NO. 286: THE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1978 PRESENT TRUTH

No. 286

It has been about two years of silence regarding Cornelius not being “repentant and believing,” but RGJ has now opened up the subject again – contending for his same old error. We had cherished the fond hope that he had been cleansed from this error. But, No, he is holding on to that error the same as he is clinging to the error that his Campers Consecrated will be Chief and First in the Kingdom. And he does this de­spite the fact that we have refuted him on both subjects with the writings of That Ser­vant and the Epiphany Messenger, as well as with clear Scriptures. When he casts aside God’s Word, as well as the teachings of God’s faithful mouthpieces, it seems that Isa. 28:14 applies to his condition: “Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.” The Berean Comment on this text: “Disdain­ful teachers.”

RGJ again tells his readers on p. 89, col. 2, par. 3 of the above PT, that “It is very clear from this Scripture and comment that when Peter came from Joppa to Caesarea, Cornelius was not yet even a believer in Jesus as Savior, despite the claims of an op­posing errorist that Cornelius was already then a Christian.”

Self-evidently, from That Servant’s writings, it was not very clear to him that Cornelius “was not yet even a believer in Jesus as Savior.” The “opposing errorist” that RGJ meant for his readers to believe is JJH – but actually the “opposing” Truth against his error is from the writings we have quoted from That Servant. It has been easy to refute his error about Cornelius by just quoting what Brother Russell taught. We have never said Cornelius was a Christian, but what we did say was that Cornelius was “repentant and believing” before the door was opened to the Gentiles. Our reason for this is the fact that self-evidently Cornelius was a believer in the Jewish faith, but did not become a proselyte Jew. He must have been quite disturbed that the Jews as a nation had rejected Christ. He was aware that the Jews were a covenanted people, while the Gentiles were not. He didn’t know that the door would be opened to the Gen­tiles after the three and one-half years had expired – nor did St. Peter know this until the “due time” came, at which time both Peter and Cornelius were notified. However, Brother Russell goes further than “repentant and believing”: he teaches that Cornelius was converted and consecrated of many years’ standing. RGJ is well aware of That Ser­vant’s teaching – especially from the many quotations we have presented from his writings – yet he continues to cast aside his teachings and contend for his error. Even though we didn’t say Cornelius was converted and consecrated before the door was opened to the Gen­tiles, we do not dispute Brother Russell. Even That Wise and Faithful Servant has a different opinion to ours, and there is no Scripture to dispute his opinion, we accept his opinion rather than our own.

We are cognizant of the fact that even though Cornelius was “repentant and believing,” he would need to have “words” to be saved – “words” that the door was opened to the Gen­tiles, and Jesus could be accepted as his Savior. It was Cornelius’ “due time” to be accepted as a member of His Body. And despite the fact that the “repentant and believ­ing” Jews and Gentiles in the Epiphany Camp know something about the Plan of Salvation, they will have to have “words” from their “Book of Life” when it is opened up for them. (Rev. 20:12) The Highway of Holiness is for their salvation, as they accept the terms of the New Covenant. The “narrow way” to salvation is only for the elect – and only the elect can now inscribe their names in the Book of Life.

That Restitutionists will have to wait for the inauguration of the New Covenant before they can inscribe their names in the Book of Life is an elementary Truth; and all those “rooted and grounded” in Present Truth know these things – but those who have forsaken the Truth on the Two Distinct Salvations, these elementary Truths have become dim and unclear to them, if not completely lost. Brother Johnson tells us that those who revolutionize against the Truth, not only lose the Truth they revolutionize against, but many Truths that impinge against their errors: In other words, they lose some of the Truth they once received and taught and are not amenable to the Truths that are pre­sented against their errors. And we have a classic example in RGJ who refuses to accept the Truth the Lord has provided for his cleansing from such errors. We have quoted these Truths in many of our papers, but to date they have not been sufficient for his cleansing.

“If one who, having an evil heart condition, and consequently having lost Little Flockship and its Truth on doctrine and practice, has thus depasturized the Truth for his followers... makes an invasion as a teacher into the sphere of the Little Flock’s teachings for the benefit of his adherents... he will have to give up as recompense... the best of his teaching on doctrine (and one of the best of RGJ’s teaching on doctrine is Tentative Justification as given in E-6:166-168—JJH) and practice... For God will put such an one into such controversial disadvantages that amid them to defend his errors he will be continually surrendering formerly held Truths that impinge against his new errors (such as Campers Consecrated and Tentative Justification in the Camp—JJH)” (E-11:383)

And all of us have witnessed the havoc that RGJ has wrought to defend his “strange fire” (false doctrine) of Campers Consecrated – how he has gone from one gross error to another in order to defend his Campers Consecrated. Although we have “told the story o’er and o’er” we now repeat what Brother Russell taught in Reprints 1922, bottom, and 1923, top – even though RGJ violently opposes this teaching, says that Brother Russell made a mis­take in this article:

“It is not probable that among the Roman soldiers of Palestine there were two cen­turions of such similarly excellent characters. The residence of the centurion men­tioned by Luke is not stated but that of Cornelius is mentioned: it was Caesarea. Turn­ing to Map No. 10 in a Teachers Bible we found with no little pleasure that the distance from Capernaum to Caesarea is only about 45 miles, and that Nain is on the way, a little to the East, about 20 miles from Capernaum. We note also the remark of Peter, when preaching Christ and His Gospel to Cornelius (Acts 10:37), to the effect that Cornelius already knew the word which Jesus had preached throughout all Judea. In our judgment the circumstantial evidences are strong that the Centurion of our lesson was Cornelius. This would also explain why the Holy Spirit was poured out on Cornelius even while Peter yet spake, and before it is even stated that Cornelius accepted Christ; for apparently he bad already done so, as narrated by Luke in this lesson.”

RGJ’s whole contention about Cornelius not being “repentant and believing” before the door was opened to the Gentiles is due to our statement that the Epiphany Campers in the “finished picture” will stand in the same relative position that Cornelius stood be­fore the door to the Gentiles was opened for him to be accepted in consecration: Cor­nelius had to await his “due time” for acceptance, the same as Epiphany Campers and all Restitutionists have to await their “due time” for their consecration to be accepted. The “due time” for Restitutionists to be saved is when the New Covenant is inaugurated and their Book of Life is opened. (Rev. 20:12)

Then after quoting the above from Brother Russell, RGJ comes up with the statement that Brother Russell did not teach in harmony with this article in any of his subsequent writings – that is, up to 1916. He quoted a small excerpt from Reprint 4344, March 1909, to ‘prove’ that Cornelius was not “repentant and believing” before the door was opened to the Gentiles – but he conveniently omitted a paragraph from this same article, which is even more convincing than That Servant’s teaching in Z 1922.

“Cornelius had his vision first. He saw in a vision ‘openly,’ not in a dream, an angel of God coming in unto him. He talked with the angel and received the assur­ance that his prayers and alms of years had now been received of the Lord, because the ‘due time’ had cone – the end of Israel’s covenanted favor... Cornelius says that the angel told him to send for St. Peter and gave him the address and added (the Lord dealing with Cornelius even before Peter spoke the ‘words’—JJH), ‘When he is come, he shall tell thee words which will be the saving of thyself and house.’” (Reprint 4344, col. 2, par. 4) The ‘words’ of Peter were that the ‘way’ is now opened for the Gen­tiles the same as to the Jews – that Jesus Christ is now the redemption of all the true believers who come to Him.

We now quote further from this same article: “Let us note carefully what these words of life were. They were the simple story of the Cross ... The message continued, and showed how the justified ones were invited to become joint-sacrificers with and thus joint-sharers in Christ’s coming glory. The centurion’s heart had been troubled...... He believed in the Redeemer and was thus justified. His consecration to the Lord, of years’ standing, now became intelligent and specific.” (Reprint 4345, col. 1, par. 2 ­the same article from which RGJ quoted an excerpt to ‘prove’ Cornelius was not “repent­ant and believing” before Peter came to him. Is possible that RGJ can’t read any­thing but something he thinks supports his errors?)

In RGJ’s desperation to make a case for himself and his Consecrated Campers, he goes from one error to a worse error, and from one ‘foolish’ statement to a more ‘fool­ish’ statement. However, the “sifter” opposing RGJ is That Servant, and we “sift” right along with him. We still prefer the “faith (the Truth) once delivered unto the saints” to the errors and perversions of a self-admitted crown-loser. But as Brother Johnson did toward That Servant’s opinions, If the Scriptures do not uphold our opinion, we prefer to accept Brother Russell’s opinions than ours. So we do not dispute Brother Russell’s opinion that Cornelius was converted and consecrated of years’ standing. How­ever, RGJ is contending that Cornelius was not even “repentant and believing.”

RGJ quoted from Reprint 4344, col. 1, par. 6: “The record shows that Cornelius was a just man, a reverential man, a benevolent man, a man in every way prepared to be a follower of Jesus – a Christian.” RGJ doesn’t finish the sentence, which says, “the only obstacle being that he was not a Jew.” This last clause is certainly essential to a proper understanding of the matter. From this statement, then if he had been a Jew he would have received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost with the other Jews. And from that same paragraph: “That obstacle was not Jewish prejudice, but an insurmountable one – God’s unwillingness to deal with any others than His covenanted people of the seed of Abraham. So as soon as the covenant arrangement with Israel terminated, and God’s due time for dealing with such Gentiles as were in proper condition of heart (the only proper condition of heart is to be “repentant and believing”—JJH), he had no difficulty in finding messengers to convey the good tidings, as our lesson shows.”

“In the case of Cornelius, the Roman centurion... we have seen that he was a just man, a good man , but he did not belong to the Jewish nation, to whom God had given the law. The only way in which Cornelius could have come into God’s favor prior to His appointed time... was to become a Jewish proselyte. (And the only way any Restitu­tionist can come to The Christ in consecration, when the New Covenant is inaugurated, is to become a Jewish proselyte – because the New Covenant is Israelitish—JJH) All this shows us that God has a particular course marked out by which any may become His children. Unless they come in the appropriate way and the appropriate time (the appropriate time for all Restitutionists, including RGJ’s Consecrated Epiphany Campers, will be in the Kingdom when their Book of Life is opened for them—JJH), none will be accepted as sons of the highest.” (Reprint 5834, col. 2, par. 1)

There are many more of That Servant’s writings regarding Cornelius that we have quoted in some of our back numbers, which we will gladly send to any of our readers upon request. Also, those who have the Reprints, we refer them to 5321, 2988, 2990, 1922, and 1923. Also, there are other places that Brother Russell has treated on the subject of Cornelius. The contention of RGJ about Cornelius and about his Campers Con­secrated being “Chief and First” in the Kingdom seems to be a “hobby horse” on which he jumps up and down, but doesn’t seem to be able to get off, despite the clear teach­ings of the two Messengers and the clear Scriptures we have quoted. In his present con­dition, he doesn’t mind setting aside any of the teachings of That Servant and the Epi­phany Messenger – in fact, his own former teachings when he was under the benevolent influence of the Epiphany Messenger, any time they conflict with his present teaching. However, we note with much pleasure that generally speaking his Bible Standard is free from his pet errors. As Brother Johnson so aptly teaches, the Great Company leaders give a more commendable ministry toward the world than toward the Lord’s people. But, then, such a ministry toward the world is pleasing and acceptable to many good people ­and they can “win great numbers and gain great favor” by such teaching.

But we don’t class the Jehovah’s Witnesses in this group, as their ministry to­ward the world is not so good; in fact, they gain “great numbers” by the Truth they still retain, and keep them through fear of Armageddon – fear if they don’t join them they will be annihilated in Armageddon, with no possibility of ever coming to a “knowledge of the Truth.” But with all the other prominent Truth groups, they have adhered to That Servant’s teaching toward the public – and are giving them the Truth of the Sal­vation of all mankind in “due time.” We are appreciative of this good work, and have no wish to curtail it – because it is a ministry approved by the Lord.

However, to those who have been instructed in the teachings of That Servant and the Epiphany Messenger, it is a sorry testimony that some are so befuddled that they refuse to accept the clear teachings of the last two Messengers, as well as the good Word of God as given to us in the Scriptures. RGJ has quite a bit of explaining to do for his type-making, picture-making and “flashes” in this Nov.-Dec. PT. He says on pp. 86-87:

“Therefore this Scripture (Ex. 19:11-25—JJH) proves that generally speaking, Jesus as God’s Mouthpiece, and thus the exclusive Interpreter of the Word, would use in the end of this Age the Parousia and Epiphany Messengers as antitypical Aaron, generally speaking, to interpret to the brethren the Word as due, especially on new doctrines, prophecies and types. And during the earthly lifetime of these two Messen­gers, any attempt of others to unravel these three things as new matters would be the prohibited ‘gazing’ – speculation – of Ex. 19:21-25 .... Had this matter been heeded, the Lord’s people in the Parousia, and especially in the Epiphany, would have been spared much confusion and many a fall from class standings before the Lord.” (p. 86. col. 2. par. 2)

And we heartily agree that many would have been spared the “snare of the fowler” had this admonition been heeded. And we would have been spared in like manner had those type-making, picture-making Levites desisted from such antics, which they would not have done had they been faithful to the Truths left in their charge from the two Messengers. They have their writings, the same as we have, to see whether their teaching is in har­mony with the “faith once delivered unto the saints.” Brother Johnson did not present a new class other than what That Servant gave to us. He only elaborated and “worked out” many features on such classes – such as the Great Company, the Youthful Worthies, etc.

JFR set aside That Servant’s teaching on the Great Multitude and substituted a non-existent class of Restitutionists; RGJ, who had the benevolent influence of both Messengers, came up with a non-existent class of Restitutionists – Campers Consecrated. He says, No more Youthful Worthies can be won after 1954 – his new class is to be won from 1954 “until Restitution begins” instead of the Youthful Worthies. Both Messengers taught that Youthful Worthies will be won from 1881 “until Restitution begins.” JFR discarded Tentative Justification altogether – RGJ just perverted Tentative Justifica­tion – “spread” it out into the Camp after 1954. He also taught “Tentative Justifica­tion all through the Kingdom,” but our annihilative quotations from the two Messengers have subsided his contentions somewhat.

Such subtlety, such sleight-of-hand and such perversions are rampant despite the clear teachings of the Epiphany Messenger. “It will be noted that while God has given the non-star-membered teachers of the General Church and the more prominent local elders visions and dreams, He has never given them to see as a thing a new doctrine. This privilege is limited exclusively to our Lord acting in the star-members. Any attempt on the part of a non-star-membered teacher or of a non-teacher as the first one to work out a doctrine would be speculation, and would, therefore, not result in uncovering a new truth, but would result in error. .... That this is a privilege of our Lord acting in the star-members can be seen especially in St. Paul and our Pastor. The former’s study of the Old Testament types resulted in his working out, e.g., practically all the doctrines presented in the epistle to the Hebrews; and the latter’s study of both the Old and the New Testaments has resulted in his working out, e.g., almost all Truth doc­trines, except some pertinent to the Great Company, the Youthful Worthies, the Epiphany World and to the Priesthood in their relations to these three classes. The working out of these excepted doctrines is the privilege of the Epiphany messenger.” (E-9:134, and top of p. 135)

It should be noted that Brother Johnson did not mention a new doctrine that had been given to him: he only mentioned the doctrines first given to That Wise and Faith­ful Servant – some of which he “worked out” in the Epiphany. Had the Levites confined themselves to the policy of the Epiphany Messenger, we wouldn’t be enmeshed with “new doctrines of error.” Neither Messenger intimated there would be a consecrated class in the Camp during the Gospel Age – while the elect is still with us, or before the New Covenant is inaugurated. We are to “contend for the faith which was once delivered un­to the saints.” There is no Scripture telling us to “contend for the faith” delivered unto the Levites, or the Great Company.

No consecration is acceptable in the Camp during the Gospel Age, including the Epiphany Camp, if we accept the teachings of the two Messengers – the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” The only Camp in which the Restitutionists can make an acceptable consecration is the Millennial-Age Camp; and such consecrations will then be accepted by The Christ. God will not deal with the world of mankind during this Age or during the Millennial Age: He will not deal with the world of mankind un­til they are perfected. Both Messengers taught that Youthful Worthies would be won from 1881 “until Restitution begins”; but RGJ sets aside that Truth: he limits the consecration of the Youthful Worthies to 1954, and substitutes his “strange fire” of Campers Consecrated to be won from 1954 “until Restitution begins.”

If we continue in the teachings of the two Messengers that are supported by the Word of God, we won’t be entangled by the errors of every Tom, Dick and Harry. RGJ and JWK have presumed to correct the mistakes (?) of the two Messengers: they have substituted such mistakes (?) with their newly-found doctrines. Had they been faithful to the teach­ings of the Lord’s faithful mouthpieces, they would have had plenty of doctrine to oc­cupy themselves with, instead of occupying their time in concocting “doctrines” of their own imaginations. Had they thus been faithful, they would have received honor from many good worldlings – and certainly more honor from the Lord. But errorists always grasp for more power than the Lord gives them. Now, since the Epiphany Messenger is no long­er in our midst, these would-be “Pastors and Teachers” want to be SOMEBODIES! And by that ambition they have foisted errors on the Lord’s people – errors that have been most destructive – just as was the case when That Servant was taken from our midst in 1916.

The Epiphany Messenger tells us that “The advancing Truth does not set aside the Truth formerly received, as some deceivers teach.” (E-9:19) And RGJ’s Campers Conse­crated not only sets aside the clear teachings of both Messengers, but also sets aside God’s Word: he tells us his Campers Consecrated will be “chief and first in the Kingdom”; but God’s Word tells us it will be “to the Jew first.” The New Covenant is Israelitish, and it will not only be “to the Jew first,” but it will be “to the Jew last.” All not of the natural seed of Abraham will have to become proselyte Jews if they receive the blessings of the New Covenant.

In par. 3, p. 87 RGJ comes up with the excuse that he was led into the error of picture-making, speculation, etc., by a colporteur brother. He says, “In 1909 we ob­tained the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures in a boardinghouse in Hackettstown, N.C... and we felt great gratitude to God and also toward the colporteur brother whom He had used to bring the Truth to us... It was under his influence that we as a babe in the Truth were misled with the use of Strong’s Concordance into independent spec­ulative Bible study, which resulted in fanciful conclusions that were often self-contra­dictory and at variance with the Truth. After seeing that Satan was thus leading us astray, we remonstrated against our senior colporteur brother’s wrong course of Bible study but could not convince him; so we parted company with him. We then began to re­trace our steps and again to study the Truth only in the proper way. More and more we came to see the dangers of the wrong course.”

After all these years, this is quite a revelation! He does not tell us about the picture-making and type-making the brother had done that caused him to want to go and do the same – nor does he tell us what became of the brother. From the above, it seems that he recognized his “wrong course” on his own, but that is quite different from what he tells us in his Nov. 15, 1910 letter. In that letter he said: “Nor did I realize the great danger I was in until, a short time ago, the Lord used our dear Brother Saphore to point out to me my mistake. I cannot express to you what a blow it was to me to see that most of my Bible study for a whole year was not only of no account, but of a nega­tive influence not only to myself, but to those I may have thus influenced.” (Reprint 4716, col. 2, par. 3)

It is well to note that his statement in his Nov.-Dec. PT is quite different from his 1910 letter. He says, he himself came to see his “wrong course.” However, in his 1910 letter he said: “Nor did I realize the great danger I was in until, a short time ago, the Lord used our dear Brother Saphore to point out to me my mistake.” Which state­ment are we to believe – that he himself came to see his wrong course, or that “dear Brother Saphore” pointed out his mistake to him? We notice he said he did not realize his great danger “until Brother Saphore pointed out his mistake.” Will he please tell his readers which statement is the truth?

Even in the Epiphany, when under the restraining hand of God’s mouthpiece, he withstood the Epiphany Messenger to his face; and that wasn’t enough, his willful course caused him to revolutionize against the Arrangements. And not only that, after he was manifested as a crown-loser, he didn’t study the Scriptures enough, nor pray enough, to prevent him from going to a psychiatrist – similar to Saul (type of crown-­lost leaders up to Armageddon—E-14:5) going to the Witch of Endor when he found out he had lost God’s favor. (1 Sam. 28:6-7) However, since Brother Johnson’s demise, he has not only revolutionized against the Arrangements, but revolutionized against the Truth; and there is a reason for that – he no longer has the restraining hand of a Star Mem­ber upon him: he is a “power unto himself.”

Brother Johnson describes the condition of such as follows: “As these evil qual­ities grow in them under Satanic manipulation they lead their followers into increas­ing errors and Satan-given wrong arrangements for the Lord’s work. These revolution­isms arousing the opposition of the faithful, controversies set in, wherein, to defend themselves against the Scriptural truths that the faithful bring against their errors, to maintain a semblance of consistency in their errors, they give up one truth after another; and their sectarian crown-lost followers partisanly support their leaders in these controversies, and thus with them lose more and more of the Lord’s truths and ar­rangements, though they together with the newly adopted errors hold to those formerly held truths and arrange­ments not involved in these repudiations. With all of this they increasingly lose part of their ability to discern between truth and error. This shows a deterioration in the bad part of their intellects and their intellects’ contents, while it still shows that their intellects still retain some of their former ability to see and to retain some truth—double-mindedness in their intellects in varying degrees.” (E-15:520)

On p. 87, col. 2, pars. 3 & 4, RGJ says: “From a number of lines of evidence from the Scripture, reason and facts, the Epiphany Messenger, the 49th and final star­-member to be glorified (E 10, p. 142), showed that after his demise our Lord would give the stewardship of Truth to the Great Company, particularly to the Good Levites and their Divinely appointed leader (“a companion and the special helper of the Epi­phany messenger” until his demise—P ‘42, pp. 14,15; ‘43, p. 79) ....

As to any Great Company leader who had been a “special helper” of the Star Members during the Gospel Age, we do not dispute that they were the “Divinely” appointed leaders and had the stewardship doctrine left in their charge. But what did they do with it? In their double minds they revolutionized against the Truth left in their care – although they were given the mouthpieceship to the world. And it has been the same in the Epi­phany – they were given the Truth that the Star Member left to them, but they have more or less revolutionized against this Truth. However, when That Wise and Faithful Servant appeared on the scene, the mouthpieceship to the Household of Faith, as well as the mouthpieceship to the world was given to him: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?” (Matt. 24:45) “Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” (Matt. 24:47) So That Servant was made God’s Mouthpiece to the Household and to the world – and the mouthpieceship was taken from the nominal Christians – never to be re­turned to them.

After That Servant’s demise the Epiphany Messenger was made Mouthpiece to the Household of Faith, but not Mouthpiece to the world. The Great Company leaders in the Truth Groups were given the mouthpieceship to the world – and most of the prominent Truth groups have done a commendable service toward the world. However, Brother John­son did a ministry toward the world, but he was not God’s appointed messenger to do the large-scale work toward the world.

So we do not dispute RGJ’s claim of “Divine” appointment for the work that was given to him; but when he claims the privilege of Moses (a Star Member), then he is grasping for more power than the Lord has given him. He has the two Messengers’ writ­ings and teachings, the same as we have; and it should behoove him to be faithful to what he has learned and been assured of, rather than to offer “strange fire” before the Lord, as he has done. There is no Scripture that tells us to be faithful to the find­ings of crown-losers, but we do have a Scripture that tells us to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” And that is what we try to do; and in this good effort we have no time for “imaginations” of our own. As the Apostle Paul tells us – “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor. 3:15) And the Berean Comments on this text: “Loss of the reward, because of unfaithfulness ... Singed, scorched and alarmed... ‘These are they that have come up out of great tribulation.’“

Certainly, the Great Company leaders do not have the privilege of the non-star-­members (the saints) under That Wise and Faithful Servant – nor do they have the privi­lege of setting aside the faithful teachings of the Star Members for teachings of their own. RGJ has done this with his contention about Cornelius, his contention that his Campers Consecrated will be “chief and first” in the Kingdom, and with his perversion of Tentative Justification, etc.

On p. 94 of this Nov.-Dec. PT he publishes a letter from G. Hermets, telling of the great work the LHMM is doing toward Israel – and Brother Hermetz’ great success in that work. It is not surprising that RGJ is having success in his work toward the Jews so long as he uses the teachings of That Servant, and does not insert teachings of his own – that his Campers Consecrated will be “first and chief” in the Kingdom instead of the faithful orthodox Jews. Is he giving them his “message” that no orthodox Jew can claim the Scriptural promise unless they become one of his Campers Consecrated, and walk a “narrow way”? His Gentile converts have been told, we suppose, that they are to be faithful to the Lord the Truth, and the brethren – and not just simply to the Jewish Hope and Promises. Spiritual Israel has embraced a “covenant of sacrifice” ­something that is not required of natural Israel. When the Jews were under the Law of Moses, they were not required to walk a “narrow way” – nor will they ever be required to do so. When the New Covenant is inaugurated, none of the Restitutionists will be required to walk a “narrow way.” A “narrow way” in the Epiphany Camp is from the fantasy of RGJ’s mind – similar to his “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” that he enjoyed during the Parousia, as given in his Nov. 15, 1910 letter.

The following from the Epiphany Messenger is appropriate here: “Another aspect of his teachings as to certain Epiphany truths and relations that proves that he is That Ser­vant, is the fact that his teachings cannot in the Epiphany be repudiated or be supplanted by other teachings... Many of those who once held his teachings and who regarded him as That Servant, have presumed to repudiate his teachings, or to put others in their place; but this has always resulted in God’s repudiating them as Little Flock members... Why should this be only in the case of his teachings and not in the case of those of others be­fore the Epiphany? Can it be explained on any other ground than that he was God’s special mouthpiece and that, therefore, his teachings are God’s teachings, and that, therefore, to rebel against them is to rebel against God (Ps. 107:10,11)? This is the only ground on which such a course on God’s part could be explained, and, therefore, we present it as an Epiphany-Truth proof that our Pastor was That Servant.” (E-9:352)

RGJ has presumed to supplant Youthful Worthy opportunity with his non-existent class of Campers Consecrated: he tells us that his new class is to be won from 1954 “until resti­tution sets in,” instead of Youthful Worthies, as taught by both Messengers; he has pre­sumed to set aside the teachings of both Messengers of the Scriptural promise “to the Jew first”; he has presumed to set aside That Servant’s teaching on Cornelius for opinions of his own; he has presumed to pervert the teachings of both Messengers on Tentative Justifi­cation, as well as many other perversions of Truths that impinge against his errors. We desire to reassert their teachings and make them clear to our brethren – to encourage them to be faithful to the Truth “once delivered unto the saints.”

So we continue to defend the Truth, even as we are so encouraged to do by the Epi­phany Messenger: “Their respective attitude toward Great and Little Babylon, which are to be annihilated, was that they who would treat them as they treated God’s true people would be favored by God (8); and that they who would dash the little sects of both Baby­lons against the doctrines of the Truth would be favored by God (9).”

At first we had thought to ignore RGJ’s Nov.-Dec. PT on his error about Cornelius, but he also comes up with a “correction” of his Nov. 15, 1910 letter, as well as explain­ing his “right” (?) to produce new doctrines – actually to produce “strange fire” (false doctrine). As he repeats, repeats and repeats his errors, so we find it necessary to answer him with “precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isa. 28:13), even though we have refuted his con­tentions about Cornelius in previous papers with our quotations from That Servant.

As has been repeatedly said, we have never stated that RGJ has lost his class stand­ing, even though he has written us out of the Household of Faith, and calls us “sifter” and other vile names. It is his practice and teaching of the Truth that he has set aside and perverted that we attack. Nor do we contend that he has lost all Truth. Some of the Truth that doesn’t impinge against his errors he very skillfully presents – much to our good pleasure.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov. 1:7) “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” (Psa. 32:11)

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim