Failed prophecies
The Watchtower Society has a
long history of making prophecies and then changing them
after they proved false. Dozens of references could be
quoted and documented, but a few will suffice to prove
the point.
For example, the 1920 booklet Millions Now
Living Will Never Die, declares,
...we may expect 1925 to
witness the return of these faithful men of Israel from
the condition of death, being resurrected... Therefore we
may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old.
-- pages 89-90
This failed to come true, of course.
Starting in the mid-1960's numerous discussions in the
Society's publications pointed to the year 1975:
This
seventh day, God's rest day, has progressed nearly 6,000
years, and there is still the 1,000-year reign of Christ
to go before its end. (Rev. 20:3, 7) This seventh
1,000-year period of human existence could well be
likened to a great sabbath day. . . . In what year, then,
would the first 6,000 years of man's existence and also
the first 6,000 years of God's rest day come to an end?
The year 1975. -- Awake! October 8, 1966, page 19
The
August 15, 1968 Watchtower indicates that there might be
a slight delay between the end of humanity's first six
thousand years in autumn 1975 and the end of the world --
corresponding to the interval of time between Adam's
creation and Eve's -- but assures that the delay will be
only a few weeks or months, not years:
Are we to assume
from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all
over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for
thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then?
Possibly, but we wait to see how closely the seventh
thousand-year period of man's existence coincides with
the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ. If these
two periods run parallel with each other as to the
calendar year, it will not be by mere chance or accident
but will be according to Jehovah's loving and timely
purposes....It may involve only a difference of weeks or
months, not years." -- page 499
Such predictions led
Jehovah's Witnesses to believe that the end would come
toward the end of 1975 or early in 1976.
The most recent
prophetic failure is likely to have the greatest impact
on JWs: 'New truths' in the November 1, 1995 Watchtower
magazine changed the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses
concerning "the generation that saw the events of
1914," and the November 8, 1995 Awake! drops that
magazine's long-standing prophecy.
Ever since the late
1940's Awake! magazine had been promising the "sure
hope for the establishment of a righteous New World"
on page 2 of each issue. Then in 1964 it added the
thought that this would happen "in this
generation" -- "...reflecting sure hope for the
establishment of God's righteous new order in this
generation."
In 1975 it was no longer Awake!
magazine's promise but now became the Creator's promise:
"...the Creator's promise of a new order of lasting
peace and true security within our generation." --
January 8, 1975
It was a very serious step to add this
expression, "the Creator's promise," since it
meant that the Watchtower Society (the magazine's
publisher) was now prophesying in the Creator's name --
in God's name. The Creator warns in the Bible against
doing this without receiving a command from Him to do so:
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I
have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in
the name of other gods, must be put to death. You may say
to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has
not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet
proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or
come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.
That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid
of him. -- Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NIV
Did the Creator
really command the Society to say that He promised the
new order would come "within our generation"?
Elsewhere, the Society specified more precisely what it
meant by "our generation":
"Jesus was
obviously speaking about those who were old enough to
witness with understanding what took place when the 'last
days' began....Even if we presume that youngsters 15 years
of age would be perceptive enough to realize the import
of what happened in 1914, it would still make the
youngest of 'this generation' nearly 70 years old
today....Jesus said that the end of this wicked world
would come before that generation passed away in
death." -- Awake! October 8, 1968, pages 13-14
In
1982 the Watchtower Society changed the prophecy on page
2 of each Awake! issue to include the same thought about
1914. It was no longer a vague "our generation"
that would see the world's end, but the generation that
saw the events of 1914: "...the Creator's promise of
a peaceful and secure new order before the generation
that saw the events of 1914 C.E. passes away."
(January 8, 1982)
Nearly identical wording repeated the
same prophecy in each issue until January 8, 1987, when
Awake! magazine's statement of purpose was moved to page
4 in a redesigned format. Starting with that issue, the
1914 generation prophecy was dropped entirely. Then it
was restored on page 4 of the March 8, 1988 issue --
"...the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure
new world before the generation that saw the events of
1914 passes away" -- wording that continued to
appear through October, 1995.
By then, however, the
generation that saw the events of 1914 had largely passed
away. All that remained were a relatively few surviving
individuals in their late 90's -- people nearly a hundred
years old.
Obviously, the prophecy had failed. Continuing
to print it as spiritual food for Jehovah's Witnesses was
like serving meat or milk long after the "sell
before" date stamped on the package. Like spoiled
food, the expired prophecy began to stink.
JW leaders in
Brooklyn finally replaced it in the November 8, 1995
Awake! by returning to language similar to that used
prior to 1964. Awake! now declares "...the Creator's
promise of a peaceful and secure new world that is about
to replace the present wicked, lawless system of
things."
Actually the prophecy on page 4 of each
Awake! is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. It is
the most prominent part of a whole chronological system
of Bible interpretation that has proved false.
This is
the most noticeable revision, so far, in a process of
changing beliefs that has only just begun. The October
15, 1995 Watchtower (pages 22-23) changes the Watchtower
Society's interpretation of when Christ sits down to
separate sheep from goats at Matthew 25:31-33.
It
transforms this from a process that began when Christ
allegedly returned invisibly and became king in 1914 to a
future event associated with his judging mankind at the
Battle of Armageddon.
The old teaching is presented
clearly in the Society's 1982 book You Can Live Forever
in Paradise on Earth (page 183 original edition):
Yes,
since Christ returned and sat down on his heavenly
throne, all humankind has been on judgment...During the
present judgment people are being separated as
"goats" to Christ's left hand or as
"sheep" to his right.
The October 15, 1995
Watchtower (pages 22-23) rejects this interpretation and
substitutes a new one:
Does this parable apply when Jesus
sat down in kingly power in 1914, as we have long
understood?... ...the parable points to the future when the
Son of man will come in his glory. He will sit down to
judge... Understanding the parable of the sheep and the
goats in this way indicates that the rendering of
judgment on the sheep and the goats is future. It will
take place after "the tribulation" mentioned at
Matthew 24:29, 30 breaks out and the Son of man 'arrives
in his glory.'
The change introduced here is two-fold.
The Society re-interprets Matthew 25:31-32 so that
(1)
Christ's sitting down on his throne does not refer to his
becoming king in 1914, as the Society has long taught.
Instead, it refers to his sitting as judge during the
future great tribulation.
(2) The separating of the sheep
from the goats is also a future event -- even though JWs
had long been taught that their preaching work was
accomplishing that separation right now and throughout
much of this century.
Even more significant is the 'new
truth' introduced in the November 1, 1995 issue of The
Watchtower. On pages 17-19 it changes the Society's
interpretation of Jesus' words at Matthew 24:34, "I
tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not
pass away until all these things have happened."
(NIV)
On page 17 it admits that "Jehovah's people
have at times speculated about the time when the 'great
tribulation' would break out, even tying this to
calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation
since 1914." Now it says, instead (page 17):
Rather
than providing a rule for measuring time, the term
"generation" as used by Jesus refers
principally to contemporary people of a certain
historical period, with their identifying
characteristics.
Then it goes on to identify the
generation that Jesus supposedly pointed to at Matthew
24:34-35 in this way (page 19):
Therefore, in the final
fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy today, "this
generation" apparently refers to the peoples of
earth who see the sign of Christ's presence but fail to
mend their ways.
This new interpretation drops the
thought that the world will end during the lifetime of
the people who were alive to see the events of 1914.
Instead, it has Jesus speaking of the "wicked
generation" -- people who see the sign of his
invisible presence but fail to become JWs -- with no time
period attached.
BORED TO DEATH?
Yes, the info needed to
reach JWs can be tedious. Think of it as comparable to
learning Chinese to share the Gospel in China. |
Was the
recently abandoned teaching about the 1914 generation
really a false prophecy spoken by a false prophet? Or was
it merely an instance of faithful Christians manifesting
eagerness for Christ's return?
Deuteronomy 18:20-22,
quoted earlier, supplies the basis for determining the
answer. It states that its words of condemnation apply
when what a "prophet proclaims in the name of the
LORD does not take place or come true."
Obviously,
the prediction did not come true, and so the Watchtower
Society has now stopped making that prediction.
Was the
prediction spoken "in the name of the LORD"?
Yes, because it was introduced as "the Creator's
promise."
The Watchtower has said elsewhere:
Those
who are convinced that The Watchtower is publishing the
opinion or expression of a man should not waste time in
looking at it at all... Those who believe that God uses
The Watchtower as a means of communicating to his people,
or of calling attention to his prophecies, should study
The Watchtower..." -- The Watchtower January 1,
1942, page 5
More recently, the Watchtower Society has
tried to escape the "false prophet" label by
saying Jehovah's Witnesses have not made prophecies in
God's name. "Never did they say, 'These are the
words of Jehovah.'" (Awake! March 22, 1993, p. 4)
But the Watchtower Society actually did describe its
prediction that the 1914 generation would live to see
'the end' as Jehovah's prophetic word through Jesus
Christ.
"Jehovah's prophetic word through Jesus
Christ is: 'This generation [of 1914] will by no means
pass away until all things occur.' (Luke 21:32) And
Jehovah, who is the source of inspired and unfailing
prophecy, will bring about the fulfillment...
...
"Just as Jesus' prophecies regarding Jerusalem were
fulfilled within the life span of the generation of the
year 33 C.E., so his prophecies regarding 'the time of
the end' will be fulfilled within the life span of the
generation of 1914. ...
"...Yes, you may live to see
this promised New Order, along with survivors of the
generation of 1914 -- the generation that will not pass
away." -- The Watchtower May 15, 1984, pages 6-7
(The bracketed expression "[of 1914]" is in the
original.)
So, the Watchtower Society fits the
description of a false prophet found at Deuteronomy
18:20-22. The Society made the prediction in God's name,
and the prediction failed to come true.
Was this false
prophecy simply a one-time offense? No, because the
prediction was published repeatedly over the years, not
only in Awake! magazine's masthead, but also in other
places -- sometimes even with minor variations which
indicate that thought was given to the matter on a number
of occasions:
"...the generation alive in 1914, some
will see the major fulfilment of Christ Jesus' prophecy
and the destruction..." -- Awake! October 8, 1973,
page 19
"Which generation is
this, and how long is it?... "Thus, when it comes to
the application in our time, the 'generation' logically
would not apply to babies born during World War I. It
applies to Christ's followers and others who were able to
observe that war and the other things that have occurred
in fulfillment of Jesus' composite 'sign.' Some of such
persons 'will by no means pass away until' all of what
Christ prophesied occurs, including the end of the
present wicked system." --The Watchtower Oct. 1,
1978, p. 31
"What, then, is the
'generation' that 'will by no means pass away until all
these things occur"? It does not refer to a period
of time, which some have tried to interpret as 30, 40, 70
or even 120 years, but, rather, it refers to people, the
people living at the 'beginning of pangs of distress' for
this condemned world system. It is the generation of
people who saw the catastrophic events that broke forth
in connection with World War I from 1914 onward. ...
"And if the wicked system of this world survived
until the turn of the century, which is highly improbable
in view of world trends and the fulfillment of Bible
prophecy, there would still be survivors of the World War
I generation. However, the fact that their number is
dwindling is one more indication that the 'conclusion of
the system of things' is moving fast toward its end. ...
"Yes, there was a generation of people that was
living in 1914, and that saw the major historical
changes...We can be happy, therefore, for Jesus' assurance
that there will be survivors of 'the generation of 1914'
-- that this generation will not have completely passed
away -- when the 'great tribulation' rings down the
curtain on this wicked world system." -- The
Watchtower October 15, 1980, page 31
"Jesus used the word
'generation' many times in different settings and with
various meanings. But what did he mean when he spoke of a
"generation that would not pass away"? ...a
generation is really related to people and events, rather
than to a fixed number of years.
...
...the babies of that
generation are now 70 years old or older. And others
alive in 1914 are in their 80's or 90's, a few even
having reached a hundred. There are still many millions
of that generation alive. Some of them 'will by no means
pass away until all things occur.'" -- The
Watchtower May 15, 1984, page 5
Thus judgment would be
executed sometime during the life span of people seeing
the first evidence of the time period foretold by Jesus.
...this time period began in 1914. Thus before the 1914
generation completely dies out, God's judgment must be
executed. -- The Watchtower May 1, 1985, page 4
"a
peaceful and secure new world before the generation that
saw the events of 1914 passes away" ... "The
Hebrews...reckon seventy-five years as one
generation...".
"...today, most of the generation
of 1914 has passed away. ...Jesus' words will come true,
'this generation will certainly not pass away until all
these things have happened.' This is yet another reason
for believing that Jehovah's thieflike day is
imminent." -- Awake! April 8, 1988, pages 4 and 14
In fact, this episode of making predictions concerning
"the generation of 1914" was not the first time
the Watchtower Society made such prophecies. Years before
1914, it published volume 4 of Studies in the Scriptures,
in which it calculated a hundred-year
"generation" stretching "from 1780, the
date of the first sign" and including the
gathering
time beginning October 1874; the organization of the
Kingdom and the taking by our Lord of his great power as
the King in April 1878, and the time of trouble or
"day of wrath" which began October 1874 and
will end October 1914 -- 1908 edition, page 604
Alternatively, it calculated the generation of Matthew
24:34 as spanning 36 1/2 years, "the 'generation'
from 1878 to 1914." (page 605) Interestingly, the
Society encountered similar problems back then as time
limits ran out and prophecies proved false. The length of
the "generation" was adjusted to accommodate
later reinterpretations, in a manner similar to the
recent adjustments during the 1970's-1990's. Thus, later
editions of the same Studies in the Scriptures volume
were reprinted with alterations in the dates. In the
reference quoted above from page 604, for example, the
words "will end October 1914" were changed to
"will cease about 1915" in certain later
editions.
Many of the documents cited
above are reproduced in our booklet "1914
Generation" Prophecy Proves False. See AnswerJW.com/cftf or
write the publisher.
|
