NO. 543 IN MEMORIAM

       That Servant, Brother Russell, finished his earthly journey on October 31, 1916, and it is doubtful that there are any left today who knew him personally.  But many of us who never met him hold fond memories by considering his record of scholarly understanding of the Bible and related subjects.  Thus, we shall endeavor to pass along some of his teachings and observations.

       First, we shall offer 2 Timothy 3:16,17:  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  It will be readily noticed that this is a very poor translation as found in the King James version because “is” after Scripture is in italics, telling us there is no corresponding word in the original Greek.  But even if this were not so, we could easily deduce that the statement cannot possibly be true, because “scripture” in the broad sense is anything written - including newspapers, magazines, books of fiction, etc.  Certainly, no one would contend that such writings are given “by inspiration of God.”

       In a more restricted sense, scripture may be applied to cherished writings of the various heathen religions, such as those from Confucius, Mohammed, etc.  However, these likewise cannot be described as being inspired of God.  It would seem that any one even moderately schooled in Present Truth should know this; yet the Jehovah’s Witnesses published a book as late as 1963, the title of which is ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED OF GOD AND BENEFICIAL.  [Emphasis ours.]  And in their strenuous effort to be “different,” they offer the word “beneficial” for profitable; but of the leading Greek scholars - such as Doctors Young, Strong, Rotherham and Wilson - not one of them offer the word “beneficial” as a good translational substitute for “profitable.”  Even Brother Russell himself - who was not a Greek scholar - saw the error in the text as early as 1897, and omitted the word “is” from the Manna Comments of May 21; thus, the Witnesses would not have made this blunder had they held proper regard for Brother Russell’s excellent Biblical interpretations.

       Following is an excellent translation of the text by Benjamin Wilson.  “All Scripture, divinely inspired, is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for that discipline which is in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly fitted for every good work.”  We have offered the detail foregoing because some of those who knew Brother Russell intimately before his demise in 1916 often referred to him as “that wonderful man of God,” their substance being taken from this writing of St. Paul.

“A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS”

       At the outset, we would stress that Brother Russell is shown in more Scriptures and types than any other person on this earth, except our Lord Jesus; and it is our belief that one of such typical instances is the Prophet Jeremiah in his acts and words.  In Jeremiah 1:4-6 there is this:  “The word of the Lord came unto me saying… I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.  Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold I cannot speak: for I am a child.”  In verse one we have “The words of Jeremiah” - the name meaning Jehovah is exalted.  Certainly the name itself applies most fittingly to Brother Russell, whose firm and repeated expression was “God first,” which attitude well applied to him all during his entire adult life.  Also, the statement, “I am a child” points fittingly to him.  At the outset of his ministry in 1874, knowing his ignorance of Hebrew and Greek, he considered himself but a babe in Biblical exegesis; and for seven years - to 1881 - he always tried to place those with superior education before him because he considered them better qualified.  But the Lord knew what He was doing when He called Brother Russell to be His special mouthpiece - “the prophet unto the nations.”  Note verses 7-9:  “The Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak… The Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth… said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”

       Looking back, it is very easy to discern the fulfillment of these words.  That Servant predicted the end of the Gentile Times (Luke 21:24) 25 years before 1914.  During that 25 years he received much vilification and ridicule from various sources; and by 1913 - with the world then in seeming calm - some in high position said a general world war among the friendly (?) nations was just so much nonsense.  But, when 1914 came - with the great explosion of July 28 to August 1 - large numbers began to have a different view and respect for what he said.  In fact, a conference of southern ministers openly stated that Pastor Russell had been right in his predictions.

       To emphasize the strong parallel between him and Jeremiah we need only to consider the parallel dispensation:  It was just 2520 years before 1914 (in the Fall of 607 B.C.) that Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple was ravished and the gold and silver vessels carried away to Babylon.  That was exactly what Jeremiah predicted - in the face of the severe criticism of the Jewish priesthood - just as Brother Russell had predicted against the disputations of the ministers of Christendom.  Jeremiah had not predicted the beginning of Gentile dominion, because it was not possible for him to see that then; but Brother Russell, knowing that “seven times shall pass over thee” (Dan. 4:24,25,32), and understanding that those “seven times” would be of 2520 years duration, did not have much difficulty in figuring out when they would end, once he knew when it began.

       Let us carry on now to Jeremiah 1:11-14:  “What seest thou?  And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.”  As explained in Tabernacle Shadows, p. 122, the almond rod symbolizes the royal priesthood, elect and fruitful; and this fact was seen very clearly by Brother Russell in 1879, when he wrote Tabernacle Shadows.  “The second time, What seest thou?  And I said I see a seething pot… an evil shall break forth upon all inhabitants of the land.”  This “seething pot” was the Time of Trouble, which would come with the end of the Gentile Times; and those of us who were living at that time still have most vivid memory of that holocaust.  Even though the United States was not immediately involved (the U.S. did not enter the war until April 1917), the uproar was so great and the shaking of society in all great countries of the earth was so severe that the New York Stock Exchange was forced to close down for three months - “an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.”

       The great conflict - up to then the world’s greatest calamity - was also typed by Elijah smiting Jordan.  In that picture Jordan pictured Christendom; and its smiting portrayed how the various elements of society would be divided into two distinct classes - the conservatives and the radicals; and this has become more pronounced each year since 1914, with the radicals generally victorious - just as the Babylonians (who typed the radicals of our day) won victory until the final one saw the complete collapse of Jerusalem, and the beginning of the desolation of the land for seventy years:  “The word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate, she kept the sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.” (2 Chron. 36:21)

       God further instructed Brother Russell to confess the sins of Christendom over the head of Azazel’s Goat - “the house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.” (Jer. 2:4)  In the Old Testament the Gospel-Age Christians are never called Jacob; rather, Jacob almost always refers to natural Israel; whereas, Israel usually is used to designate the Christian Household.  And of both these houses Jeremiah said; “I brought you into a plentiful country… but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, made mine heritage an abomination.” (v. 7)  This statement is indeed a true declaration of the Church history.  Under Jesus and the Apostles “the people which sat in darkness saw a great light.” (Matt 4:16)  But the intervening years up to 1874 had witnessed the distortion of that “great light” into all sorts of weird concoctions; with practically all of them - Protestant and Catholic - becoming infested with “their resemblance through all the earth.” (Zech. 5:6)  The four great errors that arose during the Gospel Age are the Trinity, immortality, eternal torment and probation limited to this life.  In these four errors most Protestants and all Greek and Roman Catholics resemble one another - they are “their resemblance through all the earth.”

       Once Brother Russell became fortified with the Truth against these great errors he employed all of his remarkable skill and energy in onslaught against them.  His favorite address to the public was “Where Are The Dead?”  For forty years he battled with all courage against the theory of eternal torment as the wages of sin, and so well did he analyze those Scriptures that treated of that subject, that toward the end of his ministry one newspaper carried four stanzas of poetry, the last quatrain of which was something like this:

                                                    There is a man in our town

                                                    Whose name I need not tell;

                                                    I’m sure you all must know him,

                                                    Because he put the fires out of Hell.

       Today few educated ministers believe in the doctrine of Hell-fire, although some of them occasionally preach it, perhaps believing it to be a restraint upon evildoers.  All concordances and critical translations of the Bible clearly dispute the thought of eternal torment as the wages of sin.  “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

       Brother Russell received strong assurance from the Lord for the work he was to do, as told to Jeremiah, chapter 1, vs. 17,18:  “Speak unto them [the people of Christendom] all that I shall command thee; be not dismayed at their faces… I have made thee this day a defenced city” - immovable and strong as against society, against the various sects in Christendom, against the four prominent classes in American society: Rulers, capitalists, aristocracy and labor, particularly against their leaders.  These are the “four angels” - messengers of wrath as set forth in Rev. 7:1-3 - whose destructive work was restrained “till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”  Although these all, some more, some less, waged controversies against him, God assured him of full victory:  “They shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee… to deliver thee.”  Surely, as we look back, we are able to see how forcefully this was fulfilled in the work he did.

       When the prophecy was made, “They [the gainsayers] shall not prevail against thee,” it was not an idle promise; God gave him the Parousia Truth as his “strong tower,” which proved to be impregnable against the combined attacks of all adversaries.  The promise made to Joshua (1:5):  “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life,” certainly applied to Brother Russell with great emphasis.  Those who attempted to engage him in controversy soon came within the scope of Revelation 16:10:  “They gnawed their tongues for pain.”  Many of them resorted to slander, which was their weapon of the last resort; but it may be said of Brother Russell that he never reciprocated in kind; with the strong and clear Biblical system of Truth he had, there was certainly no need to cheapen himself by using the tools of the “god of this world.” (2 Cor. 4:4)  The Parousia Truth was indeed a “defenced city” for him. (Jer. 1:18)

       Chapter 2 of Jeremiah carries on in much the same fashion as the first Chapter.  Brother Russell was commanded to shout his message from the housetops, and it is a matter of record that he did just that.  “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem [type of Christendom here in the end of the age], saying, Thus saith the Lord:  I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth [when the pristine purity of Christianity was established under the guidance of Jesus and the Apostles], the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness.”  “The woman [the true Church] fled in the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand and two hundred and threescore days [the 1260 years from A.D. 539 to 1799].” (Rev. 12:6)  Verse 3 continues: “Israel [the true Church] was holiness unto the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase.”

       But that condition had become greatly changed “in the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4 - from 1799, and especially after 1874).  Thus, antitypical Jeremiah was prompted to raise the question (Jer. 2:5):  “What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?”  The nominal church from 1874 is described in similar criticism to what Jeremiah said to the Jews before the fall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.:  “Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Rev. 3:17)  Following are some of the Berean Comments on this text: “Possessing little of the truth and spirit of the truth … Cannot see afar off … cannot see the high calling for the Church or restitution for the poor world … stripped of the robe of Christ’s righteousness by the clergy, in the name of Higher Criticism and Evolution.”

       Having come to the condition of full complacency - “rich and increased with goods” - they posed the insolent question (Jer. 2:6):  “Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt [typical of the delivery of the Gospel-Age Church, which had been delivered from antitypical Egypt, “this present evil world”], that led us through the wilderness… the shadow of death [“the wages of sin is death”]… and (v. 7) I brought you into a plentiful country… but ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.”  “We have need of nothing”!

       The question carries on in v. 11:  “Hath a nation changed their gods… but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit”; and because of this they “be astonished… be horribly afraid… very desolate.” (v. 12) During this “time of the end” nominal Christendom committed two evils - they gave up God as their God, though He is the only source of life-giving Truth; and they developed creeds: “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (v. 13)  “Their cities are burned without an inhabitant” - an evil which they brought upon themselves.  “Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou has forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way?” (v. 17)

       “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed.” (v. 21) When we review the superb religious system which God had given Israel under Moses and Aaron, and the downward course they pursued in the following years, it is most difficult to understand how that could have been possible.  Yet their course was but a forecast of the downward course of Christendom after the departure of the Apostles.  Indeed, “A just man falleth seven times, but he riseth up again.” (Prov. 24:16)  The words of Solomon in this text are a terse statement of the history of the Gospel-Age Church in its seven epochs, as outlined in Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3.  Each of these epochs began with a virile message of Truth - first with Jesus and the Apostles, then followed with the ministry of the remaining “six stars” (Rev. 1:16); but in every instance those that came after the various stars quickly retrograded into much error and decay of morals - as their predecessors had done.

       Finally in 1874 came That Servant (Matt. 24:46), faced with an accumulation of the colossal errors of the entire Age - a fact which would have discouraged any man who had not the encouragement of the Lord Himself; “I have made thee this day a defenced city and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the priests thereof, and against the people.” (Jer. 1:18)  But just as in times past, the finely tuned system of Parousia Truth, which he left, was bandied about by some of his followers - particularly by the Jehovah’s Witnesses - so that if his writings and their writings are placed side by side now, no unbiased mind would believe they should be recognized as coming from the same source - which indeed they do not!

THE TRUE VINE VS. THE VINE OF THE EARTH

       The “noble vine” established through Moses and Aaron was all that the expression implies; and all will surely agree that had the Jews adhered to the Law Covenant through their continuing priesthood they would have developed into a nation the likes of which the world had never known.  On the last night before He was crucified Jesus had told the Disciples, “I am the true vine” (John 15:1), thus identifying Himself as the antitype of the “noble vine” God had planted in Israel; and Christians generally would have done well to “continue in His word.”  But instead, they developed the “vine of the earth” (Rev. 14:18,19); and the angel was commanded to gather it… and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” - the great Time of Trouble, which began in 1914 at the end of the Gentile Times.

       “The vine of the earth” in these texts is the great Papal system which is slowly being consumed - much the same as are grapes that are pressed for their juice.  And Paul tells us that this system is “the wicked one” (2 Thes. 2:8), whom the Lord “shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.”  The word brightness in this text is from the Greek epiphania, which is literally bright shining; and coming is from the Greek parousia.  Thus, the text properly stated should read, “Whom the Lord will destroy with the bright shining of His Presence.”

       This has been progressing slowly, but surely, since 1914 - in harmony with the statement in Daniel 7:11:  “I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” - just another expression for the Time of Trouble.  And just as much of Jeremiah’s message is harsh condemnation of the Jews, so much that That Servant wrote and preached was harsh condemnation of the “vine of the earth” - although he never resorted to reviling or slander in any of his statements; the Truth that he had was more than enough.  And just as Jeremiah had been told, “speak unto them all that I command thee,” so Pastor Russell uttered the scathing message against nominal Christendom as it was revealed to him in the Word of Truth.

       It is probably in order here to state that many features of the Gospel Age have been re-enacted here in the end of the Age, one of these being a Little Papal System in the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  And just as the large Papal system “shall think to change times and laws” (Dan. 7:25), so this Little Papal system has also changed times and laws; in fact, they have made so many changes in their chronology and in some others of their teachings that few, if any, of them know just what they do believe.  However, when we analyze big and little Papacy we assuredly do not include all members of those organizations in our criticism.  It is our conviction that there are many noble and honorable people in both systems - some of whom are our good personal friends; but they have not given themselves to the research on the subject that we have done.

       Jeremiah continues his castigation in Chapter 2:21,22:  “I had planted thee a noble vine; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me… Though thou take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.”  Of course, such scathing denunciations aroused the sharp animosity of the Jews, who eventually did put Jeremiah to death by stoning him.  He was a “speckled bird” (Jer. 12:9) - a man marked for contempt and persecution from early manhood, as was also Brother Russell.  Yet the determination of both of them caused them to hew to the line to the end of life’s journey.

       But, as some men are determined to declare the Word of Truth in purity and sincerity, so others are just as determined to go the way of Balaam, who was a type of those who teach error for profit.  Thus they play the symbolic harlot with strangers.  “I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.” (Jer. 2:25)  “Have gone astray, following the way of Balaam.” (2 Peter 2:15)  “Thou hast them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam.” (Rev. 2:14)  See the Berean Comment on both these texts - “Type of a class that teach error for profit.”  The Revelation text was directed to the Church of Pergamos, the third epoch of the Gospel Age, which had its beginning about A.D. 315 when Emperor Constantine embraced the Christian religion and contaminated it with many of his former heathen beliefs.

       The heathen beliefs and customs accumulated with each succeeding epoch of the Gospel-Age Church, many of which were discernable even to worldly men of good character.  The nominal church had become clustered with hypocrites, as stated in Rev. 18:2:  “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”  Many “jail” birds were members of some great religious system at 1914; thus, the call had gone out, “Come out of her, my people.” (Rev. 18:4)  This is emphasized by the Prophet Jeremiah (2:26,27):  “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets [many of the leading clergy at 1914 openly admitted they accepted only such parts of the Bible as suited their taste]… they have turned their back unto me, and not their faces; but in the time of their trouble [which came upon them in 1914] they will say, Arise, and save us.”

       At that time we were a faithful member of the Lutheran Church; and, when the preacher arose in the pulpit and urged the congregation to support the war in every way possible, we went to him to inquire how he could do such a thing, when the Lutheran Church had originated in Germany, with a large part of the population then members of that Church.  Therefore, he was advising Lutherans to kill brother Lutherans instead of “we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16) as we are instructed by God’s Word; and we left his house never to return.  The same could be said of the Roman Catholics in Italy, who were pitted against the Catholics in Romanist Austria.  Thus, Jeremiah continued his charge:  “Where are thy gods that thou hast made?  Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble… Ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 2:28,29)  Wars always bring out the worst in people; and this was especially true of the 1914 conflagration.  They had made dead churches their mothers, having rejected God; yet they called upon Him in their Time of Trouble.  Thus, the accusation:  “Your children have received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.” (v. 30)  These truths were boldly and repeatedly proclaimed by Brother Russell; and he and his followers received much persecution from the nominal church; hence the charge, “In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents.” (v. 34)  This is repeated in Rev. 18:24:  “In her [the nominal church] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

       Thus far we have considered only two chapters of the 52 chapters in the Jeremiah writings; and we hope to continue the book at some future time.  [This was done in 1982 and reprinted in 1998, No. 497, free upon request.]  However, we believe all our readers who have been even passingly schooled in Present Truth will recognize the pointed application of the writings and sayings of Brother Russell as he repeatedly set them forth.  Briefly, Jeremiah was “the prophet unto the nations” for forty years before the capitulation of Jerusalem; Brother Russell was “the prophet unto the nations” for forty years before the collapse of Christendom in 1914.  The former foretold the overthrow of Jerusalem, with the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin (the ten tribes had already been transplanted to Babylon 133 years previously by Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king - see 2 Kings 17:1-7 - and subsequently became the “ten lost tribes” of Israel); Brother Russell foretold the collapse of Christendom 2520 years later; and he gave his forecast about 25 years before the event occurred.  The same conditions prevailed in both places before their collapse; and the current evils were repeatedly and truthfully castigated by both men.

WILL OUR PASTOR’S WORK ENDURE?

       Will our Pastors’ work endure?  If we were to answer our question from the standpoint of human experience and probability, we should have to admit that the trend of the teachings and practices among the vast bulk of the Truth people is in the direction of abandoning his work and nullifying his accomplishments.  That this will not actually be accomplished we are Scripturally convinced; but undoubtedly human reason, in the light of the vast and varied revolutionisms since his demise, among Truth people, would suggest that our Pastor’s work will not stand.

         But beloved brethren, despite the unfavorable aspect and prospect, we have the full assurance of faith that the work of our Pastor will not perish from the earth!  In due time his teachings will emerge unscathed.  His methods of doing the Lord’s work will be re-established and will successfully carry forward the Lord’s cause.  Faith having been fully assured of this outcome, can quietly await the Lord’s good time for the fulfillment of its confidence; “for the zeal of the Lord will accomplish it,” “in due time.”

       We take this occasion to pay grateful tribute to Pastor Russell, and, just as there were no successors to the twelve Apostles, so there was no successor to That Servant.

       We “continue in that which we have learned and been assured of, knowing of whom we have learned them.” (2 Tim. 3:14)  However, we would stress that none of the faithful mouthpieces of the Lord since the Apostles fell asleep were infallible; they made mistakes, as Church history relates.  The same may be said for the Parousia Messenger.  He never claimed to be infallible and made mistakes, especially relating to the duration of the Time of Trouble.  But we accept That Servant’s basic chronology exactly as he gave it. His expectations for the duration of the Time of trouble was immature, but he taught with Scriptural proof the events that would occur during the Time of Trouble:  “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Thes. 5:4)  So we are not in darkness concerning the “times and seasons,” as we see the prophecies fulfilling today.  We feel his immature conclusions were permitted of the Lord for a “trial of your faith”; and we regard them in this light.

       We believe Brother Russell, The Parousia Messenger, comes well within the Scripture:  “The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.” (Psa. 112:6)

Will “that Servant’s” work endure?

                                              Ah, yes!  Of this we may be sure

                                              For he was faithful, wise and true

                                              And brought forth truths, both old and new.

                                              Though Satan’s error now enshrouds

                                              And hides the light with darkest clouds

                                              Our God will shake and then remove

                                              All things that He cannot approve.

                                              “Truth crushed to earth shall rise again”

                                              And in its purity remain,

                                              Unconquered by the Devil’s arts

                                              In even its minutest parts.

                                              Will “that Servant’s” work endure?

                                              Ah, yes, with all that’s good and pure!

                                              For sin and error flee away

                                              Before the light of the coming Day!

(By John J. Hoefle, Reprint 373, October 1, 1986)

NO. 542 "SPEAK YE COMFORTABLY TO JERUSALEM"

       “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.  Speak ye comfortable to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1,2)

       It has been our observation that not many of the Truth groups are speaking comfortably to Jerusalem, and they especially need encouragement now.  That Servant said in 1910 that he “attempted to tell Israel the good tidings that God’s set time to remember Zion had come.  But seemingly that was too early.  God’s set time for Israel to hear was still future.  I am still waiting for God’s own time and way for the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:1,2.” (Sermon Book, page 480, par. 1)

       Fulfillment of prophecy:  But now the set time has come (Psa. 102:13).  Israel has received the “double” [kophel - as a thing folded in the middle] for all her sins, and has been returned to her homeland.  The period of her disfavor, from A.D. 33 to 1878, was to be of the same length, 1845 years, as the period of her favor from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ.  Since 1878 favor has returned to Israel, even though it doesn’t seem like it with all the trouble they are having, but the fact of the matter is that no power can expel them from their homeland.  “The Lord said to Abram… I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.” (Gen. 12:1-3)  “Behold, I will make thee [Jacob] fruitful…  I will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.” (Gen. 48:4)  “Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant: for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure.” (Jer. 46:28)

       “Thus hath said the Lord who bestoweth the sun for a light by day, the ordinance of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea that its waves roar.  The Lord of Hosts is his name.  If these ordinances ever depart from before me, saith the Lord, then also shall the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me during all time.” (Jer. 31:35,36)

       Thus we are able to say, with strong assurance, the Jews are to have their Biblical Homeland for an everlasting possession; and no force on earth will be able to evict them from it.  “I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” (Amos 9:15)  And those that give them help will be correspondingly blessed; and those that hinder them will be cursed.  This restoration of the Jew to their Homeland is a beginning of Restitution.  Israel as a nation will be the first among the nations to come into harmony with the new order of things.  However, God foretold that Israel would return nationally before they recognize the Messiah, before the blessings of His Kingdom begin, before the New Covenant is made with them (Jer. 31:23-34).

       The fact that they are returned in a non-converted condition is one reason they are now having so much trouble.  Another reason is that there are forces that want to destroy Israel completely.  We know they will not succeed, but she needs our comfort and as much help of all kinds that we can possibly give.

       “Things To Come?  Before the rebirth of the Jewish State of Israel, a tradition existed in the Diaspora that one part of the Jewish home would always remain unfinished.  This was a reminder that at any moment anti-Semitism could again erupt and force the Jews to hastily leave and find refuge, however tenuous, somewhere else.

       “Israel was reborn in 1948, after nearly two thousand years of persecution and slaughter culminating in the Holocaust, in which one third of the world’s Jewish population was systematically destroyed.  With a Jewish state, Jews finally believed that at least they had a refuge to escape to should they be threatened.  But something terrible has happened since the Islamist atrocity against America on September 11, 2001.

       “Throughout Europe, and many other parts of the world, Jews are now witnessing a return of a virulent strain of anti-Semitism fueled by the terror launched by Yasser Arafat against Israel.  This may seem paradoxical.  How can Israel, which is the victim of terror on a scale no other nation can even comprehend, be portrayed as the aggressor and Jews, by extension, be demonized…

       “But Britain, like so much of Europe, has changed.  Enormous populations of Moslem, Arabs have entered France from North Africa.  Moslems from Indonesia have entered Holland and many Turks and Arabs live in Germany.  The Jewish population of Great Britain is shrinking through assimilation and now numbers less than three hundred thousand, compared to a Moslem population of 3,000,000 who entered Britain over the years from Pakistan and Bangladesh.  Strident anti-Jewish statements are routinely spewed in British mosques and British universities.  Many Christian Churches too are reverting to the ancient hatred of Jews, rooted deep in Christian theology, and now on widespread display once again.

       “Melanie Phillips, in an article in Britain’s Spectator titled ‘Christians who hate the Jews’ writes of the old and hateful doctrine of the Church, which was suppressed after the Holocaust, but has been revived under the influence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  She writes, ‘this doctrine is called replacement theology which, in essence, says that the Jews have been replaced by the Christians in God’s favor, and so all God’s promises to the Jews, including the land of Israel have been inherited by Christianity’…

       “One Palestinian Christian cleric, who is highly influential and who preaches liberation theology, Father Naim Ateek, is a regular visitor to Portland.  At a recent appearance in a Portland church, Ateek was challenged by local members of Bridges for Peace who reminded him of the inalienable rights of the Jewish people to their ancestral and Biblical homeland of Israel.  Father Ateek dismissed them in a sneering tone, as ‘Oh you are those Old Testament Christians’…

       “As Melanie Phillips adds, ‘the neurotic insecurity of the most persecuted people on earth is being fed by Arab terror.  British Jews caught between Christian replacement theology, Islamist blood libels, and a hostile media, suddenly find that Britain is a colder place.’

       “As Christian evangelicals, firm supporters of Israel, found in the Portland church a few weeks ago, there is the same hatred of the Jews and the Jewish State here in America.  Could the unthinkable shake Jewish Americans to the core?  Could Jewish Americans live to see another Holocaust, this time of 5,000,000 Jews in Israel?  And could Jews in America see their golden age crumble and be forced to pack their bags?”

(Excerpts from Victor Sharp, a writer on Jewish history and the Arab-Israel dispute.  He lives in Portland, Oregon.  Reported in Bridges For Peace, April 18, 2002)

       The above shows what a terrible time the Jews are experiencing.  We trust the Lord that He will preserve them in their land.  But, in the meantime, they are in need of a lot of support and encouragement.  They need us to remind them of God’s promises to them, but they also need material support.  It has been suggested to us that one good way to help is to contribute to their Ambulance Fund.  That can be done through American Red Magen David For Israel.  The address is:  ARMDI, 888 7th Avenue Suite 403, New York, NY 10102-0009.  Put the word Ambulance on your contribution.

       Now, there have been more reports of an increase in anti-Semitism activity in France, Germany and Italy, as well as in Great Britain.  It is very evident that we are in the “day of preparation” (Nahum 2:3,4) and those who cannot see that the Parousia Harvest is complete are not aware of the “day of thy visitation” (Luke 19:44), nor the Times and Seasons in which we are living (1 Thes. 5:1,2,4)

       That Servant writes of the “day of preparation” thusly:  “The ‘Day of His Preparation’ would be the day or period of time when the Lord God would prepare or make ready the elements and conditions for the new dispensation, sometimes alluded to as ‘The Golden Age of Prophecy.’  As a matter of fact, are we not living in a period of transition?  Marvelous changes are being wrought out, old things are passing away and new conditions are being developed.” (Question Book, page 759)  And this is true more so now than when it was written.

       It was That Servant’s mission to gather the Saints into the “unity of faith.”  The position God wished His people to accept during the Harvest is shown in Isa. 52:8:  “Thy watchmen… shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.”  Note the Berean Comments on this:  “In the harvest of the Gospel Age, clearly, harmoniously.”  It was Brother Russell’s Stewardship Doctrine centering about Restitution that brought “unity of faith” for the first time in history to God’s people as a collective group.  It is true that St. Peter preached Restitution (Acts 3:19-21); and it is true that St. Paul was “caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4); but it is also true that the general Church of that time had not come to the “unity of faith,” had not come to a clear understanding of Restitution.  However, all in the Gospel Harvest were reasonably clear on the Restitution doctrine. 

       Read what Brother Russell says in Volume 4, page 610:  “’They [the disciples] answered and said unto him, Where, Lord?  [Where will these be taken?]  And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body [carcass, the food], is thither will the eagles be gathered together.’ (Matt. 24:28; Luke 17:37)

       “The lesson is that in that day, when the Lord is gathering His ‘elect’ from the four winds of heaven - from every quarter of the Church - He will attract them as eagles are attracted by food, for which they have a keenness of vision and appetite; that in due time the Lord would provide the proper food, and His true people would recognize it and be gathered to it - the ready and worthy taken and the others left.

       “The food of ‘present truth’ now provided by our Lord, and the gathering of His saints by and to it, fits the description of the prophecy exactly… Where and when before was there ever such a public recognition of all who trust in the precious blood of Christ and who are consecrated to him, as the one household of faith, all brethren, and the one and only Lawgiver Christ, regardless of human creeds and dogmas upon other subjects?  Never and nowhere since the days of the apostles, so far as we may judge.” (Written 1897)

       Therefore a prophet (Brother Russell) accomplished the first of two purposes for which the servants of the Church were appointed - “till we all attain the unity of faith.”  He also accomplished the second of these purposes - “the measure of the full stature of the anointed one.” (Eph. 4:13, Dia.)  When the last one was reaped in September 1914, there also for the first time was reached “the full stature of the anointed one” in that the Body was then full and irrevocably complete unto that unity which “every joint supplieth, to the effectual working in the measure of every part.” (Eph. 4:16)  Can it be said that the “watchmen” have seen “eye to eye” since 1916?  No!  Nor can it be said that this oneness is something attained by the Saint Class beyond the veil, because there would be no need for them to be “watchmen” then.

       Brother Russell said in 1892:  “Ah! Were it not that the Lord has favored us with a share in the work of gathering out the bride and helping to make her ready for the marriage of the Lamb, we would be here in Jerusalem and, by the grace of God, would do a part in the great work now due of turning away blindness from Jacob (Rom. 11:25).” (Reprint 1395, col. 2, par. 2)

       But what of those consecrated since 1916?  Brother Russell saw that the Apostle Paul said, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27)  So he did likewise.  He saw that St. Timothy said there were four elect classes.  “But in a great house there are vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour [less honour].” (2 Tim. 2:20)

       The great house is the Household of Faith.  The vessels of gold are the Little Flock, the silver, Great Company, wood the Ancient Worthies and earth the Youthful Worthies, those of honour, converted Jews, and those of less honour, converted Gentiles.         Here we have four elect and two non-elect classes.

       Joel 2:29 also lists four elect classes and says that the spirit will be “poured out” upon the Old Men and the Young Men [the Ancient and Youthful Worthies].  The Ancient Worthies understood everything of God’s Plan that was due in their day.  So the Youthful Worthies understand all that is due in their day, which includes all that the Saints understand, except the begettal of the Holy Spirit.  But they have the Holy Spirit in that they have the disposition, mind and influence of God, given through Jesus.  Thus, if faithful, they develop the fruits and graces of the Spirit.  This is attested in Heb. 12:23, which speaks of the “spirits of just men made perfect.”  The context shows that this is at the beginning of the new dispensation and the Saints will be glorified at that time and will not be “men.”  At that time, the Worthies will have characters that have been tested, tried and found faithful.

       We call the fourth elect class Youthful Worthies in contrast to the Ancient Worthies and because they will be associated with them.  You may call them by another name, if you so choose.  Brother Russell referred to them as the “unbegotten consecrated between the Ages.”

       These two classes will cooperate together in the Millennium to instruct the world in truth and righteousness.  They will take their instructions from the Glorified Christ.

“THE INTIMACY BETWEEN THE KINGDOM AND ITS EARTHLY ‘PRINCES’”

       “As we should expect, the communication between the two phases of the kingdom will be easy and direct; and thereby the supervision and instruction of mankind will be complete, the ‘princes’ (Psa. 45:16) being the channels of divine communication.  This seems to be the intimation of Jesus’ words to Nathaniel:  ‘Hereafter you shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God [the messengers of God the ‘princes’ of the new age] ascending to and descending from the Son of Man.’ (John 1:51, Dia.)  Was not Jacob’s dream of the ladder between heaven and earth, and passing to and fro of messengers, a prophecy as well as a dream, predicting the coming communication between the Heavenly Kingdom and the world, in which work, as one of the communication messengers, Jacob was to have a share in the blessing of the world?  We believe that it was so intended (Gen. 28:10-20).”   (Volume 4, page 629)

       This does not mean that the Worthies will literally ascend to heaven in order to receive their instructions.  We are not given explicit information as to how the two phases of the Kingdom will harmoniously operate; but we have an illustration of the manner in which they may operate in God’s dealings with Israel through their representatives, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the prophets, etc.  But they will be able to communicate with The Christ in some way, possibly talk directly with them as God did with some of those ancients mentioned.  The world will not be able to communicate directly with God or The Christ until the end of the Kingdom when all are perfect.  These Worthies will be the examples among men, and their perfection will be an incentive to the world to strive to attain the same perfection.

       This Millennial position is a very great reward for the faith and obedience of these Worthies.  But the fullness of their reward comes after the Millennium, when they will be changed from human to spirit beings.  Reprint 5182 proves that by their being of the antitypical Millennial Age Firstborn and Levites without inheritance in the land, that the Ancient Worthies will be made spirit beings after their Millennial work.  Some of these arguments prove this of the Youthful Worthies, as much as of the Ancient Worthies.  (See Question Book, page 152, question 2.)  How can anyone not desire to be of such a class with such great rewards?  We do not know what their station will be, but there are two places vacant in heaven - the one occupied by the Logos, before He came to earth, and Lucifer’s place that Satan formerly occupied.

       It is not our intention to urge anyone to consecrate just for the reward.  We merely bring out the rewards to show that the subject of the Worthies is not a minor one, but is a doctrinal question, and one of no small importance, affecting the standing of thousands of people now consecrated and more that will consecrate.  The trial of these two classes is not for life, as the Saints, but for faith and obedience.  The Ancient Worthies suffered much - some as much as the Saints.  And it is possible some of the Youthful Worthies will have to suffer a great deal during this Time of Trouble in order to be faithful and obedient.

       The various Truth groups say very little, if anything, about the Ancient Worthies enumerated in Hebrews, chapter 11.  Why is that?  Is it possibly because they realize that the Youthful Worthy class will be associated with them and they do not want to bring attention to the fact of such a class existing?

       “Question (1911) - If any consecrated now and fail to be begotten of the Holy Spirit, where would the Lord place them?  Answer - We would presume that if they are faithful, as the prophets of old were faithful, to the extent of laying down their lives in the service of righteousness and truth, that God would give them a share some way with the Ancient Worthies.  In other words, that if such should pass into the Time of Trouble to a considerable degree, and there lose their lives because of faithfulness to the Lord, that He would do just the same for them that He will do for the Ancient Worthies - they will be counted in with the Ancient Worthy class.” (Question Book, page 152)

       What does all this have to do with the Jews?  Jesus said to the Jews, “Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:28)  The Jew, long used to striving to do, and of trusting of works of obedience to the Law to secure for him God’s blessing will be to his advantage in the dawn of the Millennial Age, and no one will be more ready for the strict requirements and Laws of that Age than he, after his blindness as to Christ and the value of His sacrifice for sins shall have passed away; for works are required after faith in Christ, though not accepted before.

       “So the Millennial favors will be to the Jew first, even as by reason of the covenants, etc., the Gospel favors were offered to them first.  And so it shall be finally as Simeon prophesied: ‘This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.’  And the time for raising up that nation, so long fallen from favor, is at hand.’ (Vol. 3, page 256)

       It should be clear to anyone that our beloved Pastor thoroughly believed, and was in full accord with the teaching of St. Paul in Rom. 1:16 - “Salvation is to the Jew first” - not only in the Great Salvation but also in the Common Salvation (Heb. 2:3 and Jude 3); and also with the Apostle John in John 4:22: “Salvation is of the Jews.”

       In Isa. 2:3 we are told that “Out of Zion [the Christ Company in Heaven] shall go forth the law; and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [The resurrected Worthies who will be the visible government here on earth - “princes in all the earth” (Psa. 45:16) and who will be assisted by the faithful orthodox Jews as missionaries, the “first” to receive the blessings of the New Covenant. (Jer. 31:31)].”

       We will close with Joshua’s words of assurance to the Jews: “And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing failed thereof.” (Josh. 23:14)

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WHAT KIND OF A MAN IS SADDAM HUSSEIN?

         Our political and military leaders are asking this question, "What kind of a man are we fighting?"  The answer to this question was written in the Bible about 4,000 years ago.  Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac:  Ishmael by Hagar, an Egyptian, when Abraham's wife Sarah was unable to conceive.  Some years later God performed a biological miracle and permitted Sarah to give Abraham a son Isaac, the "seed of promise."  These two sons of Abraham each had twelve sons which became two mighty nations which later became known as the nation of Israel and the Arab nation or Ishmaelites.

          The Arabs or Ishmaelites are described in Genesis 16:12 (Rotherham):  "But he will be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every one, and every one's hand against him — yet in presence of all his brethren shall he have his habitation."  Genesis 16:10 states that Ishmael's seed, the Arabs, "shall not be numbered for multitude."

          The Ishmaelites and posterity have lived by prey and plundering, robbers by land and pirates by sea.  Genesis 16:12 states that Ishmael would dwell in the presence of all his brethren — viz., Moabites, Edomites and Israelites. They have been continually at war with the rest of the world and yet never defeated.  They did not acknowledge Alexander the Great as conqueror.  Alexander objected to this insult and determined to punish the culprits but died before he could accomplish his mission.

          When the Romans invaded the East and subdued adjoining countries, they were never able to reduce Arabia to a Roman province.  Time after time enemies sought to invade but were always forced out.

          About the 7th Century A.D., Mohammed appeared on the scene and set the desert and the Mid East aflame.  Ishmaelites under Mohammed strengthened and extended their power.  Under his successors these Arabs, imbued with their new and false religion and their hereditary thirst for blood and pillage, developed into a ferocious horde and carried the Islam banner throughout Asia, Africa and even into Spain.

          Since the fall of their Muslim empire, the Turks have made repeated attempts to subdue these Arabs, but instead of succeeding they have been obliged for several centuries to pay them yearly tribute, to permit the converted Turkish Moslems to have a safe passage to Mecca, the "Holy City" where Mohammed the Ishmaelite was born.

          Others, Gallas, Trajan, Pompey and Augustus, have been unsuccessful in conquering the Arabs — the Ishmaelites.  Emperor Severus, a Roman, laid siege and even made a breach in their defenses, but insurrection broke out in the ranks.  As an unseen power protected these Ishmaelites, Emperor Trajan sought to conquer them in about A.D. 110.  Whirlwinds, swarms of flies, lightning, thunder, hail, apparitions in the sky, heat and thirst all helped to repulse these Italians every time they attacked.  And so down the stream of time God's hand seems to have been on the Ishmaelites.  In spite of commerce and intercourse with others, they remain the same fierce, savage, intractable people like their ancestors.

          This people, with the Jews excepted, have for 4,000 years withstood the enmity as a distinct people from their beginning with Ishmael.

Compare Arabs and Jews:

          (1) Both descendants of Abraham;  (2) Both practice circumcision;  (3) Both originally had 12 patriarchs or heads of tribes and (4) Both marry among themselves.

A contrast:  Israel scattered — Deut. 28:64; Ishmael stayed at home — Gen. 16:12.

          The land promised to Abraham and his seed is given in Genesis 17:6‑8:  "And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.  And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

          Also in Genesis 22:16‑18:  "And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:  that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."  The stars of the heaven and the sand which is upon the seashore indicates a heavenly and earthly phase of Christ's Kingdom.  In Jeremiah 31:31 God promised to make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  When this covenant is established with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, He will bless them and through them "all the families of the earth."

          The Ishmaelites too will be blessed thru the nation of Israel.  "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee:  Behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." (Gen. 17:20)

          In Isaiah 2:2,3 we read:  "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

          The Jews are to be gathered from the four corners of the earth where they have been dispersed until God gathers them by the hunters and fishers. (Jer. 16:16)  "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isa. 11:12)

          The headquarters of the Kingdom will be Jerusalem and from there flow throughout the world.

          God did not promise Ishmael and his seed the land of Canaan.  Isaac and his seed were promised the land from "the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." (Gen. 15:18‑21; Ex. 23:31; Deut. 1:7,8; 11:24; Ezek. 48:1‑29)

          A similar picture is presented in the two sons of Isaac:  Jacob and Esau.  Saddam Hussein will be defeated eventually because God has promised Canaan to the Jews.  "He is faithful that promised." (Heb. 10:23)

(Reprint No. 495, by Brother Roy Ekroth)

           In the May 13, 2002, Time magazine there is a special report on “The Sinister World of Saddam.”

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NEW WAVE OF NORTH AMERICAN ALIYAH TO BEGIN NEXT MONTH

          “This July a planeload of almost 400 new immigrants may signal the onset of a new wave of American aliyah [immigration to Israel].  The large group - probably the largest single planeload of immigrants to arrive in Israel from countries other than Russia, Ethiopia and Yemen is sponsored by a new foundation that has set as its goal no less than to ‘ultimately change the face of North American Aliyah.’

          “The organization, Nefesh B’Nefesh - Jewish Souls United - was formed last year to ‘revitalize North American Aliyah and to expand it for generations to come by removing the financial, professional, social and logistical obstacles that are preventing many ‘would-be immigrants from fulfilling their dream.’  Co-founder Tony Gelbart specifies: ‘There indeed are hundreds of individuals [and families with] student debts, loans, tuitions, etc., and by the time they pay off their debts, they and their children are already too settled in their communities to make Aliyah.  We decided to eliminate those hurdles.’

          “The organization, wishing to ‘send an unmistakable signal of North American-Israeli Jewish solidarity and joint determination to strengthen the State of Israel,’ awards financial grants based on financial need to potential immigrants.  Those who remain in Israel for three years or more need not repay the monies at all.  Some 535 people have gone or are going through the Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah process.

          The financial assistance granted to Nefesh B’Nefesh recipients comes from private, corporate and foundation donations.  One group in particular, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), contributed $2 million to the cause.  ‘When we presented the project to IFCJ founder, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein,’ Gilbert said, ‘he pledged his support without hesitation.’

          Nefesh B’Nefesh also assisted in alleviating aliyah obstacles such as housing, jobs, social acculturation and the like, in cooperation with established aliyah organizations, the Jewish Agency, and government of Israel.  Co-founder and Executive Director Rabbi Joushua Fass stated, ‘Imagine people all over the globe understanding that Israel is not just a haven for those who are fleeing, but that Israel itself is a primary choice for those who have alternatives, current stability and comfort.  This plane will hopefully send an unmistakable message of solidarity to Israel citizens… and it will send an unquestionable message to all of our friends and relatives in North America that they can do it too.  This is the first plane of many to follow.’”  (Arutz 7, from Bridges of Peace, June 14, 2002)

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          “Russian Woman’s Sight Restored:  Titana Sofanova, a non-Jewish woman who was blinded when she attempted to uproot a booby-trapped sign reading, ‘Death to the Jews,’ has been cured by Israeli doctors.  She was traveling on a highway near Moscow with her mother and daughter when she saw the sign.  Offended by the message of hate, she stopped the car and tried to uproot the sign - and the ensuing explosion sent shrapnel into her right eye and caused bleeding in the left eye; and she was left practically sightless.  The Union of Jewish Communities in Russia decided that this humanitarian case was its responsibility and arranged an all-expense-paid trip to the Ophthalmologic Department of Tel HaShomer Hospital in Israel, where in fact doctors were able to restore her eyesight.  Philanthropist Lev Levayev told Arutz 7 today, ‘This was an act of courage by a non-Jew, and for sure, we and the entire People of Israel are obligated to this woman.’  Levayev said that all her family’s needs related to this incident would be covered.”  (Arutz 7, from Bridges of Peace, June 14, 2002)

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          “Inquisition Queen:  Spanish Jewish community leaders are rightsizing a proposal by the majority of the country’s 80 Roman Catholic bishops to move ahead with the canonization of Queen Isabella I, who with her husband, King Ferdinand V, established the Spanish Inquisition and subsequently expelled all Jews in 1492.”

(World Jewry, April 2002)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brethren:  Warmest greetings in His precious Name!

          I am glad to send you this report about an experience that the Bausches had a few weeks ago in Israel.  One of the Arabs killed in the suicide bombing of a café in Haifa was the nephew of a good Arab friend of theirs.  Lev and Hava went to the funeral and tried to be a comfort to the family, whom they had known and visited for some years.

          What impressed Lev and Hava Bausch that they communicated to me had to do with the reaction of their Arab friend, the uncle of the young man killed in cold blood at the Haifa café, operated, incidentally, by Arabs.  (It seems that many Arabs of the Galilee are involved in the restaurant business in Israel.)

          The uncle told Bausches that he “hated” the suicide-bomber (even though he was a fellow Arab!).  Lev had had arguments, friendly, with this Arab friend over the years about the Palestinians, so it surprised Lev that now the Arab friend expressed hatred for the suicide-bomber. 

          Lev said to him, somewhat humorously, “Why, you are becoming half Jewish!”  “No,” replied his Arab friend, “three-quarters.”

         Of course, it proved that a change of heart could take place in an Israel-Arab citizen, but sadly, at what cost.  We often wonder why the Lord permits these horribly tragic massacres in Israel, which, by the way, have opened the eyes of many Jewish Israeli to the futility of being kind to their Arab neighbors.  That is why, especially since the cruel Passover bombing in Netanya, some 85% of the Israeli support Ariel Sharon and his policy of routing out the murderers in various “West Bank” cities.

         Yet they are “kind” to the Palestinians, foregoing an easier way of destroying the terrorists by bombing them from the air, instead going in on foot, soldier by soldier, to save civilian lives, even though the Israeli solders, in turn, lost many of their own men.  An article from The Jerusalem Post points up the sensitivity of the Israeli soldier encountering bobby-trapped houses in those Arab towns, yet having time to hand food and water to beleagured civilians.

         Lev and Hava Bausch continue to be valuable ambassadors for Bible Students by living in Israel.  Pray for them and support them.  Their bed-and-breakfast business is down drastically.

Yours for the peace of Jerusalem, Elva Lanowick       (FLORIDA)       

NO. 541 HEROS OF FAITH

       Abraham, an Ancient Worthy, was styled "The Father of the Faithful" — not because Noah and Enoch and Abel had not been faithful, but because with Abraham God started a faith family to whom were given many and great promises.  That family became known as the nation of Israel, and latterly as Spiritual Israel.  Again, Abraham was the father of the faithful, because while the heroes that preceded him exercised faith in God, it was more along abstract lines, whereas the Divine revelation to Abraham was the Gospel, the good tidings in definite form — that in and through his Seed all the families of the earth should receive a blessing.  Thus the Apostle declares that God preached in advance the Gospel to Abraham, and thus all who believe that Gospel, of which redemption by Messiah is the essential, all such are called "the children of Abraham," and he is spoken of as their father, the one through whom this Gospel hope was caused to descend.

        But in still another sense Abraham was the Father of the Faithful:  in the sense that he typified the heavenly Father, as Isaac typified our Lord Jesus, and as Isaac's bride, Rebecca, typified the elect Gospel Church.

        Abraham's call of God was the result of his having faith in God and because he lived at an appropriate time for the Divine purposes to begin to be expressed.  First his faith was tested by the Divine command that he leave his native country to wander up and down through Palestine as a shepherd, dwelling in tents without any fixed habitation, without any attempt to take possession of the land and to establish himself in it by building fortresses, etc.  The promise was that in after times God would bring his posterity to this land and give it to them for a possession.

        The promise went further and declared that if obedient the Lord's blessing would continue and that the seed of Abraham would become great and influential and that through it all nations would receive a blessing — and by implication all would come under its control.  It required great faith to believe all this under the circumstances.  And the test continued, as, year-by-year, Abraham's wife grew older, until the time of motherhood was long past.  Still we read that Abraham's faith "wavered not."

        Still later, after Isaac the son of promise had been born and had grown to manhood, the Lord tested the faith of this wonderful man by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice.  We are not to assume that this instruction was given by any mere impression of the mind, nor would it have been proper for Abraham to have accepted and acted upon anything short of an absolute demonstration of the Divine will in such a matter.  The father love, the hopes of years, and apparently the Divine Word and Oath were all about to be wrecked.  Yet his faith "faltered not," for he accounted that God was able to raise his son from the dead and that surely God would fulfill His every promise to which He had bound Himself, not only by His Word, but also by His Oath.

        While we exclaim, Wonderful faith! let us remember that this was the very quality of Abraham which specially commended him to the Almighty as His particular friend.  And let us remember that if we would have the particular friendship and blessing and fellowship of the Lord this is the channel through which it is to be sought — the channel of faith, of trust, of obedience.  "Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. 11:6)  The more faith we have the more pleasing we shall be in the Lord's sight and the more we may be used of Him as channels of blessing to others — however imperfect we may be in other respects.

        And here it is worthy of note that Abraham was not perfect in every respect.  On two occasions he was reproved by heathen kings and shown in some respects to have less lofty ideals, in one particular at least, than they would have given him credit for.  Nevertheless, God did not reject Abraham because of those imperfections.  Indeed, possibly those imperfections were partially the result of Abraham's endeavor to hold on to the Divine promises and to do everything in his power to bring them to fruition.  He knew that the Divine promise was that his child, who should be the channel of God's blessings to the world, would be the son of Sarah; hence he felt that he must not jeopardize either her life or his own.  This very desire to do nothing to interfere with the Divine promise may have had something to do with apparent weaknesses (Gen. 20).

"THE CITY WITH FOUNDATIONS"

        When the Apostle declares that Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10), we must not think this to mean that in his journeying throughout Palestine, he expected some day to come upon a newly-built city of Divine construction.  Nor should we think with some others that Abraham was looking for the New Jerusalem to come down from heaven — a city built of literal precious stones with gates of literal pearls.  No, Abraham knew nothing about that city, for nothing respecting it had yet been revealed.

        A city, in olden times, stood for and represented a fortification, a government, a rule of authority.  Abraham realized that the earth was full of sin and violence and out of harmony with God.  He knew that Enoch, his ancestor, a man of God, had already prophetically declared that Messiah would come, the representative of Jehovah, and establish a Government, a Kingdom, a City of Righteousness.  He longed for that righteous government and realized that its foundation of righteousness would be deeply laid, and that it would be an everlasting Kingdom.  He knew that occasionally a monarch came to an earthly throne possessed of good intentions and partially able to exercise these, but that soon his throne, his kingdom, crumbled and passed to others.

        Abraham, therefore, was not in sympathy with any in his day, nor since, in looking for an earthly kingdom, but he was looking beyond all these for the Kingdom of God's dear Son — the Millennial Kingdom.  His eye of faith looked down and beheld Messiah and the exaltation of Israel and the blessing of all the families of the earth during the Millennial Day.  Our Lord Jesus attested this, saying, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day [the Millennial Day of Christ's reign] and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)  The Jews misunderstood our Lord to mean that He had been with Abraham.  Others misunderstand Him to mean that Abraham saw by faith His work of sacrifice.  It is true that our Lord did appear to Abraham.  It is true that in a certain sense Abraham foresaw the sacrifice of Christ in the typical sacrifice of Isaac, but it is also true that "the Day of Christ" is the Millennial Day for the world's blessing and that it was that which Abraham saw and which gladdened his eye of faith.

        We also see the same; and, sharing the same faith, we share the same joy and gladness of hope and expectancy.  We indeed discern still more clearly than Abraham of what that city or Kingdom consists — that our Lord will be the great King, the Head over the Church His Body (His Members, His Bride) and that this Bride, the Lamb's Wife, is pictured symbolically in the New Jerusalem, whose foundation stones in glory will be "the twelve apostles of the Lamb." (Rev. 21:2,11-14)  We see more clearly than did Abraham (because guided by the Holy Spirit through the Word) that the Ancient Worthies will be the earthly channels or agents through which this Heavenly City will send forth its blessings to Israel and to all the families of the earth.  As it is written, "Ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom." (Luke 13:28)  Christ and His elect spiritual Bride will not be seen by men except as we now see our Lord, with the eye of faith.

"SHE JUDGED THE PROMISER FAITHFUL"

        We are glad that Abraham's wife is specifically mentioned in this list of faith heroes.  It helps us to thoroughly grasp the Apostle's thought that the distinction of sex does not operate to the disadvantage of either male or female in connection with the Divine promises.  Perhaps it cannot be said that Sarah's faith did not falter, but if it wavered for a time it certainly was recovered.  Although she was past the age of motherhood she believed God.  "She judged him faithful who had promised." (Heb. 11:11)  Thus she was counted in with the noble list of whom the Apostle says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises [the things promised], but having seen them afar off [with the eye of faith] and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers in the earth." (Heb. 11:13)

          Ah, yes, here is an important feature.  It is not sufficient that we see glorious things of the Divine purpose, not sufficient that we believe them, not sufficient that we rejoice in them.  We must be willing also to stand the test of being strangers and pilgrims in the present time.  Those who cannot stand this test will not be accounted worthy of a share in those glorious things.  Those Ancient Worthies, unsatisfied with any of the earthly prospects, sought the heavenly — not in the sense that the Saints sought the heavenly, the spiritual things — in the sense of hoping for the completion of a change of nature from earthly to spiritual.  They sought or desired the heavenly in the sense expressed in our Lord's prayer.  They wished God's Kingdom to come, to be established in the earth — a heavenly rule of righteousness, a heavenly city or government.  "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city" (Heb. 11:16) — He has planned such a heavenly Kingdom or dominion as they hoped for.  That Kingdom, the Scriptures assure us, will eventually be the "desire of all nations." (Hag. 2:7)

ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, MOSES

        We pass along the aisles of the hall of faith-fame and note the pictures to which the Apostle calls our attention — of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses.  Each one has distinctions, characteristics and peculiar traits; but the quality of faith foundation in them all is that which makes them the people of God — those He is well pleased to acknowledge and to whom He has already promised blessings in the future because of their faith.  If anything would inspire God's people to a cultivation of the grace of faith it surely would be a walk through this portrait gallery of the Faith Heroes of the past.

        Isaac showed his faith in the Abrahamic promise in that he conveyed with full confidence the Abrahamic blessing to his son Jacob; and none the less did he manifest faith in that promise when he gave a blessing also to Esau, realizing that under that original promise all the families of the earth to be blessed must include the family of Esau also.  Jacob, exercised by faith in the promise made to his grandfather Abraham, manifested it in the ordering of all of the affairs of his life.  Especially was it manifested on his deathbed when, after giving special blessings to the sons of Joseph, he worshipped God, leaning upon the head post of his bed (translated staff in the common version).  He recognized that the blessings that were to come to his family was all under Divine supervision and all included in the original promise made to Abraham.  He further signified his faith by giving directions respecting his burial, that it should not be in Egypt, but in Canaan, the Land of Promise, which was Israel's by faith only.

        Joseph gave many manifestations of his faith in God.  Not only as a boy, but also while in Egypt he clearly demonstrated his faith in the promise of God that Israel was to be the blessed people through whom the blessing of the Lord would eventually, in co-operation with Messiah, reach all the nations of the world.  By faith he gave direction that when Israel would leave the land of Egypt for Canaan they should not forget to take with them his bones. 

This does not necessarily imply that he thought the bones and the dust that had once constituted his entity would be necessary to God in his resurrection, but it does signify that he would thus testify his faith in a resurrection of the dead — his faith that he would participate in the blessings that would come to Israel through the Messiah.

"THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES"

        In various ways did Moses testify his faith in God, but in none of them, perhaps, in a more remarkable fashion than in renouncing the privileges of the throne of Egypt, to which he was by adoption the heir.  He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of the Abrahamic promise than to dwell in luxury with the others.  The people of Israel were the people of the Messiah, the people of Christ; hence in associating himself with them he was showing his esteem for the reproaches of the Anointed.  Indeed, faith marks every step of the progress of Moses in Divine favor and service.

        "He endured as seeing him who is invisible." (Heb. 11:27)  How graphically this describes the matter and how true it is today as well as then that the endurance of trials and testings is only possible to those who have the eye of faith — to those who can see invisible things, things invisible to others:  especially those who can see the invisible King of Glory and His, as yet, invisible Kingdom!  It was through faith also that he instituted with Israel the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, though we have no reason to suppose that to any considerable extent it was possible for him to comprehend the real meaning of the passover and the antitypical significance of the blood and its sprinkling.  His faith again was demonstrated in the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea.  His obedience matched his faith in all these matters.

        While we stand in awe at the presence of so great faith, nevertheless we are encouraged thereby, because we realize that perfect faith is possible to us, although perfect works are not.  Let us, then, hold fast by faith to the Divine promises and continue to walk by faith and not by sight, until, by and by, our change shall come and we shall enter into the realities of which now we have only the promises.

"BY FAITH THE HARLOT RAHAB"

        It is incomprehensible to the world, and an astonishment to the faithful, that in so many ways the Scriptures show that God is no respecter of persons — that He has not been choosing out exclusively the great or the wise or the good, but, on the contrary, has been choosing the sincere, the honest, the faithful, notwithstanding lowliness of birth, natural blemishes and imperfections.  Truly does the Lord say, "My ways are not as your ways, nor my plans as your plans." And truly did our Redeemer say that publicans and harlots should go into the Kingdom in preference to faithless, self-righteous Pharisees.  How glad we are that in God's providence the Apostle mentions Rahab and her faith, and how the Lord appreciated it and rewarded it!  Surely there is a lesson here that should be well marked and inwardly digested by every one of us, not only for our own encourage­ment, but also for our guidance in respect to others.  It is in full conformity with the Apostle's statement that God is choosing some of the "mean things of the world" in the present time to ultimately confound some of the greater and mightier and less faithful and obedient.

        After giving us this wonderful galaxy the Apostle seems to realize that he has only well begun the list.  He declares that time would fail him to mention other faithful characters which have had God's approval, such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith won victories, wrought righteousness, secured promises, etc.  In every case the faith was tried, sometimes by cruel mockings and scourgings and sometimes by bonds and imprisonments.  Some were stoned.  Some were sawn asunder.  Some were homeless wanderers, desolate of earthly comforts, afflicted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy.

"NOT PERFECTED WITHOUT US"

        After pointing us to these glorious heroes the Apostle intimates that they are a different class from the disciples of Christ of this Gospel Age.  They all died in faith, not receiving the things promised them, because God had provided something still better for the Saints and had arranged that they could not get their blessing until the Saints should first have received theirs.

        What is this wonderful thing that belongs to the Saints, separate and distinct from what belongs to them?  We answer that the Saint's blessing, like theirs, is a faith blessing and reward and not a reward of works.  The Saint’s blessing is superior to theirs because Jesus the Messiah has come, has given His life, has been highly exalted — and because the Saints were called to membership in His Body, the Body of Christ, the Body of the great High Priest, the Body of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Body of the Mediator between God and mankind.  This matter of their call to another plane of being as the associates of the great Messiah is the "hidden mystery" not previously revealed.  It is indeed "some better thing for us" — as much better as the heavenly inheritance is better than the earthly one.  The Ancient Worthies, whose glorious career we have been considering and praising, must wait until the spirit-begotten class shall be born from the dead in the First Resurrection; then they shall receive their blessing of resurrection to the earthly plane, to be the earthly representatives of the Heavenly City, Heavenly Kingdom, and to share in a very particular way in the bestowment of God's blessing to Israel and to all the families of the earth.

        They all through the fall were imperfect and hence "children of wrath, even as others," (Eph. 2:3) and so were the Saints.  But they and the Saints were willingly and intentionally and at heart in accord with the Lord and His righteousness as the majority of mankind are not:  hence they have been enabled to hear God's voice, speaking peace and blessings to the willingly obedient.  The Ancient Worthies responded to the extent of the privileges and blessings that were then tendered, proffered, available.  And those of the Gospel Age have heard and responded to the still higher blessings and privileges of the High Calling of this Gospel Age.

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

        The Ancient Worthies were not justified by a Covenant nor by a Mediator.  Neither were we.  Both are justified by faith.  They with ourselves come under the Abrahamic Covenant, which had no mediator and needed none, because made only with those of similar faith and heart desires to those of father Abraham.  Although some of these heroes lived during the Jewish Age they were not justified by their Law Covenant but by their faith, for the Law Covenant made nothing perfect because of the inefficiency of its mediator; neither were any of them justified by Israel's New (Law) Covenant, for it has not yet been inaugurated.

        The Anointed (Christ, Head and members) is the Mediator of the New Covenant.  The Law Covenant was between God and the one nation of Israel, which it was proposed should first be blessed and made holy and granted eternal life and then become the channel of blessing to all other nations who would come into harmony with God by an acceptance of Israelitish obligations.  That Covenant failed because its mediator Moses was unable to give life to anyone except in a typical sense temporarily.  The New Covenant is to be between God and Israel and the World — between God and men.  The Mediator is spiritual, but He does not mediate between God and a spirit-begotten class.  He is a mediator for men with God.  Hence the Church has no mediator, needs none, for the Church is not composed of those who are of human nature, but only of those who are begotten of the Holy Spirit and members of the New Creation.  These are Members of the Mediator that need no mediator.  Because of their imperfections of the flesh, because they cannot do the things that they would, they need an Advocate, and they have one, "Jesus Christ the Righteous."

        After the Body members of the great Mediator Christ shall have been called and chosen and found faithful; then will come the time for the blessing of the Ancient Worthies, to whom will come the privileges and blessings of Abraham's seed according to the flesh.  Through them God's blessing of the New Covenant will proceed, during the Millennial Age, to every creature:  granting to all the fullest opportunities of reconciliation and eternal life.

        Throughout the Millennial Age those Ancient Worthies, as the earthly representatives of the heavenly Mediator, will in a sense be deprived of the bliss which would properly belong to those tried and found worthy.  For a thousand years they will serve the imperfect race as rulers, instructors, uplifting priests, in contact with imperfect humanity, assisting them back to harmony with God and to all that was lost.

        Is it asked what reward will be granted to these Ancient Worthies for the labor accomplished during the Millennium in the uplifting of the world?  We reply that the privileges of such a labor for mankind would of itself be quite a sufficient reward; but certain things in the Scriptures seem to imply that these Ancient Worthies will at the close of the Millennium receive a still further blessing, namely, that they will be changed from human to spirit nature.

        This is not distinctly stated in the Bible, but merely may be inferred.  We have already seen that these faith heroes who preceded the Gospel Age were typically represented by "the red heifer" which was burned without the camp and whose ashes served to sprinkle the unclean.  We have also seen that as a class these were represented as members of the tribe of Levi.  In other words, the household of faith, as typified in the tribe of Levi, was represented in times past as well as now.  And it was from that "Household of Faith" that during this Gospel Age the antitypical priests were called, chosen and found faithful.  We have seen that all who will constitute the "Royal Priesthood" and all who will constitute the "Great Company" were originally represented in this "Household of Faith," typified by the Levites.

        We have seen that the "Little Flock" and the "Great Company" both made consecration with a view to becoming sacrificing priests, but that only the few who lived up to the terms and conditions of self-sacrifice will win the prize of membership in the High Priest's Body — membership in The Christ — membership in the Mediator of the New (Law) Covenant.  Of the remainder, some drew back completely and died the Second Death, while others, neither drawing back into perdition nor going forward into voluntary sacrifice, will be developed, proven, tested by the judgments of the Lord and be found worthy of life on the spirit plane as conquerors with palm branches, but not as "more than conquerors" with crowns.  The justified who fail to go on to consecration pass back and become part of the world, while the consecrated who fail to go on to voluntary sacrifice nevertheless maintain their justification as New Creatures because in their testing they prove true.

        Thus the "Great Company" of this Gospel Age and the faith heroes of preceding times still remain members of the "Household of Faith," the antitypical Levites; while the "Little Flock" of crown-wearers, belonging to the same household of antitypical Levites, passes on to the position of "Royal Priesthood" in glory.  During the Millennium some of those antitypical Levites (the "Great Company") will serve on the spirit plane, while others, the Ancient Worthies, the faith heroes of ancient time, will be serving on the earthly plane.  What is more reasonable than to suppose that when their service upon the earthly plane shall have ended the latter class also will be received to the heavenly plane?  This thought is confirmed by the fact that the typical Levites were granted no inheritance in the land — the earth.  Thus in advance God intimated that they were to have no earthly inheritance — but a spiritual one.

        In Revelation 20:7-9 we are informed that at the close of the Millennial Age Satan will be released from restraint and permitted to bring temptation upon the restored world; and that some of mankind under his false teaching will become rebellious against the Divine authority and "go up and encompass the camp of the saints and the beloved city."  This camp of the saints seems to symbolically tell us that even at the close of the Millennial Age, when all mankind shall have reached perfection of human nature (or, failing to do so, shall have been destroyed in the Second Death), there will still be a distinction between this camp of the Holy Ones and mankind in general.  Why the distinction when all are perfected?  Because, we believe, the Divine intention was to show that even when mankind shall have reached perfection the Ancient Worthies will still in some sense be separate and apart from the remainder of the perfect race.  It is at that time that we understand the Ancient Worthies will be changed from earthly to heavenly organism.

"SO GREAT A CLOUD OF WITNESSES"

        The moral of our lesson is summed up in the first verse of Hebrews 12th chapter, in which the Apostle says, "Wherefore, seeing that we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [martyrs], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."

        What a grand exhortation!  Let us heed it!  Let us give faith its proper place.  Let us feed our faith upon the Word of God and upon all the Divine providences of our experiences in life as they daily come to us!  Let us thus follow in the footsteps of our great High Priest, the Captain of our salvation, our Leader, our Forerunner, whose sacrifice is the foundation for our faith and whose power in glory is to be its consummation. (From Our Most Holy Faith by Pastor Charles Taze Russell, May 1909, page 373)

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         In Reprint 5632 That Servant said the Kingdom was set up on September 21, 1914.  He also said in Reprint 1395:  “Were it not that the Lord has favored us with a share in the work of gathering out the bride and helping to make her ready for the marriage of the Lamb, we would be here in Jerusalem and, by the grace of God, would do a part in the great work now due of turning away blindness from Jacob (Rom 11:25).”

         Scriptural Chronology particularly marks 1914 as the end of the Gentile Times.  The   Saints were sealed in the forehead as World War I involved each country.  If only sealed in the heart they were counted in the 40-year Harvest. All saints participated in the execution of the judgments upon the nations that was taking place in 1915, Reprint 5632.  That Servant gave all the above.  If Bible Students believe in Pastor Russell’s teachings as given in the Reprints they would know if they are saints by whether they participated in the 1914 Smiting.  If they did not they are not Saints, and do not know “the day of thy visitation.” (Luke 19:44)

         Surely they do not think they are more faithful than some of the faithful Ancient Worthies who suffered more than many Saints, who will be greatly honored in the Kingdom and later in heaven.  Like the angels the Ancient Worthies will have eternal life.  One is a Saint because there was a time and season for the gathering of the saints.  When it was due time for the appointment of That Servant the Lord gave him the mission of gathering the Saints “together” as it was the only time the Saints were gathered together in one unit.  It was in the Gospel Age Harvest that the Saints were gathered together.

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

My dear Emily,

         I was thinking of you today and wanted to drop you a line.  You are such a very special lady.  I talked with Clarence.  He is leaving tomorrow to go on a trip through Pacific Ocean nations starting at Hong Kong on down ending up in Australia and New Zealand.  It will be a four-week trip.  I am amazed people are inviting him to speak on Israel.  God is moving in hearts today.  Though it looks bleak, our future is secure.  I pray this finds you stronger and enjoying life.  When Marjorie called for you, I was touched and wrote on the computer to Clarence that you were concerned.                        Love you, Ann                    (OKLAHOMA)

NO. 540 A REPORT OF EVENTS IN ISRAEL

          The following items on Israel are reports that one would not ordinarily get from the American Press and TV.

       “CONTEXT MISSING IN MEDIA REPORTS ON MIDDLE EAST:  Imagine for a moment that all reporting about the U.S. war on terrorism was presented without reference to September 11.  American attacks from the air using B-52s and F-16s against fighters armed with smaller weapons would seem quite disproportionate.  Our stated intention to kill as many members of al-Qaida as possible might be condemned, by our own Department of State, as ‘excessive’ and ‘contributing to the cycle of violence.’

       “But U.S. actions are never presented that way, because everyone acknowledges that we have the perfect right to defend ourselves against those who have done us grave harm.  Nor are we asked to sit by and wait for our enemies to do us even more catastrophic damage if they get the chance.

       “Daily threats:  But when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the context is removed.  Bleeding Israel is daily exhorted to stop contributing to the cycle of violence.  Her teen-agers are blown to bits at discotheques.

       “Her babies are approached outside a synagogue by a suicide bomber who waits until he is next to the strollers before blowing himself apart.

       “Her adolescent boys who wander off in the desert and get lost are torn to pieces.  And all of this is applauded and celebrated by Yasser Arafat and most of the Arab governments in the region.

       “Some Arabs (those among the minority who acknowledge that Arabs are responsible) condemned the bombing of the World Trade Center.  But not a single Islamic scholar or cleric has condemned the systemic policy of blowing up Israeli civilians.

       “Nearly every dispatch from the Middle East lacks basic context.  Here are some of the facts to keep in mind when reading these flawed reports.

•  “The PLO was not formed in order to secure a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza.  It was created in 1964, when both territories were under Arab sovereignty.  Jordan and Egypt did not create a state for the Palestinians because they preferred to keep the refugees angry and homeless.
• “It is not ‘Palestinian land.  There has never been an independent Palestinian state on the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.  The area - which always contained Arabs and Jews - was under Ottoman control for several hundred years until World War I, then British control under the League of Nations Mandate and finally under United Nations control. The United Nations approved a partition plan in 1947 that would have created two states, one Jewish and one Arab.  The Jews accepted this arrangement.  The Arabs refused.  Five Arab armies invaded the new state of Israel.  In the ensuing war, thousands of refugees fled.  Jews fled Arab nations for Israel, and Arabs fled Israel for Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.  The Jewish refugees became full citizens of Israel.  The Palestinian refugees became pawns.  Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza only because she was attacked again by five Arab armies in 1967.
• “If the Palestinians are fighting for a state on the West Bank and Gaza, why do their maps show Palestine as filling the entire territory that is now Israel?  Why do they marinate their people in Hitlerian anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism?  Further, why - when Ehud Barak offered just such a state, or 95% of it - did Arafat walk away and start this latest round of violence?  Palestinian spokesmen say it wasn’t everything they wanted.  But if they truly want a separate state on so-called ‘occupied territory,’ why did Barak’s offer not form the basis for further talks?
• “The Palestinians are said to be chafing under the ‘occupation.’  But in obedience to the Oslo process, Israel has given administrative authority over 98% of the Palestinians in the disputed territories to Arafat.  Israel has further permitted the Palestinian Authority to arm 40,000 ‘police.’
• “Why is it impossible for the Palestinian Authority to give Israel what Sharon has demanded - just three days of respite from terror attacks?”

(By Mona Charen, a columnist with the Creators Syndicate, Fresno Bee, March 15, 2002)

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ARAFAT’S ‘GOVERNMENT’ ALL PROMISES, PRETENSE

       “Gambling away the peace process on an insane war.  On July 1, 1994, Yasser Arafat entered Gaza to establish the Palestinian Autonomous Region - betwixt-and-between creation of the Oslo peace process that was supposed to become, under the guiding light of the Oslo peace process, the physical base of another ambivalent notion, the Palestinian National Authority.  I went as a reporter to Gaza a few hours before Mr. Arafat arrived, and I stayed there for about five weeks, observing the early days of life and governance under the Palestinian Authority.

       “Mr. Arafat’s entry into Gaza was an object lesson:  a purposely uncaring display of brute power.  He arrived from the Sinai in a long caravan of Chevy Blazers and Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, 70 or 80 cars packed to the rooflines with men with guns.  The caravan roared up the thronged roads and down the mobbed street, with the overfed, leather-jacketed, sunglassed thugs of Mr. Arafat’s bodyguard detail all the time screaming and shooting off their Kalashnikovs to make their beloved people scurry out of their beloved leader’s way.

       “This was the whole of the Palestinian Authority from the beginning, an ugly little cartoon of Middle East despotism, a tinpot’s tinpot of a regime.  There never was any pretense of democracy, of rule of law, of a free press, of a working system of taxes or courts or hospitals.  There never was any real government.  No one ever bothered to build an economy or create jobs or even pick up the trash or pave the streets.  There were only security forces - many, many of these - and villas by the sea for Mr. Arafat’s cronies, and millions of dollars in foreign aid that seemed to always turn up missing, and prisons and propaganda.  And in the middle of it all:  ‘President’ Arafat sitting in a room - surrounded by waiting sycophants and toadies and respectful ladies and gentlemen of the press - and complaining.

       “That summer, I saw only three serious efforts at establishing functioning government:  the imprisoning of free-speakers and potential democrats, which began immediately; the likewise prompt establishment of daily anti-Israel broadcasts, and a British-run program to train handpicked members of Mr. Arafat’s Fatah group in riot control.

       “Of course, there never was any real peace, Mr. Arafat had promised to disarm Hamas, Hezbollah and his own Fatah gunmen.  There is no evidence he ever seriously tried.  The terrorists resumed lethal operations against Israel within a month of Mr. Arafat’s arrival.  Between the day Mr. Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the deal that was to buy peace for Israel, and the day Mr. Arafat and Mr. Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize for that accord, Palestinian terrorists killed 90 Israelis.  In five years after Oslo, Palestinians killed more Israelis than in 15 years preceding the accord.

       “Meanwhile, Mr. Arafat’s government has exploited Israel’s permission to establish a police force to instead build a guerrilla army.  Several months ago, some of Mr. Arafat’s most senior lieutenants were identified as the architects of an attempt to import an entire shipload of rockets, arms and high explosives into Gaza.  In occupying Palestinian Authority offices this week in Ramallah, Israel plausibly claims to have discovered two container-loads of prohibited SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles and more than 200 LAW anti-tank missiles.

       “There is much that can be conceded in the issue of Israel and the Palestinians:  the Palestinians have, in their lost land, a great and real grievance; as a moral and practical matter, Israel should admit this, and should be willing to trade land for peace.

       “But this is the point:  Israel did concede these questions.  It has been nearly two years since Israel offered the Palestinians nearly all of the territories occupied in 1967.

       “Mr. Arafat’s response has redundantly proved his harshest critics right.  There never was any honest intent on the Palestinian part for peaceful coexistence with Israel; any more than there ever was any honest intent to establish a government in Gaza that would function toward that end and toward the creation of a decent life for the Palestinian people.  What the Palestinians seek - what Mr. Arafat has encouraged them to seek - is, as is now beyond dispute, the defeat and surrender of Israel.

       “Mr. Arafat and the Palestinians decided to gamble the peace process on a bet for bigger gains through war.  They bet - are betting still - that Israel, pushed beyond endurance by an unprecedented level of civilian deaths, would surrender to, in essence, the destruction of the Israeli state.  This is an insane bet.  It will end in the destruction of the experiment that Mr. Arafat subverted from the very first day.”

(By Michael Kelly, editor of National Journal, April 4, 2002)

       “Operation Defense Wall, as the Israeli army calls it, generated in its first days large-scale arrests of terror suspects as well as arms, munitions, and explosives.  In one location some 40 explosive belts of the sort used by suicide bombers were found.  In another place 600 rifles were seized in one building.

       “By last weekend the army had confiscated more than 1,200 weapons and a number of anti-tank rockets, mortars, and heavy machine guns.

       “The army estimated that 70 Palestinians were killed in the operation’s first five days and 150 wounded.  The army has arrested 1,250 suspects, 70 of them wanted for terror attacks against Israelis.

       “The army also said it found a crate of its own uniforms in Palestinian Preventative Security headquarters in Beitunya, northeast of Jerusalem not far from Yasser Arafat’s besieged headquarters, along with a cache of weapons, a few of which have been recovered so far.

       “At the end of a week’s ferocious fighting the Israeli army was in control of Ramallah, Kalkilya, Tulkarm, Behtlehem, Jenin, most of Nablus, and other towns.  By then, the diplomatic machinery was hard at work in an effort to bring Israel’s drive to a halt.”

(Jerusalem Post, April 12, 2002) 

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THE UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR MIRACLES

       “James McDonald, the first U.S. ambassador to Israel, once said Israeli policy-makers tend to rely on a certain percentage of miracles in their planning.

       “That same tendency has overtaken Israelis across the political spectrum.  Reeling from a seemingly unending spate of suicide bombers and series of incidents in which the Palestinians have bested the Israeli army, and seeing no way out of another 50 years of violence, they grasp at any and every straw.  On the same day, a majority of the public is capable of declaring its support for a return to the ’67 borders, if peace will be achieved, and the transfer of all Arabs across the Jordan.

       “I have heard both suggestions advanced by people of superb intelligence.  Yet both depend on miracles on the scale of those God did for our ancestors in Egypt.

       “The problem with returning to the 1967 borders for peace is that the return to those borders would of necessity precede peace, and would be irreversible whether or not peace followed.  The world would not recognize any form of terrorism against Israel as a causas belli.  Each incident would be attributed to Hamas or Hizbullah, and Israel would be told that the official Palestinian state must not be held responsible for rogue groups.

       “Palestinian demands do not and will not end at the 1967 border.  Arafat has repeatedly reaffirmed his strategy of conquest in stages, and as Camp David made clear, he has never prepared his people to live in peace with Israel within any borders.  Another generation of Palestinians has been indoctrinated in the belief that all of Israel is theirs, and that nothing could be more glorious than to die reclaiming it.  The last 19 months of war have only intensified Palestinian hatred for the Jewish state and upped the stakes for them.

       “Those who promised quiet on the northern border after Israeli flight from Lebanon have now been thoroughly exposed by the murder of six Israeli motorists by Hizbullah operatives last week.  And if the claim that Hizbullah would become a pussycat when it had ‘no more reason to fight’ was implausible, it is doubly so with respect to the Palestinians who have never renounced their claim to Israel from the Jordan to the Mediterranean.

       “Palestinians have continually cited Hizbullah’s successful guerrilla warfare against Israel as the noble precedent for their own current war, and another Israeli retreat within Israel itself would only confirm their conviction that Israel is weak and further whet their appetites.

       “The Karine A affare and the ongoing arms smuggling into the PA reveal that the promise of a demilitarized Palestinians state would not be worth the paper it was written on.  Perhaps in recognition of that, some Leftists now argue that no restrictions on armaments should be placed on the Palestinian state.

       “So war it will be, with Israel fighting from what Abba Eban called its pre-1967 ‘Auschwitz borders,’ against well-armed and determined foes.

       “Some ‘realists’ among those advocating withdrawal to the 1967 borders acknowledge this.  They prefer, however, a war for Israel’s very existence, in which everyone will fight, to a war today, in which as much as 30 percent of the country might not show up for what they would term a ‘War of Occupation.’  This is a rope-a-dope with a vengeance: Israel will make itself as weak and vulnerable as possible to fight with her back to the wall.

       “Those advocating transfer - the other popular nostrum - have to reckon with the fact that Israel doesn’t manufacture F-15s. Any attempt at transfer would place Israel in the same position as the Serbians and result in a complete American arms embargo.  To which transfer advocates respond: We will hint to America that if deprived of the means of defending ourselves, we will have no choice but do open-air testing of our nukes.  Well, that will certainly solve everything.

       “The common element behind these two plans is that they both rely almost entirely on miracles.  If we are relying on miracles anyway, my own more realistic suggestion is to admit that we are in the same position as our ancestors at the Red Sea.  Instead of hiding our faith via ostensibly practical solutions, let us openly proclaim our faith as did our ancestors.

       “The Talmud’s proposed solution to our current plight - If all Israel observes two Sabbaths in a row, the redeemer will come - is both easier and safer than all the alternatives being bandied about.  If we do that, maybe this Hebrew month of Nissan will again be the month of redemption.”

(In Good Faith, by Jonathan Rosenblum, The International Jerusalem Post, February 29, 2002)

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A SHORT, BLOODY WAR, THEN A WALL AROUND ISRAEL

       “No more hot and cold with the Palestinians.  ‘If you start to take Vienna - take Vienna.’ - Napoleon  Yes, military tentativeness is ruinous.  But what, for Ariel Sharon, is Vienna? 

       “Today’s war began 18 months ago when Yasser Arafat - a Goebbels echoed by gullible news media - said the violence he orchestrated was a spontaneous conflagration about Mr. Sharon visiting Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.  Now, the war may have become the first half of the only currently feasible formula for Israel’s self-defense - a short war, followed by a high wall.

       “Israel made the worst diplomatic miscalculation since Munich when it resurrected Mr. Arafat’s political life by bringing him back to Palestine from Tunisia a decade ago.  The culture of death that he assiduously has cultivated has produced a Palestinian population intoxicated with a pogrom mentality, and convinced that the results of 1948, not just 1967, can be reversed.

       “Israel’s policy of isolating Mr. Arafat in a room, clustered with a few henchmen around fluttering candles, is reasonable because it underscores his dependence on ‘world opinion,’ and especially Europe’s appeasement reflex, which is still strong 64 years after Munich.  But it is unreasonable to allow electricity into his compound.  Enabled to recharge his mobile phone, he continues to use the international media as his megaphone.

       “And when a gaggle of leftist European supporters of terrorists walks past Israeli tanks and into the compound, can Jesse Jackson be far behind?  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s once and perhaps future prime minister, can say of Mr. Sharon, as Teddy Roosevelt said of his successor, William Howard Taft, that he ‘means well, but he means well feebly.’

       “The United States, too, has a record of resisting the logic of its judgments.  ‘I think the PLO has proven that it is a terrorist organization,’ said President-elect Ronald Reagan.  But after his inauguration, he allowed the PLO to maintain its office a few blocks from the White House.

       “Less than two years ago, candidate Bush said:  ‘A few years ago on a trip to Israel, General Sharon took me on a helicopter flight over the West Bank.  And what a trip that was.  What struck me…is the tiny distance between enemy lines and Israel’s population centers.  The general said that before the Six-Day War, Israel was only 9 miles wide at its narrowest point.  In Texas, some of our driveways are longer than that.’

       “Note the words enemy lines.  Mr. Bush knows that no Israeli leader can accept restoration of those 1967 borders, which were accidents of war.  Consider some history.

       “It has been 84 years since Britain’s General Allenby defeated the Turks at Armageddon, dooming the Ottoman Empire and opening Palestine to Jewish immigration.  It has been 46 years since the Suez fiasco ended European attempts to fill the vacuum created by the Ottoman collapse.  The vacuum hasn’t been filled by the barely legitimate regimes of Arab nations, many of which are well-described as ‘tribes with flags.’

       “There is no basis in international law or historic practice for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s assertion that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is ‘illegal.’  Israel’s 1967 borders are armistice lines from 1948, when the Arab nations, rather than accept Palestinian statehood provided by U.N. resolutions and accepted by Israel, tried to destroy Israel.

       “The occupied territory on the West Bank is an unallocated portion of the Palestinian Mandate, to be allocated by negotiations.  Jordan was the military occupier from 1948 to 1967.  In 1951, Jordan tried to annex the West Bank, but no Arab nation recognized the annexation.  Israel took the West Bank when repelling aggression from there in 1967.  Under settled international practice, Israel is entitled to hold the land until made secure by negotiated arrangements.

       “But Arab nations have nurtured conditions inimical to regional stability, partly by the novel invention of four-generatic ‘refugee’ families.  In 1945, there were many millions more refugees in Europe than there were in the Middle East in 1948.  By 1950 Europe’s problem had ceased festering.  But 54 years after the founding of Israel, Palestinian ‘refugee camps’ - cities, actually - exist because Arab nations have been unwilling to absorb Palestinians and want cities that are hothouses for irredentist fanaticism.

       “Mr. Sharon reportedly wants to exile Mr. Arafat, the chief formentor of such fanaticism.  If so, why the tentativeness?  Mr. Sharon should ship Mr. Arafat to Europe, where there is much official sympathy for him.  Mr. Arafat would like today’s France, where he could place his phone calls by the light burning synagogues.”

(By George Will, who is a columnist for The Washington Post, April 4, 2002)

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UNDERESTIMATING ISLAM

       ”The Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo, an expert on Islamic history and politics, directs the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity in London and the Barnabas Fund, a charity.  Of Pakistani descent he grew up as a Muslim in Guyana, then converted to Christianity, eventually becoming an Anglican priest.  In November 2001, he was awarded the Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation.

       “I think we have a greater problem in Islam than we realize.  Much as I understand why politicians in the U.S. and UK have made the kinds of affirmatory statements they have made, I think time will show they have made a mistake.

       “In dealing with Islam, you have to tell the truth.  And you have to meet it head on.  It understands power and only power.  And so you have to know how to exercise power.

       “I believe we face a much greater threat from Muslim communities within our own countries than we realize.  What we are dealing with is the increasing radicalization of groups within our societies that would have their own agenda.

       “The Muslim world sees itself as under threat.  Far from being unified, it is heavily fragmented.  But there are certain challenges they will face [together].  And that is Western globalization, which they blame for everything.  Western neocolonialism arising out of old colonialism - that too, they blame for everything.  Their massive corruption of their own leadership structures, their autocratic leadership rules that exist - all of this has tended to create new forces within the Islamic world.

       “And the church opted for interreligious dialogue.  They desperately wanted a relationship with the Muslims.  So it meant the Christian minorities had to be sacrificed on the altar of community relations.

       “With the advent of Islam in the West, the Western countries have to come to terms with a minority and they didn’t know how to do it because of civil liberties.  We have got societies that are strong liberal democracies. Our own legal framework stops us from dealing with extremist religion.

       “Historically, Islam has never learned to live as a minority because its basis exists in power.  Therefore, how does it reconstruct itself in Western societies?

       “As for the church in the West, I see a real dilemma in that it works on the basis of pluralism.  Difficulties arise in three areas.  The first is the uniqueness of the Christian faith.  Can we hold onto uniqueness in the contest of pluralism in society?  And what if government and church leaders say, just for the sake of peace in our society, Christianity must sacrifice its unique role?  That is an issue already in Britain.

       “Secondly, there is the question of evangelism.  Will we have the right to evangelize Muslims?  The Samuel Zwemer Institute [an American missions organization] just said that since September 11, more than 34,000 North Americans have converted to Islam.  In Britain, phenomenal numbers are moving towards Islam.  It seems strange that a religion whose followers could propound such heinous crime has actually come out on top.  That is unanswerable.  Why is it that the church is losing ground and not Islam?

       “The third great question is conversion.  Islam sees conversion as a fundamental attack against their religion.  So will we have to deny that?  Overall, I think we are going into very difficult waters.  The question is what policies Western governments take vis-à-vis toward Islam?  I think we must drive Islam to have a reformation, which is what Salman Rushdie is saying, that Islam unreformed will be brutal and barbaric.  Its only future is in having a Martin Luther.  But the question is:  Who is going to be that leader?  And will he be allowed to survive?

       “If all the West does is support conservative Islam, then they are actually simply putting off the evil day.  The policy of the British government, the monarchy and the church has been to sell Islam.  In fact, the most conservative, rightwing paper, the Daily Telegraph, did a 16-page supplement on how wonderful Islam is.  And everyone accepted the article.  No one was allowed to criticize.  I was one of the few that did…I was simply massacred.  The only line permitted is that Islam is peaceful, it is tolerant, it is a wonderful religion.

       “If your president, your church - in our case the monarchy - if everyone sings in tune for the media, what is the average person in the street going to say?  We have sold a lie and people have bought it.

       “[British] Muslims realized at a very early stage [after September 11] they would capitalize on this.  They sent out a Koran, and Muslim holy books to every member of the House of Lords, to every member of the House of Commons… They swamped the country and they succeeded.  They then sent out their speakers.  Muslims have approached all churches and said, ‘Why don’t we instruct you on Islam?’  Now our government is considering creating a booklet on Islam for all institutes and structures to study.

       “Here I am highly critical of church leaders.  I think they failed their own country because they did not have the courage to break with what was going on and they did not have the insight to see what needs to be done.  The Muslims found a very vulnerable people who were open to their ideas.       Meanwhile, Christianity was painted in a particular light.  Melanie Phillips, writing in Britain’s Sunday Times, said that Christianity is the only religion that has extended itself through mission, colonialism and the Crusades.  In other words, Christianity was conceived as a white man’s religion - brutal, barbarous and evil - whereas Islam is a noble religion based on peace.

       “If I say the history of the West has been infinitely superior to [that of] the Muslim world; that freedom, democracy, human rights and religious liberty have come out of Christianity and the West; that we have something to offer the Muslim world - that is viewed critically.  How are we now going to educate the average person out there that there is something very good about the West and Christianity?”

(By The Rev. Patrick Sookhdeo, The Jerusalem Connection, March 2002)

________________________________________________

       “MATTHEW 21:43 AND THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL:  While giving several parables in Jerusalem, Jesus said, ‘Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it.’ (Matt. 21:43)

       “Matthew 21:33-46 is part of Jesus’ indictment of the religious establishment in Jerusalem, whose franchise to lead Israel would be forfeited to Matthew’s Christian Jewish community.  The ‘nation’ in verse 43 speaks of the Matthean community as an eschatological messianic remnant, whose leaders will replace the current Jerusalem religious establishment and lead Israel in bearing the fruit of righteousness to God.  Thus the parable of the recalcitrant farmers is about ethics, not ethnicity, and a Jewish remnant, not a Gentile replacement.  This remnant is pictured as a repentant son (v. 30), as responsible farmers (v. 41), and as responsive guests (22:9-10).  None of these parabolic details need be interpreted as speaking in ethnic terms.

       “Matthew 21:33-46 is a parabolic presentation of Israel’s rejection of the prophets, which is the reason for Jesus’ final pronouncement of woe on the scribes and Pharisees in 23:29-36 (cf. 5:12).  It should be noted that Jesus’ woes in Matthew 23 were pronounced on the fruitless religious leaders only after He had spoken to His disciples about a proper model for fruitful servant leadership in 23:1-12.  Surprisingly He acknowledged the authoritative office held by the leaders (vv. 2-3), but denied their role as proper models for ethical behavior.  A new group of leaders who would exemplify humble service to their brothers and sisters in God’s family was needed (cf. 20:20-28).  The new ‘nation’ of 21:43 would include these leaders.

       “The parable of the recalcitrant farmers should not be interpreted as a transferal of God’s redemptive program from the nation of Israel to the church.  To read this passage as Israel’s rejection and replacement by the Gentile church is to read into it a later theology of supersession.  Such a view is dubious exegetically and has contributed, perhaps unwittingly in some cases, to anti-Semitism.  The theology of supersession may not lead inexorable to the practice of anti-Semitism, but the connections are there in all too many cases in the history of the church.  A dubious view that also supports a theology that is often complicit in anti-Semitism should be rejected.

       “Matthew 21:33-46 should be interpreted as referring to a transfer of leadership in the kingdom from the fruitless Jerusalem religious establishment to the fruitful Matthean Christian Jewish community, led by Jesus’ apostles.  This community will be the eschatological remnant of Israel, which will continue its mission to Israel while expanding its horizons to all nations.  Although the church will eventually expand primarily by winning Gentiles to Jesus, its roots in the promises of God to the seed of Abraham must not be forgotten.  Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman - ‘Salvation is of the Jews’ - warrant repeating (John 4:22; cf 10:16; Acts 24:14, 28:20; Rom. 11:16-24; 15:7-13; Eph. 2:11-22; Rev. 21:12).”

(By David L. Turner, Bibliotheca Sacra 159, January-March 2002)

LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Emily and all other Brethren,

       We want to send our greetings to all of you from a beautiful green and flower spangled Galilee.  This has indeed been one of the longest and most beautiful springs we can remember in years.  This is due to the good rains we have had in January/February, then again over the Passover/Easter week, and even some wonderful latter rains last week.  It has kept the Galilee so green and you see the difference water makes for the land.  All has helped the Sea of Galilee as well although it is still lower than normal to start the dry season.

       How is your winter been there in Florida?  We hear from many areas of the U.S. that they are in drought conditions due to the dry and mild winter.  It seems Israel experiences things first and then it goes to the nations like our drought conditions and now in the States.  Also the terrorism has been with Israel a long time and now goes out to the nations.

       We do hope this finds you well, Emily, as well as all those there in your area.  Lev did not go down to the Dead Sea this spring for treatment for his skin, as it was a difficult time here.  So it was nice for me that he has been here this year.  However we have not been too busy with the Bed/Breakfast rooms except the week of Passover.  Not only are there very few tourists, but even local people are not traveling too much these days.

       March was a very difficult month here with over 125 killed in the suicide bombing attacks.  It got to the point that you did not want to hear the news as it was about attacks or more funerals.  In a small country like this it seems these touch everyone’s lives.  We were no exception as the bomber that blew himself up in Haifa on March 31st was at the restaurant run by the cousin of our cook at the YMCA.  We know all of this extended family well having worked with various ones of the family, visited in their homes in the village of Juran (between here and Nazareth), and shared many wedding celebrations with them.  So five from this Arab Moslem family were hurt in the blast, and the nephew of our cook was killed.  He was a young man of 30 years old leaving his wife eight months pregnant and a four year old boy.  So we went to the village during the mourning period (for Moslems this is for three days), and it was very sad.  They were very angry that these suicide bombers, as they just want to kill as many people as possible - Jews or Arabs.

       So with all these terrible attacks, and many deaths on a daily basis, Israel had to do something.  They declared war on the terrorists and went in to clear out the nests of terror activity that Arafat promised to do over and over.  There were so many weapons, bomb factories, etc, etc that they found.  It was indeed a set-up for war on the Israeli people, and still is.  How all the money spent on these weapons could have helped the Palestinian people!!

       Even though Israel was so careful to avoid civilian deaths, the world has jumped on the hate bandwagon of massacres.  Anything Israel does is bad, but the terrorists can go on and on killing with no U.N. resolutions passed against them.  We are seeing how fast the world can turn against Israel, and that the old spectre of anti-Semitism rises out of the dust with such shocking force in Europe once again!  The Israelis have been stunned by the events in so many nations of Europe not only against Israel, but also all Jews!!  They do feel alone again!

       Sadly the U.S. policy has been swinging back and forth with Bush’s statements of late.  I doubt he would pull out of Afghanistan now when he wants to “achieve his objective against the terrorists”!  Why is Israel not allowed the possibility to capture their enemies?

       Well, needless to say these are heavy times for all Israelis, but they do stay behind the Sharon government in their decisions to do something about the terrorists.

       Where are the Catholic Church and all the Christians now that the terrorists have taken over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem?  Not only have they taken hostages, stolen the holy things there and desecrated the church, but no one cares.  The blame comes on Israel for trying to prevent this.  A sick world!!

       That is why in these days we need to look up and be thankful for the hope of God’s plans and purposes.  Events are moving so fast now, and what a time to be living in to see God’s hand moving the affairs of Israel and all men!  So we indeed feel it is a time to be here to “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people!”  This they need and we can do with God’s Word!

       Thank you for your long and informative letter of January.  We are amazed that God gives you strength to continue on in His service!  Greetings to all there!

Love, Lev and Hava Bausch       (ISRAEL)

NO. 539B THE OATH-BOUND COVENANT SURE - HEBREWS 6:17-20

       The various covenants discussed in the Bible have been very well defined by the Harvest Messenger - That Servant; and a clear understanding of the covenants may be compared to a clear understanding of the Tabernacle.  If the covenants are clearly understood, the possessor of that knowledge is not likely to go very far astray from the Truth.  In fact, the Tabernacle is the central feature of the Law Covenant, which latter is typical of the New Covenant.  Every antitype is greater than its type; thus, we should expect the New Covenant to overshadow the Law Covenant as the sun outshines the moon.  Much of what follows is taken directly from past writings; but, not being word for word, we have omitted the quotation marks in much of it.

       The Old Covenant was unsatisfactory in its results; but the New Covenant will bless all the willing and obedient with eternal life.  There were two Old Covenants - the Grace, or Sarah Covenant, and the Law Covenant.  Which did the Apostle mean has become old, valueless, and would pass away and give place to the New Covenant?  Surely there can be no doubt on this point - he meant the Law Covenant, for he says so.  He did not mean the Grace or Sarah Covenant, for he points out that our claim to relationship with God is under that original Covenant. (Gal. 3:29)  Our Lord Jesus, by His obedience, became heir of all, heir of the original Covenant and heir also of the Law Covenant.

       Of the people there was none with Him, neither Jews nor Gentiles.  But by the Grace of God there was provision made, as we have seen, that any Jew, seeing that the Law Covenant was dead, nailed to the cross, might become betrothed to Christ.  They did not need to wait for the New Covenant, the provisions of which apply only to those on the earthly plane.  Instead, by a faith justification and a consecration unto death, they were counted worthy of begetting to the new nature - betrothed to Christ.  And similarly, Gentiles favored of God by the hearing ear and seeing eye of faith, were subsequently privileged to go through the same process, except that they did not need to reckon themselves dead to the Law Covenant, because they never were under it.  Otherwise, recognizing Christ’s death as the blood of the original Covenant, typified by Abraham’s offering up his son, these also were reckoned justified and, presenting their justified bodies to the Lord as sacrifices, they were begotten of the same Holy Spirit as the Jews, to be follow-members of the same Body - the Body of Christ.

       We come now to the other part of the question:  What provision has God made for those Jews who bound themselves under the Law Covenant, from Moses’ day down to the First Advent: and for those who since then have not discerned the death of the Law Covenant, and who will not be made aware of it until after the spiritual seed shall have been completed and glorified?  If they have not lost all share and privileges in connection with God’s special mercies, where do they come in?  We answer that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others before the Law Covenant were not bound by it, yet they were not in the fullest sense justified to life until the Abrahamic Covenant had been established at Calvary.  Their faith, then, entitles them to a share in the merits of that sacrifice.  Likewise throughout the period of the Law Covenant, before it was annulled at the cross, there were Ancient Worthies (Hebrews, Chapter 11) who lived by faith, living above the masses of their time, and who, although bound by the Law, had above it a living faith in the original Oath-Bound Grace Covenant.  These in the Divine records were entitled to their share of that Grace when the merit of Calvary’s sacrifice had been presented on behalf of believers, when Jesus “ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”  Although they lived while the Law Covenant was alive, they foresaw its death and trusted not in it, but in the superior Covenant of Grace.  They realized that no matter how much they tried, they could not keep the Law Covenant, because of inherited human frailty.  Hence these in due time will come forth to a life resurrection - not because of their relationship to the New Covenant, of which they knew nothing, but because of their relationship to and faith in the original (Sarah) Covenant of Grace.  Thus the Scriptures account for the faithful ones of the past under the Covenant of Grace.  (See Hebrews, Chapter 11)  But what now shall we say respecting those earthly Israelites, who lived not on that higher plane of faith, but of whom the Apostle says, “Our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come unto this promise.” (Acts 26:7)  Were they all deceived?  Will they get those special blessings?

       God’s Gifts and Callings Sure - Romans 11:29,32:  Nay, we answer, “the gifts and callings of God” are things not to be repented of.  He knew the end from the beginning - knew exactly what Israel would be and do, and was not disappointed; and all of the plans and promises to that nation were made from the standpoint of this knowledge.  Although the chief feature of the Sarah Covenant was secured by our Lord Jesus as a trophy of His victory over sin and death, and although He laid down His human nature completely to this end, nevertheless, the Divine arrangement is such that the blood of Christ, the merit of His sacrifice of all earthly things, must accrue to the benefit of the natural seed of Abraham, because it all goes to seal the New Covenant, which belongs exclusively to fleshly Israel.

       Thus, while natural Israel had been counted enemies for our sakes, for the Gospel’s sake, our only opportunity for gaining the great prize is in connection with the sealing of a New Covenant between God and Israel.  (Jer. 31:31-33)  How beautifully the features of the Divine program balance!  Their loss was our gain, and our gain through sacrifice becomes their gain; and, altogether, the Lord will be glorified!  As already shown, the New Covenant will not be sealed, ratified, until the sacrifice of The Christ shall have been finished.  And the finishing of these sacrifices closes the work of this great Day of Sacrifice and Atonement.  With the second presentation of the blood of Atonement in the Most Holy, at the end of this Age, the New Covenant with Israel will be sealed and the blessing of the Lord will begin to Israel.  “For this is my Covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:27)

ABRAHAM’S TWO SEEDS

Not only did the original promise indicate two seeds of Abraham - one as the stars of heaven, and the other as the sands of the sea - but St, Paul elaborated this thought, saying of the promise, “It is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all [including you who are Romans]; as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.” (Rom. 4:16)  “Salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22)

We have seen how Abraham, as a type of God, is the father of the spiritual seed and how through Christ by provision of the New Covenant, the Jewish nation, dead under the Law Covenant, is to be regenerated by The Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant; and that this regeneration will commence at the close of this Gospel Age and the opening of the Millennial Age.

But these are only two - “the [Church] holy nation,” and the (Jewish) chosen nation.  How do all nations come in?  It will not do to say the Body of Christ, the bride class, fulfils this prophecy, because, although they were taken out of the nations, they are not all nations, and do not represent all nations.  Each first died to his earthly estate and nationality before he was begotten of the Holy Spirit - to be a member of the Holy nation, the New Creation - a member of spiritual Israel (Rev. 7:4).  The Scriptures distinctly show that Christ and His Church, spirit beings, must constitute the Kingdom class, but they also show that the Worthies, and through them the nation of Israel under the New Covenant, will become the representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom amongst men.

HOPE FOR MANY NATIONS

Since God’s favors are thus marked out for the Heavenly and Earthly seeds of Abraham - the earthly through the heavenly - it follows that the blessing of the other nations will come about through their affiliation with these.  In other words, we may understand that the Divine Government established in Israel in the hands of the Worthies will be the center of Divine favor, and the people of other nationalities must come to this center for their supplies of Truth and Grace.  Thus the Prophet represents the matter, saying, “Many nations shall go and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain [Kingdom] of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth from Mount Zion [the spiritual kingdom] and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem [the center of the earthly kingdom].” (Micah 4:2)

And thus all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues shall be brought gradually to an appreciation of the Divine plan, they shall all be blessed with restitution privileges and opportunities and with an enlightenment from the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, which then through the appointed channels (the Worthies and natural Israel) will be flooding all the earth.  Thus will the original Covenant have its amplified fulfillment; first, in The Christ, the spiritual Israel; secondly, under the New Covenant with Israel after the flesh; and through these bless all the families of the earth, so that all the willing and obedient may gradually attain to the standards of the children of God and be possessed of the “liberties of the sons of God” - freedom from sin, sorrow, pain and death (Rev. 21:4).  As the Old Law Covenant was with Israel only, so the New (Law) Covenant will be with Israel only.  Other nations will share it by becoming Israelites, “Proselytes of the gate,” not under the Old but under the New Covenant (Ezek. 16:60,61).

Perversions - Past and Present - Often have we directed attention to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement regarding their attempt to displace the Jews as the chief earthly class among Restitutionists under the New Covenant and the Worthies.  During the Dark Ages the Roman Church pursued much the same policy - except with much more force and abuse.  Often they concentrated persecution against the Jews - much the same as they did against the Gentile Christian protesters.  But in recent years, recognizing that their dominion is tottering, they are beginning to read the unmistakable “handwriting on the wall” - and their attitude toward the Jews has softened considerably.

However, there are other “Christian” organizations besides the above making themselves heard in our day by their antagonism toward the Jew.  Just recently one such sect returned our paper on the Jewish situation, with which they enclosed one of their booklets.  They take caustic exception to our Scriptural interpretation concerning the present and future status of the Jews.  Here is a little of what their booklet contains:

“The evidence proving the present-day ‘Jews’ are NOT ‘The house of Israel’ is endless.  History gives abundant proof that the White, Caucasian Race sprang from dispersed Israel.  WE ARE ISRAEL.”

In substance, the Witnesses teach the same; They are God’s Israel; they are the “chosen people.”  They are ready to proclaim Brother Russell as the founder of their movement, and boast about him (See Isa. 4:1 and 5:13, and Berean Comments) even as they grossly and persistently revolutionize against his clear and persuasive interpretation of those prophecies that emphatically designate “to the Jew first.”  Likewise, although in lesser degree, the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement teaches the same, with the exception that they apply these Jewish promises to their new converts since 1954; they teach that their present-day converts will be “first and chief” next to the Worthies, instead of the Jews - thus taking away from the Jews their God-given promises, as they usurp those promises.

Perhaps it is well to recall here the usurpers all during this Age have prevailed in numbers, power and prominence (“In Thy name… done many wonderful works - Matt. 7:22); but this will all be changed under the benign Kingdom reign.  “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear!”

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Both the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant are Scripturally styled “The Everlasting Covenant” in contrast with the Law Covenant, which passed away - a failure because of its “unprofitableness.”  However, not unprofitable in its precepts, because they are perfect, which precepts will be incorporated in the New Covenant when man will be able to keep them. (Heb. 7:18 and Gal. 3:24,25)  The one is perpetuated in the other, even as the spiritual seed (spiritual Israel) will rule and bless thru the earthly seed (fleshly Israel).  Note the Scripture testimony that the original Grace (or Sarah) Covenant is everlasting (Gen. 17:7,13,19; 2 Sam. 23:5; Psa. 105:8-10).  Also note other Scriptures, which apply the same term prophetically to the New Covenant: Jer. 32:40; 31:31,32; Ezek. 16:60.  Note carefully the context in each instance that reference is to the Millennium.

The Blood of the Everlasting Covenant - The blood of the Everlasting Covenant is the “blood of Jesus,” under the Grace or Sarah Covenant (not by the New Covenant which does not yet exist and which is to be made only with Israel).  And the blood or sacrifice of Jesus is “the blood of the New Covenant,” yet to be established with fleshly Israel, just the same - only that by the Father’s good pleasure Jesus has now accepted the “little flock” as his members and counted their sacrifice or blood as a part of His own - the sin offering in two parts.

Note how this is set forth in Isaiah 55:1-3.  Here believers of this Gospel Age are described as those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Under the Father’s drawing they come to Jesus now.  They are not of those who, blind and deaf under Satan’s power, love darkness rather than light and will need the Kingdom regulations and corrections to make them bow and confess, under the New Covenant arrangement with Israel and indirectly with all nations.

Come now to Hebrews 13:20:  “Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep [Jesus], through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect.”  Does this refer to our justification from Adamic guilt and reconciliation to God?  Not at all!  The Father will have nothing to do with us (except to draw us to Jesus for justification and consecration) until after our justification.  Then His mighty power, which brought our Great Shepherd from the tomb to glory and immortality, begins to mightily “work in us to will and to do His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13)  If we abide in His love, He will perfect as New Creatures by the privilege granted to those who shared in the sufferings of Christ - participated in the shedding of the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, which as the New Covenant will bring blessing to Israel, and then to the world.  The Greek word here rendered “perfect you” signifies “knit you together,” that is, make you completely one with the Shepherd as His “members” both in sufferings and in glory to follow.

Other pertinent texts - Let us now briefly refer to some Scriptures, which mention the New Covenant, that we may note their full harmony with the foregoing.  We have already examined the one statement connected with our text and see that it applies to the establishment of the Kingdom, as the foundation of the New Covenant blessings to the world during the Millennium.  There are just eight other texts in the New Testament which refer to the New Covenant:

        (1) “For this cause he is made mediator of a better covenant [not better than the Grace or Sarah Covenant, but better than the Law Covenant], which was established upon better promises.” (Heb. 8:6)  Our Lord Jesus had already begun the work necessary to His fulfilling this office of Mediator of the New Covenant.  He had laid the foundation, but he had not yet accepted to Himself all the members the Father intended and foreknew and predestinated.  We notice from the context that the contrast still is between the Law Covenant and its mediator Moses, and the New Covenant, superior because of its better mediator, the Messiah.  Moses could offer only imperfect sacrifices, but Christ, by antitypical sacrifices of the bullock and goat (Himself and His Body), makes satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and prepares to mediate the New Covenant, which, God has promised shall be His channel of blessing Israel and the world.

          (2) In the succeeding verse (8) the Apostle supports his argument by a quotation from the Old Testament promise to Israel of a New Covenant, saying, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”  Clearly this does not refer to spiritual Israel, or to any others during this Gospel Age.

          (3) Neither does the next reference to the New Covenant, which is a part of the same quotation from Jer. 31:31, refer to spiritual Israel.  “Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers’… and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” (See Heb. 8:8-10)

          (4) “In that he saith, a New Covenant, he hath made the first old.  Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb. 8:13)  Notice that the Apostle is not saying one word about the New Covenant being for the Church of Christ.  His readers understood very well that they came in under the Sarah Covenant.  But certain Judaizing teachers insisted that they must be under the Hagar Covenant, as well as under the Sarah Covenant.  And this is what the Apostle is disputing.  He is making clear that the (Hagar) Law Covenant would not continue, but perish, and that, in God’s due time, He would provide a New Covenant to take its place with Israel.

          (5) It was necessary that Jews be redeemed from the “dead works” of the Old Law Covenant and that a New one be made for them by Christ - Head and members.  The Old one was sealed by the blood of bulls and goats, but the New one by “better sacrifices.”  Antitypically the blood of the bullock has been offered, and events in the world today indicate that of the goat has been presented also. (Heb. 9:14-23)

          (6) “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them; and there is no more offering for sin.” (Heb. 10:16-18)  The Apostle is arguing along general lines.  He would have his readers understand that when an acceptable sacrifice has been offered to God for sins, the transaction is a closed one, and the sacrifice needs no repetition.  He shows that this will be so in the future for the world.  When the “better sacrifices,” sealing the New Covenant, shall have been offered by God by our Redeemer, and accepted by Him, it will mean the cancellation of all condemnation.

          (7) “For this is my Covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins.  As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the elect, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.” (Rom. 11:27,28)  There is no room to doubt that the Apostle here is referring to Israel’s Covenant, the New Covenant, which God will make with them after this Gospel Day.  The time for their deliverance is nigh - the time when He will mediate that New Covenant; satisfy the demands of Divine justice on behalf of the world.  Then he will become, as previously intended and declared, the great Mediator of the New Covenant between God and mankind in general.  Then will He begin His Millennial Kingdom:  “For he must reign until he shall have put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:25,26)

          (8) “But ye are approached unto Mt. Zion… to the New Jerusalem… to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn… and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling.” (Heb. 12:24)  Here spiritual Israel is pictured as an army marching, and the things at the farther end are seen and to be reached.  Jesus is the Mediator, but He has accepted the Church as His bride, His body, and waits her arrival.  The picture shows that the New Law Covenant will be established as the Old Law Covenant was, only on a higher plane and through a greater mediator and by better sacrifices (Acts 3:23).

          Much of the foregoing is by That Servant - Reprints 4319-4322 - which we continue to believe and teach.  If any are inclined to criticize us because we attack and refute the errors that set aside these Truths, we comfort ourselves with the assurance that so long as we “contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints,” we will not only get the criticism of the errorists themselves, but also the “reproaches” of those who prefer peace rather than stand the “heat of the day.”  The Truth is not for easy-going Christians.  “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” (Rom. 15:3)  The September 23 Manna Comments by That Servant are pertinent here:  “This will mean our willingness to stand for the Truth at any cost and against any number of assailants - against the creeds and theories of men, which would misrepresent the Good Tidings of Great Joy which the Lord and the Apostles have announced, and which, thank God, yet be unto all people.  As the Apostle again says, ‘I am set for the defense of the Gospel.’  We can do no less than defend the Truth.  The Truth is God’s representative, Christ’s representative, and hence our standard, and as true soldiers we must defend our standard, even unto death.”

          A firm stand for the Truth always costs something; and we are admonished by the Lord to “count the cost” before embracing it.  “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth:  I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)  Thus, we often lose friends as we “fight the good fight” and wage warfare for the Truth.  But,

                                                 What matter if I stand alone?

                                                  I wait with joy the coming years;

                                                  My heart shall reap where it has sown,

                                                  And garner up its fruit of tears.

          It is our conviction that the Lord’s promises to the Jews are essential doctrine for our day - because we stand at the very threshold of their fulfillment.  The terse summation of those promises is that they will be “first and chief” of the afterborns under the New Covenant (“beloved for the fathers’ sake”) - “to the Jew first.”  Thus, we “count it all joy” if cantankerous brethren - “the unstable and unlearned” - cast abuse at us because we champion the Jewish promises in like manner as did That Servant.  Any who attempt to “take from” (See Rev. 22:18,19) those promises belonging exclusively to the Jews, and appropriate them for themselves are engaging in Satanic usurpation - whether wittingly or unwittingly; and those who have once been enlightened in present truth, who appropriate those promises belonging to the Jews, are not only engaging in Satanic usurpation, but they are grossly revolutionizing against the Truth.  (Psa. 107:11; Rev. 22:18,19)

          Not too long since, we exchanged some considerable correspondence with a Doctor in the Ministry of Religion in Jerusalem; and he was warm in his praise of our papers, and of the Epiphany books we sent to him.  Although he is no longer among the living, we are persuaded that he was one of those Jews who possessed “the faith of Abraham.”  He had the Six Volumes of Scripture Studies; was an ardent admirer of That Servant; and was quite caustic in his resentment of those groups who claimed to be faithful to Pastor Russell’s teaching, but who openly revolutionized against his teaching on the Jewish promises.  Because of his knowledge of Parousia Truth, his exposures and refutation of the Witnesses’ errors were among the best we have yet seen.

          In Reprint 5689, May 15,1915, That Servant says this:  “Those who have been for some time drinking from the fountain of Truth, and feeding at the table of the Lord, where the food is pure, unadulterated, nourishing, should be fully established in the first principles of the doctrine of Christ.  Much of the superstructure of “gold,” silver and precious stones should be already erected and the good work of character building should be progressing steadily day-by-day.  We should be firmly rooted and grounded in Christ, so that nothing can move us.  We should be able to discern clearly between truth and error on every important point [such as the Jewish promises, etc.]  We should know what we believe and why we believe it, and be courageous and uncompromising in declaring the Truth which has blessed our own hearts and lives.”

          “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints.” (Rom. 15:30,31)

(By John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 320, February 1, 1982)

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OPINION

          “Open Up The Vatican’s Archives:  In what appears to be the latest in a series of stalling tactics, the Vatican recently announced that it would not open its controversial World War II archives for at least another three years.  This unfortunate decision, which is certain to cast a pall over Catholic-Jewish relations, comes less than a year after a joint commission of historians investigating the Church’s wartime role was forced to suspend its activities as a result of the Vatican’s unwillingness to cooperate.

          “By further dragging its feet on granting free and unfettered access to its archives, the Vatican is once again raising serious doubts about its commitment to pursue the truth and clarify the historical record.

          “In recent years, a slew of popular and scholarly books has generated new interest in the subject, in the process shining the spotlight on the Vatican’s stubborn refusal to open its wartime archives, which are believed to contain a treasure trove of invaluable historical documentation.  In October 1999, the Church finally agreed to the establishment of a commission of six historians - three Jews and three Catholics - to study the Vatican’s role during the Holocaust and the question of Pope Pius XII’s behavior.  But by July 2001, Hebrew university Prof. Robert Wistrich took the extraordinary step of resigning from the commission in protest, saying, ‘The Vatican has not been cooperative at all up until this point… The Vatican is not really interested in allowing us to pursue our work further.’

          “What the Vatican does not seem to fully appreciate is the damage that the archives issue has caused to efforts to mend Catholic-Jewish relations.  For centuries, the Jewish people suffered unimaginable persecution at the hands of the Church, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the blood libels of the Middle Ages.  If Jews and Catholics are to succeed now in forging a relationship of mutual respect, it can come about only through a full and open accounting of the past, one in which the sins of the Church are neither minimized nor ignored.  Sadly, by delaying this process still further, the Vatican has succeeded only in fueling, rather than healing this unfortunate rife.”

(Excerpts by Michael Freund, who was a media adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office, The International Jerusalem Post, March 8, 2002)   

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Emily,

          Your wishes for the New Year were such a welcome sign of life!  Thank you!  Myself, this Christmas I did not send out greetings, simply because the tension here is so great that everybody just does the absolutely necessary in order to cope.  Even this little is not easy.  Jerusalem, too, is very much affected:  Hardly a day passes without some frightful, as well as cowardly, terror attack, murder from behind, etc.  Life has become unsafe.  And the worst of it is that the outlook is gloomy.

           And what is so very much depressing is that on the Palestine/Arab side there is no sign, no hint, of ever looking ahead to some rudimentary base of neighborly relations.  It’s always, again and again, Jihad, Jihad and again: Jihad - meaning: Out with the Jews!

          But this is, needless to say this to you, utterly illusionary:  We have our Faith and our lasting Promise.  This here is where we came from, where our culture was created and where we are going to stay and to live our life.

          Personally I am OK, my health cooperates, and this is what I wish for you also!  Be well and do go on with your vital mission!

                                                               With ever good wish, Michael Pragai (ISRAEL)

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          Excerpts from the Nixon tapes:  “Look at the Justice Department, it’s full of Jews… The lawyers in government are damn Jews.”

          Richard Nixon, to Treasury Secretary, John Connally

          “… a wild orgasm of anarchists sweeping across the country like a prairie fire.”

          Richard Nixon, on the antiwar movement. (Time, March 11, 2002)