The Present Truth

What about this quote?

I have always been told Russell never actually claimed to be the "Faithful and wise" Slave...I would be interested in your views on this. Thanks....

"Russell (1st JW President) said: These truths I present as God's mouthpiece. I
admit to being the 'faithful and wise servant' foretold in Matthew 24."
(Watchtower 7/15/06, p.229, Watchtower 12/1/16.)


Dear friend,

Peace to you and yours.

Thanks for the inquiry. It is true that Brother Russell felt himself being especially used of the Lord to bring Harvest truth's into focus at a special due time. He did use the words "God's mouthpiece" to describe his work. However that being said, he also urged equally upon ALL who follow Christ to be "God's mouthpieces", as he often said, the term derived directly from the Apostle Peter who said:

1Pe 4:11 If any man speak, [let him speak] as the oracles of God

I would like to present a small portion of the actual article in which the words appeared, so you can see some of the TRUE spirit of the man who is so unjustly attacked for so little. How convenient it is for the unjust critics of Russell to simply omit all the true sense of his message, to siphon off 99 and nine tenths of the words of his articles, blow up a small phrase and shout "Aha! Dismiss all!" Yet for a man who wrote well over 50,000 pages, the "evidence" they think to find against him is so appaulingly small, that they must resort to PURE INVENTION most of the time, and attribute quotes to him such as the second one you cited, which if you will note the date, occured after Charles Russell had been laid to rest. A thorough search of the original Watchtower publications fails to reveal ANY such quote.

The quote was put together in a manner to make it all appear as one quote, and yet half of it is something he never said in any publication anywhere. These attempts to disparage the man through lies and subterfuge is is just one of the myriad reasons why we KNOW we have "The Truth" and are not dissuaded from it.

That being said, I am personally convinced that Pastor Charles Taze Russell is indeed "That Servant" spoken of in Matthew 24:46.

"Many are the inquiries relative to the truths presented in MILLENNIAL DAWN and ZION'S WATCH TOWER, as to whence they came and how they developed to their present symmetrical and beautiful proportions--Were they the results of visions? Did God in any supernatural way grant the solution of these hitherto mysteries of his plan? Are the writers more than ordinary beings? Do they claim any supernatural wisdom or power? or how comes this revelation of God's truth? No, dear friends, I claim nothing of superiority, nor supernatural power, dignity or authority; nor do I aspire to exalt myself in the estimation of my brethren of the household of faith, except in the sense that the Master urged it, saying, "Let him who would be great among you be your servant." (Matt. 20:27.) And my position among men of the world and of the nominal church is certainly far from exalted, being "everywhere spoken against." I am fully contented, however, to wait for exaltation until the Lord's due time. (I Pet. 5:6.) In the Apostle's words I therefore answer, "Why look ye upon us, as though by our own power we had done these things? We also are men of like passions with yourselves"--of like infirmities and frailties, earnestly striving, by overcoming many besetments, discouragements, etc., to press along the line toward the mark of the prize of our high calling, and claiming only, as a faithful student of the Word of God, to be an index finger, as I have previously expressed it, to help you to trace for yourselves, on the sacred page, the wonderful plan of God--no less wonderful to me, I assure you, than to you, dearly beloved sharers of my faith and joy. No, the truths I present, as God's mouthpiece, were not revealed in visions or dreams, nor by God's audible voice, nor all at once, but gradually, especially since 1870, and particularly since 1880. Neither is this clear unfolding of truth due to any human ingenuity or acuteness of perception, but to the simple fact that God's due time has come; and if I did not speak, and no other agent could be found, the very stones would cry out."

Charles Taze Russell

Another oft repeated attack against Russell, taken from an actual message forum discussion, is as follows:

"The watchtower outright stated that Russels 6 book series, "Studies in the scriptures" is a creed equal to the Bible."

"September 15, 1910

We find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself. We see also that if anyone lays aside the “Scripture Studies”, even after be has read them for ten years-if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the “Scripture Studies” and had not read a page of the Bible, he would be in the light."

In fact, the entire message of the article is that the Bible is the pre-eminent source, and anything found in Scripture Studies must be proven with the Word of God as the final arbiter. Now most of Russell's unjust critics have never bothered to read the entire article, or even know what it is about. Instead they have read books about Russell, by people who make money by axe grinding.

Just as the spirit of the article is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what has been taken out of context, so is the character of the man the exact opposite of the way he is portrayed by his unjust critics. Only an evil heart could find evil in such a man. He wrote over 50,000 pages, travelled millions of miles, gave 30,000 talks, but the critics can only take a tiny bit of his 42 years of writings completely out of context to make something, ANYTHING appear to support their erroneous view.

Certainly Brother Russell spoke from experience here, seeing some go into the darkness of atheism. The unjust critics of Russell, in their zeal to advertise their little slanders, don't realize that the VERY SAME ARTICLE also says the following:

"The six volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES are not intended to supplant the Bible."

"there is no desire to build any doctrine or thought on any individual preference or on any individual wisdom, but to present the entire matter on the lines of the Word of God."

"before we would accept anything as being our own personal faith and conviction, we should say, "I will not take it because these studies say so; I wish to see what the Bible says."

"we would think it our duty to refer at once to the Scriptures, because the Scriptures are the standard, and in that reference to the Scripture it would be with a view to discerning whether or not we had been mistaken in our previous examinations."

"SCRIPTURE STUDIES" NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE BIBLE - [the chapter heading title!]

"This is not, therefore, putting the SCRIPTURE STUDIES as a substitute for the Bible, because so far as substituting for the Bible, the STUDIES, on the contrary, continually refer to the Bible; and if one has any doubt as to a reference or if one's recollection should lapse in any degree, one should refresh his memory, and, in fact, should see that his every thought is in harmony with the Bible --not merely in accord with the SCRIPTURE STUDIES, but in accord with the Bible."

Would that the unjust critics of Russell would learn to look before they leap! Sadly, many will only repeat the original slander even after being shown these quotes that contradict their attacks.

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