: Paul said the good news had already been preached in all the inhabited earth. The "end" didn't come then.
Yes, it did. For "the end" which Jesus referred to in Matt. 24:14 was quite clearly the end of Jerusalem and its Temple. For Christ's words in Matt. 24:14 were spoken in response to a series of questions which his disciples had just asked him after hearing Jesus predict that Jerusalem's Temple would one day be completely destroyed. Matthew 24:1-3 tells us that after Jesus' disciples called his attention to the Temple buildings he told them, "Not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down." His disciples then asked him, "When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Christ then informed them of various things which they would soon witness. Among these things were wars, famines, earthquakes and false Christs. Finally he mentioned that the good news of the kingdom would be very widely preached before "the end" came.
Christ's words in the verses which immediately follow Matt. 24:14 all clearly refer to the siege which the Roman armies would bring upon Jerusalem beginning in 66 AD and how it would affect Jerusalem's residents. Thus the immediate context of Matthew 24:14 clearly indicates that Christ's words describing a preaching work that would be done before "the end" came were almost certainly describing the gospel message which Christians would succeed in spreading throughout the entire world, as it was then known to Christ's apostles, before Rome's armies besieged Jerusalem in 66 AD.
Farkle, your post implies that Christ's predictions did not come true. History indicates that they did.