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Two items appear below: 1 Jehovah's Witness Dates; 2 JWs Dates list Still Expanding JEHOVAH'S WITNESS DATES B Stett (Assisted by B J Kotwall) (Investigator 56, 1997 September)
We can categorize the false predictions published in Jehovah's Witness literature into four categories of falseness: For example: Some day, a not distant day, the clergy will awaken to the fact that the Lord has come, and that the second advent has been an accomplished fact since 1874; and then they will echo the question one to another, "Why are we the last to welcome back the King?"(The Watchtower 1922 June 15 p.181)Since the J Ws themselves discarded the 1874 date in the 1930s it is virtually certain that "the clergy" will NOT "awaken to the fact that ...the second advent has been an accomplished fact since 1874".
For example: It therefore follows and the Scriptures conclusively prove that the nation of Israel or Jews will never be restored as a nation ...Since Israel was restored in 1948 "never" lasted 9 years and was obviously false. 3 Predictions that the J W preaching is almost completed or the "time of the end" is almost over. These become false when the time period after the statement exceeds the time prior to it. For example: We also know that the 1914 generation is well into the evening of its existence, thus allowing for only a little time... (The Watchtower 1985 5/1 p. 7)This was written 71 years after 1914 and would be a false prophecy if this world lasted anywhere near 71 years beyond 1985. The problem is that statements implying that most of the time as measured from 1914 (or 1918 or 1922) is over were made in the 1930s! Such statements therefore became false prophecies in the 1940s or 1950s! For example: The work of giving testimony has been progressing during the past ten years...and is almost done. 4 Predictions for specific dates. The following
list of
prophetic dates may
not be exhaustive. On some dates a great many prophecies failed
simultaneously, on others only one or two. No Jehovah's
Witness prophecy for any date
has
ever been fulfilled. Some prophecies with their accompanying date were
repeated often and others only once or twice. The following list limits
itself to one or two quotes for each date:
LIST OF QUOTES 1874
I know of three people who sat all day long with others, watching, I
think
it was the 2nd of October, 1874, right in Chicago, in their ascension
robes,
looking up into the sky for Jesus to come and take them away. But the
sun
went down and Jesus did not come... I know one dear old sister who was
there, old Sister Johnson of Los Angeles, she is 91years old. In 1874
she
sat here in this city with her ascension robes on, and Jesus did not
come.
She is Norwegian. She said, in broken language, I know it was time for
Jesus to come, but he did not come, and I did not know what to make of
it. 1878
Based on Paul's statement at 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 it had been
expected
‘that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously
caught away bodily, thenceforth to be for ever with the Lord.'
Believing
this would take place in 1878, some were disappointed because nothing
occurred
that they could see. 1881
OUR CHANGE SEEMS
DUE. We do not know the day or the hour, but expect it during 1881,
possibly
near the autumn... 1906
A great storm is near at hand. Though one may not know exactly when it
will break forth, it seems reasonable to suppose it cannot be more than
twelve of fourteen years yet future. 1910
...but a trouble chiefly upon the church may be expected about 1910
A.D. The
culmination of the
trouble in October,
1914, is clearly marked in the Scriptures; and we are bound therefore
to
expect a beginning of that severe trouble not later than 1910; — with
severe
spasms between now and then. 1912
According to our
expectation 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
And
with the end of A.D.
1914, what God calls Babylon, and which men call Christendom,
will
have passed away, as already shown from prophecy. 1915
Be not surprised
then, when in subsequent chapters we present proofs that the setting up
of the Kingdom of God is already begun, that it is due to begin
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. 1915, with the
complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced. 1916/1917
The present
great war is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures. 1918
In one short year, 1917-1918, the vast and complicated system of
sectarianism reaches its zenith of power, only to be suddenly dashed
into
oblivion. 1920
The three days in which Pharoah's host pursued the Israelites into the
wilderness represented the three years from 1917 to 1920 at which time
all of Pharoah's messengers will be swallowed up in the sea of anarchy.
1921
It may be that the worldly nations will go down in the fall of 1921. 1924
…we might expect
the harvest to end 50 years after 1874 or with the end of 1924. 1925
Therefore we may
confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac,
and
Jacob and the faithful prophets of old... 1926
Let us suppose that
you are living after the Kingdom is established and the blessings have
begun to flow out to the people in abundant measure. Of course it will
take some time to get things in smoothly running order after the great
stress between now and 1926. It may take ten years before you get
your home all fixed up... 1928 So the generation now upon the earth is the generation that was on earth in 1878, and many of them must abide until God's favor is fully returned to the Jews, and the Kingdom set up. (Souvenir Notes Bible Students Conventions 1913, p. 235) Compare: 1935/1936
Suppose we
should be wrong in the chronology and that the kingdom will not be
fully
set up in 1925. Suppose that we were ten years off, and it would be
1935
before restitution blessings began. Without a doubt there are now
millions
of people on the earth who will be living fifteen years from now; and
we
could with equal confidence say that ‘Millions Now Living will Never
Die'.
Whether it be 1925 or 1935, restitution blessings must soon begin... During the few remaining months until the breaking of that universal cataclysm the powers that rule the nations of the earth will continue to make treaties… (Universal War Near 1934, p. 27) 1942
Let everyone now
who really loves the Lord...make the few remaining months the greatest
witness yet given or possible. Receiving
the gift
[the book Children],
the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for
idle
pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in
the remaining months before Armageddon. 1940s
Those Jonadabs
who now contemplate marriage, it would seem, would be better if they
wait
a few years, until the fiery storm of Armageddon is gone, and then to
enter
the marital relationship... The book Children (1941) is about two J W teenagers who decide to postpone marriage for "only a few years" (pp. 281, 328 Australian edition) until after Armageddon. Delay of marriage and of child-bearing until after Armageddon was taught in the book as the "divine mandate". 1950
It does not seem
unreasonable, therefore, to think that twenty-five years, possibly
more,
will pass before the awakening of the dead shall begin. 1950s?
or 1960s?
All
the facts show that Armageddon is only a short time away, and that
period
much less than the length of a generation. Compare: 1975
According to this
trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation
will
end in the fall of 1975 C.E. How appropriate it would be for
Jehovah
God to make this coming seventh period of a thousand years a Sabbath
rest
and release... It would be most fitting on God's part... It would
not be by mere chance or accident... Before
1976-1986
It is
to be carefully noted that the youngest of those who saw with
understanding
the developing sign of the end of this system of things from its start
in 1914 are well over 60 years of age! In fact, the greater part
of the adult generation that experienced the start of the "last days"
has
already passed away in death. Compare: 1970s
But why is there reason to hope that this changeover may take place
even
within the present decade? 1989
(Implied)
The Hebrews...reckon seventy five years as one
generation. Within
20th century
Shortly within our 20th century the 'battle in the day of Jehovah' will
begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom. Some of that
'generation' could survive until
the end of the century. But there are many indications that 'the end'
is
much closer than that. This
generation
The generation
that saw the beginning of woes in 1914 would also see the end of Satan
and his entire wicked system of things. It is to be carefully noted
that
the youngest of those who saw with understanding the developing sign of
the end of this system of things from its start in 1914 are now well
over
sixty years of age. BRIEF
REPORT
(Investgator Magazine No. 62 p. 58)
The Time of the establishment of the Kingdom in power is indicated as "in the fourteenth year after that the city (Christendom) was smitten" – or fourteen years after 1918, viz, in 1932. – Ezek. 40:1.The context suggests that the phrase "the Kingdom in power" meant world wide paradise after global anarchy of 1915-1925, all governments and religions destroyed and gone for good, and the resurrection of the dead to live again on Earth well underway.
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