My father was a deacon in the Methodist Church, and as such I attended services with him. I listened to the pastor’s sermons but did not get much from them, as they focused mostly on his experiences from the past week and said very little about the Word of God. Around age twelve, I remember reading through the Bible and coming to Matthew’s parable of the wheat and the tares. I remember praying to the Lord that I would be counted as wheat.
Around age sixteen, I dated a girl who attended the Baptist Church and I began going there with her. There, the sermons focused much more on the Word of God, including preaching about Hellfire and brimstone for those who were not Christian. I nearly got baptized in that church, but when the time came, something did not feel right. I sensed some insincerity on the part of those that were to do the baptizing, so I held back.
At age twenty, I was drafted but chose to enlist into the Army, hoping to receive training and avoid being sent to Vietnam. The Army trained me for about a year as a microwave technician but then sent me to Vietnam anyway. After four months there, I was reassigned to Thailand to complete my year of overseas duty because I was not working in the field I had trained for, and President Nixon was reducing the number of troops in Vietnam. While in Thailand, I was introduced to marijuana, though at the time I did not think much of it. When I returned to the States, I entered an early-out program, trading a year of regular duty for service in the National Guard.
After my service, I went to Bell Telephone looking for work because of my training as a microwave technician. They offered a salary of $10,000 a year. But Before entering the Army, however, I had built a lawn service that brought in about $3,000 a month, so I decided to return to that business instead. With the money I earned, I bought a home in Clawson, Michigan. During that time, I also began smoking marijuana and spending time at the local pool hall.
This made me feel that my life was headed downhill, and I did not like where it was going. So, I decided I needed to read the Bible again from beginning to end. When I reached the Book of Revelation, all I could think was, “What is this?” I understood that much of the Bible was historical, with some prophetic history, but Revelation was an entire book of symbolic prophecy about the future. I deeply wanted to understand it. As I read, I noticed repeated patterns: seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven plagues. I sensed there was a connection among them. Since I had several Bibles and computers were not to be had at that time, I cut out pages and taped them together so I could compare the churches, seals, trumpets, and plagues side by side and search for their meaning. I also read Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. It increased my interest, but it did little to help me understand Revelation.
I told a friend from the pool hall that I wanted to understand the Bible better, especially the Book of Revelation. He said he knew someone who seemed to know almost everything about the Bible. When I asked where I could meet him, my friend was not sure, but he mentioned a group that met at the YWCA. I asked if he would go with me, and he agreed, so we went together.
As it turned out, Frank Shallieu was giving a talk there on the Book of Revelation. Afterward, he opened up the meeting for questions. Some in the audience seemed to disagree with parts of what he had said, and the discussion continued for some time. Although they all appeared to understand the subject well, most of it was beyond me at that time. When the meeting ended, I asked how they could speak with such confidence about Revelation and where they had learned so much. They pointed me to what they considered a helpful set of books called the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. They sold me the full set for only $6 and I went home and read the first volume, where I learned that Hellfire and brimstone was not awaiting the unsaved according to the scriptures.
Around that time, my sister told me about a friend of hers who was also deeply interested in the Bible and needed a ride to California. I told him I could take him, but I first wanted to visit my father in Florida. If he was willing to go there before continuing to California, we could travel together. We discussed the Bible throughout the trip, and on the way to California we witnessed to a friend of his in Denver, who had also been in my homeroom class in high school. After our conversation, he decided that he wanted to become a Christian as well and move to California with Mark.
After dropping them off in California, I drove home and reread the first volume of the series I had purchased. This time, it felt as though I had never read it before, because it seemed to answer all the questions that had come up during the trip. I then read through the entire set of volumes, and began attending the meetings at the YWCA, made a consecration to follow the Lord and was baptized in January 1974.
My desire to understand the Book of Revelation never faded; it only grew stronger. I attended many Bible Student conventions and often questioned those who seemed most knowledgeable about Revelation and the Bible, asking about the meaning of its symbols and how they connected with the rest of Scripture and the history it foretold.
It did not take long for me to see that the Bible Students had become a congregation much like many other churches, centered around someone especially knowledgeable in the Scriptures. Such as the Methodists around Westly, or the Lutherans around Luther… One point I do still agree with them on is their belief that Pastor Charles Taze Russell was the seventh messenger to the Church of Laodicea mentioned in Revelation 3:14-22. He wrote the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures and helped bring forth the understanding that the Church has been in a harvest period since 1878, and that the Lord had returned for the harvest and to reestablish the Jewish nation, as suggested in Acts 15:14–18. This understanding was almost unheard of in Russell’s day, yet today it seems to have been fulfilled in a most striking way, with Israel regularly appearing in the news. And yet most churches are still ignorant of what is going on.
I have also come to believe that Russell is the servant the Lord described in Matthew 24:45 and Luke 12:42 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master puts in charge of his household to give them their portion meat at the proper time? 43Blessed is that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 44Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” I understand all his possessions as referring to the church at Laodicea, meaning the Christian church at the end of the Gospel age. Many believe the possessions represent the truth itself, and the understanding given through Russell does surpass much that has been written since. However, this does not mean that knowledge and light concerning Bible truths have not increased since his death in 1916. In fact, the Lord rebukes the seventh stage of the church for assuming that the Pastor was correct on every matter and that no further study was necessary. In this sense, they became rich through the Pastor’s teachings, and many feel they “have need of nothing.” Yet the Lord tells them in Revelation 3:18, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white raiment so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness be not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be earnest and repent.”
Unlike the sixth stage of the church, which received no rebuke because their love of the brethren and studies of the bible moved them beyond Luther’s teachings, the seventh stage appears marked by the “fear of death which makes them subject to bondage,” echoing Hebrews 2:15 the same bondage that binds the tare element in the harvest parable. Many seem hesitant to disagree with Pastor Russell, even when Scripture indicates that some of his teachings may have been mistaken. Yet Russell himself admitted that he did not know everything and encouraged each believer to search, examine, and make the truth their own. He hoped to write a seventh volume on the Book of Revelation but acknowledged that he did not understand it well enough to do so. Since then, many have tried to explain Revelation by relying only on what the Pastor taught. In doing so, they restrict themselves from further understanding by binding themselves to the views of one who openly admitted that he did not fully understand much of the book.
This website is intended for those of the seventh stage of the church who have heard and read the message of Charles Russell, who was sent by the Lord to sound the 7th trumpet. Many who accepted his message have become so devoted to his message that they have concluded the Lord has nothing further to reveal to them. If this is your understanding, this website is not for you. I believe the Lord is seeking those like Elisha in 2 kings 2:9-10 who asked Elijah, “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” In this interpretation, Elijah represents Charles Russell, who like Elijah has now meet the Lord “in the air”, going up in the middle of the Whirl Wind of World War 1. He passed away October 31, 1916, All Saints Day, and was "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Lord is looking to give "crowns of righteousness, to all those who love His appearing." 2Timothy 4:8. So if you have cease to "Love or Long for his appearing" you may likely lose your crown and fall into the great company class. Qualification to run the race is obtained through spirit begettal, but glorification requires more - faithfulness. If one qualifies, they enter the race for the prize of a crown, but if they do not run as if to win, they may lose their opportunity for the prize - only the 144K will receive. Psalm 91:7 "Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, no harm will come near you."
I believe it was around 1977 when I attended the Bible Student General Convention and met Jim Parkinson. He asked whether I knew that the four beasts of Daniel 7 had a combined total of seven heads and ten horns. At the time, I had accepted the common teaching among most brethren that the seven heads of the three beasts in Revelation referred to seven forms of Roman government. Over the following year, I wrestled with that idea and concluded that the two could not be the same, because Revelation 17:10 says of those heads, “five are fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come.”
When I returned to the General Convention the following year, I was prepared to challenge Jim about the idea he had presented. He explained that he had struggled with the same difficulty until he came to see the seventh head was referring to Constantine, who moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople in the region of Thrace—the fourth head of the Grecian empire, which had not yet ruled over Israel in the apostle John’s Day. During the following year, I debated this subject with the brethren I regularly met with. As far as I could tell, I was the only one especially interested in it and willing to reconsider my understanding. I believe it was around 1982 that I wrote an article on the subject calling it the beastly heads and horns of revelation. Over the years that followed a few have changed their viewpoints on the subject. It does not surprise me as I do understand that we are in a race for a prize which is gained only by those who diligently seek after wisdom which is gained by obtaining knowledge and understanding. One must be Called, Chosen and Faithful to win the prize of the high calling.
Around 1985 brother Carl Hagensick asked me to write an article on 1 Chronicles 5:1&2 "Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's". He asked what the passage meant, and what was the difference between the genealogy and the birthright? It took me about a year to examine the many questions this passage raised. Out of it came an article I entitled The Blessing and the Birthright which remains one of my favorite articles.
Around 2006, my wife, encouraged me to write a book on Revelation. When I completed it around 2016, it was about 250 pages long. I titled it Revelation by Jim Schucker and have continued updating it. Since then, it grew to about 350 pages. I have also written a much shorter edition, now about 41 pages, titled Revelation Unredacted. I chose that title because governments often redact significant portions of information before releasing documents to the public. In a similar way, the Bible God's truth is not fully seen from a surface reading only. Revelation 5 illustrates this by portraying the Bible as a book, or scroll, written on both the inside and the back. The back represents what the world generally sees by reading the surface only, While the inside writing represents the hidden meaning the Lord permits only consecrated believers he has chosen to understand—meaning that is often misunderstood by ministers who do not have His spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
As I near the end of my life, I believe the Lord has finally given me a clearer understanding of the animal sacrifices Israel was instructed to act out for us in Leviticus. Many believe Russell understood this early in his ministry, and he came close. But I believe the apostle Paul understood it much more fully. I will leave that for you to decide. I titled the article The Meaning behind Animal Sacrifices.
My Quest to Understand Where we are in the Stream of Time
Charles Russell understood that 1874 was the end of the 1335 days of Daniel 12:12—that it was then the Lord returned for the harvest work due at the end of the age. He understood that the Harvest like Israel's harvest was to be only 40 years long ending in 1914, which would then see the beginning of the destruction of Church-State systems of Christendom the same pattern as Israel's destruction in AD70. History really does repeat itself -- 1845 years apart! Many think he was not correct, because it appears the harvest continues until an appointed time. In fact, history shows that he was correct in part, regarding the end of the Times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) and the destruction of apostate Christianity [the weeds/tares]. No country today has Christianity as a clergy-led state religion. That system has been burning since 1914. Before 1914, however European Christendom had Conquered 84% of the globe. Today, the only remaining true church-state governments are Muslim, and though their decline is not yet, it seems they have hit a wall coming against Israel. Today the Lord is establishing Israel as the leading government of the next age. →Jerusalem← will yet be the capitol of the world. Today the Lord has been teaching Israel Warfare as he stated he would do in Judges 3:2.
Charles Russell had a strong interest in studying the Lord’s appearing. He believed the Lord would be revealed and establish his kingdom soon after 1914. Only his understanding of what was to occur was inaccurate; 1914 did not witness the anticipated appearance of the Lord, but it did see the beginning of the destruction of this world's 'so called' Christian Church-State systems, described as the smiting of the image in Daniel 2:44 and as the seventh plague of Revelation 16:17. Since then, several Bible Students have set dates for his “appearance,” but they too have proved incorrect as the events they were looking for were not scripturally based. As a result, most brethren it seems strongly discourage any form of date-setting for his “appearing”. I believe the lord is still looking for those who continue to look for his appearing even though they get scorned by their brethren for doing so. This is done to "filling up that which remains of the afflictions of Christ" Colossians 1:24. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." This scripture is used by many today as an excuse to not look even for a year regarding his appearing. What most fail to understand is that looking for his appearing causes one to dig into the scriptures and try to understand all of the many time prophesies that are contained in them. And also refer to his appearing.
Before Russell, a movement in the early 1800s looked for the Lord to appear in 1843–1844. It was led by a preacher named William Miller, who based his view on the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14: “It will take 2300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.” Some translations instead say, “the sanctuary will be cleansed.” Many followed the teachings of Miller and were sorely disappointed when the desired expectation did not come to pass. Thereafter those who looked for dates have been much criticized. And yet, Miller’s date of 1843 was not entirely wrong; rather, both he and Russell misunderstood what was to occur on their scripturally prophesied dates.
Daniel 12 describes three prophetic time periods: the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days/years. Identifying their starting point is essential to understanding their meaning. Charles Russell clarified the time frame of these periods, which the Adventist movement of the early 1800s had long tried to determine. He concluded that the counting of (days=years) began in 539, when Justinian reconquered Rome for the empire after its fall in 476 and, in this view, established the Papacy as the head of a religious church state government in Rome. This was understood to fulfill the setting up of the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel and referred to by Jesus. At that point, the Church was told to flee into the wilderness, as also described in Revelation 12:14. These passages are taken to refer to the 1260 years during which the Church remained in the wilderness condition because Papacy suppressed the truth of Scripture—especially concerning the Beast and its Image.
The 1260 years, from (539 to 1799) are understood to be the period when the Papacy suppressed scriptural truth about the Beast and its Image enforcing their suppression of the bible by the sword and by threats of execution. On February 20, 1798, however the French General Louis-Alexandre Berthier (chief of staff to Napoleon Bonaparte) entered Rome and declared the Papal States (the image of the beast) abolished, and arrested Pope Pius VI, who was then taken into exile where He died in captivity in August of 1799 in Valence, France.
In 1805, Napoleon annexed the remaining Papal States →[The Image of the Beast]← ordered the arrest of Pope Pius VII, and had him taken from Rome to Savona, France, where he remained a prisoner until 1814, when Napoleon himself fell. 1799 the end of the 1260 years was the beginning of our Lord’s Judgements against the religious rulers of this world for the crime of suppressing the truth about what the scriptures teach.
The 1290 years, spanning 539 to 1829, are linked in Daniel 12:11 to a period marked by significant religious developments. Historians often view 1829, and the years surrounding it, as a major turning point in the religious life of the English-speaking world. Two key events were the Repeal of the test and Corporation Acts in 1828 and Catholic Emancipation in 1829 These reforms:
Broke the old Anglican‑dominated religious order.
Empowered Dissenters—many of whom were already revival‑minded and prophecy‑focused.
Heightened Protestant–Catholic tensions, which many interpreted through Daniel and Revelation.
Created the social and legal environment in which Adventist, premillennial, and restorationist movements could flourish in the 1830s–1840s.
Parliament abolished the laws that had, since the 1600s, barred Catholics, non-Anglican Protestant Dissenters (Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, etc.) from holding public office or public university faculty positions.
In other words, the religious freedom shockwave of 1828–1829 set the stage for the prophetic ferment that followed. Parliament abolished the laws that had, since the 1600s, barred Protestant Dissenters (Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, etc.) from holding public office. These Acts had required officeholders to take Anglican communion—effectively enforcing Anglican supremacy. These two back‑to‑back reforms radically reshaped the religious and political order of Britain, ending centuries of legal discrimination and opening the door to new religious movements, publishing freedoms, and sparking theological debates. This led the way for William Miller to begin teaching his understanding of the 2300 days/years of Daniel 8:14 “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be properly restored.” Miller was able to look back upon the historic records and calculated the timing of this to begin in 1843-44. This woke up many to the study of prophecy, especially the book of Daniel as is suggested in Revelation 10.
But the failure of Miller's expectation after 1844, caused most of Christendom to fall back asleep as described in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Also: depicted by the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 5:2-16.
It was in September 1822, that Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15: "I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years, – on or before 1843." Miller did not, however, begin his public lecturing until the first Sunday in August 1831.
