Well, next to Jesus of course, was none other than our churches dear founder, the bebearded C T Russell.
Do you doubt this claim?
Well just look at the gushy praise of CT in "The Finished Mystery"
(1917):
Through St. John the Lord Jesus revealed the fact that the Church would be developed during seven distinct periods, or epochs; and that for each of these epochs He would have a special angel, or messenger, to serve the other members of the Body...The great Master laid special emphasis on the importance of the messenger to the seventh, or Laodicean, period of the Church, saying that such an one would be "a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord would make ruler over all His Household, to give them meat in due season."
Those consecrated Christians who have read and fully appreciated the Truth..readily see and agree that Charles Taze Russell was the messenger of the Church of Laodicea
The other 6 church 'messengers' included Saint Paul, and Martin Luther. Certainly Jesus laid "special emphasis" on Russell over these ones.
He has privately admitted his belief that he was chosen for his great work from before his birth... When he was but twelve years of age, his father found him in the store one time at 2 a. m., poring over a concordance, unconscious of the lapse of time.
Russell almost compares to Christ here! 12 years old, in the temple,(whether of Yahweh or of Mammon) totally absorbed in his Fathers business.
The amount of work that Pastor Russell performed is incredible, and it is doubtful whether it was ever equalled by any other human being... in the past forty years he traveled a million miles, delivered 30,000 sermons- many of them three hours in length- wrote over 50,000 pages (of this size) of advanced Biblical exposition, wrote, some months, 1,000 letters per month,..
Why the man was almost SUPERHUMAN!A regular Mao Zedong, A Joseph Stalin.Surely no ordinary mortal.
The book later goes into Russells Mental powers, setting a preamble by discussing such persons as Charles Darwin and Rembrandt:
Many of the clergy are today followers of Darwin and Socrates instead of Moses and Christ. And both Darwin and Socrates were mentally unsound... "It is likewise exceptional to find an unusually short nose, such as that possessed by Darwin and Socrates, among men of intellect. Nasal abbreviation is one of the well-known signs of degeneracy, as is also the sessile or otherwise misshapen ear, the sugar-loaf skull, the close-set eyes, and other physiognomic irregularities, including the cretinoid face. The latter, strange to relate, has been noted in certain men of remarkable genius, including Darwin and Carlyle, Rembrandt, Pope and Socrates.
These "geniuses" are actually CRETINS!
But their "genius" is "worldly" genius. Russell on the other hand:
Ezekial 3 v 9:"As an adamant harder than flint have l made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house".—
The forehead is symbolic of wisdom. A man of high forehead, as was Pastor Russell, is of a high type of intellect.
Anyone who reads that passage in context can see that Pastor Russells FOREHEAD was PREDICTED in PROPHECY in the book of Ezekial!
In fact, The entire book of Ezekial is fullfilled in Russell.
The book explains how this is so:
When Ezekiel sees another doing something it usually signifies another than Pastor Russell doing it, but may signify Pastor Russell seeing himself, or the Ezekiel class. The Ezekiel prophecy types and symbolizes Pastor Russell or the Reformer class seeing Pastor Russell or the Reformer class or some member of that class doing the thing typed or symbolized.
Uhh... run that one by me again willya??
Remember the "Man with the writers inkhorn" in Ezekial 9?
Jesus, right?...sorry,its Pastor Russell!:
The writer's inkhorn symbolizes that the seventh man's function was to write. God identified him thus. When The Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society was at Allegheny, Pa., an open Bible was to be
painted on one of the large front windows of the office. A sign painter, not in the Truth, painted the open Bible; and without instruction from any one, of his own volition, he painted the Bible as open at Ezekiel, Chapter 9. The man of linen was the Laodicean servant, the Lord's faithful and wise steward, Pastor Russell.
God revealed thru a SIGNWRITER that Pastor Russell was the man with the writers inkhorn!
Truly, the Lord moves in mysterious ways...
