Preserving Parousia and Epiphany Truth: Letters of General Interest

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Letters of General Interest - R.H. Massachusetts

PT. 1958 Pg. 48: 'Dear Bro. Jolly: Sincere Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus! I am rejoicing in the latest P.T., especially in the Memorial article. Also, the refutations of the errorist that the Lord has worked through you, dear brother, are proof upon proof as to the one that the Lord has designated as leader of His people at the present time. Please be assured of our prayers on your behalf.

Yours in His name, Bro. R.H. Massachusetts."

A Defense Of The Truth On The Epiphany or Apocalypse.

See PT. 1958 [Latest P.T. mentioned above] pages 19-32 for its entirety.

"... In all of his type-making he has made many applications contrary to Scripture, reason and facts. Also, he has taught many other errors, some of them in contradiction of basic Parousia and Epiphany truths, even striking at the organization of the Body of Christ (see, e.g., P '56, p. 97). It still remains to be seen wherein his many teachings of "new things" are "advancing Truth." "Advancing Truth must agree with the past Truth. It does not repudiate the formerly received Truth. . . . That which leaves part of the former foundations, tears down other parts of them and builds on other and contrary-running foundations [as the article under discussion does], cannot be a part of the former house. It must be a part of another house . . . must be deviating error, not advancing Truth" (E Vol. 5, p. 32)

"...He arrogantly warns the brethren that if they do not study his writings they will be under God's displeasure, and that "those who will stoutly adhere to the [so-called] immature teachings [of Bro. Russell and Bro. Johnson] after the advancing Truth [meaning the contrary and erroneous teachings he is now offering] is made plain, . . .will be cut off from God's people [italics ours]"!

The current Executive Trustee makes similar claims: "You have to have the keys", "I'm a mechanic, I fix the mistakes". He even claims fixes for corrections already made in the Present Truth magazine. The "present view" and the denial of the 1914 date for the start of the Youthful Worthy call and numerous closings of the door to the High Calling and two calls going on at the same time are contrary to the foundations of the Bible and God's basic Parousia and Epiphany Truths.

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Sifters—Who Are The Sifters

Question (1968)—Bro. Russell called Messrs. Barbour, Paton, Williamson, Henninges, McPhail and other similar disseminators of error sifters, and they in turn called him a sifter; Bro. Johnson called J.F.R. and others like him sifters, and they in turn called him the same; and now you speak of certain ones as sifters and they accuse you of being like J.F.R., who “accused Bro. Johnson of being a sifter.” It is rather confusing. Who are the sifters anyway?

Answer.—It should not be confusing if we hold carefully to the Truth as unfolded for us from the Word of God and look for His holy Spirit. In all cases Satan is really the sifter—the one who originates, initiates and carries on persistently a sifting (Luke 22: 31; 1 Pet. 5: 8). Through pride, ostentation, self-exaltation, envy, jealousy, deceit, misrepresentations, falsehoods, slander, favoritism, unfaithfulness to the Truth, malice and other works of the flesh he appeals to God’s people and uses those who respond to Him as his agents to oppose the Truth and to spread error, which of course sifts out the unfaithful ones. We are not to forget that God’s approval or disapproval is manifested through testings and siftings (1 Cor. 11: 18, 19; see also P. ’53, pp. 50, 51). Nations are sifted “with the sieve of vanity,” but “through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down” (Isa. 30: 28-31). The Assyrian here, as in Micah 5: 5, 6, represents “those who make spoil of God’s people by devastating the Truth and its Spirit” (E. 10, p. 115).

Satan’s emissaries “call evil good, and good evil” and “put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa. 5: 20). Many leaders who once had the truth, given by the Lord through Bro. Russell, on Jesus’ Second Advent, His invisible presence, the Bible chronology and the forty years’ Harvest reaping, now claim . . . that the Bible chronology as given by Bro. Russell is wrong,. . . The Lord’s true sheep will heed only the voice of the Good Shepherd; they will study to show themselves approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15). They will keep themselves in the love of God and in the most holy faith. The Truth and its Spirit will be the touchstones that will determine for them which is true and which is false. Teachings that do not agree with (1) themselves (2) all other Scriptures, (3) all other Scripture doctrines, (4) with the Ransom, (5) with reason, (6) with facts, and (7) with the purposes of Godliness, should be rejected as erroneous. ’68-46