While it is true that the "Proclaimers" book is not always as open and honest about the Society's history as it claims to be, it is open and honest enough to bring into question the Society claim to being God's organization. It's a matter of (1) knowing what to look for, (2) where to find it and then, (3) to be able get the sense of what it means.
Take for example the extremely important matter of the Second Coming of Christ...
On the top of page 47 the book truthfully explains how President Charles Russell came to believe that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874 to begin his Second Coming ("invisible presence"). And then a careful reading of the footnote on page 133 shows that the date of Jesus' return was not changed to 1914 until 1943.
It is likely that even if some Witnesses notice that fact, they do not get the sense of what it means. I think it is possible that even the men of the Governing Body do not get the sense of what it means.
Here are several very important things that one fact means...
1) Since Russell died in 1916 and Rutherford died in 1942 it therefore means that if Jesus did in fact return in 1914, the Society's' first two presidents never knew it. It seems fair to wonder why God never allowed the most prominent men in 'His organization' to ever know when his Son had returned.
2) If Jesus returned in 1914 it means the Society announced the wrong date of his return (1874) for 67 years. (Russell began to announce the 1874 date in 1876.) How "faithful" or "discreet" was that?
3) Luke's account (12:36,37) says that when Jesus returned his faithful slaves were to be found waiting and watching for his return. But in 1914 they were not waiting or watching for his return because they believed he had already returned 40 years earlier.
4) Jesus said that on his arrival and knocking they were to "at once open to him." But if they didn't know he had arrived in 1914 until 1943 that means he would have had to knock for 29 years before they opened to him.
5)For 35 years from 1879 to 1914 the Watch Tower magazine was announcing that Jesus was invisibly present when he wasn't - "Herald of Christ's Presence"
What these things help to show is that what was going on in the organization's history doesn't match up with Jesus' illustration or the Society's interpretation of it. And since they don't agree it brings into question their claim to having received the appointment mentioned in Matthew 24:47. For according to the Society's interpretation of Matthew 24:45-47, without that appointment in 1919 there is no way the Society could be God's organization in 2011. - See "God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached" pp. 349-355
There are several other things the "Proclaimers" book truthfully says that also bring into question the Society's claim to being "God's faithful and discreet slave organization." Again, it is a matter of knowing what to look for and where to find it.
Another reason I recommend the "Proclaimers" book is because it is still current. It is the Society's most up to date version of the organization's history. Therefore Witnesses do not automatically dismiss what it says as "old light" as they do with Russell's s "Studies in the Scriptures" or Rutherford's "The Finish Mystery."
The above are some of the reasons why "Captives of a Concept" recommends using the "Proclaimers" book as a Watchtower history study aid. Witnesses who will sincerely try to help those who ask about that history may end up teaching themselves that truth about it and in the process get the sense of what it means. i.e. The Watchtower Society has never been God's organization. - Romans 2:21
Don Cameron
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