Summary of Message for the Last Days

The policy and purpose of this website shall be to publish boldly and fearlessly the Gospel Truth, both as it relates to the children of God now, and as it concerns the outworking of the Divine Plan in the blessing of all the families of the earth in the approaching Millennial Age.  Indeed, as we realize we are on the threshold of the inauguration of the Kingdom, it is recognized that the prophetic words are now applicable to the faithful watcher, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that said to Zion, Your God reigns!” (Isa. 52:7) In other words, it is not a new message or a new revelation of Truth that we would undertake to spread, but a continuation of the message we have commonly called “Present Truth” as it relates to the end of this Age, and as it concerns the last features of the time of trouble, closing the present evil world. Some have termed this additional knowledge given to God’s people at this time as “light for the last days.” It is termed “dispensational truth” in that it relates to the revealing of important information peculiar to this time when certain signal dispensational changes are now in progress.

For many years past, faithful disciples of Christ have been engaged in the proclamation of this message of Present Truth and witnessing to the fulfillment of the “more sure word of prophecy” which has long ago foretold the march of events as they are now in evidence on every hand. Outstanding among these, and above all others of his time, has been Pastor Russell; who, during a period of more than forty years, ceaselessly and with untiring zeal proclaimed this message of the last times, which he frequently termed the message of the Harvest time. The various features of this message may be summed up as follows:

1. That man originally was created upright and perfect; and, because of disobedience, came under the condemnation of death; that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord”; that consequently man’s hope of a future life lies in the promised resurrection of the dead, based on the fact that “Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man,” “a Ransom for all,” to be testified to all “in due time.”

1. That the chief objective during this dispensation has been the selection of a special class, ultimately to be known as “the called, chosen and faithful,” concerning which the Apostle Paul introduces what he terms the mystery hidden from ages and generations but now made manifest to His saints, which is Christ in you the hope of glory; and that in the light of the Levitical offerings this class, justified through His blood, by the imputation of His merit, and as members of His sacrificial body are seen, in the great accounting of God, to have a part in the Sin-Offering of this antitypical Atonement day – the Gospel Age.

1. That the long promised covenant for the blessing and uplift of the human family, designated the “New Covenant” is not sealed and cannot go into effect or be inaugurated until all the sacrificing of this Gospel Age is complete; until the last member of the Body of Christ has finished his sacrificial experience in death.

1. That this New Covenant or arrangement, by which God has designed to bring about the reconciliation of all the willing and obedient of the human race will be inaugurated soon after the completion of the Church who, together with Christ their head, will constitute the world’s great High Priest and Mediator between God and man, through whom the blessings of restitution will be dispensed.

1. That we are now living in the last days of the Second Presence of the Son of man; that His long promised Second Advent is an accomplished fact.

1. That a special ministry among the Lord’s people, known as the Harvest Work, has been the logical sequence of His Presence; a work in which there has been the process of shaking and sifting and testing among the professing people of God, out of which there would come, as a result, a purified and prepared people whom the Master would assemble as body members to share those high and distinguished honors of the Kingdom of God.

1. That contemporary with this Harvest Work and the preparation of the “last members” there has been the progress of the First Resurrection – the awakening of all those who, throughout the Age and up to the time of His Second Presence have fallen asleep; and further that those who are “alive and remain,” as one by one they finish their course in death during the time of the Harvest gathering, are united to those who have preceded them.

The doctrinal truths outlines above were not in any uncertain manner proclaimed by Pastor Russell, but rather with great positiveness and decision; particularly in the last seven years of his life were such truths as those relating to the Sin-Offering and the Covenants given great prominence, and to them was attached much importance. Which these various considerations that come under the classification of Present Truth were not made tests of Christian fellowship by Pastor Russell, yet he did without doubt believe that the measure of discernment and heart appreciation of this message of Present Truth, was an index of one’s progress and maturity in spiritual life and wisdom. And especially did Pastor Russell attach much importance to the recognition and acceptance of these doctrinal truths on the part of all those whom he recommended to the Church as elders and Teachers in a representative capacity.

It is our hope that loyalty to God and to Christ, and loyalty to the Truth shall be the keynote of this site. While the Spirit of the Lord in His children will always strive to follow peace with all, and pursue harmony and unity with the brethren, yet none of these considerations must be allowed to claim first place; and under no circumstances shall principle; or truth, or important doctrines be compromised. NEVER! Such procedures is directly in violation of the example of Christ and the Apostles who placed principle and truth and the will of God first at all costs; as they well knew that the truth in the consecrated heart was the power of God unto sanctification.

Therefore, the Truth, “Present Truth,” whether rejected and branded “controversial,” or as  “matters of interpretation,” or what not by others, is going to find free course on this site; and in no case shall it be suppressed or compromised for the sake of outward unity and peace. Finally, we trust to follow the Apostle’s example, and therefore, shall not shun to declare as far as possible “the whole counsel of God.”