immoral, with which it was associated; it is needless to multiply citations from the fathers in proof of so undisputed a fact.” “In point of fact it was a common accusation brought against Christians by their enemies that they had ‘no altars, no temples, no known images’; and that ‘they set up no image or form of any god,’ and this charge was never denied.”—1 Cor. 10:14; 8:4-6; 1 John 5:21, NW.

Why should anyone kneel before an image of Christ Jesus or any saint, when he can bow the knee directly to God? God is looking for those who would, to worship him “with spirit and truth.” When John fell down before an angel, he was told not to do that—“Worship God.” When the devout Cornelius did obeisance to Peter, Peter lifted him up, saying: “Rise; I myself am also a man.” The true worshiper bows worshipfully to God alone. To him he directs his prayers through Jesus Christ. Image making and image worship are anti-God. “Cursed is the man who makes a carved image or a molten statue, a thing detestable to Jehovah.” “What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” That fact alone, the fact that God is in his holy temple, should cause men to awake to their responsibility before him, put away their graven images and worship him, the only true and living God. He will not tolerate his praise to go to images.—Rev. 19:10; Acts 10:24-26; Deut. 27:15, NW; Hab. 2:18-20, AS.

Exploitation of Hypnotism

MANY who dabble in hypnotism consider it a harmless toy. And there are a number among those who take hypnotism seriously, teaching or using it in their profession, that insist that hypnotism cannot be used for criminal purposes. However, in one of the latest works on the subject the author, A. Salter, states: “I find myself in agreement with Rowland, Wells, and Brennan that appropriate procedures, which need not necessarily be subtle, can make hypnotized persons perform antisocial acts, even to the extent of criminally harming themselves or others.”—What Is Hypnosis?

Pertinent in this connection is the item that appeared in the New York Daily News, June 5, 1955, headed “Grand Jury to Probe Hypnotic Rape Rap.” It told how “Jesse Overton, Jr., 25, a scholarly-looking TV repairman was held for grand jury action today, charged with having used occult powers to hypnotize and rape the pregnant 17-year-old wife of a friend. Bail was set at $300. The alleged victim, mother of a 4-month-old baby, told police she remembered nothing of the purported rape until the day after it happened. She recalled the incident, she said, only after her husband, who had learned how from Overton, hypnotized her and broke her ‘mental block.’” Overton admitted to the police having had relations but claimed that it was not the first intimacy. The girl denied this.

Truly hypnotism does represent a menace when it can be used by a man to ravish a woman and she never know about it, and it is a twofold snare in that it places an innocent person in a position to be thus harmed and it places the temptation in the path of the one possessing such power. Fitting here are the words of the disciple James: “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is the earthly, animal, demonic. But the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making partial distinctions, not hypocritical.”—Jas. 3:15, 17, NW.