"If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink." (John 7:37)
John the Baptist had testified of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) It is in harmony with this that we read that Jesus (at the hands of His disciples) baptized more than did John and his co-laborers. (John 4; 1) The growing popularity of Jesus aroused to bitter opposition the Scribes and Pharisees, and they sought to kill Him. Hence, we read that "He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him." (John 7: 1) They had greater animosity toward Jesus than toward John, for in Him they recognized a superiority over themselves, and because the ignorant, common people heard Him gladly and said, "Never man spake like this man." Thereafter we hear little of Jesus being in Jerusalem except on festival occasions, when great multitudes gathered in accordance with the requirements of the Law.
En route to Galilee, the home country of the majority of His apostles, the journey took them through the country of the Samaritans, concerning whom we remember that our Lord charged the disciples, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matt. 10: 5, 6) The Samaritans are thus classed with Gentiles -aliens, strangers, foreigners from the commonwealth of Israel. We recall their history -that at the time when the king of Babylon took the Israelites captive into Babylonia, he planted some Gentiles in the land of Israel -immigrants. Cut off from their former idolatries, these people became interested in their new home country, its theology, traditions, religious sentiments, etc. Furthermore, some of the careless, ignorant and vicious amongst the Jews, disregarding their Divine law on the subject, intermarried with the Samaritans. Thus an element of Jewish blood was intermingled amongst them. They called themselves the children of Jacob, and trusted that this meant some special blessing for them.
A sharp religious controversy was thus established between them and Jacob's natural progeny, the Jews. The latter, following the Law given by Moses, recognized Jerusalem and the Temple as the center of all acceptable worship of God. The Samaritans, being thus excluded, claimed that they had something better -that right in their own country they had the very mountain in which Jacob worshiped God, and towards this mountain they went or looked in their worship of God, esteeming it as a great natural temple and superior to anything else on earth. These facts account to us for some of the Lord's expressions connected with this lesson, and show us why His message excluded the Samaritans, as well as all Gentiles, from the call which He was giving, the Kingdom invitation, which was exclusively for the Jews. It was not until the Jews had as a people neglected their opportunity that the special privileges of the Kingdom were taken from them and subsequently tendered to such as would have an ear to hear in every nation, people, kindred and tongue of the earth -including the Samaritans.
"GIVE ME TO DRINK"
The road leading to Galilee branched off at Jacob's well, and the disciples went to the nearby Samaritan village, Sychar, to purchase food, while Jesus rested at the well, which was 75 feet deep and whose mouth was so walled up as to form a circular seat at its top. A Samaritan woman, laboring in the fields nearby, came to draw water, and was intensely surprised when Jesus asked her the favor of a drink. So tightly were the lines of social etiquette drawn that under ordinary circumstances no self-respecting Jew would ask a Samaritan for any favor, and especially for a drink of water. A gift of water or of food, extended or received at that time, signified fellowship, a covenant of good will. The woman asked an explanation of the Lord's peculiar conduct, but He gave none. We perceive in the entire Gospel narrative of the humility of our Lord, that he was quite ready and willing to mingle with any class, that He shunned no opportunity for doing good to any class, publicans or sinners -and that He reproved and rebuked the Scribes and Pharisees for their aloofness. One of His parables was especially directed towards the self-righteous sentiment which feared even to touch garments with the outwardly more degraded. Our Lord, without approving of the outward degradation, showed that God looketh upon the heart, and that some of those highly approved amongst men were more abominable in His sight than some despised of men.
TACTFULNESS EXEMPLIFIED
Our Lord displayed great tactfulness. Instead of replying to the woman's query, He attracted her attention to a deeper truth. This lesson of tactfulness many of the Lord's people need to learn. We know some who mistakenly believe that they must use no tact that to do so would be dishonest. Hence, they are frequently blunt to the extent of injuring the feelings of others, and hindering their own usefulness. Such should note in this lesson, and in many others, our Lord's tactfulness. He did not feel that it was necessary for Him to answer the woman's question. On the contrary, He said, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." (John 4:10) Similarly, let us in all the affairs of life try to turn the attention of those with whom we have contact towards the heavenly, the spiritual things -not that we should obtrude religious matters on every occasion, nor that we suppose our Lord would have done so. Quite probably He saw something in the way of honesty of character in the woman He addressed, else he would not have conversed with her. So we should be on the lookout for every opportunity to speak a word in season, to be helpful to others, to honor the Lord.
The woman understood the expression "living water" to mean fresh water, as distinguished from stagnant water. The woman perceived that our Lord was not provided with the necessary lowering bucket and camel's hair cord, and said, If you had ever so much desire to give me to drink, it would be useless for me to ask you, since you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep, and there is nowhere else that you can hope to procure better than this. Where would you get it? "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?" (John 4:12) Again our Lord tactfully ignored the question in the woman's interest -not to deceive her or take advantage of her, but for her benefit. He was instructing her, and leading her mind up from the natural water to the spiritual, and from the natural foundation to the spiritual. He said, "Whomsoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst," for that water "shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." (v. 14)
That our Lord talked to no ordinary woman is evidenced by the quickness with which she grasped His presentation, and her earnestness to get the living water He had described. She said, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." (v. 15) Again we note our Lord's tactfulness. He turned the subject. It was necessary that the woman should appreciate the fact that she was a sinner and under the death sentence and needed water of eternal life, which God alone could give, and which He has provided only in Jesus, the Fountain. Our Lord turned her thought inward very quickly by saying, "Go, call thy husband." (v. 16) The answer was, "I have no husband" (v. 17), and with that reply came a flood of thought, which our Lord riveted upon her by declaring, You have said well that you have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. The woman was now thoroughly aroused. She perceived that she was in the presence of one who knew her very deepest heart secrets. Yet she feared Him not. She fled not from Him. His kindness, His gentleness, His willingness to talk to a Samaritan woman, indicated that she had "found a friend, oh, such a friend." Her answer was, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet."
Shrewdly then the woman led the conversation away from matters too personal to herself, and too solemn and too tender for discussion, and our Lord did not follow up the subject, but left it. Many of His followers need to learn this lesson of first awakening in the hearts of their hearers a consciousness of sin, and then leaving it to work for them, at greater leisure, sorrow and repentance and reformation. It is not for us to break the hearts of those around us, but to find those who are broken-hearted. The command is, "Bind up the broken hearted." (Isa. 61: 1) In many instances, as in this one, the broken heart needs to be touched in connection with the binding-up process, in the application of the healing balm of grace and truth, but the touches should be gentle. If more breaking of the heart is necessary, it is not for us to do.
SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS
Not only would the woman escape a discussion of her personal character and affairs, but she would embrace this opportunity of settling in her own mind, with the aid of this one whom she had proven to be a great prophet, a question which had long troubled her were the Jews or were the Samaritans right as respected religion and worship? Before her was a proven prophet, and one in whose words she could have great confidence; hence her inquiry, Who are right -our fathers, who claim that this mountain is the place of worship or you Jews, who say that Jerusalem is the only place? Our Lord was not bent upon making of her a Jewish proselyte: the time for that was past; the harvest time had come. He would tell her something that would be to her advantage, and through her to the advantage of others in the near future, when the middle wall of partition would be broken down which still separated the Jews, in God's favor, from all others. His answer, therefore, applied to the Gospel dispensation in general, and this was already beginning so far as some of the Jews were concerned, and would later reach the Samaritans and all Gentiles. He said, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." (v. 21)
That hour began after the Jewish house had been left desolate, after the new dispensation had been inaugurated, and it still continues. Believers do not have to go to a certain place, a certain mountain, a certain city, a certain house, but may approach the living God, through the great Redeemer, at any place and find Him. That coming hour had already begun, since our Lord himself was the first of the Spirit-begotten ones; and His disciples, accepted of the Father through Him, were taught to pray, to seek, to knock, to find. Those who worship under this Spirit dispensation will not be accepted along the lines of former worship and places -not in families, or nationally. Their acceptance will be as individuals, and because they come unto the Father through His appointed way, the Redeemer, and come "in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him." (v. 23) During past times he did indeed prescribe forms of worship and times and places, but now all that come unto the father "in spirit and in truth" through Christ are accepted.
While it is most absolutely true that forms and ceremonies are not commanded, but the true worship of the heart, nevertheless we feel that some still maintain too much of a relationship to forms and ceremonies, and thus lose much of the spiritual blessing of prayer and communion. But, on the other hand, we seem to see a danger into which some of the Lord's dear people fall, through ignoring all regularity in prayer, and sometimes through too little formality in approaching the throne of heavenly grace, without a sufficiency of humility and reverence for Him who has granted us so great a favor as to receive us into His presence and to hearken to our petitions. While thankful that we can call upon the Lord in every place and at any time, let us approach His courts with reverence, with an awe of heart befitting to us in our humble, lowly condition, and to Him in His great exaltation. Thus we enter into the real spirit of prayer, which should recognize our complete dependence and the greatness of the Almighty.
"WE KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP"
Very pointedly, though we are sure in no rude manner, our Lord declared the truth to the woman when He said, "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews." (v. 22) The Samaritans, not being of the stock of Israel, were in no sense of the word heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant. Not discerning this cardinal truth in its true light, they were confused as to every feature of the Divine Plan. The Jews, on the contrary, understood that they were the natural seed of Abraham, and that from them must come the great Messiah, and that eventually, through Him and some of their nation associated with Him; all the families of the earth should receive a blessing. Our Lord said, "Salvation is of the Jews." He did not say, For the Jews, nor, To the Jews, exclusively. It was of them in the sense that the Master was of that nation according to the flesh. It was of them in the sense that the promises were exclusively to that nation, so that Messiah could not have been born of any other nation and yet inherit those promises. It was of that nation also, in that from them our Lord selected the earliest members of His church, His body, through whom the invitation to membership in the body has during this age been extended to every nation, people, kindred and tongue.
WHEN MESSIAH COMETH
The mind of the Samaritan woman swept forward in thought. She recalled the expectation of her own people and of the Jews that God would provide a great Messiah, an Anointed One, who would be all-wise and all-powerful to the relief of all perplexity and to lift out of all difficulty. She wondered whether the Messiah could be more wonderfully wise than the prophet, the teacher, to whom she talked. She did not like to ask the question direct, but suggested it sidewise, saying, "I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." (v. 25) Seeing her readiness of mind, our Lord expressed to her -more plainly, perhaps than to any other person during His ministry -the great fact that He was the Messiah: "I that speak unto thee am he." (v. 26)
The disciples, returning at this time, marveled that He talked with the woman, but had too great respect for Him to question Him; and many since, all through the Gospel Age, reading the account, have marveled at the Master's humility thus displayed. It has brought a good lesson to many of the Lord's followers -that they are not to despise opportunities for service, for preaching of the truth, even though they have an audience of but one. And indeed the opportunity of speaking to one earnest listener should be esteemed far greater than that of addressing a thousand inattentive ones. Doubtless our Lord saw in this woman something that indicated her worthiness of the time and energy thus bestowed upon her.
But from another standpoint, what worthiness could she have? what worthiness do any of us possess by nature? Fallen and imperfect, the only thing remaining that could in any way be pleasing to the Lord would seem to be our honesty of heart. Honesty this woman evidently had, and hence we believe she was favored, and many of the Lord's dear people have received this message since. Here, too, we have another illustration of the importance of using every opportunity that may come to us. Time and energy spent in the assistance of some worthy one may, as in this case, flow out in widening influence to many. Eternity alone will show the value of some of the little things, the feeble efforts put forth in the name of the Lord; and this reminds us that our Lord is judging us by our faithfulness in little things and small opportunities rather than by our great achievements. His own words are, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." (Luke 16:10) Remembering this, let us be careful in the little things, little opportunities, the hours and the moments, that we may show ourselves zealous for the Lord and His cause, and have His eventual approval, as well as His present blessing.
THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT
The character of this woman is further displayed in the fact that, leaving her waterbucket, she hastened to the city to tell her friends and neighbors that she had found a great teacher, possibly the Messiah, and to ask them to come and share the privilege of hearing Him. The selfish spirit, which would have bidden her to keep the information to herself, or the slothful, careless spirit, which would have led her to say, I would be pleased if my friends might know, but will not bestir myself to inform them -either of these would have marked the woman as unworthy of the Lord's favor; and had such been her disposition we doubt if the Lord would have entered into conversation with her. And so it is with those who have been reached with present truth; they are, as a rule, not only the honest and sincere, but the generous, who love to give the good things to their neighbors, and who, having heard now of the second presence of the Son of man, and the Kingdom about to be established, and having come to a clearer knowledge than ever before of the truth of the Divine Plan -these rejoice to lay down their lives in its service - the promulgating of "good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people." (Luke 2:10) This is the true missionary spirit, and home missions come first.
"COME UNTO ME AND DRINK"
Our Golden Text is quite in line with the lesson intimated -that before anyone can come to the Lord he must thirst, he must have an appreciation of that which the Lord has to give -the water, the refreshment, of eternal life. This means that he must learn that he is a sinner, and under sentence of death, and there is no hope for a future life except through Christ. The coming to the Lord is the approach of faith. Our thirst is our desire. We drink, or appropriate to ourselves the Divine message. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth" (John 17: 17) - and water is the symbol of truth. The promise of a blessing to those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" is in full accordance with this. And the promise is, "They shall be filled." This, too, is in harmony with our Lord's statement in our lesson, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." (v. 14)
In the present time our thirst is in one sense of the word insatiable - we are never satisfied - in the sense that the Lord's blessings are so great and so good that we can never in the present day and the present conditions have enough of them. We shall be satisfied thoroughly when we awake in the Kingdom. Nevertheless, there is a measure of satisfaction to our drinking, even in the present time -just as with a thirsty one at a fountain, he drinks with relish, with appreciation, with satisfaction, only to take more and more. So with those who are the Lord's. He pours into their cup blessings rich and satisfying, and fills the cup repeatedly. Let us appreciate more and more the truth, the water of life, and let us see to it that we get it pure from the fountain, and that we recognize no other fountain than the Lord Jesus, however much we may appreciate the channels through which the supply may have come to us. (That Servant, Reprints 4130-4132, February 1, 1908)
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UN CLOSES 1998 WITH ANTI-SEMITIC DIATRIBE
The UN closed its annual 1998 season with a vicious attack on Israel by its Geneva based Habitat International Coalition during the Arab-exploited month of November. A few weeks later -in what could be taken as a rebuttal to that onslaught -a fiery speech was delivered at the New York UN Headquarters by the noted UN expert, Dr. Harris O. Schoenberg, Director of UN Affairs for B'nai B'rith and Executive Director of the Coordinating Board of three internationally known Jewish organizations. Moreover, to the shame of Habitat, he is also Honorary Chairman of the UN NGO Human Rights Committee, whose meeting he addressed on December 9th.
Dr. Schoenberg's main topic involved a proposal to establish a Holocaust Memorial at the UN complex. "For decades" he stated, "the UN has displayed an exhibit on Hiroshima to teach about the horrors of the atomic bomb. I don't understand," he added, "why in 50 years it never created an exhibit on the Holocaust, which took six million lives and was the inspiration for the UN's Genocide Convention and its human rights programs."
What disturbed this writer was the fact that the Habitat International Coalition, as an Agency of the UN listed as the "Center for Human Settlements," seemingly a worthwhile project, should have indulged in an outright anti-Semitic diatribe. It would be interesting to know who exactly were the 15 Non-Government Organizations (NGO' s) attending the three-day Geneva meeting. Let me cite a few paragraphs of its offensive release issued by one, Miloon Kothari, captioned: "Discriminatory nature of Israel exposed at the UN: Israel responses fail to defend its human rights record:"
"Israel was subjected for the first time to questioning by a UN human rights body about its fundamental laws and institution that institutionalize discrimination against the indigenous Palestinians inside its 1948 borders, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"The review covered such issues as the applicability of the Covenant to the occupied Palestinian territories; the role of Zionist public organizations; house demolitions and land confiscations; the impact of closures; the disparity between Jews and Palestinians in such services as health, education, housing; the contradiction between the bi-national reality of the State and its claim to be a 'Jewish State'; and discrimination in Israeli basic laws.
"Both NGO testimony and Committee questions revealed the fundamental discriminatory nature of the State itself. The Committee consensus held that Israel's sustained stranglehold in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, even in areas considered to be under Palestinian National Authority control, carries with it its obligations to apply the Covenant to protect Palestinians' rights in those territories."
It is unbelievable that a UN Human Rights agency dealing with Habitat and Settlements should sink so deep in hatred and devote a three-day session to anti-Semitism as these paragraphs show. There's not a word about PLO incitement, constant terrorism and suicide bombings. What we had was a one-sided, scandalous spectacle.
The hatred continues: "All the NGO presentations affirmed a pattern of discrimination in all these areas at the expense of Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line (the 1948 border). They cited systematic violations to numerous articles of the Covenant; Article 1 (the right to self-determination); Article 2 (non-discrimination); Article 11 (housing and living conditions, food); Article 6 (the right to work); Article 8 (the right to form trade unions); Article 12 (the right to health); Article 13 and 14 (the right to education) and other articles in the Covenant.
"The Committee called into question the apparent contradiction between some Basic Laws and the State's commitment to non-discrimination under the Covenant (Article 2). The Committee questioned Israel about the apparent discriminatory nature of such public Zionist institutions, such as the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund. These bodies are linked to the State of Israel by a Basic Law (Status Law) and are committed to serve Jews exclusively, wherever they may be. These institutions manage much of the country's land, water development budgets and other resources and services, but are dedicated not to benefit non-Jewish citizens. The Committee wondered why Israel's Law of Return does not extend to Palestinians."
Dr. Schoenberg's address, calling for a UN Holocaust Memorial and also for a Protocol on politically motivated annihilation, took place at a meeting here, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the Crime of Genocide... Following so soon after the Habitat diatribe aimed at the Jewish people, it put to shame those few NGO authors of that diatribe.
Some organs of the UN still have a lesson to learn -the history of Israel, the People of the Book. (By David Horowitz, The Jewish Press, March 5, 1999)
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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST
My dear David: Shalom, Shalom!
This is a long overdue letter, to thank you for keeping in touch with me so faithfully. I especially appreciated receiving the copy of the article, "The Jewish Corner at the UN." You certainly deserve every honor for your longstanding devotion to Israel at the United Nations. Surely you are worthy of being their "esteemed and beloved treasure" as stated by Elvi Routtinen, of Finland.
What a shame that "anti-Israel, anti-semitic rhetoric and hostile atmosphere has prevailed in 'this (United Nations) house' throughout most of its existence." What an example you have been of faith in Ha-Shem and His love for the Jewish people and for Israel reborn.
I plan to make copies of this article to send to friends, along with the one you wrote for THE JEWISH PRESS about Casimir and me in our privileged work for Israel, plus the excellent treatise by David Weinberg. The latter was forwarded to me by precious friends who have lived in Israel for 25 years, Lev and Hava Bausch, formerly of Paradise, California. Do you know about them? Their zeal for Israel is unbounded.
What a blessing that you can keep so active at age 93 after your serious illness and loss of your beloved wife. May Ha-Shem give you continued strength to carryon in this most important work. Your articles are forthright and courageous, such as the one printed in THE JEWISH PRESS on October 16, 1998, "The League of Nations Mandate: A Reminder to its UN Successor." With deep gratitude for your example and your friendship,
Yours for Israel's peace and prosperity, Elva Lanowick
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Dear Sister Emily,
I write to thank you most sincerely for receipt of the Bulletin, not only for last year, but all those which you have sent to me. They are an undoubted blessing, I am sure, to all who receive them.
As one who is no longer young in physical years (going on 53), but still young in the Truth, I greatly value the insights which your paper offers. I still read the literature of the LHMM, and other Bible Student groups, and am beginning to see wherein the EBSA differs from others. You pointed out one area (Consecrated Epiphany Campers), and I will turn again to Tabernacle Shadows for confirmation of what you say.
I am also now studying the first few volumes of Brother Johnson's "Epiphany Studies in the Scriptures," and hope to gain much blessings and enlightenment from them.
As you also say, in the first paragraph of No. 502, at this time of year, we, with thankful hearts appreciate His blessings towards us. Please be assured that I regard you and your paper, as one of the Lord's many blessings towards me. I give thanks to Him for that. I hope that in the future, as I encounter difficulties in my studies (as I surely shall), I may humbly draw upon your knowledge and experience to assist me.
For the meantime though, I'll close this note, by expressing my prayer that the Lord may shine His face upon you and your work, and that again in the New Year 2000, you may call upon us all to give thanks to Our Heavenly Father for the richness of His blessings to us. Peace and Christian Love to you! Yours Sincerely, (IRELAND)
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Dear Emily: Shalom!
Despite Herman Bezner's 99 years, he still speaks to the visitors coming to Emek ha Shalom. And Joseph translates his speech into Hebrew. Today, Sabbath, visitors have come for three hours in succession. And there have been visitors here every day last week.
All the best and many kind regards from your friend. Leif Malmkvist (SWEDEN)
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To our brother in Messiah, Kasimir Lanowick:
We received your precious book, THE RECONCILIATION (THE ATONEMENT). It is a marvelous thing that God has sent me this book through you, because of all the problems concerning the personality of our Saviour Jesus and the trinity. It sounds exactly right, just as God revealed these matters to me since I have found my Saviour. It is for that reason that we bless you with all our heart. But the author's name is not shown, because the first few pages are missing. If you know the name of the author, you will render me a great favor by sending it to me. You know that I have had and still have many dissentions with the number of Christians concerning the Divinity of Jesus and the trinity. Thank God that this book has verified my beliefs and I am most pleased to read and re-read it with great enthusiasm. In the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah we wish you a life of good health in body and in spirit. May the grace of our Lord Jesus always be with you. Amen.
From your brother and sister in Christ, Daniel and Eliehevah Zion
I just ran across this copy of letter Casimir received from the late Rabbi Daniel Zion and his wife October 14, 1952. We were privileged to stay in the same compound with him in Jerusalem in 1950 and saw the many missionaries visiting him, trying to convince Daniel Zion of the Trinity doctrine. You see, on arrival in Israel after World War II Daniel Zion, the former Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria, read the New Testament and became convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, but he could not understand the missionaries' insistence on the Trinity. On our return to the U.S. we sent him the fine book, THE ATONEMENT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, which explains the truth about the God-dishonoring doctrine of the Trinity. How thrilled we were to receive this reply. It is a much longer story, but suffice it to say that when Casimir visited him later he found the Chart of the Ages in Hebrew on his wall and saw Daniel Zion's translation of the DAILY HEAVENLY MANNA into Hebrew. Of course we had told him that the author of THE ATONEMENT BETWEEN .GOD AND MAN was the renowned Pastor Charles Taze Russell. Elva Lanowick
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Our dear beloved Sister Emily: Shalom! With the whole family of faith.
Thank you for your letter. We have the Reprints, we also have the Overland Monthly. You are right, it is a very valuable book. We have sent it to important personalities, to libraries and gave it to our friends.
We are in a great hurry and cannot refer to the theoretical statements of Pastor Russell, you mentioned. Before their change here the last Body members make the last sacrifices to become accomplished to become sealed in the forehead!
Many have strayed in the last time from the right way -because of too much theory (Laodicea!). The present main points are written in the papers.
Thank you most heartily for your love and daily prayers. He [God] is a vital help.
In sincere Christian love connected, Your thankful Brethren, Hermann Bezner and Joseph Elisha (ISRAEL)
Brothers Hermann's and Joseph's comments are expressed above, "Before their change here the last Body members make the last sacrifice to be accomplished and become sealed in the forehead." We are most happy to learn Bible Students are helping Emek ha Shalom, especially Bible Students who believe the door to the High Calling is open. We now cite Rev. 7:3: "Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
In Biblical Comments That Servant says: "When this occurs we shall understand it to be the shutting of the door of opportunity to membership in the elect Church." All this refers to World War One. Please read all of Matthew 25, and Matthew 25: 10 as referred to.
World War One is the beginning of the Time of Trouble. As That Servant says, the Time of Trouble is not to the Church nor for the Church, it is for the world. That Servant gives three ways that would indicate the door is closed to the High Calling. (Thy Kingdom Come, pages 207,208)