Scan:Divine Plan of the Ages, 1905 Notice Russell's emphasis on Pyramids

by Lady Liberty 32 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Thank you for all of that information! Thank you Arthur.. If even one person such as yourself can be benefited by it, then it was definately worth my time and effort. Everytime I look at how many have viewed it already, I know I have to be helping someone out there, in "Lurk Land". I know when I was lurking and researching, I really appreciated all the scans different ones posted here, making it easier for me to get the needed information to weigh things out. Anyhow.. that is why I am here. But I think I am going to call it a night. Sleep tight everyone!! Sincerely, Lady Liberty

  • avengers
  • ICBehindtheCurtain
    ICBehindtheCurtain

    Thank you for those pictures Lady Liberty, if those don't make some JW's think, then they really are blind.

    IC

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Hello everyone,

    I found somemore interesting stuff on Russell, here it is:http://www.geocities.com/heartland/2919/russell.html

    Sincerely,

    Lady Liberty

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Sorry guys,

    I tried to copy and paste the link.. I found it by typing into google : pastor russell angels and woman (that's a whole other topic I will be posting on later), anyhow, it is the third site down with this address:http://www.geocities.com/heartland/2919/russell.html. There is scanned copies from the studies in the scriptures you can click on.

    Sincerely,

    Lady Liberty

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep

    Russell's pyramid is quite clear on Google Earth.

    Latitude 40.509840°

    Longitude -80.015708°

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Russell's pyramid is quite clear on Google Earth.

    Latitude 40.509840°

    Longitude -80.015708°

    Dear Black Sheep,

    Thank you for the tip!!

    Sincerely,

    Lady Liberty

  • Reslight
    Reslight

    As a corroboration of the Bible, Charles Taze Russell made a few references to the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It was his belief that Yahweh (Jehovah) had this pyramid built, and that the passages therein correspond to various features of the divine plan as revealed in the Bible. Many have jumped on his use of the pyramid in this manner, and have greatly misrepresented what Russell presented.

    On one site we find the following comment, which statement has often been reproduced in other documents, newsgroups and forums on and off the web: "Russell introduced occultism into his religion by teaching that the pyramids in Egypt are divine omens."

    Let us first look at the accusation that Russell introduced occultism into "his religion". The word "occultism", as it is generally used in Christian circles, refers to secretive religious teachings that are not allowed to be revealed to any but those who have been accepted into the inner circle of the religion, with the inference of demonic influence. The term occultism is often used in connection witchcraft, astrology, seances, ouija boards, spiritism, etc. Russell's study of the Great Pyramid in connection with the Bible had nothing to do with such occultism.

    Russell constantly admonished Christians to have nothing to do with such occultism. Thus he admonished:


    "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" is the Lord's testimony. This implies an assault by the Adversary. It implies that he should be resisted and can be resisted and that in the end he will flee from us, not because of arrogance or power on our part, but, as our Master said, "He hath nothing in me"; so if he finds it useless to continue his assaults he will probably flee also from us to other fields of service. We remind all of our readers that whoever comes under the influence of Spiritism, Christian Science, Hypnotism or any other form of Occultism is thereby endangering himself, not only for the moment, but also for the future, because the evil spirits operating through these various channels seek, some in one way and some in another, to delude, bewilder, confuse the reason and bring into subjection the minds of those with whom they have to do. Hence, any of the Lord's people who have had affiliation at any time with any of these are specially warned of liability to intrusion by these spirits. We remind all that the special channel through which they have had special success is human curiosity. We urge all of the Lord's people to restrain their curiosity and rely on the Lord's Word and have no dealings whatever with any of these occult systems. -- Zion's Watch Tower, April 15, 1909, page 123.


    Russell did not teach that "the pyramids in Egypt are divine omens." Russell's interest was in one pyramid, the Great Pyramid. His only interest in the other pyramids was to show their inferiority and differences between them and the Great Pyramid. Nowhere does Russell make reference to the Great Pyramid as some kind of divine omen, although he did claim that the Great Pyramid contains corroboration of the Bible, even as the fact that Egypt's and Israel's existence in this day is a corroboration of the Bible.

    Christian love,
    Ronald
    http://gp.reslight.net
    http://ctr.reslight.net

    (I hope this comes out formatted better than my last post.)

  • Reslight
    Reslight

    Did Russell Originally Obtain the Date 1914 From Pyramids?

    One site makes this statement: "Russell got the date 1914 originally from the pyramid measurements." Another site states: "One of the strangest 'revelations' from the pyramids was his calculated date of 1914. The date was based on his measurements of the interior passageways of the pyramids." Both statments are incorrect. The date 1914 was obtained from Biblical time prophecies and parallels. The date was not originally obtained from pyramid measurements, or based on measurements of passageways of any pyramid. It is true that the Great Pyramid, and this pyramid only -- not pyramids -- does verify the date 1914.

    Christian love,
    Ronald
    http://ctr.reslight.net

  • Reslight
    Reslight

    Russell's Supposed Pyramid Date Change

    The following argument, or something similar has been popping up all over the web and printed material:


    One of the strangest "revelations" from the pyramids was his calculated date of 1914. The date was based on his measurements of the interior passageways of the pyramids. He said that 1914 would be the end of the world and God had revealed it to him exclusively. However, when his 1914 date for the end of the world failed, he tried to cover his tracks. The calulations were first printed in 1897 where he stated: "...this measurement is 3416 inches, symbolizing 3416 years.... This calculation shows A.D. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble...." (Thy Kingdom Come, Series III, p. 342, 1897 edition) Then in the 1916 edition it was changed to read: "We find it to be 3457 inches, symbolizing 3457 years....This calculation shows that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble...." Russell's pyramid actually grew 41 inches in 19 years!


    Of course, as already noted, Russell's "calculations" concerning 1914, were not based on the Great Pyramid, but on the Bible. Russell did not expect the "end of the world" in 1914, nor were the changes made concerning the measurements of the Great Pyramid because "his 1914 date for the end of the world failed, he tried to cover his tracks." This is all total nonsense. Since the above leaves out part of the full statement, we present the entire "change" with some of its context here (after the 1904 change):

    So, then, if we measure backward down the "First Ascending Passage" to its junction with the "Entrance Passage," we shall have a fixed date to mark upon the downward passage. This measure is 1542 inches, and indicates the year B.C. 1542, as the date at that point. Then measuring down the "Entrance Passage" from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the "Pit," representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3457 inches, symbolizing 3457 years from the above date, B.C. 1542. This calculation shows A.D. 1915 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1915 years A.D. equals 3457 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation--no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this "Witness" fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject, as shown by the "Parallel Dispensations" in Scripture Studies, Vol. II, Chap. VII.

    Notice that Russell states the measurement ends in 1915, showing the trouble to begin there, and that this "indicated" that the time of trouble would begin in 1914.

    Another writer makes this statment concerning the "change": "Russell 'changed' the length of the passage when the predicted date showed no promise - the passage grew 40 inches!" (The predicted date referred had to be 1914, since Russell never predicted anythign concerning 1874.) Others use a 1923 edition of Studies in the Scriptures rather than a 1916 edition.

    The comparison as given of a 1903 edition of Vol. 3 with a 1916 or 1923 edition could be misleading some to think that the "change" concerning the measurement was made in 1916 or 1923 and this change was made because the earlier statement failed to come true. Some have gone so far as to state that change was made because expectations concerning 1914 failed. The change was actually made in printed editions of 1905 onward. (Mr. Russell had come to believe sometime in the year 1904 that he had erred concerning when the "time of trouble" was to begin, and made statements in that year concerning this. Before 1904 he had thought that the "time of trouble" had already begun in 1874; after 1904, evidently due to several lines of argument that had been presented to him by others, he came to believe that the "time of trouble" had not yet started, but that it would begin in 1914.) The change was noted in the ZWT of September 15, 1909, and the following brief explanatory statement was made: "Page 342, lines 17, 18, 3416 inches, changed to, 3457 inches to agree with later accurate measurement, would seem to mark 1915. The former figures were "paper measure" from Piazzi Smith's illustration supposed to have been drawn to a scale, but found inaccurate." Thus the "change" was made a long time before 1914, and did not have anything to do with any failed expectations concerning that date. Nor did this have anything to do with any change in either 1874 or 1914 calculations, neither of which dates are dependent on the measurements of the pyramid. For more on why Russell changed his mind concerning the "time of trouble" as beginning in the year 1874, please CLICK HERE
    This link brings up a "rft" file of various quotes from Russell concerning 1914, especially from 1904 until his death.

    While Russell thought his later measurement was "accurate" in 1904, evidently neither measurement came directly from any measurement that had been taken in the pyramid itself, since no one at that time had actually measured the floor of the descending passageway to its end, due to debris.

    Morton Edgar later stated concerning this:


    You may have noted that, in his early editions of Vol. III of 'Studies in the Scriptures," in the Pyramid chapter, Brother Russell states that the length of the Descending Passage, from the junction of the Ascending Passage down to the Subterranean Chamber, is 3416 inches. But in all later editions of his third volume, since 1905, the length of this passage has been altered to the extent of 41 inches, the length now being said to be 3457 inches. Formerly the north wall of the Subterranean Chamber was said to mark the date 1874 A.D., but with the new measure of 3457 inches this date was shifted forward 41 years to 1915 A.D. No explanation is given for this change. (See, however, the short article, 'The Great Pyramid Measurements," on page 326 of 1st Nov., 1904, 'Watch Tower.")

    We measured this passage in 1909, having first removed from it all obstructing debris, we found that neither the earlier published length of 3416 inches, nor the later published length of 3457 inches, was correct. The true length was found to be more nearly 3385 'Pyramid" inches. (The exact length is 3384.904 'Pyramid" inches.) As will be seen, this is 31 inches less than the first of Brother Russell's figures, and 72 inches less than his later one.

    We, of course, immediately communicated with Brother Russell the true length of the Descending Passage. At first sight it appeared as if we would require to abandon the time-measurements of this lower part of the Pyramid's passage system, the true length being so different from what we had previously understood it to be. Yet, strange to say, instead of abandoning the time-measurements, we found that the true length of the passage established these time-measurements all the more thoroughly. Both dates, 1874 and 1914, are now seen to be indicated by the end of this Descending Passage. This indication is very exact and convincing, and goes far to establish our faith in the Great Pyramid as indeed a building of God.== Morton Edgar's Discourse: "THE GREAT PYRAMID -- Why Was It Built? Who Built It?" (About 1929)


    Of course, the change in this measurement had nothing to do with the changing of any of the "dates" under consideration. There was a change in Russell's viewpoint concerning when the time of trouble was to begin and when it was to end (which he stated he did not know when it would end). This was also stated a long time before 1914 (about 1904 onward)..

    Nor was the change made because the date 1914 failed to bring the expected results, because the change was made at least ten years before 1914!

    Christian love,
    Ronald
    http://ctr.reslight.net

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