1938_Cure (Uleczenie).docx

CURE, which you are now about to read, was written in behalf of the perplexed people, "that THY way may be known upon earth, THY saving health among all nations." — Psalm 67:2.
Herein Judge Rutherford, of world note as author and public speaker and student of prophetic Scripture, points to the certain and only cure-all.
 

WATCH TOWER
BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY
International Bible Students Association.
117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y., U. S. A.

COPYRIGHT, 1938
AND PUBLISHED BY
WATCH TOWER
Bible and Tract Society

Made in the United States of America

CURE

ALL THE NATIONS are sick unto death. Distress of mind and body is upon all peoples. Fear of what seems immediately about to befall makes their condition intolerable. This much will be conceded by all reasonable persons. The people are in great need of real consolation. In vain have they hoped for better things, and "hope deferred maketh the heart sick". (Proverbs 13:12) Is there a cure for national and individual sickness? There is one sure and absolute cure, because that remedy is prescribed by the Almighty, who never makes a mistake.

Divers remedies have been prescribed by men and have been tried out, and have completely failed. No real doctor prescribes a cure for human illness until he first makes a diagnosis of the case with an effort to ascertain the cause of the disease. All human remedies for national sickness have been brought forward without consideration's being given to the cause of the disease; and the suggested remedies, being merely a "chance shot in the dark", always fail. The remedy can be seen and appreciated only after one ascertains the root of the evil that has produced the illness. The Almighty God has placed within your reach a knowledge of the cause of national and individual sickness and has prescribed the complete cure. Will you avail yourself of the opportunity to gain that knowledge, which is of greatest value?

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Abortive Remedies

Before examining the evidence as to the cause of the sickness and the complete cure provided, give consideration to human remedies, that you may appreciate how weak and inadequate they are. Some of the human remedies offered as a cure for national ills are these, to wit: Fascism, Communism, rule by dictators, and the League of Nations. Fascism and Nazism, which are one and the same, regiment the people, take away their liberty of thought and action, overburden them with taxation, destroy real manhood, and turn men into infidelity. Communism is likewise a complete failure, and has been and is used chiefly as a scarecrow to the people to make the way easy for selfish men to set up a dictator to rule. The League of Nations is a complete washout and has repeatedly demonstrated its impotency to do any good for any people or any nation.

Politicians see themselves slipping rapidly and are fearful for their jobs, and in their desperation to hold on to what they have grabbed they turn to almost any suggested remedy that comes from men. The earthly money-grabbers utterly disregard the rights of their fellow creatures in their attempt to take everything in sight, but their material wealth will avail them nothing at the final showdown. The clergy, with pious and sanctimonious attitude, say to the politicians and other grabbers of material wealth and power: "Look to us, and let us all unite our efforts to save ourselves." Forming an alliance amongst themselves, they rely entirely upon their own power to save what they

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have acquired and to hold on to their positions in the future.

Religion

As a remedy for the ills now afflicting men and nations religion is held forth. Politicians in their desperation for a remedy are saying: "We must have more religion to stabilize and save the state and nation." Does religion hold out any hope of cure for the ills of the nations and individuals? There are thousands of religions. The various nations have and practice many different religions. Can the people look to any of them for a cure? If so, to what religion? The clergy will answer: "Just any old religion." But their answer does not satisfy a reasonable mind. A brief examination of the religions and the history thereof will be illuminating here and enable one to see how utterly inadequate religion is to bring any help to the people.
What is religion? It is a belief in and practice of certain doctrines and formal ceremonies, based upon the teachings of men, and which teachings have been handed down by tradition from one generation to another. There is no absolute and certain authority upon which religion can base a conclusion. There are divers and numerous heathen religions. Within the borders of the nations called "Christendom" there are three primary religions, to wit: The Jews' religion; the Roman Catholic religion; and the so-called "Protestant" religion; and in each one of these primary religions there are many divisions and denominations all somewhat different and all unsatisfactory.

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The "Jews' religion" (Galatians 1:13,14) brought about the foul crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the murder of Stephen, and the widespread and malicious persecution of numerous Christians, the disciples of Jesus Christ. (Acts 9:1-13) Jesus Christ denounced the practice of the Jews' religion as a fraud, and the practitioners as hypocrites. It was the practice of the Jews' religion that caused the complete destruction of Jerusalem and of the entire nation of Israel, and that nation has never been and never will be permitted to again exist as a nation. Jew religionists continue to practice their religion, but it is manifest that it holds out no hope for humankind.

After the death of the apostles of Jesus Christ the Catholic religion came into existence, and the leaders therein immediately engaged in polities and have practiced politics and have prosecuted and carried on wars of conquest from then even to this very day. The record of that religious organization is written in human blood and tears of bitterness. Fraudulently and hypocritically operating in the name of God and of Christ, the Catholic religious organization has continually carried on a campaign of intolerance toward and persecution of all persons who have tried to understand the Bible and teach its truths to others. The cruel Inquisition of that religious organization has left its slimy trail in almost every land on earth. It has ever been known as an unclean thing, for the reason that many of its leaders and priests have been and are morally putrid. The organization is ruled by a few men who maintain headquarters at Vatican City, Rome, and which small

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body of rulers is known as "The Roman Catholic Hierarchy of authority".
Centuries ago false doctrines were promulgated by the official element of the Catholic religious organization, and those false doctrines and formal practices have been handed down from one generation to another. By that means millions of sincere persons have been deceived and fraudulently overreached and induced to support the Catholic organization. There are millions of sincere people who by the organization are called "the Catholic population", but the Catholic Hierarchy has withheld from those people the Bible and substituted for the Scriptures the false teachings of men. By employing such false doctrines and practices millions of credulous people have been woefully deceived and robbed of their material wealth, and from them has been taken freedom of thought and action, and the people have been steeped in ignorance and superstition concerning God and his Word of truth.

The Roman Catholic religious organization has an unbroken record of meddling in the politics and commercial affairs of the nations, and of using fraudulent and dishonest schemes to gain control of the political offices of the nations. That religious organization fully approved and backed up the brutal war recently prosecuted by the Fascists of Italy against the harmless people of Abyssinia. The Catholic religious organization is now openly supporting the war of rebellion against the nation of Spain, and which war has caused the untimely and brutal slaying of multitudes of innocent persons. That same religious organization, which falsely

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claims to operate in the name of Christ, is now in an alliance with Japan in her prosecution of a malicious war of conquest against China. The Roman Catholic religious organization, operated by the Hierarchy, is the greatest scheme that has ever been operated to keep the people in ignorance of the truth.

Years ago certain sincere persons organized what is known as Protestantism and which, then, was a protest against the false teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic religion. Soon thereafter, however, the so-called "Protestant" organization indulged in practices like unto those employed by the Catholic religion. The record of "Protestantism" also is that of inquisition, persecution of the true followers of Christ Jesus, and prosecution of cruel wars of conquest, dabbling in the political affairs of the nations, and of teaching and practicing false doctrines that are defamatory of the name of Jehovah God and of Christ Jesus. The original Protestantism is dead; the modern "Protestant" organization is but a side-show to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Its leaders are ignorant of God's organization, have substituted man-made theories and practices for the Word of God, and have turned millions of professed Protestants into ignorance and superstition.

The Jews' religion completely repudiates Jesus Christ. The Catholic and Protestant religions claim to believe in and follow Christ; and now in these modern days the three religions named join forces to carry forward their political and commercial schemes, which are seductive and work great injury to the people. Recently the governor of one of the states of

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America, who practices the Jews' religion, made a public declaration to this effect, to wit: "What we need is more religion. We must look to religion to save the nation." From the undisputed record of the afore-mentioned religious organizations it is easy to be seen that religion can do nothing to cure the sick world. Religion is more than hopeless, because it continuously works injury to the people.

A Racket

The practice of religion has proved beyond all doubt that it is a racket of the very worst kind. It operates in the name of God and takes advantage of the peoples' reverence and awe toward the Supreme Being, and of their fears of the future after death, and thus forces upon the people belief in unreasonable, false and harmful doctrines, such as "purgatory", eternal torment, divine right of kings, and like doctrines. By false doctrines the religious leaders wrongfully extract large sums of money from the rich and the poor, by falsely representing to the living that their beloved dead are in a place called "purgatory", there consciously enduring torture. Upon the false representation that the clergy can say prayers in behalf of the dead that will shorten their duration of 'suffering' in "purgatory", the living are induced to hand over large sums of money, upon which ill-got gains the priestly leaders of the religious systems live wantonly. They well know that there is no such place in existence as "purgatory". The practice of their religion therefore enables them to obtain money under false pretenses.

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The religious leaders claim that the clergy are superior to the common people and that the clergy are therefore entitled to freely receive the best of material things, which must be handed over to them by others. By this means, in addition to robbing the people as aforesaid, they induce the people to build for the religionists large and costly edifices, in which the "favored ones" carry on their religious practices and reside and indulge their beastly appetites, making "their belly" their "god". (Philippians 3:19) When a poor man dies, his widow is not permitted to carry his body into such a religious edifice for a funeral service unless she contributes a specified sum of money therefor. The practice of these false religions robs the people, from the cradle to the grave. They claim authority to perform marriages and extract money for that; claim authority to bestow blessings or curses, upon the birth of the children, and obtain money for that; claim authority to provide special benefits at funerals, and wrongfully obtain money for that; and then claim that they can get the dead out of a place where they are NOT, and fraudulently obtain money for that. Never was there such a racket practiced among human creatures as that practiced by religious leaders. Religion therefore holds out no hope for the people, and if the distinguished governor had known what he was talking about he would never have uttered such words. The fact is, he was throwing a little sop to the people at the suggestion of the clergy, his supposed "spiritual advisers".

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Christianity

Is Christianity, "another religion"? No. Religionists carry on their organizations under the name of the "Christian religion", but that claim is wholly false. There is no such thing in existence as the "Christian" religion. The word "Christian" has been attached to religion for the purpose of deceiving the people. Christianity means the teaching of and full obedience to the law and commandments of Jehovah God, which are set forth in the Bible, the Word of God, even as Jesus Christ taught and fully obeyed the law and the commandments. Christianity was founded by the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is the first anointed one of Jehovah. The Jew clergy were then claiming to be the children of God, and they falsely taught the doctrines or traditions of men, and to those clergymen Jesus said: 'Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far removed from me.' (Matthew 15:1-8) The Jews' religion practiced today is the same as that practiced when Jesus was on earth. It holds out no hope for mankind. For the nations that are called "Christendom" religion has been substituted for Christianity and the people have been kept in ignorance of the difference between religion and Christianity. The politicians and the commercial men have been induced to believe that religion and Christianity are the same thing, whereas in truth and in fact religion is completely op-

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posed to Christianity. Religion holds out no hope for humankind.

Origin

How did religion originate, and who introduced it? Religion is the deceptive and subtle scheme of Satan the Devil, and was brought forward and employed by the Devil to deceive men and to reproach Jehovah God, and its practice has been carried on all these centuries for that purpose. In brief, its history is this: Satan the Devil organized a rebellion against the Almighty God by means of which he led many angels and men into his trap and into his conspiracy against God and righteousness. His wrongful act resulted in the death sentence being passed upon Adam. Then the Devil challenged God to place a man on earth who under the most severe test would remain true and faithful to God. That challenge raised the question of whether or not God is the supreme power. Instead of immediately destroying the Devil, God permitted his challenge to stand and the Devil to remain in order that all creation might have an opportunity to learn who is supreme and to whom they must give allegiance if they would live. Therefore God said to Satan: 'For this cause have I permitted thee to remain, that I might show thee my power and that my name might be declared in all the earth.' (Exodus 9:16, Leeser) From then till now Satan has endeavored to uphold his challenge and for that reason has done everything within his power to reproach the name of Jehovah God and turn men away from God and thus lead them into destruction.

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Jehovah God is the Giver of life and attending blessings. (Romans 6: 23) Satan is the chief wicked one, himself condemned to ultimate destruction, and his purpose is to lead all creation into destruction. Satan set about to induce men to believe that salvation is to be had without reference to Jehovah God. Shortly after the flood Satan organized religion by putting forward a man named Nimrod and by inducing the people to look upon Nimrod as one mightier than Jehovah God. The people hailed Nimrod and worshiped him. Then Nimrod set up a dictatorial, organized political rule by making himself the dictator. Then he gathered the people into towns or settlements and introduced commerce or trading amongst them, enabling the shrewder to get the advantage of the gullible. (Genesis 10:8-10; 11:1-9) Thus the Devil, by his visible religious agent Nimrod, ruled the people politically, controlled the fruits of their labor commercially, and by religion caused the people to be very superstitious, and thus he held them together and turned them away from God. Thereafter other tribes were organized into nations, and the Devil saw to it that every nation had a religion, which was and is a reproach to the name of Almighty God. Up till the time of Abraham only a very few men had remained faithful and true to the Almighty.

Then God selected the descendants of Abraham, who are called "Jews", and organized them as a people for himself. God had declared to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, that he would raise up a seed which would in due time rule the world in righteousness for the benefit of all who obeyed him. That promised

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seed is Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:16) In order to protect the Jews and to safeguard them against the Devil religion until the coming of Christ Jesus, Jehovah God gave to the Jews his law and commandments written in the Bible. "It [the law] was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come . . . Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring Us unto Christ." — Galatians 3:19-24.

The Scriptures disclose that the Jewish nation was unfaithful to God and turned to and practiced the Devil religion and thus reproached the name of Jehovah. That people fell under the wily and deceptive influence of the Devil. Time and again God warned the Jews against religion. He sent his prophets to them, warned them against the religious leaders, and informed the people that unless they turned from religion and obeyed God's commandments he would destroy them. Only a few individual Jews gave heed to such warning, and they, and they alone, escaped destruction. The Jewish nation was completely destroyed and will never again exist as a nation.

Jesus Christ, by and through his faithful apostles, established Christianity. For three and one-half years Jesus taught the people of and concerning their salvation that would come to them only by and through God's kingdom. He instructed them that they must obey the law and the commandments of the Almighty God and to shun the Devil religion. For this reason the religionists caused the crucifixion of Jesus. After his crucifixion his faithful apostles continued to preach the gospel of and concerning Christ Jesus and his kingdom. Many

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persons believed their teaching and became Christians. The Devil then took advantage of the situation and brought into existence another religion, and which was falsely named "the Christian religion", and the people have long been induced to believe that the so-called "Christian religion" was taught by Jesus Christ; but in truth and in fact all religion is opposed to Christ and Christianity. The Catholic organization, from the beginning, has taken the lead in the so-called "Christian religion", and in due course came the Protestants with many divisions or denominations, who followed in the same pathway of error, and with points of differences in their doctrines they have organized more than two hundred sects, each fixing their doctrines to suit themselves. All of these so-called "Christian religions" are but a form of the Catholic religion. In most of the fundamental doctrines taught by them they agree; in this, to wit: Immortality of the human soul; and hence they claim there is no death; which doctrine is a direct contradiction of the Word of God, which says: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4) They agree on the false doctrine of fiery torment in "purgatory" or in hell, of non-Christians after death. They agree on the false doctrine of the trinity, and the superiority of the clergy over the common people or laity; and they teach the people that human, political rulers constitute "the higher powers", which the Scriptures name and show are God and Jesus alone. (Romans 13:1) They all agree that their mission is to "convert the world" to their religious doctrines. They together approve war, by which many human

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lives are destroyed, and which is in direct violation of God's everlasting covenant; and they are all in full agreement in their opposition to and persecution of Jehovah's witnesses, who are the only Christians on earth who are attempting to assist the people to get an understanding of the Bible.

Now here note the conclusive proof that religion is man's great enemy and the instrument invented and employed by the Devil to bring man into complete destruction. Jesus denounced the Jews' clergy as hypocrites because they had substituted tradition, that is, doctrines of men, for God's commandments and had induced the people to follow tradition, which leads to destruction. (Matthew 15:7-9) The Jews' clergy were then working hard to get people to join their church organizations. Catholic and other religious leaders today are doing exactly the same thing. Therefore the words of Jesus apply to all such religious leaders or clergymen, to wit: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." (Matthew 23:15) Today the religious clergy, and particularly the Catholic, boast of the great number of persons they have induced to join their religious organization; and these words of Jesus prove that after such credulous persons have become the followers of religious leaders by joining their organization they are "twofold more the [children] of hell [Gehenna; destruction]". Religion is therefore the enemy of man and the opposer of the Almighty God. Flee from religion as a deadly thing.

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Against God

All religions are against God and against his kingdom under Christ. Of this great fact the people are kept in ignorance by reason of the influence of the religious leaders. Millions of sincere people on earth, Catholic and Protestant, look for and hope for the coming of Christ's kingdom. To blind the people to the real facts the religionists and politicians together organized the League of Nations, and then the religionists enthusiastically declared that League of Nations to be "the political expression of God's kingdom on earth"; which claim is entirely false and defamatory of God and of Christ Jesus.

The ambition of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is to control the nations of the earth. For that reason that religious organization has for many years maintained the "Jesuit" organization, which is a secret religious order, the work of which is to originate and operate schemes to deceive the people, gain control of them, and to grab political power and wealth. Carrying out its purpose, the religionists organized Fascism and by that means grabbed control of Italy and then quickly announced its full agreement with the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Shortly thereafter Fascism, under the name of Nazism, was organized in Germany by the same class of religionists. The religionists had put forward Communism and used that as a scarecrow to frighten the people into submission, and which enabled the religionists, Fascists or Nazis, to grab control of Germany, which is now ruled by a dictator. Fascism and Nazism and Roman Catholicism, meaning one and the

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same thing under three names, operate constantly to persecute the witnesses of Jehovah, the true followers of Jesus Christ, which witnesses of Jehovah seek only to inform the people of God's gracious provision to cure their ills.

Now the Roman Catholic Hierarchy has made an alliance with Japan, which people practice another religion, and the Vatican now backs up and supports Japan in her desperate attempt to grab China and control it. The Roman Catholic religionists now call for "a united religious front", in which it, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, is always in the lead, and its purpose always is to grab control. The "Protestants" and Jews fall upon the necks of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, and all move along together claiming that religion is the means of salvation of the people and the nations. To be sure, there are millions of sincere persons held under these religious organizations who have been deceived and who do not understand that religion is a racket and a subtle enemy of the people. These sincere persons must be informed, that they may have a chance to seek deliverance.

Religionists, led by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, have now launched and vigorously prosecute a campaign looking to the control of all the nations of the earth and the rule of all the nations by dictators. Their unholy ambition has been accomplished in several European nations. When Germany was taken over by a dictator, they immediately began a cruel persecution of all persons who studied the Word of God and who attempted to instruct others concerning God's kingdom. The same course of action is being taken amongst practically all the peoples

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and nations of the earth. The following is an example of the operation of the religious political schemers working together, to wit: The head of a large financial institution, who is a Roman Catholic, attended a conference at Washington, D. C., and thereafter said to the board of directors of his financial institution: "We must arrange our company to suit the following conditions and plans in the United States. There will be an inflation of the currency, then a revo...