King's Business - 1915-05

THE KING’S BUSINESS

386

and I do not see the need of doing over again what has been so well done. There is a further reason why there seemed to be no urgent necessity for writ­ ing a book, or even a pamphlet, on the sub­ ject, and that was that “Pastor” Russell had made certain predictions of a very defi­ nite character to be fulfilled in 1914, and if these predictions were not fulfilled, of course, he would be discredited as a prophet. These predictions are found in Volume 2 of “Studies in the Scripture,” pages 77, 79 and 99, and read as follows: “The Bible evi­ dence is clear and strong that ‘The Tintes of the Gentiles’ is a period of 2520 years from the year 606 B. C. to and including 1914 A. D.” (page 79). And he further goes on to say, “In view of this strong Bible evi­ dence concerning ‘The Times of the Gen­ tiles’ we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished at the end of A. D. 1914” (page 99). He fur­ thermore says on page-77, “Sometime before the end of A. D. 1914, the last member of the definitely recognized Church of Christ, ‘the royal priesthood,’ ‘the body of Christ,’ will be glorified with the Head; because every member has to reign with Christ to be joint heirs with Him in the kingdom, and it cannot be fully set up without every member.” Now the year 1914 has come' and gone and these definite predictions have not been fulfilled ; they have completely failed and proved utterly false. The king­ doms of this world have not come to an end, all the members of the body of Christ have not been glorified; Russell is proved to be a false prophet. Now these predictions are not a mere incident of his system, but the main feature of his system and by their collapse his whole system collapses. As the year 1914 drew on, in his paper circulated throughout the country, Russell sought to hedge ; as things did not seem to be turning out as he predicted and published far and wide. He said he had not predicted “the end of the world,” but he had predicted in the most unmistakable terms "the final end

know the truth on the subject of the per­ sonality of the Holy Spirit knows that the Bible teaches the personality of the Holy Spirit, that therefore Pastor Russell is thoroughly wrong on this fundamental matter. He is just as thoroughly wrong in his teaching regarding the Millennium and the Judgment, and regarding Death and Resur­ rection, and regarding the Ransom of Christ. His exposition of Luke 16:19-31 would be ludicrous if it were not sad, and yet his whole system depends on this ab­ surd interpretation and falls with it. We do not feel that it is necessary to go into detail in these matters. Anyone who really desires to know the truth and studies his Bible will soon discover that “Pastor” Russell’s teaching is radically and thor­ oughly unbiblical and false. His errors are so evident and so monstrous, that as far as our experience is concerned, we have never known one single person who was thor­ oughly surrendered to God, and an earnest student of the Word, and a- soul-winner, who has been led astray by Russellism. We have known many Russellifes ; we have never known one who was a well-balanced Christian. Every leader among them that we have known (and we have known not a few) has been crooked in ■his personal morals, in-his business, or in his home life. This is not to be wondered at when the leader’s business and domestic record is known. A further reason why I have never taken thè time to write on this subject, or even to speak on it at length, is because the sub­ ject has already been so well handled by others. There are numerous books and pamphlets that expose in more or less de­ tail the egregious and stupendous blunders of Russellism, and some that lay bare his methods. As satisfactory a book as I know on the general subject of his errors is “WHY I REJECT THE HELPING HAND OF MILLENNIAL DAWN,” by W. C. Stevens. I do not see that anything needs to be added to what is said in that,

Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker