Excellant Post Perry. Are you a professional writer? If not you should be.
Paradise Lost is the book my mother used to teach me to read, and at age 5 I was reading to her everyday.
I recall that picture. Unfortunately I discarded most of the publications years ago. I am not sure if this is the same picture , but I remember buildings toppling, and people raising their arms to protect themselves, and yes the ground opening up and people plummeting to their deaths. These pictures stay with you your whole life I think. When 9/11 occured, and I saw the events on TV, that picture, instantly came to mind. Yes, what a way to instill obedience to a cause, then to scare you into submission.
My wife when she was a child, age 5-6, had nightmares over that picture, and others, including the heel and the serpant. She woke up on many a night, crying, dreaming her bed was being overrun with snakes, afraid she was going to perish at Armageddon. Why ? Her parents had stopped going to the KH over personality conflicts in the congregation. She pleaded with her parents to go back to the KH so she would not die at Armegedon. Unfortunately for them, they relented. Fortunately for me, my wife is out, but her parents continue to be chained to the treadmill, running the race, that can never end.
The WTBTS alway bragged, that they never preached eternal hellfire. I suppose the thoughts and images that the pictures in Paradise Lost conjured were from a kindler and gentler god !
Amen.
xjw_b12 & calamityjane
