NO. 536 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART ONE

       “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14)

       This proclamation by the host of angels is a prophecy of God’s purpose to bring about the condition of peace and sinlessness among men.  We were horrified at the tragic events of September 11 in the year 2001, especially the terrorist’s attack of our government buildings in New York.  We sympathize with those who lost their loved ones.  We weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn.  What we witnessed is an extreme example of man’s inhumanity to man.  However, the results of these terrorists attack had some good results in bringing some to their knees in prayer.  They were making earnest and heartfelt prayers and not just uttering repetitious words to no effect.  We also see people pulling together to give comfort and help to those who lost so much, and providing for the police and fire workers.  They are also patient with the inconveniences and of losing some of their former privileges to which they were accustomed.

       But we know the Lord permits such calamities for a reason, as He overrules for our good.  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)  Also for the world in the Kingdom (Acts 17:31).  “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9)  That is the condition of the Kingdom on earth.  Our prayers will be answered as we have prayed: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

     What should we do now?  We should seek refuge - not the refuge of armaments and antibiotics, but the true refuge of God.  “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy before thee.” (Deut. 33:27)  But I will sing of thy powers; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou has been a defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Psa. 59:16)  We should lift up our heads and look forward to the Kingdom of righteousness.  After the rod of destruction has accomplished its work, then will the hand that smote be turned to heal, and the people will return to the Lord and He shall heal them, giving them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Jer. 3:22; Hosea 6:1; Isa. 2:3 and 61:1-3).  Finally “take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all stand.” (Eph. 6:13)

     2001 IN REVIEW:

1. The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
2. The United States responds by attacking Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden.
3. U.S. economy enters recession for the first time in a decade.
4. Anthrax scare grips nation; five people killed by the disease.
5. Stock markets go through one of the worst years in history.
6. George W. Bush is inaugurated 43rd president of the United States.
7. Vermont Sen. James Jeffords party switch changes control of the U.S. Senate.
8. President Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agree to cut their countries’ nuclear arsenals.
9. President Bush decides to fund stem-cell research.
10. The world’s first artificial hearts made of plastic are implanted in a few patients.

IN FINANCE

      January 1, 2001 we were expecting a computer glitch that could have fouled up everything from factories to airlines.  That would have been simple if that were all that happened.

      2001 will be a year to remember.  The stock market was soft.  The economy was on a decline.  Then on September 11th in New York the most brutal attack was launched on civilians.

      The Federal Reserve has cut investment rate eleven times in eleven months.  Rates are the lowest they have been in 20 years.  The Feds have announced that we are in a recession.  They gave all taxpayers a cash refund to get the economy going.  Gold is not the standard currency of the world as it once was.

      Employee layoffs are at an all time high.  All types of business are filing for bankruptcy.  Enron Corporation is the largest corporation in U.S. history to file for bankruptcy taking billions of dollars from investors’ funds.  In November Enron disclosed that the profit it had reported to shareholders and government regulators during the past four years had been overstated by 20 percent or $586 million.  The stock dropped from more than $90 per share to less than a dollar.

      The auto industry is selling cars with no down payment and finance is available for three to four years at no interest.

      War and recession create extreme uncertainty.  The chief economist for the fourth largest bank forecast that unemployment rates would go over 6%.  Consumer installment debt is over 21% of disposable personal income.  Interest rates will go down another quarter point in the first quarter and then ease back up some in the third quarter.  It will take a while for the economy to get back on track.

      No one can forecast what 2002 will bring.  The war could spread or it could just move to the Middle East. 

      In this Time of Trouble we need to watch for the “times and seasons” of the Lord.  “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.” (1 Thes. 5:1)

     LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN NEWS TO NOTE:  “Haiti coup suspect must go:  QUITO, Ecuador - A former police officer accused of plotting this week’s assault on Haiti’s presidential palace will be deported from Ecuador within days, authorities said Friday.  Guy Philippe, accused of masterminding an apparent attempted coup against Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, traveled this week to Ecuador but was detained at Quito’s airport upon request by Haitian authorities.”

     “Car bombs kill passers-by:  LA PAZ, Bolivia - Two car bombs exploded outside police headquarters in the eastern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz on Friday, killing three people and wounding two dozen others.  Most of those injured were pedestrians.”

     “Navy told to follow rules:  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico has told the U.S. Navy that it should show it is complying with environmental regulations before it resumes bombing exercises on the island of Vieques next month.  In a letter to the Navy’s southeast region, the U.S. territory’s Planning Board said the Navy is holding its bombing exercises on Vieques without a pollution-discharge permit and in violation of the U.S. Clean Water Act.”

     “Prison moves U.S. inmate:  LIMA, Peru - U.S. citizen Lori Berenson, sentenced to a 20-year term for aiding a leftist rebel group, has been moved from a top-security Lima prison to a prison in northern Peru for disciplinary reasons, officials said.”

     “Mission Migrants return:  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - More than 200 Haitian migrants missing for more than a month and feared drowned after they left in two crowded sailboats for Florida have been returned to their homeland from Cuba, a Haitian government official said Friday.  One boat carried 63 passengers, and the other had at last 150.  Relatives feared the ships had capsized.”

     U.S. NEWS TO NOTE:  “City to privatize schools:  PHILADELPHIA - State and city leaders reached agreement Friday on a state takeover of the troubled Philadelphia school system as part of an ambitious plan to install a private company to help run the district and dozens of its worst schools.  The move to bring in Edison Schools Inc. would be the nation’s biggest experiment in school privatization.”

     “Drug maker ordered to pay:  CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A jury Friday ordered Warner-Lambert Co. to pay $43 million in Compensatory damages to a woman who said her liver was destroyed by its recalled diabetes drug, Rezulin.  The state court jury then began considering whether to order punitive damages against the drug maker, a unit of Pfizer Inc.  Lawyers for Margarita Sanchez, 63, said the company lied to the Food and Drug Administration about the drug’s dangers when it sought approval to sell Rezulin.”

     “Robbery a possible motive:  CONCORD, N.H. - Robbery was the motive in the slaying of two Dartmouth College professors who were stabbed to death in their home, prosecutors said Friday.  But the jury for Robert Tulloch will be asked to consider two theories of first-degree murder - that it was ‘purposeful,’ with no motive specified, and that it was committed during a robbery, Attorney General Philip McLaughlin said.  A second youth has pled guilty.”

     Abu-Jamal ruling draws fire:  PHILADELPHIA - Prosecutors are appealing a federal judge’s ruling overturning the death sentence of convicted police killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.  The notice of intent to appeal freezes Tuesday’s order from U.S. District Judge William Yohn, who said Abu-Jamal deserves a new sentencing hearing because of errors in the Jury instructions given at his 1982 trial.  Yohn upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction.”

     “Man sentenced in scam:  RICHMOND, Va. - After persuading ailing patients or their relatives to dole out thousands of dollars for fraudulent cancer treatments, John Paul Dyke was sentenced to nine years in prison.  Michael Halpern of Key West said Dyke told Halpern’s seriously ill wife that her husband didn’t love her and she should go with him to Richmond for cancer treatments.  After a tip from Halpern, authorities found 18 people had paid Dyke more than $300,000, including 12 who died.”

(Orlando Sentinel, December 22, 2001)

“Teen sentenced for plotting:  ELMIRA, N.Y. - A teenager who smuggled guns and bombs into his high school for a planned killing spree was sentenced Monday to eight and one-half years in prison under a plea deal.  Jeremy Getman, 19, admitted he intended to shoot students and teachers and toss bombs into crowds when he brought weapons to Southside High School on Valentine’s Day, but said he realized he couldn’t kill innocent people.  He surrendered peacefully after students notified officials that he had passed someone a threatening note.”

     “Ex-bank official gets prison:  BLUEFIELD, W.VA. - A former bank official was sentenced Monday to more than 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $515 million in restitution for his role in one of the nation’s largest bank failures.  Michael Graham, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to embezzlement and money-laundering charges, was given the maximum sentence.  The First National Bank of Keystone was declared insolvent September 1, 1999, after federal authorities concluded that up to $515 million of the bank’s reported $1.1 billion in assets had vanished.”

     “Racing guru held in slayings:  SANTA ANA, Calif. - The man known as the ‘Father of Supercross’ in the 1970s pleaded not guilty Monday in the slaying of racing legend and former business partner Mickey Thompson and his wife 13 years ago.  Michael Goodwin 56 was ordered held without bail.  Thomason, 59, and his wife, Trudy, 41, were shot to death in 1988 in the driveway of their home.  The pair had a falling out that led to a series of lawsuits and a $514,000 judgment in Thompson’s favor that helped force Goodwin into bankruptcy.”

(Orlando Sentinel, December 18, 2001)

     “Mossad Warned U.S. of Impending Attack:  Senior Israeli security officials revealed last week that Israel’s Mossad had recently alerted American intelligence to the possibility of major terrorist attacks by Middle Eastern elements against key building and installations in the United States. (reported Israeli  daily, Maariv)

     “The Italian newspaper II Foglio reported last week that Israel was the only country to warn the U.S. that Middle Eastern terrorism was about to hit the U.S.

     “’Israel and the U.S. have been fighting terrorism side by side even before the forming of this coalition, and it goes without saying that it will be active now as well.’

     “Israel’s position is that any coalition for an international war against terrorism must have the broad aim of battling all terrorism worldwide - including Palestinian terror against Israel.

     “The defense establishment in Israel has received general warnings regarding plans by terrorist organizations to perpetrate mass-casualty attacks within Israel.  It has not yet received warning of any specific planned attack, but both the IDF and the Shin Bet security service believe that the success of Tuesday’s September 11 attacks in the U.S. will encourage Palestinian terror organizations to attempt strikes of similar proportions in Israel.”

(Bible Light International, October 2001)

     WORLD NEWS TO NOTE:  Priests take up self-defense:  LONDON - Beneath the white collar, add a black belt: Some British priests are taking martial-arts classes to protect themselves from irate parishioners and other dangers of modern life.  A group of Church of England priests is enrolling in tae kwon do classes after researchers found that members of the clergy were more likely to be attacked than probation officers or doctors.  A two-year survey of 1,300 clergy in southeast England by the University of London found that 12 percent had been assaulted, 22 percent threatened with violence and 70 percent verbally abused.”

(Orlando Sentinel, December 18, 2001)

     “Canada fights car suicides:  OTTAWA - Canada’s Ministry of Transportation, looking for ways to commit suicide in cars, is considering ordering auto makers to equip all cars with special suicide-resistant tailpipes.  Transport Canada, in a discussion paper posted on a government Web site Friday, said suicide-resistant tailpipe, available at an extra cost of about $2.50 per car, would prevent people from attaching a hose to the end of the exhause, while hidden venting would let fumes escape under the vehicle if a hose or bag were taped to the outside lip.”

     “Iraq blames U.N. for deaths:  BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials said Friday that more than 1.6 million people died as a result of economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad since 1990 by the United Nations, the state Iraqi News Agency said.  The agency was quoting from a letter sent from Iraq’s U.N. mission to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations.  It blamed the rise in the death rate on delays by U.S. and British representatives to the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions committee in approving the purchase of medicine and medical equipment.”

 (Orlando Sentinel, December 29, 2001)

     TERRORISM DIGEST:  “British troops could arrive in Afghanistan within days:  LONDON - Britain will lead an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, and the first troops could be on the ground when a new interim Government takes power this weekend if agreement is reached with local leaders, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday.  Addressing parliament, Blair said ‘Britain is willing, in principle to lead such a force,’ which will initially help provide security in the Afghan capital, Kabul, but could expand its role to other parts of the country.”

     “Widow, others remember Green Beret killed by bomb:  ARLINGTON, Va. - Staff Sgt. Brian ‘Cody’ Prosser, 28, one of three Army Green Berets killed by an errant U.S. bomb in Afghanistan, was recalled Monday as ‘the best of the best’ who gave his life doing what he loved: serving his country.  ‘Cody is a hero, and I will love and miss him for the rest of my life,’ said his widow, Shawna, after his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.  Prosser of Frazier Park, Calif., was killed December 5.”

     “Liberty Island will reopen; statue stays shut for now:  NEW YORK - Liberty Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, will reopen to visitors Thursday for the first time since terrorists leveled the World Trade Center across New York’s harbor.  But the statue will remain closed at least until 2002, the National Park Service said Monday.”

     “Immigration officials hold Muslim for visa violation:  DETROIT - A Muslim who serves on the board of a group suspected of funding terrorism has been detained by federal immigration officials on a visa violation, his attorney said Monday.  Attorney Ashraf Nubani said his client, Rabih Haddad, was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Friday, the same day federal agents raided the offices of Global Relief Foundation of Bridgeview, Ill.  Haddad is on the group’s board of trustees.”

     “Fake grenade from bag delays plane for hours:  SAN DIEGO - A woman boarded a plane with a security screener’s bag that held a fake grenade, which rolled on the floor and delayed takeoff more than three hours.  Authorities said they don’t know how Lolita Austria got the bag Sunday and added that they were conducting a petty-theft investigation.  Austria, 57, of Rochester, N.Y., was questioned and released.”

(Orlando Sentinel, December 18, 2002)

IN RELIGION

      JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:  “Proselytizing Physician?:  Patient-doctor privilege does not work both ways, it seems.  Dr. Karl De Vries, an 18-year veteran of the Maccabi Health Fund, had his contract terminated last week on the grounds that he has ‘begun discussions in the clinic unrelated to medical practice.’  Specifically, De Vries, a Jehovah’s Witness, is accused of trying to spread his faith among the ailing - at least, by the ultra-Orthodox lobbying groups.

      “When first presented by the ultra-Orthodox demand that De Vries be dismissed, Maccabe refused, but was then faced with the prospect of boycott by this sizable sector, which could ruin it financially given the tough competition from the Clalit and Meuchedet health funds.  Now Maccabi has both fired De Vries and cut off all contact with him.

     “’For 18 years I was a wonderful doctor for Maccabi,’ De Vries said last week. ‘Suddenly, now I’ve become a sacrifice on the altar of the Maccabi management, which was afraid of losing the ultra-Orthodox public.’

     “MK Yossi Paritzky of the secularist Shinui Party demanded that Maccabi rescind its decision, or else face similar pressure from the non-religious public.

     “Maccabi medical director Alik Aviram said in response:  ‘This is not a case of yielding to ultra-Orthodox pressure.  Dr. De Vries acted in contravention to all medical ethics by distributing Jehovah’s Witness flyers to his patients.  As far as I’m concerned, this is only one step away from sexual harassment.’”  (The Jerusalem Post, September 28, 2001)

     This is a good example of overstepping the bounds of propriety.  The good doctor should not have been using his employers’ time to spread his beliefs - especially to ill people.  To give him the benefit of a doubt, it seems that he himself was a newly proselytized Jehovah’s Witness, and perhaps acted rashly in the first fervor of battle.  But the fact remains that he was out of order.  He probably thinks he is being persecuted for his beliefs, but he is not.  He is suffering for his improper acts.

     The Witnesses have told their followers that they are the only group left that emanates from what Pastor Russell taught.  We found this out from one of the Witnesses who came to our door.  We told her that at least there is one group that believes Brother Russell was That Servant.  We told her where they could contact this group.  And we believe Brother Russell was That Servant and believe all he taught, with Scriptural support: the six volumes, and other books as well as the reprints.

     THE LAYMENS HOME MISSIONARY MOVMENT:  Brother Paul Johnson, who emanated from Pastor Russell’s group, founded the LHMM.  When he died Brother R. G. Jolly, a self-claimed crown-loser of the class known as Great Company, described in Revelation 7:9 as “great multitude,” and stand before the throne.  The saints are on the throne.  See Jude 3, which says, “It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort ye that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  After Brother Jolly became Executive Trustee, he presented several things that Brothers Russell and Johnson did not teach.  Brothers Russell and Johnson taught the Epiphany and the Time of Trouble are the same.  When one ends the other ends.  The LHMM teach what Brother Jolly taught - not what Brothers Russell and Johnson taught.  If anyone wants to know more about it, they can write us and we will tell them.

     “BATTLE OVER TEN COMMANDMENTS MOVEMENT IS HEATING UP:   CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -On a recent Sunday, 3,000 people showed up at a downtown sports arena for a Ten Commandments rally that had the fervor of an old-fashioned tent revival.  Declaring themselves Christian soldiers in a war against evil, they prayed, waved American flags and poured thousands of dollars into collection buckets.

      “It was a carefully crafted scene that is being played out across America as Christian conservatives energized by the spiritual revival brought on by the September 11 terrorist attacks campaign to post the Ten Commandments in public buildings throughout the country.

     “In what some experts say is developing into one of the biggest First Amendment challenges in decades, Christian conservatives have declared war on civil libertarians for the soul of America.  A grass-roots movement that began three years ago in the Bible Belt South has intensified in recent months, with dozens of efforts under way to defy U.S. Supreme Court rulings prohibiting school prayer and the placement of religious symbols in public buildings.

     “The rallies blend patriotism and religion to raise money and garner support for local officials who have voted to erect Ten Commandments plaques and monuments in the lobbies of city halls, county buildings and courthouses.

     “’September 11 was a point of demarcation for a renewed interest in this movement,’ says Charles Wysong, president of Ten Commandments Tennessee, the advocacy and fund-raising group that sponsored the Chattanooga rally.

     “’There is a defiance and an unwillingness on the part of God’s people to be ruled by groups like the ACLU - American Civil Liberties Union.  Everyone is tired of their feeble arguments, including the courts, and we’re not listening to them anymore,’ says Wysong.

     “Across the nation, clergy are leading student assemblies in prayer, schools are requiring a moment of prayer, and government meetings are opening with religious devotionals.  Several local governments face lawsuits for erecting the Ten Commandments in public venues.

     “Hamilton County Commissioners in Chattanooga voted on September 16 to display the Ten Commandments in the county building and two courthouses.  In Ringgold, Ga., a town of 2,000 people near the Tennessee border, officials recently placed the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and an empty frame with the engraving: ‘This is for those of other beliefs’ on display in City Hall.”  (By Dahleen Glanton, National Correspondent, December 22, 2001) 

      “RANKS OF NONRELIGIOUS RISE:  A study of American religious identification shows that the majority of adult adherents continue to be tied to protestant and other non-Catholic denominations, but the numbers of those who say they are non-Christians or have no religion have risen substantially.

      “The American Religious Identification Survey, 2001, was released by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

      “The survey found that 52 percent of American adults are Protestant, 24.5 percent are Roman Catholic and 14.1 percent are not affiliated with a religion.  Researchers determined that 1.3 percent of adult Americans described their religion as Jewish and 0.5 percent as Muslim.”  (Orlando Sentinel, November 24, 2001)

      “CHURCHES TRY TO FORM ORGANIZATION:  WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Council of Churches is going to try to form a new organization that would for the first time include all major branches of U.S. Christianity, its board decided Tuesday.

      “If successful, the new ecumenical body could spell an end to the council, which is now made up of mainline Protestant, black Protestant and Orthodox denominations.

      “Most Christians in the United States are currently outside the council, in the Roman Catholic Church and in Evangelical or Pentecostal groups.

      “Under the purposely vague plan approved by the 50-member council board, a task force will hold preliminary talks with Catholic, Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders, invite them into a joint process and propose next steps to the council’s national assembly in November.

      “The project faces numerous obstacles, both ideological and practical.  Conservative Protestants - Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Southern Baptists - have been indifferent or hostile toward the council, often accusing it of theological liberalism and promoting political causes to the neglect of spiritual ones.

      “The U.S. Catholic Church decided a generation ago not to enter the council, partly because Roman Catholics in this country alone exceed the 50 million members in the council’s 35 denominations.

      “However, since the Second Vatican Council, Catholic bishops have been free to join cooperative bodies with other Christians and have done so in 55 other countries.

      “Participants at the council’s 50th anniversary meeting last November said it was time to give birth to a new ecumenical future, noted the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, chief executive of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a current National Council member.  ‘I find this extremely helpful and hopeful,’ he said of the proposal.

       “The future existence of the council was not discussed by the board.  ‘Sometimes an organizational structure has to be willing to die.  We have to be willing to entertain that,’ said the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, chief executive of the Reformed Church in America, part of the task force that will contact the other Christian groups.

       “The Rev. Robert Edgar, the council’s chief executive, sent notice of the proposal two weeks ago to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals.  He plans an early meeting with the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination.

       “In another action at the council board meeting, officials settled a major internal dispute, granting independent financial control to its relief agency, Church World Service.  The agency, which brings in 85 percent of council revenues, has been dissatisfied with the cost and quality of council administration.  It was during discussions of the Church World Service problem that the idea of a new pan-Christian group first arose.  [“Behold they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.” (Isa. 54:15)]

       “The council has struggled through a period of financial turmoil.  Following a $4 million budget deficit for 1999, Edgar expressed confidence that anticipated special gifts, staff cuts and other economies would stabilize finances by the end of 2000.”  [“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me.” (Isa. 54:15]  (By Richard N. Ostling)

       CATHOLICS:  “POPE APOLOGIZES FOR CLERGY’S ABUSE:  ROME - Pope John Paul II offered an apology Thursday for sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, saying it has caused the victims ‘great suffering and spiritual harm’ and has damaged the church.

       “The pontiff tucked his one-paragraph apology into a 120-page message to Catholics in Oceania on the wide range of issues raised by their bishops in 1998.  Meeting at the Vatican, the bishops had condemned sexual abuse within the church and in society as a whole.

     “John Paul’s message, said by the Vatican to be the first personally sent by a pope over the Internet, also followed a series of articles by the National Catholic Reporter quoting internal Vatican reports about sexual abuse of nuns and other women by priests and bishops.

     “According to reports cited by the U.S.-based weekly last spring, some priests and missionaries forced nuns to have sex with them and, in several instances, committed rape and obliged the victims to have abortions.  The reports covered cases in 23 countries, including the United States, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

     “The Vatican, in response to the articles, acknowledged that the problem existed and said an investigation was under way.

     “Thursday’s papal message to Australia, New Zealand and far-flung South Pacific islands went much further.

     “’In certain parts of Oceania,’ John Paul said, ‘sexual abuse by some clergy has caused great suffering and spiritual harm to the victims.  It has been very damaging in the life of the church.

     “’Sexual abuse within the church is a profound contradiction of the teaching and witness of Jesus Christ,’ the pope said, adding that the church wishes to ‘apologize unreservedly to the victims for the pain and disillusionment caused to them.’

     “The church, he said, is seeking ‘open and just procedures to respond to complaints in this area’ and is committed to ‘compassionate and effective care for the victims, their families, the whole community and the offenders themselves.’

     “John Paul’s promise of ‘open and just procedures’ also answered a demand raised at the Vatican last month by Sister Mary Sujita Kallupurakkathy, superior general of the Sisters of Notre Dame in India.” (By Richard Boudreaux, Orlando Sentinel, November 23, 2001)

     “Billboard upsets Catholics:  Oregon Roman Catholics are demanding removal of a highway billboard that claims ‘The Pope is the Antichrist.’   The sign on Interstate 5 near Medford was rented by Larry Weathers, an elder at Rogue Valley Historical Seventh-day Adventist Church, a small group that is distinct from the main Seventh-day Adventist Church.

     “’We’re not against Catholics or against their religion, just the political, religious organization of the Vatican,’ said Weathers, a barber.”  (Orlando Sentinel, August 11, 2001)     

     “CHURCHES CONSIDER UNION:  LONDON - The Church of England and the Methodist Church should get ‘engaged’ and work toward a reunion to heal their 2-centuries-old split, a joint report said Wednesday.  The report by Anglican bishop Barry Rogerson of Bristol and the Rev. John Taylor, past president of the Methodist Conference in Britain, proposed a covenant between the two churches affirming their mutual life and ministry.  Commitments outlined in the covenant include continuing to welcome each other’s baptized members to participate in the fellowship, worship and mission of the churches.”

(Orlando Sentinel, December 13, 2001)  

     METHODIST:  “ADS TO TARGET UNCHURCHED:  It rained today.  Does that sentence make you want to go to church?  The United Methodist Church is betting $20 million that it will.  It’s part of a four-year national ad campaign that starts Tuesday for the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.  The theologically gentle but culturally edgy ads are aimed at about a third of Americans - the unchurched, mostly boomers and Gen-Xers who feel burned by organized religion.

     “For some, the unprecedented campaign can’t start too soon in a church that has lost a quarter of its membership since 1965.”  (Wire Reports, September 22, 2001)

     CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN:  “CHURCH REVENUE PLUMMETS:  Leaders of the Church of the Brethren are ‘seriously concerned and disappointed’ that revenue dropped 20 percent in the 141,000-member denomination.  As of July 31, giving to the church’s General Ministries Fund stood at $1.9 million, down from $2.5 million during the same period last year.  The General Ministries Fund covers most activities for the church.

     “The Church of the Brethren is one of three churches - along with the Mennonites and the Amish -with roots in the Anabaptist tradition of 18th-century Switzerland and Germany.  The church is known, in part, for its involvement with peace causes.”

(Wire Reports, September 22, 2001)  

NO. 535 "GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST"

As is our custom for this time of the year, we try to bring to our readers "Good Tidings of Great Joy" when so many people have the Savior uppermost in mind. Even though we can't agree that December 25 is the correct date of our savior's birth, it matters not as the Scriptures do not mention that we should celebrate His birth. However, the Christian world in general has done so on December 25, and we are happy that our Savior is specially remembered by all those who rejoice in Jesus as their Redeemer. So we join with all who have the proper attitude of heart in this remembrance.

"GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST"

God's promise that the Seed of Abraham should ultimately bless all nations has influenced thought the world over, but particularly amongst those nations living contiguous to Abraham's home and northward and westward from there, in the directions in which the message of Divine favor has gone. At first the Jews thought of this promise as being fulfilled in them as a nation -  that, without assistance from on High, they could approve themselves to God through obedience to the Law Covenant, and then, as instructors of the world, they would teach all nations to keep that Divine Law, and thus bring the world to the blessed state of perfection, Divine favor, and life everlasting. This hope was crushed as they found themselves unable to keep the Law, going down into death, instead of attaining to perfect ion of life. Even Moses, the special servant of God, could not, and did not, attain the blessing of the Law.

Then God made them the promise of some better thing - of a greater Mediator and of a more successful Covenant through that Mediator. The Mediator of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) was to be greater than Moses; as he himself declared, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from amongst your brethren, like unto me [but greater]; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that the soul, which will not obey that prophet, shall be destroyed from amongst the people." (Acts 3:22,23) Thenceforth their hearts and hopes looked down through the stream of time to when the glorious things hoped for through this great Prophet should be accomplished.

"THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS"

As surrounding nations and those afar off heard of Israel's hope - that to them would come a great Savior, Deliverer, who would bless them and exalt them in the world and through them bless all peoples, the beauty of the thought took root in every direction. Messiah was more or less looked for under various names, and the glories of His Kingdom were pictured by heathen poets as the Golden Age.

Thus it happened that when our Lord was born, when He was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, "All men were in expectation of him" - not of Jesus, but of the promised Messiah, whom Jesus was. Thus it was that wise men in the East were attracted to see and to worship Him that was born King of the Jews. Thus it was also that during Jesus' ministry certain Greeks came to the disciples saying, “Sirs, we would see Jesus." They had heard of Him and recognized that in some respects His magic power implied a relationship with the long-expected Messiah. And so it was with the multitudes of Palestine. They heard; they listened. They said, Is this He? The rulers said No, this is not the Messiah. Then the people asked, When Messiah cometh can he do greater works than this man?  Never man spake like this man!

Nevertheless, there were few ready to receive Him, even amongst His own - only "Israelites indeed,”   to whom, because of worthiness of heart, God specially revealed His Son. This was in harmony with the prophecy of old, "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant." (Psa. 25:14) As again it is written, "I will give thee for a Covenant of the people." (Isa. 49:8) Neither Jews nor Greeks nor Persian  wise men knew to expect that Messiah would first appear to offer Himself, through obedience to the Truth, a living sacrifice for sinners. None of them knew that a long period must elapse from the time when Messiah would be the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, of whom the people would be ashamed, until He would appear in power and great glory to establish His Empire under the whole heavens, in fulfillment of the prophetic picture of Daniel 2:34; 7:13,14-27.

Few understand God's great secret or "mystery" hidden during past Ages and dispensations (Col. 1:26), that, during this long period of the Gospel Age a saintly "little flock" would be selected from amongst men to be Messiah's bride, and joint-heir with Him in His Messianic reign. Few see that  this "little flock" has been selected during these nineteen centuries from every nation, people, kindred and tongue, and that they are all saints, in spirit of their minds, at least, and follow the Lamb, withersoever He goeth, walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Few understand that, as soon as these joint sacrificers with  the  Master  shall have filled up the   measure of  afflictions  appointed, then the Kingdom of Glory will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together and all shall be blessed by it, the Jew, Abraham's  natural   seed     first, and     also  the  Gentile - all the families of the earth.

A  SAVIOR – CHRIST THE LORD

 It was  prophetically, of course, that the babe of Bethlehem was  called  a Savior - He was to be a Savior, The Christ, the Lord.  But as a babe he was none of these.  He became the Christ before becoming the Savior and Lord.  The word Christ signifies anointed. In the Divine  purpose it was  arranged  that Messiah should be anointed High Priest of  Israel on  a higher  plane  than Aaron - after the order of Melchizedek. (Psa.110:4 ) And every priest must be anointed to his office before he could fill it. Similarly,  it was   prophesied  that  Christ  would be  the  great  King,  greater  than David  and Solomon, who were his types and foreshadows.

The anointing of Jesus was not with literal oil, but with that which the oil upon the head of the kings and priests of Israel typified - the Holy Spirit. He received this Holy Spirit at the time of His  baptism, the Spirit falling upon Him and abiding with Him, anointing Him for His great work of antitypical Priest and antitypical King of Israel, who, as the Messiah long-promised, would bless them, and through them, the world. But every priest was ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, and in this also they typified Jesus, who, under the Divine arrangement, must first offer Himself as a sacrifice acceptable to God for the sins of mankind - in order that He might be the Savior or Deliverer of men from the curse of sin and death - that He might restore them and their earthly home to the glorious condition of perfection represented in Adam and his Eden home. Hence it was necessary that Jesus should not only consecrate His life to the Divine service and be anointed with the Holy Spirit, but that, sacrificially, He should lay down His life, even unto death - even the death of the cross. As a part of His reward He was raised to glory, honor and immortality, on the third day thereafter.

CONCERNING MESSIAH'S KINGDOM

Our understanding is that Messiah's Kingdom will be a spiritual one, invisible to mortals, yet all-powerful, for the accomplishment of the great things promised in the Law and the prophets. The empire which He will establish, invisible to men, will take the place of the empire of Satan, likewise invisible. We now see the evils of Satan’s invisible presence, and will then see the righteousness of our Lord's invisible presence in that blessed Kingdom. The King of glory will replace the prince of darkness. Principal amongst Messiah's earthly agents and representatives will be Abraham, Isaac and all the Prophets, resurrected in full human perfection, as well as all the Worthies (Hebrews, Chapter 11). Instead of their being, as heretofore, the fathers, they shall be the children of Messiah, whom he will make princes in all the earth (Psa. 45:16). With this Kingdom the nation of Israel wi1l speedily unite, and eventually every nation will come into harmony with Messiah, and all people will be privileged to come in under Israel’s New Covenant, then established by the great "Messenger of the Covenant, whom you delight in." (Mal. 3:1; Jer. 31:31-34)

The glorious Messiah, whom the Jews identify with "Michael, the great Prince, which standeth for the children of thy people (Dan. 12:1), the Muslims also expect and identify with Mohammed of the past. The Free Masons also expect the same glorious personage and, in their traditions, identify him with Hiram Abiff, the great Master-Mason. This same great Messiah, Michael, the archangel, the antitypical Melchizedek, Priest as well King, we identify as "the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, “to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2:5,6) But when the great King shall appear in His glory and establish His kingdom with Israel He will be, as promised by the Prophets, "the desire of all nations." (Haggai 2:7) Then all the blinded eyes will be opened and all the deaf ears will be unstopped (Isa. 35:5). Then who He is and how He should be identified with Abraham's seed and David's line, will be clearly known to  all - in heaven and on earth. Not now, but when the King shall reign in righteousness - after this Time of Trouble - all shall fully understand the significance of Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah 12:7-10. Content that Messiah shall show the Truth in His Day of Revealment, we are glad to point Jews, Muslims, Christians, and all, to the glorious Messiah and the great work of blessing for all the nations which He will accomplish through the seed of Abraham, according to God's Covenant and His oath.

GOD'S DEALINGS UNDER DIFFERENT COVENANTS

The Decalogue of the Law Covenant was composed of probations - "Thou shalt not.” God's dealings with those who will become members of the "House of Sons" seem to be different from this. Instead of telling us what we shall not do, He tells us what we shall do.

How will it be with those with whom God will deal during the existence of the Messianic Kingdom, under the New Covenant arrangement? We answer that during the reign of Christ they will be under a very similar arrangement to that of the Jews under Moses. Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, will be enforced by the great Mediator. And the enforcing will be necessary, because of the sins and imperfections and degradation in which the people will be. In harmony with this we read that "Whosoever will not obey that Prophet will be destroyed from among the people." (Acts 3:23) The word obey implies a command to be backed up by the authority to enforce.

The fact is that there will be a reign of Law in Messiah's Kingdom: "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion [ the invisible Kingdom] shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem [ the visible ruling power - the Worthies] ." (Isa. 2:3) And those who will not fall into line with this Law will have tribulation that they may learn righteousness. The judgments (the instructions of the Law) of the Lord will be abroad in the earth (Isa. 26:9) - and the people will take notice of these. They will not be dealt with as under the Covenant of Grace. The will to obey will not be taken as instead of the deed. They will have the ability to obey all that is required of them.

They will not have an Advocate as those under the Grace Covenant who have the will to do but due to the imperfections of the flesh are unable to do perfectly. We are promised, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:9,10) "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)

On the contrary, the great Mediator will, during the thousand years of the Mediatorial Kingdom, instruct and reward and bless and uplift all the willing and obedient, to the intent that all those during that reign who desire to be helped will be helped and will be ready to be turned over to the Almighty at the close of the Age. "And when all things shall be subdued under him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Cor. 15:28) Not until the end of that Age will any of the world, under the New Covenant arrangement reach sonship. But, by that time they will have been perfected as sons, and will endure the tests then given, the Father will accept them and give them the blessings of eternal life, etc., as sons.

A certain Scripture gives us intimation of how this will proceed. This Scripture shows us the injunctions and precepts God will put upon the world. "And this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Jer. 31:33) He also says, "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh." (Ezek. 11:19) This brief statement implies a full restitution of all that was lost in Adam.

Adam was created perfect, but depravity of mankind and the intensification of this in many cases have brought the world today in a condition of stoniness of heart, until the inhumanity of man toward man is appalling. The precepts of God will be gradually brought before the human mind and engraved and interwoven in the whole fiber of his being, so that man at the end of the Millennial Age will be as Adam was in the beginning - fully in accord with every principle of righteousness and unsympathetic with everything that is evil.  This condition will come to be the very fiber of human nature again and only to such as will attain this will come the blessing of eternal life.

NEW COVENANT BENEFITS WORLD-WIDE

All mankind  will  receive  some  benefit  from  the  New  Covenant ,  irrespective  of acceptance of Christ. That benefit will be that they will be awakened from the tomb. As the Scriptures  tell us, as by one man condemnation passed upon all, so likewise through one man justification to life is to pass upon all  (Rom. 5:12,18). Therefore, we would say that the benefits of the New Covenant will be applicable to everybody. If God had foreseen that nobody would adopt this arrangement, that fact no doubt would have altered His plan.

All of the accounts against humanity having been canceled by justice, mankind will be turned over to the Mediator. If man were not put under the Mediator, if he were kept under Divine Justice, he would immediately be condemned, because of his inability to do right. Therefore the Father will not take cognizance of sinners. They will be left to the Mediator. All who will be obedient will receive the blessings of the Kingdom, and those who do not become obedient under those conditions will go into the Second Death, from which there will be no recovery - unlike the Adamic death from which there will be a recovery by our Redeemer who died for us. "For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice ... And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Krisis, Judgment]." (John 5:28,29, Acts 24:15

FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS

The Scriptures tell us that "out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2:3) The Ancient Worthies are to be made "princes in all the earth." (Psa. 45:16) This, of course, would appeal first and primarily to the Jew - those who have faith in God's promises - who would naturally be the first to come under the new regulations, as the New Covenant will be made with the Jews. (Jer. 31:33)

We may not say that all of the Jews, who are Jews according to the flesh, will do so, but we believe that a considerable number of them will. The Jews who do not hold to God's promises are not "Israelites indeed,” and will not be counted as Jews in the New The Kingdom will be Israelitish. There are many good people who have not taken the vow of consecration during the Faith Age, but who would like to help rather than to hinder others. Such will in due time attach themselves to the Kingdom, which shall be "the desire of all nations." (Hag. 2:7)     

In the case of the Worthies their freedom from imperfection will make them conspicuous. As the world comes to know about these, they will say, Are not these God's people? Mankind will perceive that God has rewarded the Worthies by giving them a better resurrection, and will learn that their "better  resurrection" was   given  because of the faithfulness in the past (Heb. 11:1,39,40).

SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

The fact is that Jesus is not merely the Savior of the Church, but that He is also the Savior of the world. In the past Bible students have overlooked this great truth, to their confusion. Now we see that God has provided two distinctly different salvations - one for the Church in the Gospel Age - the Faith Age - and the other for the world in the Age to follow this - the period of Messiah's Kingdom. That period is the Judgment Day for the world. The world is under the sentence that was passed on Adam - and are not sentenced for their own sins, but the sin they inherited from Adam. But in the Kingdom their judgment will be an individual one: all who love righteousness and hate iniquity will gain eternal life; and all who prefer unrighteousness will be cut off from among the people - will die the Second Death, from which there is no recovery. “Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Cor. 6:2) The Church's salvation is the "great salvation" (Heb. 2:3), while the world's salvation is the "common salvation.”   (Jude 3)

Not only do we see that there are two different salvations, but also that they are wholly different in kind. They are alike in some things, however. Both are salvations from sin and from its power and its penalty, the curse - sorrow, pain, crying, sighing and dying. Both are salvations to an everlasting happiness. But there the similarity ends; for the Church is to be saved by a change of nature, while the world is to be saved without a change of nature - by a resurrection to the perfection of human nature.

The Church's salvation has its beginning in the “hearing” of faith. The message of God's grace is proclaimed here and there by stammering lips, which do not appeal to many of the great or wise or learned, but chiefly to the poor of this world.  "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he has promised to them that love Him?" (James 2:5) These are charmed with the message of forgiveness of their sins, as they approach and seek to draw near to God, who through His providence draws near to them. If they continue to hunger and thirst after the Lord and His message, He will satisfy them and will show them His covenant (Psa. 50:5). He will enable them to understand the terms and conditions upon which they may be received back into fellowship with God as dear children - no longer aliens, strangers, foreigners - no longer condemned to death, but on the contrary justified to life.

Here comes to them another test of their love of righteousness, their hunger for fellowship with God; for the requirements, as stated by the Master Himself, are: "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself [renounce his own self-will], take up his cross [begin to live contrary to his own Preferences in that he will do according to the Divine will, instead of according to his own will, where it crosses the Divine], and follow me." (Matt. 16:24) Then he must continue to follow in the Master's footsteps - faithful unto death.      But we are not to think of those who reject the Lord's cross and refuse to make a full consecration of their lives as being, therefore, condemned either to eternal torment or to anything else.    The Gospel Age is a Faith Age, and some do not have faith, or sufficient faith to walk a "narrow way" during this Age.  "For all men have not faith." (2Thes) And if all men do not have the faith for a Faith Age, God is not unrighteous to condemn them because they do not have enough faith to walk a “narrow” way, but will open up a "way”  for them in the Kingdom - a Highway of Holiness, that will be easier for them to travel. (Isa. 35:8)

THE COMMON SALVATION

The point we are here especially making is that God has provided a salvation for the world, as well as a salvation for the Church.      The Bible tells us of the general facts of these salvations. It assures us that "God so loved the world (as well as the Church) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)   We noticed at first that the sentence that is upon the world is not an eternal torment penalty, but the penalty that was passed on Adam - dying and death (Gen. 3:19). Christ died that the race might not perish, but in due time recover from the death penalty through faith in Christ and obedience to Him. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  (Rom. 6:23)

Only the few can exercise the great faith that is necessary to a place in the heavenly reward. It is an invitation to walk a "narrow way,” and not a command; but in the Kingdom it will be a command to walk up the Highway of Holiness if they attain eternal life. By and by, however, when the knowledge of God shall fill the whole earth as the waters that cover the great deep (Isa, 11:9; 26:9), all will understand; all will hear and be able to believe in God’s goodness and in His wonderful arrangement on man’s behalf. Those who will then believe, and who will then accept God's favor on its terms of loyalty and obedience to the  best of  their ability, will be blessed by Messiah's Kingdom reign of righteousness.

The blessing, as the Bible describes it, will be the rolling away of the curse (Rev. 22:3) and the rolling on, instead of the curse, "the blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich; and he addeth no sorrow with it." (Prov. 10:22) This work of rolling away the curse and the rolling on the blessing is the appointed work of Messiah’s Kingdom for a thousand years. We may be sure that by the time His Kingdom shall end, and shall be delivered up to the Father, our Lord will have fully accomplished all the great work which was committed to Him of the Father and for which He has shown His worthiness by His cooperation in the Father's plan, to the extent of dying for the race.

As it is now in the Faith Age with those who walk a “narrow way, " that they are not required to do more than they are able to do, it will be the same in the Kingdom - no one will be required to do more than he is able to do. All of our readers know full well that now "there is none righteous, no not one," but our imperfect works are acceptable to God through the merit of Jesus who "bought us," so long as we are faithful in all we are able to do. However, in the Kingdom no imperfect works will be acceptable, but all imperfection will be corrected in the truly penitent until such time as they will be able to offer perfect works and praise to God. They will then keep the Law perfectly - just as Jesus did when He was here.

We trust that this Christmas message has made the Plan of God clear enough for all our readers to praise God for all His benefits toward us, as well as to thank God for His "unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15) - the gift of His only begotten Son for our Redeemer! Hallelujah what a Savior! "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psa. 107:31)

Our best wishes to all our readers for the Lord's blessing during the Holiday Season and for a blessed New Year. Let the Lord be your trust and your guide - for "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” (Prov. 30:5)

(By John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 318, December 1 ,1981)

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THE  DECALOGUE

“The question has  been  asked, will the Decalogue be  revived in the Messianic Kingdom? We see no reason why it should not be made the Law of the Kingdom. There was no fault to be found with the Law, but with the weakness, the inability of those who were under the Law. The Ten Commandments were not given to the Church, but the spirit of them is comprehended in the word Love, which is the Law of the New Creation (Rom. 13:8-10). It would be rather incongruous for the Lord to say to the Church, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not kill; for they would have passed from every such condition of mind before they could become His.”

“With the world, at the beginning of the New Age, it would be a Law quite over their heads to say, You shall love everybody. They would need to have some simple statements such as, Thou shall have no other gods but Me; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not murder; thou shalt not bear false witness. The Decalogue is the very best Law for the world of mankind. We cannot improve on the wisdom of the Law-Giver who gave this Law to Moses in the beginning. It will not surprise us, therefore, if the Ten Commandments will be put upon the whole world, just as they were upon the Jews; and that mankind will be shown that the spirit of the Law is Love; but that they will come gradually to the understanding of this principle; for at the beginning they would not have the proper appreciation of the matter."

(Reprint 4856, column 2, paragraph 4, July 15, 1911)

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"HEBREW PRIME MINISTER PRAISES JESUS, THE MESSIAH! The great Hebrew Christian statesman, Benjamin Disraeli, known as Lord Beaconsfield, wrote this about Jesus: 'The pupil of Moses may ask himself, whether all the princes of the house of David have done so much for the Jews as the Prince who   was crucified on Calvary. Had it not been for Him, the Jews would have been comparatively unknown, or known only as a high oriental caste which had lost its country. Has not He made their history the most famous in the world? Has not He hung up their laws in every temple? Has He not vindicated all their wrongs? Has He not avenged the victory of Titus and conquered the Caesars? What successes did they anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded ... Christians may continue to     persecute Jews and  Jews may persist in disbelieving Christians, but who can deny that Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of the Most High God, is the eternal glory of the Jewish race?'"

(By Benjamin Disraeli, who was British Prime Minister in the 1800's)

“73 % OF PALESTINIANS SUPPORTED SUICIDE ATTACKS AGAINST USA: As PMW has been reporting in recent days, the spontaneous Palestinian celebrations after the horrific attacks in the United States were genuine expressions  of the deep hatred of America that has been promoted by Palestinian Authority leadership for years. The following public opinion poll from last November is another measurable indicator of this hostility:

"The Poll results: '73% of Palestinians support military action against American targets in the region. Regarding suicide missions against American interest in the Middle East 73% supported and 22% opposed, and its interesting that the support for attacks against American targets among academics reached 77% compared to 70% among illiterates.' [Al Hayat Al Jadida, on November 11, 2000.] "

(Bridges For Peace Newsletter, September 14, 2001)

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QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST

QUESTION - Are the Youthful Worthies under a covenant?

ANSWER -    The Ancient Worthies were under the Faith Covenant, as given in the Covenant book, page 51, with the heading ANCIENT WORTHIES UNDER FAITH COVENANT. Page 51 gives more on the Ancient Worthies. However, Brother Russell wrote in a number of places about the unbegotten class, which we call Youthful Worthies, in contrast to the Ancient Worthies. He also taught that the Youthful Worthies would be rewarded with the Ancient Worthies. The Ancient Worthies were before the High Calling of the Gospel Age. The Youthful Worthies are won after the Saints are all gathered. The Worthies are on trial for faith and obedience, but not on trial for life as were the Saints.

All the elect will be judged in this "evil world." (Gal. 1:4) The Saint's trial is more difficult than the other elect classes. The Saints will have to contend with the Devil and evil surroundings. They have to be faithful as was Jesus to be "dying with Jesus." They were burned at the stake during the Dark Ages. But so long as they were faithful the Lord gave them strength to bear it. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13)

During the Harvest of the Gospel Age, the Saints didn't have such tortures as experienced before that time. But all the Saints must have persecutions, which they did have during the Harvest. Brother Russell and his co-laborers in the Harvest received persecutions from the pulpit, from the press and from individuals. 

Here is something from Brother Russell: "The Spirit witnesses, through the Word of God, that those who are the Lord's people are separate from the world - that their hopes and aims and general spirit, disposition, are different. 'If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.' 'Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.' (John 15:19; 2 Tim. 3:12)

"Can our hearts testify that these words properly represent our experience in life? If so, the Spirit of God is thus again witnessing with our spirit that we are his ...

“If, therefore, we have been evilly spoken of, because of our identification with the Truth, and our service of it, we have in this an additional evidence or witness of the Spirit that we are in the right pathway.

"Had our Lord Jesus joined hands with the popular leaders of the Jewish Church, and abstained from speaking the truth in love, abstained from pointing out the false doctrines of His day, He would not have been 'hated,’ nor ‘persecuted'; on the contrary, He probably would have been  'highly esteemed amongst men.'  But, as He Himself declared, much that is 'highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God.’ (Luke 16:15) “(Parousia Volume 5, page 235, par. 2,3; page 236 top, par. 1)

Preachers in the nominal churches always had "old man Russell" in their sermons. The Saints who came out of the nominal churches were persecuted and so were their children. One preacher told a Sister in the Truth  that "old man Russell" was taking their best members.  She answered, “Yes, the cream of the crop.”

The Brethren who believe they are Saints should ask themselves, do I get any opposition like Christ had? Do the nominal people persecute us because we are in the Truth? It is the witness of the Truth that brought persecution all during the Gospel Age and its Harvest. Jesus was crucified because he witnessed the Truth of His Day (John 18:37)

"Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." (Jer. 31:31) "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof, he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him [Jesus] from the dead." (Acts 17:31) The world will be judged in the Kingdom, under easier conditions. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9)

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We want to express our sympathy and sorrow for the terrible terrorism that our country has suffered. We weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn. We are happy to see this "togetherness" our country has shown the world. God has blessed our country so that it has shown other countries that we can't be defeated. We have had hard times in establishing our country but, because of the liberty we enjoy, people want to immigrate to our country. This in a sense has made the US the capital of the world for now, but in God's Kingdom Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. So we say "God bless America!" and also say "God bless Israel,” our ally!

NO. 534 THE HARVEST WORK OF THE SAINTS

"Cry aloud and spare not; lift up like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the House of Jacob their sins.  Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” Isaiah 58:1,2)

We understand that the Lord, through the Prophet Isaiah, is here describing the condition of the nominal people of God. These words probably had an application in the Prophet's day, but we think they have a special application in our day. If we should view the words as a general statement, applicable at any time it would seem to have reference to some who are truly the Lord's people and also to the House of Jacob in general. The prophet speaks of certain transgressions of God's people, errors, and of sins of the House of Jacob (Natural Israel) - especially grievous transgressions.

Applying this to the present day, we would understand that the Lord's people are those, who are in covenant relationship with God, His real people, and no others. Those in covenant relationship with God are comparatively a small number. The great mass of professed people of  God have gotten into many transgressions of the Divine will and  law, many of  them quite ignorantly following blind leaders  of  the  blind, following creeds of the darkest past.    The term “the House of Jacob” however, is a distinguishing term, referring exclusively to the Jews, God's ancient covenant people.

The Lord's people of the present time, those who have the light of truth as it now shines out from His Word, should, as they have suitable opportunity, point out to Christendom of today, and especially to those who are the professed people of God, their error, show them where they have deviated from God's Word, where their course is not in harmony with the Golden Rule, etc. Moreover, if they have favorable opportunity, they might point out to the Jews the reasons why they are in their present cast-off condition. But it would not be well to go about berating them, or berating anybody.

Very little good is done by such a course. The truth itself is to be the sword. It is a sharp two-edged sword, even the Word of God. The work that any of us could do aside from the Word of God would be but bungling work; whereas "The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow." (Heb. 4: 12) We are to "cry aloud, and spare not" (Isa. 58:1), to point out what the Scriptures have to say - on proper occasions. This does not mean to insult people. God's ambassadors have no commission to insult any one. But with gracious words we may, nevertheless, point to the conditions of today, the dangers that are now before the world, and the proper position to be taken by those who would wholly follow the Lord.

A FORM OF GODLINESS WITHOUT ITS POWER

The words of the text under consideration are along the same line as the words of the Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 29:13, quoted by our Lord. There the Prophet declares: "This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me"; “but.” as the Master rendered the following words (Matthew 15:9), "in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.”The translation of V. 2 of our text is not quite so clear as perhaps might be. The thought seems to be: They apparently seek me daily, apparently delight to know my ways. They build churches with high steeples and gorgeous appointments, at great cost. Many churches have imposing images of the saints or great paintings which make a fine outward appearance.  They have rich, melodious bells chiming out sweet hymns; such as "Nearer, My God to Thee," “Rock of Ages,” etc. They have well-trained choirs to sing anthems. They have highly educated ministers who are gifted orators and deliver eloquent dissertations. Outwardly, they have a wonderful zeal for righteousness; it would seem on the surface that they are doing well. They appoint an annual Thanksgiving Day and take up large collections for the poor; they pay large salaries to their preachers; they raise money for missions. It is very much as it was in our Lord's day, at His First Advent, when He said, “Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of Gehenna than yourself"; he is far worse than before they touched him. (Matt. 23:15)

There is great zeal shown for the traditions of men, for the propagation of men's theories, for the advancement of denominational interests, for attracting the world by varied and numerous devices, in order to gain their influence and their financial assistance. For instance, Thanksgiving Day was set apart in the early history of New England. Long ago it became a custom in the United States to have the last Thursday in November appointed as a day of thanksgiving to God for the harvest of the years. The Governor of the State of Massachusetts first took it up; then the Governor of another State followed; then another; then it was taken up by the President of the United States. Finally it became the custom for the President first to make the appointment every year, to be followed by a proclamation by each of the State Governors, making the day thus a legal holiday, when banks and places of business generally would be closed that the people might be free to meet for praise and thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the year. And the custom still persists. Now this might sound to people of other nations to whom it would be told as if the people of the United States were a set of saints. These nations might say, It was not sufficient that  the general Government of the United States should make such appointment; but each State makes such appointment; and they did it every year.

As a matter of fact, if the President of the United States were an infidel he would be expected to follow the custom and make the same proclamation. Or whether the Governor of a State were a Catholic or a Protestant or an atheist, he would be expected to do likewise. It has become a custom, just as the hands of a clock go around. But very few of the people think of the day in any other light than as a pleasant holiday, when they can enjoy a fine dinner and have a good time generally. Very little attention - in fact, none - is paid by the great majority to the real feature, of thanksgiving to God.

It is the same with other customs in other nations of the world. If we were in a Muslim country, we would see, at twelve o'clock, every Muslim, no matter what he was doing, stop immediately for a moment of prayer to Allah. One who did not  know might think from this that the Muslims were a most saintly people, who would be very honest and upright in all their dealings; better keep your eye open, for all that. So a great deal that we have everywhere today is a mere mechanical form, an outward display - a form of godliness without its power.

KINGDOM WORK THIS SIDE THE VEIL

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

What t ime, then, is signified by the expression "in the days of these kings, " when the Kingdom of God was to be set up in power? To our understanding the first step in the setting up of this Kingdom was the raising of the sleeping saints of the Gospel Age, which we believe was in the Spring of 1878. Then began the glorification of the Church. The work of setting up the Kingdom has, we understand, been progessing from that date, with those still in the flesh after that being glorified as they finish their course in death. "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds [of trouble] , to meet with the Lord in the air [in the spiritual rulership of the world] ;and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thes. 4:17) When these shall have taken their places as members of the Church in glory, the Kingdom will be fully set up.

This does not signify that there may not be a part of the Kingdom work begun while some of the members of Christ are still in the flesh. Indeed some Scriptures seem to imply that there will be a Kingdom work done this side the veil, while a work of still greater magnitude and authority is progressing on the other side of the veil. We read, "Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud upon their beds." (Psa. 149:5) This seems to imply, as we have mentioned before, that there is a special work to be done while these saints still have beds, while they are in a condition of repose - not "tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:14), but fully at rest in God's great plan. The Scriptures go on to say that they have a two-edged sword in their hands - which is the Word of God. They use it as the sword of the Spirit. This would not be true of them on the other side of the veil. They would have no use for a sword there. The Scriptures also declare that the high-sounding praises of God are upon their lips. This, too, seems to be applicable to those this side the veil. [Written February 15, 1915]

The final phase, “to execute the judgments written, "would seem to imply that there would be something for the saints on this side of the veil to do in connection with the execution of the judgments upon the nations. As to just what this means, we have not yet fully learned. But we see nothing here to conflict with the thought that the Lord's Kingdom may be properly understood to have begun operations and that the present smiting of the nations is under Kingdom control. The fact that some of the members of the Kingdom class are still in the flesh [in 1915] does not militate at all against this thought. ("And this honor have all the saints." - Psa. 149:9] We see the kingdoms of this world now being dashed to pieces, and we are expecting to see the process continued until they are completely ground to powder. "They shall become as the chaff of the summer threshing-­floor, and the wind shall carry them away. Then shall they be found no more at all." (Dan. 2:35)

THE KINGDOM OF GOD SET UP

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

At the sounding of the seventh trumpet Messiah was to take unto Himself His great power and reign. That trumpet is now sounding! “And the nations were angry and thy wrath [the great Time of Trouble starting in 1914] is come." (Rev. 11:18) Surely the nations are angry now! They act as if they were bereft of common sense. We see readily enough that the spirit of selfishness has prevailed there right along, but that some hindrance or fear heretofore held them back. But finally, when the Lord's 'due time’ has come to permit it, they broke through their restraint. The Lord has at this particular time especially to do with the affairs of the nations. And this war was allowed occur at about the end of the Gentile Times, at the appropriate time when they are to be dashed to pieces with the iron rod of the iron rule (Psa. 2:6-12). It is our judgment that we shall see more of this iron rule and its breaking influence, not only upon the nations, but upon society at large. Now in this great day of the Lord everything that can be shaken is to be shaken to pieces and shaken out, to the intent that nothing unrighteous or unworthy shall remain. God  Himself is doing the shaking (Hag. 2:6,7).

THE TIME FOR JUDGMENT IS RIPE

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

The due time for the “wrath" was September 21, 1914. We are expecting to see this wrath still more manifest. The nations have been in just this same unloving spirit one toward another for a number of years, but apparently they have been under some forcible restraint. We believe that God ‘s time had not yet come. We wondered, and many people wondered, how their anger could be restrained much longer; much has been written about it in the newspapers. When the Balkan war came [1912-1913], it was because the nations were angry; and it very nearly led to this conflagration. Austria tried to precipitate the trouble at that time, but the German Kaiser held back. Now the restraining hand has been removed. The time is ripe.

"WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT WE TO BE?"

Seeing that we see all these things with such clearness how soberly and carefully and faithfully we should live! Never were the words of the Apostle Paul "Let us watch and be sober" more applicable than now. Accompanying the momentous events that usher in the new dispensation are special trials and difficulties, not only to the world, but also to the church. The Apostle says, "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." (1 Thes. 5:4) But "as a snare will it come on all them that dwell on the earth.” (Luke 21:35) All except the brethren will be surprised, disappointed, chagrined, found unprepared and more or less overtaken. But the brethren, because they have been feeding at the Lord's table, and are strong in His might, will not be overtaken unawares. The Apostle urges that because the brethren are "children of the light," "children of the day," they shall not act as children of the darkness, "children of the night.”

In the new day that is just dawning we shall have the "reign of righteousness." We belong to that new dispensation. While living in the flesh, we are not of the flesh; while living in the world, we are not of the world. Our minds are clarified by the light of the new day. We are not interested in the things of this world, but in the things of the Lord; and because of our special relationship to the Lord we are not left in the darkness of the world.

Above all others, then, we should be sober. When the Apostle enjoins, "Be sober,” he is not referring to the use of intoxicating liquors; for those who have the Lord's spirit, the Lord's mind - the Truth - do not so indulge.  Neither would we understand him to mean that we should always go about wearing long faces; for the children of the light should of all others be happy, cheerful people. But we should be sober in the sense of being of serious mind, thoughtful, not given to frivolity or levity, but earnestly watching our thoughts, our words, our doings, that we may in all things bring honor to our Lord. We who have our eyes open see what sin is and how the reign of sin is about to culminate. We see God's arrangements; and having entered into a covenant with God, we surely must be sober, vigilant, realizing the great battle now on between Light and Darkness, between Truth and Error; realizing that faithfulness in this "evil day" will require all the soberness of mind, all the fortitude, that we possess. We shall continually need the wisdom from on high. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5) It is only those who are using to the best of their ability the power and talents already given them who have any right to ask for further wisdom and who are prepared to use more.

And we are to watch. What should we watch? Preeminently we should watch ourselves, to keep ourselves from the snares of the present time, which are more insidious and entrapping than ever before, so that we do not endanger our peace with God, nor lose our enlightenment. The adversary is on the watch, and it is necessary that the Lord's people be especially alert and watchful. In the past there was little opportunity for the Lord's people to watch the fulfillment of Scripture; for these fulfillments were far apart. But now is the time for us to watch particularly along this line. The Times of the Gentiles have ended, and the nations are now disintegrating.

(Excerpts from Reprint 5630-5633, by Brother Russell)

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IN OREGON, ANARCHIST ACT LOCALLY

"He called himself Free, an apt name for an anarchist. And he stood tall in court as he explained why he had torched a Chevrolet dealership, incinerating three sport­utility vehicles. 'I didn't do this because I enjoy property destruction,’ he said.  'I did this because I'm frustrated that we are doing irreversible damage to our planet. '

"But last month a Eugene, Ore., judge handed down a prison sentence of 22 years and eight months to Jeffrey Luers, only 22 years old himself, not just for burning the suvs but also for attempting to set fire to an empty oil tanker two weeks earlier. An accomplice, Craig (Critter) Marshall, 28, pleaded guilty and got five and a half years in prison.  'I think it's great,’ said Michael Morrow, head of the FBI’s nine-agent office in Eugene. ‘It’s just a matter of time before there are more arrests.’

"Nestled in the leafy Willamette Valley, Eugene (Pop. 137,000) is an unlikely hotbed of anarchism. In Seattle's 1999 antiglobalization protests, it was a group of Eugene activists who helped lead the mayhem; they formed part of the 'Black Bloc’ that broke windows and trashed stores. But few if any Eugeners are headed to Genoa this week, despite their anticapitalist bent; they're too busy at home. Local anarchists broadcast a weekly radio program and two cable-television shows. They publish half a dozen ‘zines, from Black-Clad Messenger  to     F___ the System, the new jailhouse rag from Free and Critter, and Rob the Rich , published by prisoner Robert Thaxton, who was sentenced to seven years for injuring a Eugene policeman with a rock in a June 1999 riot. And the town is home to one of the movement's celebrities, anarcho-primitivist philosopher John Zerzan, who visited Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in prison to discuss ‘enslavement by technology.'

"The American anarchists, as the slogan goes, think globally but act locally. How local? Four years ago, a Eugene activist upset about the razing of some downtown trees deliberately vomited on the mayor. More recently, the 'Anarchist Golfing Association' trashed a research project on putting greens conducted by an Oregon seed company, causing $500,000 in damage. 'Grass, like industrial culture, is invasive,’ charged an anonymous e-mail from a Eugene library.

“Police surveillance following these incidents has rattled nonviolent radicals. 'Blowing up the SUVs brought heat down onto the entire community, ' says Heather Coburn, whose Food Not  Lawns cooperative teaches anarchists to grow their own vegetables. 'Some anarchists want to smash it all, but others are into mutual aid.’ The Shamrock House, an anarchist community center, offers free food for the poor, a lending library of leftist books and a free school with classes on  martial arts and midwifery. Every Thursday, a shamanic healer offers 'deep soul work' and 'aura repair.'

"But just as the Goteborg and Prague, extremists are grabbing the spotlight. Right before Luer’s trial, the Chevrolet dealership he set on fire was torched again. 'We can no longer allow the rich to parade around in their armored existence, leaving a wasteland behind in their tire tracks,' read a communique from the new (but still anonymous) arsonists. Zerzan, a soft-spoken graybeard who advocates a return to a hunter-gatherer society, applauds the fire bombers. 'I'd like to see it happen every day,' he says. We’re interested in destroying the system, not in macho saber rattling.’ Whatever  you care to call it, last week Eugene's anarchist TV program ran a rap video called Bushkilla, which spliced segments of presidential assassinations with footage of George W. Bush. It wasn't funny."

(By Margot Roosevelt/Eugene, Time, July 23, 2001)

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ISLAM UNMASKED

A horrific extent of the Islamic terrorism has finally found its way to the shores of the USA. Past Islamic attacks in America have either been uncovered before they occurred, or they were not as devastating as the terrorist had hoped. The Pentagon and the World Trade Center have been symbols for the Islamic militants and the World Trade Center was already attacked once. It was only a matter of time until another attack was attempted. Now, it has happened and the devastation and the loss of life are almost too shocking to comprehend.

I am in Italy, on a two-week holiday. I left Israel wondering if war would break out at any moment in Israel with her neighboring Arab Islamic countries.

I left instructions with my staff that if such a war from the outside began, that I would immediately return to Israel. I felt pretty safe because there was a series of three meetings scheduled between Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat. Surely, it would take two weeks to hold the three meetings. I felt it was okay to leave.

You can imagine my shock when I saw the horrific pictures on television, in the sleepy resort town on the Amalfi coast of Italy where I am staying. What attracted my attention was a group of people staring at a television and spilling out onto the street. I thought it was the last play of the soccer match and peered inside at the TV expecting to see soccer players in action. What I saw, looked like a re-run of the movie, Towering Inferno, except it was not Chicago, but New York. What was happening?

Being from Israel, I immediately suspected terrorism, and I was not wrong in my assessment. One Italian man, who answered my cry for information in English, told me that planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. I immediately knew that terrorism was the cause.

It is unkind to say the USA, even as an American, that  now you know what Israel faces on a daily basis. Not only Israel, but the Christian communities of Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan, who have been subjected to the daily attacks of the Islamic world for decades.

Despite the fact that Yasser Arafat held a press conference and expressed his words of shock, the Palestinian Islamic organizations have been perpetrating daily car bombs and suicide bombs against Israeli civilians. Just the day before this horrible attack in the USA, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, gave a statement that no country could stand by under repeated suicide attacks. Sadly, but not out of character the TV images of Palestinians celebrating the disaster in the USA, with one baker offering cake to the foreign camera crew filming the scene, only confirms, the deep hatred felt towards the west (seen as Christians) and Israel (as Jews) who are both infidel enemies of Islam. What kind of people could celebrate the loss of such innocent life?  It is just sick.

It is time to wake up that this is  a  world-wide threat, far  more menacing than communism ever was. Who committed this devastating act? Was it Osama bin-Laden, Sadaam Hussein, the Taliban, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinians, Muammar Gadaffi? Only time will tell.

Now, the US knows what Israel has been suffering for so long, and on a larger scale. Who knows how many tens of thousands of Americans are now dead and for what reason? The perceived justified retaliation of Islam against America for trying to curb Islamic expansionist activities in the Middle East and around the world, and friendship with Israel, is the reason given by the Islamic fundamentalist groups for their hatred of America. For decades, they have seen America as “the great Satan," because Islam sees the USA as a decadent society influencing the world against Islamic values, not just for her support and friendship of Israel.

If you look at the map of the Major terror attack around the world over the last decade, you will see that they have occurred on the whim of Islamic influence, as this militant religion is seeking to expand its territory around the world. Where have we seen such attacks? They have occurred in the Philippines, Indonesia, Chechnya, the Balkans, the Middle East, and against western embassies and businesses, as well as Jewish targets, in Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Europe and the USA.

Islam is not a religion that expands by a heart conversion, like Judaism and Christianity: Rather, it expands by conquest, subjugating its conquered peoples to their religion. The borders of Islam continue to grow outwards as they seek worldwide domination.

Israel and the western world have been the targets of militant Islam for decades. Yet, most of these attacks have been in locations around the world. As an American, I know that most Americans do not have an international out look because two oceans on their east and west protect them. Attacks, even against American targets in far off lands have not impressed the American public beyond a momentary sigh. Now, that militant Islam has made its way to the shores of the USA in a devastating attack which will go down as the worst act of terrorism in history, America can no longer stick its head in the sand and play like militant Islam is a  problem somewhere else.

As a resident of Israel for the past 25 years, I hope that America and the rest of the world will wake up and realize that this is a world war that needs to be met head on. Israel and the Christians in the Middle East are in the clutches of this war. May the west now give support and sympathy to both Jews and Christians in this region of the world who face annihilation without its help. Just as US President Bush stated that the US will, "hunt down and punish those responsible," may they not tie the hands of Israel who also must hunt down and punish those responsible for the death of so many innocent Israelis.

Finally, my heart goes out to America as I watch the images on television. As an American, I am sick and outraged that such a well-planned and orchestrated attack could occur and so many innocent families suffer. I know the heart of every Israeli is with America and prayers are going forth for those who have felt the effects of this tragedy.

I know the hearts of the world are with America. I just ran down to the center of this town in Italy to get a carton of milk and saw that the restaurants, which are usually full at this time of night, are empty and the tables are not even set for dinner. Everyone is at home or in their hotels watching television - in shock over what has happened. May America be comforted by all our prayers.  Shalom, Clarence

(By Clarence Wagner, International Director, Bridges for Peace, September 11, 2001)

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"Hate Mail: Police are investigating the mailing of anti-Semite hate literature postmarked in New York City to at least seven Jewish households in Eugene, Oregon.

“The literature, which bears the return address of a Washington, D.C. post office box, denies the Holocaust and blames Jews - among them several Jewish celebrities and leaders - for the moral decay in the United States.”

(World Jewry, July 2001)

"Ba'al (idol) Stamp Issued by Palestinian Authority: The Palestinian Authority has issued a large stamp, valid for international mail, featuring images of the Canaanite god Ba'al as an idol and a bull. In the Bible and in the Koran, Ba'al is an idol and a false god who is in opposition to the one and only true God. Ba'al has also been referred to as the devil (Satan) through the names of Ba'ali'z'bub and Iba'lis. Thus, most Christians and Jews would consider this stamp offensive.

"Jews, Christians and Moslems hold the Holy Land, where many of their holiest sites are located, to be very important to them, and many come here as religious pilgrims to visit their sites of worship. The fact that this stamp was issued by a government that controls parts of the Holy Land implies a lack of respect for both tourists and inhabitants of the land who hold deep religious beliefs. To see the stamp go to www.jerusalemite.org or www.jerusalemit.com."

(Bridges For Peace, Update Newsletter, July 20 , 2001)

"THREATS: A Jewish university professor claiming racial discrimination has told a tribunal in Liverpool, England, that he was forced to resign and start a new life in America after he was sent anti-Semitic notes and death threats written on university paper, as well as a live bullet and razor blades, over a period of four years.

"Oliver Leaman, a professor of philosophy, told the tribunal that university authorities were unsympathetic and unresponsive to the situation."

(World Jewry , September 2001)

QUESTION OF GENERAL INTEREST

QUESTION - Is it necessary for the Saints to suffer persecution in order to be "dying with Christ "?

ANSWER - Yes, most of them have to, although some do not suffer as much as others, as their efforts are not such that would bring them as much persecution and suffering, but they would still be "dying with Christ." The fact that the Brethren who believe the door to the High Calling is open do not receive persecutions is a sure sign that the door is closed. This is the second way we should know that the High Calling is closed as given in Volume 3, Thy Kingdom Come, page 207, bottom. In Reprint 5632, February 15, 1915 That Servant gave us September 21, 1914 as the date the Kingdom was set up. This means that all of the Kingdom class were to be sealed in the heart at that date, but not all were sealed in the forehead. But they all had to be sealed in the forehead to participate in the smiting of the nations, as also given in that Reprint. They were all sealed in the forehead by the fall of 1916. Those after that who did not participate in the smiting of the nations gives us another way to know that the door to the High Calling is closed.

We realize there are many faithful Christians who believe they are saints, and many of them have saintly qualities. It is no disgrace to any of the Lord's people not to be among those who were called. If they are faithful to their consecration now they will be resurrected to perfect human nature and will have close communion with The Christ. They will be the teachers of the world to give them the Word of the Lord in the Kingdom (Acts 17:31). There will be more truth for the world in the Kingdom than we now know. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2:3) Zion is the heavenly, invisible phase of the Kingdom and Jerusalem is the earthly, visible phase. The Worthies will be in charge of the earthly Kingdom.

These faithful Ancient and Youthful Worthies, who will be perfect in the Kingdom and “princes in all the earth,” (Psa. 45:16) will have precedence over the remainder of mankind as the special representatives of the invisible Messiah class for a thousand years and after  participating in that glorious work, they will at the close of the Millennium be uplifted to the spirit plane of being. They will be rewarded with a heavenly place and be able to see God, Christ, the Saints and all the heavenly host. They will be like the good angels and will never die. They are typified by the Levites who had no earthly home - "no inheritance in the land.” (Num. 18:23)

NO. 533 IN MEMORIAM

“If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” (John 12:26)

The‑anniversary of our dear Pastor’s passing beyond the veil, October 31, 1916, will always be a date of special sacredness to God’s people. It has been 85 years since his departure and so that his memory remains still fragrant and blessed to us, let us briefly review the activities, achievements and attainments of this eminent saint of God.

SCHOLAR: He was certainly a scholar in the true sense of that term. Those who require a university diploma as indispensable evidence of learning will deny him the merit of scholarship. However, there are not a few cases of scholars that were self‑made, gaining their knowledge apart from the schools of world repute. Among such our Pastor won a high place. Apart from English he was not a linguist, though he learned how to use well the gains of the best scholarship in Greek and Hebrew for his Biblical works. He was deeply versed in History, as his writings attest. So thoroughly did he understand business that able financiers eagerly sought and paid for his advice. His writings show that he was at home in the perplexing questions of industry, economics, sociology, capital and labor. However, his eminence in learning was in the domain of theology, in which he was without a peer since the days of the Apostles. His knowledge of the Bible was phenomenal; and when other theologians will have been discarded, he will be recognized as a standing authority in this, the greatest of all sciences.

AUTHOR: Naturally such a scholar would be a writer. Very few human beings have written more than he. His correspondence alone was sufficient for the life work of an industrious and talented man. When it is remembered that some years over 300,000 letters and post cards were written to him, and that he supervised the answers to this huge mail, and attended to no small share of it himself, we can realize something of the amount of his correspondence and the time and labor involved. As an author he produced six unrivaled books on the Bible whose combined circulation during his life aggregated 10,000,000 copies. He published a number of booklets of great value, one of which on Hell, has been circulated more widely than any other booklet ever written. He produced over 200 tracts, some of which attained a circulation of over 50,000,000 copies. His sermons, appearing regularly every week for thirteen years, were published part of that time simultaneously in over 2,000 newspapers, having a combined circulation of over 15,000,000 copies. This is only a small part of the vast literature he wrote during his lifetime.

LECTURER: Nor was his work as a lecturer on a small scale. Most well‑known lecturers have only a few lectures that they use year in and year out. Not so with him. He lectured on hundreds of subjects which were of compelling interest as well as of recognized difficulty. His lectures were direct, clear, simple, logical and convincing. His powers of exposition and proof were of the first order, and were so well in hand as to appeal to the learned and unlearned alike, an unequaled proof of genius. Wherever he was announced to speak the largest and best auditoriums were crowded, and frequently thousands and usually hundreds were turned away, unable to gain entrance. He did not depend on the tricks of oratory to win his hearers. He appealed to their heads and hearts in that simple and direct manner which wins the hearer without oratorical fireworks. He was the most cosmopolitan lecturer that ever lived, having addressed audiences in this capacity in almost every country on earth, traveling between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 miles to meet his appointments.

PREACHER: As a preacher he was even more widely known than as a lecturer. Wherever he worked as lecturer he addressed more private audiences as a preacher. This acquired for him the title, The Ubiquitous Preacher. It can be more correctly said of him than of any other preacher that the world was his parish. His spoken sermons were published in newspapers, reaching millions of readers weekly. These sermons appeared in many languages; and before he died his pen products had been published in some forty languages. As a preacher he appealed to the hearts of his hearers through their heads; and his ability to strike home to the hearts and heads of his hearers through suitable Bible verse or illustration the thoughts that he was seeking to impress was marvelous. His genuine and unaffected love for God and man gave a power to his utterances that drove them home, where mere eloquence and oratory would not have been effective. His sermons, therefore, always elevated head and heart.

PASTOR: He was the most notable of Pastors. His clearness of insight into the problems of his day, his knowledge of human nature, his intuition of the condition and needs of the individuals, his single‑hearted consecration to God and devotion to the interests of His people, his large sympathy, benevolence and hope as respects others, his grip on the purpose of his ministry, and his knowledge of the spiritual dangers of his times and of the safeguards needed by those in danger made him a real pastor, a genuine shepherd of God’s sheep. As many as 1,200 different churches at one time claimed him as their pastor. He had the “care of all the churches.” As a pastoral adviser he was expert; as a pastoral comforter he was inspiriting; as a pastoral corrector he was tactful and fruitful; and as a pastoral leader he was unobtrusive, yet all‑persuasive and effective. These qualities made him a part of the very life of those whose pastor he was, and bound him to them by ties that death itself has not severed. This is why the tens of thousands that chose him as their pastor have, up to the present, 85 years after his death, chosen no successor to him.

REFORMER: No review of him would be complete without treating of his activities as a reformer. He was every inch a reformer and stood in the front rank of the reformers of all Ages. Error never had an antagonist more to be dreaded than he, who with thoroughness of disproof of error’s claims combined tact, sympathy, gentleness and charity that left no personal sting after his onslaughts. If he hated error greatly, he loved the errorist more greatly, and always sought to help him, while overthrowing his wrong theories. The superstitions connected with the penalty of sin and the state of the dead were the especial objects of his attacks; and he never let an opportunity of attacking them pass by unused. The superstitious and the infidel alike felt the logic of his attacks; and the devout student of the Word found in him a champion who knew how to vindicate the truthfulness of the Bible and refute the errors of the superstitious and the unbelief of the infidel. His insistence on a faith harmonious with Scripture, Reason and Fact was an inspiration to Bible believer, and a terror to the creedist and infidel. His forty‑five years of continued attack on the strongholds of error and superstition largely undermined them for real students of the Word. But his work as a reformer was more than destructive of error and superstition. It did not leave his hearers victims of unbelief. On the contrary, he unfolded a harmonious, reasonable and Scriptural view of the Bible that evidences the inspiration of the Scriptures. Thus he gave others a sound and reasonable basis for their faith in “The impregnable Rock of the Holy Scripture,” while destroying caricatures of Scriptural teachings handed down by the superstition of the Dark Ages. Consequently, those who looked to him as their leader in reform were not left with stately ruins as the sum total of his and their labors. Rather, beside and instead of the ruins of the Temple of Error he erected the Sanctuary of Truth as a refuge against all the storms of doubt, superstition, and unbelief. And in this fact his real worth as a reformer is recognizable.

EXECUTIVE: He was great as an executive. A phrenologist once seeing his picture, but not knowing whose it was, remarked that he was either a merchant prince or the president of a Theological Seminary! Already in his teens his executive abilities made him the owner and director of a large business which was soon increased until it occupied four large stores in various cities. As a business man he acquired experience that fitted him for his future work. His executive abilities were such as enabled him to grasp the details as well as the generalities of his many enterprises. He was profitably interested in dozens of enterprises aside from his great religious work, to which he gladly devoted the profits of his secular business. Aside from his purely secular business interests, his religious activities required high and varied executive ability. He not only produced the vast literature of his movement, but he directed its publication and distribution. Hence he saw to the publication and circulation of his books, booklets, tracts, sermons, lectures, scenarios, Sunday School lessons, magazines, lecture records and magazine articles, assisted, of course, by an able staff of co‑laborers. He organized and directed seven branch offices in foreign countries. He supervised a Biblical correspondence school. At least two hours daily he gave to directing a Theological School in the Bethel home. For twenty‑two years he controlled a Lecture Bureau that for several years had a staff of over 300 lecturers. For thirty years he managed a propaganda work that at times had 1,000 colporteurs in its service. For twenty‑five years he directed a tractarian movement in which at times nearly 10,000 individuals took part. For three years he directed the preparation, and for two and a half years managed, the exhibition of the Photo‑Drama of Creation in hundreds of cities, and in many countries before more than 15,000,000 people. He was the guiding spirit in over 1,200 churches, and at the headquarters of his work daily presided as the head of the family over his laborers who, for many years averaging 175 members, lived together as a family. In this capacity he took cognizance of all sorts of details in storehouse, kitchen, laundry, dining and living rooms, hospital, library, study, drawing room and parlor. So versatile was this remarkable man.

Had he been eminent in any one of the seven capacities in which we have viewed him (and we could profitably view him from others, so many‑sided was this remarkable man), he would properly be considered a great man. But to have been eminent in all of them, and to have been in some of them without a peer, proves him to have been a genius of the first order. History will yet give him a place among the very greatest of men. In writing of him it is necessary to use superlatives in order to do him justice. If we were to reduce his qualities to two, we would use none more truly and fittingly to characterize him than those used of him by Him whose steward he was: “Faithful and Wise.” His life was a great success to him and a great blessing to others; his death was a great loss to others and a great gain to him; and his memory has been and is a benediction and an inspiration to us, and in due time will be to the world. “God bless his memory!” So let us pray.

ECCO HOMO

“Loved and hated! Revered and Reviled!

Spurned and courted! Flattered, defiled!

With never a falter and never a frown

He kept to his moorings, and laid his life down.

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

For soldier or hero? For living or dead?

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

He lifted the fallen; he heartened the sad;

He pitied the sinner, inspired the saint;

He strengthened the feeble, recovered the faint,

God gave him a message – he gave it to men;

He patiently told it again and again.

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

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

When minds were beclouded by dullness or doubt

He maneuvered the Message and turned it about

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

And hear the Glad Gospel he patiently told.

And yet will like rabble as stood by the Cross,

Not knowing their folly, not sensing their loss,

Flouting and scouting and wagging their head,

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

Dishonoring the prophet of this, their own time,

And crowning him saint when the world sees their crime.

“Behold now the man? – Or wait world‑old way

To pay him the tribute we owe him today?

Stand reverently now, with uncovered head,

And look on ‘that servant’ and honor the dead!

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

Yet his Message of Truth men can never efface,

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

The courage of Caesar, a soul undefiled,

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

The faults of a human and sympathy rare.

He lifted a standard and held it up high.

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

While we consider the office and work of the Parousia Messenger were much more important than that done by the Epiphany Messenger, we would stress our warm approval and appreciation of his character and the work he did. He valiantly and tenaciously retained and defended the Parousia Truth as given through That Servant, and built his Epiphany structure upon that Truth. He emphasized that Advancing Truth is not intended to destroy fundamental Truth already established, but simply enlarges and strengthens the Truth we already have. So we say of him also, God bless his memory! We honor these faithful servants when we keep the faith. “once delivered unto the saints.” God honored them by making them His mouthpieces, and it is our pleasure and privilege to honor whom God honors.

THE GOSPEL AGE HARVEST

“The present is the time for the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads, before the storm of trouble bursts (Rev. 7:2,3); and every wise virgin should appreciate this privilege of the present, both for his own intellectual sealing with the present truth, and also for engaging in the harvest work of sealing others of the wheat class and gathering them into the barn of security, before the night cometh and the door of opportunity to labor is shut.

“That the present, most favorable opportunity is a brief one, is manifest from the fact that only twenty‑four years of the harvest period remain [written 1890 + 24 = 1914], after which we will witness the end of the reign of evil and the ushering in of the glorious Millennial Day. After this period the dark night of the world’s great tribulation must find place. The great darkness, which must precede the glorious day, is drawing on: ‘the morning cometh, and also the night’ – a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation. [See Matt. 24:21,22]

“Observe that, when this night cometh, when the reapers must cease their labors; it will prove that this final work of the Gospel Age is accomplished; that the elect number of the Bride of Christ have all been ‘sealed,’ and ‘gathered’ into a condition of separateness from the worldly – into the barn condition (Matt. 13:30); for God will not permit anything to put an end to His work until it is finished. Then, all the true and faithful servants of God will have been sealed in their foreheads; and, the work of the Gospel Age being finished, no more can enter into that work or reap its rich reward, foretold in the ‘exceeding great and precious promises’ as the reward of the faithful who enter while the ‘door’ is open (2 Peter 1:4).” (Volume 3, p. 211, par. 2‑212 top)

“When, therefore, the Lord’s servants hear His voice, through His Word, declaring that the time has come to stop sowing and begin reaping, to stop catching and go to sorting the fish, to stop calling and preach the harvest message now due to those already called, they will, if faithful, gladly and promptly obey. Such, therefore, instructed of the Master concerning His plan of the ages, and not in darkness on the times and seasons in which we are living, should no longer be going forth seeking to sow the good seed of the Kingdom in the field or world of mankind, but should be ‘giving meat in due season to the household of faith’ scattering among the Lord’s professed children the good tidings of the Kingdom at hand, and of the great joy and blessing it will soon bring to all people.” (Volume 3, p. 215, par. 2)

“Shortly the harvest will be ended, and then both he that sowed and he that reaped will rejoice together. Now, the reapers must hasten the work, and should feel so concerned about its completion as to pray the Lord of the harvest, the Chief Reaper, to send forth more laborers into His harvest. It will not be long before the plowman of the next dispensation (the great trouble foretold, which will prepare the world for the Millennial seed‑sowing) shall overtake the reaper of this dispensation (Amos 9:13).” (Volume 3, p. 216, par. 2)

“Since the Church of Christ, which has been developing during the Gospel Age, is to be associated with her Lord in the great restitution work of the Millennial Age, the first work of Christ at the Second Advent must be the gathering of His elect Church, to which reference is made by the Prophet (Psa. 50:5), saying, ‘Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.’ This gathering or harvesting time is in the lapping period of the two ages. As will be shown, it is a period of forty years, which both ends the Gospel Age and introduces the Millennial Age.” (Volume 2, p. 104, par. 2)

“The next chapter will present Bible evidence that 1874 was the exact date of the beginning of the Times of Restitution, and hence of our Lord’s return. Since that date He has been verifying His promise to those in the proper attitude of watchfulness, ‘Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily, I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.’ (Luke 12:37) Even so, he has opened unto us the Scriptures, showing us truth, concerning His present glorious nature, the object, manner and time of His coming, and the character of His manifestations to the household of faith and to the world. He has drawn our attention to the prophecies which definitely locate us in the stream of time, and has shown us the order of His plan of operation in this harvest time. He has shown us, first of all that it is a harvest of saints, a time for their full ripening, and for their separation from the tares; and secondly, that it is a time for the world to reap its whirlwind harvest – for the reaping of the vine of the earth, and the treading of its fruitage in the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God. He has shown us that both of these ripenings (Rev. 14:1‑4,18‑20) will be completed in the year AD 1914.” (Volume 2, p. 170, par. 3 to p. 171, par. 1)

“The truth now due is the sickle in this harvest, as a like sickle was used in the Jewish Harvest. The reapers, the angels, or messengers, now, are the Lord’s followers, just as a like class was the reapers in the Jewish Harvest. Though others, throughout the age, were told not to attempt the separation of the wheat from the tares, yet those now ready, worthy and obedient will be shown the Lord’s plan and arrangement so clearly that they will recognize His voice in the time of the harvest, saying ‘Thrust in the sickle’ of present truth, and ‘gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.’ ‘They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.’ (Psa. 50:5; Mal. 3:17)” (Volume 3, p. 139, par. 1)

“ISRAEL’S SEVENTIETH WEEK A FIGURE OF THE CLOSE OF GOSPEL FAVOR”

“It will be remembered that Israel’s ‘seventieth week,’ the last seven years of their favor, was very exactly marked at its beginning, middle and close; and we believe for the purpose of giving us clearly defined dates in the close of the Gospel Age of favor to Spiritual Israel. We have seen that the beginning of that week was to Fleshly Israel the date of the beginning their harvest testing, in 29. It was marked by our Lord’s baptism and recognition as Messiah at Jordan, when the reaping work began, the parallel to which, here, is the recognition of the presence of the Lord, in 1874, at the beginning of this harvest.

“The middle of that covenant week, AD 33, was the date of the rejection of Israel as a system or church‑nation, and was marked by our Lord’s death on the cross, and by His words just before His death, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate.’ And the parallel to that, here, is the rejection from favor and fall of the sectarian systems, called Christendom or ‘Babylon,’ in 1878.

“The last half of Israel’s covenant week (3 and one‑half years, from 33 to 36) was not a period of national or sectarian favor, but of individual favor, granting the Israelites (not as formerly through the channels of the nominal Church, but individually, if they would receive it) all the favors and special privileges of the Abrahamic Covenant, down to the end of the seventy symbolic weeks, the limit of their favor, marked by sending favor to Cornelius and Gentiles in general. So in the parallel, here: 3 and one‑half years from April 1878, where so‑called Christendom, or ‘Babylon,’ was rejected from favor, to October, 1881, was the closing period of the favor of the high‑calling limited to individual believers in Babylon. Thus, the general ‘call’ ceased with October, 1881, just as the corresponding date, October 36, witnessed the end of Jewish favor.

“The Jewish favor consisted in the (exclusive) offer to Israel of the Kingdom – the call of the natural children of Abraham to avail themselves of the privileges and opportunities given them under their Law Covenant. This call, favor or privilege ceased totally and forever with the end of their covenant week. The Gospel favor consisted in the offer of the Kingdom, exclusively, to believers in Christ, the high‑calling of all reconciled to God under the Grace Covenant, who might avail themselves of the opportunities thus given, and become members of the Abrahamic ‘seed’ which is to bless the world by joining with Christ Jesus, their Redeemer, in His covenant of self‑sacrifice, the test that must demonstrate their worthiness to share in Christ’s coming work and glory. And it is this favor, the ‘call’ or invitation, which we have seen ceased, totally and forever, in October 1881, the parallel point of time to the end of the Jewish call or favor.” (Volume 3, p. 216, par. 3 through p. 217, par. 3)

“The remnant chosen from Fleshly Israel at its fall, and the faithful few of the Gospel Age, including the living remnant at its end, alone constitute the true Israel of God. These are the Elect, justified by faith in Christ’s redemptive work, called to joint‑sacrifice and joint‑heirship with Christ, chosen in the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, and faithful unto death. With the completion of the selection of this company, in the harvest of this age, quite a commotion may be expected among the wheat and tares; for many Divine favors, specially granted because of the faithful few, will be withdrawn from the nominal mass, when the Little Flock, for whose development they were granted, has been completed. [The record shows that there was a great commotion between the wheat and tares at that time.]

“We should expect the order here would be, as in the typical Jewish Harvest, a separating work, fulfilling the words of David, ‘Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.’ (Psa. 50:5) As AD 33 marked the giving over of the nominal Jewish house, as a system, to disfavor, disruption and overthrow, so the corresponding date, 1878, marked the beginning of the disfavor, disruption and overthrow of nominal Spiritual Israel, of which we shall have more to say in succeeding chapters.” (Volume 2, p. 229, par. 1, middle, par. 2)

CHALLENGES TO CATHOLICS ON AGENDA FOR CARDINALS

“ROME – Pope John Paul II, turning to the future after a yearlong celebration of Christianity’s 2,000th birthday, has summoned the largest and most diverse group of cardinals ever to come to Rome, to advise him about the challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church.

“For the ‘Extraordinary Consistory,’ beginning Monday, the Vatican has offered seven questions for the cardinals to ponder: from how to combat New Age spirituality to how to ensure greater compliance with church teachings on sexual morality, all under the umbrella of how to spread Rome’s faith and values further through the world.

“Beyond the walls of Vatican City, where the princes of the church will meet behind closed doors, Catholics in pews and pulpits pose a different set of questions, from how to address a shortage of priests in the United States to how to improve the quality of Sunday homilies.

“These questions – those addressed in Rome and those talked about by the broader church – are spurred not just by the symbolism of a new beginning at the start of the third millennium, but also by the growing awareness, in the face of the pontiff’s frailty, that many of these challenges will be addressed not by John Paul, but by his successor.

“Friday was John Paul’s 81st birthday, but he allowed no public celebration. Instead, he talked about the need to move forward after the celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus, an occasion that was at once joyful, as millions of pilgrims streamed through Rome, and repentant, as the pontiff apologized for historic wrongs by the church in an effort to achieve what he calls a ‘purification of memory.’

“‘The Jubilee should not be merely an exceptional moment in the fife of the church, after which everything returns to normal, so to speak,’ the pontiff told a visiting group of Pakistani bishops. ‘It is now time to build on the gains of the Great Jubilee in order to plan for the future.’

“Still, expectations among Vatican‑watchers are low for this Extraordinary Consistory, the sixth since John Paul II began holding such gatherings in 1979. The meeting is more of a conversation than a congress, and some argue that the hierarchical nature of the church prevents honest debate even behind closed doors.

“‘The fundamental problem they face is that when they come to Rome they’re supposed to advise the pope, but they find it very difficult to tell the pope or the Vatican that something should change, because that implies that what they’re doing currently is wrong, and then they get portrayed as being against the pope,’ said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, editor of America magazine, a Catholic weekly. ‘The pope calls these people in for advice, but then they end up quoting the pope back to himself.’

“But the Consistory, which John Paul II will kick off with remarks Monday and conclude by hosting a lunch for the cardinals on Thursday, gives the prelates a chance to contemplate challenges that Rome’s Catholicism faces in an increasingly global church.

“The 183‑member College of Cardinals is now the least Western it has ever been, in part because of dozens of appointments the pontiff made this year, and it faces a complicated array of issues.

“Some issues arise from the West, where the church’s position on topics such as abortion, gender, and sexuality are often at odds with majority values. Others come from the developing world, where poverty, health, and education are primary concerns, and where the church faces tough competition from other denominations.”

(By Michael Paulson, Boston Globe, May 20, 2001)

CAL THOMAS EXPOSES THE PLO

Author Cal Thomas, in his current LA Times syndicated column, sharply scores Yasir Arafat’s sinister blueprint for the “piecemeal destruction” of Israel.

His article is worth recording: “The latest of many upheavals in and bordering on Israel was planned by Yasir Arafat and his friends in the Arab world. That is what Palestinian political analyst Khalil Shikaki told the October 4 Jordan Times as he observed the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Fatah participation in the violence.

“How many more examples of intransigence are necessary before apologists in Israel and enablers in Washington understand that the enemies of Israel want nothing less than the destruction of the Jewish state?

“This has been a piecemeal process and not one that will lead to peace. Israel has given up land it seized for its own protection after wars started by its enemies. Still, Arabists in the State Department and leftists in Israel proceed with the fiction that peace can be achieved between peoples whose outlooks are irreconcilable.

“It was a mistake to give up land without reciprocity. It was a mistake to release terrorists from Israeli prisons so they could rejoin their armed comrades. It was a mistake to allow for the creation of a Palestinian ‘police force,’ which has been turned into an army.

“The vandalizing of Joseph’s Tomb on the eve of Yom Kippur, while the ‘police’ did nothing, is proof that the ‘police’ won’t control a mob determined to carry out Arafat’s orders. And the abandonment of that tomb can only encourage Israel’s enemies that the Jewish people’s strong resolve may be crumbling.

“Rioting for the benefit of world television cameras has long been an Arafat ploy. He has orchestrated terrorism and unrest to force concessions out of Israeli leaders that could not be won through war. The visit of Ariel Sharon to the Western Wall was merely a convenient excuse for the rioting to begin. It had been preceded with roadside bombs that killed an Israeli soldier guarding a civilian convoy. Later a Palestinian policeman (terrorist?) killed his Israeli partner in cold blood while they were on a point patrol. Arafat explained that the Palestinian was ‘unstable.’

“There’s more violence coming. Iraq has taken a ferocious stand against Israel, unmatched by any state in the region. Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad al‑Sahaf referred to Israel as a ‘midget entity, a usurper and a claw of colonialism... Iraq does not, and will not, recognize this usurper entity.’

“On October 3, Iraqi TV broadcast remarks by Saddam Hussein: ‘An end must be put to Zionism. If they cannot, then Iraq alone is able to do so. Let them give us a small adjacent piece of land and let them support us from afar only. They will see how we put an end to Zionism in a short time.’

“What piece of land might he have in mind? Some analysts say that Hussein has his eye on Jordan ‘since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.’ Congress has appropriated $900 million in foreign aid for the PLO. The speaker of the Palestine National Council says the United States has promised $30 billion to help resettle Palestinian ‘refugees,’ meaning that they’ll be settled in Israel from where, as we are seeing, they will be used by Arafat to undermine the Israeli government.

“There is no evidence that Israel’s enemies wish to live in peace. Anti‑Jewish incitement in PLO school textbooks continues. The PLO Teacher’s Guides read: ‘The student should learn (that) racist superiority is the heart of Zionism, Fascism and Nazism.’ Among the ‘important values’ that follow is: ‘Wrath unto the alien thief (Israel) who obliterated the Homeland and dispersed its people.’

“New leadership is needed in Israel, as is a new policy by both Israel and the United States. The current one is an obvious failure. If war comes, Israel had better win this one, too, grabbing as much land as it can and never again letting go of it. There will be no peace between Israel and her enemies. The best she can hope for is to maintain order.” (By David Horowitz, The Jewish Press, June 15, 2001)

“Arafat A War Criminal: In what some see as a reaction to charges against Prime Minister Sharon, an Israeli legislator said he plans to bring war crimes charges against Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Belgium. Likud Knesset member Avraham Herschson said he has evidence that Arafat was behind recent violence against Israel and could be tried for war crimes. Belgian law allows war crimes trials for attacks carried out on foreign soil.” (The Jewish Press, June 29, 2001)

NO. 532 TIMES AND SEASONS

“But concerning the times and the seasons, Brethren, you do not need to be written to; for you yourselves know accurately, That the Lord’s Day is coming like a Thief at Night. But you, Brethren, are not in darkness, that the DAY should come upon You like a Thief.” (1 Thes. 5:1, 2, 4, Dia.)

The Day of this text is the great seventh‑thousand year day, beginning with the time of the Lord’s Second presence in the Harvest and also the great Time of Trouble which we now see has come upon us. The Lord’s faithful people that are watching will have an accurate understanding of these “times and seasons.”

The word “times” is from the Greek chronos, and forms the root of our English word chronology, which word means the science of assigning to dates their proper events. The word “seasons” means a set or proper time. To gain a clear understanding of these expressions it is well to remember That Servant’s teaching that prophecy cannot be understood in detail until it has been fulfilled, or is in course of fulfillment. That being true, we come to the logical conclusion that God’s people can “know accurately” only the times and seasons that apply to their particular day. As instance, at the First Advent the Apostles and a very small select group recognized that Jesus was the Christ, although the majority did not. Therefore, Jesus said of that majority, “Thou didst not know the season [kairos] of thy visitation.” (Luke 19:44, Dia.) And while the Apostles and others did then know the “season of visitation,” they did not know clearly the times and seasons of the generations that followed them. Therefore, St. Paul said the Ransom for all would be “testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:6)

In Noah’s day the times and seasons of due Truth predicated the coming flood, but the great majority understood not. And of the destruction of this “present evil world” Jesus said there would be a similar condition, “They understood not till the deluge came, and swept them away.” (Matt. 24:39, Dia.) However, those in the Parousia Truth Movement understood very clearly, many years before 1914, what was coming. They knew the times and seasons pertinent to their own welfare. That Servant was acutely aware of this situation, as note his comments in Parousia Vol. 3, P. 124:

“While each of the time prophecies accomplishes a separate and distinct purpose, the central object of their united and harmonious testimony has been to mark, with definiteness and precision, by either direct or indirect evidence, or corroborative testimony, the date of our Lord’s Second Advent, and of the establishment of His Kingdom in the earth; also to mark the various stages [the times and seasons] and means of its establishment, during the harvest period.”

Brother Russell also realized a specific work would be due to be performed at each proper time and season: “The present is the time [written in 1890] for the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads, before the storm of trouble bursts (Rev. 7:2,3)... before the night cometh and the door of opportunity to labor is shut.” (Vol. 3, p. 211)

But he also saw “through a glass darkly” a future “time and season.” “After this [reaping] period the dark night of the world’s great tribulation must find place... Observe that, when this night cometh, when the‑reapers must cease their labors; it will prove that this final work of the Gospel Age is accomplished.” (Par. 3, p. 211)

This period is broadly divided into two periods: “The day of His coming [presence]” and “when He appeareth [makes manifest].” The day of His presence was the forty‑year period from 1874 to 1914, during which time the world in general knew almost nothing at all of what was going on. At that time “the Messenger” did not “appear” to them.

But the situation changed acutely in 1914, when the great trouble started. The Messenger not only then proved His presence to the “Watchers,” but He began to be revealed to the world in general in the fires of that day. In July 1916 That Servant discussed this text, and we quote some of what he said:

“The Scriptures call this day ‘the day of the Lord,’ ‘the day of Jehovah,’ ‘the day of God,’ ‘the day of Christ,’ ‘that great and notable day,’ etc... The Apostle Paul in his writings lays special emphasis upon the fundamental importance of correct doctrinal teaching... This day means the shaking of society in a manner and to an extent never before known [as is now in process], and so thoroughly that another shaking will never be necessary... The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies [hail, hard cutting Truth]... and only God’s true consecrated church would be in the light [the Present Truth] and not be taken unawares.” (Reprint 5916)

From this it should be clear enough that the leaders among God’s people should “earnestly contend for the faith [the truth]” to the full extent of their ability and providential circumstances; and should be fully informed as to “the times and seasons” and to “know accurately” the times and seasons in which we are in now.

That That Servant could not foresee the length of this day is not to his disparagement. He clearly understood the times and seasons of his own lifetime, and spoke in generalities of what has followed since his death; but the details and the length of time he could not see. However, this does not mean that we who now are living cannot see them; in fact, it is our special privilege to see them very clearly. Yet here again we do well not to attempt to speak too emphatically about the years ahead – when the special times and seasons of future years will speak for themselves – just as clearly as we see present happenings.

It would seem that those who have been in the Truth for a number of years would be able to discern the Times and Seasons in which we are living. It is quite evident that we have been in the Time of Trouble since 1914, for there have been revolutions of one kind or another in many countries. Also, all governments – the good, the bad and the indifferent – are all reeling like a drunkard (Isa. 24:20). But in spite of all this there are still some who are insisting that the Saints have not all been gathered. There was strong conviction up to 1910 that the complete Body of Christ would be in the heavenly garner by the Fall of 1914. When that failed to materialize, it caused quite a few to “walk with him no more.” Let us think for a moment about that mistake that Brother Russell made when he thought that the Saints would all be glorified during the 40‑year Harvest period. If he had not firmly believed, and had Biblical support, that they would all be gathered at that time, he could not have entertained such a thought. He corrected this thought, but at no time did he make any correction of his teaching that the Harvest was a period of 40 years. He knew that they would all be gathered before his death, but didn’t know when that would be.

That Servant was made Steward of all the Lord’s goods for the whole of the reaping time following his appointment, and ruler over the whole household, according to Matt. 24:45‑47 and Luke 12:42‑44. Therefore he must have set forth on the table all the meat for the reaping time, and controlled the entire work for the whole household during the reaping time following his appointment. Consequently, before his death every one of the Elect was working in harmony with his teachings and under his direction of the work. Hence, before his death, October 31, 1916, all of the Elect had been reaped, sealed in the forehead, and were engaged in serving others under That Servant’s general direction. He gave The Plan Of The Ages as no man since the Apostles had done, and he did it with Bible support. All the truths of previous ages were revealed and clarified and the many errors were routed.

The Bible teaches that all of the saints, the entire 144,000, would be given the honor of executing (spiritual) vengeance upon the nations, and (spiritual) punishment upon the people, of binding the kings and princes, and executing upon them the judgment written (Psa. 149:5‑9). This was done from the Fall of 1914 to that of 1916.

But some are like the Jews during their Harvest; they do not know the “time of their visitation.” (Luke 19:44) They see the signs of the new dispensation without knowing how to read them or what they signify (Matt. 16:3).

If we knew of at least one person who is suffering with Christ at this time, we might be convinced that we are still in the Harvest, or gathering time. We sympathize with the brethren who are suffering because they live in countries where poverty and political oppression are routine. But they are not the only ones suffering in those countries. Jews and other peoples are suffering in those areas, also. So this is not the suffering with Christ. This is not the “filling up of that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” (Col. 1:24) The suffering with Christ has to do with witnessing to, and defending the Truth at all costs.

The word rendered witnesses, in many instances in the Scriptures, is from the Greek word martyrs from which comes our English word martyr signifying those who witness at a cost of suffering or death.

Jesus said: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” (John 18:37) Of course, the truth that he was bearing witness to was that He was King, for that was the Truth of His day. It was His witness to the truth that cost Him His life.. Similarly, it is such witness to the truth of God’s character and Plan that would cost all the Saints their lives. For this reason the Apostle Paul said: “I am set for the defense of the Gospel.” (Phil. 1:17) During the Harvest Brother Russell and his co‑workers were persecuted in the press, in the pulpits and by individuals. But we see none of that today. The idea now is “live and let live.” You believe your way and I will believe my way, but we won’t argue about it.

THE UNBEGOTTEN CLASS

Those who cannot discern the “times and seasons” in which we are now living deny that there is an unbegotten consecrated class who have been developed since the end of the Harvest and completion of the Church, even though That Servant wrote of them a number of times.

Probably all who have been in any Truth Movement for any length of time recognize the fact that the Body of Christ will contain only 144,000 – “the number of them which were sealed.” (Rev. 7:4) Once the “fullness of the Gentiles” had come in, there would no longer be opportunity for any one to join that select company. That Servant recognized this fact many years before 1914. Probably his first written comment on the subject is to be found in his Volume 1, page 204, line 2, top: “An earthly calling was made, though imperfectly understood, before the heavenly calling, and we are told that it will be continued after the Gospel Age  [emphasis ours].” A more positive statement is found in Volume 6, page 157, top: “And we may be sure that any consecrating and performing a full sacrifice of themselves in the interest of the Lord’s cause after the heavenly class is complete, will find that the Lord has plenty of blessings of some other kind still to give; and that all of His blessings are for such consecrators, self‑sacrificers. Possibly they may be counted in with the Ancient Worthies who had the sacrificing disposition that is pleasing to God, prior to the beginning of the ‘high calling.”

Other instances of his comments on this class are in the 1911 Watch Tower, Reprint 4835, col. 1, par. 4; 1915, Reprint 5716, col. l, par. 1; and in Question Book, 151,152. In these citations he stated that such consecrators between the Ages – after the close of the High Calling and before Restitution begins – would share in honor and service with the Ancient Worthies.

Another quotation from his writings is Reprint 3418, col. 2, the year 1904: “We would be sure that Divine love and care would be over them just as surely, and that failing a place in the elect church through no fault of theirs, these would be given some good portion which would much more than reward and satisfy them.”

Many of the Bible Students never refer to this unbegotten class. Do they think that Brother Russell was unwise when he wrote of this class, instead of being “wise and faithful”?

In Acts 20:27, the Apostle Paul says: “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” And in 2 Tim. 2:20 he says: “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour.” This passage shows the six saved classed from among mankind, four elect and two non‑elect. The gold and silver are the Little Flock and the Great Company; the wood and earth are the Ancient and Youthful Worthies with those of honour being the saved Jews and those of dishonour (less honor) the saved Gentiles.

That Servant followed the Apostle’s example and “did not shun to declare all the counsel of God.” He taught that the Youthful Worthies was an unbegotten class consecrating after the heavenly class was complete. He gives this in Reprint 5761, under the heading THOSE CONSECRATING BETWEEN THE AGES. (Other writings of his on the subject are given above.) He did not use the term Youthful Worthies, but he did speak of those who are meant by that term, who would be associated in honor and service with the Ancient Worthies and have a “better resurrection.”

Another text which depicts six saved classed from among mankind is Joel 2:28,29: “And it shall come to pass afterward [after the Gospel Age], that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons [converted Jews] and daughters [converted Gentiles] shall prophesy, your old men [Ancient Worthies] shall dream dreams, your young men [Youthful Worthies] shall see visions; and also upon the servants [the Little Flock] and upon the handmaids [Great Company] in those days [the Gospel Age] will I pour out my spirit.”

We call attention here to the Hebrew word zaqen from which “old men” is translated. This word is translated “ancients” thirteen times in the Old Testament, and once as “ancient men.” And “your young men” would be better translated “young, choice, unmarried men – youthfuls.” This Joel text is clear enough that there are two classes of men who would be especially inspired for the benefit of the remainder of restitutionists Ancients and Youthfuls, Ancient Worthies and Youthful Worthies.

In Reprint 4796, col. 1, par. 2: “That Kingdom will be closely identified with the Zionist movement and the Holy Land. The kingdom itself will be spiritual, invisible to men, but its earthly agents will be visible and they will be Jewish – ‘Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom,’ etc. (Matt. 8:11).”

Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.” So he was reckoned just because of his faith (Heb. 11:8). “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:6,7) According to That Servant the unbegotten class here in the end of the Age will be associated with those patriarchs and prophets, who will be the visible earthly Kingdom. They will be “princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16)

THE JEWS

“Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hast received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:2)

That Servant said: “AH! Were it not that the Lord has favored us with a share in the work of gathering out the bride and helping to make her ready for the marriage of the Lamb, we would be here in Jerusalem and, by the grace of God, would do a part in the great work now due of turning away blindness from Jacob (Rom. 11:25).”

This statement was made in April 1892 in a report of a trip to the Holy Land. It shows two things: (1) That he believed the “double” of the Jews disfavor to have come to an end; (2) That he believed that it was his mandate from the Lord to gather the Saints according to Psa. 50:5: “Gather my saints together unto me...” He proved the first with Bible Chronology, and the Seasons that we are now in show that a representative number of the Jews have been restored to their homeland. The second we believe we have already covered.

Of course, their blindness has not yet been turned away. That is one of the reasons for the trouble they are having now. If they would turn to their God for help, instead of depending on the crumbling governments of this world, their eyes would be opened. But they will not do this until their last trouble ‑Jacob’s last trouble. Zech. 14:1‑3: “Behold the day of the Lord cometh [we have been in the “evil day” – Eph. 6:13 – since 1914, with the “evil” steadily becoming worse and worse], and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go into captivity, and the residue of people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.” (Psa. 107:19) Note the Berean comments on the Zechariah text: “When he fought for Joshua against the six Amalakite kings at Gibeon; when he fought for David against the Philistines at Perazim; when he miraculously delivered Israel from the host of Midian by Gideon and his band.” The signs of the times seem to show that this cannot be too far in the future. So we “watch and pray” as we observe events unfold.

In the meantime it is our privilege and duty to “speak comfortably” to the Jews in their trouble. For now we think Jeremiah 30:11 applies: “For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” We can encourage them with our works, reminding them of the promise made to them, but we can also come to their aid in a material way. Some individual Brethren have done this at great inconvenience and expense to themselves.

“Thus, gradually, the geographical center of the earth, the Jerusalem vicinity, is resuming importance in the eyes of the world. Those who view the matter through the prophetic telescope foresee the time when ‘the Law shall go forth from Mt. Zion [spiritual Israel on the heavenly plane], and the Word from Jerusalem [the To‑Be Capital of the world under the Millennial Kingdom arrangements].’ Upon such as will conform to these arrangements the Divine blessing will rest, uplifting them gradually from sin, ignorance and superstition to mental, moral and physical perfection. Thus, according to the Scriptures the whole earth will gradually become the Garden of the Lord – Paradise. And those times or years of restitution will bring the willing and obedient of mankind back again to the full perfection of being, mental, moral and physical, which God intended arid exemplified in Father Adam. Thus eventually all the terrible results of Adam’s disobedience and fall will be blotted out through the long‑promised Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of God under Messiah the Mediator of Israel’s New Law Covenant, whose gracious provisions will be open to all the nations of the earth (Acts 3:19‑23; Jer. 31:31; Zech. 14:1‑6, 14‑20).” (Overland Monthly, page 69, col. 1)

“But do thou continue in the things which thou didst learn, and wast convinced of, knowing of whom thou hast been instructed.” (2 Tim. 3:14, Dia.)

WHAT KIND OF A MAN IS SADDAM HUSSEIN?

Our political and military leaders are asking this question, “What kind of a man are we fighting?” The answer to this question was written in the Bible about 4,000 years ago. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac: Ishmael by Hagar, an Egyptian, when Abraham’s wife Sarah was unable to conceive. Some years later God performed a biological miracle and permitted Sarah to give Abraham a son Isaac, the “seed of promise.” These two sons of Abraham each had twelve sons which became two mighty nations which later became known as the nation of Israel and the Arab nation or Ishmaelites.

The Arabs or Ishmaelites are described in Genesis 16:12 (Rotherham): “But he will be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every one, and every one’s hand against him yet in presence of all his brethren shall he have his habitation.” In Genesis 16:10, it states that Ishmael’s seed, the Arabs, “shall not be numbered for multitude.”

The Ishmaelites and posterity have lived by prey and plundering, robbers by land and pirates by sea. Genesis 16:12 states that Ishmael would dwell in the presence of all his brethren – viz., Moabites, Edomites and Israelites. They have been continually at war with the rest of the world and yet never defeated. They did not acknowledge Alexander the Great as conqueror. Alexander objected to this insult and determined to punish the culprits but died before he could accomplish his mission.

When the Romans invaded the East and subdued adjoining countries, they were never able to reduce Arabia to a Roman province. Time after time enemies sought to invade but were always forced out.

About the 7th Century AD, Mohammed appeared on the scene and set the desert and the Mid East aflame. Ishmaelites under Mohammed strengthened and extended their power. Under his successors these Arabs, imbued with their new and false religion and their hereditary thirst for blood and pillage, developed into a ferocious horde and carried the Islam banner throughout Asia, Africa and even into Spain.

Since the fall of their Muslim empire, the Turks have made repeated attempts to subdue these Arabs, but instead of succeeding they have been obliged for several centuries to pay them yearly tribute, to permit the converted Turkish Moslems to have a safe passage to Mecca, the “Holy City” where Mohammed the Ishmaelite was born.

Others, Gallas, Trajan, Pompey and Augustus, have been unsuccessful in conquering the Arabs – the Ishmaelites. Emperor Severus, a Roman, laid siege and even made a breach in their defenses, but insurrection broke out in the ranks. As an unseen power protected these Ishmaelites, Emperor Trajan sought to conquer them in about AD 110. Whirlwinds, swarms of flies, lightning, thunder, hail, apparitions in the sky, heat and thirst all helped to repulse these Italians every time they attacked. And so down the stream of time God’s hand seems to have been on the Ishmaelites. In spite of commerce and intercourse with others, they remain the same fierce, savage, intractable people like their ancestors.

This people, with the Jews excepted, have for 4,000 years withstood the enmity as a distinct people from their beginning with Ishmael.

Compare Arabs and Jews:

A contrast: Israel scattered – Deut. 28:64; Ishmael stayed at home – Gen. 16:12.

The land promised to Abraham and his seed is given in Genesis 17:6‑8: “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Also in Genesis 22:16‑18: “And said By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore: and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” The stars of the heaven and sand which is upon the sea shore indicates a heavenly and earthly phase of Christ’s Kingdom. In Jeremiah 31:31 God promised to make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. When this covenant is established with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, He will bless them and through them “all the families of the earth.”

The Ishmaelites too will be blessed through the nation of Israel. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Gen. 17:20)

In Isaiah 2:2, 3 we read: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk‑in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

The Jews are to be gathered from the four corners of the earth where they have been dispersed until God gathers them by the hunters and fishers (Jer. 16:16). “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (Isa. 11:12)

The headquarters of the Kingdom will be Jerusalem and from there flow throughout the world.

God did not promise Ishmael and his seed the land of Canaan. Isaac and his seed were promised the land from “the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Gen. 15:18‑21; Ex. 23:31; Deut. 1:7,8; 11:24; Ezek. 48:1‑29)

A similar picture is presented in the two sons of Isaac: Jacob and Esau. Saddam Hussein will be defeated eventually because God has promised Canaan to the Jews. “He is faithful that promised.” (Heb. 10:23)

(By Brother Roy Ekroth, Reprint SPECIAL No. 419‑A)

“MIDEAST SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS 3: Israeli officials said they think the bombing was meant to mar the opening of the Jewish Olympics in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM – A suicide bomber killed himself and two Israelis at a crowded bus stop north of Tel Aviv on Monday, bringing Israel and Palestinians closer to conflagration as a government spokesman vowed an immediate response. Israeli officials said they think the bombing was meant to mar the opening of the Maccabiah, the Jewish Olympics, in Jerusalem.

“In a jarring juxtaposition of images, Israel television cut from graphic eyewitness accounts of the bombing to the gala festivities under tight security at Teddy Stadium.

“The militant movement Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing and said it has dozens of other bombers ready to strike inside Israel.

“Besides those who were killed, seven people were injured when the man strapped with explosives blew himself up across from the Binyamina train station.

“Israel’s main north‑south line runs through the small town, and two commuter trains had just let off their passengers.

“Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said police thought the bomber might have intended to detonate his explosives on a train. Ever since a Palestinian blew up himself and 21 young people outside a Tel Aviv nightclub June 1, Israeli pundits have predicted that the next such bombing inside Israel would trigger a broad military campaign against the Palestinian Authority.

(Excerpts by Mary Curtius, Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2001)

“ISRAEL UPS WEST BANK FORCES: JERUSALEM‑ Israeli military officials said the army had begun to send infantry and armored reinforcements to the West Bank early this morning after an escalation of Israeli‑Palestinian violence. An aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said the deployment meant Israel wanted to attack the Palestinian Authority. The move came after a day of tit‑for‑tat violence in which Israeli helicopter gunships killed four activists of the militant Hamas group and Palestinians launched their first West Bank mortar‑bomb attacks since violence erupted in September.

(Orlando Sentinel, July 18, 2001)

___________________________________

LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

 My Dear Sister Emily:

It was so good to hear from you in your letter of May 25. I was amused at your noticing that the letter was mailed a day after it was dated. Perhaps I should explain that I write all my correspondence at night and drop it into the outgoing mailbox at my home, where it is picked up the next day and postmarked. Unless I deviate from that pattern, which I rarely do, the postmark will always be the next day.

I was also amused that you might think I don’t read the newsletters. On the contrary, they are always of great interest. I don’t correspond about them much, but they are well read and some of the thoughts are shared with the local Bible Students.

Life has been very busy with my move. I’m almost done – I should be in my new apartment by July 1. All my books have been boxed up, including my complete set of the volumes from Laymans. Did I tell you I ordered the entire library some time ago? I haven’t had the time to read the books, but have gotten into several of the volumes. They are very complex and require a lot of study. What do you think of those volumes?

I’ve lost track of what I’ve written, but I think I told you I also lost my roommate of more than a decade, accounting for the need for me to move. He died after open heart surgery. It was very sudden, and things have been in a real tizzy around here.

Your insert on the Youthful Worthies and other classes of the Gospel Age was a bit confusing. I was puzzled in particular about the understanding of Joel 2:28, with the sons being interpreted as converted fleshly Israel, etc., and the daughter being the converted Gentiles of the Millennial Age. I’m not sure how those interpretations came about; I can’t find anything in Brother Russell’s writings describing this.

Are you familiar with Brother ...? He’s a frequent speaker at Bible Student conventions, and he’s a real enigma to me. I know that Bible Students have never been strong on sending their children through the higher educational system. Brother ... credentials include “Professor Emeritus from the Graduate School, University of Hartford; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzer­land; and the American MBA [I don’t know what this is, perhaps Master of. Business Adminis­tration] in Paris, France. He received his Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut receiving honors from Tau Beta Pi, Etta Kappa Nu and Phi Delta Kappa honorary societies in engineering, science and management.”

Quite a list, eh? And yet, when some of us hear him speak, he really doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about! Can it be that Bible Students, of all people, could be so bewitched by multiple credentials, that they’re just accepting everything he says without doing some critical thinking? I’m afraid this is exactly what’s happening.

He’s on my mind because I just ordered his latest book, “Ten Bad Mistakes About God” which are listed as follows: God Is In Parts; God Became A Man; God Must Be Eaten; God Less Popular Than Jesus; God Burns and Tortures Souls Forever; God Has DNA; God Has a Mother; God Was Killed by the Jews; God is Perceived in Many Contradictory Ways; God is Being Replaced by Science.” I’ll read the book, but I’m a little uncomfortable with the author.

Well, time to go to sleep – I spent the better part of the day dusting and cleaning, getting ready to move. Blessings to you and all, and please be patient with me as I try desperately to keep up with my correspondence!

Blessings and love, .......