Subtle Error "present view" Introduced - Part One

The current Executive Trustee’s “present view” of the dates for the existence of the Youthful Worthies is what caused the split in America. This was first expressed in print with his modification of the first paragraph of Bro. Jolly’s 1978 PT Quasi-Elect article in his 2004 version (both shown above).

Two years later, on p.18 of PT. 2006, he attempts to take the attention off of himself and place it on a Pilgrim and an Auxiliary Pilgrim in the US.

The Auxiliary Pilgrim seeded questions at a convention to create the controversy knowing the Pilgrim would defend the Truth. The Pilgrim, who did defend the Truth date as always known (1881) was later dismissed. "We have been going through a short period where some brothers at various conventions, in discourses, or while leading question meetings, have expressed the answer to these questions differently; one brother has said 1878 while another 1881..."

The "short period" was from June 2004-2006. Up to 2004, this thought of 1878 as the beginning of the Youthful Worthies was never taught from the platform or by the Spirit Begotten leaders. Epiphany Bible Students in America began to ask questions at conventions about the changes in the 2004 version of Bro. Jolly's 1978 PT Quasi-Elect article. The changes may have been introduced in order to pave the way for the "present view" error brought out in 2006. During this time many Pilgrims, Evangelists and local classes were suspended, ignored, or set aside.

Comparing the 1978 article to the 2004 article.

In the first sentence, he replaces “additional light” with “considerable light” and thereby loses the meaning of adding to or building upon existing truth. This subtle alteration of meaning is confirmed with the replacement of “with a number of important additions” to “with few changes to reflect our present view” at the end of the sentence. In the 1978 article, the rest of the first paragraph is a single sentence listing a sequence of events (A, B, C). The 2004 article keeps items A and B, but completely replaces Bro. Jolly’s item C with something new.

• 1978—“(c) the last two classes of the elect—the Great Company (Rev. 7: 14) and the Youthful Worthies, who constitute the antitypical Court of the Epiphany Tabernacle or Temple in the finished picture—have as classes been in the process of development (see E 4, The Epiphany's Elect; PT No. 519).”
• 2004—“(c) the antitypical Court of the Epiphany Tabernacle and Temple has been occupied by the Great Company and Youthful Worthies while in the flesh and is now inhabited solely by the Youthful Worthies.”

The 1978 version shows BOTH the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies developing AS CLASSES (not individuals) in the Epiphany. The 2004 version loses this parallel meaning completely. Even if one of the two classes is no longer in the flesh today, the 1978 item C is still grammatically accurate. Why the change? Notice how the development of the Youthful Worthies has been disassociated with the Great Company in item C and given its own focus in the second sentence. The parallel has been removed, the E 4 reference modified, and a date not previously used is brought into play. The 2004 version does, in fact, change the truth instead of adding to it.

True information about the split not given to brethren in foreign countries!

Brethren in foreign countries have been mislead especially by a certain Auxiliary Pilgrim Brother from New Jersey as to what really caused the split in America. Perhaps the Executive Trustee doesn't want the foreign brethren to know that his error and attitude, along with clerical acts by some of his relatives and partisan supporters in local classes, have split the movement down the middle and includes brethren from classes in California, the Midwest, Canada, and Northeastern and Southeastern states.

Part two to appear on Sunday. See also Changes vs. Additions to Truth posted on 11/29/08

New Consecrators No Longer Called for High Calling Purposes after 1914

PT. 1959 Pg. 59: We called special attention to Bro. Johnson's explanation in E Vol. 11, p. 472, where he shows that the work of Jesus as God's Executive in inviting new consecrators for High Calling purposes ceased by Oct. 1914, but that thereafter "With a changed purpose [emphasis ours] He [Jesus] still invites the justified to consecrate as Youthful Worthies."

Exactly 40 years later...

Another grace parallel occurs between the closing of the door of entrance into the High Calling on Sept. 16, 1914 (E 3, p. 401; E 4, p. 464; for 80 proofs that it closed, see P.T. No. 515), and the closing of the door of entrance into the Youthful Worthy calling, exactly 40 years later, on Sept. 16, 1954 (E 10, p. 114; E 11, p. 473; P '54, pp. 41, 57).

P2 Page. 212-213: "This call, which must end when enough invited from which to complete the favored Little Flock, the body of Christ, is far from being the limit of God's love and favor and calling. Its end will close the heavenly or high calling. For where this call ends, where this door of opportunity and favor closes, another door begins to swing open..."

Common sense and previously held truths must be ignored in order to make the current Executive Trustee's "present view" seem plausible.

The Gospel Age Harvest

PT. 1975 Pg. 2, 3: But the reaping (and gleaning) of the Little Flock did not end the Gospel-Age Harvest in its wider sense, for after it was completed there was still much Harvest work to be done toward the "wheat" class, the Little Flock, in its sheaving, drying, threshing, winnowing, sifting and garnering, which did not end until in Oct. 1950. Also, the work of the "barley" harvest, the gathering and final development and preparation of the Great Company, the first class of the Epiphany's elect, for their place in the Kingdom, is not yet completed in its seven features. Furthermore, the Youthful Worthies have been active in the Harvest work of the Gospel Age ever since 1881, and are still active in it (Ruth 1-4; see E 4, pp. 369-397); and as a class they are being gathered, developed and prepared for their place in the Kingdom as the second of the two classes of the Epiphany's elect.

Letters of General Interest, PT. 1970 Pg. 80

Dear Brother Jolly: Thank you for your timely letter. I have never received a letter that did me more good. I can see the Lord's leading through different steps until I found you and received that priceless book, "The Epiphany's Elect."... I have now read several Epiphany books and have enjoyed them very much. I believe that Bro. Johnson was indeed the Epiphany Messenger and that "his works do follow him" through your movement. I receive your magazine regularly. Your lucid explanations regarding the Youthful Worthies seem crystal clear to me, and now at last I can see they have been growing side by side with the Spirit-begotten ones for quite some time...

This letter is complimentary to Bro. Johnson and Bro. Jolly. He believed Bro. Johnson was the Epiphany Messenger and that "his works do follow him" through "your" (Bro. Jolly's Executive Trusteeship) movement. It meant that Bro. Jolly supported and defended Bro. Johnson's lucid and crystal clear explanation of the Youthful Worthies. Shouldn't we?

E4. Pg. 358 - Question

E4 Pg. 358 (2): Since what date have the Youthful Worthies been developing?

E4 Pg. 318 (2): Before the General Call to the Divine Nature and joint-heirship with Christ ceased in 1881, the persons we call "Youthful Worthies" did not exist as individuals of a class; but since that time they have been, and now are coming as such into existence, and we are showing existence as such. Yea, we would not be surprised , if they become shortly very marked as a class, separate and distinct from the Little Flock and the Great Company.

This comment was put in print in 1938.

What are we not to understand?

PT. 1979 Pg. 50:

...we are not to understand that during the Gospel Age, or Church Age, God called two classes to salvation; for the Scripture states, "Ye are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4: 4); that is, we are not to understand that God offered two sets of people two different salvations during the Gospel Age, as inducements for them to love and serve Him; for such a thing is nowhere taught in the Bible. Rather, there has been only one salvation offered to those who during the Gospel Age would turn from sin to righteousness, from Satan to God and Christ. To all of these God offered as the prize (Phil. 3: 14) the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 4) and eternal life in joint-heirship with Christ as His Bride, His Body members (Rom. 8: 17; 12: 4, 5; 1 Cor. 12: 12-27; 2 Cor. 11: 2, 3; Eph. 4: 4-14; 5: 22-33; Rev. 21: 9, 10), on condition of faithfulness unto death in following Christ (Rev. 2: 10).

As Respects the Youthful Worthies

PT. 1972, Pg. 79, Questions (52): As respects the Youthful Worthies, what came forth from the Scriptures from time to time after the fall or 1914?

Par. 52, Pg. 76, Col. 2: "As time went on after the fall of 1914, more and more evidences from the Scriptures were brought forth to prove that there was a class, viz., the Youthful Worthies, consecrating after the High Calling closed, that did not have their consecration pictured at the First Veil, nor their standing as fully consecrated believers pictured in the Holy (where all fully consecrated believers who were under the High Calling had their standing pictured), but rather in the Court."

Bro. Johnson reaffirmed and defended this teaching...

YOUTHFUL WORTHIES ALSO HAVE PRECEDENCE - PT 1973 Pg. 26

"(5) Bro. Russell further showed that from 1881 onward there were consecrated ones for whom no crowns were available, who would be counted in with the Ancient Worthies in nature and reward (F 156, 157; Z 4836, pars. 3-6, 10, 11; 5761, col. 2, pars. 1, 2; Question Book, pp. 151, 152, 154, 156-158). Bro. Johnson reaffirmed and defended this teaching also, and gave many Scriptures to prove it. He referred to this Spirit-enlightened but not Spirit-begotten class as the Youthful Worthies"

Each Class to Keep within the Bounds Set for It

PT July-August 1966, p. 54:
"Bro. Johnson expounds in E 11, p. 336, stating in part that Jesus 'severed the classes from one another by peculiar teachings, activities, gatherings and siftings, belonging to each one: the Little Flock distinct from the Great Company, the Great Company from the Youthful Worthies [italics ours], the Youthful Worthies from the justified, the justified from the Campers, and the Campers from those beyond the Camp (set bounds unto the people, v. 12). The charge was to each class to keep within the bounds set for it (take heed to yourselves), and thus not grasp for powers as to the Kingdom not belonging to it (go not up into the mount), nor contaminate anything pertaining to the Kingdom either by false doctrine or wrong practice (touch the border of it)..."

Jesus severed the Little Flock from the Great Company, the Great Company from the Youthful Worthies, etc., showing the proper order of the development of each class. See also PT August 1942, p. 120; E11, Chapter 5; PT July-August 1960, p.58; PT March-April 1976, p. 30.

When did the Youthful Worthies start to mingle with the Little Flock or with the Great Company?

E15, p.652 (see also PT 1944, p.174 and PT 1949, p.121): "A word on the Youthful Worthies as to the witness of the Spirit. Not being sons of God yet, they, of course, are not by the witness of the Spirit, the Truth, given proof that their standing is one of sons, new creatures. Hence they do not now get, by the witness of the Spirit, the same as the Little Flock and the Great Company get. They get the same witness of the Spirit as the Ancient Worthies got, i.e., that they are friends and servants and prospective sons of God. Hence, whatever in the seven witnesses of the Spirit given sons is applicable to friends and servants and prospective sons of God, is given to them. Hence as the Ancient Worthies got all of the Truth due in their days, so the Youthful Worthies get all the Truth due in our day. Hence it is their privilege as they are loyal to get all the Truth that is due the Little Flock and Great Company, dependent on whether they mingle with the Little Flock or with the Great Company. The facts of experience show this to be true. Some object that not being Spirit-begotten, they cannot see the deep things. To this we answer, the Scriptures teach for all times that the due Truth is for all the consecrated. Hence, in the Old Testament times the Ancient Worthies got all of the Truth due in their times. In the next Age, without Spirit-begettal, the Ancient and Youthful Worthies and the restitution class will come to understand everything in the Bible (Is. 11: 9; 29: 18, 24; 35: 5; 40: 5; Jer. 31: 34). Why? Because it is always the privilege of the consecrated to see the Truth due in their times. St. Paul's words in 1 Cor. 2: 5-16 denying that the unbegotten of the Spirit are able to understand the deep things are limited to the time of the general call, during which to be Spirit-begotten and to be consecrated meant the same thing, hence all the consecrated were then Spirit-begotten, which was not the case before the call to the high calling opened. Hence, after the general call ceased St. Paul's pertinent words do not apply universally. But the rule that applies always is that only the consecrated can see the due Truth. Therefore, the Youthful Worthies do have as a witness of their being friends and servants and prospective sons of God, the due Truth on the deep things."

According to these references, there were no Youthful Worthies from 1878 to 1881 since all of the consecrated were Spirit-begotten up until the general call ceased.

J.K. Seeks To Unfix Fixed Individuals

PT. 1956 Pg. 75 Col. 2

In trying to establish a premise upon which to build his desired superstructure, J.K. cites E Vol. 8, pp. 48, 49 (please study this carefully), in which Bro. Johnson shows that in the unfinished picture of the Gospel Age, when there was no Great Company class or Youthful Worthy class as such, the Levites in their divisions, as distinct from the priests, typed the tentatively justified, who were classified, not as fixed individuals, but as "classes of workers according to the character of their work," with some individuals laboring awhile in one division, and then later possibly in another, or possibly in several at the same time; next he states, "It remains to be seen whether the Transitional Levites the Epiphany Levites—will in the finished picture have the peculiarity that we have just noted in the Gospel Age Levites. . . .

We must remember that there are three time sets of antitypical Levites

Answer to a question in PT September, 1943 (see page 143):

"(1) the Gospel Age Levites, i.e., the tentatively justified Levites: (2) The Epiphany Levites, i.e., the vitalizedly justified Levites, i.e., the Great Company and the tentatively justified Levites, i.e., the Youthful Worthies; and (3) the Millennial and post-Millennial Age Levites, i.e., the Ancient Worthies, the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies."

"While some Scriptures applicable to the Gospel Age refer to the Great Company as Levites, this is done from the anticipatory standpoint of the finished picture of the extreme end of the Age, the Epiphany. It would be a mistake to call the Great Company the exclusive Gospel-Age Levites; yea, it would even be a mistake to call them the only Levites of the Epiphany, since Youthful Worthies are also such Levites, though tentatively justified merely."

Bro. Johnson lists the Youthful Worthies as being Epiphany Levites. Notice what he says about the anticipatory standpoint of the Great Company.

Lapsing of the Tentative Justification of the Unconsecrated Tentatively Justified

PT March 1955, p. 29 (also in Question Book):
"Let us notice also E. Vol. 4, p. 322 in this connection: 'During the Transitional [Epiphany] Period those Levites, the tentatively justified, who will not consecrate lose their tentative justification, i.e., cease to be tentative Levites and are put out of the Court [italics ours; note carefully the implications of this definition of losing one’s tentative justification: it does not mean that such a tentatively-justified one necessarily loses faith in Christ as his Savior, but that because he does not consecrate during the 40-year Transitional (Epiphany) Period, when the call to Youthful Worthiship, the last call for Gospel-Age elective purposes, is open, he loses his standing in the Court as a tentative Levite and drops back into the Camp; thus, as far as Gospel-Age elective purposes are concerned, he receives the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6: 1, 2)]; while those who do consecrate, the Youthful Worthies, retain their tentative justification and remain in the Court as Gospel-Age Levites.' Hence we understand, in harmony with E. Vol. 11, p. 473, that the tentative justification of all the unconsecrated faith justified lapsed by Oct. 1954, but only in so far as Gospel-Age elective purposes are concerned. ’55-29"

Those who do consecrate when the call to Youthful Worthiship is open retain their tentitive justification and remain in the Court as Gospel-Age Levites. Notice the 40-year length of time for their call.

E5 Author's Foreword, written in 1938

"...so during the Parousia, specifically Epiphany truths could not be seen. Thus when the Parousia ended, 1914, all error was removed from the Parousia truths, i.e., the truths needed for the development of the Little Flock. But by the same token not all error was by 1914 removed from matters pertinent, to the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies. This will have taken place by 1954, each of these things being set forth respectively by the purification of the mother of a son in forty, and that of a mother of a daughter in eighty days (Lev. 12). Hence as the Epiphany advances the immaturities on the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies of the Parousia and of the past Epiphany times give way to clearer light, even as this same principle operated during the Parousia as to its immaturities. Thus 'the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect [full] day' (Prov. 4: 18).

Accordingly, no new Truth for the development of the Little Flock for the Kingdom has come since the Parousia's end; all of it that has since come is for the development of the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies..."

Since 1954, the Lord has been building the Epiphany Camp. This work will continue until the times of Restitution. The servants gave us the truth concerning the Youthful Worthies. Instead of trying to rewrite history, the correct course to take is to support their "Truth as Due" of building the Epiphany Camp!

Didn't Bro. Russell have charge of the Storehouse?

P.T. 1992 Page. 68 Col. 1, on the Youthful Worthies:
"(4) He forecast the non-Spirit-begotten but Spirit-enlightened class that we call Youthful Worthies. He told of them first as individuals from 1881 onward for whom no crowns were available, and forecast that later, i.e., in the Epiphany, they would come forth as a class, when all consecrations would be without subsequent Spirit-begettal (see, e.g., F 156, 157; Z 4836, 5761; Question Book, pp. 151, 152, 154, 156-158). He did not use the term Youthful Worthies in describing this class, but spoke of them as consecrating between the Ages, as a class not begotten of the Spirit, who would be given a nature and reward with the Ancient Worthies. Some Spirit-begotten and non-Spirit-begotten ones among Truth people, either through ignorance or self-will, insist that they are of the Little Flock. If they do this in ignorance, they should seek to learn the Truth more thoroughly; if they do it in self-will, they should seek more carefully to do God's will, or they may lose out entirely."

According to the current Executive Trustee of the Bible Standard Ministries and his "present view", we've been living in error since Bro. Russell's time. Along with those living NOW who support that Servant's view, would that make Bro. Russell, Bro. Johnson and Bro. Jolly sifters too?

Our Forty-Sixth Annual Report

PT Jan-Feb, 1965: "The articles in the P.T. give abundant evidence that the Truth continues to advance, and that the Lord, our loving and faithful Shepherd, continues abundantly to feed His sheep. We may well rejoice in this advance of the Truth; it is not digression of error, which in certain quarters is claimed to be advancing Truth. The advancing Truth has these characteristics--it holds to the past light and projects it into details not formerly seen, but harmonious with what was formerly seen. This is manifest in further unfoldings of Truth on the Epiphany Court and Camp conditions..."

The "present view" on the Youthful Worthies does not have these characteristics.

Giving and Spreading The Seasonal Truth

PT 1974 Page. 75 Col. 2:

"The 1874-1974 century has witnessed marvelous things in the giving of and circulation of the promised seasonal Truth, the meat in due season (Prov. 4: 18; Matt. 24: 45-47; Luke 12: 37; 2 Pet. 1: 12; Rev. 3: 20). This included the truth on various features of the doctrines of the Ransom and Restitution..."

"Among other truths that the Lord gave through Bro. Russell and that were spread widely, were those on the Thousand-year Reign of Christ and the binding of Satan beginning in 1874, on the Epiphany as a period beginning in 1914, on the non-Spirit-begotten consecrated (the Youthful Worthies), on the last related acts of Elijah and Elisha in type and antitype, on the separation of the Little Flock and the Great Company, etc. After his death the truth on these subjects expanded and clarified, and was set forth by Bro. Johnson, along with many other expositions, reaffirmations and defenses of the Parousia Truth. These are presented mainly in the PT and in the Epiphany Volumes, and concern especially the two Epiphany elect classes—the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies."

Bro. Johnson was congruent with and supported Bro. Russell's view. It's the reason why he titled E4 "The Epiphany's Elect." Since 2004, the "present view" contradicts the correct view of the Spirit Begotten.

Main Object of our Lord's Return - Part 2

E Vol. 17 Page 16: "so the Youthful Worthies come into activity on the stage of God's plan after the opportunity to enter the High Calling for the Divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ is closed. According to the Bible, the opportunity of entering the High Calling was to be closed after "the fulness of the Gentiles" [the full number of the Elect from among the Gentiles] should come in (Rom. 11: 25). This synchronizes with the end of the reaping of the present Harvest."

PT 1971 Page. 69: Par.(22) The manifestation of the Youthful Worthies as a separate and distinct class as early as 1917 (the antitypical men of Ephraim; Judges 7: 24—8: 3; E 5, pp. 224-235), proves that prior to that time the reaping and gleaning of the Little Flock had ended; for the Youthful Worthies could not be known as a separate and distinct class while the Little Flock were still being reaped. See PT 1971 Pages 69 - 75

The reaping went from 1874 to 1914. The "present view" gave up two truths that the Bible and facts teach are truths: (1) that the Harvest (Reaping) would be 40 years long and, (2) When was the end of the Harvest? The following question and answer give us that answer.

Little Flock—Harmonize That All Has Been Won With Rom. 11: 25.
Question (1921)—Please harmonize your teaching that all of the remaining members of the Little Flock have been won with Rom. 11: 25?

Answer.—By “the fulness of the Gentiles” we understand the full number of the Elect gathered out from among the Gentiles to be meant. Israel failing to furnish the full 144,000 of the Elect, God visited the Gentiles to complete from among them the predestined number. (John 1: 11-13; Acts 15: 14; Rom. 11: 5, 7, 11-15, 17-24.) Until the balance of the Elect—those not won from Israel, but from the Gentiles—would be found, Israel was to remain in blindness according to Rom. 11: 25...

The first of these stages covered the period from the spring of 1878 to the fall of 1881, during which the last ones of the Elect necessary to bring up the number on this and on the other side of the veil of the full 144,000 tentatively came in...

But the fulness of the Gentiles coming in from 1878 to 1881 did not in all its individuals remain in. Some fell out, and in 1881 it was necessary to call certain ones in to fill the lapsed places among the tentative Elect this side the veil. During the period from 1881 to 1914 there set in another stage for the fulness of the Gentiles to come in; and by the fall of 1914 this stage ended with the last one of the tentative Elect being won. Consequently from that time on none of the tentative Elect would lose their crowns; but they would remain the tentative Elect until they would pass beyond the veil. During the same period (1881-1914) Israel’s blindness was rapidly giving way...

EVol. 16 Pages 126-127
The ninth purpose of the Gospel Age is the selection of a consecrated class for Youthful Worthiship...

We have shown elsewhere that the Jewish and the Gospel Ages with their harvests, as parallel dispensations, are of equal length and of similar events. Thus the time from the death of Jacob to the death of Jesus, the respective heads of fleshly and of spiritual Israel, was 1845 years, and the time from the call of the Gentiles (Cornelius, etc.), Oct. 36, to Oct. 1881 was also 1845 years. The call of Cornelius ended the exclusive favor to natural Israel; and the call that went out in Oct. 1881 ended the exclusive favor to spiritual Israel, which was brought about by the call of people outside of the churches as well as in the churches. Let no one, from this statement, understand us to mean that nobody was any longer called to Bride-ship with Christ after 1881; for such a special call was extended to individuals in and out of the churches until the full number of the Elect in Sept. 1914 was fixedly complete,...

Br. Johnson brings clarity to The Epiphany for the development of the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies as classes. In view of the Servant's writings, the current Executive Trustee's view sinks on its lack of proof. See: E.17 Pages 17, 39. E.16 Page 127. E.11 Page 95. QB. Pages 82, 377. E.13 Pages 682, 688, etc.

Our Fifty-Eigth Annual Report (PT Jan-Feb 1977)

"...the leaders in these groups are still insisting that all the consecrated, including new consecrators, should claim that they are in the High Calling. But an increasing number of the brethren in these groups, having in mind that the general call to the High Calling closed in 1881 (almost 100 years ago!), as Bro. Russell taught, recognize that at this late date it is no longer in order for them to consider themselves in the High Calling, and especially not to encourage new consecrators to do so, but rather to consider themselves and/or new consecrators as being Spirit-enlightened but non-Spirit-begotten ones, of the general class Bro. Russell called 'Those Consecrating Between the Ages' (Z 5761, col. 2)."

In discussing the conditions among Truth people, Bro. Jolly gives 1881 (not 1878) as the initial year someone could consecrate and not receive Spirit-begettal.