A REBUTTAL 1 by Aleck W. Crawford This REBUTTAL—apart from to the following article — these introductory comments— takes the form of endnotes added to John Bedson’s article, as there were too many The Physician Who graphics & tables to use foot- Doctored the Truth2 notes. I have not used quotation An article3 contributed4 by marks in the article apart from John Bedson.5 what was already in the article as I have presented the whole of “The time has come for honest JB’s article taken from the men to denounce false Internet (apart from changes noted in endnote 3). Obviously teachers and attack false 6 the endnote reference #s are gods.” – Luther Burbank not part of ex-Christadelphian John Bedson’s article. As a child nurtured in the “The first to plead his case seems just, Christadelphian faith from my Until another comes and examines him” mother's womb my infant (Prov. 18:17, NASB®). mind was steeped in Christa- delphian myth and legend On first reading John Bedson’s 7 article, he seems to plead a from an early age . My father valid case against Bro. Thomas, would tell me the bedtime but as the Proverb says, when story of how the founder of “another comes and examines Christadelphianism, the brave him”, the vast majority of his Dr John Thomas at the age of claims turn out to: twenty eight 8 in 1832 was a) be almost completely wrong, or nearly shipwrecked aboard the b) be factually incorrect, or Marquis of Wellesley ship while c) contain several typos. en route to America. He made On second reading it is clearly a vow to God that if his life noticeable that JB does not was spared he would devote tackle our beliefs from Scripture himself to discovering the but from distorted human rea- truth about religion.9 soning. We encourage readers to take the time to read the main arguments proving JB wrong. God saved the good doctor from his distress and upon reaching New York he set about reading his Bible. He soon discovered The Truth that humans had lost for nineteen hundred10 years and published his findings in his book "Elpis Israel" in which he also predicted the return of the Jews to Palestine11. He later explained every word and phrase of the Biblical book of Revelation in intricate detail12 in his three volume work "Eureka". Dr Thomas was a man "raised up by God for this great work" I was told 13 and my young, impressionable mind believed every word, not realising that I was being indoctrinated into a religion that14 made about as much sense as Flat Earth Theory 15 . I read “Elpis Israel”, “Eureka”, “Faith in the Last Days”, “Exposition of Daniel” and “Christendom Astray” when I was eleven16 and I made up my mind that baptism was a primary goal in my life. It was twenty years later that my dearly beloved and greatly missed friend17, brother John Allfree gave me a very old copy of the five volume work "Horae Apocaliptica" by a writer named Eliot18. It is a preterist19 exposition of the Biblical book of Revelation. The book was published prior20 to Dr Thomas's work Eureka. In Eureka Dr Thomas frequently heaps fiery scorn and derision 21 on Elliot and his work 22 , so I was interested to read this work that I thought would be junk. Imagine therefore my shock when I discovered that practically 80% of Eureka23 had been lifted24 out of Hoare Apocaliptica25! Eureka was NOT an original26 work at all; Dr Thomas had plagiarised Elliot's work mercilessly and passed it off to the Christadelphians27 as an original28. Further investigation convinced me that much of "Elpis Israel" 29 , "Anatolia", 30 "The Exposition of Daniel" and practically everything31 else that Dr Thomas wrote had been taken from other writer's work32 but not acknowledged by him33. Even most of the doctrinal material34 and the prediction that the Jews would return to Palestine35 was NOT original work.36 He was simply lashing together other people's material and pub- lishing it as his own ideas. The man that I had venerated as A REBUTTAL by A. Crawford to J. Bedson’s–“The Physician Who Doctored the Truth” p. 2 of 154 someone "raised up by God" to rediscover37 The Truth was a charlatan as bad as any corrupt American TV evangelist in our own times.38 It would take me many hundreds of pages to thoroughly expose 39 Dr Thomas's plagiarism in full and as I have disposed of all my religious books it is now an impossible task for me40. But I strongly recommend that others take up the task of repeating the work that I undertook in the early Nineteen Eighties. I would have written it all down then, but I got so far and gave up in disgust that I had been hoodwinked by Dr Thomas for so long. However it would be unfair to leave this subject without at least one illustration of what I mean, so I submit the following as a tiny fraction of the material that is available. "Anatolia is original throughout” 41 wrote Doctor Thomas in the introduction to that work. Let us test that statement by comparing the following quotations from "Anatolia" with another work published forty years earlier in 1814 by Granville Penn entitled "The Prophecy of Ezekiel concerning Gog":42 Dr John Thomas in "Anatolia": "The question as to what nations are signified by Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval has long since been determined by the learned. The celebrated Bochart, about the year 1640 observed in his elaborate researches into sacred geography, that43 ROS, Ros, [the Hebrew word is omitted]44 is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of RUSSIA; and he contended that Rosh and Meshekh probably45 denote the nations of Muscovy and Russia. 'It is credible,' says he, 'that from Rosh and Meshekh (that is the Rhossi and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European-Scythia.' We have indeed ample and positive testimony that the Russian nation was called Ros by the Greeks in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned, as Ethnos de oi Ros Schnthichon, peri ton archtoon Towron; that A REBUTTAL by A. Crawford to J. Bedson’s–“The Physician Who Doctored the Truth” p. 3 of 154 is, the Rosh are a Scythian nation bordering on the northern Taurus! and their own historians say, 'It is related that the Russians (whom the Greeks call Ros, and sometimes Rosos, Rosos) derived their name from Ros, a valiant man who delivered his nation from the yoke of its tyrants.'" p. 6546 Granville Penn in "The Prophecy of Ezekiel Concerning Gog": "If we next enquire what nations are signified by those three proper names we shall find that this question also has been long determined by the learned. The celebrated Bochart, about the year 1640, observed in his elaborate researches into sacred geography that ROS, Ros, is the most ancient form under which history makes mention of the name of RUSSIA; and he contended that the two first of those names properly denote the nations of Russia and Muscovy. 'It is credible,' says he, 'that from Rosh and Mesech (that is the Rhossi and Moschi) of whom Ezekiel speaks, descended the Russians and Muscovites, nations of the greatest celebrity in European- Scythia.' We have indeed ample and positive testimony that the Russian nation was called Ros by the Greeks in the earliest period in which we find it mentioned. Ethnos de oi Ros Schnthichon, peri ton archtoon Towron 47 . 'The Ros are a Scythian nation bordering on the northern Taurus.' This testimony is given by Cedrenus, Zonarus, Leo Grammaticus, and Tzetzes; and their own historians thus report, 'It is related that the Russians (whom the Greeks call Ros, ROS, and sometimes Rosos, Rosos) derived their name from Ros, a valiant man who delivered his nation from the yoke of their tyrants.'" p. 19 John Thomas: "And thus the three denominations, Rosh, Meshekh, and Thuval, united in the prophecy point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE." p. 66 A REBUTTAL by A. Crawford to J. Bedson’s–“The Physician Who Doctored the Truth” p. 4 of 154 Granville Penn: "And thus the THREE DENOMINATIONS united in the prophecy point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE." p. 22 John Thomas: "Since the name of Scythae, or Magog, is to be considered not by itself, but in geographical connection with Galatae, or Gomer, we have only to enquire, whether any geographical affinity is really ascribed by the Greeks to the Scythae and Galatae? and to ascertain to what regions of the earth those names so associated, were applied. If we can discover these two points we ought thereby to have discovered specifically the Magog of the prophecy, which is to be associated with the region, or people, of Gomer." - p. 67 Granville Penn: "But, since the name of Scythae (i.e. Magog,) is here to be considered, not by itself, but in geographical connection with GALATAE, or GOMER, we have only to enquire, whether any geographical affinity is really ascribed by the Greeks to the Scythae and Galatae? and to ascertain, to what regions of the earth, those names, so associated, were applied. If we can discover these two points, we ought thereby to have discovered specifically the Magogue of the prophecy, which would be able to associate to themselves the region, or people of Gomer." - p.