|
 Pastor
Russell said (STUDIES, II, 33) that “the seventh thousand or
the Millennium” began in 1872. The same volume, p.101, says
God’s kingdom began “the exercise of power in A.D. 1878, and
that the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Rev. 16:14)
which will end in A.D. 1914... is already commenced.” (The 1915
edition changed the above date to 1915 — rft)
Judge
Rutherford’s HARP OF GOD, 1921, used the same general “prophetic
rules” to reach the date 1874 “at which time… the Lord’s second
presence is due.”
In
WATCH TOWER, July 15, 1894, we read, “They are, we believe,
God’s dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914
is not the date for the BEGINNING, but for the END of the time
of trouble.”
Russell’s
STUDIES, VII, published by Rutherford, 1917, said “The spring
of 1918 will bring upon Christendom a spasm of anguish greater
even than that experienced in the Fall of 1914.”
Then
in 1920, Rutherford published his “Millions Now Living Will
Never Die.” “. . It is reasonable to conclude that millions
of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925…
That millions now living will never die.” (p.97)
WATCH
TOWER, Sept. 1, 1922 said, “The date of 1925 is even more distinctly
indicated by the Scriptures than 1914.” (p.262) “Our thought
is that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures.” WATCH
TOWER, Apr. ’23. But in the Scotland Trial (p. 120-121) Fred
Franz admitted an error had
|
|
been
made by Judge Rutherford.
In
AWAKE, Oct. 8. ’68, we read past failures were due to lack of
evidence “But what about today? Today we have the evidence required,
ALL OF IT, and it is overwhelming!”
THE
WATCHTOWER, Aug. l5,’68, in an article “WHY ARE WE LOOKING FORWARD
TO 1975?” says, “The nearness of such an important date indeed
fires the imagination and presents unlimited possibilities for
discussion.”
In
1969 the ARIZONA REPUBLIC (Aug. 24) reported Erroll Burton (J.W.)
as saying “within months, or at the most five years, the end
of the world as we have known it will occur...“ The L.A. HERALD-EXAMINER
reported Watch-tower president Nathan Knorr’s lecture: “Although
he did not pinpoint the predicted date, Knorr did narrow it
down to the ‘mid-seventies.’ The year 1975 has been specifically
mentioned in Witness publications.”
WATCHTOWER,
Oct. l5,’74, p.635 says: “The publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses
have shown that, according to Bible chronology, it appears that
6,000 years of man’s existence will be completed in the mid-1970’s.”
The writer hedged on saying this meant “world’s end would come
then,” but he concluded, “So we can be confident that the end
is near. . .“
1975
is past, and so J.W.s are busy trying to “cover” that failure
and “try again.” CAN ANY REALLY DOUBT THEY HAVE A NON- PROPHET
ORGANIZATION?
[Previous
Article] [Next
Article]
|
