by wannabefree 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
jgnat... that's excellent! Thanks for posting the link.
This is how the "Studies in the Scriptures" is listed at that site:
Tabernacle Shadows of Better Sacrifices
Is the 7th Volume "Tabernacle Shadows of the 7 Sacrifices"? It's not numbered so I wasn't sure. If not, can someone supply the title for it (the 7th Volume)? Thanks.
There were several editions of "studies in the scriptures", so not all of them are the same.
I'll go dig out my set and see what the title of #7 is.
Wannabee,
Can you post Ed Dunlap #2 again? I think it's just a repeat of #1.
Thanks,
Watson
Heaven: The Bible Students do not accept Volume 7 as a work of Pastor Russel, they do not publish it.
Watson: http://www.freeminds.org/category/6-mp3s-voice-podcasts.html
I believe the title of #7 was "The Finished Mystery" ??
Here is volume 7 .....
http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/finishedmystery/fmtitles.html
... the above link appears to be the 1926 edition, which I understand had some creative editing done. Gregerson, in the audio, refers to the 1917 edition as that was what would be the quality food distributed at the proper time that would have garnered Jesus' approval and appointment of the group as the faithful and discreet slave. I believe the audio also brings out that Ray's book "In Search of Christian Freedom" talks about this subject.
The following link will give you the 1918 'ZG' or Watchtower version of the 'Finished Mystery' book.
http://www.archive.org/details/ZgMarch11918WatchTower
Enjoy!
How come nobody told me about volume 7?!
Probably because you NEVER asked.
Is it true the Publishing Corp. (aka Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc.) recalled that book from KH libraries?
Actually, back in the early 1980s the Society under the pretense of helping branch offices and new congregations build theocratic libraries, had pre 1950 books recalled, with a special request for Russell, Rutherford books, to which they later had a bonfire.
Volume Seven is titled "The Finished Mystery", it was published after Russell's death, and promoted as "The Posthumous Works of Pastor Russell", only problem is, Russell didn't write the book. Clayton Woodworth and George Fisher did. Woodworth wrote the Revelation part, which he actually compiled several years earlier.
Now a bit of history. George Fisher one of the seven sent to prison, had compiled evidence that implicated Judge Rutherford in his illegal takeover of the Watch Tower Society. He had all the evidence. He had lawyers, papers, you name it, and sued Judge Rutherford, a court date was set, but it never went through .... george Fisher MYSTERIOUSLY died in 1925, and all his evidence died with him. Hmmmmm
As to "The Finished Mystery"? There is no doubt that this books was published by the Watch Tower Society, yet in 1973, thinking that most Witnesses were not "informed" on the Society history, denied that it was published by them.
Notice this statement found in the book; Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose
"The insistence that Russell had been "that Servant" led many to regard Russell in what amounted actually to creature worship. They believed that all the truth God had seen fit to reveal to his people had been revealed to Russell, and now nothing more could be brought forth because "that servant" was dead." [1959, pg 69]
As recent as 1988, in the book Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand! The Watchtower makes this claim:
"The John class, however, emerged from the tumultuous days of the first world war with a love for Jehovah and for the truth that impelled them to serve him with flaming zeal. They resisted those who tried to introduce sectarianism through practically idolizing the first president of the Watch Tower Society, Charles T. Russell, following his death in 1916." [p. 35, 36]
Who were "those" the "John class" tried to resist? And how did "those" try "to introduce sectarianism"? The answer lies in the book; God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in 1973. It had this to say concerning the issue of idolizing C.T. Russell:
"This view was prominently featured in the book published in July of 1917 by the People's Pulpit Association of Brooklyn, New York. This book was called "The Finished Mystery" and furnished a commentary of the Bible books of Revelation and Ezekiel and The Songs of Solomon. On its Publishers page the book was called the "Posthumous Works of Pastor Russell." Such a book and religious attitude tended to establish a religious sect centered around a man" [pg 347]
Who or what was the People's Pulpit Association? The answer again can be found in the pages of the book Qualified to Be Ministers published in 1967, by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It had this to say about the Association:
"Such a corporation came into legal existence February 23, 1909, and was named People's Pulpit Association. Thirty years later, in 1939, the name was changed to its present one, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc." [pg. 309]
So, in essence, the Watchtower Society itself was to blame for promoting the idolizing of C.T. Russell, not a group of individuals. The Book The Finished Mystery was published by the Watchtower Society, it was sanctioned by then president J.F. Rutherford, and was the cause of much schism within the Bible Students Association, not because it was promoting Russell, but because it was filled with misquotes, half truths and perversion of thoughts.
RR
The actual 7th volume (1918 edition) can be viewed an downloaded here:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheFinishedMystery
The PDF version is bookmarked and has the pages that were cut from the 1917 first printing:
http://ia331413.us.archive.org/2/items/TheFinishedMystery/1917_The_Finished_Mystery_1918_edition.pdf
It contains some very interesting pictures!
