Russellism or Rutherfordism: The Teachings of the International Bible Students (1925)
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Russellism or Rutherfordism
BX8526
S55 Library of The Theological Seminary
PRINCETON·NEW JERSEY
PRESENTED BY
The Estate of Victor H. Lukens
555 USSELLISM
The Teachings of "The International Bible Students," alias "Jehovah's Witnesses"
... IN THE ... LIGHT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
T. T. SHIELDS
Pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church and President of Toronto Baptist Seminary Toronto
Author, The Adventures of a Modern Young Man
A FEARLESS EXPOSÉ!
E 8=20
C=5
RUSSELLISM OR RUTHERFORDISM
LIBRARY OF PRESS
MAR 11
THEOLOGICAL
Russellism or Rutherfordism
The Teachings of "The International Bible Students," alias "Jehovah's Witnesses"
LIGHT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
T. T. SHIELDS Pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church and President of Toronto Baptist Seminary Toronto
Author of The Adventures of a Modern Young Man
ZONDERVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
PREFACE
The addresses contained in this booklet are published as stenographically reported. The first three were delivered in 1927 and the other in 1934. All were delivered at a time when the Russellites were holding an international convention in Toronto. They assembled in Exhibition Park, Toronto, and it was reported that ten thousand delegates were in attendance from all over the Continent. The author took advantage of their presence in the city and advertised that he would speak in opposition to their doctrines. On each occasion the church was not merely crowded but flooded. Members of the church were invited to withdraw and to assemble in other halls of the building for prayer. But no matter how many withdrew, the crowd flowed in until every inch of space was occupied.
It is the custom in Jarvis Street Church during the summer months to hold a service out of doors following the evening service, when the pastor preaches again to a great crowd. On these occasions the ordinary crowds were augmented to the proportions of a multitude.
For a booklet such as this, these addresses might, without doubt, have been abbreviated. But they are reproduced as they were originally printed in The Gospel Witness at the time because they carry with them the atmosphere and spirit of the great congregations to which they were delivered. The services were orderly; the only interruptions that took place are recorded in the text.
The addresses do not attempt to go into all the doctrinal details of Russellism.
We have thought it wiser to disclose its relation to some of the great verities of the faith; and showing it to be utterly unscriptural in respect to these matters is sufficient to prove that the whole system is unscriptural and positively anti-Christian.
The careful reader will observe the addresses contain some repetition. In explanation and justification it should be remembered that the address beginning on page seventy-five and continuing to the end was delivered seven years after those appearing in the earlier pages, and was especially designed to show that "Judge" Rutherford's books are little more than a reprint of Russell's, that Rutherford is an echo rather than a voice, and that Russellism and Rutherfordism are identical.
We have reason to believe that the distribution of these addresses in another form when they were first printed was used of God to deliver a good many people from the darkness of Rutherfordism.
CONTENTS
I. RUSSELLISM ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST,
AND THE WORD OF GOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
II. RUSSELLISM ON THE WORD OF GOD . . . . . . . . . 30
III. RUSSELLISM'S PERVERSION OF THE DOCTRINE OF
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST . . . . . . . . . . . 36
IV. THE UNSCRIPTURALNESS OF RUSSELLISM'S FAVORITE
SLOGAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
V. THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL PRINCIPLES OF
RUTHERFORDISM, OR RUSSELLISM . . . . . . . . . . 75
RUSSELLISM ON THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST, AND THE WORD OF GOD
Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.
-I KINGS 22:23
The history that lies behind our text is this: Jehoshaphat, the good king of Judah, had gone down to Samaria to visit Ahab, and Ahab said to him, "Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria? . . . Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?" Immediately Jehoshaphat responded, "I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today." So Ahab summoned his four hundred prophets and asked every one of them this question, "Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?" With a strange unanimity they answered, "Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king." But Jehoshaphat was rather suspicious of their unanimity and said, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?" Ahab said, "There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord [There is another preacher in town, but I never go to hear him preach.
I do not like his sermons] but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say so [Let us hear him this once, and see what he has to say]!"
So a messenger was dispatched for Micaiah, who told him that all the king's prophets with one voice had told Ahab to go up to Ramoth-Gilead and had promised him prosperity in the way of his own desire; he then added, "Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. [Do not make yourself singular; do not strike a discordant note.]” Micaiah said, “As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.” So he came to the king, and the king said unto him, "Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?" How strange that he did not say that to the four hundred prophets who preached exactly the same sermon! Ahab accepted their message at its face value, but the moment Micaiah said the same thing he was suspicious; he did not expect the same message from Micaiah, but said, "How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?" Perhaps he detected a tone of irony in the prophet's speech; perhaps he felt that the prophet was saying, "Well, Ahab, you have made up your mind; why come to ask advice of the Lord at my mouth?"
Many people consult the Bible only in an endeavour to make it sanction their own evil course; they want a religion that will allow them to have their own way, to do their own pleasure, and that will promise them prosperity in the doing of it. Alas! Alas! There are plenty of prophets who will say to the modern Ahabs, "Go up and prosper; continue in your present course, and you shall have prosperity."
But Micaiah said in response to the king's request that he tell only the truth, "Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so." Here is my text: "Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee."
For many years, because I did not understand it, I was afraid to read that passage in public. I read it to myself hundreds of times and said, "What can it possibly mean—that a lying spirit had gone forth from Jehovah into the mouth of all Ahab's prophets to persuade him to go to Ramoth-gilead and fall in his attempt to take possession of it?" The Bible is the best text-book upon any subject with which it treats.
It is the best text-book on psychology that has ever been written: it is the word of the Author of the human mind; it is the word of One Who knows how the human mind is constituted, how it thinks, how all its faculties function. Here is a divinely-inspired record of how a man went to his ruin by listening to the word of false prophets; and the testimony of the false prophets is explained by the statement that "a lying spirit from the Lord" had taken possession of them.
When God proposed the creation of man He was shut up to the problem as to whether He would make a man or a machine; and He decided to make a man. He endowed him with certain qualities of mind. He gave him the right of choice. He gave him a will to exercise, and even God Himself respects that man's right of choice.
What was the outstanding characteristic of Ahab? It was that he would not obey the voice of the Lord. When God spoke to Ahab, Ahab rejected Heaven's testimony. He multiplied prophets to himself who would prophesy to him a comfortable message, agreeable to his own desires; and he spent his life in endeavoring to silence every voice that dared to tell him the truth. He had slain the prophets of the Lord. Even the mighty Elijah had been in hiding until the Lord commanded him to show himself to Ahab. When Elijah met Obadiah he said, "Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here," and Obadiah said, "What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.
And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me. Was it not told my lord, what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him to-day."
When Elijah showed himself to Ahab, what was Ahab's response? What had Elijah done? He had been God's mouthpiece, telling Ahab the truth, and Ahab said, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" When on this occasion Elijah showed himself to Ahab, Ahab exclaimed, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Ahab was a man who hated the truth; he set himself like adamant against the truth; he endeavoured to silence every voice that dared to tell him the truth.
Now Ahab asked four hundred men whether he should go up to Ramoth-gilead, and they said, "Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king." But that he might be justified when he spoke and be clear when he judged, Jehoshaphat said, "Ask someone else"; and Ahab sent for Micaiah, and the messenger who went for him had become so accustomed to his master's way that he besought Micaiah not to tell the truth. He said, "Tell him what the others have told him; do not be singular."
But at last Micaiah told Ahab the truth: "I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace." Then Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, "Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? [I knew what he would say. I knew he would come saying, 'Repent. Dare to do your own will; and in that way lies destruction.' I knew he would say it.]" Then to the captain of his guard, he said, "Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace." And the prophet, ere he left him, said, "If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me."
Then Ahab said, "I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle," but to Jehoshaphat he said, "Put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went in to the battle. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture [and as he did so, an unseen Hand was put upon his hand, and it was aimed unerringly] and the arrow smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. So the king died . . . according unto the word of the Lord which He spake."
What is the philosophy of it? Just this: Ahab said to God, in effect, "Do not bother me; do not trouble me; let me have my own way. Do not send Thy prophets to disturb me. I do not want to hear the truth. I will have a religion of my own." And at last the Lord allowed Ahab to have his own way. And when God lets a man have his own way, that man goes straight to the precipice. Thus did Ahab.
A man may so close his heart against the truth, so refuse the testimony of God's Holy Word, that at last even the Bible itself will cease to speak to him. For mark you this: the penalty a liar pays for his lying, or which is paid by a man who lives in habitual deception, is not that nobody believes him, but that he at last finds it impossible to believe anyone else. The man who attempts to deceive others, who loves deception, and hates the truth, at last deceives nobody but himself. And according to the New Testament when men receive not the love of the truth, "for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
It is possible for a man by his daily life, by his attitude toward the Word of the Lord, and the Lord of the Word, to spend his life asking God to let him have his own way, and at last a sovereign God may withdraw the restraints of His grace and say, "Very well, reap the fruits of your own thinking." And when a man reaps the fruit of his own thinking, inevitably he goes to destruction.
The Word of the Lord predicts that there will be seducing spirits. I desire to make myself understood this evening. I trust I can say with the utmost sincerity that, as the Lord in the infinitude of His grace, has loved this poor sinner, and has given His only begotten Son to die for me; and as He has given me some measure at least of His Spirit, the love of God being shed abroad in my heart, I love the souls of men. I am not here to debate with you. If there should be any who have imbibed what I regard as a soul-destroying doctrine, if there are any who have become subject to it, I hope we shall be good friends. I have no unkind thing to say against you. I believe you are most terribly, most fatally wrong; and in the name of the Lord, as His Spirit shall help me, I propose to try to show how wrong, how unscriptural, this system is. But I am speaking of the system; I am speaking of the teaching of Russellism, not of the men and women who have espoused it.
I can offer no other explanation of this strange error than this principle: that there are in the world to-day seducing spirits, leading men to depart from the Word of the Lord. And that does not apply merely to the system represented by the International Bible Students' Association.
The same principle applies to many of our evangelical churches. The same principle applies to many Baptist churches. A great many Baptist churches on this Continent are Baptist only in name: actually they are Unitarian. A great many of our Baptist institutions do not stand by the Word of God. I have no fellowship with them. Our first concern should be to be loyal to Christ and His truth.
There are few systems that have resorted more to the printed page than that which is known, or was known, as Russellism. There are some things to be learned from them. I admire their industry; I admire their determination in propagating the things they profess to believe. All that I say to-night will be reported and printed, and we will put it in pamphlet form, and will issue it by the thousands, and tens of thousands if necessary, so that wherever the literature of the International Bible Students' Association has gone, we may send this message also, praying that the Lord will bless it to someone's enlightenment.
I exhort you who are members of evangelical churches. Here is a great convention that has come to Toronto. Their representatives are going from house to house spreading their poison. Why do you not go from "house to house," too? Is not that the duty of the church? "Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." That is our vocation. "While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way." I fear it is due to the superficiality of modern pulpit teaching that Russellism has spread so rapidly; and especially because of recent years there has been a dearth of solid expository preaching.
I would not be unkind, but as I read the publications of this cult I am amazed at their crudeness, at the grotesqueness of their interpretations. I am amazed that people should be deceived by them. This cult has spread because of the prevailing ignorance of the Word of God. If there are preachers here this evening, I venture to ask, Are you giving your people "precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little and there a little"? Are you, day by day, and year by year, expounding the great principles of the Word of God? Are you trying to inoculate them with Scripture, so that they will be proof against these heresies? Or do you give little essays on Sunday about nothing in particular—and call that preaching? So far as I know, in this city of nearly three-quarters of a million souls, a city of churches, where this doctrine has been preached that is subversive of evangelical faith and is antiChristian to the last degree, these churches are absolutely silent in the face of this onslaught. Why is it that there is not a chorus of protests against such teaching as this? That is the question I ask. If I have to be the only voice, God helping me, I shall have something to say about it.
First, let me tell you how you may judge of any system. I cannot go into all the details of it to-night, but I shall direct your attention to one or two principles, that we may learn whether it is of God or not. You can judge the origin and quality of any religious system by its relation to the Person of Christ. What has this system to say of Christ?
What think ye of Christ? is the test.
To try both your plan and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of Him.
I
WHAT HAS RUSSELLISM TO SAY ABOUT THE PERSON OF CHRIST?
Is it sound there? If it is wrong there, it is wrong everywhere. I now read from Studies in the Scriptures (vol. I, pp. 177-179). Pastor Russell is the writer, and he is speaking of the nature of Christ:
We are told that our Lord, before he left his glory to become a man, was "in a form of God"—a spiritual form, a spirit being; but since to be a ransom for mankind he had to be a man, of the same nature as the sinner whose substitute in death he was to become, it was necessary that his nature be changed. And Paul tells us that he took not the nature of angels, one step lower than his own, but that he came down two steps and took the nature of men—he became a man; he was "made flesh."—Heb. 2:16; Phil. 2:7-8; John 1:14.
Notice that this teaches not only that angelic nature is not the only order of spirit being, but that it is a lower nature than that of our Lord before he became a man; and he was not then so high as he is now, for "God hath highly exalted him," because of his obedience in becoming man's willing ransom (Pil. 2:8-9). He is now the highest order of spirit being, a partaker of the divine (Jehovah's) nature.
But not only do we thus find proof that the divine, angelic, and human natures are separate and distinct, but this proves that to be a perfect man is not to be an angel, any more than the perfection of angelic nature implies that angels are divine and equal with Jehovah; for Jesus took not the nature of angels, but a different nature—the nature of men; but the imperfect human nature as we now possess it, but the perfect human nature. He became a man; not a depraved and nearly dead being such as men are now, but a man in the full vigor of perfection.
Again, Jesus must have been a perfect man else he could not have kept a perfect law, which is the full measure of a perfect man's ability.
And he must have been a perfect man else he could not have given a ransom (a corresponding price—I Tim. 2:6) for the forfeited life of the perfect man Adam; "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (I Cor. 15:21). Had he been in the least degree imperfect, it would have proved that he was under condemnation, and therefore he could not have been an acceptable sacrifice; neither could he have kept perfectly the law of God. A perfect man was tried, and failed, and was condemned; and only a perfect man could give the corresponding price as the Redeemer.
So far so good. He was a perfect man.
Now we have the question fairly before us in another form, viz.: If Jesus in the flesh was a perfect man, as the Scriptures thus show, does it not prove that a perfect man is a human, fleshly being—not an angel, but a little lower than the angels?
Do you see the implication? He was a perfect man, but during His earthly life He was lower than the angels; and He was a man, and only a man. That is Russellism. The logical conclusion is unmistakable; in contradiction of that we have the inspired statement of the Psalmist (Ps. 8:5-8), and Paul's reference to it in Heb. 2:7-9.
Through all these books there is an admixture of truth with error. If anyone wanted to poison you, would he take a glass of water, and before your eyes put arsenic in and make the water green, and expect you to be foolish enough to drink it? No! but if one wanted to get rid of you, you might be invited to an afternoon tea, and into your cup of tea the deadly poison would be secretly dropped and covered up with sugar. The devil is an adept at quoting the Word of God. He quoted it in the Garden of Eden; he quoted it to our Lord Himself.
He has always done his deadliest work under the guise of religion; even as he is doing it to-day. In this system, and equally in the Modernistic systems that have taken possession of our evangelical institutions, the same method is followed: a little truth is mixed with sufficient error to make it deadly. But to continue our reading:
Neither was Jesus a combination of the two natures, human and spiritual. The blending of two natures produces neither the one nor the other, but an imperfect, hybrid thing, which is obnoxious to the divine arrangement. When Jesus was in the flesh he was a perfect human being; previous to that time he was a perfect spiritual being; and since his resurrection he is a perfect spiritual being of the highest or divine order. It was not until the time of his consecration even unto death, as typified in his baptism—at thirty years of age (manhood, according to the Law, and therefore the right time to consecrate himself as a man)—that he received the earnest of his inheritance of the divine nature (Matt. 3:16-17). The human nature had to be consecrated to death before he could receive even the pledge of the divine nature. And not until that consecration was actually carried out and he had actually sacrificed the human nature, even unto death, did our Lord Jesus become a full partaker of the divine nature. After becoming a man he became obedient unto death; wherefore, God hath highly exalted him to the divine nature (Phil. 2:8-9). If this Scripture is true, it follows that he was not exalted to the divine nature until the human nature was actually sacrificed—dead.
That is the teaching of Russellism: not that Jesus Christ is the Incarnate God, but that He is a created being, not one with God. Russellism says that the doctrine of the Trinity is the doctrine of the devil. The Trinity that makes Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God, Russellism says is of the devil. Jesus Christ our Lord, according to the teaching of Russellism, is not God; never was God; is not now God; never will be God.
He was of a super-angelic order, and He laid aside that nature and took on Him the nature of man; and when He put on the nature of man, He laid aside His super-angelic nature; and when at last He put off the fleshly nature, He put on His spiritual nature of a somewhat higher order than the angels. But neither before nor since His earthly life did He ever attain to the height of God. In other words, Russellism takes the crown of Deity from the brow of Christ and the sceptre of kingship from His hand.
But what saith the Scriptures?
Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again. I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Jesus Christ is God, and any man who says He is not God is not of God, whatever his name or profession. But that is Russellism.
I need go no farther with that matter. That which thus denies the essential Deity of Jesus Christ is stamped at the outset an anti-Christian system, emanating from the spirit of darkness. Russellism denies that Jesus Christ, in His pre-incarnate state, was equal with the Father.
Let me go a little farther. Russellism teaches that Christ has not now His human nature with Him.
As I understand my Bible, He became the federal head of a new race:
O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight,
And to the rescue came.
O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail.
Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail.
Our Lord Jesus came to be our high priest, and the Scripture tells us that even now He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, that He is able to succour those who come to Him; and we are admonished to draw nigh with boldness because of this fact.
We come now to vol. 2, p. 107:
We must bear in mind, also, that our Lord is no longer a human being; that as a human being gave himself a ransom for men, having become a man for that very purpose (I Tim. 2:6; Heb. 10:4-5; I Cor. 15:21-22). He is now highly exalted, to the divine nature. Therefore Paul said, "Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we him (so) no more" (II Cor. 5:16). He was raised from the dead a life-giving spirit being (I Cor. 15:45), and not a man, of the earth earthy. He is no longer human in any sense or degree: for we must not forget what we have learned (see vol. I, ch. 10)—that natures are separate and distinct. Since he is no longer in any sense or degree a human being, we must not expect him to come again as a human being, as at the first advent. His second coming is to be in a different manner, as well as for a different purpose.
Jesus Christ has no longer a corporeal nature; He has shed it and has become again wholly a spirit being.
Noting the fact that our Lord's change from human to divine nature at his resurrection was even a greater change than the one which occurred some thirty-four years previously, when he laid aside the glory of spiritual being and "was made flesh," we may with great profit consider very minutely his every action during the forty days after his resurrection before he went "to the Father"; because it is the resurrected Jesus of those forty days who is to come again, and not the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as our ransom, in death.
Following that, over many, many pages, Pastor Russell attempts to explain the resurrection of Jesus. In the chapter, "The Manner of the Second Advent," you will be led greatly to admire the "Pastor's" ingenuity, if nothing else! What does it mean? It means that we have no high priest in the sense the Scriptures teach, a Mediator between God and man.
RUSSELLISM ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
I should like you to look at what Pastor Russell has to say about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Someone at one of our open-air services was very angry and insisted that Pastor Russell taught the resurrection of Christ. Very well, Pastor Russell is permitted to speak for himself. Here it is in vol. 2, pp.124-127:
With our Lord, after his resurrection, it was simply a question of expediency as to which way of appearing to his disciples would best accomplish his object, of making known his resurrection and change of nature. Had he appeared as a flame of fire, as the angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), he might indeed have conversed with them, but the evidence thus given would have been far from being as convincing as the method he did adopt, both to the apostles and to the world at large to whom they witnessed.
If he had appeared in the glory of the spirit form.
as the angel did to Daniel (Dan. 10:5-8), the glory would have been greater than the witnesses could have borne. They would probably have been so alarmed as to be unable to receive instructions from him. To none except Paul did the Lord ever thus show himself; and Paul was so overcome by that glimpse of his glory that he fell to the ground and was blinded by its brightness, which was above that of the sun at noonday (pp. 124-125).
Pastor Russell conveniently ignores the disciples' experience on Mount Tabor when He was still in the flesh, when He allowed the inherent glory of His Deity to shine through the veil of His flesh, and they fell at His feet even as Paul did on the road to Damascus. But note this:
The creating of the body and clothing in which he appeared to them, in the very room in which they were gathered, was proof unquestionable that Christ was no longer a human being, though he assured the disciples that the body which they saw, and which Thomas handled, was a veritable flesh and bone body, and not a mere vision or appearance. As a human being he could not come into the room without opening the door, but as a spirit being he could.
As eternal Creator, what about the door? Could He not have done something with the door?
And there he instantly created and assumed such a body of flesh and such clothing as he saw fit for the purpose intended (pp. 126-217).
According to Pastor Russell, the Lord Jesus came into the room as a spirit, and instantly created a body, and clothed it, and wrapped Himself in it, and appeared before His disciples! If that be so, if He created a body which was not the body that was crucified and that rose again, and that for the purpose of proving the resurrection, it makes the Lord Jesus Christ a deceiver such as Russell himself proved to be.
But to read on:
Nor can we for a moment admit the suggestion offered by some, that our Lord opened the doors without being observed; for the record is plain and clear that he came and stood in their midst while the doors were shut—probably very carefully barred and bolted too—"for fear of the Jews" (John 20:19,26).
The lesson of his changed nature was still further emphasized by his manner of leaving their sight: "He vanished out of their sight." The human body of flesh and bones, etc., and its clothing, which appeared suddenly while the doors were shut, did not go out of the door, but simply disappeared or dissolved into the same elements from which he had created them a few moments before.
If you interpret the Word of God after that fashion, there is nothing on earth, or in the heavens above, that you cannot explain away. There is not a solitary Scripture anywhere to support it.
He vanished out of their sight, and was no longer seen of them when the flesh and bones and clothing in which he had manifested himself were dissolved, though doubtless he was still with them—invisibly present; and so also much of the time during those forty days (p. 127).
Again:
The power manifested by our Lord, and the angels referred to, to create and dissolve the clothing in which they appeared, was just as super-human as the creating and dissolving of their assumed human bodies; and the bodies were no more their glorious spiritual bodies than were the clothes they wore. It will be remembered that the seamless robe and other clothing which our Redeemer wore before his crucifixion had been divided among the Roman soldiers, and that the grave clothes were left folded away in the sepulcher (John 19:23-24; 20:5-7), so that the clothing in which he appeared on the occasions mentioned must have been specially created, and probably was the most appropriate for each occasion.
For instance, when he appeared as a gardener to Mary, it was probably in such apparel as a gardener would wear (pp. 127-128).
If you use your imagination in that way, declaring that the Lord Jesus had no body, that His body never rose from the grave, if you pervert the Scriptures after that fashion, you can prove nothing by their authority.
That the bodies in which our Lord appeared were real human bodies, and not mere delusions, he gave them clearly to understand when he ate before them, and invited them to handle him and see that the body was real flesh and bones, saying, "Why are ye troubled?" . . . "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
Some Christians draw very absurd conclusions from this expression of our Lord as to the verity of his assumed flesh and bone body. They regard the assumed body of his spirit body, and declare that a spirit body is flesh and bones, and just like a human body, excepting that an indefinable something, which they call spirit, flows through its veins instead of blood. They seem to disregard the statement of our Lord, that this was not a spirit body—that a spirit has not flesh and bones. Do they also forget John's statement, that "it doth not yet appear" what a spirit body is, and that we shall not know until we are changed and made like him and see him, not as he was, but as he is (I John 3:2). Do they also forget the Apostle Paul's express statement that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God"?—and his further assurance that therefore all the heirs with Christ must also "be changed"?—I Cor. 15:50-51 (p. 128).
Pastor Russell says that His spirit rose and that He went about appearing here and there, and for the convenience of those appearances each time He created a body and clothes! In other words, He did what any criminal does—changed His name and clothing. And remember the Scripture says that "by many infallible proofs" He showed Himself alive after His passion; but this man says that the body He put on was not the body that was crucified; it was a body created for the purpose; the clothing was created for the purpose; both were put off and dissolved as often as He appeared!
Many Christians have the idea that our Lord's glorious spiritual body is the very same body that was crucified and laid away in Joseph's tomb. They expect, when they see the Lord in glory to identify him by the scars he received on Calvary.
I expect thus to identify Him. "And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." He wears there the marks of your sin and mine. Pastor Russell says:
This is a great mistake, which a very little consideration should make manifest—Firstly, It would prove that his resurrection body is not glorious or perfect, but scarred and disfigured; secondly, it would prove that we do know what a spirit body is, notwithstanding the Apostle's statement to the contrary; thirdly, it would prove that our redemptive price was taken back; for Jesus said. "My flesh I will give for the life of the world." It was his flesh, his life as a man, his humanity, that was sacrificed for our redemption. And when he was raised to life again by the power of the Father, it was not to human existence; because that was sacrificed as our purchase price. And if that price had been taken back, we would still be under the condemnation of death, and without hope.
We have no more reason to suppose that our Lord's spirit body since his resurrection is a human body than we have for supposing that his spirit body prior to his first advent was human, or that other spirit beings have human bodies; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones; and, says the Apostle Peter, our Lord was "put to death in the flesh but made alive in spirit."
AN ATROCIOUS ASSUMPTION
Our Lord's human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb; because had it remained there it would have been an insurmountable obstacle to the faith of the disciples, who were not yet instructed in spiritual things—for "the spirit was not yet given" (John 7:39). We know nothing about what became of it, except that it did not decay or corrupt (Acts 2:27, 31). Whether it was dissolved into gases or whether it is still preserved somewhere as the grand memorial of God's love, of Christ's obedience and of our redemption, no one knows; nor is such knowledge necessary. That God did miraculously hide the body of Moses, we are assured (Deut. 34:6; Jude 9). pp. 128-130.
Did you ever hear anything more subtle than that? He quotes the very words of Jesus Himself, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." But this is the crux of the whole matter: Pastor Russell says, "Our Lord's human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb"—that is a little different from what the priests told the soldiers to say—that the body of Jesus had been taken away by night! Pastor Russell says our Lord's body was "supernaturally" removed from the tomb, because "had it remained there, it would have been an insurmountable obstacle to the faith of the disciples"! It was not quickened and did not live again: it was supernaturally removed—and the God of truth was party to that deception in order that His disciples might believe He was risen when He had not risen at all! Did you ever hear anything to surpass that for a perversion of Scripture—"because had it remained there it would have been an insurmountable obstacle to the faith of the disciples, who were not yet instructed in spiritual things"—for "the spirit was not yet given."
THE SCRIPTURES PLUS RUSSELL'S INTERPRETATION
Later you will be told that the Spirit never was given until Pastor Russell arrived! Pastor Russell says nobody can understand the Bible until he interprets it for them, just as Mrs. Eddy says no one can understand it without her Key to the Scriptures; as the Roman Catholic Church says we must believe the Bible as it is interpreted to us by the Church; as Mormonism says, "By all means, believe the Bible, but you must have the Bible plus the Book of Mormon." Mormonism takes from the Bible: Pastor Russell adds to it. All the heresies of the church either take from the Book or add to it—and Pastor Russell adds to the Book. In one place he says that when people ceased to read his Studies of the Scriptures and went back to the Bible alone, they got into darkness again!
Let me repeat what we have just read: "We know nothing about what became of it (the body of Christ), except that it did not decay or corrupt." That is Russellism! The body of Jesus Christ never rose—but he thinks it may be miraculously preserved in hiding somewhere, or it may have dissolved into gases! But nobody knows! We only know two things: one is, that it never rose from the dead; that it did not see corruption. But the Scripture saith: "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins." You need nothing else to prove that Russellism at its very heart, is utterly anti-Christian. It would remove the very keystone of the arch of Revelation: it denies the literal, corporeal, resurrection of Christ.
RUSSELLISM ON THE ATONEMENT
What of the atonement? What does Russell say? He says that Christ made atonement by giving His flesh as a perfect man. Do you believe that it was the physical suffering of Christ that effected the atonement? Do you believe that? No! "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand"; "The Lord hath made to meet upon him the iniquities of us all." To reduce the Lord Jesus to the level of a man who gave his fleshly nature as an atonement for sin, is to deny the atonement altogether. The sufferings of Christ were not the sufferings of a man only. Were He only a man, your sins would have killed him without mine, or mine without yours. It was only because He was the God-man, and that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," that He was able to pay an infinite price for the redemption of all mankind. His blood was not merely the blood of a man: it was the wealth of the universe in solution. If I may dare say so, an infinite God emptied heaven's exchequer and gave all that He had to pay the price of our redemption. To say that Jesus Christ was only a man and that His physical sufferings wrought our redemption is utterly unscriptural and equally unreasonable.
How would you like to go out of doors and let me finish there? I have only started! I have no train to take to-night, so I can preach as long as I like! But I think I shall read a little more to you here, because perhaps you can give a little closer attention here than in the open air.
II
RUSSELLISM ON THE WORD OF GOD
I SHALL read you a few gems showing the attitude of Russellism toward the Word of God. I have spoken to you of its attitude toward the person of Christ—how it denies His Deity; denies His resurrection; and certainly, by implication, the adequacy of His atonement. Pastor Russell in vol. 7, undertakes to expound certain chapters of Ezekiel's Prophecy. To say the least, they are certainly most interesting! I do not know how Pastor Russell discovered some of these things, but they are interesting and ingenious to the last degree. It must be very gratifying to find one's self almost named in the Bible so long before! Here is a passage from vol. 7, page 383:
Ezekiel 3:9: "As an adament harder than flint have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house." The forehead is symbolic of wisdom. A man of high forehead, as was Pastor Russell, is of a high type of intellect. Pastor Russell's mind was made strong against opponents of the Reform which is ushering in the everlasting kingdom of Messiah.
Once again:
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.—Vol. 7, p. 483 His Holiness, the Pope, will have to look to his laurels!
Pastor Russell says of himself that he is the "sole representative in the world" of Jesus Christ, and the "sole steward of the meat in due season." Well, if that be so, you will have to get it from Pastor Russell or go without! Is not that what it means?
Once again from The Studies in the Scripture (vol. 7, pp. 417, 418, still dealing with Ezekiel's prophecy, chap. 9:2), we read:
"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 six with earthly weapons are the rulers of the six great nations—Russia, Germany, Austria, France, England, and Italy. The six, with the Sword of the Spirit symbolize all the Elijah class, the six, with one other, making up the seven, the complete number.
"One other"—"one other," if you please. He is not the Elijah class; he does not represent the political powers; nor does he represent the Elijah class. We shall presently see who he is!
These six, with one other, making up the seven, the complete number. These have their commission from "the north," from the seat of Divine Dominion, from God Himself. Practically all Bible translators and commentators agree that the one with the writer's inkhorn by his side was not one of the six, but a seventh, garbed as a priest, or as a clerk or officer in an army of the East. The linen signifies the imputed righteousness of Christ (Rev. 19:8). The writer's inkhorn symbolizes that the seventh man's function was to write . . .
To whom is reference made here in Ezekiel's prophecy? No fountain pen, but an inkhorn. Who does Pastor Russell say he is?
God identifies 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 any instructions from anyone, of his own volition, he painted the Bible as open at Ezekiel, Chapter 9. The man in linen was the Laodicean servant, the Lord's faithful and wise steward, Pastor Russell. When Pastor Russell saw this, he turned pale.
I should think he would.
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.—pp. 417-418
What do you think of that? "He turned pale"! It would be enough to turn anyone pale. And yet there is an element of truth in it, for certainly he was a prolific writer. I have often wondered where all the printer's ink came from for Pastor Russell's books; but here is where it came from, from his inkhorn, specifically identified by Ezekiel, and painted by the poor sign-painter who did not know anything about it!
Hear one other quotation from the comments on Ezekiel (vol. 7, p. 483, Studies in the Scriptures):
"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.
Poor man, we can surely sympathize with him now for having lost his wife! Personally, I should like to know what Mrs. Russell had to say about that! I do not want to provoke a smile, and I refrain from saying more on this point because he is not here to defend himself.
Perhaps you do not know that Christ has already come? Did you know that He came in October, 1874? Have you not rather read in the Book that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God"? "Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him." Russell says He came secretly in October, 1874!
There is also that large question, Where are the dead? What about the future? What about that speciality of Russellism that bids men look into the future without fear and tells men there is no reckoning in eternity beyond? All these are important questions, and were I to go into them this evening, as I should like to while I have your interest, I am afraid I should weary you. I have given you food for a great deal of thought tonight, and I fear you would not remember anything more. I hope I have said nothing unkind. There has been nothing unkind in my mind; but I insist that no one shall share the glory of my Lord. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God"; "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me."
Again He said, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." They who would honour the Father must honour the Son. Jesus Christ was incarnate God, dying "the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God." He did actually go into the grave; He did actually come out of the grave; He showed Himself alive after His passion "by many infallible proofs." He said to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." He ate a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb—He had a real body.
And He is coming again. Hallelujah! Praise His name! Some of us are living for that blessed hope. Pastor Russell says He has come already. I hope that is not true, because I should like to believe that when the Lord Jesus comes this will be a better world than it is now. It would be folly to believe that the Lord Jesus is on the earth reigning under these conditions; it is a libel upon Him. Oh, when He shall come down the skies and take to Himself His great power and reign, everybody shall know it: "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."
And as for the Bible: you see where this doctrine puts you. Unless you read Pastor Russell's Studies in the Scriptures—there are many volumes of them—unless you read these things, you cannot understand the Bible! Pastor Russell, according to himself, was God's sole representative on the earth; he was the sole custodian of the meat in due season!
Therefore, you must come to him or go without. For myself, I will find the Lord in the Book we call the Bible. You may have Russell's books if you must, but I will have the unadulterated Word of God. And I read there, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." You had better receive the Bible as it is. Take nothing from it; add nothing to it; bow before its judgments; and accept it as the very Word of God.
Are there some here this evening who have turned away from Jesus Christ? I call you back to Him. Come as a sinner to Jesus Christ; nothing can keep you from Christ but unbelief.
RUSSELLISM'S PERVERSION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. —MATT. 24:23-27
I SHALL speak in the open air at the close of this service on Russellism's favorite slogan, "To Hell and Back." That was the title of Pastor Russell's favorite lecture.
I repeat at the outset what I said last Sunday evening, that I have no quarrel whatever with men on this subject. My testimony is not so much against the men who hold the doctrines of Russellism as against the delusion itself. One of the ushers told me that at the close of the service last Sunday night a gentleman came to him and said, "I want you to carry a message to your pastor.
Tell him that I came to this city to attend the International Bible Students' Convention, and I came to this service as a Russellite; but I am a Russellite no longer. I do not quite know what I am now: I only know that I am no longer a Russellite." I hope you will pray for that man, for I trust he is representative of a great many more. That, at least, was the object we had in view in speaking on the subject—to try to show people from the Word of God that the doctrines propagated by the International Bible Students are verily the doctrines of demons and not the teaching of the Word of God.
It is sometimes necessary, however, to mention names. I have had to do so on other occasions. I have heard people say in our Baptist brotherhood, "If only he would not mention anybody's name! If only he would content himself with denouncing the errors, if he so regards them, but avoid personalities!" When the Baptist Union passed a vote of censure upon Mr. Spurgeon, the brethren there censured Spurgeon because he refused to mention names! I have been censured again and again because I mention them! I have always felt that if we generalize and condemn people indiscriminately we do injustice to a great many people; but if we say of the wrongdoer, or the false teacher, "Thou art the man; your name is—well, for example—Pastor Russell," we speak about one particular man and do injustice to nobody else; and he has a chance to defend himself.
It is necessary to mention the name of the founder of this cult, Pastor Charles Taze Russell. I do not know of what he was "pastor," but he always so called himself. His whole system is built upon the assumption that until he arrived, apparently there was no one competent to translate the Scriptures!
We had the Authorized Version, but the translators of the Authorized Version were apparently a pack of rogues and deliberately set themselves so to translate the Scriptures as to bolster up certain erroneous teachings and to conceal the truth! The translators of the Revised Version are dealt with rather harshly, too. Here and there Mr. Russell finds that their translations are a little more in accord with his views—perhaps a particular word—but you will find such a phrase as this: "But they were not honest enough to translate such a word in such a way."
There have been great Greek scholars who have been God's gifts to the church, men who have given their lives to the mastery of that language. And there have been great Hebraists, too. It would be difficult to overestimate the church's debt to consecrated scholarship; for through the efforts of such scholars we now have the Bible put into our hands that we may read it in our own language and understand the gospel. But here comes a man who tells us—very modestly—that he is "Christ's representative in the world, the sole steward of the meat in due season." When a man says that, he must not blame us—nor can his followers who accept that great claim justly blame us—if we examine somewhat closely into that man's credentials and find out whether his claims are just.
Our Lord Himself was subjected to that test. They continually asked Him whence He came, and such questions as, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" "Did he not come out of Nazareth?" Again they asked "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" That question might very appropriately have been put to Pastor Russell!
He claimed to "know letters," he claimed to be competent to brush aside the work of all the translators, and to set himself up, so far as I am able to see, in opposition to every Greek and Hebrew scholar on earth, for I know of no men of any reputation who would support Pastor Russell's interpretations.
I recall reading an exposure of Pastor Russell in The Brooklyn Eagle some years ago. Pastor Russell was sued by his wife for divorce. A divorce was granted on the ground of violation of the marriage covenant. That is a matter of history; and yet this is the man who is the sole custodian of God's truth! A certain Hamilton Pastor gave currency to what The Brooklyn Eagle published and he was charged with criminal libel by Mr. Russell. Before the case came to trial the ex-wife of Mr. Russell, the woman who had divorced him, came to Hamilton to give testimony against her former husband. When Mr. Russell was in the witness-box, under oath, the counsel for the defense handed Mr. Russell a Greek Testament and requested him to read two or three lines at the top of the page. With much embarrassment the "Pastor" gazed at the page but read nothing. He was compelled to admit that he could not read it. When asked to spell out the words he was obliged to acknowledge he did not even know the Greek alphabet. The lawyer then handed Mr. Russell a Hebrew Bible and requested him to read a few lines, and when he confessed he could not do so, he was asked to spell out the words, but was forced to acknowledge he was as ignorant of the Hebrew alphabet as of the Greek. But the man who did not know the alphabet either of Greek or Hebrew, set himself up as competent to set aside the Authorized and Revised translations of the Bible and substitute his own!
An analytical concordance is very useful; but who would think of appointing a man as a professor of languages in a university whose only qualification was that he had an English dictionary and was able to spell out the words! I should want him to know more than that before I would trust him with that position. But "Pastor" Russell could not even spell out the words.
Yet that is the foundation of Russellism. There is something here worth thinking about. How does it come to pass that a man so utterly ignorant of the original Scriptures can propagate a cult like Russellism, which is built upon the repudiation of every recognized translation, and win for himself all over the world tens of thousands of followers? Surely we have fallen upon days when there is a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord!
I would not be unfair, but I think, in view of the fact that the whole system is based upon the teachings of this man's Studies in the Scriptures and that all his followers quote the Studies in the Scriptures as having authority equal, if not superior, to that of the Bible, when Russell himself clearly and emphatically said that he was the only man on earth competent to interpret the Scripture, and that he stood even as the Roman Catholic Church professes to stand, between God and the souls of men, it is legitimate to inquire what sort of man this is who dares to set up such claims for himself.
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