Jehovahs Witnesses In The Divine Purpose (1959)
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Charles Taze Russell begins his study of the Bible with a small group of associates
The book "Three Worlds’’ is published identifying the date 1914 as the end of "Gentile Times”
"Zion’s Vi Watch Tower" begins publication with the July issue
Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is organized: a call for 1,000 colporteurs is issued
Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is chartered in the J
State of Pennsylvania
"The Divine Plan of the Ages” is published as
Vol. I of the six-book series "Millennial Dawn”
The "Bible House” is constructed at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, as headcpjarters for the Society
C. T. Russell makes his first trip abroad, extending his program of assistance to the congregations
The first major convention is held at Chicago. Illinois, with 360 in attendance and 70 baptized
Pilgrim work begins as the Society 's program of visiting the congregations continues to expand
Volunteer work of free tract distribution at church doors on Sundays begins; all associated share
The Society’s first Branch office is opened in London, England
Headquarters of the Society is moved to Brooklyn, New York, at 124 Columbia Heights
Class extension work begins as an organized program to expand the congregations or "ecclesias”
Preparation of the- Photo-Drama of Creation begins as the world-wide preaching grows in intensity
Photo-Drama of Creation begin? showings in January; end of "Gentile Times" arrives
C. T. Russell dies; Society is administered temporarily bv a committee of three
Joseph F. Rutherford is unanimously elected second president of the Society
The Society’s officers and some principal associates are imprisoned; the witness work is killed
The Society's officers and associates are released from prison; the witness work is revived
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■You are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah
—Isaiah 43:10
Copyright, 1959 by
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania
First Edition
500,000 COPIES
In this book all Scripture quotations or citations not identified as to translation are from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NW) except those found in material quoted from some other publication, in which case they are from the King James or Authorized Version (AV). Reference to the American Standard Version is indicated by the abbreviation AS.
Other abbreviations used:
Ibid., abbreviation of Ibidem, Latin, meaning “In the same place.”
Supra, Latin, meaning “Above or beyond.”
PUBLISHERS
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
International Bible Students Association
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Made in the United States of America
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1 A People with the Most Ancient History
2 The Turning from Religious Confusion Begins
3 Charles Taze Russell Makes a Far-reaching Decision
4 Preparation for Harvest Ingathering Begins
5 Preaching the Good News, a Commission for All
6 Going on the Offensive
7 Uncovering the Roots of Opposition
8 The Climactic Approach to 1914
9 “End of All Kingdoms in 1914”
10 Strengthened for Patience and Endurance
11 A Change in Administration Tests God’s Servants
12 Let Go into Captivity
13 Release from Babylonish Captivity
14 Reorganizing for Active Service
15 Jehovah’s Wrath Published Against the Rulers
16 God’s Kingdom Exalted, Its Counterfeit Exposed
17 Publishing Freedom for the People Through Expanded Facilities
18 Jehovah Identifies His Purpose with His People
19 The Fight for Liberty to Preach
20 The Battle of the Air Waves Opens a New Field
21 Theocratic Order Comes in as World War II Approaches
22 Christian Neutrals During World War II
23 Preaching Underground amid War’s Intense Heat
24 Concentration Camps Fail to Still Lips Praising God
25 Champions of Freedom of Speech and of Worship
26 Expanding the Preaching Service to Find and Feed the “Great Crowd” 186
27 Building and Planting with a View to Global Expansion
28 Writing the Good News into the Law of the Land
29 The Door of Preaching Opportunity Again Swings Open
30 Setting the Pattern of Future Theocratic Assemblies
31 Quebec’s Burning Hate for God and Freedom Exposed and Defeated
32 Theocracy’s Increase Manifested in Preaching and Printing Opportunities 250
33 International Unity of Purpose Cements the New World Society
34 Ending the Fourth, Beginning the Fifth Decade of Kingdom Operation 269
35 The Cloud of Modem Witnesses Advance in Faithful Conduct
36 Doing the Divine Will from Now On into Eternity
BETHEL, World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Brooklyn, New York
A People
with the Most
CHAPTER I
Ancient History
l-^ois; who on earth could be ringing our doorbell on such a stormy night as this? Don’t tell me that we’re having visitors?
tom: Could be! It might be our neighbor John down the street—you know, one of those Jehovah’s witnesses. I spoke out of curiosity to him about that different kind of faith of his, and he said he’d step over here some night with his wife and answer all my questions about it. But there’s another ring. So let me go see just who it is at the door.
lois: All right!
tom [opening the door]: Well, I guessed it might be you, John. And there’s your good wife Maria, too. Come right in out of the bad weather and make yourself comfortable, both of you. It’s certainly nice of you to come over and see Lois and me. When I spoke to you I didn’t think you would take the matter as so urgent as to come here through such a wild night as this.
john: it is urgent, Tom, when the
world is in such an unsettled condition as the weather is tonight.
L0IS: Good evening. Here, let me take your things, and then I will join you.
john and maria: Thanks. It’s nice of you.
tom: Ah, it’s such a pleasant feeling to be indoors, in a comfortable home on such a rough night as this. Now I’m not going to ask you to look at television with us— I hope this doesn’t sound rough—but since you put yourself to such trouble to visit us tonight, I’d like to pump you both with as many questions as I can. And maybe my religious wife Lois would also like to ask some questions. She has a good knowledge of the Bible.
john: Fine! That’s just what Maria and I came for. Go ahead! Likely your wife Lois has read in her Bible the proverb of King Solomon: “Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters, but the man of discernment is one that will draw it up.” That’s Proverbs 20:5.
lois: That’s an encouraging scripture. I must mark that down.
tom: Thanks for that indirect compliment, John, but let’s see how much of a man of discernment I am to draw up the water of facts out of your well of information. Of all the scores of religions here in this country, you and Maria certainly have a peculiar name. Jehovah’s witnesses! I don’t know of another religious name like it. Why do you and your people call yourselves that? Where do you get that name? Lois tells me that her preacher said that you Jehovah’s witnesses are just a lot of
upstarts, just a new religion started by some religious crank recently and without a good background.
l°is: That’s what he said, and with a lot of scorn, too!
john: well, that doesn’t shock Maria and me. We’ve heard remarks like that from many religious quarters in Christendom. But quite to the contrary of such charges, do you know that Jehovah’s witnesses are the most ancient religious group of worshipers of the true God, the people whose history runs back farther than any religious denomination of Christendom, or even of Jewry?
tom: Ho, ho! Listen to that, Lois! Your preacher ought to be here and listen to this. And the Jewish rabbi around the comer, too!
lois: They first have to do a lot of proving to convince me of that.
john: From that Bible of yours I believe I can establish the factualness of what I said, Lois. Jehovah’s witnesses have a history almost 6,000 years long, beginning while the first man, Adam, was still alive. One of his sons is referred to as being a Witness. Read Hebrews 11:4, please, Lois. You have the King James Version, don’t you?
lois: yes. [Reading] “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”
john: Thank you. You remember in Genesis 4:10 God said Abel’s “blood crieth unto me from the ground.” But Abel was only the first of an unbroken line of Wit-nesses.a Noah carried this line through the flood after sounding a warning to his generation. Read Hebrews 11:7, please.
a “Make Sure of AU Things’’ (1953), pp. 193-195.
lois [reading]: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Was he a Witness just by building an ark?
john: Not altogether, no. Noah also preached. Please read 2 Peter 2:5.
Lens [reads]: “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” I never knew that. What did he preach, the coming of the flood?
john: yes, he warned his generation of God’s coming judgment. Throughout the history of the Bible Jehovah has raised up witnesses to give special warning in times of judgment. Moses warned Egypt of God’s coming punishment upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. That’s Hebrews 11:24-29. Then the natural Jews, the ancient nation of Israel, were prophetically addressed as Jehovah’s witnesses at Isaiah 43:10-12.
lois: J have that too. [Reading] “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.”
john: jn American Standard Version “the LORD” is rendered “Jehovah,” in keeping with the original Hebrew. So they were Jehovah’s witnesses.
lois: J see But these are Jews that he called Jehovah’s witnesses; you claim to be Christians, don’t you?
john: Yes, but Jesus himself was a member of this ancient Jewish nation and he was one of Jehovah’s witnesses.
lois: Does the Bible say that?
john: jesus sayS it himself. Would you read John 18:37.
lois [reading]: “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” Jesus did say he bore witness, didn’t he?
john: n0 greater Witness than Jesus has ever lived on earth, and one of his apostles specifically called Jesus a Witness.
l°!S: Now that I would like to see!
john: Very well. Read Revelation 1:5, please.
lois [reading]: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, . . .” Well, I never! Do you mean to say, then, that Jesus’ disciples were all Jehovah’s witnesses too?
john: Certainly. Christians are urged to emulate all those ancient Witnesses that preceded them back to Abel. Paul is writing about the whole line of Witnesses in his letter to the Hebrews that you read from a moment ago. Besides Abel, Noah and Moses, throughout the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews, Paul mentions many others. Then in Hebrews 12:1-3 he urges Christians to observe their faith and follow their example, particularly that of the greatest Witness of all, the Lord Jesus Christ.
lois: I have Hebrews 12:1-3. [Reading] “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”
john: That means that all Christians in the first-century congregation were witnesses of Jehovah, including the natural Jew, the apostle John, at the time of writing the Apocalypse about A.D. 96. He makes that fact clear himself in the opening verses of the book of Revelation, where, you recall, he also identified Jesus as Jehovah’s faithful witness. Read Revelation 1:1, 2, please.
lois [reading]: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.”
john: go you see the apostle John was merely repeating the testimony of Jesus, which Jesus himself had received from Jehovah God. Both, therefore, were Jehovah’s witnesses as colaborers.
THE FALLING AWAY COMES FIRST
lois: Even so, there is a long gap between those early Christians and our own day.
john: That’s true, and as early as the next or second century the professed Christians fell away from serving as Jehovah’s witnesses, till finally the Roman Catholic Church with its hierarchy of religious clergymen came to the fore and kept Jehovah and his written Word away from the blinded people. Why, even when the Protestants broke away they didn’t become Jehovah’s witnesses and bear witness to the truth of God’s Word as Jesus Christ and those before him had done. Consequently it became necessary for Jehovah, in fulfillment of his own prophecy, to raise up his witnesses in these modern times, not as a new religion, but as a climax to the long succession of Witnesses that he has had down through the past millenniums all the way back to Abel. The fact is, that is part of the purpose of Jesus Christ when he returns, to lead his fellow witnesses of Jehovah in the final testimony before the end of Christendom and all the rest of this wicked old world.
LOIS: How can that be? Didn’t Jesus say when he went away that he would be with his disciples until the end of the world?
john: yes, he did. That’s found at Matthew 28:20.
LOIS [interrupting]: Then why do you say that he is going to come again and raise up modern witnesses?
john: Suppose we read the scripture first. Maria, do you have it?
maria: Yes; this is the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. [Reading] “Look! I am with you all the days until the consummation of the system of things.”
john: Thank you. Your question, Lois, as to when and why Jesus would return, is one that has troubled some Bible students even from the days of the apostles. Some of the early Christians at Thessalonica were teaching that Christ had already returned in Paul’s day, but he wrote them: “Let no one seduce you in any manner, because it will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.”13 tom: who is the “man of lawlessness”? john: paui was app]ying the expression to the great apostasy I mentioned that would develop and prosper before Christ would be present again. That’s translated “man of sin” in the King James Version that you are using, Lois. I would like to read you something that I have brought along that was published in the earliest days of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
This book, published back in 1889, explains that Paul was agreeing that the day of the Lord “could be commenced while many might be in ignorance of it, that it could come without outward demonstration to mark it.”c Still, Paul was arguing further that a falling away must come before the day of the Lord; therefore, Christ’s kingdom could not have been set up at the time Jesus ascended into heaven.
l°is: You said that that apostasy began about the second century?
john: Yes, although even while the apostles were alive there was a beginning of it. But the apostles, backed up by the power of the holy spirit, were able to keep it from contaminating the congregation. With the apostles dead and gone, though, many false teachings were introduced that completely changed the meaning of the Scriptures and the purpose of God. This condition of apostasy developed over a period of several centuries and came to full bloom during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. Our book comments on this:
Under Constantine’s reign, the opposition of the empire to Christianity gave way to favor, and the Imperial Pontifex Maximus [Constantine’s title as emperor of Rome] became the patron of the professed but really apostate Church of Christ; and, taking her by the hand, he assisted her to a place of popularity and splendor from which she was able afterward, as the imperial power grew weak, to put her own representatives upon the religious throne of the world as Chief Religious Ruler—Pontifex Maximus [the title now assumed by the popes].a
b2 Thessalonians 2:3. e Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II (1889), p. 270 (1905 Ed.), dlbid,, pp. 290, 291.
TRUE CHRISTIANS UPHELD DURING COUNTERFEIT RULE
This was really the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church, although many of its present practices were even later additions. It is the falling away that the apostle Paul indicated must develop before the second coming of Christ. And one reason for Christ’s return, he pointed out, was to expose and destroy it. Now let’s all notice how the book explains what Jesus meant when he said he would be with his true followers all this time:
But let no one suppose that the real Church of Christ, even in those corrupt times, was either extinguished or lost sight of. “The Lord knoweth them that are his” in every age and under every condition. As wheat they were permitted to grow in the midst of a field overrun with tares; as though they were in the furnace, being tried and purified and “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.” True, the course of the multitude, who called themselves Christians, occupies the most prominent place on the pages of history; but undoubtedly a faithful few through all the persecutions, and in the midst of all the deceptive arts of the Mystery of Iniquity, walked worthy of their high calling, were laid to rest and recorded of God as heirs to the crown that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them.®
So, by his illustration of the “wheat and tares,” at Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Jesus indicated that on his return he would regather those faithful ones who are alive at that time and make them fellow witnesses of Jehovah. This he has done by separating them from false or apostate Christians and setting them forward as the climax to the 6,000-year-long succession of Jehovah’s witnesses.
Meanwhile, the false Christians have shown themselves to be false witnesses of Jehovah by setting up their own counterfeit of God’s kingdom. Note what the book says:
Thus, clearly, on the pages of history, the fact is pointed out that this Man of Sin, Antichrist, was born in Rome; ... a spiritual empire: it must claim to rule the kingdoms of earth by this spiritual authority; it must thus be not only an antagonist but a counterfeit, misrepresenting and pretending to be Christ’s kingdom, and exercising what will in God’s due time be the authority of the true Christ, the church glorified and complete under the only true Head and Lord.?
This counterfeit kingdom began about A.D. 800 and went into a decline about A.D. 1800.
e Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II (1889), p. 298 (1905 Ed.), f Ibid., pp. 298, 299.
The Turning from
CHAPTER 2
Religious Confusion
Begins
if the Roman Catholic Church claimed to be ruling in God’s kingdom for a period of a thousand years during the Middle Ages, then why should they look for a second coming of Christ?
john: They didn’t. But, when the power of the Roman Catholic Church had begun to decline about 1800, it is only natural that the attention of some Bible students would turn to the Lord’s second coming.
LOIS: But what of the Reformation? You said that when the Protestants broke away they didn’t become Jehovah’s witnesses either. Why do you say that?
john: Well, the Reformation really began as a rebellion against certain authorities of the Roman Catholic Church and soon developed into a strong political argument. Many Protestant leaders were as vicious in their persecution of religious opponents as the Inquisition of the Catholic Church had been. For example, John Calvin had anti-trinitarian Michael Serve-tus literally roasted alive, in horrible torture, for nearly five hours before he expired, while Calvin watched from a window.a Furthermore, the Protestant churches carried over with them the same
a Qualified to Be Ministers (1955), p. 295. teachings of apostasy that had been believed during the centuries of papal rule. These facts alone are evidence that this was not a true Reformation, nor were these “Reformers” witnesses of Jehovah as Jesus and those before him had been.
However, Jesus himself had foretold that the good news of God’s kingdom would be preached throughout the world as a witness to all the nations before the end would come. During the Dark Ages this would have been impossible. Political and religious controls were both so tight that a complete breaking of the shackles of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy was necessary for any movement to grow to any extent. So, while at this point there was no return to true worship, the stirring events of history during this period of readjustment were really preparing conditions for the international preaching of the Kingdom of God established at Christ’s return.
EXTREMES IN THINKING
CLOUD THE KINGDOM ISSUE
Many restrictions were being lifted, allowing for more freedom of thought and action; still much of this liberal thinking was carried to the extreme left so that continuous conflicts with radical ideologies would keep the people concentrating on these issues rather than on the real issue between the kingdom of Jehovah God and the rule of Satan the Devil.
As examples of this leftist swing of liber-
alism, in 1848 Marx and Engels issued their “Communist manifesto,” and Darwin’s radical Origin of the Species appeared in 1859 as a landmark in the intellectual and scientific revolution that was taking place simultaneously. Organized religions recognized their weakening position about the same time and the Vatican Council was called in 1869-70 to strengthen the position of the Roman Catholic Church. For the first time the pope was declared to be infallible. The Protestant organizations also took a backward step and the clergy began to assume even greater authority over the laity. Gradually, as a result of these many extremes, an era of godlessness began to develop. Higher criticism of the Bible, evolution, spiritism, atheism and infidelity all began to invade Christendom, and many so-called evangelical churches even began to modernize their teachings according to this trend in scientific and intellectual thinking. Soon after this, in 1891, the basic document of modern Catholic social philosophy was written. This was the encyclical by Pope Leo XIII called “Rerum novarum.”
But while the religious leaders were trying to regain some of their strength at the expense of the people, political governments were regaining their power in another sense. The United States had just recovered from the Civil War and was beginning to restore and build itself into one of the greatest nations the earth has ever seen. Britain was passing through her golden era as the seventh world power of Bible prophecy and the British Empire was probably at its peak strength at this time. Because of this strength she looked with suspicion on the growing power of Germany, which had just won the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and which had begun to build herself as a great European power.
Not only was there a stirring and awakening politically and religiously, but scientifically, too, great advancements were being made. The invention of the steam engine, the discovery of electricity, development of the telephone, later the automobile; all these things in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s began a great change in the civilization of the West. New business enterprises were blossoming forth. A flood of new corporations were organized to process this business; and a class of people, who, in previous centuries, had had little material wealth, were now encouraged to invest their money and were beginning to make fortunes. Materialism, money-making and pleasure seeking came hand in hand, and all this blinded the people to the potentials that were building up and that were due to come to a climax in 1914. All these prospects of better things looked so promising that the people in general were little concerned with the price they might eventually have to pay for them, nor were they much concerned with the great spiritual awakening that accompanied this revival, politically and commercially.
EARLY VOICES POINT THE WAY
In spite of this attitude on the part of the people generally, though, it is true a real forward step had been made. Freedom of thought and action was possible, and it is interesting to note that simultaneously with the beginning of the loosening of political controls in Europe a serious and analytical study of the Bible was begun by many. One of the most widespread in effect was that begun by William Miller in 1816. He predicted the return of Christ Jesus visibly and bodily in 1843 or 1844. But his view was completely opposed to God’s purpose as revealed in the Bible?
b The Life of William Miller (1875: Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association), pp. 362-374,
tom: was Miller the only one at this time that was looking for Christ’s return?
john: jsTo. The German-Lutheran theologian Bengel set the date for 1836, whereas the Irvingites in England looked first to 1835, then 1838,1864 and finally 1866, and then gave up. By this time several different Adventist groups had formed from Miller’s movement. Still others, such as the Elliott and Cumming group, were looking for 1866. Brewer and Decker predicted 1867 and Seiss favored 1870. There was a Mennonite group in Russia that put forth the date 1889.c
L0IS: But why were there so many different ideas as to when and how Christ would return?
john: it was because men were still anxiously trying to follow traditional religious teachings instead of waiting on Jehovah. Remember, the true doctrines of the Bible had been so twisted throughout the period of apostasy that no clear vision of Christ’s second presence would be possible until these doctrines themselves had been cleared up. This had not been accomplished by the so-called Reformation, so in the early part of the nineteenth century many mistakes were made in trying to determine when Christ would return, because chronology alone was relied on. It was not yet God’s due time to bring about his restoration of true worship.
maria: isn’t it true, though, that, while most of those looking for the second presence of Christ expected a physical return, there were some who believed that Christ would not be visible at this second presence?
john: yes. For example, there were George Storrs of Brooklyn, who published a magazine called “The Bible Examiner” and who looked to the date 1870; H. B.
Rice, who published The Last Trump, also looked to 1870, and a third group, this time of disappointed Second Adventists, looking to 1873 or 1874. This group was headed by N. H. Barbour of Rochester, New York, publisher of The Herald of the Morning.^
DAY BEGINS TO DAWN
Then, finally, around 1870, another group began to appear. This was the one headed by Charles Taze Russell of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Now let’s read about it in Russell’s own words:
We begin the narrative at the year 1868, when the editor [of Zion’s Watch Tower], having been a consecrated child of God for some years, and a member of the Congregational Church and of the Y.M.C.A., began to be shaken in faith regarding many long accepted doctrines.
Brought up a Presbyterian, indoctrinated from the Catechism, and being naturally of an inquiring mind, I fell a ready prey to the logic of infidelity, as soon as I began to think for myself. But that which at first threatened to be the utter shipwreck of faith in God and the Bible was, under God’s providence, overruled for good, and merely wrecked my confidence in human creeds and systems of Bible misinterpretations. e
During the next few months Russell continued to reflect over the subject of religion, unable to accept it, and yet unwilling to let it go. Then he relates:
Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall in Allegheny, Pa., where I had heard that religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches. There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventism, by Jonas Wendell . . .
Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to reestablish my wavering faith in the Divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the Apostles and the Prophets are indissolubly linked.
As a result Russell’s interest in the Bible was rekindled and he returned to the study of the Bible “with more zeal and care than ever before.” He continues:
<• The Small Sects m America, by E. T. Clark, pp. 33, 34 H949 Rev. Ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1910), ■‘Irvingites.” Cyclopaedia (New York, 1882: McClintock & Strong), ■‘Millennium”; “Bengel, John Albert.” dW 1916, pp. 170, 171. v Ibid.
I soon began to see that we were living somewhere near the close of the Gospel Age, and near the time when the Lord declared that the wise, watching ones of His children should come to a clear knowledge of His Plan. At this time, myself and a few other Truth seekers in Pittsburgh and Allegheny, formed a class for Bible study;f and the period from 1870 to 1875 was a time of constant growth in grace, in knowledge and in love of God and His Word. We came to see something of God’s love, how it had made provision for all mankind, how all must be awakened from the tomb in order that God’s loving Plan might be testified to them, and how all who will then exercise faith in Christ’s redemptive work and will render obedience in harmony with their knowledge of God’s will, might then, through Christ’s merit, be brought back into full harmony with God, and be granted everlasting life. This we saw to be the Restitution work foretold in Acts 3:21. . . .
However, we were then merely getting the outlines of God’s Plan and unlearning many cherished errors, the time for the clear discernment of the minutia not having fully come. . . .
Thus passed the years 1868-1872. The years following, to 1876, were years of continued growth in grace and in knowledge on the part of the handful of Bible students with whom I met in Allegheny. We progressed from our first crude and indefinite ideas of Restitution to clearer understanding of the details; but God’s due time for clear light had not yet come.
It was during this time, the account shows, that these Bible students came to recognize the difference between the Lord as “the man who gave himself” and the Lord who would come again as a spirit creature. They learned that spirit creatures can be present and yet invisible to men. As a result of this advanced understanding—
We felt greatly grieved at the error of Second Adventists, who were expecting Christ in the flesh and were teaching that the world and all in it except Second Adventists would be burned up in 1873 or 1874, and whose time settings and disappointments and crude ideas generally of the object and manner of our Lord’s Coming brought more or less reproach upon us and upon all who longed for and proclaimed His coming Kingdom.
These wrong views so generally held of both the object and manner of Christ’s Second Advent, led me to write a pamphlet: “The Object and Manner of the Lord’s Return,” of which some 50,000 copies were published.s
So it is that after centuries of darkness and weeping, the true light of God’s Word began to shine forth again and the message of Christ’s return that began to be heralded so zealously was like a joyous shout at the dawning of a new day. The joyful cry that began with this significant publication, The Object and Manner of the Lord’s Return, was eventually to grow in volume until it should be like the thunder of many waters.
t°m: go that was the beginning of the international preaching of Jehovah’s witnesses. That would make the modern activity of your group till now over eighty years old, wouldn’t it? That’s older than most people are today.
john: yes, but following the divine will on a continuous road means far more than just starting out in the right direction. Filled with enthusiasm and zeal for the work ahead, Russell set out at full speed only to find himself almost immediately at an unmarked fork in the road. Obviously he knew that he could not travel both roads and he was certain that one of those ways would spell disaster. He knew he must make a decision, but even then he could not know how far-reaching that decision was to be, nor how it was to set a pattern from then on. But if I start on that part of the story we’ll be here all night. If you like, we’ll come back next week.
tom: By a]j means. I still have plenty of questions.
Lois: p]ease do. I’m interested in that decision Mr. Russell had to make.
t Young Charles’ father, J. L. Russell, was a member of this first study group. (W 1891, p. 175) g W 1916, pp. 170, 171.
Charles Taze Russell Makes a Far-reaching
CHAPTER 3
Decision
john, something has been going through my mind all week since you were here. Why is it that when we read about Paul and others in the Bible we have no problem in accepting their position and authority, yet today it is so difficult to believe that any one man or organization is being used by God?
john: There should be no problem if we remember that those whom God uses as his witnesses at one time are always like those he has used at any other time. Did you have some specific point in mind, Tom?
tom: -Well, yes. You showed us last week that the need for a free world situation had developed since the days of the apostles. That hasn’t been too difficult to recognize. But what of all the voices that began to cry out, ‘This is the way’? If God did intend to use any of them as witnesses, how would we know it? You’ve pointed out how C. T. Russell had joined his voice in heralding the Lord’s return, but what reason do we have for singling him out in preference to others?
john: Today, because of the way the work has been blessed, we have more reasons than I could tell you in one evening. As our discussion develops I’m sure you’ll agree. But even as viewed by Russell’s contemporaries there was sufficient evidence for those really looking for it. In fact, that bears on the point I wanted to discuss this evening.
lois: You mean about the important decision Mr. Russell had to make as to the course he thought he should follow?
john: Yes. You will recall that most of these early groups of watchers were interested primarily in time calculations. But Russell had a different type of mind. True, in spite of his youth, he was unusually analytical in his approach to any subject, but he had become convinced that Christ’s purpose for returning was more important than some date that could be set.
lois: By the way, John, how old was Mr. Russell when he began to study?
tom [interrupting]: That’s something else I’ve wanted to ask. Could we interrupt the progress of the story long enough to get some vital statistics? I think it would help us to know more about Russell personally.
C. T. RUSSELL’S BACKGROUND
john: Very well. Actually, he was still in his teens when he began to think seriously about his religious background and to question its foundations. Here’s something from the opening paragraphs of his biography as published in the Foreword of a later
edition of his popular book, The Divine Plan of the Ages.
Charles Taze Russell, known the world over as Pastor Russell, author, lecturer and minister of the Gospel, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., February 16, 1852; died October 31, 1916. He was the son of Joseph L. and Eliza Birney Russell,a both of Scotch-Irish lineage. He was educated in the common schools and under private tutors.b
tom; jje must have been an extremely serious-minded young man.
john: He was. His mother died when he was nine years old, so he spent much time with his father after school hours. When he was only twelve years old, his father found him in the store one time at 2 a.m., poring over a concordance, unconscious of the lapse of time.c At the age of fifteen Russell was in partnership with his father, assisting him with his business activity in a men’s furnishing store. When he was in his early twenties he had helped his father expand their business to several stores and was well on the way to establishing a national chain of stores when he abandoned it all to devote his entire time to the ministry. When he closed out his interests they netted him more than a quarter of a million dollars.*1
tom: jje must have been a man of considerable resourcefulness and determination.
john: He showed it in many ways. While still a lad, before he learned the truth concerning God’s purpose, he would go out at night to chalk up Bible texts in conspicuous places so that workingmen, passing by, might be warned and be saved from the “torments of hell.” His zeal in teaching God’s love was just as strong when he finally saw the error of this blasphemous hell-fire doctrine. That’s why he put everything he had into his life’s work. He is quoted by a later associate as declaring vehemently:
If the Bible does teach that eternal torture is the fate of all except the saints, it should be preached—yea, thundered from the housetops weekly, daily, hourly; if it does not so teach, the fact should be made known, and the foul stain dishonoring God’s holy name removed.e
But there are a few more points in these biographical notes we were reading I’d like to show you.
Pastor Russell was married in 1879 to Maria Frances Ackley. No children blessed this union. Seventeen years later they disagreed about the management of his journal; and a separation followed. . . .
He was not the founder of a new religion, and never made such claim. He revived the great truths taught by Jesus and the apostles, and turned the light of the twentieth century upon these teachings. He made no claim of a special revelation from God, but held that it was God’s due time for the Bible to be understood; and that, being fully consecrated to the Lord and to his service, he was permitted to understand it. Because he devoted himself to the development of the fruits and graces of the holy spirit, the promise of the Lord was fulfilled in him: “For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—2 Peter 1:5-8/
Lo|s: what about the decision Pastor
Russell was forced to make, John? You said it could have completely wrecked his work.
john: I was thinking about that as Tom was asking for evidences of God’s approval of Pastor Russell’s work. Actually, there were a number of decisions involved, all related somewhat to this matter of time calculations. The course Russell chose was particularly significant because it was his first major testing and because it had such far-reaching results.
a J. L. Russell died in 1897 at 84, having continued a close associate of his son in the Society’s activities (W Jan. 1, 1898, p. 4). b Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I (1886), Foreword: “Biography,” p. 1 (1926 Ed.). See also W 1916, p. 356. c Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. VII (1917), p. 53 (1918 Ed.). dA Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens (1915), by J. F. Rutherford, p. 16. e Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I (1886), Foreword: “Biography,” p. 18 (1926). f Ibid., pp. 1, 2.
TIME FEATURES BECOME IMPORTANT
You will recall Russell’s study group had come to realize that when Christ returned it would not be in the flesh, as commonly believed and taught by the Second Adventists. Pastor Russell had learned that when Jesus should come he would be as invisible as though an angel had come.
Then, in 1876, while Pastor Russell was in Philadelphia on a business trip, he happened to come into possession of a copy of the magazine The Herald of the Morning, which, you will recall, was being published by N. H. Barbour of Rochester, N. Y. He was surprised and pleased to note that here was another group that expected Christ’s return invisibly and, because of the similarity of their views, he read more of this publication, even though he recognized it as an Adventist paper and even though, up to this time, he had had little regard for their doctrines. But Russell was interested in learning from any quarter, whatever God had to teach. He became interested in the chronology set forth in the magazine and immediately got in touch with Barbour to arrange a meeting at Russell’s expense in order to discuss this matter further.
It seems that one of Barbour’s group had come into possession of Benjamin Wilson’s Diaglott translation of the “New Testament.” He noticed, at Matthew 24:27, 37, 39, that the word rendered coming in the King James Version is translated presence in the Diaglott. This was the clue that had led Barbour’s group to advocate, in addition to their time calculations, an invisible presence of Christ. Russell had been interested first in the purpose of Christ’s return. His realization that it would be invisible led him now seriously to consider the time features. He was satisfied with the evidence Barbour presented.
Pastor Russell was a man of positive con
s W 1916, p. 171,
victions and fully dedicated to the Lord. He wrote later:
I at once saw that the special times in which we live have an important bearing upon our duty and work as Christ’s disciples; that since we are living in the time of the Harvest, the Harvest work should be done; and that Present Truth is the sickle by which the Lord would have us do a reaping work everywhere among his children. =
This conviction stayed with Russell throughout his entire life as a Christian minister.
As a result of Russell’s meeting with Barbour, his study group in Pittsburgh became affiliated with the group in Rochester, and Russell contributed money from his personal funds to Barbour to get the printing of their message going again in the magazine The Herald of the Morning. Since Barbour was a printer by trade it was agreed that he should do the actual publishing of the magazine, whereas Russell would become a coeditor of The Herald of the Morning and assist in the financial end of the enterprise.
Russell was fired now with the idea of service in harmony with his knowledge of the divine will. But he was not personally ambitious. One of the first steps he took with his important message shows that, but it also reveals one of his first disappointments. Let me read this to you:
In 1877 Pastor Russell called a meeting of all the ministers of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, showed them the Scriptures which indicated our Lord’s presence and urged them to investigate and proclaim the message. All of the ministers of the two cities were present; all of the ministers of the two cities refused to believe. In the same year he determined to give up secular work and devote his entire time and fortune to the work indicated in the Scriptures . . . As a means of determining whether his course was in harmony with the Scriptures, and also as a means of demonstrating his own sincerity, he decided to test the Lord’s approval as follows: (1) Devote his life to the cause; (2) Invest his fortune in the promulgation of the work; (3) Prohibit collections at all meetings; (4) Depend on unsolicited contributions
(wholly voluntary) to continue the work after his fortune was exhausted.h
Lens; J never heard of anything like that before. Do you mean Pastor Russell never took up a collection or solicited money in his entire life? He really must have been a man of courage and conviction.
john: He was a man of faith. He was highly privileged to understand the divine will and he knew it. Remember, he was only twenty-five years old in 1877. Yet, when all the religious leaders of Allegheny and Pittsburgh refused to accept the wonderful opportunity of sharing in the harvest work that he felt was beginning, Russell did not hesitate. His faith was rewarded many times over.
That same year, 1877, together with Barbour, Russell produced a book called “Three Worlds or Plan of Redemption.” Nothing like it had ever been published before. It combined for the first time the explanations of time prophecies with the work of Restitution.1 At this early date they recognized that the end of Satan’s period of uninterrupted rule of the earth, called “Gentile times,” would come in 1914. Almost at once, Russell was called upon to make another important decision.
A KNOTTY PROBLEM UNRAVELS
LOIS: Was it on this point of 1914 that Pastor Russell’s decision was forced on him?
john: on that particular point, but
it did involve his association with Barbour and his devotion to the truth as it had been revealed up to this time. In regard to this testing note Russell’s words in The Watch Tower under the caption text, Luke 22:31, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat.” (AV) Here is what he says:
Until then all had run smoothly onward. We had been greatly blessed with the Truth, but not especially tested in our love and fidelity to it. But with the summer of 1878, the parallel in time to our Lord’s crucifixion and His utterance of the above quoted words, the sifting began which has continued ever since, and which must, sooner or later, test every one who receives the light of Present Truth.
“Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which shall try you, as though some strange thing happened to you”; for “the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” ... [1 Peter 4:12],
The object of this trial and sifting evidently is to select all whose heart desires are unselfish, who are fully and unreservedly consecrated to the Lord; who are so desirous of having the Lord’s will done, and whose confidence in His wisdom, His way and His Word is so great, that they refuse to be led away from the Lord’s Word, either by the sophistries of others or by plans and ideas of their own. These in this sifting time will be strengthened and will increase their joy in the Lord and their knowledge of His plans, even while their faith is being tested by the falling into error of thousands on every hand.—Psalm 91:7.1
Then Pastor Russell explains an erroneous view that had been held by all up to this point. Based on Paul’s statement at 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52, it had been expected “that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be forever with the Lord.” Believing this would take place in 1878, some were disappointed because nothing occurred that they could see. However, Pastor Russell was led to a reexamination of the scripture and realized that their “mistake lay in expecting to see all the living saints changed at once, and without dying—an erroneous view shared in by the whole nominal church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded.” Russell’s re-examination of this text revealed that the true significance of the apostle’s words was that those who were to be of Christ’s body and who were alive at his presence or after his return would not lie unconscious in the grave as had those who preceded Christ’s return. Instead they would be changed instantaneously at death to be present with him. This was really an important revelation of scripture and one that many fundamentalists still have not come to appreciate. Russell concludes this point by saying: “So this re-examination showed further light upon the pathway and became a good cause for encouragement, as evidencing the Lord’s continued leading.”
h Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. VII (1917), p. 55 (1918 Ed.). IW 1916, p. 171. j Ibid., p. 172.
TESTED ON INTEGRITY TO PRINCIPLE
But while I was thus helped to clearer views and brighter hopes, and while I diligently endeavored to help others, the spring of 1878 proved far from a blessing to Mr. Barbour and to many under his influence. Rejecting the plain, simple solution presented above, Mr. Barbour seemed to feel that he must of necessity get up something new to divert attention from the failure of the living saints to be caught away. But alas, how dangerous it is for any man to feel too much responsibility and to attempt to force new light! To our painful surprise, Mr. Barbour soon after wrote an article for The Herald denying the doctrine of the Atonement—denying that the death of Christ was the Ransom-price for Adam and his race, saying that our Lord’s death could no more avail for the payment of the penalty of man’s sins than would the sticking of a pin through the body of a fly and causing it suffering and death be considered by an earthly parent as a just settlement for misdemeanor in his child. I was astonished; for I supposed that Mr. Barbour had a clear understanding of the work of Christ as our Sin-Offering . . . Either I had given Mr. Barbour credit for clearer views than he ever had, or else he was deliberately taking off and casting away the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. The latter was the only conclusion left; for he afterwards stated that he had previously recognized Christ’s death as man’s Ransom-price.k
t°m: what did he mean by the “wedding garment”?
john: Russell was referring to Jesus’ illustration at Matthew 22:11-14. This parable depicts a king who invited guests to the marriage feast of his son. Those first invited refused to come, so he finally sent out into the highways and byways and gathered others, but finally at the wedding
k W 1916, p. 172. 1 2 Peter 2:1. feast he found a man without the appropriate wedding garment to show his recognition of the occasion and he commanded that he be put out. Jesus here illustrated that only those properly identified as being in complete union with him would be allowed to remain in the gathering of his chosen ones. Applying this illustration in this light, Russell was pointing out that Barbour’s rejection of the merit of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice was a deliberate discarding of his Christian identification. Peter warned about this when he said: “There also came to be false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them, bringing speedy destruction upon themselves.”1
maria: pastor Russell was only twenty-six at that time and Mr. Barbour was a much older man. Besides, The Herald of the Morning was Mr. Barbour’s magazine in the sense that he had started it, although Pastor Russell was financing it when this division arose. So Pastor Russell could easily have been influenced by Mr. Barbour’s position. He could have hesitated to oppose him for fear of losing what ground they had gained.
POSITIVE ACTION DEFEATS COMPROMISE
john: 3^, young as he was, he knew from his study of the Bible that compromise is the beginning of apostasy, and to forsake God’s principles or truths for the sake of expediency would be fatal. This was Russell’s first real test of integrity to the truth. The course he chose was immediate and decisive. He wrote an article for The Herald at once in contradiction of the error. For several months similar articles appeared, then Russell reports:
It now became clear to me that the Lord would no longer have me assist financially, or be in any way identified with, anything which cast an influence in opposition to the fundamental principle of our holy religion. Therefore, after a most careful though unavailing effort to reclaim the erring, I withdrew entirely from The Herald of the Morning, and from further fellowship with Mr. Barbour. But a mere withdrawal I felt was not sufficient to show my continued loyalty to our Lord and Redeemer . . . I therefore understood it to be the Lord’s will that I should start another journal, in which the standard of the Cross should be lifted high, the doctrine of the Ransom defended, and the Good Tidings of great Joy proclaimed as extensively as possible.
Acting upon this leading of the Lord, I gave up traveling, and in July, 1879, the first number of The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence made its appearance. From the first, it has been a special advocate of the Ransom; and, by the grace of God, we hope it will be so to the end.1'1
The far-reaching effects of this bold stand for pure doctrine could not have been foreseen at that time; but it is now evident that, had Russell compromised on this vital issue, his service to Jehovah would have been of no more value than the lame sacrifices being offered by the leaders of apostate Christendom. This was a time of important decisions. It was a time when Christ Jesus, as Jehovah’s representative, was selecting the channel to be used to gather his “wheat” class.
The truths that had been revealed from God’s Word had come to Russell and his associates only by careful and diligent study. Their acceptance of them was based on an honest conviction that the time had now come for Jehovah to call “out of darkness into his marvelous light” all men who sincerely desired to know and do the divine will. Russell’s position brings to mind the scripture at Galatians 2:4, 5. Lois, would you like to read that?
LOIS [reading]: “But because of the false brothers brought in quietly, who sneaked in to spy upon our freedom which we have in union with Christ Jesus, that they might completely enslave us—to these we did not yield by way of submission, no, not for an hour, in order that the truth of the good news might continue with you.” It was Paul who said that, wasn’t it?
john: yes. He had many such problems in the early congregation; but he not only stood his ground for the truth of God’s Word, he also wrote much encouraging counsel for us today. And just as Paul was richly blessed for his faithfulness, so were Russell and his early associates.
FAITHFULNESS BRINGS ADDED BLESSINGS
These convictions, coupled with his enlightening experience with Barbour and The Herald of the Morning, led Russell to realize that, if this little body of true Christians were to maintain their integrity to the divine will, they must hold the publishing of these truths closely in hand, maintaining their own journal and other publications apart from all other groups. True, theirs was a small beginning. But it brings to mind the text at Zechariah 4:10: “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (AV) These days, beginning with 1879 when the little Pittsburgh group again found themselves working alone, proved to be days “of small things.”
The first issue of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, July 1, 1879, was limited to 6,000 copies.11 C. T. Russell became the editor and five other mature Bible students were to serve as regular contributors. The first words of this new journal are of interest and read:
This is the first number of the first volume of “Zion’s Watch Tower,” and it may not be amiss to state the object of its publication. That we are living “in the last days”—“the day of the Lord”—“the end” of the Gospel age, and consequently, in the dawn of the “new” age, are facts not only discernible by the close student of the Word, led by the spirit, but the outward signs recognizable by the world bear the same testimony, and we are desirous that the “household of faith” be fully awake to the fact.0
m W 1916, pp. 172, 173. Jan. 1, 1909, the name was changed to The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (for explanation see W 1908, p. 372); Oct. 15, 1931, changed to The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence: Jan. 1, 1939, to The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Kingdom; Mar. 1, 1939. to The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom, its present title. From its first issue the journal was published monthly until Dec., 1891; beginning Jan. 1, 1892, published semimonthly (see W 1891. p. 173); foreign issues vary in frequency of publication. n W Aug., 1879, p. 2.
From the beginning the name of Jehovah has been witnessed to by this magazine that is dedicated to him and the interests of his kingdom. In its second issue under the heading “Do You Want ‘Zion’s Watch Tower’?” it said:
“Zion’s Watch Tower” has, we believe, Jehovah for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support. When He who says: “All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine,” fails to provide necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publications
Two years later the name and identity of Jehovah were discussed. In the issue of July, 1882, appeared the seven-page article entitled “Hear, O Israel! Jehovah Our God Is One—Jehovah,” which article disproved the “trinity” doctrine or teaching of “one God in three persons.” In August of 1882 the question was asked whether the name “Jehovah” is properly applied to the Father or to Christ. The answer was given:
We confidently assert that the name Jehovah is never applied in Scripture to any but the Father. It is for those who claim the reverse to give a text, and show its applicability to Jesus or anyone else than the Father. Here is a way to prove the matter conclusively—the New Testament writers quote much from the Old Testament; do they ever quote a passage in which the word Jehovah occurs and apply it to Jesus? We claim that they do not. On the contrary, we will give one out of many similar quotations, in which it is clearly applied, not to Jesus, but to the Father. Psa. 110:1, “The Lord (.Jehovah) said unto my Lord (adon— master) sit thou,” etc. (Note carefully the application of this by Jesus (Luke 20:41-44), and by Peter. (Acts 2:34-36, and 33.) This one text is sufficient until answered. If any one can twist it, we have others ready.<i
Thus Pastor Russell acted and served as a witness of Jehovah.1'
GOD’S CHANNEL SHOWS SIGNS OF IDENTITY
So you see, Tom, in many ways the evidence was beginning to accumulate that, of all the early voices heard, Jehovah had chosen the publication we now call The Watchtower to be used as a channel through which to bring to the world of mankind a revelation of the divine will and, through the words revealed in its columns, to begin a division of the world’s population into those who would do the divine will and those who would not. For this reason 1879 was a turning point in the work. This little group, headed by C. T. Russell, had now been tested and had been found fit to undertake the great preliminary campaign leading up to the climax expected in 1914. But what could this small band expect to accomplish throughout the world in less than forty short years? Even with favorable conditions the task would have looked formidable. But these undaunted itinerant preachers set out literally on foot to accomplish the task in the face of what they knew would be the bitterest opposition. The record of praise to Jehovah’s name that they built up in almost forty years could only have been accomplished as stated in Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.” (AS) Only Jehovah could have been feeding and directing his people.
o W July, 1879, p. 3. p W Aug., 1879, p. 2. q W Aug., 1882, pp. 2, 3. r On page 20 of Three Worlds (1877) the name Jehovah occurs, instead of “the LORD,” when it quotes Zephaniah 3:9, to read: “For then will I turn the people to a pure language that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve him with one consent.” So Russell early knew the divine name.
Preparation
CHAPTER 4
for Harvest Ingathering
Begins
I —__
-■^ois: Before we go any farther this evening, John, I’d like to get one point clear. What was Pastor Russell’s aim? The biographical note you read said he was not trying to start a new religion and that’s what you said too in discussing the name Jehovah’s witnesses. Whether that has actually resulted or not is beside the point at the moment. The most significant aspect of his message, as I see it, was that Christ’s presence was imminent; but what did he want people to do and what did he expect would happen when Jesus returned?
…