God Knows the Way (See pages 6, 7.) Prophecies of Ancient Cities (See pages 8, 9.) • M. A. ROBERTS thert NIES The Korean war is not the Biblical Armageddon. But certainly the nations of earth are making every preparation of armaments against that day when the east will meet the west on the plains of Megiddo. WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD ............... .......................... TH E WORLD AS WE SEE IT A Prophetic Interpretation of Current Events * On to Armageddon EVERY war has a cause, and Armaged- don will be no exception. The cause of most wars is greed and selfishness. Un- doubtedly Armageddon will be so in- spired. About fifty years ago, William K. D'Arcy, a wealthy Englishman, be- lieved there was oil in the sandy barren hills of Iran, and spent his fortune trying to prove it. He succeeded, and the Near East has become one of the larg- est oil-producing areas in the world, if not the largest. Oil in these days is regarded as a na- tional necessity. Certainly it is a neces- sity to any nation that expects to main- tain its place in the sun by means of military might. It takes oil in almost unbelievable quantities to wage a mod- ern war. It took four times as much oil to fight World War II as it did to fight World War I. And without question it will take more to wage the next war, which today is regarded as inevitable. For centuries Arabs wandered over the sandy wastes of Iraq and Iran, barely able to sustain life. Little did they know that beneath them and their camel cara- vans was wealth untold. However, God knew all about the oil there when He inspired the writing of Bible passages predicting Palestine as the site of coming Armageddon. Divinely pre- dicted wars as well as others arise from logical, natural causes and conflicting in- terests. It will be the lust for wealth and power, for oil and for the almost illimit- able mineral resources of the Dead Sea that will bring the armies of the great powers to settle their differences in the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. True, there are .other contributing fac- tors which will influence the choosing of the site for earth's concluding conflict. An important one is the fact that this area, and Palestine in particular, is lo- cated in the centre of the world. To the power that aspires to rule the world it is the most strategic place on earth. It is in the centre, and he who holds the centre, militarily speaking, holds an im- mense advantage. In this area the great- est battles in military history have been won and lost. The Korean war is regarded by many as a most serious affair, one which is likely to incite a third world war. It is serious, and it may not continue to be confined to the Korean peninsula. But it is not Armageddon, and will not be. It is not located at the place where di- vine wisdom has indicated that Arma- geddon will be fought. Dorothy Thomp- son in a recent column set this clearly before us: "Yet this area, stretching south and west of the Caspian, outflanks Europe and India, and has been the prize of every conqueror who ever sought world dominion, parts of it lying almost dead- centre in the Eurasian land mass. It is not without significance that Biblical prophets set the final decisive world con- flict in this area—at Armageddon. The prophecy was sound geo-politics. No outcome in Korea will be decisive for history."—Globe and Mail. Centuries before it was known that the causes of war—oil and Dead Sea wealth—existed in that strategic area, God foretold that Armageddon would be fought there: "The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Eu- phrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. . . . And He gathered Dallas Youngs, Editor � SIGNS OF THE TIMES � Vol. XXXI � No. 8 � August, 1951 � R. E. Crawford, Circulation Manager Signs of The Times, published monthly by the Signs of the Times Publishing Association (Seventh-day Adventist), Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Authorized as second-class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa, Ontario, January, 1921. Subscription Rate: Single yearly subscription, $1.00 within the British Empire (to U.S.A. and foreign countries add 15 cents extra for postage); single copy, 10 cents. Change of Address: Please give both old and new addresses. Expiration: Unless renewed in advance, the magazine stops at the expiration date given on the wrapper. No magazines are sent except on paid subscriptions, so persons re- ceiving the Signs of The Times without having subscribed may feel perfectly free to accept it. Two Signs of The TIMES 2-FIRST RUN HITS THE BOWERY. BOYS 3, WAYNE MORRIS HAROLD WAGAR As an educational factor, moving pictures are unexcelled. It is sad that Satan seizes upon God's gifts and perverts them to serve his own wicked purposes. * Motion Picture Deletions ACCORDING to the Globe and Mail the Ontario Motion Picture Board in the past year made 305 deletions: "In the 146 films, 305 separate deletions were made, according to the board's annual report. The reasons: Coarse dialogue, torture of women, brutality, suggestive dancing, gruesomeness, knifing, nudity, *hanging and lashing. . . . "In the year ending March 31, 1951, the board reviewed 563 full-length fea- tures, 479 from the United States, 56 *from Great Britain, and 28 from other countries. . . . "'The board is of the opinion,' said the report, sired by Chairman 0. J. Silverthorne, that the excisions of the AUGUST, 1951 past year were necessary because of the manner in which crime and sex had been portrayed. . . . The board feels that greater care should be exercised by film interests in the preparation of their ad- vertising. "'There is no desire on the part of the board to exercise needless restraint, but it believes that the continual flaunting of lethal weapons, portrayals of murder and emphasis on sex in advertising makes such things seem commonplace; that it is neither in the public interest nor of assistance to the motion picture industry.' " It is said that 80,000,000 people at- tend the movies in the United States each week. While we do not have the statistics for Canada, we suppose a like ratio would hold true. We are sure, too, that every one of these persons has a right to do just what he does. God gives to men the right to go where they wish. We have not heard that the Lord has struck anyone dead for so doing. How- ever, there are some things that we have a right to do that we ought not to do. That is to say, God gives to man the right of free choice. But while man has the right of free choice, he will be held accountable to God for the way he uses his liberty. There are some places that man must "choose" not to go. The charge of the Ontario Motion Picture Board is not a new one. In sub- stance it has been made scores and hun- dreds of times. We know, too, that it is well founded. Motion pictures often, far too often, depict scenes of sexual im- purity, of illicit love, of the alienation of family affection, of nudity, of envy and jealousy. Just as the body is made up of the food eaten, so is the mind and soul made up of the things which the eyes see and the ears hear. Motion pictures are one of the great- est forces by which the minds of human beings are influenced. They could be a power for good and for God. Unfortu- nately, the lust for gain enters into their production, rather than the desire to in- fluence morality upward. How often we read of extreme cases where the- in- fluence of the movies has led some man or woman to commit crime. Young men and young women, boys and girls, are influenced to do the things they see their "movie" heroes doing. If it is all right in the movies for a horse thief to be hanged from a cottonwood tree, the boys think it would do equally well to string one 9f their number up to a tele- phone pole. This has been done. The depiction of a screen holdup or bank robbery engenders the practical application of the idea. It suggests easy money—money which will enable the easily impressed youth to imitate the luxurious life of the picture stars. The youth seems unable to "think through" to, the results of his rash act. While viewing a successfully staged bank rob- bery it is difficult to see one's self behind the bars. Movie-depicted moral laxity influ- ences the youth to like laxity. By be- holding we become changed. Soon the youth are thinking, acting and doing as those whom they admire. To the imita- tive mind of youth these suggestive things are virtually tantamount to say- ing, "Go thou and do likewise." And they do do likewise. Banks are robbed, holdups are staged, immodest styles are copied, the language of the "stars" is adopted, until at last, as is inevitable, the youth faces the consequence of his moral delinquency. We contend, rightly we believe, that it is impossible to view such scenes and not be influenced thereby. With alto- gether too great frequency religion is discredited by making the minister ap- pear in some stupid role. Goodness is old-fashioned, and morality does not pay. Is it to be wondered at, then, that only an occasional youth of high-school age knows the location of the ten command- ments in the Bible? In addition to all the other evils at- tendant to the movies, there is the great loss of time, which in the aggregate must run into millions of hours each week. Surely this time could be more profitably spent than in learning how to commit crime, how to dance, how to speak the latest slang, and how to se- duce young girls. A good rule to follow in choosing the places we go and the things we see and hear, is to go no place where Jesus would not go, see nothing He would not view, and hear nothing to which He would not listen. Can you imagine Jesus sitting through a picture depicting crime and immorality? Can you visualize Him spending an afternoon or evening at the motion picture theatre? I can't. Three them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev- elation 16:12-16. Will Russia have a part in the Arma- geddon conflict? No one who reads and comprehends the prophecy of Ezekiel ' 38 can doubt that she will. For hun- dreds of years, since the reign of Peter the Great, Russia has wished for an outlet to the southern seas. She has tried at different times to obtain that, but without success. At such times the guar- dian of the "strategic straits," Turkey, has always received help from Britain or France. But Russia has not forgotten her long-deferred ambition, nor will she, according to prophecy, forget it. The present "oil" difficulties in the Near East should alert every man and woman, particularly every Christian man and woman, to the fact that we are now living in the , days of fast-fulfilling prophecy—in the days just before the armies of earth assemble for earth's last conflict. These days are freighted with matters of tremendous import for those who aspire to be prepared to meet Jesus in peace at His coming. in Mexico, Central America, and the northern part of South America. Agnes M. Clerke, a distinguished British astronomer and scientific writer who died in 1907, mentions it in her best known work: "On the night of November 12-13, 1833, a tempest of falling stars broke over the earth. North America bore the brunt of its pelting. From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, until daylight with some difficulty put an end to the dis- play, the sky was scored in every di- rection with shining tracks and illumi- nated with majestic fireballs."—History of Astronomy in the Nineteenth Cen- tury, p. 328. (London, 1902.) "Once for all, then, as the result of the star fall of 1833, the study of lu- minous meteors became an integral part of astronomy."—Ibid., p. 329. "The morning of November 13, 1833," wrote Denison Olmsted, profes- sor of Mathematics and Natural Phi- can coast, quite to the Pacific Ocean on the west. Throughout this immense re- giori, the duration was nearly the same. The meteors began to attract attention by their unusual frequency and bril- liancy, from nine to twelve o'clock in the evening; were most striking in their appearance from two to five; arrived at their maximum, in many places, about four o'clock; and continued until rend- ered invisible by the light of day."— The Mechanism of the Heavens, p. 328. (T. Nelson and Sons, London, 1853.) Thomas Milner, in his work The Gal- lery of Nature, page 140, tells us: "In many districts, the mass of the popula- tion were terror-struck, and the more enlightened were awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the Apocalyptic im- age—that of the stars of heaven falling to the earth, even as a fig tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Jesus also, more than half a century GREAT BALLS of FIRE A Remarkable Prophecy Fulfilled November 13, 1833 By ROBERT LEO ODOM losophy in Yale College, "was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phe- nomenon called shooting stars, which was probably more extensive and mag- nificent than any similar one hitherto recorded. . . . "Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class. For some time after the occur- rence, the 'meteoric phenomenon' was the principal topic of conversation in every circle."—In The American Jour- nal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXV (1834), pp. 363, 364. Professor Olmsted also gives other interesting facts about the falling of the stars: "After collecting and collating the accounts given in all the periodicals of the country, and also in numerous let- ters addressed either to my scientific friends or to myself, the following ap- peared to be the leading facts attend- ing the phenomenon: "The shower pervaded nearly the whole of North America, having ap- peared in nearly equal splendour from the British possessions on the north, to the West India Islands and Mexico on the south, and from sixty-one de- grees of longitude east of the Ameri- Four A DISPLAY of celestial fireworks, the most remarkable one ever ob- served, was witnessed by the peo- ple of North America during the night of November 12-13, 1833. Astronomers generally accord this exhibition of shoot- ing stars the distinction of being the grandest thing of its kind in the an- nals of their science. "Scientific study of the orbits of shooting stars began after the occur- rence of the most brilliant meteoric shower on record—that of November 13, 1833," says The Encyclopedia Ameri- cana, old edition, art. "Meteors or Shoot- ing Stars." And the same work describes it as follows: "This spectacle, which excited the greatest interest among all beholders, and was looked upon with consternation by the ignorant, many of whom thought that the end of the world had come, was witnessed generally throughout North America, which happened to be the part of the earth facing the meteoric storm. Hundreds of thousands of shoot- ing stars fell in the course of two or three hours. Som. observers compared their number to the flakes of a snow- storm, or to the raindrops in a shower." Writers of the time reported that this phenomenon was seen by the crews of ships at sea from the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax. It was observed by people before John wrote, had referred to this event in His great prophecy concern- ing His return to this world the second time. He said: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." Matthew 24:29. (See al- so Mark 13:24, 25 and Luke 21:25.) On the day after the falling of the stars an eye-witness report appeared in the New York Journal of Commerce: "The stars fell 'even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, 'when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' Here is the exactness of the prophet. The falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one. Those which appeared in the east fell toward the east; those which appeared in the north fell toward the north; those which appeared in the west fell toward the west; and those which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park) fell toward the south; and they fell, not as the ripe fruit falls; far from it; but they flew, they were cast,. like the unripe fig, which at first refuses to leave the branch; and when it does break its hold, flies swiftly, straight off,_ descending; and in the multitude fall- ing, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force."—Vol. VIII, No. 534, November 14, 1833. Signs of The TIMES BIBLE ANSWERS Do you have unanswered Bible ques- tions? If so, you are invited to send them to the EDITOR, Box 398, Oshawa, Ontario. Dear Bible Answerman: In chapter fourteen of the book of Deuteronomy, flesh food, clean and unclean, is listed. In First Timothy, the fourth chapter, peo- ple are warned against "commanding to abstain from meats." Why then should anyone who reads and believes the Bible say one should not eat meat? E.B. We can understand the problem of our questioner, and undoubtedly others of our readers have the same problem. Here is an apparent contradiction. In one place the Bible says not to eat certain "unclean" meat, and in another place it says not to command the ab- stinence from meat. What is the answer? Let us go back to Deuteronomy. Here we see that God gave man permission to eat flesh foods, a permission that had not heretofore been granted. However, He classified the animals, birds and fish into two classes—clean and unclean. Why did God do this? Was it an arbitrary matter, or was there a sound basis for making this distinction? We think the latter was the case. God had man's best good in mind when He forbade him to eat of the "unclean" flesh foods. In the light of God's deal- ing with the human race we cannot believe otherwise. The fact is that some animals, because of physiological con- struction and dietary habits, are unfit for human consumption. They are scav- engers; consequently they are unclean and unfit for man to eat. In the Garden of Eden God consum- mated a perfect creation in Adam and Eve. It is therefore but natural that He would give them a perfect diet. This diet consisted of fruits, grains and nuts. Flesh meats were never included. But after sin entered, man, a herbivor- ous creature, became carnivorous in na- ture. He began to kill and eat animals, birds, and fish. Some men have even consumed human flesh, becoming can- nibalistic. The reason some animals are unfit 'for food is that they are scavengers, de- signed of God to consume the refuse of the earth, that the earth might not become polluted and thus be an un- "healthful place for man to live. Be- cause of the character of their diet they become unhealthy, and if their flesh is eaten their diseases are transmitted to the eaters. AUGUST, 1951 The seemingly contradictory passage in 1 Timothy 4:1-5 reads as follows: "Now the Spirit spake expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils . . . for- bidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be re- ceived with thanksgiving: for it is sanc- tified by the Word of God and prayer." Paul, the writer of the epistle to Tim- othy, was a Jew. He was fully ac- quainted with the divine prohibition against the use of unclean meats. We conceive, therefore, that in this in- stance the apostle was making reference to flesh foods that were permitted— certainly not the unclean. Who is it that "forbids" the use of meat today? We know of no religious body that does so except the Roman Catholic Church, which forbids the eating of all meat except fish on Friday. Who is it that "forbids" to marry? We know of no other organization than the Roman Church, which enforces celib- acy. Dear Bible Answerman: Is the power to perform miracles of healing such as our Lord and His disciples performed in their day withdrawn from us in this day, or is our faith dwindling and dete- riorating? We would say the latter, for it is certain that God has never withdrawn from the church the gift of healing. It is, or should be, a well-established fact among Christians that God moves to bless in response to faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." After the ascent of Christ the dis- ciples carried on the same work of healing that our Lord had done. How- ever, as the believers began to multiply it became impossible for the disciples to attend to all such things; therefore, God gave certain instructions that were to be followed on the part of the sick. They are found in James 5:14-18: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church: and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avail- eth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." God is as willing to heal the sick to- day in response to their prayers of faith as ever He was. There is no shortage of willingness on God's part, but rather a shortage of faith on the part of the sick. Dear Bible Answerman: Is the com- mand to baptize with water a command that is to be obeyed? Indeed so! Jesus is speaking: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." at- thew 28:19. Jesus not only gave a direct, specific command, but by being baptized He gave an example of what the sinner should do. It is not by any means to be thought that Jesus needed to be bap- tized to wash away His sins—He had no sin. He was baptized that we, shiners, might follow His example and be bur- ied in the watery grave. No man is saved by being baptized. Baptism is not a saving ordinance—it was never intended to be. Were such the case a law might be passed compelling all to be baptized, and consequently causing all to be saved. But it does not work that way. Baptism is the public tes- timony of the Christian's inward faith. By participation in this ordinance the sinner bears testimony that he is chang- ing sides in the great controversy be- tween Christ and Satan. Whereas he was on Satan's side and rendered alle- giance to him, he now transfers his alle- giance to Christ. He changes camps. He goes over to the side of the Man of the cross. Publicly he asserts, I will no longer serve sin, but righteousness. Therefore the sinner is baptized in ac- cordance with divine instructions—not to be saved, but because Christ has al- ready saved him. Dear Bible Answerman: Would Adam's first sunset be a sixth-day sunset, or would it be a seventh-day sunset? Adam was created on the sixth day of creation; therefore, his first sunset would come on the day of his creation and would be called a sixth-day sun- set. His first Sabbath sunset would come at the end of the seventh day. Five THE VOICE OF PROPHECY Radio Log New Brunswick— Moncton � CKCW 1220 9:00 AM St. John � CHSJ 1150 3:30 PM FM-CHSJ 100.5 3:30 PM Newfoundland— St. John's � VOAR 1230 1:00 PM Ontario— Ottawa � CKOY Sudbury � CHNO Toronto � CFRB Windsor � CKLW Prince Edward Island— Ch'lott'n � CFCY 630 1:30 PM Quebec— Montreal � CKVL 980 8:00 AM Saskatchewan— Regina � CKCK 620 8:00 AM Saskatoon � CFQC 600 10:30 AM 1310 10:30 sm 1440 9:15 AM 1010 10:30 AM 800 10:30 AM TUNE IN EVERY SUNDAY Alberta— Calgary � CFCN 1060 8:30 AM G. Prairie � CFGP 1050 8:30 AM British Columbia— Vancouver CKWX Vernon �CJIB Victoria � CJVI Manitoba— Dauphin Winnipeg 980 9:30 AM 940 9:00 AM 900 10:30 AM CDKM 1230 10:05 AM CKY � 580 12:00 M GOD KNOWS THE WAY However, He Has not Made It Secret; He Has Revealed It in the Bible. By R. E. FINNEY, Jr. I HAVE been having fun with the prophets. Not the prophets of the Bible who claimed to have divine guidance in what they wrote, but with the prophets of our day. For an excur- sion into human fallibility try, as I have been doing for the past few days, delving into old magazine files. You won't have to go very far back either. It was only in 1928, for instance, that writers were making rash predictions about air travel in the future. One wrote of dirigible development, this being an era when several large airships were built. These airships, he was sure, would become the only customary mode of air travel across the oceans. Luxuriously ap- pointed, roomy, safe, and carrying up to one hundred passengers, they would soar majestically across the Atlantic at ninety miles an hour. Airplanes were brushed off with the terse comment that they would be used only for travel and transport over short distances. About a year after this there was a good deal of to-do over the autogiro. Remember the autogiro? It was a strange, flapping contraption somewhat like the modern helicopter, but differ- ent, and it enjoyed only a brief moment of favour in the aeronautical race of the twenties. Yet one writer confidently as- serted that it "soon will be a common- place in American skies."—Reader's Di- gest, July, 1929, p. 200. Moving up a decade, to 1938, the prognosticators become a bit more real- istic, although still groping, in their talk of the air future. By then they were predicting travel in pressurized cabins, at speeds of three hundred miles an hour. No one seemed to be dreaming of jet propulsion, and surely any proph- et of that time would have at least rubbed his eyes if he had read of an Atlantic crossing such as the British Canberra accomplished a few weeks ago in four hours and forty-two minutes. Racing the sun, this plane lost by only forty-five minutes! H. G. Wells was one of the better known men among these prophets with- out honour. He told us in 1928 what Six he would expect should he return to the earth in five hundred years. He did not expect much material progress; in fact he doubted if airplanes would be travelling at much more than twice the speed they were at that time, but he expected vast advances in sociology and economics that would have made a Utopia out of the world by that time. Wells realized his mistake long before his death and became totally pessimis- tic about man's ability to save himself through any application of science or education. In the years 1938 and 1939 some folks were getting concerned about the falling birth rate in the United States, and with considerable reason. There was a recession in births at about that time. The city of Cleveland, as an example, reported in 1939 that it had reduced its teaching staff by six hun- dred. The outstanding economic prob- lem ahead was prophesied to be the gearing of what had been an expanding economy to a population that was no longer expanding. This prophecy was wrong on a colos- sal scale, as we today know. Certainly no human mind could have foreseen several unlikely future events. Of course statisticians did know that the babies of the first world war's baby boom would be reaching maturity along about 1941 and 1942 and that there would thus be a "temporary" boom in the es- tablishment of new families. But they could not foresee that that wave of young adults would come along just at the time when the United States was entering a new world war and that this combination of circumstances would re- sult in the highest marriage rate in the history of our country with an even higher birth rate. Neither could the amateur prophet have foreseen that young people would marry earlier, that babies would come back into style in defiance of what had been thought to be a tendency toward rigid family limi- tation. It could not be foreseen that this boom would continue for more than a decade and would cause acute housing shortages from coast to coast and from border to border and even more acute congestion of schools—schools that were once thought to be too big for the fu- ture. Wise thinkers about the future might have been warned about this had they studied population trends on a world scale, although they could hardly have seen that the birth rate would increase from 17.3 to 24.4 per thousand from 1939 to 1948 in the United States. They could have known that the last century and a half has been a time of expanding populations in many parts of the world, almost explosive in veloc- ity in some areas. But even had they taken knowledge of this significant fact it is doubtful if they would have linked it with the prophecies of the Bible. Bible prophecy stands in startling re- lief as contrasted with prophecies which are a product of human wisdom. We have just seen how wrong these latter predictions can be, and examples could be multiplied at great length, but in more than twenty-five years' study of the prophecies of the Bible this writer Signs of The TIMES has never found a single instance of error. And some of these Bible proph- ecies have had to stand the severe test of history during that time. For instance, there was the blitzkrieg of 1940. The world will not forget those frightening months when the military might of Germany was sweeping all before it. Educated men with a good grasp of history and world affairs stood aghast and asked the question, "Is Ger- many going to conquer all Europe and England as well?" The Bible had answered that ques- tion two and a half millenniums be- fore it was asked. In the delineation of world history found in the second chapter of Daniel, the prophet speaks of four great kingdoms. These were symbolized, as nearly all students of Bible prophecy agree, by the great im- age in the dream of king Nebuchad- nezzar. "This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." Daniel 2:32,-33. A com- parison of this statement with verses • later on in the chapter gives us the key to the interpretation of the proph- ecy. "Thou art this head of gold," Daniel told the king, thus stating that the first part of the image stood for Babylon. Having this starting point, history then makes it plain that the three following kingdoms were Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, signified respectively by the silver, brass, and iron parts of the im- age. But when the feet of the image are reached the interpretation takes a dif- ferent turn. It is indicated that Rome would be broken up. "Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided." Daniel 2:41. But more significantly it is indicated that what had once been Rome would never be reunited. "And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." Daniel 2:43. This disunited con- dition would prevail, furthermore, un- til the second coming of the Lord. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." Daniel 2:44. Rome in its heyday was a world em- pire, as were the three kingdoms pre- • ceding it in the prophecy. Rome, as a world empire, embraced all Europe; and when it broke up, it formed the pres- ent-day nations of Europe. The proph- • ecy is that Rome (Europe) would never be united. And that was the ans- wer to men's fears in 1940. Germany could not have overrun all Europe and England, for that would have meant AUGUST, 19 5 1 the reuniting of the Old Roman Em- pire, and divinely inspired prophecy was against that very thing. Even more astonishing is the fact that the very war which seemed bent on defeating the prophecy of Daniel was a fulfilment of another prophecy—or a chain of them. Jesus said that increasing wars would be one of the outstanding signs of the end of the world. "Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Matthew 24:6, 7. Thus our time is a time of conflict, not because of prophecy but neverthe- less in fulfilment of it—prophecy that could look two and a half thousand years into the future and see the web of circumstances that would be the causes of the fulfilments. The rising population of the world is one of the causative factors. Europe a little over a century ago had only about a third of the population it has today, with a density of two hundred three persons per square mile in contrast to the United States with twenty-two. The same thing that is true of Europe is true of the crowded Orient with its multiplied hundreds of millions. Ex- panding populations mean pressure, and pressure means wars. Thus the most un- obtrusive of happenings may mean the fulfilment of the mightiest of proph- ecies. The mind of man cannot hope to peer into the future, weighing all the multitudinous factors that bear on the unfolding of history, and then de- clare the future. Only God is wise enough for that. "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the be- ginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done." Isaiah 46:9, 10. Only through a prayerful study of the Bible can we confidently face the future and know what it will mean to us. That kind of study will not only reveal what is to come; it will also re- veal the great Maker of history, who can be our Guide through its confusion and our Saviour from it and its evil. Surely it is the part of wisdom on the part of everyone to get better acquainted with the Bible, its prophecies, and its Lord. Will you not determine to follow this course of saving action now? Nothing is secret to God. He knows the end from the beginning, and the things that have not yet come to pass. TORONTO STAR � Seven It should not be thought that divinely inspired prophecies pertain only to ancient cities. God has foretold the rise and fall of nations, as well as the fall of every nation when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of Christ at His coming. Prophecies of ANCIENT CITIES G ARFIELD is credited with saying that "history is but the unrolled scroll of prophecy." Prophecy is therefore history written in advance, or before the events occur. It is history written backwards. John Clark Ridpath, the historian, said that "the tallest son of the morning cannot tell a day be- fore they take place the events that occur," and Samuel Gompers, former head of the American Federation of La- bour, declared that "the future lies in the lap of the gods and into that lap not even the wisest men of earth are permitted to look." Real prophecy is therefore a miracle and an evidence of divine imspiration and revelation. David Hume, the skep- tic, was willing to test the authenticity of the entire Bible by its prophetic ut- terances. He said: "All prophecies are real miracles and as such only can be admitted as proofs of any revelation." Christians believe that only members of the Godhead can see and forecast fu- ture events and that the prophets were able to predict only because of divine inspiration. "The prophecy came not in old time [at any time, margin] by the will of man: but holy men of God spite as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21. The Unanswered Challenge Prophecy is God's challenge to all false gods and to skepticism. He says: "What has occurred I foretold long ago; it fell from My lips, I predicted it, then suddenly I acted—and it was done. Knowing you were obstinate,—stiff- necked as iron, with a brazen brow, I Eight By Taylor G. Bunch Tyre, Babylon, Jerusalem all Bear Witness to the Accuracy of Inspired Prophecy foretold it to you long ago, I let you see it ere it ever occurred lest you should say, 'My idol did it.' " Isaiah 48:3-6, Moffatt. Jehovah offers His prophetic utterances as an evidence of His di- vinity and as a challenge to the wor- shippers of false gods and obstinate skeptics. Bible prophecy stands as an impreg- nable bulwark against all attacks, and as a challenge that skeptical criticism cannot meet. Sir Walter Scott spoke a great truth when he said: "The Bible is ahead of its time, and those who study it are ahead of their time. We will never catch up with the Bible." The prophetic searchlight illuminates the dark and uncertain future so that "the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18. When the disciples were showing Jesus the massive stones of which the temple was constructed, He shocked them by saying, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24:2. The prophet Micah had predicted that even the temple site would be "plowed as a field." Micah 3:12. These prophecies were literally fulfilled in the capture of Jerusalem and the destruc- tion of the temple by Titus in A.D. 70. The early Christians pointed to the ruins of the temple as an evidence of the inspiration of the Scriptures and of the divinity of Christ. This irritated both the Jews and the pagan Romans. Julian, who became emperor of the Roman Empire in A.D. 351, in order to silence the Christians and please the Jews, commissioned one, Alypius, to "re- store, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem." The historian Gibbon records what happened: "At the call of their great deliverer, the Jews, from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy mountain of their fathers. . . . Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious la- bour; and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthu- siasm of a whole people. Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and enthusiasm were unsuccessful. . . . The Christians entertained a natural and pious expectation, that, in this memo- rable contest, the honour of religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle." The historian then tells what took place: "An earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and scattered the new foundations of the temple, are attested, with some var- iations, by contemporary and respectable Signs of The TIMES • evidence. . . . Ammianus Marcellinus . . . has recorded, in his judicious and candid history of his own times, the extraordinary obstacles which interrupt- ed the restoration of the temple of Jeru- salem. 'Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged, with vigour and diligence, the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was aban- doned.' "—The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, Vol. II, chap. 23, pp. 437-439. Edition of 1879. The City of Tyre The Scriptures abound with striking examples of the miracles of prophecy. One of these is the prediction of the capture and destruction of the city of Tyre as recorded in Ezekiel 26. This prophecy was written at the beginning of the fifth century B.c. when Tyre had been an important and flourishing city for more than a millennium. Even in the eleventh century it was famous for its art and commerce. Tyre means "rock," as the original city was built on a large rock in the Mediterranean Sea. It was surrounded by a wall one hundred fifty feet high, and it contained 40,000 inhabitants. In Joshua 19:29 it is called "the strong city." It was con- sidered an impregnable fortress. Later the city was extended to the mainland. In the eighth century, Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, attempted to capture the city. He cut off the aqueduct water supply, but wells within the city sup- plied the inhabitants. The ships of Tyre prevented him from cutting off the food supply. After a five-year siege he gave up the attempt. It required thirteen years for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Bab- ylon, to capture the city on the main- land. It lay in ruins for seventy years as foretold in Isaiah 23:8-18. It was then rebuilt and flourished for three centuries, when it was again captured and laid in ruins by Alexander the Great after a siege of seven months. This was the most difficult undertaking of his entire career. The refusal of Tyre to submit to the Greek conqueror made him furious, and he determined to seek revenge. After capturing and destroying the city on the mainland, Alexander was unable to reach the island fortress because of a lack of ships. Using the building ma- terial from the main city, he built a mole or jetty to the island, thus ful- filling the prediction in Ezekiel 26:12: "They shall lay thy stones and thy timber in the midst of the water." The ships of Tyre destroyed this passageway before it was finished. Obtaining ships to protect the workmen, Alexander built another with rocks and soil from the site of the city on the mainland. When the "rock" was finally taken, the de- fenders refused to surrender and died fighting, and the women and children were sold in the open market. Fire was one of the weapons used by both Nebu- chadnezzar and Alexander, as was pre- dicted in Amos 1:9, 10; Zechariah 9: 2-4. The prophet said: "I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; and thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord hath spoken it, saith the Lord God." Ezekiel 26:13, 14. The city never survived the blow given by Alexander. It gradually declined until it became a mass of ruins. Today it is a bare rock, as is the site of the mainland city from which the ruins and rocks and soil were re- moved by Alexander. On these bare rocks to this day the fishermen spread their nets to dry as a testimony to the unerring accuracy of Bible prophecy. The City of Babylon More predictions were made concern- ing the city of Babylon than any other. It had already stood for more than fifteen centuries, being one of the oldest cities ever built. It continued to grow in strength and glory for another cen- tury and a half, during which time it was the capital and metropolis of the world under the rulership of the Chal- deans. It was considered an impregnable fortress, and located in the productive Euphrates valley, its continued ex- istence seemed certain. There are more than twenty specific predictions concerning the capture and destruction of Babylon, not one of which has failed of fulfilment. Most of these are found in Isaiah 13:19-22; 44:27, 28; 45:1-3; Jeremiah, chapters 50 and 51. The city was to be captured by Cyrus, who was named more than a century and a half before he was born; he would divert the waters of the river in order to gain entrance into the city; his soldiers would find the two-leaved gates of brass of the inner walls along the Euphrates open; the city would be taken suddenly while its inhabitants felt secure, and the first intimation of disaster would be the announcement that the city had been taken at one end, or on one side of the river. The banqueters would rise from the table and "anoint the shield" for battle (Isa- iah 21:5); they would die while drunk- en; the enemy would fill the city as "with caterpillars"; the slaughter would be terrible, and the city would be swept "with the besom of destruction." Isaiah 14:23. The prophet also said: "Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." Mignan wrote: "I could not per- suade my guides—Arabs—to remain after dark, from apprehension of evil spirits." He said that he tried to hire six fully armed Arabians to remain with him near the ruins over night but they refused. Rich said that "all the people of the country assert that it is extremely dan- gerous to approach this mound after nightfall, on account of the multitudes of evil spirits by which it is haunted."— Memoirs, p. 27. Another writer declared that "by their superstitious belief they are prevented from pitching a tent by night, or making a fold there." These are a few of the more than one hundred details given in Bible prophecy concerning the fall of Bab- ylon. They are too definite to be mis- understood. All have been fulfilled and not one detail has failed. Here is a challenge that critics of the Scriptures cannot meet, a proof of the divine in- spiration of the Hebrew prophets which cannot be refuted, an evidence of the reliability of the Word of God which stands the acid test of historic revelation and scientific investigation. HERE IS MY ENROLMENT For your free thirty-lesson Correspondence Course in Bible. Beautiful diploma when I complete the course. Nothing to pay. Name (Mr., Mrs., Miss) � Street or Route � City or Town � Province � Fill out, clip and mail coupon today to the EDITOR, Signs of The Times, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. AUGUST, 1951 � Nine H. A. ROBERTS That Social Drink D R. HARVEY WILEY, U.S. chemist, said: "A man can be intoxicated without tottering or without disclosing in any way to the ordinary sense the fact that he is in- toxicated. A moderate drinker will not admit this, but he cannot disprove the scientific facts, that he is under the in- fluence of alcohol." Professor Yandell Henderson, profes- sor of applied psychology at Yale Uni- versity, said: "We used to mean by alcoholic intoxication that a man was drunk when he could not walk straight or could not talk distinctly. Since the introduction of the automobile, how- ever, the definition must be changed to that which appreciably impairs the ability of a man or woman to drive an automobile with safety to himself and the general public." It is not primarily the drunken driver but the drinking driver who is responsible for the numer- ous and serious accidents. Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, ob- served, "Just a drink or two and the safe driver is turned into a reckless traffic menace." Whenever sociability and a loose tongue are promoted by alcohol, they are the consequence of a cerebral in- toxication. Whenever the dose is too weak to produce this result, it also fails of having the desired effect. "American Business Men's Research Foundation of Chicago states that as a result of a questionnaire sent to a large number of county and State prosecuting attorneys, the conclusion reached in a concensus of replies received was that `liquor makes criminals out of persons Ten who have never before committed crime and who, except for their senses being dulled by alcohol, would never commit crime." It is estimated that sixty-two per cent of American youth between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four are drinkers of alcoholic beverages. J. Edgar Hoover said: "In the last year, seventeen per cent more boys un- der twenty-one were arrested for assault than the year before, twenty-six per cent more for disorderly conduct, twenty per cent more for drunkenness. . . . For girls, the figures are even more startling: thirty-nine per cent more for drunken- ness, sixty-four per cent more for prosti- tution, one hundred twenty-four per cent more for vagrancy." He further said that "the vast army of" criminals "is ten times greater in number than the number of students in our colleges and universities. And for every school teacher in America there are more than seven criminals." America is at present consuming more alcohol per capita than any other coun- try in the world. Of six hundred cases that came be- fore a Cleveland municipal court in one month, eighty-five per cent involved intoxication. Since 1941, juvenile delin- quency has increased three hundred fifty-six per cent. Drunkenness among young girls has climbed one hundred per cent. Dr. Robert V. Selenger, psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital of Baltimore, tells us that "actually, more than two fifths of all women in jail in America are there because of drunkenness." Dr. Alexis Carrel, in his great book Alan, the Unknown, page 232, says: "Women voluntarily degenerate through alcohol and tobacco. They become easily tired, extremely selfish, without intel- lectual acuteness, moral sense, and nerv- ous resistance." The power of women in shaping the destinies of men and of nations has al- ways been greater than that of men. We always have expected women to live purer and better lives than men. As long as women are what they ought to be, even if men go wrong, there is hope for the future; but when women, the home makers, go wrong, that hope is gone and the world is doomed. The American Business Men's Re- search Foundation issued the following statement: "Liquor has defeated more men, more armies, more nations than any other cause." Capt. Richmond Hobson, in an ap- peal to Americans to conquer the great destroyer, Alcohol, said in an address, "Suppose America should go down be- fore this destroyer, whither will a rural and frugal fragment of America go to start a new empire? History leaves no hope to go eastward, there is no longer any westward. We have reached the shores of the last ocean. In America, The Star of Empire, moving westward, fin- ished the circle of the world." He said, "In America we are making the last stand of the great white race, and sub- stantially of the human race. If America fails, the world will be undone and the human race will be doomed to go down from degeneracy into degeneracy till the Almighty in wrath wipes the accursed thing out." Dr. Arthur T. Bevan of Rush Medi- cal College said: "There can be no doubt that the greatest single factor that we can control in the interest of public health would be the elimination of al- coholic drink. This is not tyranny," he said, "it is evolution, it is science, it is civilization." Every individual exerts an influence in society. Every voter has some voice in determining what laws shall control the nation. "The advocates of temperance fail to do their whole duty unless they exert their influence by precept and example —by voice and pen and vote—in favour of prohibition. . . . We . . . must grapple with this giant foe, our motto, No compromise and no cessation of our efforts till the victory is gained."—Gos- pel Workers, E. G. White, pp. 387, 388. Signs of The TIMES By DANIEL H. KRESS, M.D. No drunkard thought he would become one when he took his first "social" glass. . SUNLIGHT and AIR Two of Heaven's Best Gifts By UPTON R. PEARCE, M.D. S S UNLIGHT and pure air are two of heaven's choicest gifts to man- kind. Man in the beginning was placed in the open, where he would have the constant benefit of these two agencies that minister to life, health, and happiness. In the presence of light and air, leaves become green, flowers develop and as- sume their varied colours, and fruit ripens. Deprived of light and air, vege- tation becomes pale and sickly, and dies. The pink cheeks, indicative of health, are not found among the youth of our crowded cities, or among the cave and house dwellers; they are found among • those who live in the country or are much out of doors and exposed to light and air. While light and air are de- structive to the low and harmful forms of vegetable life, known as pathogenic bacteria, they impart life to the higher and useful forms of life. Light and air possess healing virtues. During the past century or two their value has not been appreciated. In our modern homes there are often sufficient windows, but the windows are kept closed and dark- ened and the light and air are shut out. As a result such rooms become damp, a musty odour makes its appear- ance, and sickness is invited. At the beginning, God said, "Let there be light." He is still saying to those who keep their homes darkened by closed shutters, "Let there be light." Air is a more important element than food; for a person can live days and even weeks without food, but to attempt to do without air for even a few min- utes results in death. The Primitive Life Healthjul We must also bear in mind that there is no more rapid or effective way of introducing poison into the system than through the medium of air, or by inhalation. It is important, therefore, that the air we breathe should be free ▪ from poisonous gases and impurities. Otherwise that which was designed to be one of man's greatest blessings may become his greatest curse. • • • Air, in order to minister life, must be kept pure. As long as people worked in the fields, and slept in their rudely constructed homes, through which day- light could be seen on all sides, very little thought needed to be given to purity of air; but when this rural life was exchanged for city life, and work in the fields for office work, and the loosely thrown togther houses or huts for the modern air-proof and light-proof dwellings, some plans had to be de- vised whereby the foul air could be diluted and removed by the constant admission of pure air. A system of ven- tilation consequently became a neces- sity. The curative influence of out-of-door air has been more fully demonstrated during the past few years in the treat- ment of tuberculosis, pneumonia, and various other diseases. The beneficial effect of light and pure air may also be witnessed by the exposure to them of bedding containing impurities. We have all observed how sweet the bed- ding becomes after such exposure. Sunlight and air have the same in- fluence on the human body as upon bedding. They help to oxidize, or bum up, the impurities which are constantly forming within the body, and which, in the abserice of light and air, undergo putrefactive changes, developing poi- sons and offensive odours. These, in turn, produce disease. The body that is not exposed to air and sunlight becomes foul, like the old bed blanket, and in- vites germs of disease. Sleeping in a Coffin There are those who religiously ex- clude night air from their bedrooms, believing it to be harmful. A noted physician has said, "This scare about night air is a nightmare." The fact is, night air is the only kind of air we have to breathe at night. The question is whether we will open our windows and breathe the pure night air, or keep them closed and breathe impure and contaminated .night air. The night air of our cities is probably purer than the day air. It is freer from the gases, dust, and organic matter found in the day air as a result of traffic, et cetera. In order to keep the air in a room freed from the exhalations from the bodies of its inmates, there must be more than one opening. There must be an inlet for the pure air, and an outlet for impure air, in every venti- lating system. A circulation of air must be maintained. Unless this is done, the air nearest the body in time is im- pregnated and becomes dangerous to health. Carbonic gas is continually giv- en off through the lungs. When there is one per cent of carbonic-acid gas in the air, a candle burns dimly; • when it is increased to three per cent, the light is extinguished. If a pigeon or a rabbit is placed under a closed glass jar, in a short time the air becomes so thoroughly charged with carbon di- oxide and organic impurities exhaled from its body that stupor results. This explains why human beings who shut themselves in closed and sealed chambers for the night awake in the morning feeling dazed, and. out of sorts generally, if not actually sick. They wonder why they are so afflicted by a kind Providence. Sleeping in rooms in which the air is permitted to stag- nate is responsible for this lack of am- bition and the good-for-nothing feeling experienced early in the morning. Impure air dampens the vital fires and causes a decrease in ambition and energy. It dulls the mind, makes less acute the judgment, and lessens the ability to discriminate between right and wrong. Therefore, no one can be what God designs him to be, physi- cally, intellectually, or morally, who is content to dwell in ill-ventilated rooms and to breathe impure air. Sunlight and fresh air are God given. Their benefits are not yet appreciated. P. A. ROBERTS AUGUST, 1951 � Eleven ^...• IR. DOCTOR'S VOICE Send your health queries to the Doctor's Voice, Box 398, Oshawa, Ont. Low Sugar Question: A recent blood test showed that I have an abnormally low blood sugar. What diet is recom- mended to supply extra sugar? ANSWER: Persons with a low blood sugar are usually advised to restrict concentrated sweets in the diet, as they tend to stimu- late the pancreas to produce more insulin, which would have the effect of further lowering the blood sugar two or three hours after meals. Candy, cakes, past- ries, jams, and jellies should be avoided, also any solid food be- tween meals if possible. Fruit cooked without sugar is to be preferred. One third of the day's protein should be taken at each meal, as protein tends to sustain the blood sugar. One third of the fat should be taken at each meal, as fat slows down the emptying time of the stom- ach. A glass of milk or of fruit juice could be taken between meals if you feel unusually faint. While a high-protein diet is rec- ommended, it is easy to become overweight on such a regime. An egg and a glass of milk could be taken at breakfast; legumes and nuts with the noon meal; a glass of milk and perhaps cottage cheese with the evening meal. Hardening of the Arteries Question: What can be done for hardening of the arteries? ANSWER: There appear to be certain inherent constitutional factors which make some people more susceptible to this disorder than others. It is generally agreed that the diet should be low in cholesterol, which is found par- ticularly in animal fats, including butter and eggs, beef brain, et cetera. The body is capable of synthesizing cholesterol from vegetable fats; so they too should be used in moderation. Certain of the amino acids such as cho- line have experimentally been shown to make the solution of cholesterol in the blood more stable; but the inclusion of puri- fied choline in the diet is certain- ly in the realm of luxury and the benefits to be derived are still not definitely proved. Tetanus Question: How is tetanus pre- vented? ANSWER: Immunization with toxoid in military service is rel- atively effective in preventing tetanus. Civilians are not so well protected. Tetanus may develop from minor injuries which do not seem to warrant the use of a pro- phylactic dose of tetanus anti- toxin at the time of injury. Even prophylactic treatment may not be effective. The administration of penicillin-procaine has been found to be even more effective in prevention than the antitoxin. Another serious wound infec- tion seen in about one per cent of war wounds is gas gangrene. Contributory factors are the presence of foreign bodies in the wound and too-tight bandages or casts which embarrass the cir- culation. Headaches Question: I have never been able to work as much as the normal per- son because of headaches which are cured only by resting. Is it impossible to overcome cases like this? ANSWER: Fatigue, worry, and anxiety are the principal causes of headaches of this kind. If ade- quate rest is secured and if one positively refuses to become emotionally disturbed by any- thing, the headaches often come on less frequently and get less severe, and may disappear en- tirely. Tea, coffee, cola drinks, tobacco, and alcohol should be avoided. The blood should be checked for anaemia, which if present should be treated. An adequate breakfast should be taken before going to work in the morning, which should in- clude one third of the day's pro- tein, and one third of the day's fat. Moles Question: I am troubled with brown moles. As a girl I had only two or three, but in recent years they are coming thicker on my neck and shoul- ders. Is there any cure for these? ANSWER: Everyone potential- ly has a larger number of moles than are apparent early in life. They darken and become slight- ly larger as one grows older. This is unavoidable. Cascara Question: Is Cascara safe to take in treatment of constipation? ANSWER: Constipation can usually be corrected by securing an adequate amount of bulk in the diet as is found in fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain ce- reals. Water should be taken freely between meals, that is, an hour after meals up to half an hour before. It is best to restrict fluids at mealtime, because they dilute the digestive juices. Laxa- tives tend to be habit-forming. Cascara is one of the least ob- jectionable°. Just quit the Cas- cara and after a few days you will gradually begin to have normal evacuations. Habit time is important—right after break- fast is usually most convenient.