[...continued from above]
PAGE 391
Ezekiel 4:1 .. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.- In Ezekiel's days, in Chaldea, a book was a collection of inscribed tiles. The Laodicean servant was to be a writer of books. In many articles and chapters on the kingdoms of this world and their judgment and fall, and that of their ecclesiastical, political and business systems, Pastor Russell portrays Christendom, typically spoken of as Jerusalem. It bore the Lord's name, but was defiled by the evil practices of its inhabitants. (C295.)
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Ezekiel 4:3 .. Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.- .. 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.
PAGE 395
Ezekiel 4:6 .. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.- The right side signifies less disfavor than to Papacy. The house of Judah represents Protestantism, the Protestant churches. Until 1878, when cast off by the returned and present Messiah, Protestantism enjoyed Divine favor, just as the two tribes, collectively called Judah, did as compared with the idolatrous ten tribes of Israel. After 1874 the Present Truth took the form of a general overhauling of creeds and the announcement of Christ's Second Presence. This was unanimously rejected by the Protestant churches; and organized Protestant ecclesiasticism from 1878 on for forty years became the Judah of this type, besieged on every side by the reform element, under the leadership of the steward of Divine Truth, Pastor Russell. Until 1918, Hebrew reckoning, beginning in the fall of 1917, the civil powers continue as a 'wall of iron,' protecting the Lord's people in their witness against error.- Rev. 3:14; B66-91.
PAGE 395
Ezekiel 4:7 .. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.- The Ezekiel class, the true Protestant reform class, during the 390 and the 40 years set themselves to the attack upon priestcraft. Pastor Russell seldom spoke without some words of objection to or warning about ecclesiasticism.
PAGE 404
Ezekiel 7:1-6 .. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send Mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. And Mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. An end is come, the end is come; it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.- .. Pastor Russell's mission, in large part, was to advise Christendom of its impending end, in the time of world-wide trouble. It is the Divine judgment upon the nations. They reap as they have sown. In times past God winked at the iniquity of men (Acts 17:30); but now evil shall receive its just recompense in the wrath of long-insulted Justice. It will be a period of unmixed evil upon Christendom, the purpose of which will be to demonstrate to men's certain knowledge that 'thy God reigneth.' (Isa. 52:7.) There will be no chance of escaping from destruction, though the nations - as in cases of Germany, the Allies and the United States - earnestly seek in vain for some way of securing peace. The trouble is due to the dawning of the Day of Christ, the Millennium. It is the Day of Vengeance, which began in the world war of 1914 and which will break like a furious morning storm in 1918.- Lam. 4:18.
PAGE 417-8
Ezekiel 9:2 .. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the North, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.- .. 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. When Pastor Russell saw this, he turned pale. Ezekiel seeing the man in linen, types Pastor Russell thereafter seeing himself to be the antitype of that man - one of the most prolific writers of the Age, and the only one to write and publish widely the glad tidings of the actual Second Presence of Christ. The seven men stood beside the brazen altar - there, in connection with God's Plan, based upon the Ransom sacrifice to receive their Divinely appointed commission.
PAGE 418-9
Ezekiel 9:4 .. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.- The center of Christendom is the nations of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Scandinavia. Hither and thither, traveling and preaching for nearly forty years Pastor Russell obeyed this command; and through the printed page of books, tracts and newspapers he went into every corner of the world. 'Set a mark', literally 'set a 'tav' upon the foreheads.' The 'Tav' was the twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in its earlier form had the shape of a cross (+).' The forehead signifies the intellect (Rev. 7:3; 14:1). Pastor Russell's great work was to imprint indelibly in the minds of certain ones the truth about the Cross, the sacrifice of the Christ, Head and Body, and the part of the Church therein. It was the duty of the clerk or officer of an oriental army to mark the people, either for slaughter or to be left untouched. The 'mourners in Zion' (Isa. 61:3) are those faithful ones in Christendom that appreciate that conditions are evil in churchianity, perhaps without understanding just how. All these are to be marked in their minds with the knowledge of the Present Truth.
PAGE 419
Ezekiel 9:5 .. And to the others He said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.- After Pastor Russell's writings have reached an individual, the other members of the Elijah class, the 'Truth people,' approach him with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. This is to each individual a 'savor of life to life, or of death to death.' (2 Cor. 2:14-16.) Those not believing Present Truth will become only the more confirmed in error. (2 Thess, 2:11.) They will be smitten by the Sword of the Spirit, which in them will operate at this time to destroy any pretense of being Christians, and cause them to take their proper stand as worldings - to be destroyed as tares. In this, God's 'strange work' (Isa. 28:21), the Word of God will operate seemingly without pity, to separate the people into two classes, in Present Truth or out of it. In a literal sense the rulers of this evil Age will pitilessly carry the Sword throughout the lengths and breadths of Christendom.
PAGE 420
Ezekiel 9:11 .. And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by His side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me.- Pastor Russell was faithful to his great task of writing and publishing the Truth and imprinting the 'tav' of Present Truth in the minds of the spirit-begotten. In October, 1916, he died, and beyond the veil has, ere this, undoubtedly, reported in the presence of Christ that he has done the work he was given to do. Faithful when with tears thine eyes were dim, Faithful when joys' cup o'erflowed its brim; Faithful when God seemed to veil His face, Faithful when He crowned thy work with grace, Faithful till was fled life's fleeting breath, Eager hands were folded still in death.
PAGE 421
Ezekiel 10:2 .. And He spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight.- Ezekiel, typing Pastor Russell, sees himself as acting in the manner here described. He was to go in between the wheels, to do his work in accordance with the Divine Plan, to act under the dictates of the Divine Justice, 'the cherub.'
PAGE 421-2
Ezekiel 10:3 .. Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.- The cherubim stood by the nominal Temple class- to inquire and visit the offences of Christendom. The house was on their left, the place of disfavor. When no priests were in the Holy, it was filled with a cloud. In 1 Kings 8:10 and in 2 Chron. 5:11-14 the cloud filled the Holy, and the priests were unable to serve there because of it. When the cloud filled the Court, no one could see to serve in it. This types that in the Harvest period, from 1878 to 1918, while Pastor Russell was dispensing as part of the 'food in due season' the impending downfall of Christendom, those who had been serving in the believing Court, condition- clergy and other church workers- were no longer permitted to do so. It corresponds to the passing of the stewardship from the clergy to Pastor Russell in 1878. This applies also to verse 4, where the presence of the cloud also types the presence of Jehovah to visit punishment for wickedness.- B138.
PAGE 422
Ezekiel 10:4 .. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.- Pastor Russell saw more clearly than any one in this end of the Age the glorious Gospel of God in the Ransom for all (Court and altar.)
PAGE 422
Ezekiel 10:5 .. And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.- Here is indicated the sounding forth of the Word of God through Pastor Russell's proclamation of Present Truth. The inner Court typed the condition of faith and justification, and the outer Court typed the condition of those not fully believing, nor directly serving God. The preaching and writings of Pastor Russell were heard by all classes of believers and unbelievers. It was the voice of Jehovah, represented as almighty to save, that was heard throughout the world.
PAGE 422
Ezekiel 10:6 .. And it came to pass that when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.- In the Divine Plan of the Ages Pastor Russell was to find clearly indicated the great tribulation then close at hand.
PAGE 422
Ezekiel 10:7 .. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim unto the fife that was between the cherubim, and took thereof and put it into the hands of him clothed with linen; who took it, and went out.- Justice gave to Pastor Russell the knowledge of impending troubles, to go out and publish to Christendom.
PAGE 423
Ezekiel 10:13 .. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.- Very emphatic was the Divine directing of the attention toward the wheels- the Divine Plan of the Ages. Pastor Russell always directed the Bible student's mind toward the great Plan.
PAGE 426
Ezekiel 11:13 .. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?- While Pastor Russell's reasonable and Divinely appointed teachings are doing their good work throughout Christendom the idea that human wisdom, Prussian culture, etc., can save the old order of things, will be seen lifeless.
PAGE 428
Ezekiel 12:1,2 .. The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house.- In Chapter 12:1-16 is depicted the blind flight of Christendom into revolution and anarchy. Pastor Russell and his co-workers once dwelt in the midst of the rebellious nominal house, or church, of God, with eyes blinded and ears made deaf by their spiritual defection.- Matt. 13:13.
PAGE 428
Ezekiel 12:3 .. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.- [Pastor Russell] found in the Bible the Truth of God, which exhorts to 'come out of her, O My people' (Rev. 18:4); and in obedience, he came out of his church home into a condition of separateness, by every means of publicity (in their sight) drawing the attention to his removal, in the hope that those left behind might turn truly back to God.
PAGE 428
Ezekiel 12:4 .. Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.- In their estimation, [Pastor Russell] did this as one taken by the Evil One.
PAGE 428
Ezekiel 12:5 .. Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.- [Pastor Russell] dug through the creeds walls and thus 'came out of her.'
PAGE 428
Ezekiel 12:6 .. In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.- To them [Pastor Russell] was one not knowing whither he went, with eyes blinded; whereas his action and his publishing of the Truth was but God's way of beseeching Christendom and warning her of her own fate.
PAGE 428-9
Ezekiel 12:7 .. And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.- Pastor Russell and the Truth people did this with their limited power (hand), and laboriously (upon shoulder) made their war with their goods, the precious Truths, 'out or her.'
PAGE 429
Ezekiel 12:8-9 .. And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, maid unto thee, What doest thou?- The nominal church (home) of Spiritual Israel have often inquired of Pastor Russell and of the Truth people, 'What doest thou?'
PAGE 431
Ezekiel 12:26,27 .. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.- The clergy say that Pastor Russell's predictions of early trouble and the setting up of the Kingdom are for hundreds or thousands of years to come, and about things that are far off.- Amos. 6:3.
PAGE 431
Ezekiel 12:28 .. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.- Jehovah says that none of the words spoken through His servant Pastor Russell, shall wait any longer for fulfillment, but the things shall come as spoken.
PAGE 451
Ezekiel 18:3 .. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.- The doubters queried, 'Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?' (18:19.) They complained, 'The way of the Lord is not equal' nor just. (18:25.) Pastor Russell, expounding the Word of God, demonstrated clearly that God's way is just (18:25); that man's ways are unequal, unjust (18:29); and that God takes no 'pleasure at all that the wicked should die, but rather that he should turn from his ways and live.'(18:23-32.) The time will soon be when the scornful proverb shall no longer possess any force.- H46.
PAGE 456
Ezekiel 20:1 .. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.- .. Some of the prominent ecclesiastics will read up or consult Pastor Russell and his writings, and the 'Truth people,' ostensibly to learn what they can.
PAGE 460
Ezekiel 20:29 .. Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.- .. Pastor Russell frequently spoke with contempt - deserved, from the Divine viewpoint - of the 'high-place,' nominal church, her clergy and her laity, always going to the 'high ones.'
PAGE 463
Ezekiel 20:45,46 .. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.- .. Pastor Russell was to speak, as from the Divine viewpoint (the North) against the multitudes (trees in the forest) in the earthly phase (the south) of the Kingdom of God, already established invisibly by God in 1878- 1914. Jerusalem (ecclesiasticism) was in a southerly direction (belonging to the earth, earthy), from the Prophet's point of view.
PAGE 463
Ezekiel 20:49 .. Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?- The people of ecclesiasticism, misled by the clergy, are unable to understand Pastor Russell's teachings regarding the trouble, nor to get the Divine viewpoint.
PAGE 464-5
Ezekiel 21:6
Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.- Pastor Russell and the Truth people have carried a heavy heart burden in this message of the ills coming upon Christendom.
PAGE 465-6
Ezekiel 21:14 .. Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.- Pastor Russell was to give expression to the final wrath of Jehovah. The destruction will be of double. severity three times - in war, revolution and anarchy. The Sword of the Spirit was to be wielded by Pastor Russell twice three times, in his six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. The weapons of destruction will pursue all the great ones of earth, penetrating into all their most secret places. The Sword of the Spirit will search out all the lords of God's heritage (1 Pet. 5:3), the clergy, exposing their inmost ideas contrary to Jehovah and His Plan.
PAGE 466
Ezekiel 21:16 .. Go thee one way or the other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.- Wheresoever Pastor Russell and the Truth people set their face to go, it is authorized for them by the Lord.
PAGE 481
Ezekiel 24:3 .. And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it.- .. Its antitype is that on or about November 1, 1916, the date of Pastor Russell's death, ecclesiasticism began to enter upon its life-and-death struggle, materially, with the forces of laborism and anarchy, and religiously with the consecrated children of God, whose work from then on was increasingly to bear witness to the apostasy and imminent destruction of churchianity. Ecclesiasticism, rebellious against her God, is as an organization, like a caldron of brass (copper), typing that many of its members believe the Word of God. It is set amid the fiery troubles of revolution and anarchy. There is water in it, symbolic of what Truth there is in ecclesiasticism.- Jer. 1:13.
PAGE 483
Ezekiel 24:15,16 .. Also the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.- God took away from Pastor Russell the desire of his eyes, her whom he loved, with a stroke, or 'plague' of spiritual error, which completely separated them. By the Mosaic ordinance a priest on the death of father, mother, or wife, was to show no special sign of grief, but was to remain in the Tabernacle, or Temple, and attend as usual to the service of God. Pastor Russell, as a member of the great High Priest and as Christ's representative in the world, the sole steward of the 'meat in due season,' suffered deeply, but shed no tears.
PAGE 483
Ezekiel 24:17 .. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.- Rather, [Pastor Russell] made no mourning for her that was to him as dead, but continued in the work of the sacrificing priesthood. He was sustained in his affliction, not by human aid, but by the consolations of his Father's Word.
PAGE 484
Ezekiel 24:18 .. So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.- [Pastor Russell] continued his addresses and writings to the Lord's people; his wife became to him as one dead; and he continued uninterruptedly in the work of the ministry.
PAGE 484
Ezekiel 24:19 .. And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?- Why was Pastor Russell caused by his Father to endure the fiery trials and ecclesiastical falsehoods in connection with this incident of his life?
PAGE 485
Ezekiel 24:24 .. Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord God.- Thus the silent sorrow at Pastor Russell's heart was to be a sign to Christendom. The sorrowful experiences of Pastor Russell in this connection shall later on be those of all Christendom; 'and when this cometh' they shall know that Jehovah God is supreme, and back of all the judgments of the trouble time.
PAGE 485
Ezekiel 24:25,26 .. Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters. That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?- PASTOR RUSSELL DEAD, BUT SPEAKING AGAIN .. Also, in the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any that escape shall come to the works of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of 'Christianity.'
PAGE 485
Ezekiel 24:27 .. In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.- Pastor Russell's voice has been stilled in death; and his voice is, comparatively speaking, dumb to what it will be. In the time of revolution and anarchy he shall speak, and be no more dumb to those that escape the destruction of that day. Pastor Russell shall 'be a sign unto them,' shall tell them the truth about the Divine appointment of the trouble, as they consult his books, scattered to the number of ten million throughout Christendom. His words shall be a sign of hope unto them, enabling them to see the bright side of the cloud and to look forward with anticipation to the glorious Kingdom of God to be established. Then 'they shall know the Lord.'
PAGE 519
Ezekiel 33:1,2 .. Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman.- .. This chapter repeats the statements of 3:17-21 and 18:5-29 regarding the watchman set to warn the people of Christendom, his message and responsibility, and the responsibility of the Christian people toward the watchman - Pastor Russell, and his message and warning from God.
PAGE 520
Ezekiel 33:7-9 .. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood shall I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.- Pastor Russell faithfully taught that 'the wages of sin is death' (Rom. 6:23), and not eternal torment. He also warned the wicked systems of earth, political, economic and religious, that they should surely perish from the earth, if they did not turn wholeheartedly to Jehovah, the God of infinite Love.
PAGE 520
Ezekiel 33:10 .. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?- The nominal Christians of our, day were typed by the Hebrews who went to Ezekiel with insincere objections. They have treated Pastor Russell with a seeming but insincere respect. When they inquired into his writing and predictions, based upon the Word of God, they had no sincerity either in their questions or their professions toward him or the Word let forth by him.
PAGE 530
Ezekiel 33:21 .. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.- .. Pastor Russell's voice was stilled in death on October 31, 1916. If an application of Ezekiel's period of dumbness is valid here as a time feature, the tidings, the realization that Christendom is smitten by the onslaughts of revolution, might be expected to flash throughout the world on or about April 27, 1918, a year, five months and twenty-six days after the death of God's great watchman. As in Ezekiel 24:27, this would be a sign, an indication to Christendom of the truth of Pastor Russell's commission from the Almighty.
PAGE 530
Ezekiel 33:22 .. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.- .. This signifies that perhaps half a year prior to the general realization of Christendom's downfall, Pastor Russell, though dead, shall again speak through this, the seventh volume of his Studies in the Scriptures - for this is but the completion of his great work of admonition and warning for the Church and for Christendom.
PAGE 532
Ezekiel 33:30 .. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the Word that cometh forth from the Lord.- .. The tares in their churches (houses) will talk of Pastor Russell and his works and words - they will read this book, and will urge one another to 'hear what is the Word that cometh from the Lord.'
PAGE 532
Ezekiel 33:32 .. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.- To these people, in their insincerity and hypocrisy, Pastor Russell's works will be scarcely a grade higher than an entertainment, a beautiful song, 'the song of Moses and the Lamb,' well played on the many-stringed harp, the Bible, but not heeded as of solemn import.
PAGE 532
Ezekiel 33:33 .. And when this cometh to pass (lo, it will come), then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.- But when the things predicted in the entire seven volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures come to pass, then shall the tares, too late, realize that a great and Divinely ordained preacher [Pastor Russell] 'hath been among them.' Master, speak! Thy servant heareth, Longing for Thy gracious Word, Longing for Thy voice that cheereth; Master, let it now be heard. I am listening, Lord, for Thee; What hast Thou to say to me?
PAGE 538
Ezekiel 34:23 .. And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd.- God has established Jesus (David) the Beloved (Jer. 23; 4, 5; John 10:11), and Pastor Russell as a faithful and wise undershepherd, to bring forth from the Bible Storehouse truths new and old, to feed the sheep.
PAGE 540
Ezekiel 35:1,2 .. Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it.- .. What Edom types Pastor Russell makes clear in volume IV of Scripture Studies, pp. 14, 20.
PAGE 552
Ezekiel 37:2 .. And caused me to pass by them round about: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry.- .. Pastor Russell, in Volume IV of Studies in the Scriptures, compassed the entire range of the afflictions and desolated hopes of mankind in war, revolution and anarchy of the great Time of Trouble.
PAGE 553
Ezekiel 37:7 .. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.- .. And while Pastor Russell was preaching there began - in 1914 - the shaking of Christendom, in wars, revolutions and anarchy, preparatory to the transfer of the rulership from Mystic Babylon, Christendom, to the two-phase, spiritual and natural, Kingdom of God; also the Zionistic hopes of the Jews began to assume definite, connected and Scriptural form.
PAGE 553-4
Ezekiel 37:8 .. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.- .. Pastor Russell, too, preached to the Jews about their Zionist hopes, and pointed them to the Hebrew Bible to understand the proper fulfillment of their hopes; and while he was preaching Zionism grew into a strong movement. There is a due time also for Christendom's hopes to be strengthened by the books of Pastor Russell in millions of homes throughout Christendom. The surviving people of Christendom will read the Studies in the Scriptures during and after the time of the ruination of their hopes.
PAGE 554-5
Ezekiel 37:9 .. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.- .. Pastor Russell, as Ezekiel's antitype, was commissioned to say to the Hebrews scattered throughout the world in captivity in Mystic Babylon, Christendom, that the whole Word of God pointed to two great blessings: (1) the revival of their Zionist hope and its realization in the regathering of many Hebrews to Jerusalem, and the founding there of the world-wide Hebrew dominion over the whole world, into which should be gathered, out of Mystic Babylon, all the Hebrews in the world, wherever they might remain; and (2) the regathering of the Hebrews of all ages from the captivity of death- the tomb- to live on earth again in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God, under the invisible spiritual dominion of Christ, Head and Body, and under the visible earthly rulership of the resurrected Ancient Worthies. Beginning in October, 1910, Pastor Russell called the attention of Hebrews by thousands, throughout the world, to the fact that the whole Old Testament foretold this as the legitimate aspiration of the Hebrews. For the Christian people of the world. Pastor Russell has a similar message: (1) For believing Christians having the Holy Spirit, he revived their hopes and pointed out clearly their gathering out from captivity in Mystic Babylon and in death, unto the glorious spirit phase of the Kingdom of God. (2) For the mass or professing Christians, who through some measure of unbelief or of unfaithfulness are not begotten of the Spirit to a change of nature from human to spiritual, he has a Divine message, which in due time will bring strong hope and comfort. As the Time of Trouble progresses, professing Christians by the millions, losing faith, as did the Apostles when, on the arrest of Christ they all forsook Him and fled, will forsake Christianity and all profession of being Christians. They will lose all the hopes they had as Christians. Then Pastor Russell's message will preach to Christendom the necessity of receiving the Holy Spirit in its entirety, in order to realize their hopes; will turn the people to the whole Truth of the Word of God (the four winds, all the Truth), all the witness of the Spirit for them, that 'salvation cometh of the Jew' (John 4:22), and that they must connect themselves with the Ancient Worthies, resurrected and reigning at Jerusalem; for without these Worthies their hopes must remain inactive - through them alone hope can be vitalized.
PAGE 555
Ezekiel 37:10 .. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.- From paying attention to Ezekiel's message, the Hebrews captive in Babylon realized their hopes at the end of the seventy years captivity. As a result of Pastor Russell's teaching, Zionistic hopes have gained new vitality; and in due time the Hebrew dead will come forth from the Adamic death in multitudes. From his teachings to the true Church, captive in Mystic Babylon, Christendom, the Scriptural hopes of the Church were clearly seen, and vitalized for those in Present Truth. From his teachings hope will grow afresh in the hearts of the survivors of desolated Christendom; and as a result of their prayers the dead of Christendom will come forth, an exceeding great army.- E341, 316.
PAGE 557
Ezekiel 37:20 .. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes - The uniting of the Hebrews was apparently due to the prophecy of Ezekiel. That to come - of the Hebrews and of the Christians - will be in accordance with the teachings of Pastor Russell.
PAGE 569
EZEKIEL 40-48 .. The one who showed the Temple to the Church, the Elijah class, was 'the man in linen'- Pastor Russell. The brass (copper) of vs. 3 represents his justification. In his power (hand) were the Divine standards of measurement - the reed (Word of God) and the 'line of flax' (linen, righteousness). His standing was in the east gate of the Sanctuary - in Christ (gate). With the Word he measured the Temple (the Church, and the subsidiary classes) and with the standard of perfect Divine righteousness (flax, linen) he measured the progress of the life-giving River of Truth.- Ezek. 40:3; 43:6; 44:4; 47:1-3.
PAGE 591
EZEKIEL 40-48 .. The same one - Pastor Russell - who measured the race for the mark of the prize, with the line of Divine Righteousness (love, 'the fulfilling of the law'), measured also the requirements for character attainment of the Millennial Age. One who will have that degree of love, which is duty love to God and man, even though reaching the utmost fulness of the measure of Divine Justice (1,000 cubits), will be as it were, only up to the ankles in the stream.
PAGE 607-8
What is meant by 'the Finished Mystery of God.'- Rev. 10:7. The meaning of the 'fiery chariot' which will separate the true Christians (the Elijah class) from all others.- 2 Kings 2:11. The great reconstruction that will follow the world's trouble, and how every seeker after righteousness may be comforted and blessed. Every verse of Revelation, Ezekiel and Canticles made plain, and a flood of light thrown upon the entire Bible in Pastor Russell's final legacy to the Christians of earth, entitled 'THE FINISHED MYSTERY' 608 PAGES - ILLUSTRATED - CLOTH BOUND, 60 CENTS, POSTPAID OR DELIVERED BY COLPORTEURS .. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn, N.Y. THIS MARVELOUS LIBRARY NOW YOURS FOR A TRIPLE 'STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES' The Exhaustive and Celebrated Works of PASTOR RUSSELL Complete in Seven Handsomely Bound Volumes 9,000,000 COPIES IN CIRCULATION IN TWENTY LANGUAGES
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So, thus is Finished The Mystery of God! According to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Holy Scripture is about Watchtower founder RUSSELL's dalliances with a servant girl and a stenographer and the resultant punishment he received in the Divorce Courts. There is a simpler explanation, though:
The Watchtower Society and the Creed of the Jehovah's Witnesses is a CHEAT, a 100% SCAM, a WICKED TRICK, a FILTHY LIE, a BLASPHEMOUS INSULT, a SCANDAL, a FRAUD, a DISGRACE, an ABOMINATION and a DAMNED OUTRAGE from start to finish!
Examples of FINE SPIRITUAL FOOD AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME FROM "THE SLAVE":
"We need not here repeat the evidences that the 'seventh trump' began its sounding in A.D. 1840, and will continue until the end of the time of trouble" {WT Nov 1880 p1}; "masturbation is no mere innocent pastime but rather a practice that can lead to homosexual acts" {WT May 15 1970 p315; also WT Oct 1 1970 p604}; "If heaven were made the receptacle of the heathen, savages, barbarians, the idiotic, simple, insane and INFANTS, it would cease to be heaven to a considerable extent, and become a pandemonium .. billions of ignorant, imbecile and degraded .. never formed characters [not] fit companions for saints" {WT Oct 15 1896 p245} Fine JW Wisdom!!
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* THE LIST OF AMAZING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' CLAIMS, BELIEFS & PREDICTIONS
http://www.freeminds.org/history/part1.htm
http://www1.tip.nl/~t661020/wtcitaten/part1.htm
http://localsonly.wilmington.net/jmalik/TheList.zip
http://www.3dom.freeserve.co.uk/main.htm
http://www.concordance.com/watchtower.htm
It is FULLY IN ACCORDANCE with the teachings of the WATCHTOWER Bible & Tract Society (WTBTS) for every member of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES to Carefully Study the following LIST, which comprises truly fine scriptural food from its own publications. Remember the WTBTS told you to confirm whether what was taught by the WTBTS was in harmony with the Bible - and if not, not to circulate it {WT Mar 1 1894 repr p1629}, to confirm WT teachings against the Bible {WT May 1 1934 p131}, to invite critical examination of your faith {WT Aug 15 1950 p263}, that, far from being wrong, it is your duty to examine religion to see if it is true or false {WT Nov 15 1963 p688}, that you should actively examine your own religion {The Truth That Leads To Eternal Life 1968 p13, a WTBTS publication}, that you should check and examine BOTH sides of a matter {Awake! Oct 22 1973 p6}, that your religion was in no way afraid of being exposed to scrutiny {WT Aug 1 1978 p12}, that you should to be willing to submit everything to scrutiny {Awake! Aug 22 1984 p22/28}, that you should not have a closed mind {WT Nov 22 1984 p3-4}, that you should actively refer to the older publications {WT Jun 15 1985 p12}, that all people are encouraged to examine other religions with an open mind {WT Apr 1 1991 p17} and that you are encouraged to exhibit freedom of thought {Awake! Jun 8 1994 p21}. So, please follow the advice of the WTBTS as just given, and study this LIST very carefully. "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."(John 8:32). Fine advice indeed!
THE LIST IS PRODUCED IN DIRECT RESPONSE TO A RECENT REQUEST BY THE WTBTS in {WT Dec 1 1990 p19}, where it quotes {WT Dec 15 1914 p377-8}: "If any one knows anything better, let him take it. If any of you ever find anything better, we hope you will tell us." Kindly, Prominent Bethelite has duly obliged. Having read it, if you find the WTBTS has ever told falsehoods, follow the WTBTS advice clearly given in {WT Dec 1 1991 p7} "A religion that teaches lies cannot be true."; if you find the WTBTS has even made one false prophecy, follow the WTBTS advice clearly given in {WT Feb 1 1992 p3} "Beware of False Prophets!" - and cut yourself off from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who manage to fulfill scriptural definitions of Antichrists, False Prophets and the Great Whore of Babylon: quite an achievement.
"come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Corinthians 6:17)
And here is some scripture applicable to the Watchtower and its duped followers:
"However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: 'How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?' when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him." (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)
"And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh." (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
"We should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error" (Ephesians 4:14)
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Ephesians 5:11)
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 13:3,5,8)
"Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits" (Isaiah 30:10)
"That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;" (Isaiah 44:25)
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD." (Jeremiah 23:16)
"Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons. Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?" (Job 13:7-11)
"Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expression to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1 John 4:1-3)
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." (2 John 1:7)
"And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet." (Luke 11:29)
"And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46)
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5)
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matthew 7:15)
"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit." (Matthew 7:18)
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:22-3)
"By your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:37)
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (Matthew 15:14)
"Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." (Matthew 23:2-8)
"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." (Matthew 23:13-5)
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (Matthew 23:23-33)
"And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many." (Matthew 24:11)
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24)
"Get thee behind me, Satan" (Luke 4:8)
"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1)
"Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it." (Proverbs 25:16)
"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars" (Revelation 2:2)
"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." (Revelation 16:13)
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Revelation 17:4-5)
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." (Revelation 19:20)
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:10)
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Revelation 21:8;22:15)
"For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine" (1 Timothy 1:10)
"Always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of truth." (2 Timothy 3:7)
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
Note: The above represents the joint work of "Prominent Bethelite" (aka Danie11e, who some of you may remember), and myself. All the nonsense is (c) Watchtower Society, of course.
--
Focus
(Swine Class - as per The Finished Mystery[/i], page 128)
Edited by - Focus on 23 February 2001 13:32:27
