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July 31st, 1918.
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Pastor Russell.
Let me say a word, as I have been with you today as you read the
book of which I was the writer. I see that you are aware of the
erroneous interpretations of the testament that it contains, of
the false constructions that are drawn from the quotations of the
Bible, and also that you feel that a great injury is being done
to those who read and believe in my teachings. Well, I realize the
falsity of my teachings and the wrong and injury that are being
wrought among those who have been followers of me; and how great
will be their surprise when death comes to them, for what I said
was impossible they will find to be true - that they are more alive
than they ever were while living in the flesh.
This I have realized, to my great surprise and suffering. When
I was about to leave the flesh, and for long years before, I believed
that when I died I would go into the literal grave and would thereafter
be in a state of oblivion, knowing nothing until the day of the
first resurrection, when I and all those who believed that we were
of the little flock would be called into the presence of Jesus and
there become his coworkers and co-judges of men during the millennium,
when the rest of the world would be tried and finally judged to
either a life of happiness, as men restored to the condition of
Adam before the fall, or to total annihilation.
But as I passed from the body, I found that I had a spiritual body
in which was contained all the faculties of mind and appetites of
the flesh that were a part of me when on earth; and also, the memories
of all that I had thought, and taught, when trying to lead my followers
into the truth, as I supposed. I was more alive than ever before,
and conscience soon began to do its work of reproval and bring to
me remorse and regret for the great harm that I had done to many
of my fellow men by reason of my teaching a faith that is wholly
untrue, and destructive to the soul's salvation. The soul! Ah, this
is the thing that I blasphemed against, for I taught that there
was no such thing or entity as the soul after the separation of
the body and life; that it then ceased to have an existence, and
would never again come into existence until the first resurrection,
which would be the first awakening of the little flock to a consciousness
of its existence.
To me the will was the great thing, and while that never ceased
to exist, yet it lay in a dormant state and was as dead, knowing
nothing. How vitally misleading was this teaching - and how my followers
will find themselves deceived, and will suffer from the want of
knowledge of the fact that the soul is the man and is susceptible
to progressing in the knowledge of the truths of God while on earth,
as well as after it becomes an inhabitant of the spirit world. I
have had a tragic awakening, with all the consequences of a tragedy
in which I was one of the important actors, and the principal cause
of the results of the tragedy.
I know what death means, and what life means, for I died merely
to live, and to live a life in which at this time is much suffering
and regret, accompanied by the knowledge that I have before me a
work greater than I can perform in many long years in the future.
I must now try to undo what I for so many years did, to the injury
of those who believed in me; and when I realize that there is hardly
a way, until these followers of mine become spirits like myself,
in which I can do this work, my suffering becomes almost unbearable.
Only through the medium of the mortal can I reach these people,
and because of my teachings they will not believe what I may attempt
to communicate through a mortal medium (which medium I wrote against
and reviled, and alleged that they were only creatures used by the
devil and his minions to deceive mankind).
If I had only known the truth, and thereby abstained from preaching
untruth in this particular, how different my lot would now be. But
I believed what I taught, and taught what I believed. It was all
a lie, and though I believed it, yet that fact does not lessen my
regrets, for I see with the clearness of the spirit that my thoughts
and teachings are believed by many of my followers because I taught
them; and consequently they will suffer from their beliefs; and
the fact that I believed these erroneous things and taught in good
faith will not, in one iota, save them from the darkness and sufferings
which will certainly become theirs.
Unfortunate is the man who believes spiritual untruths; but accursed
is the man who teaches them, and thus deceives those who are earnestly
seeking for the truth. I would like to write more tonight in reference
to this matter and my condition, and the heavy burden which I am
now bearing, but your wife says I must not write more now as you
are not in condition to be further drawn on. So, thanking you, and
having the hope that at some time in the near future I may again
communicate with you, I will say good night.
Your friend,
Pastor Russell
Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31,
1916), or Pastor Russell, was a prominent early 20th century Christian
restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and
founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement,
from which Jehovah's Witnesses and numerous independent Bible Student
groups emerged after his death.
Beginning in July, 1879 he began publishing a monthly religious
journal, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence. The
journal is now published by Jehovah's Witnesses on a semi-monthly
basis under the name, The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.
In 1881 he co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society and in 1884
the corporation was officially registered, with Russell as president.
Russell wrote many articles, books, tracts, pamphlets and sermons,
totaling approximately 50,000 printed pages. From 1886 to 1904,
he published a six-volume Bible study series originally entitled
Millennial Dawn, later renamed Studies in the Scriptures, nearly
20 million copies of which were printed and distributed around the
world in several languages during his lifetime. (A seventh volume
was commissioned by his successor as society president, Joseph Rutherford,
and published in 1917.) The Watch Tower Society officially states
that it ceased publication of Russell's writings in 1927, though
his books continue to be published by several independent groups. Source: Wikipedia
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