British astronomer Sir John Hershel, it was reported in the Chicago Sun Times, made some extraordinary discoveries on the moon!
British astronomer Sir John Hershel
The year was 1835. This famous astronmer reportedly had discovered life on our moon.
All manner of strange and wonderful creatures including men with wings like bats had been observed using a new and powerful telescope.
Fire-wielding biped beavers and batmen were quite extraordinary discoveries indeed!
Imagine the wonder, consternation and amazement the readers of this newspaper article must have experienced!
At about or around the same time a Baptist farmer was studying the bible on his own. His name was William Miller.
Baptist and farmer, William Miller
His discoveries were just as amazing and exciting and terrifying to the population as well.
Basing his belief principally on Daniel 8:14: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," and using an interpretive principle known as the "day-year principle"; Miller concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the earth's purification by fire at Christ's Second Coming. For Miller, and other users of this principle, a day in prophecy was read not as a 24-hour period, but rather as a calendar year--365 days instead. Further, Miller became convinced that the 2,300 day period started in 457 B.C. with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. Simple calculation then revealed that this period would end—and hence Christ’s return occur--in 1843. Miller records, "I was thus brought… to the solemn conclusion, that in about twenty-five years from that time 1818 all the affairs of our present state would be wound up."(Apology and Defence, William Miller, 11-12).
From 50,000 to over 100,000 people were in some ways persuaded, disturbed and provoked into life changing decisions as a result of Miller's published opinions and publicly preached views.
Another famous astronomer, Charles Piazzi Smith, published astounding and widely-circulated opinions on the meaning of measurements made of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
Astronomer Charles Piazzi Smith
In 1859, Smith published his findings along with detailed analysis and charts.
His assertions made blunt impact on religious people and bible students.
Smyth claimed, and presumably believed, that the pyramid inch was a God-given measure handed down through the centuries from the time of Israel, and that the architects of the pyramid could only have been directed by the hand of God. To support this Smyth said that, in measuring the pyramid, he found the number of inches in the perimeter of the base equalled one thousand times the number of days in a year, and found a numeric relationship between the height of the pyramid in inches to the distance from Earth to the Sun, measured in statute miles. He also advanced the theory that the Great Pyramid was a repository of prophecies which could be revealed by detailed measurements of the structure. Working upon theories by Taylor, he conjectured that the Hyksos were the Hebrew people, and that they built the Great Pyramid under the leadership of Melchizedek. Because the pyramid inch was a divine unit of measurement, Smyth, a committed proponent of British Israelism, used his conclusions as an argument against the introduction of the metric system in Britain. For much of his life he was a vocal opponent of the metric system, which he considered a product of the minds of atheistic French radicals, a position advocated in many of his works.
Along came Charles Taze Russell.
Charles Taze Russell
- Russell calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date. He predicted that a period known as the "gentile times" would end in 1914 and that Christ would take power of earth's affairs at that time. He interpreted the outbreak of World War I as the beginning of Armageddon, which he viewed to be both a gradual deterioration of civilized society, and a climactic multi-national attack on a restored Israel accompanied by worldwide anarchy.
- He rejected the common chronology of the Bible, published by Bishop Usher, and used a direct approach, and deductive reasoning, to calculate the 6,000 years from Adam. Correlating it with prophetic interpretations, the year 1874 was seen to be prophetically and chronologically significant, and seen as the date of the invisible return of Christ.
- Russell backed up some calculations using pyramidology. Following the view first taught by Christian writers, such as John Taylor, Charles Piazzi Smyth and Joseph Seiss, he believed the Great Pyramid of Giza was built by the Hebrews (associated to the Hyksos) under God’s direction, to be understood only in our day. He adopted and used the English phrase, referring to it as "the Bible in stone". Based upon certain biblical texts, such as Isaiah 19:19,20, and others, the various ascending and descending passages were viewed as representing the fall of man, the provision of the Mosaic Law, the death of Christ, and the exultation of the saints in heaven. Calculations were made using the pattern of an inch per year. Dates such as 1874, 1914, and 1948 were purported to have been found through the study of this monument. A detailed review of his thoughts can be found in the appendix of "Thy Kingdom Come".
WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON IN AMERICA?
1. People were easily bamboozled by outlandish claims, assertions, extraordinary stories and outright fabrications.
2.Formidable professional men were sucked in to making unverifiable claims about all sorts of subjects including fire-wielding beavers and the return of Christ. These men were sober, rational and prestigious men with good reputations and one foot in a fantasy world.
3.Ordinary citizens reared to believe anything was possible were swayed when they heard and read these outrageous stories and "proofs".
4.America was filled from shore to shore with a fringe of lunacy resulting on great changes in society.
Men like Joseph Smith and William Miller and Charles Taze Russell started the ball rolling on great society's of people who still believe some/part/all of those enormous fraudulent claims even today.
There is no end in sight for what gullible people, sincere and eager for excitement, will continue to believe!
The Watchtower Society was incorporated as Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society in 1884. Its directors served as the central Governing Body overseeing the global preaching of God’s Kingdom. [1] This initial Governing Body was comprised of five men and two women. [2] As of 1971 the Governing Body consisted of the Board of Directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, a body of seven men, and the agenda of the Governing Body was set by the President of the Watch Tower Society, who was also a member. The Governing Body was enlarged by Nathan H. Knorr to include other members of the Society in 1971, and its membership rose to eleven men. In that year, the chairmanship of the group began to rotate annually. [3] [4]
Since January 1, 1976, all the activities of the Watchtower Society and of the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide have been brought under the supervision of the Governing Body [5] , which formed six committees to oversee the various administrative requirements of the organization's worldwide activities. Prior to that, nearly all administrative reaponsibilities had been vested in the office of the president.
The membership of the Governing Body continued to include the directors of the Watch Tower Society until the year 2000. Since that time, the Governing Body has delegated the responsibility of directors of the various corporations that are used by Jehovah's Witnesses to members outside the board. Hence, the current president of the Watch Tower Society, Don A. Adams, is not a member of the Governing Body.
The number of elders sitting on the Governing Body varies over time but its size hovers in the lower teens. The number have altered from only seven in the very beginning, to eighteen in the later 70s (its highest-ever number), to around twelve more recently. As of April 2007 there were nine members. J. Barr and T. Jaracz are the only members left who were serving on the Body before 1994.
The members of the Governing Body have come from various national backgrounds.