The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-06-16

I'll ~ NSSNNS ~
all sleep, but we shall all be changed.n
He quoted Jesus words, "All that are
in the graves shall hear His [Jesus'l
voice and shall come forth"-the faith
full, the sanity, to a resurrection of
Interpretation. honor; the remainder
of mankind unto a resurrection Of trial,
t~esting.--1 Corinthians 1851.
Without the death Of Jesus, said the
Pastor, all of the race would be per-
ished, and only in the re%surrection
have we any ground whatever for be-
lieving in a salvation from death. Only
because Christ died is there an oppor-
tunity for the Church during this Cos
pei Age to respond to a "high calling
to the Divine nature. Likewise only
through the merit of Christ's death
will the world of mankind be saved
from perishing and have an opportu-
nifty during Messiah's Kingdom to be
recovered from sin and death condi-
tons, from ignorance, superstition,
etc.-from the tomb.
Gradually they will be raised up, IN
up, in the image and likeness of God
in the flesh, ultimately to enjoy Him
forever in a worldwide Paradise, from
which will be cut of in the Second
Death all wilful evil-doers, all who pre-
fer sin to righteousness, when the
Truth shall be made clear to them and
when the opportunity will be fully
within their grasp. incidentally, the
Pastor mentioned a gross mistransla-
ton Of the inspired Word In John
500, namely, resurrection OF damna-
ton" The Greek word here, he said,
is kffsis, and has not In 1t the slightest
suggestion Of fire or torture or suffer
Ing. The Revised Version renders this
verse properly ia resurrection OF
judgment"
Only "He That EeIievsth.D
I am not forgetting, said the speak
er, that u text proffers Divine bless
ings only to believers. Neither am I
forgetting that only a few are believ-
ers In the Scriptural sense now. Sta
tistics mention four hundred millions
of Christians; but, as we all know, this
includes practically everybody in Eu-
rope and America, with a few In Asia
and Africa. 1t includes many In pris-
ons and insane asylums, penitentiaries,
etc. And that leaves three times as
many whom we call heather, who have
no knowledge Of Christ whatever
twelve hundred millions. Surely none
Of these are believers In the sense de-
fined by Jesus and the Apostles.
Je.3us implies that IL any one really
behaves His Message, his faith will
tn nsform his whole life-he would see
so great a blessing promised to the
faithful follower OF Jesus that he
would count all other aims and ambi-
tons as loss and dross-and run with
patience the race set before him. Only
these are believers, and they are COM
paratively few. They are a fine COM
pany. They will get the prize, the
pearl of great price," the Kingdom
joint-heirship with the Redeemer In
His glory, honor and Immortality.
But are no others to be blessed? If
not, why did Jesus taste death for az
cry man? Does not that expression
imply that every man will have some
opportunity of pro1ting by Jesus
death? 1t surely doesl Those who
now hear, appreciate, believe. in the
Bible sense, alone will have an oppor-
tunity for sharing the First Regurrec-
ton OF the blessed and holy. But the
remainder, we are assured, will all
come forth from the tomb--to be grant
ed an opportunity then for hearing and
believing and gaining an inferior bless.
Ing. The blessing o lis a spiritual
one only; but the blessing to be offered
under Messiah's Kingdom will be an
earthly one-Restitution, human per-
lection in an earthly Paradise everlast-
ing.
The Bible tells all this, says Pastor
Russell. Tt declares that the god OF
this world, Satan, Is now binding the
minds of all except believers. 1t equal
Nv tells that in Gods due time, during
Messiah's reign. all the blind eyes win
be opened. and all the deaf ears un-
stopped. tTsaiah 35 ~ Then the whole
world viii be granted an opportunity
OF enlightenment respecting the God of
Love, and His wise, just and loving
terms Of reconciliation. and win be-
blessed by the great Mediator Of the
New Covenant. Note how this is x
planned BY the Apostle: God willis To
have all me conae II d knowledge of
The Truth, that they may be saved. TO
this end He has provided that Jesus
shall be the Mediator between Hin-
self and mankind. In harraony with
the Fathers Plan, Jesus Is b select
ing the Church class To be 4 Royal
priestaoods i Hride class, To share with
Him III His kingdom glory and Msaia
torial work FOR the world. III was to
this END fhat He gave Hiusalf d Ram
som for alto be testified Iii dua time.
Timothy 246