Conrad C. Binkele

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Conrad C. Binkele

Conrad C. Binkele (born December 3, 1867 in Mansfield , Massachusetts , † October 29, 1942 in Los Angeles ) headed the activities of the Watchtower Society for Central Europe until 1925 and later became a co-founder of the Free Bible Students in Germany.

Life

Binkele was born in the USA to German parents. His parents were Protestants . He had been a deeply religious person and had a good knowledge of the Bible since his youth. At age 21, he was ordained as Bishop of the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America . Binkele spoke and written in seven foreign languages.

In 1890 he came into contact with Bible Students and after studying the scripture study volume "The Divine Plan of the Ages" he became convinced that he had found the biblical truth. A year later he left the Church and joined the movement, and in the same year he married Hanna Jahrous, four years his junior, who was also a Bible student.

In 1906 he became a full-time preacher and from 1911 a permanent translator in the Bible House (Bethel) of the International Bible Students' Association (IBV), as the Jehovah's Witnesses were called at that time .

Charles Taze Russell , then president of the Watchtower Society , sent Binkele and his wife to Switzerland in early 1915 to oversee the European work in German. In October they had to return to the USA for a few months in order not to lose their “American citizenship”. In 1920, Binkele was hired to shut down the Watchtower Printing House in Geneva, which Alexandre Freytag had previously managed and which was printed in French in the Watchtower literature. As chief representative of the Central European Office of the Watchtower Society in Zurich, Binkele was responsible for all organizational and economic matters.

In 1925 there were theological doctrinal differences with the new Watchtower President Joseph Franklin Rutherford . Thereupon Binkele left the WT Society and moved with his wife to Mulhouse ( Mulhouse in Alsace).

Together with other brothers and sisters in faith, he founded the " Free Bible Students Association " (FBV) in 1928 and published his own magazine "The Pilgrim", since 1940 "The New Creation". In November 1933 the Free Bible Students Association was banned and the publication of its publications was suspended. In Berlin and Hamburg, but also in Bavaria and Alsace, there were major arrests. Binkele and his wife Hanna were able to avoid arrest because they were American citizens. In 1940 the Binkeles returned to the USA.

The Pilgrim was published from 1931 to 1934

In his last letter (dated May 11, 1942) shortly before his death, he wrote:

“I don't want to try to describe to you loved ones what my feelings and my inner struggles have been during the past months of this year (he was in a sanatorium for 6 weeks because of paralysis in both legs and advanced dropsy). No, it would make no sense, it will be weeks before you read this, and so you should only know that I am in good spirits and only find many reasons every day to remember the faithfulness of God and to thank him for his help.
It is only important to me to give you, loved ones, and with you loved ones in all of our surroundings, good news from us. You can calm down on our behalf. What you should be particularly happy about is the message that I am now able to make with regard to our external progress: I have finally received my old-age pension, and God has given us a special relief for our hearts. You know how relieved my heart now feels, and I cannot praise God enough, who has blessed us for so many years by loved ones in Switzerland by making up for our shortage through their hard work. The Lord will reward them temporally and forever. "

On October 29, 1942 he succumbed to his serious illness.

Remarks

  1. ↑ “The History of the Free Bible Students” http://bibelforscher.heimat.eu/herkunft.html
  2. ↑ Germany (Part 1) - Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The Watchtower, October 1915, p. 160
  4. ^ “Letters from Charles Taze Russell to the brothers and sisters in Central Europe” http://bibelforscher.heimat.eu/Briefe%20an%20die%20Geschwister.pdf
  5. Jump up ↑ France - Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY. Retrieved December 28, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Handbook of Christian Doctrine , Chapter 1: The Origin of the Free Bible Students; Bible Study Association, 2010 p. 23.
  7. ↑ “Biography of Conrad C. Binkele” http://bibelforscher.heimat.eu/conrad.binkele.html
personal data
SURNAME Binkele, Conrad C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American preacher, editor, and author, co-founder of the Free Bible Students
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Mansfield , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1942
Place of death los Angeles