NO. 157: EPIPHANEIA - APOKALYPSIS

No. 157

My dear Brethren:  Grace and peace through our beloved Master!

Not infrequently the question still comes to us: Is there an Apokalypsis as a special period of time here in the end of the Age? Those of our readers who are in­formed in Epiphany Truth are fully convinced that the Bible does clearly define an Epiphaneia as a special period of time in the end of this Age, which we hope to clarify later in this paper. This Epiphaneia could also be designated the Apoka­lypsis, because both words as an act and as a period of time are synonymous; but the Scriptures that definitely reveal this period contain the word Epiphaneia in the original. Thus, we are more meticulously adhering to Bible designation when we use the word Epiphaneia, rather than Apokalypsis, when we discuss this period.

However, before proceeding to further analysis of our subject, we would stress that there are no clear Scriptures at all that outline an Apokalypsis as a special period of time following the Epiphaneia – just none at all! As stated, we could label this last special period of the Gospel Age as the Epiphaneia as the second­ary appellation. However, whichever designation we accept, the two are concurrent, inseparably linked together; they are decidedly not two different periods of time.

As an act, and as a period of time, Epiphaneia and Apokalypsis do have the same application – although they are not synonymous in the strict sense of the word. Many translators give Epiphaneia as ‘bright shining,’ ‘forthshining,’ ‘uncovering,’ etc.; whereas, they offer ‘revelation’ as the meaning of Apokalypsis. Viewed criti­cally, it is impossible to have one without the other, which explains why they are synonymous as an act and as a period of time. Thus, it requires the bright shining to produce the revelation. The Book of Revelation, for instance (the last book of the New Testament), has been with us since the Apostle John wrote it; but it cannot possibly be understood – revealed, uncovered – until the bright shining (Epiphaneia) makes it clear. While Martin Luther saw the explanation for some parts of Revela­tion, other parts of it he could not possibly understand because the ‘bright shining’ had not arrived to reveal it – in the “due time.” Just one instance: The 1260 days (1260 literal years) of the Beast (Rev. 13:5) could not possibly be clear to him be­cause those years did not end until 1799 (and prophecy cannot be understood in detail until it has been fulfilled, or is in process of fulfillment) – when the Pope’s power was broken by Napoleon – about 250 years after Luther’s death.

Thus, it will be seen that the ‘bright shining’ and the ‘revelation’ have con­tinued in limited measure throughout the Gospel Age; and there is also an Epiphaneia ­or Apokalypsis – designated as a special period of time here in the end of the Age; but it cannot truthfully be stated that there is a special Apokalypsis period apart from the Epiphaneia – or the Epiphany, as we call it. For instance, 2 Tim. 4:1 says, “The Lord Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing (Epiphaneia) and kingdom (Basileia).” There is no mention of His judging in the Apokalypsis, as a period apart from the Epiphaneia. And all Bible Students will surely admit that we are yet in the ‘judging’ period of the elect and of the world – the world in the sense of the “judgments of the nations” (not individuals). Regardless of how little time that judging would consume, it must be evident that it is  nevertheless a special period of time. And, again, “That wicked one whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (Epiphaneia) of His com­ing (Parousia)”—2 Thes. 2:8. Here is a statement concerning the time and method of Antichrist’s destruction – also clearly setting forth a period of time for the Epi­phany here in the end of the Age – the time in which we are now living. There are no such Scriptures anywhere to designate an Apokalypsis apart from the Epiphaneia as a period of time; but, granted that there were, we must self-evidently still be in the Epiphaneia because Antichrist is still with us. Thus, the Epiphaneia must continue until that destruction occurs; and, since it is one of the special features of the Time of Trouble, it should also be apparent that the Epiphaneia and the Time of Trouble are identical; the one cannot end until the other ends. But nowhere in the Bible are these things declared regarding an Apokalypsis apart from the Epiphaneia as a period of time.

In corroboration of the foregoing, we offer the following from E-4:15 (bottom) and top of page 16: “The words epiphaneia and apokalypsis, in the sense of an action, and in the sense of a period, are synonymous.... There has been a gradual epiphanizing, revealing, ever since 1874 to the Church; but, so far as the world and the Great Com­pany are concerned, this has gradually been going on since the tribulation began in 1914; and will increase and finally come to a climax at the end of the Epiphany – the end of the Time of Trouble. This is the reason why the Time of Trouble is EMPHATICALLY the Epiphany, the Apokalypsis, for it clearly with more distinctness than the preceding period manifests pertinent persons, principles and things.”

And this “manifesting” is certainly true of those “pertinent persons” who once accepted the above teaching, but have now departed from it – whether in whole or in part – because that is the Truth today the same as it was the Truth when it was writ­ten thirty years ago. The Epiphany Messenger had sound foundation for his teaching of the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble as an identical period of time. It was given him and us by the Parousia Messenger – That Servant. But the would-be teachers of today have no sound foundation for their “New Views” from either Messenger – no hint of another period from either Messenger, and no hint of an ‘extended’ Basileia over­lapping to include three major features of the Epiphany, or the Time of Trouble.

EPIPHANEIA-APOKALYPSIS IDENTICAL

The word epiphaneia occurs six times in the New Testament – translated five times as appearing, and once as brightness, the latter occurring in 2 Thes. 2:8. The other five texts are 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1 4:8 and Titus 2:13. Aside from 2 Tim. 1:10 (which refers to the First Advent), all other five occurrences refer to the Second Advent and the Time of Trouble. In the sense of the second period of our Lord’s Second Advent it is limited to the time between the Parousia and the Basileia. It is used to designate the period of the great tribulation, the Time of Trouble. Remembering that the epiphaneia and the apokalypsis are one and the same time and that this period is for the benefit of the world and the Great Company, we can readily see that the Scriptures teach that the Epiphany, as a period, is the Time of Trouble. (See E-4, page 21, par. 14) All who are familiar at all with the true situation will readily recognize that both the “cousins” are now ONE in repudiating (and revolution­izing against) salient and indispensable parts of the foregoing, the one claiming we are now In the Apokalypsis, apart from the Epiphaneia,  as  a  special  period  of  time, with the other (the Executive Trustee of the LHMM) claiming we are now overlapping in the Basileia (with the three more violent features of the Epiphany (the Time of Trouble) still future. We ourselves, however, still accept and defend in full the teachings of That Servant, as cited, and approved in full and elaborated by the Epiphany Mes­senger. If it was the Scriptural Truth when they taught it, it is still the Scrip­tural Truth today.

Another Scripture relative to our subject is 2 Thes. 1:7,8: “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed (apokalypsed, uncovered by the epiphaneia, bright shining) from Heaven with His mighty angels (the agents whereby He will wreck the present order – the main agent being the “sea,” the lawless elements of society) in flaming fire (fire in the Bible generally designates destructive forces—See Dan. 7:11), taking vengeance on them that know not God (the Second Deathers in the Nominal Church), and (on them) that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Second Deathers in the Truth Movements).” That this is still future, but a part of the Epiphaneia period is further revealed by 2 Pet. 3:7, Dia.: “The present Heavens and the Earth (the present social order), by the same word, are treasured up, being kept for fire to a day of judgment and destruction of impious (second-death) men.” All such are to be eliminated in the approaching, but still future, holocaust of destruction ­the “flaming fire” of this Epiphania.

Further corroboration of the same is to be found in Zech. 12:9,10, wherein is described the Lord’s epiphanizing of Himself to Israel: “It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (in the end of the second phase of Jacob’s Trouble—Zech. 12:1-8; Ezek. 38 and 39) and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced (Rev. 1:7); and they shall mourn for it” (for having pierced Him at Calvary). All Truth people recognize at once that this passage refers to the end of Jacob’s trouble, and that it proves our Lord’s revelation of Himself to Israel as their long rejected Messiah. Hence these two verses prove that the Time of Trouble and the Epiphany are identical. By the above passages we have proved that the Epiphany began with the War and will progress through Revolution, and will end with Anarchy and Jacob’s trouble. Its beginning, progressing and ending with the Time of Trouble demonstrates its identity with the Time of Trouble.

TIMELY QUOTATIONS FROM THAT SERVANT

Note now the following from That Servant on the Epiphaneia under the sub-heading of PAROUSIA FIRST – EPIPHANEIA AND APOKALUPSIS FOLLOW: “In its light we can now see that our Master will be present for a time, in the Harvest time of this Age – invisibly present doing a work in His Church, before any outward sign or revealing to the world takes place. His work in His Church will be the separating of the true from the merely nominal – the ‘wheat’ from the ‘tares.’ His revealing will be in the ‘flaming fire’ the great Time of Trouble with which this Age will close, and in which the ‘tares’ shall cease to be ‘tares’.... Another parable also shows that before revealing Himself in any manner to the world, He calls first His own servants and reckons with them. (Luke 19: 15:27) .... Nor can any but the few hear and appreciate the evidenced, or understand the Master’s words that as the world knew not in the days of Noah, even thus shall it be in the presence of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:37) – they shall know not, and the ordinary avocations of daily life shall continue, –until disturbed by the commotion and trouble of the EPIPHANEIA, the APOKALUPSIS of the King in the pouring out of the seven last plagues – when the judgments of the Lord shall be abroad in the earth and the inhabi­tants of the world shall learn righteousness....” (Feb. 15, 1902, Reprints 2956-2957)

Haven’t the ‘commotions of this Epiphany period disturbed the ordinary avocations of daily life’? Certainly it is self-evident that the world since 1914 – the begin­ning of the Epiphaneia, the Time of Trouble – now is most cognizant of a great change. Often do we hear the remark that we are in a “Time of Trouble” since 1914, even by those who have no concrete knowledge of present truth. But those who have departed from the Truth on the Epiphaneia and the Apokalupsis, the Time of Trouble as given us by That Servant, manifest that they are no longer faithful to the Truth that once sanc­tified them. That Servant clearly and distinctly differentiates between the reaping feature (the Parousia) and the Time of Trouble (the Epiphaneia). Thus, in casting aside these Scriptural teachings, they teach error mixed with Truth – such as teach­ing the High Calling still open (after the trouble has ‘disturbed the world in gen­eral) – or inventing non-existent classes – replacing the Truth with their Errors.

And here is something else from That Servant’s pen: “The fact also that so many have been thus accepted since 1878 seems to imply that there has been a considerable vacancy in the list of the elect, and that it is gradually filling up. It is not for us to say how much of a vacancy remains, or just when it will be filled. We fully be­lieve, however, that it will be filled before the close of the ‘Times of the Gentiles’ which we think will end with October, 1914.”

Yet, despite the signs of the time, and the evidence all about us that we are in the Great Tribulation, the Epiphaneia, the Time of Trouble, since 1914, we have breth­ren today teaching that the High Calling is still open. If we are to accept that teaching (the High Calling still available for newcomers), then just about all the former Very Elect lost their crowns to make room for the ‘large crowd’ that have since 1914 been immersed in the various groups, who still in 1968 teach such to their candi­dates.

WANDERING FROM THE TRUTH

In James 5:19, Dia., the Apostle speaks of some who “wander from the Truth”; and his language is probably motivated by the various wanderings from the Truth of fleshly Israel in their journey from Egypt to Canaan. The first wandering from the Truth ­the one most dominant in determining their destiny – was the Truth brought by the two spies, Joshua and Caleb, when they returned from ‘spying out the land of Canaan” (See Num. 13 and 14). Instead of accepting the Truth from these two, they chose rather to hearken to the false and discouraging report of the ten spies.  And that rejection of the Truth resulted in their wandering in the wilderness for forty years – a year for each day of the spying activity. (Num. 13:25; 14:34) And let us keep in mind that during that forty years of wilderness wandering every male of twenty years old and up­ward (Num. 14:29; 1:45; 26:64), who had left Egypt, died – all except two – Joshua and Caleb. Only those two passed over Jordan into Canaan – a very ‘little flock’ indeed when compared with the ‘great company’ who died in the wilderness.

In addition to the rejection of that first and all-important truth, the Jews made further secondary wanderings from the Truth, five of these being clearly defined by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 10:6-10. And the Apostle states in verse 11 that those wanderings from the truth “happened unto them for ensamples” – “types,” see margin. With this direct statement before us that those things were “types,” it is only logical and proper that we should make search for their antitypes.

It would seem the first of these occurred in the Jewish Harvest – when the Lord, the Apostles, the Seventy and others made diligent and truthful search of the Gospel Age Canaan land, the same being a type of the sphere of the Truth and the spirit of the Truth. But there in that first antitype again it was only a very ‘little flock’ who accepted the Truth. In doing “among them the works which none other man did” ­miracles never before seen in Israel – our Lord had influenced only about 500 (1 Cor. 15:6) to full belief – a very ‘little flock’ when compared to the thousands of unbe­lievers in Israel who rejected Him. There the ‘great company’ of Jews listened to the evil report of the Scribes and Pharisees – (just as it is today), with the result­ant “wandering Jew” (almost the entire race) during the 1845-year “double” of the Gos­pel Age.

Concurrently with the Jewish wandering, there was also a Christian wandering ­likewise prompted by “wandering from the Truth.” The Lord had told them He would come again to establish His Kingdom; His followers should await His return. Instead, they, too, became weary of waiting, believed the false report that they should estab­lish the Kingdom. The result was Great Babylon, the ‘great company’ falling in the Gospel Age wilderness “wandering,” with only the faithful “little flock” entering goodly Canaan land (the Truth and the spirit of the Truth).

PRESENT-DAY WANDERINGS

Came the Parousia in 1874, and with it a more intensive spying of the land (the sphere of the Truth and the spirit of the Truth) than probably ever before; at least more so than at any time since the Jewish Harvest. And by the end of those forty years we believe it requires little argument that once more it was the “little flock” that abode by the Truth, with the ‘great company’ listening to false spying reports. When That Servant died, spiritual bedlam followed immediately; and, regardless of how we view any particular group, it should be apparent to all that much confusion prevails. And, self-evidently, that confusion has brought with it intensified and multiplied sor­rows. Compared in retrospect with the Parousia, the symbolic carcasses of the ‘great company’ of Spiritual Israel are in evidence on all hands in this Epiphany “wandering.”

All with any knowledge of Parousia Truth will readily agree that the destruction of “the world that was” was typical of the destruction of this “present evil world.” And we are told that the destructive force of rain continued for forty days and forty nights. The Bible seldom uses words simply for euphony or window dressing, as is true of mundane writers. And, since the Time of Trouble and the Epiphany are identi­cal, we should expect the Epiphany to be still with us (as taught by both Messengers), because the Time of Trouble is also still with us. And we believe it is also evident to all that the 40-year Epiphany day (1914-1954) was not nearly so violent as is the present 40-year Epiphany night (1954-1994 – as described in our No. 108, The Third Watch).

In the past fourteen years there is increased tumult in the home, in the com­munity, and in the nation. The antitypical Assyrians (the violent radicals) have no restraints at all in their atrocities, as evidence the many riots in America, the hor­rible butcheries of helpless women, children and aged in Vietnam, and the impudent and unscrupulous attitude of the Cuban rulers – to say nothing of the stepped-up decay in the world’s finances. Almost the whole civilized world is operating today on worth­less paper; and each year finds this condition pyramided in indescribable bedlam. This is emphasized when we recall that the national debt of the United States was about one billion dollars in 1914 – and then considered dangerously high. This pres­ent fiscal year 1968 will witness a deficit of about 25 billion dollars for this one year alone.

But, while it is proper that we note the decay in the world’s affairs, our main concern is with those who ‘‘wander from the Truth.” Clearly enough, this could refer only to those once “in the Truth,” the same being the various individuals among Truth groups who have fallen prey to false leadership, thus believing the report of the ten false spies. Most prominent among these in recent years are those once claiming to be in the Epiphany Truth, but who have ‘‘wandered’’ from it by casting aside completely this Epiphany period – or “perverting” it by combining it now with the Basileia. And for all of these – except for those who become completely reprobate – we may anticipate the eventual antitype of Num. 14:1: “the people wept that night.” This weeping is mostly still future, of course, but we may rest in the faith of its eventual occurrence.

CHARACTER BLEMISHES NOT SUFFICIENT FOR JUDGMENT

We are cautioned not to condemn our brethren for their conduct insofar as their human frailties are concerned (unless grossly and persistently immoral – having be­come completely demoralized) – since it is only God who can read the heart, and can make the proper allowance and judgment for that. But when any ‘‘wander from the Truth’’ that once sanctified them, we can then know that the Lord knows there is something wrong with their hearts – their characters – otherwise He wouldn’t permit them to ‘‘wander’’ thusly. But with some of the Lord’s people, they do just the reverse of this: If a brother or sister is courteous and refined, and lovable in their human natural characteristics, they are very generous toward them – even when they “wander from the Truth”; while at the same time not having the proper love and regard they should for others who haven’t “wandered from the Truth” – who often have crude manners and many human frailties that are trialsome to others (even though they seek to “contin­ue in His Word” insofar as they are able). These things ought not to be! Certainly many of the misleaders (of the Truth and its Arrangements) have been men of fine deportment – and good secular education  –  otherwise  they  wouldn’t  have  been  able  to establish the errors they have, and lead others astray. But if we are to “abide in His Word,” we are to rate our brethren by their faithfulness, or unfaithfulness, according to the “faith once delivered unto the saints.” Quite a few brethren went along with JFR’s errors, being unable to ‘discern between  Truth and Error,’ until he became offensive in his morals. Then, they, too, forsook him!

That Servant tells us in the Sept. 1, 1916 Watch Tower, Reprint 5249, top, col. 1: “Let us remember, too, that God has promised to guide the minds of those whose hearts are loyal and true to Him. We should therefore conclude that if the Lord is thrust­ing any one out of the light as unworthy of it, into the outer darkness of the world, if He is permitting unfaithful ones to be seduced by the great enemy.... We are to remain with the Lord and those who are walking in the light .... When the Lord has put any out of the light (Matt. 22:13), we cannot hope to bring them back.” And more from his pen: “However, none are ever permitted to be overcome who have not in same way been unfaithful to the Truth and hence unworthy of it. Upon all such God has said He would send the strong delusion, so that they shall believe a lie.”

Let us bear in mind, however, that there are many Youthful Worthies who have never received the Truth about their class – and it could not properly be said that they have “wandered from the truth” – the truth they never possessed. But those Youthful Worthies who have had the beneficent teachings and leadership of the Epi­phany Messenger – who renounce and cast Epiphany truth aside – can truly be said to have “wandered from the Truth.” And the same can be said of the Great Company in Big Babylon: They never had Harvest Truth, although they are held accountable for not receiving it if they had the opportunity. But with those crown-losers who did re­ceive the Truth during the Harvest, they have certainly “wandered from the truth” when they deny that we are in the Epiphaneia – the Time of Trouble – a new dispensa­tion since 1914, as described by That Servant. And those leaders who have thus ‘‘wandered from the Truth” have contaminated the Youthful Worthies under their leader­ship. These Youthful Worthies will have to cleanse themselves of this contamination and errors in their “due time” – but certainly they are less culpable than those Epi­phany-enlightened Youthful Worthies who have “wandered from the Truth” on such a class to be won “from 1881 until Restitution sets in” (See E-4, pp. 337, 342) – and those Youthful Worthies who have cast aside completely the truth on Youthful Worthies.

For emphasis we reiterate the fact that all the males of twenty years and upward who had left Egypt died in the forty-years’ wandering in the wilderness – all except two, Caleb and Joshua. Thus, only those two of all those adult male Israelites who left Egypt, were the only ones who actually inherited goodly Canaan land; and of the Israelites who eventually did come into that good station all – except two – were an entirely new generation. This then now forces us to the conclusion that the great majority of Youthfuls who are now in the “wandering” process will also die from their Class standing in the antitypical wilderness, making a vacancy for a new generation to attain that Class standing and replace those “wandering” Israelites. We further emphasize, however, that those Youthful Worthies who have not received the truth on their class standing cannot be referred to as ‘‘wandering” from that truth which they have not received. When the Epiphany Messenger states there would be Youthful Wor­thies won for the Truth “AFTER ARMAGEDDON” (See E-10:672), he probably foresaw this condition. But even if he did not foresee the present condition, the Lord did.

Even without the type this should be readily apparent to the critical observer from the fact that so many of them now have so little of the Truth, and the spirit of the Truth, that once sanctified them – especially the Truth on Youthful Worthy opportunity. Many have forsaken the Truth that Youthful Worthies can be won “until Restitution sets in,” and are now substituting a ‘consecrated’ (?) class in the Camp to supplant them, in this Epiphany period when the Highway of Holiness is not available – and a ‘way’ (Christ’s merit applied for the world) to enter it; and some have forsaken the Truth altogether on Youthful Worthies, now believing they are of the Little Flock, and that the High Calling is still open – all the while claiming strict adherence to That Servant’s teaching, although openly admitting to repudiating the Epiphany Messenger and Epiphany Truth. That the Parousia Messenger taught such a class, and that the Epiphany Messenger merely elaborated on that class, is indis­putable and very clear to all who have received the Truth “in the love of the Truth.” However, we believe there are many Youthful Worthies in the various groups who haven’t been taught the Truth on their class standing. Some are being won now; and after Armageddon, when the “heavens” will be removed (the present religious ruling powers in both Big and Little Babylon), we believe many will gladly come to a “knowledge of the truth” and will be among those faithful consecrators who will be rewarded in honor and service with the Ancient Worthies.

While the Ancient Worthies are now unchangeably fixed as to class and numbers, we know of nothing in the Scriptures that declares their number fixed before the last one – John the Baptist – was established in their ranks. Eventually their number may be revealed. If so, the same would probably be true of the Youthful Worthies. These Worthies as a Class will fill their own particular niche in the Great Eternal Purpose. Although we have no Scriptural proof for it now, there is even the possibility that each Ancient Worthy may have a Youthful Worthy as a companion helper. If so, this would be in keeping with the Lord sending forth the Seventy by twos; as was with the Star Members during the Age, most of whom had a special helper in the work they did. If we have a large post-Armageddon winning of Youthful Worthies with some of them being won now – we may be sure that they will replace the unfaithful whose carcasses we see falling all around us in the antitypical wilderness, some so sectarian they are blinded to anything except what their leaders tell them to believe. As the Epiphany Messenger truly taught, faithful Youthful Worthies will overcome sec­tarianism and clericalism (See E-5, pp. 224,229). And it is very likely that the majority of the newcomers will prove to be faithful, earnest and zealous in the post-­Armageddon work for the Lord, the Truth and the brethren. When the present religious ruling powers are removed in Armageddon, the honest-hearted will gladly accept the Truth.

Furthermore, Brother Russell and Brother Johnson both were emphatic in their statements that the Epiphany period is the Time of Trouble (and surely there are very few who cannot see that we are in the “Time of Trouble”); and Brother Johnson stressed that its duration would be from 1914 to the end of Jacob’s Trouble – which is the period between the Parousia and the Basileia. If he was wrong on the dura­tion of the Epiphany, or the Time of Trouble (the Epiphany period and the Time of Trouble being identical), and what it will accomplish, it would be foolish to style him the Epiphany Messenger: There would be little remaining logic to apply correctly such a terminology to him. And for those who now cast aside these two very essen­tial points, we can but conclude that they are indeed ‘‘wandering” in the wilderness; and unless they recover, they will eventually become carcasses (dead insofar as their Class standing is concerned) before that wilderness “wandering” comes to an end.

“Now thanks be to that God, who always leads us forth to triumph with the Anointed One, and diffuses by us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. Because we are a sweet odor of Christ to God, among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing (those who are ‘wandering’ from the Truth)... And for these things who is qualified? For we are not like the many, traffick­ing the Word of God; but really from sincerity, and as from God, in the presence of God, we speak concerning Christ.”—2 Cor. 14-17, Dia.

Sincerely your brother,

John H Hoefle, Pilgrim

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BROTHER GEORGE MARTIN

On Monday evening April 22 this beloved brother finished his course; and it was our privilege to conduct his funeral on April 26, with an attendance of somewhat over 200. It is our opinion that we may repeat for him the words that St. Paul wrote concerning himself: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” If this be true, then he did indeed accumulate for himself a rich inheritance – to be manifested “in due time.”

On the day following we gave the brethren such encouragement as we were able, reminding them of the good example of our departed brother. And we are persuaded by their expressions that all were strengthened, happy and determined to “continue in the faith, as they have been taught” (from the Star Members) – even though our gathering was overcast by the sorrow of the previous days. Indeed, ‘‘we sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.”

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brother Hoefle: Today I received the two books. Please let me know how much these are so I can pay you....... I have been reading in that Epiphany Vol. 4, and it is quite revealing what Brother Johnson has to say – that is as far as I have read.

Here is a copy of what the Dawn Students wrote me in answer to my inquiry. If the enclosed statements by these Dawn people are true, then our dear Pastor Russell was in error – especially in the Bible Chronology. Frankly, I personally cannot see this at all....... The comment Bible makes mention of the word ‘Restrained’ or sequel to the word ‘Restrict.’ I gather that from this that the Dawn’s fiasco lies in the misinterpretation and not staying with Pastor Russell’s teachings. This is where Satan’s cunning enters the picture.

I will be busy now reading. Hope the information enclosed will help you. May the Lord bless you in every way. Isa. 38:19

I am in His services Brother -------- (NEW YORK)

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Dear Brother Hoefle:  Loving greetings in the name of our dear Redeemer!

This is to report to you that Mother and I observed the Memorial of our Lord’s death the evening of April 10th. During the season we specially prepared our hearts and minds for this most important of all anniversaries by reading Memorial articles from past issues of Towers and Present Truths, as well as the pertinent chapter in the Sixth Volume.

Your good letter assuring us of your interest and prayers contributed to our joy of the season, and we rejoice with you that we of like precious faith were of one mind that evening. We felt fellowship in spirit with you at Mount Dora specially, and to a lesser degree with all the dear brethren celebrating throughout the world.

Of course, it is an added blessing for me to have my mother, whose influence as a saint of God, is beyond measure.

The dear Lord is surely gracious unto us, and I pray that through faith and obedi­ence that we may continue in His way. We are ever grateful for your constructive writings that encourage us in this Way.

Warm Christian love to you all at Mount Dora.

Sincerely your sister ------- (KANSAS)

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Dear Christian Friend: Just a few lines to ask you if you would be kind enough to send me the book mentioned in your letter of recent date. Also, if you have other religious material you may forward it also, as I am a Bible Student.

Would you please quote the price of your Bibles delivered in Canada. Trusting this will receive your attention, I am ------ (CANADA)