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Box 111, Eugene, 9/13/39
Dear Brethren, of Eugene Church:
For over a year we have looked forward to the FESTIVAL OF
TABERNACLES, as our Camp Meeting time---the BIBLE time for Camp
Meeting.
Now that we are within two weeks of that time, we must
decide at once what we are going to do.
If ever there was a time when we NEED to come together in
this meeting, it is now! The war has started in Europe. Probably
the last world war, to be ended by the return of Christ! If so,
the time of great tribulation is now right upon us---persecution
because we are Sabbath-keepers and do not have the Mark of the
Beast---a time when some of us must face martyrdom---followed by
the terrible plagues of the Day of the Lord!
Of this very time, when the final world war has started,
following the drought and invasion of grasshoppers, bugs and
insects, God solemnly warns us, thru Joel, "Sanctify ye a fast,
call a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY, gather . . . into the HOUSE OF THE LORD
your God, and CRY unto the Lord." (Joel 1:14). Also, "Blow the
trumpet in Zion (alarm of war, in the Church), sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, assemble the elders . . . let the priests, the
ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and
let them say, 'SPARE THY PEOPLE, O LORD!'" (2:15-16).
Surely this war breaking out just before the Feast of
Tabernacles makes it DOUBLY IMPORTANT that we drop everything else
at this time, and gather ourselves together for this eight-day
festival. The instruction, Fenton translation, is: "On the
fifteenth day of the seventh month, after the reaping of the
produce of your land, you shall enjoy the feast of the EVER-LIVING
for seven days, from the first day after the Sabbath (annual
Sabbath), until the eighth day after the Sabbath. You shall then
take for yourselves on the first day handfuls of the finest fruits
from the trees, with the palm, and boughs of the bushes, and
willow, and enjoy yourselves before the EVER-LIVING GOD for seven
days. Thus you shall feast in this Feast to the EVER-LIVING seven
days every year. It shall be a perpetual institution for your
descendants. You shall hold the festival in the seventh month;
living in tents for seven days. All the natives of Israel shall
live in tents, so that your posterity may know that the sons of
Israel dwelt in tents when I brought you out from the land of
Egypt. I am your EVER-LIVING GOD." (Lev. 23:39-43).
The Authorized version translates it "BOOTHS," while Fenton
has "tents." The idea seems to be a temporary dwelling-place,
whether made of canvas or of wood. To live in canvas cloth tents
at this time of year in our climate would be very difficult for
many, and surely a cabin, such as the auto cabins along the
highway, would fit the intended meaning just as well and be much
more convenient for most of us. But regardless of this, one thing
seems CLEAR---this is NOT to be a meeting where the brethren just