NO. 316: IN MEMORIAM

No. 316

Recently a biography of Brother Russell has come into our possession; and we be­lieve our readers will benefit from reading some of it. The author does not give his name, so we cannot identify him, although he apparently is some one who was very close to That Servant. The book was copyrighted in 1923. We have tried to secure more cop­ies of the book, but so far have failed.

We now quote from that book, and begin with some statements in the FOREWORD: “Our motive has been to do GOOD, as God has given us to understand what that means; therefore, we have no further explanation to make or apology to offer; merely pleading that we have earnestly and consistently striven to absorb the Truth and the spirit of the Truth which was so beautifully exemplified in the life of the subject in this book – our beloved Brother Russell, who labored so hard and earnestly to teach us how to walk as Christians should. God bless his memory!

“The Bible is THE BOOK of books in every sense; first, there is no other book like it in the world – for it is God’s Book or Message to the human family; second, it is a Book of Books for the reason that it is made up of many books, or portions, by many writ­ers – sixty-six divisions,

“In a complete and connected sense, this Book, though containing the Great Author’s Wonderful Plan of the Ages, was sealed to human understanding until our Lord’s PAROUSIA in 1874, when it was given him to ‘loose the seals,’ using a human instrument, ‘a chosen vessel,’ for this purpose,

“Charles Taze Russell was the one ‘chosen of God and faithful’ to this end; so he, under the Lord’s guidance, gave us ‘The Keys’ to the Scriptures – and to all sincere Christians these ‘Keys’ or Studies, have fulfilled the design of the author; for they have proved to be Helping Hands in the systematic study of the Bible. This book – MEMOIRS – tells you something about how and under what difficulties ‘That Servant’ attained the desired end - something of the discouragements he met and the obstacles he overcame........ It is important to ponder well the revealments herein given pertaining to the Life, Works and Character of one of the greatest men the world has ever known “

Now to the book proper: “Charles Taze Russell was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Feb. 16, 1852, of consecrated parents who were of Scotch-Irish descent.... In private Pastor Rus­sell admitted his belief that he had been chosen for the great work he had accomplished, as ‘that Servant,’ from before his birth... Up to the age of fifteen he believed as gospel truth all and only such doctrines as had been taught him... The clergy usually discouraged individual Bible research, and the asking of questions was considered equiva­lent to doubting, and to ‘doubt was to be damned.’ .........

“By skillful questions, which were unanswerable by either minister or laymen from their sectarian standpoints and by the maneuvering of many seemingly paradoxical Scrip­tures, an infidel completely routed young Russell, who within a few months became an admitted skeptic......

“At twenty-one Mr. Russell was possessed of much knowledge and voluminous data on religion as believed and practiced in all parts of the world. Apparently these were to become of no value to himself or others, because of large business responsibil­ities that were placed upon him at the time. The question that here confronted him was, ‘Shall I try longer to find the truth on religion? Or, shall I smother the hope of finding it and strive for fame and fortune among the financial and commercial captains of the time? Fortunately, he decided first to search the Scriptures from a skeptic’s standpoint, for its own answer on hell-fire and brimstone.

“Amazed at the harmonious testimony, proving an unexpected but satisfactory answer, he undertook systematic Bible research and was brought to a complete confidence in the Bible as being inspired by an all-wise, powerful, just and loving Creator, worthy of ador­ation and worship. Thus a sure anchor for a fainting hope was found, and an honest, truth-seeking heart was made glad........

“In 1877 Pastor Russell called a meeting of all the ministers of Allegheny and Pitts­burgh, showed them the Scriptures which indicated our Lord’s presence and urged them to investigate and proclaim the message. All the ministers of the two cities were present and all of the ministers of the two cities refused to believe. In that same year he gave up his secular work to devote his entire time and fortune to the work indicated in the Scriptures as incident to the close of the Gospel Age and the change of Dispensations im­pending. As a means of determining whether his purposed course was in harmony with the Scriptures, and also as a means of demonstrating his own sincerity, he decided to test the Lord’s approval, as follows:

“(l) Devote his life to the cause; (2) invest his private fortune (about $300,000.) in the promulgation of the work; (3) prohibit collection at all meetings; (4) depend on unsolicited contributions (which must be wholly voluntary) to continue the work after his own fortune was exhausted. Furthermore, in 1881 there were distributed free 1,400,000 copies of Food for Thinking Christians to the Protestant Churches in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, on three consecutive Sundays, by A.D. T. messenger boys. This was said to have been at a cost of $40,000.00.

“Charles Taze Russell enjoyed the immeasurable advantages of good birth. His par­ents were Christian people of marked intelligence and refinement. His father was a suc­cessful retail merchant of Allegheny, Pa. His mother died when he was about eight years of age, leaving him to be thereafter the boon companion of his father. As such, he learned to keep the rooms in which the father and son lived, and developed the traits of neatness and precision so marked in after life.

“He began at a very early age to take great interest in his father’s store. At the age of fifteen, so great was his sagacity as a wholesale buyer of merchandise that his father often sent him alone on purchasing tours to Philadelphia. A young man of such commercial talents would not long be working for others. He soon started a store of his own; this rapidly increased to a chain of stores. He was one of the pioneers in the de­velopment of the marvelously successful idea of the chain-stores, an idea which has since enriched many men. His wealth increased by leaps and bounds. This was in the early sev­enties of the nineteenth century. Rockefeller was then unknown, nationally. The known millionaires of that day could have been counted on one’s fingers.........

“Still he yearned to know God; but the creeds of Christendom only confused him. The young man began to see what all the theologians of the ages had failed to see – the harmony of the Word of God and the beauty of His plan. At the age of twenty-four this young Bible student became aware of the time features of the Scriptures. It was at this age that he began to see that the end of the Gospel Dispensation would be marked by a great world war. It was the unfolding of these features of the truth that swept his earthly goods onto the altar of burnt-offering and took him out into the campaign of preaching which ended only with his death.

“One truth led logically to another, and made it possible for him to become recog­nized as the only theologian of the Gospel Age who had been able to demonstrate the harmony of the Bible with itself. ‘Unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write: These things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness’ – and the angel did as com­manded, and long since ‘reported the matter.’ ‘Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.’ (Matt. 24:45,46,47)”

Concerning the phenomenal work he did, we offer just a few short statements from him: “Many are the inquiries relative to the truths presented in my writings – whence they came and how were they developed to their present symmetrical and beautiful propor­tions .... I claim nothing of superiority, nor of supernatural power, dignity or author­ity; nor do I desire to exalt myself in the estimation of my brethren of the Household of Faith, except in the sense the Master urged, saying, ‘Let him who would be great among you be your servant.’ And my position among men of the world and of the nominal church is certainly far from exalted, being ‘everywhere evil spoken against.’ I am fully contented, however, to wait for exaltation until the Lord’s due time. .... Presently overcoming many besetments, discouragements, etc., to press along the line toward the mark of our high calling, and claiming only, as a faithful student of the Word of God, to be an index fing­er, as I have previously expressed it, to help you trace for yourselves, on the sacred page, the Wonderful Plan of God – no less wonderful to me, than to you, dearly beloved sharers of my faith and joy.

“No, the truths I present, as God’s mouthpiece, were not revealed in visions or dreams, nor by God’s audible voice, nor all at once, but gradually, especially since 1870 and particularly since 1880. Neither is this clear unfolding of truth due to human in­genuity or acuteness of perception, but to the simple fact that God’s due time has come; and if I did not speak, and no other agent could be found, the very stones would cry out ... Nor can I name all the little points of Divine Favor in which faith was tested, pray­ers were answered, etc., remembering that our Master and the early Church left no such example of boasting faith, but rather admonished otherwise saying, ‘Hast thou faith? have it to thyself!’ Some of the most precious experiences of faith and prayer are those which are too sacred for public display..... The Reformation movement, or rather move­ments, from then until now, have all done their share in bringing light out of darkness. Let me here confine myself to the consideration of the Harvest Truths as set forth in the Scriptures and the Watch Tower........

“I soon began to see that we were living somewhere near the close of the Gospel Age and near the time when the Lord had declared that the wise, the watching ones of His children, should understand – come to a clear knowledge of His Plan. At this time, my­self and a few other truth-seekers in Pittsburgh, Pa., formed a class for Bible study and from 1870 to 1879 was a time of constant growth in grace and love of God and His Word. We came to see something of the love of God, how He had made provision for all mankind; how all must be awakened from the tomb in order that God’s loving Plan might be testi­fied to them......

“But though seeing that the Church was called to joint heirship with the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom, up to that time we had failed to see clearly the great distinction between the reward of the Church, now on trial, and the reward of the faithful of the world, after its trial, at the close of the Millennial Age: that the reward of the for­mer is to be the glory of the Spirit Nature, the Divine; while that of the latter is to be perfection of the human nature, once enjoyed in Eden by their progenitor, Adam.

UNDERSTANDING THE RANSOM

“However, it was not until 1872, when I gained a clearer view of our Lord’s work, as our ransom price that I found the strength and foundation of all hope of restitution to be in that doctrine. Up to that time, when I read the testimony that all in their graves should come forth, etc., I yet doubted the full provision – whether it should be understood to include idiots or infants who had died without reaching any degree of understanding, beings to whom the present life and its experiences would seem to be of little or no advantage. But when in 1872 I came to examine the subject of restitution from the standpoint of the Ransom Price given by our Lord Jesus for Adam, and conse­quently for all lost in Adam, it settled the matter of restitution completely and gave me the fullest assurance that ALL must come forth from !heir graves and be brought to a clear knowledge of the truth and to a full opportunity to gain everlasting life in Christ.

“Thus passed the years 1869 to 1872. The years following, to 1876, were years of continued growth in grace and knowledge on the part of the handful of Bible Students with whom I met in Allegheny. We progressed from our first crude and indefinite ideas of restitution to a clearer understanding of the details; but God’s due time for re­vealing the clear light had not yet come.

“During this time, too, we came to recognize the difference between our Lord as ‘the man who gave himself,’ and as the Lord who would come again, a Spirit Being. We saw that Spirit-Beings can be present, and yet invisible to men. We greatly grieved at the error of Second Adventists, who were expecting Christ in the flesh, and teaching that the world and all in it, except Second Adventists, would be burned up in 1873 or 1874; their time settings and disappointments and crude ideas generally as to the object and manner of His coming, brought more or less reproach upon us and upon all who longed for and proclaimed His coming Kingdom.”

Here we would inject some conclusions of our own. We are fully persuaded that the full and complete understanding of the Ransom enabled Brother Russell to understand and clarify many Scriptures whose meaning had not been understood at all by God’s people. We explain just one: “I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” (Isa. 6:5,6,7)

The “live coal” in the above is Present Truth, and particularly the Present Truth upon the Ransom. While in Babylon we were all contaminated with the errors that pre­vailed there – and especially was this so about the Ransom. But once we came to a clear understanding of the Ransom, a great part of that error was purged from our minds. None of us could say this was true until That Servant had given us a clear explanation of the Ransom and kindred teachings. Then the words of Jesus assumed real meaning for us: “Thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Matt. 6:22)

In the text quoted above, the Prophet Isaiah pictures God’s people in Babylon be­fore the Harvest – “those that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Eze. 9:4) But it can properly be applied to Brother Russell himself, who was certainly much disturbed as he dwelt “in the midst of a people of un­clean lips” – those obsessed with much confusing error.

Now more from the book: “It was about Jan. 1, 1876, that my attention was spec­ially drawn to the subject of prophetic time, as it relates to these doctrines and hopes. It came about in this way: I received a paper called The Herald of the Morning, sent by its editor, Mr. N. H. Barbour. When I opened it I at once identified it with Adventism from the picture on its first cover, and I examined it with curiosity to see what ‘time’ they would next ‘set’ for the burning up of the world. But judge not a book from its cover! To my surprise and gratification I learned from its contents that its editor was beginning to get his eyes open on the subject which for some years had so greatly rejoiced our hearts in Allegheny – that the object of our Lord’s return is not to destroy, but to bless all the families of the earth; and that his coming would be thief-like, and not in the flesh, but as a Spirit Being, invisible to men; and that the gathering of His Church and the separation of the wheat from the tares would progress in the end of this Age without the world’s being aware of it.

“I rejoiced to find others coming to the same advanced position, but was astonished to find the statement very cautiously set forth that the editor believed the prophecies to indicate that the Lord was already present in the world (unseen and invisible) and that the Harvest Work of gathering the tares was already due; and that this view was warranted by the time prophecies, which but a few months before he supposed had failed.

“Here was a new thought; could it be that the “Time Prophecies,” which I had so long despised because of their misuse by the Adventists, were really meant to indicate when the Lord would be invisibly present to set up His Kingdom – a thing which I saw could be known in no other way? It seemed, to say the least, a very reasonable thing that the Lord would inform His people on the subject – especially as He had promised that He would not leave them in darkness with the world, and that although the day of the Lord would come upon all others as a thief in the night, it should not be so to the watch­ing, earnest Saints.

“I recalled certain arguments used by my friend, Jonas Wendall and other Adventists to prove that 1873 would witness the burning of the world, etc. – the chronology of the world showing that 6,000 years from Adam ended with the beginning of 1873, and that other arguments drawn from the Scriptures and supposed to coincide. Could it be that these time arguments, which I had passed by as unworthy of attention, really contained an impor­tant truth which they had misapplied?

“Anxious to learn from any quarter whatever God had to teach, I at once wrote to Mr. Barbour, informing him of my harmony on other points and desiring to know particulars why and upon what Scriptural evidences he held that Christ’s presence and the Harvesting of the Gospel Age dated from the Autumn of 1874.

“The answer showed that my surmise had been correct, namely, that the time prophe­cies – arguments – chronology, etc., were the same as used by Second Adventists in 1873, and explained how Mr. Barbour and Mr. J. H. Paton, of Michigan, a co-worker with him, had been regular Second Adventists up to that time; and that when the date 1874 had passed without the world being burned up, and without their seeing Christ in the flesh, they were for a time dumfounded. They had examined the time prophecies, which seemingly passed unfulfilled, and had been unable to find any flaw, and had begun to wonder whether the time was right and their expectations wrong; whether the views of restitution and bless­ings to the world, which myself and others were teaching, might not be the things to look for.

“It seems that not long after their 1874 disappointment, a reader of The Herald of the Morning, who had a copy of the Diaglott, noticed something in it which he thought peculiar – that in Matthew 24:27,37,39, the word which in our Common Version is rendered coming is translated presence. This was the clue; and, following it, they had been led through prophetic time toward proper views regarding the object and manner of our Lord’s return. I, on the contrary, was led first to proper views of the object and manner of our Lord’s return, and then to an examination of the time, indicated in God’s Word. Thus God leads His children from different starting points of truth; but when the heart is earnest and trustful the result must be to draw all such together.

“But there were no books or other publications at that time setting forth the time prophecies as then understood; so I paid Mr. Barbour’s expenses to come to see me at Philadelphia, to show me fully and Scripturally, if he could, that the prophecies indi­cated 1874 as the date at which the Lord’s presence and the harvest began. This was in the summer of 1876. He came, and the evidence satisfied me. Being a person of positive convictions and fully consecrated to the Lord, I at once saw that the special times in which we were living have an important bearing upon our work and duty as Christ’s disci­ples; that being in the time of the Harvest, the Harvest work should be done; and that the present truth was the sickle by which the Lord would have us to do a gathering and reaping work everywhere among His children.

BEGINNING OF THE HARVEST WORK

“I inquired of Mr. Barbour as to what was being done by him and the Herald. He replied that nothing was being done; that the readers of the Herald, being disappointed Adventists, had nearly all lost interest and stopped their subscriptions; and that thus, with money exhausted, the Herald might be said to be practically suspended. I said to him that instead of feeling discouraged and giving up the work since with his newly found light on restitution (for when we first met he had much to learn from me on the fullness of restitution, based upon the sufficiency of the Ransom given for all, as I had much to learn from him concerning time), he should rather feel that now he had some good tidings to preach, such as he never had before, and that his zeal should be correspondingly in­creased. At the same time, the knowledge of the fact that we were already in the time of the Harvest gave me an impetus to spread the truth such as I never had before. I, therefore, resolved upon a vigorous campaign for the truth.

“So I determined to curtail my business cares and give my time, as well as my means, to the great Harvest Work. Accordingly, I sent Mr. Barbour back to his home, with money and instructions to prepare in concise book-form the good tidings, so far as then understood, including the time features, while I closed out my Philadelphia business, prep­aratory to engaging in the work, as I afterwards did, traveling and preaching. ...

“This little book of 196 pages thus prepared was entitled ‘The Three Worlds’; and as I was enabled to give some time and thought to its preparation, it was issued by us both jointly, both names appearing on its title page, though it was mainly written by Mr. Barbour. While this was not the first book to teach a measure of restitution, nor the first to treat upon the time prophecies, it was, I believe, the first to combine the idea of restitution with time prophecy. From the sale of this book and from my purse, our traveling expenses, etc., were met. After a time I conceived of adding another har­vest laborer to the force, so sent for Mr. Paton, who promptly responded and whose trav­eling expenses were met in the same manner.

“But noticing how quickly some people forget what they have heard, it soon became evident that while the meetings were useful in awaking interest, a monthly journal was needed to hold and develop that interest. It seemed, therefore, to be the Lord’s indi­cation that one of our number should settle somewhere and begin again the regular issu­ing of the Herald of the Morning. I suggested that Mr. Barbour do this, as he had had experience as a typesetter and therefore could do it the most economically, while Mr. Paton and I would continue to travel and contribute to its columns, as we should find opportunity. To the objection that the type had been sold and that the few subscrip­tions which would come in would not, for a long time, make the journal self-sustaining, I replied that I would supply the money for purchasing the type, etc., and leave a few hundred dollars in the bank, subject to Mr. Barbour’s check, and that he should manage it as economically as possible, while Mr. Paton and I continued to travel. This, which. seemed to be the Lord’s will in the matter, was therefore done.

NEW ADHERENTS TO THE WORKING FORCE

“It was after this, while on a tour of the New England States, that I met Mr. A. F. Adams, a young Methodist minister, who became deeply interested, accepting the message heartily during the week that I preached to his congregation. Subsequently, I intro­duced him to little gatherings of interested ones in neighboring towns, and assisted otherwise, as I could, rejoicing in another one who, with study, would soon be a co-labor­er in the Harvest field. About this time, too, I was much encouraged by the accession of Mr. A. D. Jones, then a clerk in my employ in Pittsburgh, who was a young man of ac­tivity and promise, one who soon developed into an active and appreciative co-laborer in the Harvest work. Mr. Jones ran well for a time, but ambition or something eventually made utter shipwreck of his faith, leaving us a painful illustration of the wisdom of the Apostle’s words, ‘My brethren, be not many of you teachers, knowing that we shall have the severer judgment.’

“Thus far all had gone smoothly and onward: we had been greatly blessed with the truth, but not specially tested in our love and fidelity to it. But the Spring of 1878, the parallel in time to our Lord’s crucifixion, and of His statement to Peter, ‘Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat,’ the sifting began which has Continued Ever Since; and which must, sooner or later, test every one who receives the light of present truth. For this fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is ­whether he has built his faith flimsily of wood, hay and stubble, instead of valuable stones of God’s revealed truth; or whether he has built it upon the shifting sands of human theories, or upon the solid rock, the Ransom, the only foundation which God has provided.

“They who build upon that Rock shall be safe personally, even though they have built up an illogical faith, which the fire and shaking of this day of trial will overthrow and utterly consume, but they who build upon any other foundation, whether they use good or bad materials, are sure of complete wreckage.

“The object of this trial and sifting evidently is to select all whose heart-de­sires are unselfish, who are fully and unreservedly consecrated to the Lord, who are anxious to have the Lord’s will done, and whose confidence in His wisdom, His way and His Word is so great that they refuse to be led away from the Lord’s Word, either by sophistries of others, or by plans and ideas of their own. These, in the sifting time, will be strengthened and shall increase their joy in the Lord and their knowledge of His plans, even while their faith is being tested by the falling into error of thous­ands on every hand.

FIRST HARVEST SIFTING

“The sifting began thus: Regarding St. Paul’s statement, ‘We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,’ etc., we still held the idea which Adventists, and indeed all Christians hold, that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be forever with the Lord. And now our acquaintance with the time prophecies led us to ex­pect this translation of the saints at the point of time in this Age parallel to the Lord’s resurrection; for many of the parallelisms between the Jewish and Christian Dis­pensations were already seen by us, and formed one of the features of the little book – ­The Three Worlds.

“We did not then see, as we do now, that the date, 1878, marked the date for the be­ginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, by the glorification of all who al­ready slept in Christ (that is, the dead in Him), and the ‘change’ which St. Paul mentions is to occur in the moment of death to all the class described, from that date onward through the Harvest period, until all the living members of the ‘body of Christ’ shall have been changed to glorious Spirit-beings. When at that date (1878) nothing occurred, which we could see, a re-examination showed me that our mistake lay in expecting to see all the living saints changed at once, and without dying, an erroneous view shared in by the whole nominal Church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded. Our present clear view was the result of the examination thus started.

“I soon saw that the Apostle’s words, ‘We shall not all sleep,’ that the word sleep was not synonymous with die, though generally so understood; but, on the contrary, the ex­pression sleep, here used, represents unconsciousness; and that the Apostles wished us to understand, that from a certain time in the Lord’s presence, His saints, though they would die like other men, would not remain for any time unconscious, but in the moment of dy­ing would be changed and would receive the Spirit bodies promised. Throughout this Gospel Age death of the Lord’s children has been followed by unconscious­ness – ‘sleep.’ This continued true of all who ‘fell asleep in Jesus’ up to the time when He took the office of King, which we have shown was in 1878 (Volume 2, Studies in the Scriptures, pp. 218, 219).

“Not only did the King at that time ‘awaken in His likeness’ all the members of His body, the Church, who slept, but for the same reason (the time establishing His Kingdom having come) it is no longer necessary that the ‘feet,’ or last remaining members should go into ‘sleep’ or unconsciousness. On the contrary, each now, as finishes his course, faithful unto death, will at once receive the Crown of Life, and being changed in a mo­ment, in the twinkling of an eye, can not be said to sleep, or to be unconscious at all. Here, then, 1878 is applicable, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.’ So this re-­examination showed further light upon the pathway and became a great cause for encourage­ment, as evidencing the Lord’s continued leading.

“But while I was thus helped to clearer views and brighter hopes, and while I dili­gently endeavored to help others, the Spring of 1878 proved far from a blessing to Mr. Barbour and to many under his influence. Rejecting the plain, simple solution presented above, Mr. Barbour seemed to feel that he must of necessity get up something new to di­vert attention from the failure of the living saints to be caught away en masse.

“But, alas! how dangerous it is for any man to feel too much responsibility and attempt to force new light. To our painful surprise, Mr. Barbour wrote an article for the Herald denying the doctrine of the Atonement; denying that the death of Christ was the ransom-price of Adam and his race, saying that the death of Christ was no more a settlement of the penalty of man’s sins than would the sticking of a pin through a fly and causing it suffering and death, be considered by an earthly parent as a just settlement for the misdemeanor of his child .. ....

As our beloved Pastor has so truly said, “How dangerous it is for any man to feel too much responsibility and attempt to force new light.” We have found this true in JFR after he became President of the Society. He disposed of Tentative Justification, and also replaced the “great multitude” as a spiritual class to an earthly class; and one error brought on other errors, such as “dividing the sheep and the goats” before the New Covenant is inaugurated. The Jehovah’s Witnesses now teach that there will be no resurrection for Adam, the Scribes and Pharisees or any of the wicked. Those who do not join them before Armageddon will not be resurrected, etc.

Another group has invented a new class because of the disappointment of 1954. They felt “too much responsibility” and attempted to force new light; and that new light (?) has forced them into many other errors – such as a narrow way in the Camp, perverting Tentative Justification, their newly-invented class to be first in the Kingdom blessings instead of “to the Jew first” as taught by the Apostle Paul, etc. However, they still distribute the Studies in the Scriptures, which is a far-cry from the Witnesses, for which we commend them.

As is readily apparent, we have not nearly completed the treatise of the Memoirs of That Servant, as given in the book we have quoted; but must leave it for some future paper. However, it is our hope and prayer that what we have thus far given may prove a rich blessing to all our readers, and that the subject of That Servant has been magni­fied and strengthened in the hearts and minds of all.

“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause; yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” (Psa. 35:27)

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brother Hoefle: Loving Christian greetings through our Lord!

This is just to give you news I know you will be glad to hear. Can you remember Brother ....... whose first wife died? He married again and his second wife divorced him – and he married again. She told us in our testimony meeting that she had made her consecration to the Lord, for after seeing how sweet the Truth is that if she didn’t she would be taking His grace in vain. She said for these eight years she was counting the cost.

I’m wondering if you understood my P.S. ordering tracts. Please send the follow­ing: No. 1, No. 2, Nos. 5, 6 and 8. We could use 400 each.

God bless and keep you all. Warm Christian love, ------- (JAMAICA)

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

Dear Rev. Hoefle:

Friends have just gone to Jerusalem and we have sent your request for Josephus, The Jewish War, Penguin Books along to Clarence. We will also search around here too to try to find this for you.

You mention “your papers” in your letter. We would indeed love to read what you send out.

We will continue to appreciate your prayers at this dangerous time for Israel.

Gratefully, In the name of our Messiah, ------- (OKLAHOMA)

NO. 315: TIMES OF REFRESHING - TIMES OF RESTITUTION

No. 315

In Acts 3:19–24 the Apostle Peter was calling to the attention of the Jews the promise that God had made to Abraham, saying, “In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” The word ‘restitution’ in the text means restoration; or, as Rotherham states it, “the times of the due establishment of all things..... But indeed all the prophets – from Samuel and those following after – as many as have spoken have announced these days.” The Apostle here is contrasting the ‘refreshing times’ to come with the present dry and dying condition of the human race – likened to grass that with­ers and sears for lack of rain. And he proceeds to stress that the Prophet Samuel and all who came after him had spoken of these ‘refreshing times’ to come. This was one of the first public speeches that came from any of the Apostles after Pentecost, and it is in fact just another way of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Often it is recorded of Jesus that He ‘went about preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom’ (Matt. 4:23; 9:35 Mark 1:14), which the Apostle Peter here declares to be the ‘times of restitution,’ so the question is properly in order, What conclusions are we to draw from this?

It would seem that such an important and far–reaching doctrine as this should have prominent recognition wherever and whenever the Christian religion is preached. But what do we find? So far as we are concerned, we have never once – over the past sixty years – ever heard Acts 3:19–24 even mentioned from the pulpits of Big Babylon; much less has any attempt been made to explain it. Since men usually preach the things they understand and love, we can but conclude that the silence on this part of Scripture is due to the lack of knowledge of those who should be declaring it.

Perhaps the most of us who have any understanding at all of Harvest Truth would testify that one of the very first things we heard from the platform and in private conversation, too, was discussion of the “times of restitution”; and this is still a very prominent and favorite discussion among the various groups of Truth people who were emanated from Parousia Truth. But, tragic though it be, some of them have perverted the real truth on the subject – have twisted it out of all recognition to the way That Servant gave it to us – prominent among them are the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

All during the Age, since the death of the Apostles (or shortly thereafter), the doctrine of Restitution was completely lost, as represented in Luke 15:8,9, by the woman in the parable who had ten pieces of silver, had lost one – sought diligently till she found it, then “calleth her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.” The woman in the parable is the Church, which had lost sight of one cardinal doctrine of the Bible – Restitution – and it was not until the Harvest that this great truth was once more recognized with great rejoic­ing. After the Harvest work had attracted a following, and the Pilgrims began to cir­culate, That Servant often urged them all to preach Restitution. That was especially emphasized with those Sunday speakers that were sent out from the Bible House on week­ends. It was indeed “Good Tidings of great joy” to all who received it with grateful hearts.

Those of us who are at all familiar with the situation know that That Servant gave a very clear and convincing presentation of the times of Restitution; and his entire following was almost a solid unit in accepting it the way he taught it. But what do we find since his death? We find many who once seemed to understand the subject have now perverted it out of all recognition to the manner in which they had once accepted it. Chief among these is Jehovah’s Witnesses, who now have consigned Adam to annihilation, which idea is actually a denial of the Ransom – although they would not admit that. How­ever, since Adam was the only perfect man on earth aside from Jesus Himself; and since the word Ransom itself means a corresponding price, an exact duplicate, Adam is actually the only one who could be ransomed. Therefore, St. Paul gives the philosophy, “As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive.” When ransom is provided for Adam, that act becomes the inheritance for all of us – just as all of us inherited the death penalty for sin which was passed to him. But the Witnesses now leave out a very large section of the human race in their presentation of Restitution. To all who understand the phi­losophy of the Ransom, it is an elementary conclusion – that if Adam wouldn’t be awakened, none of the rest would be awakened.

They are now telling us that all living today who do not accept them will never be awakened – never experience restitution – at a time when the Devil is bound, and nothing but Truth will be taught. In Isaiah, Chapter 35, there is this: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. (v. 5) And an highway (an easy way) shall be there, and a way (Christ the Mediator), and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men (the restitutionists), though fools (‘fools’ according to Psa. 53:1 are atheists), shall not err therein.” (v. 8) Also Rev. 22:5 tells us, “There will be no night (error) there.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses admit that Satan is still blinding the eyes of those who believe not – yet they are dividing the Sheep from the Goats during this Time of Trouble when Satan is more active “blinding the eyes of those who believe not” than ever before.

When they say all present “unbelievers” in them will be annihilated in the approaching Armageddon, it is a far–cry from the “good news” taught by That Servant, who had a message of hope for the groaning creation; and they claim That Servant as their founder! He is not the founder of their errors, but is the founder of The Watch Tower Bible and Tract So­ciety, which the errorists took over after his demise. This simply reveals that they do not understand, or will not accept, the meaning of “the gospel of the kingdom,” as St. Paul so clearly states it in Gal. 3:8: “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.” Most of these heathen have never even heard the name of Christ; and there are quite a few today who have never heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses despite their world–wide ministry.

So this “annihilation” in Armageddon, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, will in­clude the majority of the people living – quite a few of whom are honorable, benevolent and kind to all with whom they have to do – their besetting sin being that they cannot accept the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their errors. We continue to teach the gospel of Christ (Good Tidings to all mankind), which not only includes all unbelievers in the Wit­nesses, but the believers in Jehovah’s Witnesses, the grand and glorious restitution work of that blessed Kingdom. Those who teach the Truth are far more generous to those who teach error than the errorists are to them.

They can no longer teach John 5:28,29: “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; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” (Damnation is a mistranslation: judgment is the cor­rect translation, which is for all Restitutionists. See Diaglott.) Also, Acts. 24:15: “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

Many of our readers are familiar with the teaching of the Witnesses, by which, for a number of years, they put forth their ‘Jonadabs’ as the Restitution class. They still retain much the same view, except that they now call their Jonadabs the Great Multitude of Rev. 7:9-17. All Bible logic is against such an interpretation, because the language and setting of Revelation 7 clearly depict a class on the spirit plane – “before the throne” – which is in Heaven. This is another text that they have set aside the interpre­tation of That Servant and substituted their own interpretation, which is error. There are at least two other Truth groups that likewise teach a superior Restitution class that is being developed now – Consecrated Epiphany Campers and Quasi–elect Consecrated. To refute these errors we need only bear in mind that we are still in the Gospel Age – ­the Faith Age; and during this Age the merit of Jesus is only for Himself and His house – for all those who honestly accept Him as their Savior and walk a ‘narrow way.’ And during this Faith Age there is only one place where His merit can be obtained – tenta­tively or reckonedly – that is, in the Court of the antitypical Gospel–Age Tabernacle.

But both these groups have their non–existent classes outside the linen curtain of the Tabernacle – outside the righteousness of Christ in this Faith Age. The antitypical Camp is Christendom in general – those people, those systems which make at least a token acceptance of Jesus as their Saviour – who wish to be on ‘speaking terms’ with Him, although they do not wish an intimate acquaintance – they do not wish to know Him well enough to do His “good, and acceptable and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:1–3) “I am the way”; and there is only one manner in which that “way” can be obtained, and that is by taking the step from the Camp, through the Tabernacle Gate, and into the Court, whereby “Justification by faith” has been obtainable all during the Faith Age; and it is still the only way, be­cause we are yet in the Gospel (faith) Age.

There would seem to be little excuse for such distortions. According to Mal. 3:3, one of the specific missions of Jesus at His Second Advent would be to “sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” The ‘silver’ in this text is the Truth; and all familiar with the situation know that the Truth has shone with great brilliance during the Harvest pe­riod. The meaning of the text is better revealed by a better translation: “refiner and polisher of silver” (the truth).

While the truth on Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the state of the dead, etc., were understood fairly well by some groups of Christendom before 1874, it remained for the Har­vest Messenger to refine and elaborate upon every one of them with telling force. This is better understood when we consider that the word ‘purifier’ in our text would be better rendered ‘polisher.’ It is from the Hebrew ‘metaher,’ one of whose meanings is brighten­er or polisher. Thus, at His Second Advent our Lord not only refines – purges the dross of error from the Truth – but He also brightens or polishes it.

Our text says He ‘shall sit’ as a refiner and polisher. At the time of the first Advent the speaker usually sat down, as the audience stood up; and in the Talmud ‘to sit’ is almost synonymous with ‘to teach.’ Jesus was indeed the teacher; but when He said the Scribes and Pharisees “sit in Moses’ seat,” He meant they were setting themselves forth as the teachers of the people – just as Moses had done when he gave them the Law at Sinai. Also, Jesus now sits on His throne, as does a king, a judge on his bench, etc. Thus, He is the executive, the authority, the official opponent of error and developer of truth. And this is not only true of religious truth, but it is also true in great degree of secular truth, as is apparent on every hand. Satan has done an excellent job of cor­rupting secular and religious truth over the centuries; and none but our all–powerful Divine Lord would be capable of undoing the damage. But He has come with the golden crown on His head as evidence that He has the power and the authority to extirpate the damage of the past.

To polish anything requires a cleansing agent to be applied with muscular strength. And how has this been specially done since 1874? Mainly through much controversy. In con­troversy the Truth comes out – just as necessity is said to be the mother of invention. Therefore, those who object to controversy are actually objecting to one of the special missions of our Lord since 1874, and are imposing a deception on those who listen to them. But our chief purpose in giving this explanation is to focus attention upon the ‘outer darkness’ (See Matt. 25:30 on the “unprofitable servant” and the Berean Comment) of those who once saw Restitution in its brilliance and clarity, but who have now sullied it so badly by their perversions. We can but conclude that this reveals something woefully wrong in the hearts of such; the evidence clearly points to just that.

SEEKING THAT WHICH WAS LOST

In Matt. 18:11 we have the words of Jesus, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that–which was lost.” The question now properly arises, What was lost? We would answer that four things have been lost – things which man once had in his pristine purity. First of all, after the transgression in the Garden of Eden, he lost his intimate and friendly relationship with his Creator. Second, he lost his perfect home in the Garden. “The Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove the man out.” (Gen. 3:23,24) Third, man’s dominion was lost. “Let man have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the cattle, and over the fowl of the air... and over ever every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:26–28)

In Heb. 2:8 St. Paul quotes from Psa. 8:4-8: “Thou hast put all things in subjec­tion under his feet. ... But now we see not yet all things put under him.” It surely needs no argument that man has lost his dominion; animals often trample man under foot, instead of man dominating them. We have been told that the Kodiak bear (a brown bear larger than the grizzly) is so ferocious that it is not necessary for the hunter to look for him; once he knows there is a hunter in his locale he will come looking for him ­and often with deadly results to the hunter. And the fourth thing that man lost is his life. “Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” (Gen. 3:22) Man was not created to die; he was created to live; and the Scripture is clear enough that he would have continued to “live forever” had he remained in his perfect Edenic home. And all four of these things Jesus said He came to “seek and to save.” We shall offer detail on this later in this article.

THE RESTITUTION PROCESS

Just as there were four things lost, so we have four component parts to accomplish the Restitution, the restoration. These are clearly set forth in Psa. 103:2–5: “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all His benefits: (1) Who forgiveth all thine iniq­uities; (2) Who healeth all thy diseases; (3) Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; (4) Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies... Thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

The first two of these processes come to man without any effort on his part; and, generally speaking, with little, or no knowledge that he is receiving these “benefits “ St. Paul says of us, who presently believe, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) Thus, “He made Himself an offering for sin” for us before we knew anything about it being done. And, “Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due tine.” In “due time” all men will rec­ognize what we now know – that a propitiation for sins was provided by the Redeemer with­out men asking for it – Christ “forgiveth all thine iniquities.”

And the same may be said for the second restitution process, “healing all thy dis­eases.” In the resurrection day it is self–evident that the disease which brought man to the grave must be cured before his resurrection; otherwise, he would immediately die again. The natural and artificial causes that have caused death for centuries must be eliminated in all men before they are returned from the grave. This also will be accom­plished without men asking for it. If a man has died by having his head shot off, he will certainly have it back when he returns from the grave.

The third and fourth processes will operate somewhat differently. The third: “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,” will require cooperation on the part of the recip­ient. “God will have all men to be saved, and come to an accurate knowledge of the Truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4-6, Dia.) But this “knowledge of the Truth” will not be forced down the throats of the unwilling; they must all show some desire, and willingly cooperate, in the educational process. That educational process will not only teach men the religious truth on the facts of life and death, it will also teach them the physical, mental, moral and religious philosophies of life which will enable them to live forever in perpetual youth. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave (that power which now turns man to destruction, to the grave, will be stayed); I will redeem them from death: 0 grave I will be thy plagues (by depriving it of its present power over all); 0 grave, I will be thy destruction.” (Hos. 13:14) Then will come to pass the prophecy of Job 33:24, 25: “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth.”

The fourth process will also require man’s cooperation, and will receive it with a clear understanding of its import: “Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” This is emphasized in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats: “Then shall the King say to them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the king­dom prepared for you.” (Matt. 25:34) Today, in earth’s affairs, when a prince inherits a kingdom from his father, he is seated on the throne, and a crown placed upon his head. Figuratively speaking, this same procedure will be followed when the restitution process has completed its work. Each one of the ‘sheep’ will then inherit a kingdom – his full right to life and its accompanying life rights – just as Adam had it in Eden, when he was given dominion over all things on earth. He was then in every sense “monarch of all he surveyed, lord of the fowl and the brute.”

However, this cannot become true in the full sense of things until the causes that now send men to the grave have been eliminated. St. John states this very graphically in Rev. 21:3–5: “I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men... And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” And the Angel who gave those words to John evidently realized the disbelief with which the message would be received by the present sick and dying race, for he then emphasized it with these words: “Write: for these words are true.” This forces the logical conclusion that the Restitution processes will eliminate all crime – all thievery, physical violence, moral depravity, sickness; no more need for locks on doors; no more destructive armies; no more rigid police protection. “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4)

THEN COMETH THE END

Confirmation of the foregoing is graphically stated by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 15:20–26, which we quote from the Improved Version: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and be­come a firstfruit (Jesus) of them that slept. For since by man (Adam) came death, by (a) man also (Jesus) shall come the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die (this would exclude Jesus, for He was never ‘in Adam’), even so all in Christ shall be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ a firstfruit (meaning the entire Christ Company, and not merely Jesus only); afterward they that are Christ’s at His presence.

“Then cometh the end (the end of the Little Season, when He shall have ruled over the earth to the full elimination of death and the dying processes), when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and all power (complete elimination of Satan and his evil acts). For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

The “last enemy – death” is not only evil persons, but their evil characteristics, which include Adamic defilements, the dying process – all the mental, moral physical and religious ills now prevalent in the human race – is the last great enemy, which will finally be destroyed at the end of the Little Season.

The foregoing is vividly illustrated in Ex. 15:26–31 – a picture which is probably the grandest type of the entire Old Testament: “And the Lord said unto Moses (type of Christ), Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians (Pharaoh and his hosts being typical of Satan and his henchmen)... and the sea returned to his strength... and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea... All the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one.” Then the conclusion of St. Paul in Heb. 2:14 will be realized: “Jesus (through His sacrificial death) would destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” And the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea typically sets forth how and when that will be done. At that same time the ‘goats’ of the parable in Matt. 25:41 will come to their complete annihilation from earth’s activities, leaving the ‘sheep’ the unmolested and perfected rulers of all they survey – free from all the evils that Satan’s deceptions have inflicted upon the human race during the past 6,000 years. Some one said when hear­ing this “good news” of the Kingdom, “It is too good to be true!” And an old wo­man exclaimed, “It is too good NOT to be true!”

SOME CONTRARY VIEWS

“God will have all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4) Like all other fundamental teach­ings of the Bible, this text has been given the extremes of erroneous interpretation. Some contend that if God will have all men to be saved that is a guarantee of eternal life for every human being that has ever lived. Universalism goes even further, and in­sists that even the Devil and his angels will also eventually be saved – despite the clear statement of St. Paul quoted above. Others contend the text to mean that God would like to have all men saved, but He just can’t seem to accomplish it. These perversions are based upon a misunderstanding of the salvation process.

God will have all men to be saved. But saved from what, to what? St. Paul offers the proper help here in Rom. 5:12: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men.” All of Adam’s progeny inherited the death sentence from him – through no fault of their own; and it is relief from that sentence from which God wishes all men to be saved. Often in human affairs we hear of a condemned man be­ing ‘saved from execution’ by official decree; but that does not mean that he shall continue to live forever. It simply means that he is saved from the sentence passed upon him by judicial process.

Much the same explanation may be given for the entire human race being saved; they will be saved from the sentence now hanging over them, and thenceforth will be given the privilege of regaining perfect life – as Adam had it – IF they wish to take advantage of it. If they do, they will be classified as the ‘sheep’ of the parable; if they do not, they will be classified as the ‘goats’ of the parable, and will be sentenced to death once more – that time for their own transgressions, and not for something they have in­herited. This is well stated in Jer. 31:29,30: “In those days they shall no more say, The fathers have eaten a sour grape (sins of the fathers visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation), and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every man shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

Some years back we exchanged quite some correspondence with a preacher in Jamaica, who insisted that St. Paul’s words mean that every man will eventually receive eternal life – although there is just nothing in the text to warrant such a conclusion. Man will be relieved from the present load upon his back, and given the opportunity, under favorable conditions, to free himself from its effects if he will take advantage of the opportunity. Nothing more than that; nothing less. During our exchange of letters the brother cited Matt. 25:46, and argued that “everlasting punishment” simply means age–lasting; that man will continue to receive one opportunity after another – for a full Age – until he eventu­ally avails himself of eternal life. But the same adjectives are used for the righteous as are used for the unrighteous – which forces the logical conclusion that the life re­ceived by the sheep will also be limited to the Age. It is well to note here the foot­note for verse 46 in the Emphatic Diaglott:

“The Common Version, and many modern ones, render ‘kolasin aionion’ everlasting punishment, conveying the idea, as generally interpreted, of ‘basinos,’ torment. Kolas­in is derived from ‘kolazoo,’ which signifies ‘to cut off’; as lopping off branches of trees, to prune... Thus, the righteous go to life, the wicked to the cutting off from life, or death.”

If we cut the limb from a tree, we know that limb no longer will continue to live; it withers and disintegrates – in much the same manner that Adam withered for 930 years, then disintegrated in the grave. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19)

A SUMMATION

At the birth of Jesus the angel declared, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” In 1 John 2:2 this is elaborated. “He is the propitiation for our sins (those who accept Him in this present Age): and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” “He forgiveth all thine iniquities.” As we look back with joy at the Saviour’s birth and subsequent atonement for “all men,” so the ancients looked forward to it. “Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56) The 72nd Psalm gives considerable detail on the subject, too: “God shall come down like rain upon the mown grass (times of refreshing): as showers that water the earth. In His days shall the righteous flourish (the ‘sheep’ of the par­able); and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also (that which was lost) from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. The kings of Tarshish shall bring presents – the kings of Sheba shall offer gifts (“every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”—Phil. 2:10,11): all nations shall serve Him... to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba... daily shall He be praised... they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth... All nations shall call Him blessed ... Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.”

Biblical names are often significant of the character and accomplishments of the persons to whom they are given. Thus, Jesus is the Latin word for Joshua, or Jeshua, which means ‘Jehovah is salvation,’ the same being very expressive of the work He would do. Thus, He not only delivers, saves, believers in this Age, but in the next Age He will deliver the world in general from the sentence now resting upon men. This He will accomplish by His Priestly, Mediatorial, Kingly, Legislative, Judicial, Prophetic and Pa­ternal offices by His good Word and works. He is indeed mighty to save!

Then will be realized the words of Psa. 22:26–31: “The meek shall eat and be satis­fied (none to hurt or make them afraid): They shall praise the Lord that seek Him. All nations shall worship before thee. For the Kingdom (Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth) is the Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations... A seed shall serve Him... They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born.”

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brother Hoefle;

Brother ------- of Philadelphia has introduced me to your paper, Please! find enclosed money order for a year’s subscription. Please send me additional litera­ture if possible with price lists. Thank you very much.

Yours in His joyful service, ------- (PENNSYLVANIA)

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Dear Bible  Students;

I am very much interested in learning about your organization – and I would greatly appreciate any old or current literature that you may be able to send me. I am particularly interested in the history and belief of your organization.

Sincerely ------- (SOUTH CAROLINA)

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Dear Friends:

Thank you for the recent bulletins. Even with my limited knowledge of God’s plan, I found them most interesting and helpful. The bulletins also served to remind me that I have been much too neglectful in getting my small gift to you,

I was sorry to read of the death of your dear one, You have my sincere sympathy.

Sincerely, ------- (OHIO)

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Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace!

We did enjoy our visit with you. It is always good to fellowship with those of “like precious faith”! Fellowshiping with you dear ones reminded me of the text, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” (Psa. 138:1)

But, alas! that is not true of quite a few brethren, especially so since the demise of That Servant. Some brethren will not fellowship with brethren who disagree with them on even minor doctrines; while others will not speak to brethren who disagree with them on vital issues. It grieves us to see brethren depart from the Truth they once received, but being warned (2 Tim. 3:1–5) we are forearmed about the conditions in this “evil day.” The faithful are still striving to “keep the Truth” and its Spirit, “knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” (2 Tim. 3:14)

When some were beginning to question chronology and various minor points of our faith (and some not so minor), Pilgrim Brother Zahnow (a Pilgrim appointed by Brother Russell) gave us these “words of wisdom”: “The Lord has given us a six–course dinner (the six volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures) and dessert (Tabernacle Shadows) for this Har­vest time, but there are some who like to take their feet out from under the Lord’s table and make their own sandwiches.”

Our warm Christian love to you, Sister Hoefle and the Bible House family, with the assurance of our prayers. The Lord continue to bless and guide you!

By His Grace -------

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Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace!

This is just a brief acknowledgment of yours of the 20th which arrived today – and to send you two donations which have been handed to me for you to use in the Lord’s ser­vice. One note is from Sister ......... who told Brother Cyril she considered your papers the only ones she wanted to continue receiving. Also, the other is from a brother who for personal reasons wishes to remain anonymous.

We trust you are managing to cope amid present untoward experiences, and we pray the Lord’s continued blessing upon you and yours. Glad to say we are all reasonably well. With Christian love,

Yours by His Grace ------- (ENGLAND)

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Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace in the Name of Jesus!

Thank you for your good letter of the 15th – also for the tracts which arrived in good order..........

World conditions are moving fast, yet it seems there are many things to be accom­plished before the Kingdom is established. God will make all things work out for good in due time.

Take care! God bless and keep you all and make all work out for good. In Jesus’ Name – Amen!

With Christian love to you and all ------- (CALIFORNIA)

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My very dear Brother & Sister Hoefle: Grace and peace through our Beloved Savior!

There is much work for me here, but I should have written you sooner........ However, every day I am thinking and praying for you; and with all my heart I am hoping this let­ter finds you in good health.

April 17 the Epiphany Bible Students celebrated the Memorial, with 17 brethren pres­ent, and 11 participating in the service – one from the LHMM.

Concerning the Passover, the leaders of the LHMM in France published a circular for a counter attack on our papers, with this order: “No communication to Mr. ------- ­(meaning “yours truly”) However, I managed to get one of the circulars. I was told by one brother with the LHMM: They are throwing out the teachings of Pastor Russell and Brother Johnson who taught that the Passover is a feast of the Spring and not of the Win­ter! There are some brethren in the LHMM who stay with them for one reason or another, but they “do not agree with the error of the LHMM, such as Basileia from 1954, Epiphany Campers Consecrated, etc.”

May our Heavenly Father continue to bless you and all in your labor of love......

Affectionately in Him, Your brother for eternity, ------- (BELGIUM)

NO. 314: TWO CLASSES IN THE RESURRECTION

No. 314

The subject treated in the following quotation is a reproduction of the teachings of both Messengers; and we hope it will be a blessing and encouragement to our readers:

“We have been asked, in view of the fact that some will never reach the condition of perfection, which the word resurrection means, how shall we understand the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts 24:15, that both the just and the unjust are to be resurrected? This Scripture seems very plain and simple if we give careful attention to what we read. Those Jews who stood by and heard the defense of the Apostle before Governor Felix, of which the words of Acts 24:15 are a part, believed that all of the just would have a resurrection, and that an opportunity of the resurrection would be given the unjust. That is what they had been taught from their forefathers. (Their forefathers had a much better understanding of this text than do a large majority of Christians today—JJH) And now the Apostle Paul was reiterating this, their conviction. He says, ‘There shall be a resurrection of the just and the unjust’; that is to say, the resurrection for which God has provided, and which is yet to come, is not only for the good, but also for those who are now evil.

“The thought is not that those who remain in an unjust condition (refuse to have the Adamic death process plagued out of their hearts—JJH) will be granted a full resurrec­tion. The text does not state that all the unjust will be resurrected, brought to per­fection of life. There are some now justified who will have a share in the resurrection, even as there are others who are not now justified who will also have a share in the res­urrection. The just will have a special resurrection, which will be a reward for their special obedience.

“So we have the resurrection of the highest class of the just – the “little flock” on the Divine Plane; that of the Great Company, on a lower spirit plane; that of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, on the earthly plane – four classes who pass their trial, the remainder of men may gradually be raised fully up, out of every frailty, back to the original perfection that Adam had in the beginning. They are unjust now: they have never come into relationship with God. (This applies to billions in the heathen world, past and present—JJH) They that have done good will come forth to a resurrection of life. Some of these will receive a resurrection of life on the human plane (the Worthy classes – to be “princes In all the earth”—JJH), others on the spirit plane, still oth­ers on the highest order of the spirit plane – the plane of the Divine nature. Then Jesus tells us about the other general class – those who have done evil. This includes all whom God cannot approve and accept (all those outside the antitypical Tabernacle Court during the reign of sin and evil – during the Faith Ages—JJH) Those who are not accepted are those who have not done good, according to God’s standard (His standard for the elect during the Faith Ages—JJH); they have done evil; they are unjustified. Many of them have been respectable, moral people, but they are not worthy of the ‘better resurrection.’”

The foregoing is in full agreement with the faithful teachings of the Two Messengers; and was also the teaching of the Present Truth for some time after the demise of the Epiphany Messenger. The above is a verbatim quotation from the March 15,1951 Herald of the Epiphany, so we feel justified in concluding that August Gohlke fully approved of it then. Our inserts in the article are clearly labeled. Self-evidently, the LHMM had not at that time invented another class of “the just” – a justified consecrated class in the Camp. Nor had they then discovered that the Epiphany Messenger had taught such a class.

That Servant set out all four classes of the just – the Little Flock, Great Company, Ancient Worthies, and the unbegotten consecrators here in the end of the Age (from 1881 until Restitution begins) who would be rewarded in honor, service and a “better resur­rection” with the Ancient Worthies, although he did not give a definite name to them, so far as we know. And we have copious Scriptural support for the four classes of the just. Thus, the Epiphany Messenger merely elaborated on these four classes; he did not invent them. Especially did he enlarge on the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies during the Epiphany period. In some sections of the Truth groups they do not recognize a Great Company class as being in their midst. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have perverted the Great Company into an earthly class; but the LHMM still offers much comment on this spir­itual class – rating it as the highest class of the Just now living on earth.

Some of the groups ignore Brother Russell’s teaching of a class of consecrators “be­tween the Ages” who, if faithful, will be rewarded in honor and service with the Ancient Worthies. (See Hebrews Chapter 11) They continue to teach the High Calling open to new consecrators – although they do teach correctly that Armageddon is imminent, etc. Appar­ently they have forgotten about this class of unbegotten consecrators here in the end of the Age. However, so far as we know, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement are the only groups who have invented a new class never taught by That Wise and Faithful Servant. The Witnesses do not claim support from That Servant for their invention; but the LHMM declares that the Messengers do support their notion – although they have been unable to produce anything from their writings to support their claim. Should they attempt a Class study of E. Vol. 4, and teach just what that book says, that would be error, according to their present teaching. The same would also be true for Tabernacle Shadows, because it also is silent on a class of consecrators in the Camp before the New Covenant is inaugurated.

The Law of Liberty given to the Household of Faith during this Age applies only to the Fully Faithful. However, the world in general has a certain amount of liberty to do either good or evil, some of the evils being restrained by the laws of our land. The world is also restrained from any evils which would hinder God’s plan, or unduly inter­fere with His people. But the very opposite will be the case in the Mediatorial King­dom. Under the Works Salvation they will be put under martial law; they will not be permitted to do evil to others, either willingly or unwillingly. That will be a very pronounced change from being under the present Grace Covenant, which is now the Law of Love and Liberty for the Household of Faith so long as they are faithful. If the House­hold of Faith were under the same law now that will prevail in the Mediatorial Kingdom, the Great Company would not be permitted to perpetrate the evils they have committed all during this Age.

In Parousia Vol. 6, p. 378, there is this: “The world will not be left to the law of love during the Millennium, but will be ruled with justice and mercy under a law of obedience to the Kingdom... Those having become pupils in the school of Christ now .... these, and these alone, can be safely put under the Law of Liberty (only the fully faith­ful of the Household of Faith are under the Law of Liberty now—JJH). If they lose the spirit of sonship, they cease to be sons, cease to be under this Law of Liberty.” (Such crown-losers die a constrained death – not a sacrificial death as do the Fully Faithful: they are forced to do what they should have done willingly—JJH).

Follows now a statement from E-3:108: “The Little Flock comes out from under this merit by the completion of its sacrificial death; the Great Company by the completion of its constrained death.” (And, while the latter are in Azazel’s hands, they persistently pursue a “path of error”—James 5:20, Dia.; they can no longer distinguish clearly between truth and error, which causes them to lead others astray with them—JJH)

These elementary truths should protect all in the Household of Faith who have “good and honest hearts” from such gross errors now emanating from these two groups – the Witnesses and the LHMM – who are flagrantly mixing the Two Distinct Salvation, the Res­urrection of the Just and Unjust, as described at the outset of this article. The LHMM also mixes the imputative Merit for the Faith class, and the applied Merit for the Restitution class. According to them, the Camp now receives tentative justifica­tion – a faith justification that requires the imputation of Christ’s Merit to give it any validity; whereas, the Camp never receives the imputative Merit – either now or during the Kingdom. When the New Covenant is inaugurated that will be an actual application of the Merit. Thus, they not only mix the Two Distinct Salvations, but they also pervert the doctrine of the Merit as they grossly revolutionize against the teach­ing of That Servant on the Merit of Christ for the Faith class now, and for the world of mankind in the Kingdom. They now teach that all who accept Christ in the Kingdom will be of the Household of Faith during a works dispensation!

MORE ON TENTATIVE JUSTIFICATION

In the Jan.-Feb. PT of 1974 we have another verbose attempt by the Editor to give credence to his contention that – “According to the Two Messengers there will be no in­terval without tentative justification.” By this he means that tentative justification will continue right on throughout the Mediatorial reign – although he does put the one in this Faith Age, and one by works in the next Age. Before we offer any analysis of his posi­tion, we would stress that the statement itself is a transparent falsehood when he says, “the Two Messengers” agree with him. At no place in Brother Johnson’s writings is there the slightest hint of any kind of tentative justification during the Mediatorial reign. On the contrary, he is very emphatic in his statement that such teaching is error – as evidence the following in E-15:261,262:

“Let us see the conditions that will prevail during the Millennial Age. During that Age there will be neither a tentative nor a vitalized justification, since both of these kinds of justification operate on the basis of the imputed ransom merit... Unlike the Gospel-Age justification, which is instantaneous in both its kinds, the Millennial justi­fication will require the entire Millennium to complete, because it will be an actual as distinct from the reckoned justification of the Gospel-Age. The conditions on which this will be bestowed will be faith and obedience unto perfection...

“In a word, faith is the justifying instrumentality and thus the condition of justi­fication in this Age, while obedience will be the justifying instrumentality and thus the condition of justification in the next Age. These Ages’ purposes account for this.”

The foregoing is also quoted in our paper No. 221, but we repeat it here for empha­sis, and to convince our readers that the “Two Messengers” do not agree at all in the contention that there will be “no interval without tentative justification.” However, on p. 12, col. 1, of the Jan.-Feb. PT, part of the above is also quoted to “prove” this error, which simply demonstrates that there is no limit to the brazen efforts to foist these errors upon their readers. Therefore, we now quote once more from E-7:370: “Why do they so often quote passages ... to prove points positively disproved by these very passages? Is it not because they are in Azazel’s hands, and are thus blinded by him, and at his direction palm off his errors on the dear unsuspecting sheep of God’s flock?”

The same condition applies to their continued use of the writings in E-10:114, pp. 209 and 672. This is a familiar ruse of men with “bad consciences” (see E-10:585, 591): just repeat, repeat, repeat in parrot-like fashion, knowing that “the unstable and the unlearned” will be swayed by their “much speaking.”

“Note E-10:585: “They claim to be full of teachings and their disposition forces them to speak... They began, continued and completed their speech with multiplied apologies, and not a few mis­repre­sentations (“false-accusing Epiphany crown-losers pour out their partly wise and partly foolish effusions” – see p. 591, par. 1—JJH), which betray approbativeness and a bad conscience,”

That Servant, the other Messenger referred to in that PT, has this to say about consciences: “Only those with tender consciences will keep their garments unspotted. The failure to do this seems to be the reason why many fail to make their ‘calling and election sure... Instead of being members of the temple class, they will be servants in the Temple.”

Here it is pertinent to note that many of J. F. Rutherford’s errors early in the Epi­phany involved tentative justification; and it was so annihilative to his perversions that he was forced to deny it altogether. But this PT now goes to the other extreme ­it enlarges upon it to include the Millennial Age; and has the effrontery to say that Brother Johnson agrees with it, whereas, the above quotation emphatically contradicts it.

Then, on p. 13, under the caption “The Epiphany Camp In The Finished Picture,” there is this from E-5:420, supposedly quoting Brother Johnson: “The Lord is now erecting His Epiphany Tabernacle, whose Most Holy is the spirit-born part of the Little Flock, whose Holy is the crown-retainers, whose Court is the Great Company and Youthful Worthies and whose Camp will be those who will persist in believing in Jesus as Savior and King (surely therefore tentatively justified).”

We call attention specifically to the last four words in brackets – “surely therefore tentatively justified.” Any casual reader would have to accept those words as from Bro. Johnson, because they are included in the quotation; whereas, the Epiphany Messenger does not use them at all – they are pure injection. And here is just one more illustra­tion of how low errorists will sink to support their errors when God “sends to them an energy of delusion.” (2 Thes. 2:11, Dia.) Thus, “All may be judged who believed not the Truth, but approved the iniquity.” (v. 12)

While it is true that Brother Russell did make the statement that “the world may be said to be tentatively justified in the next Age,” just a little reflection will prove that the world cannot have tentative justification. Tentative Justification is instan­taneous, and actually gives its recipient something – it reckons him perfect and avail­able for consecration. The Tentatively Justified are not on trial for life – only the vitalizedly justified and the actually justified are on trial for life. The wholly willful sinners of the Mediatorial reign: “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) The same condition will exist in the Mediatorial reign in that respect that exists for the vitalizedly justified in the Faith Age: no one will go into the Second Death for any sins that he doesn’t have the ability to overcome. God’s justice demands the life of a willful sinner – when they are on trial for life. None of the Tentatively Justi­fied are on trial for life.

“We have been introduced into this favor (faith justification through our Lord Jesus) in which we stand.” Just how long an individual in this Age continues “in this favor in which we stand” is not revealed in the Scriptures, so far as we know. However, this “favor” is an instantaneous act; as soon as one steps from the Camp into the Court through the Gate (“I am the way”—the Gate) he is tentatively justified; and he may continue to stand in that condition for some time for many years in the case of the children of the saints – before it is taken from him “having received the grace of God in vain.”

But there will be no tentative justification (reckoned perfection) in the next Age – because they will have a Mediator to stand between their imperfections and God’s jus­tice. However, the Mediator does not stand, even during the Mediatorial reign, between the willful sinner and God’s justice, because when they are given every gracious opportun­ity to overcome, and willfully refuse to have the Adamic death process plagued out of them, they will be in the same relative condition of the goats of the Little Season: they will be “destroyed from among the people.” And to inject such “profusion of words” into this discussion cannot do otherwise than confuse and mislead “the unstable and the unlearned” among the readers.

Since the Gospel-Age justification is an instantaneous work, and comes from God in Heaven, any attempt to compare the justification of the two Ages finds no support whatever in Scripture or sound logic. In the next Age no sort of justification will be required in order to make a consecration. When the world is awakened the people will have the same character they had when they died. “Where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” (Ec. 11:3) When any one makes progress up the Highway of Holiness, he is advanc­ing toward actual justification, which he will receive instantaneously from God at the end of the Millennium.

On p. 12, col. 1, there is reference to Reprints 5959, but a complete reading of that article will corroborate what we have just said above. Here is the last para­graph of that citation: “Justification to the world, as already explained, will be at­tained differently. It might be said that the world’s justification, under the Media­tor, will be a gradual one – a gradual making right as each individual will come into harmony more and more with the Divine requirements and receive more and more of restitu­tion perfection. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that ‘It is God that justifies,’ and that the world will not be in God’s hands until the conclusion of the Millennial Age; Then all approved of the Father and accepted of Him to eternal life will be justi­fied in the full sense. That will be an instantaneous act.”

On p. 396 of the Question Book, there is this: “Justification by faith is the only justification that God has arranged for during this present time... Consequently, this justification is not a matter for the world in general, but merely for those who desire to approach God for the purpose of making a sacrifice with the Lord.” And further on p. 571:

“There will be no imputation of Christ’s merit during the Millennial Age. Not a bit. Because it will all have been given at the beginning... And so Jesus with the inaugura­tion of the Millennium will turn over the full merit of His sacrifice. It will all be given to justice. Justice will have turned mankind over to Jesus.”

Here the question is pertinent: Just what justification is AG now offering to his Campers Consecrated – the present faith justification, or the future works justifica­tion? He who discerns clearly teaches clearly. Both Messengers emphasized that there will be no imputation of Jesus’ merit in the next Age – and surely all know that tenta­tive justification in an imputable thing. There is no hint by either Messenger that it may be found in the Camp – either in the Faith Age or in the Millennial Age.

On p. 13, col. 2 top of this PT, there is this: “They were remanded into the Epi­phany Camp... Note carefully that Brother Johnson did not teach that they lost all tentative justification.” Is the PT now telling us, too, that those ejected from the Court into the Camp will retain a part of their justification? His statement indi­cates just that; and if so, then what percentage do they lose, and what percentage do they retain?

Then in the paragraph following the above: “Obviously, therefore, those in the Epi­phany Camp in the finished picture are not the nominal people of God, less than tenta­tively justified.”

All during the Gospel Age – and until its finish at the end of the Epiphany, the nominal people of God in the Camp never had any kind of justification – although it con­tained those ejected from the Court who at one time did have tentative justification, which they gained when they went through the Gate into the Court. Does AG now teach that they retained a percentage of their justification in the Court? Does he teach they bring a part of their imputed justification with them from the Court into the Camp?

With all the citations from Brother Johnson, the PT hasn’t produced one that even hints that the Epiphany Camp in the finished picture will contain the consecrated for­merly faith justified, or any other consecrated class. Just the reverse; Brother Johnson does say on p. 209, Vol. 10, that it will contain the unconsecrated in the fin­ished picture.

MORE CONFUSION ON THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH

In E-4:405, 406 is the following: “We use the expression, the Household of Faith, from a variety of standpoints: (1) In the Old Testament times all believers in the promises were of the Household of Faith. (2) All Gospel-Age believers in Jesus are of the Household of Faith, when we have the Gospel-Age Household of Faith in mind (Ram. 4: 11,12). This was typed by all the children – the afterborn as well as the firstborn – in each family in Israel partaking of the Paschal Lamb in Egypt (Ex. 12:3-17, 21-28).

(3) All new creatures, as a finished work, in the end of the Gospel Age, especially during the Epiphany, are the Household of Faith. Aaron and his sons on the Atonement Day typed this Household of Faith (Lev. 16:6,11). (4) The Little Flock, the Ancient Worthies, the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies will be the Millennial House­hold of Faith (2 Tim. 2:20). The Priests and Levites dwelling about the Tabernacle type this Household of Faith.

“The Youthful Worthies, of course, are not of the New Creature Household of Faith, because they are not New Creatures. But from the standpoint of having the ‘faith of Abraham’ (Gal. 3:7,8) they are, of course, like him, of the Household of Faith. They are among the believers referred to under (2). They are, however, somewhat different from the tentatively justified who do not now consecrate (Those forced out of the Court into the Camp in the end of the Age – in the “finished picture”—JJH). The latter dur­ing the Epiphany cease altogether to be of the Household of Faith, having used the grace of God in vain; while the former, consecrating and proving faithful, retain their tenta­tive justification, and are thus of the Gospel-Age Household of Faith who persist into and during the Epiphany. The reason why they are of the Household of Faith is that they are a faith class; for all that are of the faith of Abraham are of the Household of Faith.”

Emphasis should be placed on the foregoing statement: “The latter (those forced out of the Court into the Camp—JJH) cease altogether to be of the Household of Faith, having used the grace of God in vain.” These are the “former faith-justified” stressed in the paper under review as still retaining “a part of their justification.” If they cease altogether to be of the Household of Faith, could they possibly have any justifi­cation at all. Certainly not! And let us keep in mind, too, that neither of the Two Messengers ever hinted at a class of consecrators in the Epiphany Camp; that is pure invention. And the desperate perversions of the writings of the Two Messengers are simply some more symbolic witchcraft – especially deceptive false teachings.

In E-11:473 we have this: “We understand that Jesus’ pertinent work as Executive for the antitypical Tabernacle and its appurtenances will continue with the Little Flock, the Great Company and Youthful Worthies until they respectively finish their courses, but will cease with the faith-justified when their faith-justification lapses.” This is because Jesus’ Executorship for all faith classes is found only in the Court where Christ’s merit is available, and where justification also prevails.

Let us keep in mind that both Messengers emphasized a class of consecrators be­tween the Ages who would share in honor, service and reward with the Ancient Worthies; but that is now being set aside to make way for another (newly invented) class – just as did JFR, who disposed of a Youthful Worthy class altogether to make room for his own invented class. Both of these groups are now attempting to mix the Two Salvations. The Witnesses are separating the Sheep from the Goats; and the LHMM is now separating the Chief Sheep from the ordinary ones. Both organizations insist that their prose­lytes be dedicated, or consecrated. Consecration is always in order, they say; but there are two parts to any consecration – its offer by the consecrator, and its accep­tance by God. The dealing with Cornelius (Acts 10:19-48) is a case to the point; and no consecration will ever be accepted – in this Age or the next Age – without Jesus as Executor. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.”

In the meticulous and copious analysis of tentative justification Brother Johnson gave no hint of any change whatever from the teaching of That Servant; all his efforts were to prove that tentative justification was for the purpose of consecrators “between the Ages” – or until Restitution begins – who, if faithful, will be rewarded with the Ancient Worthies. JFR denied there was such a class. The PT denies there is oppor­tunity to enter that class now; it teaches that tentative justification is available only in the Camp for Campers Consecrated. They will supersede the Jews, it claims, and will be “first and chief” in the Restitution class. But That Servant taught that the natural Jew would be the first to receive the Kingdom blessings, and that all others would have to become proselyte Jews to receive the Kingdom blessings; and Brother John­son reasserted this teaching. So we now find it necessary to reassert, uphold and defend the “faith once delivered unto the saints,” to refute these errors – just as did Brother Johnson with JFR’s errors.

Again we quote from E-4:342: “If our dear readers will keep in mind that the Tower’s denial of tentative justification during this Age is the foundation of its rejecting the Scriptural doctrine that those faithful consecrators from 1881 until Restitution sets in, for whom there are no crowns available, and hence no Spirit-begetting for Gospel-Age pur­poses possible, will be the Millennial associates of the Ancient Worthies in reward and service, they will be able by Scriptural, reasonable and factual thinking completely to overthrow every argument that the article under review presents to defend its thesis: for through Tentative Justification alone can God now deal with this class in preparing them for association with the Ancient Worthies.”

We say the same regarding the Jan.-Feb. 1974 PT: If our dear readers will continue to accept the Parousia and Epiphany Messengers’ teaching, they will “be able by Scrip­tural, reasonable and factual thinking completely to overthrow every argument that this paper presents to defend its thesis.” And armed with this “sword of the spirit” (sharp penetrating Truth), the Lord’s faithful people will have no trouble in penetrating the effervescent flummery of Campers, and continue to assail this pseudo class – just as did Brother Johnson with JFR’s Jonadabs, which he styled a “Non-existent class.”

On p. 14, col. 2, there is this question: “Was not the opportunity to become Youth­ful Worthies to remain open until the time that restitution begins?” And here is part of the answer: “No. Nothing in the Scriptures teaches such a thought. At the time Bro. Johnson wrote E 10... he stated plainly that ‘after 1954 no Youthful Worthies will be won.’”

Both Messengers taught that such a class of consecrators who would be rewarded in partnership with the Ancient Worthies, would have opportunity “between the Ages,” or until Restitution sets in – and the above quotation from the Epiphany Messenger tells us that we can prove this teaching by “Scriptural, reasonable and factual thinking.” To date we have been able to do this, just as Brother Johnson was able to do so and ably refute JFR. Neither Messenger taught a consecrated class in the Camp “between the Ages.”

Then consider the quotation as given above: “Bro. Johnson stated plainly that after 1954 no Youthful Worthies will be won.” Note now the complete statement by Brother Johnson: “After 1954 no Youthful Worthies will be won; and after 1954 no more persons will enter the tentatively justified state.” Here is the legal definition of fraud:

“A false misrepresentation of a matter of fact. It includes all omissions or con­cealments by which one person misleads another to his disadvantage.” The omission of one important part of Brother Johnson’s statement is a good example of the above descrip­tion.

In Reprints 5493, col. 1, par. 6, That Servant used 2 Tim. 2:20 to prove there are but four classes of the elect – of the Household of Faith. “The consecration of the Lord’s servants is unto death, and those who fear death are fearful of performing their covenant vow. They will not be worthy of the Lord’s approval as faithful servants. Nevertheless, there are many vessels in the house of the King – some to more honor and some to less honor—2 Tim. 2:20, 21.” (In 2 Tim. 2:20 we have four classes – “vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth” – the Little Flock, Great Company, Ancient Worthies and Youthful Worthies—JJH)

Now from E-4:330: “2 Tim. 2:20 proves that as a part of the household of the faith­ful the Youthful Worthies will be honorably used, and will be next to the Ancient Worthies on earth in Christ’s family.” We now repeat the statement on p. 406 of E-4: “The Little Flock, the Ancient Worthies, The Great Company and the Youthful Worthies will be the Mil­lennial Household of Faith (2 Tim. 2:20).”

These citations are proof that both Messengers saw only four classes in the Household of Faith in the “finished picture” – that is, the four elect classes. But this PT can see Five classes in the “finished picture” of the Epiphany – and can see that all who ac­cept Jesus as their Savior in the Kingdom, will also be of the Household of Faith! Of course, if they are now of the Household of Faith, it would be a step down in the Kingdom for them to become in the “Works” salvation instead of a reward for their walking a narrow way. However, the LHMM doesn’t teach that the Campers Consecrated will be res­urrected perfect – an instantaneous resurrection as the Worthies will receive. So it would be reasonable to expect these imperfect Campers to become perfect only by WORKS.

It is pertinent to our subject, however, to emphasize that many of the quasi-elect were at one time in the Court, and were of the Household of Faith when in the Gospel Age and Epiphany Tabernacles. The Camp contains the nominal people of God, but Brother Johnson taught that the unconsecrated tentatively justified in the Court were no more than nominal Christians. His reason for this statement, of course, is the fact that their eventual standing would be in the Camp in the “finished picture” if they failed to consecrate while in the Court. Such people when ejected from the Court in the “fin­ished picture” will have the same quality characters in the Camp so long as they remain “repentant and believing” and practice righteousness.

There is an adjustment in the Court and in the Camp in the finished picture of the Epiphany. The Court will contain only the consecrated, and the Camp will contain only the “truly repentant and believing.” All in the Court will receive a special resurrec­tion, and those in the Camp will receive the general resurrection. Those “truly repen­tant and believing,” but unconsecrated Jews and Gentiles will be in a better condition to receive the Kingdom blessings than the others. All the “truly repentant and believ­ing” will be among the first to come into harmony with the Kingdom requirements. This is in harmony with the Two Salvations, and with the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust, as taught by That Servant and the Epiphany Messenger.

Those in the Camp in the “finished picture” will be in the same relative position as Cornelius was before consecration was available for the Gentiles. As Brother Russell has said, “We note also the remark of Peter, when preaching Christ and His Gospel to Cornelius (Acts 10:37), to the effect that Cornelius already knew the word which Jesus had preached throughout all Judea ... This would also explain why the Holy Spirit was poured out on Cornelius and his house even while Peter yet spake, and before it is even stated that Cornelius accepted Christ; for apparently he had already done so.” So many of those in the Camp have already accepted Christ, and perhaps in many cases know something about the Kingdom and God’s Plan of Salvation, even as was true of Cornelius before it was “due time” for Gentiles to consecrate.

This is a reprint of our April 1974 article, No. 226, which contains some revision and additions. Due to the recent outburst of the error of Campers Consecrated, etc., we think it necessary to reiterate our refutation of these errors. We are unable to read the heart, of course, but when the Lord manifests by His Word the revolutionism of the Truth by a person or persons, substituting their invented errors instead, as Brother Russell has said, we know there is something wrong with the heart. August Gohlke’s false and slanderous accusations seem to manifest that there is something wrong with his heart. “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12 – see Berean Comments) It is our hope and prayer that AG will cleanse himself of these defilements.

“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31,32)

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

NO. 313: LOOSING THE FOUR WINDS OF HEAVEN - PART TWO

No. 313

As stated in Part One of this subject, it is our intention to use mostly quota­tions from That Servant; and we now proceed on that basis. Our first offering is from Reprints 5168, vol. 2 (written Jan. 15, 1913 – just 1½ years before the outbreak of the Great War):

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

“As for others who have not yet consecrated themselves, we can say with St. Paul, ‘I beseech you, ... brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.’ (Rom. 12:1) Do your best. It may be that there is an opening and you may get in. Consecrate your time, your talents, all that you have, to the service of God. He is a good paymaster; whatever reward he may give you will be a prize.”

KINGDOM WORK THIS SIDE THE VEIL

From Reprints 5631, col. 2: “We are not surprised at these conditions; for long ago they were foretold in the Word of God. We were assured that our day would witness the disintegration of the present order, whether we view the conditions from a social, or religious, or a financial standpoint. The lease of power to the King­doms of this world has expired. (It expired at the end of the Gentile Times when the day of God’s special wrath came – in the Epiphany, the great Time of Trouble—JJH) It was foretold by the Prophet Daniel that ‘in the days of these king,’ before their utter overthrow, the God of heaven would set up a kingdom (when the last saint had been selected, the Kingdom was ‘set up’—JJH), which should smite and break in pieces all the kingdoms of men, the beastly kingdoms of Daniel’s dream. When these kingdoms would be given to ‘the people of the saints of the Most High,’ they were to ‘smite them in pieces as a potter’s vessel.’ This intimates that in some sense of the word the Lord will take possession of these before they have been completely overthrown; that some of the kingdoms represented in the Gentile image will be remaining at that time.

“What time, then, is signified by the expression ‘in the days of these kings,’ when the Kingdom of God was to be set up in power? To our understanding, the first step in the setting up of this Kingdom was the raising of the sleeping saints of the Gospel Age, which we believe was in the Spring of 1878. Then began the glorifica­tion of the Church. The work of setting up the Kingdom has, we understand, been pro­gressing from that date, and is now merely lacking the last members of the Church class. When these shall have taken their places as members of the Church in glory, the Kingdom will be fully set up.

“This does not signify that there may not be a part of the Kingdom work begun while some of the members of Christ are still in the flesh. Indeed some Scriptures seem to imply that there will be a Kingdom work done this side the veil, while a work of still greater magnitude and authority is progressing on the other side of the veil. We read, ‘Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds...’

This seems to imply, as we have mentioned before, that there is a special work to be done while these saints still have beds, while they are in a condition of repose – not ‘tossed to and fro,’ and carried about by every wind of doctrine,’ but fully at rest in God’s great plan. The Scriptures go on to say that they have a two-edged sword in their hands – which is the Word of God. They use it as the sword of the Spirit. This would not be true of them on the other side of the veil. They would have no use for a sword there. The Scriptures also declare that the high-sounding praises of God are upon their lips. This, too, seems to be applicable to those this side the veil.” (Written Feb. 15, 1915) Then from Reprints 5632, par. 1: “The final phase, ‘to execute the judgments writ­ten,’ would seem to imply that there would be something for the saints on this side of the veil to do in connection with the execution of the judgments upon the nations. As to just what this means, we have not yet fully learned. But we see nothing here to conflict with the thought that the Lord’s Kingdom may be properly understood to have begun opera­tions and that the present smiting of the nations is under Kingdom control. The fact that some of the members of the Kingdom class are still in the flesh does not militate at all against this thought. We see the kingdoms of this world now being dashed to pieces, and we are expecting to see the process continued until they are completely ground to pow­der. They shall become as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind shall carry them away. Then shall they be found no more at all. (Dan. 2:35 – “And this honor have all the saints” – Psa. 149:9—JJH)

The Kingdom Of God Set Up: – “Because certain important things are to be accom­plished, we see that God is permitting what to others might seem to be purely human devilishness. For a wise purpose He permits this reign of lawlessness, this condition which evokes universal odium. Our thought is that we should look for still further evidences day by day that the Gentile Times have ended, and that God’s Kingdom has begun its work. (God’s Kingdom is the Christ Company—JJH)... The present step is the war of the nations. The next step will be Socialism – an attempted Socialism – among the people. Then the third step, Anarchy (Armageddon, or world-wide Revolution, is the final step, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses—JJH), will gradually come on. When this symbolic fire shall pre­vail, then the world will realize what we are trying to tell them now; namely, that God’s Kingdom is taking control, and that these various demonstrations are evidences that our Lord is taking His great power ...

“At the sounding of the seventh trumpet Messiah was to take unto Himself His great power and reign. That trumpet is now sounding! ‘And the nations were angry and thy wrath (the great Time of Trouble starting in 1914—JJH) is come.’ (Rev. 11:18) Surely the nations are angry now! They act as if they were bereft of common sense. We see readily enough that the spirit of selfishness has prevailed there right along; but that some hindrance or fear heretofore held them back. But finally, when the Lord’s ‘due time’ has come to permit it, they broke through their restraint. The Lord has at this par­ticular time especially to do with the affairs of the nations. And this war was allowed to occur at about the end of the Gentile Times, at the appropriate time when they are to be dashed to pieces with the iron rod of the iron rule. (Psa. 2:6-12) It is our judgment that we shall see more of this iron rule and its breaking influence, not only upon the nations, but upon society at large. Now in this great day of the Lord everything that can be shaken is to be shaken to pieces and shaken out, to the intent that nothing unrighteous or unworthy shall remain. God Himself is doing the shaking......

THE TIME FOR JUDGMENT IS RIPE: – “We believe that the Times of the Gentiles ended just on tine, as shown in Volume 2 of Studies in the Scriptures. The hand of justice is now doing the breaking – the nations shall be broken as a ‘potter’s vessel.’ The whole cat­aclysm of trouble may be upon the world during the next ten months; or it may be longer deferred, We believe that the time for the setting up of the Kingdom was on September 21, 1914. (Otherwise the “Judgment written”—Psa. 149:9 – would not have been pronounced; the ejection is now going on—JJH) At that time, when it was due for our Lord to take his great power and reign, the nations were already angry. They were at war over a month in advance of the time, because so angry.

“The due time for the ‘wrath’ was September 21. We are expecting to see this wrath still more manifest. The nations have been in just this same unloving spirit one toward another for a number of years, but apparently they have been under some forcible restraint. We believe that God’s time had not yet come. We wondered, and many people wondered, how their anger could be restrained much longer; much has been written about it in the news­papers. When the Balkan war came (1912-1913—JJH), it was because the nations were angry; and it very nearly led to this conflagration. Austria tried to precipitate the trouble at that time, but the German Kaiser held back. Now the restraining hand has been removed. The time is ripe.” (Reprints 5632, col. 2, pars. 4 & 5 - Feb. 15, 1915)

In 1914-16 the first smiting of Jordan was taking place, although Brother Russell did not then fully realize it. However, we should keep in mind that the River Jordan in some instances types the human race under the curse; and its rapid fall in a very short space from the clear water of the mountains to the “sea of salt” – the Dead Sea – graphi­cally portrays the downward course of the human race under the curse of sin and death. As the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea, it ends in the lowest body of water on earth’s surface – 1296 feet below sea level.

From a second viewpoint the Jordan typifies Christendom, which also has experienced a tragic fall from the pristine purity of the early Church under the Apostles to its present depraved position of Babylon. And it is this latter picture that is represented in the first smiting of Jordan. As the war progressed after its commencement in 1914 the people of Christendom became more and more divided into two very distinct classes ­the Conservatives and the Radicals. Those of us who had personal experience with that first smiting recall very vividly how pronounced that cleavage became. We had some of the radicals tell us personally, “Just wait till the war is over, and we’ll then show the Uppercrust what this is all about.” And the turmoil everywhere in evidence now of­fers pronounced testimony to the seriousness of that division.

And of that first smiting we have the clear Scripture – “This honor have all his saints.” (Psa. 149:9) Under this latter heading Brother Russell quotes more from the same Psalm:

“Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: This honor have all his saints.”

“We are frequently asked whether we understand that there is to come a time when the Lord’s people – the saintly ones – while still in the flesh, will have a full understand­ing of the entire Word of God, including the dark expressions of Ezekiel, Zechariah, Revelation, etc. In reply we usually remind the questioners that eighteen hundred years ago St. Paul wrote, ‘Take unto you the whole armor of God,’ including ‘the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God’; and that we are therefore to understand that St. Paul himself and other Christians of his time had the ‘sword of the Spirit.’ We are sure, however, that they did not understand certain portions of the Word of God which were not then due to be understood; for instance, that portion of Daniel’s prophecy which the angel said was to be sealed up until ‘the time of the end,’ and many other prophecies which were not then unfolded. This has always been more or less true ever since. Prophecy unfolds gradually. Today more is due to be understood than ever before.” (Reprints 5803, bottom – Nov. 15, 1915)

We are convinced that there were quite a few saints in the various Truth groups after Brother Russell’s demise who disagreed with one another on certain Scriptures; but dur­ing the smiting – when That Servant was with us – they were all in harmony on the work then due to be done, and in one group. “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” (Isa. 52:8) And we do know there was complete harmony in the Truth group about the work they were to do then. The “gathering” of the saints was complete after they were sealed in their foreheads with Present Truth. As That Servant has said, prophecy unfolds gradually. Today more is to be understood than ever before. Today we know some things that Jesus Himself did not know when He was on earth. “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matt. 24:36) We know that we are in “that day.”

“We are not to understand that the Bible will have no value in the incoming Age, but rather to the contrary of this. Our thought is that the Bible will be used then, not so much as a sole means of communicating God’s will, but as a source of information, much as we now use histories. It will enlighten men respecting God’s laws, etc. There is nothing to indicate that every matter that the Bible treats will be seen clearly by the Church while we are on this side the veil. The Apostle says that ‘now we see through a glass obscurely’; but that beyond the veil we shall see ‘face to face.’ We shall see clearly; for we shall then be like our Lord. Now we know in part, but then ‘we shall know even as we are known.’ (1 Cor. 13:12)” (Bottom of Reprints 5803, and col. 1 of 5304)

Indeed, we believe that the Restitutionists – the obedient – will understand more of the Bible than we do now. The faithful Restitutionists will be able to understand all the doctrines of the Bible, we believe – including the two salvations, the “Great” and the “Common.” The only thing that the “natural men” cannot now appreciate is spirit-begettal – “the things of the spirit” – nor will it be necessary for them, as they will not be of the heavenly class. And it is true now of the fully consecrated unbegotten, they understand the doctrines of the Bible – all necessary for the work the Lord gives them to do, and all that is necessary to be of the Worthy Class. In fact, all now in Present Truth understand much more than any of the saints before the Harvest period; and some understand more than some spirit-begotten. However, it is also true of the spirit-begotten – the Little Flock and the Great Company – that they will under­stand enough to continue in their class standing. However, the Worthies are different from the Restitutionists in that the faithful will be spirit-begotten at the end of the Kingdom and receive a heavenly reward. The Restitutionists will not have this oppor­tunity, nor will they have heavenly aspirations. They will be happy with “paradise on earth.”

The Work Now Going On: – “In speaking of this present time (1915—JJH), as we think, the Prophet David says, ‘Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds.’ The children of God should be joyful at all times – even in tribulation ­knowing that these experiences work out for us a development of character and a prepara­tion for the Kingdom glories. The Psalmist here foretells that the saints at this time are at rest upon their beds, while they sing God’s praise. This statement might be mean­ingless to us until we understand from other Scriptures that those beds represent creeds or the sum total of one’s religious belief.

“While some are reclining on a short creed bed, which cramps and fetters them, and the narrow covers of which cannot give them warmth and comfort, the true saints of God have at this time beds of full and proper size, and a cover which is warm and ample. They are shown in this prophetic picture as taking their ease, resting in faith, while praising the Lord, they are using skillfully the ‘two-edged sword.’ This sword in their hands is the Bible. The thought is not necessarily that God’; people have absolute knowledge of every feature of God’s Word, but that they have all the knowledge needful to the efficient use of the sword at this time, all the knowledge designed for the saints now, when this prophecy applies.

“Let the high-sounding praises of God be in their mouths, urges the Psalmist. We believe that this is more and more becoming true. The saints can praise God more in­telligently and fully now than ever before. We can see our Lord’s character better, be­cause much of the ignorance, misconception, mysteries and obscurity have fled away. God’s word is shining out with more brightness than ever. We cannot see that our Brother John Calvin could have had very much of the ‘high-sounding praise of God’ in his mouth; for it is surely not a high-sounding praise to declare that our God would assign thou­sands of millions of humanity to an eternity of torture. Nor can it be said of people today who teach this same horrible doctrine, that they have the ‘high-sounding praise of God in their mouths.’

“God’s name is blasphemed, and His glorious character traduced and misrepresented every day. The world is told that God has a devilish plan – that He has made a hell in which to torture a very large part of humanity; and that He has the devils there already doing the torturing, and that this will go on throughout eternity. There are no high-sounding praises connected with any such beliefs and teachings. But the Lord’s people who keep close to His Word are now able to tell forth the wondrous story of God’s love, wisdom, justice and power as never before. And the Truth is surely accomplishing a work in the binding and fettering of error. We believe that the words of the Psalm­ist in this text are being fulfilled at this time. To some extent at least we are al­ready engaging in the great work here depicted.” (Reprints bottom of Reprints 5803 and top of 5804, Nov. 15, 1915)

The Epiphany Messenger has elaborated on the above truths, as well as the 40-year Harvest and the 2½ years overlapping from the Parousia into the Epiphany period. When he taught that the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble are identical – one and the same period – he was not bringing out any advancing Truth, because That Servant had also taught that the Epiphany and the great Time of Trouble are one and the same.

“To the very best of our ability we have endeavored to make clear that the parousia of our Lord is wholly different from His epephania. Both of these Greek words are translated coming in our common Bible, but in the Greek they have very different signifi­cations. The word parousia signifies presence, but does not signify any outward mani­festation of that presence. It is used in respect to the first stage of the Second Ad­vent, in which our Lord is said to come ‘as a thief in the night’ to reckon His own ser­vants and to take the faithful of them with Him to the heavenly mansion or condition pre­pared for them.

“Our Lord’s parousia and gathering of the elect, we understand, has been in progress since 1874. It will continue until all of the ‘elect’ shall have been gathered and glorified. (The quotations of a later date show where That Servant changed his mind about the glorification of all the saints by 1914—JJH) In one sense our Lord will con­tinue to be present as the world’s King to the conclusion of the Millennial Age; but His parousia in the sense of secrecy of presence, will terminate when, as the Scriptures declare, ‘He shall be revealed in flaming fire (judgments), taking vengeance on all who will not obey the truth,’ but enlightening and revivifying all who will hear and, to the extent of their opportunity, obey His message. The parousia is to the Church and for the Church only. The epiphania or apokalupsis of the Lord in power and glory is not to the Church nor for the Church, but to the world and for the world. ‘When he shall thus appear we also shall appear with him in glory,’ the Apostle declares—Col. 3:4.” (Reprints 4543, bottom—col. 1 and 2, January 1, 1910)

“An Astounding Statement: – At the epiphania, or bright shining, of the Lord’s mani­festation, God will have completed His present work of directing the Church, and the world will be informed that they are under a different dispensation. When the world shall have come to under­stand the matter fully, they will know the truth that the Father loves the Church as He loves the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very astounding state­ment. It shows that there is nothing selfish in our Lord. He did not say, ‘They will always be inferior to me. They will never have the glory that I shall have.’“ (Reprints 5359, top, col. 1, pat. 2 – December 1, 1913)

There is much more by That Servant on the Parousia and Epiphany, but the above will suffice for now. We all know that Brother Johnson’s expectancy for the duration of the Time of Trouble – or Epiphany – did not mature; but the duration of this Epiphany has continued much longer than That Servant also expected. And some of the Lord’s people have stumbled over these miscalculations, which we believe were permitted by the Lord for the testing of His people. However, those very mistakes did energize the Lord’s people to continue with zeal to “preach the Gospel.” At the first Advent the disciples did not realize that the Kingdom was about 2,000 years in the future. Had they known, it would have discouraged many of the believers at that time.

And with some of the Lord’s faithful people today, who believe they consecrated when the High Calling was still open, they cannot give up their hope of being of the Christ company. Of those who still entertain that belief we believe they number far more than the 144,000 who will constitute that select group. But we maintain a tender sympathy for such, because of our own experience along the same line. It is probably well to recall here that none in the Truth Movement believed the High Calling was closed until Passover 1918 – almost four years after it had been an accomplished fact. Thus, considerable effort was put forth to win others to that Company – when, in fact, it was an impossibility. However, the many errors that were produced by the Society after 1916 caused us to leave them; although we feel indebted yet for the solid truths we learned before leaving them, which they were teaching at that time. And, while some of our very good friends stayed with the Society, it is our opinion now that they made their calling and election sure.

Let us reason together, saith the Lord (Isa. 1:18), if there were enough saints in at 1878, then all who came in after that time would be those who had taken the crown of those who lost their crowns after that date; and those who took those crowns who lost them were also filled by others. Isn’t it reasonable that the vacancy was filled by 1914? Isn’t it reasonable to believe that there could be no more spirit-begettals after that date? We believe that all the saints had been sealed in the forehead be­fore That Servant’s demise, although those who were begotten by 1914 did not receive the forehead sealing of Present Truth at that time – although all of them did receive the forehead sealing in time to participate in Jordan’s first smiting. (See Psalms 149:9)

The faithful Ancient Worthies would have been eligible candidates for the High Call­ing, but they lived too soon for that. The glowing words of Jesus concerning John the Baptist eloquently confirm this: “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven (the 144,0000 members of the Christ Company) is greater than he.” (Matt. 11:11) Much the same situation now prevails here in the end of the Age. We believe there are Youthful Worthies today who would have been eligible for the Christ Company; but they were born too late. They make the same consecration as did the saints – to be dead to self and the world and alive to God.

That Servant saw the truth of this condition – and so expressed it – although he did not use the name Youthful Worthies. He simply referred to them as a “class” who would be accounted worthy to share with the Ancient Worthies “in honor and service” in the Kingdom arrangement. Some of the Ancient Worthies probably suffered more than did some of the saints of this Age; and we believe we have already seen some of this same con­dition as respects the Youthful Worthies; and we may yet see more of this.

That Servant thought he might die a martyr’s death (although we are told he prayed to be delivered from such an experience); and the Epiphany Messenger was fully convinced he would be “violently seized.” However, both of them died in bed. Brother Johnson believed as he did because he expected to see at least the beginning of Anarchy. He has been dead now about 31 years, and we have not yet experienced Armageddon. This latter could begin any day now – at which time the fallen angels will be “loosed” with still more power for evil. That is sure to produce many casualties and shedding of blood. Then the prophecy of Ezek. 7:19 will apply: “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.”

However, our readers may seek solace in the prophecy of Zech. 2:3: “Seek righteous­ness, seek humility, peradventure ye shall be concealed, in the day of the anger of Yahweh.” (Rotherham) Present generosity will probably receive some consideration at that time; only the very hardened criminals will abuse those who have befriended them.

It is stated of the Ancient Worthies that “these all obtained a good report through faith.” (Heb. 11:39) Thus, any others who share “in honor and service” with them will also “obtain a good report through faith.” The eleventh Chapter of Hebrews contains a refreshing history of those Ancients; and St. Paul tells us in Heb. 12:1-3 that their examples should stimulate us to better things. God does all things for the good of all; and He knows what is best for us. “Wherefore ... let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Presently, those of us who will be of that Class have a greater knowledge of God’s Plan of Salvation than did any of those Ancients. Some of them did not even understand what they wrote (Dan. 8:27; 12:8,9) – although we now under­stand much of what they wrote.

It is our hope and prayer that we have refreshed the minds of the Lord’s people by repro­ducing some of the salient Truths given to us by the faithful Mouthpieces of God. “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” (2 Pet. 1:12)

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; Let thy mercy, 0 Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” (Psa. 33:18,22)

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace!

I appreciate your good letter of March 30, and thank you for the advanced copies of the May-June papers.....

Bro. Russell changed the 1913 Memorial date from March 20 to April 20. This is found in an announcement on the back of the front cover page of March 1, 1913 Tower (not the Reprints). Now I cannot find any place where Bro. Johnson put the Memorial date be­fore the Vernal Equinox......

Well, after extensive research – articles in Towers, Present Truths and your papers (No. 94 helpful), I finally came up with the sentence in Feb. 1933 P.T. that answers my problem...... On p. 30 of the Feb. 1933, bottom of the second column, Bro. Johnson says:

“The Jewish calendar in use during the time of the New Testament, according to Jo­sephus required Nisan 14 to come within a month after, but never before the Vernal Equi­nox. This is another way of stating the rule that the new moon nearest the Vernal Equinox determines Nisan 1).”

I realize that the date is not the important thought in the Memorial, but one likes to under­stand as well as possible – and I now see your reasons for the date.........

Do you receive the Bible Students Newsletter from a Dawn group in Centerville, Ohio? ...... If you don’t have this issue, I want to send you an article from it about Walter R. Martin, author of the book “Kingdom of the Cults.” He gave four lectures in Detroit in February. Some Dawn brethren attended and handed out tracts, etc. Martin says they will soon have computerized equipment to monitor any cult in the entire country – their whereabouts and the kind of material they circulate. We may be in for some persecution.

Guess I have said enough for now. Warm Christian love to all, ------- (KANSAS)

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Epiphany Bible Students:

May I have copies of your papers, Nos. 1,2,3,4,5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 121,130. I just finished reading #3 and want another copy to pass on. Also would like to read the others. Should I want more for distribution, what would the cost be per 100?

Sincerely, ------- (MASSACHUSETTS)

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Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and peace!

I was very glad to receive your letter of March 7 and to hear that you are feeling more like yourself again ... Don’t give me too much credit in finding Bro. G’s mistake in the Present Truth in his annual report. If I hadn’t made a list from years back to com­pare facts I would probably not have noticed it. I had to make a new sheet to place the figures on and to my surprise I found the same figures as the year before. So I re­checked and found that he did not try to fix the dates as he stated they were for 1979, while his foreign reports he stated were for 1980.

The Dawn and PBI dates have usually been a day later than ours, but this year it is the same as ours. The JW’s are celebrating as usual, a day or two after we usually do ­this year April 19. It is quite remarkable that we are celebrating on Good Friday this year.

Well, had better close for this time. Hope this finds you all much improved in health. Give my love to Brother Now when you see him.

I remain, Your brother in Him, ------- (MICHIGAN)

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Very Dear Bro. and Sr. Hoefle: Grace and peace through our Beloved Savior!

It has been a long time since writing you! However, every day I am thinking of you and praying for the Lord’s continued blessing on you and all with you.

From Sister Emily’s good letter, I know that you all are all at the Bible House mourning for the loss of your dear ones, as well as for those who are ill. These Bible parts are for you and them: Psalms 126:5-6 and 1 Cor. 12:26. Please comfort them for me.

In advance I knew that “Caesar” August Golhke – would be choosing March 18; and in advance also, I knew that you would be choosing April 17, because this date ­April 17 after six p.m. – is the one date CORRECT for Passover 1981. But August Golhke, as one of the “Caesars” of this Babylon teaching, now tells us that this teaching from our LAODICEAN MESSENGER is not the Truth! Great is the responsibility of this BAD leader.

And now my Very Dear Brother and Sister Hoefle, I am assuring you of my warm Chris­tian love and my Christian kiss for you and all with you. May our Beloved Heavenly Father continue to bless and support you and all the others at the Bible House in your Labor of Love for the Lord, His Truth, and the Brethren.

Affectionately yours in Him ------- (BELGIUM)

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Dear Brother Jochanan: Shalom!

Again, heartfelt thanks for your communication of 19 February, and for the gener­ous contri­bution to our common labor of love on behalf of what you and I know must soon happen on the global scene. It cannot fail, Ki Emanu El! And Psalms Two, yes, the Rock of Israel is watching over His Word to fulfill it. And Brother Jochanan, do we not see all the signs in the cosmos and on earth for the Day of which all the prophets spoke? There is a passage in the Bible which speaks of the judgment of nations and that “on that Day YHVH alone shall be exalted!” How blessed we should be to have been brought into this labor of which the late great Pastor Russell spoke so gloriously. We shall see to it that he be vindicated!

How true, as you note respecting those who fear for Israel. Despite their short­comings, “the promises are sure that they will never again be uprooted from the Land that God promised to Abraham as an everlasting possession.”

Glad you heard from Harry Hurwitz. Yes, I have known him for years. Before Menachem Begin selected him for his present post, he was publisher-editor of the Jewish Herald of Johannes­burgh which carried my UN column. He is a wonderful soul.

I should love to have a photo of your darling Emily and you. I will look for one of Nan and me and send it on to you at an early date. It would be wonderful if we could meet. Perhaps when you do visit your friends in New Jersey we can arrange for a meet­ing. Nan spends all summer at our Jersey cottage and I go up weekends. When you came up North, perhaps I may also have the pleasure of giving you a tour of the UN.

May you be fully recuperated from your visit to the hospital in January. YHVH grant you strength and renewed vigour.

Nan and all here join me in sending you, Emily, your brother and the Epiphany Bible Family our love and affection, and may He Who watches over His true servants ever guide us in His labor of Love.

Faithfully yours ------- (NEW YORK)

NO. 312: "THINK IT NOT STRANGE"

No. 312

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you,” is the counsel of the Apostle Peter in 1 Pet. 4:12; and in v. 16 he appeals further, “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” It is often most help­ful to the proper understanding of any text to discern its back­ground, the basis which prompted its expression; and such is definitely true in the present instance. It will be noted in v. 1, chapter 1, that the Apostle is addressing to “the strangers” of the Black Sea Provinces. The Diaglott expresses it much clearer: “Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the sojourners of the dispersion.” Who were these “sojourners of the dispersion”? Apparently, they were such Jews as had been exiled from or about Je­rusalem, or those who had left because conditions there were more or less unbearable for them. It would seem these are the same ones mentioned in John 7:35, when the Jews who were hearing Jesus, “said among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles?”

Among such dispersed ones, those who had suffered afflictions for some cause or other, there would certainly be found some who were ready listeners to the message that Jesus was indeed the Christ, their Messiah; and it would seem St. Peter had been among them, had convinced some, and was striving to “establish them in the Present Truth.” Of a certainty, those Jews had never seen Jesus personally; therefore, their acceptance of Him had been prompted by the testimonies of St. Peter or others. (1 Pet. 1:8) The prophecy (Isa. 8:14) that “He shall be for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel” was not without purpose. Those Jews who received Him gladly did so from the heart; but those Jews who rejected Him likewise hated Him from the heart – hated also their former brethren who then accepted Him. To some He was the savor of life unto life; to some the savor of death unto death; and the latter snarled the opprobrious name “Christian” at their former fellows, as they spat upon the ground in the same breath, the worst of all insults they could express toward the new converts. Thus, St. Peter was telling such who had become His disciples that if they suffered under the offensive name “Christian” to be not ashamed, but to “Glorify God in this name.”

The expression “fiery trial” in our text is from the Greek purosis, meaning literal­ly “a burning,” being the same word found also in Rev. 18:9 and 18:18 (the word occurs but three times in the Bible), where the “burning” of that Great City which is called spiritually, Sodom, is described. This may be regarded as a fitting sarcasm in contrast that the same word should be used to describe the “sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord” which comes from the “burning” – the sharp and faith-developing trials of the true Christians on the one hand, and the “burning” – the utter destruction of the “vine of the earth” on the other hand. And all of this is emphasized further by St. Peter in v. 17 of chapter 4: “Because the season is coming for the judgment to begin from the house of God; and if it begin first from us, what the end of those who are disobedient to the glad tidings?”

Today the name Christian is often spoken with respect, even by many Jews in the more enlightened countries; the name itself is no longer “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” Now Christians in name only must find other insulting terms for “Chris­tians indeed” (“Israelites indeed” – John 1:47) To many who received “Present Truth” under That Servant, to be a “Russelite” was the most insulting term to apply to those “Christians indeed.” To some, who believed Brother Johnson and his ardent adherents were in the second death, the epithet “Johnson-ite” would bear similar meaning to their fellows as did the name “Christian” in Apostolic times. Thus, we might substitute the words, “If any man suffer as a Johnson-ite, let him not be ashamed” – that is, if he suf­fers such epithets as a faithful footstep follower of Jesus Christ. Let us keep in mind that if we “suffer as a Christian,” because of the Truth, we need never be ashamed – whether it be labeled Russellism, Hoefleism, or whatever opprobrium erstwhile brethren may use in contempt – the same as did the Jewish brethren of Jesus in contemptuous use of the name “Christian.” “As He was in this world, so are we.”

“THAT OLD SERPENT THE DEVIL”

All of the “burning” – fiery trials – of God’s people under the reign of evil have been instigated by “the God of this world,” the evil one; and this has been markedly true of the difficulties of all new creatures during this Gospel Age. This is appar­ent at the very outset of the Age, when “the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession, Christ Jesus” was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.” (Matt. 4:1) The word here translated “Devil” is from the Greek ‘diabolos,’ and is a specific name for the individual Satan – the Devil. It is the same word as found in Rev. 20:2: “He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Sa­tan.”

We believe the words dragon, serpent, Devil and Satan portray the four unholy at­tributes of Azazel – the personification of evil in completeness – just as Power, Wis­dom, Justice and Love describe the four character attributes of Jehovah – the personi­fication of Goodness and true Holiness in perfection. As the “dragon,” the Evil One, has attempted to devour the Gospel-Age saints by the unholy use of power, just as he through Pagan Rome actually did “devour the child”—Rev. 12:4. Honest opponents are de­voured and crushed by the unholy use of power, just as that great apostate “woman Jez­ebel” used unholy power to become “drunken with the blood of the saints”—Rev. 17:6. But in all of this seeming victory, God’s holy use of power has preserved the fully faithful, has “laid up for them a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will give them in that day ... to all those who love His appearing.” As the “ser­pent,” the evil one has been the deceiver, the beguiling tempter, of the Age in a per­verted use of wisdom – Azazel means perverter. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any living thing”—Gen. 3:1, Rotherham; and “The woman was deceived”—l Tim. 2:14. But the “pure wisdom which is from above” has kept the fully faithful during the Age from being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

As the “devil,” the Evil One has been the false accuser, the calumniator (so the Greek) of God’s people, especially so in the Parousia-Epiphany in the persons of anti­typical Jannes and Jambres, the slanderous false-accusing sifters described by St. Paul in 2 Tim. 3:1-9. And slander, lying, false statements, misrepresentations, bad conscience manifested toward the fully faithful, are they not all an abuse of justice, i.e., “in”-justice? But here again, the “Justice that is laid to the line” has spoken – or will eventually speak – in vindication of all those “whose righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.” Then, finally as “Satan,” the Evil One is the adversary, or opposer of God’s fully faithful people – often using the measurably faithful to oppose the fully faithful – the “buckwheat” class meddling in the affairs of the wheat class, attempting to usurp their office powers. They frequently use the Truth given by God through His faithful mouthpieces to their own advantage, often palming it off as their own – all motivated through a lack of love – those persons “who received not the Truth in the love of it,” and who have been given an “energy of delusion” in return. “Thou hast given them blood (error) to drink”! (Rev. 16:6) But the true love, coming from the One “altogether lovely” provokes to good works (Heb. 10:24) – just as the lack of it opposes such good works, and attempts to promote evil works. Thus, there is clearly depicted the “High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose Name is Holy,” as contrasted with the Evil One who will be “bound a thousand years, cast into the bottomless pit, that he should deceive the nations no more” – and eventually annihilated.

THE PATTERN OF TEMPTATIONS WELL DEFINED

If we “consider Him,” it becomes clear enough that Jesus had His most severe trials at the very outset, and then at the end of His walk on the “narrow way.” After His anointing “with the spirit without measure” at Jordan, He was possessed of a consuming zeal, which so engrossed Him He did not even stop to eat for forty days. It would seem reasonable to believe that, knowing the great import of His mission on earth, and that “the King’s business required haste,” He memorized the entire Old Testament in those forty days, as well as to “rightly divide the word of Truth” on the various Tabernacle types, etc., of which He Himself would be the central figure in the antitype. Accord­ing to His own words a little later, He had instructed those who have followed Him dur­ing the Age that every Tabernacle type had to continue until its antitype appeared ­“Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matt. 5:18; Luke 16:17) Then, at the extreme end of His earth­ly ministry came the most severe trial of all – Gethsemane and the Cross; and this pat­tern is also clearly marked in the experiences of the Apostles – much persecution immedi­ately after Pentecost, with greater climax toward the end of their lives. James was killed with the sword (Acts 12:2), Peter crucified head downward, John thrown into a vat of boiling oil, Paul having his head chopped off, etc. – with all of them having their most severe testings at the beginning and at the end of their narrow-way experiences.

And Satan, master of psychology makes his boldest and strongest attempts when his intended victims are weakest. This he did in the case of Jesus, when He was weakened from His fast and arduous concentration at the end of the forty days. And this he did by evidencing real concern for His physical welfare. “You are hungry and weak,” he had implied, “but You have received the Holy Spirit without measure; you have power to pro­vide your every need; command that these stones be made bread.” This would not only try out the new power He had received, but would provide His temporal necessities at the same time. It might even decide Satan to repent and be converted, to join hands with Him in the work He was about to undertake.

Inasmuch as “He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,” we may be certain His followers all during the Age would be similarly tried – tempted to use the power of the Truth to their own present advantage; yet accomplish just as readily the work given them to do. Numerous are the examples along this line: Balaam, who suc­cumbed to the temptation (Num. 22); St. Peter “offered money” for the power he had, but emphatically responding that “the gift of God is not to be purchased with money” (Acts 8:18-20); the Gospel-Age builders of Great Babylon becoming “rich., and increased of goods, and in need of nothing,” as they foolishly determined to bring to earth the King­dom of God before “due time” – “my Lord delayeth.” “Money is power,” says Solomon; but it does not bring the power that maketh wise unto salvation; yet it has deceived many into believing they could be the “rich man” in this world, and “Lazarus” in the next. Just a cursory look at our Lord’s course should convince then of their fallacious reason­ing.

TEMPTATION TO USE UNLAWFUL METHODS

At Jesus’ prompt rejection of Satan’s first bit of sophistry, he took up a second mode of attack: “If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down” from the pinnacle of the temple. (Matt. 4:6) This task of redeeming, uplifting mankind from the mire of sin, from relieving the poverty and human frailty, so apparent on every hand, just could not be done without some sensational methods; and this has been the thinking of the minds of worldly men throughout the Age. One outstanding weakness of the “great multitude” all during the Age has been this very mistake; thus, they become “doubleminded” – a mind to serve the Lord while using Satan’s methods. They would do great works, win great num­bers, gain great favor with their fellows, yet bask in the smile of Heaven at the same time – a combination never parried by the fully faithful, but readily grasped by those be­fuddled by Azazel, attempting to juggle the “pearl of great price” with one hand, as they juggle “the pleasures of sin for a season” with the other hand. “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare” (1 Tim. 3:6) “The Kingdom of Heaven cometh not with outward show,” said Jesus, and He set us the example of being “meek and lowly of heart.” There can be no argument with the statement, “The entrance of thy word giveth light,” and the great “quickening” that comes upon entrance of the Truth into the human mind has caused the large majority to “think more highly of themselves than they ought to think.” But the jester spoke a great truth when he declared, “Oh, if you would only know how much you have to know that you don’t know nuthin.”

It is a common fallacy of professional men – doctors, lawyers, preachers, techni­cians – to consider others stupid because the general knowledge of their particular vo­cation is so limited in the general mind. This is a mistake, of course, because many uneducated people could have made excellent doctors, lawyers, etc., had they been given the opportunity. It is a sage observation that the big difference between the profes­sors and the students is that the professors read the books first. Therefore, it is sound counsel to all, and especially to the leaders in the church, to consider St. Paul’s words: “Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not re­ceived it?” (1 Cor. 4:7)

TEMPTATION TO COMPROMISE

With Jesus’ positive rejection of Satan’s suggestion, there came immediately the third temptation – the temptation of Combinationism, which has overcome vast multitudes throughout the Age, and especially so here in the end of the Age. Satan would have Jesus to join with Him to accomplish His mission. Could not the two of them do it better than one of them alone? Would not two heads be better than one? Satan made it clear, of course, that he himself would be chief of the two heads: “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” This temptation of Combinationism to God’s people has been among the most alluring all during the Age – not stated in ex­actly the same words, of course, but with the same underlying principle. “Money is power,” says Solomon; and this influence is stronger today than at any time in history, because there is so much more of it in the hands of so many more people of differing ideals and desires. The person today who contributes, say, $10,000 per year to his particular church, will not be lightly considered when he states his wishes to the preacher. One great source of strength with the last two Principal Men was their de­cision, SEATS FREE – NO COLLECTIONS. Since they asked no one for money, they could afford to tell them the truth; there was no need to compromise. This revives the story of an Admiral from the American Navy: Deciding to go to church one Sunday morn­ing as he returned from the sea, he walked to a pew near the front, occupied by one lone old man. As he joined the party, he was given reproachful glances, which, how­ever, he ignored. The old man, not to be thus disregarded, took one of his personal cards from his pocket, wrote on it, “I paid $1,000 for this seat.” The Admiral turned the card to the other side, handed it back to its owner with the answer, “You paid too much.” And certainly Jesus would have “paid too much” had He succumbed to the tricky deceit of Satan.

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION

It is a sound observation that truth is stranger than fiction; and this is illus­trated all about us today. Who wishes to hear the Truth? Even some among former brethren – those who once claimed to love the Truth more than life itself – there is very little of the “hearing ear” any more. And this situation is very evident in Churchianity everywhere; they are willing to listen to and receive almost any kind of hokus-pokus just so long as it isn’t the Truth. Thus, to the vast majority, the Truth is indeed a “stranger,” which emphasizes the truth of Jesus’ inquiry: “When the Son of Man cometh, will He find the faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) And the Berean Comment is most fitting: “The question implies that at that time the true faith (the Truth) would be almost extinct.” (Luke 18:8 – Berean Comment) But for those who do have the faith – the Present Truth – there is the comforting assurance of Psa. 89:15: “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound (that have an ear for the Truth); they walk, 0 Lord, in the light of thy countenance.” Such have meat to eat that others know not of; to such the Aaronic blessing is sure: “The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” – the peace of God, which passeth understanding.

All of the three temptations of Jesus, which He met and rejected without wavering, have come in principle to all of His followers during the Age, added to which they have also been tempted to sin. It is well to bear in mind that temptation is an appealing suggestion. Without appeal, there can be no temptation. Thus, the statement, “God can­not be tempted of evil” – evil is distasteful to every pore of His Being; just the re­verse of Satan, whose characterization of The Evil One is indicative of the full corrup­tion of evil that pervades every pore of his being. Nor is it any sin to be tempted; sin enters only when we are “overcame of evil.” Therefore, “be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” In all of their temptations, the fully faithful eventuate as “more than conquerors” – they gain the “crown of righteousness” which wins for them a throne. “He that overcometh shall sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne,” is the sure promise of the fully faithful new creatures.

But the Scriptures are very clear that the new creatures who are measurably faith­ful – a “great multitude” – are not such overcomers; they will never gain a throne. At best, they will serve “before the throne” – the throne being the heritage of their fully faithful brethren. After they have “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” it will also be their privilege to become a kind of police force in the spir­itual realm. And we believe it is sound and just observation that every one of the Great Multitude leaders today has failed in at least two, and probably in all three, of those temptations which came especially upon Jesus – selfishness, error, worldliness ­with the additional charge against some of them that they also fall under the fourth temptation, Sin. As the Epiphany Messenger has taught, Sectarianism is a great sin. During the Gospel Age Great Company leaders have built the sects in Big Babylon, and have perverted the Star Members’ teachings they embraced for their sects. The Great Company is one of the elect classes, but as a class they are not counted as overcomers of sectarianism and clericalism, even though they all must overcome their sins of teaching and practice as individuals if they receive the “palms” of victory. (Rev. 7:9) Thus, we offer St. Paul’s counsel: “Exhort each other every day, while it is called Today, so that no one among you may be hardened by a delusion of sin.” (Heb. 3:13, Dia.)

Another class of faithful overcomers are those who consecrate between the Ages, after the “door is shut” to the High Calling and before the full opening of the Millen­nium – that is, before the New Covenant is inaugurated, and opportunity to consecrate for restitution purposes is available. That Servant taught there would be such class in the end of the Age when no more crowns would be available – a class that would be similar to the Ancient Worthies, and would receive a “better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35) and be rewarded in partnership with the Ancient Worthies. He also saw in later years that they would be rewarded with spirit nature at the end of the Kingdom reign. The following respecting “Those Consecrating Between The Ages” is from That Servant’s writ­ings in the September 1, 1915 Watch Tower, Reprint 5761:

“It is our thought that with the closing of the ‘door’ of this Gospel Age there will be no more begetting of the Holy Spirit to the spirit nature. Any afterward com­ing to God through consecration, before the inauguration of the restitution work, will be accepted by Him, not to the spirit plane of being, but to the earthly plane. Such would come in under the same conditions as the Ancient Worthies who were accepted of God. The Ancient Worthies came in, no call being opened to them – the High Calling not being yet open. But they freely gave themselves up to God without knowing what blessings their consecration would bring, except that they had the intimation that they would, in the future life, have a ‘better resurrection’ than would the remainder of the world.

“Our thought is that whoever under such conditions as these (during the time when sin and evil are in the ascendancy, such as in this our day—JJH), will make a full con­secration to the Lord, to leave all to follow in His ways, and will live up faithfully, loyally, to that consecration, may be privileged to be counted as a similar class to those who preceded this Gospel Age. We know of no reason why the Lord would refuse to receive those who make a consecration after the close of the Gospel Age High Call­ing and before the full opening of the Millennial.”

And it is reasonable to expect a God of Love, Justice, Wisdom and Power to reward such consecrators above restitutionists – those who are faithful and obedient and walk a narrow way when sin and evil are in the ascendancy. The Epiphany Messenger accepted That Servant’s teaching, and was privileged to bring out additional light and much con­vincing Scriptural support for such a class; and we also “continue in what we have learned and been assured of,” and heartily believe that such consecrators between the Ages after the “door is shut” and before opportunity for consecration for the non-elect will, if faithful, be rewarded with the Ancient Worthies with a “better resurrection” and become “princes in all the earth.”

Like the Ancient Worthies, the Youthful Worthies are on trial for faith and obedi­ence, and not for life, but they will be tested and proved worthy if they achieve their goal – the visible rulers of the Kingdom, under the invisible Kings and Priests of God. (Rev. 20:6) “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:24-26)

J. F. Rutherford taught in harmony with That Servant at the outset of his career, but later reversed himself. He later produced a class of his own imagination, calling them Jonadabs, which later became the “great multitude.” RGJ also continued in the Truth on Youthful Worthies in the beginning of his career, but has now replaced such consecrators with a non-existent class of his own imagination, a class he calls conse­crated Epiphany Campers. Both of these groups are now enmeshed in a “quagmire of er­ror” because they have “rebelled against the words of God” (Psa. 107:11) – revolution­ized against the Truth they once received and taught.

We believe that all the Lord’s people would be greatly benefited if they would take heed to That Servant’s admonitions and warning in the Feb. 15, 1912 Watch Tower, Reprint 4970:

“The Lord’s followers are to note how these same temptations are the very ones by which the adversary assails them: (1) He would be their friend and helper and would thereby induce them to violate their covenant of sacrifice by requests for physical healing, physical blessings, which they have agreed to sacrifice. (2) He would suggest to them some wild, foolish way of capturing the world for God by some great exploits or prayer tests. (3) He would have them compromise with the world and its spirit and its methods of church federation and otherwise. We are to resist the adversary courageous­ly that he may leave us permanently, seeing no hope of winning us.”

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” (Eph. 6:13,14,24)

Sincerely your brother,

John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

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QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST

QUESTION: – Who is represented by the man with the writer’s inkhorn of Ez. 9:2?

ANSWER: – Quite a few of our brethren believe that That Servant is the only one that is represented in this text; and Volume VII, the Finished Mystery, teaches that Brother Russell is the only one represented in the man with the writer’s inkhorn. We believe that he is the most important part of the man with the writer’s inkhorn; but we also believe that others are included therein – and the following states our reasons for so believing:

(1) If the “six slaughter-weapon men” represent six classes, it is only logical that the “inkhorn man” represents a class also; (2) “That Servant” alone did not put the ink on the foreheads of all that “sighed and cried in the city,” nor did he put all of it on some foreheads; e.g., some who could not read got the Truth from others, and not from him. This is also true of some of the blind. So, too, many were too preju­diced to read until orally they had been taught much of the Truth by others than “That Servant”; while others who did read his writings did not understand many things in them without help of other brethren. Thus the facts prove that he did not, by the writ­ten, printed or spoken word, put the ink on all that sighed and cried in the city. Hence he alone does not seem to be symbolized by the inkhorn man. Although he furnished us with the horn, the Truth literature, and put the ink, the Truth into it, and put it upon in­comparably more foreheads than any one else, yet he did not put it on all foreheads, nor all of it on some foreheads, where it was put. In this, all the faithful brethren under Brother Russell cooperated with him; hence, the symbol includes others than himself.

Doubtless the writer referred to in the expression, “a writer’s inkhorn,” is “That Servant,” for he furnished us with the inkhorn, i.e., he wrote for us the Truth litera­ture, and put into it the ink, the Truth. (3) The seal of God (Rev. 7:2,3) represents the same thing as the ink. The angel here is a multitudinous one – “until we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.” This angel represents God’s people in their capacity of ministering the Truth to their brethren who did not yet have it; there­fore, for the end of the Age, this angel represents the reapers, and not Jesus alone, as Volume VII teaches; and for the end of the Age symbolizes the same thing as the man with the writer’s inkhorn, who, therefore, represents all of God’s people in the reaping time in their capacity of teaching their brethren the Truth.

The above is our understanding, but we allow others to have their own opinion of it. It is another matter when some believe that “That Servant” is not individually meant in Matt. 24:45-47, because That Servant had charge of the Household and minis­tered to others of the Household. Our Lord pointed him out individually. So we do op­pose those who think That Servant is a class, because the Scriptures and logic tell us they are in error.

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brother Hoefle: – Grace and Peace!

Many thanks for the circulars that we receive so regularly, and which we enjoy very much. The January and February issues are now to hand – and we would like to express our sympathy to you and all at the Bible House in your sad loss of Sister Dunnagan, one of your valued helpers. How providential for you to have Brother Vrooman officiate at the funeral, as a true friend in need.

It has been a long time since I wrote to you when I mentioned H. W. Roberts’ name. We have now received the Winter UN Bulletin and notice another quote from him, as well as your own. Also, his address in Hyde would seem to confirm this is the LHMM brother that we met so many years ago. How time does pass by so quickly! And how true we are living in wonderful times, whether 1984 fulfills something or not. Our King is marching on, and we can have no doubt as to the outcome of the present distress of nations.

We trust your health continues reasonably good, and that Sister Hoefle keeps well ­also your co-laborers. We have had quite a reasonable winter up to now, although Betty’s angina has been playing up rather more than usual, which has kept us more confined to the house than usual. However, we do manage to see Brother Cyril in Darlington most weeks, and he was able to spend Christmas with us here, which we all enjoyed. We have had no other news of Brother Dixon, other than your brief statement that he is now in Ireland.

Please accept the enclosed for you to use as you see the need. Brother Cyril joins with us to send you our Christian love and prayers for your health sufficient to enable you to continue to minister to all with the hearing ear and receptive heart the words of Truth. God bless you and yours!

Sincerely ------- (ENGLAND)

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Dear Sir:

Some time ago I received Article No. 303 titled “The Law of Moses – Part One.” It was a most interesting article, I must say. I never did receive Part Two, and I would like to know if you could possibly send it to me? I assume it would be No. 304. Thank you very much!

Sincerely in Christ ------- (VIRGINIA)

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Dear Brother:

Please send volumes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Epiphany Studies. Enclosed is $5.50. Do you have any materials by Brother Johnson exposing Rutherfordism other than Vol. 6?

Can’t wait for your next newsletter!

Sincerely ------- (PENNSYLVANIA)

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Dear Brother Hoefle: Grace and Peace!

I thought I would write you a few lines to let you know that I sure appreciated your calling me, and it did seem good to hear your voices.

I was quite surprised when I read the January-February PT that Brother Gohlke published in the Annual Report the same figures he did a year ago. For several years I have set down the figures of the receipts and expenditures, PT and BS subscriptions and Book Fund and comparing them more or less. I had to put the last figures on another sheet of paper, and I was surprised when I found they were the same as last year. How­ever, he stated they were the year before, but the French, Polish and Danish were cur­rent figures. What made me mad was that he insulted you in his article on the Epiphany Campers – that you should be straightened out. I think it applies to him.. Did you notice this in his Annual Report? Some one should write him and ask him about the cur­rent figures.

I think that the trouble on the Memorial began in Epiphany circles in 1951 when Brother Jolly had Brother Krewson determine the Memorial date. Krewson then answered Brother Roy Schnee in the PT. Brother Schnee put out a circular in which he proved from Brother Russell’s Watch Towers that he never celebrated the Memorial before the Spring Equinox. I don’t have a copy now. I think I gave it to Brother ------- years ago – and he may have it yet.

We had some warm weather here last week and the snow is all gone. But it is a lot colder this week. Sure hope all is well down there. Give our love to all the brethren there.

Your brother in Him ------- (MICHIGAN)

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Dearly Loved Ones: Loving greetings in our precious Savior’s Name!

You are in our thoughts often and in our prayers. What a privilege to observe the stately steppings of our God! We have been reading Brother Russell’s and Eaton’s debates. What a Wise Servant he was! How beautiful the Truth in contrast with the doctrines of Devils of the Dark Ages.

We enjoyed “Retrospect and Prospect” – also 70 Years Desolation. Hymn 171 is a joy to sing.

 With warm Christian love Always ------- (MASSACHUSETTS)