May 8

Page Two

Victorious in the Face of Death 3-12

Nationalism and political, ethnic, and religious hatred have led to wars, strife, and persecution. There have been millions of victims and thousands of martyrs. What is the difference? Where is the victory?

Death on Delicate Wings 13

Malaria still kills up to 2 million people every year and strikes 270 million. What happened to the eradication program?

Religion and Science​—A Poor Mix 18

Theology, alchemy, and science were intertwined during past centuries. What was the result?

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H. Armstrong Roberts

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Musei Capitolini, Roma

Victims or Martyrs What Is the Difference?

IN THE course of history, mankind’s inhumanity to man, woman, and child has caused endless suffering and resulted in millions of victims. Whether for political, national, racial, or religious reasons, innocent blood has been and is being shed. Hatred prevails over love and understanding. Bigotry smothers tolerance. And the killing continues.

In past centuries, warfare pitted army against army, and civilian involvement was relatively slight. In our 20th century, with the advent of aerial bombing, long-range artillery and missiles, civilian casualties have been so high that one study states: “Civilians are now by far the main victims in wars. In this century many more unarmed civilians than professional soldiers have died in wars.” Innocent people have been cannon fodder for the war machines set in motion by political leaders. In our century alone, the number of victims of war has soared, with over a hundred million dead and hundreds of millions traumatized by injury and the loss of loved ones.

In addition to the victims of modern conflicts, there have also been the martyrs.a What is the difference? Millions​—Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, and others—​died as victims in Nazi Germany just for what they were. They had no recourse, no alternative. Under that evil system, their death was inexorable. On the other hand, some did not have to die. They had a way out, and yet, because of their principles, they chose not to take it.

One famous example was that of Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe, who aided Jewish refugees during World War II. In 1941 he was “shipped to [the Nazi concentration camp at] Auschwitz, where he volunteered his life in the place of the condemned inmate Franciszek Gajowniczek. First starved, he was finally injected with phenol and cremated.” (Encyclopædia Britannica) He became a self-sacrificing martyr​—an exception to the general rule as far as the Protestant and Catholic religions were concerned.

During the Nazi period in Germany (1933-45), Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered terrible persecution for daring to remain neutral and for refusing to serve in Hitler’s war effort. Thousands were sent to the dreaded concentration camps, where many were executed and others died from mistreatment. Yet, they did not have to suffer and die. They had a choice. They were offered a way out. If they would just sign a paper renouncing their faith, they could walk away free. The vast majority chose not to sign and became not only victims of the Nazi terror but also martyrs. Thus, while all martyrs are victims, only a few victims could and did choose to become martyrs. They were victorious in the face of death.

Impartial testimony from many non-Witnesses proves this fact. “The Swiss Pastor Bruppacher observed in 1939 that ‘While men who call themselves Christians have failed in the decisive tests, these unknown witnesses of Jehovah, as Christian martyrs, are maintaining unshakable opposition against coercion of conscience and heathen idolatry . . . They suffer and bleed because, as Jehovah’s witnesses and candidates for the Kingdom of Christ, they refuse the worship of Hitler and the Swastika.’”

However, it is not in Nazi Germany only that Jehovah’s Witnesses have maintained their integrity in the face of death. They have had to show their courage in the face of Communism, Fascism, and other kinds of political tyranny, as well as religious opposition. Even in the so-called democratic countries of the West, the Witnesses have faced violence. Our next article will detail some of the cases that have involved Witnesses who gained victory in the face of death.

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After World War II, East German courts wrongfully convicted Jehovah’s Witnesses as American spies

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Neue Berliner Illustrierte

Victorious in the Face of Death

“Yet surprisingly, for the Nazis, [the Witnesses] also could not be eliminated. The harder they were pressed the more they compressed, becoming diamond hard in their resistance. Hitler catapulted them into an eschatological battle, and they kept the faith. . . . Their experience is valuable material for all who study survival under extreme stress. For survive they did.”​—Attributed to Dr. Christine King, historian, in the journal Together.

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES should figure in the history of the 20th century as the most universally maligned and persecuted religious group on earth. They have been misunderstood and often mistreated simply because of their stand of Christian neutrality and refusal to learn or practice warfare. Their separation from all political ties has brought upon them the ire of totalitarian rulers in many lands. Yet, one of their contributions to modern history has been their record of strict neutrality and unbending integrity.a

British historian Arnold Toynbee wrote in 1966: “In our time in Germany there have been Christian martyrs who did give their lives rather than pay homage to the rampant Nationalism represented there by the human god Adolf Hitler.” The facts show that Jehovah’s Witnesses were prominent among those martyrs. Some experiences should serve to illustrate how they faced persecution and even death because of their integrity​—and this not just during the period of Nazism. In many parts of the world, their record of victory in the face of death is consistent and unparalleled.

The Story of Ananii Grogul of Ukraine

“My parents became Jehovah’s Witnesses during World War II, in 1942, when I was 13 years old. Shortly thereafter, my father was arrested, put in jail, and later transferred to the Soviet camps in the Ural Mountains. When I was 15, in 1944, the military authorities called me to preparatory service in the armed forces. As I already had a solid faith in Jehovah, I refused to learn war. For this reason, at that tender age, I was sentenced to five years in prison.

“Then came the very hard year of 1950. I was again arrested and was sentenced to 25 years’ confinement on account of my activities as a Witness. I was 21 years old. I survived seven years and four months in the labor camps. I saw many people die, bloated by hunger and worn-out by hard labor.

“After the death of Stalin in 1953, conditions began to change, and in 1957 the authorities released me from prison. Again I stepped into ‘freedom.’ But this time they banished me to Siberia for ten years.”

Inhuman Torture of My Sister

“In Siberia, I was reunited with my fleshly sister, who had already become an invalid. She had been arrested precisely two weeks after I was in 1950. The investigation in her case was carried on in an absolutely unlawful manner. They locked her up in solitary confinement and then let rats loose in her cell with her. These gnawed at her feet and crept over her body. Finally, her tormentors made her stand in cold water up to her chest while they watched her agony. She was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment because of her preaching activity. Both her legs became paralyzed, but she could make use of her hands and arms. For five years they kept her in a camp hospital and finally wrote her off as though she were dead. Then they transferred her to our parents, who had been sent into lifetime exile in Siberia in 1951.”

Return to Ukraine and More Persecution

“In Siberia I met Nadia, who became my wife and bore our children. Even in Siberia we kept up our preaching work. I was entrusted with the production and duplication of Bible literature. Every night my brother Jacob and I were busy in a dugout in the basement, duplicating The Watchtower. We had two typewriters and a homemade duplicating machine. Our home was searched regularly by the police. Every time they left empty-handed.

“My exile came to an end. With all my family, I moved to Ukraine, but persecution followed us. I was assigned to serve as a traveling overseer. I had to take a job in order to support my family. Several times every month, members of the State Security came to my place of work and tried to persuade me to compromise my faith. Once I felt Jehovah’s help in a very special way. They arrested me and took me to the State Security offices in Kiev, where they kept me for six days. All that time they tried to confuse me with atheistic propaganda. In their godless manner, they commented on The Watchtower and other publications of the Watch Tower Society. The pressure became almost unbearable. In the bathroom, I would fall on my knees and burst into tears, crying out to Jehovah. No, not for liberation but for strength to endure and not betray my brothers.

“Then the police chief came to see me, and taking a seat in front of me, he asked me whether I was really convinced of what I was defending. I gave him a brief witness and declared my readiness to die for the truth. His answer was: ‘You are a happy person. If only I were convinced that this is the truth, I would be ready not only to stay in jail for 3 or 5 years but to stand on one leg in prison for 60 years.’ He sat thoughtful in silence for a short time and then continued: ‘It’s a matter of everlasting life. Can you imagine what everlasting life really means?’ After a brief pause, he said: ‘Go home!’ Those words gave me unexpected strength. I was not hungry any longer. I wanted only to leave. I felt certain that it was Jehovah who had strengthened me.

“In recent years things have changed in the former Soviet Union. Now there is an abundance of Bible literature. We are able to attend circuit assemblies and district conventions, and we share in all kinds of preaching activities, including the house-to-house ministry. Truly, Jehovah has given us the victory in the face of many trials!”

Integrity Tested in Africa

During the late 1960’s, Nigeria was embroiled in a devastating civil war. Faced with growing losses, soldiers of the breakaway region, at that time renamed Biafra, forcibly conscripted young men into their army. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses are politically neutral and refuse involvement in warfare, many Witnesses in Biafra were hounded, brutalized, and murdered. Said one of Jehovah’s Witnesses: “We were like rats. We had to hide whenever we heard soldiers coming.” Often there was no time to hide.

One Friday morning in 1968, Philip, a 32-year-old full-time minister, was in Umuimo village preaching to an elderly man when Biafran soldiers stormed into the compound on a conscription drive.

“What are you doing?” demanded the unit leader. Philip said that he was talking about Jehovah’s coming Kingdom.

“It is not the time for preaching!” shouted another soldier. “This is wartime, and we do not want to see able-bodied men walking about doing nothing.” The soldiers then stripped Philip naked, tied his hands together, and led him away. Israel, a 43-year-old Christian elder, also had no time to hide. He was captured as he was preparing food for his children. By 2:00 p.m. the soldiers had rounded up over a hundred men. They forced their captives to run the 15 miles [25 km] to the military camp in Umuacha Mgbedeala. Any who lagged behind were whipped.

Israel was told he would carry a heavy machine gun; Philip was to be trained to use a light machine gun. When they explained that they could not join the military because Jehovah forbids it, the commandant ordered that they be locked up. At 4:00 p.m., all the conscripts, including those in the guardroom, were ordered to form a line. The soldiers then asked each man to sign a paper showing that he had consented to join the army. When it was his turn to sign, Philip referred to the words of 2 Timothy 2:3, 4 and said to the commandant: “I am already ‘a fine soldier of Christ.’ I cannot fight for Christ and also fight for another person. If I do, Christ will count me as a traitor.” The commandant struck him on the head, saying: “Your appointment as a soldier of Christ is terminated! You are now a Biafran soldier.”

Philip replied: “Jesus has not yet notified me that my appointment as his soldier is terminated, and my appointment stands until I receive such notification.” With that, soldiers lifted Philip and Israel into the air and flung them to the ground. Dazed and bleeding from the eyes, nose, and mouth, the two were dragged away.

Before a Firing Squad

Later that day, Israel and Philip found themselves facing a firing squad. But the soldiers did not shoot them. Instead, they beat them with their fists and rifle butts. Then the camp commandant decided to flog them to death. He assigned 24 soldiers to do this. Six were to flog Philip, and another six were to flog Israel. The other 12 soldiers were to supply replacement sticks and to stand in when the others became tired.

Philip and Israel were bound hand and foot. Israel relates: “I cannot tell how many strokes we got that night. When one soldier got tired, another would take over. They flogged us long after we became unconscious.” Says Philip: “Matthew 24:13, which speaks of enduring to the end, came to my mind during the torture, and that strengthened me. I felt the pain of the beating for only a few seconds. It seemed as if Jehovah sent one of the angels to help us, as he did during the time of Daniel. Otherwise we could not have survived that terrible night.”

When the soldiers had finished, Israel and Philip were left for dead. It was raining. It wasn’t until the next morning that the two Christians regained consciousness. When the soldiers saw that they were still alive, they dragged them back to the guardroom.

“You Smell Like Corpses Already”

The flogging had left their flesh red and raw, with wounds all over their bodies. Israel recalls: “We were not allowed to bathe our wounds. After some days flies feasted on us ceaselessly. Because of the torture, we were not able to eat. It was only after a week that anything apart from water was able to pass through our mouths.”

Every morning the soldiers lashed them with a whip​—24 strokes each. The soldiers sadistically called that “breakfast” or “hot morning tea.” Every noontime, the soldiers brought them to the field to face the tropical sun until 1:00 p.m. After a few days of such treatment, the commandant summoned them and asked if they had renounced their stand. They said no.

“You will die in your cell,” said the commandant. “In fact, you smell like corpses already.”

Philip responded: “Even if we die, we know that Christ, for whom we are fighting, will resurrect us.”

How did they survive this terrible time? Israel says: “Philip and I encouraged each other throughout our trial. At the beginning, I said to him, ‘Do not be frightened. Whatever the case, Jehovah will help us. As for me, nothing will make me join the army. Even if I have to die, I will not handle a gun with these hands of mine.’” Philip said that he had made the same resolve. Together they recalled and discussed various scriptures.

A new commandant decided to transfer about a hundred of the conscripts to Ibema, a training camp in the Mbano area of what is now Imo State. Israel relates what then happened: “The big truck was ready, and all the recruits were inside. My wife, June, ran to the soldiers and courageously pleaded for us not to be taken away. When she was rebuffed, she knelt down near the truck, prayed, and concluded with an audible amen. Then the truck drove off.”

Encounter With a Sympathetic Mercenary

The army truck reached the camp at Ibema the following afternoon. The man who seemed to be in charge there was an Israeli mercenary. When he saw how battered and weak Philip and Israel were, he approached and asked them why they were in such a terrible state. They explained that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses and had refused military training. Angrily, he turned to the other military officers there. “Biafra is sure to lose this war,” he said. “Any country engaged in war that harasses Jehovah’s Witnesses is sure to lose. You shouldn’t conscript Jehovah’s Witnesses. If a Witness agrees to go to war, fine. But if he refuses, leave him alone.”

The camp doctor inquired if the two Witnesses had received inoculations and medical fitness certificates. Since they had not, the mercenary rejected all the conscripted ones and ordered that they be taken back to Umuacha.

“Go Your Way, Serve Your God”

Later, Israel’s wife and Philip’s mother decided to visit the Umuacha camp in hopes of news. As they approached, they heard commotion in the camp. At the gate, the guard said: “Jehovah’s Witness! Your prayer has been answered. The group taken away three days ago has been sent back.”

The same day, Philip and Israel were released from the camp. The commandant said to June: “Do you know it was the prayer you said that made our exercise unfruitful?” He then said to Israel and Philip: “Go your way, serve your God, and continue to maintain your integrity to your Jehovah.”

As for Israel and Philip, they recovered and continued in Christian activity. After the war, Israel took up full-time preaching for two years and has continued to serve as a Christian elder. Philip served as a traveling overseer for ten years and is still engaged in full-time preaching. He too is a congregation elder.

Refusal to Contribute for Arms

Zebulan Nxumalo and Polite Mogane are two young full-time ministers in South Africa. Zebulan explains: “One Sunday morning, a group of men came to our house and demanded R20 (about $7, U.S.) to buy weapons. Respectfully we asked them to come back that evening, since our Sunday schedule was too tight to discuss the matter right then. Surprisingly, they agreed. That evening, 15 men arrived. The expression on their faces made it obvious that they meant business. After introducing ourselves politely, we asked them what they wanted. They explained that they needed money to purchase bigger and better arms with which to take on the opposing political faction.

“I asked them: ‘Is it possible to extinguish fire with petrol?’

“‘No, that would be impossible,’ they responded.

“We explained that in a similar way, violence would only encourage violence and acts of revenge.

“This statement seemed to irk a number of the men present. Their demand now became a challenging threat. ‘This exchange of views is a waste of time,’ they snarled. ‘The compulsory contribution is nonnegotiable. Either you pay up or you face the consequences!’

“At that stage,” recalls Zebulan, “just as things were starting to get out of control, their leader walked in. He wanted to know what the problem was. We explained our stand, and he listened carefully. We used their devotion to their own political persuasion as an illustration. We asked them how they would expect a trained soldier from their organization to react if he was captured and forced to compromise his position. They said that such a person should be prepared to die for his convictions. They smiled as we commended them for their answer; they did not realize that they had given us a golden opportunity to illustrate our case. We explained that we are different from the churches of Christendom. As supporters of God’s Kingdom, our ‘constitution’ is based on the Bible, which condemns all forms of murder. For this reason, we were not prepared to contribute even one cent toward the buying of weapons.

“By this time, as the discussion reached a climax, more people had trickled into our house, so that we were eventually addressing a large audience. Little did they realize how fervently we were praying for a favorable outcome to the discussion.

“After we had made our stand clear, a long silence followed. Finally, their leader spoke to his group: ‘Gentlemen, I understand the position of these men. If we wanted money to build an old-age home, or if one of our neighbors needed money to go to the hospital, these men would dig deep into their pockets. But they are not prepared to give us money to kill. Personally, I am not against their beliefs.’

“With that, they all stood up. We shook hands and thanked them for their patience. What had started as a menacing situation that might have cost us our lives had ended in a grand victory.”

Priest-Led Mobs

As told by Polish Witness Jerzy Kulesza:

“So far as zeal and putting Kingdom interests first are concerned, my father, Aleksander Kulesza, was an example to follow. To him, field service, Christian meetings, and personal and family study were sacred things indeed. Neither snowstorm nor frost nor strong wind nor heat was an obstacle for him. In winter he put on his skis, took a rucksack with Bible literature, and left for some of Poland’s isolated territories for a couple of days. He used to encounter various dangers, including violent guerrilla groups.

“Sometimes priests stirred up opposition against the Witnesses, inciting mobs. They used to deride them, throw stones at them, or beat them. But they returned home, happy to have endured insults for Christ.

“During those first years after World War II, the authorities were not able to maintain law and order in the country. There was chaos and destruction. The police and security forces ruled by day, whereas guerrillas and various gangs operated by night. Theft and robbery became rampant, and there were frequent lynchings. Defenseless Witnesses of Jehovah were easy prey, especially as some of the groups led by priests concentrated on the Witnesses. They justified invasion of our homes with the pretext that they were defending the Catholic faith of their fathers. On such occasions they smashed windows, stole livestock, and destroyed clothes, food, and literature. Bibles they threw into the well.”

Unexpected Martyrdom

“One day in June 1946, before we met to go by bicycle to some isolated territory, a young brother, Kazimierz Kądziela, visited us and talked to my father in a low voice. My father sent us on our way, but he did not go with us, which surprised us. We were to hear the reason later. Upon returning home, we learned that the previous night the Kądziela family had been savagely beaten, so my father had gone to take care of severely wounded brothers and sisters.

“When I later entered the room where they were lying, the sight moved me to tears. The walls and ceiling were spattered with blood. People swathed in bandages were lying on the beds, beaten black and blue, swollen, with broken ribs and limbs. They were hardly recognizable. Sister Kądziela, the mother of the family, was terribly battered. My father was assisting them, and before he left he uttered significant words: ‘Oh, my God, I am such a healthy and capable man [he was then 45 years old and had never been ill], and I have not had the privilege of suffering for you. Why should it happen to this elderly sister?’ Little did he know what awaited him.

“As the sun set, we returned to our home two miles [3 km] away. A group of 50 armed men had surrounded our house. The Wincenciuk family was brought in too, so there were nine of us there. Each of us was asked the question: ‘Are you a Witness of Jehovah?’ When we answered yes, we were beaten. Then, taking turns, two of those butchers beat up my father while asking him if he would stop reading the Bible and preaching it. They wanted to know whether he would go to church and confess his sins. They taunted him, saying: ‘Today, we will ordain you bishop.’ My father did not say a single word, did not utter a single moan. He endured their tortures, quietly as a sheep. At daybreak, about 15 minutes after the religious bullies had gone, he died, beaten to a pulp. But before they left, they chose me as their next victim. I was then 17 years old. While being beaten, I lost consciousness a couple of times. My body was black from the waist up as a result of the blows. We were maltreated for six hours. All for being Jehovah’s Witnesses!”

The Support of a Faithful Wife

“I was among the group of 22 Witnesses who for two months were confined in a dark cell of less than a hundred square feet [10 square meters]. At the end of that period, our food rations were reduced. Daily, we were given a small portion of bread and a little mug of bitter coffee. It was only possible to lie down to sleep on the cold concrete floor when somebody was taken out for interrogation during the night.

“I was imprisoned for Christian activity five times, eight years altogether. I was treated as a special prisoner. There was a note in my personal record to this effect: ‘Annoy Kulesza so much that he will lose his desire ever to resume the activity.’ However, each time I was set free, I offered myself for Christian service. The authorities also made life difficult for my wife, Urszula, and our two little daughters. For instance, for ten years the bailiff seized some of my wife’s hard-earned wages. This was said to be a tax on me for editing underground Bible literature. Everything was confiscated except those things that were viewed as life’s necessities. I am grateful to Jehovah for my brave wife, who patiently endured with me all those torments and who was a real support to me all the time.

“We have seen a spiritual victory here in Poland; we now have a legal branch office of the Watch Tower Society at Nadarzyn, near Warsaw. After decades of persecution, there are now over 108,000 Witnesses, associated with 1,348 congregations.”

Why So Many Martyrs?

The record of integrity of Jehovah’s Witnesses in this 20th century would literally fill volumes​—thousands have died as martyrs or suffered imprisonment and indescribable torture, rape, and pillage in places such as Malawi and Mozambique, in Spain under Fascism, in Europe under Nazism, in Eastern Europe under Communism, and in the United States during World War II. The question arises, Why? Because inflexible political and religious leaders have been unwilling to respect the Bible-trained conscience of sincere Christians who refuse to learn to kill and who disassociate themselves from all political activity. It is just as Christ said it would be, as recorded at John 15:17-19: “These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.”

In spite of all this worldwide persecution, Jehovah’s Witnesses have increased​—from 126,000 in 54 lands in 1943 to nearly 4,500,000 in 229 lands in 1993. They have tasted victory even in the face of death. They are determined to continue their unique educational work of announcing the good news of the Kingdom until Jehovah decrees its finish.​—Isaiah 6:11, 12; Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10.

[Footnotes]

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Martyrdom in Germany

AUGUST DICKMANN was 23 years old when SS leader Heinrich Himmler ordered him shot in front of all the other Witnesses in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Gustav Auschner, an eyewitness, reported: “They shot Brother Dickmann and told us that we would all be shot if we didn’t sign the declaration renouncing our faith. We would be taken to the sandpit 30 or 40 at a time, and they would shoot us all. Next day, the SS brought each of us a note to sign or else be shot. You should have seen their long faces when they went away without a single signature. They had hoped to frighten us with the public execution. But we had more fear of displeasing Jehovah than of their bullets. They did not shoot any more of us publicly.”

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The Ultimate Price

SOMETIMES, victory in the face of death may involve paying the ultimate price. A letter received from the Nseleni Congregation, in the northern part of South Africa’s Natal Province, tells a tragic story: “We write you this letter to let you know about the loss of our lovely brother Moses Nyamussua. His job was to weld and repair cars. On one occasion he was asked by one political group to weld their homemade guns, which he refused to do. Then, on the 16th of February, 1992, they had their political rally, where they had a fight with those of the opposing group. On the evening of the same day on their way back from their battle, they found the brother making his way to the shopping center. There they killed him with their spears. What was their reason? ‘You refused to weld our guns, and now our comrades have died in the fight.’

“This has been a very great shock to the brothers,” says Brother Dumakude, the congregation secretary. “But,” he adds, “we will still carry on with our ministry.”

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Martyrdom in Poland

IN 1944, when German troops were quickly withdrawing and the battlefront was nearing a town in the eastern part of Poland, the occupation authorities forced civilians to dig antitank trenches. Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to participate. Stefan Kirył, a young Witness​—baptized only two months previously—​was forced into a working brigade but boldly took the same neutral stand. Various measures were taken to break his integrity.

They tied him naked to a tree in the marshland so that he would fall victim to gnats and other insects. He endured that and other tortures, so they let him alone. However, when a high-ranking officer inspected the brigade, somebody told him that there was a man who would by no means obey his command. Stefan was ordered three times to dig the trench. He even refused to take a spade in his hand. He was shot dead. Hundreds watching the scene knew him personally. His martyrdom became a witness to the great strength that Jehovah can supply.

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Ananii Grogul

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Jerzy Kulesza

Death on Delicate Wings

By Awake! correspondent in Nigeria

It is not a war that grabs the headlines; yet it has claimed untold millions of human lives. It is not a war fought with bombs and bullets; yet in terms of misery and lives lost, it rivals or surpasses those that are. In this war, death comes, not in the bellies of heavy enemy bombers, but on the fragile wings of a female mosquito.

IT IS night; the household is asleep. Into the bedroom wafts a mosquito, her wings beating between 200 and 500 times per second. She hungers for human blood. Gently, she lands on the arm of a boy. Since her weight is only 1/10,000 ounce, the boy does not stir. She then unsheathes a saw-toothed stylus in the thorny tip of her mouthparts with which she pierces the boy’s skin over a capillary. Two pumps in her head suck out his blood. At the same time, malaria parasites pass from the mosquito’s salivary glands into the boy’s bloodstream. The operation is over quickly; he feels nothing. The mosquito flies away, bloated with up to three times her body weight in blood. Not many days later, the boy is sick to the point of death. He has malaria.

It is a scene that has been repeated thousands of millions of times. The result has been misery and death on a colossal scale. Without a doubt, malaria is a cruel and relentless enemy of mankind.

Patient Search for the Enemy

One of the cardinal discoveries in the war against malaria was made, not by the great scientists of Europe, but by a British Army surgeon based in India. Scientists and doctors of the 19th century, in harmony with the thinking of the previous two thousand years, assumed that people caught the disease by breathing foul swamp air.a In contrast, Dr. Ronald Ross believed the disease to be passed from person to person by mosquitoes. Even after it was known that malaria involved parasites in the human bloodstream, researchers continued to search for clues in the air and water of swampland. Meanwhile, Ross searched the stomachs of mosquitoes.

Considering the primitive lab equipment he had to work with, looking into the stomachs of mosquitoes was not an easy thing to do. As he worked, clouds of mosquitoes and gnats swarmed around him, determined, according to Ross, to avenge themselves “for the death of their friends.”

At last, on August 16, 1897, Ross discovered, in the stomach walls of the anopheles mosquito, spherical organisms that had grown in size overnight. Malaria parasites!

Filled with jubilation, Ross wrote in his notebook that he had unlocked the secret that would save “a myriad men.” He also wrote a verse from the Bible book of Corinthians: “Oh death where is thy sting? Thy victory oh Grave?”​—Compare 1 Corinthians 15:55.

The Ravages of Malaria

Ross’s discovery was a milestone in the war against malaria, one that helped open the way for mankind’s first major offensive against the disease and the insects that carry it.

Throughout most of history, mankind’s losses to malaria have been heavy and sustained. Egyptian hieroglyphics and papyri testify to malaria’s carnage 1,500 years before Christ walked the earth. It ravaged beautiful lowland cities of ancient Greece and cut down Alexander the Great in his prime. It decimated Roman cities and drove the wealthy to the highlands. In the Crusades, the American Civil War, and the two world wars, it killed more men than did many major battles.

In Africa malaria helped earn West Africa the epithet “White Man’s Grave.” In fact, the disease so hindered the European scramble to colonize Africa that one West African university proclaimed the mosquito a national hero! In Central America, malaria helped defeat French efforts to build the Panama Canal. In South America, with the building of the Mamoré-Madeira railway in Brazil, malaria was said to have claimed a human life for every tie laid.

The Fight to Win

Defenses against the mosquito, but not knowingly against malaria, span the millenniums. In the 16th century B.C.E., Egyptians used the oil of the tree Balanites wilsoniana as a mosquito repellent. A thousand years later, Herodotus wrote that Egyptian fishermen wrapped their nets around their beds at night to keep the insects away. Seventeen centuries later, Marco Polo reported that wealthy residents of India slept on beds with protective curtains that could be closed at night.

Elsewhere, men discovered natural remedies that had real value. For over 2,000 years, malaria in China has been successfully treated by a plant called qinghaosu, an herbal remedy that has been rediscovered in recent years. In South America, Peruvian Indians used the bark of the cinchona tree. In the 17th century, cinchona came to Europe, and in 1820 two Parisian pharmacists extracted from it an alkaloid called quinine.

New Weapons

The value of quinine in preventing and treating malaria was slow to be appreciated, but once it was, it became the drug of choice for a hundred years. Then, early in the second world war, Japanese troops captured important cinchona plantations in the Far East. The resulting severe shortage of quinine in the United States prompted intensive research to develop a synthetic antimalarial drug. The result was chloroquine, a drug that was safe, highly effective, and inexpensive to produce.

Chloroquine quickly became a major weapon against malaria. Also introduced in the 1940’s was the insecticide DDT, a powerful killer of mosquitoes. Although DDT stands for the intimidating chemical term dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, many English speakers remember the letters by the words “drop dead twice,” an appropriate memory aid, since not only does DDT kill mosquitoes at the time of spraying but later its residual presence on walls that have been sprayed kills insects.b

Optimistic Counterattack

Following the second world war, scientists armed with DDT and chloroquine organized a global counterattack against malaria and mosquitoes. The battle was to be fought on two fronts​—drugs would be used to kill the parasites in the human body, while massive spraying with insecticides would obliterate the mosquitoes.

The goal was total victory. Malaria was to be wiped out of existence. Leading the assault was the newly formed World Health Organization (WHO), which made the eradication program its top priority. Determination was backed by money. Between 1957 and 1967, the nations spent 1.4 billion dollars in the global campaign. Early results were spectacular. The disease was vanquished in Europe, North America, the Soviet Union, Australia, and some countries of South America. Professor L. J. Bruce-Chwatt, a veteran malaria fighter, reflected: “It would be difficult to describe today the tremendous enthusiasm that the concept of eradication evoked throughout the world during those halcyon days.” Malaria was reeling! WHO boasted: “Eradication of malaria has become a reality within our reach.”

Malaria Fights Back

But victory was not to be. Generations of mosquitoes that survived the chemical onslaught became resistant to insecticides. DDT no longer killed them as easily as it did before. Similarly, malaria parasites in humans became resistant to chloroquine. These and other problems resulted in terrible reverses in some lands where victory had seemed certain. Sri Lanka, for example, where malaria was thought to have been virtually wiped out in 1963, experienced just five years later an epidemic affecting millions.

By 1969 it had become widely accepted that malaria was an enemy that could not be vanquished. Instead of the word “eradication,” the term “control” came into vogue. What is meant by “control”? Dr. Brian Doberstyn, head of the WHO malaria unit, explains: “All we can do now is to try to keep deaths and suffering to a reasonable limit.”

Another WHO official laments: “After the malaria eradication efforts made in the 1950s and the use of DDT against insects, the international community has relented. Poverty, lack of infrastructure, resistance to drugs and insecticides have led to a persistence of the disease. In fact, we have been conquered by the disease.”

Yet another factor is that the drug companies have retreated from their research. One malaria scientist said: “The problem is that it requires a lot of investment, but the return is zilch and encouragement nil.” Yes, although many battles have been won, the war against malaria is far from over. The Bible, however, does point to a time that is near at hand when “no resident will say: ‘I am sick.’” (Isaiah 33:24) Until then, disease and death will still come on delicate wings.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 14]

Mosquito Versus Man

It threatens directly almost half of humanity, over a hundred countries, mostly in the tropics. Africa in particular is a stronghold.

Mosquitoes are known to hitch rides on airplanes from tropical areas and have infected people living near international airports.

Casualties inflicted. It strikes 270 million people each year, killing up to 2 million. Particularly brutal to pregnant women and children, on the average it slays two youngsters every minute.

It attacks visitors to the tropics. Each year some 10,000 “imported” malaria cases are reported in Europe and over 1,000 in North America.

Tactics. The female anopheles mosquito infects humans mostly at night. Malaria is also passed by blood transfusion and, rarely, by contaminated needles.

Only in recent years has mankind had the knowledge and means to fight back. Despite the combined efforts of 105 countries that are trying to conquer the scourge, mankind is losing ground.

[Box/​Picture on page 15]

Guard Against Mosquito Bites

Sleep with your bed enclosed in a net. Nets impregnated with insecticide are best.

Use an air conditioner at night if available, or sleep in rooms with screened windows and doors. If there are no screens, keep the doors and windows shut.

After sunset, it is advisable to wear long-sleeved clothing and long trousers. Dark colors attract mosquitoes.

Apply insect repellent to parts of the body not protected by clothing. Choose one containing either diethyltoluamide (deet) or dimethyl phthalate.

Use antimosquito sprays, insecticide dispensers, or mosquito coils.

Source: World Health Organization.

[Credit Line]

H. Armstrong Roberts

[Box on page 16]

“There Is No ‘Magic Bullet’”

While the prospect of total victory seems remote, the battle against malaria continues. At an international conference on malaria in Brazzaville, Congo, in October 1991, WHO representatives called for a departure from the “ambient fatalism” and recommended a new global mobilization to control malaria. How successful will such efforts be?

“There is no ‘magic bullet’ for malaria,” stated WHO’s director-general Hiroshi Nakajima recently. “We must therefore fight it on many fronts.” Here are three battlefronts that have recently received much publicity:

Vaccines. Scientists have been working for years in search of a vaccine against malaria, and the media occasionally report “breakthroughs” in research. Squelching undue optimism, WHO cautions against the “delusion of the availability of an anti-malaria vaccine in the near future.”

One of the problems in developing a vaccine is that the malaria parasite in man has been remarkably successful in eluding the efforts of the human immune system to destroy it. Even after many years of repeated attacks, people develop only a limited immunity to the disease. Observes Dr. Hans Lobel, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta: “You don’t develop immunity after just a few attacks. So [in trying to develop a vaccine] you’re trying to improve on nature.”

Drugs. With the growing resistance of the malaria parasite to existing drugs, WHO is promoting a new medicine called arteether, derived from the Chinese herb extract qinghaosu.c WHO hopes that qinghaosu may be the source of an entirely new class of natural drugs, which may be available to the world community within ten years.

Bed nets. Still effective is this two-thousand-year-old protection against mosquitoes. Malaria mosquitoes usually attack at night, and a net keeps them away. Most effective are nets that have been dipped in an insecticide, such as permethrin. Studies in Africa show that in villages where dipped bed nets were introduced, malaria fatalities dropped by 60 percent.

[Footnote]

[Box/​Picture on page 17]

Traveling to the Tropics?

If you plan to travel to an area where malaria is a threat, you should do the following:

1. Consult your doctor or a vaccination center.

2. Follow exactly the instructions you are given, and if taking an antimalarial drug, continue doing so for four weeks after leaving the malarious area.

3. Protect yourself against mosquito bites.

4. Know the symptoms of malaria: fever, headaches, muscular aching, vomiting, and/​or diarrhea. Bear in mind that malaria can become manifest up to a year after your departure from a malarious area even if antimalarial drugs have been used.

5. If you have the symptoms, see a doctor. Malaria can worsen rapidly and can cause death less than 48 hours after the first symptoms have appeared.

Source: World Health Organization.

[Picture Credit Line on page 13]

H. Armstrong Roberts

Part 3

Science​—Mankind’s Ongoing Search for Truth

Religion and Science​—A Poor Mix

THOUSANDS of years of searching for scientific truth seemed to have established a solid basis for subsequent research. Surely nothing could stand in the way of further progress. And yet, says The Book of Popular Science, “science fared badly indeed during the third, fourth and fifth centuries A.D.”

Two events significantly contributed to this situation. During the first century, a new religious era had been ushered in with Jesus Christ. And several decades earlier, in 31 B.C.E., a new political era had been born with the founding of the Roman Empire.

Unlike the Greek philosophers who preceded them, the Romans “were more interested in solving the everyday problems of life than they were in the search for abstract truth,” says the above-mentioned reference work. Logically, then, “their contributions to pure science amounted to very little.”

The Romans were instrumental, however, in passing on the scientific knowledge that had accumulated until that time. For example, Pliny the Elder made a scientific compilation during the first century called Natural History. Although not without faults, it did preserve various kinds of scientific information that might otherwise have been lost to later generations.

On the religious front, the rapidly expanding Christian congregation was not involved in the scientific search of that time. Not that Christians were opposed to it as such, but the Christian priority, as set by Christ himself, was plainly in understanding and spreading religious truth.​—Matthew 6:33; 28:19, 20.

Before the end of the first century, apostate Christians had already begun adulterating the religious truth they had been commissioned to propagate. This later led to their establishing an apostate form of Christianity, as had been foretold. (Acts 20:30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1) Subsequent events showed that their rejection of religious truth was accompanied by an attitude of indifference​—at times even of antagonism—​toward scientific truth.

“Christian” Europe Loses Its Lead

The World Book Encyclopedia explains that during the Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century), “in Europe, scholars were more interested in theology, or the study of religion, than in the study of nature.” And this “emphasis upon salvation rather than upon the investigation of nature,” Collier’s Encyclopedia points out, “was more of a hindrance than a stimulus to science.”

Christ’s teachings were not intended to serve as such a hindrance. Nevertheless, Christendom’s labyrinth of false religious concepts, including an overemphasizing of the salvation of the supposed immortal soul, encouraged this development. Most learning was under the control of the church and was cultivated chiefly in the monasteries. This religious attitude slowed down the search for scientific truth.

Scientific matters took second place to theology from the very beginning of the Common Era. Practically the only scientific advancement worthy of mention was in the realm of medicine. For example, Roman medical writer Aulus Celsus of the first century C.E., called the “Hippocrates of the Romans,” wrote what is now considered a medical classic. Greek pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides, a surgeon with Nero’s Roman armies, completed an outstanding pharmacological textbook that was widely used for centuries. Galen, a second-century Greek, by founding experimental physiology, influenced medical theory and practice from his time through the Middle Ages.

The period of scientific stagnation continued even after the 15th century. True, European scientists did make discoveries during this time, but for the most part, they were not original. Time magazine notes: “[The Chinese] were the world’s first masters of science. Long before the Europeans, they knew how to use the compass, make paper and gunpowder, [and] print with movable type.”

Thus, because of the general vacuum of scientific thought in “Christian” Europe, non-Christian cultures took the lead.

Scientific Progress

By the ninth century, Arab scientists were fast becoming the leaders in matters of science. Particularly during the 10th and 11th centuries​—while Christendom marked time—​they enjoyed a golden age of accomplishment. They made valuable contributions to medicine, chemistry, botany, physics, astronomy, and above all, mathematics. (See box, page 20.) Maan Z. Madina, associate professor of Arabic at Columbia University, says that “modern trigonometry as well as algebra and geometry are in considerable measure Arab creations.”

Much of this scientific knowledge was original. But some of it was based on the broad foundation of Greek philosophy and was brought about, strangely enough, by religious involvement.

Comparatively early in the Common Era, Christendom spread into Persia and afterward into Arabia and India. During the fifth century, Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, became embroiled in a controversy that led to a schism within the Eastern church. This led to the forming of a breakaway group, the Nestorians.

In the seventh century, when the new religion of Islam burst onto the world scene and began its campaign of expansion, the Nestorians were quick to pass on their knowledge to their Arab conquerors. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, “the Nestorians were the first to promote Greek science and philosophy by translating Greek texts into Syriac and then into Arabic.” They were also “the first to introduce Greek medicine into Baghdad.” Arab scientists began building upon the things they learned from the Nestorians. Arabic replaced Syriac as the language of science in the Arab empire and proved to be a language that lent itself well to scientific writing.

But the Arabs gave as well as took. When the Moors moved into Europe through Spain​—to stay for over 700 years—​they brought along an enlightened Muslim culture. And during the eight so-called Christian Crusades, between 1096 and 1272, Western crusaders were impressed by the advanced Islamic civilization with which they came in contact. They returned, as one author put it, with “a host of new impressions.”

Arabic Mathematical Simplification

One significant contribution the Arabs made to Europe was the introduction of Arabic numerals to replace the Roman use of letters. Actually, “Arabic numerals” is a misnomer. A more accurate term is probably “Hindu-Arabic numerals.” True, the ninth-century Arab mathematician and astronomer al-Khwārizmī wrote about this system, but he had derived it from the Hindu mathematicians of India, who had worked it out over a thousand years earlier, in the third century B.C.E.

The system was little known in Europe before the distinguished mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (also known as Leonardo of Pisa) introduced it in 1202 in Liber abaci (Book of the Abacus). Demonstrating the advantage of the system, he explained: “The nine Indian figures are: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine figures and with the sign 0 . . . any number may be written.” At first the Europeans were slow to respond. But by the close of the Middle Ages, they had accepted the new numbering system, and its simplicity encouraged scientific progress.

If you doubt that Hindu-Arabic numerals are a simplification over the previously used Roman numerals, try subtracting LXXIX from MCMXCIII. Stumped? Perhaps 79 from 1,993 would be somewhat easier.

Rekindling the Flame in Europe

Beginning in the 12th century, the flame of learning that had burned brightly in the Muslim world began to dim. It was rekindled, however, in Europe as groups of scholars began forming the forerunners of modern universities. In the middle of the 12th century, the universities of Paris and of Oxford came into being. The University of Cambridge followed in the early 13th century, and those of Prague and of Heidelberg both in the 14th. By the 19th century, universities had become major centers of scientific research.

Originally, these schools were strongly influenced by religion, most studies centering on or slanted toward theology. But at the same time, the schools accepted Greek philosophy, particularly the writings of Aristotle. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, “the Scholastic method . . . throughout the Middle Ages . . . was structured according to the Aristotelian logic of defining, dividing, and reasoning in its exposition of the text and its resolution of difficulties.”

One 13th-century scholar intent on combining Aristotelian learning with Christian theology was Thomas Aquinas, later called the “Christian Aristotle.” But on some points he differed with Aristotle. Aquinas rejected, for example, the theory that the world had always existed, agreeing with the Scriptures that it had been created. By holding “firmly to the belief that ours is an ordered universe that can be comprehended by the light of reason,” says The Book of Popular Science, he “made a valuable contribution to the development of modern science.”

For the most part, however, the teachings of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Galen were accepted as gospel truth, even by the church. The aforementioned reference work explains: “In the Middle Ages, when interest in scientific experiment and direct observation was at a low ebb, Aristotle’s word was law. Ipse dixit (‘He himself said it’) was the argument that medieval schoolmen used to prove the truth of many a ‘scientific’ observation. Under these circumstances the errors of Aristotle, particularly in physics and astronomy, held up scientific progress for centuries.”

One who challenged this blind adherence to former views was the 13th-century Oxford friar Roger Bacon. Called “the greatest figure in medieval science,” Bacon was almost alone in advocating experimentation as a means of learning scientific truths. It is said that as early as 1269, clearly centuries ahead of his time, he predicted automobiles, airplanes, and motorized ships.

Yet, despite foresight and a brilliant mind, Bacon was limited in his knowledge of the facts. He strongly believed in astrology, magic, and alchemy. This demonstrates that science is indeed an ongoing search for truth, always subject to revision.

Although scientific investigation appeared to lie dormant in the 14th century, as the 15th century neared its end, mankind’s search for scientific truth was far from over. In fact, the next 500 years would far overshadow what had preceded them. The world stood on the threshold of a scientific revolution. And as is true of every revolution, this one would have its heroes, its villains, and above all, its victims. Learn more in Part 4 of “Science​—Mankind’s Ongoing Search for Truth” in our next issue.

[Box on page 20]

The Golden Age of Arabic Science

Al-Khwārizmī (eighth-ninth century), Iraqi mathematician and astronomer; noted for originating the term “algebra,” from al-jebr, meaning in Arabic “the union of broken parts.”

Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (eighth-ninth century), alchemist; called the father of Arab chemistry.

Al-Battānī (ninth-tenth century), astronomer and mathematician; improved Ptolemy’s astronomical calculations, thus determining with greater accuracy such things as the length of the year and of the seasons.

Ar-Rāzī (Rhazes) (ninth-tenth century), one of the best-known Persian-born physicians; first to distinguish between smallpox and measles and to classify all substances as either animal, vegetable, or mineral.

Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) of Basra (10th-11th century), mathematician and physicist; made significant contributions to the theory of optics, including refraction, reflection, binocular vision, and atmospheric refraction; first to explain correctly vision as the effect of light coming from an object to the eye.

Omar Khayyám (11th-12th century), renowned Persian mathematician, physicist, astronomer, physician, and philosopher; best known in the West for his poetry.

[Pictures on page 18]

Aristotle (upper) and Plato (lower) strongly influenced scientific thought through the centuries

[Credit Lines]

National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Musei Capitolini, Roma

Young People Ask . . .

How Can I Cope With a Failed Romance?

“HE MADE me feel so very special. I had feelings I’d never felt before. But then he said that he didn’t think it would work. I thought my life had ended. I cried all day and all night. I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I lost 30 pounds [15 kg] in a couple of months, and I even developed bronchitis. Life had no meaning for me.”​—Renee.

If you have been hurt by a failed romantic relationship, this lament may sound familiar. You know well what it means to feel deeply for someone, only to have your hopes dashed to pieces. The feeling of rejection is intense, humiliating. As you struggle to get over the pain, you may wonder, ‘Why can’t I just let go​—forget the person and get on with my life?’ It is rarely that simple.

Why Is It So Hard?

One study showed that the bond of romantic affection can be strong. It has even been compared to the parent-child bond. While it would doubtless take a long time for romantic love to grow that strong, still, the emotions may be deeply felt from the outset. You can’t just turn them on and off as you might flick a light switch. And if you are in what the Bible calls “the bloom of youth,” the awakening of sexual desire can be almost overpowering. (1 Corinthians 7:36) That makes the loss of a boyfriend or a girlfriend especially hard to take.

A tendency to fantasize may play a role as well. One study by researchers explains that adolescents are “more vulnerable to loss because when they enter a romantic relationship, they tend to fantasize about the future with their partner. This fantasy may include dreams of getting married, having children, and being together for the rest of their lives.” Such dreams can be hard to abandon, even when they have little basis in reality.

You Are Still Loved

The same study thus states that “the loss of a romantic partner . . . can lead to feelings of personal failure and inadequacy.” Jeanette recalls: “You feel depressed, as if nobody’s there for you. You don’t care anymore. You feel rejected.” Like her, many feel depressed, guilty, worthless, unable to concentrate. Some have even committed suicide.

So this can be a dangerous time for you. Remember, though, Jesus’ exhortation to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31) A measure of self-love is needed and proper. The fact that one person failed to return your romantic love does not mean that you are unlovable, does it? You can’t really assume that no one else will ever find you desirable or attractive, can you? Do you not have family members and friends who love you?

More important, how does God feel about you? Leah, a woman who lived in Bible times, must have felt the pain of rejection quite keenly. She knew well that her husband, Jacob, was tricked into marrying her and that he loved her sister Rachel more. No wonder she felt “hated,” as it were, and wretched. Yet, God found much good in Leah. He blessed her with many children, and both the priestly line of Israel and the kingly line​—which produced the Messiah—​came through her, not through Rachel.​—Genesis 29:30-35.

No amount of rejection can change the reality of God’s blessing and love. Remember, the Creator of the universe loves you enough to have allowed his Son to suffer and die for you. (John 3:16) You are not unlovable, and you are certainly not worthless.

When a Breakup Is Really a Blessing

You may feel that this breakup is one of the worst things that has ever happened to you, but it may be just the opposite. Hard as it may be to believe, it is quite likely that the end of your romance is a blessing. How so? Most teenage romantic relationships hold no real promise of success. Young people are still growing and changing; they are susceptible to fleeting desires and mistaken loves. Nonetheless, every year thousands of teenagers marry, only to find out too late that doing so was a mistake. One newspaper executive stated after her divorce: “It was a real mistake to marry so young. I didn’t really understand we had very different values and backgrounds.”

Teen marriages have a horrendously high failure rate. So as bad as you may feel right now, be assured of one thing​—you would feel a lot worse trapped in an unhappy marriage. Ask yourself if you really were ready for a lifelong marriage, with all its responsibilities, including child rearing. And was the one you loved really ready and mature? Remember, breakup of a courtship is infinitely less painful than breakup of a marriage.

The breakup was particularly a blessing if you made the mistake of getting involved with someone who does not respect godly principles and moral standards. (2 Corinthians 6:14) Shana recalls the moral dangers of having a worldly boyfriend: “He always said he loved me. But then he would ask me to have sex with him. I would say no. I realized it was wrong. After a while, he stopped calling me. I cried every night​—it was hard to lose him!” Clearly, though, this breakup saved Shana from spiritual disaster.

So you may be able to view the breakup as a learning experience. As Proverbs 22:3 says, “shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty.” Will this experience make you more shrewd, so as to avoid trouble in the future?

Coping With Feelings

However, even if the breakup was the best thing for you, that still does not make it painless. How can you handle the feelings that just don’t seem to go away? For one thing, it will not help to pretend that you don’t feel anything. As ’Teen magazine recently said on this subject, “feelings aren’t things that you can run from or hide from. Eventually, they’ll find you.”

It is quite natural for you to feel provoked, deeply upset over this. But don’t bottle it up, going to bed distraught night after night. Follow the Bible’s wise counsel: “Be wrathful, and yet do not sin; let the sun not set with you in a provoked state.” (Ephesians 4:26) Express yourself to a trusted friend or confidant. “There is a frustrating of plans where there is no confidential talk,” says Proverbs 15:22. Your parents or Christian elders can be very helpful in these situations. You may find that they went through similar painful experiences when they were young.

Another aid in coping with your feelings is keeping busy. You may tend to withdraw, isolate yourself, daydream, and lose interest in life. Jeanette recalls: “You don’t feel like doing anything. You just sleep a lot.” But as Proverbs 18:1 warns, “one isolating himself will seek his own selfish longing; against all practical wisdom he will break forth.” So instead, keep busy. Get right back into group association with those who will encourage you in the right course.

An excellent way to channel your energies is to immerse yourself in the Christian ministry. The apostle Paul wrote: “Consequently, my beloved brothers, become steadfast, unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in connection with the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Your life need not feel empty or meaningless. Sharing the good news with others brings happiness and satisfaction.​—Acts 20:35.

Remember, too, that for a while you will experience good days and bad days. On bad days you may feel that you will never get over this. But the truth is, you will get better. Healing a wound​—any wound—​takes time. Do not delay the process by wallowing in romantic or sentimental music and daydreaming about your lost love. Rely on Jehovah for strength. He knows exactly what you are going through and how you feel. “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”​—Psalm 34:18.

Brighter Times Ahead

As a youth, one of your great blessings is time. There is so much time ahead of you to learn and gain experience. So use this precious asset wisely; develop qualities that will help you to become a stable and secure adult. That way you will be able to make wise decisions about courtship and marriage in the future.

As difficult as it is, this painful period will pass, and you may be all the wiser for it. Renee, quoted earlier, says: “I am able to deal with my feelings much better now. I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned that only by doing things Jehovah’s way will things go right.”

[Picture on page 23]

It really hurts when you see the person you like fall for someone else

Moth or Butterfly​—How Can You Tell?

CAN you tell the difference at first glance? Perhaps you pick out a butterfly because of its pretty colors and its seemingly endless motion​—flitting from flower to flower, settling for a moment here, with its wings flicking up and down, then nervously moving to its next source of food. What a test of patience for any keen photographer! Another distinguishing feature is the threadlike antennae that terminate in a knob.

But what about the moth? Well, you don’t see many of those in the daytime. They are primarily nocturnal creatures. Their colors are usually darker. Their bodies are thick, and their antennae are feathery, which helps them to locate the scent of a female even at a great distance. The one pictured here is the Polyphemus moth, found all across the United States. Because of the large eyelike spots on its hind wings, it was named after the Greek mythological one-eyed Cyclops called Polyphemus. Its wingspan can be anywhere from 3.5 to over 6 inches [9-15 cm], still small compared with some moths.

There are more than 112,000 known species of butterflies and moths, according to Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia. Their wings are “covered above and below with very small scales . . . that produce the magnificent colors and patterns often seen.” As any lepidopterist (one who studies butterflies and moths) will tell you, they are fascinating creatures. Their design, variety, and incredible metamorphosis make them worthy of study, not just for a present lifetime, but for an everlasting lifetime!

[Pictures on page 25]

Polyphemus moth photographed in Luverne, Alabama, U.S.A., shown here life-size

The feathery antennae help the male locate the female

The Bible’s Viewpoint

Christ Is Present!

“MANDELA is coming! Mandela is coming!” sang the children of Soweto, South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s release from prison on February 11, 1990, was greatly anticipated as the beginning of change in South Africa. However, for many years before he got out, his presence was felt. While still in prison, he had actively waged an “unrelenting crusade to abolish apartheid.” As one international newsmagazine noted, the 27 years of imprisonment had not “diminished his presence​—or his militancy.” His release from prison well illustrates the difference between a coming and a presence.

Similarly, with reference to Jesus Christ’s taking up his kingly power, the first-century Bible writers make a distinction between his coming and his presence. Christ Jesus’ presence in kingly power would be felt and recognized many years before his “coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30) Christ’s invisible presence (Greek, pa·rou·siʹa) would precede this coming (Greek, erʹkho·mai) to execute judgment against a rebellious and wicked generation.

Pa·rou·siʹa​—What Does It Mean?

The Greek word pa·rou·siʹa literally means a “being alongside” and “became the official term for a visit of a person of high rank, esp[ecially] of kings and emperors visiting a province.” The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament states: “[Parousia] denotes esp[ecially] active presence.” And concerning the presence of Christ Jesus, the book The Parousia states: “The Scriptures never speak of a ‘second Parousia.’ Whatever was to be its nature, it was something peculiar, having never occurred before, and being never to occur again. It was to be a presence differing from and superior to all other manifestations of himself to men.”

Commenting on Jesus’ prophetic words in answer to the questions asked by the apostles on the Mount of Olives, Professor A. T. Robertson in Word Pictures in the New Testament writes that Jesus was “using the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem which did happen in that generation in A.D. 70, as also a symbol of his own second coming and of the end of the world . . . or consummation of the age.” What were these questions, and how did Jesus answer?

The Sign of Christ’s Presence

As recorded at Matthew 24:3, the apostles asked: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” In his answer, Jesus gave the disciples a sign that would be visible proof of his invisible presence in Kingdom power. The complete sign included unprecedented wars, widespread food shortages, devastating earthquakes, pestilences, and an increase in crime and fear. Christ’s presence would be a time of global turmoil and anxiety. Human governments and world leaders would be unable to cope successfully with a collapsing system.​—Matthew 24:7, 12; Luke 21:11.

Confirming the reality of Jesus’ prophetic words, a professor of political studies, John Meisel, stated: “A major epoch is coming to an end, to be replaced by one whose contours are still only dimly understood.” After commenting on the death of Communism, the failure of Socialism, and the inadequacy of capitalism, Professor Meisel continued: “Many human dilemmas are beyond the realm of the social sciences and need to be solved by other means.” And what does that mean? “The ideological underpinnings of the contemporary world are collapsing and need to be replaced.”

Christ’s Active Presence

Despite the desperate conditions of a deteriorating world scene, Jesus’ presence in kingly power began over 75 years ago and has been felt in an unmistakable and positive way.a In spite of the ruin caused by two world wars, the enthroned King, Christ Jesus, has actively participated in forging a new nation of people​—a people for Jehovah’s name “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” Christ’s active presence has stimulated a worldwide preaching and teaching program that has touched the hearts of millions of rightly disposed individuals. They have been moved to take their stand on the side of Jehovah’s Kingdom in the hands of Christ Jesus.​—Revelation 7:9, 10.

In the face of increasing daily evidence that the multifaceted sign of Christ’s presence is being fulfilled, it is evident to alert Christians that we are facing the end of an epoch. Now is the time to “pay more than the usual attention” to the enthroned King, Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 2:1) He admonishes us: “Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man.”​—Luke 21:36.

[Footnotes]

Watching the World

TV’s Global Grasp

Just how popular is television worldwide? According to the International Herald Tribune, over a billion TV sets cover the globe, 50 percent more than there were five years ago. In Japanese homes, TV sets outnumber flush toilets. Only about half of Mexican homes have a telephone, but just about every household has a TV. And many Americans have 25 or 30 channels to choose from. States the Tribune: “The cultural, political and economic effects of this global television revolution are enormous. . . . Some worry that all that TV watching will make the rest of the world lose its appetite for reading, as has already happened to two generations of Americans.”

Family Blood No Safer

A government study of over a million blood donations in five major areas in the United States has exposed the falsity of the common belief that blood donations from friends or family members are safer than those from strangers. For instance, one test showed that 2.6 percent of blood donations from relatives and friends were infected with hepatitis B, as compared with 1.8 percent from anonymous donors. The donations from family members and friends were also found to be higher in contamination with syphilis, hepatitis C, and a cancer-causing virus, HTLV-1. “You’re not improving your risk by asking friends or relatives to donate for you,” said Lyle Petersen of the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pushing the Planet to the Brink

The world’s current yearly population growth is almost 100 million, and it is estimated that by the year 2050, the earth’s population will be 10 billion, says a report in the British Medical Journal. The Royal Society of London and the U.S. National Academy of Science issued an unprecedented joint statement that said that such growth threatens the environment with irreversible damage. This would be particularly true if the developing nations, where most of the growth is taking place, were to consume resources at the same rate as the developed world. The academies suggested a central role for science and technology but said it is not prudent to rely on them alone “to solve problems created by rapid population growth, wasteful resource consumption, and harmful human practices.” If nothing changes, the statement said, “science and technology may not be able to prevent either irreversible degradation of the environment or continued poverty for much of the world.” “If we don’t make serious attempts to control population everything else becomes secondary,” stated Sir Michael Atiyah, president of the Royal Society of London.

Aid That Never Arrives

Only 7 percent of the international aid donated to alleviate hunger and poverty in Africa reaches the intended beneficiaries, admits Ferhat Yunes, vice president of the African Development Bank. This tragedy is compounded by the desperate situation of millions of African children. The Spanish newspaper El País reports that throughout the continent, there are 30 million malnourished children and a further 40 million whose growth is retarded by poor diet. Representatives of 44 African countries, meeting in Dakar, Senegal, recommended the decentralization of aid distribution and a reduction in defense spending as two important steps toward improving the lot of these children.

African Dust

African dust, scooped from the savanna and scrubland by hot, dry winds, benefits other parts of the planet, say scientists. Partly because of a prolonged drought in southern Africa, millions of tons of African topsoil were converted into thick dust plumes in 1992 alone, reports the International Herald Tribune. Much of the dust falls into the Atlantic Ocean, providing minerals​—particularly much-needed iron—​to plankton and krill, which are at the beginning of the food chain. The rest drifts to the Americas. Studies in the Amazon rain forest indicate that African dust helps revitalize nutrient-poor soils there. “This African dust feeding the Atlantic and the Americas shows how very large and distant ecosystems depend on each other,” says Dr. Michael Garstang of the University of Virginia. “The message is that our planet consists of many interconnected and interdependent systems which we barely understand. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface.”

Religious Magazines Fold

“Two of the nation’s oldest religious magazines, American Baptist and Christian Herald, have ceased publication,” reports an Associated Press dispatch. “Both the 115-year-old Christian Herald, started in 1878 and based in Chappaqua, N.Y., and the 189-year-old American Baptist, whose antecedent magazine started in 1803, cited declining circulation.” The monthly American Baptist, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, will be replaced by a newsletter. However, another religious journal of that era, The Watchtower, continues to grow. First published monthly in 1879 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a circulation of 6,000 copies in English, The Watchtower is now published semimonthly in 112 languages and has a circulation of 16,400,000 copies per issue.

Violence in Schools

A wide-ranging survey of 169 schools in Hamburg, Germany, tried to discover the causes of rising aggression at institutions of learning. Why are schools reporting extortion, intimidation, bodily injuries, and sex offenses with increasing frequency? According to the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the pupils surveyed cited violence in the media, neglect at home, conflicts with foreign pupils, and stress at school as the main reasons. The survey also pointed to a number of social factors that impeded the solving of problems of violence at school. For instance, it was found that children and youths commonly lacked an awareness of guilt or wrong and were very egocentric, intolerant, and inconsiderate. And many parents regarded the use of violence to resolve conflicts as normal and were teaching their children to strike back and defend themselves.

Led Astray by Nectar

What happens when bees gorge themselves on fermented nectar? They behave like drunken men. Some cannot find their way home, and those that do are usually refused entry into the hive because of their aberrant behavior. Then, if they don’t die of cold, their hangover may be so severe that it reduces their life span by half, reports the Spanish daily El País. However, in the case of bees, drunkenness is quite involuntary. As explained by Errol Hassan of the University of Queensland, Australia, an increase in temperature can cause the nectar on which they feed to ferment and produce alcohol.

Hidden Risk

“Smokers could be wrongly told they are healthy when they face an increased risk of suffering a heart attack,” says an article in The New York Times. Why? Because damage done by smoking to the tiny blood vessels of the heart (the arterioles) does not show up on conventional heart tests. So when smokers are under physical or emotional stress, their hearts become starved for blood, pushing their risk of heart attacks even higher. A study at the Iowa Heart Institute in Des Moines showed that this is true even when the smoker is not smoking and that the problem is exacerbated during smoking. When under stress, the arterioles of the heart open up and can carry four times more blood than normal to the heart. But in smokers’ hearts that flow is decreased by 30 percent.

New Recruitment Tactic

“Television advertisements showing nuns mowing lawns and priests playing basketball are part of a new Catholic Church recruitment drive to boost the dwindling ranks of the clergy,” reports The West Australian newspaper. “The 30-second ads . . . show young priests and nuns discussing their vocation while mowing lawns, going shopping, playing sport and visiting hospitals and prisons.” Priest Brian Lucas, spokesman for the Sydney Catholic Church, said that nuns and priests were usually portrayed as holding candles and standing under church steeples and that this campaign would help others to view them as ordinary people. The TV campaign is being screened in Melbourne and will then expand interstate if considered a success.

From Our Readers

Raising Children As an elementary-school teacher, I greatly appreciated the articles on “Your Children​—Doing What’s Best for Them.” (September 22, 1992) One of the greatest challenges teachers face today is dealing with children whose parents are simply too busy to take a real interest in them. At a recent annual Parents’ Night at our school, I shared some of this issue’s observations. The parents found our discussion insightful and thought provoking.

M. P., United States

You scored a bull’s-eye. They were simply the best articles I have ever read. Not only did you show bad examples but you also pointed out remedies.

M. R., Germany

The articles were well-written, but I must take exception to your explicit reference to child abuse. It shocked me.

F. M., Canada

It is indeed shocking to read of the abuses perpetrated by adults on innocent, defenseless children. And while we appreciate that some readers may find reading about such matters distasteful, parents need to be informed about the very real dangers children face today. (Compare 2 Corinthians 2:11.) We therefore felt an obligation to be specific in such matters, doing so in as tasteful a manner as possible.​—ED.

Proms I found the article “Young People Ask . . . Should I Go to the Prom?” (March 8, 1993) to be informative and helpful. However, were you encouraging Christians to throw large, formal gatherings?

N. P., United States

The article was not encouraging the organizing of large-scale social events. We merely acknowledged that a graduation from secondary school is a significant event. Some Christian youths and their parents may therefore choose to share the joy of this occasion with others. Encouragement was given to keep any social activities in this connection ‘modest, of reasonable size, and well organized.’ See “The Watchtower” of August 15, 1992.​—ED.

Olive Oil Thank you for the fine article “Versatile Olive Oil” in the October 8, 1992, issue. I work in a hospital as a dietician, and I counsel people on low-fat, low-cholesterol diets. This article was very accurate and useful in my teaching.

D. S., United States

Profanity My daughter, who is almost 15 years of age, came home from school and told me that she faced a problem because most of the children in her school regularly use bad language. She wanted to know what was actually wrong with using swearwords in everyday speech. We tried to explain but felt we did not adequately do so. That evening when I picked up the December 8, 1992, issue of Awake! I was stunned to see the article “The Bible’s Viewpoint​—Why Profanity Is Not for Christians.” I took it to my daughter’s bedroom immediately and read it with her. She now feels confident in answering someone who asks why she does not swear.

P. P., England

New World The series “A New World That Satisfies All” (October 22, 1992) was one of the best in recent years on this subject. The scriptures cited and the beautiful illustrations aroused in me a feeling of deep appreciation. I believe it will touch the hearts of many readers.

I. Z., Italy

A Holocaust Museum and Jehovah’s Witnesses

THE Nazi rule of terror inflicted a heinous slaughter on millions of victims, especially Jews and Slavs. However, one religious group​—Jehovah’s Witnesses—​unitedly refused to bow the knee to the Nazi regime, not because of race or nationality, but because of their conscientious adherence to Bible principles.​—John 17:14, 16.

The Nazi State focused intense persecution on Jehovah’s Witnesses​—an onslaught out of all proportion to their numbers. Why? The Witnesses, for religious reasons, refused membership and service in the German Labor Front and rejected any oath to Hitler as Führer. The Nazis thus banned them as an organization in April 1933. Accused of both civil and religious disobedience, they were among the first groups to be thrown into concentration camps. “Ultimately, more than 30,000 Witnesses were persecuted by the Nazis,” states a museum newsletter.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, located in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to presenting the story of all groups persecuted by the Nazis, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. One source states that the museum “should be of particular interest to Americans and foreign visitors of the Jewish and Jehovah’s Witness religions that were targeted for genocide by the Hitler regime.” Through artifacts, documents, videotaped eyewitness testimony, historical photographs, and film footage, the wartime experiences of various victimized groups are included in the museum’s exhibition, library, and archives. The museum has videotaped interviews with 74 of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were victims of Nazi rule. The museum opened to the public in April 1993.

[Picture Credit Line on page 31]

Courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

“‘Jehovah’ Erased by Nazis”

THOSE words were the front-page headline of the New York Herald Tribune of November 20, 1938. The article stated: “Protestant churches in some parts of the country [Germany] were ordered to eliminate the word ‘Jehova’​—the German spelling of Jehovah, taken from ‘Yahweh,’ the Hebrew for God—​and also the Old Testament names of Jewish prophets.”

All of this was part of the Nazis’ campaign of persecution of the Jews. At the same time, it was doubtless intended to strike a blow against Jehovah’s Witnesses, who had been banned since 1933 and were also being sent to the concentration camps.

In 1933 there were 19,268 active Witnesses in Germany. Today, after all the hounding at the hands of the Nazis and, until recently, the Communists in Eastern Germany, there are 163,000 Witnesses associated with 1,938 congregations. And the name Jehovah has not been erased from the German vocabulary. Zeugen Jehovas, Jehovah’s Witnesses, are known throughout Germany.

If you would like more information about the Witnesses, please contact your local Kingdom Hall, or write to the address nearest you, using the list on page 5.

[Picture on page 32]

The branch headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Selters/​Taunus, Germany