The “zeal of God’s house” engendered by love, remained with thousands of the Bible Students following the death of Brother Russell. But the scene gradually changed and the inspiration of the movement was transformed. Instead of love and the sheer joy of telling the world about a God of love, “great works” of one kind or another kept the brethren whipped up to a frenzy of misguided zeal and self-sacrificing devotion to a false cause. An intermingling of fear and hate was the backdrop for these scenes of activity—fear of the second death if not faithful, and hate for those who did not accept the message, particularly for Roman Catholics.
Yes, many “great works” were attempted: the “Elisha work”; “calling out the prisoners” from Babylon; “building the temple wall;” gathering the “Jonadabs;” casting up the “highway of holiness;” offering “the waters of the river of life” to the people; etc. It was truly remarkable how quickly each one of these gigantic tasks was undertaken and then forgotten, while the campaigners went on to the next item in hand.
The “new light” slogan found an effective place in the general furor of excitement. The “channel” advocates moved on unabashed from one viewpoint to another, totally disregarding, and at times, it would seem, almost glorying in their ability to contradict today what they had taught yesterday. In 1923, an article was published by these brethren urging the friends to adhere to the teachings of Brother Russell, warning that those who sought to lead the brethren away from these teachings were wolves in sheep’s clothing. Not long after, they taught that those who did not depart from Brother Russell’s teachings, but insisted upon adhering to them, were of the “evil servant” class and certain of going into the second death if they did not repent.
When the “Elisha” work was at its height, it was announced that those engaging in it were blessed with a “double portion of the Spirit;” but in 1927 it was announced that the church no longer possessed the Holy Spirit at all.
In 1921 restitution blessings were said to be for all men; in 1934 this was denied; and in 1939 “elective elders” were derided for continuing to believe in restitution for the world.
Even the fundamental doctrine of the ransom was tampered with. For a time after Brother Russell’s death it was still taught that Jesus died for all, including Adam; that as “all in Adam die,” so “all in Christ shall be made alive.” In 1939 it was “discovered” that Adam was not redeemed by Christ, hence will not be raised from the dead. And there was some cleverly false reasoning in connection with this change. It was said that the reason Adam was not redeemed by Christ was that he was a willful sinner. Those who accepted this “new light” seemed to overlook the fact that if he had been a willful sinner he would not have needed to be redeemed.
Samples of other and less important changes might be briefly noted: In 1930, Nebuchadnezzar represented Satan; in 1936, he represented God. In 1923, character development was a work of God; in 1927, a delusion of the devil. In 1924, true religion was of God; in 1937, all religion was a snare of the devil and a racket. In 1918, the church was not under the new covenant; in 1934, the church was under the new covenant.
We might go on almost endlessly citing these contradictions, but no particular purpose would be accomplished by wearying the reader with more. To err is human, and no student and teacher of the Scriptures should be held up to ridicule simply because he discovers that he has made a mistake and wishes to correct it. But in this case no mistakes were acknowledged nor from their standpoint could they have been made. It was claimed that God was their teacher, and God couldn’t make a mistake. One can’t help wondering, though, what god it was; for, to say the least, he was a very changeable one; whereas of the true God it is written, “I am the Lord, I change not.”—Mal. 3:6
But we should not lose sight of the main issue involved. The important consideration is not so much that this and that item of truth was changed, or that various types of work were attempted. The main thing is that in all this maze of interpretation and misinterpretation, of fanciful speculations and weird theories, of unauthorized and abortive campaigns of great works, and of fear engendered by threats of the second death, the melodious theme song of God’s love, as it formerly resounded from his plan to bless all the families of the earth, was lost.
With this loss, thousands of the brethren the world over were left in much the same position as the Hebrews in Babylon, of whom it is written that they “wept when they remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1) The truth was lost! The Watch Tower had taken the position of all other groups who hold out no hope to men unless they “flee to the organization” for safety and protection. These friends are still earnest, sincere, and zealous. Would that all of us had the same degree of zeal; but the pure truth is no longer with them. They have some details of truth. They can define the soul; they believe in one God instead of three; they have a general knowledge that we are in the end of the age; but their central theme is not of God. They are laying down their lives bearing witness to a message which, according to their own viewpoint, is doing nothing for the masses who do not receive it except to make them liable to the second death. Thus has the sacred flame of truth— that inspiring truth of God’s love revealed by ransom and restitution—been extinguished in the minds of many.