Anent The Janes Will
Attention is here called to the excellent, true and timely article of Cecil B. Douthitt, of Louisville, Kentucky, anent the Last Will and Testament of Don Carlos Janes. His article appears on pages 8, 9 and 10 of this issue. It is not merely a contributed article--the Bible Banner endorses it one hundred percent. Brother Douthitt has lived in Kentucky all of his life, and has lived in Louisville for a decade, and he speaks of these matters not only out of his personal knowledge and experience, but out of the direct information he has obtained from loyal servants of God in Louisville, such as J. F. Kurfees, and others too numerous to mention here. Brethren all over the land who love the Cause of the Lord and who are sick of the sentimentalism of compromise over these matters will appreciate and applaud the Douthitt exposure of the fraud this Louisville millennial fraction has perpetrated on individuals and churches through all these years. Under the cloak of missionary work and in the guise of angels of benevolence they have preyed upon the churches, and with smooth words and fair speech, they have deceived the innocent.
The article by Brother Douthitt furnishes a refreshing contrast with some editorials in other leading papers. The Gospel Advocate published J. N. Armstrong's glowing tribute to the missionary man of this movement and commented that the publication of the article did not mean that they "necessarily" endorsed all of the article. But so far as that statement goes the converse would also not "necessarily" be untrue. They had as well, or even better, said nothing.
The Firm Foundation, while making it plain that they very stoutly opposed the "Boll-Janes-Jorgenson theories"--yet remarked that missionary contributions constitutes a matter between the donors and the Janes Missionary Office, and hence, not to be criticized unless by the donors themselves. Then, since the contributions to a missionary society also constitutes a matter between the donors and the society, a missionary society is not to be criticized except by the members of it or donors to it!
Leaving the premillennial angle out of the matter entirely, we contend that the Janes Missionary Office is as unscriptural as any missionary society ever was, and far more deceptive.
The Firm Foundation further remarked that it is not a matter of surprise that Don Carols Janes should leave the funds of his office to promote after his death the tenets that he had believed through his life. That being true, and knowing that Janes was an ardent believer of Premillennialism, it was the duty of the Firm Foundation to warn the brethren through the years of the "consistent" use the receiver of their missionary funds would be expected to make of them instead of furnishing a medium for deception by publishing their reports. An open forum policy may serve some good purposes but such a policy is being carried far too far when it serves the advantage of men who are promoting errors and fostering heresies and deceiving myriads of innocent men and women in the church. A gospel paper owes something to the church along these lines, and owes nothing to such men.
It is not ours to attempt to regulate the policies of other papers, nor do we have any desire to do so, but it is ours to speak our convictions on this and other weighty matters. In this instance, it is our strong conviction that the papers that have aided these brethren and have not warned the churches against what they have been doing, and are still doing, are derelict in their duty to the churches of Christ and to the cause of the Lord. A great many discriminating brethren are expressing disappointment in what has been said in some of the papers already.
With the Firm Foundation we can also say that it was no surprise at all to us that Don Carlos Janes disposed of the missionary estate in the manner set forth in his will. The difference is, we knew that he would do such a thing, warned the brethren of it constantly and refused to aid and abet his evil work by publishing his reports. Nor do we apologize for it by ill-spoken tributes now. We are not afraid of our ground on this question. And we are not alone. Brethren who know the truth will stand by it. But whether any number of them did or did not--any man who knows the truth ought to stand by it, if he must do so alone, a thing no one will likely have to do long at a time. There will always be the "seven thousand" who have not bowed the knee to Baal. -F. E. W. Jr.