being made at the Temple in Jerusalem.”

Pertinent is the fact that Jews and early Christians rejected the books of the Machabees as apocryphal or spurious. Neither Jesus nor the apostles quoted from them. Of the four books of Machabees—some say five—even the Catholic Bible contains only two. Jerome, hailed by Pope Pius XII as “the greatest Doctor in the exposition of the Sacred Scriptures,” warned: “All apocryphal books should be avoided; . . . they contain much that is faulty.”

Those who ignore that warning should at least take note of the inspired books of the Bible whose genuineness is recognized by Catholics and Protestants. Solomon says the dead cannot be either friendly or hostile. He writes: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . Also their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished.” (Eccl. 9:5, 6) The apostle Paul agreed with Moses’ statement that at Adam’s creation the “man came to be a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:45) Life as a soul is far different from possessing an “immortal soul,” which is not a Biblical term. On the contrary, the prophet Ezekiel writes: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Ezek. 18:4) The Christian writer James confirms this in saying: “He who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save his soul from death.” (Jas. 5:20) Next to God, Christ is identified by Paul as “the one alone having immortality.”—1 Tim. 6:16.

Many cannot resist the temptation to say that death in the above instances refers only to the body, not the “soul.” Jesus warned that God “can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,” from which extinction none will ever receive a resurrection. (Matt. 10:28) This also contradicts the theory that souls can be prayed from Gehenna into heaven. Of man’s death the psalmist truthfully wrote: “In that day his thoughts do perish.”—Ps. 146:4; Ps. 145:4, Dy.

The custom of saying repetitious prayers was singled out by Jesus for censure: “When praying,” he cautioned, “do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words.” (Matt. 6:7) Jesus did not teach the living to pray for the sins of the dead. He did teach that God purposed to resurrect, along with the righteous, those amenable to righteousness who through ignorance had led sinful lives. “The hour is coming,” he said, “in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28, 29) There God’s Son called our attention to the true hope of countless dead.

When thoughts of those who sleep in death rush into your mind and you recall their ways and fond personality, remember this: If your imperfect memory can recreate them, how much easier will God’s perfect mind and almighty hand bring them back from the memorial tomb. Let that wonderful promise move you to offer to Jehovah God an earnest prayer of thanks for his loving provision of the resurrection hope.

Money Problem

Kenneth Scott, vicar of Midsomer Norton, Somerset, is quoted as having said: “It is time the Church announced that sixpences are no longer accepted, except from children. From others, sixpence today is an insult to God. Two shillings or 2s. 6d. should be a minimum. Five shillings and 10s. should be usual.”