Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1913 — BATTERING DOWN THE WALLS OF HELL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BATTERING DOWN THE WALLS OF HELL

But Not the Bible Hell, Soys Pastor Russell

Jesus Promises to Destroy the Bibio Hell —Why the Superstitious View of Holl Should Be Battered by All Lovers of Truth—The Bad Effoota of the Error*—Faith In True Qod le Vanishing Because of This Colossal Error* Thia "Doctrine of Demons” Invention—Not Learning, but Ignorance* Opposes Work of Destroying Error.

Kan sab City, Mo., June L—Pastor Russell here today addressed large audiences of Bible Students. We report one of bls discourses. In this he declares the hell of toe Bible a totally different one from the hell of toe Dark Ages, which, be said, still casts a

gloom over the masses and hinders a proper appreciation of the Divine character re Love and Justice. He took a combination text: O Sheol [hell], I will be thy destruction!” (Hosea 18:14.) “O Hades [hell], where Is thy victory F —1 Corinthians 15:65.

My text, said the Pastor, teaches that Jesus will destroy the hell of the Bible—the state of death. He will do this by delivering all mankind from death by the resurrection. Thus ultimately He will gain His great victory over sin and death, and deliver humanity from their power. No one but Jesus can do this. Hence we must wait for the appointed time—the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. Meantime, it is ours to batter down the hell of torment which for centuries has troubled God’s saints, and turned the hearts of many from their Creator. The Pastor dealt some vigorous blows at the doctrine he condemned. They were not blows of anger nor of sentiment, but of logic and of Scripture. His opponents are comparatively few, he said, and of two classes: Some are good and honest, but Ignorant Others, thoroughly informed, no more believe In a hell of torture than does the Pastor, but dodge the question and give the impression that they believe it so as to hoodwink the people, and keep them in darkness on a subject of most vital Importance to human happiness now and throughout eternity. The masses of Christian ministers are educated. Preachers In general know well that the Bible does not teach a hell of torture—that the words Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus do not signify a place of torture, where all except the saintly will eternally suffer. These ministers do not come forth into the open with me to battle the error, presumably because they do not realise, with us, that this terrible blasphemy against the Divine character lies at the bottom of nearly all the godlessness and the growing unbelief tn the Divine Word how prevalent To me it is evident, said the Pastor, that reverence toward God and faith tn the Bible cannot be restored until this great Moloch of false teaching be demolished. This explains my seal In exposing the errors of the past, and for toe revealment of the truth on the subject of future punishment

The Pastor did not on this occasion attempt explanations of the three or four parables, which, by mistranslations, misunderstandings and interpolations, have been made to support the God-dtehonoring doctrine that eternal torture is the wages of sin, in contradiction of the Bible statement, "The wages of sin is death.” He contented himself with reminding his hearers that he had already preached on the parable of “The Rich Man and Lasarus,” of “The Sheep and the Goats," and the Lord’s statement, "Where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched;" and from Ebe Revelation, about the devil, the beast and the false prophet being cast into torment To those Who have neither beard nor read his sermons on these subjects, he offered to send his views in printed for*, free upon postcard application.

The God of All Graoo. The God of the Bible, said the Pastor, is such a one as every human heart needs and craves. He to a God of sympathy and love, respecting whom it Is declared that Ho looked down from His holy habitation and beheld, and heard the groaning of the prisoners. (Psalm 102:19, 20.) **Tben His own Arm brought salvation." (Isaiah GBJJ.) The groaning of the prto oners was not in some far-away furnace, but here on earth—in every home. Our race groans because we are stoves of sin, and sin to paying us the prescribed penalty—death. Jesus’ work at the First Advent was only preparatory. His death was necessary as the corresponding price for the sin of Adam. Only by paying that penalty could He obtain the right to destroy the prison-house of death and deliver the prisoners by a resurrection from the dead. His work was satisfactory. He ascended to the right hand of God. where He awaits the hour when He shall take His great power and reign. Then the light of the knowledge of God shall till the earth. All will have fullest opportunity for return to God, and only the willingly disobedient will die the Second Death. Wto— ■■«■■■** to ■ ' vaM >r > **■*“

PASTOR RUSSELL