greetings y`all!
I am currently doing some research on the early days and struck a few obstacles for which I need some help from anybody.
1)Russell predicted several times the "rapture of the saints". this meant a visible return of those saints and that Russell & Co would rise to heaven. when they failed to return visibly it was concluded that it did happen but invisible. this was repeated several times (19875, 1878, 1881, 1910, and finally 1914).
my question is : were these dates also armageddon dates or did the return of the saints have nothing to do with armageddon?
2) from where or whom did Barbour get his 606 BC date?
3) the following quote seems to indicate that Russell was not the first president is this true?
*** jv 576 26 Producing Bible Literature for Use in the Ministry ***
This work quickly took on immense proportions. In order to handle it, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was formed on February 16, 1881, with W. H. Conley as president and C. T. Russell as secretary and treasurer.*** jv 576 26 Producing Bible Literature for Use in the Ministry ***
In 1884, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was legally incorporated, with C. T. Russell as president, and its charter showed that it was more than a society that would direct publishing.
and who is this Conley dude anyway?
4) I read a hilarious quote stating that reading AWAKE! for a year was equal to 4 years college at university!! LOL can any one point me to this quote?
thanx in advance for any help offered!!!
greven.
"Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground."
-from "Small Gods" by Terry Pratchett-