NO. 385A: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT (PART ONE)

No. 385A

At the beginning of another year, we thank the Lord for all His benefits toward us, and again express our gratitude in the words of David: “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” (Psa. 65:11) It grieves us that there were so many people during the past year who suffered tragedies from calamities, accidents and diseases. But all these things will be changed in His “due time.” When our Lord says, “Peace be still” (Mark 4:39), there will be a great calm. He will adjust all iniquities and will bring “Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10) ‑ to all who will learn to love righteousness and hate iniquity. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend [stumble] them.” (Psa. 119:165)

Crime is rampant not only in the United States but in all countries: terrorism, robbery, murder, the illegal drugs and alcohol problems. Young people are committing suicide, as well as older people. Their problems are more than they can cope with. There are many good people doing a commendable work for such people and helping the poor and needy ‑ also there are quite a few good organizations reaching out to help people.

Medical science continues to do a noble work in research to find a cure for AIDS and ALZHEIMER, and other incurable diseases. In performing AIDS research, a technician was infected himself in his efforts to help others. Secretary Otis Bowen said, “At least 1.5 million Americans are infected with the AIDS virus but display no symptoms of the disease. More than 40,000 people in the United States have contracted the disease, which killed 28,000 of them. By 1991 the disease will have struck 280,000 people in the United States, and 179,000 of those will have died.” (Orlando Sentinel, October 10, 1987)

“A Rip Van Winkle Waking Today Would Find Few Changes For The Better: Just as a vehicle for putting things into perspective, let’s imagine that the Rip van Winkle story really could happen and that old Rip is just awakening from a 20‑year nap ...

“Rip might be interested to learn that folks are still threatening each other with war and that the major nations of the world have gained enough military might to blow up the Earth several times without having made one inch of progress in relieving the tensions among themselves. And he would find that there is still no danger that peace will break out and throw the world’s military‑industrial economy into chaos. With terrorism on the increase, Rip would find virtually no nation on Earth threatening to wage peace.

“While the past 20 years have brought a few significant inventions, such as smaller computer chips and bigger computers, Rip probably would take more notice of sociological and philosophical changes than industrial advances. ...

“Rip probably would observe that medical science has not found magical cures for diseases like cancer and arthritis during his absence, even though hospital bills and insurance costs might lead him to believe otherwise. And he would learn that the prospects for remedies are mixed: New diseases have appeared, so researchers now have even more problems to solve.

“In some ways Rip might be pleased with what he would learn on awakening. In other ways, he might be led to believe that he died and had gone the wrong way.” (Dick Marlowe, Orlando Sentinel, May 27, 1987)

IN FINANCE

We are in the Time of Trouble as given in Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21. Conditions in the whole world today confirm this. Especially since “Black Monday,” October 19, financial writers are very pessimistic regarding the near future and the long‑range prospects. Many are using the terms such as recession, depression, disaster, chaos and even anarchy.

One newsletter writer states: “Black Monday left Wall Street and Main Street in a state of shock. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. In ferocity it far exceeded any of the three major crash days of 1929 (i.e., October 28 down 12.8%, October 29 down 11.7% and November 6 down 9.9%).”

Writing on this bear market, this same writer continues: “The reason bear markets are deflationary is that during bear markets billions of dollars of assets are lost they disappear into thin air. Already over a trillion dollars in values have been lost in the U.S. markets VIA stocks, bonds, futures, options, mistaken speculative overseas stock exchanges. The U.S. authorities are aware that this nation is so loaded with debt that they see that a recession or depression in the face of the debt‑logged U. S. would be a disaster.”

The U.S. is not alone with these problems. Losses in many foreign markets were severe. The Mexican stock average lost 58% of its value, Australian stock lost 44% from their peak, London was down 33%, Hong Kong 44%, Singapore 48%, Tokyo only 17%.

Another writer states: “Black Monday, October 19 was the largest one‑day percentage decline in the recorded history of the stock market. That is now common knowledge. What has not been recorded is that the day witnessed the most negative daily advance decline ratio in the recorded history of the U.S. stock market. For every stock up that day 38 were down – a 1;4 ratio is normally considered a rout. Black Monday was ten times as bad.”

This same writer states that, “The present condition is only the first phase of the trouble which will proceed to a second phase of deteriorating business conditions and then proceed to a third phase which will witness the final collapse.”

Excerpts from three financial writers follow: (1) “The Great American Stock Market Bubble of the 1970’s has burst, and there is no way to put it back together.” (2) “The U.S. banking system, by most sensible accounting standards, is for the most part broke. This is due mainly to the tremendous loans made to third world countries which will never be paid back.” (3) “At the IMF meeting, no one had any meaningful answers, because there are none ‑ except bankruptcy.”

Such statements make many gloomy, but as Bible Students we know God has a set time for this Time of Trouble; and the Old Order may yet be able to survive longer than any one is able to estimate. However, we know that this Trouble will include War, Revolution, Anarchy and Jacob’s last trouble. Jacob’s last trouble will precede the establishment of Christ’s Mediatorial reign. When Jacob (the Jews in Jerusalem) call upon the Lord in their trouble, “He saveth them out of their distresses.” (See Psa. 107:17‑21)

God has a set time for the duration of this Time of Trouble. We are to wait and be guided by the “signs of the time” for each phase of these troubles. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen shine heart.” (Psa. 27:14) “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)

Many financial advisers are recommending to sell stocks, bonds, and securities, and invest in gold, indicating their fear of the future. “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven [the present ruling powers ‑ ecclesiastical and civil] shall be shaken.” (Luke 21:26) “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day           of the wrath of the Lord.” Ezek. 7:19) (Contributed)

“Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3)

“Crash’s Full Impact Will Hit Much Later: Monday began like any other working day ‑ a cup of coffee to my left, a stack of mail to my right. The first envelope proved something of an omen.

“Dow Theory Forecasts, a market letter that polls the nation’s 30 ‘leading advisers,’ revealed that 50 percent of the select group were advising investors to buy common stocks. Twenty‑five percent were advising clients to sell, and 25 percent were advising clients to hold. The first sentence under the digest of opinions said, ‘Despite a volatile market, many advisers remain decidedly bullish.’ It was dated Oct. 19, 1987.

“On Tuesday, Oct. 20, headlines said in the boldface type reserved for world wars and other disasters, ‘DOW DIVED 508.’ Included in the reasoning of experts was one line that is commonly heard but always perplexing: ‘The fact that so many people are worrying about the market is one of the best indicators that life remains in the market.’...

“The stock market had its worst day in history, and only one expert in four saw it coming. One adviser was right on the mark with the comment, ‘The correction is all too real and will be with us a lot longer this year.’

“Lest we be made overconfident by the huge rebound of the market on Tuesday, it might be wise to review history. Alan McConnell, a stock market technical analyst who is president of A‑Mac & Associates, puts it this way: ‘History teaches us that the initial decline is very seldom the final blow. A lower low after a bounce usually takes place some weeks or months later ‑ on consistently less volume.’ ...

“A lot of people have a misconception about the stock market crash of 1929. ... The economy bounced right along for some time following the crash. The soup lines did not form, the Apple Annies did not appear on street corners of the nation’s large cities, and the nation’s depression did not reach disastrous proportions until late 1932. Unemployment, at 3 million in October 1929, reach 10.5 million in March 1933. ...

“The similarity between 1929 and 1987 is well pointed up by a familiar jingle expressing the opinion of common folks in 1930s, that the nation got into the mess it was in by the combination of bad politics, bad banking and a lunatic fringe eager to get in on overnight profits in the stock market.

“It went like this:

‘Hoover blew the whistle

Mellon rung the bell

Wall Street caught the signal

And the country went to hell.’

 “You can still make it work if you insert the words Reagan (Congress if you prefer) and Chemical or Citicorp in the proper places.

 “Not all experts have been wrong. Several warning blasts have been given by people whose opinions should have been respected, among them economist John Galbraith and 1986 Nobel Prize winner James M. Buchanan. Both have sounded alarms that something is wrong with the economy.

“Most timely of the warnings came this month in The Atlantic Monthly in an article titled ‘The Morning After.’ Peter G. Peterson, former U.S. secretary of Commerce, wrote, ‘America is about to wake up to a painful new economic reality, following the biggest binge of borrowing and spending in the history of the nation.’

“Monday ended on a discouraging note. Someone I know had a call at 4 p.m. from someone wanting to sell him an investment. ‘You try to sell me stock on the day when the market is off 500 points!

“‘Geez,’ the caller said. ‘No kidding?”‘ (Dick Marlowe – The Orlando Sentinel, October 25, 1987)

Other Predictions – In our January‑February 1987 article, we stated that the economy in this country and in the world is steadily declining. The United States’ trade deficit has gone from disastrous to catastrophic.

October 19, 1987 will long be remembered as “Black Monday” because the Dow had a 36% drop in one day. In the month of October the Dow dropped from a high of 2722 to a low of 1763. Stock prices fell because they were too high. This was because institutions and individuals had so much cash on hand they didn’t know how to invest it.

Looking back on that day, there was one trillion dollars worth of stock market profits erased in one “whack.” People say these losses were only on paper, but this does not hold up as we continue to have bank failures. This means people are not paying their debts. Building and Loans have been having problems for the past two years. This is due to higher interest rates than people can afford.

It didn’t come out until the first of December that on Tuesday, October 20, the stock market – by extension all the world’s financial markets – faced one of the greatest crises. Stock options and future trading all but stopped during a crucial interval. Many major blue chip stocks, such as IBM, couldn’t be traded. Large and small investors couldn’t sell their stock as there were no buyers.

The Dow Jones average was meaningless because there was no trading. Many investment banking firms urged the New York Stock Exchange to close, and only the intervention of the Federal Reserve and the announcement of corporate stock buy‑back programs saved the market from a total melt down. The story of that Tuesday disclosed major weaknesses in the United States’ financial system and raises the specter that such a crises could arise again. The full details on what happened that fateful week are the subject of major inquiries by a Presidential Commission and a Congressional Committee.

Economists are predicting that during 1988 the inflation rate will be about the same as this year ‑ a shade over 5%. The weaker dollar will make imports more expensive (cars, electronics, etc.). A Presidential election year makes political unrest on both sides. Precious metals should hold their own. The consumer price index from December 1986 to December 1987 should be around 4.7% (est.). In 1988 it should be approximately 5.0%, which will be the highest since 1981 when it was 8.9%.

Economists are also predicting 1988 will be a “roller coaster” when it comes to finances. The stock market will edge up the beginning of the year, and then it could drop again during the balance of the year. They do not expect a high rise as it was before October 19.

IN RELIGION

“Old Fight Over Bible Takes On New Intensity: For millions of Christians, a literal belief in the Bible – with all the miracles, bloody battles, inspiring teachings and hymns of praise – is their main defense of God and Jesus, the man they believe was God’s son. ...

“Disagreement over the concept has: Nearly torn apart the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the 14.6‑million member Southern Baptist Convention.

“Sparked an investigation of three professors at the Christian Reformed Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“Barred women from the ministry in many churches. Left more than 3 million Lutherans outside the new Lutheran church being formed this year.

“Caused pain and confusion in other denominations. ‘That’s a very bitter debate, and it goes to the very heart of Christianity,’ said the Rev. Truman Dollar, pastor of the 8,000‑member Temple Baptist Church in Redland Township, Michigan. ...

“Rev. R. L. Hymers says, ‘The liberal theological professor, the prostitute, the drug addict, and the murderer – all agree on one thing” – that the Bible is not the Word of God.’ ...

“The Gallop Organization reports about one‑third of all Americans believe the Bible is the literal ‘Word of God,’ but it is dramatically lower since 1963, when two‑thirds of Americans surveyed described it as literal.

“‘The proportion of Americans who have some college education has just about doubled since mid‑1960s and this kind of change is related to that,’ said Jim Castelli, co‑author of a syndicated newspaper column for Gallup...

“Many other Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church, have felt the heat of this battle of the Bible. ...

“‘The increased interest in Bible study has made inerrancy a burning issue for Catholics,’ Rev. Harry Benjamin said.” (Orlando Sentinel, September 12, 1987

Many Christians take symbols, parables and types literally, but they are not literal statements. There are many texts in the Bible that are literal, however. Our Bibles are only the translation of God’s inspired Word – the real Bible. We believe that most of our translators were sincere in their efforts. But all of them were prejudiced because of their belief as to how it should be translated.

The Emphasized translation by Dr. Rotherham, is one of the best. The King James version is one of the most beautiful, although it contains many mistakes. Most all of the translations contain some of God’s inspired Word – enough that we will find God has a Plan of Salvation for all mankind. In Eph. 3:11 the Diaglott translation gives “Plan,” but the King James translation gives “Purpose” in this text.

When a text does not harmonize with God’s character of WISDOM, LOVE, JUSTICE AND POWER, it is either misinterpreted, or spurious. The mistakes are not inspired. Only God’s Word is inspired. There are seven axioms we should follow: (1) A doctrine must harmonize with itself; (2) With all Truth; (3) With all Scriptural doctrine; (4) With God’s character; (5) With the Ransom; (6) With facts; (7) With the purposes of God. There is much confusion on the interpretation of the Bible. God is not the Author of confusion – man is. He is a God of Truth and harmony. We are thankful for these texts: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:3‑6) These texts are literal. God is faithful that promised. (Heb. 10:23)

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Upon calling at a house recently, a JW told the lady of the house that the Witnesses no longer objected to the reading of the Studies in the Scriptures by Pastor Russell – that, in fact, they were republishing the Studies in the Scriptures. Whether her information is true or not, there is some implication in their Watchtower that they are continuing the work started by Pastor Russell in 1885: “In 1892 missionary work in foreign countries was considered. Today, the Bible Students (?) – well known as Jehovah’s Witnesses – preach ‘this good news of the kingdom’ in 208 countries and territories and in some 200 languages – Matthew 14:14).” (Watchtower September 15, 1987, page 29)

Pastor Russell taught “Glad Tidings of Great Joy” to all people, whether they joined his organization or not. The Witnesses teach “Bad Tidings of Great Misery” to all who do not join their organization before Armageddon. The majority of people will not join them. The Witnesses claim that they are “God’s organization on earth.” Pastor Russell made no such claim for his organization. He simply used the Watch Tower, and other literature, to teach what he believed to be the Truth. Evidently, the Witnesses have cast Jesus’ Words aside – that there would be a resurrection of the good and evil. (John 5:29) Also they have cast aside Acts 24:15: “There shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust.”

As they continue with their gross errors, they are attempting to “pains their faces” as did Jezebel. (2 Kings 9:30) The Pope, too, is attempting to “paint his face.” Jezebel is a type of the Catholic Church, as well as the Jehovah’s Witnesses – the prototype of the Roman Catholic Church. Antitypical Jezebel will be destroyed from within, and we see this happening in both these “systems of error.”

The JWs advertise their purity by telling us they have disfellowshiped 37,426 of their former brethren – mostly because of “sexual immorality.” Whether they disfellowshiped all these people, or whether they left of their own accord is debatable. Some may have been disfellowshiped because they questioned some of the claims of the Witnesses. (See Watchtower, September 15, 1987, page 13)

When any one was disfellowshiped during Pastor Russell’s day, it was mainly done by the various classes, who were the mistresses in matters pertaining to Matt. 18:17. Pastor Russell did not advertise these disfellowshipment cases in the Watch Tower, even though he no doubt knew about them.

“His punishment is not at all the object. Punishment is not ours but God’s... Indeed, even if the transgressor refused to hear (obey) the decision of the entire Church, no punishment is to be inflicted or even attempted. What then? Merely the Church is to withdraw from him its fellowship and any signs of manifestations of brotherhood.

“At no time in these proceedings are the faults or failings of the offender to be made public property – scandalizing him or the Church. Nor is he to be harshly spoken of even after the separation; just as we are not to berate, or rail against, heathen men and publicans, but are to ‘speak evil of no man’ and to ‘do good unto all men.’ (Titus 3:2; Gal. 6:10)” (Volume 6 of Studies in the Scriptures, p. 290)

The above is quite different from the way the JW’s treat their disfellowshiped brethren. We know of cases where such brethren were persecuted and railed against by the Witnesses. These disfellowshiped brethren are not permitted to visit their families – and some of these families won’t receive the ex‑JWs in their homes, and won’t even speak to their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters who are disfellowshiped. The following letter is more about the JWs and ex‑JWs:

“Dear Andy, Bill and Doug,

Since you say you love Jesus, why do you not obey Him?... In Matt. 6:33 Jesus said ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom.’ So it is sad indeed that you ‘reach out’ to the JWs and others, only to lead them down the path into deeper and deeper pagan darkness. Yes, Bill – I now have 12 Bible studies in ex‑JWs in Ghana and Nigeria, and I am involved with a group who are sending food and clothing to our brethren in Africa. Jesus died to save us and to assure us of life in the Kingdom here on earth. It is a sin to teach the devil’s lie of a ‘soul’ floating off to heaven or hell at the moment of death.

“Have not the JWs suffered enough at the hands of the Watchtower? It is double cruelty to add to this pain. I just want you to know that many are working to help the ex‑JWs – not to hurt them. Joan Ashley, N. H.” (The New Creation, Sept‑Oct 1987, pp. 23 and O)

No doubt our readers are well acquainted with the PTL‑TV Evangelist scandal, but they may appreciate the following reports from our local newspaper which puts the matter in proper perspective:

“TV Holy Wars Are Hardly God’s Work: Those televangelists smiling through their telegenic teeth as they talk of love and knife one another in the back have little to do with religion and everything to do with market shares and cash flow. It is not a holy war over doctrine or even sin. It’s a corporate takeover fight to determine who will get to fleece the sheep. ...

“As entertainment, it is a great show. Jerry Falwell and John Ankerberg make J. R. Ewing and Angela Channing look like benign bunglers. The sincerity that drips from Jim and Tammy Bakker is Emmy‑level acting. ...

“Those who peddle religion for personal profit have done far more harm than picking the pockets of their supporters. In a nation that has an increasing hunger for moral guidance and spiritual comfort, they have made religion a dirty joke. They have exploited the generosity with which their followers have given money and made it seem a foolish naivete.” (Joan Beck, Orlando Sentinel, June 3, 1987)

“Signing Off: The Rev. Jerry Falwell is pulling his Old‑Time Gospel Hour off nearly 50 TV stations. Spokesman Mark DeMoss said donations from viewers were down $5.3 million over the past six months, apparently because of the publicity about the PTL scandal.” (Orlando Sentinel, October 6, 1987)

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” (Psa. 2:4) “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.” (Psa. 14:2)

“The Time Has Come For Prayer Tower World: Oral Roberts’ award‑winning evangelistical  rendition of P. T. Barnum – ‘a sucker is born every minute’ – is causing more than casual interest in prayer towers.

“Roberts climbed his Oklahoma prayer tower to fast until the faithful poured into the coffers of Oral Roberts University. Therefore, I predict a flourish in the construction of prayer tower time‑share condos around the country. Moreover, Disney World; make room for Prayer Tower World. ...

“Full page ads in newspapers and magazines could boast: ‘Buy one week or more of this innovative lifestyle. First 10 buyers receive lifetime subscription to syndicated Jim and Tammy or Jimmy and Oral programs.

“When Prayer Tower World is complete, Oral Roberts – for a nominal donation, of course – might consider coming to cut the ribbon during the grand opening. Or better, he could buy one of the units – say the last week in March – and perform an annual reenactment of his now famous ‘God will kill or else routine.”‘ (Bill Bond, Orlando Sentinel, March 27, 1987)

“Takeover Talk Makes TV Religion Sound More Than Ever Like Big Business: The  argument over whether some religion is big business in disguise has been going on a long time, and those who argue that it is are getting a lot of ammunition as the electronic‑evangelist wars gain momentum. But recent events are showing us that cable TV evangelism should never be confused with pious religion. ...

“Oral Roberts sees a lot of visions these days, including a 900‑foot Jesus. Oral also revealed that he once wrestled with the devil in his own home. He didn’t say who won.

“And then there is Pat Robertson, the great soldier and hernia healer who once changed the direction of a hurricane. Pat doesn’t want to spoil and damage his budding political career by taking sides in the Jim and Tammy vs. Swaggart & Falwell tag match. Honestly, Folks, I didn’t make up this stuff. I only know what I read in the newspapers and what I see on television. ...

“The more ludicrous the plot gets, the more money people send in to keep the ‘ministries’ going so that the devils can be chased away from the safe deposit box. ... (Dick Marlowe, Orlando Sentinel, March 27, 1987)

NO. 384: BABE OF BETHLEHEM

November‑December 1987

No. 384

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."  —Luke 2:11,12)

WHY WAS THIS BABE EXPECTED?

Why were all men in expectation of him at the time of his birth? What was to be peculiar about him to lead Israel to expect his birth? The answer to this question is that God had made a certain promise centuries before and the promise had not been ful­filled. This promise contained the thought that a holy child would be born, and that in some way, not explained in the promise, this child would bring the blessing the world needed. Therefore every mother amongst the Israelites was very solicitous that she might be the mother of a son rather than a daughter, that perchance she might be the mother of this promised child. Thus the matter went on for years until, finally, the child was born.

The promise back of the expectation was that which God made to Abraham, saying, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." From that time forward Abraham began to look for the promised Seed – the promised child. He looked first of all to his own children, and was finally informed that it would not be one of his children direct, but through their children, at some remote date, this child should be born – the Seed of Abraham. From that time onward, all the Israelites were waiting for the birth of the child that should bring the blessing.

But why was a Messiah necessary? Why wait at all for the birth of the child? The answer to this question is that sin had come into the world; that God had placed our first parents – holy, pure and free from sin – in the glorious conditions of the Garden of Eden with every favorable prospect and everlasting life at their command if they con­tinued in harmony with God. But by reason of their disobedience they came under Divine displeasure and sentence of death. This sentence of death has brought in its wake aches, pains, sorrows, tears, sighing, crying, dying and death – all of these experiences as the result of sin.

Our Heavenly Father said to our first parents – and this was the first intimation that He gave them of a deliverance – that "The seed of the woman shall bruise the ser­pent's head." The serpent in this expression means Satan ‑ all the powers of evil, everything adverse to humanity, everything adverse to the blessings which God had given them, and which they had lost by disobedience. But the promise was vague and they under­stood little about the "seed of the woman" and "bruising the serpent's head." It merely meant in an allegorical way a great victory over sin and Satan, without explaining how it should come.

So mankind continued to die; they continued to have aches and pains and sorrows; they continued going down to the tomb. They realized that what they needed was some Savior to come and deliver them from the power of sin, to deliver them from the death penalty of sin – a Savior who would be, in other words, a Life‑giver. They were dying and needed new life. This is the meaning of the word Savior in the language used by our Lord and the apostles. They were hoping and expecting that God would send a Life‑giver.

It was on this account that they were so greatly concerned regarding the promise made to Abraham ‑ "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" – they shall be granted a release from sin and death. In no other way could mankind be blessed. It would be impossible to bless mankind except by releasing them from sin and death. Hence, the Scriptures tell us of God's sympathy; that God looked down from His holy habitation, and beheld our sorrow, and heard, figuratively, "the groaning of the prisoners" – humanity – all groaning and travailing under this penalty of death – some with few aches and pains, and some with more aches and pains; some with few sorrows and some with greater sorrows, but all groaning and travailing in pain.

But God's sympathy was manifested; and we read that, "He looked down and beheld that there was no eye to pity and no arm to save" and with "his own arm he brought salvation." This is what was promised to Abraham – that one should come from his posterity who would be the Savior of the world; and because this promise was made to Abraham and to his seed, they were marked out as separate from all other nations and peoples. To the Jewish nation alone belonged this great honor – that through them should come this salvation. Hence, from that time onward the Jews spoke of themselves as God's chosen people, the people whom God had promised to bless, and through whom He would bring a blessing to all others. Therefore, all other people were called heathen (or nations, which the word means). Israel was thus separated because God's covenant was with them, and not with the others. But God's covenant with Israel was for the blessing of all the others: "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now we have the "why" of this wonderful babe's being born.

HOW WAS THIS BABE PECULIAR ‑ HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED?

How could he be a Savior? In what way could he be different from any other babe? Why not use some other babe as the one through whom salvation should come? The answer of the Bible is that salvation could not come to mankind unless there should be a satisfaction of justice on account of original sin. That must be the first consideration. The penalty, "Dying, thou shalt die," pronounced against the first man, must be met before the world could be blessed.

Why not let any man die? Because all were under the sentence of the original condemnation, and none could be a ransom‑price or a substitute. Hence the necessity for a specially born babe, different from any other babe. In what way was this One differently born? The Bible explains to us very distinctly that he was not begotten of an earthly father. Although Joseph was espoused to Mary, yet this child was not the child of Joseph. The Bible explains that this child was specially begotten by Divine power, in the mother, though she was still a "virgin" when she brought forth the child.

This is the Scriptural proposition; and while it may not seem clear to some, yet the Word of God standeth sure. If the Redeemer was not perfect then He could not be the Savior of the world. The promised redemption implied that Jesus would be perfect; it implied that He would be as the first man was before he sinned. "For since by man came death, by man shall come also the resurrection of the dead"; "As all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive."

So this One must be, as the Apostle declares, "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners." (Heb. 7:26) He must be entirely distinct and separate from humanity so far as sinful features were concerned. If we had time it would be interesting to go into the scientific features – of how a perfect child could be born from an imperfect mother. If we can have a perfect life germ we can have a perfect child from an imperfect mother. If a breeder of stock wishes to raise the standard of his stock, he selects a fine bull, a male goat, or a male ram, and thus he improves the entire herd. And so, if we had perfect fathers, we would soon have a perfect race. But there is no father who can produce a perfect child. Hence it was necessary in this case (and the Scriptures declare it was accomplished) that God should beget this Son by power from on high. Therefore, that which was born of the "virgin" was separate and distinct from all humanity. His life came not from an earthly father, but from His Heavenly Father.

WHO WAS HE THUS BORN?

It is written that before He became flesh Jesus had an existence; as He declared, "Before Abraham was, I am." Again, in one of His prayers He said, "Father glorify thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the world was." The Revelator tells us that "He was the beginning of the creation of God," and Paul says that "by him all things were made." And so our Lord Jesus was not only the beginning, but also the active agent of the Father in all the creative work in the angelic world and in the creation of humanity, and in all things that were created.

The whole matter is summed up by the Apostle John. We will give a more literal translation of "In the beginning was the Word." [This expression, Word, in the Greek is Logos. The thought behind the word Logos is that in olden times a king, instead of speaking his commands directly to his people, sat behind a lattice work, and his Logos, or messenger, or word, or representative, stood before the lattice work, and gave the message of the king to the people in a loud tone of voice. The king himself was not seen. So this is the picture the Scriptures give us of how Jesus was the express representative of the Heavenly Father, the one through whom the Heavenly Father made Himself known ‑ the Word, or the Logos. So we read in the first chapter of John], "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was a god. The same was in the beginning with the God. By him were all things made, and without him was not anything made."

In other words, Jesus was the direct creator of all things. He was the Divine Power, Agent, Word, Messenger, the Logos of Jehovah. He did all the great work of creation; but He Himself was the first of God's direct creation, the First‑born of all creatures, that in all things He might have the pre‑eminence – the first place.

When the time came that our Heavenly Father made known His great purpose that He would bless the world, He gave opportunity to this First‑begotten One ‑ this One begotten of the Father – to be the servant in this great work He intended to accomplish for mankind. Consequently, the Scriptures state that "for the joy set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame." And now He has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He has this great reward because of His obedience even unto death, the death of the cross.

The Apostle speaks of Him as having been rich, but for our sakes becoming poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich. He tells us how He left the glory which He had with the Father and humbled Himself to the human nature. Why? Because, as already stated, it was necessary that some one should become man's Redeemer, an angel could not redeem man, neither could an animal redeem man. The Divine law is "an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth; a man's life for a man's life." This was to teach us a great lesson: that perfect human life having been condemned to death, it would require a perfect life to redeem it. It was therefore necessary that Jesus should become the "Man Christ Jesus," in order "that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for every man."

WHAT RESULTS HAVE FOLLOWED?

The results that have followed have been that He Himself proved His own faithfulness. "Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" – the most ignominious form of death. It pleased the Father thus to prove Him, not only by death, but by the most ignominious form of death – dying as a culprit, being crucified between two thieves. What a terrible ignominy to die thus!

It would be ignominy enough for us in our imperfection, but for Him, perfect, "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners," it must have been a cause for deep and poignant sorrow. Having completed the laying down of His life, at the end of the three and half years, He cried, "It is finished!" What? Not His work, for much of that lay before Him! He merely finished this part of the work, finished laying down His life a ransom‑price.

What next? After His death came His resurrection; and we read that "God raised him from the dead on the third day." According to the Scriptures He was raised up from death a glorious being – "sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spirit body"; "Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth; that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:10)

But we see not yet all knees bowed to Him. Why not? The Scriptures tell us that before He begins His great work for the world of mankind, He first does a work for the elect, the Church, those who desire to walk in His footsteps, to gather out of the world a bride, to be co‑workers with Him in all the great work of the Father. This is the only work yet in process of accomplishment, and this has been going on now for over eighteen centuries. We see how He gathered out the saintly ones from amongst the Jews, "Israelites, indeed, in whom there was no guile." Not finding enough to make the desired number, He proceeded to gather them from all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples.

The Apostle tells us that when this bride class is united with Him they shall be parts of the seed of Abraham; as we read, "And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs of the promise." (Gal. 3:29) This statement relates to the promise made to Abraham, that through him and his Seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Thus we see the work that Christ is accomplishing now.

The invitation to become the bride of Christ is a very special invitation and those who would be His must walk in the "narrow way." If they will sit in His throne, they must suffer with Him. If they suffer with Him they shall also share His glory. So "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that shall follow," were not only to be accomplished in our Lord Jesus, personally, but He was an example for all the Church who are justified through faith in His blood. They have a share with Him in His sufferings, and will share in His glory; they have also a share in the First Resurrection; as the Revelator declares, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Rev. 20:6)

Saint Paul says, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord," "that I might know him and the power of his resurrection" (the special resurrection) to the Divine nature. How? By being made conformable to His death; for, "If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him."

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

All families of the earth are to be blessed, as originally promised in Eden: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Also, as St. Paul states in the 16th chapter of Romans, "The very God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." So, then, the next thing in order in the outworking of God's plan will be to bruise Satan and destroy sin.

When and how will this be done? Just as soon as this Age shall end; because this Age is merely for the development of the bride class; then will come the promised free grace to all the families of the earth. Messiah's Kingdom shall come. He has promised that when He shall reign, all His faithful shall reign with Him: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne." All the Church will be associated with Him in His great Messianic Kingdom; and "he shall reign from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth"; and "Unto him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father"; "The knowledge of the glory of God shall fill the whole earth." The whole earth will become as the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost will be Paradise Restored. The Divine image lost in Adam will be restored to man. Human nature will be brought to perfection. But the glorious reward to the Church will be the Divine nature, to sit at His right hand, and to bless the world of mankind. Man will become not only perfect, having all that Adam had, but will have additional knowledge and character; and there is every evidence that this shall be an eternal blessing.

SHALL NONE BE LOST?

Yes, the Scriptures tell us that some will be lost, and that the loss they shall sustain will be loss of life, and therefore all the pleasures of life. "They shall be as though they had not been"; "They shall be destroyed from amongst the people." St. Peter says, "They shall be destroyed as brute beasts." (Acts 3:23; 2 Peter 2:12)

When? When the eyes of their understanding shall have been opened to see the Lord and to understand His glorious character, and they shall have had opportunity to appre­ciate and enjoy His blessing. When such intentionally reject the grace of God, they shall die the Second Death, from which there is no resurrection, no hope of recovery. But, thank God, there shall be no knowledge of suffering for them; they shall be de­stroyed as brute beasts.

In proportion as we believe in this babe of Bethlehem shall we rejoice today. In proportion as we believe He was manifested on our behalf; in proportion as we believe He died for our sins; in proportion as we recognize Him as the glorified Savior; in proportion as we have surrendered our hearts to Him and seek to do the things well pleasing to Him shall we have the peace of God.

Our hope on behalf of mankind in general is that in God's due time His blessing shall reach all ‑ not the same as that for the Church, but as St. Peter tells us in Acts 3:19‑21, "Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must retain until the times of restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets."

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 4963‑4965, February 1, 1912)

THE PRINCIPLES OF LOVE AND JUSTICE CONTRASTED

Nothing is more necessary to the peace and prosperity of the Church of God than that its members should have a clear understanding and appreciation of moral principles, with a full determination to be controlled by them. Even among Christians there are often differences of opinion with reference to principles of action, which greatly in­terfere with spiritual growth and prosperity. Such difficulties most frequently arise through failure to distinguish between the relative claims of love and justice. There­fore we consider it profitable to examine these principles and their operation among the children of God.

Justice is sometimes represented by a pair of evenly poised balances, and sometimes by a square and compass, both of which are fitting emblems of its character. Justice knows no compromise and no deviation from its fixed rule of action. It is mathemati­cally precise. It gives nothing over for "good weight" or "good measure." There is no grace in it, no heart, no sympathy, no favor of any kind. It is a calculating, exact measure of truth and righteousness. When justice is done, there are no thanks due to the one who metes it out. Such a one has merely done a duty, the neglect of which would have been culpable, and the doing of which merits no favor or praise. And yet, firm and relentless as this principle is, it is declared to be the very foundation of God's throne. It is the principle which underlies all His dealings with His creatures. It is His unchangeable business principle; and how firmly He adheres to it is manifest to every one who understands the plan of salvation, the basis of which is the satisfac­tion of justice against our race. Though the arrangement for the satisfaction of jus­tice cost the life of His Only‑begotten and well‑beloved Son, so important was this principle of Divine justice that God freely gave Him up for us all.

JUSTICE, BEFORE GENEROSITY

The principles of love, unlike that of justice, overflows with tenderness, and longs to bless. It is full of grace, and delights in the bestowment of favor. It is manifest, however, that no action can be rewarded as a favor or a manifestation of love which has not underneath it the substantial foundation of justice. Thus, for instance, if one comes to you with a gift, and at the same time disregards a just debt to you, the gift falls far short of appreciation as an expression of love; and you say, "We should be just before we attempt to be generous."

And this is right; if justice is the foundation principle in all of God's dealings, it should be the same in all of our dealings; and none the less so among brethren in Christ than among those in the world. As brethren in Christ, we have no right to presume upon the favor of one another. All to which we have a right is simple justice, though we may waive those things that are really our rights. But in our own dealings, we should strive always to render justice – justice in the payment of our honest debts to each other, justice in our judgment one of another (which must make due allowance for frailties, etc., because we recognize in ourselves some measure of similar imperfection), and justice in fair and friendly treatment one of another.

As we have just said, there is no obligation to demand justice for ourselves, and we may, if we choose, even suffer injustice uncomplainingly. We must, however, if we are Christ's, render justice so far as we are enabled to recognize it. In other words, we are not responsible for the action of others in this respect, but are responsible for our own. Therefore we are to endeavor earnestly that all our actions, our words and our thoughts may be squared by the exact rule of justice, before we offer even one single act as an expression of love.

JUSTICE, EQUITY, A CHRISTIAN QUALITY

It would appear that many Christian people spend years of their experience without making any great progress. One difficulty leading up to this condition is a failure to recognize the basic principles underlying the Divine laws, which apply to us from the moment we are adopted into the Lord's family. The first of these basic principles is justice. We need to learn more and more clearly what are our own rights and the rights of our fellow creatures in the Church and out of the Church. We need to learn how to measure the affairs of ourselves and of others with the plummet of justice, and to recognize that we must not under any circumstances or conditions infract the rights, interests or liberties of others – that to do so would be wrong, sinful, contrary to the Divine will, and a serious hindrance to our growth in grace. Secondly, we must learn to esteem love next to justice in importance in the Divine code. By love we mean, not amativeness, nor soft sentimentality, but that principle of kindness, sympathy, consideration and benevolence which we see manifested in our Heavenly Father and in our Lord Jesus.

In proportion as we grow up in the Lord, strong in Him, it must be along the lines of these elements of His character. More and more we must appreciate and sympathize with others in their trials and difficulties and afflictions; more and more we must become gentle, patient, kind towards all, but especially toward the household of faith. All the graces of the spirit are elements of love. God is love; and whoever receives of His spirit receives the spirit of love.

These two basic principles must cover all of our conduct in life. Justice tells us that we must cease to do evil ‑ that we must not speak a word nor do an act that would work injustice to another, nor even by look imply such injustice; that we must be as careful of his or her interest and welfare as of our own. Justice may permit us to give them more than justice could require, but justice demands that we must never give them less than due. No matter if they do not require justice at our hands, no matter if they are willing to take less than justice, no matter if they would say nothing if we should take advantage of them, no matter if they would not appreciate our degree of justice, still our course is the same. We have received of the Lord's Spirit, and must act from this standpoint and not from the standpoint of others who have not His spirit or who are more or less blinded and disabled from dealing justly.

LOVE AND JUSTICE BOTH CONTROL

If justice must mark our conduct toward others, so love must be used by us in meas­uring the conduct of others toward us. We may not apply to others the strict rules of justice which we acknowledge as our responsibility to them. Love, generosity, demands that we accept from others less than justice, because we realize that they are fallen, imperfect, not only in their flesh, but also in their judgments. Furthermore, we see that the great mass of the world has not received the spirit of the Lord at all, and therefore cannot appreciate these basic principles of justice and love as we appreciate them. We must in love look sympathetically upon their condition, as we would upon the condition of a sick neighbor, friend, parent or child. We must make allowance for their disordered condition, and think as charitably as possible of their words, conduct, etc.

This does not mean that we are to be blind or oblivious to true conditions, and permit ourselves to be deprived of all that we possess or earn; but it does mean that we should take a kind, sympathetic view of the unrighteousness and injustice of those with whom we have dealings. We should remember that they are fallen, and that they have not received the grace of God as we have received it; and that they are not, therefore, to be measured by the line of strict justice, but rather that their imperfections are to be allowed for reasonably by the elastic cord of love. It is our own conduct that we are to measure by the law of justice, the Golden Rule.

HOW LOVE MAY OVERFLOW THE MEASURE

How clearly the Master sets forth these conditions, urging upon us the Golden Rule as the measure for our conduct toward others, and that in measuring their conduct toward us we shall be as generous as we shall wish our Lord to be in His judgment of ourselves, in harmony with His statement, "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged"! A right appreciation of these basic principles, justice and love, by the Lord's people, and worked out in the daily affairs of life, would lift them above the world. It would save many an altercation, many a law suit, many a quarrel, and would make of the Lord's people shining examples of kindness, generosity, love, and at the same time examples of justice, right living, sterling honesty, etc.

Love is not, like justice, an exact principle to be measured and weighed. It is three‑fold in character: it is pitiful; it is sympathetic, in the sense of kinship of soul – affectionate; it is reverential. These different forms of love are exercised according to the object upon which love is centered. Pity‑love is the lowest form of love; it takes cognizance of even the vile and degraded, and is active in measures of relief. Sympathetic love rises higher, and proffers fellowship, comradeship. But the reverential love rises above all these, and delights in the contemplation of the good, the pure and the beautiful. In this latter form we may indeed love God supremely, as the personification of all that is truly worthy of admiration and reverence; and love our fellow men in proportion as they bear His likeness. The Divine law demands love, both to God and to man.

Although we owe to every man, as a duty, love in one of these senses, we may not demand it one of another; but love overflows justice. Love shakes the measure, presses it down, heaps it up. The lack of love is not to be complained of by the Christian, however, but when bestowed it is to be appreciated gratefully and reciprocated gener­ously. Every one who craves love should crave it in its highest sense ‑ in the sense of admiration and reverence. But this form of love is the most costly; and the only way to secure it is to manifest that nobility of character which calls it forth from others who are truly noble, truly like our Lord Jesus.

The love begotten of sympathy and fellowship is also very precious. But any senti­ment that comes merely in response to a demand, is deprived of love's choicest aroma. Therefore never demand love, but rather by manifestation of it toward others court its reciprocation. The love of pity is not called out by the nobility of the subject, but rather by the nobility of the bestower, whose heart is so full of love that it overflows in generous impulses toward even the unworthy. All of the objects of pity, however, are not unworthy of love in the higher senses; and some such often draw upon our love in every sense.

A SELFISH, ONE‑SIDED VIEW

To demand love's overflow of blessing – which is beyond the claim of justice ‑ is only an exhibition of covetousness. We may act on this principle of love ourselves, but we may not claim it from others. If we do, we manifest a lack of love and the possession of a considerable measure of selfishness. Some seem to see clearly where brotherly love should be extended to themselves, but are slow to see their own obligations in this respect.

For instance, two brethren were once rooming together, and through a failure to consider the relative claims of both love and justice, one presumed upon the brotherly love of the other to the extent of expecting him to pay the entire rent of the room. When the other urged the claim of justice, the first urged the claim of brotherly‑love, and the former reluctantly yielded, not knowing how to refute the claim, yet feeling that somehow some Christians had less principle than many worldly people. How strange that any of God's children should take so narrow, so one‑sided, so selfish a view! Cannot all see that love and justice should work both ways; that it is the duty of each not to oversee others in these respects, but to look well to his own course, to see that he manifests brotherly love; and that if he would teach others, it should be rather by example than by precept?

LET LOVE REIGN SUPREME

Let us beware of a disposition toward covetousness. Let us each remember that he is steward over the Lord's goods entrusted to him, and not over those entrusted to his brother; that each is accountable to the Lord, and not to others, for the right use of that which the Master has placed in his hands. There is nothing much more unbecoming and unlovely in the children of God than a disposition to petty criticism of the individual affairs of one another. It is a business too small for the saints, and manifests a sad lack of that brotherly love which should be especially manifest in broad and generous consideration, which would rather cover a multitude of sins than to magnify one.

The Christian is to have the loving, generous disposition of heart ‑ a copy of the Heavenly Father's disposition. In trivial affairs he is to have so much sympathy and love that he will take no notice, just as God for Christ's sake deals with us and does not impute sin to us, except as it represents knowledge and willfulness. With such a rule operating amongst Christians, a determination not to recognize as an offense anything that is not purposely done, or intended as an offense, would be a great blessing to all, and the proper, God‑like course. The transgressions to which our Lord refers in Matthew 18:15‑17, are not the trivial affairs of no consequence, are not evil surmisings and imaginings, are not rumors, are not fancied insults, but positive wrongs done us, and on account of which it is our duty, kindly and lovingly and wisely, to give some proper rebuke – some intimation that we recognize the wrong and that it has grieved us and hurt us and needs correction.

The disposition to forgive should be with us always, and should be manifested by us at all times. Our loving generosity, our kindness and our desire to think no evil or as little evil as possible, should be manifest by all the words and acts of life. This is God‑like. God had a kind, benevolent, generous sentiment toward us even while we were yet sinners. Nor did He wait for the sinners to ask forgiveness, but promptly manifested His desire for harmony and His readiness to forgive. The whole Gospel message is to this effect: "Be ye reconciled to God." Our hearts should be so full of this disposition toward forgiveness that our faces would not have a hard look, nor our words of reproof a bitter sting. We should manifest the loving forgiveness that we should have in our hearts at all times.

May love and justice find their proper, relative places in the hearts of all of God's people, that so the enemy may have no occasion to glory! The Psalmist said, "O how I love thy law [the law of love whose foundation is justice]! It is my meditation all the day." (Psalms 119:97) Surely, if God's law were the constant meditation of all, there would be fewer and less glaring mistakes than we often see! Let us watch and be sober, that the adversary and our fallen flesh may not gain an advantage over us as new creatures. Let SELF be more and more eliminated and LOVE reign supreme.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 5883‑5885, April 15, 1916)

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AT EMEK HA'SHALOM HERMANN BEZNER AWAITS THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH

At the foot of Kibbutz Ramat ha'Shofet, bedded into hills, this little garden of Eden is situated. There, amidst lemon trees, the flowers and all the green, they tell you that peace will soon come to Israel and that the Messiah is standing on the threshold ‑ it is only a question of time, and we are extremely near that time.

At a time when Israel still laments the victims of the holocaust and their war dead, Hermann Bezner, the serious Bible‑scholar, speaks about a third catastrophe which is nearing very quickly. However after that period he asserts the madness and amok‑run of mankind will come to an end. The peoples will live with justice and fraternity... as the Prophet Jesaya had prophesied: "They will reforge their weapons into plough shares and they will not learn war anymore."

Hermann is 87 years old. Since twenty years he has been in this small paradise, cut off from the outside world. He leaves the place only if it is absolutely essential, and the people flock to him in thousands to listen to the message which he already recites almost automatically.

His posture is upright and erect, his white hair is carefully combed back. His hearing has greatly deteriorated. There is something in his bearing which does not allow you to interrupt his lecture.

He preaches his message in the German language with closed eyes. He does not understand Hebrew. He does not reply direct to questions. One must listen very carefully to hear the reply out of the lecture. Sometimes the question remains also hanging in the air.

Josef is standing next to him and translates into Hebrew. Josef is 40 years old and has been living for fifteen years in Emek ha'Shalom. He is Hermann's right hand and serves also as his ear and speaker.

Hermann's history with the People of Zion started in the year 1933 with the national‑socialistic Germany. The Nazis hated the Bible scholars more than the Jews, because of their faithful devotion to the Bible.

Together with other Bible scholars, he fled to Austria where he kept himself hidden for seven years in a small mountain farm. During those years Hermann and his friends already prophesied the end of the Nazi rule. Hence also his profound belief that the end of Israel's enemies was nearing. He knows it today as he knew it at that time.

In post‑war Austria he founded a supermarket in Vienna and so he lived until he saw that the moment had come to emigrate to Israel. In this country he met with Oscar Eder, a previous leader of the Hitler Youth who contended having been forced into the movement. At the end of the war, he tried to overcome this nightmare in Austria. However the peace of mind did not come. Burdened with self‑reproaches, he emigrated to Israel, converted to Judaism and his name into Hebrew. Oscar lived as a hermit in a rocky area not far from Yokneam.

Here, in 1967, Hermann decided to buy a plot of land to found the Valley of Peace. Oscar regarded him as mad and thought it would be impossible to make this rocky land fertile. Hermann replied to him that in Israel every square metre could be converted into fertile land. From nothing he started and he did not give up.

Now Hermann says some words to Josef in German. They go into the house, and for a moment it looks as though the interview had come to an end without further explanation. However both reappear, carrying a huge painting and putting it onto an easel. The picture is breath‑taking: green, very green, fruit trees, lions, leopards, sheep together on the pasture. A house with steps leading to a veranda, the columns of which being entwined by vines. We get up and stroll in front of the house through the surrounding gardens and back.

We are spellbound and can no longer distinguish where the painted paradise ceases and the real one begins. As though the painter had painted Emek ha'Shalom today, but this is not the case. A friend had painted the picture 57 years ago in Vienna for Hermann's birthday. So inspired was the painter that six decades ago he had foreseen the State of Israel and that Hermann for twenty years would translate the painting on the canvas into the desert, imperturbably convinced that it was the prophesied future for the whole of Israel.

It seems that it is within the power of this small valley to conquer the hate of the world.

Three events, the Bible scholars say, precede the People of Zion. Two labour pains lie already behind us – the First and the Second World Wars. The third, as a matter of fact, is already very near, or, more exactly, we are amidst its beginnings. Hermann accuses the leaders of the peoples that they keep silent about the new era which has come so near. They are incapable to perceive the time and, as scientists, they are intoxicated by the world spirit. The coming years will open the eyes of these men and will lead to an unpleasant awakening.

Only the coming of the Messiah will lead to the turning point. The prophecies have been disregarded; the earth has been transformed into desert; the rivers have been poisoned; dying forests and polluted air have been created, and wars are the main occupation.

"Ask him," I say to Josef, "why he has chosen such solitude. How can he be influential, if he does not seek contacts with the outside world?" Hermann does not reply, he is already tired and enters the house.

Josef tries hard and brings heavy albums and cuttings of press reports. He shows us that thousands are coming. Also today already more than over a hundred visitors have come. Often on Sabbats many hundreds. Uninterruptedly, numerous cars and busses. As usual, without prior warning. But how can they give prior notice? Admittedly, sometimes it is quite difficult to face these crowds. But always anew they convey the good message from face to face. In 1972 Josef came from Vienna to assist Hermann, joined him and remained. He studied Hebrew at the language course of Ramat ha'Shofet.

The District Administration will establish a training center in Emek ha'Shalom. For this reason, Emek ha'Shalom was transferred into State Ownership. By all means one wants to continue what has begun.

One has to admit that the place is extremely impressive. There is something messianic in these people and this place. If it is at all possible to define what "messianic" means.

According to Hermann's words, the Messiah will be Jesus. Because Jesus as a Jew has sacrificed himself for mankind.

Hermann and Josef do not attribute any significance to external formalities. With a gesture of his hand, Hermann negates all ideas of this kind. One should remove all these human additions, all these religious secondary considerations. The victim remains and the personality of the Messiah.

The evening comes to Emek ha'Shalom. From the house emanates the aroma of the supper which is being prepared by young friends who happen to stay here.

If Hermann's and Josef's prophecies will thus materialize, it remains only to say ''AMEN. I'

On our way home through the garden gate, we have the feeling to have been in a fairy film like "Mary Poppins" and that everything has become reality for a short hour.

It was not the rain on the way back which had

obliterated the vision. The reality did it!

 (Newspaper report from Hermann Bezner)

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Ones: Grace and peace!

I have visited with an "X‑Jehovah's Witness' Group" in Virginia. Their purpose is to offer comfort to the disfellowshipped and to those who are disillusioned with the Witnesses. They place ads in various newspapers, listing phone numbers so that these Ex‑Witnesses can call for personal help, or hear a recorded message.

Their position toward Parousia Truth is not clear, but they have offered kind words about Pastor Russell, and have shown strong interest in his writings. I am doing my best to interest them in reading the Studies in the Scriptures. I gave them the book about Pastor Russell, by David Horowitz, which was well received. I am corresponding with Emily Hood, a member of the group. Below is a copy of the letter I wrote her.

Faithfully, -------------

Dear Emily,

The news articles were interesting and very revealing. You need not consider yourselves "stupid" for joining the Jehovah's Witnesses as they have enough Truth to attract anyone of sincere faith, and enough error to repel anyone of sincere faith once that error is manifest.

In answer to your question about John 1:1, I quote from Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 5, p. 69, under the heading of "God" and "Lord" in the New Testament:

''In the New Testament the matter is clarified by the use of less words. It may be said that nothing whatever in the words used distinguishes the Father from the Son in the words rendered Lord and God. The matter is left often to the judgment of the reader, and indicated often by the form of the sentence, especially where the word Theos is used contrastedly in a sentence the Greek article is used, so as to give the effect of the God in contrast with a God. An illustration of this is found in John 1: 1 – 'The Word was with the God [ho theos] and the Word was a God [theos]...'"

Although the Scriptures make mention of many "gods" and many “lords" (1 Cor. 8:5; 2 Cor. 4:4; Ps. 97:7,9; Ex. 12:12, 15:11, 18:11; Deut. 10:17; Josh. 22:22; Ps. 95:3, 96:4; Ex. 7:1, 22:28; Ps. 82:6; John 10:34,35; Ps. 110:1) this does not conflict with the doctrine of One God as expressed in Is. 45:18, 46:9, and 45:5. The thought in these verses is that Jehovah alone is the Eternal, Supreme ruler of the universe and no other creature can occupy this position. See also Ps. 83:18.

"Theos" simply means "mighty one" and is a very general term applicable to any spirit being or powerful creature. In 1 Cor. 8:5 "gods" is from "theos" or "Theoi" (plural). In 2 Cor. 4:4 "gods" is also from 'theos’ even though the reference here is to Satan. In John 10:34 Jesus calls the saints "gods" (theoi). From these and similar verses we can see that any "mighty ones" whether human, angelic, or Divine, can properly be called "gods." Therefore it is proper to think of our Lord Jesus as "a God" (theos) since He is surely a “mighty one,” the mightiest next to Jehovah, and much more than a mere angel as the Witnesses believe (Heb. 1:1‑6; Phil. 2:9‑11).

That Jesus received the Divine Nature at His resurrection (John 5:26) is not proof that He is the Eternal God because the Glorified Church also receives the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:53; 1 John 3:2).

In John 20:28 Thomas does not call Jesus Jehovah but rather, as the context shows, he was startled to learn that Jesus had been resurrected and let out an exclamation similar to "Praise God" or "Hallelujah."

St. Paul summarizes our belief by saying "As there be gods many, and lords many, but to us there is but one [supreme] God, the Father, of whom are all things... and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things..." (1 Cor. 8:5,6)

I am preparing some answers to your "Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses" and hope to send them soon.

Once again, "Grace and Peace to all," -------------- (NORTH CAROLINA)

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Dear Brethren: Grace and peace!

Even though you don't hear from me very often, I keep up with your good work by reading the papers, which I find helpful and interesting. It is a blessing to know the Truth and recognize that we are in that great Time of Trouble forecast in Daniel 12:1 and prophesied by our Lord in Matt. 24:21. So we know why all the crime and calamities are permitted by our Lord, and realize we can have no real peace until that glorious Kingdom is inaugurated.

I note, with pleasure, the book about PASTOR CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL is getting the publicity and acclaim it deserves. It was "due time" for Pastor Russell's name and teaching to be again brought to public knowledge. God always selects the right man for His purposes. It seems most appropriate this time it was a Jew ‑ David Horowitz. The Jews will be more prominent than they are today when the peoples will learn the Truth: The "Word of the Lord" (Is. 2:3) will go forth from Jerusalem for the healing of the nations and all peoples.

It appears that several Bible Student groups have publicized the Pastor Russell book, and also other Christian magazines have publicized the book in their literature. However, the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement has not publicized the book in their magazines – The Present Truth and The Bible Standard. This is surprising as David Horowitz has published articles written by the LHMM brethren. It would seem they would be happy to publicize David Horowitz' book, especially as it is all about Pastor Russell.

Be assured of my warm Christian love and prayers as you "Continue in the things thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them." (2 Tim. 3:14) The Lord continue to bless and guide you.

Faithfully yours, ------- (MISSOURI)

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Dear Sister Hoefle,

I have finished reading "Thy Kingdom Come" and am looking forward to reading the "Battle of Armageddon, and the last two volumes of Studies in the Scriptures.

Of the two books you sent me about Pastor Russell, I gave one of them to a friend I work with who has been studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Also her mother is an ax‑Witness and she found the book helpful to her.

I would also like to receive the United Israel Bulletin, which was referred to often in the Pastor Russell book. I feel Jehovah answered my prayers as to the right road to take. I have been helped by the literature you have sent me. I only wish there was a meeting place in my area. If there are any within 100 miles of my area I would be willing to make the trip.

Also if you have available Nos. 121, 130, and 4, could you send them to me? I am enclosing a little something to help you in your work.

Sincerely, ------- (MICHIGAN)

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Dear Mr. Horowitz:

A friend of mine has loaned me a book – PASTOR CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL, which is very interesting. I would like to add it to my library! If you would be so kind as to send me a couple of copies, I will be most appreciative. You may send them COD, or I will send a check upon receipt.

Sincerely, -------------- (CALIFORNIA)

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NO. 383: IN MEMORIAM

No. 383

It is now seventy-one years since Brother Russell left us; and, as promised in our paper No. 373 of last October, we shall now continue with some observations concerning him as gleaned from the book of Jeremiah, beginning with Chapter three.

In Jer. 3:1 there is the emphatic condemnation of Israel for their evil conduct, the same being pointedly applicable to apostate Christendom prior to 1914. And seeing this very clearly, Brother Russell just as emphatically flogged Christendom in like manner. “Thou hast polluted the land with thy wickedness.” (v. 2) And for this reason the showers of Present Truth were withheld from them, causing them to consider that Truth as gross error. (v. 3) “The water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood (error) upon the dry land.” (Ex. 4:9) “Thou gavest them also blood (error) to drink; they deserve it.” (Rev. 16:6, Dia.) But they asked the impudent question, My father, art thou not the guide of my youth?” (v. 4) Yet the accusation is thrust back at them: “Thou has spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.” (v.5)

During the period of 1874 to 1893 God asked Brother Russell whether he had seen the evil deeds of apostate Christendom as they approached the state in every great kingdom and every energetic leader – anyone or anything that showed promise of increased power and wealth for them. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” (Rev. 3:17) This conduct reached a climax in the 1893 Chicago congress of religions, where the idea is promulgated that it makes no difference what one believes so long as he is sincere – Combinationism of the worst sort.  Today we have prominent evangelists preaching the same thing: Join any religion you wish, just so you join something – a far cry from the Apostle Paul’s teaching: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” (Eph. 4:5) “Neither let us commit fornication [illicit union of church and state], as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” (1 Cor. 10:8) But in spite of that evil the invitation came yet once more, “Turn thou unto me; but she returned not.” (v. 7); but “defiled the land.” (v. 9) Yet the invitation came once again – through a world-wide ministry of Brother Russell and associates – “Return, thou backsliding Israel ... for I am merciful.” (v. 12)

“A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS”

In our paper of last October (in 1976) on this same subject we offered some detailed comment in applying Jeremiah 1:5 to Brother Russell: “I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” So far as we know, Brother Russell never applied this prophecy to himself; but what he wrote, what he said and what he did clearly point him out as the antitype of the Prophet Jeremiah. Note the close similarity in many of the words, phrases and clauses in Vol. 4, The Battle of Armageddon, that are found in the book of Jeremiah. To substantiate this we now quote excerpts from Vol. 4 of the Scripture Studies:

“In this critical hour it is, alas! a lamentable fact that the wholesome spirit of ‘The Great Reformation’ is dead. Protestantism is no longer a protest against the spirit of antichrist, nor against the world, the flesh or the devil. Its creeds at war with the Word of God, with reason, and with each other, and inconsistent with themselves, they seek to hide from public scrutiny.” (pp. 161, bottom, and 162, top)

And on p. 182, Brother Russell treats of The Great Parliament of Religions. “The Chicago Herald, commenting favorably upon the proceedings of the Parliament, said: ‘Never since the confusion at Babel have so many religions, so many creeds, stood side by side hand in hand, and almost heart to heart, as in that great amphitheater last night. (in 1893) Never since written history began has varied mankind been so bound about with Love’s golden chain. The nations of the earth, the creeds of Christendom, Buddhist and Baptist, Mohammedan and Methodist, Catholic and Confusian, Brahmin and Unitarian, Shinto and Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Pantheist, Monotheist and Polytheist, representing all shades of thought and conditions of men, have at last met together in the common bonds of sympathy, humanity and respect.’

“How significant is the fact that the mind of even this enthusiastic approver of the great Parliament should be carried away back to the memorable confusion of tongues at Babel! What is not, indeed, that instinctively he recognized in the Parliament a remarkable antitype?

“The Rev. Barrows .... spoke enthusiastically of the friendly relations manifested among Protestant ministers, Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis and, in fact, the leaders of all religions extant .... He said: ‘The old idea, that the religion to which I belong is the only true one, is out of date. There is something to be learned from all religions, and no man is worthy of the religion he represents unless he is willing to grasp any man by the hand as his brother. Some one has said that the time is now ripe for the best religion to come to the front. The time for putting on any airs or superiority about his particular religion is past.’ ... The New York Sun, in an editorial on this subject said: ‘We cannot make out exactly what the Parliament proposes to accomplish’ ... It is possible, however, that the Chicago scheme is to get up some sort of a new and compound religion, which shall include and satisfy every variety of religious and irreligious opinion. It is a big job to get us a new and eclectic religion satisfactory all around; but Chicago is confident.’

“It would indeed be strange if the spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world would suddenly prove to be in harmony, that those filled with the opposite spirits should see eye to eye. But such is not the case. It is still true that the spirit of the world is enmity to God (James 4:4); that its theories and philosophies are vain and foolish; and that the one Divine revelation contained in the inspired Scriptures of the apostles and prophets is the only divinely inspired truth.” (pp. 182, 183)

“The theme announced for the last day of the Parliament was, ‘The Religious Union of the Whole Human Family’; when would be considered ‘The elements of perfect religion as recognized and set forth in the different faiths,’ with a view to determining the ‘characteristics of the ultimate religion’ and ‘the center of coming religious unity of mankind.’

“Is it possible that thus, by their own confession, Christian (?) ministers are unable, at this late day, to determine what should be the center of religious unity, or the characteristics of perfect religion? Are they indeed so anxious for a ‘world religion’ that they are willing to sacrifice any or all of the principles of true Christianity, and even the name ‘Christian’, if necessary, to obtain it? Even so, they confess. ‘Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked and slothful servant, saith the Lord.’“ (pp. 185, 186)

“The great religious Parliament was called together by Christians, Protestant Christians; it was held in a professedly Protestant Christian land; and was under the leading and direction of Protestant Christians, so that Protestants may be considered as responsible for all its proceedings. Be it observed, then, that the present spirit of Protestantism is that of compromise and faithlessness.  This Parliament was willing to compromise Christ and his gospel for the sake of the friendship of antichrist and heathendom. It gave the honors of both opening and closing its deliberations to representatives of papacy. And it is noteworthy that, while the faiths of the various heathen nations were elaborately set forth by their representatives, there was no systematic presentation of Christianity in any of its phases, although various themes were discoursed upon by Christians. How strange it seems that such an opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ to representative, intelligent and influential heathen should be overlooked and ignored by such an assemblage! Were the professed representatives of Christ’s gospel ashamed of the gospel of Christ? (Rom. 1:16) In the discourses Roman Catholics had by far the largest showing, being represented no less than sixteen times in the sessions of the Parliament.

“And not only so, but there were those there, professing Christianity, who earnestly busied themselves in tearing down its fundamental doctrines – who told the representative heathen of their doubts as to the inerrancy of the Christian Scriptures; that the Bible accounts must be received with a large degree of allowance for fallibility; and that their teachings must be supplemented with human reason and philosophy, and only accepted to the extent that they accord with these. There were those there, professing to be Orthodox Christians, who repudiated the doctrine of the ransom, which is the only foundation of true Christian faith, others, denying the fall of man, proclaimed the opposite theory of evolution, – that man never was created perfect, that he never fell, and that consequently he needed no redeemer; that since his creation in some very low condition, far removed from the ‘Image of God,’ he has been gradually coming up, and is still in the process of an evolution whose law is the survival of the fittest. And this, the very opposite of the Bible doctrine of ransom and restitution, was the most popular view.” (pp. 187,188)

“Said the Rev. Dr. Rexford of Boston (Universalist): ‘I would that we might all confess that a sincere worship, anywhere and everywhere in the world, is a true worship. ... The unwritten but dominant creed of this hour I assume to be that, whatever worshiper in all the world bends before The Best he knows, and walks true to the purest light that shines for him, has access to the highest blessings of heaven.’

“He surely did strike the key-note of the present dominant religious sentiment; but did the Apostle Paul so address the worshipers of ‘The Unknown God’ on Mars Hill? Or did Elijah thus defend the priests of Baal? Paul declares that the only access to God is through faith in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins; and Peter says, ‘There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12; 17:23-31) (page 190)

“The Rev. James Devine of New York City said: ‘We are brought now to another fundamental truth in Christian teaching, the mysterious doctrine of atonement. Sin is a fact which is indisputable.  It is universally recognized and acknowledged... God cannot tolerate sin or temporize with it or make a place for it in his presence. He cannot parley with it; he must punish it. He cannot treat with it; he must try it at the bar. He cannot overlook it; he must overcome it. He cannot give it a moral status; he must visit it with the condemnation it deserves.’ (Page 198)

“‘Christianity must speak in the name of God. To him it owes its existence... It has no philosophy of evolution to propound.’ (page 199) ‘It speaks, then, to other religions with unqualified frankness and plainness, based on its own incontrovertible claim to a hearing... All this it does with a superb and unwavering tone of quiet insistence. It often presses its claim with argument, appeal and tender urgency; yet in it all and through it all should be recognized a clear, resonant, predominant tone of uncompromising insistence, revealing that supreme personal will which originated Christianity, and in whose name it ever speaks...’” (pages 201, 202)

“In marked contrast with the general spirit of the Parliament was also the discourse of Mr. Grant, of Canada: ‘It seems to me that we should begin this Parliament of Religions, not with a consciousness that we are doing a great thing, but with an humble and lowly confession of sin and failure. Why have not the inhabitants of the world fallen before the truth? The fault is ours. The Apostle Paul, looking back centuries of marvelous, God-guided history, saw as the key to all its maxims this: that Jehovah had stretched out his hands all day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people; that, although there was always a remnant of the righteous, Israel as a nation did not understand Jehovah, and therefore failed to understand her own marvelous mission. If St. Paul were here today would he not utter the same sad confession with regard to the nineteenth century of Christendom? Would he not have to say that we have been proud of our Christianity, instead of allowing our Christianity to humble and crucify us; that we have boasted of Christianity as something we possessed, instead of allowing it to possess us; that we have divorced it from the moral and spiritual order of the world, instead of seeing that it is that which interpenetrates, interprets, completes and verifies that order; and that so we have hidden its glories and obscured its power. All day long our Savior has been saying, ‘I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people. But the only one indispensable condition of success is that we recognize the cause of our failure, that we confess it, with humble, lowly, penitent and obedient minds, and that with quenchless Western courage and faith we now go forth and do otherwise.’

“Would that these sentiments had found an echo in the great Parliament! – but they did not.  On the other hand, it was characterized by great boastfulness and to the ‘marvelous religious progress of the nineteenth century’; and Count Bernstorff’s first impression, that it meant a bold compromise of Christian principles and doctrine, was the correct one, as the subsequent sessions of the Parliament proved.

“The confident and assertive attitude of Catholicism and the various heathen religions was in marked contrast with the skepticism of Protestant Christianity. Not a sentence was uttered by any of them against the authority of their sacred books; they praised and commended their religions, while they listened with surprise to the skeptical and infidel discourses of Protestant Christians against the Christian religion and against the Bible, for which even the heathen showed greater respect.” (pages 203, 204)

“As evidence of the surprise of the foreigners on learning of this state of things among Christians, we quote the following from the published address of one of the delegates from Japan at a great meeting held in Yokohama to welcome their return and to hear their report: ‘When we received the invitation to attend the Parliament of Religions, our Buddhist organization would not send us as representatives of the body.  The great majority believed that it was a shrewd move on the part of Christians to get us there and then hold us up to ridicule or try to convert us. We accordingly went as individuals. But it was a wonderful surprise which awaited us. Our ideas were all mistaken.  The Parliament was called because the Western nations have come to realize the weakness and folly of Christianity, and they really wished to hear from us of our religion, and to learn what the best religion is. There is no better place in the world to propagate the teachings of Buddhism than America. [We observe here that some heathen religions – saturated with spiritism – are presently making great progress here in America, eighty years after Volume 4 was written.] Christianity is merely an adornment of society in America. It is deeply believed by very few. The great majority of Christians drink and commit various gross sins, and live very dissolute lives, although it is a very common belief and serves as a social adornment. Its lack of power proves its weakness. The meetings showed the great superiority of Buddhism over Christianity, and the mere fact of calling the meetings showed that the Americans and other Western people had lost their faith in Christianity and were ready to accept the teachings of our superior religion.’

It is no wonder that a Japanese Christian said, at the close of the address, ‘How could American Christians make so great a mistake as to hold such a meeting and injure Christianity as these meetings will do in Japan?’ (page 105)

“The closing sentiments of the great Parliament show how determined is this spirit of compromise an the part of Protestant Christianity.  So desperate are the straits to which the judgment of this day has driven them, that they hail with the greatest enthusiasm the least indication of a disposition toward union even on the part of the very grossest forms of heathenism. (page 233)

“But while the general impression created by the great Parliament was that it was the first step, and a long one, toward a realization of the angel’s message at the birth of Christ, of peace on earth and good will toward men, rightly viewed it was another manifestation of the faithlessness of Christendom. Surely, as saith the prophet, ‘The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid., (Isa. 29:14) And again we hear him say, ‘Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird [bind] yourselves [together] and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word [for Unity] and it shall not stand.’ (Isa. 8:9,10)

“With the Psalmist we would again propound the question, ‘Why do the people imagine a vain thing? [Why do they cry Peace! Peace! when there is no peace?] The kings of the earth [civil and ecclesiastical] set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure., (Psa. 2:1-5)

“When spiritual Israel now, like fleshly Israel anciently – abandon his Word and his leading, and seek to ally themselves with the nations that know not God, and to blend divine truth with the world’s philosophies, they take such steps at a peril that they do not realize; and they would do well to mark God’s recompenses to his ancient people, and take warning.” (pages 238, 239)

SUMMATION

The foregoing is merely selected excerpts from Vol. 4, The Battle of Armageddon; but we continue now with a few paragraphs from the author’s foreword dated October 1, 1916:

“The first edition of this volume was published in 1897 [90 years ago, yet it sounds as though it were written this year]. It relates to the closing epoch of this Gospel Age, the overlapping between it and the New Dispensation – a period which brings to the world wonderful blessings, which, in turn, because of unpreparedness of heart, more and more become causes of friction, discontent, trouble. If the blessings of the last 42 years [from 1874 to 1916] were to continue at the present rate of increase, the discontent of humanity would likewise increase [the evidence of which is presently about us in unmistakable current events], and the very purpose of God in the establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom and the blessing of humanity thru it, would be frustrated.

“Describing our day in the prophecy of Daniel, our Lord says, “Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. The wise shall understand, and there shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1-4, 10) In other words, the increase of knowledge is responsible for the increase of discontent and fear which are bringing Armageddon, or the Day of Vengeance of God, upon the whole world.”

Even among the better intellects of men – not instructed in Present Truth – some see this sore developing; and some of them admit their helplessness to provide a cure. We ourselves know that the only cure will be the fruition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” As we say once more God bless his memory, we close with the quotation of poetry that was published in the Nov. 15, 1916 Watch Tower as a tribute to him!

ECCE HOMO!

“Loved and hated! Revered and reviled!

Spurned and courted! Flattered, defiled!

With never a falter and never a frown

He kept to his moorings, and laid his life down

In the place where God put him.  What more can be said

For soldier or hero? For living or dead?

He wept with the anguished; he smiled with the glad;

He lifted the fallen; he heartened the sad;

He pitied the sinner, inspired the saint;

He strengthened the feeble, recovered the faint.

God gave him a Message — he gave it to men;

He patiently told it again and again.

“When men’s eyes were blinded and ears could not hear,

And men’s souls were stunted by folly or fear,

When minds were beclouded by dullness or doubt

He maneuvered the Message and turned it about

Till ‘the wayfaring man, though a fool’, could behold

And hear the glad Gospel he patiently told.

And yet will like rabble as stood by the Cross,

Not knowing their folly, not sensing their loss,

Flouting and scouting and wagging their head

Stand by in contempt while we weep o’er our dead,

Dishonoring the prophet of this, their own time.

And crowning him saint when the World sees their crime.

“Behold now the Man? — Or wait world-old way

To pay him the tribute we owe him today?

Stand reverently now, with uncovered head,

And look at ‘that Servant’ and honor the dead!

A man has gone from us, leaving none in his place,

Yet his Message of Truth men can never efface.

He’d the mind of a master, the heart of a child,

The courage of Caesar, a soul undefiled.

He’d the love of a father, a shepherd’s kind care,

The faults of a human and sympathy rare.

He lifted a standard and held it up high.

He lived — ready to live and ready to die!”

While we consider the office and work of the Parousia Messenger were much more important than that done by the Epiphany Messenger, we would stress our warm approval and appreciation of his character and the work he did. He valiantly and tenaciously retained and defended the Parousia Truth as given us through Brother Russell, and built his Epiphany structure upon that Truth. He emphasized that advancing Truth is not intended to destroy fundamental Truth already established, but simply enlarges and strengthens the Truth we already have; and we know from our own personal and intimate association with him that he was fully sincere in that belief. We were close personal friends and co-workers together from early in the Epiphany until the day of his death and we are indebted to him for much of our understanding on Jeremiah. So we say of him also, God bless his memory! We honor these faithful servants when we keep the faith “once delivered unto the saints.” God honored them by making them His mouthpieces, and it is our pleasure and privilege to honor whom God honors.

Sincerely your brother, John J.  Hoefle, Pilgrim

(Reprint No. 268, October 1977)

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QUESTION: – Does That Servant teach that the Epiphany and the “Time of Trouble” are one and the same, as does the Epiphany Messenger?

ANSWER: – Yes, That Servant teaches the same as the Epiphany Messenger on the “Time of Trouble.” Both teach that “The Time of Trouble” began in its wide sense in 1874, but in its narrow sense the “Time of Trouble” began in 1914 when the World War started. In its “narrow sense” – beginning the destruction of Christendom and the Nominal Church – the Epiphany and the “Great Tribulation” are one and the same. As most Truth people know, Sodom types Christendom and the Nominal Church, and Egypt types the world of mankind – this “present evil world.” (Rev. 11:8 – See Berean Comments)

In “The Battle of Armageddon”. Parousia book 4, is this: “Her destruction will have a beginning by the end of the appointed “Times of the Gentiles” – 1914.” And on p. 158 of this book: “These [the Little Flock] have no share in the judgment of great Babylon, but are previously enlightened and called out of her. (Rev. 18:4)” And from the Reprints we quote the following:

“To the very best of our ability we have endeavored to make clear that the parousia of our Lord is wholly different from His epiphaneia. 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 with 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 the gathering of the elect, we understand, has been in progress since October, 1874. It will continue until all of the “elect” shall have been gathered and glorified. 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 epiphaneia or apokalupsis of the Lord in power and great glory is not to the church, nor for the church, but to the world and for the world.” (Reprints 4543, bottom)

“Emphasizing the suddenness with which the calamity will overtake the world, Jesus said that on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained down fire and brimstone from heaven; and He declared that thus it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. The Greek text shows a difference between the parousia, or presence, of Christ before the time of trouble, and the later epiphaneia, or revealing,” (Reprints 5456, top, col. 2, par. 2)

“The Scriptures indicate that the Gentile governments will receive from their own peoples their first notice that their lease of power has expired. The people will take note of the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. The judgments of the Lord will begin to be manifest in the world, and will run counter to many of their interests. This manifestation of His presence is Scripturally called the epiphaneia, the shining forth, the revealment, of the King of Glory. ‘He shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (2 Thes. 1:7-10) As a result, the nations of earth will be broken to pieces like a potter’s vessel.—Psa. 2:8, 9” – (Reprints 5527, col. 2, ¶ 2)

There is more from That Servant that will prove that the Epiphany Messenger simply elaborated on his teachings regarding the “Time of Trouble,” or the Great Tribulation, as the Epiphany period, but what we have given will suffice for now. Quite a few of the brethren have lost sight of this Truth – even the LHMM, founded by the Epiphany Messenger, now teaches that we are in the beginning Basileia since 1954 – the overlapping of the Epiphany – when three major stages of the Great Tribulation are yet future. one section of the Epiphany brethren teaches that there are four periods – the Parousia, Epiphany, Apokalypse (a separate period) and the Basileia – something never taught by Brothers Russell and Johnson; nor do the Scriptures support this claim. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing (the Epiphany) and his kingdom (the Basileia).” The way the Apokalypsis brethren teach, this text should read: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing (the Epiphany) and at his revealing, or Apokalypsis (a separate period from his “appearing”) and his kingdom (Basileia).”

To some extent the LHMM teaches four periods of the Lord’s Second Advent – the Parousia, the Epiphany, the “Overlapping,” which will witness three more severe stages of the Great Tribulation, as well as the annihilation of the Man of Sin (2 Thes. 2:8), and the Basileia. Their “overlapping” has no similarity to the overlapping of the Parousia of 26 months (1914 to Nov. 1916).  As it is now more than 32 years overlapping, and we are not yet in Armageddon, the second stage of the Great Tribulation, with Anarchy and Jacob’s trouble still future after that.

We are living in the day when “they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Tim. 4:3,4) Some of the Lord’s people who have received present truth are now setting much of it aside for opinions of their own.  Some now say the end of the “Times of the Gentiles” is still future, and we are not in the “Time of Trouble” since 1914 - although some of the thinking worldlings realize the world is in a “Time of Trouble” such as has never been before.  Some deny our Lord’s presence; the Jehovah’s Witnesses are teaching that Armageddon will destroy not only this present system of things, but also annihilate all who do not join with them before Armageddon.  This is “bad news” to those whose eyes are blinded (?) and do not accept their teachings.  They teach that the world is not so blinded today, as not to be able to recognize the truth (?) they are now teaching - that when they have had a chance to “learn of them,” and don’t accept them, it will be their last chance.  This is much the same as the Papacy has taught: You must accept us, or receive eternal torment!

(By Brother Hoefle, Reprint in No. 268, October 1997)

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QUESTION: – Much has been said about the “repentant and believing” in the “finished picture” of the Epiphany Camp. Exactly what is meant by “repentant and believing” Jews and Gentiles?

ANSWER: – To repent means “to amend or resolve to amend one’s life as a result of con­trition for one’s sins.” (Webster) And “believing” means to accept Jesus as Savior. If they were sincere they began to practice righteousness and abhor sin. Such “repentant and believing” have entered the Court, and thereby received Tentative Justi­fication. This condition maintained put them in a position to consecrate, and if faith­ful would become one of the elect. This applies to all during the Gospel Age who were truly “repentant and believing”

However, the privilege of entering the Court is not given to the “repentant and believing” of those in the “finished picture” of the Epiphany. They do not enter the Court and do not receive Tentative Justification. But such people are in position to receive the Holy Spirit that is poured out “for all flesh” (Joel 2:28) when the New Cov­enant is inaugurated – before the unbelieving and unrepentant Jews and Gentiles can re­ceive the Holy Spirit, although it is poured out for all who eventually become “repentant and believing”

The question may be asked, Can such “repentant and believing” Jews and Gentiles con­secrate in the Epiphany Camp? Yes, of course, consecration is always in order. As That Servant has truly said, that is always the proper attitude for all mankind. However, to be “repentant and believing” and practice righteousness, is a consecration to do what is right insofar as they are able: Thus they practice duty-love toward God and Man. Consecration has two parts – one part by the consecrator, and the other part, God’s ac­ceptance. But God does not deal with Restitutionists, either during this Age or during the Mediatorial reign. He has put all Restitutionists in the hands of the Mediator ­Christ and the Church. When the New Covenant is inaugurated such “repentant and believ­ing” Jews and Gentiles will be among the first to receive the Kingdom blessings, as they gladly accept its requirements.

Cornelius was in much the same position at the beginning of the Age – before the door was opened for the Gentiles – as the “repentant and believing” Jews and Gentiles of the Epiphany Camp in the “finished picture.” The difference with Cornelius, God accepted his consecration when the “due time” arrived for the Gentiles to become prospec­tive members of Christ’s Body. But when the “due time” arrives for Restitutionists to receive the Holy Spirit, The Christ will accept their consecration.  The similarity of Cornelius and the “repentant and believing” Jews and Gentiles of the Epiphany Camp is this: That Servant has said, No doubt Cornelius and his house had already accepted Christ, because the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them “even while Peter yet spake.” However, God did not accept Cornelius’ consecration until the “due time” arrived. Nor will The Christ accept Restitutionists’ consecration until the “times of refreshing” have come (Acts 3:19-21), and the New Covenant is inaugurated.

Of course, when we speak of the “repentant and believing” we do not include the mere professors. There are many who claim to be “repentant and believing” but mere lip service and attendance at public worship is sometimes worse than nothing more than “tares ready for the burning,” as tares – not necessarily as people. Such are well de­scribed in Rev. 2:9: “I know the blasphemy of those which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.” “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly.” (Rom. 2:28)

It requires no great powers of discernment to perceive “too slack an appreciation of the Lord’s Word” among the multitudes of Christendom; and this same situation is be­coming increasingly apparent with many so-called Truth people. This may be because some of the leaders do not practice what they preach, and have become something like the Scribes: Jesus said of them, “Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.” (Matt. 23:3) And the Apostle Paul tells us in Heb. 5:12: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” Also in Rom. 2:21,22: “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou sayest a man should not commit adultery, doest thou commit adultery? thou that abhorest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?” However, we believe that there are many leaders among the Truth groups who are sincere in preaching the Truth they have received, and practice righteousness accordingly. Nevertheless, God not only holds the leaders responsible for the Truth they know, but also for the Truth they could know; and that not only applies to the leaders, but to all of God’s people.

Although there was no Great Company as a Class during That Servant’s lifetime, yet he well realized that many with him were not saints. During the last ten years of his life he wrote copiously about the Great Company – prompted, no doubt, by his observa­tion of those closely associated with him. He said if he hadn’t found such a Class in the Scriptures, that he would be looking for such a Class in the Scriptures. And his opinion of those around him was fully corroborated very soon after his death – when the real character of those people came to the surface. Clearly enough, they had built their house “upon the sand,” and the frailty of their foundation soon became apparent to close observers. Such, however, are not “tares,” although they have much the same ex­perience in the end of the Age: They will come out of “great tribulation.” (Rev. 7:14)

Such crown-losers must not only repent of their sins against their covenant, but they must also be converted. Conversion from the Bible standpoint is the entire pro­cess of turning from depravity into the image of God. But when they become repentant of their partially willful sins, and converted, God will receive them. “Know you, That he who turns back a sinner from his Path of Error will save his Soul from Death (the Second Death), and will cover a Multitude of Sins.” (Jas. 5:20, Dia.) However, there is much more to true repentance than mere remorse for evil deeds. In strict Scriptural definition, it includes intellectual conviction of sin (John 8:9); heart’s sorrow of sin (Prov. 28:13; Matt. 3:8); confession of sin (Ezra 10:1; Prov. 28:13; Acts 19:18); restitution for sin (Lev. 6:4,5; Ezek. 33:15; Luke  9:8); and opposition to sin (Rom. 7:15,19,23).

All of the foregoing should be considered as vital requirement to classify any one as a “repentant and believing” member of the Epiphany Camp “in the finished picture.”

(By Brother Hoefle Reprint No. 285, March 1979)

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QUESTION. – Is there any difference between “Death” and “Annihilation”?

ANSWER. – The Standard Dictionary, our best authority on such matters, gives the following definition of Annihilate: (1) To put out of existence; destroy absolutely; reduce to nothing. (2) To destroy the identity of. Its synonym is, Exterminate, i.e., destroy entirely. Words are only vehicles for conveying thought, and much depends upon the vehicle which best expresses your meaning in the question. The spark of animal energy which God supplied to Adam and which he, in turn, dispensed to his offspring, but which was forfeited for him and for his posterity by his act of disobedience, passes at death from the individual as absolutely as it does from a brute beast. The word “life,” however, as used in a large number of instances, does not stand merely for the spark of animal energy, but is a synonym for soul or being.

In God's purpose or arrangement this being has not in death become extinct, exterminated, annihilated; for he has provided for it a future.  There is, however, no sentient being in the sense of consciousness, or knowledge, or appreciation of pain or of joy, or any other experience. But the Divine Creator, who first gave being, has declared that in the case of Adam and his children it is  His purpose to provide a Redeemer, through whom all may be restored as completely as before they came under the death sentence.

The world, who do not recognize God or His power, and who have no knowledge of the promise of resurrection through the merit of Christ's redemptive work, might properly enough speak of one in death as being extinct, as a dead animal. This is the standpoint of the agnostic. But by believers, instructed of God respecting His purpose in Christ and in the resurrection of the dead eventually, and in the opportunity of eternal life to every one, this matter is to be viewed from the same standpoint from which our Lord viewed it when He said, “He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live [or are alive] unto Him” (Luke 20:38); or as the Apostle Paul stated when he spoke of “God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17); that is, God purposes their awakening, and speaks of the present condition of Adamic death as merely a suspension of life, and not as annihilation, extermination, extinction.

By That Servant, Reprint 5041, Col. 1 and 2

NO. 382: DOUBTS AND MISGIVINGS OF GOD’S PEOPLE

No. 382

As we ponder the actions and attitudes of Bible records, we may readily come to the conclusion that some of the best and most prominent of Jews and Christians have had their faith sorely tried at times – even to the extent that they found it diffi­cult to believe the direct plain statement of God Himself.

MOSES – THE EMANCIPATOR

As instance Moses, when he was told, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” —Ex 3:10 “And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” —Ex. 3:11 Pass­ing by the remainder of Chapter Three, we come now to Ex. 4:1: “Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.” This translation is misleading in its first clause – “they will not be­lieve me.” Moses in this instance is typical of our Lord’s return in 1874 to deliver spiritual Israel and to establish the Kingdom; and the conversation between God and Moses is typical of the Second Advent preparations. Therefore, we cannot believe that Jesus would tell God that the people will not believe; rather, the correct translation should be, “They may not believe me.”

It is written of Moses that he was “the meekest (most leadable, most teachable) man in all the earth” (Num. 12:3), so we should not assume that he would make bold contradiction when God spoke to him. However, we cannot but make reasonable allow­ance for Moses here. For the first forty years of his life he had lived in the King’s palace in Egypt – at that time a formidable military power among the nations; whereas, the Israelites had no military equipment whatever. Thus, Moses would readily consider his mission impossible of performance. Humanly speaking, this certainly was a reason­able conclusion on his part, because the Jews were then slaves – subdued and unwarlike. This was a far cry from the time that Joseph was prime minister in Egypt – at which time Jacob and his entire household were received into the royal friendship and hospi­tality of Pharaoh. But at the time of Moses’ mission there had arisen a “Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” (Ex. 1:8)

And God, wishing to increase his courage and his confidence, then proceeded to give Moses the three miraculous signs of the rod turned into serpent, then back to rod again; of Moses’ hand become leprous, then restored to its former health; and third, the water of the river would be turned into blood. (Ex. 4:1-9) But Moses continued, “I am not eloquent... slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” (v. 10) However, upon God’s insistence, he went to Egypt as he had been instructed. And in due course he brought Israel out of Egypt “with high hand,” and across the Red Sea and away from the pursuing Egyptian army; then fully convinced that God could and would perform whatever He promised.

It is stated of Moses that he was probably the grandest character that ever lived; and his experience foregoing should convince all of us that God will never tell any of us to do anything that we cannot do. Yet God’s experience with Moses had to be repeated several times in subsequent years.  Jeremiah answered substantially as did Moses, “I can­not speak, for I am a child.” (Jer. 1:6) And in this he was typical of Brother Russell in the early harvest. He also concluded that he did not have the capacity to proclaim the Harvest message, but he, too, eventually learned that he did have the talents required for the job, and he certainly accomplished his mission in a most excellent manner.

A great failing of some of God’s most laudable servants is that they often expected the wrong thing at the right time or the right thing at the wrong time. Also, on oc­casion they failed to comprehend the right thing at the right time when it was presented to them. This was pronouncedly true of the Jews at the First Advent. “He came to His own, and his own received him not.” (John 1:11) “They knew not the time of their visita­tion.” (Luke 19:44) He was indeed the “light of life”; but “the light shineth in dark­ness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)  But of those that did receive Him, their understanding of what was going on was very vague and confused until they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Pertinent to the above is the experience of the two disciples on their way to Em­maus, as recorded in Luke 24:13–31. When the risen Lord joined them on the way there, the conversation speedily turned to the death of Jesus three days before; and one of them said, “We had trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” (v.21) But now they were much confused. Their timing was right in that Jesus was the Messiah, but they were completely wrong in what they expected at that time; and this improper expectation had placed a great strain on their faith when Jesus failed to do what they had expected Him to do then. On the way to Emmaus Jesus had said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? Even after they were convinced that Jesus had been raised a spirit being, they were still much confused, as note their question to Him just before He finally left them to go to Heaven: “Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

JOHN THE BAPTIST

By way of introduction, Jesus had said of John, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” (Matt. 11:11) It will be recalled that John was only six months older than Jesus, which means he was probably engaged in his ministry at Jordan for six months before Jesus came to be immersed by him. However, as boys and young men they had grown up together, probably had discussed their various destinies, because we may take it for granted (although the Bible does not specifically say so) that their mothers had told them the words that the respective an­gels had told them (Luke 1:11–64); and it seems this had thoroughly convinced John that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Therefore, he immediately exclaimed, as Jesus was ap­proaching him, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man which is in advance of me: for he is my su­perior.” (John 1:29-30, Dia.)

Thus, when John was preaching repentance to the Jews, it would seem he stressed that the Messiah was soon to appear; and that would undoubtedly prod the Jews to ex­piate any known violations of the Law, because the nation from the least to the great­est was thoroughly imbued with the thought that the Messiah would some day appear. Yet, as firmly as John was convinced at Jordan, having seen the spirit “descending from heaven like a Dove, and it abode upon him” (v. 32), he later began seriously to doubt his own statement regarding Jesus, because he sent “two of his disciples to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” (Luke 7:19) At that time John was sitting in prison awaiting execution by Herod; but he, along with the Jews in general, were expecting the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel when the Mes­siah would appear. In line with this, we now quote a major portion of an article to be found in Reprints 2620 (April 15, 1900):

“While Jesus was performing many miracles, making numerous disciples, and meet­ing with comparatively little opposition, things were going very differently with his cousin, John the Baptizer. Yet this was only in accordance with what John himself had prophesied, saying ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ John was in prison about 120 miles from where Jesus was laboring so successfully. To be shut up in a dark dungeon of the kind usual at that time, and to have our Lord proceeding with his work, and raising no voice of protest on his behalf, and exercising none of his mighty power for his deliverance, probably seemed very strange to John – especially in view of his expectations respecting the work of the Messiah – that he would be a great earth­ly general and king, in harmony with the general Jewish expectations.

“We see how readily John might have permitted doubts and fears to enter his mind...  He might have lost all faith in God’s providential dealings in the past, and all heart and hope for the present and future... This is indicated in his sending two of his disciples to Jesus, to make the inquiry, and also in the character of the inquiry. He does not say, Is this whole matter a farce, and are we deluded? but on the contrary his question was a sound one, and expresses the conviction that thus far the Lord has been leading, and that the only doubt in the prophet’s mind was whether or not, as he was the forerunner of Jesus, Jesus in turn, greater than he, might be the forerunner of some one else still greater and yet to come. And strictly speaking, this was exactly the case, for Jesus in the flesh was indeed the forerunner and preparer of the way be­fore the still greater glorified Christ of the Second Advent, who will accomplish the great and wonderful things foretold by all the holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:21-23)

“Our Lord, it will be noticed, did not answer John’s question directly – he did not say there was not another coming and still greater work than that which he was per­forming, but he did give John to understand distinctly that the work he was doing was the very work which had been foretold in the prophets, and the proper thing to be done at that time. While John’s messengers were with Jesus a number of miracles were performed in their sight, and Jesus sent them back to John with instructions that they bear witness to him of the work of the Lord progressing in his hands, and to say to John that while the opportunities to stumble at Jesus, his work and his words, were many, and while many would stumble at these, as the prophet had declared (Isa. 8:14), yet a special blessing would rest upon all who would not stumble, but whose faith in the Lord would continue despite various disappointments of expectation respecting his work and their fulfillment’s – through misapprehension of the lengths and breadths and the heights and depths of the Divine Plan, which, as the heavens are higher than the earth, were higher than human conception could have foreseen. For instance, what Jew could have thought for a moment of the still higher than Jewish expectations of the kingdom ­of the spiritual kingdom class to be selected first before the establishment of the earthly kingdom.

 “All of the Lord’s faithful servants need to remember the same lessons which were thus forcefully impressed upon John: they need to remember that when sometimes matters turn out very differently with themselves than what they had expected, when they receive injuries, reproaches and oppression, as the rewards of faithfulness to duty and to truth, it does not mean that God has forgotten them, nor that they were misled in their prev­ious service to the Lord; nor does it mean that the Lord has changed his plan; nor that he is careless or indifferent respecting their condition. True, their first thought should be whether or not present unfavorable conditions are in the nature of chastise­ments or the results of any misdoing on their part, or failures to serve the Lord in his own way, but if they find their course to be harmonious with the Divine will and word they should at once rest their faith upon the Lord, and conclude that God knows better than they how to manage his own work.

Then while thankful to be used in that work for a time – perhaps for the good of others, or perhaps for their own training in the school of experience, and in the learning of lessons of patience and of faith..... The question arises, Was John imprisoned on account of officiousness – on account of trying to mind Herod’s business? Or was he imprisoned because of his faithfulness in discharge of that duty? Was it right or was it wrong for him to reprove the King, and to say to him that it was not lawful for him to take as his wife his brother Philip’s wife? There is no question that Herod was in the wrong, and that John’s expression on the subject was a correct one, and that Herod was living in adultery, but the question is, Was this any of John’s business? Did he need to meddle with the King’s affairs, and thus get himself into trouble? And if it was John’s duty to reprove Herod on this subject, was it not the duty of our Lord Jesus to have done the same, and in addition to have uttered a protest against the imprisonment of John, and in general to have raised a great hubbub over the injustice being done by the wicked ruler? And if John was right in this mat­ter, was our Lord Jesus wrong in not following the same course? Or if Jesus was right in not following John’s course in reproving Herod, does it prove that John erred in giv­ing the reproof?

“We answer that our Lord’s conduct is certainly to be considered as above reproach, since in him was no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth’; but this does not prove guile and sin on John’s part in following a different course. We are to remem­ber that in many respects John and his ministry differed widely from our Lord and his ministry. For instance, the uncouth skin-girdle which John wore was very different from the seamless robe which the Lord wore; and the Scriptures call attention to the fact that John lived a very abstemious life, ‘neither eating nor drinking’ ordinary food, but practicing a continual fasting or self-denial as respects these comforts, while our Lord Jesus came ‘both eating and drinking,’ attended wedding feasts and banquets made in his honor. The lesson is that these grand characters each fulfilled his own mission, according to the Divine arrangement, but that they had different missions. John’s mis­sion was pre-eminently that of a reprover and a reformer, and we are to understand that as a prophet he was supernaturally guided in respect to the various features of the course which he took. Our Lord’s mission, on the contrary, was a different one; he was gathering to himself those whom John’s ministry served to arouse to righteousness and to zeal to know and do the Lord’s will.”

We may have warm sympathy with John for his doubts that Jesus was the Messiah, be­cause John – in common with the entire Jewish nation – was expecting a great leader who would relieve them from the Roman yoke, yet there was nothing in Jesus’ ministry to indicate such action: He even ordered them to pay tribute to Caesar. (Matt. 22:15–21)  “ ...He hath no form nor comeliness... no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isa. 53:2)

“THIS MOSES” – ANOTHER TYPE

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount (where God was giving him the ten commandments on the two tables of stone), the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go be­fore us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what has become of him.” (Ex. 32:1) The setting in this Chapter of Exodus types the happenings of the Gospel Age shortly after the Apostles passed out of the pic­ture. It had its antitypical beginning in the third epoch of the Gospel-Age Church ­in the Pergamos period (Rev. 2:12), which spanned the years between 313 and 799 AD, at the beginning of which the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great embraced Christianity.

It is well to inject here a little of the history of this Emperor. His acceptance of Christianity is closely associated with his rise to power. After his victory over Licinius in 324, he wrote that he had come from the farthest shores of Britain as God’s chosen instrument for the suppression of impiety... aided by the divine power of God, he had come from the shores of the ocean to bring peace and prosperity to all lands.

He also fought the battle of the Milvian Bridge in the name of the Christian God, having received instructions in a dream to paint the Christian monogram on his troops’ shields. Eusebius tells of a vision by Constantine, in which the Christian sign ap­peared in the sky with the legend, “In this sign conquer.” These stories may be some­what fabricated and politically motivated, although this meant very little in a time when Greek or Roman expected that political success followed from religious piety. Thus, it should not be thought unusual that Constantine would seek divine help for his claim for power, and divine justification for his success in gaining his goals. However, the historian places much more stress upon Constantine’s subsequent development of his new “Christian” religious alliance to quite an extreme personal commitment to the Christian faith.

By 313 he had already donated to the Bishop of Rome the imperial property of the Lateran, where a new cathedral, the Basilica Constantiniana, soon rose. It was in these early years of his reign that he began issuing laws conveying upon the church and its clergy fiscal and legal privileges and immunities from civic burdens. He commented that the Christian clergy should not be distracted by secular offices from their relig­ious duties – “for when they are free to render supreme service to the Divinity, it is evident that they confer great benefit upon the affairs of state.” From the foregoing it is easy to understand why the church from 313 to 719 is styled the Pergamos period, because the word Pergamos means “earthly elevation”; and it was during this period that great temporal strides were made with the help of various Roman emperors. It was in 539 that Justinian also made great concessions to the church, thus in that year, be­ginning the 1260 years of papal exaltation and eventual political supremacy.

It was in May 325 that Constantine personally opened the Council of Nice with an address to that assembly. At that Council there was great debate over the Trinity; but the subject was really over the Emperor’s head, so he described it as a subject that was fostered only by excessive leisure and academic contention – that the point at issue was trivial. The Council was held just twenty years after Constantine came to power; and he was finally persuaded by the general assembly to banish Arius and two of his supporters from the Roman Empire, at which time the three of them went to North Africa and developed a thriving Christian colony there. Those three had contended that there is but “one God.” As we study the 32d Chapter of Exodus it is easy to under­stand the similarity of what occurred there to what happened in the antitype – in the Pergamos period from 313 to 799.

The strong hope and belief of the Apostolic Age was that our Lord would soon re­turn to claim His bride and establish the Kingdom for which He had taught them to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth.” This belief found much encouragement at the Sea of Tiberias, as recorded in the 21st Chapter of John’s Gospel. There Jesus was prodding Peter over the three times he had denied Jesus on the night before He died. In that conversation Jesus told him that he would come to a violent end, upon which Peter pointed to “that disciple that Jesus loved” (the Apostle John) and asked the ques­tion, “Lord, what shall this man do?” This finds a much clearer translation in the Diaglott: “Lord, what of this man?” To which Jesus answered, “If I wish him to abide till I come, what is it to thee?” and verse 23 continues: “This report, therefore, went out among the brethren, that that disciple would not die; but Jesus did not say to him, ‘that he shall not die’; but if I wish him to abide till I come, what is it to thee.”

Jesus had charged the disciples with the duty of hoping and watching for His re­turn, but He had not told them how long that would be. If He had told them that it would be almost two thousand years before He came again, no doubt many of them would have quit. The Jewish Harvest had long been completed; and He had not returned. The second epoch – the Smyrna period of nearly 250 years had also come and gone, but He had not returned. Thus, it was easy to come to the conclusion that He intended to remain in Heaven – not come back to earth at all. Very early in the Pergamos period, the doubts and misgivings of many throughout Christendom now become accepted as fact, so the people appealed to the hierarchy and the priests to provide them with some powerful substitutes for what they had expected in the Kingdom (Up, make us gods), to prepare ways for them to go (go before us), saying that, while Jesus had brought them out of bondage to sin and error in Satan’s empire (brought us up out of the land of Egypt), yet they were at a loss to account for His whereabouts, condition and non-return (“we know not what is become of him”).

The hierarchy and the priests (antitypical Aaron—v. 2) told the people to do what the priests knew was a violation of their Divine understanding of the Lord’s Word, for it implied surrender of the Truth and its perversion into error, held by their churches, movements, powers and qualities, and to bring these understandings into the control of the hierarchy and the priests. Thus the priests took those proper under­standings into their charge and changed them into error. The hierarchy, at that time claiming apostolic succession, arrogated to themselves the custodianship of doctrine and practice; and in their arrogance perverted both; then elaborated them in great detail and subtlety by their keen minds.

From the year 100 (right after the death of the Apostle John) to 325 AD was a period of the rise of sectarianism and fundamental error, including union of the Church with the Roman Empire.  When Constantine accepted Christianity, he brought with him many of the abominable practices of pagan Rome. Following are the main errors of doc­trine and practice that constituted the antitypical golden calf (vs. 4-6): (1) The Church consisting of all professed Christians visibly organized under the hierarchy, must convert the world and reign over it 1000 years before Christ’s return (post-Millen­nialism). Augmenting this thought, the abomination eventually came to the full when Charlemagne (probably born in 742; died 814) forced most of the Christian world in Eu­rope to combine into one superstate, after which – in 799 – he invited the Church to dominate in civil as well as religious affairs, thus beginning the Holy Roman Empire. This arrangement continued for 1000 years to 1799, completing the supposed 1000-year reign of Christ, which history has now proven to have been a counterfeit reign; and it accomplished just the reverse of what the real 1000-year reign will accomplish when it comes fully into power.

Other errors that arose during or shortly after that time were the Trinity; Christ the God-man; The Spirit a person; worship of Mary and the saints as mediators, and of their relics and images; purgatory; The mass for the sins of the living and dead, and for release from Purgatory; celibacy of the priests; monasticism; a gorgeous ritual; asceticism; excessive penances; secularization of the Church and professed Christians; persecution of dissenters; Church made a civil power; forced conversion, etc. After establishing each of their errors the priests declared it to be a part of the creed of true Christians, as distinct from the alleged errors – actually truths ­that they displaced. Thus they displaced God’s true Plan and set up another – a coun­terfeit plan. They also began to agitate for a special mode of religious exercise ­which they claimed to be for the Lord: they embellished the religious service with singing and entertainment by special talented persons. (This same procedure accounts for much of the success of “successful” evangelists even in our time.) Speedily forgot­ten are the words of Jesus, “The kingdom of heaven cometh not with outward show.” (Luke 17:20, Dia.)

They made and kept vows according to their new religious creed and practices. They also entered into a thorough union of state and church, which had its beginning shortly after Constantine publicly espoused Christianity, and began to overthrow in war the heathen party in 313 AD. It was at Nice in 325 that the Apostles’ Creed was formulated, the same being repeated in many churches every Sunday even to this day. The evils of doctrine and practice that appeared during the Pergamos period – from 313 to 799 – were gradually enlarged and solidified during the epochs that followed. The Truth and its arrangements as first taught by Jesus and the Apostles were gradually very much changed or completely lost.

THE CRUSADES

The Holy Roman Empire may be said to have its official beginning in 799, but in subsequent years (during the Thyatira and Sardis periods), it increased greatly in prominence and power so that the true followers of Christianity were almost completely submerged. Their number was comparatively very small and often impoverished; they were forced to seek refuge in the catacombs to avoid detection and great persecution. In anticipation of this situation, the Apostle John wrote concerning the fifth epoch of the Church: “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” The general Christian mo­rale at that time was at a very low ebb; the large majority displayed very little of the sublime characteristics that had been taught by Jesus and the Apostles; and this condi­tion is graphically typified in Ex. 32:25: “Moses saw that the people were naked (de­void of Christian qualities); for Aaron (typical of the priesthood) had made them naked to their shame.”

Much of the same condition exists today, with quite a few claiming to be “in the truth,” but they are not “of the truth.” (John 18:37) We are living in that “evil day” (Eph. 6:13), when “Perilous times shall come” upon the Household of Faith. People are very much confused over the different religious views being taught in our day; and they are more likely to accept any hokus-pokus rather than accept the Truth. “They will not endure sound doctrine... they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” They are “Ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim. 4:3, 4; 3:7) But those who are “of the truth” will hear His voice. (18:37) Our Lord asked: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith (Truth) on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) – inti­mating it would be scarce.

However, during the time of the Thyatira and Sardis periods of the Church great progress was made in military might and power to persecute all dissenters. It was dur­ing this time that the nominal Church – for it was Christian in name only – decided to institute a crusade to wrest the Holy Land from the terrible Turk. It could be said there were seven crusades in all, the first of which was known as the People’s Crusade, and began with papal support in 1095. It ended in complete failure, as did all the fol­lowing ones. The second began in 1146; also defeated.

The City of Jerusalem was completely subdued in 1187; and Richard the Lion-hearted of England tried to recapture it, but failed to do so. About this time the church mem­bers were urged to take the “Crusade Vow,” which would obligate them to join expeditions to the Holy Land. However, if the one making the vow later had a change of heart, or could not go for some special reason, he could hire some one to go in his place, the price for such substitution depending upon the ability of the person to pay. This was somewhat akin to the sale of indulgences which was prevalent in Luther’s time.

Then there were a couple of children’s crusades, the first of which was led by a boy named Stephen, who claimed Jesus had appeared to him in a vision. He was told the Holy Land would more readily be recaptured by love rather than by military might. He gathered around him about 30,000 children; but they fell prey to disreputable merchants, who shipped them to the slave markets in North Africa. Then in Germany a ten-year-old boy named Nicholas gathered about 20,000 boys; but they also were sold to the slave mar­kets of the East.

GENERALITIES

The various efforts to do what was thought to be God’s will, but were proven by time itself to have been nothing but “strong delusions” (2 Thes. 2:11), were prompted largely by the doubts and misgivings of so-called Christians, who thought the Lord was not moving fast enough. Such situations occurred repeatedly – after the work of most of the reformers. The first of these occurred after the Apostles passed away. They gave the Church complete instruction, and had it completely organized for the work it should do (See Eph. 4:11-13); but one of the proofs of human depravity is the rise of corruption after a season of good development in most human movements.

Not only was this true after the Apostles had died, but it was also true of just about every reform movement of the entire Gospel Age. The Lutheran Church today bears little resemblance to the one Luther started; the same may be said of John Wesley, of William Miller, and especially so here in the end of the Age, when new groups sprang up like mushrooms. Every system of error has some good in it; otherwise no one would believe it. This is even true of the Mormon religion, which is probably the most ex­treme of all the fanatical sects. Of all the Truth groups it is our firm belief there are many good Christians in all of them, with many doing excellent work in “preaching the Word.”    To his own Lord each man must stand or fall, so we do not attempt to pass judgment upon individuals in general. Thus we speak here of systems – and not of in­dividuals.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Prov. 4:7); and “In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall di­rect thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6)

Sincerely your brother, John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim (Reprint No. 262, April 1, 1977

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sir:

I found a copy of your magazine dated 3/1‑78 and received literature from you in 1977 and after my husband died, then I lost track of your publications. My 22‑year‑old daughter died in March of this year. I need to know from the Bible if these are the last days, what the parable of the Sheep and Goats mean – also if people who are killed in Armageddon will have a resurrection along with the others. I know the Bible speaks of a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. I want to know if Jesus is picking the ones now who will survive Armageddon. I need to know if the Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones who will survive Armageddon and if I stand a chance of seeing my husband and daughter again in the New Earth the Bible talks about in Revelation.

There are so many things I don't know and understand. I want to be a child of God and have everlasting life. Any information you can send me I will greatly appreciate. Also, who is Babylon the Great in Revelation? I am searching the Scriptures and want to know the right course to take. Sincerely, ------- (MICHIGAN)

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Dear Brethren in the Lord:

Warm Christian greetings in the name of our Lord, Redeemer and King! Thank you very much for sending regularly your monthly papers which I enjoy reading, although I must admit I don't agree 100% with what I read in it. But perhaps 90% is a good average. You must know that there are no two Bible Students in the world who agree 100% on everything. Still we do get along. So please keep sending your papers.

Since I know it costs money to print and mail, I am enclosing a donation to help along in meeting expenses. With every good wish for showers of blessings on you and your work,

I am your brother in the Lord Jesus, -------  (CONNECTICUT)

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Dear Mrs. Hoefle:

Thank you for the additional book on Pastor Russell. I placed it in the local library where perhaps many people will read it.

Thank you also for sending the book, "The Time Is At Hand." I have already read it and found it very interesting, I feel I understand it. Also, I would love to read the other three in the set. Since I read "The Divine Plan of the Ages" nearly thirty years ago, I have searched for the remaining books. Is there anyway I could get them?

Sincerely, ------- (NORTH CAROLINA)

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My dear Sister Hoefle: Christian greetings!

I hope you are well and keeping spiritually, physically and mentally tuned up for all your requirements. It has been quite a while since I wrote you, knowing, of course, you have been kept busy in the Lord's work.

Looking at developments in the world I surely see God's predictions coming true in many ways ‑ unmistakably so. Prophecy fulfillment certainly give evidence of God's foreknowledge – knowing the end from the beginning, especially knowing the effect of disobedience, the rebelliousness of human nature, with all its results. Surely, God's Kingdom is the hope that we can rely on – and having the experience of seeing sin's effect on the nations with no formula forthcoming from the cream of the world's human brains.

As yet, Sister, I do not have any local fellowship with anyone – only some postal contacts of Truth people. Many have passed on... I feel very much blessed with the understanding of the Divine Plan of God, and I am always happy to give it to the meek.

I receive Brother Horowitz' papers – some very revealing articles therein. I have studied sufficiently Jewish history to support the Jewish Cause.

I continue to enjoy the papers and appreciate very much, Sister, your prayers. God Bless thee, and keep thee. Numbers 7:24‑26 to all at Mount Dora.

With Christian love, ------- (ENGLAND)

NO. 381: TAKE, MY BRETHREN, THE PROPHETS PART ELEVEN

No. 381

OBADIAH – There is just one short chapter to this book, and little is known about the Prophet himself. The name means Servant of Yahveh, or worshiper of Yahveh. There are at least twelve men mentioned in the Old Testament who bear this name. However, our only concern here is with the Prophet himself.

The main theme of his writing is the punishment to come upon Edom, a heathen neighbor of Judah. Edom in this book seems to be a type of Christendom, particularly here in the end of the Age. There is wide difference of opinion on the time that the Prophet lived, some contending that he lived before the conquest of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in the Fall of 607 BC. Others, with equal vigor, place it after that date. Some capable men think it is about the fifth century BC because it foretells the imminent destruction of Edom as a nation – about the time of Malachi.

Obadiah uses some of the identical phrases to be found in Isaiah, which would prove only that he was quite familiar with the writings of the major prophet. It is the shortest book of the Old Testament, consisting of but one chapter of 21 verses; and is marked by vigorous poetic language. Much of the prophecy consists of God’s own words to personified Edom, which feature gives a direct and personal quality to the book. He uses striking comparisons. He says that the fatness of Edom is like an eagle’s nest high up on the mountain; the plunderers of Edom are compared to night thieves. Edom’s crimes are listed in order in verses 10‑14; and the destruction is sure to come, even as Israel is to be fully restored after the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The entire prophecy derives its incentive and strength from the great Truth, clearly discerned by other holy men of God, that the Day of Jehovah is coming upon all nations (vs. 15) to the destruction of every foe, native and foreign, of God’s rule on earth and the Kingdom shall be the Lord Jehovah ‘s. The prophecy is very generally ascribed by most capable writers to the Chaldean period, when Jerusalem was alternately subject to the king of Egypt and the king of Babylon, and was finally captured by Nebuchadnezzar in the Fall of 607 BC, at which time the Temple was razed to the ground, and its inhabitants carried into captivity to Babylon ‑ where they remained for threescore and ten years. (2 Chron. 36:21)

At that time Edom (type of Christendom) was severely criticized by the prophets of that era, because Edom gave its sympathy to the Chaldeans. Thus the prophecy in the place it occupies in the Bible has no relation to the date of its composition, which, as we have stated, is not clearly given anywhere in the Bible or in secular history. It should be emphasized here that Obadiah does not stress the fall of Jerusalem, the burning of the Temple, the razing of the walls, and the annihilation of the city.

The hostile attitude of Edom had been of long standing (in the antitype it occupied the major years of the Gospel Age) and the feeling against Edom had been voiced by Amos more than a century before the Chaldean invasion. Jerusalem had been plundered by the Egyptians in the time of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25, 26), by Arabians and Philistines in the reign of Jehoram (2 Chron. 21:16, 17); and in the reign of Amaziah, who slaughtered the Edomites, the king of Israel entered Jerusalem, broke down the wall of the city, plundered the Temple and palace, and carried off hostages. (2 Kings 14:13, 14; 2 Chron. 25:11, 12, 23, 24) These events may have instigated Edom’s unbrotherly spirit, which Obadiah rebukes.

It is not our wish to discuss every line in this prophecy, but a few excerpts may prove helpful: verse 15 tells us that “the day of the Lord is near.” Considering the fact that this prophecy was written some 2,500 years ago it seems far away. However, when we reckon time from God’s standpoint, then it is near: “A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psa. 90:4) Viewing it in this broad sense, 2,500 years would be but 21 days. Even we would consider such a stupendous matter as near if it were stated as just 21 days. Then verse 16 states that the heathen (all incorrigible unbelievers) “shall be as though they had not been.” And this is very directly stated concerning Babylon the Great: “Thus with violence shall the great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” (Rev. 18:21) In almost all civilized countries today – and in many heathen countries the violent are presently resorting to violence. “There was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in.” (2 Chron. 15:5) So we need not say “the Day of the Lord is near.” We may say, it is here; and this is our strong assurance ‑ that the Kingdom is knocking at the door. In Acts 3:21 it is recorded that “the times of restitution of all things [the Kingdom] which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets” shall come; and, since Obadiah is one of the holy prophets, we should logically expect to find where he had also spoken about it; and so we do find: “Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” (verse 21) And may our readers lift up their heads and rejoice as we ponder that great Kingdom which lies just ahead of us in the immediate future.

MICAH

There is very little record of Micah’s life other than in the Scriptures. One authority says that Micah lived in Judah, but he prophesied for Israel as well as Judah. It is thought that the latter part of the prophecy belongs to the reign of Manasseh. The prophecy consists of four discourses. The sins of Micah’s time were of the most flagrant nature. The people were misled by deceivers, the poor were ground under the heel of oppressors. The prophet’s deep sympathy with those who are wronged, and his indignation against those who exercise cruelty give us a picture of the condition of the day.

Micah is one of the holy prophets mentioned in Acts 3:21 who prophesied of the “Restitution of all things” in Messiah’s Kingdom. He emphasizes the fact that Messiah is the hope of the world. Education, culture, legislation, politics, cannot save the world. In the shifting of foundations, the breaking up of the moral, religious and social orders, with growing disintegration, the hope of the world is the Messianic Kingdom in which His redeeming power shall extend from pole to pole.

“The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezakiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.” (1:1, 2)

“Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.” (2:1) “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil can come upon us.” (3:11)

This not only has application to Israel at that time, but also to Christendom of our day. “They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” (Isa. 56:11) That Servant tells us: “With honors and titles go salaries, not according to the minister’s needs, but on the commercial basis of his ability to attract large congregations and wealthy people.” (F‑286)

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” (4:1) “Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains [kingdoms], and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people [with His professed people], and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” (6:1‑4)

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob [Israel], and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” (7:18‑20)

The following by That Servant is a beautiful picture of the Messianic Kingdom:

“The Kingdom Of Peace – ‘Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ (Micah 4:3) The whole world has for a long time been boasting that civilization and Christianity have won the day, that the world has become God’s Empire and that the blessings of the Millennium are ours to enjoy. Aid Conferences and Peace Councils and Peace Commissions have flared up for the moment only to die down. The cry of ‘Peace, peace,’ has brought no peace. We are beginning to see that we have been deceiving ourselves into thinking that the nations of the earth are kingdoms of God. We are beginning to see that the Bible styles them ‘kingdoms of this world,’ kingdoms of the Gentiles, and that it tells us that ‘the Prince of this world, who now worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience,’ is Satan, the usurper, ‘a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth.’

“We see it all. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, for which the Master taught us to pray, has not yet come. We are glad, however, that the Divine promise assures us that it will come and explains to us that the All‑Wise Creator is now, first of all, preparing for His Kingdom by gathering from amongst mankind a worthy, saintly few, to be associates of their King and Redeemer in that Kingdom of glory, by which the world will be blessed.

“But all are not yet convinced of these Bible truths. Some point to the coins of the various kingdoms, which declare that ‘In God we trust,’ and that the several emperors and kings of the earth are reigning ‘by the grace of God’ and claiming that they are of Divine appointment; while the Pope also makes the still greater claim that he is the personal representative of Messiah and His Kingdom and the only one authorized to reign over and govern the kings of the earth.

“To convince the more prejudiced nothing further should be necessary along these lines than to point out the difference between present conditions and those which the Scriptures declare will prevail when He who redeemed the world by the sacrifice of Himself will take His great power and reign as Messiah, the King of glory, to put down sin in its every form and death in its every form and release and uplift all the willing and obedient of the families of the earth ‑ including those who have gone down into the great prison‑house of death ‑ the grave, sheol, hades.” (Reprint 4795, cols. 1, 2)

“Pray For Messiah’s Kingdom – The hope for humanity is the Messianic Kingdom. The ‘mountain of the Lord’s house’ signifies the kingdom of God’s house, His Church. It will be established in the top of, or above the kingdoms of the world. It will be exalted amongst the nations and all the peoples will flow to it. There will be an attraction in it for all peoples. It will lead them to climb upward. The attraction which will thus draw mankind will be the blessings of health and restitution, which the kingdom will be prepared to grant to all peoples as they shall come into harmony with its requirements. (Acts 3:19‑23)

“That kingdom will be closely identified with the Zionist movement and the Holy Land. The Kingdom itself will be spiritual, invisible to men, but its earthly agents will be visible and they will be Jewish – ‘Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom,’ etc. (Matt. 8:11) The Jews, already impulsed toward the Land of Promise, will go thither in increasing numbers, and all of the faithful of them will go in sympathy and representatively, through financial assistance. The Israelitish hopes and promises will attract that number strongly first. And gradually all the nations, learning of the Grace of God, and the blessings of restitution to be bestowed, will say, ‘Come, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us [as well as the Jews] of his ways and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.’ (Isa. 2:3; Micah 4:2)

“Micah 4:3 tells of how Messiah’s judgments will be manifested, favoring most the nations which are most righteous and rebuking all unrighteousness. The effect will be that wars will cease. The metal previously used in weapons of destruction will be used in plowshares and pruning hooks. The earth shall no longer be soaked with human blood, but be tilled for the blessing of the race, with none to molest nor make afraid. The Lord’s people, at the beginning of that time, are represented as saying, Let each follow his own conception of God, but Israel must follow Jehovah. And at that time He will assemble her and gather her back into her own land – ‘a remnant.’ Then the Lord shall reign for the blessing and uplifting of all the willing and obedient.” (Reprint 4796 ‑ April 1, 1911)

LAST OF THE MINOR PROPHETS

MALACHI – Jesus said that John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. (Luke 16:16) While John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, he did not contribute anything to the Old Testament section of our Bible. But Malachi did. His is the last book of that part of the Scripture, so it is he we are now discussing.

But Malachi, like the other lesser lights, leaves us very little about himself. It is not definitely known that Malachi was his real name, although there is some indication that his name as we know it is correct. It means “my angel,” or “my messenger,” or it may be obtained from the name Malachiah, which means “the messenger of Jehovah.” Others such as he have been described by various words, such as Prophet and Seer; and in 1 Chron. 29:29 these words are used to designate them. Malachi designates himself as Jehovah’s Messenger, which indeed he was; and he appeared on the scene between the time of the return from Babylon and about 400 years before Jesus Himself came in His first advent. And Jesus tells us that John terminated the old order, and introduced the new, when he baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.

Malachi came at a time when the religious enthusiasm had again sunk to a very low ebb, and the sharp reproofs of the Prophet are thus hurled at them. Mixed marriages seem to have become common practice at that time. (Mal. 2:10‑12) In this text “the daughter of a strange God” simply means a woman of foreign or strange religion. And this transgression had become so widespread that the earlier code of Moses and other faithful servants of the past had been just about forgotten.

The priests themselves had also fallen far from the pristine religion of “the fathers.” They were even accused of offering polluted bread as a sacrifice; the blind, the halt, the maimed (1:8) were readily offered in the place of a sacrifice which was to be “without blemish.” They robbed God with their tithes and offerings.

The Book falls easily into two parts: the first two chapters deal with the sins of Israel, and the last two with the blessings that will come to those who try earnestly to correct these maladies. The third chapter begins with a description of “my messenger,” the “one whom ye delight in,” referring, of course, to the expected Messiah. Then 3:2 raised the question, “Who may abide the day of his coming?” His coming? (His parousia, or presence) Then, “Who shall stand when he appeareth?” (maketh manifest – in the great time of trouble) In the Greek New Testament this word ‘appeareth’ refers to His epiphaneia, or bright shining, which the watchers are well able to understand.

At the time of Malachi the people had come to that doleful condition that caused them to feel that the true worship and service of God had become vain and useless; but of the few who held true religion, the promises are warm and glowing. “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels [in this present ‘day of the Lord’]; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” (3:17) To them “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise, with healing in his wings” (4:2), then shall the wicked be as ashes under their feet.

Malachi 4:5 offers a glowing picture: “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” This Elijah has been the true church militant during the entire Gospel Age; and they have earnestly tried to convert the world, although their efforts have resulted in failure. But their effort has not been a complete failure. In those countries where the Christian religion has been preached there has been much uplift; and the promise has been fulfilled, “The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” (Psa. 119:130)

Malachi’s prophecy offers strong rebuke for the sins of the Jews at the time it was written, but it applies with equal and more elevating force of blessing to those who keep God’s law. The condemnation applied well to the disobedient Jews of that time: “They made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets.” (Zech. 7: 12) Like all the other Old Testament prophets, Malachi predicts the Kingdom; and he does this in very glowing and enticing words – words that are highly figurative, but offer inspirational reading to all who understand and believe them.

SUMMARY

In the foregoing we have offered generalities on the four major and twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament, and we repeat once more the words of 2 Peter 1:19‑21: “We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place... For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit.”

We will now quote verses of the four major prophets with bracketed comments. We begin with ISAIAH: Chap. 2:2 – “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain [the house of Jehovah] shall be established in the top of [overtopping or overruling] the mountains [all earthly kingdoms], and shall be exalted above the hills [the lesser forms of earthly governments, such as the United States, Great Britain, etc.]; and all nations [strong and weak] shall flow unto it.”

ISAIAH 4:1, 2 – “In that day [the Day of the Lord, in which we are now living] seven women [all the false church systems that go to make up Babylon – confusion] shall take hold of one man [the glorified Christ], saying, we will eat our own bread [teach and preach our own erroneous doctrines], and wear our own apparel [parade in our own flaunted righteousness, instead of that of their leader Jesus Christ, the Righteous]: only let us be called by thy name [called Christians], to take away our reproach [that we are not true Christians]. In that day [in the Kingdom] shall the Branch of the Lord [“I am the vine, ye are the branches” – John 15:5] be beautiful and glorious [“then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” – Matt. 13:43], and the fruit of the earth [the reformed social order] shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.”

ISAIAH 6:1‑3 – “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train [His glorified followers] filled the temple [“Ye are the temple of God” ‑ 1 Cor. 3:16]... And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

ISAIAH 9:7 – “Of the increase [continuous success] of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it [It has been overturned ever since the days of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, in the Fall of 607 BC] with judgment and with justice [‘Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet (All of earth’s affairs will be squared with righteousness and brought into strict conformity thereto.): and the hail (sharp cutting truth) shall sweep away the refuge of lies (the mountains of error that have blinded the people).’ ‑ Isa. 28:17] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this [will accomplish this prophecy].”

ISAIAH 10:5,6 – “O Assyrian [type of the present‑day radicals, now being used to wreck present institutions, as they were used back there to wreck the Jewish rulership], the rod of mine anger, and the staff [the violent weapons of destruction] in their hand is mine indignation... I will give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the street. [We see this going on in many nations today, and we will see yet more of it.]”

ISAIAH 11:1‑5 – “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse... and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him [Jesus received the Holy Spirit without measure at His baptism by John in the River Jordan.],the spirit of wisdom and understanding [‘Jesus needeth not that any should testify about men, for He knew what was in man.’ ‑ John 2:25]... and shall make him of quick understanding. He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth [Now quite often the guilty go free, and the innocent are found ‘guilty’.]... and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. [At the time of writing the Bible it was the general opinion that the reins – kidneys – were the seat of the intellect.]”

ISAIAH 18:1 – “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.” A proper translation should read, “Ho to the land, etc.” This refers to the United States, which has been a haven for liberty lovers and truth seekers in the autocratic governments of earth. And, truly, it is well beyond the “rivers of Ethiopia.”

ISAIAH 19:19, 20 – “In that day [the Millennial Day] there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness.” This refers to the Great Pyramid of Giza. “In the midst of the land” – of the land surface of the earth.

ISAIAH 26:9 – “When thy judgments are in the earth [the swift and unerring justice of the Millennial Age, side by side with mercy and peace], the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness [contrary to much error that is now being circulated].”

ISAIAH 13:1‑13 is a composite picture of “THE DOOM” of Babylon (Christendom in its present confused condition): “Lift ye up a banner [standard] upon the high mountain [the exalted Kingdom]... I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness [those who see and appreciate the grandeur of the prospective kingdom]. The noise of a multitude in the mountains [the present autocratic governments]... nations gathered together [the United Nations assembly]... Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: and they shall be afraid... they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth... Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

“For the stars of heaven [upon her head a crown of twelve stars ‑ the twelve Apostles – Rev. 12:1] and the constellations thereof shall not give their light [not understood by the vast majority]: the sun [the Gospel Truth, especially the New Testament section] shall be darkened... and the moon [the light of the Mosaic Law, now observed by the very few] shall not cause her light to shine.

“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the terrible [such as Nero, Hitler, et al]. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

“Therefore I will shake the heavens [present religious systems], and the earth [the present social order] shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” See also Rev. 16:16; Heb. 12:26‑29.

ISAIAH 28:17 – “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place.”

“They [the present heavens and earth] shall all wax old as cloth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed [from the kingdoms of this ‘present evil world’]: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” (Heb. 1: 11, 12)

ISAIAH 35:10 – This 35th chapter of Isaiah is a beautiful terse expression of the great blessings to come from the Messianic Kingdom, much of which we have discussed in previous papers; therefore, we shall offer verse 10 of this short chapter: “The ransomed of the Lord shall return [from the grave, or the death state], and come to Zion [the then ruling supervisors of earth] with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

ISAIAH 40:1, 2 – “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people [the re‑gathered Jews in Palestine], saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished [this is far from the truth now, but it will soon be realized, the 2520 years from the Fall of 607 BC to 1914, when the Gentile kings came under the eviction process with the beginning of the World War at that time]... she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” [The “double” – Kephel – began with the crucifixion of Jesus in AD 33, and ended in 1878 – exactly 1845 years for the favor and disfavor. Since 1878 Israel has been experiencing the Time of Trouble along with the Gentile nations.]

ISAIAH 53 – This chapter offers a vivid portrayal of the sufferings of Jesus. Verse 9. “He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” Verse 12: “Therefore will I [God] divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong [His ‘joint heirs’ – strong in faith].”

ISAIAH 65:17 ‑ “For, behold, I create new heavens [a new religious system – free from all error] and a new earth [a completely new social order ‑ without evil or violence – in the Kingdom, for which we have been praying for about 1950 years]: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”

ISAIAH 66:22 – “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.”

JEREMIAH

“Exalted of the Lord” – The wailing prophet: This name was pinned upon him because a large part of his writing was his wailing against the backsliding nation of Israel and their wicked priests.

We begin with 2:21: “I had planted thee [Israel] a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” In 2:1 he had told them the “word of the Lord” had come unto him, and he was commanded to declare it to the nation. His prophecy had occurred in the last forty years of Israel’s freedom, after the conclusion of which they never again had a government of their own; they were under the yoke of the Gentile governments until AD 1948. Much that occurred to Israel then was typical of what has been happening to the Gentile governments and the religious systems with which they are affiliated. Israel had been planted “a noble vine” under the pristine purity of the Aaronic priesthood and leadership of Moses, all of which had been almost completely forgotten by the time Jeremiah appeared on the scene.

Note the similarity between that time and our own time now. “An angel came and cried with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle [present truth], saying... gather the clusters of the vine of the earth [the fallen religious systems of this day]; for her grapes are fully ripe.” (Rev. 14:18) The Christian religious system had also been planted a “noble vine” under the leadership of the Apostles, but those teachings have been greatly buried by the earthly leadership that now prevails. Thus, the sentence has been pronounced: “The vine of the earth” is now being gathered, and will shortly be “cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God [the violent features of the Time of Trouble].” (Rev. 14:19)

EZEKIEL

Ezekiel is also one of the holy prophets who spoke of Restitution – the Messianic Kingdom. Ezekiel 34:23‑26: “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd [in Messiah’s Kingdom]. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. [‘Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.’ – Messiah’s progenitors, the Ancient Worthies] And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places around about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.”

“And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God.” (Ezek. 34:28, 30)

DANIEL

In answer to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream Daniel answered: “And in the days of these kings [Gentile kingdoms] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” (Dan. 2:44) Berean Comments: “Gradually establish in power and in authority – Break in pieces – ‘As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers.’”

“We believe that the time for setting up the kingdom was September 21, 1914.” (That Servant, Reprint 5632, col. 2, par. 4) It will not be until after the Time of Trouble when the “kingdoms of this world” will be forcibly removed that the Mediatorial Kingdom will be established and the New Covenant is made with Israel.

This is the last of the articles on the four Major Prophets and the twelve Minor Prophets. We trust these articles have been informative and a blessing to the Lord’s people.

“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54:13) “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee.” (Isa. 54:10)

Sincerely your brother, John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

(Written in October 1983)

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