An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 9 - Prophetic Truth - Page 130 of 223
INDEX
days.  These prophecies have been considered in measure, in the articles Last
Days2,8, but a summary may be of service here.
1 Timothy 4:1 -3 shows the evil in germ and somewhat disguised; 2
Timothy 3:1 -7 and 4:1 -4 shows it at the end, with the mask removed.  The
way is prepared by a departure from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1), for which the
members of the Mystery must be held in measure responsible.  Throughout this
first epistle Paul is urging Timothy to be awake to this 'departure'.  'That
they teach no other doctrine', 'give no heed to fables', 'hold the faith and
a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made
shipwreck'.  The attitude of bishops, deacons, servants, elders and widows to
the truth and its relationships is noted as contributory factors.  Doctrine
is or should be 'according to godliness', but danger springs from 'perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing
that gain is godliness'.
Behind all this leavening of the wholemeal of truth, are 'seducing
spirits, and doctrines of demons (not devils), speaking lies in hypocrisy ...
forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats ...'.  Here we have
a specious piety inculcated by the deceiving teachers.  In 2 Timothy 3 the
mask of piety is cast aside, and a paganism, almost identical with that
described in Romans 1:26 -32, will be in the ascendant.  The only bulwark
allowed to us as the end draws near is that we 'preach the Word' and 'love
His appearing'.  While it cannot but be a matter of grief to find so many
turn away from the revelation of grace and glory that is found in the
epistles of the Mystery, it has already been foreseen.  If we heed the
prophetic utterances of 1 and 2 Timothy, we, being forewarned, will be
forearmed.
We still have the joy of seeing one here, and one there, recognizing
the claims and privileges of this high calling, and realize that the God Who
chose every member of the Body of Christ, will not fail to bring each member
into touch with the truth that makes free, and if any word we write can be
used to that end what privileged people we must be.  For this purpose, this
series of volumes is dedicated.  We entertain no false hopes of a general
acceptance either of the doctrines or the privileges laid down in these
pages, but in the spirit of the poem, which gave Rutherford's attitude to
opposition and apparent waste of time and labour, we also say:
'But if one soul from Anwoth*
Shall meet me on that strand,
My heaven 'll be two heavens,
In Emmanuel's land'.
*
Anwoth, on the Solway, Scotland, where Rutherford was minister.
Prophecy, What Is It?
'A prediction of some contingent circumstance or event in the future
received by immediate and direct revelation' (Vitringa).
'A declaration made by a creature under the inspiration or commission
of the Omniscient God relating to an event or a series of events, which
have not taken place at the time the prophecy is uttered, which could
not have been certainly foreknown by any science or wisdom of man' (Dr.
Pye Smith).