There was still another general effort among the brethren, independent of the main group. A paper was published, and pilgrims were sent from class to class to comfort and encourage the brethren. Inasmuch as the date 1914 had come and gone, Brother Russell had died, and there seemed to be no facilities for publishing the truth, there was a general feeling among the brethren that there wasn’t much in particular they could do except to strengthen that which remained.
True, The Divine Plan of the Ages was republished; small quantities of tracts were printed; but the missionary spirit among these dear brethren seemed at a low ebb. Certainly the brethren as a whole were not especially urged to be active in the promulgation of the truth. A general pastoral, or shepherding work, was deemed proper and essential; but it soon developed that a mere handful of brethren were doing this work for the friends generally, who were largely in the position of laity waiting to be served.
One of the great features of the truth as taught by Brother Russell was that every consecrated child of God is a servant, anointed to preach the glad tidings. In one master stroke this precious doctrine did away with the separation of the church into clergy and laity. “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren,” was emphasized and re-emphasized by Brother Russell. (Matt 23:8) And to make this viewpoint effective, Brother Russell was continually planning work for the brethren to do, urging that they all feel a responsibility toward the truth and its proclamation. The concluding chapter of The Divine Plan of the Ages is an example of this. A large portion of the Daily Heavenly Manna comments furnish us with another good example. Brother Russell was our Pastor, and a faithful one, not alone because he ministered to us, but also because he made it possible for all to participate in this ministry of the truth, and urged all to do so as ability and opportunity afforded.
We doubt if any of the brethren, immediately following his death, actually held a different view from this. But the peculiar combination of circumstances created an attitude of mind which caused it to be partially overlooked. Two or three years of comparative inactivity in this respect on the part of a group of brethren might not result in any serious spiritual decline. But time went on, and 1914 as a date in prophecy was farther and farther in the past. The church was still this side of the veil. These facts were dwelt upon, and reasons for them sought. A new chronology was found, setting 1933 as the full end of the Gentile Times. The importance of Brother Russell’s ministry was minimized. Church writers were appealed to for help. The modernistic viewpoint of the relative unimportance of doctrines was wrong, the comparatively small number of little classes throughout the country which formed the background of this movement began to disintegrate.
A high standard of righteousness for the saints was held up by these brethren. Indeed, they specialized along the lines of faith, prayer, and personal holiness. There was a slight tendency, as a matter of fact, to feel that Brother Russell had been somewhat negligent along this line. Thought and language of godly men of the past were introduced. But this specializing of the ministry did not hold the brethren together; nor did it provide them with the incentive to lay down their lives in the service of the truth. It was only a part of the truth, and not that part of the truth, either, which was the very life of the truth movement. Character development and devotionalism are fundamental in the Christian life, but these were not the truths which called the Lord’s people out of Babylon in this harvest time at the end of the age. All the churches enjoy the blessings of formalistic devotionalism and an assumed character development, but only those enlightened with present truth enjoy that understanding of the plan of God which sets them on fire with zeal to proclaim the glad tidings.
Now, when the great fundamental doctrines of the Divine plan are spoken of as the mere milk of the Word, and the brethren are taught to believe that they should have progressed beyond the discussion of them in their meetings, and that proclaiming them to the world is of very incidental importance, it is not difficult to understand what happened, and why. With the true doctrines rarely discussed, false doctrines began to creep in among the brethren. Church conceptions concerning the second coming of Christ were taken up by some, and by these the second presence of Christ was denied. The church’s share in the better sacrifices of this age—the second phase of the sin offering—began to be questioned. Eventually it became difficult to find an ecclesia which was not more or less divided in sentiment concerning many of the really vital and important features of the truth.
This condition of things did not develop overnight, nor were all the brethren involved in it. The development was gradual and subtle. The circumstances arising out of the disappointment of 1914, and the death of Brother Russell, created just the attitude of mind that made it possible. In recounting the facts here, it is not with the thought of placing the blame, nor to ridicule, nor to discourage, but to diagnose an unhealthy condition with the hope of discovering what is needed as a remedy to restore spiritual health.
And as we view this particular situation the thing which speaks the loudest to us is something which is not in the picture at all. It is conspicuous by its absence. Whether holding to the truth, or trifling with error; whether possessing a faith which can remove mountains, or beginning to doubt; whether coming oft to the throne of grace, or de- pending upon our own strength to overcome; if we have lost sight of the fundamental fact that as Christians we are called to be the “light of the world,” the “ambassadors for Christ” to hold forth the Word of life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, we have missed the point of it all.—Matt 5:14; II Cor. 5:20; Phil. 2:15
Satan is the prince of darkness, and one of his chief interests is to prevent the light of truth from reaching the people. He is not limited to one method of doing this. As we have seen, some of the brethren were zealous to work for the Lord. Come what may, they were determined to continue active in the service of God, even though Brother Russell had died. Not being able to quench their zeal, Satan found it possible to pollute the stream of truth as it went forth. Having accomplished this, he is not concerned how active they may now be.
With other brethren another method was necessary. With them it was impossible to substitute error for truth. Discovering this, Satan’s next move—and it succeeded for a time—was to convince these dear ones that God would not be pleased for them to continue publishing the truth. Their great sense of loyalty to truth made them adhere to this alleged truth with such tenacity that they ceased all witness work over a period of years. Again Satan scored!