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Be blessed.

In my continuing search for the truth I have benefited greatly from volumes that were freely given to me by some devout believers that I became acquainted with while witnessing via the CB radio around 1983. I accepted them with open mind and was truly blessed. The writings are available on disk for PC. The International Bible Students produced the disk. It is Version 2...
I would be more than happy to send a copy of the disk (free of charge) to any that may request it.
I offer this as study help and not as a replacement for the Bible. I can only add that it took the efforts of many faithful servants and many years to compile these works. I am certain this disk will enrich your knowledge at whatever level you may be.
If interested let me know.

Num 6:24 'Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Num 6:25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, And be gracious to you.
Num 6:26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you, And give you peace.'
Num 6:27 "So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them."

According to several web sites International Bible Students are affiliated with the Jehovah's Witnesses. So the Bible studies are not those of evangelical Christian theology. Evangelical Christians consider Jehovah's Witness doctrine to be an aberration from Scriptural teaching.

This is a common misconception...Charles Russell was never associated with JW's...nor are the Bible Students. It was only after Pastor Russell's death that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses used Russell's teachings for there own ends.

Be Blessed

one_called,
Mr. Rich is actually the JFJ resident theologian. Mr. Rich is pretty studied, so think about what you're saying to whom.

I too am well studied...I say this with all humility. I have no title [theologian]but I say again...
Russell was NOT a part of JW organization nor are the Bible Students.

Techniquely this is true One called but the man still had numerous questionable doctrines and practices. Calvin and Arminias can be accused of the same. And while all of these men may have had contibuted doctrinally to the church we still need to investigate the foundation of their thinking and why it may have been regarded heretical. Consider his early beginnings as a false prophet. Then consider the "miracle wheat scandle". We really need to take into consideration this mans adjenda before considering his take on doctrine. Confused by what was perceived to be an error in calculation, Russell re-examined the doctrine to see if he could determine that it had Biblical origins, or if it was, in his view, simply Christian tradition. His conclusion that it is tradition led him to begin teaching, through the pages of the Herald, what he believed to have discovered on the subject. Barbour, however, highly embarrassed by the failure of their expectations, rejected Russell's explanation, and a debate ensued in each monthly issue of the journal from the Spring of 1878 through to the Summer of 1879. In a matter of months Barbour's embarrassment led to a recanting of some of the views he and Russell had previously shared, including any reliance upon prophetic chronology. As their disagreements turned into a debate over Christ's ransom, a split between them resulted. Russell removed his financial support, and started his own journal, entitled "Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence," with the first issue July, 1879, while Barbour formed "The Church of the Strangers" that same year, continuing to publish the "Herald of the Morning."
In 1881 Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was founded for the purpose of disseminating tracts, papers, doctrinal treatises and Bibles. All materials were printed and bound by contract with local printers, then distributed by 'colporteurs'. The Society was officially chartered in 1884. From this point Russell's ministry intensified. His Bible study group had grown to hundreds of local members, with followers throughout New England, the Virginias, Ohio, and elsewhere, who annually elected him "Pastor". Other congregations that eventually formed in other nations also followed this tradition.
In 1903, newspapers began publishing his written sermons. These newspaper sermons were syndicated worldwide, eventually reaching an estimated readership of twelve to fifteen million in the United States. Through the syndicated sermons, and advertising efforts made by the newspaper syndicators, Pastor Russell's face became one of the most recognizable images in the world. Russell, however, had many critics, and was labeled a heretic, amongst other things. As he became more prominent the number of critics increased.
In January 1917 Joseph Franklin Rutherford was successfully elected second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society despite a series of disputes over the election process. Further disputes arose over interpretation of sections in Russell's Last Will & Testament dealing with the future contents of Zion's Watch Tower magazine, as well as who, if any, had authority to print new literature. Nearly three-quarters of the congregations chose not to accept Rutherford's increasing number of changes in doctrine, openly published in the pages of the Watchtower magazine, as early as 1918. For many Bible Students, Rutherford's rejection of the Great Pyramid in November, 1928, and Russell's role in restoration of the truth in February, 1927, was considered the last straw. Those remaining supportive, however, eventually adopted the new name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931, and changed the name of the Society from Watch Tower to Watchtower. As their numbers began to grow, Rutherford sought to change the organizational structure of the Watchtower Society, shifting the long-held independence of the congregations, to a more centralized role, where elders began to be chosen by the Society, instead of by the local congregations. Many of those Bible Students who had ceased association with the changing Watchtower Society attempted to regroup in 1929 with the First Annual Bible Students Convention held in the old Pittsburgh "Bible House" long used by Pastor Russell. These conventions were held yearly, but the process of regathering took nearly twenty years.
Following his analytical examination of the Bible, Pastor Russell, and other Bible Students, came to believe that Christian creeds and traditions were harmful errors, believing they had restored Christianity to the purity held in the first century. Such views and conclusions were viewed as heresy by many Church leaders and scholars in his day, although adopting some of his views in later decades. Pastor Russell agreed with other Protestants on the primacy of the Bible, and justification by faith alone, but thought that errors had been introduced in interpretation. Pastor Russell agreed with many 19th century Protestants, including Millerites, in the concept of a Great Apostasy that began in the first century AD. He also agreed with many other contemporary Protestants in belief in the imminent Second Coming of Christ, and Armageddon. Some of the areas in which his Scriptural interpretations differed from those of Catholics, and many Protestants, included the following:
• Russell disputed the concept of a burning Hell. He maintained that there was a heavenly resurrection of 144,000 righteous, as well as a "great multitude", but believed that the remainder of mankind slept in death, awaiting an earthly resurrection.
• He did not accept the concept of the Trinity as usually presented. Russell believed in the divinity of Christ, but differed from orthodoxy by teaching Jesus had received that divinity as a gift from the Father, after dying on the cross. He also taught that the holy Spirit is not a person, but the manifestation of God's power.
• Russell calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date. He predicted that a period known as the "gentile times" would end in 1914 and that Christ would take power of earth's affairs at that time. He interpreted the outbreak of World War I as the beginning of Armageddon, which he viewed to be both a gradual deterioration of civilized society, and a climactic multi-national attack on a restored Israel accompanied by worldwide anarchy.
• He rejected the common chronology of the Bible, published by Bishop Usher, and used a direct approach, and deductive reasoning, to calculate the 6,000 years from Adam. Correlating it with prophetic interpretations, the year 1874 was seen to be prophetically and chronologically significant, and seen as the date of the invisible return of Christ.
• Russell backed up some calculations using pyramidology. Following the view first taught by Christian writers, such as John Taylor, Charles Piazzi Smyth and Joseph Seiss, he believed the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by the Hebrews (associated to the Hyksos) under God’s direction, to be understood only in our day. He adopted and used the English phrase, referring to it as "the Bible in stone". Based upon certain biblical texts, such as Isaiah 19:19,20, and others, the various ascending and descending passages were viewed as representing the fall of man, the provision of the Mosaic Law, the death of Christ, and the exultation of the saints in heaven. Calculations were made using the pattern of an inch per year. Dates such as 1874, 1914, and 1948 were purported to have been found through the study of this monument. A detailed review of his thoughts can be found in the appendix of "Thy Kingdom Come".
• Russell was one of the earliest of Christian preachers to promote what was later termed Zionism. Borrowing an idea promoted by Nelson Barbour, he taught as early as 1879 that God's favor had been restored to Jews as the result of a prophetic "double" which ended in 1878. (favor from Jacob to Jesus, then disfavor from Jesus to 1878) In 1910 he conducted a meeting at New York's famous Hippodrome Theatre, with thousands of Jews attending. Jews and Christians alike were shocked by his teaching that Jews should not convert to Christianity. Russell believed that the land of Palestine belonged to the Jewish race, God was now calling them back to their land, and that they would be the center of earthly leadership under God's Kingdom. Early in Russell's ministry he believed Jews would flock to Palestine and form their own nation by 1910, but this did not occur. Shortly before his death, he utilized the Jewish press to stress that 1914 prophetically marked the time when all Jews should flock to Palestine, and boldly reclaim the land. {copied from wikipedia}.