Thomas A. Edison on
Immortality
(Continued from page 13)
forms of our dead friends may be seen, their
voices may be heard and recognized, and
occurrences which none but they knew may
be related; but with our feet planted upon
the word of God, we shall be able to meet
these deceptions as Christ met the tempter,
with the words, ‘It is written.” ‘The dead
know not anything.” . . .
“Instruments may be invented suffi-
ciently delicate to carry on communication
with unseen beings. This is possible. The
communicants will not be our dead friends.
They will be the ‘spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of
the earth and of the whole world.” (Revela-
tion 16: 14.)
“I am sure, Mr. Edison, that you will
pardon me for writing this lengthy letter,
but I have felt concerned, knowing what I
do about the deception that confronts us
all. Communication has been established
between earth and heaven. When the
Saviour prayed on the banks of Jordan, the
heavens opened and the Holy Spirit de-
scended upon Him; and it is our privilege
to see the open heaven and the angels of
God, who are sent to be ministering spirits,
ascending and descending on the Son of
man.
“I am
“Yours sincerely,
“D. H. Kress.”
That Mr. Edison changed his views in
regard to the popular belief that the soul 1s
immortal, there exists no doubt. “What
brought Edison to change his views may
never be known,” but there is a possibility
that my letter may have had something to
do with it.
Is This the World's Funeral?
(Continued from page 11)
with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:
25-27.)
Christ will come the second time when
but few will believe His coming is near,
even though they have heard the proclama-
tion of His return in a great world-wide
message. “When the Son of man cometh,
shall He find faith on the earth?’ asked
Jesus. Luke 18:8. “In such an hour as ve
think not the Son of man cometh.” (Mat-
thew 24:44.) But He also warns of evil
servants who would say in their hearts,
“My Lord delayeth His coming.” (Mat-
thew 24:48.) Paul represents the people
as looking for peace and safety just as sud-
den destruction comes upon them. (1 Thes-
salonians 5: 3.)
From these plain statements of the word
of God two things may be discerned with
great clearness. First, there certainly is to
be no millennium of universal righteous-
ness and peace previous to Christ’s coming.
Second, we need fix upon no other times for
the return of our Lord than the times in
which we live.
SEPTEMBER, 1942
To the devout believer in the Bible there
is, there can be, no doubt at all that we are
on the confines of the greatest crisis which
the human race has ever seen.
Were Army Planes Needed?
(Continued from page 8)
dead? It is possible that airmen holding
such beliefs would be compelled by military
law to engage in a religious ceremony which
violated all their convictions.
But that which troubles us most is the
fact that when “army planes roar over
dropping roses as a salute to the Virgin,”
this gesture commits our government to a
religious program whereas the genius of this
government from its foundation has been
to keep the church and state forever sepa-
rate. Let our Catholic friends serve their
Lord in any way they desire. Let them
worship as their consciences dictate, but
let them not seek to involve the military
in any such worship. Surely in these days
our airplanes have enough to do in taking
care of the enemy on two fronts without
indulging in any pyrotechnics of a religious
nature.
Turkey, the Question Mark
(Continued from page 9)
How can the Axis attack the most import-
ant power in it? Therefore the Axis prefers
Turkish subservience to Turkish defeat.
If Axis propaganda can this vear incite
the Moslems to revolt, such a revolt is sure
to influence Turkey. Therefore Hitler is
afraid to attack this Moslem country while
he 1s wooing the rest of the Moslem world,
and he believes that his success among
Moslems outside of Turkey will materially
help him win Turkey to the Axis without
war.
And thus 1t 1s that the so-called “Sick
Man of the East” escapes while all other
powers of equal size have been overrun by
the Axis armies. The fear of Moslems,
whose former conquests are definitely
pointed out in the ninth chapter of Revela-
tion, is that which holds Hitler. He chooses
rather to woo than te offend a religious
sentiment which was supposed to have been
on the wane for generations; and Turkey,
cunning, astute, is watching to see which
side promises the most and exacts the least,
for his own religion teaches that the time
will come when the Turk will be driven out
of Europe and will make his final stand at
Jerusalem, where he expects Mohammed to
return to his aid.
Significantly the word of God points to
such a contingency. While Revelation 16:
12-16 refers to the time when the territories
of the Turk will be dried up under the sixth
plague and the way to Armageddon will be
paved by the downfall of this ancient
Moslem power, Daniel 11:44, 45 indicates
clearly that he will make his final stand
“between the seas in the glorious holy
mountain; yet he shall come to his end,
and none shall help him.”
A sombre picture for the Moslem world?
Yes. But the demise will be the signal for
the kings of the east to march to the west
to measure strength with the nations of so-
called Christians. But notice this word of
hope for the child of God: “And at that
time shall Michael stand up, the great
prince which standeth for the children of
thy people: . . . and at that time thy
people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book.” Daniel
12: 1. Thank God for this bright prospect!
Deliverance from all that harrasses and
annoys when Michael shall be our prince,
and sin and serrow shall have an end.
The Spy, the Sabaeteur,
the Subverter
(Continued from page 5)
our main bulwarks, our listening and obser-
vation posts, without which we could not
succeed.
May we as Americans live up to our
sacred trust by protecting our flag and all
that it symbolizes. This 1s the first order of
the day for every patriotic citizen. Until
our land becomes impregnable, there must
be no cessation of co-ordinated, nation-
wide effort in that direction. Let us press
on as of one purpose to the high calling—
preserving the traditions and ideals of
established Americanism, whose militant
spirit is our proudest heritage and surest
hope for the future.
Is Our Warld Doomed?
(Continued from page 10)
rule out the time-honored Ten Com-
mandments.
In political circles, too, the leaven of un-
righteousness is stealthily but surely at
work. According to a letter which appeared
in The British Weekly of Jan. 1, 1942, over
the signature of Pendril Bentall, a promi-
nent Free Church minister, Catholic priests
were exempted from the recent registration
of all males up to sixty years of age, for
Civil Defense duties. This has not been
made public, but according to Mr. Bentall,
was a last minute back door arrangement
between the Government and the leaders
of the Roman Catholic Church. This
means that in a Protestant country Prot-
estant ministers are denied the privileges
agranted to Catholic priests.
Now this is a sad reflection on a nation
that claims to be fighting for all that is just
and true. A Church that claims temporal
as well as spiritual authority constitutes a
danger to any state. All this may seem a
very gloomy picture, but the fact is that in
reality it is much blacker than it could
possibly be painted in the short space of
this article. In spite of the brave and noble
(Continued on page 18)
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