New Heavens and New Earth is 50 years old now. I Found it! (page 2)

refiners fire

Pager 52:SOUND WARNING AGAINST SPECULATION

TOM : You stated earlier that Pastor

Russell was not too certain as to exactly

what would take place in 1914Was that

the general attitude of the Witnesses at

that time?

JOHN : There is no doubt that many

throughout this period were overzealous

in their statements as to what could be expected.

Some read into the Watch Tower

statements that were never intended, and

while it was necessary for Russell to call

attention to the certainty that a great

change was due at the end of the Gentile

times, he still encouraged his readers to

keep an open mind, especially as regards

the time element. We might read a number

of different excerpts from the Watch Tower

over the years to demonstrate this.

For instance,

as early as 1885 Russell writes in

the Watch Tower :

"Storm clouds are gathering thick over the old

world . It looks as though a great European war

is one of the possibilities of the near future .

Then follows a rather drastic picture of the

world situation, and the article closes with

these words :For these so-called kingdoms of God and their

armies, prayers are offered to God in the name

of him whose command is peace, good will

toward man, and who announces himself as the

one who shall set at liberty the captives and

proclaim love, peace and liberty throughout the

earth to all-for whose liberty he died .

Thank God the emancipation proclamation is

going forth ; shackles theological and political

begin to break, and the groaning creation must

shortly be delivered into the true liberty of

sons of God under the dominion of Immanuel ."

In 1893 the Watch Tower stated :

"A great storm is near at hand . Though one may

not know exactly when it will break forth, it

seems reasonable to suppose that it cannot be

more than twelve or fourteen years yet future ."

In 1894,:

"A few more years will wind up the present

order of things, and then the chastened world

will stand face to face with the actual conditions

of the established Kingdom of God . And

yet the course of the Church is to be finished

within the brief space of time that intervenes . "

Another statement in that same year is

significant: "As travail upon a woman with child" is the

inspired description of the forty-year day of

trouble, by which the Millennial age is commenced.

The panic of 1873, which affected the

whole world, was the first spasm, and since

then at irregular intervals the labor-pains of

earth have been experienced . Just now, we of

the United States are in the midst of one of

these throes of the groaning creation."

p W 1914, pp . 105, 106, 371 . q W Feb . 1885, p . 1 . r W 1893, p. 194. s W 1894, p . 56. t Ibid ., p. 162.

WHY COULDNT THOSE BROTHERS JUST CEASE THEIR SPECULATIONS AND NOT RUN AHEAD ALL THE TIME!?

refiners fire

Page 68:

TOM :

What was Russell's viewpoint on

this matter?

JOHN : Russell recognized that there was

a responsibility on all Christians who

claimed to be of the body of Christ and

who ever expected to be with him in heaven.

On the point of organization, as early

as 1881 Russell recognized that the servant

God said he would select to carry out his

work was the entire body of anointed followers

of Jesus Christ. He wrote in the

Watch Tower of that year :

"We believe that every member of this body

of Christ is engaged in the blessed work, either

directly or indirectly, of giving meat in due

season to the household of faith . "Who then is

that

faithful and wise servant whom his Lord

hath made ruler over his household," to give

them meat in due season? Is it not that "little

flock" of consecrated servants who are

faithfully

carrying out their consecration vows-the

body of Christ-and is not the whole body individually

and collectively, giving the meat in

due season to the household of faith-the great

company of believers?

Blessed is that servant (the whole body of

Christ) whom his Lord when he has come

(Gr.,

elthon) shall find so doing . "Verily, I say

unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all

his goods." "He shall inherit all things ."

In course of time this view was lost sight

of, and attention was focused more upon an

individual man .€ The view generally held,

that Pastor Russell himself was the "faithful

and wise servant" of Matthew 24 :45-47,

created considerable difficulty for some

years . 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. This attitude caused

Rutherford to root out any remnants of

creature worship that might be left in the

organization."

SEE? RUSSELL ALWAYS SAID THE FDS WAS A CLASS. AFTER RUSSELL DIED SOME DECIDED RUSSELL WAS THE DISCREET SLAVE. RUTHERFORD SAW THIS WAS EVIL CREATURE WORSHIP AND ROOTED IT OUT. GOOD JOB JEHOVAH APPOINTED THE JUDGE TO RUN HIS ORG HUH??

plmkrzy

I only underlined "them" because I thought is was rather strange wording to use. For some reason it just struck me as peculiar. "Them" "Thier" "They"