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Three articles about JW prophecy from Investigator 4, 1989 January 1 JWs Their Prophetic Record 2 Worse Than Anyone Realized 3 Shameful Cover-up J Ws:
Their Prophetic Record
Gary Schmitt (Investigator 4, 1989 January)
"True, there have been those in times past who predicted an 'end to the world', even announcing a specific date. Yet nothing happened. The ‘end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing from such people were God's truths and the evidence that He was using and guiding them." - Awake 8th October, 1968, p 23, published by the Watchtower Society. "When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him." – Deuteronomy 18:22 Jehovah's Witnesses view themselves collectively speaking as God's modern-day prophet. However, when pressed on this claim, they retreat somewhat by denying that they are inspired in the same sense as the ancient Hebrew prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And yet members who challenge the Society's record of numerous predictions are said to be challenging Jehovah God Himself. In the April 1st 1972 Watchtower page 197, under "They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them" the question was raised as to whether in modern times Jehovah God has had a prophet to help the people, to warn them of dangers and declare things to come. The answer
given was yes, and
the prophet was identified as the organization known as Jehovah's
Christian
Witnesses. According to this article, the group was commissioned by
Jehovah
as the modern-day anti-typical Ezekiel, to proclaim the impending
destruction
of the modern-day anti-typical Jerusalem, namely Christendom. To prove this assertion, the article invites the reader to "review the record" of the organization's 'prophetic' activities. And indeed, this is what we will how attempt to do. 1799 to 1914: "The ‘Time of the End', a period of one hundred and fifteen (115) years, from A.D.1799 to A.D.1914, is particularly marked in the Scriptures." - Thy Kingdom Come, (1891), Pg 23.This was believed for nearly half a century – from 1879 to the late 1920's, long after their supposed appointment as "the faithful and discreet slave" in 1919. 1873: The end of the six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam and the beginning of the great 7th day, the 1000 years of Christ's reign. - The Time is at Hand, (1916), Pg2. 1874: The beginning of Christ's Presence and ‘the Harvest', the gathering of the Bride into the place of safety which would take seven years ending in 1881. - WT Jan 1881. - Thy Kingdom Come, (1891), Pg 121.This was the ‘anchor' date for the Watchtower for nearly 50 years. As late as 1929, fifteen years after 1914, they were still teaching this. So far, the predictions have related to invisible events easy to make and hard to disprove. 1881: 1906: "A great storm is near at hand. Though one may not know exactly when it will break forth,it seems reasonable to suppose that it cannot be more than twelve or fourteen years yet future." - WT June 1893, Pg l94. 1910:
"…but a trouble
chiefly upon the Church may be expected about 1910 A.D." 1910
to 1912: "According
to our expectations the stress of the great time of trouble will be on
us soon, somewhere between 1910 and 1912...culminating with the end of
the ‘Times of the Gentiles', October, 1914." 1914: None of
these predictions
for 1914 were presented as mere private scriptural speculation. Phrases
such as "established truth" and "God's dates" were freely used to
emphasize
the certainty of these predictions being fulfilled. It was only as 1914
drew closer, without the anticipated preceeding storm of trouble
eventuating,
that a slightly more cautious line was taken. Even then, those doubting
the chronology were considered to be lacking in faith and their
relationship
with God was questioned. Not one of the predictions came true. It
became
necessary to find replacements. With dogmatic zeal, two new dates were
identified as certain of fulfillment:
1918:
The complete destruction
of Christendom and all it's churches and church members; the remnant of
the anointed ones will be glorified or translated to heaven. - The
Finished
Mystery, (1917), Pgs 62, 64, 258. The Witnesses still teach that
there
was an invisible resurrection of the ‘dead in Christ' in 1918.
1920: The complete destruction of every kingdom on earth. - The Finished Mystery, (1917), Pgs 258, 542. Before 1920 was even allowed to pass, a new date for this prediction was set forth — 1925. 1921: "It may be that the worldly systems will go down in the fall of 1921." - Millions Now Living Will Never Die, (l920), Pg 114. 1924: "We might expect the harvest to end 50 years after 1874 or with the end of 1924." WT 15/1/1924 1925: The resurrection of the ancient ‘worthies' (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc) and the reconstruction of the earth. - Millions Now Living Will Never Die, (1920), Pgs 88-90, 97. - WT 15/7/1922 (This chronology is not of man, but of God…absolutely and unqualifiedly correct.) - WT 1/9/1922, Pg 262. (The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914.) - WT 15/6/1922 (Scripturally, scientifically and historically present-truth chronology is correct beyond a doubt. Its reliability has been abundantly confirmed by the dates and events of 1874, 1914 and 1918.) - WT 1/4/1923, Pg 106, (More evidence for 1925 than Noah had to believe in the flood.) Keep in
mind that virtually
all of what was called "present truth chronology" has now been rejected
by the Watchtower.
Remember that these statements were made after 1919 when the Witnesses believe they were appointed as "the faithful and discreet slave" dispensing food at the proper time. Once again, those who doubted this chronology were portrayed as repudiating God and Christ. (see WT 1/5/1922)
With the
failure of 1925 the
Watchtower still hadn't learnt its lesson. For decades after,
expressions
such as "Armageddon is at hand" and "only a few years" and "the
remaining
months before Armageddon" were being frequently used. Finally a new
date
was identified.
1975: The end of 6000 years from man's creation and the probable beginning of Christ's millennial reign. - Life Everlasting in Freedom... (1966), Pgs 29, 30. Jehovah's Witnesses continue to defend their poor record of predictions with platitudes such as "the light of truth gets brighter", a reference to Prov 4:18, or "we have never claimed to be perfect!" Raymond
Franz,a former member
of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, makes this telling
comment
in his book 'Crisis of Conscience':-
Everyone
has the right to
express opinions. But men who claim to be God's spokesmen on earth
surely
do not have the right to express mere opinions while claiming that what
they say is backed up by God's own Word and should be accepted as such.
When statements are spread around the globe as God's message for
mankind,
as spiritual "food in due season", those publishing them are certainly
neither "faithful" nor "discreet" if they irresponsibly express
fallacious
opinions, argue tenaciously for these, belittle any who disagree or,
worse,
question their loyalty and humility before God."
WORSE THAN
ANYONE REALIZED! From Investigator
4, 1989 January
If
the
reasoning in the above
letter be accepted then the following is a false prophecy:
"The
work of giving testimony
has been progressing during the past ten years … and is almost
done". (GOOD NEWS 1932 p. 60) This approach means that in addition to false prophecies for about 25 specific dates like 1915 or 1975, there are many more false prophecies for less-specific periods.
The record
of JW Leaders is
therefore worse than anyone realized! No wonder then that the letter
got
no reply. They couldn't answer "Yes"; they couldn't answer "No".
SHAMEFUL COVERUP
(Investigator 4,
1989 January)
Hundreds of articles about
Jehovah's Witnesses are on this website:
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