Thanks for all the helpflul responses! The last Watchtower example, from 1945, is a deception double-header:
- it contradicts the 1968 claim that the JWs leaders didn't succumb to pre-
dicting Armageddon soon during WWII, and
- it contradicts that Russell, prior to WWI, taught you weren't supposed to
interpret wars, earthquakes, etc., as signs of impending Armageddon, and even
fudged to the point of dismissing any conviction that his predictions were reli-
able, by describing Russell as predicting WWI.
1884 "What commoner all through the ages than wars and rumors of wars,
famines, pestilences, and earthquakes? These, as marking the course of the age,
can never indicate its close."
"No, there was nothing special to alarm the antediluvians before the day that
Noah entered into the ark; nothing special to startle the men of Sodom ere the
fire from heaven fell; and like as it was in those days, so will it be in these.
All going on just as usual, no single sign to attract the world's attention.
'None of the wicked shall understand' the true state of affairs, only the 'wise'
enlightened by the word of prophecy." ("Watchtower Reprints," Sept., 1884,
p.661)
1897 From "Studies in the Scriptures," Vol.4, "The Battle
of Armageddon," pp.566 and 567:
"Yet it is against the kind which 'deceive many' that our Lord cautions us
here, and again, later on in his prophecy, in which connection we will examine
particularly the antichrists which have deceived many.
"The History of Eighteen Centuries Briefly Foretold--Matt. 24:6-13; Mark 13:7-
13; Luke 21:9-19--
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors [threats, intrigues] of wars: see that
ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All
these are primary sorrows." Matt. 24:6-8
"Thus briefly did our Lord summarize secular history, and teach the disciples
not to expect very soon his second coming and glorious Kingdom. And how aptly:
surely the world's history is just this--an account of wars, intrigues, famines
and pestilences--little else."
1914 "We had expected that if the Gentile Times should end with the present
year, this would surely mean that all the Bride class would participate in the
First Resurrection change from earthly conditions to Heavenly conditions before
the end of the present year. Although this was not stated positively, it was
pointed out to be the logical conclusion.
"Now it does not look so. We see Scriptures which are not yet fulfilled and
which, we are convinced, could not find accomplishment before the end of this
year.
"There is still a possibility that we have made no mistake in respect to the
time, but have erred in respect to the things expected. For instance, it may be
that the Times of the Gentiles do expire with the present year, but that the
Lord will not dispossess them nor take from them their earthly dominion so
quickly as we had anticipated. Considering that they have been in power for
2,520 years, dispossession in one year might seem very sudden--indeed, to accom-
plish it in five, or ten, or twenty years, might seem not an unreasonable time."
"The great crisis, the great clash, symbolically represented as a fire, that
will consume the ecclesiastical heavens and the social earth, is very near. But
when we have said this we have said about all that it is safe or proper for us
to say. We have never claimed inspiration nor prophetic vision. All that we
have ever claimed is that 'Wonderful things in the Bible we see,' and that the
dearest is the love of the Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Lord Jesus, and that
the time for the establishment of the Kingdom is very nigh." ("The Watch Tow-
er," May 1, 1914, pp.132-134)
On July 28, WWI broke out. Though it was a year and two months earlier than
his corrected date (no year "0"), Oct., 1915, and two months earlier than his
original date, Oct., 1914, Russell pretended he predicted something for the
Aug.15, 1914, Zion's Watch Tower and wrote:
"St. Paul, referring to our day and to present conditions, declares the Lord's
Message, 'Yet once more will I shake, not the earth only, but also the heavens.'
By inspiration the Apostle informs us that this will be the last great shaking
which the world will ever have, because in this troubled time in the early dawn
of the Millennium, everything shakable will be shaken and destroyed so thorough-
ly that nothing will remain except that which is unshakable--that which will
fully have the Divine approval. The Apostle says that the only thing remaining
unshakable will be the Kingdom of God in the hands of The Christ--Head and
Body.--'Hebrews 12:18-27'."
As the big date, Oct., 1914, approached, Russell fudged again:
1914 "The present terrible war is not the great Time of Trouble in the full-
est sense of the word, but merely its forerunner. The great Time of Trouble of
the Scriptures will be brought on by anarchy--the general uprising of the peo-
ple; as the Prophet says, 'every man's hand against his neighbor, no peace to
him that goeth out or to him that cometh in.'--'Zechariah 8:10'."
"While it is possible that Armageddon may begin next Spring, yet it is purely
speculation to attempt to say just when. We see, however, that there are paral-
lels between the close of the Jewish Age and this Gospel Age. These parallels
seem to point to the year just before us--particularly the early months."
("Watchtower Reprints," Sept.1, 1914, pp.5526,5527)
