For your edification, some of the more obscure opinions and offerings of our illustrious founder CT Russell.
WT May 1883 . Article: THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM
TRAIN TRAVEL AND THE DISCOVERY OF ELECTRIC POWER ARE SIGNS OF MANS IMMINENT TRANSFER TO THE SPIRITUAL REALM !
QUOTE/..We are already beginning to live, to a goodly extent, in the invisible. We do not now refer to our thoughts of God and invisible things in the sense in which it is said by the Apostle--"Our conversation is in heaven"--nor to supposed intercourse with spirits, but to the fact that we are standing not only where the "ends of the world" (ages) meet and blend, but where two domains, the visible and the invisible, mingle. The door of the invisible stands ajar, and we peer into the domain of unseen things. Many of the affairs of thislife are now being conducted by means of invisible powers..
REGARDINGS THE DISCOVERY OF ELECTRICAL POWER. IT FULLFILLS MATTHEW 24 verse 27:
QUOTE/The mysterious power of electricity which is supposed to pervade space, and is thought by some to be the secret principle of life, has lately been our newsboy, is now our speaking-trumpet, by which we hold a pleasant conversation with our friends a thousand miles away, and the aged and infirm may, at home, listen to the church services in a distant city. This same power now gives us almost the light of day in our streets and dwellings, and proposes to be general house servant and detective..There seems to be a striking coincidence between the words of Jesus in Matt. 24:27 and what has and is taking place at this time, when those who are looking for the fulfillment of his words discern that "the time is at hand." "For, as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.".
AS FOR TRAIN TRAVEL:
QUOTE/..While we would not be fanciful nor morbidly imaginative, we would not be too slow to mark the striking coincidence of events which seem to indicate the fulfillment of prophecy. Could any one who is most familiar with the railroads of the present day give, in so few words, so clear and vivid a description of locomotives and railroad carriages as is given in the second chapter of the prophecy of Nahum in these words? "The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir-trees shall be terribly shaken. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broadways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings." But, says one, that is a prophecy concerning Nineveh. Very true, but like most or all of the prophecies, it doubtless has a two-fold significance.See how they "rage in the streets"; notice how, at their "couplings," they "jostle one against another in the broad ways"; and how, in the night time, they "seem like torches," and the very same forceful, though exaggerating term, is used by the prophet to convey an idea of their speed: "They shall run like the lightnings." So the modern term has been applied to a fast train, "the lightning train."
WT May, 1885. Article VIEW FROM THE TOWER.
THE OLD ARE STARTING TO BECOME YOUNG AGAIN!
QUOTE/.Look again, but in another direction; Note the increase of special healing of diseases since 1874. Some are in answer to prayer, some in answer to anointing with oil and prayer, and some without prayer, or oil, or anything. Thus in various ways to-day, ye see increasingly that the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, blind eyes are opened, and the Gospel (good tidings) of a "restitution for the groaning creation, of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets"We hear from Sweden, and Germany and Britain, in much the same strain, as from all over this land. Among the remarkable insurances coming under our notice recently, is that of a family in Louisville, Ky.,* in which four deaf and dumb persons were perfectly and instantly healed. One of them aged eleven years, had never spoken or heard from birth. The two small towns of Midway and Primrose, Pa., have during the past month been much excited by six remarkable cases of faith cure from various maladies. One old man, Hamilton Smith, Midway, Pa., had been so crippled by rheumatism that he could not stoop down; but was instantly healed, and to a reporter who called to inquire regarding his healing, demonstrated his suppleness by kicking higher than his own height, and the night he was cured he jumped over a fire board fence with ease. He declares that he is stronger than ever, and that he is becoming young again. And in fact this seems true. He is seventy-two years old but in a short time his white hair has commenced to resume its original color; the wrinkles are leaving his face, and his complexion becoming fresh so that he might pass now, for a man of fifty..
WT March 1, 1901. VIEW FROM THE TOWER:
BOY WITH X RAY VISION MAY BE IN FULLFILLMENT OF ISAIAH 35 VERSE 6 !!
QUOTE/IN THE WILDERNESS WATERS SHALL BREAK OUT AND
STREAMS IN THE DESERT."--ISA. 35:6.This prophecy bids fair to have a literal as well as a spiritual fulfilment. Already the drilling of artesian wells has reclaimed thousands of acres of arid land in the "American Desert" of the West; but the cost was too great when many of the holes were dry. Now, on seemingly reliable authority, relief has come to Texas along that line. A boy of fourteen years is found to possess what is styled "X-ray sight," so that in the dark he can see beneath the surface of theground; just as the "X-ray" proved to science that certain rays of light can penetrate what we call solid substances; and just as Marconi, in connection with wireless telegraphy, has demonstrated that certain waves of ether pass through solid substances unhindered. This boy can see the subterranean creeks and rivers, and can designate just where the wells should be drilled to get the water so much needed on the surface. Whether this should be considered a lost sense of sight, lost through the fall, and which would return during the "times of restitution," or a special gift intended to help forward in the restitution, we are not yet prepared to give an opinion.