NO. 606 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

JEWS

“I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

“Surely we see fulfilled the declaration that Israel shall be separate from all other nations. What other nation of that day remains a people of preserved identity?

“How true the statement that those who have cursed, or injured, Israel have brought injury upon themselves! As we scan the whole field of the world, we find that every nation which has dealt harshly with Israel has received severe chastisement or blight. On the contrary, Great Britain and the United States, nations which have blessed the Jew, have in turn received great blessings.

“The lines referring to Messiah's Kingdom are equally true. The scepter did rise out of Israel. The one who is to have the dominion of earth is of Jacob’s posterity, according to the flesh. As the bright and morning Star, he is leading on to a glorious sunrise - the dawning of the Messianic day, which is to scatter the earth's night and to bring blessings instead of the curse.” (Reprint 5323, col.2, near bottom)

“Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the world would soon witness the destruction of the State of Israel. According to the Iranian Islamic Republic News Agency, the hard-line president said that last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbullah showed for the first time that the ‘hegemony of the occupier regime [Israel] had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime.” (World Jewish Congress, June 4, 2007)

Comment: “You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit… His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is trouble and iniquity... May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things.” (Psa. 50:19; 10:7; 12:3) Ahmadinejad has cursed Israel and he will be cursed.

“INVESTORS FIND SOMETHING TO CHEER ABOUT IN ISRAEL: The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has confounded conventional wisdom by proving that despite whatever hiccups are taking place on the Israeli landscape, the reasons to invest in Israeli companies are stronger than ever. With 37 new IPOs in 2006 and an annual appreciation of over 20% experts are bullish in touting TASE as a sound investment opportunity. And the numbers bear that out.”

(Israel 21c, August 20, 2007)

“KING HEROD FOUND: A team of Israeli archeologists from Hebrew University are believed to have found the lost tomb of the Jewish King Herod who ruled the Holy Land under the Romans around the time of the second Temple in 40 B.C. The tomb was discovered amid the ruins at Herodium east of Jerusalem in the Judean Desert.

“King Herod is best known for the massive construction projects undertaken during his reign, such as Massada, Caesarea and the still-intact wall around the Old City of Jerusalem.” (July-August 2007)

“PIUS CONFLICT: Thirty-five Jewish and Catholic scholars have called on the Vatican to open its Holocaust-era archives so that the role of Pope Pius XII, the pontiff during the period, can be examined ahead of rumored Vatican plans to have him beatified, the first step in achieving sainthood.

“The Pope's role during World War II has been a source of friction between Jews and Catholics.” (February 2007)

“REST IN PEACE: In response to protests from Jewish groups, spokespersons of the Church of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, say that the name of Jewish Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who died in 2005, has been removed from the Church's International Genealogical Index, a database of names of people baptized posthumously.

“In 1995, the Church agreed to stop the practice of baptizing Holocaust victims, and removed 400,000 names from its Index.” (February 2007)

“BIASED IMAGE: Google Earth, an online mapping and navigation service, had been found to be replete with anti-Israel propaganda. The interactive atlas program contains incorrect data and biased images relating to Israel.” (March 2007)

“BAH, HUMBUG: An email Christmas greeting card sent to members of Poland's Parliament by the ultra-right-wing nationalist NOP party shows an image of Santa Claus giving the Nazi salute and calling for a ‘Free Nationalist and Catholic’ Poland.

“The NOP is openly anti-Semitic and was actively involved in the defense of convicted Holocaust denier David Irving.” (March  2007)

“PREACHING HATE: According to a documentary film, aired recently on British television, one of London's most established mosques is selling DVDs featuring two radical Islamic preachers predicting the mass-extermination of the world's Jewish community.

“The film is based on a twelve-month undercover investigation of hate-preaching and extremism in Britain's Muslim religious institutions.” (March 2007)

“HATE DETERRED: A neo-Nazi website that praised Adolf Hitler and alleged a ‘Jewish takeover of the most important Canadian social institutions has been taken down by unknown hackers.’

“The site, belonging to the National Socialist Party of Canada, but hosted on a U.S. based server, was created in 2006, calling for an end to ‘Jewish influence’ on Canadian institutions and ‘restoring white sovereignty in the country.’” (April 2007)

“WARNING: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Britain's most senior Anglican Christian leader, has condemned the recent Holocaust denial conference held by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling it a ‘disgrace,’ and called for the Holocaust to be remembered so that future generations could not challenge it.

“The statement followed a British poll that found that 41% of those asked believe that a Holocaust could happen in Britain, and 35% thought that most people would do nothing to stop it.” (April 2007)

“PUBLIC ENEMY: A white supremacist gang, calling itself Public Enemy Number 1, has been growing in power at an alarming rate throughout California, and has a strong presence in the state's prisons, operating together with such racist groups as the Aryan Brotherhood and the Nazi Law Riders. According to a report, in the past several months, more than 67 members of the gang have been arrested.” (April 2007)

“SOBERING REPORT: According to a recent annual report by the Tel Aviv-based Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism and Racism, 2006 saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide since 2000, with a twofold increase in physical attacks against Jews from the year before.

“The primary cause for the increase, according to the study, was Iran's increasing use of Holocaust denial and the Second Lebanon War. Of greatest concern was the large rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Canada.” (June 2007)

(The above 10 items are from World Jewry)

“EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO HOST ANTI-ISRAEL HATE-FEST: Under the auspices of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a ‘Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace’ will take place on August 3-31 in Belgium. These meetings are part of a round-robin of anti-Israel gatherings organized year-round by the UN 16-member Division for Palestinian Rights.

“It all dates back to 1975 when these mechanisms were installed within the UN on the same day that the General Assembly adopted its infamous ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution. What is new, however, is the venue: the European Parliament in Brussels.

“What the conference will pronounce is pre-determined, the UN Palestinian Division runs a tightly controlled operation that accredits only anti-Israel NGOs and speakers. And recently they've become quite clever. Without altering the virulently anti-Israel nature of their meetings, the organizers instead seek to make their activities under such innocent-sounding titles as ‘support for Israeli-Palestinian peace...’

“None of the radical Israeli Jews at the Brussels conference represents even a tiny segment of the Israeli Jewish population. So it’s like holding a conference on U.S.-Islamic rapprochement and inviting John Walker Lindh - the American who joined the Taliban - to represent America's position. Technically, Walker is as American as Warschawski and Hass are Israeli. But only a scoundrel or a fool would treat either exercise as anything but a sham.

“Who was behind the European Parliament's decision to play host to this poorly disguised hate-fest? With the conference facade removed, who in Europe will now have the courage to speak out?”

(UN Watch, April 17, 2007)

“Over the past half-century, many of the most important breakthroughs in science, medicine and computers have happened in Israel, like: Sophisticated medical equipment, such as ultrasound scanners and surgical lasers. A miniature camera that can be swallowed and used to diagnose gastro-intestinal disease. A computer mouse that allows the visually impaired to ‘read’ text and graphics on screen.

“New computer applications for digitizing, processing, transmitting and enhancing images, speech and data.”  (Israel: Global Edge of Technological Development, August 14, 2007)

“ISRAEL’S IOPTIMA SHINES A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE GLAUCOMA TUNNEL: An Israeli specialist in complex eye surgery for glaucoma patients has developed a new laser technology that promises to transform the difficult and rarely done surgery into a commonplace procedure that can be carried out by regular eye surgeons all over the world. The technology, being developed by Israeli start-up IOPtima, is aimed at making glaucoma surgery a fast and effective treatment for the three million Americans who suffer from the irreversible condition that is the second leading cause of blindness in the U.S.”

 “TREATING ALZHEIMER’S - THROUGH THE NOSE: Israeli scientist Prof. Beka Solomon used her brain when coming up with a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease which affects over five million Americans. Or, rather she used the nose to get to the brain. Solomon found in mouse trials that a harmless bacterial virus can be an effective treatment against Alzheimer’s when carried to the brain through the nose. There the bacteria locks onto the extracellular plaques associated with Alzheimer’s and dissolve them, reducing inflammation in the brain without any side affects. Solomon’s research is on the verge of being commercialized and licensed to a startup company.”

(The above 2 articles are from Israel21c Newsletter, October 4, 2006)

“ISRAEL’S ECONOMY FIVE GOOD YEARS: ‘Israel’s economy now has experienced five years of continuous growth, the longest period in the state’s history,’ reports Israel news agency Arutz Sheva, and unemployment is down to 7.6% from 9.2% in 2005. Whereas the United   States only experienced a 0.6% gross domestic (GDP) increase in the first half of 2007. Israel’s was 6.6%, jumping beyond the predictions of even the Bank of Israel and Finance Ministry. And, Israel21c reported that the ‘Tel Aviv stock Exchange (TASE) seems unstoppable,’ and that the ‘market has appreciated 20% in the first half of the year.’

“‘Since the beginning of 2003, investors have earned a 100% return in dollar terms in long-term Israeli government non-CPI linked bonds,’ Vered Dar, chief economist at Tel

Aviv investment house Psaget Ofesk told Isrrael21c. ‘Equity investors have earned 250%.’

“Despite the Second Lebanon War last summer, the government is now experiencing a U.S. billion surplus due to strong earnings growth and increased tax revenues from Israeli corporations, reports microanalyst Avinoam Nachum.”

(BFP, Dispatch from Jerusalem, September/October 2007)

Comment: The above shows that Israel is a country on the upward move, in contrast to the other countries that are on the downward course.

      “SUBSTITUTE TREES: Three professors at Tel Aviv University are conducting research into the Kenaf plant, a distant cousin of cotton with the potential to replace wood pulp in the manufacturing of paper.

“Originally from Africa, Kenaf holds a gene, which could produce a longer, thinner, and more environmentally friendly fiber. Several international firms, including some from Italy and Brazil, have shown interest in developing this substitute paper.”

(World Jewry, October 2007)

  “SUBSTITUTE BRAIN: A professor and graduate student at Tel Aviv University are conducting experiments into a chemical stimulation that imbues the brain with specific neurological patterns which could in the future be read by computer software.

“The link between brain functions and computers holds the potential to treat neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The findings were published in the May issue of Physical Review E, and were also highlighted in Scientific American.”

(World Jewry, October 2007) 

“ISRAEL’S MINI-NOSE SNIFFS OUT IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVES: An Israeli company has developed a hand-held device that digitally mimics the human nose to sniff out would-be terrorists trying to sneak through an airport or port with homemade explosive devices.  Funded partly by the Pentagon and Israel’s ministry of Defense, Scent Detection Technologies’ Mini-Nose has won the support of former heads of the CIA and Mossa. The non-radioactive ‘green’ device, which is already in use at airports across Europe and the US, replaces today’s cumbersome, slow and radioactive explosive detection devices, making screening fast, efficient and safe.”

(Israel 21c, September 3, 2007) 

“ISRAEL: Turkey and Israel have agreed in principle to build a water and gas pipeline system connecting the Black Sea to the port of Eliat on the Red Sea. The ambitious project involves the building of oil, gas and water pipelines, as well as electricity and fiber optic cables, as part of a seabed pipeline system in the eastern Mediterranean. Passing through Turkey and bypassing Syria and Lebanon - countries which are hostile to Israel - the pipeline will reach the port of Ashdod, where an existing pipeline terminates at the port of Eilat at the Red Sea. The Turkish-Israeli pipeline could convey crude oil to East Asian markets. The system could also be used to bring Turkish water to parched Israel.”  (Israel National News.com, January 10, 2007)

“EPILERT - an Israeli warning system for epileptic seizures: As any parent of a child with epilepsy knows, there's been a long needed solution for monitoring their child when a seizure occurs. Israeli startup Biolert says they have the solution - the Epilert - which will detect and recognize epileptic seizures within 20 seconds and alert caregivers or parents that an epileptic episode is occurring, according to the company's CEO Amos Shaham. Developed by one of Israel's most experienced doctors in epilepsy, Uri Kramer, the Epilert idea has proven to be so popular that it won a ‘Start Up is Born’ contest two years ago beating out 700 other submissions, and this summer won a prestigious British award - the Medical Futures innovation Award for Best Medical Device.”  (August 20, 2007)

      “ISRAELI-DEVELOPED DRUG COULD MINIMIZE BRAIN DAMAGE AFTER HEAD TRAUMA: A researcher from Israel’s Weismann Institute of Science is developing a drug that could drastically reduce damage to the brain after a head injury. The new treatment pumps glutamate, a toxic chemical released after a head trauma, out of the patient's brain where it kills healthy neighboring cells, and into the blood supply where it can be safely disposed of else where in the body. The drug is now being developed by Braintact, a startup in Kiryat Shmona, and is set to be fast-tracked through FDA regulations.” (June 25, 2007)

“Israeli scientists have developed a tiny 'submarine' robot that has the unique ability to 'crawl' through tubes with the width of human veins and arteries.” (June 25, 2007)

“Israeli company Solel has signed a contract to build the world's largest solar energy park in California.” (June 25, 2007)

(The above four items are from Israel21c Newsletter)

“Did You Know: A U.S. investment company has invested $45 million in 15 Israeli companies.”

(Israel 21c, October 1, 2007)  

“BRITISH HOLOCAUST DENIER PLANS COMEBACK SPEAKING TOUR: Discredited British historian and Holocaust denier David Irving has announced that he is to launch a comeback with a speaking tour of UK cities and a series of new books.

“Described by a High Court judge as a Holocaust denier and a racist, Irving was imprisoned in Austria for three years in February 2006 on Holocaust denial charges after a judge ruled that two speeches he made in 1989 breached Austrian law. He questioned the existence of extermination camps in his speeches and dismissed the gas chambers at Auschwitz as a “fairy tale…”

“Irving was released halfway through his sentence last December following a successful appeal. A judge said his crime had been committed a long time ago and Irving had since undergone an ‘impeccable conversion.’

“However, Irving says his views on the Holocaust have crystallized, rather than changed.  He says that the Jews were responsible for what happened to them during World War II and that the ‘Jewish problem’ was responsible for all the wars of the past 100 years…

“‘In 2000, a British High Court judge branded David Irving a ‘falsifier of history’ and a ‘racist,’ Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said…

“She added: ‘We must not tolerate Holocaust denial in whatever guise it may unfold, and the best vehicle for challenging it is through educating and informing future generations about the lessons of the Holocaust.’”

(The International Jerusalem Post, October 5, 2007)

    “ISRAELI GOVERNMENT THREATENS TO DIVIDE JERUSALEM: As the U.S.-sponsored East peace summit approaches next month, a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is actually suggesting his government is now open to the previously unthinkable prospect of dividing their capital city of Jerusalem.

“‘Wouldn’t it be the right deal today for the Palestinians, the Western world, and the international community to recognize (Israel’s) annexation of… (Jewish) neighbor- hoods as part of Jerusalem, and for us to quit the Arab neighborhoods?’ Vice Premier Haim Ramon told Israel Radio.

“Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the government’s talk of giving up control of Judea and Samaria (commonly known as the West Bank), as well as East Jerusalem, as dangerous and destabilizing, especially in the light of the rising Hamas and Iranian threats to the Jewish state.

“‘The unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon created an Iranian outpost - from which Israel is being attacked - in the North, and the unilateral pullout from Gaza created a second Iranian base in Gaza, Hamastan,’ Netanyahu said on the floor of the Knesset [Parliament]…

“‘Jerusalem is an inalienable asset of the State of Israel, Palestinian refugees will not be returned to Israel, and Jerusalem will not be divided,’ said Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former chief of staff and member of the prime minister’s own Kadima party.

“Now is the time to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), not carve it up and serve it to the radical Islamic jihadists now in charge of the Palestinian Authority.”

(By Joel C. Rosenberg, Reported by Bridges for Peace, October 9, 2007)

“SELLING OUT ISRAEL ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN: Name one concession Israel has made in recent years that has been reciprocated by its sworn enemies. This is not a trick question. There is none.

“That’s why next month’s announced ‘Middle East Summit’ in Annapolis, Md., should be viewed as one more installment payment in the sellout of Israel and of American interests in the Middle East. While the United States continues to struggle to shore up democracy in Iraq, the Bush administration - like administrations before it - proceeds in undermining the likelihood that the region’s first democracy will endure.

“At every negotiating session, Israel is pressured into making concessions for ‘peace’ and receives more war in response. Mostly this is because of the wishful thinking in the West that has replaced sound policy. Why should the Palestinians make concessions when they are drawing closer to their objective of eradicating Israel by throwing stones and bombs and stonewalling negotiations?

“In an address to the Israeli Knesset, President Shimon Peres reaffirmed the flaw of Western thinking: ‘…even if there are some who express doubt at the ability of the Palestinians to achieve peace, the impression must not be created that Israel has doubts regarding the need and the willingness to achieve full peace.’ So it’s not about hard bargaining resulting in the preservation of Israel with defensible borders and the cessation of terrorist attacks, its about ‘impressions’? No wonder Israel’s enemies are emboldened as never before.”

(By Cal Thomas, Orlando Sentinel, October 6, 2007)

“ISRAELI RESEARCHERS SHOW THAT GREEN TEA HAS REJUVENATING AFFECT ON DAMAGED CELLS: Research-ers at the Technion Institute in Israel have been working for almost a decade to show that an extract of green tea could be an effective treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. In a new study presented in Washington DC, the research team fed green tea extract to mice suffering from the degenerative diseases and found it protects brain cells from dying and helps rescue already damaged neurons in the brain. Tests are now underway on early Parkinson’s patients in China, under the auspices of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, to check whether green tea extract is slowing down the progression of the disease.”

“ISRAELI ‘SMART’ SYSTEM PRE-VENTS BLOOD AND DRUG TRANS-FUSION ERRORS: An Israeli startup has developed a new pro-active solution that could prevent costly intravenous drug and blood transfusion errors. The simple and easy to use system, PRIDE (Prevent Intravenous Drug Errors), ensures that transfusions can only be administered to a patient only once five predefined conditions are met. With some 35-40 percent of all medical errors in hospital due to mistakes in IV administration, Pro-IV Medicals solution is already sparking great interest with investors and customers alike. A prototype will be ready in a month, and clinical trials begin this year.”

“WIDENING THE WINDOW OF TREATMENT FOR STROKE SUFFERS: Stroke patients need to get treatment fast - within three hours, in order to prevent serious damage that can affect movement and speech. But the good news is that an Israeli research team has discovered that minocycline - an antibiotic used traditionally to treat severe acne and urinary tract infections - will significantly reduce brain damage and physical impairment of a stroke if taken within the first 24 hours. Chief researcher Dr. Yair Lampi says he now plans to confirm the results of the successful clinical trial in a larger double-blind trial. If it goes well, ‘[minocycline] will be probably one of the most used and effective treatments of ischemic stroke that we have,’ said Dr. Argye Hillis of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.”

“GENE DISCOVERY COULD LEAD TO PERSONALIZED MEDICINE FOR MS SUFFERERS: A group of Israeli scientists have identified genes responsible for positive response of many multiple sclerosis patients to the drug Copaxone. The first original Israeli drug to be approved by the FDA, Copaxone is today marketed in over 40 countries worldwide, including the US, Europe, Australia, and Latin America. The findings of the study conducted by the Technion, the Weizmann Institute and Teva may contribute to the development of personalized medicine for multiple sclerosis sufferers.”

“ISRAEL - DARING IN QUALITY: Even if Israel is small in body, its scientific head is large.”

(The above five articles are from Israel21c, October 1, 2007)

“ISRAEL: The Israel Antiquities Authority’s excavations in Tiberias have exposed a Byzantine church paved with polychrome mosaics decorated with geometric patterns and dedicatory inscriptions. The discovery, in the heart of the ancient Jewish city, refutes the theory that the Jews of Tiberias prevented Christians from establishing a church in the middle of their neighborhood. The church’s remains were discovered adjacent to ancient public buildings, among them a basilica, bathhouse, streets, and shops that were exposed at the site in the past.”

(Israel Antiquities Authority, August 7, 2007)

“With fewer than seven million inhabitants, Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any country except the U.S. Its start-up companies attracted nearly $2 billion in venture capital over the past two years, equal to the amount raised during that time in the much larger United Kingdom.”

(Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2007)

“A nuclear power plant for the production of electricity may soon be built in Israel. The country has toyed with the idea for decades, but recent discussions in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Infrastructure Ministry point to a more serious consideration of nuclear power as an environmentally friendly way of generating electricity. If the idea were to become a reality, Israel would be forced to allow international supervision of the power plant. Officials discussed the probability of harsh international opposition, should Israel decide to go ahead with building the plant.”

(Netnews.Com, August 1, 2007)

“PARIS: Marcel Marceau, 84, who revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, died on September 22 in Paris, French media reported. A French Jew, Marceau survived the Holocaust and worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children.”

(Jerusalem Report, October 15, 2007)

ENVIROMENTAL CONCERNS BRING ISRAELIS, JORDANIANS AND PALESTIN-IANS - A new initiative called the Dead Sea Triangle has been launched by Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian scientific and community leaders, in an effort to protect the unique environment of the Great Rift Valley, which passes through all three communities.  Under the program, which includes research facilities in all three regions, the founders hope to introduce a range of projects to study and conserve the valley’s fragile ecosystem, preserving it as a haven for the 500 million birds that migrate along the route twice a year.  And just as importantly, it will forge new areas of cooperation between the neighbors of the region.

US-CANADIAN FUND LOOKS TO ISRAELI CANCER RESEARCHERS FOR ANSWERS - Researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel have identified a specific family of proteins that enables breast cancer cells to spread via the blood stream to other organs.  The team hopes the discovery will facilitate the development of drugs that block or inhibit the production of these proteins to stop the spread of cancer elsewhere in the body - the leading cause of cancer death.  This is just one project being carried out under the auspices of the US-Canadian founded Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), which aims to stem the scientific brain drain from Israel and provide crucial ideas to help bring an end to the cancer crisis. (The two above  are from Israel21cNewsletter,October 4, 2006)

NO. 605 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART ONE

“Wait upon me, saith the Lord, until that day when I rise up to the prey; for My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, that I may pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger: for the whole earth [social structure] shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.” (Zephaniah 3:8)  

The picture of the Time of Trouble and of the glorious epoch of blessing to follow is graphically depicted by the Prophet Zephaniah. So terrible will be the Time of Trouble, so sweeping the overthrow of present institutions, that the Lord here symbolically pictures it as a fire consuming everything of the present social order.

But that it is not a literal fire, and that it will not consume or destroy mankind but prepare for their greater blessing, is shown by the next statement of the prophet: “Then I will turn unto the people a pure Message [in contrast with the confused message that has been promulgated by all the various sects of Christendom, Babylon], that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent.”

Surely, no one will deny that we are in the Time of Trouble, and that it is progressing rapidly. It has been reported that there is corruption in the governments of practically every nation of the world. Certainly we can see it rampant in the U.S. government, and as well in practically all state and local governments. Also, there have been many natural disasters in the past year, and are continuing to occur.

What wonder then, that we appreciate the statement, “Blessed are your ears, for they hear.” (Matt. 13:16) Harkening we not only have heard the Message of God's love and favor for our race, and how a Ransom has been provided, and that in consequence a preparation is being made for the blessing of all the world.

Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel - life everlasting, life which we now see is possible of attainment by all the families of the earth, and immortality as attainable by those who, in the Gospel Age, had the hearing ear of faith and the heart desire to follow in the footsteps of their Redeemer.

Let us continue to pray, “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is done in Heaven.”

He's come! Let all the earth adore Him!

The path His human nature trod

Spreads to a royal realm before Him,

The Life of life, the Word of God!

WORLD EVENTS

“Russia’s announcement that it would work to promote international support for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority [PA], its intention to supply missiles to Syria, and its opposition to sanctions against Iran presents a worrying trend for Israel. The Russian move toward funding the Hamas regime found an echo in a report issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council, which suggested that the Western-led economic boycott of the PA must be lifted in order to fight poverty in the Gaza area. According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a deal, worth several hundred million dollars, to transfer thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles to Syria.” (Arntz Sheva, February 27, 2007)

“U.N. DECLINES TO CONDEMN IRAN PRESIDENT’S REMARKS ON ISRAEL: UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council refused to approve a statement yesterday that would condemn remarks about Israel's impending destruction attributed to Iran's hard-line president because of objections from Indonesia, council diplomats said.

“Qatar, the only Arab nation on the council said that it had no instructions, which also meant that approval yesterday was impossible, the diplomats said. The statement must be approved by all 15 council members.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean Marc de La Sabliere, who called for condemnation of the remarks attributed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that it was unfortunate that the council could not act immediately. He said he would try again. At stake is... a real question of principle, de La Sabliere said.”  (Associated Press, June 9, 2007)

“SECRET TALKS: According to a report in the Yedlioth Ahronoth newspaper on August 16, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas have been meeting secretly during the past few months for discussions that might lead to a permanent agreement between the two sides.”

(The Jerusalem Report, September 17, 2007)

“CREATION MUSEUM CAUSES STIR IN SCIENTIFIC CIRCLES: LOUISVILLE, Ky. -   A museum where Adam and Eve share exhibit space with dinosaurs is drawing criticism from groups of science educators as it nears completion.

“The $27 million Creation Museum tells a biblical version of the Earth's history, asserting that the planet is just a few thousand years old and man and the giant lizards once coexisted. The educators say its exhibits, inspired by the Old Testament, are geared toward children but lack scientific evidence. ‘When they try to confuse [kids] about what is science and what isn't science, scientists have an obligation to speak out,’ said Lawrence Krauss, an author and a physics professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. ‘There's no doubt these are documented lies.’

“Krauss has signed one of two petitions circulated by national groups that challenge the facility's exhibits.

“The museum, built by the nonprofit ministry Answers in Genesis with private donations, includes a 200-seat special-effects theater, a 40-foot-tall depiction of Noah's Ark and robotic, roaring dinosaurs. The 60,000-square-foot facility in rural Petersburg, Ky., will open on Memorial Day.

“Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham said most natural-history museums and textbooks for students are devoted to teaching evolution. He said critics need to tour the museum before making judgments.

“One petition, started by the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, says the museum is part of a ‘campaign by the religious right to inject creationist teachings into science education.’

“Krauss said about 2,000 educators have signed the petition. A second petition from the National Center for Science Education attracted support from nearly 600 university professors. It says there are ‘scientifically inaccurate’ exhibits at the museum.”

(By Dylan T. Lovan, The Associated Press, May 19, 2007)

IN FINANCE

As we approach 2008, there is a lot to be desired.Housing sales are still declining. Homeowner’s are facing foreclosure. Banks write off millions of dollars on sub prime loans. Assets are falling in value. Oil could rise to over $125.00 per barrel.

Oil affects most everything we do or have in the U.S.A. Food is one thing that affects inflation. Corn prices are very high. Milk prices worldwide are rising at the fastest rate ever and won’t be falling anytime soon. Food prices will raise 4-5%.

Inflation could rise in 2008, meaning we could be on the edge of a recession. Banks are hurting. Job growth is getting weaker. Retail sales are leveling off. The dollar is at an all time low. The stock market is up and down. In 2008 we will be electing a new president. One candidate wants to raise taxes. Some financial advisors are optimistic and some pessimistic.  Matthew 24:39 tells us “they knew not” or “understand not.” It is only by the understanding of God’s plan of Salvation that we know this present “evil” order of things must be destroyed by the Time of Trouble before Christ’s Kingdom can be established. Our advice at present is to “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righ-teousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5)

IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

“Researchers have perfected an inexpensive and efficient way to convert types, A, B, and AB blood into type O, the universal-donor blood that can be given to anyone - an achievement that promises to make transfusions safer and to relieve shortages of type O blood. Bacterial enzymes [are used to] safely remove from red blood cells the sugar molecules that provoke an immune reaction in the recipient. Mismatching of blood causes at least half of all transfusion-related deaths.”

(Los Angles Times, April 2, 2007)

“Mosquitoes genetically engineered to resist infection with a malaria parasite outbreed their normal cousins and might be used to help control malaria, researchers said yesterday. The team from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said their study suggests that releasing such genetically altered insects could help battle malaria, which kills up to 3 million people a year around the globe, most of them small children.”

(Reuters, March 20, 2007)

“ISRAEL’S ORMAT MAKES CLEAN FUEL THAT IS GOOD TO GO: Until now, biodiesel may now be the exclusive province of environmentalists or celebrities, but Israeli company Ormat has unveiled a new formulation that promises to bring the clean car fuel into our gas stations within two years. The world class alternative and renewable energy company, which was set up 40 years ago and specializes in geothermal energy, aims to help phase out traditional polluting diesel. According to founder Dita Bronicki, ‘We are talking about having independence from Middle East oil in countries like Canada and the U.S. - what we are doing is an important step in making that happen.’”

(Israel 21c Newsletter, June 25, 2007)

“AN ISRAELI COMPANY DRILL FOR OIL IN ALGAE: Israeli start-up Seambiotic has discovered a way to produce a safe, non-toxic and biodegradable bio-fuel by channeling smokestack carbon dioxide emissions through pools of algae. Not only does the algae, which thrives on carbon dioxide and sunlight, clean the emissions but it created 30 times more bio-fuel per hectare of land than traditional plant crops used in bio-fuel production. For two years Seambiotic has tested the idea at the Israel Electric Company power plant in Askelon, sparking interest from all over the world.”

“U.S,-CANADIAN FUND LOOKS TO ISRAELI CANCER RESEARCHERS FOR ANSWERS: Researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel have identified a specific family of proteins that enables breast cancer cells to spread via the blood stream to other organs. The team hopes the discovery will facilitate the development of drugs that block or inhibit the production of these proteins to stop the spread of cancer elsewhere in the body - the leading cause of cancer death. This is just one project being carried out under the auspices of the U.S.-Canadian founded Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), which aims to stem the scientific brain drain from Israel and provide crucial ideas to help bring an end to the cancer crisis.”

(The above 2 items are from Israe121cNewsletter, October 4, 2007)

IN RELIGION

“START USING ‘ALLAH’ INSTEAD OF ‘GOD’?: WASHINGTON - It was bound to happen - and it seems fitting that a cleric named Tiny would think of it. Roman Catholic Bishop Tiny Muskens of the Netherlands has decided that the way to ease Muslim-Everybody Else tensions is to start using ‘Allah’ instead of ‘God.’ Noting that God does not care what we call him, Muskens thought, why not yield a little to Muslim ways? Or would that be ‘submit,’ the literal meaning of ‘Islam’?

“‘Allah is a very beautiful word for God,’ Muskens said on Dutch television a few days ago. ‘Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God Allah?’

“Muskens pointed out that in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country where he spent eight years, priests use the word ‘Allah’ in Catholic Mass.

 “For the sake of peace, prosperity and clarity in the shire, let the record reflect that Muslims did not ask for this, though some of the Netherlands embraced the idea as a conciliatory gesture and in the U.S., some Muslims greeted the suggestion with enthusiasm.

“Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told FoxNews.com that calling God ‘Allah’ wouldn’t require a theological leap for Christians. ‘It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God,’ Hooper said. It’s not hard to understand why Muskens would tilt toward compromise. The Netherlands, which is now home to 1 million Muslims, hasn’t been quite the peace’n’love axis of the multicultural world, despite clouds of Silver Blue cannabis wafting from the Amsterdam’s famously mellow coffee houses.

“Between the 2004 murder of Theo van Gogh, guilty of making a documentary film critical of Islam, death threats against fellow documentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the recent Muslim attack of the head of a Dutch group for ‘ex-Muslims,’ one could begin to think of invoking Allah as a savvy survival technique.

“Besides, as Muskens pointed out, Allah is a lovely sounding word. Thus, in the spirit of Christian charity and Western tolerance, I’ve been trying it out with mixed results.

“The Doxology of my Protestant childhood is problematic with the two-syllable Allah instead of the monosyllabic God, but not impossible: Praise Allah, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Not perfect, but workable.

“America’s familiar childhood blessing is downright euphonious: Allah is great, Allah is good, let us thank him for our food. But the Apostle’s Creed is a mess: I believe in Allah the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son…Oops.

“Contrary to Hooper’s one-God claim, Christians and Muslims don’t really worship the same God. Although both religions are monotheistic - and if there’s just one God, there’s just one God - Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and Muslims think otherwise.

“That’s not a small doctrinal difference. In fact, at the risk of exhausting the obvious, Christianity doesn’t exist without, um, Christ. Of course we could rewrite the Apostle’s Creed to include Muhammad: ‘I believe in Allah the Father Almighty… and in Muhammad, his favorite prophet…’

“The possibilities are infinite, really. Alternatively, we could pretend to be sane and suggest that everybody go to his or her own house of worship, pray to his or her own version of the Creator, and otherwise get a grip.

“Changing Western language, symbols and making other accommodations to ease relations between old Europe and new isn’t only a conciliatory gesture or even mere appeasement. It is submission by any other name.

“Language may be a manmade limitation, as Janaan Hashim said, speaking for the

Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, which endorses Muskens’ idea. But language is not meaningless. The words we use to define and express ourselves are the fundaments of cultural and social identity. John Stuart Mill put it this way: ‘Language is the light of the mind.’

“Muskens, who retires in a few weeks, conceded that his idea likely wouldn’t catch on right away. We might need another 100 years or so, but he predicted that, eventually, Allah will be the word.

“Given that European Muslins are procreating at three times the rate of non-Muslims - and given the ‘logarithmic rate’ of growth of jihadist ideology in the U.S., according to a new report by the New York Police Department’s Intelligence Division - it may be sooner than that.

“Peace be upon us.”  (By Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel, August 19, 2007)

“GEORGIA TAKES STEP TO ADD PUBLIC-SCHOOL BIBLE CLASSES: ATLANTA - A pair of Bible classes are set to appear in Georgia’s public-school classrooms next year, with supporters calling them a chance to teach students an important historical text and critics fearing they could be a jumping-off point for pushing religious beliefs. Literature and History of the Old Testament Era and Literature and History of the New Testament Era were on a list of classes the Georgia Board of Education voted to add to the state’s curriculum Thursday. The vote sets in motion a 30-day period, after which the board is expected to give the classes their final approval.” 

(Compiled from wire reports, June 11, 2007)

“Passive indifference of faith has left Europe’s churches mostly empty. But debate over religion is more intense and strident than it has been in many decades. Religion is reemerging as a big issue in part because of anxiety over Europe’s growing and restive Muslim populations and a fear that faith is reasserting itself in politics and public policy. That is all adding up to growing momentum for a combative brand of atheism, one that confronts rather than merely ignores religion. According to a prominent British author on religion, Karen Armstrong, the movement ‘mimics the ardor of Christianity, Islam and Marxism, all of which have at their core an urge to convert nonbelievers to their worldview.’” 

(Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2007)

“During his visit to India, the head of the World Council of Churches lamented the decline of Christianity in the West, while also praising the rapid growth of the faith in developing countries. ‘Churches are being sold in Europe and are being converted into bars. It is sad to hear that liquor is being served from pulpits where the word of God used to be preached.”  (Eni, February 20, 2007)

“NOTE: The KJV is the most elegant version in any language, perhaps much too often exceeding that of the original Greek and Hebrew. Its title page has caused some to refer to the translation as the ‘Big JAMES and little GOD’ Bible. Although it is doubtful any of the translators had been baptized as an adult, for some of them it would not have implied much anyway. Nevertheless, others seem to have manifested a good Christian character.” 

(From A Book Review, June 2007)

“A shortage of qualified young clergy could be on the horizon for churches nationwide as large numbers of ‘Baby Boomer’ pastors prepare to retire and fewer seminary students show interest in leading a congregation. A recent study by the Lewis Center for Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary shows a significant 20-year decline across major denominations in numbers of clergy under age 35, both Protestant and Catholic. Other reports indicate only about one-third of seminary students in North America today plan to be ordained and serve a congregation,” (Fund For Theological Education, June 1, 2007)

“The Joshua Project, an outreach program sponsored by the Unreached People’s Network, estimates that nearly 2.6 million people worldwide have limited or no access to the message of the Gospel.”

(Religion News Service, May 14, 2007)

“CHRISTIANITY DECLINING IN THE WEST: Although Christianity remains the largest of the major world religions - with over 2.1 billion professed adherents - and the fastest growing in worldwide total adherents, the statistics for Europe and North America are depressing. Christianity in the West may be dying. Many once mighty cathedrals in Europe sit empty. According to Dr. Todd  M. Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, ‘Whereas in 1900, over 80% of all Christians lived in Europe and Northern America, by 2005, this proportion had fallen to under 40% and will likely fall below 30% before 2050.’ A recent USA Today article contains the following quote from George Weigel, a Catholic columnist and the U.S. biographer of Pope John Paul II: ‘Western Europe, the cradle of modern Christianity, has become a ‘post-Christian society’ in which the ruling class and cultural leaders are anti-religious or ‘Christophobic.’  According to the 2005 European Spiritual Estimate, only 4.2% of Europeans would identify themselves as ‘born again’ or personally committed, faith-based Christians.

“The situation in North America is somewhat better, but still depressing. According to Canada’s General Social Survey 2001 data, attendance at religious services has fallen dramatically across the country over the past 15 years. Nationally, only one-fifth (20%) of individuals aged 15 and over attended religious services on a weekly basis in 2001, compared with 28% in 1986. In 2001, 4 in 10 adults (43%) reported that they had not attended religious services during the 12 months prior to the survey, compared with only 26% in 1986.”

(Bridges For Peace, September 2007)

“ATHEISTS GROW IN NUMBER, STILL MOST AMERICANS NOT BUYING IN: A legion of the godless is rising up against the forces of religiosity in American society. ‘People who were ashamed to say there is no God now say, ‘Wow, there are others out there who think like me, and it feels ~#*+ good,’ said Margaret Downey, the president of the Atheist Alliance international, whose member-ship has almost doubled in the past year to 5,200. It has a 500 person waiting list for the convention in Crystal City, VA., later this month…

“In the past two years, five books promoting atheism have hit the best seller lists, outselling such religious tomes as Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus, and popular Christian novelist Tim LaHaye’s latest book Kingdom Come, according to Nielson BookScan…

“A study released in June by the Barna Group, a religious polling firm, found that about 5 million adults in the United   States call themselves atheists. The number rises to about 20 million - about one in every 11 Americans - if people who say they have no religious faith or are agnostic (they doubt the existence of God or a supreme deity) are included…

(The Washington Post, September 16, 2007)

Comment: The above 2 items indicate that the great system of mystic Babylon is about to be cast into the sea (the restless sea of ungovernable peoples). The “sea” of anarchy will swallow up the false systems as prophesied (Rev. 18:21). This is what was done with Ancient Babylon, which is a type of mystic Babylon (Jer. 51:63,64). But let us be careful to differentiate between the system and the individuals connected with those systems. The prophesy applies to the system only.

“SIX NUNS EXCOMMUNICATED FOR HERESY; FIRST TIME IN DIOCESE’S 165-YEAR HISTORY: LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Six nuns have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be possessed by the Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday.

“The Rev. J. Gaston Herbert, the diocese administrator, said he notified the nuns of the decision Tuesday night after they refused to recant the teachings of the Community of the Lady of All Nations, also known as the Army of Mary.

“The Vatican has declared all members of the Army of Mary excommunicated. Herbert said the excommunication was the first in the diocese’s 165-year history.”

(Associated Press, September 27, 2007)

Comment: We cannot condone the sect, whose founder claims to be possessed by the Virgin Mary, because this reeks of spiritism. She may be possessed, but not of the Virgin Mary, but by evil spirits. But this case shows, once again, that the Catholic church and its dioceses cannot control their devotees as they once could. It is just another sign of their impending destruction.

“Pope Benedict XVI told a visiting Cypriot Orthodox leader that he holds hope that the Catholic and Orthodox churches can be united, despite centuries of painful division. Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus has offered to play the role of mediator to try to arrange a groundbreaking meeting between the pope and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, Alecy II.”

(Associated Press, June 16, 2007)

“POPE SHUT HIS EYES TO VIOLENCE OF CONVERSION: Pope Benedict XVI apparently, sort of, admitted the truth about the forced religious conversions of the native peoples of the New World. On Wednesday, he acknowledged that ‘unjusti-fiable crimes’ were committed during colonial-era evangelization in the New World. But he did not repudiate the statements he made on this subject during his visit to South America earlier this month, as was demanded by indigenous groups and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Chavez even accused the pope of ignoring the ‘holocaust’ that followed Columbus' ‘discovery’ of the New World in 1492...

“On May 13, while speaking to Latin American and Caribbean bishops, the pope demonstrated an amazing ignorance of the history of the violent cultural and religious oppression of indigenous peoples in the New World by European Christians. Benedict stated that the native people had been ‘silently longing for Christ without realizing it.’ He said that their conversion was not a conquest but an ‘adoption’ that made ‘their cultures fruitful, purifying them…’

“Benedict further demonstrated his misunderstanding of the ‘civilization’ and

massacres of natives in North, Central and South America when he stated that the church had not imposed itself on indigenous peoples. That Christianity had not been detrimental to their way of life...

“But he by no means apologized for his earlier statements: ‘While we do not overlook the various injustices and sufferings which accompanied colonization, the Gospel has expressed and continues to express the identity of the peoples in this region.’

“Clearly, this pope has a long way to go

in understanding the truth of the colonization and the history of forced religious conversion of the Americas.” (Special to the Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2007)

“POPE REMOVES RESTRICTIONS ON HOLDING MASSES IN LATIN: VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI removed restrictions yesterday on celebrating the old Latin Mass, reviving a rite that was all but swept away by the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

“The decision, a victory for traditional, conservative Roman Catholics, came over the objections of liberal-minded Catholics and angered Jews because the Tridentine Mass contains a prayer for their conversion.

“Benedict, who stressed that he was not negating Vatican II, issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine rite if a ‘stable group of faithful’ requested it.” (Wire Report, July 8, 2007)

“POPE: OTHER CHRISTIANS NOT TRUE CHURCHES: Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.

“Benedict approved a document from his old offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith that restates church teaching on relations with other Christians. It was the second time in a week the pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of The Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church.”  

(Yahoo News, July 10, 2007)

Comment: Benedict says he is not negating the Vatican II Council, but that is exactly what he is doing. It is our understanding that according to Vatican law, once a decision is made by a Council it cannot be rescinded, because the church councils are considered perfect and do not make mistakes.

“EPISCOPALIANS REBEL OVER APPROVAL OF GAYS: Some plan to leave the Central Florida diocese after failing to oust the bishop… The long-simmering dispute over homosexuality in the Episcopal Church, USA,

which has threatened to tear the denomination apart, is now roiling the Diocese of Central Florida…” (Orlando Sentinel, November 4, 2007)

“EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF PITTSBURG VOTES TO SPLIT FROM NATIOAL CHURCH: JOHNSTOWN, PA. - By more than a 2-1 vote, members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh voted in favor of separating from the national church because of a theological rift that began with the consecration of an openly gay bishop in 2003…”

(The New York Times, November 4, 2007)

Comment: These two items, among others, indicate the falling of the Nominal systems.  But it is not because of the gay and same sex unions, etc. that they are falling. These are only the symptoms of the real problem. If the denominations could discuss the real Biblical teachings rather than these social problems, perhaps they could survive. However, they have not considered the cardinal doctrines of the Bible for many years. For instance, such important doctrines as the Ransom, Resurrection, (which is never mentioned except at Easter), Justification by faith, Sanctification and Restitution to name a few. Their only concerns are the social questions, which would be taken care of, if their minds were on the real Bible Truths. Other denominations are having similar problems. (Jer. 51:7; Rev. 14:8; 18:23)

“SOUTHERN BAPTISTS FACING CROSSROADS OVER IDENTITY: Southern Baptists head into their annual national meeting this week at odds over whether they have become too conservative and wed to partisan politics or whether a harder line is necessary to give the Nashville, Tenn.-based denomination a clear identity, Beginning Tuesday in San Antonio, proposals about issues such as political involvement, clergy sexual abuse and speaking in tongues should provide a glimpse at where the 16.3 million-member denomination is headed, 28 years after the ‘conservative resurgence’ swept liberals out. What’s at stake is the direction of the SBC and how the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. will work to reverse stagnating membership.” 

(Orlando Sentinel, June 11. 2007)

____________________________________________________________________

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the many beautiful Christmas cards received expressing love and prayers. Be assured that our warm Christian love and prayers are ever with you. We wish for all our readers that they will grow in Grace and Knowledge of the Lord for a blessed New Year as “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

ANNOUNCEMENT: The date of our Memorial is March 20, 2008, after six p.m.

NO. 604 WE SEE JESUS

Once again we come to the time of year that we consider the birth of Jesus. However, at the outset we would say that nowhere in the Bible are we told to remember His birth, although He emphatically told us to remember His death - “This do in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19)

Most of our readers know that December 25 is not the correct date for Jesus’ birth. This date has been plucked out of thin air; the Atonement Day type and other Scriptures inform us that He was born on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month - Tishri - Tishri being approximately our October. But we would not haggle about the exact date. We are persuaded that the Christian world does receive some moral uplift and spiritual encouragement through the observance of His birth, and we readily join with others in the observance. Many in Christendom reveal a milder and more pleasant spirit at that time. Quite often we have noticed people on the street humming some sort of Christmas tune, and we are happy to make this observation.

Coming to the analytical phase of this subject, we make note that if we ask many believers, “Do you see Jesus?” - That is, “Do you understand Him?” from many we would receive a ready answer: “Of course, we do!” So we would now offer our own analysis of how we “see Jesus.” And we would present some comment by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 2:6-9: “One in a certain place testified [Psa. 8:3-9], saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

To present a proper foundation for our analysis we would first quote from the Gospel of John 1:1-5: “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was a god. This was in a beginning with the God. Through it everything was done; and without it not even one thing was done, which has been done. In it was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shown in the darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.” This is taken from the Emphatic Diaglott translation; and the following is a footnote from that same translation: “This term [the Logos] should be left untranslated for the very same reasons why the names Jesus and Christ are left untranslated. As every appellative of the Savior of the world was descriptive of some excellence in his person, nature, or work, so the epithet Logos, which signified a word spoken, speech, eloquence, doctrine, reason, or the faculty of reasoning, is very properly applied to him. See 1 John 1:1, for a clear and useful comment by the Apostle John on the proem to this gospel.”

And further from John 1:14, Dia.: “The Logos became flesh, and dwelt among us - and we beheld his glory, a glory as of an Only-begotten from a Father - full of favor and truth.” Also, from Phil. 2:6-8, Dia.: “Christ Jesus, though being in God’s form, yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God, but divested [emptied] himself, taking a bondman’s form, having been made in the likeness of men; and being in condition as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Note now the exact language found in Psa. 8:3-9: “Made a little lower than the angels.” This description in both texts is identical, so we would apply the geometric theorem, “Things equal to the same things are equal to each other.” To make this very plain: two half dollars equal one dollar; four quarters also equal one dollar. Therefore, the four quarters are the exact equivalent of two half dollars - equal to each other. Here is clear Scriptural proof that Jesus was a man - “made flesh” - “a little lower than the angels.”

THE DUST OF THE GROUND

“The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen.2:7) Not the identical process, but a similar one, may be given for the Man Jesus. When He came to birth from the Virgin Mary, He began to partake of the foods common to man, and grew into a man of thirty years of age, the exact duplicate of Adam. He presented Himself to John in the River Jordan on the day He was thirty, the age at which the Jews reasoned, with Scriptural authority, that their males reached full manhood.

To analyze this a little further: Presently, the grass grows from the earth, the dust of the ground; the grass is consumed by the flesh-producing animals, which in turn are eaten by man. All of these things are the direct result of “the dust of the ground.” Thus, are we all formed from “the dust of the ground”; even as Jesus was; and the record is clear enough: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) Thus, at the age of thirty Jesus was in every detail an exact duplicate of Adam when “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”

By this statement we do not infer that God was thirty years in producing Adam. But the moment he was animated, Adam was the exact image of Jesus when He was thirty. “The son of man came to give himself a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28) The word ransom is from the Greek anti-lutron, which means an exact duplicate, a replica; therefore, Jesus had to be an exact duplicate of Adam - no more, no less - that He could provide the ransom for Adam, which none of the other human beings was able to do. “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” (Psa. 49:6,7)

“That disciple whom Jesus loved” reveals the intimate acquaintance and understanding that the Apostles had of Jesus: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands felt, concerning the word of life [the Logos]; and the life was made manifest, and what we have seen we also testify, and declare to you the aionian life, which was with the Father, and was manifest to us.” (1 John 1:1,2 - Dia.) In “our hands felt,” the Apostle reveals the intimate relationship which he had had with our Lord when He was on earth, a comradeship of the closest nature.

JESUS

“We behold Jesus.”  It is in order to stress here that the Apostle does not say, “We behold Jesus Christ.” And there is good reason for this. When the angel was speaking to Joseph, the advice was given: “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)  Here is one scholar's comment on the name: “The name Jesus means the salvation of God. For Joshua among the Hebrews is salvation, and among them the son of Nun is called Joshua. The name Jesus is above every name.”

However, from birth to His baptism by John in Jordan, our Lord was known by the single appellation Jesus, and not Jesus Christ. Christ means anointed and He did not become the “anointed” Savior until He received the Holy Spirit without measure at His baptism in Jordan. Therefore, it was not Jesus Christ who was made “a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death”; because the Christ, the Anointed, was not sacrificed on the cross, but merely Jesus, the perfect man. Had Jesus the Christ been nailed to the cross, He would have offered much beyond what the man Adam had, because Adam was never anointed with the Holy Spirit; he was simply “a living soul” - a man from any viewpoint. Christ was not “lower than the angels”; and, when He said on the cross, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46), He was referring to the spiritual life that had begun in Him at Jordan, which was raised from the tomb three days later, when “God supremely exalted him, and freely granted to him that name which is above every name... that every knee should bend, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those beneath; and every tongue confess that, Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11, Dia.) He now “sits at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2)

VARIOUS NAMES AND POSITIONS

 LOGOS - During His existence our Lord has held three positions in relationship to God, and these various positions are indicated by the various names He has had. Before His F1rst Advent to the earth He was known as the Logos, the Word. And as the Word of God He was the principal agent of God's creation; He was second to God, but above every other creature in Heaven or earth. As such, the Bible tells us, “without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3) As such He was a spirit being, not capable of description with our limited knowledge. Before his deflection, Lucifer was described as “The son of the morning” (Isa. 14:12); but the Logos was superior to that, because Lucifer came into existence through the agency of the Word. 

CHRIST JESUS - When the Logos came to earth, and became Christ Jesus, the situation is vividly described by St. Paul: “Christ Jesus... made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men... because obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:5-8) The Diaglott translates this in much finer style: “Christ Jesus... divested himself [He laid aside His high position, much the same as a man might take off his coat], taking a bondman's form [a slave's position], having been made in the likeness of men... he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

"IN THE LIKENESS OF MEN" - He had the appearance of a man, although a most unusual likeness of men - so much so that Pilate exclaimed in admiration, “Ecce homo” - “Behold the man!” {John 19:5) And St. Paul writes of Him: “He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15) Although Pilate saw the excellent features of a most unusual man, he could not see that Jesus was “without sin.” Yet Jesus' sinlessness had set Him apart from all men. All of us find description in the words of David: “Born in sin, shapen in iniquity.” (Psa. 51:5)

EXPRESS IMAGE OF GOD’S PERSON - Presently, and henceforth forever, Jesus occupies a third position, described by the Apostle in Heb. 1:3: “the express image of God's person... the right hand of the Majesty on high.” In Heb. 2:9 we have the subject of this treatise “We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels”; but in Heb. 1:4 it is stated that He is now “so much better than the angels.”

Scores of names and titles are used in the Bible in discussing Jesus; but we shall offer just a few of them here: In Rev. 1:8 He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending... the Almighty”; In Rev. 22:16, “The bright and morning star”; in Isa. 51:9, “the arm of the Lord”; in the Song of Solomon 2:1, “Rose of Sharon and The Lily of the Valleys”; and 5:10, “the chiefest among ten thousand”; in John 8:12, “the light of the world... the light of life"; in Luke 1:78, “the dayspring from on high”; in 1 Tim. 6:15, “the blessed and only potentate... the King of kings, and Lord of lords”; and in Heb. 13:20, “that great shepherd of the sheep.”

FOUR GREAT OFFICES - The risen Lord is now the possessor of four great offices, in which He is to do a certain work for the human race. There are many subdivisions of these four, but we shall not go into that detail. These offices are presently operative only in a very limited way; but He will come into the full glory of them all when He establishes His reign on earth - “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.” These offices are Biblically stated as follows: The world's Prophet - “A prophet shal1 the Lord your God raise up unto you... him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you” (Acts 3:22); and the world's High Priest - “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 5:6); the world's King - “Thou Bethlehem... out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2); the world’s Judge - “The Lord cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” (Psa. 96:13) In treating of just these four, we do so because each of them is close companion to God's four great attributes - Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power; and we shall offer brief comment on each of these descriptive pairs:

WORLD’S PROPHET - The word prophet in Acts 3:22 is from the Greek “prophetes,” from which the English word prophet is derived; and it has the meaning of pubic expounder, or teacher. And to be a good teacher, one must be endowed with Wisdom. Thus, the Lord's office of Prophet is readily linked with the Divine attribute of Wisdom. In making this statement we should be alert not to confuse wisdom with knowledge, because wisdom is the proper application of knowledge. It is well stated, “Knowledge is power”; but this is true only if we know what to do with knowledge. Also, it is a sound observation that “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Knowledge in inexperienced hands often causes great disaster - in the laboratory, in construction, in the operation of intricate machinery, etc. But we have strong Bible assurance that our risen Lord will know perfectly what to do on every occasion, and how to do it. Thus, it is properly foretold of Him: “The government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor [ab1e to advise and counsel in every situation].” (Isa. 9:6)

WORLD’S HIGH PRIEST - The office of a Priest is to forgive and bless. Therefore, we are counseled in Heb. 4:16: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy [forgiveness of sins], and find grace [blessing] to help in time of need.” All of this is clearly an operation of LOVE: therefore, we team the High Priest with the Divine attribute of Love.

WORLD’S KING - “Of the increase of his government and peace [kingdom] there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom there shall be no end, to order it with judgment and justice from henceforth even forever.” (Isa. 9:7) In the operation of this kingdom the Divine attribute of Power is self-evidently coupled.

WORLD’S JUDGE - “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation... Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.” (Isa. 28:16,17) It needs no elaboration to declare that the Divine attribute of Justice is the fitting counterpart of the World’s Judge.

ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR OFFICES - Now further comment on the foregoing: TEACHER-WISDOM - He who discerns clearly teaches clearly. Of the Teacher it is recorded:  “Jesus needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” (John 2:24,25) And His crushing answers to all the tricky questions of the Scribes and Pharisees offer ample proof that Jesus did know what was in man. Therefore, “He taught them as one having authority.” (Matt. 7: 29) Concerning the Jews St. Paul said: Israel hath a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." (Rom. 10: 2) Quite a contrast to the knowledge that Jesus had! The Egyptian proverb goes well here:

He who knows, but knows not that he knows, is timid; encourage him.

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is ignorant; teach him. 

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him.

He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him.

The great World's Teacher knows, and knows that He knows. “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.” (Isa. 53:11) And the Apostles stressed this point concerning the true followers of Jesus: “By this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3, Dia.) “We know that we are of the truth.” (1 John 3:19) And the philosophers, the comics, the ignoramuses all have had their play on this subject - some of it good and sound. As one of them has put it: “It's not what we don’t know that hurts; it's what we know that ain't right that floors us.” This truth may be emphasized in politics, religion, finance, patriotism, etc. One of our present-day philosophers said of Jesus: “He is the greatest teacher of all times.” Also, one of the poets has contributed an excellent bit on this subject:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,

 Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

However, we know “When thy judgments are in the earth [when the Great Teacher supervises the teaching] the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9)

PRIEST-LOVE - The great love-work that Jesus will accomplish is well expressed in Hosea 13:14: “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” Of Jesus, our Priest, it is written: “Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.” (Heb. 5:10)

Of Melchisedec it is recorded that he was a Priest upon his throne; that is, he was not subservient to any earthly power, which is an excellent description of our High Priest Jesus. One author gives us this description: “Melchisedec, King of Salem (probably Jerusalem before the Jews conquered that country after their Exodus from Egypt) and priest of the Most High God. Jerusalem means city or foundation of peace or safety, so that Salem is an appropriate abbreviation. In Salem also is God’s tabernacle (Psa. 76:2), God's dwelling place in Zion. Melchisedec as described in Heb. 7:3, was without father, without mother, without genealogy. This means that his pedigree is not recorded. He is further described as having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, of whom it is testified that he lives. It is not known whence he came or whither he went; he is a type of undying priesthood. When thus our Lord was made a high priest after the order of Melchisedec, he held a higher office than the Aaronic priesthood.”

It is a sad record that all movements, religious, governmental, or political, have been relatively pure at the outset. And almost all of them have followed a very fixed pattern as the years have come and gone. Regarding religious movements, they have gone through three stages: Priesthood, Priestcraft and Priestgraft. The pristine purity of the early Christian Church under the leadership of the Apostles is a thing of beauty, earnestly striving for the welfare of its adherents. But the Apostle Paul said that in his day “the mystery of iniquity doth already work... whose coming is after the working of Satan... with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth.” (2 Thes. 2:7-10) Much the same could be said for the Jewish Church. When it was organized under Moses at Sinai, Aaron was the ideal priest. “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb. 5:4) But by the time Jesus had arrived the noble ideals of Aaron had disappeared; the priesthood had degraded to the bottom of the dirty barrel - priestgraft. “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye [the Scribes and the Pharisees] have made it a den of thieves.” (Matt. 21:13)

JUDGE-JUSTICE - One of the classic Scriptures describing Jesus as Judge administering quick and perfect Justice is found in Isa. 11:1-5: “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick under-standing in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the  earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.”

The most just and well-intentioned of our Courts today must judge according to the seeing of the eyes and the hearing of the ears. Thus, some guilty go free, and some innocent are convicted. That is the best we have today, but that will not be so when the Great Judge administers Justice. We have “the sure word of prophecy” to verify this conclusion: “God hath appointed a day [the thousand-year day - shall “reign with him a thousand years” - Rev. 20:6] in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) Indeed, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) Often do our judges favor the strong, and burden the weak. A man's face may be pushed out to far, or in too much; thus, our judgment is often based on the “outward appearance.” It is a recognized truth that the very rich, the very powerful, or the highly educated find it almost impossible for them to receive a fair appraisal of themselves from others, because their position strongly influences the judgment of their admirers, or their enemies. Let us consider the case of Pilate: He admired the fine physical features of Jesus; thus, he said to the Jews: “I find in him no fault at all.” (John 18:38 - repeated in John 19:4) But the “envy” of the Jews was so pronounced and clamorous that they prevailed. Thus the law is often decided through prejudice, trickery, oratory or brute force. And the doctrine “Might is right” often prevails. We close the Justice feature of “We see Jesus” with Isa. 28:17: “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.”

KING-POWER - As King over all the earth Jesus will exercise the Divine attribute of Power. Since the time that historical record's began to be kept men have striven to improve their living conditions; and, while some progress has been made in certain respects, yet the overall picture is well described by the Prophet Isaiah (1:6): “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”

It is a sage observation that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. And the Bible emphasizes this in classic and emphatic fashion. In Dan. 2: 26-44 there is portrayed the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar's metal man - head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs of iron. Here is given us a picture of the four universal empires as viewed through the eyes of man. And Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar: “Thou, O king, art a king of kings... a kingdom, power, strength and glory... Thou art this head of gold.” (vs. 37,38)

But in the seventh chapter of the same book these same kingdoms are described by four beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and “the fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it.” (7:7) In both instances the four universal empires are described - Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. The last of these, Rome, is well portrayed by the iron legs, as history is replete with the records of “the iron rule of Rome.” But in Dan. 4:17 there is this terse summarization of all of them: “The Most High setteth up over it the basest of men.”

And as we consider Nero, Ivan the Terrible, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the emperors of Rome, etc., we recognize the truth of this statement. They were conquering heroes in their time; but they do not appear at all favorably when compared to The Prince of Peace! The shibboleth of the Roman rulers was: Without slaves there can be no leisure; without leisure there can be no thinking; without thinking there can be no progress. And history bears sad testimony to the rough time many of those Roman slaves had. And one of the heads of our own Government made the remark not so many years ago: “The average man is so dumb you can tell him anything.”

It is a proper analysis that the human race is divided into three groups - the magnetics, the repulsives, and the neutrals. The magnetics are a very small minority, but so are the repulsives. It is seldom we see a human face of such disagreeable appearance that we instinctively turn away from it. But some secular writers - not overly religious - have been caught up with the magnetism of Jesus; and one of them in his impelling way treats of the wife of one of the high rulers in Palestine at the time Jesus was being tried and led to the cross. She said to her husband; O, Lodbrog I have seen him; and I cannot forget his wonderful face. Save him, and I will go with you anywhere to the ends of the earth." But the husband answered, “I should save God!” Jesus was indeed magnetic, “The common people heard him gladly.” (Mark 12:37)

“We see Jesus” with the eyes of our understanding; and we can join with St. Paul in his superb exclamation, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15) With this come our warm wishes to a11 for a blessed Holiday observance.

(Brother John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 417, December 1990)

____________________________________________________________________

LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brethren,

I read with interest all that is printed and mailed to me from the “Epiphany Bible Students Ass’n.”  I SO MUCH appreciated the May 1, 2007 article regarding leaky vessels. True, some of the articles are elementary truth and most of the readers are familiar with them. It has been said, repetition is the mother of retention. How about, some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to  pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route. Elizabeth Kenny, Australian nurse (1886-1952).

From 1953 to 1976 I was a member of the Jehovah Witnesses. In the late time of 1975 I began to read and study C.T. Russell’s Studies in the Scriptures. I began to relate to other JW’s what I learned, such as the separating of people either sheep or goats today in the Gospel Age would be done during the Millennium Age. (Matt. 25:32)  I had to appear before a committee (Inquisition) and retract what I learned from C.T. Russell and stop telling others. I didn’t and was excommunicated early in the year 1977.

How I wish that I was more knowledgeable regarding God’s word the Bible during that Inquisition. I would have told them what Martin Luther said, facing crisis of conscience in the year A.D. 1521 before seventy men judging him. Martin Luther’s statement, I quote.

“Unless I am convinced by the testimonies of the Scriptures or by evident reason (for I believe neither pope nor councils alone, since it is manifest they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is held captive by the word of God; and as it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience, I cannot otherwise; God help me. Amen.”

It was once said, He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.      

I always learn or understand something that I didn’t know before by reading Biblical literature. For instance, I always thought that what Jesus said in Matt. 8:22 “Let the dead bury the dead” was a spiritually dead person. How pleased to understand from the May 1, 2007 issue we are “Dead Men Walking.” We are not fallen asleep yet, but are on the way. James 4:14 says, “We are a mist appearing for a little while and then disappearing.” May I thank you in advance for reading my letter. In conclusion may I say, The universe is like a safe and the so-called mystery of life is in the safe and the combination to open the safe is the Bible.

We can either complain that rosebushes have thorns - or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.

I remain your brother in Christ.                                    Respectfully,…       (LOUSIANNA)  

…………………………………

Dear Brethren in Christ,

Reading the scriptural information in the booklets you have sent me over the years has helped me so much in my walk in faith. Please continue to send them to my new address.

Enclosed is a check in appreciation of your publications.  Please send Nos. 1-10 papers also.

I came into the Truth in 1968 by reading a book I found in a second hand store titled, “Millennial Dawn” and in a time of moving from one location to another I lost it.  Over the years I have inquired about it at conventions and meetings. So far I haven’t been able to locate a copy. I am hoping you may be able to help me.                                  Sincerely,…       (TEXAS)

NO. 603 "THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST AND THE UNJUST"

Acts 24:15

The resurrection of the just could not mean a resurrection of those who had been perfect, for there are none perfect, none just, “no, not one.” “The resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14), then, must mean the resurrection of those who have been justified; and the justified are those referred to in the Scriptures of whom Abraham was an example.  Abraham believed God, and was justified by faith. It was the faith that justified, and the works corroborated the faith.

  So it was with the Church of this Age. The Apostle says, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:1,2) We are not only justified out of sin, but are also brought by operation of our faith into the glorious standing of members of Christ; and we may hope to participate with Christ in the glories of His Kingdom in the future. It is one thing to be freed from guilt, and another thing to be raised to the position of sons of God, heirs of God and joint‑heirs with Christ, our Lord.

  The resurrection of the dead is similarly spoken of in John 5:28,29, where we read, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.” The Lord does not mean merely all the good, for He also includes in this all that are in their graves. We read in the context that they that have done good shall come forth “unto the resurrection of life”: those who have done evil shall come forth to “damnation [judgment ─ Dia.].” The word damnation, in the Greek, signifies a crisis, a turning‑point, a decision.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHURCH

  Those whose faith enables them to stand through evil report and through good report, and who thus fulfill the Divine requirement, are character‑likenesses of Jesus. These now pass from under the condemnation condition to the life condition. As the Apostle says, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." (I John 3:14) This passing from death unto life is not in the full sense in the present time. By faith we are reckoned dead with Christ, counted members of His body. That future life is reckoned to us. We are counted as having it; and this is our condition because we have the Divine approval.

  Since there is none good, the only sense in which one could “do good” would be by coming into accord with God by obedience, as under the covenant which prevailed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or under the still higher covenant that prevails with the Church in this Gospel Age. We have this testimony, that we are pleasing to God, who indicates His pleasure by begetting us of the Holy Spirit. In contradistinction, the world are aliens, foreigners. (Eph. 2:19) By this Holy Spirit, this “unction from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20), therefore, we have the evidence of acceptance with the Father.

  The outcome will be, that those having this approval of God, having passed the trials and testings which they have received - for he receiveth no son whom He does not scourge (Heb. 12:6) - and having proved faithful to the end, will be raised by the Lord to the very highest place - glory, honor and immortality. This is the crown, or very highest pinnacle of life that could be imagined. So, then, those who will have part in this First Resurrection will reign with Christ a thousand years. This is the first class mentioned by the Apostle. They are approved; they shall come forth to “life resurrec­tion.”

  What is the significance of “life resurrection”? We answer that these shall come forth to perfect life instantly. As St.   Paul says, “It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spirit body.” (1 Cor. 15:43) Thus instantaneously these blessings come to them. They have their trial in the Gospel Age and, therefore, theirs will be the chief resurrection.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE WORLD

  But all will have a resurrection. How will the resurrection of the world differ from that apportioned to the Church? The world has not had the Divine approval; the heathen have not had the Divine approval. The Apostle says, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14) They are not fit for heaven. They are not fit to be with the angels or with the Saints, no matter how they came to be in this condition. They came into this condition because of heredity, as children of Adam. But they could not have the same kind of resurrection that those will receive who have God's approval now, at the time of their death: “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10)

  So is it with the majority of those in Christian lands. They could not be thought to be fit for heaven or to have God's approval in any sense of the word. And they know it. They confess it themselves. Nobody could deny that nine hundred and ninety‑nine out of every thousand are living “after the flesh.” They are not Saints, but have the Divine disapproval, some having heard more of the Word of God, and some having heard less.

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION TO BE GRADUAL

“Those who have done evil” (John 5:29) will come forth to the resurrection of “damnation” (Greek, krisis), resurrection of trial, resurrection of testing. What kind will it be? The Scriptures show us that it will be a gradual resurrection. During the thousand years of Christ's reign the people will be awakening from the sleep in the tomb. This awakening will be a preparatory work, not the full resurrection, which will require the entire thousand years.

But the Divine provision is that the account will have been settled for the whole world so that when they shall come forth from the tomb in the future they will be in the hands of the Redeemer, who’s Kingdom will be world‑wide. They will have the opportunity of being raised again to that which was lost. Human perfection was lost, which includes not only perfect physical health, but perfect mental power; for mental power depends upon the brain, is affected by the brain, as well as by the body, so that men are now in a dying condition, mentally, morally and physically.

None will be fully raised, from imperfection to perfection, until the end of the thousand years. All who will respond to the beneficent arrangements will secure that which Father Adam enjoyed at first - ­perfect manhood. Those who will not be obedient to the requirements of Christ's Kingdom will be cut off in the Second Death (Acts 3:23). They will be destroyed as brute beasts, having had the full measure of Divine favor (2 Peter 2:12).

When the sentence came upon Father Adam he was thrust out of Eden. All of his children have been born dying, and are still in a dying condition. Therefore, the raising of man out of sin and death will be the bringing of him to full perfection - perfect life. This will be a gradual process. They will be made more alive and more alive, and less dead and less dead, as the thousand years progress, and none will get the resurrection life until they are raised to the condition of perfection - perfect life in the image of God, which was lost by Adam.

BURNING OF THE WORLD SYMBOLICAL

The Scriptures declare that “the earth abideth forever” and that “God formed it not in vain; He made it to be inhabited.” (See Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18) It has not yet reached the blessed condition when it will blossom as a rose, although it is in process of completion. At the end of the thousand years of Christ's reign, the whole earth shall have been brought to perfection. In the prophecies, mountains are symbolical of kingdoms. In 2 Peter 3:12 the Apostle's words signify that there will be a great conflagration and that the heavens also will be on fire, but that, nevertheless, there will be a new order of things, to take the place of the old order; and under this new order of things there shall come a blessing to all in the earth. The word “fire,” in this sense signifies destruction of the present order of things, of the kosmos - not the ge, the earth, but the social system, society as at present organized.

We not infrequently hear people say, “Well, matters are getting pretty hot!” Yes, the battle between capital and labor is getting hotter, as is evidenced lately in the labor troubles, particularly in Great Britain and the United States. But the time of conflagration will be such a “time of trouble,” that it will entirely consume the present order of things, a Time of Trouble, therefore, that will be epoch‑making, and the new epoch will be introduced immediately thereafter.

MOUNTAINS SYMBOLIZE KINGDOMS

We remember riding over the mountains once with an Adventist. The Adventist brother said, “Do you not think it will be a glorious time when these mountains will be brought down to a level?”  We said, “Dear brother, the mountains are very beautiful, very useful.”  He said, “You cannot raise corn on this mountain.” “Well,” said we, “go to the prairie if you want to raise corn.”  Then he said, “What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the mountains shall be brought low, and when they speak about the melting of the earth?” We said, “Dear brother, the ‘mountains’ there are kingdoms. We read that ‘the mountain of the Lord's house shall be exalted in the top of the mountains’; it will be the chief mountain or kingdom." (Isa. 2:2)

THE RESURRECTION WILL LEVEL ALL CLASSES

The Psalmist tells us that “the mountains shall be removed and carried into the midst of the sea” (Psa. 46:2), mountains being symbolical of the kingdoms, of the governments of the earth, and society in general, the elements which support the governments. (Psa. 46) St. Peter also speaks as though the whole world will be consumed by fire. These things are symbolical, implying that the people who are now in a low condition will be brought up, and that those who are high will be brought low. Thus there will be a leveling process.

We remember the statement of the Scripture in Zephaniah 3:8, “Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord.” Here Jehovah is speaking to the Church, telling us that we should not be dissatisfied, that we should not be anarchists and strife‑breeders: I shall attend to this matter myself. You can rest with the present order of things. “Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” That this fire is not literal is shown in the next sentence: “Then will I turn unto the people a pure message that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8,9)

WHEN “THE SPIRIT AND THE BRIDE SAY, ‘COME'”

It will be the work of the thousand years of Messiah's reign to thus make known the pure message of God, the pure Word of God. We all see, as we look back, that a pure message of God has not been declared to mankind, but creed contradicting creed, making confusion worse confounded. The Lord, however, will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the great deep (Isa. 11:9; Hab. 2:14). As the Revelator puts it, “the river of the water of life” will flow freely (Rev. 21:6; 22:1,2).

We see that there is no throne yet established and that there is no Bride now. We are waiting for the time to come when the throne will be established and when “the water of life” will flow out. In the future it will be “a river of the water of life.” (Rev. 22:1) This cannot take place until the second coming of our Lord; conse­quently, it will be after that, in the glorious time of Messiah's Kingdom, when the Spirit and the Bride will say, “Come!”  The election of the Church of God will then have been completed; and every creature will come to a knowledge of the Truth and will have the opportunity of attaining to the full perfection made possible by the redemptive work of Christ.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CHURCH TO EARTHLY SOCIETY

The spirit condition is spoken of as a heavenly condition in the sense that the words heaven and heavenly in the Scriptures are used to signify higher. So the heaven to which the Church will be taken is this higher condition. But the mission of the Church in the next Age is in connection with humanity. We are, then, to understand that the Lord and the Church will be present, operating through human, earthly agents; supervising, overruling.

We have an example of this invisible power in Satan, who has been ruling here for over six thousand years, through his agents. His work is a deceptive work. He has ruled mankind through ignorance, superstition, etc. But the rule of Christ will be the scattering of error, superstition. The world shall know the Truth that the Truth may make them free. Those who will receive the Truth will receive the freedom and will eventually attain the liberty which belongs to the Sons of God. Men will be quite visible to The Christ, but they will be invisible to men. It is in respect to these that the Lord said that the twelve Apostles shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel - that the Apostles shall be associates with Him in judging and ruling the world.

Then there is another class: “Ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:28); but our Lord does not say a word about their seeing Himself or His apostles. He and His apostles will be in the invisible phase of the Kingdom. So it is written, “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16) The patriarchs will be considered the children. A father is a life‑giver. While in one sense of the word Abraham and Isaac, etc., might be considered fathers, yet by virtue of Christ's redemptive work He will give them life and they will be his children; for whoever gives life is the father and whoever receives life is the child. They will be princes in all the earth, not on the heavenly plane, but on the earthly plane, having obtained the “better resurrection” (Hebrews 11) because they were faithful. Each one of them will be a sample of perfect manhood; and each one of them will be a prince or ruler. Their wisdom will be a wisdom superintended by the Church in glory.

THE OBJECT OF THE INDIVIDUAL TRIAL OF MANKIND

Mankind will need to be put on trial to see whether or not they will accept God's plan with the knowledge they will have received. If they accept they will be adjudged worthy of everlasting life. If they fail to come into harmony, they will be adjudged worthy of everlasting death. But this judgment will be passed by Christ and His Bride.

So, then, we see that there is a great judgment or trial coming to the world to give them the opportunity of deciding whether or not they will come into harmony with the arrangements of Christ's Kingdom. In the work of judging, the Church will be associated with Christ. We read that God “hath ap­pointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:31) Christ, the Head, and the Church His Body. Again, “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?” (I Cor. 6:2) Therefore our own judgment or trial takes place in advance, that we may be prepared to try or judge the world; and by the experiences through which we have passed we may be assistful to them, as they shall be on trial and under the control of our Lord and the Church.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 4989, 4990, March 15, 1912)

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DEGREES OF SIN AND THEIR PUNISHMENT

The question is often asked, “Is there any special punishment for thieves, murderers and other criminals, or will they, if repentant, be received into the Kingdom along with those who have tried to do right throughout their lives?”

This question can be viewed from two standpoints. God Himself is the great determiner of right and wrong. Everything that is right God approves; everything that is wrong God disapproves. The things that God approves are those things that are good, helpful and favorable for everybody. The things that God disapproves are the things that are wrong, unjust, injurious to every one. Therefore God has condemned certain things that are unjust or injurious to ourselves or to others. Whoever, therefore, commits sin, violates first of all, a Divine command, and to that extent has a certain penalty attached to him for that wrong doing.

We speak of certain persons as “sowing their wild oats.” What does this expression signify? It means that they are now contracting habits which are injurious not only to their own health and happiness, but probably to that of others. As a result of practicing sin they are sure to bring upon themselves a degradation of both mind and body. Thus sin brings its own reward in a natural way. Whoever sins will suffer, is the general law. But aside from that law, there is a God, who has given certain commands and certain penalties that go with those commands.

WHO ARE THIEVES AND MURDERERS?

God's standard of righteousness is much higher than is man's present standard. Our Lord gave very fine meanings to the words “thief,” “adulterer,” and “murderer.” He taught that anyone who is angry with his brother without a cause is in danger; that he who looks upon another's wife with impure desire has committed adultery. (Matt. 5:22,28) These are very fine distinctions. Moreover, we must all admit, as Shakespeare has said:

“Who steals my purse steals trash;

            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 But he that filches from me my good name

 Robs me of that which not enriches him,

 And makes me poor indeed.”

Many people have been guilty of stealing the good name of others; many have been guilty of murder in the sense that they hate others. When it comes to the point of deciding who are the most guilty murderers and thieves, we are not competent to judge, for we are not able to know the qualities of mind and the weaknesses with which each person was born. God only could tell the degree of wrong in any of these cases. There are some people who are, we might say, naturally good; others seem to have been born with less patience. Some who, naturally, would not get angry with their brother, nor with any one, as soon as some one else would, may never be in danger of committing murder, either literally or figura-tively; for they are born with the quality of forbearance.

As these may not manifest any special patience more than that with which they were born, so others may manifest special qualities because of the condition in which they were born.

The world has learned the necessity of restraining those who are injurious to others. The judgment of the people of the state of New York is, according to the law, that no murderer shall be at large. He shall be confined; for a murderer is not a safe person to permit in society. Therefore, he is put into prison or is executed. This is the general judgment, outside of God's judgment. The best thing for him and the world in general is that he go down to hades, sheol - the great state of death, where he cannot murder anyone else. The Scriptures agree with the laws of the state of New York, that if a man commits heinous crimes he should be punished.

GOD IS TRAINING THE JUDGES NOW

But so far as taking the position of a judge is concerned, we are not capable of doing this. God alone, at the present time, knows how much more worthy of punishment some are who are in prison than some who are out of prison would be for something else. The offense of the prisoners might outwardly be the greater crime; that of those who are not confined might be just as great a crime from the Divine standpoint; for they might be sinning against greater light and ability. No one but God could tell. Therefore, “Judge nothing before the time.” (l Cor. 4:5)

When is “the time”?  People are always glad to get the chance to judge others. Someone may ask, “When may we have the chance to judge? We would like to have it now.”  We reply, “Yours is the wrong spirit. Get rid of it or you will never be a judge at all. God is selecting another class to be judges - a saintly class that will be fully satisfied to judge nothing before the time, but to leave everything to him. He says, “This is the kind I want. I will select them.”  The Apostle says, “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?”  (l Cor. 6:2)

We shall judge the world, not now, under present conditions, but after we shall have been changed in the First Resurrection,

changed in a moment. The Apostle explains what that change will mean to us - “Sown in weakness, raised in power; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown an animal body, raised a spirit body.” (1 Cor. 15:42‑44) When we reach that condition of bodily likeness, as well as character‑likeness to our Lord, we shall be His associates, His wife, the Royal Priesthood. Then there will be plenty of time for us to judge the world. All the lessons we get now will only develop us for that time. All the experiences we have with ourselves - you judging yourself and I myself - the better we shall be prepared for the opportunity which God will give us by and by.

A JUDGE MUST POSSESS PERFECT SELF‑CONTROL

Whoever has not learned to rule his own spirit is in no condition to rule others. Whoever has not learned to judge his own heart motives and has not put a restraint on them to the best of his ability is not prepared to sit in judgment upon another. Those who are now being selected of the Lord are not by nature free from imperfections, but have many of the same weaknesses that others have.

Nevertheless, they are seeking to judge themselves to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, to get self‑control, or as the Bible says, to “overcome.”  All those who will be with the Lord in Kingdom glory and power and the work of the Millennial Age will be “more than conquerors through him that loved us” and bought us with his own “precious blood.” (Rom. 8:37; 1 Peter 1:18,19)

Various qualities of murder, lust, covetousness, etc., are more or less seen in the unbalanced mental and moral conditions resulting from the fall. We see how this is operating in the whole world. Some are so mentally unbalanced they are put into asylums. Some are so morally unbalanced they are not permitted to be at large, but must of necessity be put into prison. Others are able to be about in the world and have their liberty, but they are not sound of mind. “There is none righteous; no, not one” (Rom. 3:10), is the Bible declaration.

Since we have learned to appreciate the Bible teaching, to see that a great fall came upon our race six thousand years ago, and that all are born in sin and “shapen in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us” (Psa. 51:5), it gives us a great deal of sympathy for many poor people; and as we have more strength of character, mentally and morally, than some of them, we thank God and say, “Who hath made thee to differ?” (1 Cor. 4:7)

We were, perhaps, born differently from many; and what we did not get by heredity, we got through grace; so our strength of character is not of ourselves. It is all by God's grace that we are better than others; and it is not for us to glory, but to give thanks. So we have sympathy for murderers, thieves and vagabonds in general; and we believe the Lord has.

This does not mean that we have the kind of sympathy which would say, “Open wide the prison doors and let every one out!” No, no! Some who have received the Truth while in prison have asked us to intercede in their behalf, that they might be released; and we have answered that we were not sure but that they were better where they are; for in prison there is less temptation than in the world. Liberty is a good thing; but it brings a responsibility and additional trials as well.

SIN AND DEATH ARE HEREDITARY

As we consider the weakness and sinfulness of humanity, the question naturally arises, “Why is this so?”  The Scriptures, not the Evolution theory, give us a satisfactory answer to the question.

When God placed our first parents in the Garden of Eden, He made this proposition to them: “If you do right, as I command, you may continue to live; but if you do wrong, contrary to my command, you shall die.” Our first parents disregarded the Divine command and were disobedient. God immediately sentenced them to death. Death was the penalty of disobedience. In other words, God said, “If you are a sinner I will not permit you to live. Those to whom I wish to grant eternal life are those who will gladly obey my law.” For, as Jesus said, true worshippers will “worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:23)

But in addition to having the death sentence passed upon him - whether that death come sooner or later - Father Adam received other punishment, aside from that penalty. Ejected from the Garden of Eden, he was brought into contact with thorns and thistles; he labored with sweat of face; he had the sorrows and troubles that come with the decaying body. All these things were the result of sin.

But so far as God was concerned, the penalty of sin was the death sentence merely. In effect God had said, “You are not fit to live; you are not fit for everlasting life; you shall not have everlasting life.”  But through the sacrifice of His human nature, Jesus, by the grace of God, has tasted death for the whole world of mankind - Adam and all his children, all of whom will ultimately be  redeemed from God's sentence. They will be redeemed from death in order that Jesus may, during His Messianic reign of one thousand years, lift them up out of sin and degradation.

THE TRANSGRESSOR MAKES HIS OWN WAY HARD

But do you ever think to what extent man degrades himself? To that extent he will be more degraded than is necessary; and when-ever the time comes for his uplifting, the lower he is, the more difficulty there will be in getting him up again. Since God's arrangement for lifting mankind out of the death condition is that he must help himself, each man must labor to rise from his degradation, and must be assisted in his labor. But by his own efforts he must get out of the difficulty. No man will get out by saying, “I would rather be out of this and have life.” The way back to perfection will be an uphill way. It will not be the narrow way of the present time - darkness on every hand, a strait gate, etc. - but a highway, an upward way, something favorable to the person going up. He cannot roll up. He will not be required to put forth so much effort in a month or in a year or in ten years, as we have to put forth, but he will have a good share of the thousand years of Christ's reign in which he can gradually rise up out of his imperfec­tion.

We, on the contrary, are required to turn from sin to righteousness and to make a full sacrifice of ourselves to the Lord. Then we must walk in the Narrow   Way to the best of our ability. In this we have the Master to help us; but ours is a short, sharp period of fiery trial; and if our trial is hard, we have the assur­ance that there is a great reward to those who come off victorious in this battle against self and sin.

In a word, then, when people die, that is the end of things, in one sense of the word, and not an end in another sense of the word. When a man is dead he has come under the full sentence of the law, for the law said, “Thou shalt die.”

THE WORLD'S HOPE IS THE RESURRECTION

A junk heap represents the condition of humanity, as well as it can be represented. Some people will go to a junk pile and find a great deal of value there; they can do something with this, that and the other thing. Our Lord is the greatest restorer ever known. When His Kingdom is set up, He will take over the world of mankind, approximately 96,000,000,000 of humanity - Adam and his children, all in their broken, fallen condition; and then the great work of refreshing and restoring will begin. The sawing, the hammering and the filing, if you please, will continue during the whole thousand years of the Millennial reign.

So, you see, the condition into which a man gets himself now has a great deal to do with his future. Many will be so degraded that when they come forth from the tomb they will have a very difficult time. Some of these are mentioned in the Scriptures. We are told that some of these will come forth to shame and lasting contempt. There are many people who will come forth to shame. After they had died, many have been found to have been defaulters; many people have been found to have indulged in very criminal acts; yet perhaps no one knew it while they lived. These things came out after their death, and some things may not have come out yet; but we may be very sure that when the Lord's time shall come for the general opening up, there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed. Therefore, keep your records as clear as possible. Whatever is there will surely be made manifest, is the Lord's declaration of the matter.

When the world's history shall all be known, some that we have thought to be very honest, just people, we may find to have been just the reverse; and others who may have been thought to be dishonest may be found to have been very honest. The judgment of the world is not always right. This is one reason why the Lord warns His people not to judge at the present time. We are not competent now. The Lord will judge in the future. When that time comes and the whole world of mankind are brought forth to have their trial before the “Great White Throne,” the books will be opened. Then some will have shame, and some will have great contempt, which will last just as long as they are contemptible. How long will they be contemptible? Just as long as they remain in the wrong state of mind. But if they will obey the terms and regulations of the Messianic Kingdom they will rise daily out of their degradation and meanness, coming back more and more to the perfect likeness of God in the flesh, as represented in Adam.

As mankind rise from their fallen condition, so this contempt will pass away. At that time people will perhaps say, “Well, you know he was a very wicked man in his time. He suffered contempt when it was first realized what a degraded character be was.”  Or, “She was a wicked woman, but now see what a change has come over her! See how well she has gotten along! See what effort she is putting forth! See what character she is developing!”  And all will rejoice to see the change.

By the end of the Millennial Age, one who was in shame and contempt at the beginning will, if he has taken the right course, have been lifted up above it. We see the principle illustrated in the Scrip­tures. Saul of Tarsus was in shame and contempt because he was a murderer and blasphemer. But we do not hold him in contempt. Neither do we hold St. Peter in contempt because he denied the Lord. At that time it will be said of the world just as we say of the Apostles when we see what wonderful characters they were afterwards. When the world shall have been brought to a knowledge of God and His righteousness under the favorable condition of the Kingdom, restitution will take out of them all imperfec­tions and give them all the good qualities that God originally gave to the perfect man, when God said that he was “very good.”

WHO MAY ENTER THE KINGDOM

But do not the Scriptures say that no murderer shall enter the Kingdom of God? Yes. The Scriptures state that murderers will not be in the kingdom, that they will be outside - have no part in it­ - “without are murderers,” etc. (Rev. 22:14,15) This statement does not signify that a man who has once been a murderer might not reform and become a Saint and an Heir of the Kingdom. We have already referred to one murderer mentioned in the Scriptures, guilty of the murder of St. Stephen, Saul of Tarsus, who afterwards became one of the most notable Apostles. He was a murderer, the responsibility of Stephen's death lay at his feet.

So when we read that no drunkard or murderer or robber shall enter the Kingdom, the New Jerusalem, how shall we understand it? In this way; that when during the Millennial Kingdom all mankind shall have the opportunity of coming into harmony with God, those who maintain a sympathy or love for unrighteousness of any kind will not have Divine approval. They will not be permitted to enter within the gate of the city, which symbolically represents the Kingdom and the Divine favor. Originally, Jerusalem represented the Church. “I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife”; and “the wall of the city had twelve foundations [foundation stones], and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:9-14) But into that city there would be brought the good only.

So all the world of mankind who will come into harmony with God will come into that city, into the New Jerusalem and Kingdom of God, and outside of that city will be found all impure characters. We have them pictured in this statement that liars and murderers, etc., shall have their portion in the “lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” This “lake of fire and brimstone” is as symbolical as is the city. As the city is not a literal city of gold, neither is the lake a literal lake of fire and brimstone. That city was pictured by Jerusalem, and the “fire” by Gehenna. As the offal of the literal city of Jerusalem was put into the Valley of Hinnom for destruction and for the purification of the city, so all the offal of the Millennial Kingdom will be destroyed and be kept outside of the Golden Jerusalem. That will be a glorious Kingdom, free from any­thing that would be a blight or blemish or sin; and all who love unrighteousness, in any sense of the word, will be destroyed in “the lake of fire,” which is, we are told by the Revelator, the Second Death. (Rev. 21:8)

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 4990-4992, March 15, 1912)

NO. 602 IN MEMORIAM

Once again the time of year comes that we are vividly reminded of the demise of the Parousia and Epiphany Messengers, and it is our fond hope that our readers will obtain some good information and uplift from what we now present.

Up to his death on October 31, 1916, almost everyone in “present truth” was fully persuaded that Brother Russell was “that servant” of Matthew 24:46; and quite a few still hold that opinion, among whom we include ourselves. During the Dark Ages the doctrine of “restitution” (Acts 3:19-21) had become completely lost, and this lapse injected utter confusion into the Christian fraternity. Without understanding restitution, it was impossible to produce any harmonious understanding of the general Bible structure; the “plan of the Ages” (Eph. 3:11, Dia.) was a meaningless expression. The woman having ten pieces of silver of Luke 15:8 corroborates the fact that the doctrine of restitution was lost. (See Berean Comments on Luke 15:8,9.)

This problem gave extreme difficulty to That Servant, so much so that he on a certain occasion betook himself to three days of intense prayer and study, at the end of which he was rewarded with a clear understanding of the Atonement Day sacrifices as they are outlined in the 16th Chapter of Leviticus. This enlightenment caused him to realize that God was during this Gospel Age merely laying the foundation for the full at-one-ment of the entire human race with Himself “in due time” ─ the delay being caused by God now taking from among the Gentiles “a people for His name” (Acts 15:14), the same to be associated with His Son Jesus as His Heavenly Bride to give the human family a rebirth under a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13), in direct contrast to the degradation now prevailing in “this present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4)

However, the radical revelation of this understanding actually frightened him; it was actually difficult for him to believe this Scripture which seemed so logical and with which he could find no fault. He needed to be doubly persuaded that it was actually the truth, so instead of broadcasting his findings immediately or telling the general Household of Faith about it, he summoned leading brethren to discuss this revelation, which he and they did during a period of eight days. When none of them could find any flaws in the picture, he eventually wrote a small book called Tabernacle Shadows, which some of his ardent admirers have characterized as the biggest “little book” that has ever been written. No one with a clear understanding of that book will ever be confused on the “plan of the ages.”

THE PAROUSIA ELEAZAR

Eleazar was Aaron's eldest son and in line to become High Priest in Israel at his father's death. But while serving as underpriest with his father, he was given very prominent service, as can be seen from Numbers 4:16: “And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.” From certain standpoints the Tabernacle typified the Gospel-Age Church. Therefore, those people who officiated in connection with it would also typify certain people in the Gospel Age. Considering the sweeping powers that Eleazar possessed, “the oversight of all the tabernacle,” it puts no strain upon the imagination to recognize that he typified the twelve Apostles at the First Advent. “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” (Matt. 16:19)

Similar language is used concerning Brother Russell: “Shall make him ruler over all His goods.” (Matt. 24:47) And in Luke 12:42: “That faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His household, to give them their portion of meat in due season.” From this we do not wish to convey the thought that Brother Russell was infallible, or spoke by inspiration, as did the Apostles; but it is a self-evident fact that his power over the Harvest work and the Harvest Church was well nigh absolute. In course of time he recognized this; he appointed and dismissed Pilgrims as his judgment dictated; he was final authority on all Bible House matters, and made all appointments of brethren to important executive positions. And being fully aware of this, he attempted to arrange things in such a manner that after his death would prevent any other individual from “stepping into his shoes,” as it were, by appointing an editorial committee of seven brethren to supervise the Watch Tower publication. Those familiar with the situation know that his wishes were speedily ignored; in little more than a year, J. F. Rutherford had already enthroned himself “in Moses' seat.”

However, it is not our wish to offer detail on the above statement; rather, we shall treat of the Gospel Harvest Eleazar from the standpoint of the type. In Numbers 4:16 six executive and teaching functions are set forth, of which the first “pertaineth to the oil for the light,” the lampstand. Among other things, oil represents the spirit of understanding (Matt. 25:3, “the spirit of the Truth,” Berean Comment). For Eleazar, therefore, to have charge of the oil for the lampstand would typify the privilege Brother Russell had of understanding the Truth as Pastor and Teacher, not only for himself, but also for the brethren as enlighteners of one another, as he conveyed his Biblical interpretations to them, giving them helps to learn and to teach the Truth. He did this orally and in writing. He gave clear and specific instructions for organizing classes, and for organizing distribution of the Truth literature to the general public.

Eleazar's second duty had to do with “the sweet incense.” The unburnt sweet incense represented the actually perfect choice human powers of Jesus and the reckonedly perfect choice human powers of the Church; “much incense with the prayers of all saints” (Rev. 8:3,4). Brother Russell offered deep and truthful detail on such activities of Jesus from Jordan to Calvary, and on the Church in general in their earthly pilgrimage all during the Gospel Age. As to the Church of his day, he acted directly both as the teacher and executive with respect to the sweet incense. He clearly explained Justification by faith through Jesus' merit, which justification once fully obtained enabled such brethren to make their own offering of “the sweet incense” according to the providential circumstances of each one. We have been told that on one occasion, when Brother Russell was visiting a city, that a brother asked him to give his talk that morning on justification, which he proceeded to do, giving lucid analysis of the subject for an entire hour.

Thirdly, Eleazar had charge of “the daily meat offering,” or, more properly, the meal offering. When the drink offering is not mentioned (and it is omitted in Num. 4:16) it is understood as being included in the meal offering. This offering represents that part of the sacrifice with which the offerer occupies himself, such as setting forth the Truth, lecturing and preaching on the Truth by Pilgrims, Auxiliary Pilgrims, elders, colporteurs and unofficial persons of lesser ability. It also included oral conversation in testimony of the Truth, serving in the Photo-drama work, serving as laborers of the Bible House and Bethel, doing office and home work in connection with spread of the Truth, and encouraging and supporting others in these various works orally, with the printed page, by lectures, sermons, question meetings, conversation and letter writing. As executive he discharged this phase of his office by arranging for the various forms of service mentioned herein for spreading the Truth, as well as appointing specific persons to their pertinent positions as pilgrims, colporteurs, department supervisors, etc., at Bethel and the Bible House. The fulfilled facts attest that he exercised his authority in all of these features.

Fourthly, Eleazar had the care of the anointing oil. This oil types the Holy Spirit from the standpoint of its qualifying the elect Church to serve each other. The ingredients of this oil are succinctly stated in Isaiah 11:2, the contents of which may be stated thusly: the qualities of wisdom, justice, love and power each developed individually, developed in balance with others, with all of them controlling all other qualities (2 Peter 1:5-8), thus qualifying the various members of the Church for the “work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:12), to the extent of their ability and providential circumstances.

As antitypical Eleazar of the Gospel Harvest. his charge as teacher was to instruct the Church as to the nature of the anointing, of the anointed class, of their duties, privileges in knowledge, service, development, endurance as "good soldiers," etc. This he did in great detail in the Volumes, the Towers, and by his oral ministry. Especially did he stress the development of the graces, the quickening, development, and balancing of the Holy Spirit. It logically followed that he would appoint qualified persons to the respective forms of service as pilgrims, colporteurs, photo-drama workers, Bible House and Bethel personnel, managers of the foreign branches and news-paper workers. Inasmuch as the great majority of classes had elected him as their pastor, he had supervisory capacity in their affairs. Sometimes he acted directly and sometimes indirectly in electing or unseating the officers of those classes, endorsing those qualified, and rejecting those he considered unqualified. All of this he did in efficient and impressive manner.

Fifthly, Eleazar had charge of the Tabernacle itself. The whole structure while it was standing was under his supervision. The Tabernacle proper in the Holy types the Church in its earthly ministry, and in the Most Holy in its heavenly inheritance. The humanity of such is typed in the Court, specifically with respect to the brazen altar. This typed the Harvest Eleazar's capacity as Pastor and Teacher, with executive supervision of the Church during the reaping and gleaning time up to the time of his death. He also had similar authority over the antitypical Court, which contained the tentatively justified. Thus, he was the eye, hand and mouth of Jesus during his entire office as That Servant. While it is true that he did not produce all the advancing Truth during his ministry, he did produce much more of it than any other person. And. in that which others saw, they were obligated to secure his approval of it before he presented it to the general Church through the Towers. His authority in this respect was also well nigh absolute.

Sixthly, he had full charge of the holy furniture of the Court, Holy and Most Holy ─ “the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is.” This would include the two altars, the laver, the lampstand, the table and the ark, all of which was in the charge of antitypical Eleazar. The antitypical brazen altar in the Court represented the Church's humanity in sacrifice; and Brother Russell gave great detail concerning this ─ the privileges of the brethren in using their human all whenever and wherever opportunity afforded. This he did orally and in writing, and by his “example of the believers.” (1 Tim. 4:12) Thus he encouraged and directed the general Church as a “good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim. 2:3)

His teaching charge to the Church concerning the golden altar in the Holy had to do with encouraging, comforting, strengthening, correcting, warning, and restraining the sacrificing and suffering Church, which he did by explaining, proving, and illustrating the privileges of the Church toward one another. His executive charge toward the Church was accomplished by his encouraging and directing the Church in such work.

As our readers know, the laver in the Court types the Bible ─ the base the Old Testament, and the upper part containing the water the New Testament, the upper part built upon and growing out of the lower part. The water in the upper part types the cleansing features of Bible truths. The Harvest Eleazar's executive charge of the antitypical laver means that the Bible was placed in his care ─ to preserve it, to commend it, and make it influential in its use for its Divinely intended purpose of furnishing the proper doctrinal, refutative, correctional and ethical teachings, and to direct the use of pertinent Scriptures to his purpose (2 Tim. 3:15-17). His teaching charge of the antitypical Laver implied that he was to declare the doctrine of the Scripture, as well as its teachings in doctrinal, refutational, correctional and ethical respects. Certainly those of us who are familiar with his work know that he harmonized the Bible in a manner equaled by none other since the days of the Apostles.

Here we may properly apply this statement to an error that has circulated among some of the Lord's people to the effect that there are other books such as  Pseudepigraphs, like the book of Enoch, the Old Testament Apocrypha, etc., that are inspired writings; thus, a part of the Bible. If they were, Brother Russell would have accepted them as a part of the Bible; and he would wisely and faithfully have shown his teaching and executive functions toward them. But he resolutely rejected them, and it is not difficult for any one who reads them carefully to note their inferiority when compared with the 66 genuine books of the Bible.

The lampstand represents the Church as enlighteners of each other; it teaches them the Truth. Brother Russell acted out his office as teacher with respect to the antitypical lamp-stand in that he explained the nature, the character, privileges, duties, etc., of the Church as enlighteners of each other, and how to go about this good work. He also encouraged them to enlighten each other by providing the means whereby they could do this, and the best method to use in doing it. The table of shewbread types the Church in its capacity of strengthening its members with the bread of life unto every good word and work; especially so, with respect to the Sarah features of the Abrahamic Covenant, this being the promises that mother the Church in its earthly pilgrimage toward the Heavenly Canaan, their entrance into the Most Holy when their work on earth is finished. Having charge of this table and bread means he taught the brethren the best means of strengthening each other to “fight the good fight,” and to gain eternal life. He also arranged for conventions and organized meetings in the various classes for this purpose.

Much more could be said about the foregoing, but we would not wish our readers to conclude that we be overmuch given to “angel worship.” However, we consider it pertinent to stress here that certain members of the Gospel-Age Church occupied positions which could apply to them alone. For instance, there were twelve Apostles, and only twelve; thus, they had no successors; as some of the sects contend; prominent among such is the Roman Catholic Church. And with Brother Russell it may be stated with equal emphasis that his office as That Servant and as the Steward was unique to him alone; and the words which Jesus spoke concerning Himself may well be repeated for him: “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” (John 17:4) Therefore, he had no successor; he supervised with full authority and finished the reaping feature of the Gospel-Age Harvest, which provided everlasting tribute to him as antitypical Eleazar here in the end of the Age. We would qualify this, however, by noting that God did provide other faithful “stars” after the Apostles died; and continued to do this all during the Age, as He also did after the demise of antitypical Eleazar.

SOME SECULAR TESTIMONY

It has just recently come to our attention that one authority offers the following comment: “RUSSELL, CHARLES TAZE, popularly called Pastor Russell (born Feb. 16, 1852, Pittsburgh, Pa. ─ died Oct. 31, 1916, Pampa, Texas), founder of the International Bible Students Association, forerunner of Jehovah's Witnesses.  [The International Bible Students Association was taken over by the Jehovah’s Witnesses after Pastor Russell’s death.] Of Presbyterian and Congregational background, Russell renounced the creed of orthodox Christian denominations and in 1872 organized an independent Bible study class in Pittsburgh. From 1877 he preached that Christ's second advent would be invisible, and that the end of the Gentile times would come in 1914, followed by war between capitalism and communism or socialism, after which God's Kingdom by Christ would rule the whole earth. Russell (who was never ordained) dedicated his life and his considerable fortune to preaching Christ's Millennial reign. In 1879 he started a Bible journal later called the Watchtower, and in 1884 founded the Watch-tower Bible & Tract Society, which became a flourishing publishing business. His own books and booklets (notably six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures) reached a circula-tion of 16,000,000 copies in 35 languages, and 2,000 newspapers published his weekly sermons.”

By way of comparison and marked contrast, this same publication says this regarding JFR: “RUTHERFORD, JOSEPH FRANKLIN, nicknamed Judge (1869-1942), religious leader and author, president of Jehovah's Witnesses (also called the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society), 1916-42.”

The statement before the last paragraph concerning Brother Russell is so strikingly accurate that it sounds as though he himself had written it. From a purely secular stand-point, we would say it is an excellent testimonial; and, as more of his prophetic interpretations are fulfilled, we are fully persuaded that even better tributes will be forthcoming from similar writers. As Brother Johnson has so aptly written of him, Brother Russell will yet appear in the records of men as one of the greatest of reformers and Biblical logicians.

The same publication states further: “Joseph Franklin Rutherford that he was a lawyer who had been closely associated with Russell since about 1910. But he possessed little of the personal magic that Russell had wielded with such success, and, in addition, challenged some of Russell's views... A number of small schisms resulted, but Rutherford eventually was successful in organizing the work of the Society so that the transition to his successor in 1942 was made without difficulty. Almost nothing is known about the life of J.F. Rutherford. He shunned publicity and toward the end of his life met with members of the Society only at their annual conventions. Russell had written a good deal, and his seven-volume [?] Studies in the Scriptures was widely sold; but it was under Rutherford that the Society work took on its present character of a publishing house rather than a church. Rutherford claimed to have written 99 books and pamphlets, which appeared in more than 300,000,000 copies.”

When the above publication states that Rutherford “challenged some of Russell's views,” it is making a major understatement; and the same may be said about the “number of small schisms that resulted.” Those of us familiar with the truth on the subject know that Rutherford challenged the majority of important doctrines in the truth structure taught by Brother Russell, so that at this time there is little resemblance between the teachings of the two men.

The publication states further that Jehovah's Witnesses, along with Christian Science and Mormonism, constitute the three largest and most significant variants of the 19th-century American Protestantism. The Witnesses now have in excess of 16,000,000 in their world membership. However, when we consider that Rutherford is catalogued in the same group with Brigham Young and Mary Baker Eddy it presents some considerable light on why he “possessed little of the personal magic that Russell had wielded with such success.” We have been told that Rutherford on one occasion went to a woman photographer, one who had made photographs of Brother Russell, to have a photograph of himself. When he was shown the finished product he remarked that his picture was not as impressive as that of Brother Russell; the woman answered, “That's because the man isn't there.”

Just one more quotation from the article: “The Witnesses believe that the Kingdom of God began in 1914. Apparently they expected (as did the Millerite Adventists in 1844) some historical and worldly event to take place at that time, but have since taken the position that in 1914 Jehovah inaugurated the Kingdom in a manner apprehensible only to a believer.” It is true that only believers recognized the inauguration of the Kingdom in 1914. However, Pastor Russell based his belief upon the Gospel of Jesus, St. Paul and others. “God desires all men to be saved, and to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth... Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all.” (See 1 Tim. 2:4-6.) Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all ─ not just for those who become members of the Witnesses' sect.

In keeping with this, Brother Russell also stressed the words of Isaiah 35:5-10: “The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped [those that are now unable to “hear” and understand the Truth]... wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein... and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Instead of “sorrow and sighing” diminishing and disappearing, it has been pyramided out of all proportion to what was the case prior to 1914. And being in full accord with Brother Russell's clear and sober interpretation of this Scripture, we can enthusiastically exclaim, God bless his memory!

ANOTHER SECULAR EXPRESSION

Last Spring an item was brought to our attention that appeared in the Sunday feature section of a prominent Florida newspaper, written by a professor of one of the nation's outstanding universities. Some of his contentions were so distorted that we were moved to write him the following letter:

My dear Professor: Christian greetings!

The general content of your “Poster Evangelism” treatise in the March 10 paper is read with considerable appreciation ─ very well written, I would say.

However, some of your statements regarding Russellism are very much askew; and I am persuaded that a man of your erudition and candor would not intentionally put false statements into your writings. For instance, you say “Russellism employed the surefire device of prophesying the imminent arrival of Christ (MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE).” At no time did Pastor Russell ever preach “the imminent arrival of Christ,” or use words that would convey such an impression. He did, however, offer elaborate and consummate analysis of such texts as Matthew 24:3: “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” He contended that this was a very poor and misleading translation (the King James translation is replete with such mistakes). Present-day Greek scholars give it this way: “What shall be the sign of Thy presence, and of the consummation of the Age?” The word world in the text is from the Greek “aion,” and it means Age or Dispensation.

Furthermore, the “Millions Now Living” idea was never even mentioned during Pastor Russell's life. He died October 31, 1916; was succeeded in the Presidency of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society by J. F. Rutherford, who invented the “Millions” idea; and time has clearly proven that it was simply an odious vagary, hallucination with no foundation in fact or prophecy.

You also say Pastor Russell wrote seven volumes; whereas, he wrote only six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. The seventh one, The Finished Mystery, is also a figment of Rutherford's mind. He audaciously declared that it was the “posthumous work” of Charles T. Russell, and the book does contain many quotations from his writings; but the errors injected into it by Judge Rutherford and his assistants offer insult to the clear and sober statements of Pastor Russell.

In Luke 21:24 Jesus said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Some thirty years before 1914 Pastor Russell did forecast that the times of the Gentiles would end in 1914, the evidence of which would be a great world war. Even as late as 1913 he was scornfully ridiculed by his critics; but time has clearly proven that he was right, and they were wrong; the war came as predicted, almost to the day.

As a general statement, the Russellites were “moderately educated,” so you say; but they also did have among them a few brilliant Greek and Hebrew scholars, enough to reveal the erroneous translations of the Bible; and this made the Movement generally basically sound in exegetical deductions. The most brilliant of these was Professor Paul S. L. Johnson, who was a master of Greek and Hebrew. He soon voiced emphatic protest against the perversions that the Judge and his companions in error were attempting to inject into the harmonious truth structure that Pastor Russell had left. It was my privilege to be a very close friend of Professor Johnson, and I gave him very substantial support after he left the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society in 1917,  which I continued to do until his death in 1950.

A pertinent analogy to the Russell Movement may be found among the Apostles, of whom it is written “they were unlearned and ignorant men.” (Acts 4:13) But they also had a man named Paul among them, who was brilliant and highly educated. As respects Professor Johnson, I might add that he graduated from Capital University of Columbus, Ohio, with the highest honors ever attained by any student up to his time.

It is my hope that you will find the copies of my papers, Nos. 194-223 and Special Edition No.7, interesting and informative; and I send with this letter my cordial good wishes for your health and prosperity. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.

Sincerely, John J. Hoefle

In due course we received a courteous reply to the above letter, thanking us for the information we gave him. He also said, “What I wrote was based on intimate contact with Russellism when I was in High School in the 20's... My uncle could talk of nothing else. He was a fervent follower, first of Russell, then of Judge Rutherford. Of course, my uncle never knew of Paul Johnson's protests, and I was too young to have been aware of the division of thought at the Brooklyn headquarters.”

From the foregoing we may readily discern how easy it has been to “make” history; and that much of what is in the books today may be far from the truth. But when the record is written in full truth, then we shall have full appreciation of Jesus’ words, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:43) And this will be especially true of those faithful Pastors and Teachers, such as That Servant, the Epiphany Messenger, and others of the Gospel Age, including all the fully faithful.

(Brother John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 498, October  1997)

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New Book Release:

PASTOR C. T. RUSSELL:  MESSENGER OF MILLENNIAL HOPE 

A book on the life and legacy of Pastor Charles Taze Russell has recently been published. More than ten years in the making, it is the first such full-length biography to appear in eighty years. Thoroughly researched and documented with more than 600 endnotes, it flows in an easy-to-read narrative style that will delight both the serious student and interested reader alike.

The book begins with the early days of the Bible Student movement and traces its rapid growth in late 19th and early 20th century America. It highlights the immense popularity its founder achieved as an independent preacher, Bible textbook author, and widespread syndicated newspaper columnist with weekly reviews of his Sunday sermons. A summary of the Pastor's beliefs in areas of basic doctrines and prophetic expectations is given. His concept of the Divine plan of the ages and conviction of the nearness of the Millennial Kingdom for the blessing of all mankind are fully explained.

Attention is then given to the opposition that arose from orthodox church circles and from efforts of the clergy to thwart the Truth message. Two chapters deal specifically with various slanderous charges that were raised against the Pastor, both in his day and at the present time. He was accused of everything from lacking proper preaching credentials to displaying questionable moral integrity, all in a despicable effort to destroy his reputation and influence among the people. In airing these attacks maligning the Pastor's character, the author encourages the reader to note the bias of his detractors, discern between honest and unfair criticism, and most important, not be dissuaded from considering his enlightened teachings.

The final hectic days of the Pastor's ministry, the disappointment of 1914, and his unexpected death shortly afterward are all reviewed. Then follows an inside look at the incredible conspiracy and apostasy that occurred almost immediately within the midst of the directorate of the Society ─ overturning the Pastor's best efforts to prevent individual headship from gaining control. As the new leadership emerged, it quickly became evident that vast changes in spirit, doctrine and policy lay in store.

In the latter part of the book, one entire chapter is devoted to examining possible portrayals in Scripture of the Pastor's unique role, including “that faithful and wise servant,” “the seventh messenger” and “the man with the writer's inkhorn.” The legacy of Pastor Russell is then taken up at length in the final chapters. This is seen in the regrouping of scattered Bible Students that followed the mass confusion at his death, and their enthusiasm and zeal in carrying on the work of Harvest. These groups and their activities are described in detail, including the outreach in radio and television, republishing efforts, audiovisual projects, and internet use, as well as conventions and specialty facilities.

There is also a useful appendix section with noteworthy quotations from the Pastor's writings. These include concise doctrinal statements, devotional guides, and inspirational pen pictures, all quoted directly from his works. It closes with an especially readable reproduction of the Chart of the Ages and a handy key that explains the chart symbols in brief form.