Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-06-17

GaaIo@hgeseL9 lated to make the
hearers sit up and take notice. We
REPORT one Of these d~iscourses from
a text we never before heard treated
and did not even know was in the Bl-
BILE [Acts ii, 81: For David is not
assembled into the heavens"
The Old Testament Scriptures we ac-
cept as of equal authority with the
New Testament, said Pastor Russell,
because Jesus and the Apostles so ac-
i cepted them. and indeed based all Of
their teachings upon them. The false
impression which has gone abroad
amongst Christian people, that the Old
Testament Scriptures are obsolete,
that their predictions have all been
fulfilled, is very erroneous. This has
greatly hindered Bible study, and has
paved the way to grievous errors. 1t
should be remembered that the Old
Testament represents the only Divine
revelation made to man during the
4158 years from the creation to the
time when Jesus at His baptism was
hDfoclaimed 1.-THE Lamb of God which
ltdketh away the sin of the world"
In all the Old Testament, from Cen
esis to Malachi, not a single suggestion
is offered Of a change of nature from
human to spiritual, nor of any other
heaven than that which God had orig
inally provided foF mantle Garden
of Eden. The hopes inspired in Israel
by the Divine promises pointed them
forward to the time when Gods bless
ing would obliterate the curse of sin
and death and uplift mankind from
present degradation, back to the orig
inal perfection. The Seed Of the wo-
man, it was promised, should ulti-
mately "crush the Serpent's head" de-
stroying the evil that is in the world,
and establishing a reign Of righteous
ness instead of the reign of sin and
death. Messiah, as Emmanuel, would
bring these great blessings to Israel;
and, through Israel, they would be
spread amongst all nations by Divine
power. Paradise, lost through disobe-
dience, will be restored through Mes
siah.
Instead of expecting a change of ma
ture from human to spiritual, the
teachings of the Old Testament led
he Israelites to expect that God
ould make no change from His orig
1nal purpose. lie made not the earth
to be destroyed by fire nor to be per-
petually under the cloud of sin and
death Ecclesiastes |, -. He formed
it to be inhabited by a human race, in
His own image and likeness, Adam in
his original purity being Il sample.
DaVid's Soul In He'll.
As the Old Testament tells nothing
about a heavenly condition, likewise it
tells nothing about a hell of fire or
torment. Such devilish theories were
Invented by the heather, from whom
emany Christians have since absorbed
more or less of the false doctrines.
Tlhe Law and the Prophets do refer to
hhH some sixty-slX times, but the hell
Which they teach is the grave, the
ytomb. the state Of death. From first
to last all mankind, both good and
bad, 80 to hell, sheOl, the tomb. Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob and all the
Prophets died without giving the
slightest intimation of Purgatorial
suffering for anybody, or a hell Of
eternal torture.
The writers of the New Testament
were also Jews, and it might here be
noted that nowhere did they describe
he He'll and Purgatory which we
: Protestants and Catholics conjured up
during the Dark Ages. The New Tes-
lament, written in Greek, is in full ac-
cord with the Old Testament, written
lin Hebrew-the SheOl of the latter is
THE hGdes of the former. Unfortunately
bur translators have, in the English
Bible, mixed things up in a terrible
fashion, giving us hell and pit and
grave as synonymous interpretations
lof Sheol and hddeS. Orthodoxy made
hell fiery and thus our eyes of under
standing have been darkened through
the Vaccinations of our great .Ad
Sersary, the Prince of darkness"
But all this demoniacal mi~srepresen-
tation of the Divine character and
Plan is soon to be scattered. The
morning is at hand; the Prince of light,
the Savior, Messiah and His glorious
Church, will soon shine forth as the
Sun in the Kingdom of the Father,
while Satan will be bound for that
Thousand years that he may deceive
the people no more. "Then all the
blind eyes shall be opened and all the
deaf ears shall be u%nstopped;" and "the
knowledge Of the glory of the Lord
shall I'll tho whole EARTH" and "to
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