| Subject: Charles Taze Russell and the Great Pyramid |
Author:
Ronald
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Date Posted: 18:08:59 08/29/04 Sun
I will first state that I am not with the JWs. I am with the Bible Students movement.
This is pertaining to the page at:
http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/russellspyramid.htm
It first speaks of Charles Taze Russell as the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. This is not true, since Russell never believed in such an organization, nor did he believe in the doctrines that the leaders of this organization have introduced. Russell was the main founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and Russell has been attributed with founding the Bible Students movement, but the movement existed before the founding of the legal entity. After Russell died, Rutherford, by means of deception and legal trickery, obtained control over the Watch Tower Society and used this legal entity as a means to form his new organization, which he later named "Jehovah's Witnesses". Most of the earlier Bible Students rejected this new organization and most of its new teachings.
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http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/adrianbiblestudents/russell.html
http://www.nsbible.org/pastor_not_founder.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6orbk
http://www.biblestudents.net/resources/tracts.htm
http://www.godsplanforall.org/history_of_the_bs.cfm
http://www.pastor-russell.com/legacy/will2.html
http://tinyurl.com/3t7hx
http://www.food4jws.org/faq/prjw.htm
http://www.millennialmorning.org/abs/prjw.htm
http://www.pastor-russell.com/legacy/not_founder.html
The following three links are to writings of Brother Russell, showing what he believed about "organization.":
http://www.agsconsulting.com/volumes/htdb0140.htm
http://www.nsbible.org/sits_v6/v6s5.htm
http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbv5/r1847.htm
We are then told that Russell was fascinated with Egyptian symbolism. In truth, Russell was fascinated with anything that had to do with the Bible; he was not expressly fascinated with Egyptian symbolism.
We are next told that about a huge pyramid structure that was dedicatd to him, which is referred to as a "tombstone". There is no pyramid "tombstone" in the Rosemont Cemetery. There is a pyramid monument that was built in the middle of the WTS' plot, but this was built a few years after Russell died; however, it is not a "tombstone". Rutherford claimed that Russell had made plans to erect such a monument; whether this is true or not, I don't know. In reading Russell's works, and seeing how Rutherford made some other false claims concerning Russell, I also doubt that this is true.
We are told that Russell was so fascinated by the Great Pyramid of Gizeh that he looked into it for a collaboration of his prophecies. Of course, Russell denied being a prophet* -- as having any special ability to foretell the future -- many times. He never gave any prophecies, so there were no prophecies to collaborate. However, he did give many of expectations concerning certain dates. The method of measurements that Russell used had already been in use by others before Russell even knew about these matters.**
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*http://tinyurl.com/4dt5h **http://tinyurl.com/48jaf
The author then presents quotes from two different editions of Thy Kingdom Come*, the first a 1904 edition, and the second a 1910 edition, relating to a change made on page 342. I will only comment here that Russell was trying to correct what he perceived to be an error in the measurement. At least this author does not claim that he changed this measurement because of supposed failure of 1914, as some others have claimed, although the page does contain a link to a site does make such a claim. However, the change was actually made in editions in 1905 and afterward.
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*http://www.agsconsulting.com/volumes/indexc.htm
It is then stated that this is an issue of changing key dates in his prophetic speculations, and that this is a major problem in and of itself. This, in effect, magnifies a minor change into a "major problem", which problem does not really exist. This was actually a very small change, not a major change, as far as the overall chronology was concerned. Nor were "key dates" changed. Russell still believed in 1874; Russell had, before 1904, taught that the times of the Gentiles would end in 1914; the only difference is that he now believed that the time of trouble would begin, not end, in 1914, and that the time of trouble would continue for time after October 1914*.
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*http://reslight.addr.com/1914.rtf
It is then claimed that it is incredible that a man claiming to be God's servant would actually use an occultic pagan Egyptian structure to support the dates for his prophecies. Of course, as mentioned before, Russell had not prophesied anything. The truth, however, is that there is nothing wrong with his usage of the Great Pyramid. It is Yahweh's monument in Egypt.* Of itself, it has nothing to do with pagan occultism. It is the misuse of the Great Pyramid that is wrong, even as it is the misuse of the sun, moon and stars in astrology and idolatry that is wrong, not the sun, moon and stars themselves. The dates that Russell presented, however, were not based on any calculations of the Great Pyramid, but rather they are based on prophecies and parallels obtained from the Bible.
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*http://www.heraldmag.org/04jf_10.htm
http://www.biblestudents.com/greatpyramid.cfm
The author then quotes a source describing occultic interest in the Great Pyramid, and likens it to Russell's use of the Great Pyramid for "calendric purposes". So are the sun, moon and stars used for calendric purposes; yet they are also misused by pagan occultists. (Maybe the Bible itself should be discarded since it could be implicated in occultism for suggesting the usage of the sun and moon for calendric purposes?) The moon, for instance, is still God's work, regardless of who might worship the moon, or misuse the moon in heathen occultic practices. -- Genesis 1:14; Psalm 8:3; 104:19,20; 136:9.
The author then says that Russell "came up with his 1914 date (previousely [sic] 1874 in earlier eds. of the same book)." This implies that Brother Russell came up with the 1914 in his later editions and knew nothing about 1914 before this change. Further it implies that Russell did not hold to the 1874 date after the change in 1904. This is not true. Russell did not discard the date 1874, for he believed in this date until he died, as do thousands of Bible Students* all over the world to this day. Nor did Russell come up with the date 1914 as a result of this change in the 1905 and later editions of Thy Kingdom Come, as the date is mentioned quite a few times in his earlier editions.
*http://www.heraldmag.org/03nd_5.htm
Then the Watchtower of 1928 is quoted, which claims that Satan is the one who had the Great Pyramid built, and "Satan put his knowledge in dead stone, which may be called Satans' Bible, and not God's stone witness." (Watchtower, November 15, 1928, page 344)
In response to this, I will quote Morton Edgar, in his response to the Watchtower's statement:
As for the "burden" of proof, this is undoubtedly upon those devotees who claim Satan as the designer and master- builder of the Pyramid. They have taken this burden upon themselves, to teach the children of the heavenly Father that Satan not only knew the secrets of the Scriptural plan of salvation, and all the time- prophecies and general times and seasons connected with this plan, but that he, the "prince of darkness," possessed the wisdom and foreknowledge necessary to incorporate them in a stone building, and hide them there for four thousand years.
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http://tinyurl.com/4zkpl
A link is given to:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2919/chart.html
with a statement that this is Russell's "pyramid chart". This is actually the "Chart of the Ages". It does use pyramids, as pyramids were and still are often used in charts to illustrate various things. There was a "Pyramid Chart" -- perhaps several -- that are actually concerning the Great Pyramid -- that were in use in those days, although I don't know if any of them were produced by Russell.
http://www.godsplan-today.com/PyrPassEng.htm
Christian love,
Ronald
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