. Pushing its way relentlessly out into the blue Atlantic, it has left very little delta but has gouged out a canyon some 4,000 feet in the continental shelf, and its brown waters are discernible one hundred miles offshore.

The first leg of our trip takes us from the mouth of the river some eighty miles inland to the port city of Matadi. At this point we must disembark, for the Crystal mountains cause a natural barrier to the river’s course. The churning waters cascade down a series of thirty or more cataracts known collectively as Livingstone Falls. In just over two hundred miles from the capital city of Kinshasa to Matadi the river is lowered over eight hundred feet. Part of this natural energy is now captured by turbines of a hydroelectric system, but these cataracts are also the reason why little was known about the headwaters of the river until about a hundred years ago. Today a rail link is used to transship passengers and goods between these two points.

Just above the first of the rapids we come to the government center of Kinshasa, a quite modern city sprawled on a low sandy bluff. Across this wide stretch in the river is the bustling city of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, which country borders the river for several hundred miles.

Traveling by Riverboat

For the second leg of our journey, we will want to get down to the boat landings early to catch one of the shallow-draft riverboats. Everything is being loaded on, for these boats carry not only people (first to third class) but also goods and vehicles of every description. Barges are also strapped to the sides, or on the front and rear, to be pushed or pulled to faraway destinations. Many imported goods such as fuel oils and manufactured items make their long journey up the river, while boats bring back the riches of the basin in the form of rubber, wood, coffee, palm nuts and agricultural products.

Casting off, we begin to move steadily against the now slow-moving current, weaving among the thousands of jungle-covered islands in the stream. These and the tricky river currents tax the navigation skills of the most experienced captain and crew. It is estimated that, while the river itself can accommodate cargo boats on approximately 1,700 miles of its length, the navigable waters are increased to over 8,000 miles when combined with that on its tributaries. At times the river widens to ten to fifteen miles.

The Land Unspoiled

What sights we see along the way! Progressively we sense that we are leaving behind most of what we call civilization. Only the river cities of Mbandaka and Kisangani, and a few other growing towns cut out of the jungle, remind us of the country’s steps into the twentieth century. Much of the scenery has stayed unspoiled with the passing of time.

“Mbote!” “Jambo!” These are the customary native greetings as we reach ports of call on the way. With each passing village, groups of naked children rush to the riverside, flashing dazzling-white teeth as they smile and shout excitedly. In the background we see several mud or palm-thatched houses, each with its neatly arranged garden of maize, manioc, pineapple and banana.

Over there, do you see the old man standing in his tiny canoe? Perhaps he is contemplating where he might best catch tonight’s supper. And overhead, a pair of gray parrots with brilliant-red tail feathers swoop low, calling raucously to each other. As we round the bend a crocodile slides noiselessly from the bank in search of a meal.

Today we are fortunate to see a group of hippopotamuses wallowing happily in the muddy waters. And there in the distance, one is swimming with just his eyes and ears periscoping above the surface. As he swims along unconcerned, one is reminded of Jehovah’s description of the hippopotamus to Job: “If the river acts violently, it does not run in panic.”​—Job 40:23.

Animals and birds of great variety inhabit this great river basin of the equator. And as we keep traveling upstream the trees and undergrowth are so prolific that the bright sunlight of midday takes on darkened hues when we gaze into the shadows of the densely wooded banks.

River Merchants

But what is that ahead? It looks like a convoy of pirogues or canoes belonging to the Lokeles, one of the more than two hundred tribes living in Zaïre. These people have lived for centuries either in their canoes or in huts along the river. They are traders and ply the river selling food and goods of many descriptions to the river travelers.

To make trading easier, some manage to lash their small boats to the side of the faster-moving riverboat. Take a look at that pirogue alongside. You can see that the pirogue itself is actually a dugout, a long straight log hollowed out by hours of hewing. Most are maneuvered by a paddle, but some of the larger ones today have outboard motors and slice through the brown waters like a torpedo, carrying sometimes as many as forty or fifty persons. They are veritable ‘riverbuses.’ In a land where large bridges are few, travel by canoe is a daily fact of life for many people.

Roaring Stanley Falls

Reaching Kisangani, just below Stanley Falls, we have traveled over a thousand miles by riverboat and yet the halfway point in the river is still ahead. Our boat will turn back here after reloading, as further progress upstream is blocked by the seven cataracts that make up Stanley Falls. Even at this point, far upstream, about 4,500,000 gallons of water per second roars and thunders over the rocky faults in the earth, several times as much as the flow of Niagara Falls in North America.

But come, I will show you a sight that you will not want to miss. Along the falls live the Wagenias, who trap fish in an unusual way. Braving the swift currents, they fix a network of poles in the crevices of the rocks to which they attach cone-shaped baskets made of wood and lianas, measuring perhaps six feet in diameter at the open end. Twice a day, the Wagenias inspect their traps to collect the fish that lodge in the baskets and are held fast by the fast-moving stream. Displaying no fear, they paddle their canoes into the swirling currents and dive right into the boiling waters, their ebony-like muscles rippling as they gather their catch.

On to the Headwaters

Leaving Stanley Falls behind, we push on upriver, but now we are traveling almost due south. Curving like a giant scimitar, the river’s course goes first northeast, later turns eastward on crossing the equator and then curves south.

Since the river basin receives seasonal rainfall on both sides of the equator at different times, the extremes of high and low flows experienced by many other large rivers are prevented. Its ratio of low to high flow is 1 to 3 (which means little seasonal fluctuation in water level and flow), as compared with 1 to 20 for the Mississippi in the United States and 1 to 48 for the Nile.

Beyond Stanley Falls the river has been known locally as the Lualaba. Stretching into the interior of Zaïre, it reaches to the vicinity of Lubumbashi (formerly Elizabethville). However, the more distant headwaters begin in northeast Zambia.

River giant of Central Africa! This is the mighty Congo, now known as the Zaïre River, named after a country that depends heavily upon it for its daily needs. Truly, a never-ending wonder it is and one more testimony to the wisdom and dynamic power of an intelligent Creator.

A Survival Trick

● Writing in Outdoor Life, a man related how he thought he owed his life to a survival trick told to him by an old trapper. If forced by circumstances to stay outdoors overnight during very cold weather, the trapper said, “take your coat off, pull your cap down, put the coat over it and button it up, and fold your arms inside. With a little fire at your feet, you can keep warm all night.”

“Your Word Is Truth”

Use of the Cross

HOW would you feel if one of your dearest friends was executed on false charges? Would you make a replica of the instrument of execution, say a hangman’s noose or an electric chair? Would you kiss that replica, burn candles before it or wear it around your neck as an ornament? ‘Of course not,’ you may say.

But are not millions of persons, in effect, doing that? Do they not speak of Jesus Christ as their dearest friend, who showed his love for them by giving up his life? Do they not say that Jesus, though guilty of no sin, was executed on a cross? Yet, are not crosses displayed in their churches, their homes and on their person? Do not many people even kiss crosses, burn candles in front of them and bow before them? How did such a thing come about?

Historical evidence shows that the early Christians did not use crosses in their worship. Says the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “The representation of Christ’s redemptive death on Golgotha does not occur in the symbolic art of the first Christian centuries. The early Christians, influenced by the Old Testament prohibition of graven images, were reluctant to depict even the instrument of the Lord’s Passion.” Obviously they never bowed before or kissed crosses.

To the Jews and the Romans the manner in which Jesus died was humiliating and shameful. He was executed like a criminal of the lowest sort, like the wrongdoers impaled alongside him. (Luke 23:32) His death therefore misrepresented him in the worst way possible. To Christians the instrument of execution itself would therefore have been something very repulsive. Venerating it would have meant glorifying the wrong deed committed on it​—the murder of Jesus Christ.

Non-Christians, however, had for long adored the cross as a sacred religious symbol. Says the book The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art: “It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teachings of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolized to their votaries by a cruciform device.”​—Page 1.

This gives rise to a further question, Could it be that what is venerated by professed Christians is a pagan symbol?

Not until the fourth century C.E. did the cross begin coming into noticeable use among professed Christians. The one primarily responsible for this development was Emperor Constantine, a sun worshiper who is said to have accepted Christianity years before submitting to baptism while on his deathbed. The beginning of Constantine’s conversion is placed in the year 312, when he supposedly saw a cross in the sky. It is claimed that this cross was a Christian symbol and that Constantine took it to mean that the God of the Christians would grant him the victory. But did sun-worshiping Constantine really see a Christian symbol? Why would God sanction the warfare of a sun worshiper?

Years earlier Jesus Christ told Peter: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matt. 26:52) Hence the God of truth, whom Jesus represented, could not have backed up the wars of a sun worshiper and his sun-worshiping army.

No one today can say with certainty what, if anything, was seen by Constantine. The traditional testimony available today is contradictory. The ecclesiastical historian Eusebius claims that Constantine and his entire army saw “the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the Sun, bearing the inscription [BY THIS CONQUER].” However, very differently, another historian Lactantius, says: “Constantine was admonished in his sleep to mark the celestial sign of God on the shields, and thus engage in battle.”

Had Constantine seen and been influenced by or converted by a Christian symbol, there should be some evidence to this effect in his actions. But this is not the case. Years after Constantine supposedly saw the cross, his coins continued to honor the sun god. They bore the inscription Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun). But what of the “celestial sign of God” mentioned by Lactantius? It, too, was associated with sun worship. There is general agreement that “the type of the sacred symbol commonly called a ‘wheel cross’ [a circle with a cross inside it] has been derived, with little or no alteration, from the sun-emblem of our pagan ancestors. . . . and it has been suggested (as by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould) that in adopting the X P as his standard the Emperor Constantine was actuated by policy, the same figure speaking to his pagan troops of the ever-revolving wheel of the sun, and to the Christians of the initials in Greek of the Saviour’s name.”​—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art, p. 2.

Thus in a very subtle way, through the influence of a sun-worshiping ruler, the non-Christian cross came to be accepted by professed Christians. After being led to adopt the cross as a sacred symbol, professed Christians began depicting the body of one crucified thereon. The first evidence of such representations dates from the fifth century C.E.

In earlier centuries these developments would have been denounced by Christians as idolatry. In the second century C.E., for example, Minucius Felix wrote: “Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for. You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods.”

There is still another factor that made it impossible for early Christians to associate the cross with the instrument on which Jesus was put to death. No Biblical evidence even intimates that Jesus died on a cross. Regarding the Greek word stau·rosʹ (translated “cross” in numerous translations), A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Original Greek Words with their Precise Meanings for English Readers states: “STAUROS . . . denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution.” Similarly, the book The Non-Christian Cross observes: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros [pole or stake]; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross.”

This historical evidence and the Bible’s use of the word stau·rosʹ combine to establish the truth that the cross is a non-Christian symbol. The adoration of the cross is outright idolatry, disguised under the label of being Christian. Hence, if we desire God’s approval, should we not shun the cross, obeying God’s command, “Flee from idolatry”?​—1 Cor. 10:14.

Watching the World

Unemployed Preachers

◆ Thousands of Protestant ministers in the United States are out of work, and future job prospects look meager. High cost of living makes it increasingly difficult for smaller churches to support their own minister. Missionaries, sent home by hostile governments, increase the number of religious people looking for work. And, interestingly, the ecumenical spirit, instead of solving employment problems, has amplified them; church members cannot agree on what sectarian views they prefer in their preacher!

Salvation Army Goes “Rock”

◆ Some Salvation Army bands are experimenting with “rock” music. The Army’s U.S. Eastern Territory sponsored a summer tour by a teen-age “rock” group; similar bands are appearing in the U.S. Midwest and Nova Scotia. This change comes as the Army’s street units are being reduced because of fear of street crime and the public’s loss of interest in their music. The recent changes are creating discontent among conservative members of the organization.

Mass Attendance Down

◆ Sunday Catholic Mass attendance in the New York archdiocese dropped by 23 percent between 1965 and 1970. The figures, released in Clergy Report, covered 343 of 410 parishes in ten counties and showed a dip from 824,475 to 627,235 at a typical Sunday Mass.

Psychiatry and Astrology

◆ A growing number of psychiatrists are using astrology in their practice. Carl Jung, considered one of the founders of psychoanalysis, is said to have regularly used astrology. Currently, Atlanta, Georgia, psychiatrist Dr. Edward L. Askren states that “astrology maps the hills of the mind.” He recently lectured on “psychology and astrology” before the Georgia Astrological Association.

Conditions in India

◆ At India’s independence in August 1947 Jawaharlal Nehru promised to “wipe every tear from every eye.” There have been some improvements in the country. But, according to Minister of State for Planning Mohan Dharia, the number of Indians living below the poverty line “is just as it was at the time of independence.” This means that 220 million of India’s 550 million persons earn less than five dollars per month each.

Smoking Epidemic

◆ Dr. Alexander Macara, public health lecturer, recently told the British Medical Association that smoking “is arguably the greatest epidemic scourge of Britain since cholera a century ago.” And in the United States the Federal Trade Commission is urging stronger smoking health-hazard warnings. Some 547 billion cigarettes were sold in that country last year, about seven billion more than in 1968, the last peak year.

Is Crime Decreasing?

◆ Some have hastily interpreted recent reports to say that crime is ‘tapering off’ in the United States. Is that true? Aware of this trend of thinking, columnist Richard Egan observes: “One radio announcer on a Washington, D.C., station announced with what seemed like awe that ‘crime in 1971 rose only 7 per cent.’ Only. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst boasted that the United States is ‘moving from a crime increase to an actual crime decrease.’ The point to remember is that the crime rate is still climbing. In 1968 . . . there were 4,477,200 serious crimes. . . . Last year there were 5,995,200 serious crimes committed. That’s 1,518,000 more than in 1968, or a 33.9 per cent increase over the three-year period. Last year, in other words, there were one-third more crimes committed than in 1968. Statistics can be misleading.”

Crime Is Everywhere

◆ Is crime limited to big cities? No. It often lingers behind outwardly peaceful facades in suburbs and on even seemingly paradisaic islands of the sea. Eight persons were recently shot in the Virgin Islands. Immigrants there speak of molestations, harassment, near assaults and burglary. One nurse confessed, “When I get off at 11:30 p.m., I’m sometimes afraid to walk next door to my room.” And a Time magazine reporter describes the general feeling as “the mentality of siege akin to that of many big-city dwellers in the U.S.”

Shoplifting Increase

◆ Changing Times magazine reports that one out of every ten American customers is also a shoplifter; about 40 percent are drug users. Only 5 percent are caught, in spite of special equipment and personnel to stem the tide. It is estimated that customers and employees will lift about six billion dollars’ worth of items this year​—up a billion dollars from last year!

Murder by Fright

◆ Can a person be guilty of murder when he has no motive to kill? Yes. During a three-week New York trial Milton Smith admitted tying the hands of an elderly woman. He did not strike her and stole only two dollars and a cheap brooch. But the experience accelerated the woman’s heart ailment, killing her of fright. The court found Smith guilty of murder, in the only case like it in the state for 90 years.

Suicide Drivers

◆ Possibly 15 percent of the drivers killed in highway accidents may be suicides, it has been said. One recent study by Houston, Texas, researchers found that “the fatality group [of twenty-eight investigated] was made up of intoxicated, angry and impulsive persons.” Some highway deaths, listed officially as accidents, followed statements by the victim to the effect, ‘You’ll be sorry when I’m dead.’

Older Workers

◆ The New York State Commissioner of Human Rights has announced that a survey of state workers shows that those over the age of 65 perform “about equal to and sometimes noticeably better than younger workers.” The results, he said, are “astonishingly in favor of the over-65 workers.” The survey considered absenteeism, punctuality and on-the-job accidents as well as overall job capability. Older workers were found to be limited only in carrying out more physically demanding jobs.

Who Raise Your Children?

◆ When parents abdicate responsibility, their children simply look elsewhere for instruction. So reasons author Sid Smith, himself a father. “We ask,” he writes in the Bergen (New Jersey) Record, “what has happened to our children. That’s not the question. The question is: What has happened to Mr. Parent? Where are discipline, respect, and unity? They are right where we left them.” He also mentions that the day both parents decide to get a job, “the baby-sitter, the Police Department, and the juvenile authority adopt our children.”

Youth Baseball Leagues

◆ Joseph S. Torg of the Temple University School of Medicine writes, in American Family Physician, of the detrimental effects that excessive baseball pitching has on shoulders and elbows of the skeletally immature child. His article cites data blaming, not just the game, but the intense competition in youthful baseball “leagues.” Unnecessary pressure by adult coaches and spectators for the youngsters to make the team and win, he believes, also interferes with emotional maturing.

Return of the Screwworm

◆ The screwworm has returned to the United States’ southwest. Science boasted in the early nineteen-sixties that the screwworm, which lays its eggs in cattle so hatched worms can feed on the animal, had been wiped out. Science’s seeming triumph was brought about by releasing billions of sterile male screwworm flies. The female’s eggs (she mates only once in a lifetime) were thus infertile. But this year’s epidemic is considered the worst ever. What happened? Recent mild winter weather, ideal for screwworm reproduction, changes in cattle breeding methods and careless oversight of herds may all be responsible. One authority says it is obvious that the screwworms “don’t read the textbooks.”

San Francisco Transit

◆ The first leg of Bay Area Rapid Transit, providing electrified rail service for persons living around San Francisco, California, has been opened. Though trains move up to 70 miles per hour, rubber tie supports keep the ride quiet. The entire operation, which should be completed by next year, is computer controlled. Even automated ticket systems are backed up by change makers. Planners say the entire system, which cost about $1.4 billion and took ten years to build, should eventually carry about 200,000 persons daily.

Fish Changes Sex

◆ Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, known for the unusual forms of sea life inhabiting it, has revealed another secret: a species of the fish family of wrasse actually appears to change sex! One male usually dominates a harem of three to six females. When he dies, the most aggressive female assumes his position. In less than three weeks her ovaries are transformed into male testes. Researchers have observed twenty-six such changes.

Heart Attacks in Japan

◆ The death rate due to heart attack is six times as great among Japanese executives as among office workers. In Japan, heart disease ranks third as a cause of death, after strokes and cancer. The findings result from a survey started in 1968.

Enjoy Your Work

◆ The current cure being promoted for job stress is a shorter work week and more leisure time for recreation. But that will not cure the problem, according to Dr. Hans Selye of the University of Montreal’s Institute of Medicine and Experimental Surgery. He contends that the key to surviving modern work pressures is liking your job. “Too often,” the doctor says, “work is a source of frustration and insecurity, just something else to put up with like traffic congestion, pollution, and violence.”

Young People and Drugs

◆ Surveys of young U.S. military men in Vietnam reveal that many began to use hard drugs (that is, other than marijuana and alcohol) as early as the age of eleven. Some 84 percent of the drug users took them before going to Vietnam. A state survey in Massachusetts finds the use of hard drugs “disturbingly high.” The result of drug abuse in the U.S., according to clinical professor of psychiatry Perry Talkington, is that “our psychiatric hospitals are being flooded with adolescents . . . Drug abuse has replaced mental retardation as the third most frequent psychiatric diagnosis for males between the ages of 15 and 24.” As for marijuana, Dr. Olav J. Braenden, head of the United Nations Narcotics Laboratory in Geneva, reveals that “among the scientists working in the field, it would seem that there is a general consensus that cannabis [the source of marijuana] and hashish are dangerous.” Cannabis is now thought to be much more chemically complex than earlier expected.

Help for Teaching Young Children

Do you have the job of caring for young children? If so, would you be grateful for some help?

You can hold children’s attention by reading to them from the book Listening to the Great Teacher. Its stories are fascinating; they also teach high moral principles. They show why it is wrong to steal or to lie or to take drugs. Children are also taught to say “Thank you” when others do things for them. This valuable 192-page, hardbound book is yours for only 25c.

Please send me Listening to the Great Teacher, for which I enclose 25c.

Should Women Be Equal With Men?

News reports tell of women preaching from the pulpits. Is this the proper place for women in the congregation?

Consider what God’s Word says. Read the book Life Everlasting​—in Freedom of the Sons of God, taking note of the chapter “The Places of Man and Woman in God’s Arrangement.”

This hardbound book of 416 pages will be sent to you postpaid for only 50c.

Please send me Life Everlasting​—in Freedom of the Sons of God, for which I enclose 50c. Send also the gift booklet God’s Way Is Love.