The Watchtower website for many years contained the following article:
"God's Purpose Soon to Be Realized
Although God has permitted imperfection and suffering for a long time from the human viewpoint .. The Bible tells us that God has a specific time period for allowing these things to happen.. God will accomplish this cleansing of the earth .. Humans will never again have the option of trying to rule .. How Close Are We? How close are we to the end of this unsatisfactory system of things and the beginning of God's new world? Bible prophecy clearly gives us the answer.. Have those things that Jesus and Paul foretold taken place in our time? Yes, they certainly have.. Truly, we have been in the last days since 1914 and are nearing the culmination of Bible prophecies involving our time. How long a time period would these last days prove to be? Jesus said regarding the era that would experience the "beginning of pangs of distress" from 1914 onward: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (Matthew 24:8, 34-36) Thus, all the features of the last days must take place within the lifetime of one generation, the generation of 1914. So some people who were alive in 1914 will still be alive when this system comes to its end. That generation of people is now very advanced in years, indicating that there is not much time left before God brings this present system of things to an end.. God's purpose will soon be realized."
This was to be found at:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/soon_realized.htm
as recently as summer 2002.
Now this "generation of 1914" teaching has been changed many times by the WTS as time passed and Armageddon did not happen. The "generation" teaching, while first interpreted by Brooklyn in the normal sense of the word "generation" (which would mean Armageddon would have to have been in the 1930s or 1940s), was - as time passed - twisted and changed to instead mean that some of those old enough to experience, observe and properly understand the events of 1914 would survive to see Armageddon. But as time ticked on, and Armageddon still did not happen, the desparate Watchtower extended the generation to include even babies born in that year. Indeed, an elastic generation!
Then, in 1995, realizing that their false prophesy would soon be exposed as the generation died out, the Watchtower quietly dropped the generation teaching entirely - shamelessly blaming it on the rank and file "Jehovah's people":
"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 makeup a generation, but by thinking about how we 'count our days' in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah. (Psalm 90:12) Rather than provide 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." - November 1 1995 Watchtower, page 16.
So then why, six years later, was the Watchtower still teaching "some people who were alive in 1914 will still be alive when this system comes to its end." - http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/soon_realized.htm ? What confusion!
Now, the Watchtower's legal representative, and future President, Frederick Franz, had in 1940 and 1943 declared on oath in Court that Jehovah God was the editor of the Watchtower:
LAWYER: Who subsequently became the Editor of the magazine, the main editor of the 'Watch Tower' magazine?
F.FRANZ: In 1931, October 15th, as I recall, the 'Watch Tower' discontinued publishing the names of any editorial committee on the second page.
THE COURT: He asked you who became the editor.
F.FRANZ: And it said..
THE COURT: Who became the editor?
LAWYER: Who became the editor when this was discontinued?
F.FRANZ: Jehovah God.
That was in 1940; and now again in 1943:
LAWYER: At any rate, Jehovah God is now the editor of the paper, is that right?
F.FRANZ: He is today the editor of the paper.
LAWYER: How long has he been editor of the paper?
F.FRANZ: Since its inception he has been guiding it.
LAWYER: Even before 1931?
F.FRANZ: Yes, sir..
These were from the action for Libel: Olin R. Moyle v. F.W.Franz, et al, 05 10 - 05 27 1943, New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, sections 2596-7, 4420-1 (Moyle v. Rutherford et al., 261 App. Div. 968; 26 N.Y.S. 2d 860; Moyle v. Franz et al., 267 App. Div. 423; 46 N.Y.S. 2d 607; Moyle v. Franz et al., 47 N.Y.S. 484), first listed Kings County Clerk's Index No. 15845, 1940 Vol 2 p795.
Clearly, Jehovah, while the Editor of the Watchtower magazine (according to the WTS), was not trusted to be, or declined to be, the Editor of the Watchtower website!
But this story has yet another twist. Just a few months ago, the Watchtower website was in part "reorganized", and if you tried to suef to a bookmarked http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/soon_realized.htm you got the message:
This page has been moved to http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/article_07.htm
This page should be monitored regularly. It will soon be changed. And then those poor souls who bookmarked the original link, hoping that they would never die (the site containing as it did the clear and unambiguous Watchtower prophecy that Armageddon would come before all those alive in 1914 died), who later went back for reassurance will be told something different.
That is how the Watchtower rewards its followers. It tells them, in essence, that they were nuts to have believed the WT. It blames them for looking forward to Armageddon (despite having screamed that message for over a hundred years) and scolds them for their lives not having a purpose.
So the Watchtower:
a) Claims it speaks for God, even that its publication is edited by God.
b) Repeatedly and forcefully promulgates various false prophesies.
c) When forced to retract its false prophesies and renege on its false promises, cheats and deceives in order to hide what it has done from its own followers.
d) Hypocritically blames or ridicules its own followers for following it.
e) Notwithstanding the above, vigorously denies it meets the scriptural definition of a false prophet "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." at Deuteronomy 18:22, false claiming that the Watchtower has not been prophesying (it has), that being a "prophet" or prophet-like is quite different (it isn't), that it has not claimed to speak in God's name (it did), that it did not claim inspiration (it stated that God-breathed words were put into its mouth, which is exactly that) - or just using the excuse that it had good intentions (while hypocritically denying the same excuse to all others its criticizes, slanders and attacks).
Now let us turn to page 353 of the 1972 WT publication "Paradise Restored to Mankind - By Theocracy":
"Religious Hypocrisy Exposed .. Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are. They will try to avoid being killed or being pronounced spiritually dead by Jehovah's worshipers. He foretold this.."
Now, in the light of the above, who was the Watchtower talking about there? Eh??
And check:
http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/soon_realized.htm
for yourself, before there is yet another deceitful change.
The Watchtower Society and the Jehovah's Witnesses Cult is an embodiment of SPIRITUAL PORNOGRAPHY, a WOLFISH TRICK, a MOST FILTHY LIE, a CHEAT, a SCAM, a DISGUSTING ABOMINATION, a BLASPHEMOUS INSULT, a WICKED FRAUD, a DISGRACE, a SCANDAL, a PEDOPHILE PARADISE - and a DAMNED OUTRAGE from start to finish.
--
Focus
( http://www.freeminds.org/history/part1.htm Class)
Edited by - Focus on 26 December 2002 15:59:30