This maybe just coincidence but this sentence in the 15th Feb, 2008 Watchtower stroke me:
Nine decades have passed since Jesus was installed as King in heaven in 1914. As challenging as it may be, we must prove ourselves ready and
keep on the watch.
'Nine Decades' sounds less to me than 94 years, does it not? Seems that they are not too accurate any longer since there is no more expectation linked to the period 1914 to the end. On the other hand, they could not mention it at all.
But I am not a native English speaker. You tell me if there is a change in wording. (If not, it still is a nice chain of quotes.)
***w0312/15p.15par.7OurWatchfulnessTakesOnGreaterUrgency***Some 90 years have passed since the last days of this system of things began in 1914. We are certainly in "the time of the end."
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w9910/1p.12par.11"ATimeforPeace"IsatHand!**Since the 1914 turning point in human affairs, 85 years have passed. Jehovah has been extremely patient with humankind.***
w981/1p.6par.1DoNotGiveUpintheRaceforLife!***More than 80 years ago, in 1914, Jesus was enthroned as King of God’s heavenly Kingdom. "The Lord’s day" and with it "the time of the end" of this system of things began.***
w974/1p.14par.3DeliveranceIntoaRighteousNewWorld***In 1914 this world entered its "last days." (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13) We are now 83 years into that period and are nearing its end***
w943/15p.20par.20TrustJehovahtoFulfillHisPurpose***Bible prophecies indicate that Satan’s world has been in its last days for nearly 80 years now, since the pivotal year 1914.***
w9111/1p.11par.14EnduranceThatGainstheVictory***Already the anointed remnant have seen 77 years pass since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, when some of them expected the glorification of the true Christian congregation to heaven***
w8810/15p.4TheSign—AreYouHeedingIt?***Seventy-four years have passed since the outbreak of World War I in 1914. From a human viewpoint, this may seem a very long time.***
w862/15p.5Apocalypse—When?***Even though more than 70 years have gone by since 1914, there are still individuals around who lived through that era.***
w867/1p.19par.8LivingforGod’sWill—TodayandForever***This system of things is into its 72nd year since the crucial date of 1914.***
w8510/1p.18par.18Peace,Security,andthe‘ImageoftheBeast’***The fulfillment of the "sign" shows that we have been living in the time of Jesus’ presence for 71 years, since 1914.***
w846/1p.17par.20NowIstheTimeforZealousService***These prophesied events began to take place some 70 years ago. Yet Jesus said that they would all happen during the lifetime of one generation. (Matthew 24:32-34) Obviously, we are a longwayintothatgeneration!***
w835/15p.21par.1TheGloriousWorkThatFollowstheRideoftheHorsemen***We have "the sign" for this. He has been present in his God-given Kingdom since the end of "the times of the Gentiles" in the year 1914, 69 years ago.***
w837/15p.4DoesFearAffectYou?***But did the generation of 1914 observe something different? Certainly, because the whole "inhabited earth," all the nations, has been affected since that turning point. (Luke 21:25, 26) So much has been compressed into the past 69 years that older people who have experienced it are disconcerted and fearful.***
w8111/15p.11par.3"PeaceandSecurity!"—Then"SuddenDestruction"***Already 67 years have passed since the "generation" of 1914 saw the start of these troubles.***
w8010/15p.15par.14AreWeNearingArmageddon?***Now, in late 1980, 66 years have passed since the crucial date of 1914.***
w7712/15p.751par.13FightersAgainstGodLosingtheBattle***Since then, no period of just 63 years has seen all mankind plagued with such international wars, political upheavals, accompanied by so many earthquakes, pestilences of pandemic proportions, food shortages with spiraling food costs, outbursts of lawlessness, and loveless oppression and persecution of Christ’s "slave" class world wide.***
w7512/15pp.749-750par.21ProvingOurselvesWorthytoEnterGod’sNewOrder***Furthermore, in our own generation, it has already been sixty-one years since the start of the "time of the end" in the year 1914 C.E.***
w7310/15p.620par.9CauseofHumanity’sDistressNearsRemoval***It is nearly sixty years, since the Gentile Times ended in 1914, and the "war of the great day of God the Almighty" will not hold off indefinitely, forever.***
w722/1p.75WhatSortofGodIsJehovah?***When we take into consideration the things occurring since World War I, which broke out in 1914 C.E., more than fifty-seven years ago, the foretold latter years and days, the final part of the years and days, ought to be upon us soon!***
w701/15p.52par.11PeacewithGodamidthe"GreatTribulation"***If, as explained in 1925, the first part of the "great tribulation" began in 1914 and ended in 1918, then the time interval by which "those days" of the tribulation are being cut short has extended itself for fifty-one years and is not yet over.***
w7010/15p.627par.9TheKingdomofSalvationAvailableToday***It is now fifty-six years since that royal Messianic Stone was cut out of Jehovah’s own governmental mountain at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E.***
w685/1p.265par.7UnderstandingTimeaHelptoTrueWorshipers***And how encouraging this is to true worshipers today, for we know that, by the autumn of 1967 C.E., fifty-three years had gone by since the "last days" began, since the "appointed times of the nations" ended! That means the end of this wicked system of things will come very shortly. As Jesus said, the end would occur in the same generation that saw the beginning of the "last days" in 1914.***
w672/1p.79par.19FruitfulChristiansManifestGodlyContentment***Already over fifty-two years have passed since the Kingdom’s establishment in heaven in 1914. The end of six thousand years of human history is very close. The physical facts that mark our time as the "conclusion of the system of things" are unmistakable.***
w674/1p.200HowWeKnowWeLiveinthe"LastDays"***There is no escaping it. All the lines of the "fingerprint" are there to show conclusively that we have been in the "last days" since 1914, over fifty-two years now!***
w666/1p.326TimeIsRunningOut!***True, fifty-two years have flown by since these things began to occur and because of this some have allowed themselves to be complacently lulled to sleep, feeling that the time is yet many years away. But the passing of the years has not made the foretold destruction of this wicked system of things more remote; it has brought it closer, much closer. According to Jesus’ words, at least a representative number, and perhaps many, of the generation living when his great prophecy began to be fulfilled in 1914 will see "all these things happen," including the destruction of false religion and the political systems of this world, with all their friends and supporters***
w623/15p.176par.4KeepProvingWhatYouArebyAcceptingResponsibility***With nearly forty-eight years of this world’s last days gone since that marked year of 1914, this is no time to yield to the world’s spirit of irresponsibility, but a time to resist the irresponsible spirit of this world.***
w614/15p.239par.13HopeofSurvivalFacestheProblem***As in the days of Noah’s building the ark, so now over forty years since A.D. 1914 Jehovah’s patience has been waiting a long time. All evidences are indicative, in the light of Bible prophecy, that the day of Jehovah for executing judgment against the ungodly is near, within this generation.***
w592/15p.104par.15"LetYourWillCometoPass"***To this very day, forty-four years since the ending of the times of the Gentiles in 1914, the nations and their rulers have not come to Christian sanity to learn what Nebuchadnezzar learned, that "the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will, and sets over it the lowliest of men."***
w593/15p.165par.1KeepingStrictWatchonHowWeWalk***This fact is that God’s kingdom rules, that it has been ruling during these past forty-five years since 1914.***
w584/15p.237par.12TheTimetoSingtheNewSong***Already the year 1914 is forty-four years in the past. Since that time the sorrows and troubles of this old world have multiplied. In the face of all this, is it the time for mourning with this old world? No, but for something just the opposite.***
w5111/15p.686par.1RequesttoGodforaGoodConscience***Since the orders to construct the ark were issued to Noah when his sons were now married, God must have patiently waited some decades of years. Correspondingly, in these days of the presence of Christ Jesus in the heavenly kingdom we have already lived more than three decades since 1914.***
w5112/1p.720par.12"PrincesShallRuleinJustice"***We are now thirty-seven years past 1914, and, behold, Jehovah’s anointed King does reign!***
w504/1p.103par.1MoreandMorePioneersofGoodNews***THIRTY-SIX years have gone by since God established his kingdom in heaven for mankind’s benefit. The "day of Jehovah" beginning A.D. 1914 is far spent and the accomplished end of this world is at hand. The human family is facing the greatest slaughter since the days of Noah. After the storm of Armageddon has passed there will not be enough living to bury the dead. (Jer. 25:33) Carrion-eating birds of prey and wild beasts of the field and forest will be summoned to a feast of human flesh.***w5011/1p.419UsetheRemainingTimeWisely***The thirty-six intervening years since 1914, instead of postponing Armageddon, have only made it nearer than most people think. Do not forget: "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
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w5012/15p.508par.2PraisetotheNewWorld’sFounder***That is why he has begun to rule as king with a brand-new world government for this earth since his own fixed date A.D. 1914. That may be thirty-six years ago, but this is all the more reason why every informed person should examine his course in life and his future plans to see whether they are in harmony with the inevitable change that is rapidly nearing.***
w5012/15p.514par.19PraisetotheNewWorld’sFounder***The events of history show they became so right at the crucial date of 1914. They engaged in world war between themselves for world domination instead of acting like Christians and yielding over their earthly power to Jehovah’s enthroned King. In the thirty-six years since that date their wrath has not lessened but has increased, this being proved by their increasing persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses who announce his kingdom by his Christ and represent it as ambassadors.