Jehovah’s Witnesses
Date Setters Extraordinaire

Throughout the history of the church, there have always been those who have claimed to have the inside scoop on the Biblical prophecies that relate to the return of Jesus. They have often made a great splash with their grandiose announcements of the exact day of the return of Christ. Such pretensions have often proved a quick ticket to fame, and then notoriety once the heralded day came and went quietly just as all other days had.

Of all the date setters who have repeatedly attempted and failed to set an exact timing for the last days, none has been more persistent than the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their track record of failed predictions is so lengthy that it is a wonder they have continued as long as they have.

At long last, the JW’s are calling a moratorium on last days prophecies. In the November, 1995 Watchtower they abandoned their decades long belief that Christ’s words “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34) was referring to those people alive in 1914. They still say that the year 1914 began the “last generation” but now are unwilling to suggest how long that generation might be. Instead of being a specific generation of people, the term now is held to mean an unspecified length of time, relatively brief compared with the thousands of years that Satan has ruled.

One of the major cracks in Jehovah’s Witnesses theology is the frequent times when they, according to their own printed predictions, have been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be absolutely wrong. Considering the dogmatic fashion in which they hold to their beliefs, it is fascinating to look at the unanswerable evidence which documents the many times they have simply missed it.

James Walker has written an essay for Watchman Fellowship which demonstrates this extraordinary paradox. Let’s look at some of the historical blunders he reveals about the sect that prides itself on being Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Beginning of the End

Actually the 1914 date was not the first date proclaimed by the JW’s. In their “Harp of God” publication way back in 1928, they write: “1799 definitely marks the beginning of the time of the end’ … ‘The time of the end (is) the time of the complete overthrow of Satan’s empire … we have been in ‘the time of the end’ since 1799.” (I can’t help but wonder, if Satan’s empire was overthrown in 1799, why hasn’t anyone told him about it yet?)

Christ’s Invisible 2nd Coming

If 1799 was the beginning of the end, the JW’s considered 1874 to be the latter part of the time of the end. This was the end of the end, so to speak. The Harp of God magazine declares, “The time of the Lord’s second presence dates from 1874 … From 1874 forward is the latter part of the period of the time of the end … (it is) the time of the Lord’s second presence …”

End of Armageddon in 1914

While the JW’s have for many years looked back to 1914 as the starting point for the last generation, in their infancy they looked forward to this year as the end of all temporal things. In their publication The Time is at Hand Charles Russell, Watchtower Founder, stated: “We consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished by the end of A.D. 1914 … the battle of the great day of God Almighty which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.”

Some zealous JW’s, pondering the possibility of a world war, wrote to Russell, wondering if the world could hold out until 1914. It seemed to them that the end was more likely to come sooner. Russell responded by reminding them that the dates they set were “God’s dates not ours” and that they could not be changed, but encouraged them with the fact that 1914 “is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.” (1894 Watchtower, July 15, p. 226).

OOPS

Of course 1914 arrived with the beginning of World War I rather than the end of the kingdoms of this world. Once again it was time for some revisionist prophecies. By this point, Jehovah’s Witnesses bigwigs had already begun to alter some of their theories (just in case!). They were now teaching that 1914 was not the end but rather the beginning of Armageddon. World War I and Armageddon were one and the same. This new theory seemed to fit nicely with the current events of the day, and gave the JW’s a little breathing room. Unable to control their obsession with date setting, The Watchtower suggested first that the real end would come in 1915, and then delayed it to 1918.

In Pastor Russell’s Sermons (p. 676) Russell states: “The present great war in Europe (World War I) is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures,” and in another place the JW book The Finished Mystery states: “In the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions, it shall be that any that escape shall come to the words of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of ‘Christianity.’”

Let’s Try Again

When World War I finally ended the world didn’t seem any closer to ending than it had before the war. Needing another date and another prophetic revision, the Society decided that the year 1925 would bring about Armageddon, and that the Scriptural proof for this was more clearly taught than anything having to do with 1914. Waxing bold, Watchtower president Joseph Rutherford claimed that God would do a special miracle to prove the validity of this date by resurrecting Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Bible heroes mentioned in the hall of faith of Hebrews’ eleventh chapter.

In 1922 an article in the Watchtower proclaimed, “Viewing the present situation in Europe, one wonders how it will be possible to hold back the explosion much longer, and that even before 1925 the great crisis will be reached and probably passed” (Watchtower, September 1, 1922, p. 262).

One More Time

It is said that hope springs eternal, and that surely must be true of the gullible but ever so persistent Jehovah’s Witnesses. As 1925 came and went there was a need for a new date, or at least a new explanation of an old date. As the movers and shakers in the JW’s pondered their now massive number of failed predictions, they concluded that the 1914 date was right after all – they just hadn’t understood some of the ramifications of exactly what had taken place in the year 1914.

Their conclusions were these: The year 1914 was correct after all in that it was the date when Christ’s invisible “second presence” had begun (rather than in 1874 as they had previously thought). The year 1914 marked the beginning of the last generation, and that at least some of those alive in this year would live to see the battle of Armageddon (although why anybody would be excited about such a prospect I am not sure!)

At last the JW’s had bought themselves some real time. No longer were they faced with the pressure of having a date (which could show them up as being wrong) only a few years away. Considering that some of the babies born in 1914 would live to the year 2,000 they could sit back and breathe easily. Now this was a date they could live with!

Actually, many of the leading JW’s couldn’t wait for the year 2,000. By the late 60’s the Watchtower magazine was proclaiming 1975 as end of all things. They based this on a complicated and convoluted mathematical formula which assumed that the world had its beginning in the year 4026 B.C. When 1975 came and went, they reverted back to their earlier thoughts that at least someone who had lived in the year 1914 would live to see Armageddon.

You Can Be Sure Your
Date Will Find You Out

The year 2,000 must have seemed an eternity away to the Jehovah’s Witnesses living back in the 1920’s. But while no man can hurry time, no man can stop it either. As we entered the nineties it became embarrassingly obvious to the Watchtower leadership that they faced a major problem in the not too distant future. It was time once again for a bit of prophetic readjustment.

Thus came the 1995 pronouncement that the generation which began in 1914 was actually an unspecified period of time, and that there was really no need for anyone to be alive at Armageddon who had literally lived in the year 1914. It’s all spiritual, you see. (In other words: “Just Kidding!”)

New Light or Same Old Revision

The Watchtower Society, which claims that it is God’s “prophet” to the world, is desperately trying to employ damage control in this latest revision. Phrases such as “new light” and “a more precise understanding” are intended to soften the blow of yet another failure.

Not all JW’s are buying it, however. One former member, 28 years with Watchtower, put it this way:

Why is the entire history of the Society littered with prophetic failure and doctrinal reversals? Does God make mistakes? Is God continually learning new things thereby necessitating that He send “new light” to His organization to correct wrong information given in the past? … I am forced to the conclusion that the Society’s teachings do not originate with God but are the product of flawed human reasoning.

The Real Problem

The real problem with the Jehovah’s Witnesses has little to do with missed dates. It is something far more serious. The Jehovah’s witnesses have sided with nearly all cults in denying a number of the most fundamental doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The necessity of the new birth, the deity of Christ, justification by faith, the personality of the Holy Spirit, the reality of hell, and the value of the blood of Christ are all either diluted or plainly denied in the official teachings of the Watchtower Society.

The average Jehovah’s Witness is under the mistaken impression that by following all the rules of the Watchtower, living a moral life, and faithfully attending JW meetings, he will merit a place in God’s kingdom. They are so deceived by their false teachers that they refer to those who believe that our only hope of heaven is through faith in Christ’s shed blood as “gracers.”

If that is the definition of a gracer, then by all means count me in. I would be in good company. Many years ago a Jewish apostle by the name of Paul (a notorious gracer himself) made these statements:

“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

“…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all who believe.” (Romans 3:22)

“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24)

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:28)