No. 431
The Scriptures declare a “beginning of the creation of God.” His qualities and attributes were the same then that they are now; for the Scriptures also declare His unchangeableness – ‘the same yesterday, today and forever.’ (Heb. 13:8; Psa. 90:1,2)
The completeness of the Divine perfection is such that companionship is not necessary to the happiness of God. The One who ‘inhabiteth eternity’ is self–centered. The creation of angels and of man was indeed His pleasure, because, benevolently, he desires to do good, to give capacity for pleasure and to afford it opportunity for gratification. Furthermore, the highest good of his creatures calls for an exhibition to the full of all the elements of Divine character – Divine Justice, Love, Power and Wisdom.
BELIEF IN SATAN LOGICAL
The declaration of the Bible respecting the Father’s Power is that ‘the eyes of the Lord [the intelligence of God] are in every place. beholding the evil and the good.’ (Prov. 15:3) This statement implies that there are things evil as well as good; things which God approves and things which He disapproves. This citation comes the nearest to a suggestion of God’s omnipresence contained in the Scriptures.
The fact that the Lord has knowledge of all conditions of things is not out of harmony with the other facts that He permits conditions which He disapproves, and which He declares that He will ultimately destroy. “All the wicked will he destroy.” (Psa. 145:20)
If we accept the great Divine premise that the Bible is the Word of God, then we are bound to accept the declaration that there is a being called Satan, that he is the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), and that he now works in the “hearts of the children of disobedience.” (Eph. 2:2) These words imply not only that there are evil principles at work in this world, but that behind them there are evil spirit beings, of whom Satan is the inspirer and through whom he is working.
Certain statements are made respecting Satan which could not be applied properly to a principle of evil, or to a working of error; as, for instance, Jesus declared that Satan was a “murderer” from the beginning – and a “liar.” (John 8:44) Errors and principles are not murderers and liars. It would be a misuse of language to make such application. Only a being with, at least, some reasoning power can be a murderer or a liar. Hence, the whole tenor of the Scriptures upholds the assertion that there is such a being as Satan and that he is in opposition to God.
If we were to suppose the everlasting continuance of Satan as a being, as an adversary of God, the matter would seem strange to us, because it is irreconcilable with our conception of Divine Power. We have the statement of the Scriptures respecting his reign and ultimate destruction. (Heb. 2: 14) With this information we have a reasonable, logical thought on the subject. When we consider the Scriptural presentation further, that originally Satan was not an evil being, but that he made himself evil by the exercise of personal liberty and became the enemy of God, the subject seems to be clear and reasonable. In fact, this is the only rational solution to the problem of his existence.
To suppose that there is no Satan is to suppose that God has permitted his Word to deceive mankind in this respect, or that the devil is a manifestation of God himself a position which is unthinkable. Nor is it logical to say that there is a devil, an opponent of God, and at the same time to maintain that God is all in all, and omnipresent, everywhere present. But we do not find this latter statement to be Biblical. The Scriptural proposition is that when Christ shall have conquered sin and Satan, when Satan shall have been destroyed, and when the empire of the universe shall be in absolute harmony, then God will be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28) To all eternity there will be no opposition to His will. There is opposition now, however, in many places and at many times. But ultimately, God will have full control.
THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD
To say that God is all power is sophistry of language which often misleads the one questioning as well as the one attempting to answer him. The statement is not correct. If God is all power then he is not love, justice or wisdom. He would thus be limited to the one great attribute of power, or force. Such cannot be the thought entertained by any logical mind. It is, nevertheless, a form of statement that is often used, perhaps unintentionally, but very injuriously to the reasoning faculties.
The Bible nowhere says God is all power. There is a marked difference between being power and exercising power. God is all–powerful. He has the ability to exercise power in any direction to the extent that He wills. If He had chosen, He could have so created Satan that he could not think or do other than in harmony with the Divine will; or He could have exercised His power to crush the adversary and thus have destroyed him long ago. But He has permitted Satan to exist for six thousand years, in the sense that He does not restrain the devil from doing evil. The Scriptures, however, tell us that God will eventually destroy him.
The scope of the exercise of Divine Power is the universe, but it is difficult for our finite minds to comprehend the meaning of this word – universe. Astronomers tell us there are more than 125,000,000 suns – the centers of solar systems like our own, with supposedly more than a billion of planets more or less like our earth. These, we may assume, are in process of development, are in preparation for inhabitants, whom the great Creator will in due time provide. From the Scriptural standpoint, however, the great work of human creation began with our earth. That a boundless thought we have in the mere suggestion that the billion worlds are to be peopled, and that the lessons of righteousness and sin, of life and death eternal, now being taught to humanity, will never need to be repeated
We stand appalled at the immensity of space and at the law and order which everywhere reign! We heartily assent to the words of the Prophet David, “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Psa. 19:2,3) The person who can look upon this wonderful display of superhuman power and believe that these worlds created themselves, shows to the majority of us that if he has brains they are sadly disordered, unbalanced. Whoever, after mature thought, concludes that there is no God, that everything came to be what it is by chance or by the operation of some blind force – that person is described in the Scriptures in the following words, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psa. 14:1)
As scientific instruments demonstrate to us the immensity of the universe, we perceive that the Prophet used very moderate language indeed in his description of the majestic power and greatness of the Creator, when he represents Him as weighing the mountains in his balance and holding the seas in the hollow of His hand. (Isa. 40:12) From His standpoint, a thousand years are but as a watch in the night. (Psa. 90:4) How insignificantly small we all feel in the presence of our God! No wonder some great men are inclined to say that humanity is too insignificant from the Divine standpoint to be worthy of the least consideration – much less to be objects of Divine care and providence
THE OMNISCIENCE OF JEHOVAH
To say that God is all knowledge is also an inaccurate statement. If God were all knowledge, how could He be all power? God has all knowledge, possesses all knowledge. But this is a different matter. If we say, ‘The boy has a bicycle,’ we do not mean that he is a bicycle. To be a bicycle and to have a bicycle are not the same. God is omniscient; that is, He knows all things. This very fact proves that He is a personal God. There can be no knowledge without personality. Knowledge implies cognizance of external things. Amongst the things outside the Divine Person are things both good and evil.
When we read that God created man in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26,27), we may know that man is not God. He was merely made in the image of God. Because God is perfect, therefore the human being made in His image would be satisfactory to God. That human being had knowledge. But he neglected the Word of God, and thus he learned something by his neglect. What he learned is mentioned in the Scriptures. ‘He is become as one of us [the Elohim], to know good and evil.’ (Gen. 3:22) This statement proves that God knows good and evil.
If God did not know evil from good, then He could not be our Instructor. By His laws, His principles, God sets before our minds that which is right and that which is wrong. Adam knew how to discriminate between right and wrong, but his disobedience increased his knowledge of both good and evil. In his fallen condition man cannot always determine between them. Therefore God gave Israel a law, and man’s knowledge of that law assists him to discriminate between good and evil.
The Prophet Isaiah said, “Thou art a God which hidest thyself.” (Isa. 45:15) How true! As a result the world by wisdom knows not God. He is near in His wisdom and love, yet He can be seen only by those whose eyes of understanding have been opened. But we are glad that the time is coming when all the blind eyes shall see clearly. “As truly as I live,” says God, “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Num. 14:21; Hab. 2:14) Then all shall see what God hath wrought, and our temporary blindness will but accentuate the glorious brightness of His Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power.
“GOD IS LOVE”
God is love in the sense that the term love represents the central principle of the Divine character. There is nothing contrary to love in God. The Scriptures do not teach that there is nothing except love anywhere – that God is everywhere and love is everywhere. But they teach that God is a loving character. This does not militate against the other statements that God is just, wise and powerful. But this quality of love best of all represents the Divine Being. All of His justice is in harmony with His love. There is no exercise of justice or power in an evil sense, for all His attributes work together for good to all His creatures.
The Scriptures encourage us to reason from the known to the unknown. They tell us that although God is so great, so wise, so powerful, He is also just and loving. And the more we consider the matter, the more reasonable the Bible description of the Almighty appears. His power we see demonstrated. The wisdom of One so great cannot be doubted. When we come to consider, could One so wise and so powerful be unjust or ungenerous? Our hearts answer, No! No one is really great who is devoid of justice and love. So surely as our God is Jehovah, He must possess these qualities.
When we come in contact with the Bible, and particularly after we learn something of its teachings and get rid of the misrepresentations which gathered about it during the Dark Ages – then we begin to recognize it as the message of God to His creatures. it informs us that the great Creator of the universe is not only almighty and all–wise, but loving and kind, with Justice as the foundation of his empire. (Psa. 89:13,14) From the Bible we learn, too, that our Creator has been pleased to make us in His own image, in His own moral likeness, to the intent that we may enjoy Him and the fruits of His righteousness to all eternity.
All the power, all the justice, all the wisdom, of God must be used in accordance with His own character, which is love. It will therefore be loving wisdom, loving justice, which He will use toward all creation in the exercise of His loving power for their good. He created man. He permitted Adam to disobey His law, telling us that He knew in advance what man would do and that he permitted man to do wrong. (Isa. 6:9, 10)
In permitting sin to enter the world, God had two ends in view. He purposed to give an illustration to the angels respecting the results of obedience and of disobedience. He also intended that the human family should gain a lesson from this experience. Thus we know that God’s arrangement from the beginning has been for a resurrection of the dead. ‘As all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive.’ (1 Cor. 15:21,22)
If we were to take any fragment of Scripture as a basis for a system of doctrine, we would find ourselves either teaching universalism on the one hand, or claiming that God has no wisdom, or that He purposed the evil, or what not. We would get into all sorts of confusion. But when we see the perfect adjustment of God’s Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power, and realize that He has good purposes respecting the evil, that He has fully marked out what it shall do and what it shall not do, either in its present influence, or its ultimate influence, this gives us confidence in the character of God.
THE PERMISSION OF EVIL
From only one standpoint can Divine Wisdom and Love be discerned in connection with the history of mankind. It must include the Age about to be ushered in – the period of Messiah’s reign of righteousness. This will be the time when every member of Adam’s race, sharing the penalty of sin and death because inheriting weaknesses, will be set free from these; the time when the full knowledge of the glory of God shall be granted to every human being, and when a full opportunity will come to each, by obedience, to gain life everlasting.
The lesson thus far taught is the goodness and the severity of God – His goodness in bringing us into being, and His severity in the punishment of father Adam’s willful transgression; also to both men and angels, justice, unswerving justice. The next lesson to be taught to God’s intelligent creatures is that God is love. The foundation for these lessons is already laid in the ransom–sacrifice of Jesus, through and on account of which he becomes the world’s Redeemer and Restorer. A few can believe this message by faith; but not many have the ear of faith or the eye of faith.
That which is now secret and understood only by the few is shortly to be made manifest to every creature in heaven and in earth. All will then see and be able to appreciate the great fact that the redemption accomplished by the sacrifice of Jesus is world–wide and means a full deliverance from the sin–and–death condemnation which passed upon Adam and his entire race, to all who will accept the same as a gift from God. The remainder will be destroyed in the second death.
THE SECOND DEATH THE ESSENCE OF WISDOM
As for the Second Death, we see easily that if God created man in His own image, man must of necessity be a free moral agent; otherwise, he would not be in God’s image. If man was created a free moral agent, he must have the power or privilege to will wrong as well as right. If he exercises his power in the direction of evil, God has the power to destroy him. On the other hand, if he live in harmony with righteousness God has the power to grant him life to all eternity.
The destruction of the wicked in the Second Death is the essence of wisdom. As to the declaration that God is too pure to behold evil (Hab. 1:13), the thought of the original seems to be that God’s character is so pure and so righteous that He will not continue to behold evil. He will not permit evil to all eternity, for this condition would not be pleasing to Him.
This very thought implies that there is evil to behold. If not so, how could He behold it? But this is all consistent with God’s plan. Ultimately, all creatures shall be destroyed. Ultimately all creatures which are “in heaven and on earth and such as are in the sea shall be heard saying, Blessing and honor sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” (Rev. 5:13) (Pastor Russell, Reprints 5209–5211, April 1, 1913)
QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST
QUESTION – Do you believe the Lord is judging individuals of this present generation for eternal life or death?
ANSWER – Our Lord is not judging the individuals of this “evil day” (Eph. 6:13). Instead of the truth being prominent, systems of error are prominent. When Christ judges the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31) there will be no error there. God will turn over to the people a “pure language” (Zeph. 3:9), a language all will understand. Today the people in general do not know what to believe with so many different beliefs. However, God has promised mercy in the Kingdom for the unbelievers (Rom. 11:32).
That Servant gives us the answer to things to be accomplished in the Kingdom:
“With His reign will begin the reign of righteousness, for the Scriptures intimate that sin will be suppressed promptly. Nothing shall hurt, or offend, or destroy, in all God’s Holy Kingdom. (Isa. 11:9) Nothing will be allowed to do so. The Great Judge will know how to inflict such punishments and so promptly as to prevent the reign of evil. Then the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness; for instance, if some one wished to speak evil of his neighbor and a punishment, such as paralysis of the tongue, should come upon him merely for the intention, before he spoke the evil, do you not suppose that he would learn the lesson that he must not think evil? He would not speak the evil, for his tongue would be paralyzed before he even spoke the word. The Bible says that he will learn the lesson. “When the judgments of the Lord are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9) It will not take them long to learn. They will not need to have calamity overtake them many times before they will learn that it would be better for them not to do wrong.
“This will not, of course, affect the heart; but it will enable them to learn to do right, to see the effect of righteousness in the world. Thus, they will have the opportunity of either loving or hating that condition. If they learn to love that condition, they will get into the right attitude of heart, pleasing and acceptable to God. So at the end of Christ’s Millennial reign they will be ready to have the full blessing of eternal life. Even though not permitted to do the wrong thing, if at heart they still love iniquity, with all the knowledge before them and experience behind them, if they will not learn to love righteousness and hate iniquity, they will be of those worthy of cutting off in the Second Death, from which there will be no recovery.” (Rev. 20:14) (What Pastor Russell Said, page 118)
========================
LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST
Dear precious Brethren in Christ! Greetings in His Name!
Please, please keep my name on your mailing list. Your papers are one of my treasures. I’m isolated 300 miles or so from the nearest ones in Him. I’ve saved all the papers you have sent. They have given me great joy, especially so as the print is easy to read. I have glaucoma but have read some papers over and over and received great comfort! I’ve had to give up reading my reprints, as the print is so small. And oh how I’ve missed the daily articles. My old reprints are underscored in so many places, but I love every article so marked.
I may be isolated, but I’m never lonely. I write to several dear ones in Christ and have saved many letters over the years, and often reread them giving me fellowship and love. Fondest love in Christ to each dear one.
Yours in the one hope, -------- (MAINE)
------------------------------------
Dear Brethren,
I appreciate receiving your current monthly letters. I would like to continue receiving your current editions only. Since my reading time is limited, I would like to discontinue receiving back issues of your letters. Your letter is very informative and appreciated. Thank you.
By His Grace, ------- (OHIO)
------------------------------------
Dear Emily and the brethren: SHALOM, SHALOM!
We are greeting you very heartily and thank you for sending your circulars. But we are deeply shocked about the godless conduct of President Bush. Not only has He barred Israel from settling and fertilizing the promised Holy Land, but he is urging Israel also to give up the very own central parts – Judea, Samaria and even Jerusalem. This land was built up, developed, and changed into a blossom garden by the Jewish Settlers. But under the Arab dominion the land ran wild and became completely barren after they overgrazed the land with their herds and droves.
His Secretary of State went so far as to promise the Syrian dictator that Israel must also evacuate the Golan Heights, where the Syrians have shot on country people and farmers at their agricultural works.
This behavior of Bush and Baker is so incomprehensible and reveals Bush as a perjurer who breaks with brutality all the Divine promises. In accordance to the European laws he would be punished with seven years penal servitude. These men are unable to represent a Christian America and will bring a tremendous curse upon America.
Israel began to listen to GOD’S message, and even ministers have visited Emek ha Shalom and were refreshed and encouraged by the book of our dear friend, David Horowitz. But now everything is trampled down by Bush and Baker.
But we hope that everyone in America who has heard the wonderful message of our dear Brother Charles Taze Russell will put an end to these godless doings (machinations).
Yesterday came a group from the USA to Emek ha Shalom and told us at the end of the visit that it was the highlight of their whole Israel trip. Please, would you be so kind and send us two Manna Books from Pastor Russell in English.
We stay connected in good confidence and Christian love.
Hermann Bezner, Emek ha Shalom, Jokneam 20600, ISRAEL
------------------------------------
Dear Brethren: Loving greetings in our dear Redeemer’s Name!
We acknowledge receipt of Nos. 418 and 422 and assure you we do appreciate your papers. How you got our address we do not know but we seem to have much in common – much more than with the JW’s who seem to be slipping further and further from the truth that Brother Russell expounded up to 1916.
The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” as such were not founded by Brother Russell. He finished his earthly career in 1916, and they did not come into being until 1934 and were the brain child of “Judge” Rutherford. Brother Russell founded the IBSA but they are so far removed from anything he believed and taught, and today they even deny the Ransom, alleging that Adam will never be resurrected.
We believe Brother Russell was permitted to make some mistakes concerning when Armageddon would take place and the Kingdom would be established, for the blessing of the world of mankind and in order to test the brethren. It is so easy to follow a man and make an idol of him. Brother Russell always advised Bible Students to prove all things. The six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures were “helping hands for Bible Students.”
We believe there are still some members of the Body of Christ this side of the vail, and we continue to run for the prize of the High Calling in Christ Jesus. It is essential for all of us to be faithful unto death.
With Christian love, your Brethren in Christ, -------- (ENGLAND)
------------------------------------
Dear Sister Hoefle,
I thank you for sending me your Epiphany publications. I noticed that it is the 75th anniversary since the Pastor finished his course (10/31/91). I am 75 years old. Thanks for publishing my short testimony. Our whole lives are to be a testimony to all around us. How we rejoice when we can say, “I delight to do thy will.” What joy fills our heart to know God’s will concerning us, “even your sanctification.” What a joy to serve our brethren... They are God’s dear children... We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
We commend you for spreading the wonderful truths of the Scriptures. We are glad to cross over our class barriers to reach and contact many who have slowed down in their walking... The Papacy is pushing the plan to exterminate Jerusalem – standing on the edge of it.
Christian love, ------- (MICHIGAN)
------------------------------------
Dear Brethren: Grace and peace!
“But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” (Proverbs 4:18 – NWT) The Witnesses change the texts of the King James translation and often times change the meaning to harmonize with their teaching. However, in this text they only add words but have not changed the meaning. We believe the King James translation is succinct and correct. The Witnesses use Prov. 4:18 as an excuse for their flip/flop changes of doctrines. Like the chameleon that changes its colors according to its whims, the JW’s change their doctrines according to their whims.
They say that Jehovah by the use of His Holy Spirit has corrected some of their thinking. If Jehovah God is directing their organization, why is there any need of change? In actuality the Witnesses are telling their devotees, “God is not sure of Himself –– of His purpose and plan for mankind.” The inspired Word assures us that God’s Word does NOT change – nor does Jehovah God change. I won’t argue the point that when we earnestly “search the Scriptures” we will get a better insight and a better understanding of certain verses or Scriptures not noticed before. The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11). Yet Jehovah’s Witnesses with their flip/flop doctrines have made Jehovah a God of confusion rather than a God of order. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” (1 Cor. 14:33 – KJ)
In actuality what the Witnesses are saying is that God is not sure of Himself or of His purposes for mankind. How so? Take for example what was taught regarding the Sodomites – Would the Sodomites be resurrected? According to the Watch Tower Society’s founder and first president, Charles Taze Russell, they WOULD BE resurrected. (Zion’s Watch Tower, July 1879, p. 8)
However, in the June 1, 1952 Watchtower, it was stated that the Sodomites WOULD NOT be resurrected. Jehovah by the use of His Holy Spirit had corrected their thinking. This, according to the Witnesses is a form of the bright light getting lighter and lighter. The views of 1879 is now considered old light – error.
The 1965, August 1, Watchtower states that the Sodomites WOULD BE resurrected. Now what? What was considered old light is new light! Is that possible? Wasn’t the first view considered wrong? Had not Jehovah set them straight in 1952? After all Jehovah is directing the Watchtower Society! Isn’t He? (Watchtower, November 1, 1956, p. 370)
In June 1, 1988 Watchtower, it states the Sodomites WILL NOT be resurrected. Yet since then, that view has been changed back and forth. The Watchtower Society has been so bold as to state they are “the only organization on earth that understands the ‘deeper things of God I I” (Watchtower, July 1, 1973, p. 402) How can that be when they don’t even understand the simple things of God?
What the devotees of the JW’s are actually being taught is that Jehovah is not sure Himself what the outcome of the Sodomites will be. The Witnesses are being taught that they have the Truth on the Scriptures. Yet how can that be when the very ones who are teaching them to understand the Scriptures are in the dark themselves? Truly, this is a case of “the blind leading the blind.” (Matt. 15:14)
The issue of the Sodomites is just one of the doctrinal and organizational changes the Society has gone through. Changes have been made on the Ransom, Chronology, Baptism, Hell, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, the New Covenant, Prophecies, Salvation and countless others.
Can this be God’s organization? God’s only channel of communication? Hardly! The Jehovah’s Witnesses are to be commended for their high morals. But unbeknownst to them they are being misguided. Some testify that they are sincere, but I testify according to the Scriptures, they are sincerely wrong. If anything I have written in this letter will be a help to some of them and deliver them from the “snare of the fowler,” my efforts will not be in vain. I understand that you have a few Witnesses on your mailing list. “But continue you in the things thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” (2 Tim. 3:14) New light must harmonize with past light, otherwise it is “new error.”
God bless you as you seek to serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth.
With Christian love, Rolando Rodriguez (NEW YORK)
------------------------------------
Dear Sir,
Please send me your magazine. I would like the January–February issue. Please tell me how much is your subscription. I would like to know if you are affiliated with the Dawn.
Thank you! ------- (CALIFORNIA)
------------------------------------
Dear Sister Emily:
Warm greetings in the precious Name of our Savior and Redeemer!
First, a long–overdue thank you for sending the Epiphany Bulletin over a number of years. We feel a kinship for you in your love for Israel and your many contacts in presenting a message of comfort for our dear brethren of the natural seed of Abraham. Heb. 11:20 is so significant. Blessings for both Jacob and Isaac, representing the spiritual and natural seed.
The point is so well taken – natural Israel, not so–called “Consecrated Epiphany Campers” are promised the Lord’s blessings. I am sending the enclosed labels. We know postage is expensive.
I have indicated the corrected address. We would like to continue receiving the Epiphany newsletter, and will share them with my mother. After receiving the last Bulletin, I wrote Elva Lanowick because I was so impressed with her testimony. She wrote back such a lovely letter and sent a copy of her October trip itinerary. It was a blessing.
May the Lord bless and keep you and may the joy of the Lord be your strength always.
With love in His Name, ------- (FLORIDA
------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
This is the day of the Lord, let us rejoice and be glad. Enjoy the articles you send out. We rejoice in the truth every day. Eye hath not seen nor ears heard – neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. It will be wonderful when the Church class has been called out. To think our Heavenly Father has opened our eyes to all these wonderful things. We strive to walk day by day, doing the best we can – watering the fruits of the Holy Spirit and serve our master.
May the Lord bless you! You have sent us two articles. I have given the extra article to a friend. Thanks again.
Christian love, ------- (OREGON)
------------------------------------
Dear Brethren,
I have read with interest, and I must add, critically, your mailings Nos. 427 and 428. I find them both helpful and uplifting.
I am always hesitant to accept any new (to me) material without knowing its source. You have been approved by a sister who is no stranger to you; so henceforth I will receive your papers with continued interest and appreciation.
We can never lose our way as long as we hold fast to the truth as dispensed through the Lord’s chosen vessel – That Faithful and Wise Servant.
Warm Christian love in Him, ------- (MICHIGAN)
========================
BROTHER JOHN DOWNING, Cleveland, England, finished his course September 21, 1991, at the age of 79. His wife, Sister Betty, survives him. They had no children. He was our beloved, loyal and faithful co–worker for many years, together with his beloved wife. We will miss him. We mourn our loss with his widow and friends, but we rejoice in the blessed memory he has left us.
Such faithful brethren cannot be replaced. He is now asleep in Jesus awaiting the resurrection of “the Just.” (Acts 24:15) We repeat for him the Apostle Paul’s words a few days before he was beheaded: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:7) This expresses everything we believe to be his due. We rejoice in the reflection that he will appear as one of the “princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16)
=======