Hello everyone,
As I have mentioned already, here below I?m presenting the material for the :
Part TWO : The WTBS Inc. worldwide teaching about
the change of date, from 1874 to 1914;
To begin, the earliest known WTBS Inc.?s published material , about the change of date -from the year 1874 to the year 1914 - can be traced in one of their publication i.e. themagazine called ? The Golden Age ?.-
* Quote from the year 1930:
? The Golden Age ? page 503
"In Matthew 24 Jesus gives his disciples some proofs that he would be present...These tangible evidences will be the beginning of the work of destroying the present evil conditions and systems. This work of destruction began in 1914... If it is true that Jesus has been present since the year 1914 , then it must be admitted that nobody has seen Him with his natural eyes." -
* Quote from the year 1949:
In ?The Watchtower? July 15th, 1949 (page 215, paragraph 22), the statement is made:
? . . . Messiah, the Son of man, came into Kingdom power A.D. 1914 and . . . this constitutes his second coming and the beginning of his second parousía or presence.?
The above quote is also given as a reminder in the year 1973, in
the book : " God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached' ,
page 209 paragraph 55 .-
Strangely enough, this claim is a rather surprising one. Because in another WTBS Inc.?s publication , a different claim is made - that the change took place in 1943 - rather than 1930.
As usual we have to proceed by leaps and bonds, back and forward and in this case , the statement , published in 1973 concerns events relating to the year ?1943 !
* * Quote from the year 1973:
From the book : " God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached' ,
published by the WTBS Inc. in the year 1973 , pages 206-211, §§ 48- 57
*** ka 206-11 11 "Here Is the Bridegroom!" ***
THE CORRECTING OF A MISUNDERSTANDING
48 It is true that the editor and publisher of Zion?s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ?s Presence calculated that the ?presence? or parousia of the heavenly Bridegroom began in the year 1874 C.E.
Also, that the date of the first man?s creation by Jehovah God was in the year 4128 B.C.E., which meant that six thousand years of man?s existence on the earth ended in the year 1872 C.E., as calculated by Russell and his associates.
This reckoning began to be announced on the front page of Zion?s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ?s Presence beginning with the issue of July 1, 1906, and this practice continued down through the issue of September 15, 1928. For instance, on the first of such mentioned issues appeared the date of issue: ?July 1, A.D. 1906?A.M., 6034?; whereas the dating of the last mentioned issue was: ?Anno Mundi 6056?September 15, 1928.? The Anno Mundi or ?Year of the World? date was calculated to be the year 4128 before our Common Era.
49 Two years, however, were allowed for the innocence of the perfect man and woman in the Garden of Eden before sin entered, and hence the year of sin?s entrance was calculated as 4126 B.C.E. This resulted in their calculating six thousand years of sin as ending in 1874 C.E., in which year also, in the autumn, the seventh millennium began, for the instigator of sin, Satan the Devil, to be bound and cast into the bottomless pit and for Christ to start reigning for the foretold thousand years. This meant that the year of the start of Christ?s reign was also the year of his return and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia.
50 The above chronology followed the suggestion that was made in Wilson?s The Emphatic Diaglott, in its footnote on Acts 13:20, which verse read: ?And after these things, he gave Judges about four hundred and fifty years, till Samuel the prophet.? The footnote on this reading of the verse said:
A difficulty occurs here which has very much puzzled Biblical chronologists. The date given here is at variance with the statement found in 1 Kings 6:1. There have been many solutions offered, but only one which seems entirely satisfactory, i.e., that the text in 1 Kings 6:1 has been corrupted, by substituting the Hebrew character daleth (4) for hay (5) which is very similar in form. This would make 580 years (instead of 480) from the exode to the building of the temple, and exactly agree with Paul?s chronology.
51 Accordingly, on page 53 of the book entitled ?The Time Is at Hand,? author C. T. Russell wrote, referring to 1 Kings 6:1:
It evidently should read the five-hundred-and-eightieth year, and was possibly an error in transcribing; for if to Solomon?s four years we add David?s forty, and Saul?s space of forty, and the forty-six years from leaving Egypt to the division of the land, we have one hundred and thirty years, which deducted from four hundred and eighty would leave only three hundred and fifty years for the period of the Judges, instead of the four hundred and fifty years mentioned in the Book of Judges, and by Paul, as heretofore shown. The Hebrew character ?daleth? (4) very much resembles the character ?hay? (5), and it is supposed that in this way the error has occurred, possibly the mistake of a transcriber. I Kings 6:1, then, should read five hundred and eighty, and thus be in perfect harmony with the other statements.
Thus, by inserting 100 years into the Bible chronology during the period of the Judges, man?s creation was pushed back 100 years to 4128 B.C.E., and the six thousand years of man?s existence on earth ended in 1872 C.E. (The Time Is at Hand, page 42) Then the allowance of two years before the entry of sin led to the year 1874 as the year in which six thousand years of human sin terminated and the seventh thousand years for the elimination of sin by Christ?s reign began. So the Grand Jubilee was then due to begin.
52 According to the oldest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures, however, the reading of Acts 13:20 is different from that given in The Emphatic Diaglott and the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. So, according to the most ancient manuscripts, the four hundred and fifty years are not applied to the period of the Judges. In verification of this, The New English Bible (of the year 1970) renders Acts 13:20 as follows: ?for some four hundred and fifty years, and afterwards appointed judges for them until the time of the prophet Samuel.?
The Jerusalem Bible (English translation of 1966) reads: ?for about four hundred and fifty years. After this he gave them judges, down to the prophet Samuel.? The Revised Standard Version Bible of 1952 reads similarly, and so does the American Standard Version Bible of 1901 C.E.
53 Furthermore, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts extant, like those of the Dead Sea Scrolls, spell out the numbers of the Bible and do not use alphabetic characters for numerals, thus not allowing for a transcriber?s visual error at 1 Kings 6:1.
54 The insertion of 100 years into Bible chronology during the period of the Judges is thus seen not to rest upon Scriptural grounds.
The insertion should therefore be dropped and the Bible should be accepted just as it reads concerning its chronology.
Unavoidably, then, this would affect the date for the parousia of the Bridegroom Jesus Christ to begin.
With the Watch Tower magazine?s issue of January 1, 1939, the title was changed to The Watchtower and Herald of Christ?s Kingdom, and with the issue of March 1, 1939, to The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah?s Kingdom.
This did not mean that the publishers of the magazine no longer believed in the presence or parousia of Christ as being then in progress.
It meant, rather, that more importance was given to the Kingdom, to the kingdom of Jehovah God by Jesus Christ, for it is Jehovah?s kingdom by Christ that will vindicate Jehovah?s universal sovereignty.
55 In the year 1943 the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society published the book ?The Truth Shall Make You Free.?
In its chapter 11, entitled ?The Count of Time,? it did away with the insertion of 100 years into the period of the Judges and went according to the oldest and most authentic reading of Acts 13:20 , and accepted the spelled-out numbers of the Hebrew Scriptures.
This moved forward the end of six thousand years of man?s existence into the decade of the 1970?s.
Naturally this did away with the year 1874 C.E . as the date of return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of his invisible presence or parousia.
The millennium that was to be marked by the detaining of Satan the Devil enchained in the abyss and by the reign of the 144,000 joint heirs with Christ in heavenly glory was therefore yet in the future. What, then, about the parousia (presence) of Christ?
Page 324 of the above book positively says : ?The King?s presence or parousia began in 1914 .?
Also, in the Watchtower issue of July 15, 1949 (page 215, paragraph 22), the statement is made:
? . . . Messiah, the Son of man, came into Kingdom power A.D. 1914 and . . . this constitutes his second coming and the beginning of his second parousía or presence.?
56 In the year 1950, there was published the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, with the most authentic reading of Acts 13:20, and translating pa·rou·si'a every time as ?presence.? Immediately afterward appeared the book ?This Means Everlasting Life.? Its chapter 21 was entitled ?Second Presence of Life?s Chief Agent.?
Here was a whole chapter on the subject according to the straight Bible timetable.
On pages 220-222, we read:
The evidence already considered proves that A.D. 1914 God?s kingdom was born and his Son was enthroned with authority to rule with an iron rod amid his foes. Eventually he will dash them to pieces and rid the universe of all fighters against God?s rightful sovereignty.?Psalm 2:8, 9.
So A.D. 1914 marks the time of Christ?s invisible return in spirit. . . . His coming into the Kingdom in 1914 marks the beginning of his second presence or pa·rou·si'a. This Greek word means presence.
. . . Although invisible in spirit, his second presence is of such importance to people over all the earth that it must not be kept secret, and it will not be. . . . ?For just as the lightning comes out of eastern parts and shines over to western parts, so the presence [pa·rou·si'a] of the Son of man will be.??Matthew 24:26, 27, NW.
Since 1914 the present Christ has been making the evidences of his second presence or pa·rou·si'a manifest and understandable to men everywhere.
57 How harmonious with the inspired Scriptures it is, then, that Christ did not begin reigning forty years before the end of the Gentile Times in 1914!
Rather, he waited till then at his heavenly Father?s right hand to begin ruling in the midst of his earthly enemies, whom Jehovah places as a stool for his feet! (Psalm 110:1, 2; Hebrews 10:12, 13)
Rightly, then, his royal presence or parousia began in that year. In the year 1919, as history proves, he caused the midnight cry to sound on earth and roused the sleeping ?virgins? to the urgency of the situation. ?Here is the bridegroom! Be on your way out to meet him.? That cry assured them of the heavenly Bridegroom?s presence. The ?discreet? virgin class has since been on its way out to meet him. They are seen shining as luminaries in this benighted world. This in itself is an evidence that the promised presence of Christ is upon us. It is also an evidence that God?s kingdom by Christ of a thousand years has approached!
***
48. (a) The editor and publisher of Zion?s Watch Tower calculated that Christ?s presence began in what year? (b) Also, what was the date of man?s creation, as published on the cover page of The Watch Tower for some years?
49. (a) When was sin?s entrance calculated to have occurred? (b) When, therefore, was the millennium to begin for Satan?s casting into the bottomless pit and for Christ?s reign?
50. That chronology followed what footnote on Acts 13:20 as found in Wilson?s Emphatic Diaglott?
51. (a) Accordingly, what did author C. T. Russell say on page 53 of ?The Time Is at Hand? regarding 1 Kings 6:1? (b) According to that, when was man created, when did 6,000 years of sin end, and when did the Grand Jubilee begin?
52. According to the oldest Greek manuscripts, the 450 years of Acts 13:20 apply before or during the period of the Judges, as shown by modern Bible translations?
53. Did the ancient Hebrew Bible manuscripts use alphabetic characters to stand for numbers?
Footnote :
When, after Bible times, the Hebrews used alphabetic letters for numbers, they had no symbol for zero, as their system had no zero. Hence 400 was not represented by the letter daleth followed by two zeros, and 500 by the letter he followed by two zeros. The number 400 was represented by one Hebrew letter (taw), and the number 500 was represented by two Hebrew letters (taw qoph). The number eighty was represented by the Hebrew letter pe, whereas ten was represented by the one letter yod. So there was no likelihood of mistaking taw pe (480) as distinguished from taw qoph pe (580).
54. (a) The accepting of Bible chronology just as written would affect the beginning of what period here under discussion? (b) Did dropping of ?Presence? from the Watchtower title mean that Christ?s presence was no longer believed in?
55. (a) When and how was the insertion of 100 years into the period of the Judges done away with, so that 6,000 years of man?s existence ended when? (b) How did this affect the date 1874 C.E., and what question arose?
56. (a) In 1950, what new Bible translation was published, and with what rendering of Acts 13:20? (b) Also, what statement was made about Christ?s presence according to straight Bible chronology?
57. (a) Did Christ begin reigning amidst his enemies before the end of the Gentile Times in 1914? (b) When did the Bridegroom cause the midnight cry to be heard, and what has taken place since is evidence of what important facts?
(When reading the above material, please, do compare its content with the 'Zion Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence ' published on October 1st 1907 , Reprints 4067 (p.294 ), subtitle 'KNOWLEDGE AND FAITH REGARDING CHRONOLOGY' .-
Do notice also some quite strange expressions i.e.
*...THE CORRECTING OF A MISUNDERSTANDING '
**? .. It is true that the editor and publisher .... calculated that the
?presence? or parousia ....began in the year 1874 C.E.'
*? ....as calculated by Russell and his associates. ' etc. etc.
Clearly, all the above mentioned quotes, from the WTBS Inc.?s publications, prove that the new date - for the return of Jesus Christ , i.e. 1914, as replacement of the date 1874 , was officially made in the year 1943 ! All this by a simple stroke of a pen i.e. the publication of the WTBS Inc.?s new book : "The Truth Shall Make You Free" published in the year 1943 .-
* Quote from the year 1943 ? given as reminder in a 1973 publication ? thanks to ? Dirtclod .com . -
Page 150 "THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE""
were come out of the land of Egypt,in the
fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel,in
the month iv,which is the second month,that
he began to build the house of Jehovah ."There-
after Solomon reigned thirty-six years.1 Kings
6 1,,2,A.R.V.11 42 In the original Hebrew
text of these verses the numbers of years are
written spelled out in full .It was first hundreds
of years after Christ that alphabetic letters be-
gan to be used as symbols of numbers,and then
these were used merely to number the chapters
and verses,but NOT to change the original He-
brew text .Without any other definite Scripture
time statement we accept 1 Kings 6 1,,2,and
proceed with measuring the time .
From God's covenant with
Abraham to the exodus was 430 years
From the exodus to the begin-
ning of the temple 480 years
To Solomon's death and Rehoboam's reign 36 years
To Abijah's reign 17 years
To Asa's reign 3 years
To Jehoshaphat's reign 41 years
To Jehoram's reign 25 years
To Ahaziah's reign 8 years
To Athaliah's reign 1 ye a r
To Joash's reign 6 years
To Amaziah's reign 40 years
To Uzziah's reign 29 years
To Jotham's reign 52 years
Page 151 THE COUNT OF TIME
To Ahaz's reign
To Hezekiah's reign
To Manasseh's reign
To Amon's reign
To Josiah's reign
To Jehoahaz's reign
To Jehoiakim's reign
To Jehoiachin's reign
To edekiah's reign
16 years
16 years
29 years
55 years
2 years
31 years
3 months
11 years
3 months
To Jerusalem's desolation 11 years
To the end of seventy years'
desolation in the first year
of King Cyrus of Persia 70 years
To the end ancient time
of the year B .C.1 536 years
From the Abrahamic covenant
through B .C.1 1,945 years
The above figures are based upon the record of Israel's kings as given in 2 Chronicles,chap-
ters 12 to 36 .Both 2 Chronicles 36 19--23 and
Ezra 1 1--6,and Daniel 5 28--31,agree that it
was in the first year of Cyrus'reign that he per-
mitted the Jews to depart from Babylon and
return to Jerusalem to build the temple,thus
ending the seventy years'desolation of the land
of Judea.
It is well established that two years
after the overthrow of Babylon in 538 B .C.by
Darius the Mede and his nephew,Cyrus the
Persian,the first year of Cyrus'exclusive rule
began,which year was 536 B .C.So,putting
page 152 "THE TRUTH SHA MAKE YOU FREE?
together the three great periods of time from
Adam's creation onward,we get the following
table
From Adam's creation to the Flood was 1,656 years
From the Flood to the
Abrahamic covenant was 427 years
From the Abrahamic cove-
nant to end of B .C.1 was 1,945 years
From Adam's creation to
the end of B .C.1 was 4,028 years
Thereafter the so-called Anno Domini or A.D.
period began.
From the beginning of A.D.1,or Year of the
ord 1,to the beginning of A .D.1944 is 1,943
full years,which,being added to the above
table,give the time measurement from Adam's
creation to date
From Adam's creation to
the end of B .C.1 was 4,028 years
From beginning of A .D.1
to the end of 1943 is 1,943 years
From Adam's creation to
the end of 1943 A.D.is 5,971 years
We are therefore near the end of six
thousand years of human history ,with
conditions upon us and tremendous events at
hand foreshadowed by those of Noah's day .-Luke
17 26--30 .
In conclusion to this second part, I do believe that the many quotes from the WTBS Inc's own publications , are beyond any doubt ?convincing evidence? that the 1874 date was consistently maintained for about 54 years , i.e. - from 1876 to 1930 ? .
When examining the publications of the WTBS Inc. we do well to keep in mind , among other things, the following statement:
*** g84 8/22 p. 28 From Our Readers ***
?. The Catholic Church occupies a very significant position in the world and claims to be the way of salvation for hundreds of millions of people. Any organization that assumes that position should be willing to submit to scrutiny and criticism. All who criticize have the obligation to be truthful in presenting the facts and fair and objective in assessing such. In both respects we try to live up to that obligation.?ED.
With all the above material, ends part TWO.
Greetings, J.C. MacHislopp
« The truth can never be hurt by a lie, but a lie can be
exposed by the truth «