NO. 424: ZIONISM - Part Two

No. 424

In our previous paper on this subject we stated that the Bible Students (meaning especially Pastor Russell) were actively interested in the Zionism question. It is probable that that interest reached its pinnacle in the New York Hippodrome meeting on October 9, 1910; and we quote the following from Reprints 4700-4701 of the October 15, 1910 Watch Tower:

“Pastor Russell, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle,... is considered one of the most elo­quent Protestant preachers, and has gained a wide audience among the Hebrews by his sym­pathetic treatment of Jewish questions.  His sermon will be on ‘Zionism in prophecy.’ His appearance before a rep­resentative mass meeting of Jews will be the first time that a well-known Protestant minister has been asked to deliver an address to such an assembly.

“Prominent Jewish citizens are arranging to make the meeting one of the largest gath­erings ever held in this city. The Yiddish newspapers and Jewish societies are repre­sented on the committees in charge of arrangements. Counselor Leo Wolfson, president of the Federated Romanian Jews of America and Vice Grand Master of the I.W.S.O., when seen at his office, said: ‘As one who is interested in the Jewish question and an old worker for the Zionistic movement, my attention was called to Pastor Russell’s interest in the Jews.

“I feel that an address by him on Zionism and Jewish prophets will present the ques­tion from a new point of view, and a point of view that I will be very willing to learn. I am sure that Pastor Russell’s treatment of the question will be sympathetic, and will doubtless create wide-spread discussion of Zionism, its aims and ideals.

“The committee in charge of next Sunday’s meeting in the Hippodrome includes: A. B. Landau, editor of The Warheit; Louis Lipsky, editor of the Maccabean; J. P. Pfeffer, edi­tor of the Jewish Weekly; Abraham Goldberg, editor of the Yiddish Volk, and Leo Wolfson, editor of the Yiddish Spirit.

“A more interesting audience the Hippodrome never held, perhaps. From all parts of the city came serious-minded Hebrews to hear what it was an alien, a Gentile, might have to say to them at a service, held during their week of feasting, Rosh Hoshana. They were quiet, well-dressed, thinking men and women.

“Among them were many prominent figures of the Hebrew literary world. Some of these escorted Pastor Russell to the Hippodrome in a motor car and then took places in the auditorium.  The literary men recognized the pastor as a writer and investigator of international fame on the subject of Judaism and Zionism. Some of those present were Dr. Jacobs, editor of the American Hebrew; W. J. Solomon, of the Hebrew Standard; J. Brosky, associate editor of the same; Louis Lipsky, editor of the Maccabean; A. B. Landau, editor of the Warheit; Leo Wolfson, president of the Federation of Romanian Societies; J. Pfeffer, of the Jewish Weekly; S. Daimont, editor of the Jewish Spirit; S. Goldberg, editor of the American Hebrew; J. Barrondess, of the Jewish Big Stick, and Goldman, editor of H’Yom, the only Jewish daily.”

NO RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS THERE

“No symbol of any religion at all greeted them when they gazed at the Hippodrome stage. It was entirely empty save for a small lectern and the peace flags hanging from silken cords above.  One was the familiar silk banner with the Stars and Stripes in its center, together with the words ‘Peace Among Nations’ in letters of gold. An­other bore a rainbow and the word ‘Pax.’ The third was a silken strip bearing minia­ture representations of all the nations’ flags.

“There were no preliminaries. Pastor Russell, tall, erect and white-bearded, walked across the stage without introduction, raised his hand, and his double quartet from the Brooklyn Tabernacle sang the hymn, ‘Zion’s Glad Day.’ The members of this organization are Mrs. E. M. Brenneisen, Mrs. E. N. Detweiler, Miss Blanche Raymond and Mrs. Raymond, Emil Hirscher, C. Myers, J. P. McPherson and W. J. Mockridge. Their voices blended perfectly, and the hymn, without any instrumental accompaniment, was impressive.

“But still there seemed an air of aloofness about the audience. They did not ap­plaud, but sat silently watching the stalwart figure of the pastor. When he began to talk, however, they gave him respectful attention.

“With a powerful, yet charming voice, that filled the great playhouse, the uncon­ventional clergyman made his every word audible to the hearer. His tone pleased their ears, his graceful gestures soon captivated their eyes, and in a few moments his appar­ently thorough knowledge of his subject appealed to their minds. Though still silent, the 4,000 were ‘warming’ up to him.”

RESERVE AND DOUBT VANISH

“It was not long before all reserve, and all possible doubt of Pastor Russell’s entire sincerity and friendliness were worn away. Then the mention of the name of a great Jew leader – who, the speaker declared, had been raised by God for the cause – brought a burst of applause.

“From that moment on the audience was his. The Jews became as enthusiastic over him as though he had been a great rabbi or famous orator of their own religion. He hailed them as one of the bravest races of the earth – having kept their faith through the per­secutions and cruelties of all other people for thousands of years. And he predicted that before very long they would be the greatest on earth – not merely a people, any longer, but a nation. By a system of deductions based upon the prophecies of old, the pastor declared that the return of the kingdom of the Jews might occur at so near a period as the year 1914. Persecutions would be over and peace and universal happiness would triumph. [After the Old Order has passed away]

“As he brought his address to a conclusion the pastor raised his hand again to his choir. This time they raised the quaint, foreign sounding strains of the Zion hymn, ‘Our Hope,’ one of the masterpieces of the eccentric East Side poet, Imber.

“The unprecedented incident of Christian voices singing the Jewish anthem came as a tremendous surprise. For a moment the Hebrew auditors could scarcely believe their ears. Then, making sure it was their own hymn, they first cheered and clapped with such ardor that the music was drowned out, and then, with the second verse, joined in by hundreds. The discourse has already been reported in the newspapers which publish the sermons weekly.”

The foregoing is from That Servant’s pen published in the October 15, 1916 Watch Tower, and is not only for the benefit of those who are not familiar with these details, but also for those who are, just as we do with many doctrines: We quote from the two Messengers to “stir up your pure minds.” “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.” (2 Pet. 1:12)

It should be apparent, however, that our Pastor had a high regard for Zionism; and what he read about it in the prophecies has already seen much fulfillment; and will yet see more. To quote the texts of Scripture bearing an the different phases of the sub­ject would require much space; but whoever will take a copy of Young’s Concordance, turn to page 528, noting the various cases in which the word Israel is used in the New Testament, will have what seems to be overwhelming evidence that the house of Israel was no longer regarded by Jesus and the Apostles as the ‘ten tribes’ merely, but, as it is expressed, ‘all Israel.’ Note especially the following texts: Matt. 8:10; 10; 6; 15:24, 31; 27:9, 42; Mark 12:29; 15:32; Luke 1:54, 68, and especially v. 80; also 2:25, 32, 34; 24:21; also note carefully John 1:31, 49; 3:10; 12:13; also Acts 2:22, 36; 3:12; 4:10, 27; 5:21, 30, 31, 35; 13:16, 24; 21:28; Rom. 9:6, 31; 10:19; 11:25, 26; 1 Cor. 10:18; Gal. 6:16; Eph. 2:12, Phil. 3:5; Heb. 8:8.”

ZIONISM IN PROPHECY

“Many of our readers are aware that on the Editor’s return from Palestine last June he delivered a discourse entitled ‘Jerusalem.’ Many Jews were attracted by the theme and considerable interest amongst them was aroused. That sermon and several others were published in Jewish papers. Then came interviews with editors, etc., and, finally, an invitation to address a Jewish mass meeting at the New York Hippodrome, with signa­tures on three sheets of paper.

“Accordingly on Sunday October 9, the Editor was met by a committee of five prom­inent Hebrews; Brother Rutherford also accompanied us. The party went in automobiles. The meeting was an enthusiastic one. The number present was estimated at 4,000, and we were told that no finer representative class of Hebrews had ever before come together in one assemblage in New York.

“The address was well received, but apparently it was unfortunate that some of the pamphlets, entitled ‘Jewish Hopes And Prospects,’ were given away at the conclusion of the meeting.  Some of the Jews, without recognizing that the pamphlet was gotten out for our Christian readers, considered that by it we were endeavoring to entrap the Jews into Christianity. And Christianity to the Jews, especially Catholicism, means many persecu­tions which have come against their people for many centuries. Some understood the mat­ter aright. Others felt offended, and during the Editor’s absence in Europe last Fall he was attacked as a ‘missionary’ – which, in the Jewish mind, means everything mean, under­handed.

“On our return from Europe in November we corrected the misunderstanding, so far as possible, through the Jewish newspapers. We informed them that we were not trying to ‘mission’ the Jews, nor make them members of either Catholic or Protestant Christian bod­ies. We were not even preaching Jesus to them. Our message was to the Jews as Jews, from Isa. 40:1,2: – ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; speak ye comfortably to Jerusa­lem; cry unto her that her appointed time is accomplished; that her iniquity is par­doned, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double.’ We declared that it was not our expectation that the Jews would return to Palestine as Christians. On the contrary, God’s call and promises as respects Jerusalem are earthly promises to natural Israel.

“To a few who asked quite deeply we explained that our understanding is that the Mes­siah of prophecy is a great spirit company composed of many members, including English, French, German, Jews, etc.; that God is gathering this Messianic company to heavenly glory from every nation, people, kindred and tongue, and that only the saintly will be in and of it. We explained: We do not understand that Christians in general, will have part in that Messianic body and that it would be the furthest from our thought to have the Jews get as mixed up on different matters as are the majority of Christian people.

“Since then several Jewish papers continue to publish our writings and we have had two more Jewish mass meetings. One of these was in Chicago. It was somewhat of a disap­pointment as to numbers, until we noticed that the Saturday on which it was held was a particularly unfavorable time. Many Jews expressed their disappointment in not being able to attend, because it would deprive them of their principal business day. Neverthe­less the audience was estimated at fifteen hundred and we had excellent attention.

“Our last meeting with the Jews was held in Philadelphia. It was not at all adver­tised in the secular press. In other words, it was a Jewish meeting. Garrick Theater was full to the limit, with about three hundred standing, when the police, following the fire ordinance, forbade others to enter, and several hundred were turned away disappointed. That meeting was the most enthusiastic held thus far with the Jewish people. Their confi­dence in the Editor seems to be growing. Zionism from a prophetic standpoint seems to stir the Jewish heart as the subject never did politically.

It should now be clear enough to our readers that Brother Russell spent much time in research of the Jewish question – past and future – because the time had come for this work; and we adopt much the same attitude, although we do not attempt to classify ourselves with him in our writings on the matter. But we would emphasize here that those who at­tempt to make a distinction between the prophecies concerning the ten tribes and the two tribes make a mistake when they do this. Jer. 31:31 stresses “both the houses of Israel,” meaning the ten tribes and the two tribes, who had become separated from each other in the revolt after the death of Solomon. Time itself had made quite ludicrous the claims of the Anglo-Israel organization that claimed the English people are the ten ‘lost’ tribes.

There is just no foundation in fact or Scripture for such a conclusion. Julius Caesar discovered – or invaded – England in 55 B.C., but there is no evidence at all that any of the twelve Apostles ever went there; and, since 1914, before which the British were the money lords of the world, the British money has been taking quite a beating; and this would have been much more pronounced had not the United States been so generous in helping them. This has probably been a compensation from the Lord for the help they have given Zionism and the Jews in their present occupation of Palestine.  And it should be ap­parent that we do not wish to create any quarrel when we say what we have said herein.

Some years back we attended an International Monetary Seminar in New York for three days, at which the speakers were prominent bankers, financial men and economists from England, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Japan, Mexico, etc.; and one of the econo­mists ventured the statement that the United States is now in the same relative position as was England in 1914 – that we should now become the financial center of the globe. So we presented the question to him: Today a steel worker in the United States earns as much money in one day as does the steel worker in Germany in one week for the same work. That condition did not prevail in 1914. How do you reconcile the two conditions? He said he had not thought of that.

While some of the statements herein are our own, much of it is from the Watch Tower; and this will be our position in the remainder of this article. Thus, we now go back to the Feb. 1, 1898, Reprint 2256: “Some years ago, being curious to know how learned Hebrews view the Old Testament to Christ – as ‘a lamb for the slaughter,’ etc., we visited a friendly rabbi, and asked him the question. He replied that Hebrews apply these prophe­cies to the Hebrew people and their centuries of bitter experiences under more or less persecution. We are forcibly reminded of this false method of interpretation by the statement of Dr. Herzl at the Basel Congress, held August 29 last – to the effect that that Congress was the ‘birth’ of their Messiah – that the Messiah class which they hope will fulfill all the good promises of Scripture concerning Abraham’s seed was there organ­ized. It appears, too, that the date (Aug. 29) was selected in harmony with a tradition prevalent among the Bulgarian Jews to the effect that Messiah would be born on that date.

“This is quoted with some assurance of endorsement by Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf in a recent discourse from which we quote the following comment on the Zionist movement and congress. He said: ‘The boldness of that dream startled the world. As for me, when the full report reached me and I read the fearful story of the Judennoth, that was submitted to the congress, I could not wonder at the statement made by Dr. Herzl, the president of the congress, during the first day’s session: The Bulgarian Jews have long believed that the Messiah should be born on a 29th of August. They were right; THE MESSIAH HAS BEEN BORN TODAY IN THE ZIONIST CONGRESS.’

“It was a magnificent assemblage of Israelites that had gathered there in Congress. Two hundred delegates, representing many hundreds of thou­sands of people had come with a most sacred purpose, that of putting an end to the persecutions and miseries of mil­lions of Jews by re-acquiring for them of their own native Palestine and reestablishing them there in peaceful and honorable industries.

“It was beyond doubt the most remarkable gathering in the whole history of Israel. The venerable Dr. Lippe opened the congress and Dr. Herzl gave the keynote of the move­ment, comparing the inflictions of the modern anti-Semite with the Jew baiter of former centuries. A similar tale of woe was told by Max Nordau. It was the same refrain by all, and the congress concluded that the settlement of Palestine was the only solution of the Jewish question.

“Upon research, I found that Palestine, with the adjacent countries stretching between the Euphrates and the Tigris, that are now almost deserted, could amply support millions of agricul­turists. The soil is luxuriously fertile, the climate salubrious, the water pure and abundant, the irrigation canals of the ancients still available. The winters are short and mild, the summers long enough to ripen two harvests. The products of all the land can be laid down in the capitals of Europe within five days after their shipment and in price and excellence they can drive from the market those of other com­peting countries. Because of these conclusions I have been proclaimed a Zionist and have been asked to attend the second congress at Jerusalem next summer.”

Some of our readers probably know that for many years some of the Jews, some of them leaders, have contended that the United States is the promised land. Here they can own real estate, engage in lawful business. Many of them have become prominent doctors and lawyers; many have become prosperous business men, and have amassed great fortunes. Some forty years ago we often went to New York; and we were told at that time that Kuhn, Loeb & Co., Wall Street members, had an estimated wealth of fifteen billion dollars. We visited their offices a few times; and have no reason to doubt what we were told.

This same outfit, with some others, had at that time formed a charitable organization to establish incoming Jews in business by lending them the necessary funds. If they failed, the same thing was repeated. However, if they failed two times in a row, no more help was given them; they would then be on their own – although it seems this seldom hap­pened. We knew a Gentile lady who worked in that office; and she said she was very happy in her job, that those Jews never discharged any one except for disloyalty.

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Chapter VIII of Parousia Vol. 3, pages 243-300, treat of this subject in some detail; and we now present some excerpts from those pages, having in mind that this is quite fa­miliar to some of our readers, but not nearly to all of them. This offers Scriptural proof of their phenomenal rise under the reign of David and Solomon; their fall under Zedekiah in the Fall of 607 B.C.; their dispersion in the year 70 A.D.; and predictions of their rise again. As we read, let us keep in mind that this book was begun in 1889 and put on the press in 1891 – a few years before the first Zionist congress was held in Basel. And when we consider the progress the Jews have made since that time, we can but offer grateful respect to the writer of Volume III.

“Among the relics of antiquity that have come down to our day, there is no other object of so great interest as the Jewish people. The searchers after ancient lore have untiringly questioned every inanimate object that could give a mite of historic or scien­tific information. Monuments, altars, tombs, relics of public and private edifices, paintings, sculptures, hieroglyphics and dead languages have all been appealed to; and some have even tried patiently to discover the line of actual truth that probably inspired the many fanciful traditions, legends, songs, etc., that have come floating down the cen­turies, in order to learn all that is possible to know of human origin, history and des­tiny. But a most interesting relic, and the one whose history can be most easily deciph­ered and understood, is the Jewish people. In them we have a monument of antiquity of inestimable value, upon which are recorded, in clearly legible characters, the origin, progress and final destiny of the whole human race – a living and intelligent witness of the gradual outworking of a wonderful purpose in human affairs, in exact conformity with the predictions of their divinely inspired prophets and seers. (pp. 243-244)

“As a people they still have faith in God, though in their blindness and pride of heart they have stumbled over the humility of God’s appointed messenger for the world’s salvation; so that, instead of receiving Him, they crucified the Savior, the Lord of glory. And yet the Apostles and prophets show us that even in this flagrant crime, to which their pride and self-will drove them, was not one which could never be forgiven them. Because of it, they have been punished, and that severely.  When they condemned the just One and said, ‘His blood be upon us and our children,’ they little expected the fearful recompense which followed....

“Since then Israel has been a nation scattered and peeled. Driven as exiles from country to country, and from province to province, they have been deprived of almost every right and privilege which other men enjoyed. Rejecting Christianity, as well in its corrupted as in its pure form, they became the objects of the contempt and relentless persecution of the Church of Rome. (p. 246)

“Since the destruction of their temple and their dispersion, the sacrifices have been discontinued; but in most other respects the Mosaic requirements are yet observed among the orthodox Jews. Their worship, as of old, consists in the reading of Scripture, prayer and praise. The second day of their feast of trumpets they read the account of Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac and God’s blessing on him and his seed. Then they blow the trumpet and pray that God would bring them to Jerusalem. (p. 249)

“Nor will the coming favor to Israel be exclusive. All believers in the covenant promises may share those returning favors with the natural seed, as during this age any Jew who accepted Christ was eligible to the spiritual blessings and advantages offered during the age. As only a small remnant believed in and accepted the gospel favors at the beginning, so, aside from the Jews, only a small number of mankind will be ready for the new laws and conditions of the Millennial age, under the just administration of the glorified Lord and His glorified Church; hence, at first, few but Jews will be blessed under it.

“The Jew, long used to striving to do, and of trusting of works of obedience to the Law to secure for him God’s blessing, stumbled over the first feature of the Gospel age, the remission of sins, without works, to every one that believeth in Jesus’ perfect work and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin.  But the Jew’s respect for the Law will turn to his advantage in the dawn of the Millennial age, and none will be more ready for the strict requirements and laws of that Age than he, after his blindness as to Christ and the value of His sacrifice for sins shall have passed away; for works are required after faith in Christ, tho not accepted before. And the Jew, in accepting the love and favor of God and Christ, will not be so inclined to lose sight of God’s justice as many others of today. Others, on the contrary, will be blinded for a time and unready to recognize the rules of the Kingdom, in which justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet. (pp. 253-54)

TO THE JEW FIRST

“We see, then, that God’s prediction, that Israel (except the faithful few) would be blinded by their Law (Rom. 11:9), was fulfilled in a natural way; and also that his fur­ther prediction, that the favors and conditions of the Millennial Age will bless many of them more quickly than others, is also to come about in a perfectly natural way and to re­sult from reasonable causes.

“So the Millennial favors will be to the Jew first, even as by reason of the coven­ants, etc., the Gospel favors were offered to them first. And so it shall be finally as Simeon prophesied: ‘This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.’ And the time for raising up that nation, so long fallen from favor, is at hand. (p. 256)

“But let us guard against a too common mistake, made by many who see something of these promises, of supposing that the statements should be taken literally, which say: ‘After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle (house) of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.’ ‘And the Lord shall give him the throne of his father David.’ ‘And David my servant, shall be king over them.’ (Acts 15:16; Luke 1:32; Ezek. 37:24) While the literalness of the promised return of Israel to their own land, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem upon her own heaps, cannot be questioned, we may be equally confident that by the house and throne of David, not the literal stones, timbers, etc., are meant. The re-establishment of the house of David refers to the re-establishment of royalty and dominion in the hand of Da­vid’s posterity. Christ Jesus is the promised scion of David’s house, the heir of his throne; and when His authority begins to be established, that will be the beginning of raising up (permanent establishment) of the formerly temporary house or tabernacle of David, that was overthrown, and that for many centuries has lain in the dust. So, like­wise, the ‘throne of David,’ upon which Messiah will sit, refers not to the wood, gold and ivory bench upon which David sat, but to the dignity, power and authority of office which he exercised. That authority, office or throne, which David occupied for some years, is to be filled on a much grander scale by Jehovah’s Anointed, our Lord Jesus.” (pp. 256-57)

SOME EVIL REVOLUTIONISMS

From the above quotations, it should be clear to any child that our beloved Pastor thoroughly believed, and was in full accord with the teaching of St. Paul in Rom. 1:16 ­“salvation is to the Jew first” – not only in the Great Salvation but also in the Common Salvation (Heb. 2:3 and Jude 3); and also with the Apostle John in John 4:22: “Salva­tion is of the Jews.” Thus, it becomes doubly noxious and pernicious to note that two organizations that were taught of him, and at one time believed what he taught, should now be substituting their own concocted errors for the Truth they learned of him.

In Isa. 2:3 we are told that “Out of Zion (the Christ Company in Heaven – “Do ye know not the saints shall judge the world.” – 1 Cor. 6:2) shall go forth the law; and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (the resurrected Worthies who will be the visible government here on earth – “princes in all the earth” – Psa. 45:16) – who will be assisted by the faithful orthodox Jews as missionaries, the “first” to receive the blessings of the New Covenant. (Jer. 31:31)

The two organizations mentioned above are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement. The Witnesses now teach that the “great multitude” of Rev. 7:9 refers to their large crowd that is now working for them; that the Jews who do not accept them now will be destroyed forever in the approaching Armageddon. The context of Rev. 7 clearly shows that the great multitude will be a spiritual class – as Pastor Rus­sell taught it. At one time the Witnesses believed this, too, so they are now revolu­tionizing against a truth they once taught. They now teach that their present devotees will not only be the earthly rulers, but will also be used to generate a new earthly population free from sin.

The LHMM does not go to the extreme of the Witnesses. They merely contend that their new converts will supersede the Jews; that instead of being “to the Jew first” it will be to their “Consecrated Epiphany Campers first,” which are now being added to their following. This is also in direct contradiction to the teaching of our Pastor, as well as to the teachings of Brother Paul S. L. Johnson, who was the founder and head of the LHMM. The LHMM, as well as the Witnesses, can find Scripture to “prove” their errors; but all teachers of error, past and present, have been able to pervert Scrip­tures to “prove” their false teachings.

Much more could be written on this subject, but we hope we have given sufficient to convince our readers of the truth on the matter. Thus we close with Amos 9:11, 14, 15:

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.” (Brother Hoefle, Reprint 301, July 1980)

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear David:  Shalom!

It was good to talk with you, as always. I enclose an advance copy of my review of your book which will appear in the forthcoming issue of AOJT. I hope it will be helpful to you and your readers. I wish you much success with your book.

Take care, all the best to Nan, Greg and others. I will send you a formal greeting to read at your annual meeting. May you have the richest Pesach this year.

Shalom, James  D.  Tabor

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DAVID HOROWITZ, PASTOR CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL, An Early American Christian Zionist.

Revised Edition. New York, Shengold Publishers, 1990. 160pp. ISBN # 0-88400-144-X.

David Horowitz has filled an important lacuna in the history of Zionism with the revised edition of his study of Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916). Although the Jehovah's Witness organization hails Russell as their founder, Horowitz casts serious doubts upon the accuracy of such a claim. The organization known as Jehovah's Witnesses actually represents a stark departure from Pastor Russell's pioneering positions in a number of vital areas, not the least of which was Zionism. Horowitz conclusively shows, through an extensive use of letters and primary documentation, that Russell was an ardent and unqualified Zionist who through his voluminous writings and untiring travels and lec­tures significantly contributed to a fulfillment of the Zionist dream. [Pastor Russell predicted that many Jews would be back in Israel and become a State after 1914, which was true in 1948.]

Perhaps the most striking and important contribution of this study is the evidence Horowitz presents regarding Russell's public campaign urging Jews to return to the Land of Israel as early as 1889. In subsequent years Russell addressed large audiences, both Jewish and Gentile, in this country and abroad on this important theme. Following his 1910 tour of Palestine Russell returned to the United States and addressed a mass Jewish audience of over 4000 at New York's Hippodrome. Horowitz presents fascinating evidence on this historic meeting including eyewitness accounts and a rare photograph.

Jewish and Christian readers alike will be surprised to learn that Russell, though believing in the New Testament Scriptures as well as the Tanakh, disagreed at almost every point with traditional Christian theology. For example, he did not advocate mis­sionary activities toward Jews, and he believed Israel's restoration to the Land was a fulfillment of God's ongoing eternal covenant with the Jewish people. His direct study of the Scriptures led him to such an unusual set of positions.

An added feature of the book is Horowitz's analysis of Russell's pioneering ap­proach to Scriptures. He argues that Russell was able to go to the original languages and jettison 1800 years of theological interpretation, in ways parallel to the work of the late Moshe Guibbory, the Jewish Bible scholar who flourished in Palestine in the 1930's. In an appendix Horowitz offers samples of such reading of Biblical texts.

This book is a must for all research libraries and institutions and makes fasci­nating reading for any, Jew or Gentile, interested in the early history of Zionism. (James D. Tabor, Associate Professor, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

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ANNOUNCEMENT: The second edition of the Pastor Russell book may be ordered from Shengold Publishers, 18 West 45th Street, Suite 404, New York, NY 10036: softback, $9.95; hardback, $15.95. We have a few of these books in stock which may be ordered from us as long as we have a supply. This book will be sent free of charge to those unable to pay.

NO. 423: ZIONISM – Part One

No. 423

Zionism as an active organ­ized move­ment has been in existence for a more than a hun­dred years, although, since the dispersion in the year 70 A.D. the Jews made many efforts to regain their home­land. It is now an ac­complished fact, but their position still remains volatile. However, the promise of God that they will never be removed again is sure. Here is a statement in Gen. 48:4: “I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.” Also, Jer. 24:6,7: “I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up ... And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”

A HISTORICAL RECORD

The following is quo­ted from one commentator on this subject: “ZIONISM, a Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jew­ish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew Eretz Yisra’el). Though Zionism originated in Eastern and Central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient and deep-felt nationalist at­tach­ment of the Jews and of the Jewish religion to Pales­tine, the promised land where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion.

“In the 16th and 17th centuries a number of ‘mes­siahs’ came forward to lead the Jews back to Palestine. The Haskala (En­ligh­t­enment) movement of the late 18th century, how­ever, urged Jews to assimilate into Western secu­lar culture. In the early 19th cen­tury interest in a return of the Jews to Palestine was kept alive mostly by Christian mil­lenialists. (We know the Bible Students under Pastor Russell were quite active in this respect – JJH). Despite the Haskala, Eastern European Jews did not assimilate and in reaction to tsarist pogroms formed the Hovevei  Zion (‘Lovers of Zion’) to promote the settle­ment of Jewish farm­ers and artisans in Pales­tine.

“A political turn was given to Zionism by Theodore Herzl, an Austrian Journal­ist who regarded assimilation as most desirable, but in view of anti-Semitism, impos­sible to realize. Thus, he argued, if Jews were forced by external pressure to form a nation, they could lead a normal existence only through concentration in one terri­tory. In 1897 Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress at Basel, Swit­zer­land, which drew up the Basel program of the movement, stating that ‘Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.’ The center of the move­ment was established in Vienna, where Herzl pub­lished the official weekly Die Velt (‘The World’).  Zionist congresses met yearly until 1901 and then every two years. When the Ottoman gov­ern­ment refused Herzl’s request for Palestine auton­omy, he found support in Great Britain. In 1903 the British Government offered 6,000 square miles of unin­habited Uganda for settle­ment, but the Zionists held out for Palestine.

“With the death of Herzl in 1904, the leadership moved from Vienna to Cologne, then to Berlin. Prior to World War One Zionism represented only a minority of Jews, mostly from Russia, but led by Austrian and German Jews. It was, however, the only world­-wide democrat­ically organized part of Jewry; it developed an active propaganda through orators and pam­phlets, created its own newspapers in many languages, and gave an impetus to what was called a ‘Jewish renaissance’ in letters and arts. The development of the modern Hebrew language largely took place during this period.

“The failure(?) of the Russian revolution of 1905 and the wave of pogroms and repres­sions that followed caused growing numbers of Russian Jewish youth to emigrate to Pal­estine as pioneer settlers. By 1914 there were about 90,000 Jews in Palestine; 13,000 settlers lived in 43 Jewish agricultural settlements, many of them supported by the French Jewish philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild.

“With the outbreak of World War One political Zionism re-asserted itself, with its leadership passing to Russian Jews living in England. Two such Zionists, Chaim Wiseman and Nahum Sokolow, were instrumental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration from Great Britain (Nov. 2, 1917), which promised British support for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine. When the declaration was included in Britain’s league of Nations mandate over Palestine (1922), Zionist hopes soared.

“In the following years the Zionists built up the Jewish urban and rural settle­ments in Palestine, perfecting autonomous organizations and solidifying Jewish cultural life and Hebrew education. In March 1925 the Jewish population in Palestine was offi­cially estimated at 108,000 and had risen to about 238,000 (20 percent of the population) in 1933. Jewish immigration remained relatively small, however, until the rise of Hit­lerism in Europe. (“I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them.”—Jer. 16:16—JJH) Nevertheless, the Arab population feared Palestine would eventually become a Jew­ish state and bitterly resisted Zionism and the British policy supporting it.  Several Arab revolts, especially in 1929 and 1936-39, caused the British to devise schemes to reconcile the Arab and Zionists demands.

“Hitlerism and the large-scale extermination of European Jews caused them to seek refuge in Palestine, and many others, especially in the United States, to embrace Zion­ism. As Arab-Zionist tensions grew, Britain submitted the Palestine problem first to Anglo-U.S. discussion for solution and later to the United Nations, which proposed on Nov. 29, 1947, partition of the country into separate Arab and Jewish states and the in­ternationalization of Jerusalem. The creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, brought about the Arab-Israel war of 1948-49, with the result that Israel obtained more land than had been provided by the UN resolution. Thus 50 years after the first Zion­ist congress and 30 years after the Balfour Declaration, Zionism achieved its aim of es­tablishing a Jewish state in Palestine.

“During the next two decades Zionist organizations in many countries continued to raise financial support for Israel and to encourage Jews to immigrate there.”

It is quite a coincidence that just fifty years after the first Zionist Congress the Jewish State was established. Our readers will recall the Jubilee cycle of the Law, which came every fifty years. That Jubilee proclaimed freedom for all slaves who wished to be free; and the establishment of a Jewish State did much the same for per­secuted Jews in all parts of the world.

MOUNT ZION

The same publication makes this comment about Mount Zion: “Zion, in the Old Testament, is the easternmost of the two hills of ancient Jerusalem, the site of the Jebusite city captured by David, King of Israel and Judah, in the 10th century B.C. (2 Sam. 5:6-9) and established as his royal capital.  Some scholars believe that the name also belonged to the ‘stronghold of Zion’ taken by David (2 Sam. 5:7), which may have been the fortress of the city. The Jewish historian Josephus, in the first century A.D., identified Zion with the western hill of Jerusalem, where most of the city lay in his day. This incorrect identification of the site was retained until the late 19th or early 20th century when the site of Zion was identified as the eastern hill (modern Ophel). It was not included in the walls of the 16th-century fortifications and is still covered with fields and vineyards.”

Here we insert a few thoughts from 2 Sam. 5:6-9: At that time there was no heavy military artillery in Israel, which deceived the Jebusites into believing that their fortress was impregnable: they sneered at David, much the same as the moguls of Chris­tendom attempted to belittle “that haberdasher.” But David and his men took the cita­del, from which time Jerusalem was known as “The City of David.” The Jebusites in that picture were a type of the errorists here in the end of the Age, and David typed Pastor Russell. When he arrived on the scene shortly after 1870, the errorists were so firmly entrenched that their position seemed impregnable – eternal torment, the immortality of the soul, no opportunity for salvation after this life, evolution, etc. – all these, and many others, presented a most disheartening front to antitypical David; but he entered the fray in the strength of the Lord, as David had done; and he administered crushing defeats to the errorists, as David had done with Goliath, the Jebusites, et al.

As we contemplate these typical details, it is little wonder that the Jews have such a pronounced affinity to Mount Sinai, etc., because it was there that they received the foundation for their religion from God through Moses – the Law, the Tabernacle services, etc. When we contemplate all this, we can then appreciate the sentimental value of the entire Palestinian domain.

Continuing now with the quotation: “Zion appears in the Old Testament 152 times as a title of Jerusalem; over half of these occurrences appear in two books, the book of Isaiah (46 times) and that of Psalms (38 times). It appears seven times in the New Tes­tament, five times in quotations from the Old Testament. The name is overwhelmingly a poetic and prophetic designation and is infrequently used in ordinary prose. It usually has emotional and religious overtones, but it is not clear why the name Zion rather than the name Jerusalem should carry these overtones. It is our understanding that the reason the Bible stresses Zion is because Zion is a type of the Glorified Christ that will “bless all the families of the earth during the Kingdom reign – beginning with natural Israel first.”

“The city of Jerusalem is personified as a woman and addressed or spoken of as the ‘daughter of Zion,’ always in a context charged with feeling aroused by either of two ideas that stand in opposition to each other: the destruction of Jerusalem or its deliv­erance. After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in the Fall of 607 B.C., the Israelites could not forget Zion (Psa. 137), and, in the prophecy after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Zion is the scene of Yahweh’s messianic salvation. It is to Zion that exiles will be restored (Jer. 3:14), and there they will find Yahweh (Jer. 29:13).  Bearing all these connotations, Zion came to mean the Jewish homeland, symbolic of Ju­daism or Jewish national aspirations (when the name Zionism for the 19th-20th-century to establish a Jewish national centre or state in Palestine).

“While the name of Zion is rare in the New Testament, it has been very frequently used in Christian literature and hymns as a designation for the heavenly city or for the earthly city of Christian faith and fraternity.”

THE JERUSALEM TOPOGRAPHY

As we have stated foregoing, Zion types the Christ Company; and this is corrobo­rated by Psa. 72:3: “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness.” We understand the “mountains” in this text to refer to Mount Moriah and Mount Zion; and the “little hills” to be Acra and Bezetha, all of which type the four elect classes, which will eventually “bring peace to the people.”

As stated, it is our understanding that Zion types the Christ Company, Moriah the Ancient Worthies, Acra the Great Company, and Bezetha the Youthful Worthies. The fol­lowing is from the Bible Atlas on these four promontories in the City of Jerusalem; “Mo­riah, on the eastern side of the city, the place once occupied by the temple – 2,432 feet high.” It was here that Abraham prepared to offer Isaac as a sacrifice at God’s command. But the angel of the Lord stayed Abraham’s hand; and this is the record of it in Gen. 22: 15-17: “The angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven (those of the human race who receive the spirit nature as a reward for their services during this “present evil world”), and as the sand which is upon the sea shore (those who inherit special earthly natures for their service during the reign of evil).

Here is recorded the oathbound covenant emphasized by Paul in Heb. 6:13: “When God made Promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.”

“Mount Zion – the largest and highest – lies in the southwestern section. Its crown is 2,540 feet high.” It will be noted that Moriah is mentioned first, although  it is not so lofty as Zion. This is in conformity with the type, because the Ancient Wor­thies – a lower class than the Christ Company – appeared on the scene first.

“Acra – a little northeast of Mount Zion, Irregularly-shaped eminence. Now 2,490 feet high but anciently higher, as its crest was cut down by the Maccabean princes in order to bring it nearer the level of the Temple Hill. On this may have stood the cas­tle, or Millo (2  Sam. 5:9).”

“Bezetha – a little west of north from Mount Moriah – separated from it by a slight depression.  Only in the later age of New Testament history was it within the walls of the city. Its height is a little over 2,500 feet. These four mountains are all that are named as within the ancient walls.”

The above four elevations type the four elect classes that will dominate the King­dom government and arrangements.

THE DOUBLE

As stated foregoing, the Jews have been established in Palestine; but that could be accomplished only after Jer. 16:18 had been fulfilled. “First I will recompense their iniquity and their sins double.” (Jer. 16:18) The Hebrew word rendered here “double” is mishneh, and signifies a second portion, a repetition. When we fold a sheet of paper exactly in the middle, then we have created a ‘mishneh,’ the top part being an exact duplicate of the bottom half. Thus understood, the prophet’s declara­tion is, that from the time of their being cast off from all favor until the time of their return to favor would be a repetition, or duplication in time, of their previous history, during which time they had enjoyed Divine favor.

Their favor extended from the death of Jacob in 1812 B.C., when Jacob’s twelve sons became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. And this favor extended to the year 33 A.D. – a period of 1845 years. Five days before His crucifixion Jesus had said to them, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23:38) Thus, they were destined to have 1845 years of disfavor. When Masada fell to the Roman army in the year 73 A.D., the Jews were then dispersed among the nations of the Gentiles –perse­cuted and harassed, driven from city to city, with no home they could call their own. Thus, whereas they had been an agricultural nation during their time of favor, they were forced to become a company of businessmen. They could carry their money and val­uables with them, which they could not do with land; and it has been a rarity over the years to see a Jewish farmer in the United States.

And, while the Jews could not understand this reversal of affairs, most Gentiles did not understand it either. The Catholics persecuted them even as much as they did the faithful saints; and even Martin Luther who protested the evils of the Catholic system, brilliant as he was, also held the Jews in contempt when his efforts toward them did not convert them to Christ: he said it was useless to waste more effort on them, since they had shown no change of heart or mind over the 1500 years past.

However, when their “double” was completed in 1878 we find some things that clear­ly mark return of favor to them. In that year the Berlin Congress of nations was pre­sided over by Disraeli – the first Jew ever to be Prime minister of England; and he se­cured certain privileges for the Jews in Palestine that they had not enjoyed since they had been scattered among the nations. The land of Palestine had been dominated by the “terrible Turk”; but at that Congress in 1878 the condition of the Jews was amelio­rated; and it partially opened the door for others to locate there, with the privilege of holding real estate. Previously the Jew was just a dog, to be kicked, cuffed and abused by his Mohammedan ruler, was denied the most ordinary privileges of existence ­in a land sacred to him with memories of the past, and with promises touching the future.

About the same time the door was reopened to them in Palestine, a fierce persecu­tion arose in Romania and Galicia, and especially in Russia. While conditions there have eased somewhat over the years, they still are not a free people in those countries; and large numbers of them have returned to their beloved homeland. But even this must be regarded a return of favor to them because it is forcing many of them to return to Palestine. And with customary Jewish ambition, they are developing the country in a very remarkable manner. The fruit and vegetables they produce are among the finest in the world; and the country is developing a look of prosperity.

The question properly arises, If favor was due to return to them in 1878, why do we not see some evidence of it? We must bear in mind that there are other Scriptures that must be fulfilled also, one of which is Luke 21:24: “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” The times of the Gentiles did not expire until 1914, at which time their eviction began; but the evic­tion process is still going on, requiring much more time than had been calculated before 1914 arrived. And even at that time no Truth person expected the time to be so ex­tended.

As the Jewish nation passed completely into oblivion in the years 70-73 A.D., and the Gentile nations became more prominent, the situation has been just the reverse since 1914. Now, the Gentiles are getting into deeper trouble all the time, whereas the Jews have been steadily improving, so that in 1948 they were recognized and accepted as a na­tion. Not by all nations, but by some of the most prominent ones, such as the United States, Great Britain, etc. It should be recognized that it took 36½ years from 33 A.D. to dislodge them from Jerusalem, and it was exactly 36½ years from 1878 to 1914 when the Gentile eviction began. It was in the Fall of 1917 that the Turks were dislodged from Jerusalem, and the Jews have been making progress ever since; but we should consider that their present difficulties – whatever they may be – are nothing more than what is common to all nations at this time: although  their “double” is finished, they will suffer in the “great tribulation” the same as others.  Isa. 63:4 describes this situation: “The day of vengeance is in mine heart.” So the Jews have their individual sins the same as the rest of the nations. The day of vengeance has not yet accomplished its pur­pose, nor will it do so for some years yet, but the “sure word of prophecy” is our strong assurance that it will be finished “in due time.”

When Jesus was stating His prophecy concerning these matters, none of the “wicked” under­stood;  even the Apostles, who had been with Jesus, only vaguely understood. Even after Pentecost, when they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they did not understand as clearly as we now do. And our knowledge on this subject will increase as the months pass by.

Here we do well to consider the overall situation: Ishmael was half brother to Isaac, both having Abraham as their father; but Ishmael was fourteen years older than Isaac. In Gen. 21:9-14 is recorded the strife that arose between Ishmael and Isaac, as a result of which Abraham expelled Ishmael and his mother Hagar, from his house. That was about 4,000 years ago; and there has been intense hatred between the Arabs and the Jews ever since. Therefore, we need not expect any quick solution to this feud. It is more likely to increase in the immediate future. Just recently – in the Spring of 1979 – eighteen Arab nations have openly and harshly condemned Egypt for attempting reconciliation with Israel; and we may safely assume that this step was taken by Egypt only because of economic necessity; they will receive about five billion American dol­lars, which they could not easily refuse. There is no air conditioning in Egypt; no screens on the windows; and their economy is in wretched condition. Dire necessity prodded Egypt to enter negotiations with Israel – prompted, of course, by United States money.

THE BARREN FIG TREE

In Mark 11:12-25 is recorded Jesus cursing the barren fig tree; and we accept this as a picture of Israel in its time of favor; then its double of disfavor. Jesus referred to this matter in Mark 13:28,29: “When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, we know that summer is near.” Thus, when we see the barren fig tree (the Jewish nation) begin to revive, then we may conclude that the promised Kingdom is at our very door. Certainly, the “barren fig tree” has made considerable progress since 1878; and especially so since 1948.

On the previous day Jesus had said to the Jewish nation, “Ye shall see me no more until that day.” And thus He spake of the fig tree which should be blighted until the end of the Age; but, when that tree would begin to put forth its leaves, we may know the Kingdom is at the door – a new dispensation is sprouting, indicating life, hope, promise amongst the Jews, as well as among enlightened Christians.

This is emphasized by the progress of Zionism, giving hope and faith to the Jews respecting their beloved homeland and the Divine promises relating thereto. Note here Isa. 60:1,2: “Arise and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee... the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” And further, the 40th Chapter of Isaiah points significantly to recent years. And verse 2 has direct bearing upon our subject: “She hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

In the 37th Chapter of Ezekiel is described the “valley of dry  bones,” which is a description of Israel during her double of disfavor – just as does the dead fig tree. “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” Then verse 21: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen ... and will bring them into their own land.” However, during their double of disfavor the Jews are well represented by Ishmael, who was cast off, during which time the Jewish hopes of God’s favor had almost died; but Zionism has revived the prophetic promises. The Jews will shortly receive great bless­ings in their established homeland; and the promise is sure that they will never again be cast out of there – although  they are having their present difficulties; and will have yet more, culminating in Jacob’s last Trouble, at the end of which they “will look upon Him whom they pierced, and mourn because of it.” (Zech. 12:10)

AFTER THE DISPERSION

It is probably impossible for us to fully evaluate the terrible distress of the Jews after they were evicted from Jerusalem. The worst of agonies seized them; and being the type of people that they were, they would not accept their situation in a calm manner. Thus, they tried every trick in the book to regain Palestine. They tried to buy it – after their fortunes began to rise; but first of all they tried to retake it by force. But before any of that they resorted to rebellion again. Of course, the Romans were strong enough to handle that; and to be sure it would not hap­pen again, they scattered the Jews throughout the empire. The name Judea was eliminated from all maps – after which the land was known as Syria Palestina – so selected because the Philistines were the most detested enemies of the Jews at the time they came into Palestine from Egypt. And Palestine became more and more a dead and barren wilderness.

It was invaded in 636 A.D. by the Arabs; by the crusaders in 1099; by the Tar­tars in 1244; and by the Turks in 1517. But it still remained with them a homeland tied to prophecy, vision and hope.  It remained so for the homeless Jews. Three times a day in the many countries of their exile they prayed, “Sound the great horn for our freedom; lift up the banner, to gather our exiles from the four corners of the earth to our homeland.” But it was to be a long wait – almost 2,000 years – before the an­cient dream would become reality.

SHIMON BAR KOKBA

With such intense avidity for the beloved homeland, they would become an easy prey for swindlers, and for some leaders as aroused as they were. Perhaps the out­standing leader of this latter class was Bar Kokba. The Talmud represents him as a man of great strength, autocratic and irascible; and this seems to be borne out by some of his own letters that were found at Wadi Murabast in 1952, and in the Bar Kokba Cave near the Dead Sea in 1960-61, which confirm this description by their harsh tones.

In the year 132 A.D. he organized a half million Jews in his attempt to regain Pal­estine from the Romans. But the Romans were not easily intimidated in those days. They came with a superior force in numbers and military skill; and many Jewish soldiers and civilians were killed; and the Jews were finally defeated in a last stand at Betar, a fortified hill not far from Jerusalem. This tine the Romans made sure that rebellion would not break out again. Almost all surviving Jews were scattered throughout the empire.

Bar Kokba had been christened Simeon Bar Kosibe; then dubbed Bar Kokba, i.e., “the sun of a Star.” He was then proclaimed Messiah by the leading Pharisee of the period Rabbi Akiva. Most of the people in Judea (tho not in Galilee) followed Bar Kokba. The war lasted about four years (132-35 A.D.); and ended with the destruction of the re­bellion forces, and the expulsion of the Jewish population from most of Judea. It was also followed by a religious persecution, which did not, however, last very long.  Bar Kakba was killed in the last great battle in 135 A.D.

About 140 A.D. the surviving members of the Sanhedrin met at Usha in Galilee and voted a supreme national authority. They elected Simeon Bem Gamalaliel II as patri­arch, and he succeeded in dominating the Sanhedrin. During the 132-35 rebellion Bar Kokba had attracted to himself Eleazar the priest; and for more than three years he di­vided Rome; but the Romans led by Julius Severus forced him to withdraw to the strong­hold of Betar, at which place he was killed.

During his leadership Bar Kokba took the title of Prince of Israel; and struck coins in his name and in the name of Priest Eleazar. After the fall of Betar, the re­mainder of his followers took refuge in the desert by the Dead Sea. In 1960 the Is­raeli archeologist Y. Yadim discovered dispatches by Bar Kokba in a bundle of papyri in a cave in the desert. From these he appears to have been a dominating commander, prompt to enforce obedience.

The Jews terrible “double” of disfavor is now a matter of history; and what a double it has been! When they had yelled, “Crucify him, crucify him; his blood be upon us, and upon our children,” God had taken them at their word; and we may rejoice with them now that those agonizing years are in the past, and with better things ahead as we look forward to the blessings they will receive in the Kingdom when they “look upon Him whom they pierced, and shall mourn because of it.”

In Part Two of a future paper, D.v., we will elaborate more on Zionism and how it has affected the Jewish people since her “Double” is completed. But for now we will close with an encouraging message from God’s Word: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins ... The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa. 40:1-5) (Brother Hoefle, Reprint 299, May 1980)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Brethren: Grace and peace!

Recently it was our privilege and pleasure to go to Pittsburgh and visit Pastor Rus­sell’s grave site. We went to the Carnegie Library to get directions to the cemetery. The Carnegie Library is a part of the Carnegie Institute. It is an impressive complex!

The Librarian in the Pennsylvania History room showed us a book with a brief biog­raphy of Pastor Russell and also gave us the direction to where he was buried. She said there was a Pyramid monument in his honor at the cemetery.

The biography stated that Pastor Russell was the pastor and founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is a mistake, as Brother Russell died in 1916, and the name Jehovah’s Witnesses was not given to the IBSA until 1931 when “Judge” Rutherford gave them this name. It is a sectarian name. Pastor Russell’s followers were known as Bible Students, and to this day his followers are known as Bible Students.

After crossing the Allegany River we went through a small community of Millvale up a steep slope, and as we rounded a curve the United Cemetery was on our left. The first thing we saw was the Pyramid Monument sitting close to the road. The stone Pyramid is very impressive.  At the top point on all four sides is an emblem of the Cross and Crown. Below that are different inscriptions inscribed on each of the four sides – Risen With Christ, IBSA, Dead With Christ, and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Below that is inscribed Holy Bible at the top of the page of an open book. The Pyramid is approxi­mately ten feet tall.

The headstone is about fifty feet from the Pyramid. On the headstone is inscribed Pastor Russell’s birth and death dates, and at the bottom The Laodicean Messenger is inscribed. At the top of each side is an enclosed picture of Pastor Russell which looked as if it had just been put there. All the time we were there there was a blowing rain with a temperature of 42 degrees.  Despite the inclement weather, we had a pleasant and exciting time.

Although we do not hold to the veneration of shrines or the people to which they are erected, this elaborate memorial is a commentary of love, appreciation and devotion the brethren felt for Pastor Russell at the time of his death. The pictures below are of the Pyramid and headstone.

Warm Christian love  to  all,  Leonard  and  Marjorie  Williams

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NO. 422: ARMAGEDDON

No. 422

In these days we hear much about Armageddon being imminent, although many of the Lord’s people knew about Armageddon long before now – already in 1897 Pastor Russell had pub­lished the fourth book of the Studies in the Scriptures, “The Battle of Armageddon.” This book is so descriptive of our day, it is as though it were written by some one observ­ing the turmoil that is now upon us. Of course, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been pre­dicting Armageddon for many years, and have prophesied dates for it to occur. However, as Armageddon didn’t occur at the times predicted, the Witnesses were so disappointed they have not set another date since 1975, when Armageddon did not begin as they had ex­pected.

Pastor Russell predicted that the great Time of Trouble would begin in 1914 with the World War. He predicted the World War 25 years before 1914 – in 1889 – and many people laughed at this “preacher of doom.” But he had arrived at the date 1914 from Bible chronology, Bible prophecies and the parallel dispensations. However, when the world seemed so calm in 1913, a World War seemed unthinkable, so he and several other capable scholars went over the chronology very carefully to see if there might be some mistake. They couldn’t find a thing wrong, so Pastor Russell let his prediction stand, and continued to proclaim 1914 as the date for the World War, as well as the end of the Gentile Times.

But when the World War broke out in 1914, many unbelievers became believers. How­ever, after 1918, when conditions became more stable, quite a few believers became un­believers. Many will say that we still have the Gentile governments, social systems, etc. Which we do! But their lease expired in 1914; and the present turmoil in every nation today is due to the fact that these govern­ments are being evicted.

Pastor Russell taught a very different Armageddon than do the Witnesses today. They teach that Armageddon will be the end of the Gentile Rule – and after that Christ’s benevolent Kingdom will be established, with their Great Crowd as earthly rulers of that Kingdom. Pastor Russell taught that there would be other Gentile governments estab­lished after Armageddon – a socialistic or Communistic regime – but the Gentile govern­ments will not be fully destroyed until Anarchy, which will set in shortly after Arma­geddon. The Witnesses not only teach error on the Time of Trouble, but also error on Christ’s Kingdom and its benevolent purposes for all mankind.

It does not surprise us that the world is waking up to realize that something is now happening that cannot be stopped by human hands, even though this Time of Trouble was taught and predicted in practically every country in the world long before 1914. But it was not the time for the world to wake up, as this message was to enlighten and encour­age the Lord’s faithful people. The prediction then was that the world would not re­ceive it until it reached a crisis – extreme disorder, crime and social unrest in every country in the world as it is today. So many people are waking up, including quite a few clergy today who are preaching an imminent Armageddon – talking as though they were the first to see it from their study and search of the Bible. Surely most people know that the Witnesses have made Armageddon prominent in their world-wide ministry! But the cler­gy don’t mention that, or them.  And they (the clergy) are “profiting” by their proph­ecies! When Pastor Russell taught these things they were for those who had “an ear to hear.” He spent not only his time, energy and health, but all of his large fortune to “bear witness to the Truth,” in which there were other capable people who joined him. These clergymen today are educated men, but they seemingly haven’t had time to read a book published long before 1914 – the Battle of Armageddon – which is still distributed and sold to all interested people. In fact, there are groups of Christians today who are studying this book in class studies. But these educated clergy are too busy with their own ideas to bother with the Truth as given in this informative book written by Pastor Rus­sell, just as the Scribes and Pharisees were too busy with the “traditions of men” to be bothered to learn of that “Carpenter,” when Jesus was here teaching the Truth to all who had an “ear to hear.”

So 37 years after His crucifixion (in 70 A.D.), their city was taken by the Romans and their beautiful temple demolished. And so it will be today with those who are ignor­ing the Truth: they, too, will have the same experience of those Jews who did not have an “ear to hear.”! They, too, will have their “temples” destroyed. The Witnesses will also witness the destruction of their errors – especially when Christ’s Kingdom is estab­lished. They are more responsible for their errors, as they have received more light than have these clergy. The Witnesses still claim Pastor Russell as their founder, while dis­carding many of the fundamental Truths he left them. His message to the world was indeed “Good Tidings of Great Joy,” while theirs is bad tidings of great misery to all who do not join with them before Armageddon. Pastor Russell is not the founder of their errors, but he is the founder of their organization, which they unlawfully seized after his demise in 1916.

THE HISTORICAL RECORDS

The word Armageddon occurs only once in the Bible – Rev. 16:16: “He gathered them together into that place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.” Here is the descrip­tion given of it by one writer: “(Mountain of Destruction) a place in Samaria, east of Caesarea; the Mountain of Mageddon, or Megiddo, a city at the foot of Mount Carmel, and noted for scenes of carnage. The Canaanites and Philistines, Jews and Egyptians, Chal­deans and Persians, Greeks and Romans, Moslems and Christians, of almost every age and nation, have encamped around Megiddo, because of its commanding position, its abundant supply of water and rich pastures, ... In the Apocalypse this place is referred to prob­ably as a symbolical name for great slaughter.”

Another writer, who spells the name as Har-Magedon, says this: “A prophetic battle­field, where the kings of the whole world gather together unto the war of the great day of God. The name is framed with evident reference to the sanguinary contests which took place near the town of Megiddo; the first, that in which Sisera and the Canaanites were defeated at the waters of Megiddo (Judg. 5:19); the 2nd, that which resulted in the death of Ahaziah, King of Judah, at Megiddo (2 Kgs. 9:27); and the third, that in which King Josiah, was killed when in conflict with the army of Pharaoh Nechoh (2 Kgs. 23:29; Zech. 12:11).  The historical associations with Megiddo in the past were seized upon by the prophet to supply a name appropriate in a description of the future sorrows and tri­umphs of God’s people.”

And this further comment from another source: “The fact that the tell of Megiddo was about 70 feet high in John’s day, and was in the vicinity of Carmel Range, justified the use of Hebrew ‘har,’ used loosely in the Old Testament for ‘hill’ and ‘hill country.’ The ‘waters of Megiddo’ (Judg. 5:19) and the ‘valley-plain of Megiddo’ (2 Chron. 35:22) have witnessed important battles, from one fought by Tuthmosis III in 1468 B.C. to that of Lord Allenby of Megiddo in 1917. The ‘mountains of Israel’ witness Gog’s defeat in Ezek. 39:1-4.  This may be in the writer’s mind.”

THE BOOM IN DOOM

A few months back there came to us an article captioned as above; and we believe our readers will appreciate reading quite a lot of it, interspersed with some remarks of our own, for which reason we shall avoid much of the quotation marks:

“Fear No Evil,” a new horror film about Lucifer battling three archangels over the second coming of the Creator, was only two weeks into its shooting schedule when trag­edy struck: A mobile home used as a makeup and wardrobe studio exploded in the middle of the night and burned to the ground. The next morning, hair stylist Frank Montesanto searched the rubble for salvage. All he could find was a Bible. “It was slightly charred, but mostly intact,” he said. “The plastic cover had been melted, and fused to the Bible was a charred copy of the ‘Fear No Evil’ script. I couldn’t believe it.”

Montesanto thinks the episode might have been some sort of omen. For those who seek them, portents of catastrophe are not hard to find these days. Fascination with fini­tude is spreading.  Fundamentalist Bible believers who take prophecies of the end of days quite literally number in the tens of millions, according to polls. And there are signs that the public at large is detecting omens.  “Impending disaster has become an everyday concern,” says historian Christopher Lasch, who believes that humanity has lost faith in the future and awaits some kind of ending.

Armageddon is a growth industry as well as a box office draw. In addition to ‘Fear No Evil’ the latest in a spate of devil and disaster mania films is ‘The Final Conflict,’ the last chapter in the ‘Omen’ trilogy. The chilling saga of Damien Thorn, son of Satan, as an adult is said by production consultant Robert Munger to be “part of a mission to warn the world of what is coming.” A burgeoning array of books on apocalyptic themes are selling briskly in supermarkets, drugstores and airports as well as in Bible book­stores.

Hal Lindsay, chief apostle of biblical future fright, has sold 18 million copies of his “The Late Great Planet Earth,” the New York Times No. 1 best-selling non-fictional book of the 1970s.  Lindsey’s update “the 1980s – Countdown to Armageddon,” is expected to land quickly on topseller lists. And now, to keep pace with prophetic events, Lind­sey is offering a monthly cassette service, “Prophecy Hotline.”

Jim McKeever, an Oregon investment counselor, Bible teacher and futurologist, is urg­ing the discerning to join – at once – the 250,000 subscribers who already read his End­Times News Digest.  And, for those who can’t wait for the mail, Salem Kirban of Pennsyl­vania offers a weekly recorded prophecy message over a toll-free line (for a donation of $10 or more).

Television preachers Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson (of “the 700 Club”) and others are keying on Armageddon apprehension. They preach that Jesus will return very soon and they warn believers to get ready for grim worldwide and personal adversity.

The staples of the modern-day fundamentalist interpreters of the Bible prophets are the rise of the Antichrist and Jesus’ imminent return to and judgment of America.

Based on a patchwork of passages from the Old and New Testament, the most popular scenario for the Second Coming unfolds along these lines:

After the Israelites return to the ancient land and set up a government, Israel’s neighbors and other nations turn against her. Their hostile armies move on Jerusalem, the capital city, and conquer half of it, looting houses and raping women. At that point God intervenes, and the attackers, alarmed by supernatural signs, fall back to Megiddo, or Armageddon (a site southeast of modern Haifa).  There, a climactic and incredibly gory war involving the entire world takes place. (Same of these “prophets” have heard the real Truth on these things, but they have heard a bell ringing, but can’t locate the bell.

At some point – prophecy scholars disagree about exactly when – Jesus visibly par­ticipates (his visibility will become more and more apparent as He ejects the present powers in a more pronounced manner—JJH), leading an army out of heaven, and touching down on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. He destroys the remaining armies and establishes a reign of a thousand years of utopia and peace – the Millennium. (With all the ignorance of that blessed Millennium, it will far surpass the prediction of the imagination of the worldly-minded. They, too, will appreciate God’s Great Plan of Salva­tion if they are in harmony with righteousness and justice, when they see the wonderful works of Christ’s Kingdom for all mankind.

The Second-Coming scenario includes the rise of a “one-world” dictator who, as the Antichrist, heads a 10-nation confederacy in the Middle East and leads the world to nu­clear holocaust. (It will indeed be a “one-world” dictator – The Christ – who will head all nations.

Most of those who hold this view believe that Jesus will snatch up believing Chris­tians to heaven just before the terrible tribulation breaks out. Or, at least, he will give true believers supernatural strength to endure until he returns. Why apocalypse now? Told that all previous predictions of the Second Coming – and there have been many through the centuries – have been wrong, fundamentalists counting down to Armageddon reply that never before have all the elements described in Bible prophecies occurred to­gether. “All is falling into a predicted-plan,” says Lindsey, 51, who is in great de­mand on talk shows and the prophecy lecture circuit. “Today’s dramatic international events conform exactly to the Bible’s signs of the last days.”

Lindsey, a mustachioed, muscular man whose expression sometime conveys a hint of impishness, quotes Matthew 24:34, in which Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, this gen­eration will not pass away until all these things take place.” What things? In his books and in personal interviews, Lindsey lists the following:

“Israel has been miraculously reborn as a nation,” the United States is fading as a superpower and the Red Chinese “continue to build their awesome army.” All of the world’s powers appear ready to involve themselves in a Middle East war because of their need for oil. Meanwhile, Arabs and the world’s Moslems threaten a war that would de­stroy the state of Israel. The European Common Market community of 10 nations grows stronger and begins to doubt the effectiveness of the United States as an ally. Nuclear holocaust “seems more possible every day”: Famine spreads as population explodes; pol­lution threatens survival; and earthquakes, volcanic activity and droughts increase. Told that leading scientists disagree with some of his observations about natural dis­asters, Lindsey shrugs and says: “I don’t major in that aspect of prophecy..... Hal Lindsey may be wrong, but the Bible can never be wrong.”

Lindsey, who promotes biblical prophecy theories that he learned when he was a stu­dent at Dallas Theological Seminary about 20 years ago, denies that he possesses super­natural insight or that he is a prophet. (Pastor Russell denied that he possessed “super­natural” insight, too, before 1897 and was only proclaiming prophesies taught in the Bible; and these prophecies concerning a World War in 1914, etc., were fulfilled accordingly ­and much more accurate of the events transpiring today than those of present-day “prophets”.

Though he (Lindsey) may be a non-prophet, his products are not non-profit. The hard­cover edition of Lindsey’s “Countdown to Armageddon,” has sold 360,000 copies in nine months. With 50 cents’ royalty per copy, it has brought Lindsey $180,000. And with 8 percent royalties on the first printing of the new Bantam paperback “Countdown,” Lind­sey will be counting up at least as much.  His prophecy cassette tape service grosses another $150,000 a month.

McKeever, the economist, advertises his books and newsletters widely in Christian pub­lications. His End-Times News Digest, grossing $3 million annually in subscription fees, capitalizes on disaster mania: “I see a time of famine, earth upheaval, persecution, wars and economic calamity coming,” McKeever predicts. “God has laid it on my heart to warn the Body of Christ about this coming period of intense turmoil that will precede his re­turn, and to encourage Christians to get ready.”

Salem Kirban, head of Second Coming Inc. in Huntington Valley, Pa., advertises, “the first toll-free prophecy hotline in the United States” and sells by mail the 35 books he has written. Titles include “Guide to Survival,” “666,” “The Rise of the Antichrist” and “Satan’s Angels exposed!” The latter, one of “two extra bonuses” sent to persons who contribute $25 or more, is anti-Catholic in tone and reveals “how secret organizations, whose threads of horror reach back centuries ago, are carefully weaving their power plot to control the world for Satan.”

Here we would emphasize: “Prophets and Profits usually go together!”.

Then the paper goes on: If Armageddon is inevitable, why fight it? As Radio Bible preacher Vernon McGee has said, “You don’t polish brass on a sinking ship, a capsule rationale for not wasting time and effort on political activism or improving the social order. Most historians believe that pre-millennialism, the doctrine that Jesus’ return is imminent, has inhibited social action by fundamentalists. But surprisingly, perhaps, many religious leaders who stress a Second Coming, soon manage to harmonize their social action and apocalyptic views.

Jerry Falwell, who heads the new right political and religious coalition called Moral Majority, preaches about Jesus’ imminent return. His apocalyptic message appar­ently heightens his urgency to transform American culture. He warns godly people to keep their thumb in the moral dike or “we may have only a few years left.”

Our comment on the foregoing: With many of these preachers, their preaching is so saturated with error that it is a wonder indeed that they can attract any substantial following at all. They often quote the Bible for their authority, but every false relig­ion in existence does that. They all have some Truth in them; otherwise, no one would believe them. However, we believe the words of St. Paul are most appropriate here: “When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” (Heb. 5:12)

Some months back one of these uplifters (?) told his television audience that if one million of them would each send him just $12 per month (only 12 million a month, or 144 million a year), he would not only explain the intricacies of prophecy to them, would make Christians of enough of the social ax-wielders that Armageddon could be avoided here in the United States. Surely the words of St. Peter loom largely here: “They shall make merchandise of you.” (2 Pet. 2:3) And it is certainly in order here to note that Jesus or the Apostles never at any time took up a collection to help them make more Christians! “Judge” Rutherford, one-time president of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, told his trusting ‘ded­icated’ supporters that, if he could obtain a million dollars, he would break the Devil’s back in one year’s time. His deluded devotees went to work with unstinted vim and vigor and secured the million for him. But, even though he got the million, the Devil is more ac­tive and more mischievous than ever to any unbiased mind.

Then the article continues: Lindsey, credited with being the most influential person in the current prophecy movement, is fully convinced that Armageddon cannot be stopped – ­only temporarily delayed at best. On the one hand, Lindsey says the Antichrist is al­ready alive, thus making the final conflict less than a lifetime away. On the other hand, he advocates a massive U.S. armament buildup to stop the Soviet Union from taking over the world. This hawkishness, coupled with his call for America to return to moral right­eousness, is an effort to insure that the nation is spared “until the Lord comes to evac­uate His people.” (Note now the words of St. Paul: “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”—2 Tim. 3:13) In other words, Lind­sey hopes this generation of American Christians will be spared from seeing the destruc­tion of their country. They would be gone – raptured – before the holocaust.

McKeever has a different slant on the end times, combining prophecy and pragmatism. He teaches that Christians will live under the reign of the Antichrist and must endure famine, persecution and nuclear war before Jesus returns to end the great tribulation. In his survival handbook, “Christians will go through The Tribulation,” McKeever tells Christians how to build bomb shelters, live without utility and food distribution systems and get along without police, fire and other services.

Sitting snugly in their solar-powered, radiation-proof underground homes, Christians must nonetheless face a knotty ethical problem, McKeever warns: What if, during a fam­ine, a Christian householder’s ample food supply is threatened by takeover from others? McKeever’s answer: “You must do whatever God tells you to do at the moment .... I be­lieve that God might lead one Christian family to protect their food with all their might, even to the point of killing those who would attempt to steal it. I also believe that God would lead other Christians to give most or all of it away. (Remember, our confidence is not in the food we have stored, but in God!)

Some religious observers say that today’s purveyors of doom, lacking a clear scrip­tural blueprint, seem to base their projections more on secular news, military pessimism and right-wing political tracts.

If this is so, Lindsey’s opening sentence in the final chapter of “Countdown to Armageddon” may be telling: “Even if I didn’t know anything about prophecy, I would know enough from studying what is going on in our world to see that we are headed toward catastrophe. In any case, millenarian fever is likely to spread as the end of true mil­lennium the year 2000 – approaches.” (Jesus’ words are appropriate here: ‘‘Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven (the present ecclesiastical systems) shall be shaken.”—Luke 21:26.

THE TRUTH ON THE SUBJECT

All of the foregoing “prophets” freely admit that they are somewhat in a fog about this Armaged­don matter; but the Bible gives us a very vivid preview of the whole sit­uation in 1 Kgs. 19:11,12, where the great War, Armageddon, and Anarchy are portrayed in symbolic language as “a great and strong wind” (war), after the wind an earthquake (Armageddon – certainly a world revolution will cause the earth – present society – to quake); “and after the earthquake fire” (Anarchy – Fire in the Bible is usually used to describe destructive force of some kind; and when the Bible tells us that the final spasms of this trouble will bring “every man’s hand against his neighbor”—Zech. 14:13 – that will be the final great destructive force).

In connection with the above, we quote St. Paul in 1 Thes. 5:2,4: “Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night .. But ye, breth­ren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” From other Scriptures we know definitely that we are “in the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4); there can be no guesswork about it! For more than 25 years before 1914 the “watchers” were well informed about the approaching holocaust, and made public declaration of it, but they received the scorn and ridicule of most of the wiseacres. The idea was pure non­sense, they said.  Follows now a quote from Reprints 5659 (written April 1915):

“The Battle of Armageddon, to which this war is leading, will be a contest between right and wrong, and will signify the complete and everlasting overthrow of the wrong, and the permanent establishment of Messiah’s righteous kingdom for the blessing of the world. All these things are probably easier to be seen from this side of the ocean than by the dear friends who are nearer to, and more directly influenced by the war and their national and personal interest ... Our hope is broad enough and deep enough to include all in the great blessings which our Master and His Millennial Kingdom are about to bring to the world.”

Further now from Reprints 5735 (written July 1915): “The Lord’s faithful, watching people, guided by the Word of Truth, will have an understanding of temporal affairs. As St. Paul has assured us, though this day shall come as a snare upon the whole world, it shall not so come upon God’s children who are living up to their privileges. ‘When these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your deliv­erance draweth nigh;’ ‘When ye see these things ... know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand.’ (Luke 21:28,31) The Master does not say, When ye see all these things, but When ye see the beginning of them (In World War One the Lord’s faithful people saw the beginning of these things, and lifted up their heads and rejoiced, gladly proclaiming the “good news” of the Kingdom to others. – not rejoicing in the trouble, nor in the sufferings of others, but in the fact that these things are the foretold signs that the present order is about to be succeeded by a new order, which will be far better, and more advantageous and desirable for all.

“Now we who are living in this day see the beginning of these foretold events. We see the prelude to the great Battle of Armageddon. Our thought is that Armageddon it­self will be the mighty ‘Earthquake’ spoken of in Rev. 16:16-18 (and enacted in panto­mime in 1 Kgs. 19:11,12). In this great revolution and in the succeeding anarchy all earthly institutions will be swept away. The result of the anger, hatred and strife – if permitted to continue indefinitely – would be so terrible that it would bring about the total destruction of the race; but for the elect’s sake (“on account of the chosen” —Matt. 24:22, Dia.), they may begin their glorious reign, God will cut short the carnage, and will set up His own Kingdom under Christ and His elect Church. Christ and His bride will take over the kingdoms of this world, and thus will hinder the strife of men from going to the extreme that it would otherwise go. But it will not be stopped until the present order shall have been wholly dissolved.

“With the uproar so prevalent everywhere, our readers are admonished to be peace-­makers and not strife breeders. When all around men’s souls give way, a special oppor­tunity comes to the people of God for pointing their distressed fellow-creatures to the great blessing which God has provided for the near future, and for re-establishing faith in the Creator and in the future life, and for pointing out that it is to be attained only by those who learn the true lesson of life and who come to love righteousness and hate iniquity. We would be inclined to expect this great trouble to break out very soon were it not that the Scriptures apparently indicate that it will be preceded by a very powerful Church Federation, which will flourish outwardly in unrighteousness and will be the first to succumb.”

“You know the Bible gives us the symbols of the loosing of the ‘winds,’ which is the Great War. Then comes the ‘earthquake,’ which is the great Revolution (Armageddon) to follow. Then comes the ‘fire,’ the Anarchy-Armageddon experiences. I think the Church, the Bride Class, will be gone before that Armageddon experience, but we cannot be sure. We will leave the subject here.” (Question Book, p. 617, middle)

Our comments: In all this Armageddon hullabaloo the Jehovah’s Witnesses take first rank, and have accumulated considerable resources in the things of this world and in the very large following they have amassed; and it is quite some spectacle now to see the leaders in Babylon joining the procession, and making it pay well, as evidence the many citations listed in the earlier pages of this article.  So here we would quote also the Apostle James (5:3, Dia.): “Your gold and silver have become rusted; and the rust of them will be for a testimony against you, and will consume your bodies like fire. You have laid up treasures for the last days.”

Now from reprints 5456: “Emphasizing the suddenness with which the calamity will overtake the world, Jesus said on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained down fire and brimstone from heaven; and He declared that thus it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (World War One – the reference here is to Christendom, “the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified”—Rev. 11:8) The Greek text shows the difference between the Parousia, or presence, of Christ before the Time of Trouble (before the World War One) and the later Epiphania, or revealing.” (The “revealing” began with the outbreak of the Great War, and is becoming increasingly manifest ever since; and will become much more pro­nounced in the very near future.

Further now from Reprints 5523: “The judgments of the Lord will begin to be mani­fest in the world (which began in 1914 with the world War), and will run counter to many of their interests. This manifestation of the presence is Scripturally called the Epiphania, the shining forth, the revealment, of the King of Glory. (To the world in the Time of Trouble – the Epiphany) ‘He shall be revealed in flaming fire, taking ven­geance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (2 Thes. 1:7-10)

“These Bible students call our attention to the fact that the Bible distinctly dif­ferentiates between the Parousia of Christ and His Epiphania, at His second coming. The word Parousia signifies presence, without in any sense of the word indicating that the presence is visible. The word Epiphania signifies the revealing of one who is al­ready present, invisible to men, during a period of forty years (1874 to 1914—JJH), do­ing a work especially in His church – rewarding the faithful, as shown in the parables of the Pounds and the Talents, and receiving the ‘wise virgins,’ as in the parable of Matt. 25:1-13 ... In other words, the revelation of Christ to the world will be subse­quent to His revelation of Himself to the ‘wise virgin’ class. The world will know that He has taken His great power and begun His reign of righteousness, not by seeing Jesus in the flesh, but by seeing the great Time of Trouble which then will break upon the world – ‘a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.’—Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21.” (May 1915) (The great World War of 1914 was something the world had never wit­nessed before – the greatest calamity up to that time.

As to those who are making merchandise of their “prophecies,” our Lord said to those of His Day as He drove them out of the temple: “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” (John 2:16) “The Lord shall have them in deri­sion.” (Psa. 2:4) “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion ... Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” (Psa. 2:6,8) Also, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

At His first Advent Jesus “went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” (Mark 1:14) The “gospel” means “good news,” and we emphasize the good news that is to fol­low “this evil day.” (Eph. 6:13) Isaiah Chapter 35 gives us a beautiful picture of the Kingdom. “And an highway (an easy way of traveling) 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 (the world of mankind), though fools (atheists – see Psa. 14:1), shall not err therein.” (Isa. 35:8) The reason no one will err therein is because, “When thy judgments (instructions) are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteous­ness.” (Isa. 26:9) And further: “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)

All will surely agree that the “knowledge of the Lord” is not abroad in the earth today. We are indeed living in that “evil day” when erroneous teaching is more ac­ceptable to the masses than the Truth – even though the “gospel” is indeed good news and the error not palatable. But all that will be changed in the Kingdom: No error will be taught there. All who wish to learn righteousness can do so, and they will be given the ability to do righteously if that is their hearts’ desire. So we who have believed continue to preach the “good tidings” to all who have an “ear to hear,” because we know God is faithful that promised. (Heb. 10:23)

Much more could be written on this subject; but we believe we have made sufficient­ly clear the real meaning and import of Armageddon – what it will accomplish, and also what it will not accomplish. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are presently teaching a very different explanation of this subject from what the founder of their organization taught, as is readily apparent from the many quotations we have presented from what he taught about it. We continue to believe and teach the Truth as he gave it to us, as “the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.” (Psa. 117:2) The Lord has promised to give the faithful a “mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.” (Luke 21:15) And verily we have found it so!

It is not our wish to overly dramatize present conditions; but being forewarned is being forearmed; and it is our fond hope that our readers will accept this article from that standpoint. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” (Jer. 9:23,24)

(Brother Hoefle, Reprint 317, November 1981

The above Armageddon article was written in 1981, but it is more timely in 1991 be­cause of the Middle East war. Many books have been written predicting Armageddon in the Middle East followed by Christ’s Kingdom. Many of these Prophets have not preached the Kingdom as did Jesus when He was on the earth (Matt. 4:23; Luke 8:1). Much money has been made on these prophecies. Prophets and Profits! Religion is big business! Jesus did not approve of moneychangers (Matt. 21:12,13).

We did not believe this Time of Trouble (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21) would end with the Middle East conflict because it is not taught in Scriptural prophecy. We are not proph­ets but students of prophecy. “We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” (2 Peter 1:19) “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief ... We are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (I Thes. 5:4,5)

The Scriptures give us four violent phases of this Time of Trouble: (1) Wars and rumors of wars, “but the end is not yet.” – (Matt. 24:6) (2) Armageddon, worldwide revo­lution – 1 Kings 19:11; Heb. 12:26; Rev. 16:18; Nahum 1:3. (3) Anarchy, fire, destruc­tion – I Kings 19:12; Zech. 8:10. (4) Jacob’s last trouble – Ezekiel, chapters 38, 39; Zech. 14:1-3. We are told to Watch! (I Thes. 5:6) We watch for the fulfillment’s of these prophecies. These prophecies are portrayed in the Bible as earthquakes, whirl­winds, fire, storms, etc.

 

NO. 421: WAITING FOR MESSIAH

No. 421

(Malachi 3:1; 4:3)

“Behold he shall come, saith the Lord, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in. But who may abide the day of his coming? for he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” – Malachi 3:1,2.

Malachi’s prophecy, the most striking features of which constitute the lesson, con­cludes the Old Testament canon. It contains not only a Divine rebuke for sin, but also a Divine promise of rescue. It fits well to the time generally assigned to it – Nehemi­ah’s period. It remained for Israel to show thorough repentance and to institute thor­ough reforms. The needed reformation fits equally well to our day. In their professed devotions they were robbing God and impoverishing themselves. It rested upon them to note what great blessings would be theirs if they rendered a whole-heart service to the King of kings.

The Jews, comparing themselves with other nations, perceived that as a result of being God’s people they had been held to a more strict account than other nations, so that although their nationality was superior, it was through repeated and severe chas­tisements. They were even questioning the profitableness of being “God’s chosen peo­ple.” The arrogant, proud nations around them flourished in temporalities more than they. They could not stand this; they forgot that they were a people for a purpose and that to fit them for Divine service in the future trying experiences were permitted, and were really evidences of Divine favor. “What son is he whom the father chasteneth not? If ye be without chastisement, then are ye not sons.” (Heb. 12:7,8)

This lesson of a future reward is brought forward by the words, “They that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord harkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name. They shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jew­els.” (Mal. 3:16,17)

ISRAEL – TYPICAL AND ANTITYPICAL

The foregoing has revealed very much of all prophecies respecting Israel’s favors to be fulfilled – a portion in Spiritual Israel’s experiences and another portion in Natural Israel’s. The faithful of the Jewish Age, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets, will surely have a great reward. When Messiah’s Kingdom shall be inaugurated on the spirit plane, invisible to men, those Ancient Worthies, who were once called the fathers, will have a very high rank of service in connection with the Kingdom, in that they will be its earthly representatives and exponents. “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children [of Messiah], whom thou [Messiah] mayest make princes [rulers] in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16)

Spiritual Israel, as history shows us, is the great Messiah for whom the Jews have so long waited. This Messiah has many members – Jesus is its Head, the Church are His members. This Messiah, Jesus and His members or Bride, constitute the spiritual seed of Abraham – “as the stars of heaven.” (Gen. 22:17) These must first be completed, and will be glorified in Kingdom power before the Ancient Worthies can receive their bless­ing on the earthly plane, and before natural Israel can be gathered to them as the nu­cleus of the Kingdom of God on earth, to which ultimately all nations, peoples, kindred and tongues shall flow for a share in Israel’s New Covenant blessings. Of these St. Paul says, “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed [typified by Isaac], and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29) These are to be God’s jewels on the spirit plane, as the faithful Jews of the past are to be the jewels on the earthly plane, marked or enrolled for distinguished honor in connection with Messiah’s Kingdom.

“MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT”

The Israelites, discouraged with their failure to keep the Law and to get the blessings promised therefrom, were encouraged by the Lord with the promise that some day a great Messiah would appear – greater than Moses, with whom God would make a New Cove­nant on their behalf. The New Covenant would be superior to the old one in that it would have a better Mediator, for Israel already had God’s perfect law. The New Media­tor would not relax the law, either. The advantage to accrue through Him would be that somehow His covenant and sin–offering would be more efficacious than that which Moses instituted, because it would put away sin forever and give willing Israelites a new heart, a heart of flesh, after which they would be given everlasting life on condition of their maintaining their relationship with the Almighty.

Jeremiah particularized this, saying: “It shall come to pass after those days, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers when I led them out of Egypt... but their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Jer. 31:31)

Israel’s hope thenceforth was in the Messiah, whose coming would bring to them the New Covenant blessings. They have waited for Him since. Who can help admiring the per­sistency of the Jewish faith – their loyalty to God! Who can help noticing how sharply it is in contrast with their previous unbelief and idolatry! Who can doubt that God still loves His people whom He foreknew and whom He has promised shall be regathered ­back to their own land and back to His favor under the New Covenant! (Rom. 11:25)

But the Prophet Malachi clearly intimates that there might be disappointment in connection with the much longed for Messenger or Mediator of the New Covenant, in whom the Jews so delighted and hoped. The declaration is that His day will be a strenuous one: “Who shall stand when he appeareth?” “Who will abide the day of his coming?” (Mal. 3:2) The intimation is that not many will abide, not many will stand – the major­ity will fall.

The reason is given. He will require such purity, such holiness, that few will come up to His requirements. The tests He will impose will be like fullers’ soap, which is the foe of every spot upon a garment white. His requirements will be like those of a refiner of silver – all the dross must be eliminated, in a furnace hot enough to insure its separation. The test will last a considerable time, for He will sit as a refiner sits, giving close inspection, that the heat be neither too great nor too little, the time neither too long nor too short.

This great Messiah, the Messenger of the New Covenant, began His refining and pu­rifying work more than eighteen centuries ago. He followed the Divine rule, “To the Jew first.” He began to refine and purify a priestly class for association with Himself in the glorious Messianic work. To the Jew first came the privilege of being the antityp­ical Levites. Thousands of them responded at Pentecost, and subsequently, but not enough to complete the foreordained number of spiritual Israelites, members of the body of Messiah.

Since then the selecting work has been in progress for eighteen centuries. God has been calling and drawing from all nations, and as many as respond the great Refiner has been purifying; and if these suffer afflictions for righteousness they are sharing in the sufferings of Messiah that they may be accounted worthy also of a share in His glo­ries to follow. Soon the “elect” number will be completed; the blood of the New Cove­nant will be made efficacious for Israel and for all the families of the earth, and on that basis the Messianic Kingdom or reign of righteousness will begin. (Pastor Russell, Reprints 4930–4931, December 1, 1911)

JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

(Matthew 25:31-46)

“Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me.” (Verse 45)

Having given His disciples many parables illustrating the experiences of the Church, the Kingdom class, in their development and preparation for Kingdom honor, it was emi­nently proper that Jesus should give the parable of this lesson to illustrate the work of this Kingdom after its establishment – to show its purpose and its effect upon the world of mankind.

Many of us have in the past read the Bible too carelessly. Our minds were sluggish respecting spiritual things. For instance, this lesson was at one time applied to the Church. We failed altogether to notice that it says not a word respecting the Church, but is entirely applied to the world, to the nations, the heathen. For centuries the Jews had been accustomed to think of themselves as God’s nation, God’s people. All others they styled heathen, Gentiles, the people, the nations; and in the prophecies God treated the matter from this standpoint. So when spiritual Israel was received in­to Divine favor as the Royal Priesthood, the Holy Nation, the peculiar people, all the remainder of mankind were properly enough to be thought of and described as “the na­tions” – “the Gentiles.”

In line with this, our Lord in this parable tells what is to befall after His King­dom shall have been set up – after the selection of the true Church class to be the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, the joint–heir in His Kingdom, in His throne. This, we notice, is very clearly stated by the Master, saying “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” Who, after proper consideration, will say that this is a matter of the past? Who will dispute that this is a description of Messiah’s Kingdom following His Parousia and His Epiphania [the Epiphania and the Time of Trouble are one and the same] at His Second Advent?

APPLICATION OF THIS PARABLE

Then follows a description of the work of the Millennial Age. “Before him shall be gathered all nations.” This means all the people of the world outside of the Lord’s holy nation, His peculiar people, the Church. Everybody except the Church will be be­fore His great white throne of justice, mercy and love; that will be their judgment time.

Six thousand years ago, Adam and his entire race were judged in Eden, and the sen­tence was death. None of the race are worthy of everlasting life. They are all sin­ners. In due time God sent His Son to die for Adam’s sin, in order that, “as by a man came death [of the entire race), by a man [Jesus] also will come the resurrection of the dead [the entire race]. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive. Every man in his own order.” (I Cor. 15:21–23)

The first order to be made alive in Christ is the Church, called out of the world, separated, “begotten again” of the Holy Spirit. These pass their judgment, their trial, for life everlasting or death everlasting in the present time. Hence the worthy ones, with characters formed pleasing and acceptable to God, will be quite ready to be Messi­ah’s Bride class, joint–heirs with Him in His Kingdom and in His work of judging the world. He has promised that all the faithful shall sit with Him in His throne – the very throne pictured in the words of our text – the throne before which all the nations, all the people outside of the Church, will be gathered.

The gathering of the world will be the result of knowledge. The Time of Trouble will lead on to great enlightenment, in which all the blind eyes will be opened, all the deaf ears will be unstopped (Isa. 35:5), and the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the whole earth. Some there will be those who, resisting this knowledge, will decline

to accept Christ and will not come into this judgment; but after a hundred years of re­sistance these will be destroyed. (Isa. 65:20)

Those in the parable are such as have accepted Christ’s terms and desire to be on judgment, or on trial, for everlasting life. This will include all in their graves, who, the Master tells us, will come forth, not all at once, but gradually. Messiah’s Kingdom will exercise its power and disseminate the knowledge of God and of righteous­ness, with a view to encouraging, helping and uplifting all the willing and obedient. All such may rise more and more out of sin and death conditions – out of imperfection of mind and body and out of immoral conduct to the full image of God, as possessed by fa­ther Adam in the beginning.

It will be the work of the entire Millennial Age to bring this about. Righteous­ness will reign then, as sin reigns now. That is to say, it will be in control, in the ascendency; and whosoever will sin then will suffer promptly. Hence all the nations will be avoiding sin. Then the world in general will be a grand place, where “nothing shall hurt or destroy” (Isa. 11:9); where “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” (Isa. 33:24); where the curse shall be gradually rolled away, and there shall be no more crying, no more sighing, no more dying; and where the blessing of God, bringing perfection, will prevail. “O happy day!” we exclaim. And surely it will be such; for all who live through those thousand years will have a great blessing.

THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION OPERATIVE

But, some inquire, what about the sins of the world? Will there be no chastise­ments, no punishments, for these? We answer that it will be equally as just for God to forgive the sins of the world for Christ’s sake as it has been just for Him to forgive the sins of the Church for Christ’s sake. If the one is just, so will be the other; for God is no respecter of persons, and is equally as willing to forgive the sins of the world as the sins of the Church, when the world, repenting of sin, will turn from it, accepting Christ as their Redeemer.

This does not mean, however, that justice is to be ignored. In the case of the Church, note how the sins of youth may leave their scar and sting to the end of life. And so we may reasonably assume that certain stripes, or punishments, will be permitted to follow the world in just the same manner. It will be from these weaknesses and frail­ties that they will be gradually raised up to perfection during those blessed thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom, when Satan will be bound and not be permitted to deceive any during that period.

But what about heart condition? If conformity to the Divine Law in an outward way will bring blessings to all, will there not still be a difference between the people ­some coming heartily into accord with the Father, and others merely outwardly into har­mony, because this outward harmony will be the way to restitution, perfection?

Undoubtedly this is correct reasoning. It is along this line that the parable be­fore us teaches; namely, that outwardly the “sheep” and the “goats” will have much the same appearance and demeanor, except to the Judge, the King, who will read the, heart and ultimately will manifest to all that there has been a real heart-difference between the two classes, all of whom will have been on trial for a thousand years, receiving bless­ings of the Kingdom.

THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT

All the while each individual will be making character. This character will be fully appreciated by the great Judge, and the individual will be rated either as a “sheep” or as a “goat.” All the sheep class will thus be received at the right hand of the great Jehovah; and all the goat class will be rated as out of favor with Him, even though all the while they will be receiving the blessings of the Millennial Kingdom and outwardly rendering obedience to its laws.

Not until the conclusion of the Millennium will the decision of the Judge be mani­fested. Then great surprise will be shown at His decision – by both parties. To the “sheep” at His right hand He will say, “Come, ye blessed of my Father [the kind that my Father is pleased to bless and to grant everlasting life! Come,] inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” When God laid the foundation of the earth and planned its human habitation, it was His design to give it to you. Now the time has come for you to enter into this kingdom and to possess it.

This is not the same kingdom as the Messianic Kingdom. On the contrary, it is the kingdom which God gave to Adam, which Adam lost through his disobedience and which Christ redeemed by the sacrifice of Himself. It will be given only to those who will have de­veloped the God-like character – those who will have become the Lord’s “sheep” during the Millennium.

Then the other class, the goats of the parable, will be sentenced: “Depart, ye accursed ones [doomed ones], into everlasting punishment.” Granted all the privileges, blessings and experiences of a thousand years of contact with righteousness, truth and the Spirit of God, you indeed render an outward obedience, but at heart you have not come into harmony with God. I cannot recognize you as My sheep. I cannot present you to the Father blameless and irreprovable. You must be destroyed; the punishment is the Second Death, “everlasting destruction.” The penalty upon you is an everlasting one be­cause there will be no further provision made for your redemption or for your resurrec­tion from the Second Death. You will be as though you had never been. You have failed utterly to appreciate the goodness of God and to copy His Character-likeness. Eternal life is only for those who have God’s likeness and God’s Spirit. “The Father seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23)

Both classes, the “sheep” and the “goats,” were surprised at what the King, the Judge, declared to be the basis of His judgment. To the sheep He said, “I was an hun­gered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” To the goat class He said, “I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink; was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not.”

Both “sheep” and “goats” claimed that they had no knowledge of any such experiences. When did we minister unto Thee? When did we fail to minister unto Thee? The answer was, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of My brethren, or did it not unto him, ye did it, or did it not, unto Me.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHEEP CLASS

Now, who are these respecting whom there will be a test upon the sheep class and upon the goat class? Will there be people sick, hungry and in prison during the Millen­nium? Does the Lord wish us to understand that there will be such? We have, on the contrary, always assumed that sickness, poverty, hunger and prisons will then be gone forever. What does it all mean?

The meaning is plain. With the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom all who come into harmony with it will have the great privilege of doing something to help others. The world is blind and starved now, for lack of spiritual food and the anoint­ing eye-salve of the truth. While the Millennial blessings will be showered upon those who accept the Lord’s terms, there will be others who will need assistance. Those who have the Spirit of God, the spirit of love, will be glad to carry the heavenly message of reconciliation to all humanity, glad to apply the eye-salve to the blind, glad to unstop the ears of the deaf, glad to help the sin-sick back into harmony with God – to the blessings of Messiah’s Kingdom, to the way in which these may be obtained – helping them to cover their nakedness with the merit of Christ.

All who will take pleasure in this work will thus be manifesting that they have God’s Spirit and are co–laborers with Him. All these will be the sheep. On the other hand, those who will be careless in respect to their vow, and merely enjoy the Millen­nial blessings themselves, will be of the goat class and will thus be marking themselves as “goat,” and correspondingly will be out of favor with the great King of kings, their Judge, the Lord of Glory.

THE WORLD’S RESURRECTION

The prison referred to in the parable is undoubtedly the great prison-house of death, into which approximately twenty thousand millions already have gone. All these are to come forth. But the Scriptures declare that they will not all come forth at once, but “every man in his own order.” (1 Cor. 15:23) Only the Church will be in the First Resurrection.

During the Millennium the awakening from the sleep of death, the prison-house, will come about by Divine Power, of course, but we believe in answer to prayer. Each family circle, as it can prepare for another and another member, will be glad to do so, and will make request for his return. Thus the race will come out of the “prison-house” in reverse order to that in which they entered, and will be acquainted with, identified by, and prepared for by their friends, their relatives.

While the blessing of the Lord will provide an abundance for all, nevertheless we may safely assume that the provision will be in the hands of their fellows. It will be the “sheep” that will be especially interested in praying for and preparing for those who are in the great prison-house of death. Any by so engaging their time and energy these “sheep” will be manifesting a purpose, a will, in harmony with that of the Cre­ator. God has willed that all who are in their graves shall come forth at the command of Jesus (John 5:28,29), and those in sympathy with God and Christ will be co–laborers with God in accomplishing the work for which Christ died. Any not interested in that work will be lacking in God’s Spirit; and this is exactly what is charged against the goat class.

He who sits upon the throne, having redeemed the world of mankind and having pro­vided for the resurrection of all these redeemed ones, counts them as in a certain sense representing Himself – as He says in the parable: “I was an hungered, and ye fed me; I was sick and in prison, and ye visited me,” ministered unto Me and helped Me.

Likewise the reproof to the goat class: to these He said, You were not interested in the things of God. Your interest was merely personal, a selfish one. You have en­joyed the blessings of these glorious thousand years, and that is all that God has pro­vided for you. You are not of the kind of whom He is pleased to grant everlasting life. You will therefore die. You have more or less of the selfish spirit, which is the spirit of Satan, and as God’s provision for all who will not be in fellowship with Him in spirit is destruction, this is to be your portion – the Second Death. (Rev. 21:8)

The eternal fire is the fire of God’s jealousy or anger, which burns against and destroys everything antagonistic to His righteousness. (Zeph. 1:18; 3:8) It is, of course, merely a figurative expression representing complete destruction.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 5530–5532, September 1, 1914)

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sister Hoefle: Grace and peace in the Name of our Beloved Savior!

I received the tracts and the Divine Plan of the Ages in very good condition. But there was a delay in the Post Office for two months. The man in the Post Office went on a two-months holiday and I didn’t get the package until he returned. But all things work together for good to those who love the Lord.

I am now seeing about my passage to go to St. Lucia just for a few days, either by plane or by boat, and I will start giving out the tracts and the Divine Plan of the Ages.

The Lord bless you in all your efforts to serve Him. Give my love to all those in the Bible House.

Your brother by His Grace ------- (ST. VINCENT)

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Dear Sister Hoefle,

Someone must have sent you our name, as we have been getting your papers for sev­eral years. Before that we didn’t know of the existence of the movement of EBSA.

We came into the truth in 1940. I live with my wife on the farm I was born on. We have two daughters who are married – one lives in Grand Rapids and the other in Den­ver, Colorado.

When God aroused my interest in His Word I found several JW books and read them. One of the books was “The Harp of God.” Not too long afterwards, however, I was told about the Studies in the Scriptures. We found a set of them in Seattle, Washington, and came home and studied them carefully. We found there is a great difference between the teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Studies in the Scripture. We have ac­cepted the truth taught in the Studies in the Scripture and believe in the truth to this day.

I am 74 and my wife is 73. We have met a number of brethren of the Johnson group. In Grand Rapids we met Brother and Sister ------------- and Sister -------------- of Muske­gon. Sister ----- and Brother ----------- visited us about two years ago. We keep in touch with many of the brethren we have met at conventions. We keep a list of their names.

More and more we are able to grasp the true meaning of the Grace of God. How it thrills our hearts to be able to comprehend the heights and depths of the love of God with all the saints. As St. Paul said, “I live, yet not I but Christ in me.” It is clear to me that the greatest message we should proclaim is the Gospel of Grace [the Plan of Salvation for all mankind]. That is because we have submitted ourselves to His keeping. We are His workmanship through the Holy Spirit.

If you care to publish this letter we would be grateful. This is only an intro­duction. Hope to hear from you. Christian love, --------------(Michigan

PS – When you publish our letter, please add that we would be glad to hear from any of the brethren. We would like to get acquainted with as many brethren as possible.

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Dear Sr. Hoefle: Greetings in our Redeemer’s Name!

I appreciate your prompt answer to my letter requesting more information about the Epiphany Bible Students’ articles you have been sending me; and I gratefully ac­cept your offer to keep sending them. I believe I have received all of the 1990 papers, and after reading them I share them with two other sisters in our class. So, at the moment I don’t have any of the back issues in my possession. Please just keep on go­ing from here on.

Also, I thank you for your offer of the Charles Taze Russell book. I shall read it with great interest and also let others get the benefit of it.

Our class numbers 9 or 10 at present and varies from week to week. All of our members are older. We don’t have any young people anymore.

I was glad to learn a little more about the Epiphany Bible Students Ass’n and the good work you are doing in supplying the brethren with these articles. I pray the Lord’s rich blessing on you.

Yours in His service, ------- (INDIANA)

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Dear Sister Emily: Peace and Blessing in Jesus dear Name!

At last I am writing you a letter. I hope this finds you feeling well. I am in quite good health.

The war has started and we wonder how it will end. We feel for the downed pilots and all our boys stationed in the Middle East. It is another tragic event that it would seem bring things closer to the end of this present evil world.

Sr. Rose Suk Michalek’s daughter Joan wrote me that Sr. Krewson died around Christ­mas time. She was 84. I hadn’t heard from Joan for quite some number of years. Sr. Rose Suk had a stroke several years ago and doesn’t write. She is around 86 years, I think.

Thank you for all your good letters to me and also for the interesting and informa­tive January/February paper. I sent part of it to my granddaughter. She lives north of San Francisco. I hope David and Nan are feeling stronger. David keeps going. His news releases are informative, and gives news that we wouldn’t get otherwise.

A few months ago I wrote a letter to Santa Barbara News Press. Their articles of the news of Israel seems slanted to me. I told them I was a Christian who cared about Israel. Also sent them copies of Bill Dunnagan’s letter and articles by David Horowitz which contained Bill Dunnagan’s letter but had something different in it. There were also some good letters from local Jewish people explaining Israel’s side of the ques­tion. It’s about time for the mail to come, so I will close with love ------- (CALIFORNIA)

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Dear Emily,

Your January 1st letter and the Jan-Feb bulletin arrived a few days before the out­break of the Gulf war against Iraq. Firstly, let me thank you for your thoughts and warm concern: Your letters are always so encouraging and so supportive. We appreciate your friendship more than I can put in words.

I read the Bulletin from A to Z and once again I wish to compliment you on a superb job!  (Even though the first item on p. 9 must be understood rather as a way of think­ing and praying – of belief but not a realistic appraisal for people who live here and who right now go through extremely trying times.)

The Gulf war is now 6 days old. Here in Israel it dominates every aspect of our life... The missiles wrought horrible material damage but did not kill anybody, although 600 people lost their homes – after going through moments of traumatic shock none of them will ever forget. The children among them will bear marks of that night of fear and havoc for the rest of their lives.

As you know, we here in Israel knew all along what the inexhaustible supply of the most sophisticated modern arms by the Soviet Union and the major Western nations to the Iraqi dictatorship would produce in the end.

When in 1981 the Iraqi nuclear power plant was wiped out by Israeli pilots, Israel was universally blamed. Now – years too late – Israel is praised for that action. But now – incredible as it may sound – Americans fight lethal war arsenals in Iraq, supplied by US! British pilots face British-trained Iraqi pilots. The French are up against huge stockpiles of modern weaponry supplied by them over the years to Iraq; and, of course, all – ALL the ‘coalition’ partners have to fight the unbelivable number of Sov­iet-supplied airplanes, guns, missiles and vast assemblies of sundry modern war-and-death machines bearing the Communist trade mark. I put ‘coalition’ between ‘  ‘ be­cause to everyone here and all those who have as much as an inkling of the true nature of this ‘coalition’ know very well that it’s just lip-service. When the chips are down, Syria, Saudia, et al, will prove to be “staff of a broken reed,” as Isaiah so aptly puts it (36:6).

It is all so sad and so painful, but we here will have to stand up to every con­ceivable challenge – come what may. We pray and hope that we won’t be alone and that, even if very hard times are ahead, the Rock of Israel (2 Sam. 23:3) will stand by us ­and perhaps some men, too.

Be well and accept our best wishes and hearty blessings! -----------------(ISRAEL)

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Dear Brethren: Greetings in the Name of our Beloved Redeemer!

Just wanted to tell you that we appreciated the March/April papers, especially the Special about Israel. It is very informative, especially with the map giving the God-given promises to the Jews of their homeland.

Our Christian love and prayers are with you. The Lord bless and guide you as you continue to serve Him.

Your brother and sister ------- (NORTH CAROLINA)

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NO. 420: CONSECRATION FROM 1881 UNTIL RESTITUTION SETS IN

No. 420

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

All who are familiar with Harvest Truth know that the general call for entrance into the High Calling ended in 1881—that thereafter entrance into that select company could occur only as one dropped out. All who accept this great truth agree also that a time would come when the door to the High Calling would eventually be forever shut (Luke 13:25) – that the 144,000 would be fully and fixedly complete. However, there is divergence of views as to when that time would occur; and it is not our wish at this time to discuss when that would be.

But when that time would come – from then until Restitution sets in, as That Ser­vant taught – there would almost certainly be those among the human family who would wish to do God’s will to the extent of their understanding and ability – just as there were those who wished to do God’s will before the High Calling was available. (See He­brews, Chapter 11) Such consecrators – between the Ages – will have to walk a ‘narrow way’ while we are yet in “the evil day” (Eph. 6:13) – and, if faithful, they will bring upon themselves the adversities that all have experienced who have chosen to “follow in His steps.” (1 Pet. 2:21) And to such the attributes of God would prompt bestowal of a reward higher than that which will come to the world in general—something higher than Restitution.

That Servant recognized this fact – that there would be such a class of consecra­tors – even though he gave us no Scripture to prove it. He came to that conclusion pure­ly from his clear and logical intellect. We believe this is another proof that he was made “ruler over all his goods” (Matt. 24:47); and that he could say, with the Apostle Paul, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27)

We offer now some quotations from Brother Russell’s writings to substantiate these statements: The first one of these is to be found in Reprints 3418, the year being 1904: “We would be sure that Divine love and care would be over them just as surely, and that failing a place in the elect church through no fault of theirs, these would be given some good portion which would much more than reward and satisfy them.”

In that same year 1904, Reprints 3445, the teaching is presented that the Ancient Worthies would be a higher class than the Great Company, because they were a fully faithful class. He further stated that, being a higher class, they would precede the Great Company in the resurrection – that the Ancient Worthies would be first to be res­urrected after the Little Flock. That this is a wrong conclusion is apparent from the fact that the Great Company class is a part of the Gospel-Age “church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:23); whereas, the Ancient Worthies are the “church of the firstborn” of the Millennial Age – and Brother Russell eventually came to see the matter in this way.

Coming down to 1911 (Reprints 4836) there is this: “But suppose that some should present themselves after the close of the acceptable time, what would be their status and God’s dealing with them? Since God is unchangeable, we must assume that He would always be pleased to have His creatures devote their lives wholly and unreservedly to the doing of His will, as He was pleased with the faithfulness of the Ancient Worthies to lay down their lives before a covenant of sacrifice was in force. We may reason that as God has promised human perfection to those Ancient Worthies who laid down their lives, He would be willing similarly to reward any who might follow the same course after the completion of the Church – after the ending of the acceptable time of sacri­fice. [God’s character forbids accepting sacrifice from any one without giving suitable reward for such service.]

“Quite likely, therefore, there will be some in the end of this Age who, although faithful unto death, will not have been begotten of the Holy Spirit and not attain the spirit plane of being in the resurrection, but who will come forth members of the same class as the Ancient Worthies, who were developed before this Age began.

“In view of these facts, our advice to all who love the Lord and who desire to be in complete fellowship with Him is the same message that has gone forth throughout this Age – ‘We beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies living sacrifices’... We can tell them, too, that, to our understanding the Scriptures teach that the Ancient Worthy class (of which they may be a part if they fail to be accepted to the new nature) will be highly honored of God, perfect on the human plane and made ‘princes in all the earth.’ (Psa. 45:16)”

In the Feb. 15, 1913 Tower (Reprints 5182) it is stated that the Ancient Worthies are of the Tribe of Levi, and therefore would have no inheritance in the land (as would the Restitutionists). And, as he has said before, the unbegotten class of consecrators would receive the reward and honor that will be given the Ancient Worthies; which means a higher reward than will come to the Restitutionists. These would be typed by the Ger­shonites, of which more later on. In the Nov. 1, 1913 Tower (Reprints 5344 – top of col. 2) we are told that the eventual glorious reward of the Ancient Worthies – after the Millennium has come to a close – would be on the spirit plane.

Coming now to Sept. 1, 1915 Tower (Reprints 5761) there is the following, under the caption, “The Two Parts of the Harvest Work” – and under the sub–heading, “Those Consecrating Between the Ages”:

“It is our thought that with the closing of the door of this Gospel Age there will be no more begetting of the Holy Spirit to the spirit nature. Any afterward coming to God through consecration, before the inauguration of the restitution work, will be accepted by Him, not to the spirit plane of being, but to the earthly plane. Such would come in under the same conditions as the Ancient Worthies who were accepted of God. The Ancient Worthies came in, no call being opened to them – the High Calling not yet being opened, and the restitution opportunities not open. But they freely gave themselves up to God without knowing what blessings their consecration would bring, except that they had the intimation that they would, in the future life, have a ‘better resurrection’ than would the remainder of the world.

“Our thought is that whoever under such conditions as these will make a full con­secration to the Lord, to leave all to follow in His ways, and will live up faithfully, loyally, to that consecration, may be privileged to be counted as a similar class to those who preceded this Gospel Age. We know of no reason why the Lord would refuse to receive those who make a consecration after the close of the Gospel Age High Calling and before the full opening of the Millennium.”

Inasmuch as the Time of Trouble had broken upon the world in 1914 – as predicted by Brother Russell – there existed the general conviction among Truth people that the Kingdom would be established within a matter of but a few years. “The stone” (Dan. 2:45) had already begun its smiting, and was increasing in severity with each passing month. At that time none of the Truth people had the slightest notion that things would be as they are today – some sixty years later. Had that thought then been enter­tained, we may safely conclude that Brother Russell would have been much more positive and voluble than he was about that class that “would consecrate between the Ages.”

However, even with the small amount that he did say, the Harvest group generally was so inoculated with the idea, that the Society under J. F. Rutherford came out em­phatically that the High Calling would definitely be closed at Passover 1918 – after which time a new class of consecrators would appear whom they labeled as “Modern Wor­thies” – to emphasize their grouping with the Ancient Worthies. This was maintained for a number of years – until JFR rejected tentative justification. Once that was done, it was impossible to harmonize Modern Worthies without any justification, without which they could have no standing before God. Eventually they invented a class of their own – the Jonadabs – which was later fused with their present “Great Crowd,” of which more later.

Other Truth groups mostly ignored the expressions of Brother Russell as we have quoted them; and prior to 1950 the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement was the only Truth organization – so far as we know – that championed such a class. But failing to do this, these others are now left in a very awkward and vulnerable position. The Society eventually had to re-open the High Calling, changing the dates for its close on several occasions, as the “penny” became too hot for them to hold, and too important to drop. In some of their 1975 editions of the Watchtower they are forced to the con­clusion that the High Calling may not even yet be closed. And other Truth groups are forced to the same conclusion.

But embracing such a view is now making their position ridiculously untenable. So far as we know, all Truth groups accept the position that there can be only 144,000 in the Christ Body. Yet, if we reflect upon the number of persons in all the groups who consider themselves in that select company, there would almost certainly be more than 144,000 that have had that conviction since 1914. And, if there are more than that many since 1914, what shall we say of the entire Gospel Age? Most Truth groups think there was a “Harvest” following 1874. A Harvest of what? Why, of the last members of the 144,000, of course! Manifestly, these various conclusions produce such a bedlam that no one of sound mind can bring himself to believe them all. And, even if they reject some of them, yet “the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.” (Isa. 28:20)

SCRIPTURAL PROOF

As stated foregoing, Brother Russell offered no Scripture to prove his conclusions – nor did he attempt to give a name to such persons. It was the Society – after his death – that produced the name Modern Worthies. Nor do we now offer too much criticism for their selection of the name. Up to that time no Scripture had been produced which might suggest a Biblical name. It remained for the Epiphany Messenger to offer a name more suited to our place on the stream of time. However, we would emphasize here that the term Ancient Worthy is not in the Bible either; but they are referred to as Ancients a number of times in the Old Testament, and St. Paul tells us in the 11th chapter of He­brews that the world was not “worthy” of them. Consequently, the name Ancient Worthies comes easily enough. We believe the same will apply to the Youthful Worthies, as we now examine some Scriptures to this end.

The clearest of such Scriptures is found in Joel 2:28,29. In Joel 2:29 the ref­erence is to the Little Flock and Great Company: “And also upon the servants (the Little Flock) and upon the handmaids (the Great Company) in those days (the Gospel Age) will I pour out my spirit.” Thus far, Brother Russell saw the truth on the text as expressed here: but the remainder he could not see because it was not the “due time.” (See Berean Comments) Then Joel 2:28: “And it shall come to pass afterward (after the Gospel Age, during which the Lord pours out His spirit for His servants, the Little Flock, and handmaidens, the Great Company – compare Joel 2:28 with 2 Cor. 6:17, 18) that I will pour out My Spirit for all flesh; and your (the Christ’s) sons (converted flesh­ly Israel and the persevering, but unconsecrated believers of the Gospel Age) and your daughters (converted Gentiles of the Millennial Age, Isa. 60:4 – all the repentant hea­then) shall prophecy (teach the Truth to those of mankind who then will not know it—­Matt. 25:35, 37, 40); your old men (Ancient Worthies) shall dream dreams (will be given new and inspired deeper revelations as a part of “another book... of life” – a third “Testament” of the Bible, Rev. 20:12) and your young men (Youthful Worthies) shall see visions” [will be given inspired less deep representations, clarifying and elaborating for themselves and the people the teachings of the Old and New Testaments, as well as producing “another book of life”].

All classes from among mankind savingly associated with the Plan of God are thus treated of in Joel 2:28,29 – six in all. These and the repentant fallen angels will constitute the seven (perfect Divine number) classes of those whom Christ delivers from sin and condemnation unto perfection and everlasting life in His work as Savior. (See E–4:317–322) We would direct attention here to the Hebrew “zaqen,” from which “old men” is translated. This word is translated “ancients” thirteen times in the Old Testa­ment, and once as “ancient men.” We offer just two of these—Psa. 119:100: “I under­stand more than the ancients” (zaqen). Also, Isa. 24:23: “The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion (thru the Christ Company), and in Jerusalem (thru the Worthies), and before His ancients (zaqen) gloriously.” And “your young men” would be better trans­lated “young, choice, unmarried men – youthfuls.” This Joel text is clear enough that there are two classes of men who would be specially inspired for the benefit of the re­mainder of restitutionists – Ancients and Youthfuls – Ancient Worthies and Youthful Wor­thies.

Next we consider 2 Tim. 2:20: “In a great house (the great house of the typical Aaron—Lev. 16:6; Num. 17:2, 3:6-9, 17-20, consisted of his sons and the three typical classes of Levites—the Kohathites, Merarites and the Gershonites; accordingly, in the great House of our Great High Priest there are four classes antitypical of these) there are not only vessels of gold (the Little Flock—Mal. 3:3), and of silver (the Great Com­pany—Mal. 3:3—See Berean Comments on Mal. 3:3 and 2 Tim. 2:20), but also of wood (the Ancient Worthies) and earth (The Youthful Worthies, who with the Ancient Worthies will be, during the Millennium, the human members of antitypical Aaron’s House, as they were or are also human before the Millennium), and (additionally) vessels of honor (the faith­ful Restitutionists) and dishonor (the Goats of the next Age).”

Thirdly, Ps. 72:3: “The mountains shall bring peace to the people; and the little hills by righteousness.” This entire Psalm describes the Millennial reign of Christ, implying that symbolic Jerusalem will be the seat of Government (v. 16). Literal Jeru­salem was built upon two mountains, Zion and Moriah, and upon two hills, Akra and Be­zetha. Zion and Moria represent the heavenly and the earthly phases of the Kingdom re­spectively – i.e., The Christ and the Ancient Worthies as the two higher powers of the Kingdom. (See v. 16, “top of the mountains,” etc.) Akra and Bezetha represent the trib­utary (subordinate) powers of the Kingdom, i.e., the Great Company and the Youthful Wor­thies. (See Berean Comments on the “hills.”)... And as the hill Bezetha was the fourth and last height of Jerusalem to be built by the Israelites, so the Youthful Worthies are the last one of the powers (the other subordinate power) of the Kingdom to be developed.

The world of mankind are symbolized by the valley sections of literal Jerusalem. The thought of this passage seems to be that the two phases of the Kingdom, receiving cooperation from the subordinate powers of the Kingdom (the Great Company and the Youth­ful Worthies), will be used by Jehovah to bless the world of mankind with peace and pros­perity through righteousness during the Millennium.

The fourth text is Isa. 60:13: “The Glory of Lebanon (Lebanon means white, and its evergreen trees, the glory of Lebanon, represent the righteous as antitypical Levites—­Psa. 92:12,13) shall come to thee (the antitypical Levites will he brought to Christ and the Church—Num. 3:6-9), the fir tree (Ancient Worthies), the pine tree (the Great Com­pany) and the box (Youthful Worthies) together (rendering a cooperative service), to beautify the place of my sanctuary.” It was a Levitical work (Num. 3:6-9) to beautify the sanctuary of the Lord.

In this connection, Isa. 35:2 tells us that “the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it.... they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.” The cedars of Lebanon are tall and stately, the timber was much prized for the construction of palaces and temples; pillars, beams and planks were cut from it, and masts were made for ships. The timber of these trees was aromatic, impervious to rot, decay and infestation by termites. The roof for the Temple of Diana (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) was made from cedar planks, and continued for 400 years without appar­ent wear from the elements. To this day these trees are reverently described by the Arabs as “the cedars of the Lord.”

ANTITYPICAL ELEAZAR

Those who are familiar with Parousia Truth, and who hold to the truth that Brother Russell was That Servant, whom “the Lord made ruler over His House­hold” (Matt. 24:45), recognize that the “household” is much the same as the Gospel-Age Tabernacle (the true church). He occupied much the same position here in the end of the Age as did the twelve Apostles at the beginning of the Age. As such, they then, and he here in the end of the Age, antityped Eleazar, son of Aaron, of whom it is recorded: “And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.” (Num. 4:16)

Therefore, it is only logical that he should write Tabernacle Shadows, which book was foundational for the Six Volumes of Parousia Studies in the Scriptures. When writ­ing Tabernacle Shadows in 1879 he set forth the antitypical designation of the Levites: The Amram Levites to the east of the Tabernacle typified the Gospel-Age Royal Priest­hood; the Kohathites to the south the Ancient Worthies; the Merarites to the north the Great Company; and the Gershonites to the west the saved world of mankind. But he was quite emphatic that the Levites were not to have any inheritance in the Land of Canaan; thus, the antitypical Levites would have no inheritance in the Millennial Canaan.  This produced the question: If the restitutionists were to have no inheritance in the Mil­lennial Canaan, then they would all eventually become spirit beings – a thing Brother Russell realized just could not be. He wrestled with the question, but could not pro­vide any satisfactory answer because it was not the “due time” for the truth to become known.

ANTITYPICAL ITHAMAR

It remained for the Epiphany Messenger to produce a logical picture here; and this he did by showing that the Gershonites typified the Youthful Worthies, who would share in honor and service and reward with the Ancient Worthies. This picture is well set forth in the Jews crossing Jordan to inherit Canaan. It will be recalled that be­cause the Jews refused to enter Canaan – believing the evil report of  the ten spies in­stead of the good report of Caleb and Joshua – that the Lord pronounced this sentence upon them: “Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness... according to your whole num­ber from twenty years old and upward... ye shall not come into the land... save Caleb... and Joshua.” (Num. 14:29,30)   It is well to note that all the males who entered Ca­naan were young men. Joshua, of the Tribe of Ephraim, could not be a priest (only those of the Tribe of Levi were eligible to be priests), was given the honor of leading the Jews over Jordan and possessing goodly Canaan land. Joshua in that picture typed the Lord Jesus, and Caleb typed the true Church; but they were supported by an entirely new generation that had grown up in the wilderness wanderings; and that group would well represent an unbegotten class here in the end of this Age who are fully loyal to antityp­ical Joshua (Jesus). Once we see this picture clearly, all obstacles are removed. This gives us four elect classes, with two non-elect classes – as explained foregoing – and the picture becomes harmonious with all parts of the Bible.

It will be recalled that Aaron had four sons – Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar ­the first two of whom were destroyed in their rebellion. (See Lev. 10–1–7) Eleazar and Ithamar, the third and fourth sons of Aaron, then became eligible for the  priest­hood, Eleazar being the one who succeeded his father Aaron to that office, being the oldest son living when his father died at Mount Hor. Thus, he would fittingly typify the twelve Apostles (the Lord’s mouthpieces during the first epoch of the Gospel-Age Church), and That Servant in the seventh epoch of the Gospel-Age Church.

But in the interim the Lord also had prominent mouthpieces such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, Thomas Cranmer, etc. – 35 in all. These would be well depicted by Ele­azar’s younger brother Ithamar. And after the departure of the Parousia Eleazar (That Servant) we should logically expect to see an antitypical Ithamar; and this we find in the person of Brother Johnson. Num. 4:28 is definitely pertinent: “This is the ser­vice of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation; and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.” And just as Brother Russell clearly and correctly gave details about the Gospel-Age Little Flock, so Brother Johnson gave similar description of the antitypical Gershonites – the Youthful Worthies. To him came the privilege of interpreting the Scriptures concerning this Class; and the Youthful Worthies occupied a large place in his writings.

It is well to remember here that he did not set aside any of Brother Russell’s teachings about an unbegotten class here in the end of the Age. He simply interpreted the pertinent Scriptures to prove what Brother Russell has taught, but without offer­ing any Scripture to prove his thought.

“If Truth people generally knew that this method was being used (of setting aside the truth on tentative justification—JJH) by at least two of the Tower editors, they would be more on their guard against various errors that JFR and some of his associates have been holding, and are ‘privily’ bringing in among the unsuspecting sheep. If our dear readers will keep in mind that the Tower’s denial of Tentative Justification dur­ing this Age is the foundation of its rejecting the Scriptural doctrine that those faithful consecrators from 1881 until Restitution sets in, for whom there are no crowns available, and hence no spirit-begetting for Gospel-Age purposes, will be the Millen­nial associates of the Ancient Worthies in reward and service, they will be able by Scriptural, reasonable and factual thinking completely to overthrow every argument that the article under review presents to defend its thesis; for through Tentative Justifi­cation alone can God now deal with this class in preparing them for association with the Ancient Worthies.” (By Brother Johnson)

And we say the same of others who have perverted Tentative Justification and have set aside the teaching of both Messengers as given above on the faithful consecrators from 1881 until Restitution sets in. To reverse himself on his “Modern Worthies,” JFR was logically forced to reject Tentative Justification; and eventually to discard the entire book on Tabernacle Shad­ows, which book had been basic for a large part of the Parousia Truth. This accounts for much of the flood of error that subsequently appeared in the Towers. In the Taber­nacle picture the Levites type the tentatively justified during the Gospel Age, as well as in this last special period of the Gospel Age – the Epiphany. In the type the Le­vites were the teachers of the people (See Ezek. 44:9-14); and eliminating them from the Tabernacle picture makes the book a lopsided and unintelligible presentation. This readily accounts for JFR’s rejection of the book after he had rejected tentative justi­fication.

ANOTHER PERVERSION

In the March 15, 1913 Tower (Reprint 5207), col. 2, par. 7, we find this:

“Tentative Justification, then, is for the purpose of giving a standing with God [“being justified by faith, we have peace with God”—Rom. 5:1], from which a believer in our Lord’s ransom-sacrifice as his only hope of salvation may ascertain whether he has that spirit of sacrifice which will lead him to full consecration. The believer is at liberty to choose which course he will take. He may offer himself in consecration, or he may decide not to do so. But should he decide to wait for restitu­tion, he thereby proves that he has not appreciated God’s offer.”

Certainly the above would now apply to Youthful Worthies – and to no other class ­if we accept our Pastor’s teaching that “those consecrating and proving faithful in the interval between the close of the General Call in 1881 and the inauguration of the earthly phase of the Kingdom (for whom no crowns are available) will become associated in reward and honor with the Ancient Worthies in the Kingdom.” (F 156; Z ‘11,181; Z ‘15, 269; Question Book pp. 151-152.  See also E-4:337)

It is reasonable and Scriptural to expect for the Youthful Worthies, as well as for the Ancient Worthies, that they will receive ultimately a higher reward than they could have on this earth. If the Ancient and Youthful Worthies would remain on the earth, they would not be everlastingly rewarded for their Millennial service, post-Millennial service and their suffering for righteousness in the Little Season at the hands of the Second-Death class. For since all Restitutionists found worthy of everlasting life will henceforth be equal (Matt. 25:34; Rev. 21:24), it would follow that the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, instead of being the Millennial superiors, would be the eternal equals of the world of mankind. The Worthies would be demoted instead of rewarded. During the Kingdom the Worthies will be "Princes in all the earth." (Psa. 45:16) The Divine Attri­butes will not fail to reward such faithfulness.

The Lord will make the earth beautiful as it was in the Garden of Eden. The earth is God's footstool. The Restitutionists are not required to "suffer for righteousness," as were the faithful consecrators during the ascendancy of sin and evil. If the Resti­tutionists during the Kingdom learn to love righteousness and hate iniquity, they will gain eternal life on earth. But those who "suffer for righteousness" will be rewarded above restitution blessings.

But the matter of a Mediator makes transparent nonsense of a justification of any kind – except a gradual works justification, which will only be completed by the end of the Mediatorial reign. Justification during the Gospel Age does not make one right, it merely reckons him right. And when one is reckoned right, this gives him a standing be­fore God, which eliminates the necessity for a Mediator. Thus, those in the 1908-1911 sifting who claimed the Church is under the New Covenant revealed a foolish foundation. If they were under the New Covenant, then they would also be under the Mediator – as the restitutionists will be when the Kingdom reign begins. None of the Tentatively Justi­fied during this Age have needed a mediator; they stood before God in reckoned per­fection.

In view of the faithful teachings of both Messengers as given herein, we reiterate that Youthful Worthiship is available as long as Tentative Justification is available between the Ages – until restitution sets in. And we would qualify this statement by saying there will come a time when sound doctrine will not be endured by any one not already established in Present Truth; and when that time arrives it is doubtful that any one would be able to receive “sound doctrine” sufficiently enough to make an ac­ceptable consecration. However, tentative justification will continue for the faith­ful consecrators. That Servant corroborates this thought: “The question is May not this statement of the Revelator (Rev. 13:17—JJH) mean more than is now experienced? Like the Apostle Paul’s statement, may it not imply a time will come, in the last days, when sound doctrine will not be endured at all?” (Parousia Vol. 2, p. 259, bottom)

If Restitutionists want to consecrate for Restitution purposes now, that is their privilege, just as it was the privilege of Cornelius before his consecration was ac­cepted; and if such consecrators are sincere it will doubtless make them more amenable for the Highway of Holiness when the “way” is opened up for them. Their standing will be before The Christ until their works justification is completed – at the end of the Millennium. Such a Restitution Class walking a ‘narrow way’ in this last special period of the Gospel Age is an absurdity, but “Every absurdity has a champion to defend it, for error is always talkative.”

“For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds... And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:3, 13,14)

(Brother Hoefle, Reprint No. 252, June 1976)

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LETTERS OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sister Hoefle:  Grace and peace!

Hoping this finds you in good health. All here are doing well with the exception of a few colds and sniffles. The present conflict with Iraq is causing much grief and concern with many that have loved ones serving in the military. My heart goes out to these families.

This conflict seems to be a 'no win' situation economically or militarily for the country. If a negotiated settlement is reached, Saddam Hussein's military machine will remain intact with a threat of future invasions in that area.

If we have an all-out war with its horrible destruction, together with a terrible loss of civilian and military lives, this will surely unite the Moslem religious funda­mentalists with even more of the Arab world turning against us.

My concern is that the United States may compromise its support of Israel and try to force them into giving up occupied land as a means of extricating ourselves from the mess we are in.

Clarence Wagner's Commentary (in the Dispatch from Jerusalem – 1990, Vol. 15, No. 3) is very clear on why the occupation of Kuwait is an Arab problem and should not be linked to the Israeli occupied land in any negotiations with Saddam Hussein.

The No. 416 EBSA paper with the David Horowitz article and the excerpts of Brother Dunnagan's April 27th talk to the Jews at their synagogue on Hilton Island, was most timely and edifying. What a blessing it is to be reminded of the rich promises given to Israel, and to know that whatever takes place in the world today, these promises will be fulfilled. If you have five extra copies of No. 416 1 would appreciate receiving them for distribution to friends

Please use the enclosed contribution in any way you see fit. Also, please be as­sured of our continued prayers for you and yours through this Holiday Season and the coming New Year.

May the Lord bless and keep you. Your brother in His Name, ------- (CALIFORNIA)

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Dear Sister Emily:  Loving greetings in our Precious Savior's Name!

Thank you for your loving kindness to us. We are doing quite well – rejoicing and very thankful to the Lord for His keeping power, and Grace and Strength sufficient. The Lord truly does not send an experience to us greater than we can bear.

I have a plate and five pins that will probably come out after the first of the year. Will the Persian Gulf fulfill Zeph. 3:8,9? Is it the gathering of the nations and assembling of the kingdoms? Will it be the last phase of the trouble that will turn to worldwide Anarchy? The potential seems to be all there.

We have such a tremendous national debt. Taxing is unlimited. It surely is all a part of the dissolving process.

We trust this finds you reasonably well and rejoicing in the prospects of the Kingdom, for which we earnestly pray.

May the Lord bless and keep you in His  loving  care  in  this  Holiday  Season  and  in the New Year.

Our  warm  Christian  love, -------   (MASSACHUSETTS)

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Dear Ms. Hoefle,

Your kind gift of both An Early American Zionist and the Studies in the Scriptures were received in good order. On behalf of the Student Body, I would like to express our appreciation.

I am personally interested in the ongoing development of the Watch Tower theology away from the original teaching of Charles Russell. The studies series will help me pursue this.

Your letter included an invitation to receive your bimonthly newsletter and pertinent back copies.  Again, these would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you for your time and efforts. In Christ, Professor ------- (CANADA)

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