November 22

Page Two

Over 40 years ago chemistry and technology were heralded as the makers of a new world. Together they produced many products that enhanced modern living. Scientists were praised for “creating new things that Nature forgot.” But with these “new things that Nature forgot” came the chemical waste dumps​—environmental monsters that maim and kill. Can these “ticking time bombs” be defused?

5 CHEMICAL DUMPS ARE TICKING TIME BOMBS

6 “WE LIVED ON TOP OF A TIME BOMB”

12 “JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG”

14 THOSE FRIGHTENING CHEMICAL WASTES​—IS THERE AN ANSWER?

Have You Ever Wondered—

Does It Really Matter What You Believe?

IN 1553, the Spanish physician Michael Servetus was burned to death in Geneva. His crime? He had argued against the doctrine of the Trinity. Unfortunately for him, he lived at a time when religious belief could be a matter of life or death.

Nowadays things have changed. True, there are lands where Christians suffer for publicly expressing their faith; and in countries such as Northern Ireland and Lebanon, religious differences lead to bloodshed. But in many countries today there is a remarkable tolerance​—even apathy—​in religious matters. Atheism abounds. Many have serious reservations about what their churches teach. And generally people are left to make their own decisions about which religion, if any, they should accept.

Since this is so, it is appropriate to ask: “Does it really matter what you believe? Should not religion be viewed as merely a matter of personal choice?” Let us first consider:

DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHETHER WE BELIEVE IN GOD OR NOT?

Well, that depends. Consider a man who regularly shares in worship with some religion. Yet in his everyday life he is dishonest, tells lies, perhaps is even a thief or an immoral person. For such a man, we may feel that it does not make all that much difference what he claims to believe.

If, however, we really believe that God exists, it will make a difference. Why? Because we will feel answerable to Him. Hence, when, for example, we are faced with a decision or a temptation, we will not only think: “What do I want to do?” we will also consider: “What will be pleasing to God?” The apostle Paul once stated: “Each of us will render an account for himself to God.”​—Rom. 14:12.

‘If that is the case,’ some may say, ‘then surely it is better not to believe in God. Then we will have more freedom to do what we want.’ This line of reasoning, however, would only be helpful if the question of God’s existence were merely hypothetical; that is, if there were no real proof as to whether God existed or not. This is not the case. There is overwhelming evidence that God does exist, and is concerned about us.

Hence, even though acknowledging that his existence limits our freedom to some extent, nevertheless this opens the way to otherwise unattainable blessings. It protects us from making wrong choices and suffering the consequences that many ungodly persons suffer from their so-called freedom. In this age of tension and fear, we can enjoy the “peace of God that excels all thought.” (Phil. 4:7) And in an age when the future seems cloudy and uncertain, we can feel serene and confident, putting our trust in God. The psalmist said: “Watch the blameless one and keep the upright one in sight, for the future of that man will be peaceful.”​—Ps. 37:37.

Truly, it does matter whether we believe in God or not. But if we do, can we worship him in any way we see fit?

DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHICH RELIGION WE BELONG TO?

The answer is Yes, because what we believe about God and how we worship him deeply affect us as people.

For example, most are horrified when they read of the brutal tortures inflicted at one time by the Inquisition on those whom the Inquisitors considered heretics. Yet such atrocities were committed by persons who believed that God punished sinners in everlasting hellfire. They were, after all, only giving their victims a foretaste of what they considered God would do to them for all eternity in the afterlife.

Yes, history has demonstrated the great effect that religion has on people. The fertility rites of the ancient Canaanites produced a depraved and licentious people. Worship of cruel gods helped Assyria to become one of the most vicious world powers of human history. On the other hand, individuals who sincerely believe in a just and loving God have always tried to follow the apostle Paul’s counsel: “Become imitators of God.”​—Eph. 5:1.

There is another consideration. Jesus himself said: “The true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth.” (John 4:23) Truth does not contradict itself. Not all the contradictory teachings of the world’s many religions can be true. Hence, there must be some sincerely religious people who are not true worshipers because of not worshiping according to truth.

HOW CAN WE BE SURE THAT WHAT WE BELIEVE IS THE TRUTH?

This is not a disrespectful question. There is nothing sinful about examining one’s beliefs in the light of the Bible to ascertain whether they are true or not. The apostle Paul advised: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine.”​—1 Thess. 5:21.

The evidence is that God does exist, that he has revealed himself, his name and his purposes through his Word, the Bible. If we read the Bible and apply what we learn, we are guided through the pitfalls of this life, and will gain a wonderful hope of a life to come. Do you believe this? It certainly matters whether you do or not. We invite you to accept the help of Jehovah’s Witnesses in examining the proof. Then you, too, can gain the happy assurance that the things you believe in are the truth.

Chemical Dumps Are Ticking Time Bombs

“BETTER Things for Better Living Through Chemistry.” During the 1930’s that was a slogan that heralded a new age. However, little did anyone suspect these “better things” would create an “environmental Frankenstein’s monster.”

People were then delighted with new products created by chemicals. Our wardrobes, homes and cars became filled with nylons, rayons, cellophanes and plastics. New “miracle” pesticides and man-made fertilizers multiplied our food. Scientists were then praised for “creating new things that Nature forgot.”

But millions of gallons of chemical wastes came with these “new things that Nature forgot.” Tragically, these wastes were often carelessly dumped. “The stuff was tucked away,” said Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Steffen Plehn. “It was out of sight, out of mind”​—forgotten, but not for long.

One huge dumping site was an abandoned water canal in New York State (U.S.A.) near famous Niagara Falls. The waterway was named after its builder, William Love, who, back in 1894, attempted to join two rivers and create a model city. His dream failed and all that remained was Love Canal, an uncompleted mile-long (1.6 km) ditch, 10 to 40 feet deep and generally 45 feet wide.a

By the tons, chemical waste, most packaged in 55-gallon (208-L) drums, were cast by a new owner into Mr. Love’s canal. For some years prior to 1953 Hooker Chemical Company reportedly admitted to dumping 21,800 tons of chemicals there. The city of Niagara Falls added its share. So allegedly did the U.S. Army. Then in 1953 this witches’ brew was covered with earth and allowed to “cook” as barrels rotted and the chemicals combined.

The land was “sold” by Hooker Chemical to the Board of Education of Niagara Falls for $1.00 (U.S.). A school and housing development were built, and soon a pleasant neighborhood settled around this massive chemical graveyard.

The “time bomb” was set, and now ticking. It was destined to “explode” with such impact that this spot would become front-page news and the focus of international attention. It became what may “very well be the first of a new and sinister breed of environmental disasters,” according to a special report sent to the governor of New York State.

Does this incident provide substantial evidence that man is “ruining the earth,” unlike in any other period in history? Does it perhaps portend that soon God will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth” by divine action? These are significant questions to ponder as you read what chemical wastes have done.​—Rev. 11:18.

But just how sinister was this offspring of the ‘new thing that nature forgot’? What effect did it have on the lives of those living on the site? The following exclusive interview with a family who lived on top of this public health time bomb provides some startling answers.

[Footnotes]

“We Lived on Top of a Time Bomb”

One family’s story of the perils of living on the infamous Love Canal

HUNDREDS of persons nervously stood in line enduring the sweltering heat. There was hardly a breeze in the stuffy schoolhouse that was now an emergency testing center. The worst was feared.

Women wept. Children screamed as needles punctured their skin and samples of blood were withdrawn. All dreaded the results. Would chemical contamination be found in their blood?

Among these were Jean Guagliano and her four children. Her husband lay critically ill in a hospital after receiving major surgery. Two of her children were crying. Five-year-old Frankie kept pleading, “I’m scared, Mommy, I’m scared!” The day before, the leaking dump​—Love Canal—​that lay next to their home had been declared “a great and imminent peril to [their] health.”

“It was like a dream​—some horrible nightmare,” said Jean.

Yet as she waited those five hours amid the heat and the confusion, she could not help but think back over the strange occurrences during the eight years they had lived on Love Canal.

Strange Happenings

The children loved to play on the dump. “Remember those ‘fire rocks’?” asks the mother. “I sure do,” replies Michael. “We used to throw them against concrete and they would make a bright flash. They were fun. But really the weirdest thing on the dump was the way some of the dirt kept changing color. It would be pink, then red, purple, orange, green​—even blue!”

But there were more serious curiosities​—the choking odors that gagged her when she took the children across the Canal to school; the unstoppable black mold coming through the walls; the pitiful neighborhood dog with his black nose burned off to a sickly pink stub; the children’s feet regularly blistering and peeling from walking barefoot over the dump; and her constant and severe headaches.

Her eight-year-old daughter was in and out of the hospital​—often in intensive care. She eventually required surgery because of a serious kidney and bladder problem. Also Frankie, while sleeping by a heat vent bringing up vapors from the basement, suddenly stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Only quick action by a team of doctors saved him.

Her neighbors also suffered. Miscarriages, birth defects, asthma, chronic skin rashes, cancer and tumors became common topics of conversation. Finally a crisis was reached.

Health Emergency Declared

On August 2, 1978, the Commissioner of Health declared Love Canal a health emergency. This decision precipitated the blood tests. Returning home after this ordeal, Jean and the children now pondered their future. The health order recommended that all pregnant women and those with children under two “move from their homes as soon as possible.” Yet husband Frank was still hospitalized.

Testings of the air the family breathed confirmed the danger. Nine suspected cancer-causing vapors were found in their home! “But how much of these vapors is present?” pleaded Jean. The businesslike official replied, “Your readings are over 300.”

“So what does that mean?” responded Jean, now so frightened she could hardly hold back the tears. “Well, 0 is safe,” confessed the official, “yet some of your neighbors’ readings are over 1,000!”

The family realized the inevitable. But they, like many, had no place to go. Also, because of their home mortgage most were unable to pay rent somewhere else. Selling their homes seemed hopeless​—who would buy? And yet they were living atop a chemical cesspool that had already invaded their homes and possibly their bodies.

To prevent panic, government officials set up meetings with the residents. By then Frank, no longer hospitalized, attended with Jean.

“You’re Letting Us Die!”

You could feel the tension as the government officials arrived. Many who waited were bewildered and dazed with fear. Eyes were red from tears. Mothers, holding their children, openly wept. One man ran up to an official and begged that he arrange for his children to be moved away. When no assurances came, he fell to the floor and cried hysterically.

“People were screaming and making fists,” said Frank, “while others were pleading.” The officials tried to reassure them by claiming that their lives were not in immediate danger. One woman pointed to the Canal and shrieked: “Whatever’s in there is in us now!” One official was assaulted. The attacker had lost her fourth fetus.

“You’re letting us die!” shouted a man. “You’re going to stand there and watch us all die!” However, government funds did arrive and approximately 240 homes were to be purchased and evacuated.

Soon, by dribbles and then en masse, people left. The Guaglianos were among the last to leave, and they found themselves behind an eight-foot chain-link fence put up by the government to isolate a six-block area. “For two months we lived behind that green fence,” added Jean. “It was an eerie feeling, knowing that the dangers were still there, but you couldn’t get away from them.”

One by one their neighbors’ homes were boarded up. “Before, there were lots of noises in the neighborhood,” said Frank. “Children playing, lawn mowers, cars​—but suddenly it got quiet, too quiet. It was like a death street.” Still the most gruesome discovery was yet to come.

What Is Really in the Canal?

Test wells were dug, not only to analyze the chemical contents, but also to drain some of it off into ditches. Over 80 different chemicals were immediately detected. Local news reporter Michael Brown, in his book Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America by Toxic Chemicals (1980), describes the danger of those compounds:

“We now know that the drums dumped in the canal contained a veritable witch’s brew of chemistry, compounds of truly remarkable toxicity. There were solvents that attack the heart and liver, and residues from pesticides so dangerous that their commercial sale has subsequently been restricted or banned outright by the government; some of them are strongly suspected of causing cancer.”

Hooker Chemical reportedly admitted to dumping 200 tons of trichlorophenol (TCP), a chemical waste resulting from the manufacture of certain plant killers. ‘So, just another chemical,’ you may think. “But we soon became ‘chemical experts,’” revealed Jean. “We learned that when TCP is produced, often a by-product is dioxin.”

“Dioxin is so poisonous,” interrupted Frank, “that three ounces (85 g) in New York’s water supply would wipe out the entire city!” On skin contact the invisible odorless gas causes lesions and even in microscopic amounts it can trigger cancer and birth defects. There is no known cure or antidote. Tensions ran high as workers began digging drainage ditches and these got closer to the Canal itself. Would they puncture an old barrel and send up an explosive cloud of poisonous chemicals?

“We found it,” were the frightening words of Dr. David Axelrod, one of the health experts. “The dioxin, in a drainage trench behind 97th Street”​—the street the Guaglianos lived on! The fact that some of its estimated 130 pounds (59 kg) had migrated out of the dump was especially frightening. For like the arms of a giant octopus, underground rivers or swells had carried the chemicals, including dioxin, considerable distances from the Canal, and in some instances in high concentrations. “And we lived right on one of those ‘wet’ areas,” said Jean.

Panic!

Mass hysteria again blazed in the streets, because new evidence showed an increase of birth defects, miscarriages and a host of other ills by those living in the “wet” areas outside the fence, in “safe” areas, according to government officials. Health officials now warned women of the area not to get pregnant for at least six months after leaving the area.

Teenagers, with their whole life ahead of them, anguished about what kind of children they would bear in the future. Would theirs be helplessly deformed like one child born on Love Canal with a hole in her feeble heart, bone blockages in her nose, partially deaf, deformed external ears, a cleft palate and mentally retarded? Some residents marched in protest.

The weeks dragged on. It became apparent that hundreds of other homes were in dangerous areas and very little economic assistance was forthcoming. A feeling of hopelessness prevailed.

“After being lied to and deceived so many times, some residents feel you can’t have confidence in government or anything else,” reported one resident. “Anything else” often included even religion, as this resident continued. “I’m turning away from church, and I don’t care what religion it is.” It was not that they became atheists, but as Jean explained: “Some said they felt abandoned by God. They had prayed and yet no help came. So many stopped going to church. Others, so weary and concerned about getting out, just pushed religion into the background.” The only real “hope” to many was money, as one resident frankly admitted: “Money is life. It’s the ability to get out of here!”

Family life suffered in the process. “My family is going to pieces,” confessed one resident, “and there are divorces all over the place. My husband is so desperate: There is no way he can get us out, no way for him to protect his family, and that gets to him. That gets to everybody.”

Suicides and nervous breakdowns reportedly occurred in the area 27 times more frequently than normal. “One of these who took the ‘easy way out’ lived eight doors away. She was heartbroken when they told her she would lose her home,” Jean said. “She lost all hope,” added Frank, “and several months later she jumped to her death in the gorge by the Niagara Falls.”

Then, reflecting over the experience, Jean soberly continued: “The not-knowing-what-to-expect was an enormous emotional strain on everybody, but many were like her, they had no real hope for the future. It was only our Bible-based hope as Jehovah’s Witnesses, our knowing that God will soon ‘bring to ruin those ruining the earth’ and make our globe a beautiful paradise, that got us through. It kept us sane.”​—Rev. 11:18; Luke 23:43.

‘How Can You Encourage Others?’

“One neighbor ‘cried on my shoulder’ daily,” related Jean. “When I tried to cheer her up, she would say: ‘Jean, you’re going through the same things. I don’t see how you can stand there and encourage others.’” Jean then revealed how her whole family could do it. “I told her it was my faith in Jehovah God. We as a family kept relying on our faith and the assurance that God gives in the Bible that he will sustain those who worship him and throw their burdens​—no matter how heavy—​on him.”​—Ps. 55:22.

“Really our faith kept us united as a family,” stressed Frank. “We drew closer together, whereas in many other families everyone was hysterical and they broke apart. In fact, the local Homeowners Association reported that four out of every ten couples that moved from the area split up. Yet it still was not easy coping with the pressures.”

“One Good Cry”

“There were many times that I felt like crying,” confessed Jean, “but the more I encouraged others, even our kids, to rely on God and pray to him for strength, the more strength I received. I would stop and think, ‘Well, I really am relying on Him.’”

“But when we got the offer from the government to buy our house,” added Frank, “and we saw how little money it was, and that now everything was over, we all had one good cry. Oh, how they had built up our expectations! But the settlement put us in a deep financial ditch.” After this tearful outburst, the family finally prepared to leave.

The Future​—A Confident View

Many residents were emotionally crushed by the experience. They felt their future was ruined. Counselors were sent to the area to help to stem the rising number of suicides.

A counselor who had heard of the Guaglianos’ problems approached Jean and was amazed at her optimism. “But your problems are very real!” uttered the counselor. “I know they are,” answered Jean, who explained the basis for her feeling. After a short conversation, the counselor broke into tears and said: “Here I’m supposed to be encouraging you, but you are inspiring me! You really have control of yourself and you’ve got an inner strength.”

Yes, this inner strength even pervaded their youngsters who endured much. Lisa, when realizing the possible cause of her kidney problems, nervously asked her mother: “If the chemicals are inside me, how will they get out?” Yet this young girl found real strength from her own personal Bible study and prayers and encouraged a classmate who was likewise suffering: “Don’t worry about Love Canal, because Jehovah will fix up all of this in the new earth!”

It was this precious hope that gave this family confidence to endure a living nightmare. Even still, the drama of Love Canal is far from over. In May of 1980, it was decided that over 700 additional families should relocate. Evidence has shown chromosome damage among some of the hapless victims.

Is Love Canal the only chemical dump where poisons are silently seeping into the homes and lives of unknowing victims? Could your own community​—your own home—​be in danger? Some startling facts are revealed in the following article.

[Box on page 9]

THE CHEMICAL PLAGUE THAT DESTROYED A TOWN

A loud screeching, hissing sound was the ugly announcement of the escape of dioxin during a chemical plant accident that was ultimately to convert a town into a virtual man-made desert.

During 1976, in Sevesco, a small town near Milan, Italy, it is estimated that between 22 and 132 lbs. (10-60 kg) of dioxin were released into the air. Four thousand acresa of land were contaminated. Thousands of animals died in agony and crops had to be destroyed. Hundreds of persons developed nausea, blurred vision and severe liver and kidney pains. Children especially developed oozing sores on exposed skin. One thousand acres were evacuated, leaving hundreds homeless. Even two years after what was termed “Italy’s Hiroshima” a 215-acre site is still so contaminated no one can live there.

The city​—its core still dead—​is “in the middle of the hottest controversial subject in the world,” according to its mayor, who adds: “This is an event that literally questions our civilization.”

[Footnotes]

[Graph on page 7]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

DID LOVE CANAL MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

21.1.

8.9

8.1

2.0

[Picture on page 8]

DANGER KEEP OUT

[Picture on page 11]

The Guaglianos with the two of their children born on Love Canal. ‘It was our Bible-based hope that kept us sane’

“Just the Tip of the Iceberg”

How many more “Love Canals” are in the making?

“THERE are thousands of these dumps all over the country. The Love Canal could be a forerunner of many similar incidents to come.” So reported Dr. Clark Heath of the Federal Center for Disease Control. “The Love Canal situation is just the tip of the iceberg.” Exaggeration? Consider the following:

LOUISIANA​—Deadly swamps. Devil’s Swamp, formerly teeming with wildlife, was virtually destroyed by the dumping of millions of gallons of deadly chemicals. Nearby pasture land was contaminated resulting in 149 cattle deaths. Over 540 acres (220 ha) were totally poisoned. In a residential area near another swamp people waked in the night choking. Dogs who ran into the woods came out with parts of their hair falling off. In one of the reported 40,000 dump sites in the state, a truck driver was killed while dumping wastes because of the toxic fumes.

IOWA​—“It’ll make Love Canal look like a picnic.” Near Charles City, Salsbury Laboratories dumped countless tons of chemical wastes into a former sand and gravel pit. Included were reportedly nearly a million cubic feet (28,300 m³) of deadly arsenic waste. Chemical contamination has now been found in the surrounding groundwater, a nearby river and in wells of the city of Waterloo, 50 miles (80 km) away! The area has a “higher-than-normal incidence of bladder cancer.” But of immediate danger is the nearby water aquifer (natural groundwater) that supplies over 300,000 people. “If this stuff gets into the aquifer and spreads, it’ll make Love Canal look like a picnic,” warned Department of Environmental Quality official Charles Miller.

TENNESSEE​—300,000 barrels of poison. In Hardeman County, Velsicol Chemical Corporation reportedly buried these in trenches under three feet (1 m) of dirt. Banned pesticides, 40 times as powerful as DDT, leached out into the groundwater. Nearby wells were closed when residents complained of dizziness, loss of hair, kidney pains, liver disorders, respiratory problems, nausea, limb numbness, even birth defects.

NEW JERSEY​—“One of the most hazardous spots in the United States,” is how one public official described the place where 34,000 barrels of leaking chemical waste were stored by the Chemical Control Corporation near Elizabeth. The recent removal of 10,000 of these containing the most lethal chemicals, prevented a disaster of monstrous extent. On April 22, 1980, the worst happened. Just minutes away from the 8 million people of New York city, the site exploded into flames. The intense heat caused some of the barrels to rocket 200 feet (60 m) into the air. There was fear of widespread chemical contamination as a huge black cloud formed. Favorable winds saved the situation. “We were within a hairsbreadth of disaster,” stated the director of Health, Welfare and Housing in Elizabeth. In less than a week another chemical fire struck in Bayonne. Other sites have burned since. Residents reportedly have one of the highest cancer rates in the nation.

England, Mexico, Japan and Canada have also reported problems with the storage and illegal dumping of toxic wastes. Chemical wastes are now considered the worst water contaminants because they resist natural breaking-down processes and tend to collect in animal and human bodies.

Yet “the drinking water in many cities has hundreds of chemicals in it,” reports a federal health official. “We don’t know how they act together. Do they add, multiply or cancel?” Their long-term effects are so gradual they are hard to detect, until the damage​—cancer, birth defects, and so forth—​becomes obvious, then it is usually too late!

Thousands of acres of land world wide have been contaminated. “It’s like a nightmare,” bemoaned David Evill, a resident of Louisiana. “Only the nightmare is real and it’s our own land and it’s destroyed for all time.”

However, are there any solutions for the handling of chemical wastes? What can be done? Is there a satisfying answer to this critical situation?

[Picture on page 13]

According to the EPA, there are 32,000 to 51,000 chemical dump sites in the United States. Upward of 2,000 have rotting, leaking barrels and could become “imminent health hazards”

[Picture on page 13]

Could this dump site be another Love Canal in the making? It is one of 215 listed by the EPA in two counties of New York State

Those Frightening Chemical Wastes​—Is There an Answer?

EVERY minute 152,700 pounds (69,260 kg) of deadly chemical wastes are produced by American industries alone. Less than one tenth is properly disposed of. So the chance that some of this flood of poison will enter your life is very real.

What Hinders Proper Disposal?

GREED. Safer methods are costly. Many companies use cheap illegal dumping instead. While it may cost from $20 to $155 (U.S.) a drum to dispose of waste properly, illegal dumpers, in some areas, reportedly do it for $1.50.

ECONOMIC SYSTEM. For some companies to dispose of their chemical wastes properly would mean raising prices, or even financial ruin. Millions of jobs could be lost. The economic system would be ruined. So governments and some of the working masses are reluctant to protest too strongly against waste pollution.

Is the Answer “Out of Men’s Hands”?

Deadly chemicals have been found in mother’s milk in Sweden, Germany, Japan, Canada and the United States. “When chemicals like dioxin, PCB’s and PBB’s can turn mother’s milk into a poison, something is wrong,” stated the book The Poison That Fell from the Sky.

However, when we examine the universe, or even our own planet where man has not ruined it, we see evidence of order, beauty and exceptional design. “To assert that a world as intricate as ours emerged from chaos by chance is about as sensible as to claim that Shakespeare’s dramas were composed by rioting monkeys in a print shop,” wrote author Merril C. Tenny. This “intricate” world came from God. It certainly does not seem reasonable that God would idly watch man destroy it.

The World’s Best-Seller Gives the Answer

Knowing that it is this world’s system that makes the problem, the earth’s Creator in his Word, the Bible, announces this system’s end. His kingdom under Christ will then reign over a cleansed earth filled with righteous people. (Matt. 24:3; Ps. 37:10, 11, 29) But when you consider the awful damage done to the earth and its peoples, especially during the past few decades, you may ask, Why has God allowed these calamities?

Pause and consider: With the dawn of the 20th century, technology made rapid progress. Modern chemistry made grandiose promises. One report published in 1939 was headlined: “Chemists Make a New World.” Now, 41 years later, look at the “new world” they made! One Italian writer, after the disaster at Seveso, admitted:

“Our unconditional faith in science and its ability to cure the world of its ills is ended. The anxiety Seveso has provoked . . . poses, to the conscience of those who have one, an embarrassing question: ‘Where are we going?’”

Does it not seem evident that a course that ignores God leads ultimately to disaster? We would not have had such convincing evidence had God stopped matters earlier, even a few decades ago. Certainly it has been forcefully demonstrated that it is not in man to direct his steps, independently of God. (Jer. 10:23) Many humble persons are recognizing this and are putting faith in God and in the Bible’s directions. They anticipate the time when God will remove those who ignore his laws.

What will that world be like? Free of pollution, for one thing! Then will be obeyed the directive: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” Which means, among other things, “love does not work evil to one’s neighbor.” Toxic chemical dumps do. Love will banish them.​—Rom. 13:9, 10.

Does this mean that all industry will stop and mankind will return to primitive times? The Bible does not say. Today it is not the manufacture itself of chemical products that pollute; it is the careless handling of the toxic wastes. Increased knowledge from God about his creation could easily open up new ways to avoid polluting air, water and soil. Even today, for instance, scientists have learned by their studies that water hyacinths can “eat” pollution, and already these are reportedly being used to treat raw sewage as well as some chemical wastes.

Regardless of what divinely approved activity persons may engage in then, we can be assured that “they will not do any harm or cause any ruin.”​—Isa. 11:9.

[Box on page 14]

DISPOSAL METHODS BELIEVED SAFER

HIGH TEMPERATURE INCINERATION Some chemicals are rendered harmless by being burned at very high temperatures​—up to 2,400° F (1,300° C).

CHEMICAL FIXATION Some wastes are made to react with another chemical and thus harden like cement, which reportedly can be safely buried.

SLUDGE FARMING Some organic waste compounds have been plowed into soil where certain bacteria can render them harmless.

MICROWAVE PLASMA DETOXIFICATION Microwaves at high intensity are directed toward a carrier gas, usually oxygen, creating a glowing mass. The waste is injected into this plasma and broken down.

[Picture on page 15]

God’s kingdom will soon cleanse earth of all pollution and make possible a paradise with pure waters and land

“Satan Slaves” Find a New Master

WHEN you talk with soft-spoken Tony Banuet it’s hard to imagine that the owner of that gentle smile once led a motorcycle gang. Tony has fought, robbed, smuggled dope. He has a 15-year police record, has served time in the penitentiary, and will still be on probation until 1983.

Of course, Tony doesn’t have the same personality he had a few years ago. Nor do three other members of his former motorcycle gang. Once they were so angry at the world that they didn’t really care whether they lived or died. They had no confidence in the present, and no hope for the future. All of that has changed. They have found real friends, and a new life.

Their story goes back to the 1950’s. When Tony (whom they called “Loco” [“Crazy”]) was about 15 years old, a movement of street gangs called “Pachucos” spread through the southwestern United States to Tijuana, a Mexican town just south of the California border, where Tony and his brother Rudy lived.

These gangs divided towns into territories that they defended. They fought with bats, clubs and chains. Gang members were identified by a distinctive tattoo, near the thumb on the back of the hand. They had girls who carried knives or razor blades in their hair. Tony says: “I was a Pachuco during all my teenage years. Our gang consisted of about 25 members.”

Tony had been born in the United States. Rather than be drafted into the army, he joined the navy, where, as he says: “I got heavy into drugs.” He continues: “I was caught smuggling and selling marijuana and the navy kept me a year in the brig in Hawaii. When I got out of there I went back to Mexico and joined a motorcycle gang. I broke into an office in San Diego and stole checks, which I forged and cashed. Years later I was arrested for this, and spent a year in jail. Since being on probation, every month I have had to pay back part of what I stole. I have $385 yet to pay.

“While in jail I made friends with members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, and decided to regroup a gang called “Satan Slaves,” which we started in Las Vegas, with a chapter in Tijuana later. We lived as outlaws. The motto was: ‘Ride hard, die fast.’ We were in and out of jail. I got stabbed once in my arm, shot once in the right foot, my head was split with a crowbar, and I had three bad accidents on the motorcycles​—each time while high on drugs. We were accused of everything, from running heroin to attempted murder, but money and lawyers helped sometimes. Rudy and other gang members did terms for heroin.

“Meanwhile, we put a lot of time and money into a rabbit ranch, far from the police, about an hour’s drive off the main road into the mountains southeast of Tijuana. People who got into trouble would come down and work for a few months, then go away again. Many people who came to that ranch wound up in jail​—some in the United States, some in Mexico.

“We wore leathers and German helmets. We carried knives and guns, and had the name of our club on the back of our vests. Our wristbands were made of leather, with metal rivets, so we could use our arms to fend off knives.”

Quitting the Old Ways

“One time I wanted to get a young U.S. citizen in Tijuana who desired to join our club to help me collect some money from a dealer in the United States. The young man was not home. I waited and still did not see him, but his father, Francisco Durazo, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, talked to me about Jehovah. (Ps. 83:18) This was the first time I ever heard God’s name and learned about his promises of a new system. After I left I met two friends and we went on across the border to settle the problem. We got into trouble and were jailed for assault with a deadly weapon. The charges were dropped, but I began to think: ‘This thing about going to jail is getting out of hand. Maybe there is something to what Francisco said.’

“As soon as I got back to Mexico I went to see him. He told me lots of things: How the Bible was written, that it shows we are near the end of this system of things, and that God will soon do something about the troubles on earth. What he said seemed to make sense, so when he asked me if he could study the Bible with me, I said Yes. We started that day in the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life.

“Before long I was telling my friends what I had learned. Some accepted it, some didn’t. My brother Susuky was living in Encinitas, California, and I went over to tell him about it​—that Jehovah is God, and that something big is happening.

“Back in Tijuana the Witnesses told us that we had to get rid of our old personality. After we had studied for a few months, Rudy decided he was going to quit the old ways. He went back to Encinitas, got a job, and planned to be baptized. It took me a little longer, but one day I realized we don’t have forever to start serving God. I cut off the bad associations, went up to Encinitas, and after about two more months of study found a job​—as a truck driver. Until then I had never worked more than 10 months in all my life.”

On the day of his baptism, at a district convention in Los Angeles in 1978, Tony said: “I’m a happy man now. I don’t have the worries anymore. The government isn’t watching me. I don’t have to carry a knife every day. I don’t need a shotgun anymore. I have found better people to associate with​—people who are true, who are not liars. Now my determination is to serve Jehovah, and to teach other people.”

Susuky Tells His Story

Tony’s brother Rudy (whom they call “Susuky”) tells what the change meant to him. He says:

“For about 11 years I ran with Tony and the motorcycle gang. I got caught pushing heroin and was in the state penitentiary at Tehachapi, California, for four years.

“Since the hippie movement in the 1960’s I have been interested in the Bible. I carried a Bible with me all that time, for so many years on the bike. I used to read it aloud. I knew it had something, but I couldn’t understand it.

“When Tony told me the name of God, and the things he had learned from his first study with Francisco in Tijuana, we talked all day and night about it. That week I started studying. After we studied for a few months, I began to be troubled by our bad associations. It began to bother me that we went to the meetings on Sunday and still got ‘stoned’ during the week, or did other things that weren’t in harmony with what we were learning.

“That is when my son Aramis and I went back to Encinitas, and I got a job as a welder. I was all messed up, but the Witnesses helped me. I began to get different clothes, to associate with the Witnesses, to have meals with them. It was a different kind of life. I went to the meetings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and also talked with people at their doors about the hope of God’s kingdom, and the good the Bible can do for their lives.

“Tony loved the truth, but he was still tied with the old things. We had put a lot of money and work into the rabbit ranch, but I told him: ‘Drop this. Jehovah means more than just going to the meetings on Sunday. Jehovah means association with the brothers, . . . talking with the brothers every day.’ Then one day, when he was sick with pneumonia, he said: ‘You know what? As soon as I get well I’ll go pick up my things from the ranch and forget it.’ It was good to see him leave that place where there had been so many bad associations.

“Knowing the Bible has done a lot for us. It has helped me, my son and my surroundings. My attitudes have changed. I have changed. Everything has changed. We are thankful to Jehovah that he let us hear his Word, and we pray that we may continue to live by it.”

Crystal’s Story

What about the girls who rode with this motorcycle gang? Two of them have accepted the good news of God’s kingdom, have made great changes in their own lives.

Kathleen Galen (whom they call “Crystal”) tells how she got into this situation:

“I was born in New York city. My father left when I was seven, and I became very rebellious. I stayed with my mom. We could not communicate​—no communication of any kind. I didn’t like school. I left home when I was 13, and was on the streets of New York on and off for two years, looking for a friend or anything. I slept in stairways. I was hungry. I have been beaten up. It was rough. Finally, after two years, I went back home and tried to get along with my mom. She couldn’t take the police, the schools, and the trouble I was into. Just before I was 15, she sent me to live with my father in Las Vegas.

“I didn’t get along with his wife and my new sisters. I couldn’t fit in anywhere. I decided suicide would be the easiest way out. I planned it very carefully. While my father was eating dinner I told him I was going to sleep. Instead, I went to the bedroom and took about 55 pills I had because I had just broken my collar bone. My half sister, who was about five years old, found me lying on the floor, where I had been for several hours.

“For three and a half days I was unconscious in the hospital. I had always thought the dead go somewhere, so when I opened my eyes I thought I was wherever that is. I saw my father, his wife, my brother and my aunt who had flown in from New York, and I thought: ‘Oh, no! I killed myself to get away, and now they are here, too!’

“But then I saw the machines, the tubes up my nose, and all the other things in the hospital room, and I knew I hadn’t made it. I reacted violently, hitting the nurses and fighting, and they put me in the hospital’s mental ward for several weeks. At first I was strapped on my back​—my legs, my stomach and my arms—​because I was violent. After the first week I calmed down, and they unstrapped me. The psychiatrist said it was not normal for a person to want to take her life. I told him it was just because of the lack of love, and that there was nothing in this life.

“I told my dad that there were no bars on the windows, and that if he didn’t get me out, I’d escape. He got me out. Then he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I didn’t know​—that I just didn’t fit anywhere. He said that if I didn’t like it in his house I could always look for some other place. Now I really felt I had nowhere to go, and nobody to turn to.

“A brother of one of my friends said: ‘These motorcycle guys are going to Tijuana, and maybe they can give you a ride.’ I went over and asked them if they could give me a ride as far as California. Tony said that if I wanted to go to Tijuana and stay and hang around that I could.

“I stayed on the road with Tony and Rudy for seven years. I used to ‘back’ Tony. Whether we were on the bike, or going into a place, or sitting, I would be right behind him, so nobody could get him from behind.

“I never imagined how much my life was going to change the day Tony came and asked me: ‘Did you know that Jehovah is the God of the Bible?’ I said: ‘No,’ and he started telling me what he was learning. All my life I had been searching for a true friend. I realized Jehovah was that friend. I dropped the marijuana and the fornication, but what I had to fight the longest was the terrible hatred I had of everyone and everything. With the help of Jehovah, and over a period of time, I have been able to turn around and get rid of the hate.

“You can’t realize what a change the Bible has made in my life. It says the fruitage of God’s spirit is ‘love, joy, peace . . . mildness, self-control.’ I am thankful to Jehovah for what his spirit has done for me.”​—Gal. 5:22, 23.

Barbara’s Changed Life

Barbara Banuet, a fourth member of this group, went along to the meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses the first time the others went, to see what it was about. “We were dressed in our motorcycle leathers,” she says, “but after the meeting everybody stood around and smiled. They said: ‘Hello, how are you?’ It was just like a big family, and it really warmed me. You could feel the love. In any church I had been in, you never saw anything like that.”

Barbara says she had heard people fighting all her life, and that when she was a small child she wished there was some place in this world she could go “where nobody fought, and everybody lived like brothers and sisters.” She says: “When the Witnesses showed me that the Bible says that is exactly what is going to happen, I wanted to learn more.”

If you know something of Barbara’s background, you’ll appreciate why this meant so much to her. She explains: “Mom and dad were divorced when I was five. Mom had to work 16 hours a day to support four children. She boarded us out for about four years with a very strict Seventh-day Adventist lady who in her sincerity said we were sinners and that sinners were going to burn in hell. This is an idea that makes quite an impression on a little kid who doesn’t understand what you are talking about.

“I used to think that if God loves everybody, why would he want to burn people in hell. I can remember thinking that if I’m a sinner, there is no way out, and I’m never going to get saved. So I lived like everybody else, with no hope that my life was going to get straightened out. I couldn’t see anybody around me who was living the kind of life I wanted. I couldn’t see myself as a housewife screaming at the kids, but I got married twice. My second husband was put in prison, and even there on visiting days he would try to hit me when he saw no one was looking. When finally I had enough of this, Rudy, whom I had known for a long time, talked me into staying and living with him. That is how I got into the gang.

“We used to ride all over Tijuana, raising whatever trouble we could, and scaring as many people as we could. I didn’t really care whether I lived or not. I was always high on drugs.

“What a change the Bible has made in my life! It can change your personality. The Bible says to ‘put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct’ and to ‘put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.’ (Eph. 4:22-24) It tells you how to live your whole life, how to raise your children, and how to treat your husband or your wife. It has taught me how to raise my daughter, and how to have patience with her. I try to help her to realize that she is not being good for me, but for Jehovah God. She is not doing it because I tell her to, but because the Bible does.

“It really is a blessing to have learned the truth, and to be able to raise her like this.”

What Has Happened to Them?

What has happened to these former gang members who no longer boast that they are “Satan Slaves,” but rejoice to be servants of God?

Tony and Barbara married each other. Rudy and Crystal have married other Witnesses. All say they have benefited greatly, and that the children have benefited from their new way of life. Rudy has had Bible studies with prisoners in the Jean, Nevada, penitentiary, and with a highway patrolman. Crystal says: “I don’t know where I would be if Jehovah hadn’t come to us.” Rudy sums up their feelings when he says: “We’ve seen the world and have no intention of going back to it.”

We pray that they, and all other persons now seeking to direct their lives in a godly way, will continue to do so.

[Picture on page 16]

TONY

RUDY

Alaska’s Grueling Dogsled Race

By “Awake!” correspondent in Alaska

CAN you imagine riding on the runners of a crude sled one third the distance across the United States, or from London to Rome? Traveling such a distance day and night through barren, windswept and snow-covered wilderness would certainly be a test of strength and endurance. Sixty-two mushers and their teams were ready to do it, and I wanted to see it.

With a friend, I flew to the historic gold-rush town of Nome, Alaska. The Iditarod Trail Race would conclude here, on the coast of the Bering Sea.

A Bit of Nostalgia

Iditarod (pronounced Īdĭtʹarod) is the name of both an abandoned mining town and an old mail route that followed a network of trails dating back to the late 1800’s. These pathways stretched for more than two thousand miles (3,200 km) from Seward, on the Gulf of Alaska, to Nome, on the Bering Sea. Summer traffic along the Iditarod was mainly by boats and barges on the Yukon River. However, in winter the mode of transportation shifted to the dogsled. Therefore, the name of the race, the Iditarod Trail Race.

It wasn’t until recent years that the snow machine took the place of the musher and his sled. So, many old-timers view the Iditarod race as a nostalgic reminder of how much men depended on their dogs to open up a new frontier.

Dogsledding, or “dog mushing,” is popular in many parts of the earth. During the long winter season in Alaska it provides a welcomed diversion. It can reduce the depressing moods of “cabin fever,” which occurs when one remains indoors too long. Dog mushing can be a delight for the spectator also. The beautiful Siberian Huskies and the Alaskan Malamutes in action in front of a sled in a winter wonderland are a thrilling sight.

Several races are held each year, inviting thousands of people to line the course where mushers speed along at between 18 and 20 miles per hour (29 and 32 km/​hr)! Most races are for two to three days at about 25 to 30 miles (40 to 48 km) per day. In contrast, however, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is like the marathon run. It is a call into the wild, where men and dogs are tested by the winter elements, minus 50 degrees F (−45.6° C) at times, 30-knot winds, blizzards, loneliness, and exhaustion due to sleepless nights.

Our plane was approaching the beautiful but barren edge of the Bering Sea, the coast of Nome. Shore ice and packed snow extended along the coast as far as the eye could see. I scratched the frost from my window in order to see more clearly. Right below us, proud and graceful, trotting along in the bright noon sun, was the lead dog team. Pressing forward on their padded harnesses, those canines were aware that they were out in front of the challengers and they were heading for a victorious finish.

What Does It Cost?

At the race headquarters in Nome I learned much about the cost of racing. There is more to it than harnessing 14 dogs to a sled and shouting, “Mush!”

A well-built young man about 18 years of age told me that he was the youngest musher in the Iditarod race one year ago. It had cost him $7,000 (U.S.) to prepare his team for that episode. I learned that some mushers will pay $500 to $600 for a good sled dog. A valuable lead dog that will follow commands and stay out in front of the team may cost as much as $2,000 to $4,000. No wonder many mushers breed their own dogs!

Food for the dogs also costs money. The rules of the contest require two pounds per dog for each day on the trail. This must be flown in to certain trail locations. Menus vary according to each musher. Dogs devour fish or beef, lard, wheat-germ oil, honey and vegetable oil. Since a warm meal is best, the ingredients are mixed and boiled.

There are also dangers to be met​—and not all from the weather. This year a moose resented intrusion on his domain. The huge animal stood its ground, charging three teams​—42 snarling, howling dogs. One musher sought refuge in a nearby tree. The confrontation became so serious that another musher finally shot the animal.

This race is only for those who are ready to meet the cost​—in money, danger and endurance.

Proper Treatment of Dogs

Would it surprise you to learn these sled dogs wear “running shoes”? If you look closely you will see leather booties, which are required by the race rules. Two sets of these pads must be available to protect the huskies’ paws, especially when they run on icy areas along windswept sections of the route.

The owners are not prone to treat their pets harshly. At times mushers will even refuse to put their team on the trail, or a race will be canceled, due to poor trail conditions.

What happens if a dog gets too tired along the way? What if he gets sick or is injured? He will be placed in the sled basket and brought to one of the 28 checkpoints where a veterinarian or race marshal can see to it that it is cared for. All dogs must be accounted for at the finish line. If he cannot do that, the musher will be disqualified. Much effort is put forth to give proper treatment to the dogs.

The Musher​—A Hearty Breed

Does it take a special breed of person to be a musher? Well, consider the stamina needed to push or pull a sled on steep grades under the kind of conditions previously mentioned. Would you be willing to sleep outdoors in a sleeping bag on a mattress of spruce boughs at below-zero temperatures? That certainly requires a rugged individual. Among them this year was a veteran musher 75 years old. And he completed the 1,000-mile (1,600-km) journey!

There were also seven women among the mushers. To train for the race, one woman, a few years ago, put on a bathing suit, walked out on a frozen lake, chopped a hole in the ice and slipped into the freezing water. She wanted to see if she could endure such an experience far from home if her sled broke through the ice. Was she discouraged? That same woman was racing to Nome. Six of the seven women entered finished the race.

Training for the Contest

Although sled dogs are bred to run, and are most happy when they are running, they need to be in good condition for it. Just as a human needs to build up cardiovascular capacity, and strength, so does a dog. Too much weight can be detrimental for animals as it is for people. Therefore, much time is spent during the summer months working the team so that the dogs will be in good condition.

Prior to the first snowfall, dog teams might be seen attached to the front bumper of an old pickup truck. The musher, perched on the hood of the vehicle, holds the reins as they charge chariot-style down the road. Of course, if he wants to get in condition for the race, he had better get down and run with the team, because good mushing demands stamina on his part for pumping with one foot and for pushing the sled.

The Iditarod Trail Race of 1980 took from March 1 to March 25. Sixty-two teams were entered to race for the $12,000 first prize, with the total purse of $52,500 to be distributed among the first 20 to reach Nome. Thirty-six teams finished. The number of dogs in a team vary from 10 to 20. Siberian Huskies are the favorite breed. They are smaller, tougher, faster and more gentle than the heavier Alaskan Malamutes, which are inclined to fight among themselves. Sometimes breeding is done with Indian dogs (part wolf) or Labradors (with tougher feet).

About 1,500 spectators lined up along Nome’s Front Street as 44-year-old Joe May, of Trapper Creek, Alaska, slowly walked his weary team of 10 dogs across the finish line. As the wailing fire siren announced his arrival the exhausted musher made claim on his $12,000 first prize. He earned every penny of it, finishing in a new record time​—14 days, 7 hours and 11 minutes.

Will Joe May race again in the Iditarod? “It’s my last race,” he said at the end. Then added, “Well, maybe.” Next year the purse has been upped to $100,000.

[Map/​Picture on page 21]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

NOME

Nancy Lake

ANCHORAGE

“Moral Guardians” Sound Indistinct Call

HOW strong a lead are the churches taking in their traditional role as “moral guardians” of the people? In some major denominations, events during recent months indicate that Biblical standards of morality are increasingly under attack, not just from outside, but from within. Here are some examples:

● A United Church of Canada Task Force on Sexuality released a report in the spring advocating that the church take a “contextual” approach to morality. Among other things, the 100-page report suggests that intercourse for unmarried persons may be all right in certain circumstances, that an “honest and strong intention to faithfulness” in marriage should be stressed rather than the “sexual exclusivity” that marital fidelity now implies, and that “mature, self-accepting homosexuals” should be allowed to become ministers.

What, then, makes a sexual relationship all right? According to the panel, it must be ‘creative and liberating, mutually supportive, socially responsible and joyous’​—things which, in the minds of participants, are achieved during almost any sexual act. A spokesman for the report argued that “sexual morality has to keep up with the social sciences” because “God speaks to us through them as well as through the Bible.” Many United Church members felt betrayed. In letters to the task force, church members wrote of being “greatly disturbed,” “disgusted,” or “devastated and ashamed.” One woman wrote: “The devil must be laughing. I for one will be leaving.”

● Similarly, Canada’s Anglican Church, which had authorized ordination of homosexuals as priests in 1979, also issued a report suggesting that “conventional prissiness” about unmarried couples living together should be dropped. The report says that if the relationship involves “free consent and sexual consummation” in a context of life commitment, then a marriage already exists “in substance.” Arguing for church acknowledgment of this arrangement, the report says: “We must be prepared to marvel in silence when we see that [God] can make ‘common-law marriage’ on occasion a means of grace.”

When this report recently was considered at the Church’s general synod, advocates urged the assembled clerics to “face this reality.” And clergyman Garry Patterson said: “In the last three years I haven’t prepared anyone for marriage who hadn’t already been living together.” On the other hand, Donald Masters of Guelph University declared: “I find it absolutely incredible in a day of slipping morals that the church should approve of something which a good many moral heathen wouldn’t accept.”

● Over in Great Britain, a panel for the Church of England issued a 34,000-word report saying that in some circumstances “a homosexual relationship involving the physical expression of free love” can be justified. The report also recommended that homosexuals not be barred from priesthood.

● A panel commissioned by England’s Methodist Church issued a report saying that homosexual relationships are not wrong and that this “obviously removes the grounds for denying any person membership of the Church or holding office within it solely because of his or her sexual orientation.”

Though such reports are not always accepted as official church policy, the trend is clear: Rather than sounding a clarion call for godly righteousness, the major churches shuffle toward endorsing the trendy morals of their times. Thus it flies in the face of what the inspired apostle Paul clearly states in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. It does not display the spirit of Lot who was grieved by the Sodomites.​—2 Pet. 2:6, 7.

Tyre’s End​—a Chance Happening?

HAVE you ever heard of Sur? Perhaps not, for this seaport on the coast of Lebanon is not well known. It has an estimated population of less than 20,000. The inhabitants make a living mainly by fishing or by building small boats. Sur and its nearby ruins give little indication of the city’s former glory. Yes, this is all that remains of what was once the city of Tyre.

Already in the 11th century B.C.E., during the reigns of Judean kings David and Solomon, Tyre was the principal port of Phoenicia. (Compare 1 Kings 9:11, 26-28.) Her fleet plied the waters of the Mediterranean as far as Spain. Tyre became rich from her commercial activities, including slave trade.

But why has Tyre ceased to be an important city? Is it merely a coincidence?

There is clear evidence that the end of Tyre did not come about by chance. The Hebrew prophets foretold it centuries in advance. Why? Because the Tyrians, who at one time maintained friendly relations with the Judean kings, later turned traitorous, selling their former friends into slavery.

Among the prophetic announcements against Tyre are the following: “I [Jehovah] shall pay back your treatment upon your heads. Because . . . the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem you have sold to the sons of the Greeks.” (Joel 3:4-6) “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘On account of three revolts of Tyre, and on account of four, I shall not turn it back, on account of their handing over a complete body of exiles to Edom, and because they did not remember the covenant of brothers. And I will send a fire onto the wall of Tyre, and it must devour her dwelling towers.’”​—Amos 1:9, 10.

Such traitorous action was not going to be tolerated indefinitely by the Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah God. The facts of history undeniably establish that the prophecies about Tyre were fulfilled progressively.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Siege

The city experienced the first major blow at the hands of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C.E. The siege of Tyre, according to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, lasted 13 years. (Against Apion, Book I, par. 21) The toll in lives and property must have been tremendous.

Also, Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers were put under a great strain. Their heads were “made bald” from the chafing of their helmets, and their shoulders “rubbed bare” from carrying materials used in the construction of siegeworks. However, all the riches of Tyre did not come into the hands of the besiegers. The prophet Ezekiel, a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar, wrote: “As for wages, there proved to be none for [Nebuchadnezzar] and his military force from Tyre for the service that he had performed against her.” (Ezek. 29:18) Why was this?

The city of Tyre was built on the mainland and on an island about a half mile (0.8 km) offshore. It appears that only the mainland city fell, whereas the island city did not. This explains why Tyre recovered so quickly from the blow that came to her. When the Israelites returned from Babylonian exile, the Tyrians already were able to supply timber for the rebuilding of the temple. (Ezra 3:7) Later, Tyrian merchants carried on a thriving business in Jerusalem.​—Neh. 13:16.

Tyre’s Complete End Foretold

Nevertheless, Jehovah’s word was against Tyre. Her total end was yet future.

The Hebrew prophets Zechariah and Ezekiel declared: “Jehovah himself will dispossess [Tyre], and into the sea he will certainly strike down her military force; and in the fire she herself will be devoured.” (Zech. 9:4) “I [Jehovah] am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up against you many nations, just as the sea brings up its waves. And they will certainly bring the walls of Tyre to ruin and tear down her towers, and I will scrape her dust away from her and make her a shining, bare surface of a crag. A drying yard for dragnets is what she will become in the midst of the sea.”​—Ezek. 26:3-5.

Alexander the Great’s Siege

The year 332 B.C.E. witnessed the fulfillment of these and earlier prophecies regarding Tyre. Alexander the Great had launched his campaign of conquest in the Middle East.

After Sidon surrendered to him, Alexander led his army toward Tyre. A delegation of leading Tyrians, including the son of its King Azemilcus, met him and declared a willingness to comply with his requests. Alexander expressed the desire to be admitted into the city, to present an offering to Heracles (not Hercules, the mighty hero of Greek mythology, but the god Melkarth or Baal). Apprised of this by the delegation, the Tyrians adamantly turned down the request.

Since the outcome of Alexander’s conflict with the Persian King Darius was still in question, the Tyrians thought it in their best interests to deny entry to any Macedonian or Persian.a Their action prompted Alexander to act without delay.

Addressing his men, he said: “Friends and fellow soldiers, I do not see how we can safely advance upon Egypt, so long as Persia controls the sea; and to pursue Darius with the neutral city of Tyre in our rear and Egypt and Cyprus still in enemy hands would be a serious risk, especially in view of the situation in Greece. . . . But with Tyre destroyed, all Phoenicia would be ours, and the Phoenician fleet, which both in numbers and quality is the predominant element in the sea-power of Persia, would very likely come over to us.”​—Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, Penguin Classics, pp. 131, 132.

Alexander’s officers were convinced, and Tyre came under siege. The initial efforts for the siege proved to be in harmony with Bible prophecy. Ezekiel had written: “I will scrape her dust away from her and make her a shining, bare surface of a crag.” (Ezek. 26:4) Alexander determined to build a mole or a causeway to the island city. For this purpose he used the stone and debris from the old mainland city.

As work on the causeway progressed, the Tyrians, with their ships, did everything they could to thwart the project. Countering their attacks, Alexander erected two towers at the far end of the mole. However, the Tyrians succeeded in setting these on fire. Alexander then commanded that the causeway be widened, providing additional space for towers. He also began assembling a tremendous fleet from Sidon, Rhodes, Mallus, Lycia, Macedonia and elsewhere, thus cutting off Tyre’s free access to the sea.

Whereas the construction of the causeway fulfilled prophecy, it was the naval campaign that brought about the fall of Tyre after a siege of seven months. According to Arrian, 8,000 perished during the siege, and 30,000 were sold into slavery.

Truly, the fall of Tyre cannot be attributed to mere chance. It happened according to the express purpose of Jehovah God because of Tyre’s own wicked conduct. This God of true prophecy could say with reference to himself: “Just as the pouring rain descends, and the snow, from the heavens and does not return to that place, unless is actually saturates the earth and makes it produce and sprout, and seed it actually given to the sower and bread to the eater, so my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.”​—Isa. 55:10, 11.

The destruction of Tyre is not just an event of the ancient past. It stands as an unchangeable guarantee that all the judgments of the Most High will be fulfilled. In his Word, Jehovah God has decreed the end of the entire ungodly system of things, in which treachery like that of Tyre abounds. (2 Pet. 3:9-12) We urge you to acquaint yourself with what the Bible says about this and how you can escape this fast-approaching calamity.

[Footnotes]

“For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.”​—2 Pet. 1:20, 21.

The Bishop’s Ridicule Backfired

THE date was 1860. At Oxford University, the British Association for the Advancement of Science was in session. Present were evolutionist Thomas H. Huxley and a bitter opponent of the theory, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Wilberforce, however, spoiled his argument by making “an offensive personal inquiry about Huxley’s simian ancestry.”

Huxley recognized that Wilberforce had ruined his case. When he was called upon to make a reply, he said: “If . . . the question is put to me, would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence, and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion​—I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape.”

Wilberforce’s ridicule backfired. How much better it would have been for him to have heeded the Bible’s admonition: “A slave of the Lord does not need to fight, but needs to be gentle toward all, qualified to teach, . . . instructing with mildness those not favorably disposed.”​—2 Tim. 2:24, 25.

The true Christian has not only the inspired Word of God in proof of creation by an almighty, all-intelligent personal Creator, but also all the incontrovertible facts of the natural world to back up his unwavering belief in divine creation.

Watching the World

Think Young

◆ Japanese researchers believe they have evidence that the brains of many people actually shrink because they are not getting enough “exercise.” Using a computer scanning device, Professor Taiju Matsuzawa and his colleagues at Tohoku National University measured the brain volumes of a variety of people. They found that the sections of the brain where intellect and emotion lie begin to shrink earlier with people in certain occupations. For example, the brains of some workers such as farmers, bus drivers and white-collar workers with routine jobs were said to begin contracting as early as at 30 years of age. On the other hand, many lawyers, university professors and doctors seemed to retain full brain size into their 60’s and 70’s. No doubt this is also true of farmers and bus drivers who keep mentally active, for example, those who spend time in spiritual pursuits. The report by Robert Whymant of London’s Sunday Times observes: “Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple remedy to the [brain] contraction normally associated with age: Using the head.”

Egypt’s Eleventh Plague?

◆ During the summer, millions of large, aggressive rats reportedly invaded Egypt, gobbling up crops and assaulting cattle, poultry and some humans. When the rats reached the suburbs of Cairo, one local Council meeting was told that rodents were “bothering adults, attacking children and chasing away cats.” In mid-July, Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture declared a state of emergency in two Delta provinces where the rats were said to have destroyed 78,000 feddan (98,000 acres) of crops. Describing the scene, the Times of Zambia reported: “A new plague has hit Egypt which was never listed in the Old Testament of the Bible​—drunken rats.” The Times explained that the rats, which had destroyed thousands of hectares of wheat and vegetables, had gone on to get “drunk on sugarcane juice in the Nile delta region.”

Dauntless Gamblers

◆ Even as an extortioners’ bomb wrecked Harvey’s Resort Hotel-Casino in Nevada, reports an Associated Press dispatch, “operations at all the casinos near Harvey’s continued.” A reporter at Caesars Palace said “players at the one-armed bandits [slot machines] did pause for an instant at the moment of the blast to exclaim things like, ‘Oh, Wow!’ before giving their money away again.” Gambling fever held their attention despite the force of the explosion, which tore off great pieces of the large building and hurled debris for blocks. The extortionists had demanded $3 million to stop the bomb.

Curing Mental Illness

◆ A seven-year study by the World Health Organization has revealed that the cure rate for severe mental illness is much higher in less-developed countries than in industrialized nations. According to Science 80 magazine, 58 percent of Nigerian patients in the study and 51 percent of Indian patients “had but a single psychotic episode, then were judged cured.” On the other hand, said the report, “in the more technologically advanced countries, the prognosis was far worse: The proportion of patients who recovered after one episode ranged from only six percent in Denmark to 27 percent in China.” Science 80 also noted that, while “a relatively fast and complete recovery from major psychoses” was likely in developing nations, “in the United States and other industrialized countries, nearly half who suffer psychotic breakdowns never recover.”

Sun Powers Flight

◆ On August 7, an aircraft piloted by Janice Brown, 31, stayed aloft entirely by sun power for 14 minutes and 21 seconds except for one touchdown. Said to be the world’s first solar-powered aircraft, the 68-pound (31-kg) “Gossamer Penguin” flew a few feet above the ground for 2.1 miles (3.4 km) in California. Its design is similar to that of a pedal-powered version that crossed the English Channel last year.

Natural Cure

◆ A bolt of lightning reportedly cured most of 62-year-old Edwin Robinson’s health problems. The Maine truck driver had been blind and partly deafened after a traffic accident in 1971. Then the bolt struck last summer, and Robinson was knocked out for about 20 minutes. “When he regained consciousness, he could see and hear well again,” reports the New York Times. “A month later he reported that hair was starting to grow on his once bald head.” Now he says: “It’s coming in thick​—my wife is all excited about it. I was bald for 35 years. They told me it was hereditary.” His hearing aid was “all burned out,” he said, but now “I can hear like a kid.” As for his eyes, Albert Moulton, his ophthalmologist, said: “I can’t explain it. I just don’t know why he can see again. All I know is that he was blind and now he isn’t.” Robinson also claims that his case of varicose veins has cleared up since the curative bolt from the sky.

Lizard God Disturbed?

◆ After much controversy, a petroleum company recently began drilling for oil in a remote area of Western Australia. But aborigines of the local Yungnara tribe went to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva to protest the project as a desecration of the sacred site of their lizard god Goanna. They believe that the drilling disturbs the spirit of the Great Goanna, who retaliates by influencing the local six-foot (1.8-m) monitor lizards not to mate. The worried Yungnaras count on the monitors as a major food source.

Tried Trading Baby for Car

◆ A New Jersey couple recently were arrested as they prepared to trade their child for an $8,800 used sports car. “They had the keys and the papers for the car and we were putting the license plates on,” said the auto dealer. “They left the baby in the showroom on the floor.” The dealer had gone to the police when the couple approached him earlier about the transaction, and troopers closed in as it was being consummated. “My first impression was to swap the car for the kid,” related the salesman. He had lost members of his own family in a fire. But he thought about the baby’s future: “How could this boy cope with life knowing he was traded for a car?”

Official Witch Doctors

◆ Zimbabwe’s 8,000 ngangas (witch doctors) are now to be officially a part of the National Health Service. The nations’s new Health Minister, Herbert Ushewokunze, declared: “We will set up centres for them from which to practice.” Dr. Ushewokunze organized the National Traditional Healers’ Association, and has observed that “African medicine is part and parcel of our culture. . . . Our whole culture background is strongly linked to the spirit mediums.” The witch doctors are being employed in an effort to deal with health problems in war-shattered rural areas where few medical doctors are available.

Fearful Elephant

◆ What is an elephant afraid of? One fable has them afraid of mice. But it was quite a different story in the case of Dali, a 14-year-old African elephant at Scotland’s Edinburgh Zoo. She refused to leave her indoor pen for four years, though all kinds of attempts were made to induce her to come outside for fresh air and exercise. But then an old Indian elephant, Sally, in the next pen, died. Within a month, Dali began to come out into her yard. “She was actually afraid of the other elephant,” said zoo director Roger Wheater. “The only idiosyncrasy that she has now is that she goes outside backwards.”

World Wage Comparison

◆ According to U.S. News & World Report, workers in the United States labor for bargain rates when compared with those in some European nations. If fringe benefits are included with pay, the average hourly labor cost in America in 1979 was $9.71. But in Switzerland, it was $11.77; in the Federal Republic of Germany, $12.06; in Sweden, $12.23; and in Belgium, $12.29​—the highest. Two major industrial nations’ workers that had lower hourly pay and benefits were Japan, at $6.74, and Britain, at $5.83.

Child Sacrifice

◆ Religious superstition and ignorance may have resulted in the human sacrifice of two Indian children. Reporting on statements by the Leader of the House in India’s Tamil Nadu State Assembly, The Hindu of India noted that he “described the incident as shameful,” and “said that the alleged human sacrifice was to get divine blessings for begetting a child.” And another member of the Assembly “alleged that it was a planned act done with the help of magicians.” The headmaster and a teacher at the local primary school were arrested for the crime.

$625,000 Plant Pot

◆ An English widow recently was shocked to learn that a small oriental jar she had used outside as a plant holder was actually worth a fortune. An art expert called in to advise a picture noticed the small bowl and identified it as a 15th-century Imperial Ming. The widow’s husband had been given the jar when visiting the Orient years ago. It sold at auction for £265,000 (about $625,000, U.S.).

Fat/​Breast-Cancer Link?

◆ The number of breast-cancer deaths “increases proportionally to the amount of fat consumed,” according to a Canadian Press report of remarks by Dr. Kenneth K. Carroll, professor of biochemistry at the University of western Ontario. Studies of women who moved to Canada and the United States from Japan and Poland, lands with low cancer death rates, showed a dramatic rise in incidence of breast cancer after they came to North America. The higher fat consumption in North America is felt to be the cause of the change. Carroll, reputed to be a top researcher in the field, claims that breast-cancer deaths could be cut in half if fat consumption were also reduced by 50 percent.

Air Safety

◆ The safety record of 18 domestic airlines in the United States and 40 U.S. and foreign international carriers shows that the risk of a fatal air accident has decreased by more than half in the last two decades, says Scientific American. Among domestic airlines, the odds of a passenger’s being killed improved from one in 988,000 in 1957 to one in 2,599,000 in 1976. The international carrier record is not as good, though it also improved, from one in 163,000 in 1960 to one in 340,000 in 1975.

Hippie Ban

◆ Thailand recently circulated its definition of hippies to airlines and immigration officials. Those meeting the definition are to be barred from the country, according to Africa’s To The Point. The official hippie description includes: “Wears a short-sleeved vest (no bra for the females) and dirty shorts. Wears baggy pants (Chinese style as an alternative to the dirty shorts). Is untidy and has a strong aroma of stale biscuits.” To The Point notes that “such laws have failed in other Asian countries [Singapore, Malaysia and Maldive Islands] . . . because the canny hippies resort to wearing jacket and tie when flying into countries which do not welcome them.”

Pollution Conquered

◆ England’s once-dead Thames River is coming alive again as the pollution that once strangled it dissipates. “But the absence of pollution also has encouraged less attractive forms of life,” says London’s Daily Mail. It seems that mussels, barnacles and other small water life are clogging the intakes and other pipes of industrial plants that use river water. Underwater wood-boring creature have gone to work on wharves and other wooden construction. And the water’s growing oxygen supply makes metal structures vulnerable to rust. The successful Thames cleanup “is an inspiration to conservationists all over the world,” says a zoologist at London’s Natural History Museum. “But when you make life possible again, you have to accept the destructive organisms along with the good.”

Test Your Bible I.Q.

Q. Why was Miriam struck with leprosy?

Q. Why did God-fearing Samson go to a prostitute’s house?

Q. Is baptism necessary for one whose poor health makes it risky?

Q. With whom did “me-ism” really get its start?

Q. Why wasn’t it wrong for Lot to offer his daughters to the Sodomites?

Q. Should children be spanked?

See page 28 for the answers.

BIBLE I.Q. TEST ANSWERS

See the Bible quiz, page 32.

● MURMURING, SO STRUCK WITH LEPROSY—

Murmuring, as in the case of Miriam, is not simply a complaint about some wrongdoing. It is an expression of dissatisfaction or discontent and often is caused by placing too much emphasis on oneself. So Jehovah humiliated Miriam with leprosy for seven days.​—“Watchtower,” 1/15/79, p. 24.

● TO THE HOUSE OF A PROSTITUTE—

Since Samson was in enemy Philistine territory, the prostitute’s home was the only place he could find accommodations for the night. The account at Judges 16:1 does not say he hired her services, although that may have been the conclusion the Philistines drew, for they planned to wait for him until morning. Instead, at midnight he ripped out the city’s gates, leaving it defenseless.—”Watchtower,” 2/15/79, p. 31.

● BAPTISM FOR PERSONS IN POOR HEALTH?—

The Bible shows that baptism by complete immersion is very important. So even when unusual steps are necessary because of a person’s condition, he should be baptized if at all possible. But we can be confident that, where it is physically impossible to baptize a newly dedicated person, God will regard the situation mercifully.​—“Watchtower,” 5/1/79, p. 31.

● BEGINNING OF “ME-ISM”—

Me-ism, the worship of self, goes all the way back to the first human pair, and was foretold to be present in the last days. The Bible at 2 Timothy 3:1, 2 says: “In the last days . . . men will be lovers of themselves.”​—“Awake!,” 4/22/79, p. 6.

● LOT OFFERS HIS DAUGHTERS—

Although Lot had at first entertained angels unawares, he later may well have realized that they were messengers from God. Hence, Lot could have felt that, as deeply attached to his daughters as he was, he would be willing to sacrifice them if necessary. Also, Lot could have been confident that, if it was Jehovah’s will, God would protect his daughters even as God had already protected Sarah in Egypt. And the daughters were kept safe.​—“Watchtower,” 12/1/79, p. 31.

● SHOULD CHILDREN BE SPANKED?—

The Bible shows that spanking does have value as a form of discipline when appropriate. “A good spanking won’t kill him,” the Bible says at Proverbs 23:13 and 14. “As a matter of fact, it may save his life.” (Today’s English Version)​—“Awake!,” 5/8/79, p. 28.