It is amazing to compare the dogmatic, black-and-white statements in this
Awake! with the weak half-assed wimpy retraction in 1995:
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g68 10/8 p. 4 What's This World Coming To? ***
What does the Bible show as to the meaning of all these world events? It shows that for this unrighteous world
time is running out fast! It shows that
within a few years at most there will take place a climax in human affairs so gigantic that it will affect every person earth, every man, woman and child. It will without fail, affect you. What is this climax? God himself will take a direct hand in world affiars. He will use his overwhelming power to crush wickedness and wicked people (Rev. 11:18). This act of God is called "Armageddon" in some Bible translations....
Yes, this violent, crime-ridden world is coming to its end!
Time is running out fast for it! It is much later for this world than you may think! Indeed,
it has only a few more years of existence left!
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g68 10/8 p. 7 How Do We Know We Are in the "Last Days"? ***
How can we be sure we are living in the period of time called the "last days"? Aside from chronology, what definite proof is there that this era began in the year 1914? How long a time is covered by it? When will it end?
The phrase "last days" comes from Bible prophecy such as that recorded at 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1... This time period has a definite beginning and a definite end. It is similar to the last day of a week, which has a definite beginning at midnight and a definite end twenty-four hours later. During the time period of the "last days" certain events would take place, after which God would bring the period to the end by crushing out of existence this present wicked world.
The events that Jesus, the apostle Paul and other Bible writers bring to our attention were all to take place
within the same generation [emphasis theirs] (Matt. 24:34). These events would identify
which generation's lifetime would embrace the "last days", much as your fingerprint identifies you...Remember, however, that it is not just one of these events by itself that is crucial, although each is highly significant.
All of them must come together in the same generation [emphasis theirs], like the different lines that come together on one of your fingers to form your fingerprint.
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g68 10/8 p. 13-14 What Will the 1970s Bring? ***
The fact that
fifty-four years of the period called the "last days" have already gone by is highly significant. It means that
only a few years, at most, remain before the corrupt system of things dominating the earth is destroyed by God. How can we be
so certain of this?
One way is by noting what Jesus said when he gave his great prophecy about the "last days". After he listed the many events that would mark the period, he also stated:
"Truly I say to you that this generaiton will by no means pass away until all these things occur" -- Matt. 24:34.Jesus was
obviously speaking about those who were
old enough
to witness with understanding [emphasis theirs] what took place when the "last days" began. Jesus was saying that some of those persons who were alive at the appearance of the 'sign of the last days' would still be alive when God brought this sytem to its end.
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. So
the great majority of the generation to which Jesus was referring
has already passed away in death. The remaining ones are approaching old age. And remember, Jesus said that the end of this wicked world would come
before [emphasis theirs] that generation passed away in death.
This, of itself, tells us that the years left before the foretold end comes cannot be many.
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g68 10/8 p. 23-24 'Lift Up Your Head' in Confident Hope ***
The evidence that we are far along in the "last days" can be either good news or bad news to you, depending on the position you take...Still some persons may say: "How can you be sure? Maybe it is later than many people think. But
maybe it is not as late as some persons claim [
YES, IT IS NOW AT LEAST 30 YEARS LATER, N.B.].
People have been mistaken about these prophecies before."
The DifferenceTrue, there have been those in times past who
predicted an "end to the world," even announcing a specific date. Some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end. Yet,
nothing happened. The "end" did not come.
They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing?
Missing was the full measure of evidence required in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Missing from such people were God's truths and the
evidence that he was guiding and using them.
But what about today? Today
we have the evidence required,
all of it [emphasis theirs]. And it is
overwhelming! All the many, many parts of the great sign of the "last days" are here, together with verifying Bible chronology [
INCLUDING THE CHRONOLOGY FOR 1975, N.B.]...
Would you still doubt if someone told you that winter was coming very soon? Would you say that he was
just guessing or
merely expressing his own idea? Or would you
acknowledge, on the basis of
solid evidence, that he knew the
facts and was telling you
the truth?...
As recorded at Matthew 24:33, 34, he [Jesus] added: "Likewise also you, when you see all these things [emphasis theirs], know that he is near at the doors.
Truly I saw to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." We today have
all [emphasis theirs] the many parts of that sign,
nearly forty of them,
being fulfilled within the same generation, and we have
God's timetable, his "calendar," showing that the
time has nearly run out for the present unrighteous system of things. This is
very different indeed from the situation with
those who proclaimed an "end to the world" in earlier generations.
Very dogmatic and ...... very wrong, as history itself as proven. So what kind of an apology do the JWs get when they abandoned this teaching? None...and in fact, it was all just "
speculation" (forget about us claiming that it was "the truth" and a "fact" based on "overwhelming" and "solid evidence" that was
not merely "[our] own idea" or "just guessing") that "
Jehovah's people" in general have had at some time in the past. Jehovah's people, that means
you, unfortunately somehow got these speculative ideas not from any F&DS but from your own "
eagerness" to see the world end, and you did so without "
wisdom".
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w95 11/1 p. 17 A Time to Keep Awake ***
Eager to see the end of this evil system,
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. However, we "bring a heart of
wisdom in," not by
speculating about how many years or days make up a generation, but by thinking about how we "count our days" in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah...
Is anything to be gained, then, by looking for dates or by speculating about the literal lifetime of a "generation"? Far from it! Habakkuk 2:3 clearly states: "The vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late." Jehovah’s day of accounting hastens ever closer.—Jeremiah 25:31-33; Malachi 4:1.
Does our more precise viewpoint on "this generation" mean that Armageddon is further away than we had thought? Not at all! [
NOT TRUE -- ARMAGEDDON WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JUST A FEW YEARS LATER THAN 1968...NOW IT IS 30 YEARS LATER THAN 1975, SO IT IS "FURTHER AWAY" THAN THEY HAD CLAIMED BEFORE, N.B.] Though we at no time have known the "day and hour," Jehovah God has always known it, and he does not change. (Malachi 3:6) Obviously, the world is sinking further and further toward terminal ruination.