NO. 648 THE ADAMIC DEATH

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  (Gen 2:7)

The Lord God did not breath into man an immortal soul and no other texts in the scriptures supports it. This error came much later and is a totally improper big lie, unsupported by the Bible and fostered on fallen man by the deceiver – dubbed by the Apostle Paul “prince of the power of the air” of this present evil world. (Eph 2:2)

The catechisms of all the Christian denomi­nations support and teach it, and it is shocking that so many otherwise intelligent people cling to this blatant error even though it is obviously inspired by the Evil One. It is down this avenue that so much additional error and superstition has flowed and flourished for centuries.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree [life sustaining trees] of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:16-17)  “…the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”  (Ezek 18:4)

The penalty for Adam’s sin would have been much worse if it had been “living, thy soul shalt live in eternal torment,” which might have been the penalty for sin if the Creator had given Adam an “immortal (death-proof) soul.” Think about the difference between “Eternal” and “Immortal.” Eternal implies a long indefinite period of time that does not include incorruptibility. There is no other way to consider immortality as anything but incorruptibility – death-proof.

Our Lord God, whose chief character traits are Power, Wisdom, Justice and Love, had not extended immortality to any human being except Jesus when  he gave his Perfect earthly life for Adam and us in Adam. Mankind has spent the last seven thousand years learning evil and during the Kingdom will learn Good and become kings of this physical universe as God intended through His Divine Plan for mankind (Rev. 21:24).

So what about these so called NDE’s that crop up every now and then in the news media. NDE is the term used for “Near Death Experiences.”

After Adam sinned, received the death sentence and passed it on to his progeny,  all life as we know it became a near death experience. When a person suffers painfully over a long period, the death can become a blessed relief both for the patient who will have no knowledge in the grave and their loved ones who suffer the loss. The human race has enough to worry about for we are near death from the moment we were conceived in our mother’s womb and every second of our life thereafter. So the life we live now in this present evil world is the true – “Near Death Experience.”

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not necessarily just one tree, but one kind of tree like Oak tree, Apple tree, or Maple tree, all of which would have been part of the forests of Eden - Paradise. What would paradise be without a Maple tree! The provision of life for the newly created Adam was conditional, dependent upon his obedience to his Creator. He was instructed that he could eat the fruit of every tree except the tree with the “fruit” of the knowledge of good and evil. Why would the Creator provide the means by which his creation could self destruct after he had already said the creation was “good?” Doubt­lessly, the LORD God had a higher purpose for his creation. Though physically perfect, Adam was unfin­ished. He along with the rest of us as we were born, needed a proper education. The Creator purposed to have man be the king of this universe . In order for this to be, mankind needed to have the knowledge of both good and evil and to voluntarily eschew evil, like unto his Creator. Notice that mankind learned evil first.

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” (Eccl. 9:10)

What is hard to understand about this Scripture and are there not others, which make the same indisputable declaration? The only answer is that there is very little seeking of truth in this day, it’s easier to believe the catechisms of That Man of Sin.

Adam and Eve had it so good, everything they would ever want or need right there in Paradise/Eden. The weather was so wonderful they needed no wraps, clothing or covering of any kind. The animals were their friends and servants, food was plentiful, lots of good apples and other fruits and vegetables, just don’t eat the fruit of that one tree. Just one law and what an easy one! Through Moses, God gave the Israelites 10 laws to gain life. These are impossible for imperfect men to obey but they marked the Jews as God’s chosen people. Obey my law and live.

It is our intention to offer a clear analysis of the Adamic Death; and by way of introduction we would say this death is the one which Adam experienced as a result of his transgression in Eden. God had told him as indicated above, “… thou shalt surely die.” The marginal comment offers a little help here by say­ing, “dying thou shalt die.” “…the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezek 18:4) The penalty for Adam’s sin would have been much worse if it had been “living, thou soul shalt live in eternal torment.”

Different Days

It should first be noted that the word day in the Bible has a number of different meanings: A day of our week – twenty-four hours; a forty-year day; “The day of temptation in the wilderness — forty years” (Heb. 3:8,9); a thousand-year day – “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (2 Pet. 3:8) “A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psa. 90:4,5) And there are other days which we shall not examine here. Self-evidently Adam’s day in Gen. 2:17 was not a twenty-four-hour day, because he continued to live for 930 years. “Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” (Gen. 5:5)

Adam was really not living in the full sense; and this will become clearer if we state it as it really was: “Adam was dying for nine hundred and thirty years; at which time he finally died.”

However, it should be stressed here that none of us are dying for the same reason that Adam died; Adam died because of his willful sin against God; the rest of us are dying from the death penalty inherited from him. Whether good or bad, this sentence rests upon all of us, as we can see from the processions to the cemeteries. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men.” (Rom. 5:12) Thus, we are dying because of our inheritance – what was transmitted to us by Adam. None of us asked for it; and none of us can escape it. Before the Flood men lived much longer than they do now – the oldest being Methuselah, 969 years (Gen. 5:27). All within the thousand-year day. After the Flood men’s lives were much shortened: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten.” (Psa. 90:10) And with much sor­row have we eaten of our bread during those years. Gradually a Messiah began to be revealed through the Prophets; and, when Jesus appeared, this hope was mightily energized, so that much of the civilized world now “looks to Jesus” for escape from our wretched condition – sickness, sorrow, pain and death.

SALVATION

Throughout the Christian world the doctrine of salvation is taught with emphasis; but the meaning of salvation among the various segments of Christendom is a tragedy to be­hold! Some teach that the chosen few are predestined to salvation (John Calvin and his adherents); with the remainder determined to an eternity of torture in a burning lake of Hell. Another extreme contends that since God “will have” all men to be saved that all will be saved whether or not they wish it.

This conglomeration is the result of a very erroneous understanding of the purpose of salvation. Luke 3:6 tells us, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God”; but seeing it does not mean that all shall receive it. However, as stated above, none of us are dying because of any evil we may have committed; therefore, God will save us from that for which we are not responsible; viz., the condemnation that has come upon us through Adam’s disobedience. St. Paul makes this quite clear when he says in Acts 24:15, “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

That resurrection will save all who receive it from the penalty of the Adamic Death state, after which they shall “come to an accurate knowledge of the truth” (l Tim. 2:4, Diaglott); and that will enable them to decide if they wish to live under an absolute monarchy of righteousness, or if they wish, they can return to the grave from which they have been saved. From that standpoint God desires all men to be saved – saved from the Adamic-Death state, and from the gross ignorance that now engulfs the entire world. The Prophet tells us (Isa. 60:2): “Darkness shall cover the earth [the present social order], and gross darkness the people.” And it will be necessary for all men to be saved from that if they are to be changed from their present position to a better one. And once having reached that position, if they – of their own volition – determine they do not wish to live under that benign reign, they will then die the “second death” – “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death,” —Rev. 20:14

Some believers who contend that God wills definitely that all are to be eternally saved go to the extreme and teach that even Satan and the fallen angels also will be saved. If not, God would suffer loss, which is an impossibility; but the record is clear enough in Heb. 2:14: “Through death He [Jesus] might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.”

He is “the god of this world who has blinded the minds of those that believe not.” (2 Cor. 4:4) He has led men in his present condition, and he will eventually pay the price for it; he will be an­nihilated—destroyed.

It has been our privilege over the years to engage in written and oral discussions of this subject with those deluded by this error – which, according to God’s Word, is transparent nonsense. Some contend that if man and devils were completely destroyed that this would mean that God suffers loss; but this has no substance or bottom to it. In Gen. 2:7 we are told that “the Lord formed man from the dust of the ground”; and Gen. 3:19 states “dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return.” Thus, if this is true - and we accept it as Truth – then, if man returns unto dust, God will have suf­fered no loss; He will have the dust which He had before he created man.

Others say that the “everlasting fire” of Matt. 25:41 (the punishment of the wicked) is simply to be “aionian”; that is, “age-lasting,” after which they are to be given another chance. However, we have answered by stating that the same sort of bliss is given to the righteous; therefore, it also will be only “age-lasting”; and this com­pletely silenced them. Following is the footnote from the Emphatic Diaglott:

“The common version, and many modern ones, render kolasin aionian everlasting punish­ment, conveying the idea, as generally interpreted of basinos, torment. Kolasin in its various forms only occurs in three other places in the New Testament – Act 4:21; 2 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 4:18. It is derived from kolazo, which signifies, (1) to cut off; as lopping branches of trees, to prune; (2) to restrain, repress. The Greeks write ‘The charioteer (kolazei) restrains his fiery steeds;’ (3) to chastise, to punish. To cut off an individual from life, or society, or even to restrain, is esteemed as punishment; – hence has arisen this third metaphorical use of the word. The primary signification has been adopted, because it agrees better with the second member of the sentence, thus preserving the force and beauty of the antithesis. The righteous go to life, the wicked from the cutting off from life, or death. See 2 Thes. 1:9.”

From what then is man to be saved? (1) He is to be saved from the Adamic-Death state (those in the tomb) which he inherited from Adam – through no fault of his own: “Death passed upon all men.” (Rom. 5:12) (2) He will be saved from the “gross dark­ness” – the error which now engulfs most of the human race – those who have been “blinded by the god of this world” – Satan. (2 Cor. 4:4) When man is eventually saved from these two conditions, we are assured that “there shall be no night there” – error as we now see it. (Rev. 22:5) Those who willfully refuse to accept that New Order of things “shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) Jesus emphatically told us, “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and come forth.” (John 5:28,29) They will then be able to accept or reject the Truth, as they wish. However, no one that is awakened will any longer be subject to the Adamic Death: Jesus purchased the world with His own blood – and when they are awakened by Him they will have been redeemed from the Adamic Death state. “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” (Acts 24:15) Why awaken the unjust if they have already been sentenced to a Hell of torment? We answer that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23); and “the dead know not anything.” (Eccl. 9:5) God is not judging the unsaved world now, “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 from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

We are assured in Zech. 13:8 that some will survive this Time of Trouble (the “third part shall be left therein”); but all of them will be subject to the Adamic-Death state until they come under the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-33) and receive the “judgments” (in­structions) of the Kingdom. However, all those who are awakened by our Lord will be subject to the New Covenant regulations and no longer subject to the Adamic-Death state from which they have been deliv­ered. At present it would be impossible for many to re­ceive the Kingdom instructions – due to their physical and mental lacks. Most of these will go – or already have gone – into the Adamic-Death state, from which they will be awakened ‘in due time,’ and be physically and mentally able to receive the benevolent instructions of the Kingdom. When they are awakened they will have opportunity to walk up the Highway of Holiness (Isa. 35:8) and gain eternal life if obedient. If not obedi­ent, they will eventually go into the Second Death (Rev. 20:14), from which there is no recovery. “Christ dieth no more.” (Rom. 6:9) They shall then be “as though they had not been.” (Obad. 1:16) But all the awakened will have the ability to receive the instruct­tions of the Kingdom; and it will be due to their own willfulness if they are sent into the Second Death. “In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten a sour grape [the sins of the fathers visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation], and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:29,30)

THE ADAMIC-DEATH PROCESS

The Adamic Death and the Adamic-Death process are closely related, yet there is a wide divergence in them in some respects. The Adamic-Death process will still be with us for years – perhaps a few hundred years – after the Adamic death itself has forever disappeared. When the last one has been recovered from the Adamic-Death state, that will be the end of the Adamic death; but it should be clearly apparent that the evils that have been spawned by the Adamic-Death process now working in all men prominently will still be with those just returned from the tomb. “In the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.” (Eccl. 11:3) All will be awakened with the character they had at the time of death. The expression is often heard, I am living in New York, Chicago, Los   Angeles, etc., but actually we are all dying in those places; and, regardless of wealth, social standing, etc., the death toll is certain to have its way. Thus, all those that are in their graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth – some to a resurrection of life, and others to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28,29)

The question properly arises, What is the Adamic-Death process? We answer that it is every evil in man – whether inherited or acquired. Some men – a few – reduce the Adamic-Death process they have inherited by receiving the instruction of the Holy Spirit, and resolutely resolving to improve their undone condition. Some of these have devel­oped into the “saints” (Rom. 1:7,8); at Corinth “called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2); “to the saints which are at Ephesus” (Eph. 1:1); “to all the saints at Philippi” (Phil. 1:1); “to the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse” (Col. 1:2). Note the words of the Apostle John in Rev. 20:14: “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,” a symbol of the utter destruction of these two enemies of mankind. Death in this text is from the Greek thanatos, meaning “death, literal or figurative”: and hell is from the Greek hades, meaning the death state, oblivion.

Consider now the Berean Comment on this text: “Death … Including aches, pains, mental and moral imperfections of every sort; Hell … Oblivion, the great prisonhouse of the tomb in which mankind awaits a resurrection; Were cast … Gradually, from the beginning of the Millennial Age to its close; The lake of fire … Gehenna, utter destruction – there shall be no more death;  The Second Death … So-called, in contra­distinction to the first or Adamic death; the devil, death and hell are never de­stroyed but once, yet their destruction is for them the Second Death, death everlast­ing.” We have quoted this Berean Comment because we ourselves cannot improve upon it; it is an excellent definition of Adamic-Death and the Adamic-Death process.

Perhaps it should be stressed here that when the voice of Jesus in the established Kingdom calls forth the human race from the death state they will still have their in­herited and acquired weaknesses which they possessed when they went into the tomb. They will have the same personality and character they had when they went into the tomb. Of course, they won’t have the same diseased bodies. If they did, the man consumed by vicious cancer would immediately die again; the man with his head shot off would never know he had been awakened from the grave, etc. However, they will then have sufficient physical and mental ability to understand the requirements of the “New Covenant.” (Jer. 31:31)

The Berean Comments on John 5:25 are to the point: “When the dead … Whether ac­tually in the cells or the prison yard: “Let the dead bury their dead”; Shall hear the voice … Gradually, line upon line, precept upon precept: Calling them to awake and come to a full knowledge of God and to a full opportunity of everlasting life: When the last one has thus heard, Hades, the tomb, will have been destroyed, but death [the Adamic-Death process] will still remain as long as there is any imper­fection; Of the Son of God … Not the jargon of conflicting creeds; And they that hear … Obey; Shall live ... In due time reach perfection of life.”

Rev. 20:13 declares that all men shall be brought out of these conditions in due time for trial. So this verse shows that Adamic Death, and the sleep in obliv­ion consequent to it, shall be no more after the Millennial Age. In that future no one will die for Adam’s sin. It will be out of view as a factor in the trial of the future. The only death will be the Second Death, from which there will be no recovery: “Christ dieth no more.” (Rom 6:9) “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” (Ezek. 18:4) That is not true of all who die now. Infants who die are not dying for their own sins.

In the previous verses of this 18th Chapter, Ezekiel says much the same as does Jere­miah in what we have quoted from him. So we have here at least “two witnesses” to sub­stantiate our statements herein. Though such will have the weakness of the Adamic fallen condition, from which they will never recover if they refuse to use the means and op­portunities placed within their reach. Yet under that New Covenant, inherited weaknesses will not be reckoned against them so long as they use the means to overcome them, be­cause they are covered by the sacrifice of the Redeemer. As said, they then will have opportunity to gain eternal life if they choose righteousness. If they refuse the be­nevolent rules of the Kingdom, they will be subject to the Second Death – not the Adamic Death. There will be no recovery for those who go into the Second Death; but all those who have been subject to the Adamic Death will have an awakening. “God is faithful that promised.” (Heb. 10:23)

ASLEEP IN JESUS

The question has recently come to us: Is the general run of the world of mankind asleep in Jesus – the same as is true of the footstep followers of our Lord? This is a very delicate question; and we hope our analysis of it may have the essence of Truth in it. When Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22 – “leave the dead ones to inter their own dead,” Diaglott translation) it should be clear enough that Jesus reckoned all the unbelieving world – whether in the tomb, or those still alive now – as dead in God’s sight.

However, in this particular statement He was re­ferring only to those whom we consider now to be living – those not yet in the tomb. Those, of course, could not possibly be “asleep in Jesus” – nor would they be so con­sidered up to the time of their actual physical death. But we believe that at that very instant their status will change. Henceforth they would be “Asleep in Jesus.” Why do we say this? Because their only hope for life thereafter would be through the power of Jesus; and thus He is described by the Prophet, “the everlasting father.” (Isa. 9:6)

Often do we refer to Adam as the father of our race; and so the Scriptures say: “God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth.” (Acts 17:26) But Adam brought death upon the human race instead of life; and he is now powerless to give them life. But Jesus can do this; thus the dead are now asleep in Him. “He is the propitiation for our sins [the faith classes during the reign of sin and death]: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (l John 2:2) By virtue of His sacrifice all men are now asleep in Him, because He will eventu­ally give them an awakening from the death state, which no other could do (l Tim. 2:4-6).

Much of what follows has been taken from Parousia Vol. 5, with some comments of our own interspersed therein. First, let us understand that all the Elect will have a special resurrection – instantaneous one – whereas the world will be resurrected grad­ually – a resurrection by judgment. The first part of the resurrection of the world will be the awakening of them. They will not be awakened with disease and emaciation, but will be awakened with what we call normal health – the start of a full raising up to life again. Then the Christ will have provisions made for their return with proper instructions given them to know right from wrong. After that it will be up to them to obey or disobey. But they will not be permitted to harm any one: “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)

But the goats – those who do not even outwardly obey – will be “cut off” from among the people after receiving 100 years of instruction and trial. (Isa. 65:20) Some of the goats will outwardly obey, but will not be in heart-harmony with right­eousness, so they will be permitted to live until the Little Season (Rev. 20:3), at which time they will be manifested as such. They will be manifested by the tests of the Little Season after the iron rule of the Mediatorial reign is lifted. However, during the Mediatorial reign, “The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be un­stopped. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” (Isa. 35:5,8) Now “the fool [the atheist] hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa. 14:1); but even he will then learn and ap­preciate there is a God.

Through the resurrection, God has arranged to show His love for the world. It is writ­ten, “When the fullness of time was come [exactly at the time stated by the Prophets in the Old Testament], God sent forth His son… made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we [Gospel-Age believers] might receive the adoption of sons [brethren of Jesus].” (Gal. 4:4,5) “Who gave himself a ransom for all” – for every man. (1 Tim. 2:6; Heb. 2:9) Thus, St. Paul says, “Since by man [Adam] came death, by man [the man Christ Jesus] came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order.” (1 Cor. 15:21-23)

In the morning of that glorious day when the Sun of Righteousness shall rise “with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2), all that God has promised for that blessed time will come to pass. “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice [the voice of the Son of Man] and shall come forth.” (John 5:28,29) In this sense, therefore, we speak of the dead as asleep.

HEAVENLY PHASE OF THE RESURRECTION

The Scriptures tell us there will be several classes in the resurrection – Heavenly and Earthly classes. The chief resurrection, or the First Resur­rection (Rev. 20:5,6) is the resurrection of saints. The Apostle Paul said, “We [the saints] shall not all sleep.” (1 Cor. 15:51) The inference here is clear enough that the Apostle himself expected to sleep. Of course, he did not know how long he would sleep, nor did the others of that time know.

EARTHLY PHASE OF THE RESURRECTION

In the Scriptures a class of faithful ser­vants of God are mentioned. Many of these are mentioned by name in the eleventh Chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews. We classify them as Ancient Worthies, who lived and were found faithful prior to the coming of Jesus. It was not their privilege to walk in the footsteps of Jesus (1 Pet. 2:21), because “the example” (Jesus) had not yet appeared upon the earth. But it is written that they will have “a better resurrec­tion” than the remainder of mankind (Heb. 11:35) – not to be raised on the spirit plane – as are the saints; but they will be raised in human perfection – which the remainder of the race will not have as they come forth from the tomb. The world in general will have a gradual raising up to life again; and this will undoubtedly require years for many of them.

At the beginning of the reign of Christ, the “Ancients” (Psa. 119:100; Isa. 3:14; 24:23) will come forth perfect human beings – perfect mentally and physically – that their bodies may correspond with their moral development. If they had scars when they went into the tomb, or if they are blemished in any

way, they will be gone. It is not easy for us to picture to ourselves a perfect man, for we have never seen one, and all around us are in various degrees of imper­fection. But we know that a perfect human being will be perfect in form, features, voice, sight, hearing, taste, and in all other organs, as well as in mind. “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31)

However, none of the Restitutionists will come forth physically perfect: they will have to develop physical perfection as they obey. The residue of men (Acts 15:17) will come forth, every man in his own order. (1 Cor. 15:23) Their awakening will merely bring them forth from the tomb in the condition in which they entered – minus of course, whatever of disease or violence that had put then there; for “in the grave there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom.” (Eccl. 9:10) This awakening will not be the real resurrection (a full raising up to life again), but merely the preliminary step toward it. The Greek word rendered resurrection is anastasis, and means literally a standing up again. Adam fell, and ever since that fall the world lieth in wickedness – literally, in the wicked one. (1 John 5:19) The standing up again is, therefore, a return to the perfection lost in Eden; for the world of mankind the resurrection is RESTITUTION. (Acts 3:21)

During the thousand years of Messiah’s reign the resurrection of the world will be in progress. The work will not be done by the Father directly, but will be committed to the Lord Jesus (John 5:22), and will require the whole thousand years for its completion. At the end of that Millennial reign the world of mankind will be perfect, as was Adam in his creation. All God’s work is perfect. (Deu. 32:4; Gen. 1:31)

During the Millennium God will not recognize the people because of their imperfection – their weakness; but all of their dealings will be through the Mediator – until they shall have been brought up to perfection. At the end of the thousand years they will be delivered up to the Father, faultless before Him. (1 Cor. 15:24) God will then receive them as sons – just as was Adam (Luke 3:38) – heirs of the earthly bless­ings which He has provided for mankind – the things given to Adam.

The very moment when the merit of Jesus is applied for the world in that same moment they will be turned over to the Mediator. Then they will be in covenant relationship with God, but only through the Mediator, until they shall have reached human perfection and shall enter into relationship directly with the Father.

The New Covenant will continue ever­lastingly; and as it is proper to say that Moses mediated the Law Covenant, so we may say that Christ will mediate the New Coven­ant. But it would not be proper to say that Moses is now the Mediator of the Law Cov­enant; for a covenant does not need a mediator after it has been mediated. So the New Covenant will need no Mediator after the thousand years. But the title Mediator may belong to Christ to all eternity, just as the one who has been a judge, ever after receives the title of Judge - continues to be called Judge.

At the end of the thousand years, when the Messiah will have accomplished His work of Restitution, He will cease to act as Mediator. But the covenant will con­tinue to stand; for if that relationship with God were to be removed from the people, they would have no blessing of everlasting life. Under the favorable conditions of the New Covenant, whoever will may have an opportunity to become the children of the Christ, the seed of Abraham. At the conclusion of the thousand years, the willing and obedient receive the commendation, “Well done,” and will be accepted as fit for the condition of everlasting life on the human plane. Those who prove to be unworthy of life will be destroyed in the Second Death.

Adamic Death State Vs. Adamic Death Process

 Although we have treated on this subject, we repeat that while the two are closely related, there is a wide divergence of meaning between the two. Here are the Berean Comments on Rev. 20:14: “Death [from the Greek thanatos] … Including aches, pains, mental and moral imper­fections of every sort.” This is the detailed description of the Adamic Death process. It is the cause of the bringing the human race to the Adamic Death state – ­that has put them in the tomb. When people have entered the grave, the Adamic Death state would eternally end for them when they “hear the voice of the Son of Man, and come forth.”

But not so the death process. Within limits, this will take up where it left off – will continue to harass its possessors until they fully eliminate it, or it eliminates them – in the Second Death. We are informed that Brother Russell ven­tured the thought that the entire race might be freed from the tomb in the first 500 years of the Kingdom reign. If that be true, the Adamic Death process will occupy a much longer period of the Kingdom than the Adamic Death state – the second 500 years, plus the Little Season. We have no argument with this; but we are emphatic that the “last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26) – the Adamic Death process, some of which will continue in the goats until the last of them is destroyed at the end of the Little Season.

Asleep In Jesus

The very fact that it is Jesus who awakens the human race from the sleep of death offers indisputable proof that they are now “asleep in Jesus.” That is the first part to them of the New Covenant blessing. They belong to Jesus, as He purchased them with His own precious blood; therefore at their awak­ening they are under the New Covenant arrangements even before they have received the instructions of the Kingdom laws: they are no longer under Adamic condemnation ­no longer subject to the Adamic Death. Jesus is now their only hope of life, the One who will give them the initial impetus to Restitution, and who will “heal all their diseases,” etc., which have come upon them through the transgression of their original father – Adam. After their return from the tomb, it will be up to them as to what they do with it. But Adam will have nothing to do with it. While we owe it to him to have the little spark of life we have enjoyed, yet all have faced the awful sen­tence, “In sorrow shalt thou eat of it [the daily bread] all the days of thy life.” (Gen. 3:17-19)

During the Mediatorial reign even the Goats, who have outwardly obeyed, will re­ceive great blessings, although  the Christ will know even then they have not rid them­selves of the Adamic Death process. But when the “iron rule” is lifted in the Little Season, they will outwardly manifest them­selves. It will be true of all those who emerge from the tomb; they will immediately come under the blessings and restraints of that Covenant even before they are properly instructed thereunder. None will ever again die the Adamic Death, even though they refuse to accept the conditions of the New Covenant.

With this comes the hope and prayer that we have made this subject clear to all our readers. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.” (Psa. 128:1)

The above is a reprint of Brother John J. Hoefle’s paper No. 446 dated Aug. 1, 1993 with some slight editing and minor addition we trust without altering the content, 

No. 647 "IN THE BEGINNING" - PART THREE

Conclusion of Study One the sixth volume studies in the scriptures “In the beginning”

Fourth paragraph from theheading of “The Period of Divine cessation from creative activity…” (Page 51)

 The angelic sons of God “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7) in the dawn of earth’s creative week, and after witnessing step after step in the development, finally saw man, its king, made in the Divine image. But then came the fall of man into sin and death through disobedience followed by the frightful experiences of the fallen angels who kept not their primary estate. And man’s selfish and bloody history under the reign of Sin and Death. Then successively follow the redemption, the selection of the Anointed One (Head and Body) through sacrifice, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom with its wonderful restitution of all things spoken by God through the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. No wonder indeed that there should be Jubilation in heaven and in earth when all of Yahweh’s intelligent creatures shall thus behold the lengths, heights and breadths and depths, not only of God’s Love, but also of His Justice,  Wisdom and Power:

“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” —Rev. 15:3,4

“Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens: God himself, that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it. He created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord and there is none else.” —Is. 45:18

“And every creature which is in heaven and on earth... and such as are in the sea... heard me saying, ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb, forever and forever.’”  —Rev. 5:13

Since writing the foregoing we found the follow­ing on the subject of the Genesis account of creation by Prof. G. Frederick Wright, DD, LL.D., dated November 19, 1902..

THE GENESIS RECORD

“The first chapter of Genesis, which treats of the creation of the world, is a most remarkable document. It is remarkable as much for the skill with which it avoids possible conflict with scientific discovery as for its effectiveness from a literary point of view. Meas­ured by the influence it has had, there is scarcely any other piece of literature that can be compared with it. Its evident object is to discredit polytheism and to emphasize the unity of the Godhead. This it does by denying a plurality of gods, both in general and in detail, and by affirming that it is the one eternal God of Israel who has made the heavens and the earth and all the objects in it which idolaters are in the habit of worshiping.

“The sublimity of this chapter is seen in the fact that everywhere apart from the influence of it polytheism and idolatry prevail. The unity of God and His worship as the sole Creator of all things are maintained only by those nations which have accepted this chapter as a true and divine revelation.”

cOMPATIBLE WITH SCIENCE

“At the same time the advancement of science has served rather to enhance than to detract from our admiration of this remarkable portion of the grand book of Divine revelation. Within its ample folds there is opportunity for every real discovery of science to find shelter. With such remarkable wisdom has the language of this chapter been chosen to avoid conflict with modern science that so great a geologist as Prof. J. D. Dana of Yale College asserted with great emphasis that it was impossible to account for it except on the theory of Divine inspiration.

“In the opening verse it shuts off controversy concerning the age of the earth, and indeed of the solar system, by the simple statement that the heaven and the earth were created in the ‘beginning,’ without any assertion how long ago that beginning was. But that the solar system had a beginning is proved by modern science with such clearness that the boldest evolu­tionist cannot gainsay it. The modern doctrine of the conser­vation of energy proves that the present order of things has not always existed. The sun is cooling off. Its heat is rapidly radiating and wasting itself in empty space. In short, the solar system is running down, and it is as clear as noonday that the process cannot have been going on forever. Even the nebular hypothesis implies a beginning, and no wit of man ever devised a better statement of that fact than is found in the opening verse of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.” (Read Psalm 8)

CREATION WAS GRADUAL

“This whole first chapter of Genesis is based upon the principle of progress in this method of creation. The universe was not brought into existence instantaneously. It was not complete at the outset. In the beginning we have merely the physical forces out of which the grand structure is to be made by a gradually unfolding, or if one prefers to say so, an ‘evolutionary’ process. [As already indicated, it is only in respect to man’s creation that the Evolution theory conflicts with the Bible; and only to attack this point does that theory exist or find advocates.] This is equally true whatever view one may take of the word ‘day’ (Hebrew ‘yom’). Why should an Almighty Creator need six days, even if only twenty‑four hours long, in which to create the world? The answer is that the Creator not only possesses almighty power, but has infinite wisdom, and has seen fit to choose a method of creation which involves first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.

“That there is a Divine plan of evolution, appears on the face of this whole chapter. The creation is begun by bringing into existence the simplest forms of matter, and continued by imposing upon them those activities of force and energy which produce light. This is followed by the segregation of the matter which forms the earth, and the separation of land from water, and of the water upon the earth from that which is held in suspension in the air. If anyone wishes to carp over the word ‘firmament,’ and insists upon its bald literal meaning, he is forbidden to do so by the subsequent statement (Gen. 1:20) that the birds are made to fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. The medium which held up the water in the clouds was one through which the birds could fly.

CREATION OF VEGETATION

“At the third stage the land was covered with vegetation, which is the simplest form of life, but which, when once introduced, carries with it the whole developing series of vegetable products. So com­prehensive is the language in which the creation of plants is announced that it leaves ample room for the theory of spontaneous generation, which is yet one of the mooted questions in biology. In the light of this how remarkable are the words ‘and God said, Let the earth bring forth grass... and the earth brought forth grass.’

“The same remarkable form of expression occurs in introducing the fifth day of progress, where we read (Gen. 1:20): ‘And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.’ ... And again, introducing the sixth day’s work the same phrase is used (Gen. 1:24) ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind.’... If one should insist on interpreting this language according to the mere letter he would have what neither science nor theology would accept.

A SPECIAL CREATOR

“When it comes to the creation of man a very different expression is used. It is said that God made man in His own image and breathed into him the breath of life. How much this may signify with reference to the mode of man’s creation is not necessary to consider at this point. But the expression fitly corresponds to the exalted dignity which belongs to man when compared to the rest of the animal creation.

The most noteworthy characteristics of man are brought to light both in this and in the subsequent account of the beginning of his career. Not only is man said to be made in the image of God, but he is fitted to rule over the beasts of the field and has the gift of language, through which he can bestow names upon them. Furthermore, he is a being free of will, which knows the difference between rights and wrong – in short, is in possession of a moral nature which places him in a class by himself.

“That so many things should have been told us about the creation, with nothing which is absurd and fantastic, and so little which creates any difficulty in harmonizing it with modern science, is the clearest evidence which we can have that it was given by Divine inspiration. Not even Milton, with all his learning and with the advantage of this account before him, could curb his imagination sufficiently to keep from making a travesty of his whole conception of the creation of the animal kingdom. What but the hand of inspiration could have so curbed and guided the writer of the first chapter of Genesis?

MAN CREATED – NOT by EVOLution

There is a vast difference between the size and development in the brain in man and that in the lower members of the order ‘primates.’

“Physiologically and psychologically man differs even more widely from the lower members of his order. He has the power of grammatical speech. He can arrange his thoughts in sentences, which can be represented by arbitrary marks on paper or some other substance. Man has an ear for harmony in music, which no animal has. This involves a delicacy of structure in the organs of hearing of a most marvelous character. Among his mental qualities, that of scientific or inductive reasoning is most remarkable when contrasted with the mental capacities of the animal creation.

“In his great work on ‘Mental Evolution,’ Romanes thinks he finds in the lower animals all the rudiments of man’s mental capacity, but they are so clearly rudimental that they leave the gap between man and the animal nearly as great as ever. By collecting all the manifestations of intelligence in animals he finds that they all together manifest as much intelligence as a child does when it is 15 months old. But this intelligence is not in any single species, one species being advanced to that degree in one line, and another, in another...

REASON VERSUS INSTINCT

“Keen as the dog’s sense of smell may be, it is of no help in teaching him geology. Nor is the eagle’s acuteness of vision of any assistance to him in studying astronomy. In vain would one conduct a dog over the world to learn the extent of the ice cap during the glacial period, for he has no powers of thought through which he could connect the boulders in the United States with their parent ledges in Canada, or the scratched stones on the plains of Russia with the Scandinavian mountains from whose ledges they were wrenched by the moving ice. Such inferences are entirely beyond canine capacity...

CAPACITY FOR RELIGION

“In nothing does this superiority of the human mind appear more striking than in its capacity to gain religious ideas through literature. There are, indeed, wonderful exhibitions of learned pigs, which, by some process, can be taught to select a few letters on blocks so as to spell out some simple words. But no animal can be taught to talk intelligibly. To this statement the parrot even is not an exception, since its words are merely a repetition of sounds unintelligible even to himself. Much less can an animal be taught to read or to listen intelligently to an oration or a sermon.

“On the other hand, the Bible, which is a book of the most varied literature, containing the highest flights of poetry and eloquence ever written, and presenting the sublimes” conceptions of God and the future life that have ever been entertained, has been translated into almost every language under heaven, and has found in those languages the appropriate figures of speech through which effectively to present its ideas...

“It is thus, when viewed from the highest intellectual point of view, that man’s uniqueness in the animal creation is best seen. Intellectually, he stands by himself. The scientific name for the genus to which man belongs is ‘homo,’ but the species is ‘homo sapiens,’ that is, a human frame with human wisdom attached...

“Alfred Russell Wallace, who independently discovered the principle of natural selection, and published it at the same time with Darwin, instanced various physical peculiarities in man which could not have originated by natural selection alone, but which irresistibly pointed to the agency of a superior directing power.

CLOTHES AND TOOLS

“Among these he cites the absence in man of any natural protective covering. Man alone of all animals wears clothes. He weaves the fibers of plants into a blanket or deprives other animals of their skins, and uses them to throw over his own naked back as a shelter from the inclemency of the weather. The birds have feathers, sheep have a fleece, and other animals have fur admirably adapted for their protection. Man alone is without such protection, except as he obtains it by the use of his own intelligence. Until we pause to think of it, we scarcely realize how much intelligence is involved in man’s efforts to secure clothing. Even in so simple a matter as that of securing the skin of another animal for a robe, he is compelled as a preliminary to be the inventor of tools. No animal was ever yet skinned without the use of some sort of a knife.

“This brings us to another good definition of man, as a tool‑using animal. The nearest approach to the use of tools by animals is found in the elephant and the monkey. An elephant has been known to seize a brush with his trunk and by thus lengthening it enabling himself to brush objects off from otherwise inaccessible portions of his body. A monkey has been known to use a stick in prying open a door. But no animal has ever been known to fashion a tool: whereas there is no tribe of men so low in intelligence that it does not fashion most curious and complicated tools.

“The canoes of the lowest races are most ingeniously formed, and most perfectly adapted to their needs. The chipped flint implement involves the cherishing of a farsighted design and the exercise of great skill in carving it out. The ingenious methods by which savage nations secure fire at will, by friction, would do credit to civilized man; while the use of the bow and sling and of the boomerang shows inventive capacity of a very high order with which the animal creation has nothing to compare.

CAPACITY FOR MUSIC

“Wallace furthermore adduces the human voice as a development far in excess of anything that can be produced by natural selection. Monkeys have no music in their souls and no capacity for music in their vocal organs; whereas even the lowest races of man have both. The “folk‑songs” are the great source to which our leading musical composers go for their themes. The late Theodore F. Seward, in commenting upon the Negro plantation songs which he transcribed, says that in their harmony and progression they all conform to the scientific rules of musical composition. However much of advantage this musical capacity may be to fully developed man, we cannot conceive of its having been any advantage to an animal in the low stage of development in which we find the ape. The musical voice that attracts the ape has only the faintest resemblance to that which is attractive to either man or woman.

“Again, the size of the human brain is out of all proportion to the mental needs of the highest animal creation below man, and without man’s intelligence would be an encumbrance rather than a help. The two, therefore, must have sprung into existence simultan­eously in order to have presented an advantage which natural selection could seize hold of and preserve and develop.

“It is difficult to see how it could have been an advantage to an ape to have the thumb of his hind limb turn into a big toe which can no longer be used for grasping things, but is useful only as he walks in an upright position. It is difficult to see what advantage could come to an ape in having his forelimbs shortened, as they would have to be if they were transformed into the arms of a man. It is difficult also to see how it should have been of any advantage to an ape to experience those changes in the adjustment of the hip bone and of the neck which would prevent his walking at all on all fours, and limit him to walking on two legs and in an upright position.

“In all these respects the difficulty in our understanding the origin of man from natural selection is increased if we are compelled to suppose that it was a very gradual process, and that these changes leading on to the perfection of the human organization began in an imperceptible, or almost imperceptible, degree; for such incipient changes could have been of no advantage. To be of advantage they must have been considerable, and the mental and physical changes must have been correlated in accordance with some law of pre‑established harmony.

“The mystery of the origin of man has not been in the least degree diminished by the Darwinian hypothesis, or by any light which evolutionary theories have thrown upon it. It is acknowledged by all that geologically, he is the most recent of the species which have been added to the population of the earth; while mentally; he towers so far above the lower animals that he is for that very reason, if for no other, classified by himself. The mystery is how he came into possession of this high degree of mental power with a bodily frame and a physiological constitution so completely adapted to its exercise. Those who say that it was ex­haled in some way from the lower orders of intel­lectual beings, will encounter philosophical difficulties tenfold greater than do those who accept the simple statement of the Bible, that his soul is the Divine inbreathing – the very image of God.”

* * *

“Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up his bright designs,

And works his sovereign will.

“His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour.

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

“Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain.

God is his own interpreter

And he will make it plain.”

Pastor Russell – “Studies In the Scriptures,” Volume 6, Study One

______________________________________________________

The Chosen Seed of Abraham

The key of the situation is given us in the Bible, and nowhere else. The relationship of Jewish people and the Promised land and the Bible, rightly understood, constitute proof that there is a God: that he has a great and wonderful Plan or method by which he is dealing with mankind; that his plan is connected with the Jewish nation, and that the Bible is the record of that Plan.

However it is a mistake to suppose that the Bible was written for mankind in general or intended to be understood by everyone. Its own testimony is contrary to this.  Divine purposes are intended to be concealed from the majority of mankind and to be understood only by those who come into heart harmony with the Divine intention, and who from this standpoint “search the Scriptures.” It should not surprise us, therefore, that our Jewish friends have not comprehended clearly the Scriptures, which they so reverently and painstakingly preserved from Moses until Christ. And we may truthfully say the same lack of understanding very generally prevails, amongst Christians.

Is not the fact that comparatively few of the Lord’s people have been privileged to comprehend the length, breadth, height and depth of the Divine Plan, fully in agreement with the Scriptural declaration that such knowledge has been intended throughout the Age only for a very small minority? The hindrances, which have blinded so many, are the creeds, traditions and Talmud. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear (reverence) him (and His Word) and he will show them his covenant.” —Psa. 25:14.

The Scriptures seem to indicate, however, that the time is at hand when “The mystery of God shall be finished,” and when the understanding of the Divine Plan may be comprehended by increasing numbers, and amongst these the reverential Jews. Indeed, the Jew will be before long specially attracted by the outlines of the Divine Plan set forth in the prophecies of his own Scriptures. They explain the experiences of Israel while still in God’s favor, and the experiences of the past twenty centuries of their disfavor, and show how both of these will work together eventually for the blessing of Israel and through Israel for the blessing of the Gentiles.

The Divine Promise to Abraham’s Seed

As the very foundation of Israel’s every hope, the mainspring of that people’s courage, the motive power of their energy, their perseverance and their pride, has been the Divine promise made to Abraham, their illustrious ancestor, “the friend of God.” To Abraham, after certain tests of character – obedience, loyalty, and faith – God made a Promise, which constitutes the hope, both of Israel and the Gentiles. It reads, “In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 22:18) Abraham’s son Isaac was indicated by the Lord to be the channel through which this blessing should proceed. Later on, Isaac’s son, Jacob, was indicated as a further channel. At Jacob’s death the Divine blessing passed, by Divine direction, not to a single one of his posterity, but to them all as a whole nation.

Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which signifies a prince influential with God – in Divine favor. This name Israel indicative of so much of honor and Divine favor, was subsequently applied to the whole nation of Jacob'’ descendants, who became know as Israelites, or Children of Israel. It was understood by that nation that they were the seed, the posterity mentioned in the promise made to Abraham – in whom “all the families of the earth should be blessed.” They correctly understood that this would signify a great exaltation for their little nation. They had full confidence in that great Promise, because the Lord had secured it to them in a most remarkable manner – he made oath to it. Since he could swear by none greater than himself, he said, “By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son; therefore, I will greatly bless thee and I will exceedingly multiply thy Seed as the stars of heaven, and as the stars upon the seashore…. and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” – Gen. 23:16-18. See page 65 of the Overland Monthly

the burden of Egypt

By Chris Josephson

Isaiah 19

The chapter begins with “The burden of Egypt.” Indeed, a deep concern and burden it is to the whole world, and to Israel, especially, who is monitoring closely the events, Egypt is the broken reed (Isaiah 36:6) of the “peace” in Middle East. The unrest is spreading to other nations around Israel, leaving that tiny nation more vulnerable than ever. What will happen in 2011?

If the events described in Isaiah 19 are in sequence, as it seems they are, the situation in Egypt will grow worse as Egyptian turns against Egyptian (Shi’ites versus Sunnis?) and broth[hood?] against brother (verse 2), and Egypt’s spirit fails because no one has the answer. The frustration then brings on a religious spirit that turns to divination cults of the ancient culture of Egypt, but this “wisdom” goes haywire (Vs. 3,11 & 12). Perhaps a fierce ruler will arise that may be worse than the “cruel lord” they seek to overthrow (V 4). Drought and devastation overcomes any hope of a good economy (Vs. 6’10,15). There will be great fear as there is not righteous strong leader (V 16).

But the good news of this chapter is that finally Egypt will recognize the strength of Judah because of the “counsel of the Lord of hosts which HE has determined” (Vs. 16 & 17), and the final verses describe the peace highway that will connect Egypt and Assyria running through Israel that is a blessing in the midst.

As I see it, this is not the final Kingdom of peace that, according to Isaiah 61:11, will come gradually ‘as a garden,’ It seems there will be a time of world peace, but revelation knowledge will not yet be complete, for people will be walking in their own religion, “but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.” (Micah 4:5) Do read the context which indicates the “Law from Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem” does not happen like waving a magic wand but a going forth of God’s love-laws-for-living to the nations that will result in beating swords into plowshares, etc. A revolution takes some time to accomplish, and first there has to come knowledge of why it’s the way to go. The key is in Isaiah 19:12, “…and let them know what the LORD of Hosts has purposed.”

Personal blessing from heaven in 2011 on you and yours.

______________________________________________________________

Chris Josephson

Letters of General Interest

Dated January 22, 2011 – Received February 17,2011

Dear Marjorie, and All the Brethren:

May you all have a Blessed New Year in your service for the Lord! Hope you had a good holiday there in Florida, and 2011 has had a good start in all ways.

Thank you for your lovely card, and greetings. Sorry to be so late with these wishes. It seems I am super slow these days.

Hope you are all well, and have an illness free winter! Sadly we are not getting our winter this year. It stayed dry and hot from May to December.  November set records for being so dry when we should have gotten our “early rains.” Even after a good storm after the big Mt. Carmel fire, the rest of December was sunny and warm. So each day we are praying for more rain, but most days are sunny like today. If we do not have big rains soon, our drought conditions will only get worse. So pray for soon and abundant rains for Israel!

The sunny weather has been nice for the many tourists that came to Israel in 2010 setting records. So I have also kept busy all year with bed & Breakfast guests from many countries. I still enjoy being able to share the Bible and God’s working in Israel with them.

Well, 2011 does not look like such a stable year in our area of the world. The present government situation in Lebanon is like a ticking bomb, and no one knows when it goes off or how much damage it will cause! So all are on alert and we take day by day! It is good to know God has all in His plans and purposes!

Please pray for my living situation as I may have to make a change before the summer as the new owners of my house wish to sell it! I know all is in the Lord’s best plan for me.

Thank you for all your work through the year, and may the Lord bless you in your services for Him and the brethren daily!

Have a good 2011! Shalom and Love, Hava Bausch

February 17, 2011

Dear Sister Marjorie:

Loving greetings through our beloved Redeemer. Hoping that this finds you and yours in good health. All here are doing well.

Your articles No 641 and 642 “Retrospect and Prospect” puts in focus this time of trouble as told in prophecy. This is a special time as we see the world unraveling around us. We can have greater faith in the Heavenly Father’s plan as we see these prophecies being fulfilled in our time.

The recent turn of events in Egypt gives us some insight into how Islam will be brought down from within, as well as corrupt worldly and spiritual powers. The revolution in Egypt was started by a young man on the internet. He was arrested and ill-treated, charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government. The government shut down the internet.

On the TV show 60 Minutes, the young man thanked the government for shutting down the internet, because the people went to the streets and formed the revolt to find out what was going on. Mat 10:26— “Fear them not Therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; nor hid, that shall not be known.”

Isa 19—“The burden of Egypt” gives us insight on the events that must soon come to pass with the nation of Israel being the center of the controversy. We see Egypt as representing the world of mankind.

You are aware of the symbolic meanings of Isa. 19 as well as current worldly events. Bro. Chris Josephson sent our Sister Judy Smith an email, espousing a literal view of Isa. 19.

I am enclosing a copy of that email for your consideration.

Isa. 19 takes us through the troubled time, and then at its conclusion, we rejoice when we read of the restoration of the world of mankind, when the entire world will know of God’s plan of salvation and live in harmony

Acts 3:19-23 In that day ‘the presence of the Lord,’ all who will listen to that prophet will have eternal life.

In the news today Libya has a revolt of its own because of its autocratic government. These revolts cannot be stopped in the long term.

I am curious to know of if there was a favorable response from the JWs to the tract ‘Will Adam be saved.’ As mentioned in your letter Feb. 1st 2010.

Our thought and prayers go out to you and all there as you continue the work of proclaiming the good news of the Gospel.

May the Lord bless you and yours through this new Year.

                                                                                       Your brother in His name,

                                                                                       Marvin T. Belden

NO. 646 "IN THE BEGINNING" - PART TWO

THE FOURTH CREATIVE EPOCH-DAY

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament [expanse, atmosphere] of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years: and let them be for lights in the expanse [atmosphere] to give light upon the earth; and it was so. God made [or caused to shine—a different verb not meaning created] two great lights; the greater light for the rule of the day [to indicate the time of day] and the lesser light, the night; the stars also.

The achievements of one epoch-day were carried over into the next, and we are justified in supposing that the light of the first day became more and more distinct during the next two, as ring after ring came down from the waters above the firmament to the waters below it, until by the fourth epoch-day the sun and moon and stars could be seen; not so clearly as now on a bright day, until after Noah’s flood—the last of the “rings”; but clearly discernible, nevertheless, through the translucent veil of waters —as now on a misty day or night. Sun, moon and stars had long been shining on the outer veil of the earth, but now the time came to let these lights in the firmament be seen; to let the days—previously marked by a dull, grayish light, such as we see some rainy mornings when the sun, moon and stars are invisible for clouds—become more distinct, so that the orb of day might by its course mark time for man and beast when created, and meantime begin to oxygenize the air, thus to prepare it for breathing animals. Later on in the same 7,000-year day, the moon and stars also appeared—to influence the tides and to be ready to mark time in the night for man’s convenience.

We are not to suppose that the development of plant life ceased during the fourth day, but rather that it progressed —the increased influence of sun and moon serving to bring forward still other varieties of grass and shrubs and trees. Geology shows advances, too, at this period—insects, snails, crabs, etc. Fish-bones and scales are found in coal seams, too; but this does not disturb the order; for the formation of coal-beds evidently continued after the third day—thus running into the Reptilian period. This “day” corresponds most closely with what geology designates the “Trias” period. Evening and morning—Day Four of seven thousand years, or 28,000 years from the starting of this work—closed, witnessing great progress in the earth’s preparation for man.

THE FIFTH CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAy

“And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open atmosphere of heaven. And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, with which the waters swarm, after their KIND and every winged fowl after its KIND. And it was as God designed.”

How the warm oceans of the earth swarmed with living creatures, from the Jellyfish to the whale, may be judged by the profusion of life in the warm southern seas at the present time. Reptiles, living partly in the water and partly on the land (amphibious) belong also to this period, during which present continents and islands were gradually rising and again subsiding, at one time deluged by larger or smaller rings coming down, and at another washed by tidal waves. No wonder the remains of shell‑fish, etc., are found in the highest mountains. And no wonder the immense beds of limestone in all parts of the world are sometimes called “shell‑fish cemeteries,” because composed almost exclusively of conglomerate shells. What a swarming there must have been when those untellable trillions of little creatures were born, and, dying, dropped one by one their little shells! We read that God blessed them in multiplying. Yes, even so lowly an existence and for so brief a time is a favor, a blessing.

Let us not contend for more than the Scripture record demands. The Bible does not assert that God created separately and individually the myriad kinds of fish and reptiles; but merely that divine influence, or spirit, brooded, and by divine purpose the sea brought forth its creatures of various kinds. The processes are not declared, one species may, under different conditions, have developed into another; or from the same original protoplasm different orders of creatures may have developed under differing conditions. No man knoweth, and it is unwise to be dogmatic. It is not for us to dispute that even the protoplasm of the Paleozoic slime may not have come into existence through chemical action of the highly mineralized waters of those seas. What we do claim is that all came about as results of divine intention and arrangement, and, hence, were divine creations, whatever were the channels and agencies. And we claim that this is shown by the facts of nature no less than by the words of Genesis, that however the creatures of the sea were produced, they were brought to the condition in which each is of its own kind, where the lines of species cannot be overridden. This is God’s work, by whatever means brought about.

This day, or epoch, corresponds very well to the Reptilian age of the scientist. Evening and morning of Day Five was 35,000 years from the commencement of the work of ordering the earth as man’s home and kingdom.

THE SIXTH CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And God said; Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind. And it was so; God made the beast of the earth after its kind and cattle after their kind and earth‑reptiles after their kind. And God saw it was so done and approved.”

By this time matters on this earth were becoming more settled; the crust was thicker by hundreds of feet of sand and clays and shells and coal, and various other minerals gathered, some from crumbling rocks thrown up by earthquakes, some from the “rings” once surrounding the earth, and some from animal and vegetable deposits; besides, the earth itself must have cooled considerably during those 35,000 years. A sufficiency of earth’s surface was now above the sea, and well drained by mountain ranges and valleys to be ready for the lower animals, which are here divided into three kinds: (1) earth‑reptiles, cold‑blooded, breathing creatures – lizards, snakes, etc.; (2) beasts of the earth, or wild beasts, as differentiated from domestic animals, specially suited to be companions for man, and here referred to as (3) cattle. The air also by this time would be purified of elements unsuited to breathing animals, absorbed from it by the rank vegetation of the carboniferous period, as the excessive hydrocarbons had been absorbed from the oceans by the minute shell‑fish, preparatory to the swarming of sea creatures which breathe.

Here, again, we need not quarrel needlessly with Evolutionists. We will concede that, if God chose, He could have brought all the different species of animal life into being by a development of one from the other, or he could have developed each species separately from the original protozoan slime. We know not what method He adopted, for it is revealed neither in the Bible nor in the rocks. It is, however, clearly revealed that in whatever way God chose to accomplish it, He has fixed animal species, each “after his kind” in such a manner that they do not change; in such a manner that the ingenuity of the human mind has not succeeded in assisting them to change. Here is the stamp of the intelligent Creator upon His handiwork; for had “Nature” or “blind force” been the creator, we would still see it plodding blindly on, at times evolving and at times retrograding; we would see no such fixity of species as we behold all about us in nature.

We may reasonably assume that it was Just at the close of the sixth epoch‑day that God created man; because his creation was the last, and it is distinctly stated that God finished His creative work, not on the sixth, but “on the seventh day,” the division of the man into two persons, two sexes, being, evidently, the final act.

“And God said, We will make man in our image; and after our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every reptile that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them, and God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue and control it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the heavens and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

In view of our remarks, foregoing, that the Scripture language does not forbid the possibility of the plants, water‑creatures and land‑creatures being more or less developed, or evolved, in their various kinds, it may be well for us to note the wide difference in the language used when referring to man’s creation. The latter is a specific declaration of the direct exercise of divine creative power, while the others are not, but rather imply a development:

“And the earth brought forth grass,” etc.

“Let the waters bring forth the creeping creature,” etc.

“Let the earth bring forth living creature after his kind, cattle,” etc.

There are two accounts of the creation – the one we have just been considering, which treats the matter briefly and in its epochal order, and another which follows it in Genesis 2:4‑25. In other words, the division of the chapters was at a wrong place – the two accounts should each constitute a chapter. The second one is a com on the first, explanatory of details. “These are the generations,” or developments, of the heavens and the earth and their creatures, from a time before there was any plant or herb. The first and principal account gives the word “God” when speaking of the Creator; and the second, or commentary account, points out that it was Yahweh God who did the entire work, “in the day” that He made the heavens and the earth – thus grasping the whole as one still larger epoch‑day, including the work of the six already enumerated.

The word God in the first chapter is from the common Hebrew word Elohim, a plural word which might be translated Gods, and which, as we have already seen, signifies “mighty ones.” The “Only Begotten” of the Father was surely His active agent in this creative work, and He may have had associated with Him in the execution of its details a host of angels to whom also the word Elohim would be applicable here as elsewhere in the Scriptures. It is appropriate; therefore, that the second, or commentary, account should call our attention to the fact that Yahweh the Father of all was the Creator, whoever may have been used as His honored representatives and instruments. The added particulars of the second account respecting man’s creation may properly be considered here.

It declares: “Yahweh God formed man of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and the man became a living being.”

God was glorified in all His previous works and in every creature, however insignificant, even though none of them could properly render Him thanks or appreciate Him or even know Him. The divine purpose had foreseen all this from the beginning, and was preparing for man, who was intended to be the masterpiece of the earthly, or animal, creation. It is not said of man as of the sea creatures, “Let the seas swarm,” nor as with the lower earthly animals, “Let the earth bring forth”; but it is recorded, on the contrary, that he was a special creation by his Maker, “made in his own image.” It matters not whether the image of the Elohim be understood or the image of Yahweh, for were not the Elohim “sons of God,” and in His likeness in respect to reasoning power and moral intelligence?

We are not to understand this “image” to be one of physical shape; but, rather, a moral and intellectual image of the Great Spirit, fashioned appropriately to his earthly conditions and nature. And as for the “likeness,” it doubtless relates to man’s dominion – he was to be king of earth and its teeming creatures, like as God is the King of the entire universe. Here is the battlefield between God’s Word and so‑called Modern Science, to which the whole world, especially the learned including the leaders of thought in most theological seminaries, and the ministers in most of the prominent pulpits, are bowing down. To worship the scientific God called “Evolution.” The two theories are squarely at issue: if the Evolution theory be true, the Bible is false from Genesis to Revelation. If the Bible be true, as we hold, the Evolution theory is utterly false in all its deductions as respects man.

It is not alone the Genesis account of man’s creation in the Divine image that must determine the matter, strong as are the declaration of the Word: the entire theory of the Bible supports the Genesis record, and stands or falls with it. For, if man was created otherwise than pure and perfect and mentally well endowed, he could not, truthfully, have been called an “image of” God; nor could his Creator have placed him on trial in Eden to test his fitness for everlasting life; nor could his disobedience in the eating of the forbidden fruit have been accounted sin and punishable as it was, by a death sentence; nor would it have been necessary to have redeemed him from that sentence.

Moreover, “the man Christ Jesus” is declared to have been the “anti‑lutron,” the ransom‑price (or corresponding price) for this first man’s guilt, and He must, therefore, be considered a sample, or illustration, of what the first man was, before he sinned and passed under the Divine condemnation of death.

We know, too, that there are today, as there have been in the past, many noble natural men, all of whom God declares are sinners, and, as such, unrecognizable by Yahweh, except as they penitently approach Him in the merit of Christ’s sacrifice and obtain His forgive­ness. The standing of all who thus come unto God is declared to be only of His grace, under the robe of Christ’s righteousness. The outcome, we are inform­ed, must be a resurrection, or restitution, to perfection ere any can be personally and entirely satisfactory to the Creator. And yet it was this same Creator who communed with Adam before his transgression and called him His son, and who declared that Adam and we, His children, became “children of wrath” and passed under condemnation because of sin, which Adam did not have when created a “son of God.” (Luke 3:38)

As surely as “all the holy prophets since the world began” have declared the coming Millennium to be “times of restitution of all things spoken,” so surely the Evolution theory is in violent antagonism to the utterances of God through all the holy prophets. For restitution, so far from being a blessing to the race would be a crime against it, if the Evolution theory be correct. If by blind force or other evolutionary pro­cesses, man has been climbing up by tedious endeavors and laborious efforts, from protoplasm to oyster – from oyster to fish –from fish to reptile – and from reptile to monkey. From monkey to lowest man, and from lowest man to what we are. It would be a fearful injury to the race for God to restore it to what Adam was, or possibly to force the restitution further back to protoplasm. There is no middle ground on this question; and the sooner God’s people decide posi­tively in accord with His Word the better it will be for them, and the more sure they will be of not falling into some of the no‑ransom and evolutionary theories now afloat and seeking to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. Let God be true, though it prove every Evolutionist a liar. (Rom. 3:4)

We cannot here go into the details of Adam’s creation, to discuss his organism, or body, his spirit, or breath of life, and how these united constituted him a living being, or soul. This has already been presented in a different connection.

Their fruitfulness in posterity was evidently in no manner connected with the transgression, as some have assumed, but was a part of the Divine blessing. The only relationship of the fall and its curse, or penalty, in this respect was, as stated, an increase of the mother’s conceptions and sorrows, corresponding to the man’s labor and sweat of face. These have borne the more heavily in proportion as the race has become degenerate and weak, mentally and physically. The object of the fruitfulness will have been attained when a sufficient progeny has been born ultimately to fill (not replenish) the earth. True, an immense number have already been born – possibly twenty thousand millions – and are now asleep in the great prison‑house of death; but these are none too many; for the present land surface of earth, if all made fit for man, as it ultimately will be, would hold two or three times this number, without taking into consideration the pos­sibility of other continents being raised from the depths of the seas as the present ones were in the past.

Scientists of a skeptical turn of mind have for a long time been seeking to prove that man was on the earth long before the period assigned in Genesis, and every bone found in the lower clays or gravels is scrutinized with a view to making the scientist a world‑wide reputation as the man who has given the lie to the Word of God. We have already referred to the unreliability of such evidences,[1] as the finding of arrow‑heads amongst the gravel of an early period. In some cases at least these have been proven to have been the work of modern Indians, who had shaped them near the spot where they found the suitable flint‑stones.╂

At a meeting of the Victoria Philosophical Institute not very long ago it was stated that “a careful analysis had been undertaken by Professor Stokes, FRS, Sir J. R. Bennett, Vice‑Pres. RS, Professor Beale, FRS, and others, of the various theories of Evolution, and it was reported that, as yet, no scientific evidence had been met with giving countenance to the theory that man had been evolved from a lower order of animals; and Professor Virchow had declared that there was a complete absence of any fossil type of a lower stage in the development of man; and that any positive advance in the province of prehistoric anthropology has actually removed us further from proofs of such connection, namely, with the rest of the animal kingdom. In this, Professor Barraude, the great paleontologist, had concurred, declaring that in none of his investigations had he found any one fossil species develop into another. In fact, it would seem that no scientific man had yet discovered a link between man and the ape, between fish and frog, or between the vertebrate and the invertebrate animals; further, there was no evidence of any one species, fossil or other, losing its peculiar characteristics to acquire new ones belonging to other species; for instance, however similar the dog to the wolf, there was no connecting link, and among extinct species the same was the case; there was no gradual passage from one to another. Moreover, the first animals that existed on the earth were by no means to be considered as inferior or degraded.”

We quote briefly from Sir J. W. Dawson, LL.D., FRS, from his summary of his recent findings respecting “The Meeting Place of Geology and History.” He says:

“We have found no link of derivation connecting man with the lower animals which preceded him. He appears before us as a new departure in creation, without any direct relation to the instinctive life or the lower animals. The earliest men are no less men than their descendants, and up to the extent of their means, inventors, innovators, and introducers of new modes of life, just as much as they. We have not even been able yet to trace man back to the harmless golden age [of Paradise]. As we find him in the caves and gravels he is already a fallen man, out of harmony with his environment and the foe of his fellow creatures, contriving against them instruments of destruction more fatal than those furnished by nature to the carnivorous wild beasts... Man, as to his body, is confessedly an animal, of the earth earthy. He is also a member of the province vertebrata, and the class mammalia; but in that class he constitutes not only a direct species and genus, but even a distinct family, or order. In other words, he is the sole species of his genus, and of his family, or order. He is thus separated by a great gap from all the animals nearest to him; and even if we admit the doctrine, as yet unproved, of the derivation of one species from another in the case of lower animals, we are unable to supply the ‘missing links’ which would be required to connect man with any group of inferior animals...

“No fact of science is more certainly established than the recentness of man in geological time. Not only do we find no trace of his remains in the older geological formations, but we find no remains of the animals nearest to him; and the conditions of the world in those periods seem to unfit it for the residence of man. If, following the usual geological system, we divide the whole history of the earth into four great periods, extending from the oldest rocks known to us, the eozoic, or Archaean, up to the modern, we find remains of man, or of his works, only in the latest of the four, and in the latter part of this. In point of fact, there is no indisputable proof of the presence of man until we reach the early modern period... There is but one species of man, though many races and varieties; and these races, or varieties, seem to have developed themselves at a very early time, and have shown a remarkable fixity in their later discovery... The history in Genesis has anticipated modern history. This ancient book is in every way trustworthy, and as remote as possible from the myths and legends of ancient heathenism.”

Prof. Pasteur, the great bacteriologist, was an outspoken opponent of Darwinism; and expressed himself as follows: “Posterity will one day laugh at the foolishness of the modern materialistic philosophers. The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the works of the Creator. I pray while I am engaged in my work in the laboratory.”

Virchow, the Russian savant, though not a professed Christian was similarly opposed to the Darwinian theory of the development of organic beings from inorganic, and declared: “Any attempt to find the transition from animal to man has ended in a total failure. The middle link has not been found and will not be found. Man is not descended from the ape. It has been proved beyond a doubt that during the past five thousand years there has been no noticeable change in mankind.”

Other naturalists have also raised their voices against the Darwinian views.

In view of these facts how foolish appear the occasional essays of “Doctors” or “Professors” who feign learning by discussing “missing links” or suggesting that the little toes of human feet are becoming useless and will soon be “dropped by nature” as “monkey tails have already been dropped.” Have we not mummies well preserved nearly four thousand years old? Have we not life‑sized, nude statuary nearly as old? Are tails shown on any of these? Are their little toes anywise different from ours of today? Is not the whole tendency of all nature downward? With plants and the lower animals is not man’s wisdom and aid necessary to the maintenance of highest types? And with men is not the grace of God necessary to his uplift, and to hinder gross degeneracy such as we see in “Darkest Africa”? And is not this in accord with Scripture? (Rom. 1:21, 24, 28)

It is appropriate that the Lord’s people keep well in mind the caution bestowed on Timothy by the Apostle Paul: “O Timothy... avoid profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so‑called.” (1 Tim. 6:20) To see any truth clearly we must look from the standpoint of the Divine revelation. We must “See light in His light.” Then looking abroad through nature under the guidance of nature’s God, the effect will be to expand both heart and intellect, and to fill us with admiration and adoration as we catch panoramic glimpses of the glory, majesty and power of our Almighty Creator.

Evening and morning, Day Six, at its close, 42,000 years after “work” began, found the earth ready for man to subdue it, yet still, as a whole, unfit for him. Knowing in advance of His creature’s disobedience (and of His entire plan connected with His sentence of death, His redemption and the ultimate recovery from sin and death of all rightly exercised by their exper­iences), God did not wait the creation of man until the earth would all be ready for him, but merely prepared a Paradise, a garden in Eden, perfecting it in every way for the brief trial of the perfect pair, leaving to mankind, as convict laborers, the work of “sub­duing” the earth and at the same time gaining thereby valuable lessons and experiences.

THE SEVENTH EPOCH‑DAY OF THE CREATIVE WEEK

“And on the Seventh day God ended the work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

Noting the upward, progression sequence of the six days, and keeping in memory the fact that the number seven of itself implies completion and per­fection, we naturally would expect the Seventh Epoch‑day to be more marvelous than its predecessors. And so we find it: only that its important part is for a time – until the “due time” – shut to our mental eyes of understanding by the general statement that God rested on the seventh day from all His work. How strange that He should rest the creative work at a point where it seemed just ready for completion, as though a workman should prepare all the materials for a structure and then desist from further activities without accomplishing his original intentions!

But the whole matter opens grandly before us when we perceive that Yahweh God rested His work of creation, ceased to prosecute it, because in His wisdom He foresaw that His designs could best be executed by another means. God saw best to permit His creature Adam to exercise his free will and fall under temptation into sin and its legitimate penalty, death ‑ including a long period, 6,000 years of dying and battling, as a convict, with evil environment. God saw best to permit him thus as a convict to do a part of the subduing of the earth; that to bring it as a whole toward its foretold Paradisiac condition would be profitable to man under the circumstances; that it would be expedient that man realize the principles underlying Divine righteousness and the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and be thus prepared for the grace to be brought to the world in due time.

However, one of the chief reasons for Yahweh’s cessation of the creative work undoubtedly was that it might be accomplished by another ‑ by His Only Begotten ‑ in a manner that would not only glorify the Son, but glorify the Father also, by displaying the perfections of the Divine attributes as no other course could do. This was by the giving of His Son to be man’s redeemer – an exhibition not only of Divine Justice, which could by no means violate the decree that “the wages of sin is death,” but which simul­taneously illustrated Divine Love – compassion for His fallen creatures to the extent of the death of His Son on man’s behalf. Divine Wisdom and Power will also ultimately be exhibited in every feature of the arrangement when completed.

It may be suggested that for the Father to desist from the perfecting of the creative plan in order that the Son might do this work during the Millennium, by processes of restitution, would be no different from the previous creative operations, all of which were of the Father and by the Son – without whom was not anything made that was made. But we answer, no. The relationship of the Son to the work of restitution, with which this Seventh Epoch‑Day will close and bring terrestrial perfection, will be wholly different from any of His —previous works. In all the previous creations the Son simply acted for Yahweh, using powers and energies not in any sense His own; but in this grand work to come He will be using a power and authority that are His own – which cost Him 34 years of humiliation, culminating in His crucifixion. By that transaction, which the Father’s wisdom and love planned for Him, He buys the world, buys Father Adam and all his progeny, and his estate, the earth, with all his title to it as its monarch “in the likeness of God.” The Father delighted to honor the “First Begotten,” and therefore planned it thus, and rested, or ceased from creative processes, that the Son might thus honor Him and be honored by Him.

God rested, not in the sense of recuperating from weariness, but in the sense of ceasing to create. He beheld the ruin and falls of His noblest earthly creation through sin, yet put forth no power to stay the course of the death sentence and started no restitution procedures. Indeed, by the law which He imposed, He precluded any opportunity for His exercise of mercy and clemency toward Adam and his race, except through a ransomer. The penalty being death, and that without limit, everlasting death, “everlasting destruct­tion,” and it being impossible for God to lie, impossible for the Supreme Judge of the universe to reverse His own righteous decree, it was thus rendered impossible for the Creator to become directly the restorer of the race, or in any sense or degree to continue His creative work in the condemned man or in his estate, the earth.

Thus did Yahweh God manifest His confidence in His own great plan of the ages, and in His Only Begotten Son to whom He has committed its full accomplishment. This confidence of the Father in the Son is used by the Apostle as an illustration of how our faith should so grasp the Anointed One that we also can trust every interest and concern to Him, as respects ourselves and our dear friends and the world of mankind in general: the Apostle’s declaration is, “We who have believed do enter into rest... He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” Believers, like God, have perfect confidence in Christ’s ability and willingness to carry out all of Yahweh’s great projects in respect to our race, and therefore rest, not from physical weariness, but from concern, from anxiety, from any desire to take the matter out of Christ’s charge, or to attempt to secure the result by any other means.

If our Creator’s resting, or desisting from coming promptly to the relief of His fallen creatures, has in any degree the appearance of indifference or neglect, it was not really so, but merely the outworking of the wisest and best means for man’s assistance – through a Mediator. If it is suggested that the restitution work should have commenced sooner, we reply that the period of the reign of Sin and Death, 6,000 years, has been none too long for the bringing forth by births of a race sufficient in number to “fill the earth”; none too long to give all a lesson in the “exceeding sinfulness of sin” and the severe wages it pays; none too long to let men try their own devices for their own uplift and note their futility. Our Lord’s First Advent to provide the ransom price for the world so that He would have a just, equitable right to come again to bless, uplift and restore all who will accept His grace, although it was more than 4,000 years after the blight of sin and death entered, is, nevertheless, declared in Scripture to have been in God’s due time: “In due time God sent forth his Son.” Indeed, we see that it would not even then have been due time, except for the Divine purpose to call and gather and polish and make ready the elect Church to share with the Redeemer in the great Millennial work of blessing the world; God foreseeing that it would require this entire Gospel Age for this election, sent His Son for the redemptive work just long enough in advance to accomplish it.

THE PERIOD OF DIVINE REST, FROM CREATIVE AND ENERGIZING ACTIVITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE EARTH

How long is it since Yahweh ceased, or rested in, His creative work? We reply that it is now a little more than six thousand years. How long will His rest, or cessation, continue? We answer that it will continue throughout the Millennium, the thousand years of the reign of the great Mediator, effecting “the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21) Will the confidence of Yahweh in the outworking of His plan, which led Him thus to rest it all in the care of Jesus prove to have been fully justified? Will the conclusion be satisfactory? Yahweh God, who knows the end from the beginning, assures us that it will, and that the Son, at whose cost the plan is being executed, “shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” (Is. 53:11) Yea, all believers who are resting by faith in their Redeemer’s work – past and to come – may have full assurance of faith that “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath in reservation for those who love him,” specially for the Church; but also the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of love and mercy and restitution blessings, for all those of the non‑elect world, who in their Millennial day of grace shall heartily accept the wonderful Divine provisions on the Divine terms.

Six thousand years past and one thousand years future, seven thousand years of Yahweh’s “rest,” will carry us to the time when the Son’s Millennial reign shall cease because of having accomplished its design: the restitution of the willing and obedient of mankind to the Divine image, and the subjugation of the earth under man, as his estate, his kingdom. Then the Mediatorial throne and reign having served their purpose, and all corrupters of the earth having been destroyed, “the Son shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father,” by delivering it to mankind for whom it was originally designed, as it is written. (Matt. 25:31,34) “Then shall the King say unto them... Come, ye blessed [approved] of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” mundane creation. (1Cor 15:25-28)

It is the length of this Seventh Epoch‑Day, so distinctly marked by history and prophecy, which furnishes us the clue to the length of all the other epoch‑days of the creative Week. And the whole period of seven times seven thousand years, or forty‑nine thousand years, when complete, will lead up to and introduce the great Fiftieth, which we have already noted as prominent in the Scriptures, as mark­ing grand climaxes in the Divine Plan; Israel’s day Sabbaths culminating in 7x7=49, leading to and in­troducing the fiftieth, or Pentecost, with its rest of faith; their year Sabbaths 7x7=49, introducing the fif­tieth, or Jubilee, year; the still larger cycle of 50x50, marking the Millennium as Earth’s great Jubilee. And now, finally, we find the Sabbath, or seven day system, on a still larger scale measuring earth’s creation, from its inception to its perfection, to be 7 times 7,000 years – 49,000 years, ushering in the grand epoch when there shall be no more sighing, no more crying, no more pain and no more dying, because God’s work of creation shall then have been completed so far as this earth is concerned. No wonder that that date should be marked as a Jubilee date!

Continued to Part Three – “In The Beginning”

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╂We are not ignorant of the theory of a pre‑Adamite man and the attempt thus to account for the different races of the human family. But we stick to the Bible as God’s revelation and, hence, superior to all human conjectures. It declares the solidarity of the human family in no uncertain terms, saying: “God made of one blood all nations of men.” (Acts 17:26) And again that Adam was “the first man.” (1 Cor. 15:45,47) Again the story of the deluge is most explicit to the effect that only eight human beings were saved in the ark, and they, as Noah’s family, descended from Adam. The variety of human types, or races, must be accounted for along the lines of climate, customs, food, etc., and especially along the lines of the seclusion of the various peoples in various quarters from each other, by which peculiarities became fixed. This is illustrated by the fact that Europeans living for a long time amongst the people of India or China gain a measure of resemblance to their neighbors, while their children, born in those lands, bear a still stronger resemblance in skin and features – affected no doubt by the mother’s surroundings during the period of gestation. An illustration of such assimilation is furnished by the Chinese of one district, who identify themselves with the Israelites scattered by the troubles which closed the Jewish Age – about AD 70. These Jews have become so thoroughly Chinese as to be undistinguishable as Jews – the hardiest of races.

NO. 645 "IN THE BEGINNING" - PART ONE

Many are Yahweh’s agents, and innum­erable His agencies, connected with one or more features of His creation; but back of them all are His own creative wisdom and power. He alone is the Creator and as the Scriptures affirm, “All His work is perfect.” He may permit evil angels and men to pervert and misuse His perfect work; but he assures us that evil shall not for long be per­mit­­ted to blight and injury. Eventually He shall restrain and destroy evil, and we shall discern that he permitted it only to test, prove refine, polish and make His own holiness, gra­cious character and plan the more resplendent in the sight of all of His intelligent creatures.

When in Genesis we read, “In a beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” we are to remember that this beginning relates not to the universe, but only to our planet. Then it was that “the morning stars sang together” and all the angelic sons of God “shouted for joy” when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth and “made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness its swaddling band.” (Job 38:4‑11) But a still earlier beginning is men­tion­ed in the Bible; a beginning before the creation of those angelic sons of God. We read: “In a beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Logos was with the God and the Logos was a God: the same was in the begin­ning with the God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1‑3) Since Yahweh Him­self is from everlasting to everlasting, He had no begin­­ning: the “Only Begotten” has the high dis­­­tinc­tion above all others of being “The be­ginning of the creation of God”, “firstborn of every creature.” (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15) Other begin­nings came in turn as the various angelic orders were one by one created; and these beginnings were in the past, so that their hosts could shout for joy when our earth’s creations, related in Genesis, had their beginning.

Examining the Genesis expressions cri­tical­ly, we see that a distinction is made between creation of the heaven and the earth (v. 1) and the subsequent regulations, or order­ing of these, and the further creations of vegetable and animal life. It is these subsequent operations that are describ­ed as the Divine work of six epochal days. V. 2 tells us that in the very beginning of the first day of that creative week the earth was, though with­out form (order), and void (empty), waste, empty and dark. This im­portant item should be distinctly noted. If recognized, it at once cor­rob­orates the testi­mony of geology thus far; and, as we shall be obliged to dispute the deductions of geologists on some points, it is well that we promptly acknowl­edge and dis­miss whatever does not need to be con­tended for in defense of the Bible. The Bible does not say how long a period elapsed between the beginning when God creat­ed the heaven and the earth, and the beginning of the creative week used in perfecting it for man: nor do geologists agree amongst themselves as to the per­iod of this interval; a few extremists indulge in specula­tions of millions of years.

Coming then to the creative period: the ordering of affairs in our heaven and earth in preparation of the Paradise of God for man’s everlasting home; we note that these “days” are nowhere declared to be twenty‑four‑hour days. Hence, we are not obliged thus to limit them. We find in the Bible that the word day stands for an epoch, or period. The fact that it is most fre­quently used in reference to a 24-hour period matters nothing, so long as we have the record of the forty years day of temptation in the wil­derness.(Ps. 95:8‑10),  and some­times a “day” or “time” represents a year period (Num. 14:33, 34; Ezek. 4:1‑8), and also the Apostle’s statement, “A day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” (2 Pet. 3:8) Most assuredly these epoch‑days were not sun days; for the record is that the sun was not visible until the fourth day, the fourth epoch.

We believe that although the length of these epoch‑days is not indicated, we will be justified to assume they were uniform periods, because of close identity as members of the one creative week. Hence, if we can gain reasonable proof of the length of one of these days, we will be fully justified in assuming that the others were of the same duration. We do then; find satisfactory evi­dence that one of these creative “days” was a period of seven thousand years and hence, that the entire creative week would be 7,000 x 7 = 49,000 years. And although this period is infini­tesimal when compared with some geological guesses, it is we believe, quite reasonably ample for the work represented as being accomplished there­in, the ordering and filling of the earth which already “was” in existence, but “without form (order), and void (empty).”

Professor James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), commenting on the date from which scien­tists draws their conjectures, and the method of rec­koning employed by them, says:

 “In calculations of elapsed time from the thickness of formations there is always great uncer­tainty, arising from the dependence of this thickness on a progressing subsidence [reg­ular sinking of the land]. In estimates made from al­luvial deposits [soil depos­ited from water], when the data are based on the thickness of the ac­cumulations in a given number of years – say the last 2,000 years, this source of doubt affects the whole calculation from its foundation and renders it almost, if not quite, worthless... When the estimate... is based on the amount of detritus [fine scouring] discharged by a stream it is of more value; but even here there is a source of great doubt.”

Let us examine the matter from the stand­point of the Bible, as we believe it to be the Divine revelation, and are fully persuaded that whatever discrepancies may be found between the Bible testi­mony and the guesses of geologists are the errors of the latter, whose philo­sophies have not yet reached a thorough­ly scientific basis or develop­ment.

Nor is it necessary to suppose that the writer of Genesis knew all about the matter he recorded, the length of those days and their pre­­cise results. We accept the Genesis account as a part of the great Divine Revelation – The Bible – and we find its sublime statement in few sen­tences most remarkably corrob­orated by the most critical scientific researches. Con­trarily, none of the “religious books” of the heathen contain any­thing but absurd statements on this subject.

There is grandeur of simplicity in that opening statement of revelation, “In the begin­ning God created.” It answers the first inquiry of reason, from whence came I, and to whom am I responsible? It is unfortunate indeed that some of the bright­est minds of our bright day have been turned from this thought of an intelligent Creator to the recognition of a blind force operating under a law of evolution and survival of the fittest. And, alas; this theory has not only found general acceptance in the highest institu­tions of learning, but is gradually being in­corporated into the text­books of our common schools. God’s in­spired Word is the only true science we have and the Bible says God created the first man on earth, but the Bible is not al­lowed to be taught in the schools.

There now are growing numbers of intel­ligent Creator and Bible deniers. Best­selling books on the subject are blatantly and gleefully flaunted. Science so-called is now the religion du jour. Even the devout, are undermining the fabric of their own faith, as well as that of others, when they claim that creation is merely the reign of Natural Law. Not to go further back, they surmise that our sun ejected immense volumes of gases which finally became consol­­idated, forming our earth.

By and by protoplasm formed, a small maggot, a microbe, got a start they know not how. They must concede a Divine power necessary to give even this small start of life; but they are industriously looking for some Natural Law on this also, so as to have no need at all for a God‑Creator. It is claimed that this discovery is now almost accomplished. These “savants” think and talk about Nature as instead of God,  her works, her laws, her retributions, etc., a blind and deaf God indeed!

These so-called scientists claim that un­­der Nature’s regulations protoplasm evolv­­ed mi­crobe, or maggot, which squirm­ed and twisted and repro­duced its own species, and then finding use for a tail, developed one. Later on, one of its still more intelligent offspring concluded that oars, or fins, would be useful, and develop­ed them. An­other, later on, got chased by a hungry brother and, jumping clear out of the water, got the idea that the fins further developed would be wings, and liked the new style, so that he stayed out of the water, and then decided that legs and toes would be a convenience and developed them. Others of the family followed other “notions,” of which they seemingly had an inexhaust­ible sup­ply, as evidenced by the great variety of animals we see about us. However, in due time one of these des­cen­dants of the first maggot which had reached the monkey degree of develop­ment, got a noble ideal before his mind: he said to himself, I will discard my tail, and cease using my hands as feet, and will shed my coat of hair, and will develop a nose and a forehead and a brain with moral and reflective organs. I will wear tailor made clothing and a high silk hat, and call myself Darwin, LL.D., and write a record of my evolution.

The devout child of God who has confidence in a personal Creator, and who is not ready hastily to discard the Bible as His revel­ation, will soon be able to see the sophistry of Darwin’s theory. It is not suf­ficient that Mr. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) conceived his “theory” of natural selection in 1838 and wrote it up in 1858; should note that amongst his pigeons he was able to develop certain breeds with peculiar fea­tures. Others have done the same with poultry, dogs, horses, etc., and florists have experi­mented upon flowers and shrubs, etc., with similar results. The new thing with Mr. Darwin was the theory that all forms of life were evolved from a common beginning.

But Mr. Darwin’s experiences with his pi­geons, like those of every other fancy breeder, must only have cor­rob­orated the Bible statement, that God created every creature after its kind. There are wonderful possibilities of variety in each kind; but kinds cannot be mixed nor new kinds formed. The nearest approach is called “mule‑in” and all know that new species thus formed lack ability to perpet­uate their kind. Mr. Dar­win must have noted, as others have done, that his “fancy” pigeons needed to be kept carefully separate from others of their kind, else they would speedily de­ter­i­o­rate to the common level. But in nature we see the various species, “each after its kind,” entirely separate from each other, and kept so without any artificial fencing, etc., – kept so by the law of their Creator. As believers in the personal Creator, we may rest assured that human speculation has missed the truth to the extent that it has ignored our God, His Wisdom and His Power, as outlined in Genesis.

Nothing, perhaps, has done more to becloud and undermine faith in God as the Creator and in the Genesis account as His revelation, than has the error of under­standing the epoch‑days of Genesis to be twenty‑four‑hour days. The various strati­fi­­cations of rock and clay prove beyond all controversy that long periods were con­­­sumed in the mighty changes they repre­­­­sent. And when we find that the Bible teaches an epoch‑day we are prepar­ed to hear the rocks giving testi­mony in exact accord with the Bible record, and our faith in the latter is greatly streng­thened; we feel that we are not trusting to our own or other men’s guesses, but to the Word of the Creator, abundantly attested by the facts of nature.

A THEORY OF COSMOGONY

For the benefit of some of our readers, we will briefly state one of the views of the creative period, known as “The Valian Theory,” or “Canopy Theory,” which specially appeals to the author; subsequently we will endeavor to trace a harmony between this view and the narrative of Genesis 1:1 – 2:3.

Starting with the condition men­tioned in Gen. 1:2, “Now the earth was,” waste and empty and dark, the wise will not attempt to guess that which God has not revealed respecting how He pre­viously gathered together earth’s atoms. Things unrevealed belong to God, and we do well to wait patiently for His further revelations in due time. Taking pick and shovel and a critical eye, man has found that the earth’s crust is composed of various layers, or strata, one over the other, all of which give evidence of having once been soft and moist, except the basic rocks upon which these layers, or strata, are with more or less regularity built. These basic rocks in­dicate clearly that they were once soft and fluid from intense heat; and scientists generally agree that not a great way below the “crust” the earth is still hot and molten.

Since these basic, igneous rocks – granite, basalt, etc. – must at one time have been so hot as to drive out of them all combustible elements, and since they are the bottom rocks, we are safe in concluding that there was a period when the whole earth was at a white heat. At that time, it is reasoned, water and minerals (now found in the upper layers, or strata, laid down in water) must have been driven off as gases; and must have constituted an impenetrable canopy ex­tend­ing for miles around the earth in every direction. The motion of the earth upon its axis would extend to these gases surrounding it, and the effect would be to concentrate them, more particularly over the earth’s equator. As the earth cooled these would cool, and thus be resolved from gases into solids and liquids, the weightier minerals grav­itating in strata toward the bottom. The earth at that period probably resembled the present appearance of Saturn with his “rings.”

As the cooling process advanced, these detached and distant rings would gradually acquire a different rotative motion from that of the earth, and thus gravitate closer and closer to her. One after another these were precipitated upon the earth’s surface. After the formation of the “firmament,” or “ex­panse,” or “atmos­phere,” these deluges from descending “rings” would naturally reach the earth from the direction of the two poles, where there would be least resistance, because farthest from the equator, the center of the centrifugal force of the earth’s motion. The breaking down of these “rings,” long periods apart, furnished numerous deluges, and piled strata upon strata over the earth’s surface. The rush of waters from the poles to­ward the equator would distribute variously the sand and mud and minerals, the water strongly mineralized thus covering the entire surface of the earth, just as described at the beginning of the narrative of Genesis.

During each of these long “days,” of seven thousand years each, a certain work progressed, as told in Genesis: each possibly ending with a deluge which worked radical changes and prepared the way for still further steps of creation and preparation for man. This Valian theory assumes that the last of these “rings” was freest from minerals and all im­purities, pure water; that it had not yet broken and come down in the day of Adam’s creation, but that it completely over­spread the earth as a translucent veil above the atmos­phere. It served, as does the whitened glass of a hot‑house, to equalize the temperature so that the cli­mate at the poles would be little, if any, different from that at the equator. Under such equable con­ditions, tropical plants would grow everywhere, as geol­ogy shows that they did; and storms which result from rapid changes of tem­perature must then have been un­known; and for similar reasons there could then have been no rain.

The Scriptural account agrees with this; declaring that there was no rain on the earth until the deluge; that vegetation was watered by a mist raising from the earth a moist, or humid, hot‑house‑like condition. (Gen. 2:5, 6) Following the deluge in Noah’s day there were great changes, accompanied by a great short­ening of the span of human life. With the breaking of the watery veil the hot‑house con­dition ceased: the equato­rial path of the sun became hotter, while at the poles the change must have been terrific; an almost instan­taneous transition from a hot‑house temp­erature to arctic coldness.

Corroboration of this sudden change of temperature has been found in the arctic region: Two complete mastodons have been found em­bedded in clear, solid ice which evidently froze them in quickly. Tons of ele­phant tusks have been found in the same frozen Siberia, too inhospitably cold within the range of history for elephants, mastodons, etc. An antelope was found similarly embedded in a huge block of ice in that arctic reg­­ion. That it was suddenly over­whelmed is clearly demon­strated by the fact that grass was found in its stomach undi­gested, indicating that the animal had eaten it only a few minutes before being frozen to death; and that in a location where no grass could now grow.

This sudden downpour of water, the sudden breaking of the envelope which held the warmth of the earth and sun equably produced the great ice‑fields and ice‑mountains of the arctic regions, from which every year hundreds of icebergs break loose and float southward toward the equator. So far as we can judge, this has been the procedure for centuries, but is continually growing less. Here we see the Ice Age, or Glacial Period, of the geologists, when great icebergs, borne by swift currents, cut deep crevasses throughout North America, distinctly traceable in the hills; north­western Europe, too, bears the same testimony in its hills. But this is not true in southeastern Europe, Armenia and vicinity, the cradle of our race. Where also the ark was built, and near which, on Mount Ararat, it finally rested. The testimony of Prof. Wright and Sir J. W. Dawson LL.D., FRS, is that in the vicinity of Arabia a general sinking of the earth and a subsequent rise occurred. The testimony in general would seem to imply that the ark floated in a comparatively quiet eddy, aside from the general rush of the waters. This is indicated by the exceedingly heavy alluvial deposit declared to be present in that entire region. Evidently the whole earth was deluged by waters from the North and South Poles, while the cradle of the race was specially dealt with by first depressing, and then at the proper time elevating it. On this, note the words of the celebrated geologist, Prof. G. F. Wright, of Oberlin, Ohio College, as reported in the New York Journal, March 30, 1901, as follows:—

THE FLOOD CORROBORATED

“Prof. George Frederick Wright, of Oberlin Col­lege, a distinguished geologist, has returned from Europe. He wrote ‘The Ice of North America’ and other geological works, studying and describing the glacial period. He has been on a scientific tour around the globe. He passed most of his time studying the geological formations and signs in Siberia, although his explorations took him to other parts of Asia and to Africa.

“Prof. Wright’s main object was to answer, if possible, a long‑disputed question among geologists: namely, whether Siberia had ever been covered with ice, as North America and parts of Europe had been, during the glacial period.

“A great many geologists, including many eminent Russian savants, believe Siberia was covered with ice.

“As the result of his present studies, Prof. Wright firmly believes that, at the remote time that North America was covered with ice, Siberia was covered with water [ice].

“And the water and the ice were practically phases of the Biblical flood.

“First read a description of the flood in Genesis, much abbreviated:

“‘And the flood was forty days upon the earth and the waters increased and bore up the ark and it was lifted up above the earth.

“‘And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth: and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered.

“‘Fifteen cubits upward did the waters pre­vail and the mountains were covered.

“‘All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died... And Noah only remained alive and those that were with him in the ark.

“‘And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.’ (Gen. 7:17-24)

“Now hear what Prof. Wright is quoted as saying:

“‘I found no sign of glacial phenomena south of the 56th degree. North of that I did not go, but from other things I am convinced that the land was covered with ice, as was our own, where signs of it are now found as far south as New York.

“‘We did not find indications of an extensive subsidence of that entire region, which puts a new light on everything here.

“‘At Trebizond, on the shore of the Black Sea, there was evidence of a depression of 700 feet. This was shown by gravel deposits on the hills.

“‘In the center of Turkestan the waters reached their greatest height, for there we found these deposits over 2,000 feet above the sea level.

“‘Southern Russia is covered with the same black earth deposit that we found in Turkestan.

“‘There were still other evidences of the waters having covered this portion of the globe. One of these is the presence yet of seals in Lake Baikal, in Siberia, 1,600 feet above sea level. The seals which we found are of the Arctic species, and are the same species as those found in the Caspian Sea.

“‘The only theory, therefore, is that they were caught there when the waters receded. Perhaps the most wonderful discovery of all was at the town of Kief, on the Nippur River, where stone implements were found fifty‑three feet below the black earth deposit, showing that the water came there after the age of man.

“‘This enabled us, therefore, to determine the age of this depression. It shows that since man came there, there has been a depression of 750 feet at Trebizond, and in Southern Turkestan the waters were over 2,000 feet deep. The imple­ments found were such as those made in North America before the glacial period, which gives good ground for believing that the depression was made there when the glacial avalanche occurred here.

“‘In fact, it was, practically, the flood.’”

Knowing the end from the beginning, Yahweh so timed the introduction of man upon the earth that the last of the rings came down in a deluge just at the proper time to destroy the corrupted race in Noah’s day, and thus to intro­duce the present dispensation, known in the Scriptures as “this present evil world.” The removal of the watery envelope not only gave changing seasons of summer and winter, and opened the way for violent storms, but it also made possible the rainbow, which was first seen after the flood, because previously the direct rays of the sun could not so penetrate the watery canopy as to give the rainbow effect. (Gen. 9:12‑17)

Since writing the foregoing, we clipped from the Scientific American the following suc­cinct statement from Prof. Vail’s own pen:

THAT FROZEN MAMMOTH

“To the Editor of the Scientific American:

“I have read with great interest in your issue of April 12 the note on the recent discovery of the body of a mammoth, in cold storage, by Dr. Herz, in the ice‑bound region of Eastern Siberia. This, it seems to me, is more than a ‘Rosetta Stone’ in the path of the geologist. It offers the strongest testimony in support of the claim that all the glacial epochs and all the deluges the earth ever saw were caused by the progressive and successive decline of primitive earth vapors, lingering about our planet as the cloud vapors of the planets Jupiter and Saturn linger about those bodies today.

“Allow me to suggest to my brother geol­ogists that remnants of the terrestrial watery vapors may have revolved about the earth as a Jupiter‑like canopy, even down to very recent geologic times. Such vapors must fall chiefly in polar lands, through the channel of least resist­ance and greatest attraction, and certainly as vast avalanches of tellurio‑cosmic snows. Then, too, such a canopy, or world‑roof, must have tem­pered the climate up to the poles, and thus af­forded pasturage to the mammoth and his con­geners of the Arctic world, which made a greenhouse earth under a greenhouse roof. If this be admitted, we can place no limits to the mag­nitude and efficiency of canopy avalanches to desolate a world of exuberant life. It seems that Dr. Herz’s mammoth, like many others found buried in glacier ice, with their food undigested in their stomachs, and proves that it was sud­denly overtaken with a crushing fall of snow. In this case, with grass in its mouth unmasticated, it tells an unerring tale of death in a snowy grave. If this be conceded, we have what may have been an all‑competent source of glacial snows, and we may gladly escape, the un-philosophical altern­ative that the earth grew cold in order to get its casement of snow, while, as I see it, it got its snows and grew cold.

“During the igneous age the oceans went to the skies, along with a measureless fund of mineral and metallic sublimations; and if we concede these vapors formed into an annular system, and returned during the ages in grand installments, some of them lingering even down to the age of man, we may explain many things that are dark and perplexing today.

“As far back as 1874 I published some of these thoughts in pamphlet form, and it is with the hope that the thinkers of this twentieth century will look after them that I again call up the ‘Canopy Theory.’ Isaac N. Vail”

THE CREATIVE WEEK

With this general view of creation before our minds, let us now turn to the Genesis account, and endeavor to harmonize these conjectures with its statements. First of all we notice that the Creative Week is divided into four parts: (1) Two days, or epochs (in our reckoning 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years), were devoted to the ordering of the earth prep­aratory for animal life. (2) The next two days, or epochs (in our reckoning another 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years additional), were devoted to bringing forward vege­tation and the lowest forms of life, shell‑fish, etc., and laying down lime­stone, coal and other minerals. (3) The next two epoch‑days (in our reckoning 2 x 7,000 = 14,000 years) brought forward living creatures that move in the sea and on the land, vegetation, etc., still progressing, and all preparing for the introduction of man, the earthly image of his Creator, “crowned with glory and honor,” to be the king of earth. (4) Man’s creation, the final work, came in the close of the sixth day, or epoch, and the beginning of the seventh: as it is written, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He made, and He rested.”

TWO LOYAL TESTIMONIES

Professor Silliman declares: “Every great feature in the structure of the planet corresponds with the order of events narrated in the sacred history... This history [the Bible] furnishes a record important alike to philosophy and religion; and we find in the planet itself the proof that the [Bible] record is true.”

Referring to the account of Creation in Genesis, Prof. Dana declares: “In this succession we observe not merely an order of events, like that deduced from science; but there is a system in the arrangement and a far‑reaching prophecy to which philosophy could not have attained, however instructed.” He adds further: “No human mind was witness of the events; and no such mind in the early age of the world, unless gifted with superhuman intelligence, could have contrived such a scheme, or would have placed the creation of the sun, the source of light to the earth, so long after the creation of light, even on the fourth day; and what is equally singular, between the creation of plants and that of animals, when so important to both; and none could have reached into the depths of philosophy exhibited in the whole plan.”

THE FIRST CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And the spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.”

The nature and physical cause of light is as yet but imperfectly comprehended; no satis­factory solution of the query, what is light has yet to appear. We do know, however, that it is a prime essential throughout nature; and we are not surprised to find it first in the divine order when the time came for divine energy to operate upon the waste and empty earth to prepare it for man. The nature of the divine energy represented by “brooding” would seem to be vitalizing, possibly electrical energies and lights such as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Or, possibly the energy brought down some of the heavy rings of aqueous and mineral matter, and thus the light and darkness, day and night, became disting­uishable, though neither stars nor moon nor sun were in the slightest degree dis­cernible through the heavy rings, or swaddling bands, which still enveloped the earth.

“Evening and morning of Day One” as with the Hebrew solar days, so also with these epoch‑days, the evening came first, gradually ac­complishing the divine purpose to its com­pletion, when another 7,000 year day, appor­tioned to another work, would begin darkly, and prog­ress to perfection. This period, or “day,” is scien­tifically described as Azoic, or lifeless

THE SECOND CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And God said, let there be an ‘expanse’ [firmament, atmosphere] in the midst [between] the waters; and let it divide waters from waters. Thus God divided the waters under the atmosphere from the waters above the atmosphere. And God called the firmament [expanse, or atmosphere] heaven.”

This second epoch‑day of 7,000 years was wholly devoted to the production of an atmos­phere. It was probably developed in a perfectly natural way, as are most of God’s wonderful works, though none the less of His devising, ordering, creating.

The fall of the “ring” of water and minerals, which enabled light to penetrate through to the earth during the first epoch‑day, reaching the still heated earth and its boiling and steaming surface waters, would produce various gases which, rising, would con­sti­­tute a cushion, or firma­ment, or atmos­phere, all around the earth, and tend to hold up the remaining waters of the “rings” off from the period; but geology objects to this, claiming earth. This “day,” so far as Scriptures show, would also belong to the Azoic, or lifeless, that the rocks appropriate to this time show worm trails and immense quan­tities of tiny shell‑fish, the remains of which are eviden­ced in the great beds of limestone. They denominate this the Paleozoic Age of first life the Silurian period. This is not at variance with the Biblical account, which mere­ly ignores these lowest forms of life.

Evening and morning – Day Two – ended with the full accomplishment of the divine intention respecting it; the separation of the clouds and vapors, etc., from the surface waters by an atmos­phere.

THE THIRD CREATIVE EPOCH‑DAY

“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas. And this being accomplished and approved of God, He said; Let the earth bring forth tender grass, and herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth: and it was so.”

Geology fully corroborates this record. It points out to us that, as the earth’s crust cooled, the weight of the waters would tend to make it kink and buckle, some parts being de­pres­sed became the depths of the seas, other por­tions forced up constituted mountain ranges. This was not sudden, but gradual, one range following another. We are not to suppose that all these changes took place even in the seven thousand years of this third epoch‑day; but, rather, that it merely witnessed the begin­ning of the work necessary as preparatory to the beginning of vegetation; for evi­dently geolo­gy is correct in claim­­­ing that some great changes of this nature are of comparatively recent date. Even within a century we have had small examples of this power: and we shall not be surprised if the years to come shall give us further paroxysms of nature; for we are in another transition period, the opening of the Millennial Age, for which changed conditions are requisite.

As the waters drained off into the seas, vege­tation sprang forth each after its own class or kind, with seed in itself to reproduce its own kind only. This matter is so fixed by the laws of the Creator that although horticulture can and does do much to give variety in perfection, yet it cannot change the kind. The different families of vegetables will no more unite and blend than will the various animal families. This shows design, not a Creator only, but an intelligent one.

Geology agrees that vegetation preceded the higher forms of animal life. It agrees, too, that in this early period vegetation was extremely rank; that mosses and ferns and vines grew immensely larger and more rapidly then than now, because the atmosphere was extreme­ly full of carbonic and nitrogenous gases; so full of them that breathing animals could not then have flourished. Plants, which now grow only a few inches or a few feet high even at the equator, then, attained a growth of forty to eighty feet, and sometimes two or three feet in diameter, as is demon­strated by fos­sil remains. Under the conditions known to have then obtained, their growth would not only be immense, but must also have been very rapid.

At this period, geologists claim, our coal beds were formed: plants and mosses, having a great affinity for carbonic acid gas, stored up within themselves the carbon, forming coal, pre­par­ing thus our present coal deposits while purifying the atmosphere for the animal life of the later epoch‑days. These vast peat‑bogs and moss beds, in turn, were covered over by sand, clay, etc., washed over them by further up­heavals and depressions of the earth’s surface, by tidal waves and by other descending “rings” of the waters above the firm­­a­ment. Practically the same pro­cedure must have been oft re­peated, too; for we find coal‑beds one above another with various strata of clay, sand, limestone, etc., between.

Evening and morning, the third 7,000 year epoch‑day, accomplished its part in preparing the world, according to the divine design. In ge­o­logy it is styled the Carboniferous era, because of its deposits of coal, oil, etc.

 The Fourth Creative Epoch-Day - Continued to No. 646 “In The Beginning”

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the word of truth

The word of truth is like a stained-glass window rare

We stand outside and gaze, but see no beauty there,

No fair design, naught but confusion we behold,

“Tis only from within the glory will unfold

And all who fain would enter there the knee must bow

In deep humility, But one inside the light

Of day streams through and makes each color heavenly bright,

The Master’s great design we see, our hands we raise

In reverent ecstasy of wonder, love and praise!

NO. 644 THE TRINITY

“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” —1 John 5:7,8 KJV

Quoted above are the two verses of The King James English version that are most often quoted as proof of the trinity. It is never quoted by true Bible scholars because they know several words were added in the seventh century, which are not found in any New Testament manuscript of earlier date. The added words make these verses as a whole — well – absurd.

These words should be stroked through  and noted as Spurious in the King James Version as follows in verse seven: “the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one”; and verse eight, “and there are three that bear witness in earth.”

We love the King James Version in part because of its beautifully poetic language. However like all translations it is not “The Holy Scriptures” and like others it has translation mistakes.

Tradition attributes the poetry in part to William Shakespeare. It is said the scholars appointed by King James to translate the “orig­inal” language were told to consult with the poet-play­wright for a memor­able and poetic English Bible. The king was impressed with Shakespeare and had designated him as one of “The King’s Men.” There may be some validity to Shakespeare’s contributions, as words from his couplets are some­times mistakenly quoted as from the Bible and vice versa.

Later English translations did not make as many errors. The groups of King James trans­lators had only eight original language manu­scripts from which to work. Now there are more than seven hundred identified and validated.

But be that as it may, errors in some instances were incorporated in the little books by well-meaning editors down through the years. So all the words found in the Scriptures was not inspired.

Yahweh overruled this so that seekers of the Truth would have to rightfully divide the word and seek here a little and there at little to find it and to prove themselves worthy.

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  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” —2 Tim 3:16,17 KJV. Well known verses much quoted and commented upon.

The American Standard Version of these scriptures omits the first “is” in verse 16. See what difference it makes:

“Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for cor­rection, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.”

 Benjamin Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott is even better. He gives the corresponding English words under and in the order of each of the Greek words and to the right,  gives his version of the correct English:

All Scripture, divinely inspired, is indeed profitable for Teaching, for Conviction, for correction, for that Discipline which is in Righteousness; so that the Man of God may be complete, thoroughly fitted for every good Work. 

After thus eliminating these spurious additions, and because no Scripture can be found to give credence to the “doctrine” of the trinity, then you will be able to read that portion of the Word of God in its purity and simplicity. Then the “mystery” part will be gone from it forever. It will be in full accord with the entire Bible in declaring,

“To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by him.” —1Cor. 8:6.

How absurd the passages of 1John 5:7, 8 as it reads in our Common Version, stating that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are bearing witness in Heaven that Jesus is the Son of God?

The pure Word of God presents simply and beautifully the fact that the great Creator, the Father of all mercies is God, the Creator of all things; and that He has an Only Begotten Son who is yet to be the Savior or Deliverer of the willing of Adam’s entire race who accept the grace of God provided.

The trinity in nominal Christian doctrine is seen as God the Father; the son of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, which appears as “the Holy Ghost” in 88 verses in the King James translation of the New Testament. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity, one of the most important in mainstream Christian faith, teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons. It is the featured item of the catechisms in every denomination from the mother of harlots, the Papal System to the harlot daughters. 

How did it start

Roman emperors had always held the notion that affiliation with some relig­ion was essential to their success in ruling. So, when the Christian church had increased in sufficient numbers, Constantine considered it good politics to join with them.

Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born in the Roman province of Moesia (later Serbia) about AD 280. His father, Constantius, the northern ruler under Diocletian, was a member of an important Roman family though his mother, Helena, was the daughter of an inn­keeper.

 This is the St. Helena who became a Christian in AD 313 and is credited by tradition as having found the relic of the True Cross near Calvary. She is also said to have identified the location of the Holy Sepulcher. Popular tradition also has it that she was British and that she converted her son.

In AD 293 the emperor Diocletian made Constantius I Caesar, or emperor, of Gaul and Britain, but young Constantine was kept at the court of Galerius, the Eastern emperor, virtually as a hostage. He escaped in 305 and joined his father, who died the next year. Immediately the army hailed Constantine as Caesar.

For five years Constantine was content with ruling Gaul. Then he invaded Italy and made straight for Rome. Maxentius, the emperor of Rome, came out of the city with his army and met Constantine at the Milvian Bridge. Constantine swept the enemy into the Tiber River, and Maxentius was drowned

 Constantine then entered Rome as sole master of the Western half of the empire. In AD 313 he issued the Edict of Milan, which gave the Christians the right to practice their religion openly. By 323 Constantine had brought the entire Roman world under his rule.

 At the time, a quarrel, growing more and more vitriolic, was threatening to split the Christian church into two camps. Arius, an elder or Bishop of the church at Alexandra, maintained that Christ was not the equal of the Father but was created by Him. Others claimed that the Father and Son, though distinct, were equal, and of the same substance.

To settle the matter, Constantine called together an ecumenical (worldwide) council of bishops at Nicaea, in Asia Minor, in 325. As Pontifex Maximus, he himself ran the meeting.

 Athanasius, secretary to the bishop of Alexandria and 30 years old at the time, distinguished himself by an eloquent opposition to Arius and an overwhelming majority con­demned the Arian view as heresy.

As any good politician would do, Constantine sided with the majority.  Arius was banned from the empire along with the two bishops who sided with him to Illyricum (eastern Yugoslavia) on the Adriatic Sea. He slipped away to North Africa and established a flour­ishing church. His followers were called Arians, Arius was called heretic and the Catholics still do to this day. The Council drew up the Nicene Creed, which included the trinity and it is still accepted as the basic doctrine of most nominal churches.

Let no one delude you by any means, because the Apostasy must come first, and there must be revealed That Man Of Sin, That Son Of Destruction, the Opponent, who indeed lifts himself above everything called Divinity or Majesty; so as to seat himself in the Temple of God, exhibiting himself That he is a God  .—2 Thes. 2:3-4 Dia.

OUR GOD IS ONE

“To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” —1 Cor 8:6

Notwithstanding the widespread acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, we hold closely to the Bible teaching that there is but one God. Jesus called God his Father, and spoke of himself as the Son of God. A father is a life-giver. A son is an offspring, one who receives life from a father. This distinction implies that the father existed first. And so Jesus says of himself, “I proceeded forth and came from God.” —John 8:42. (The Diaglott add to the above, “He sent me.”)

The clear teachings of the Bible, that Jesus in his pre-human condition was the Logos – the Word, or message from the Father; and that as such he was called a god, but not The God – who is the Father.

On so important a question as the equality of the Father and the Son, we must not rely upon any man’s testimony except that of the inspired writers of the Scriptures. We should accept no dictum save that of the divine Word itself. Let us ask Jesus. He replies, “My Father is greater than all; I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and to your God;” this is life eternal; that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” —John 14:28; 5:30; 10:29; l7:3; 20:17

We point out that Jesus was the first of God’s creatures, the only being directly created by Yahweh; and that Yahweh did all subsequent creating through the Son. Thus we read that Jesus was “the beginning of the creation of God,” “the first-born of every creature,” “the Alpha and The Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last of the Father’s direct creation. (Revelation 3:14; 22:13; Colossians 1:15)

The Apostle John declares (John 1:1-3), “In the beginning [not Yahweh’s beginning, for he had no beginning; but the world’s beginning or man’s beginning] was the Word [the Logos], and the Word was with the God and the Word was a god. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” 

Could this subject be made plainer? Why confuse ourselves needlessly? Why fight against the plain statements of God’s Word to uphold a theory which is without Biblical support and was formulated in the dark ages?

We teach, as does the Bible, that the Lord Jesus came from heaven to earth; was born of a virgin mother; that he, “the Logos, was made flesh and dwelt among us,” and his disciples “beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!” (John 1:14) Jesus had not two natures, but one nature, having changed the higher, the spiritual nature, for the human nature. As the Scriptures declare, “He who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) And as he grew to manhood he grew in favor with God and men. He was perfect – “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” —Luke 2:52; Hebrews 7:26.

JESUS BECAME A NEW CREATURE

At thirty years of age, this Perfect One, having reached the perfection of manhood according to the law consecrated, or devoted, his life to God as the great sacrifice for human sin, fulfilling the Scriptures, “a body hast thou pre­pared me,” “for the suffering of death.” (Hebrews 10:5; 2:9) That consecrated sacrifice of the Man Jesus God accepted, indicating his acceptance by the anointing of Jesus with the Holy Spirit at Jordan. Thenceforth he was dual – a perfect human body with a newly begotten mind – spirit-begotten. He then, as a new crea­ture, was to complete the sacrifice of his flesh; and his new mind – the new creature – was to go on to perfection.

He prayed that the Father would restore him to the glory which he had with the Father “before the world was.” (John l7:5) In his humility he asked no higher glory. His sacrifice was finished at Calvary, and his new mind, his spirit-begotten new nature was, in the resur­rection, granted the new body which the Father had promised. “Sown in dishonor,” he was “raised in glory”; “sown in weakness,” he was “raised in power” sown a natural body,” he was “raised a spiritual body.” —l Corinthians 15:43, 44.

Our Lord was not originally created in the way the angels were; for he was the direct creation of the Father, whereas the angels were the indirect creations of God, through the Son. St. Paul declares that all things are of the Father, and all things are through, by the Son. (1 Corinthians 8:6) He was the Father’s honored agent in all other works of creation.

Our Lord Jesus became the Christ, the Anointed, when he received the anointing of the holy Spirit at his baptism. Ile was perfected as the Christ at his resurrection. He was a god (Mighty One) before he came into the world; he also was a god from the time he received the begetting of the Holy Spirit at Jordan; and he is still a god, set down at the right hand of the Father. But he is not The God; he never was and never will be. Note again his own words after his resurrection, when speaking to Mary Magdalene: “I ascend to mv Father and your Father; to my God and your God.” (John 20:17) Hear what St. Paul says, “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things… and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by [or through] whom are all things.” (l Corinthians 8:6) Again, in referring to Yahweh, the Apostle calls him, “God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”; and again, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” —2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 1:3, 17.

A COMMON, BUT UNSCRIPTURAL VIEW

The Lord Jesus is not the second person of a triune God. The word “triune” is unscriptural; so is the thought. St. Paul sets the matter straight in his words quoted above. He also declares that Jesus “thought not of robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.”  No translation of this passage (Philippians 2:6), save in our Common Version gives the thought that Jesus considered himself equal to God the Father, but all are to the contrary of this. Our Common Version rendering is evidently a mistranslation. The entire argument of the Apostle shows that Christ humiliated himself, not that he claimed equality with Yahweh!

“Who though being in God’s form, yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God. — Philippians 2:6 (Diaglott)

The word “trinity” is not found in the Bible. The only text which seems in any way to suggest a trinity is acknowledged even by trinitarians themselves to be a forgery, incorporated into the text about the fifth century This interpolation forms apart of 1 John 5:7, 8. We quote the passage with the interpolated words enclosed in brackets: “For there are three that bear record [in Heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness in earth,] the Spirit and the water and the blood: and these three agree in one.” See Revised Version, Emphatic Diaglott, American Standard Union Translation, Young,s translation, etc. This passage is pronounced an interpolation by such eminent author­ities as Sir Isaac Newton, Benson, Adam Clarke, Horne, Griesbach, Tischendorf and Alford.

We have explained in our writings that there was a time when our Lord Jesus did not exist, when Yahweh was  alone. How else could the Bible declare that Jesus was the “beginning of the creation of God”?  (Rev.3:14) What is the value of language, anyway, if we do not give words their manifest meaning? Jesus undoubt­edly had a beginning. This was ages before he came to earth as a human being to die for Adam and his race. Those who denounce us should read our writings before criticizing them. Then they would not criticize at all, if honest; for they would know that there is no ground for criticism on the part of those who hold to the Bible as the word of God.

TRANSFERRED FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH

The Lord Jesus (The Logos) had a heavenly nature before he came into the world. He exchanged that nature, as we have stated, for an earthly one, in order that he might give his flesh, his humanity, a ransom-price for the sins of the whole world. Having accomplished this great work, he was granted by the Father an exaltation still higher than his previous g1orious position and nature, even though his previous station had been second only to Yahweh himself.  St. Paul declares of the position given Christ at his resurrection: “Wherefore God also highly exalt­ed him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth [those now in the tomb, but yet to be raised to learn the truth that is in Jesus]; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” —Philippians 2:9-11.

When on earth, Jesus was not a sinful man in any sense. His birth of the Virgin Mary was miraculous. His holy life was transferred to human conditions. He was made a man – “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” and fit, therefore, to be the great Sin offering for Adam and all his posterity. He was simply the Man Jesus up to the time of his immersion in Jordan; but the anointing he there received constituted him the Anointed of God, the Christ, the Messiah.

MADE “PARTAKER OF THE DIVINE NATURE”

 Jesus was a god, a Mighty One, higher than the angels before he became a man. When born a babe, he was not a god at all, but a human being, and as the perfect man of thirty he was not a god at all, but a human being; and as a perfect man he was not a god. But when he received the anointing of the holy Spirit. of divine power, he became a Mighty One, because of this spirit-begetting. And since his resur­rection he is a god greater than ever before, “partaker of the divine nature” for his church is called to this great exaltation and they are called to the obtaining of the glory of their Lord that they may be with him, as his bride, and be like him, members of his glorious body. —2Thes­salonians 2:14; 1John 3:2; Revelations 21:2, 9; 22:17; 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17; 12:12, 13, 27; 2 Peter 1 :4.

Our Lord is the great Head of his church, and Head and Body must partake of the same nature in glory. He gave up his human nature in death to purchase the human race. For parts of three days he lay dead in the tomb – not alive in any sense; for death is the absence of life. He had given up human life never to take it up again. It was the purchase price for the world. He was resurrected to the divine plain, an exaltation never before given to any creature of God. His bride is called to the same glorious nature as her head, whose inheritance she is invited to share. Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God. —Romans 6:4; 8:11; Acts 2:22, 24. 32, 33.

CONFUSION OF TRINITARIAN VIEW

Notice for a moment the great confusion from which we are saved by following the Bible’s own testimony respecting our Lord Jesus and by throwing out the ridiculous nonsense of the dark ages. We are saved from thinking of our God as three being with only one body or one being with three bodies. Trinitarians do not know which of these creedal statements to take – some say one and some say the other. But both are wholly irrational; three are not one and one is not three. The oneness between the Father and the Son is explained by our Lord himself. He prayed that his disciples might become one in the same sense that he and the Father were one – surely not that his disciples might become one person, but that they might be one in spirit, in mind, in purpose, as were the Father and himself. See John 17:20-23.

The followers of Jesus become one in mind and purpose by each giving up his own will to do God’s will. And Jesus and the Father are one because Jesus surrendered his will to the Father’s will, saying, “Not my will, but thine be done”; “I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”;  “Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God !” These are the words of the Lord Jesus to the Father.

Touching the rise of the Trinitarian view, Abbott and Conant’s Religious Dictionary,  page 944, says “It was not until the beginning of the fourth century that the Trinitarian view began to be elaborated and formulated into a doctrine and an endeavor made to reconcile it with the belief of the church in ONE GOD.” “Out of the attempt to solve this problem sprang the doctrine of the Trinity.” Trinity “is a very marked feature in Hinduism, and is discernible in Persian, Egyp­tian, Roman, Japanese and the most ancient Grecian mythologies.”

Like some other doctrines received by Protestants from Papacy,, this one is accepted and fully endorsed, although its educated adherents are aware that not  a text of Scripture can he adduced to its support. Yea, more; whoever will not affirm this unscriptural doc­trine as his faith is declared by the articles of the Evangelical Alliance to be non-orthodox – a heretic. Hebrews l:8 has been used by Trini­tarians as a proof text that Jesus is Yahweh, and the fact is cited that the word God here is theos, the same as verse 9 which refers to the Father. They seem not to have noticed that the word god, 2 Corinthians 4:4, which refers to Satan, is also theos in the Greek. Theos is used of any mighty one, the same as Elohim in the Hebrew.

Philippians 2:8, 9 implies that our Lord’s present glory is greater than the glory which he possessed before he became a man; otherwise it could not have been an exaltation. Now having the divine, immortal nature he cannot die. “Christ dieth no more.” How straightforward and simple and reasonable is the Scriptural pre­sen­tation compared with human traditions! In what a jumble of contradictions and confusion do they find themselves who say that Jesus and the Father is one God! This would involve the idea that our Lord Jesus acted the hypocrite when on earth and only pretended to address God in prayer, when he himself was the same God. Such should conclude, too, that since we read that God cannot be tempted of any, it was only a farce when Jesus was tempted of Satan.

 Again, the Father has always been immortal, hence could not die. How then, could Jesus have died? The Apostles are all false witnesses in declaring Jesus’ death and resur­rection if he did not die. The Scriptures declare, however, that he did die – “He poured out his soul [his being] unto death,” not merely his body, as many assert.—Isaiah 53:12.

If they admit that Jesus really died, they take the other horn of the dilemma; for believing that their three Gods are all one person as many do, when Jesus died they must all three have died. If they all died, who raised them to life?  How foolish all this sounds!  Yet if Jesus and the Father are the same person, the same being, then when Jesus died the Father must have died. Shall we thus contradict the apostles and prophets and Jesus himself, and ignore reason and common sense, in order to hold to a dogma handed to us from the dark, superstitious past, by a corrupt apostate church? Nay! “To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”

 SCRIPTURES on the HOLY SPIRIT

We next inquire: What say the Scriptures with regard to the holy Spirit? The nominal churches, Protestant and Catholic, affirm that the holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity. They claim that all this is “a great mystery.” Yes, truly it is a mystery, such as is characteristic of the confusion of man-made creeds held by Babylon. But to those who turn to the Word of God and let it speak, all is clear and plain. We suggest that whatever definition of the term “holy Spirit” will meet all known condi­tions and harmonize all Scriptures bearing thereon may be understood to be the true meaning of the term. We will first give what we conceive to be such a definition, and then ask the reader to subject every Scripture where this term is used to this definition and see if it does not make harmony of all.

We understand the Bible to teach that the holy Spirit is the divine will, influence, power or disposition, exercised anywhere and for any purpose, at the divine pleasure. God exercises his Spirit or energy in a variety of ways, using various agencies, and accomplishing various results. Whatever God does through agencies is as truly his work as though he were the direct actor, since all his agencies are his creation – created by his own power; just as a contractor for building is said to build a house, though he may never have lifted a tool upon it. He does it with his materials and through his agents.

Thus, when we read that Yahweh God created the heavens and the earth, we are not to suppose that he personally handled them. He used an agent. “He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.” His holy power was exercised through his Only Begotten. God’s Spirit was exercised in times past through the prophets. “They spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” [power] of God.

The masculine pronoun is often used in our Common Version Bible in referring to the Holy Spirit of God, because God, who is a Spirit, is represented as masculine, as indicative of strength. The pronoun translated he when refer­ring to the Holy Spirit, can with equal consistency be translated it, and is often so rendered.

See Diaglott rendering of John 14:17, 26, as an example.

For further understanding of this subject of the Holy Spirit, we refer the interested reader to our fifth volume of STUDIES IN THE SCRIP­TURES, Page 163; Chapters 8-11, where we have treated the subject at length.

“One reads with father’s specs upon his head,

And sees the thing just as his father did;

Another reads through Campbell or through Scott,

And thinks it means exactly what they thought.  

Some read to prove a pre-adopted creed,

Thus understand but little what they read;

And every passage in the Book they bend

To make it suit that all-important end.

Some people read, as I have often thought,

To teach the Book, instead of to be taught,”

(See Pastor Russell’s Reprints “JEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ONE”– Pages 5747- 5749)

Note: Some minor editing has been done in this article without, we trust, any change in Pastor Russell’s teachings.

For instance, since we are no longer confortable with the popular name given the Heavenly Father for the unpronounceable name, YHVH by adding vowels from the names for Jesus Christ, to wit, ”Jehovah”; we have changed to “Yahweh.”