Criticisms OF PASTOR RUSSELL AND THE International Bible Students Association

EXAMINED FROM A SCRIPTURAL STANDPOINT

Compiled by M. C. Bradley, Chicago August, 1914

PRICE 10 CENTS for special rates in quantities, see page 82.

Our critics have much to say about what we believe and what we teach. As the "Scripture Studies" have now reached the 8,000,000 mark, and we distribute free, in Chicago alone, more than a Half Million religious newspapers every year, we would concede these to be very proper subjects to consider. Their writings, however, show they do not understand either, for their misstatements are many, some simply ludicrous and others serious, for they misrepresent God’s Word as well as our teachings. We will not charge them with purposely misrepresenting to injure. We remember that Paul for years persecuted the early Christians; and he said he did it through ignorance. Peter declared that the Jews would not have crucified Jesus had they understood the prophecies. And to come nearer our own day, Luther, Wesley, Huss and others have been persecuted because the truths they preached were not understood. Today renowned preachers and theologians would not be persecuting Pastor Russell if they knew he was preaching the Truth. True, they might know it if they would, but as Paul said in 2Co 4:4, "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." And it would seem that many today are so blinded they fail to distinguish truth from error.

No doubt they think they are doing God service.

No doubt they fail to realize that their creeds which they blindly believe in and try to defend without ever having turned the Bible searchlight on them, in some ways dishonor God and drive from the churches many honest souls who are hungering for the Bread of Life.

A FAMINE IN THE LAND.

"I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."-Am 8:11.

And in many churches today, God’s message of salvation through belief in His dear Son Jesus who died for our sins, is not so often proclaimed from the pulpit as is "higher criticism," or a "review" of some "best seller" in the world of novels.

If the Ministry have consecrated their all to God, and they have no business to preach His Word without, then their hearts should be so full of love that they would never think of condemning or speaking evil of any man, on hearsay evidence. Their statements prove one of three things: Either they are making their charges on hearsay evidence, they are purposely misrepresenting, or they do not understand the Word of God. Those are the only reasons they can give for their slanders. To claim that everything of their creeds squares with the Bible is to claim what any reasoning person can easily see is not a fact. And to condemn Pastor Russell’s teachings as heresy without giving them prayerful, careful study with the Bible for an interpreter and guide, is contrary to the teachings of the Bible. So in love we will assume that they have not investigated and are really ignorant of the International Bible Students Association.

INVESTIGATION INVITED.

But we court Investigation for our Society. It will certainly

lead you to study the Bible as you never did before, and you will find it a priceless mine of comfort and life to all who come to it in faith and with honest hearts desiring to know God’s truth. Such will grow in faith and love for God, for Jesus our Savior, for the brethren, and for the world of mankind. And that, the Bible teaches us, is the attitude of the Christian.

There are many honest souls in the world in all denominations, and some outside of denominations, who are seeking for the Truth and will be satisfied with nothing less. We think it the proper time to show the difference between what we believe and teach and what our enemies say we believe. We do not intend to take up each one of the many ridiculous charges made against us, which we think are completely answered by our ten articles of belief, but will note some of the glaring inconsistencies of different writers, state our own position as plainly as possible, with Bible references, and leave the reader to make his own decision. If one point of each writer is shown to be incorrect, it naturally weakens faith in the balance. One reason there are so many today who are drifting away from the churches is because they have heard ministers question or speak slightingly of some parts of the Bible, and they reason: "If there is a doubt about some of the Bible, how do we know any of it is trustworthy?"

Before taking up any of the charges made against us for examination, we wish to call your attention to the fundamental belief of the International Bible Students Association and our beloved president and teacher, Pastor Charles T. Russell.

We will therefore review briefly and plainly all the vital points of Bible truth we hold and teach. Many of them are entirely different from the preaching you have been used to, but we shall give you the Scripture for every point, that you may decide as to the reasonableness of our position.

The six volumes of Scripture Study give more than 5,900 references from the Bible to prove every point. We do not wish to convince you by our word, but as Peter said: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed."-2Pe 1:19. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of me, said Jesus. Again he said in Mt 7:15-18: "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."

The International Bible Students Association is willing to be judged by its fruits.

WHICH IS THE TRUE GOSPEL?

There are today several hundreds of different religions in the world. Each claims to be right, yet most of them are willing to admit that people may be Christians-may be saved-even if they do not belong to their particular

denomination. Yet we of the International Bible Students Association are denied even this consideration. It must be evident that someone is making a great mistake. Why are the noted D. Ds. spending so much time trying to

discredit us and our work? We would recommend to them the words of a celebrated Doctor, Gamaliel, who advised more than eighteen hundred years ago, in Ac 5:38, 39, "I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight even against God." Let it be thoroughly understood that the writer, the International Bible Students Association and Pastor Russell are in perfect agreement on all points.

We have no new doctrine; we believe in the faith once delivered to the Saints, taught by Jesus and the Apostles.

WHAT THE I. B. S. A. BELIEVE.

To us the Scriptures clearly teach:

(1) That the Church is "the Temple of the Living God" -peculiarly "His workmanship"; its construction has been in progress throughout the Gospel Age-ever since Christ became the world’s Redeemer and Chief Corner Stone of His Temple, through which, when finished, God’s blessing shall come to "all people," and they find access to Him. -1Co 3:16, 17-"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

Eph 2:20-22-"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit."

Ge 28:14- "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

Ga 3:29-"And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

(2) That meantime the chiseling, shaping and polishing of consecrated believers in Christ’s atonement for sin progresses; and when the last of these "living stones," "elect and precious," shall have been made ready, the great Master workman will bring all together in the First Resurrection; and the Temple shall be filled with His glory, and be the meeting place between God and men throughout the millennium. -

Re 15:5-8-"And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."

(3) That the Basis of Hope, for the Church and the World, lies in the fact that "Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man," " a Ransom for all," and will be "the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," "in due time." -

Heb 2:9-"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."

Joh 1:9-"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh Into the world."

1Ti 2:5, 6-"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

(4) That the Hope of the Church is that she may be like her Lord, "see Him as He is," be "partaker of the Divine nature," and share His glory as His joint heir. -

1 Jno. 3:2-"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is,"

Joh 17:24-"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; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Ro 8:17-"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

2Pe 1:4-"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

(5) That the present mission of the Church is the perfecting of the saints for the future work of service; to develop in herself every grace; to be God’s witness to the world; and to prepare to be kings and priests in the next Age. -

Eph 4:12-"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

Mt 24:14-"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

Re 1:6-"And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."

Re 20:6-"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

(6) That the hope for the world lies in the blessings of knowledge and opportunity to be brought to all by Christ’s Millennial Kingdom-the Restitution of all that was lost in Adam, to all the willing and obedient, at the hands of their Redeemer and His glorified Church-when all the willfully wicked will be destroyed. -

Ac 3:19-23-"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people".

Isa 35-"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God."

"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

(7) We affirm the pre-existence of Jesus as the mighty, Word (Logos-spokesman) "the beginning of the creation of God," "the first born of every creature," the active agent of the Heavenly Father, Jehovah, in all the work of creation. "Without Him was not anything made that was made."-

Re 3:14-"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."

Col 1:15-"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."

Joh 1:3-"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

(8) We affirm that the Word (Logos) was made flesh -became the babe of Bethlehem-thus becoming the Man Jesus, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." As we affirm the humanity of Jesus, we equally affirm the Divinity of Christ-"God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name."-

Heb 7:26-"For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."

Php 2:9-"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name."

(9) We acknowledge that the personality of the Holy Spirit is the Father and Son, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both, and is manifested in all who receive the begetting of the Holy Spirit and thereby become sons of God. -

Joh 1:13-"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

1Pe 1:3-"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

(10) We affirm the resurrection of Christ-that He was put to death in flesh, but quickened in Spirit. We deny that He was raised in the flesh, and challenge any statement to that effect as being unscriptural. -

1Pe 3:18-"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

2Co 3:17-"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

1Co 15:8-"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

Ac 26:13-15- "At midday, 0 king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

DOCTRINAL CRITICISMS.

When a man begins to get mad, call names and be abusive, instead of giving a sane reason for his position, it looks as though these were his only weapons, and poor ones they are.

The Christian ministry of today seems to be hiding the key of Divine knowledge from the people, or else they know they have lost it and don’t want to admit it.

PROF. MOOREHEAD.

Prof. W. G. Moorehead is the author of a little folder entitled "Brief Review of Millennial Dawn." He says the series of Bible helps are "anti-Scriptural and a wretched perversion of the Gospel of Christ." He says: "The books expressly teach that our Lord, prior to His earthly life, was only a creature, higher indeed in the rank of being than the Angels, yet like them a created being. * * * Over against this fatal error we set the majestic words of the inspired John, 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."

Like all Trinitarians, Rev. Mr. Moorehead refers to Joh 1:1 to prove his position. As the exact, literal meaning of the first verse is very different from what he gives, which is the rendering of our Common Version Bible, we will give the accurate- word for word translation of the original, which Prof. Moorehead knows to be correct. Why does he try to hide it? Joh 1:1-"In a beginning was the Word and the Word was with the God, and a God was the Word." Jesus was a God, but not the God, Jehovah. Presumably he can’t bear the thought of admitting himself wrong and Pastor Russell right.

As long as he believes that the Father and Son are one God, he of course must assume as he does that Jesus had no creation. What does the Bible say? In Re 3:14 Jesus calls himself "the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." Col 1:15 —speaking of Jesus—says: "Who is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Joh 1:3 "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made."

Eph 3:9-2 -"God, who created all things by Jesus Christ."

This is a fair sample of the way he "disposes" of Pastor Russell’s teachings. He does not seem to have read them, or to have any comprehension of Gods plan as so thoroughly outlined in the Bible.

"Search the Scriptures for they testify of me," were the words of Jesus in Joh 5:39. What is Scripture given for? "That the man of God may be Perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."- 2Ti 3:17,

He says: "The prophets uniformly testify that the Messiah who was to come should be Jehovah, the great God, Himself, and no other."- Isa 9:6, 40:3-, Jer 23:6; Mal 3:1.

Isa 9:6 makes no mention whatever of Jehovah. 40:3 does speak or Jehovah, but not of Jesus. Surely a man who has been at the head of a theological college must know that in the Old Testament, LORD, in small capitals, as in Isa 40:3, always refers, not to Jesus, but to Jehovah, and should be so translated. In Mal 3:1 the first Lord in the verse refers to Jesus, the last LORD to Jehovah. Regarding Jer 23:6 we quote page 42, vol. 5, Scripture Studies:

"The text chiefly relied on to prove that Jehovah may properly be considered the name of Christ Jesus reads, ‘I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. * 11 * And this is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ -Jer 23:5, 6.

"Evidently our Lord Jesus and his Millennial reign are referred to, and the name in the Hebrew is Jehovah Tsidkenu. What is the explanation? Merely this: the translators, in their zeal to find a place where the name Jehovah was associated with Jesus as a name, have given us a poor translation. No difficulty would appear if it had been translated-’This is the name with which he shall be called, Our Righteousness of Jehovah.’ And how appropriate is this name to the work and office of our Lord Jesus. Did he not stand as the representative of God’s righteousness and suffer the penalty of Justice as man’s ransom-that God might be just and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus? Surely no name could be more appropriate.

"It should not be overlooked that this same name precisely, Jehovah Tsidkenu, occurs again in the writings of the same Prophet. But our friends never call attention to it, and the translators, although rendering it by the same English words, do not put those words in large capital letters as in the other case. Why? Because the connections show that Jehovah Tsidkenu will be the name of the entire Church, the new Jerusalem; —’And this is the name wherewith she shall be called [Jehovah Tsidkenu], our Righteousness of Jehovah.’ -Jer 33:16.

"And that this name will be appropriate to the glorified Church all can readily see: she not only shares her Lord’s sufferings for righteousness, ‘filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ’ (Col 1:24; 1Pe 5:9), but is also promised a share in all the glories of her Lord, as a wife shares her husband’s honors and name."

We wonder what theological students study; it does not

seem to be the Bible. Now, with the multitudinous helps for Bible study, we common people may, if we will, compare the doctrines of the dark ages with the truths of the Bible, which many theologians do not understand or else purposely misrepresent, and neither horn of the dilemma is creditable to them. The time is past when a theological course is necessary to an understanding of the Bible, though it might almost seem to be necessary to a misunderstanding. What is necessary is the Holy Spirit and "He shall guide you into all truth."-Joh l6:13.

P. BECKMAN.

P. Beckman has printed a book in Swedish on what he calls "Russell’s God-sent Delusions." He wants his readers to be well armed lest they believe a lie. He says: "Faith in Russell robs a man of any possibility of true conversion." This book is error from beginning to end, and the different points he seeks to make we have covered elsewhere.

C. C. COOK.

C. C. Cook, On Page 47 of his book, says: ‘The Bible tells no more at first, second or any other chance beyond the grave than it tells of a Romish purgatory-that is, not a word."

Let us see: 1Ti 2:5, 6 says: "The man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

"That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." -Joh 1:9.

"He is the propitiation for our sins (the Church’s) *** and for the sins of the whole world." -1Jo 2:2.

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing ‘that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." -2Pe 3:9.

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." -Joh 6:44, 45.

"I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved." -Ro 11:25, 26.

"After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." -Ac 15:16-18.

"When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate." -Eze 16:55.

"If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there rernaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." -Heb 10:26, 27.

The several pointed facts to be learned from these quotations are:

1. The Ransom Sacrifice of Jesus was given for all men.

2. As Jesus died for all, all must receive an opportunity for eternal life and blessing,

3. It is the Father’s wish that all should accept, but He will not use compulsion; we may accept or not, as we choose.

4. We must have a knowledge of Jesus before we can come to him and accept the promised salvation.

5. As God has a time for everything, so in "due time" all must have that knowledge and decide for themselves the question of life or death.

6. The wickedness of Sodom will not prevent them from returning in due time.

7. But while guaranteed one chance, we are equally assured none will have two chances.

Now, Mr. Cook, granting for the sake of the argument that the preaching of the nominal churches of today is sufficient for salvation, knowing as you do that millions have died with absolutely no knowledge of God or of Jesus their Savior, after reading those statements from God’s Word, are you prepared to repeat your declaration? If they had no chance while alive, and they are guaranteed one chance through the merit of Jesus’ death, then when will they get it if not after their resurrection?

REV. W. LEON TUCKER

calls it: "Russellism, the Satanic success of the last two decades."

Again he says, on page 19: "We are told In Vol. 1, page 150: ‘The ransom for all, given by the man Jesus Christ, does not give or guarantee everlasting life or blessing to any man.’ Does this sound like Joh 5:24? Russellism cares no more for the cross than does the devil!"

We will now quote Vol. 1, page 150:

"He ‘gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price] for all,’ in order that he might bless all, and give to every man an individual trial for life. To claim that he gave ‘ransom for all,’ and yet to claim that only a mere handful of the ransomed ones will ever receive any benefit from it, is absurd; for it would imply either that God accepted the ransom-price and then unjustly refused to grant the release of the redeemed, or else that the Lord, after redeeming all, was either unable or unwilling to carry out the original benevolent design. The unchangeableness of the divine plans, no less than the perfection of the divine justice and love, repels and contradicts such a thought, and gives us assurance that the original and benevolent plan, of which the ‘ransom for all’ was the basis, will be fully carried out in God’s ‘due time,’ and will bring to faithful believers the blessing of release from the Adamic condemnation and an opportunity to return to the rights and liberties of sons of God, as enjoyed before sin and the curse.

"Let the actual benefits and results of the ransom be clearly seen, and all objections to it being of universal application must vanish. The ‘ransom for all’ given by ‘the man Christ Jesus’ does not give or guarantee everlasting life or blessing to any man; but it does guarantee to every man another opportunity or trial for life everlasting. The first trial of man, which resulted in the loss of the blessings at first conferred, is really turned into a blessing of experience to the loyal-hearted, by reason of the ransom which God has provided. But the fact that men are ransomed from the first penalty does not guarantee that they may not, when individually tried for everlasting life, fail to render the obedience without which none will be permitted to live everlastingly."

Also one paragraph from page 152:

"The ransom given does not excuse sin in any; it does not propose to count sinners as saints, and usher them thus into everlasting bliss. It merely releases the accepting sinner from the first condemnation and its results, both direct and indirect, and places him again on trial for life, in which trial his own willful obedience or willful disobedience will decide whether he may or may not have life everlasting."

Jesus said In Mt 12:35-37:

"A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

REV. I. M. HALDEMAN, D. D.

Rev. 1. M. Haldeman, a noted preacher of the Baptist denomination, in a bitter attack on Pastor Russell, claims to make 24 points on what he is pleased to call "The wicked and blasphemous system which teaches the annihilation of our Lord Jesus Christ," as follows:

1. It denies the doctrine of the Trinity.

2. It denies that Jesus Christ was God before his incarnation.

3. It teaches that Christ was only a created spirit.

4. In incarnation he ceased to be a spirit and became the second Adam.

5. As the second Adam he had only one nature.

6. His nature of humanity was annihilated on the cross.

7. He did not rise in the body in which he died.

8. The body in which he died may have been dissolved into gas.

9. The body in which he appeared after death was nothing more than a momentarily materialized appearance which was finally dissolved.

10. Jesus Christ is not now a man.

11. The "Man Christ Jesus" no longer exists.

12. Jesus Christ is now an invisible spirit being.

13. He came to the world in 1874 as an invisible spirit being.

14. The Millennium will begin in 1914.

15. All the dead out of Christ will be raised at that time.

16. All the unrighteous and wicked dead will be raised and made perfect and innocent like Adam before the fall.

17. All the unrighteous and wicked dead will be given a second chance.

18. The more wicked they have been in this life, the more likely they will be, through the "experience" of sin, to accept the Gospel of the second chance.

19. Those who accept the second chance will have everlasting life.

20. Those who get everlasting life will sustain it by eating food.

21. Those who do not want to live forever will have the privilege of being asphyxiated in the lake of fire.

22. The assurance given to the wicked and sinful is, that there is no suffering for sin.

23. Those who do not care for heaven, need not be afraid of hell.

24. The finally impenitent are extinguished here, and annihilated hereafter."

He says:

1. "It denies the doctrine of the Trinity."

Yes, most assuredly, and so does Paul deny the Trinity. In 1Co 8:6 he says: "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."

2. "It denies that Jesus Christ was God before his incarnation."

We affirm that Jesus was a God, but not the God Jehovah. We quote from Scripture Studies, Vol. 5, pages 54-62.

"A TRADITION OF THE FATHERS SUPPORTED BY A FORGERY- AN INTERPOLATION."

"We are leaving to following chapters for consideration the greatness and worthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the entire work of Atonement has been and will be accomplished; -and the great honor bestowed upon him, not only since he redeemed the world, but also the great honor and dignity which were his before he became the world’s Redeemer. We are now seeking to distinguish clearly something respecting the great Author of the plan: but inasmuch as the general thought of Christendom is greatly perplexed by what is known as ‘The doctrine of the Trinity,’ a doctrine which its most pronounced advocates admit they do not understand and cannot comprehend or explain, therefore it is appropriate that we here examine those texts of the Scripture which are supposed to give some color or support to this confusing doctrine of men, for which no authority can be found in the Word of God. We have already called attention to various Scriptures which emphatically state that there is but one Almighty God-not two, nor three, nor more. We now call attention to the fact that the word ‘Trinity’ does not occur in the Scriptures; nor does any word occur there of equivalent meaning; nor is any statement made which even unreasonably could be interpreted to signify any such thing. Indeed, those who hold to the doctrine of the Trinity, in attempting to explain their own thought, hopelessly entangle themselves, as well as their hearers. They declare in one breath that there is only one God (because the Scriptures so positively emphasize this point that it cannot be ignored), yet in the same breath they declare that there are three Gods (because to this theory they are committed by ‘traditions of the fathers’ handed down from earliest Papacy).

"But how could there be three Gods and yet only one God? If there are three Gods, ‘equal in power and in glory,’ as the catechisms declare, then it is untrue to say there is only one God. If there is only ‘One God, the

Father, of whom are all things,’ as St. Paul asserts; and if, as Jesus declared, the Father is greater than his honored Son; and if the Father raised his Beloved Son from the dead, and exalted him on high, honored him, and has appointed for him a Kingdom; and if ultimately the Son will deliver up the Kingdom again to the Father, that the Father may be all in all; then it cannot be true that there are several Gods of equal power. Nevertheless, we shall show conclusively in the succeeding chapter that our Lord Jesus Christ is a God, but that, while he is to be honored even as the Father is honored, and that in honoring him we honor the Father who exalted him, still the united voice of the Scriptures most emphatically assert that there is but one Almighty God, the Father of all. As the Apostle declares, ‘The head of the woman is the man, the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. -1Co 11:3.

"There is one statement found in the Scriptures, and only one, which seems in the slightest degree to even imply the doctrine of a Trinity of Gods; and that passage is now admitted by all scholars to be spurious, —an interpolation.

It is therefore omitted from the Revised Version of the New Testament, although the translators of that Revised Version, so far as we are aware, were every on of them Trinitarians. While they would have liked to retain this passage, as the only Scripture support (and then very imperfect in statement), they could not retain it conscientiously.

"Nor were the translators of our Common Version of the Bible blameworthy for inserting this interpolation, because at the time of that translation it was impossible to know of its spurious character. Since its translation hundreds of old Greek manuscripts have been found, but none of these of earlier date than the seventh century contains this clause, which favors the Trinity. It is therefore not denied by scholars, without respect to denominational proclivities, that the spurious words were inserted to give support to the doctrine of the Trinity, at a time when the discussion of that doctrine was rife in the Church, and when the advocates of the doctrine of the Trinity were perplexed before their opponents, because they had no Scriptural evidence to bring in substantiation of their theory. The spurious words were no doubt interpolated by some over-zealous monk, who felt sure of the doctrine himself, and thought that the Holy Scriptures blundered not stating the matter in the Scriptures: his intention, no doubt, was to help God and the truth out of a difficulty by perpetrating a fraud. But all such suggestions, to the effect that God has not given us a complete revelation, ‘sufficient that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished,’ and that it needs adding to, are of the Adversary, as was this suggestion that it would be proper to commit a wrong, a forgery, for the sake of doing good, and rectifying the mistake of the Almighty. The monk scribe or Priest who committed this forgery, apparently about the beginning of the seventh century, has much to answer for, in his addition to the Word of God, and the evil influence which it has exerted over God’s people, who, seeking for the truth on this subject, were misled by his forgery.

"The spurious interpolation is found in 1Jo 5:7, and consists of the words ‘in heaven the Father, the Word and the holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth." These words omitted from the text, leave it simple and easy to be understood, and fully in accord with all the remainder of the Scriptures; but with these words in the text, as they have stood for centuries, confusion is produced; for nonsense is asserted. For instance, with these words remaining in the text, the sense would be that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit agreed in bearing one testimony in heaven, namely, that Jesus is the Christ. How absurd! Who is there in heaven ignorant of the fact that Jesus is the Christ? To whom, therefore, would it be necessary for the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit to bear this record or testimony? None. But it was a convenient place for the Adversary to get in his work of corruption of the truth, and he found a servant willing to serve him.

"Not only does the Revised Version omit this verse, but so also do all modern translations-the Emphatic Diaglott, Young’s Bible, translation, the American Bible Union translation, the Improved Version. The latter says:

"This text concerning the Heavenly Witnesses is not contained in any Greek MS. which was written earlier than the fifth century. It is not cited by any of the Greek ecclesiastical writers; nor by any of the early Latin fathers, even when the subjects upon which they treated would naturally have led them to appeal to its authority: it is, therefore, evidently spurious."

Lang’s Critical Commentary, referring to this spurious passage, says:

"Said words are wanting in all the Greek codices; also in the Codex Sinaiticus [the oldest known Greek MS.], and in all the ancient versions, including the Latin, as late as the eighth century; and [in MSS. written] since that time they are found in three variations. Notwithstanding the Trinitarian controversies, they are not referred to by a single Greek Father, or by any of the old Latin Church Fathers."

Hudson’s Greek and English Concordance says:

"The words are found in no Greek MS. before the 15tb or 16th century, and in no early version."

The passage is pronounced an interpolation by the following Bible scholars of recognized ability: Sir Isaac Newton, Benson, Clark, Horne, Griesbach, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Lachman and Alford. The latter says:

"Unless pure caprice is to be followed in the criticism of the sacred text, there is no shadow of reason for supposing them genuine."

Dr. Constantine Tischendorf says:

"That this spurious addition should continue to be published as a part of the Epistle I regard as an impiety."

Prof. T. B. Wolsey inquires:

"Do not truth and honesty require that such a passage should be struck out of our English Bibles-a passage which Luther would not express in his translation, and which did not creep into the German Bible until nearly fifty years after his death?"

Dr. Adam Clarke, commenting on this passage, says:

"It is likely this verse is not genuine. It is wanting in every MS. of this epistle written before the invention of printing, one excepted-the Codex Montfortii, in Trinity College, Dublin. The others which omit this verse amount to one hundred and twelve. It is wanting in both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Sahadic, Arminian, Slavonic, etc.; in a word, in all the ancient versions but the Vulgate; and even of this version, many of the most ancient and correct copies have it not. It is wanting also in all the ancient Greek Fathers, and in most even of the Latin."

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, endeavored to support the doctrine of the Trinity, yet in one of his sermons from this text he quoted the words of Servetus: "I scruple using the words ‘trinity’ and ‘persons’ because I do not find those terms in the Bible" -and to this quotation Wesley added, "I would insist only on the direct words, unexplained, as they lie in the text." He labored to prove the doctrine of the Trinity, because he believed this spurious passage was genuine, positive information from the ancient MSS. of the Bible being of recent acquisition. For instance, at the time of the preparation of our King James or Common Version Bible (A. D. 1611), the translators had the advantage of but eight Greek MSS., and none of those of earlier date than the tenth century. Now, however, there are about seven hundred MSS., some of which, especially the Sinaitic MS. and the Vatican MS. No. 1209, are very old, reaching back to about A. D. 350.

"THE SCRIPTURE TEACHING RESPECTING THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THEIR UNITY."

"A sharp distinction should be drawn between a confession of faith in a Trinity and a confession of faith in the Unity of the heavenly Father, Jehovah, and the heavenly Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity holds that the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit ‘are one in person, equal in glory and in power,’ as stated in the Church creeds. The Bible, while showing the absolute Unity between the Father and Son and holy Spirit in the various steps of the great plan of salvation, most positively contradicts the thought that the Father and Son are one in person, denies that they are equal in majesty and in power, except as before shown, that the Father has glorified the Son, has highly exalted him and given him a name above all others except his own, making him his agent and representative in the exercise of ‘all power in heaven and in earth.’ All the various Scriptures agree in their statements to the effect that the Father sent the Son into the world; and that the Son, for the joy set before him by the Father, endured the cross, and despised the shame: and that he was the heavenly Father’s first and only begotten Son; and that after he shall have accomplished the work which the Father has given him to do, he shall deliver up the Kingdom of earth, at the close of the Millennial Age, to the Father: and the additional statements already called to attention, in which the Son cheerfully and fully acknowledges that he ‘came forth from the Father,’ that he ‘came not to do his own will’ but the Father’s will; and that the power he used was not his own power, but the Father’s power; also his statement, ‘The Father is greater than I,’ and the declaration of the prophecy, that he is the Messenger or servant of the Covenant, and not the Maker of the Covenant; together with the repeated declarations of the New Testament Scriptures, that he is the Mediator of the New Covenant, -the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." These various Scriptures all consistently and harmoniously teach a distinction of person and glory and power as between the heavenly Father and the heavenly Son; but a most absolute and profound unity of plan, will, purpose; for the Son was worthy to be the executor of the great plan of Jehovah, because he had no will of his own, but renounced his own will that he might be filled with the Father’s spirit and do his will in every particular. -Joh 6:38, 39.

"Moreover, the very words ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ imply a difference, and contradict the thoughts of the Trinity and oneness of person, because the word ‘father’ signifies life-giver, while the word ‘son’ signifies the one who has received life from another. The heavenly Father received life from no one; he is the fountain, the source of life, not only to our Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, but through him the source of life to all others of his creatures, And all this is fully in accord with the Scripture which stands at the head of this chapter, in which the Apostle, plainly denies that the Father and the Son are one in person or in power, saying, ‘To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things * * * and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.’

"The thoughtful reader will at once recognize the Scriptural harmony and simplicity of the view herein presented, while all will admit that the doctrine of the Trinity is impossible, of reasonable understanding or explanation. its most earnest advocates admit this, and instead of endeavoring to do the impossible thing of explaining it, they avoid discussion, claiming that it’s ‘a great mystery,’ unexplainable. But, strange to say, this doctrine, of three Gods in one God, which not only has no Scriptural support, but is opposed by the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, both directly and indirectly, and which is so opposed to reason as to be unreasonable, is nevertheless a strongly entrenched doctrine amongst Christians, even amongst Protestants-those who profess faith in the Bible and to protest against any teachings not found therein. Why is this? We answer, that it is one of the dark mysteries by which Satan, through the Papacy, has beclouded the Word and character and plan of God.

"As it is written, ‘The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.’ -2Co 4:4. He has put upon the poor world utter blindness and doctrinal vails, darkening counsel and falsifying mysteries, to hinder those who have found the Lord from coming to a clear knowledge of thc truth.

"But how would Satan be interested in adding to the luster of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? Would it not rather be his work to detract from the glory of Christ? We answer, that it has always been Satan’s policy to misrepresent the truth, to misrepresent the Bible, and to make its teachings appear unreasonable and self-contradictory, in order to hinder mankind from seeing the great beauty and reasonableness and harmony which inhere in the divine plan and the Word. The more absurdities Satan can get interwoven into man’s views respecting the Creator, the better he will succeed in separating from the service of God those who are of reasonable and logical mind; and proportionately the more unreasonable he succeeds in making the creeds of men, the more does he destroy real faith amongst those who advocate those creeds, and the more he does to favor mere credulity, instead of genuine faith.

"Thus for centuries the great Adversary has been working most successfully to rid the Church of all the most reasonably disposed, and to gather into it the more credulous and superstitious and unreasoning class. He has covered and hidden some of the most precious truths under the most specious and repulsive errors, and the progress of the Lord’s people has been correspondingly slow. But, thank God, we are now living in the time when the vail of ignorance is being dissolved, and when the Lord’s people are learning to look away from the creeds formed for their enslavement during the dark ages, and to look directly to the Word of God itself. But, alas, this comes too late for many, especially the worldly wise: they have already so associated the creeds with the Bible that, in rejecting the former they are rejecting the latter also; and instead of seeking true light from the Word of God, they are more inclined to ignore or reject it and to lean to their own understandings, —to human philosophies.

"Hence it is that Higher Criticism, Evolution, Christian Science, Theosophy and other Bible-denying theories are today making rapid progress; while the old creeds are falling to pieces or being abandoned. Only the comparatively few have learned that the mistake is not in the Bible, but in the creeds, and are seeking the ‘old paths,’ and ‘the faith once delivered unto the saints.’ -Jer 6:16; Jude 3."

3. "It teaches that Christ was only a created spirit."

In Re 3:14 Jesus said of himself that he "was the beginning of the creation of God." We would rather take the word of our Savior for it than Dr. Haldeman’s against it.

He says we claim that "Jesus did not rise in the body

in which lie died." "That the ‘Man Christ Jesus’ no longer exists."

Why should Dr. Haldeman or anyone else be so anxious to take these poor old bodies to heaven, when we have the assurance of the Bible that no man ever went there, that flesh and blood cannot go there, and that God in the resurrection will give us glorious spirit bodies as pleaseth Him, and then we too shall be like our Lord.

"No man hath ascended up to heaven." -Joh 3:13.

"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."-1Co 15:50; Php 3:20, 21. "We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."

Dr. Haldeman says on pages 5 and 6 of his book that what we teach is "The poison of subtly distilled blasphemy.

It blasphemes the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The supreme theme of the Bible is not the Jew, the Gentile, nor the Church of God; it is neither salvation nor damnation: its one theme is-The Person of Christ. * * * He was God. * * * From unbegun eternity he was the Son of God, and, therefore, God the Son. At a given moment he bent down and took of the substance of the Virgin Mary, the seed of the woman, and created for himself a new and distinct human nature, consisting of a real body and a rational soul, and, uniting it to his eternal and uncaused personality, walked through this earth, ‘without controversy the mystery of Godliness,’ God manifest in the flesh-true God and real man-being one person with two natures; so that the blood be shed was the blood of God."

What logic! If we should insist that because for 56 years we had been the son of our father, that, therefore, we were now our own father, it would be the same kind of "proof" he gives. There can be nothing found in the religion of the most depraved heathen any more absurd, any more at variance with the real teachings of the Bible, than the doctrine of the Trinity. It has no Biblical foundation whatever, it is wholly man-made.

The Bible does not teach that it was the blood of God that ransomed us, but in many places it teaches, as in 1Jo 1:7, Revised Version: "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The Doctor has gotten all tangled up in his own theology, so that he makes a ridiculous mess of it. He insists that Jesus was a Divine being while on earth and then was "the man Christ Jesus" after he went to heaven. We have several translations of the ‘Bible, but to us they all teach just the reverse of this.

The following quotations from Scripture Studies, Vol. 5, pages 81-96, fully explains the Scriptural teaching on this great subject:

STUDY III.

THE MEDIATOR OF THE ATONEMENT.

THE ONLY BEGOTTEN ONE.

"There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom." -1Ti 2:5, 6.

"In proportion as we value the work of the Atonement-our reconciliation to God, and the sacrifice for sin through which it is accomplished-in the same proportion will we esteem him whom the Heavenly Father set forth to be the propitiation for our sins, our Restorer and Lifegiver. Hence, in approaching the question, Who is this great One whom Jehovah God has so highly honored, and who, by the grace of God, is our Redeemer and Savior?

It is befitting that we realize, first of all, our own ignorance of the subject, and our incompetency to reach a conclusion except as the divine Word shall instruct us.