(The following proves that Charles Russell believed that the Jews would regain Nationhood/Statehood in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. This was realized 32 years after Russells death in May of 1948. After seizing power Rutherford for a period of time continued to support Russells view that ZIONISM was in fulfillment of Bible prophesy; but then did an about face, leading himself/JWs into APOSTASY!) ...Dave --ZIONISM-- Pastor Russell, founder of the Watchtower Society, was a Zionist. He was strongly against converting Jews to Christianity and actively involved in encouraging the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth prime minister of Israel, when he was the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations stated, A recognition of Pastor Russells important role as an early American Christian advocate of Zionism is long overdue. Russell made the following comments regarding the nation of Israel and Jews: There are now in the world more than ten million Jews, about three-quarters of whom are in Russia, Poland, the Balkan States, and Turkey. If the movement toward Palestine should get the impulse that the Hirsch committee is able to give it, an imaginative person can conceive of the countrys doubling or trebling its Jewish population before the close of our century, and of its having a larger Jewish population fifty years hence than it had in ancient times, when its census ran up to three millions. Should the restoration be accomplished, all hail to the New Jerusalem! Watchtower 1892 Nov 1 p.329 The more closely we investigate the New Covenant, the more we must be convinced of this fact - that it belongs to Israel alone. Watch Tower 1909 Jan 15 p.28 Although the Jews are gradually flowing into Palestine, gradually obtaining control of the land of Canaan, and although reports say that already nineteen millionaires are there, nevertheless, prophecy requires an evidently larger number of wealthy Hebrews to be there before the Armageddon crisis be reached. Indeed, we understand that Jacobs trouble in the Holy Land will come at the very close of Armageddon. Then Messiahs Kingdom will begin to be manifested. Thenceforth Israel in the Land of Promise will gradually rise from the ashes of the past to the grandeur of prophecy. Studies In the Scriptures Series IV - The Day of Vengeance - Forward pp. xviii, xix … expected the year 1914 to mark a significant turning point for Jerusalem. Jehovahs Witnesses - Proclaimers of Gods Kingdom p.135 In reference to the prophecy of Amos 9:11-15, Thy Kingdom Come stated: That the re-establishment of Israel in the land of Palestine is one of the events to be expected in this Day of the Lord, we are fully assured by the above expression of the Prophet. Notice, particularly, that the prophecy cannot be interpreted in any symbolic sense. Studies in the Scriptures Series III - Thy Kingdom Come p.244 Until 1909, the Watchtower Magazine was titled Zions Watch Tower Herald of Christs Presence. Modern day Bible Students still have a Zionist view of Jews. As stated on agsconsulting (20 Apr 2005), a website run by modern day Bible Students: Bible Students were the first to appreciate and act upon the commission of Isaiah 40:1: Comfort, oh comfort My people. (TANAKH, Jewish Publication Society) And they took this commission very seriously. In 1891 Charles Russell, the Pastor of Bible Students congregations around the world, proposed to Baron Rothschild and Baron Hirsch a practical plan for Zionism that involved the purchasing of all government lands (lands not held by private owners) in Palestine from the impoverished Ottoman Empire of Turkey. (Years later Herzl made similar proposals). Pastor Russell prefaced his proposal with the prediction of a massive exodus of Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe. As he predicted, history records over 3 million Jews emigrated from Russia and Eastern Europe by 1924. Until 1932, Rutherford continued upholding Russells ideal that the Jews and Jerusalem had a special place in prophecy. It was believed that the Jews had remained as Gods chosen people and Jerusalem was to be restored. The Finished Mystery, on pages 536 and 555 was openly Zionist, as was Comfort for the Jews p.55 The promise, time and again repeated, that the Lord would regather them and bless them in the land and keep them there and bless them for ever is conclusive proof that the promise must be fulfilled ... Behold, that time is now at hand! On 17th October 1920, Rutherford delivered a lecture in Jerusalem in which he is quoted in The Golden Age 1921 Easter pp.369-382 Zionism Certain to Succeed as saying; Israel is absolutely certain to be fully established as a nation and the Jews again as a specially favored people of God. The zealous workers in Zionism today are fulfilling prophecy Zionism is one of the steps in the great divine program. This was more than just an expectation as the Proclaimers book puts it, it was absolutely certain. Up until the 1930s, the events happening to the Jews in the 19th and 20th century were even considered to be proof that this is the time of the end. (The) regathering of Israel to Palestine would be one of the most conclusive proofs of his presence. The Harp of God (1921) p.256 In the spring of 1918, the Jews began to rebuild Palestine; … This is another physical fact or circumstantial proof of the Lords presence at the end of the world Creation (1927) p.306-307 Anti-Semitic comments crept into the Golden Age during the late 1920s, and in 1934 Zionism was renounced by Rutherford. Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important position The Golden Age 1927 Feb 23 p.343 The Journal of the A.M.A. is the vilest sheet that passes the United States mail. Nothing new and useful in therapeutics escapes its unqualified condemnation. Its attacks are generally ad hominem. Its editorial columns are largely devoted to character assassination. Its editor (Morris Fishbein) is of the type of Jew that crucified Jesus Christ. The Golden Age 1934 Sep 26 p.807 Rutherford contradicted his previous views when renouncing them in the 1932 book Vindication - Book II, pages 258. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration, sponsored by the heathen governments of Satans organization, came forth, recognized the Jews, and bestowed upon them great favors. ... The Jews have received more attention at their hands than they really deserved. In 1946, during the time the horrors of the holocaust were emerging, the Watchtower made the following comments about Jews. Nothing in the modern return of Jews to Palestine and the setting up of the Israeli republic corresponds with the Bible prophecies concerning the restoration of Jehovahs name- people to his favor and organization … The remnant of spiritual Israelites, as Jehovahs Witnesses, have proclaimed world-wide the establishment of Gods kingdom in 1914 Let God Be True (1946) Second ed. pp.217-218 There is no evidence in the Scriptures that the Jews as a people are meek. On the contrary, Jehovahs Witnesses only find it stated in the Bible that the Jews are stiff-necked and hard-hearted, but when they call at their homes with the message of Gods kingdom they witness the same characteristics. They seem to think that because they are Jews, and were once Gods chosen people, they must ever remain that way. Consolation 1946 Jan 2 pp. 14,15 The Zionist teachings, once of absolute certainty, was henceforth said to have no Scriptural support. This change in doctrine is discussed in the Watchtower 1955 May 15 p.296, and the back to Palestine movement that the Watchtower had promoted became labelled as a teaching of Satan: By the publication of Volume 2 of the book Vindication that year, Jehovahs witnesses came to see that such a back to Palestine movement was by the spirit of Jehovahs archfoe, Satan, who has deceived the entire inhabited earth. How ironic for the Watchtower to denounce Zionist teachings as from Satan, after the Organization had spent the previous 60 years actively preaching it. Is this saying Satan had been influencing Russell and Rutherford? If Satan was behind this prominent Watchtower teaching, how many other prominent Watchtower teachings is Satan influencing? At what point did the reasonings of Satan stop being promoted by the Watchtower Organization?
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 22:55:50 +0000
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