"Alice,
Nothing in what I said above was intended to imply that there is something inherently wrong when students of the Bible make adjustments to their eschatological views when either new information comes to light or events simply do not unfold as expected.
This test involves simple math, nothing more.
If you can spot the discrepancies then I would say that you are the master of your own mind. If you can't, then...."
This article in the 1881 Watchtower was addressing the traditional doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ taught in most Christian eschatologies.
The Second Coming of Christ or Parousia is the return of Jesus Christ from Heaven to Earth as expected in most Christian eschatologies.
"The Second Advent Church" people, and many in other denominations, interested in the Lord's coming and expecting him in the flesh, have turned their attention to 1881, and feel confident that they will see Jesus with their natural eyes this year.
The pivotal dates of 1914-1919 was a tumultuous period that marked the end of the “gentile times,” Christ Jesus assuming Kingdom power in heaven and the restoration of God's visible organization on earth, not the second coming of Christ that will take control of earth's affairs.
And war broke out in heaven: Mi′cha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God! And they conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witnessing, and they did not love their souls even in the face of death. On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” Revelation 12:7-12
w58 10/15 p. 636 par. 40 Public Address: God’s Kingdom Rules—Is the World’s End Near?
This long series of world-distressing events did not begin accidentally in 1914. It began in 1914 because the “times of the Gentiles” ran out that year. Its beginning in that year stamped 1914 as the year when the “times of the Gentiles” ended, and the denial of this fact by all of Christendom’s clergy cannot disprove it. World events from 1914 onward prove not only that Jesus Christ was a true prophet but that in 1914 he came into the Kingdom power to which he had a right and that his presence in the heavenly kingdom began then. God’s kingdom by his anointed King, Messiah, had been born. The Gentile nations, including Christendom, no longer held the world domination on earth. God’s kingdom rules, dominates!
jv chap. 7 p. 72 Advertise the King and the Kingdom! (1919-1941)
A convention was scheduled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 2-5, 1919, during the time that Brother Rutherford and his associates were in prison.
Within two weeks the Bible Students obtained 700,000 signatures. The petition, though, was never presented to the president or the government. Why not? Because before that could be done, the eight men were released on bail. What, then, did the petition work accomplish? The Watch Tower of July 1, 1919, stated: “The evidence is overwhelming that the Lord desired this work to be done, not so much to get the brethren out of prison, as for the purpose of a witness to the truth.”
On Tuesday, March 25, the eight brothers left Atlanta for Brooklyn. News of their release spread quickly.
The point being, is that there is more involved in Christ's return and his second presence than what is traditionally accepted.
"Why then, do the nations not realize and accept the approach of this climax of judgment? It is because they have not heeded the world-wide advertising of Christ's return and his second presence. Since long before World War I Jehovah's witnesses pointed to 1914 as the time for this great event to occur." (The Watchtower June 15, 1954 p. 370)
