“Devil's Conflict”

Franklin Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 43, 19 April 1940, Page 2

“Devil's Conflict”

WAR DENOUNCED .1 EIIOVAII’S WITNESSES “If Australia was invaded I would not lift a hand to defend the country other than to defend myself or my 1 topic." This remarkable statement was made by Charles Barron Ennor, 2 i. who claimed exemption from compulsory military training on the ground that he was a minister of religion. He said he .was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and had been a minister of religion of that Church for nine months, but he admitted that he could not legally officiate, at a mar-

riage. His application was dismissed by the magistrate on the ground that the applicant was “more of a lay reader.” “The document he produced as evidence of his ministry is not even signed and appears to me merely a stock letter,” the magistrate

staled. Following up the matter, Mr A

MacGillivray, described as Australian

representative of Judge Rutherfords declares that 2,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia would go to gaol rather than lift a rifle in the present war, which was a “devil’s conflict.” “Will Die Gloriously” “Il‘ they put us before a firing squad for refusing to fight, we will die gloriously,” Mr MacGillivray said. “On cur headstones will be written, ‘Hied in Action, for Jehovah God.’ There arc only 2000 of us, but each one is worth 20 ordinary men and women. Not one will be untrue to his faith. Ennor is a devout Witness. Nothing will force him to spill blood in an evil aggressors’ war: “We are not Fascists, Communists, pacifists or cowards. We can fight Idee hell, but only for Jehovah God. Jehovah’s Witnesses make the bes! soldiers in llie world, but we are soldiers only of the Lord. The moment

a Jehovah’s Witness fires a rifle at his fellow men in a devil’s war. he forfeits his right to an after life. “In Germany thousands of our members are in concentration camps because they would not fight. They stood with hands in pockets, smiling. They never struck back, but our records show that they went down fighting. Hitler is a nasty fellow, a disc.qde of the devil. We could never acini it him as a Jehovah’s Witness. “We take no interest in the war, its pi egress, or outcome, except that it is in fulfilment of true. Biblical, prophecy. If forced to go, we will stand on the field of action and be shot down, fc” then we will lie dying on the battlefield of the Lord. If Australia is invaded we will still not raise a hand. That would he an act of aggression. Put if our own properly is threatened, look ou‘, for fireworks. The Bible then gives us authority, ‘An eye for an eye,’ you know.”