This is the only religion I know that has fulfilled this prophecy in their teaching that Christ is already here in “ secret chambers.” It is an other evidence that the close of this age is fast approaching. But Rutherford was not finished. On page 240 of his book The Harp of God he gives a list of “ evidences” that Christ has already come. These discoveries, inventions and accom plishments of men for the last 100 years or more are proofs to him of the presence of Christ on earth since 1914! This is so utterly absurd I would not take the space to include
Well, Father Time marched on and Russell was proven a false proph et. The founder of Jehovah’s Wit nesses stood self-convicted out of his own mouth. No one has much use for a prophet whose predictions fail of fulfillment. You know what happened in 1914! Kaiser Bill started on a rampage and the first great World War raged over the earth. Instead of Christ’s Kingdom being established, as “ Pas tor” Russell had stated, anything but that occurred in the earth! Fifty millions of people came to an un timely end as a result of that con flict. Well, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were in a dilemma, and pretty shaken in their faith in the prophet Russell. They could scarcely gather up all the books that they had peddled from door to door or even secure them from second-hand book stores. Then Russell died in 1916 and Ruth erford came into power. He had a wide-open field for his writings and later for his coast-to-coast radio broad casts. He had to do something about 1914. He could not claim that the governments were no longer in pow er or that Christ was visibly sitting on the “ theocratic” throne, with the 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses. Actual ly, the moral conditions following World War I were about as bad as any we have ever known in this country. Crime wave after crime wave swept the land. It did not look like the millennial kingdom. S o what were they to do? Well, Rutherford fixed it up like this: “ In 1914 Jehovah set His anointed One upon his throne: therefore at that time Christ Jesus took his authority as King. Three and one-half years thereafter, to wit, in 1918, the Lord came to his temple, which is the temple of God” (p. 73, Prophecy). I don’t know exactly how 1914 became 1918! Well, if Christ were sitting on the throne, why did not men see Him? What were the evidences of His “ Sec ond Presence” ? Look out for that term: it is a coined expression pe culiar to this cult alone, and when ever you see it, in a publication, you will know it is Jehovah’s Witnesses literature. In the first place, they claimed that Christ was hiding somewhere. M y friends, the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Olives predicted this very thing: “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” (Matt. 24:- 26).
it except that it may open the eyes of some to see to what lengths men who do not believe' the gospel will go to rationalize their heresies. “Add ing-machines, aeroplanes, aluminum, antiseptic surgery, artificial dyes, au tomobiles, barbed wire, bicycles, cash registers, celluloid, cream separators, disk plows, Divine Plan of the Age (Russell’s books), dynamite, electric welding, escalators, fireless cookers, gas engines, illuminating gas, lino types, induction motors, match ma chines, motion pictures, North Pole, Panama Canal, pasteurization, radi um, shoe-sewing machines, skyscrap ers, smokeless powder, South Pole, submarines, subways, talking ma chines, telephones, television, type writers, vacuum cleaners, wireless telegraphy.” They must think their followers have a very low I.Q. to take any stock in such nonsense as this. When the Lord Jesus Christ re turns in person the world, and Je hovah’s Witnesses, too, will know it very well. He will first take away the church, His bride, before letting loose upon this earth the Great Trib ulation. This blessed hope of believ ers is described in First Thessalonians 4:13-18. T his great event, which will of “ Jacob’s trouble” at the end of which time, Christ will return with His church to judge the earth and to set up His Millennial Kingdom. He will certainly not be in “ secret chambers.” “ 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. 24:27). “ 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. Even so, Amen” (Rev. 1:7). “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20). May God write these words upon our hearts. Let us be about our Father’s business, seeking to win for the Lamb “ the reward of His suffer ing” in precious souls for whom the coming of Christ cannot be the bless ed hope unless they know Him as their Saviour. Among these are Je hovah’s Witnesses, who, if they con tinue in the things they believe, most assuredly will be lost forever, and separated from God throughout eter nity. END. Next month: Christian Science.
certainly have a terrific im pact upon this earth (great er than barbed wire, I would say!), will be followed by seven years
LOUIS T. TALBOT About the Author A ustralian-born Dr. Louis T. Talbot has for years been one of America’s strongest pro- claimers of evangelical Chris tianity. He is a noted writer (10 books; numerous pamphlets and magazine articles), pastor (for 20 years at the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles) and educator (long-time presi dent, now chancellor, of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and Talbot Theological Semi nary). Dr. Talbot and his research ers have made a wide study on cults and false religions. For years he has presented his illus trated sermons on this subject to audiences the world over. Just completed this summer, this series represents years of work. It is believed to be the most complete and certainly the most up-to-date work on the subject.
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NOV EMB E R , 1954
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