God Not Discouraged

“UNTO us who are privileged to draw aside the curtain into the secrets of thy universe, teach us that our whole duty is to love Thee our God and to keep the commandments.” Thus prayed a United States chaplain of a warship just before his government began one of its recent atom bomb tests. This prayer caused a columnist of the Long Beach, California, Independent, one Sydney J. Harris, to say, among other things:

“Presumably there is at least one commandment that a chaplain on a warship is in no position to invoke. It would seem a trifle awkward to enjoin ‘Thou shalt not kill’ just before the detonation of a bomb with the power of several million tons of TNT, capable of killing a few hundred thousand of His children.” Harris then ironically suggests a more realistic prayer, which he begins with:

“Unto us who have the pride and presumption to release the most devastating forces of nature, O Lord, be merciful.” He then asks God for protection from all the various kinds of havoc that an atom bomb can wreak or inflict upon the brain, the nervous system, the lungs, the heart, the viscera, etc.

Harris then concludes his mock prayer with: “Visit these catastrophes upon our enemies, not upon us, and we promise to love Thee and to keep the commandments—all except one, O Lord.”

“This at least,” he goes on to say, “would be an honest and meaningful prayer. No nonsense, no hypocrisy, no solemn theological jargon to disguise and sanctify the purpose and the power of the bomb. The Lord, I am sure, would not grant this prayer—but it would not, at any rate, be an insult to His intelligence and an affront to His benevolence. Sometimes I think he must be more discouraged by the blindness of his shepherds than by the folly of his sheep.”

From the foregoing it is apparent that a newspaper columnist has more understanding regarding God’s requirements for prayer than does a clergyman, for truly the very first one is that of honesty, sincerity. What God thinks of such prayers as the chaplain offered, his Word tells us: “When you spread forth your hands [in supplication], I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” And again: “They will keep calling me but I shall not answer, they will keep looking for me but they will not find me, for the reason that they hated knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah they did not choose.”—Isa. 1:15, RS; Prov. 1:28, 29.

But in one respect Harris is mistaken—if he thinks that God is discouraged, disheartened or has his courage lessened by what any of his creatures may do. Such would be an admission that he is not all-wise, nor all-powerful. Did he not foretell this very situation? He did: “In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be . . . having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” Since conditions are coming to pass just as he foretold, he has no reason for being discouraged, has he?—2 Tim. 3:1-5.

Then, too, in spite of what men may or may not do, his purposes regarding the earth and man will be realized, even as he assures us: “I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.” And what are his purposes regarding the earth? “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”—Isa. 46:11; 11:9, AS.

Surely, in view of these truths and facts, it can be confidently asserted that God does not get discouraged, regardless of what men may do. To help men of good will to benefit from the realization of God’s purposes regarding the earth and man is one of the purposes of this magazine.

Pool of Gibeon Uncovered

The ancient city of Gibeon is noted for one of history’s most spectacular rescues. Here Joshua and the Israelites rescued the Gibeonites from the allied Amorite forces. Here the God of heaven rained great hailstones on the enemy and caused the sun and moon to stand still to enable Joshua to complete the victory. It was also at Gibeon that a battle took place between the servants of Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, and the servants of David. The Bible discloses that the encounter started by “the pool of Gibeon.”—2 Sam. 2:12-17.

This pool was recently uncovered; and, after some twenty-five centuries, it is flowing again. The discovery, made by archaeologist James B. Pritchard, was announced by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. In searching for ancient Gibeon the archaeologist surveyed thirty-nine sites and finally picked as the right location the Arab village of El-Jib in the Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan, about eight miles north of Jerusalem. He dug four feet below the surface at El-Jib and found the walls of houses. Later he came to the rim of a pool thirty-seven feet across.

Workers removed debris and they came to the first stage of the well. This was a thirty-three-foot-deep pit faced with a spiral staircase. Then diggers excavated a narrower tunnel, with steps cut in its side, to reach a broad water-drawing room eighty-two feet below the surface. After more debris was removed, water started flowing again. Restoration of the pool has revealed one of the ancient world’s remarkable engineering achievements, the authorities of the museum said. And finding the great well, they added, confirms the Bible account that the Gibeonites were drawers of water.

The Red Religion

One-time chief of propaganda in Moscow, Karl Radek, once said: “This Communism, you see, is a religion. Our young men must preach its gospel. They are willing to die for it.”