NO. 470: HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL-AGE APOSTATE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

No. 470

My dear Brethren: Grace and peace thru our Beloved Master!

A request has come to us to give the history of the apostate Christian Church dur­ing the Gospel Age, which we shall now at­tempt:

Jesus, of course, established the Church in its pristine purity, which example the Apostles also followed. However, the Church greatly increased in numbers imme­diately after Jesus’ resurrection (“the number of men that believed was about five thousand” – Acts 4:4). This number was from just one effort of the Apostles; and others were won in various places, so that the Apostles could not have the control that Jesus had when He was with them. Thus Paul tells us in 2 Thes. 2:7 that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work,” although the Worldly Politicians Did Not Enter The Fray Until A Few Hundred Years Later.

Constantine The Great – It was not until the third period of the Church – the Per­gamos epoch – that the politicians became active. Pergamos means “earthly elevation”; and it was during this period that earthly elevation really made its appearance in the Christian church – when Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity – about AD 313. The Roman emperors have always held the notion that affiliation with some relig­ion was essential to their success in ruling the Roman people. So, when the Church had increased in sufficient numbers, Constantine considered it good business to join with them.

And being a true Roman, he entered the Christian Church with the same ardor that he did with secular things, so he is designated as “the great.” Before his acceptance of Christianity there was raging in the Church a great controversy over the Trinity; and, when Constantine learned of this, he did what would ordinarily be considered a clever thing: He summoned the bishops of the Christian Church from all over the Empire to the Council of Nice in AD 325. About 350 of those “bright minds” responded – a third of all the bishops in the Empire. There they engaged in heated debate about this delicate subject. The chief opponent of this great error was the Star Mem­ber, Arius. So much had he aroused the populace that one of his opponents in that debate made this statement from the platform: This man has so agitated the people that if you go into a store and ask the price of bread, the answer you get is “the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son is inferior to the Father.” But of all that assembly only two stood with Arius; so Constantine stood with the majority – probably thinking it good politics to do so; and he banished Arius from the Roman Empire. But this old man, ­in his seventies, went to North Africa. During the eleven years he lived there he established a flourishing Church. And what was their name? Why Arians, of course! The Catholics called Arius a heretic, and still do so to this day.

St. Augustine, also of North Africa, was considered by many the most brilliant mind of the human race in all history. When asked to explain this error, he said it is simply a mystery, not capable of explanation. Recently we read the expression of one writer, who concluded that the popes of the Dark Ages were not all bad because none of them has ever denied the Trinity.

Justinian – AD 483-565. This man became Roman Emperor in AD 527. From the year 500 onward there had again arisen a heated debate over the Trinity, and the emperor was not to be left out of that. He was a scholarly man, a great intellect. He codified the Roman law; and his legal and architectural monu­ments have lasted thru the centuries. As a codifier of laws and as a legislator he published the Codex Justinianus in 534. He also had a very stringent ecclesiastical policy, which supported “orthodoxy” (meaning belief in the Trinity, etc.); and he forced many pagans and “heretics” to stop teaching.

The battle over the Trinity is recorded as the second great “heresy” in the East­ern Empire, the first having been “disputed by the teachings of the Alexandrian pres­byter Arius, who, in an effort to maintain the oneness and majesty of God the Father, had taught that he alone had existed from eternity, while God the Son had been created in time.” Thanks in part to imperial support, the Arian heresy had persisted throughout the 4th century and was definitely condemned only in 381 with promulgation of the doc­trine “that Father and Son were of one substance and thus coexistent.”

And some more from the same writer: “If the fathers of the 4th century quarreled over the relations between God the Father and God the Son, those of the 5th century faced the problem of defining the relationship of the two natures – the human and the Divine – within God the Son, Christ Jesus. The theologians of Alexandria generally held that the Divine and human natures were united indistinguishably, whereas those of Antioch taught the two natures coexisted separately in Christ, the latter being ‘the chosen vessel of the Godhead – the man born of Mary.’ In the course of the 5th cen­tury, these two contrasting theological positions became the subject of a struggle for supremacy among the rival sees of Constantinople, Alexandria and Rome. Nevertheless Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople in 428, adopted the Antiochene formula, which in his hands, came to stress the human nature of Christ to the neglect of the Divine. His opponents (first the Alexandrian patriarch, Cyril, and later Cyril’s followers, Dios­courus and Eutyches), in reaction emphasized the single Divine nature of Christ, the result of the incarnation. Their belief in One God, or the nature of Christ as God the Son, became extraordinarily popular throughout the provinces of Egypt and Syria. Rome, in the person of Pope Leo I, declared in contrast of dual gods, a creed teaching that ‘two natures, perfect and perfectly distinct, existed in the single person of Christ.’

“Justinian is but one example of the civilizing magic that Constantinople often worked upon the heirs of those who ventured within its walls. Justin, the uncle, was a rude and illiterate soldier; Justinian, the nephew, was a cultured gentleman, adept at theology, a mighty builder of churches, and a sponsor of the codification of Roman law. All these accomplishments are, in the deepest sense of the word civilian; and it’s easy to forget that Justinian’s empire was almost constantly at war during his reign. The history of east Rome during that period illustrates, in classical fashion, how the impact of war can transform ideas and institutions alike. The reign opened with external warfare and internal strife. From Lazica to the Arabian desert, the Persian frontier blazed into action in a series of campaigns, in which many of the gen­erals later destined for fame in the West, first demonstrated their capacities. The strength of the east Roman armies is revealed in the fact that, while containing Pers­ian might, Justinian could nonetheless dispatch troops to attack the Huns in the Crimea and to maintain the Danubian frontier against a host of enemies. In 532 he abandoned military operations for diplomacy, negotiating, at the cost of considerable tribute, an ‘Endless Peace’ with the Persian king Khosrow, which freed the Roman hands for operations in another quarter of the globe.”

His subjects at that time were divided mainly into two classes – the Blues and the Greens. The Blues were the landholding senatorial aristocracy – mostly orthodox in their sympathies; the Greens, in contrast, found their leaders among men whose wealth was based upon trade and industry and whose theological sympathies lay with the One-God idea. There were some very severe riots during Justinian’s reign. In one of them his troops slaughtered 30,000 rioters. Their leaders were executed, and their estates passed, at least temporarily, into the emperor’s hands. The western Romans preferred the rule of a Catholic Roman emperor to that of an Arian German kinglet. In those early years of the 530s, Justinian could indeed pose as the pattern of a Roman and Christian emperor. Latin was his language; and his knowledge of Roman history and antiquities was profound. In 529 his officials had completed a major collection of the laws and degrees of the emperors promulgated since the reign of Hadrean. Known as the Code of Justinian and partly founded upon the fifth century Code of Theodosius, this connection of imperial edicts pales before the Digest under Tribonian in 533. Meanwhile archi­tects and builders worked apace to complete the new Church of the Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia, designed to replace older churches.

It took five years to complete the Church of the Holy Wisdom. It was finished in AD 539, which marked the beginning of the 1260 years supremacy of the apostate church, united with the kings and emperors of the various unchristian governments until 1799, of which more later.

It should be noted here that Justinian dealt with almost every aspect of the Chris­tian life: entrance into it by conversion and baptism, administration of the sacraments that marked its several stages, proper conduct of the laity to avoid the wrath God would surely visit upon a sinful people; finally, the standards to be followed by those who lived the particularly holy life of the secular or monastic clergy. Pagans were ordered to attend church and accept baptism, while a purge thinned their ranks in Constantinople, and masses of them were converted by missionaries in Asia Minor. Only the orthodox wife might enjoy the privileges of her dowry; Jews and Samaritans were denied, in addition to other civil liberties, the privilege of testamentary inheritance unless they converted. A woman who worked as an actress might better serve God were she to forswear any oath she had taken – even though before God – to remain in that immoral profession. Blasphemy and sacrilege were forbidden, or famine, earthquake, and pestilence would punish the Christian society. Surely God would take vengeance on Constantinople, as He had on Sodom and Gomorrah when the homosexual persisted in his “unnatural” ways.

The best possible men were needed, for, in most Roman cities in the sixth century, imperial and civil officials gradually surrendered many of their functions to the bishop, or patriarch. The latter collected taxes, dispensed justice, provided charity, organ­ized commerce, negotiated with barbarians, and even mustered the soldiers. By the early seventh century, the typical Byzantine city, viewed from without, actually or potentially resembled a fortress; viewed from within, it was essentially a religious community under ecclesiastical leadership. Nor did Justinian neglect the monastic clergy, or those who had removed themselves from the world. Drawing upon the regulations to be found in the writings of the 4th century Church, as well as the acts of the 4th and 5th century church councils, Father St. Basil of Caesarea ordered the cenobitic (or col­lective) form of monastic life in a fashion so minute that later codes, including the rule of St. Theodore the Studite in the ninth century, only further developed the Justinianic foundation.

Probably the least successful of Justanian’s ecclesiastical policies were those adopted in an attempt to reconcile the Trinitarians and non‑Trinitarians. After the success of negotiations that had done so much to conciliate the West during the reign of his uncle, Justinian attempted to win over the moderate anti‑trinitarians, separat­ing them from the extremists. Of the complicated series of events that ensued, only the results need be noted. In developing a creed acceptable to the moderate trinitar­ians of the East, Justinian alienated the believers of the West and thus sacrificed his earlier gains in that section.

However, that same century witnessed the growth of a Christian culture to rival it. Magnificent hymns were written by St. Romanos Melodos, and reveal the striking develop­ment of the liturgy during Justinian’s reign, a development that was not without its social implications. Whereas traditional pagan culture was literary and its pursuit or enjoyment thereby limited to the leisurely and wealthy, the Christian liturgical celebration and its musical component were available to all, regardless of place or position.

Next came the acceptance of images as a normal feature of Christian practice, which satisfied certain powerful needs as Christianity spread among the Gentiles and certain Hellenized Jews who had broken with the Mosaic commandment. The convert all the more readily accepted use of the image if he had brought into his Christianity, as many did, a heritage of heathenism. These people taught that thru contemplation of that which could be seen – i.e., the image of Christ – the mind might rise to that which could not be seen. From a belief that the seen suggests the unseen, it is but a short step to a belief that the seen contains the unseen and that the image deserves veneration be­cause Divine power somehow resides in it. And this then was but a short step to vener­ation of the emperor’s image – the Divine right of kings.

The foregoing detail has been given to offer very positive proof that Justinian was indeed the foundation of the 1260 years of real apostate Christianity, most of which finds no support from the Bible, the teachings of Jesus or the Apostles. Of course, the Communists in Russia saw this, probably not so clearly, when they took over in 1917, took the supposed bodies of the saints, which had never decayed, and picked them apart on the steps of the temple, to show they were nothing more than stuffed cotton dummies – ­much to the amazement of the Russian faithful Christians.

Charlemagne – AD 742-814. Latin Carolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great. King of the Franks 768‑814, he united by conquest nearly all Christian lands of western Europe and ruled as emperor 800‑814. His reign was characterized by a brilliant court and by an imperial unity unrivaled for centuries before and after. He conquered the Lombards and the pagan Saxons, whom he Christianized. He continued expansion of the Frankish state. His close alliance with the Papacy and the papal desire for a western emperor to counter Byzantium resulted in the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. His court became an intellectual, political and administrative center after 794.

The Papacy – From the time of Justinian to the reign of Charlemagne the apostate church made great strides in subduing all “heretics” and expanding their own territory and increasing their numbers. During that time the Papacy gradually developed. The word is derived from the Latin papacia, meaning pope or father. It is of medieval origin. In its primary usage it denotes the office of the pope (of Rome); hence, the system of ecclesiastical and temporal government over which the pope directly presides.

Early in the Age there developed two great divisions of the Church – the Roman and the Greek. One of the outstanding differences between them is that the Roman system forbids its priests to marry, while the Greek does not. As the conflict between the two sharpened, Rome decided to build up its prestige by naming their leader the Pope, which means Father. Not to be outdone, the Greeks then named their leader the Patriarch, which means Great Papa; and thus it stands to this day, although the Greek Catholic Church is now without a titular head.

Of course, the Roman Church claimed to be the successor to St. Peter, the “chief of the Apostles,” although there is no record at all that St. Peter ever even visited the City of Rome, much less reside there. And there is strong logic to prove that he never was in Rome. “The multiplicity and variety of papal titles themselves indicates the complexity of the papal office. In the official Vatical directory he is described as Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the prince of the Apostles, supreme pontiff of the universal church, sovereign of the state of Vatican City, servant of the servants of God. In his more circumscribed capacities as Bishop of Rome, metropolitan of the Roman province, primate of Italy, and patriarch of the West, the pope is the bearer of responsibilities and the wielder of powers that have their counterparts in the other episcopal, metropolitan primatial, and patriarchal jurisdictions of the Catholic Church. [The Bible does not give God Himself as many titles as the Pope has.]”

What differentiates his particular jurisdiction from others and renders his office unique is the Roman Catholic teaching that the Bishop of Rome is at the same time successor to St. Peter, prince of the Apostles. As the bearer of the Petrine office, he is raised to a position of lonely eminence as chief bishop or primate of the univer­sal church. The precise lineaments of this belief have undergone considerable development over the centuries, but as defined by the first Vatican Council in 1870 (when the ruling power in Italy, the house of Savoy, severed all connection with the Roman Church) – and reaffirmed by the second in 1974. It involves these fundamental as­sertions: that Christ singled out St. Peter among the Apostles, conferring upon him not only a preeminence among them but also the leadership or primacy in that visible community or church which he established after His resurrection; that Christ intended this primacy to be one not merely of honour but of true jurisdiction, and one exercised not merely by Peter himself but also by his successors down thru the ages to the end of time; and that the bishops of Rome are to be recognized as these successors.

“Because of the development of this belief the popes have come over the course of time to wield supreme legislative, executive and judicial powers [jurisdictional func­tions] in the church – issuing authoritative statements on matters of doctrine [the magisterial or teaching function] creating and suppressing church laws, establishing dioceses, appointing bishops, controlling missions, acting as a court of first instance as well as of appeal, and performing either by deputy or in person, a host of other func­tions. Also, because of this belief, they had assumed already in the 5th century the title of supreme pontiff (summus pontifex) that had earlier been borne by the pagan Roman emperors as the heads of the college of priests. During the Middle Ages the popes also began to monopolize the title of ‘vicar (i.e., representative) of Christ,’ which, like the very name of pope for that matter, the early Latin church had customarily accorded to bishops in general. The title of sovereign of the state of Vatican City refers to the pope’s position as temporal ruler of the tiny sovereign state in Rome created in 1929 by Italy in accordance with the terms of the Lateran Treaty [with Mussolini]. The last title, ‘servant of the servants of God,’ an essentially pastoral designation, is the title that popes themselves have very often chosen when called upon to issue solemn pronounce­ments of great importance for the whole church.”

The Instruments Of Papal Government – “In the day‑to-day exercise of his primatial jurisdiction the pope relies on the assistance of the Roman Curia, a name first used of the body of papal assistants in the 11th century. The Curia had its origin in the local body of presbyters (priests), deacon (lower order of clergy), and notaries (lower clerics with secretarial duties), upon which, like other bishops in their own dioceses, the early bishops of Rome relied for help. By the 11th century, this body had, on the one hand, been narrowed down to include only the leading (or cardinal) presbyters and deacons of the Roman diocese, while, on the other hand, being broadened out to embrace the cardinal‑bishops (the heads of the seven neighboring or ‘suburban.’ dioceses). From this emerged the Sacred College of Cardinals, a corporate body possessed, from 1179 onward, of the exclusive right to elect the pope. This right it still possesses, as it does the right to govern the church in urgent matters during a vacancy in the papal office. Recent popes have extended the size of the Sacred College beyond the traditional limit of 70 [which had been patterned after the Jewish Sanhedrin of 70 members], and have attempted, with growing success, to broaden its national complexion and to make its membership more faithfully representative of the church’s international character.

“During the Middle Ages, the cardinals played an important role as a corporate body, not only during the papal vacancies, as today, but also during the pope’s lifetime. In the 12th century the Roman councils that the popes had hitherto convoked when urgent matters were at hand were replaced by the assembly of the cardinals, or consistory, which thus became the most important collegial (corporate) body advising the pope and partici­pating in his judicial activity. Eventually it began to make oligarchic claims to a share in the powers of the Petrine office, and attempted with sporadic success, to bind the pope to act on important matters only with its consent. During the 16th century, however, with the final establishment of the Roman congregations (administrative commit­tees), each charged with the task of assisting the pope in a specific area of government, the significance of the consistory began to decline, and with it the importance of the cardinals as a corporate body.”

Another Authority – Following is a quotation from Volume 2, Studies in the Scriptures, p. 310: “From Ferraris’ Ecclesiastical Dictionary, a standard Roman Catholic authority, we quote the following condensed outline of papal power as given under the word papa: ‘The pope is of such dignity and highness that he is not simply a man, but, as it were, God, and the vicar [representative] of God... Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven, of earth and of hell. Nay, the pope’s excellence and power are not only about heavenly, terrestrial and infernal things, but he is also above angels, and is their superior; so that if it were possible that angels could err from the faith, or entertain sentiments contrary thereto, they could be judged and excommuni­cated by the pope... He is of such great dignity and power that he occupies one and the same tribunal with Christ; so that whatsoever the pope does seems to pro­ceed from the mouth of God... The pope is, as it were, God on earth, the only prince of the faithful of Christ, the greatest king of all kings, possessing the plenitude of power; to whom the government of the earthly and heavenly kingdom is entrusted.’ He further adds: ‘The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, declare or interpret the Divine Law. The pope can sometimes counteract the Divine Law limiting, explaining, etc.’

“Thus, Antichrist not only endeavored to establish the Church in power before the Lord’s time, but it was audacious enough to attempt to ‘counteract’ and ‘modify’ Divine laws to suit its own schemes. It thus fulfilled the prophecy which over a thousand years before declared, ‘He shall think to change times and laws.’ (Dan. 7:25)

“In a bull, or edict, Sixtus V declares: ‘The authority given to St. Peter and his successors by the immense power of the eternal King, excels all the power of earthly kings and princes. It passeth uncontrollable sentence upon them all. And if it find any of them resisting God’s ordinance, it takes more severe vengeance on them, casting them down from their thrones, however powerful they may be, and tumbling them down to the lowest parts of the earth as ministers of aspiring Lucifer.

“A bull of Pope Pius V, entitled ‘The damnation and excommunication of Elizabeth, Queen of England, and her adherents – with an addition of other punishments,’ reads:

“‘He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and in earth, com­mitted one holy, catholic and apostolic church (out of which there is no salvation) to one alone upon earth, namely, to Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and to Peter’s suc­cessor, the Bishop of Rome, to be governed in fullness of power. Him alone he made prince over all people and all kingdoms, to pluck, destroy, scatter, consume, plant and build.’ Saint Bernard affirms that ‘none except God is like the pope, either in heaven or on earth.’

“‘The Emperor Constantine,’ says Pope Nicholas I, ‘conferred the appellation of God on the pope; who, therefore, being God, cannot be judged of man.’

“Said Pope Innocent III: ‘The pope holds the place of the true God; and the cannon law, in the gloss, denominates the pope – our Lord God.’

“Innocent and Jacobatius state that ‘the pope can do nearly all that God can do,’ while Decius rejects the word nearly as unnecessary. Jacobatius and Durand assert that ‘none dare to say to him any more than to God – Lord, what doest thou?’ And Antonius wrote: ‘To him [the pope] it belongs to ordain those things which pertain to the pub­lic good, and remove those things which prevent this end, as vices, abuses which alienate men from God... And this according to Jeremiah 1:10: ‘Behold, I have placed thee over the nations and kingdoms, to root up and destroy, to scatter and disperse,’ that is, as it regards vices. [Here again appropriating to Antichrist a prophecy which belongs to Christ’s Millennial reign.]

“‘The church can punish, indirectly, the Jews with spiritual punishment, by excom­municating Christian princes to whom the Jews are subject, if they neglect to punish them with temporal punishment when they do anything against Christians.’ Men may speed­ily be led into every form of cruelty and oppression, if first they can convince them­selves that in the exercise of such depravities they are the more like God – imitators of God.

“‘The power of the pope is exercised over schismatics and heretics, denoted also by oxen, because they resist the truth with the horn of pride.’ The following utterances of the popes, culled from Fox’s Acts and Monuments, by H. G. Guinness, an English writer of note, deserves a place of prominence... ‘If he that exalteth himself shall be abased, what degradation can be commensurate with such self‑exaltation as this?’

“‘Wherefore, seeing such power is given to Peter, and to me in Peter, being his successor, who is he then in all the world that ought not to be subject to my decrees, which have such power in heaven, in hell, in earth, with the quick and also the dead.’”

SUMMARY – Much more of the foregoing can be given, but we assume that what we have written is sufficient for present conditions. Therefore we now recapitulate various dates and the occurrences of each date:

AD 313 – In that year Constantine the Great was the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity.

AD 325 – Constantine summoned the Council of Nice to consider the Trinity. Being the politician that he was, the emperor went with the crowd and accepted the error, banishing Arius and his two confederates from the Roman Empire.

AD 539 – Roman emperor Justinian conferred great favors upon the Roman Catholic Church, favoring them with a temple which was five years in building; and 539 marked the beginning of the 1260 years of dominance of the Church, a period that ended in 1799, of which more later.

AD 799 – In that year Charlemagne greatly enhanced the prestige and power of the Church by merging his vast empire (practically all of Christendom) with the Church. That marked the beginning of “The Holy Roman Empire” – the beginning of the counterfeit Millennium. When we ponder the real Millennium – “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying” (Rev. 21:4) – compared with the atrocities of their 799‑1799 Millen­nium, we recognize the depth of insult that is attempted by assuming the name of “Holy Millennium” for that period. And we can say the same for the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are now separating the “sheep from the goats” while sin is still in the ascendancy – ­when “knowledge is not abroad in the earth.”

AD 1799 – In that year Napoleon (the man of destiny, and mentioned in the Bible – ­Dan. 11:36‑45) declared himself emperor of France. He ordered the pope to come to France for the occasion; but, instead of asking the pope to crown him – as had been the custom for centuries – he boldly placed the crown on his own head, cast the pope into a French prison, where he died in deep disgrace, ending the phony Millennium and freeing the world of much of the butchery the apostate Church had been committing. But of Napoleon also it is recorded: “He shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” (Dan. 11:45) He was exiled to the Island of St. Helena, where he died.

AD 1870 – The House of Savoy severed all relations with the Vatican, thus divorc­ing the pope from all temporal power.

AD 1929 – Mussolini renewed Italian alliance with the Vatican; thus, the church could once more say, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow” (Rev. 18:7); but the church has been seeing plenty of “sorrow” since that date; and will see yet much more of it in the immediate years ahead. This is well expressed in Isa. 4:1: “In that day [in which we are now living] seven women [all the apostate church systems] shall take hold of one man [Christ], saying, We will eat our own bread [follow our own ideas and teachings], and wear our own apparel [flaunt our own respectability and position]: only let us be called by thy name [be called Christians], to take away our reproach [do not expose our apostate doings].”

“They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.” (Psa. 125:1) “Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

Sincerely your brother, John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

(Reprint 346, April 1984)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Emily,

With love from the bottom of my heart... Thank you for sending me the book Pastor Charles Taze Russell, An Early American Christian Zionist. I have read it with lots of appreciation...

I have been in contact with Emek ha Shalom... The work they are doing impresses me... What surprises me is the low interest from the rest of the brethren around the world. The letters I have received from them have convinced me they are living and working in a spirit that was more common during the time of Pastor Russell. If our dear Pastor Russell would be alive today he would no doubt have a deeper contact with Emek ha Shalom than his followers. Why this low interest? Let us inform them! In their minds they may be thinking that the brothers are not preaching the true thoughts of Pastor Russell.

My kindest regards, love and good wishes are with you. ------- (SWEDEN)

IMPRESSIONS OF VISITORS TO EMEK HA SHALOM

A guide of a youth group said to his pupils: “In Emek ha Shalom they are preparing for the Coming of the Messiah.”

A teacher said to his youth group: “When I listen to Hermann it is like listening to one of our great ancient Prophets talking to me.”

After Brother Hermann’s lecture the guide said to his adult group: “That is what we are lacking but need so greatly, the Prophetic Spirit in which he spoke just now.”

Another visitor: “Our visit to Emek ha Shalom was an excursion to another world.”

Concerned visitors: “If there were still people like those in Emek ha Shalom, there would yet be hope.”

Groups from abroad which come to visit Emek ha Shalom have reported that their stay in Emek ha Shalom was the high light of their Israel trip.

In the TV Program about Emek ha Shalom we were introduced as “a group of Bible Students whose roots originated from the Apostles of Jesus.” The interviewer closed the report with the words: “I am just afraid that this visit to Emek ha Shalom was only a dream from which I will awake.”

Jews from Galilee: “We come again and again to visit Emek ha Shalom for strengthen­ing in this time of great troubles. There are not many people with such pure faith. You have taught us to believe in Jesus.”

A family from Nazareth: “Never before have we heard what we perceived now in Emek ha Shalom. Never before have we felt what we feel now. We leave this place a changed people.” Visitors afar: “We came because people are talking so much about this place.”

A Parliament member with his driver said when they saw Brother Hermann in his 95th-year working in the field: “Until now we have not seen anybody, even young working men, work with such energy.”

Teachers from a well known agriculture-school, Mikve Israel said “Hermann’s speech was like the Prophet Isaiah or Amos talking to us. We leave Emek ha Shalom elevated and in high spirits.”

A leader to his big adult group said while showing them Emek ha Shalom: “Here is the Valley of Peace. They built everything with such good taste and in such esthetic beauty, even to small particulars... Look at the well-groomed gardens, the harmony of the colors on the houses and the veranda, the nice paths around... and everything in an unusual cleanness which you don’t find in other places.”

Ehud Olmert, the mayor of Jerusalem: “I esteem and appreciate your honorable contribution in your faithful work for Israel. I wish you further success in your way.”

The Mayor of a city in Judea told us that Brother Hermann’s witness that he heard ten years ago made such a deep impression on him that it changed his whole life. He felt the necessity to return to the faith and realize it. Therefore he went to Judea and founded there a settlement which became a city for example.

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NO. 469: IN MEMORIAM

No. 469

My dear Brethren: Grace and peace thru our Beloved Master!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “One truth led logically to another, and made it possible for him to become recog­nized as the only theologian of the Gospel Age who had been able to demonstrate the harmony of the Bible with itself. ‘Unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness’ (Rev. 3:14) – and the angel did as com­manded, and long since ‘reported the matter.’ ‘Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.’ (Matt. 24:45, 46, 47) [We believe our Lord found Brother Russell “so doing” – diligently searching the Scriptures and made him That Servant.]

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

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

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

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

UNDERSTANDING THE RANSOM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEGINNING OF THE HARVEST WORK

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

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

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

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

NEW ADHERENTS TO THE WORKING FORCE

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

“Thus far all had gone smoothly and onward: we had been greatly blessed with the truth, but not specially tested in our love and fidelity to it. But the Spring of 1878, the parallel in time to our Lord’s crucifixion, and of His statement to Peter, ‘Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat’ (Luke 22:31), the sifting began which has Continued Ever Since; and which must, sooner or later, test every one who receives the light of present truth. For this fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is – ­whether he has built his faith flimsily of wood, hay and stubble, instead of valuable stones of God’s revealed truth; or whether he has built it upon the shifting sands of human theories, or upon the solid rock, the Ransom, the only foundation which God has provided.

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

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

FIRST HARVEST SIFTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is our hope and prayer that what we have given may prove a rich blessing to our readers, and that the subject of That Servant has been magni­fied and strengthened in the hearts of all. God bless the memory of That Servant!

We also pay tribute to the Epiphany Messenger who faithfully upheld and defended the Truth given us by That Servant. We honor those whom God honors in keeping with 1 Samuel 2:20: “Them that honor Me I will honor.” In so doing we will grow in grace and knowledge of our Beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and continue in “the faith once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 3) God bless the memory of the Epiphany Messenger!

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

Sincerely your brother, John J. Hoefle, Pilgrim

(Reprint 316, October 1981)

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NO. 468: WHY GOD PERMITS CALAMITIES

No. 468

“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

Noble and good in the sight of both God and man are the generous impulses of charity and sympathy awakened by the great calamities of recent years, such as the Oklahoma City bombing. There is little more of good to be said favorable to these calamities or their influence.

These charities should not be misconstrued to signify that God’s consecrated are rapidly multiplying – for many of the charitable are not the consecrated, and some are even infidels. Yet, they are an evidence that at least some of the original God-likeness of our race remains. It has not been wholly obliterated by the degradation of the fall, nor wholly poisoned by the bad theology of the Dark Ages. While we live in the most selfish and money-loving period known to history, millions of dollars are generously poured forth to aid suffering humanity. Some who in times of calamitous distress show that they have a tender spot in their hearts, would and do at other times lend effort and skill to the arts of war and design the most horrible killing weapons and implements. On occasions when bitter passions are aroused, they relentlessly and pitilessly slaughter a thousand times as many as the accidents of nature and the terrorists of late. Yet, for all this showing of the two elements in the same people, we rejoice that the God-like element of sympathy exists as a partial offset to the devilish qualities of selfishness and heartlessness, which, under the degrading influence of man’s fallen state, have grown strong during the past six thousand years.

Preparatory to looking carefully, reasonably and Scripturally at the question of why does God permit calamities, let us note the absurd views of some Christian people, who should know God’s Word and character much better than they indicate. Some whose hearts overflow with sympathy and God-like love in the presence of great calamities (which proves their hearts better and more sound than their theology), declare that God is the director and cause of all disasters and troubles. Hence whatever men may do to alleviate such distresses would, according to this false view, be so much done in opposition to God; and whatever love and sympathy they feel, is so much sentiment opposed to God’s sentiments, which are thus made to appear malicious.

The hideousness of such a character, as is thus ascribed to the God of love, is intensified, when the same good, tender-hearted, but wrong-headed, deluded people, tell us what their faith in God is and their view of His character. This indicates that He not only looks without pity or sympathy upon man’s present calamities and distresses, and fore­ordained them, but that He has furthermore foreordained and made fullest preparation for engulfing the vast majority of His creatures in a calamity in comparison with which all the horrors of all earth’s calamities united in one would be nothing. Under this view these calamities are mere preludes to that most awful, indescribable torment, which would be wholly unendurable, but that God with fiendish cruelty will perpetrate life forever and forever, in order to have them suffer. He will never relieve them.

It is surprising that any who possess the spirit of God, to any extent, can thus blaspheme His Holy Name. It is surprising that they do not know more of the character of the Creator than this, even without the Bible testimony to His character of love and justice, to advise them of His plan in Christ for blessing all the families of the earth; the declaring of which plan constitutes the “good tidings of great joy [not of eternal torment] which shall be unto all people.” (Luke 2:10) Indeed, God is more vilified by many of His children than by the infidel world. How strange, the very Bible which declares God’s true character of love and justice, is considered as the authority for these devilish doctrines and false interpretation of our Lord’s parables and of the symbols of the Book of Revelation, originated by those who during the “Dark Ages” used to burn and torment Bible believers.

GOD’S LOVE – HOW SHOWN

When we declare that whatever there is of love and sympathy in man, is only the remnant of the original Divine likeness, in which Adam was created, not wholly effaced by six thousand years of degradation in sin, it at once raises the question: In what way does God manifest His sympathy and love in such emergencies, when even the hearts of fallen human beings are touched, with sympathy and love, to acts of kindness and succor?

A correct answer is, that God is represented in every act of kindness done, whether by His children or by the world; because their actions under such circumstances are the results, in some measure, of His character and disposition. And yet this answer is not full enough to be satisfactory. But, thank God, a fuller investigation, in the light of His Word, reveals a boundless sympathy on God’s part – providing also an abundant succor, which is shortly to be revealed.

But why does not God immediately succor His creatures from calamities? Or, to go still farther back, why does He who has all wisdom to know and all power to prevent, permit calamities – tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, destructive floods, pestilence, etc.? And while we are about it, we may as well include all the evils which God could, if he would, prevent – all the forms of sickness and pain and death; every form of destruction – wars, murders, etc.; everything which causes pain or trouble to those willing to do and be in harmony with God? The answer to one of these questions will be the answer to every question on the subject; for all human evils are related and have a common source or cause.

To fully comprehend this cause, we must go far back, to the very beginning of sickness, pain, death and sorrow – to the Garden of Eden, where neither famine, pestilence, tornadoes, earthquakes, nor death in any form was permitted; where man and his surroundings and conditions were pronounced “very good,” even by God Himself, and certainly greatly appreciated by man, who had to be driven out and prevented from returning by the fiery sword which kept the way of access to the life-sustaining fruits of the trees of the garden.

How came it that the Creator, who so graciously provided for the life and comfort of His creatures, and who communed with them and gave them His blessing and the promise of everlasting life upon the sole condition of continued obedience, should so change in His attitude toward His creatures, as to drive them from the enjoyments of those Eden comforts and blessings, out into the unprepared earth – to toil, weariness, insufficient sustenance, and thus to death?

We must remember that only the Garden of Eden was “prepared,” and fit for man’s comfortable enjoyment of the favor of life. The preparation of the whole earth for man, requiring in a natural way seven thousand years more to entirely fit it for the habitation of perfect, obedient, human children of God, the Creator specially or miraculously prepared the Garden of Eden in advance merely as a fit place for Adam’s trial. God foresaw the fall of His creature, and provided that the penalty for sin, “dying thou shalt die,” instead of being suddenly inflicted as by a lightning stroke, or other speedy method, should be served out gradually by conflict with the unfavorable conditions (of climate, sterility of soil, storms, miasma, thorns, weeds, etc.) of the as yet unprepared earth.

Adam and Eve, therefore, went forth from Eden convicts, under sentence of death; self-convicted under the most just of all judges, their Creator and Friend. The convicts esteemed it a mercy to be let die gradually rather than suddenly; while to the Creator and Judge this was expedient because of a plan He had for the future, in which such experience with imperfect conditions would be of great value – a plan for the increase of the race, and for its discipline and final redemption and restoration.

The death penalty, inflicted in this manner, God foresaw would furnish man, through experience, such a lesson on the exceeding sinfulness of sin and its baneful results as would never need to be repeated – a lesson, therefore, which will profit all who learn it to all eternity; especially when Christ’s Millennial reign of righteousness shall manifest in contrast the fruits of righteousness: God also designing that the exercise of man’s mental faculties in coping with the disturbances and imperfections of his surroundings and in inventing relief, and the exercise of his moral faculties in combating his own weaknesses, and the calls upon his sympathy should prove beneficial.

Had the sentence of God in addition to a loss of Eden’s comforts and experience with sin and death, condemned His creatures to an eternity of torment and anguish, as so many believe and teach, who could defend such a sentence, or call the Judge just, or loving, or in any sense good? Surely no one of sound mind!

But when it is seen that the Scriptures teach that death (extinction), and not life in torment, was the penalty pronounced and inflicted, all is reasonable. God has a right to demand perfect obedience from His perfect creature when placed under perfect conditions, as in Adam’s case. And the decree that none shall live everlastingly except the perfect, is both a wise and just provision for the everlasting welfare of all God’s creatures.

There is a depth of meaning in the Creator’s words, as He sent forth His fairly tried and justly condemned creatures, among the thorns and briars, to labor and pain, and sorrow, and disease, and to be subject to the casualties and calamities of nature’s unfinished work. He said: “Cursed is the ground FOR THY SAKE” (Gen. 3:17), i.e., the earth in general is in its present imperfect condition for your profit and experience; even though you may not esteem it so. Adam would have sought to retain continual access to the garden fruits, to avoid severe labor and to enable him to fully sustain his vital powers and live forever; but in loving consideration for man’s ultimate good, no less than in justice, and in respect of his own sentence of death, God prevented this and guarded the way back to the garden, in order that the death sentence should not fail of execution, in order that sinners should not live forever and thus perpetuate sin.

The children of the condemned pair inherited their fall, imperfections and weak-nesses, and also the penalties of these; for “who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” (Job 14:4) The whole race, therefore, as convict laborers, have not only been learning what sin and evil are, and their undesirable results, but by their labor and skill they are serving to prepare the earth and bring it as a whole to the full perfection designed for it, and illustrated in the condition of Eden – ready for a further purpose of God of which none but His children (and not all of them) are made aware through the Scriptures.

We can see, then, that labor and toil were prescribed for man’s good. They have kept him so employed that he could not plan and consummate evil to the same extent that he otherwise would have done. Now, with modern conveniences and labor saving devices creating more leisure then the world has ever known, evil is proliferating in the minds of idle people. Knowledge (of evil) is increasing and people are running to and fro seeking sinful pleasures and devising plots and schemes to the detriment of their fellowmen. What a mercy in disguise present shortness of life is, under present circumstances.

God’s action, then, in exposing His creatures to death, pain and various calamities, it must first of all be seen, was one which related only to his present life on earth, and to no other; for of any continuance of life, in any locality, God did not give him the slightest intimation. On the contrary, the words of the penalty were, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” – “dying thou shalt die.” (Gen. 3:19; 2:17)

True, God gave promise that, somehow and at some time, a son of the woman should accomplish a deliverance. But it was vague and indefinite then, merely a glimmer of hope, to show them that though God dealt severely with them, and on lines of law and justice, He yet sympathized with them, and would, ultimately, without violating justice or ignoring His own righteous sentence of death, bring them succor.

Paul tells us that God adopted a method for the recovery of man, from that original sentence of death which came upon all as a result of Adam’s fall, which would show the justice of His sentence and the unchangeableness of His decrees, and yet permit such as are sick of sin to use their experience wisely, and to return to harmony and obedience to their Creator and His just and reasonable laws and regulations.

This Divine Plan, by which God could remain just and unchangeable in His attitude toward sin and sinners, and yet release the well-disposed from the penalty of sin (death and disfavor), is stated by the Apostle in Rom. 3:24-26.

In brief, this plan provided that another man who, by obedience to the law of God, should prove His worthiness of eternal life, might, by the willing sacrifice of the life to which He was thus proved worthy, redeem the forfeited life of Adam and of his posterity who lost life through him; for it is written, “In Adam all die,” and “By the offense of one sentence of condemnation came on all men.” (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12,18)

Since the condemnation to death was thus upon all men, and since another man newly created and inexperienced as Adam was, though just as favorably situated, would have been similarly liable to fall, God devised the marvelous plan of transferring His only begotten Son from the spiritual to the human nature, and thus provided a man fit for sacrifice – “the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all;” “who, though he was rich [though He was possessed of glory and honor and riches of wisdom and power above both angels and men], nevertheless for our sakes became poor [humbling Himself to a lower nature, even as a man, becoming obedient even unto death] that we through His poverty might be made rich.” (1 Tim. 2:5; 2 Cor. 8:9)

Thus the one first created, “the first born of all creation” (Col. 1:15), “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), the One who had known God’s character longer, more fully and more intimately than any other being, the One in fact who had been Jehovah’s chief and honored, intelligent and active agent in the creation of angels as well as of men, the One by whom all things were made, and aside from whom not anything was made (John 1:3; Col. 1:16,17) this great being, Jehovah’s Prime Minister, and next to Himself in dignity, the Almighty entrusted with the work of redeeming and restoring mankind.

To redeem them would cost the sacrifice of His own life as their ransom-price, with all that implied of suffering and self-denial. To restore them (such of them as shall prove worthy ‑ whosoever wills) will require the exercise of Divine Power to open the prison-house of death, and to break the fetters of sin and prejudice and superstition, and give to all the redeemed the fullest opportunity to decide whether they love good or evil, righteousness or sin, truth or error, and to destroy all who love and work iniquity, and to develop and perfect again all who love and choose life upon its only condition – righteousness.

To know the Father’s plan and His privilege of cooperation in its execution, was to appreciate it and joyfully engage therein. Willingly our Lord Jesus laid aside the glory of the higher nature which He had had with the Father from before the creation of man (John 17:5; 2 Cor. 8:9). He was “made flesh” (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14), became a man at thirty years of age, and then began the great work of sacrifice, the sacrifice of Himself, a perfect man, for the cancellation of the sin of the first man, to recover Adam and his race by dying on their behalf, as their Redeemer. By giving to Justice the price of their liberty from Divine condemnation, He secured the legal right to cancel the sentence of condemnation to death against them, and hence the right to resurrect or restore to life and to all the lost estate and blessings, “whomsoever he wills.” (Rev. 22:17) And He wills to restore all who shall prove worthy. And to prove who are worthy will be the object of the Millennial reign (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).

This fact that our Lord’s mission to earth at the First Advent was to undo for the race, legally, the results of Adam’s transgression, and to secure the right to resurrect them and restore them, is clearly stated by the Apostle. See Rom. 5:5-12, 16-19,21; 1 Cor. 15:21-24.

Though tempted in all points like as we (His “brethren”) are, He ignored His own will (Luke 22:42; John 4:34; 5:30) and all suggestions from others contrary to God’s plan (Matt. 16:23; Luke 4:4, 8-12) and obeyed God implicitly. And therein lay the secret of His success. Temptations did not overcome Him, as they did even the perfect man Adam, because of the fullness of His consecration to the Divine will and plan; and this fullness of consecration and trust was the result of His intimate knowledge of the Father and His unbounded confidence in His Wisdom, Love and Power. He had recollection of His previous existence as a spirit being with the Father (John 17:5; 3:12,13). Our Lord’s success, then, was the result of being rightly exercised by His knowledge of God; as is written: “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, while bearing their iniquities.” (Isa. 53:11)

The suggestive thoughts here are two: First, that even a perfect man failed in trial because of the lack of full appreciation of God’s greatness, goodness and resources. Secondly the knowledge (as in Satan’s case) would be valueless, if unaccompanied by sincere love and consecration to God’s will. A lesson further, to Christ’s “brethren,” is, that knowledge and consecration are both essential to their following in the Master’s footsteps.

Among men He and His mission were not really known; even His most ardent followers and admirers at first supposed that His mission was merely to heal some of the sick Jews, and to advance their nation to the rulership of a dying world, and to be a teacher of morals, they saw not at first that His mission was to lay the foundation of a world-wide empire, which should not only include the living, but also the dead of Adam’s race, and which should insure peace and joy everlastingly to all the worthy, by eradicating forever, sin and all who love it after fully comprehending of its character in contrast with righteousness. Even His friends and disciples were slow to realize these grand dimensions of His work, though He continually repeated them, and bore witness, saying: “The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many;” (Matt. 20:28) “Verily, verily, the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear [obey] shall live.” (John 5:25) “The Lord hath sent me to preach deliverance to the captives [of death] and recovery of sight to the [mentally, morally and physically] blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised [injured by the Adamic fall].” (Luke 4:18)

The sacrifice of the Redeemer’s all, as man’s ransom price, was offered at the time He was thirty years old – at His baptism. And there the offering was accepted by Jehovah, as marked by His anointing with the spirit. Thenceforth, the three and a half years of His ministry He spent in using up the consecrated life already offered; and this He completed at Calvary. There the price of our liberty was paid in full. “It is finished!” (John 19:30) It holds good; it is acceptable by the grace of God, as the offset and covering for every weakness and sin of the first man, and his posterity, resulting either directly, or indirectly, from the first disobedience and fall. All that is necessary since, for a full return to Divine favor and communion, and to an inheritance in the Paradise of God, which the great Redeemer in due time has promised to establish in the entire earth, as at first in the Garden of Eden, is a recognition of sin, full repentance, and a turning from sin to righteousness. Christ will establish righteousness in the earth by the Kingdom of God, which He has promised shall be established, and for which He has bidden us wait and hope, and for which He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.”

Under that blessed and wise rule of Christ as King of nations, all the evil, depraved tendencies inherited from the fall and from the six thousand years of degradation, will be restrained, held in check, by super-human wisdom, love and power; and all being brought to a clear knowledge of the truth in its every phase, all will be fairly and fully tested. The lovers of righteousness will be perfected and given control of the perfected earth, while those loving unrighteousness under that clear light of knowledge and experience will, as followers of Satan’s example, be utterly destroyed in the Second Death. The First Death is the destruction to which all were subjected by Adam’s sin, but from which all were redeemed by the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice; and the Second Death is that destruction which will overtake those who, though redeemed by Christ from the First Death, shall by their own willful conduct, merit and receive death again. This Second Death means utter destruction, without hope of another redemption or resurrection; for Christ dieth no more. Nor could any good reason for their further trial be assigned; for the trial granted during the Millennial Age under Christ, as Judge, will be a thorough and fair and individual and final trial.

“YE SHALL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH” UNLESS YE REPENT

Death, in whatever form it may come, is perishing, ceasing to exist. All mankind, through Adam’s transgression, came under condemnation to loss of life, to “perish” “to be as though they had not been.” And only one way of escape from that condemnation has been provided (Acts 4:12). Because of Christ’s redemptive work all may escape perishing by accepting the conditions of life. During Christ’s Millennial reign those whom Pilate slew, and those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and all others of the race, sharers in the death penalty now upon us, will be released from the tomb, brought to a knowledge of Christ, His ransom work, and their privilege of repentance and full restitution to Divine favor, life, etc. Thus seen, the Adamic Death penalty was to perish; but it has been canceled by Christ’s Ransom, so far as it relates to those who, when brought to know the Redeemer, shall forsake sin. No longer should it be regarded as a perished condition, but as a “sleep” (John 11:11-14; Matt. 9:24; 1 Thes. 4:14; 5:10) from which the Redeemer will awaken all to give each who did not have it before being overtaken by Adam’s death, a full, individual opportunity to escape perishing and live forever. Yet, finally, all who shall fail to repent and to lay hold upon the gracious Life-giver shall perish; they will fail to obtain the full restitution provided; they shall never see (perfect) life (full restitution) for the wrath or condemnation of God will abide on them, condemning them to death as unworthy of life. As this will be their second condemnation, and an individual one, so the penalty will be the Second Death, which will not be general to the race, but only upon such individuals as refuse God’s favor of reconciliation and life.

As our Lord Jesus used the calamities of His time, as illustrating the just penalty against all who do not flee sin and lay hold upon the Redeemer and Life-giver, so we see them. We declare that destruction, perishing, is the just penalty of sin taught in the Scriptures. We denounce the eternal torment theory, so generally believed by God’s children, as unscriptural; as one of Satan’s blasphemous slanders against God’s character. And we proclaim that only by faith in the Redeemer, repentance and reformation, can the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, be obtained. Whoever hears the offer of life is responsible to the extent that he understands it; and according to God’s promise and plan all mankind shall, at some time, either during the Gospel Age, or during the coming Millennial Age, be brought to a full, clear appreciation of these conditions and opportunities, with fullest opportunities for repentance and life.

Calamities, then, are to be regarded, generally, as accidents, attributable to human imperfection and lack of experience, or to disturbances incidental to the preparation of the earth for its more quiet and perfect condition during the Sabbath or Seventh Thousand Years (the Millennium), and for its state of absolute perfection forever after the Millennium, which under Christ’s direction, shall give it its finishing touches and make it fully ready for the redeemed race, which His reign shall prepare also to rightly use and enjoy and rule the perfected earth. And man is exposed to these calamities and accidents, and not defended from them by his Almighty Creator, because, first, man is a sinner condemned to death anyway, and is not to be spared from it, but must be allowed to pass through it; and secondly, by the present experiences with trouble and sorrow and pain, all of which are but elements of death, mankind is learning a lesson and laying up in store an experience with sin and its awful concomitants, sorrow, pain and death, which will be valuable in that Millennial Age, when each shall be required to choose between good and evil. The evil they learn first, now; the good and its blessed results and rewards, but dimly seen now, will be fully displayed then – during the Millennium (Acts 17:31).

But some one inquires, If this be God’s Plan, for redeeming the world by the death of His Son and justifying and restoring all who believe in and accept of Him, and obey and love righteousness, why did not the Millennial reign of Christ with its favorable conditions and powerful restraints begin at once, as soon as Christ had given the ransom price at Calvary; instead of compelling those who would follow righteousness, to sail through bloody seas and suffer for righteousness’ sake? Or else, why not have postponed the giving of the ransom until the close of the six thousand years of evil and the inauguration of the Millennial reign? Or, at least, if the present order of events is best in the Divine Wisdom, why does not God specially protect from calamities, accidents, sorrow, pain, death, etc., those who have fully accepted of Christ and who have sacrificed and are using their all in the service of righteousness?

Ah yes! The subject would be incomplete were this point left untouched. The consecrated Saints, the Church of the Gospel Age, are a “peculiar people,” different from the rest of the redeemed race; and God’s dealings with them are peculiar and different also. Inasmuch as it was God’s purpose to highly honor and exalt our Lord Jesus far above all others, because of His faithful obedience even to self-sacrifice, so it was His purpose to select a “Little Flock” for His companionship in glory, who, after being justified by Christ’s sacrifice and reconciled to God by the death of His Son, should develop so much of a likeness to His Son, by intently following His words and example, that they, like Him (though far less fully than He because of weaknesses of the flesh), should likewise so love righteousness and truth, and so delight to do God’s will, that they would do it at any cost or sacrifice of earthly pleasures, or comforts, or esteem among men – even unto death.

The space of time between the giving of the ransom for all, and the establishment of the Kingdom which is to bestow upon mankind the blessings purchased, is for the very purpose of selecting the “Little Flock” of under kings and priests, Christ’s companions in the honors and work of the Kingdom, otherwise called, as a class, “The Bride, the Lamb’s wife.” The selection of this class must take place during a time when evil, trouble and sin, have sway in the world; for it is by the special opposition of evil and sin, to God’s plan and to all in harmony with it, that these are to be specially tried and tested; that only “overcomers” shall be selected and given this very honorable and responsible position.

Not only is this class required to follow after righteousness and truth, and to support them and oppose sin, to their present discomfort and loss, but they are required to do all this on the strength of faith, outward evidences being often contrary to faith. A part of their test is, that they must walk by faith and not by sight. They are to believe God’s promises though every outward circumstance seems to contradict it. This is part of their lesson as well as part of their trial.

They are to believe God’s testimony, that death and trouble entered the world as a result of Adam’s sin, and that a fall from perfection took place in Eden, no matter what speculations among scientists may suggest to the contrary – as that Adam was evolved from an ape, and that the Bible story of the fall, the condemnation and redemption are alike unscientific; that Christ, like Confucius, was a great teacher, but nothing more; that He accomplished no redemption and that none could have been needful or required. The Saints are to shun all such babblings of science and philosophy, falsely so-called, and to walk by faith in God’s revelation.

Though they see errors flourish and Scriptural Truths spurned and disregarded, they are to disregard numbers and human traditions and, by faith, hold to God’s Word. Though told by God that they are redeemed and no longer under His condemnation and disfavor with the rest of the world, they are to believe and walk by faith, nothing doubting, even though they are not the recipients of special earthly favors, and even though they, like others, have a share of sickness, pain and death.

Their advantages are often less than those of other men, and their course often much more up-hill and rough. They walk by faith and not by sight, however; they endure as seeing Him who is invisible, and the crown which is invisible, and the Kingdom which is invisible, and as though they already had everlasting life, though they die like other men. In all these things, yea, in everything, they are required to walk by faith and not by sight, if they would be crowned overcomers and made heirs in the coming Kingdom.

Their advantages are all invisible to the world, and are seen only by the eye of faith. Their peace and joy are dependent upon their knowledge and trust of God and His Plan, and their knowledge and trust depend upon their faith in His Word of promise. By faith they “know [even when outward evidences seem contrary] that all things are working together” (Rom. 8:28) for their ultimate good, and that the glories and blessings of the future shall far overbalance all the trials and troubles and wounds of the present; and so believing from such a standpoint, it is well said that these have a joy and peace, even amid tribulation, and which the world can neither give nor take away.

What advantage, then, hath a true, consecrated Christian in the present time? Much every way; both in the life that now is, and also in that which is to come. All things are yours; for ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s and ye are accepted of God in and through the merit of Christ.

“Soul, then know thy full salvation,

Rise o’er sin and fear and care;

Joy to find in every station,

Something still to do or bear.”

No matter how dark the clouds, no matter how unfavorable the circumstance on its surface, thou hast the heavenly assurance, that – “All must work for good to thee.”

Even those things which may seem to be, and to the world are, accidents, cannot be so regarded in connection with these so peculiarly precious in God’s sight. Nothing transpires without your Father’s knowledge – not even a sparrow falls, nor a hair of your heads. And since infinite wisdom, infinite love, and infinite power are pledged to their aid, and guarantee them against all that would not be for their ultimate good, with how much confidence and trust all such may free themselves from harassing care and anxiety, and with how much courage they may press on, committing their way unto the Lord, and engaging heart and hand and brain in His service; for we also “know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58) Like their Master, such shall yet see results for all their travail of souls which will fully recompense or satisfy them. Such may rejoice in tribulation, knowing the results. Even the families of the Saints and all that concerns them, are precious to the Lord for their sakes.

Courage, then, dear family of God! Be strong! quit you like men! Endure hardness as good soldiers; endure as seeing the Lord and the prize, though they are invisible except to your eye of faith. Expect not to reign, nor to be exempted from trial and sufferings, until the battle is ended – until Evil (sin, as well as disaster, trouble and death, its accompaniments) shall be removed by our Redeemer, who soon is to take His great power and reign to deliver the groaning creation from all its present distresses.

“Behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people.” (Luke 2:10) Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord; for though for a little moment He hid His face and permitted calamities to scourge and destroy His creatures because of their transgression, yet in great mercy He hath provided our ransom price; yea, He hath highly exalted Him to be both Priest and King to cleanse from sin, and to rule to perfect all who will then submit their hearts to Him and obey Him. From such He shall wipe away all tears; and sorrow and dying, and every evil, shall be no more. “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)

“Tell the whole world the blessed tidings;

Speak of the time of rest that nears;

Tell the oppressed of every nation

Jubilee lasts a thousand years.”

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NO. 467B: THE AUTHORSHIP AND CREDIBILITY OF THE BIBLE - PART TWO

No. 467B

OTHER MEANS OF VERIFICATION

Another remarkable means for preserving and verifying the New Testament writings is their copious quotation in other writings. Origen, who wrote in the early part of the third century, quotes 5745 passages from all the books in the New Testament; Tertullian (AD 200) makes more than 3000 quotations from the New Testament books; Clement (AD 194) quotes 380 passages; Irenaeus (AD 178) quotes 767 passages; Polycarp, who was martyred AD 165, after serving Christ 86 years, quoted 36 passages in a single epistle; Justin Martyr (AD 140) also quotes from the New Testament. These were all Christian writers; and in addition to these, the Scriptures were largely quoted by heathen and infidel writers, among them Celsus (AD 150) and Porphyry (AD 304).Indeed the entire New Testament, with the exception of about a dozen verses, has been found scattered as quotations through various writings that are still extant. And if every copy of the New Testament had been destroyed by its enemies, the book could have been reproduced from these quotations contained in the writings of the early Christians and their enemies.

While the means for the preservation of the Scriptures have been thus remarkably complete, and in view of the unparalleled opposition with which they have met give evidence of Divine care in their preservation, the means for their verification, and for arriving at an understanding of them in God’s due time, are found to be none the less remarkable. No other book in the world has ever had such attention as this book. The labor that has been spent in the preparation of complete concordances, indexes, various translations, etc., has been enormous; and the results to students of the Bible are of incalculable value. And while we recognize the providence of God in all this, we should and do appreciate these labors of His children and their great service to us, though we utterly repudiate as useless the labor that has been spent on many so-called theological writings, which are nothing more than miserable efforts to support the vain traditions of men, the accumulated monstrous volumes of which would indeed form a monument of human folly.

Just in “The Time of the End,” when the prophet (Dan. 12:9, 10) declares that “the wise [the meek and faithful children of God] shall understand,” we find these wonderful aids coming forward to our assistance. And parallel with these has happened the general spread of intelligence and education and the placing of the Bible in the hands of the people, thus enabling them to use the helps provided.

In view of these things, our only reasonable conclusion must be, that this wonderful book has been completely under Divine supervision in its preparation, and in its gradual and seasonable unfolding to the understanding; and yet it has all been accomplished through human agency. Those who are too careless, or too indifferent, or who permit themselves to be too much engrossed with the cares of this life to give it a studious examination, should not be expected to comprehend its weight of authority, and its full evidence of credibility. We are aware of the fact that in these days when the art of printing has flooded the world with literature of every description, good, bad, and indifferent, one might reasonably reply, We cannot examine everything. Very true, but this book has a claim superior to that of any other book in the world, and no man is as justifiable in laying it upon the shelf, as he would be in doing with the Koran or the Veda.

The very existence of such a book, animated with such a spirit of justice, wisdom, love and power, and disclosing such good tidings of great joy to all people, having such a history and authorship, and containing such varied information – historic, scientific, and moral; and so remarkably preserved for so many centuries, though so violently opposed, is sufficient to awaken at least a suspicion of its value, and to claim the attention and investigation of every reasoning mind. The claims of this book upon our attention are by far superior to those of any other, and these reasonable claims appear on its very surface, while every systematic and properly directed effort at investigation rewards the diligent student with copious and abundant proof, both of its truthfulness and of its value.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

The Bible claims to be a book written under Divine inspiration. The word inspire signifies to breathe in, to infuse, to fill, to inhale – as to inspire the lungs with air. (See Webster’s Dictionary.) Hence, when it is said that certain scriptures, or writings of godly men, were given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16), it signifies that those men were in some way, whether through miraculous or natural means, inspired by, or brought under the influence of God; so as to be used by Him in speaking or writing such words as He wished to have expressed. The prophets and apostles all claimed such inspiration. Peter says, “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.” (2 Pet. 1:21)

Through Moses we have the Law of God and the only existing credible history of mankind from the creation of Adam down to his own time, covering a period of about 2500 years. While Moses and the other Bible writers were holy men, inspired with pure motives and holy zeal, and while personal pride, ambition, etc., were no part of their spirit, we learn that Moses was inspired with the knowledge of God’s Law, both in its great principles and also in the minutiae of its typical ceremonials, by revelation from God at Mount Sinai, and of some points of duty at the burning bush at Horeb, etc.

As for his historical writings, Moses was evidently guided of God in the collation and presentation in its present complete and connected form of the history of the world down to his day, which was really in great part the history of his own family back to Adam with an account of the creation doubtless given by God to Adam while he was yet in fellowship in Eden. Nor does a correct handing down of family information, covering a period of over 2300 years, seem impossible, or liable, as it would now be, to have become polluted; for, aside from the fact that it was handed down through the God-fearing family line of Seth, it should be remembered that at that time the bodies, brains and memories of men were not so weak as they are now, and as they have been since the flood; and finally, because the long lives of two men link Adam with the family of Abraham, the family of covenant favor – with Isaac, the typical seed of promise. These two men were Methuselah and Shem. Methuselah was over 200 years old when Adam died, and had abundant opportunity, therefore, for information at first hands; and Shem, the son of Noah, lived contemporaneously with Methuselah for 98 years, and with Isaac for 50 years. Thus, these two living, God‑fearing men acted as God’s historians to communicate His revelations and dealings to the family in whom centered the promises, of which Moses was one of the prospective heirs.

In addition to these facts, we have the statement of Josephus that Methuselah, Noah and Shem, the year before the flood, inscribed the history and discoveries of the world on two monuments of stone and brick which were still standing in Moses’ time.

As for the writings of the prophets, their devoted, godly lives attest their sincerity; their lives were spent for God and in the defense of righteousness, and not for gain and worldly honor. And as for proofs that God acted through them and that they merely expressed His messages, as Peter declares, it is to be found in the fulfilment of their predictions. These we need not enumerate here and now, as they are elaborated in Studies In The Scriptures, Volumes I, II; and Vol. III.

This brings us to the examination of the inspiration of the New Testament. Of the four gospel narratives and the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which are merely historic narratives, it might with considerable force be argued that no inspiration was necessary. But we must remember that since it was God’s will that the important doings and teachings of our Lord and his disciples should be handed down, for the information and guidance of His Church throughout the Age, it was necessary that God, even while leaving the writers free to record those truths in their own several styles of expression and arrangement, should nevertheless exercise a supervision of His work. To this end it would appear reasonable that He would cause circumstances, etc., to call to the memory of one or another of them items and details which, otherwise, in so condensed an account of matters so important, would have been overlooked. And this was no less the work of God’s spirit, power, or influence than the more noticeable and peculiar manifestations through the prophets.

The Apostle Peter tells us that the prophets of old time often did not understand their own utterances, as they themselves also acknowledge (1 Pet 1:12; Dan. 12:4, 8‑10); and we should remember that the twelve apostles (Paul taking the place of Judas – Gal. 1:17; 1 Tim. 2:7) not only filled the office of apostles – or specially appointed teachers and expounders of the Gospel of the New Covenant – but they also, especially Peter and Paul and John, filled the office of prophets, and were not only given the spirit of wisdom and understanding by which they were enabled to explain the previously dark prophecies, but in addition to this we believe that they were under the guidance and supervision of the Lord to such an extent that their references to things future from their day, things therefore not then due to be fully understood, were guided, so as to be true to an extent far beyond their comprehension, and such consequently were as really prophetic as the utterances of the old‑time prophets. Illustrations of this are to be found in the Revelations of the Apostle John, in Peter’s symbolic description of the Day of the Lord (2 Pet 3:10‑13), and in numerous references to the same period by Paul also, among which were some things hard to be understood even by Peter (2 Pet. 3:16) and only partially then by Paul himself. The latter, however, was permitted to see future things more clearly than others of his time, and to that end he was given special visions and revelations which he was not allowed to make known to others (2 Cor. 12:1‑4), but which, nevertheless, influenced and colored his subsequent teachings and epistles. And these very items which Peter thought strange of, and called “hard to be understood,” are the very items which now, in God’s due time, for which they were intended, so grandly illuminate not only Peter’s prophecies and John’s Revelation, but the entire word and plan of God – that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17)

That the early church considered the writings and teachings of the apostles different from all others, in authority, is manifest from the early arrangement of these writings together and the keeping separate from these, as apocryphal, other good writings of other good men. And yet there were, even in the days of the apostles, ambitious men who taught another gospel and claimed for themselves the honors of special revelations and authority as apostles and teachers of no less authority than the twelve apostles.

And ambitious men of the same sort have from time to time since arisen – ­Emanuel Swedenborg and many less able and less notable – whose claims, if conceded, would not only place them in rank far above Paul, the prince of the apostles, but whose teachings would tend to discredit entirely, as “old wives’ fables,” the whole story of redemption and remission of sins through the blood of the cross. These would‑be apostles, boastful, heady, high‑minded, have “another gospel,” a perversion of the gospel of Christ; and above all they despise and seek to cast discredit upon the words of Paul who so clearly, forcibly and logically lifts up the standard of faith and points to the cross – the ransom – as the sure foundation, and who so clearly showed that pseudo‑apostles, false apostles, would arise and deceive many.

It not only required an inspiration to write God’s plan, but it also requires an inspiration of the Almighty to give an understanding of that revelation; yet this inspiration is of a different sort. When any one has realized himself a sinner, weak, imperfect and condemned, and has accepted of Christ as his Redeemer, and full of love and appreciation has consecrated his heart (his mind, his will) to the Lord, to henceforth please not himself but his Redeemer, God has arranged that such a consecration of the natural mind brings a new mind. It opens the way for the Holy mind or will of God, expressed through His written word, to be received; and as it is received into such a good, honest, consecrated heart, it informs that heart and opens the eyes of the understanding, so that from the new standpoint (God’s standpoint) many things wear a very different aspect, and among other things the Scripture teachings, which gradually open up as item after item of the Divine Plan is fulfilled, and new features of the unfolding plan become due to be understood, and from the new standpoint appreciated and accepted.

Just as with astronomers, the close observation of facts and influences already recognized often leads them to look in certain directions for hitherto undiscovered planets, and they find them, so with the seekers after spiritual truths; the clear appreciation and close study of the known plan lead gradually, step by step, to the discovery of other particulars, hitherto unnoticed, each of which only adds to the beauty and harmony of the truths previously seen. Thus it is that “The path of the just is a shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Prov. 4:18)

Of course the writings of all such as have their wills fully subjected to the mind of God, as revealed in His Word, must be also somewhat inspired by God’s spirit, received from His Word by their complete subjection to its leading. The spirit of the truth inspires and controls to a greater or lesser extent not only their pens but their words and thoughts, and even their very looks. Yet such an inspiration, common to all the Saints, in proportion to their development, should be critically distinguished from the special and peculiarly guided and guarded inspiration of the twelve apostles, whom God specially appointed to be the teachers of the Church, and who have no successors in this office. Only twelve were “chosen,” and when one of these, Judas, fell from his honorable office, the Lord in due time appointed Paul to the place; and He not only has never recognized others, but clearly indicates that He never will recognize others in that office. (Rev. 21:14)

With the death of the Apostles the canon of Scripture closed, because God had there given a full and complete revelation of His plan for man’s salvation; though some of it was in a condensed form which has since expanded and is expanding and unfolding and will continue to expand and shine more and more until the perfect day – the Millennial Day – has been fully ushered in. Paul expresses this thought clearly when he declares that the Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, and that they are sufficient.

As we consider, then, the completeness, harmony, purity and grandeur of the Bible, its age and wonderful preservation through the wreck and storms of six thousand years, it must be admitted to be a most wonderful book; and those who have learned to read it understandingly, who see in it the great Plan of the Ages, cannot doubt that God was its inspiring Author, as well as its Preserver. Its only parallel is the book of nature by the same great Author.(Pastor Russell, Reprints 1144-1149, September 1889)

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QUESTIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST

QUESTION – Are Consecrated Epiphany Campers represented in any way in Noah’s Ark?

ANSWER – No! And it would be essential for them to be shown in the Ark in some clear manner if they are a genuine class, because that Ark is a “Type of Christ and the power in Him which will replenish and reorganize society.” (See the Berean Comment on Genesis 6:19.) In other words, the Ark portrays the embodiment of God’s Plan.(Nor does Noah’s Ark portray the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Great Crowd.)

In elaborating this statement Brother Johnson gives us this in E-5-62 (59):”It will be noticed that there were four human pairs who went into the Ark, as well as at least one pair of every clean and unclean kind of animals. We know that there are four elective classes who in this life obtain a good report thru faith in the Abrahamic Covenant:(1) The Christ, (2) the Ancient Worthies, (3) the Great Company, and (4) the Youthful Worthies. Noah undoubtedly types our Lord, who is the Heir of righteousness which comes to us by faith (Heb. 11:7).These classes we understand to be typed in their respective order by Noah and his wife, Shem and his wife, Japheth and his wife and Ham and his wife, the males apart from Noah representing all the leaders of their respective classes, and the females the rest of these classes. We understand the animals in the Ark to represent the non-elect who will ultimately be saved, the clean animals to represent the Jews, as typically clean, who will be saved, and the Tentatively Justified as tentatively clean, who will be saved, and the unclean animals represent those of the present unclean world who will be saved; while those who perished in the Flood we understand to represent from one viewpoint those who have perished under the Adamic curse, and from another standpoint, the movements and systems of Satan’s Empire and the Second Death Class. Just as in the type the clean and the unclean animals occupied altogether different positions in the Ark from those of Noah and his family, so in the antitype, the Jews and the Tentatively Justified on the one hand, and the prospectively saved of the rest of mankind on the other hand, are quite differently related to the Abrahamic Covenant from antitypical Noah and his family. These animals were placed in the Ark to type that anticipatorily their antitypes would be included in the Abrahamic Covenant.”

From the foregoing, it is clear enough that the clean animals typed the quasi-elect – those “truly repentant and believing, but not consecrated, Jews and Gentiles.” (See E-10-209.)They are those who have “adhered to righteousness” and who accept Christ as their Savior – anticipatorily in the Jewish Age, and actually so during the Gospel Age. Note we have underscored the words “adhered to righteousness,” because this feature of the quasi-elect is definitely portrayed in the clean animals by all of them having the split or divided hoof, such hoofs typifying that their conduct has been acceptable to God and to man – they have practiced righteousness – have made “straight paths for their feet” – adhered to the Mosaic Law to the extent of their ability (even perhaps more so than the “measurably faithful” Great Company Class, and the “measurably faithful” of the Youthful Worthies – although “adherence to righteousness” does not admit the quasi-elect as one of the fully elect classes).Thus, it is apparent that the quasi-elect are clearly shown in the Ark; and it is equally apparent that the same Ark is completely silent about a consecrated segment of this class at any time during the Gospel Age in the embodiment of God’s Plan. Clearly enough, a consecrated division of the quasi-elect is an Azazelian perversion by uncleansed Levite leaders – whether they be designated Consecrated Epiphany Campers, Quasi-elect Consecrated or the Great Crowd. It is an arbitrary addition to “that which is written,” and without Scriptural foundation in the Ark, which reveals the “Whole counsel of God” in its generalized features – emphasizing the same six classes as are found in Joel 2:28, 29, but no more.

The LHMM tells us that their Consecrated Campers are so much like the Youthful Worthies that they can hardly tell the difference, we would present the logical question respecting the type: Did Noah and family have any difficulty whatever in noting the difference between themselves and the clean animals in the Ark?

(Our Reprint No. 359, July 1985)

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QUESTION – Are we to regard the Worthies as Restitutionists, and the first Restitutionists to be blessed under the New Covenant?

ANSWER – We are not to regard any of the elect as Restitutionists, including the Worthies. They are the first to be blessed under the New Covenant, as they will experience the “better resurrection” before any blessing can go to others. The first Restitutionists to be blessed under the New Covenant are the faithful covenant-keeping Jews. As we have repeatedly quoted from our faithful Messengers’ teaching and from the Scriptures, the New Covenant is Israelitish, and would naturally come to the Jew first.

We have also repeatedly contended that the salvation of the elect is in the Faith Age, and the salvation of the world of mankind is in the Mediatorial Kingdom. There are two salvations, and they are not to be mixed. Just as there won’t be any opportunity for the elective salvation in the New Covenant arrangement, so there is no opportunity for the non-elect, including the quasi-elect, Consecrated Campers and the Great Crowd to make an acceptable consecration to God during the Faith Age.

At one time JFR taught the truth on the two salvations being separate and distinct, but revolutionized against that truth when he invented a new class – Jonadabs or the “Great Multitude”; and the same is true about the LHMM. It was after they invented a new class – Consecrated Epiphany Campers – that they, too, revolutionized against the truth on the two salvations.

“The Youthful Worthies as a class are pointed out in various Scriptures... 2 Tim. 2:20 that ‘in a great house [the great house of the typical Aaron, Lev. 16:6; Num. 17:2, 3; 3:6-9, 17-20, consisted of his sons and three typical classes of Levites – the Kohathites, Merarites and Gershonites; accordingly, in the great House of our Great High Priest, there are four classes antitypical of these] there are not only vessels of gold [the Little Flock, Mal. 3:3], and of silver [the Great Company, Mal. 3:3], but also of wood [the Ancient Worthies] and of earth [the Youthful Worthies, who with the Ancient Worthies will be, during the Millennium, the human or earthly members of the antitypical Aaron’s House, as they were or are of the human nature also before the Millennium];and [additionally] some to honor [the faithful Restitutionists, the ‘sheep’ of Matt. 25:31-40], and some to dishonor [the ‘goats’ of the next Age, Matt. 25:41-46].” (E-17-39,40)

So when the LHMM groups the Youthful Worthies with the Restitutionists in their contention for the Consecrated Campers, by saying, “If God can make an exception of the Youthful Worthies, who are made up largely of Gentiles, in regard to ‘the Jew first,’ then He can make an exception of another class – Consecrated Epiphany Campers.” God makes an exception of all the elect. The Jews will be the first of the Restitutionists to be blessed under the New Covenant. As repeatedly said, the New Covenant is Israelitish, and simply replaces the Old Law Covenant, which also is Israelitish.

(Our Reprint No. 360, August 1985)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

To Epiphany Bible Students,

Forgive me for not responding to your post card earlier. I have been traveling. Please retain me on your mailing list. I receive and read each issue of the papers you send me for which I am most grateful. Thank you.

Dr. J. Gordon Melton, Department of Religious Studies(CALIFORNIA)

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“IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW”

SISTER MINNIE CONDELL, Kingston, Jamaica, finished her course Sunday, February 19, 1995.Her funeral was conducted in Crofts Hill Sunday, February 26, by Brother Roy Mahoney. She was buried next to Sister McNeil in a family plot marked by Sister Minnie’s father, Brother Condell.

She believed in God and His promises, and was loved by all who knew her. This was attested by those who attended her funeral. Some of her friends came from the University of Kingston, and several of her nieces and nephews came from the USA to pay their respect and love for her. We mourn with her family and friends, but we rejoice with them in the blessed memory she left us. She had been ill for quite some time after several strokes which left her paralyzed so she couldn’t move herself without help. But her niece, April, gave her good care. We are comforted with the thought that she will have no more pain. She is now “asleep in Jesus,” awaiting that glorious Kingdom when she will receive the resurrection of the Just.

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NO. 467A: THE AUTHORSHIP AND CREDIBILITY OF THE BIBLE - PART ONE

No. 467A

2 Tim. 3:16

While the Bible is generally accepted by Christian people as of Divine authority, comparatively few are able to clearly state just why they so esteem it. The internal evidence of its truthfulness, and its grandeur of doctrine, are the principal evidences on which its testimony is, and should be, generally received; and truly these are strong and convincing of its Divine authorship and authority; yet the man of God who would be thoroughly furnished with the Truth, and armed against every attack of skepticism, should endeavor to know all he can of the time, manner, circum­stances, etc., under which it was written; whether it has been preserved free from corruption; and whether in its present condition it is worthy of full confidence. Let us, therefore, briefly consider what testimony we have to the credibility of the Sacred Writings.

From numerous expressions, references and quotations in the New Testament by our Lord and the apostles it is evident that a certain body of writings was at that time considered to be of Divine authority. The Sacred Scriptures then in existence are now characterized as the Old Testament Scriptures (the Scriptures of the Old or Law Covenant), while that which was added by our Lord and the apostles is termed the New Testament (the New Covenant) Scriptures.

No other book which the world has ever known has such a history as the Bible. Its origin and authorship, its antiquity, its wonderful preservation in the midst of the unparalleled and continuous opposition which sought to destroy it, as well as its diversity and teaching, make the Bible the most wonderful book in existence.

It is a collection composed of sixty‑six separate books, written by about forty different writers, living centuries apart, speaking different languages, subjects of different governments, and brought up under different civilizations. Over 1500 years elapsed between the writings of Moses and of John.

As no other reliable history dates so far back as the Bible, we are obliged to look mainly to its own internal evidence, as to its origin, authorship, and the reason for its existence, and indeed for its credibility in every respect; and further, we should look for such corroboration of its statements as reason, its own harmony with itself, and with other known facts, and subsequent developments furnish. And indeed this is the evidence of reliability on which all history must rest. To such evidence we are indebted for all our knowledge of past events and of all present events as well, except such as come under our own immediate observation. He who would cast away Bible history as unworthy of credence, must on the same ground reject all history; and to be entirely consistent, must believe nothing which does not come under his own personal observation.

If its statements thoroughly understood, are contradictory, or are colored by prejudice, or are proven untrue by a positive scientific knowledge, or if subsequent developments prove its predictions untrue, and thereby show the ignorance or dishonesty of the authors of the Bible, then we may reasonably conclude that the entire book is unworthy of confidence, and should reject it. But if, on the contrary, we find that a thorough understanding of the Bible, according to its own rules of interpretation, shows its statements to be in harmony with each other; if it bears no evidence of prejudicial coloring; if many of its prophecies have actually come true, and others admit of future fulfillment; if the integrity of its writers is manifested by unvarnished records, then we have reason to believe the book. Its entire testimony, historic, prophetic, and doctrinal, stands or falls together. Science is yet in its infancy, yet in so far as positive scientific knowledge has been obtained, it should and does corroborate the Bible testimony.

INTERNAL EVIDENCES

Those who will make a study of the Bible plan will be fully convinced of the conclusive evidence of the credibility of the Sacred Scriptures, which is furnished in the purity, harmony and grandeur of its teachings. Outside of the Scriptures we have nowhere to look for an account of the circumstances and motives of the earliest writers :but they furnish these items of information themselves, and their integrity and evident truthfulness in other matters is a guarantee in these.

Our first definite information with reference to the Sacred Writings is afforded by the direction given to Moses to write the law and history in a book, and put it in the side of the Ark for preservation. (See Exod. 17:14; 34:27; Deut. 31:9-26.) This book was left for the guidance of the people. Additions were made to it from time to time by subsequent writers, and in the days of the kings, scribes appear to have been appointed whose business it was to keep a careful record of the important events occurring in Jewish history, which records – Samuel, Kings, Chronicles – were preserved and subsequently incorporated with the Law. The prophets also did not confine themselves to oral teachings, but wrote and in some cases had scribes to record their teachings. (See Josh. 1:8; 24:26, 1 Sam. 10:25; 1 Chr. 27:32; 29:29, 30; 2 Chr. 33:18, 19; Isa. 30:8; Jer. 30:2; 36:2; 45:1; 51:60.) As a result we have the Old Testament Scriptures, composed of history, prophecy and law, written by Divine direction, as these citations and also Paul’s testimony (2 Tim. 3:15, 16) prove. These writings collectively were termed “The Law and The Prophets,” and the Hebrews were taught of God to esteem them of Divine authority and authorship, the writers being merely the agents through whom they received them. They were so taught to esteem them by the miraculous dealings of God with them as a people, in confirmation of His words to them through the prophets, thus endorsing them as His agents (See Exod. 14:30, 31; 19:9; 1 Kings 18:21, 27, 30, 36, 39.); and further by the establishment and enforcement of the Mosaic law.

The political interests and the religious veneration of the Israelites, under God’s immediate overruling and protection, combined to preserve and protect these writings from contamination. Religiously, they were rightfully regarded with the deepest veneration, while politically they were the only guarantee which the people possessed against despotism. The Jewish copyists regarded these documents with great veneration. A very slight error in copying often led them to destroy it and begin anew. Josephus says that through all the Ages that had passed none had ventured to add to, take away from, or transpose ought of the Sacred Writings.

In the degeneracy of the Jewish nation, under the idolatrous administration of the successors of Rehoboam these Sacred Writings fell into disuse and were almost forgotten, though they seem never to have been taken from their place. In the reformation conducted by Josiah they were again brought to light. Again, in the Babylonish captivity this book was lost sight of by the Israelites, though it appears that they were accustomed to meet together in little companies in Babylon to be instructed by the scribes, who either taught the Law from memory or from copies in their possession. On the restoration of the Jews to Jerusalem, the Scriptures were again brought out, and Ezra and his companions read the law to the people, commenting upon and explaining it. (Neh. 8:1‑8) This public reading of the Scriptures was the only means of keeping them before the people, as printing was yet unknown and the cost of a manuscript copy was beyond the reach of the people, very few of whom could read. At the time of our Lord’s First Advent, these Old Testament Scriptures existed substantially as we have them today, as to matter and arrangement.

 One of the strongest evidences of the authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures is found in the fact that the law and the prophets were continually referred to by our Lord and the apostles as authority, and that while the Lord denounced the corruption of the Jewish Church, and their traditions, by which they made void the Word of God, he did not even intimate any corruption in these Sacred Writings, but commends them, and refers to and quotes them in proof of His claims.

 In fact, the various parts of the entire book are bound together by the mutual endorsement of the various writers, so that to reject one is to mar the completeness of the whole. Each book bears its own witness and stands on its own evidence of credibility, and yet each book is linked with all the rest, both by their common spirit and harmony and by their mutual endorsement. Mark, for instance, the endorsement of the account of creation in the commandment of the law concerning the Sabbath Day. (Exod. 20:11) Also compare Deut. 23:4, 5; Joshua 24:9; Micah 6:5; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11‑13; Isa. 28:21; Hab. 3:11; Matt. 12:40)

THE NEW TESTAMENT

The earliest copy of the New Testament known is written in the Syriac language. Its date is estimated to be about the year AD 100. And even at that early date it contained the same books as at present with the exception of the Second Epistle of Peter, the Third Epistle of John, Jude and the Book of Revelation. And these omitted books we know were written about the close of the first century, and probably had not been widely circulated among the Christian congregations at that time. All the books of the Old and New Testaments as we now have them appear, however, in the Greek, in the Sinaitic Manuscript, the oldest known Greek MS., whose date is about AD 350.

The first five books of the New Testament are historical, and present a clear and connected account of the life, character, circumstances, teachings and doings of Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament Scriptures, and who fully substantiated His claim. The four accounts of the Evangelists, though they differ in phraseology, are in harmony in their statements, some important items being recorded by each which seem to have been overlooked by the others. These Evangelists testified to that of which they had positive knowledge. The Apostle John says: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you – “that which was from the beginning [the beginning of the Lord’s ministry], which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness.” (1 John 1:1‑3) They testify also that they saw Christ after His resurrection. The fifth book presents a valuable account of the doings of the Apostles after their anointing with the Holy Spirit, of the establishment of the Christian Church and of the first preaching of the good news to the Gentiles.

The Apostolic Epistles were written to the various local congregations or churches, and were directed to be publicly read and to be exchanged among the churches; and the same authority was claimed for them by their writers as that which was accorded to the Old Testament Scriptures. (1 Thes. 5:27; Col. 4:16; 2 Pet. 3:2, 15, 16; Heb. 1:1, 2 and 2:1‑4) These letters and the five historical books were carefully preserved and were appealed to as authority in matters of doctrine.

The letters of the apostles, claiming as they did, Divine authority equal to that of the Old Testament Scriptures, were treasured and guarded with special care by the various congregations of the early church. The New Testament was completed by the Book of The Revelation, about the close of the first century AD after which, these epistles, etc., began to be collected for more permanent preservation.

 The original copies of both the Old and New Testaments have, of course, long since disappeared, and the oldest manuscript (the Sinaitic) is reckoned to have been written about three centuries after the death of Christ. Those of earlier date were either destroyed in the persecutions under which the Church suffered, or were worn out by use. These oldest manuscripts are preserved with great care in the Museums and Libraries of Europe. During the Middle Ages, when ignorance and corruption prevailed and the Bible was hidden in monasteries away from the people, God was still carrying on His work, preserving the Scriptures from destruction even in the midst of Satan’s stronghold, the apostate Church of Rome. A favorite occupation of the monks during the Middle Ages was the copying of the manuscripts of the New Testament, which were esteemed as relics more than as God’s living authoritative Word – just as you will find in the parlor of very many worldly people handsome Bibles, which are seldom opened. Of these manuscripts there are said to be now more than two thousand, of various dates from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. The quiet seclusion of those monks gave them special opportunities for careful copying, and years were sometimes spent in the copying of a single manuscript.

RELIABILITY OF PRESENT TRANSLATIONS

The idea exists in some minds that during the lapse of centuries the Scriptures have become largely corrupted, and therefore a very uncertain foundation for faith. They reason that this is surely to be expected of a book which has survived many centuries, and which has been claimed as Divine authority by so many different factions, and which can be read by the majority only from translations made by somewhat biased translators. And the late revisions of the book are supposed to be an acknowledgment of the supposed fact.

Those, however, who are acquainted with the manner in which the ancient manuscripts of the Scriptures have been preserved for centuries, carefully copied, diligently compared and translated by pious and learned linguists, whose work was thereafter subjected to the most learned and scrutinizing criticism of an age in which scholars are by no means few, are prepared to see that such an idea is by no means a correct or reasonable one, though to the uninformed it may appear so.

 It is a fact that the Scriptures, as we find them today, bear internal evidence of their original purity; and ample means, both internal and external, are now furnished so that the careful student may detect any error which might have crept in either by fraud or accident. While there are some errors in translation and a few interpolations in our common English translation, on the whole it is acknowledged by scholars to be a remarkably good transcript of the Sacred Word.

Before the invention of printing, the copying of the Scriptures, being very slow and tedious, involved considerable liability to error in transcribing, such as the accidental omission of a word or paragraph, the substitution of one word for another, or the misunderstanding of a word where the copyist wrote from the dictation of another person. And again, sometimes a marginal note might be mistaken for a part of the text and copied in as such. But while a very few errors have crept in, in such ways, and a few others seem to have been designedly inserted, various circumstances have been at work, both to preserve the integrity of the Sacred Writings, and also to make manifest any errors which have crept into them.

Very early in the Christian Era translations of the New Testament Scriptures were made into several languages, and the different factions that early developed and continued to exist, though they might have been desirous of adding to or taking from the original text in order to give their claims a show of Scriptural support, were watched by each other to see that they did not do so, and had they succeeded in corrupting the text in one language, another translation would make it manifest.

Even the Douay translation, in use in the Romish church, is in most respects substantially the same as the King James translation. The fact that during the “Dark Ages” the Scriptures were practically cast aside being supplanted by the decrees of popes and councils, so that its teachings had no influence upon the masses of the people who did not have copies in their possession – nor could they have read them if they had them – doubtless made unnecessary the serious alteration of the text, at a time when bold, bad men had abundant power to do so. For men who would plot treason, incite to wars and commit murders for the advancement of the papal hierarchy, as we know was done, would have been bold enough for anything. Thus the depth of ignorance in the Dark Ages served to protect and keep pure God’s Word, so that its clear light has shone specially at the two ends of the Gospel Age. (1 Cor. 10:11) The few interpolations which were dared, in support of the false claims of Papacy, were made just as the gloom of the “Dark Ages” was closing in upon mankind, and are now made glaringly manifest, from their lack of harmony with the context, their antagonism with other scriptures and from their absence in the oldest and most complete and reliable manuscripts.

RELATIVE VALUES OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS

As to the relative values of ancient manuscripts, we quote the following comments from the pen of that eminent German scholar, Constantine Tischendorf, who spent many years of his life in diligently searching out and comparing the various ancient manuscripts and translations of the Scriptures in many languages, and who has furnished to the Church the results of his investigation in a careful exhibit of the various departures of the English Authorized Version of the New Testament from the three oldest and most important MSS.

Mr. Tischendorf says: “As early as the reign of Elizabeth the English nation possessed an authorized translation, executed by the Bishops under the guidance of Archbishop Parker; and this, half a century later, in the year 1611, was revised at the command of James the First by a body of learned divines, and became the present ‘Authorized Version.’ Founded as it was on the Greek text at that time accepted by Protestant theologians, and translated with scholarship and conscientious care, this version of the New Testament has deservedly become an object of great reverence, and a truly national treasure to the English Church. The German Church alone possesses in Luther’s New Testament a treasure of similar value.

“The Authorized Version, like Luther’s, was made from a Greek text which Erasmus in 1516, and Robert Stephens in 1550, had formed from manuscripts of later date than the tenth century. Whether those manuscripts were thoroughly trustworthy – in other words, whether they exhibited the Apostolic original as perfectly as possible – has long been a matter of diligent and learned investigation. Since the sixteenth century Greek manuscripts have been discovered of far greater antiquity than those of Erasmus and Stephens; as well as others in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Gothic, into which languages the sacred text was translated between the second and fourth centuries; while in the works of the Fathers, from the second century downwards, many quotations from the New Testament have been found and compared... One thing is agreed upon by the majority of those who understand the subject, namely, that the oldest copies approach the original text more nearly than the later ones.

“Providence has ordained for the New Testament more sources of the greatest antiquity than are possessed by all the old Greek literature put together. And of these, two manuscripts have for long been especially esteemed by Christian scholars, since, in addition to their great antiquity, they contain very nearly the whole of both the Old and New Testaments. Of these two, one is deposited in the Vatican, and the other in the British Museum. Within the last ten years a third has been added to the number, which was found at Mount Sinai, and is now at St. Petersburg. These three manuscripts undoubtedly stand at the head of all the ancient copies of the New Testament, and it is by their standard that both the early editions of the Greek text and the modern versions are to be compared and corrected.

“The effect of comparing the common English text with the most ancient authorities will be as often to disclose agreement as disagreement. True, the three great manuscripts alluded to differ from each other both in age and authority, and no one of them can be said to stand so high that its sole verdict is sufficient to silence all contradiction. But to treat such ancient authorities with neglect would be either unwarrantable arrogance or culpable negligence; and it would be indeed a misunderstanding of the dealings of Providence, if after these documents had been preserved through all the dangers of fourteen or fifteen centuries, and delivered safe into our hands, we were not to receive them with thankfulness as the most valuable instruments for the elucidation of Truth.

“It may be urged that our undertaking is opposed to true reverence; and that by thus exposing the inaccuracies of the English version, we shall bring discredit upon a work which has been for centuries the object of love and veneration both in public and private. But those who would stigmatize the process of scientific criticism and test, which we propose, as irreverent, are greatly mistaken. To us the most reverential course appears to be, to accept nothing as the Word of God which is not proved to be so by the evidence of the oldest, and therefore most certain, witnesses that He has put into our hands. With this in view, and with this intention, the writer has occupied himself for thirty years past, in searching not only the Libraries of Europe, but the obscurest convents of the East, both in Africa and Asia, for the most ancient manuscript of the Bible; and has done all in his power to collect the most important of such documents, to arrange them and to publish them for the benefit both of the present age and of posterity, so as to settle the original text of the sacred writers on the basis of the most careful investigation.

“The first of these great manuscripts already referred to which came into possession of Europe was the Vatican Codex. Whence it was acquired by the Vatican Library is not known; but it appears in the first catalogue of that collection, which dates from the year 1475. The manuscript embraces both the Old and New Testaments. Of the latter it contains the four Gospels, the Acts, the seven Catholic Epistles, nine of the Pauline Epistles, and the Epistle to the Hebrews as far as ix. 14, from which verse to the end of the New Testament it is deficient; so that not only the last chapters of Hebrews, but the Epistle to Timothy, Titus and Philemon as well as the Revelation, are missing. The peculiarities of the writing, the arrangement of the manuscript, and the character of the text – especially certain very remarkable readings – all combine to place the execution of the Codex in the fourth century.

“The Alexandrine Codex was presented to King Charles the First in 1628 by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had himself brought it from Alexandria, of which place he was formerly Patriarch, and whence it derives its name. It contains both the Old and New Testaments. Of the New the following passages are wanting: Matt. 1:1 to 25:6; John 6:50 to 8:52; 2 Cor. 4:13 to 12:6... It would appear to have been written about the middle of the fifth century.

“The Sinaitic Codex I was myself so happy as to discover in 1844 and 1859, at the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, in the later of which years I brought it to Russia to the Emperor Alexander the Second, at whose instance my second journey to the East was undertaken. It contains both Old and New Testaments – the latter perfect without the loss of a single leaf... All the considerations which tend to fix the date of manuscripts lead to the conclusion that the Sinaitic Codex belongs to the middle of the fourth century. Indeed, the evidence is clearer in this case than in that of the Vatican Codex; and it is not improbable (which cannot be the case with the Vatican MS.) that it is one of the fifty copies of which the Emperor Constantine in the year 331 directed to be made for Byzantium, under the care of Eusebius of Caesarea. In this case it is a natural inference that it was sent from Byzantium to the monks of St. Catherine by the Emperor Justinian, the founder of the convent. The entire Codex was published by its discoverer, under the orders of the Emperor of Russia, in 1862, with the most scrupulous exactness, and in a truly magnificent shape, and the New Testament portion was issued in a portable form in 1863 and 1865.

“These considerations seem to show that the first place among the three great manuscripts, both for age and extent, is held by the Sinaitic Codex, the second by the Vatican, and the third by the Alexandrine. And this order is completely confirmed by the text they exhibit, which is not merely that which was accepted in the East at the time they were copied; but, having been written by Alexandrine copyists who knew but little of Greek, and therefore had no temptation to make alterations, they remain in a high degree faithful to the text which was accepted through a large portion of Christendom in the third and second centuries. The proof of this is their agreement with the most ancient translations – namely, the so‑called Italic, made in the second century in proconsul Africa; the Syriac Gospels of the same date, now transferred from the convents of the Nitrian desert to the British Museum; and the Coptic version of the third century. It is confirmed also by their agreement with the oldest of the Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement and Origen.

“These remarks apply to the Sinaitic Codex – which is remarkably close in its agreement to the ‘Italic’ version – more than they do to the Vatican MS., and still more so than the Alexandrine, which, however, is of far more value in the Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse than it is in the Gospels.

“No single work of ancient Greek classical literature can command three such original witnesses as the Sinaitic, Vatican and Alexandrine Manuscripts, to the integrity and accuracy of its text. That they are available in the case of a book which is at once the most sacred and the most important in the world is matter for the deepest thankfulness to God.”

To be continued in No. 467B, August 1995.