And like leavingWt pointed out... obviously Jehovah's Witnesses would fit the title of false prophets according to the scriptures, no matter how much they deny it, there is proof.
What is a false prophet?
by Spade 95 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
Chalam
From an email I send someone recently...
1 Corinthians 13 (New International Version, ©2010)
1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Verse 8, certainly the gifts will cease. However, verse 10, "when completeness comes", or "perfection" other bibles translate. Is this the completed bible as JWs teach (and indeed a few denominations)?
Verse 9, do we still know in part or fully?
Verse 12, do we see a reflection, "dimly" as some translations put it or clearly as "face to face"?
Who will we see "face to face"?
Job 19:26 (New International Version, ©2010)
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
Matthew 5:8 (New International Version, ©2010)
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Hebrews 12:14 (New International Version, ©2010)
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
1 John 3:2 (New International Version, ©2010)
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Revelation 22:3-4 (New International Version, ©2010)
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Do we know now "in part" or else "know fully, even as I am fully known"?
Prophecy ceases when perfection comes because we arrive at Revelation 21 & 22. Take a read of them, I am sure you will see that this is what is spoken of in 1 Cor 13:10, not the "completed canon of scripture" i.e the finished bible.Blessings in Christ,
Stephen
-
Chalam
The tongues thing scares me.
With respect Dan, you drank too much of the WT kool-aid.
And then the prophetic thing REALLY scares me because of our dealings with that.
There are tests for prophecy and tongues, use them!
There are both indespensible gifts of the Spirit-don't go dispensing them.
Blessings in Christ,
Stephen
-
thetrueone
These sorted types of false prophecies has been going on now for a very long time, take note though that many
were circumvented with the intension of literature circulation, such is the case with the WTS. publishing company.
[edit] Adventism, Millerism
Adventism has its roots in the teachings of a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller. He first predicted the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur before March 21, 1844. [ 1 ] When this date passed a new date was predicted, April 18, 1844. [ 2 ] Again the date passed and another Millerite, Samuel S. Snow, found a way to extend the date to October 22, 1844. [ 3 ] The un-fulfillment of these predictions has been named the Great Disappointment.
[edit] Anabaptist Church
Certain Anabaptists of the early sixteenth century believed that the Millennium would occur in 1533. [ 4 ] Another source reports: "When the prophecy failed, the Anabaptists became more zealous and claimed that two witnesses (Enoch and Elijah) had come in the form of Jan Matthys and Jan Bockelson; they would set up the New Jerusalem in Münster. Münster became a frightening dictatorship under Bockelson's control. Although all Lutherans and Catholics were expelled from that city, the millennium never came." [ 5 ]
[edit] Anglican Church
In volume II of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, author Leroy Edwin Froom tells us about a prominent Anglican prelate, who made a relevant prediction: "Edwin Sandys (1519–1588), Archbishop of York and Primate of England was born in Lancashire... Sandys says, 'Now, as we know not the day and time, so let us be assured that this coming of the Lord is near. He is not slack, as we do count slackness. That it is at hand, it may be probably gathered out of the Scriptures in diverse places. The signs mentioned by Christ in the Gospel which should be the foreshewers of this terrible day, are almost all fulfilled.'" [ 6 ]
[edit] Assemblies of God Church
During World War I, The Weekly Evangel, an official publication of the Assemblies of God, carried this prediction: "We are not yet in the Armageddon struggle proper, but at its commencement, and it may be, if students of prophecy read the signs aright, that Christ will come before the present war closes, and before Armageddon...The war preliminary to Armageddon, it seems, has commenced." [ 7 ] Other editions speculated that the end would come no later than 1934 or 1935. [ 8 ]
[edit] Calvary Chapel
The founder of the Calvary Chapel system was the charismatic Pastor Chuck Smith. Some years ago, he published the book End Times. On the jacket of his book, Smith is called a "well known Bible scholar and prophecy teacher." In this book he wrote:
As we look at the world scene today, it would appear that the coming of the Lord is very, very, close. Yet, we do not know when it will be. It could be that the Lord will wait for a time longer. If I understand Scripture correctly, Jesus taught us that the generation which sees the 'budding of the fig tree', the birth of the nation Israel, will be the generation that sees the Lord's return; I believe that the generation of 1948 is the last generation. Since a generation of judgment is forty years and the tribulation lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for his church anytime before the tribulation starts, which would mean anytime before 1981. (1948 + 40 − 7 = 1981) However, it is possible that Jesus is dating the beginning of the generation from 1967, when Jerusalem was again under Israeli control for the first time since 587 B.C. We don't know for sure which year actually marks the beginning of the last generation. [ 9 ]
This same viewpoint was published by the popular Pastor Hal Lindsey in his widely published book The Late Great Planet Earth. [ 10 ]
[edit] Lutheran Church
The founder of the Lutheran Church was the reformer, Martin Luther (1483–1546 A.D.). According to one authority, Luther ventured to predict: "For my part, I am sure that the Day of Judgment is just around the corner. It doesn't matter that we don't know the precise day... perhaps someone else can figure it out. But it is certain that time is now at an end." [ 11 ] Another author says: "In all of [Luther's] work there was a sense of urgency for the time was short... the world was heading for Armageddon in the war with the Turk." [ 12 ]
Even after Luther's death in 1546, Lutheran leaders kept up the claim of the nearness of the end. About the year 1584, a zealous Lutheran named Adam Nachenmoser wrote the large volume '[Prognosticum Theologicum in which he predicted: "In 1590 the Gospel would be preached to all nations and a wonderful unity would be achieved. The last days would then be close at hand. Nachenmoser offered numerous conjectures about the date; 1635 seemed most likely. [ 13 ]
[edit] Mennonites
Russian Mennonite minister Claas Epp, Jr. predicted that Christ would return on March 8, 1889, and, when that date passed uneventfully, 1891. [ 14 ]
[edit] Presbyterian Church
Thomas Brightman, who lived from 1562 to 1607, has been called "one of the fathers of Presbyterianism in England." He predicted that "between 1650 and 1695 [we] would see the conversion of the many Jews and a revival of their nation in Palestine...the destruction of the Papacy...the marriage of the Lamb and his wife." [ 15 ] This did not happen.
Christopher Love who lived from 1618–1651 was a bright graduate of Oxford and a strong Presbyterian. Love predicted that: (1) Babylon would fall in 1758 (2) God's anger against the wicked would be demonstrated in 1759 and (3) in 1763 there would occur a great earthquake all over the world. [ 16 ]
[edit] Roman Catholic Church
The most circulated prediction among Roman Catholics during the time of the Reformation, focused on the founder of the Lutheran Church, the great reformer, Martin Luther (1483–1546 A.D.). According to one authority, Luther's son would be the Antichrist (being the scion of monk and nun). Erasmus proclaimed this prediction to be wrong for if the Antichrist shall be born of a monk and a nun. Martin Luther's son was not the Antichrist. [ 17 ]
In 1771 Bishop Charles Walmesley predicted that God would destroy the Anglican churches by 1825. His popular book on the subject, "General History of the Christian Church from her birth to her Final Triumphant States in Heaven chiefly deduced from the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle", (1790) was written under the nom de plume of "Signor Pastorini". [ 18 ]
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Saint Malachy predicted about Ireland that: "At the end of seven centuries she would be delivered from her oppressors (or oppressions), who in their turn would be subjected to dreadful chastisements, and Catholic Ireland would be instrumental in bringing back the British nation to that Divine Faith which Protestant England had, during three hundred years, so rudely endeavoured to wrest from her." [ 19 ] St. Malachy died in 1148, just 23 years before the Norman invasion of Ireland, which conquered a large part of the island, was effected in 1171. Despite his apparent success in predicting a "Protestant England", Ireland was still being run from London in 1872: an independent Irish state was not reestablished until several decades after that date.
[edit] Predictions by other groups
[edit] Irvingism
The well known Scottish cleric, Edward Irving, is the founder of the Irvingism (not to be confused with Catholic Apostolic Church), [ 20 ] and a forerunner of the Pentecostal movement. In 1828 he wrote a work headed The Last Days: A Discourse on the Evil Character of These Our Times, Proving Them to be the 'Perilous Times' and the 'Last Days'. On pages 10–22 we find some telling information which includes the following: [ 21 ]
I conclude, therefore, that the last days... will begin to run from the time of God's appearing for his ancient people, and gathering them together to the work of destroying all Antichristian nations, of evangelising the world, and of governing it during the Millennium... The times and fullness of the times, so often mentioned in the New Testament, I consider as referring to the great period numbered by times...Now if this reasoning be correct, as there can be little doubt that the one thousand two hundred and sixty days concluded in the year 1792, and the thirty additional days in the year 1823, we are already entered upon the last days, and the ordinary life of a man will carry many of us to the end of them. If this be so, it gives to the subject with which we have introduced this year's ministry a very great importance indeed.
[edit] Jehovah's Witnesses
Main article: Unfulfilled predictions of Jehovah's WitnessesCharles Taze Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Society, calculated 1874 as the year of Christ's Second Coming, and taught that Christ was invisibly present and ruling from the heavens since that year. [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Russell proclaimed Christ's invisible return in 1874, [ 26 ] the resurrection of the saints in 1875, [ 27 ] and predicted the end of the "harvest" and the Rapture of the saints to heaven for 1878, [ 28 ] and the final end of "the day of wrath" in 1914. [ 29 ] 1874 was considered the end of 6,000 years of human history and the beginning of judgment by Christ. [ 30 ] A 1917 Watch Tower Society publication predicted that in 1918, God would begin to destroy churches and millions of their members. [ 31 ]
J.F. Rutherford, who succeeded Russell as president of the Watch Tower Society, predicted that the Millennium would begin in 1925, and that biblical figures such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David would be resurrected as "princes". The Watch Tower Society bought property and built a house, Beth Sarim, in California for their return. [ 32 ]
From 1966, statements in Jehovah's Witness publications raised strong expectations that Armageddon would arrive in 1975. In 1974 Witnesses were commended for selling their homes and property to "finish out the rest of their days in this old system" in full time preaching. [ 33 ] In 1976 The Watchtower advised those who had been "disappointed" by the failure of the predictions for 1975 to adjust their viewpoint because their understanding had been "based on wrong premises", [ 34 ] but four years later the Watch Tower Society admitted its responsibility in building up hope regarding 1975. [ 35 ]
[edit] Mormonism
Main article: List of prophecies of Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon faith, made several dozen prophecies during his lifetime, many of which are recorded in the sacred texts of the Mormon faith. The prophecies included predictions of the Civil War, the fall of the U. S. government, the coming of Jesus, and several less significant predictions. Church apologists cite many prophesies that they claim came true, [ 36 ] and church critics cite many prophecies that they claim did not come true. [ 37 ]
[edit] Other predictions by period
[edit] Third century to eighteenth century
Date Author/Predicter Prediction/Notes 200 Montanus Christ returns [ 38 ] and sets up the New Jerusalem in the small town of Pepuza in Phrygia. [edit] Nineteenth century
Date Author/Predicter Prediction/Notes September 15, 1829 George Rapp George Rapp, founder and leader of the Harmony Society, predicted that on September 15, 1829, the three and one-half years of the Sun Woman would end and Christ would begin his reign on earth. [ 39 ] Dissension grew when Rapp's predictions went unfulfilled. In March 1832, a third of the group left and some began following a man named Bernhard Müller who claimed to be the Lion of Judah. Nevertheless, most of the group stayed and Rapp continued to lead them until he died on August 7, 1847. His last words to his followers were, "If I did not so fully believe, that the Lord has designated me to place our society before His presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last". [ 40 ] 1844 William Miller William Miller, an important figure whose major surviving offshoot is the Seventh-day Adventist Church, used the Book of Daniel to predict the Second Coming, and said it would be between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. [ 41 ] October 22, 1844 William Miller William Miller revised the Return of Christ to this date, which is known as the Great Disappointment. [ 41 ] Members of the Bahá'í Faith believe that Christ did return on May 23, 1844 as the Báb (the Gate), the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh (Glory of God). 1889 Jack Wilson Wilson predicted a peaceful end to white American expansion while preaching messages of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation, hastened by the Ghost Dance. [edit] Twentieth century
Date Author/Predicter Prediction/Notes January 11 – 21, 1973 David Berg (Moses David of the Children of God) Colossal doomsday event in USA heralded by Comet Kohoutek [ 42 ] [ 43 ] 1975 Herbert W. Armstrong: 1975 in Prophecy! A number of predictions, most of them dire, such as drought causing population of America to fall by one-third. [ 44 ] June 21, 1982 Benjamin Creme The followers of the New AgeTheosophical guru Benjamin Creme, like Alice A. Bailey, believe the Second Coming will occur when Maitreya (the being Theosophists identify as being Christ) makes his presence on Earth publicly known—Crème believes Maitreya has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret. Creme put advertisements in many of the world’s major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, June 21, 1982 (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere), at which time Christ (Maitreya) would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television (this is called the Emergence or Day of Declaration ; this is when, Creme's followers believe, the Maitreya will telepathically overshadow all of humanity when he appears on worldwide television) [ 45 ] . When this event did not occur, Crème claimed that the “world is not yet ready to receive Maitreya"; his followers continue to believe it will happen “soon”.
September 11– 3, 1988 Edgar C. Whisenant, in the book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988 Return of Christ. 1989 Benny Hinn A short man appears within a "few" years who will rule the world as the Antichrist. [ 46 ] 1990s Benny Hinn America's first female President will be appointed "in the next few years". Unfortunately, she ends up destroying the nation. [ 47 ] 1990s Oral Roberts Televangelist Jim Bakker is put on trial for fraud but is found completely innocent. [ 48 ] 1993 David Berg — Children of God Christ returns [ 49 ] 1994 William Kamm The island of Guam is sunk after being hit by a tidal wave from an Earthquake in Japan and a subsequent volcanic eruption. [ 50 ] September 6, 1994 Harold Camping, in the book 1994? Second Coming of Christ may occur on September 6.. A question mark was placed at the end of 1994 to emphasize there was a strong likelihood. Harold Camping mentioned 13 times in the book "1994?" that the world could end in 2011 because it falls on the last day of the feast of tabernacles. 1995 -
brotherdan
With respect Dan, you drank too much of the WT kool-aid.
Isn't that the truth! It takes a long time to get the WT poison out of your system.
-
brotherdan
thetrueone: One thing that is interesting though is that most of the people mentioned admited to it being a personal opinion. For example Chuck Smith said:
I believe that the generation of 1948 is the last generation.
I wouldn't call that a false prophecy since it is admited to be a personal belief. The same with Luther:
For my part, I am sure that the Day of Judgment is just around the corner. It doesn't matter that we don't know the precise day...
perhaps someone else can figure it out.
I think it is important that all this stuff stops though. Who cares when Christ comes? I hope that I am serving Him now just as I will be serving Him later.
-
Terry
If you pull it all together into one concise statement of policy it is apparent that The Watchtower Society is governed by persons who:
1.Are not inspired
2.Are not prophets
3.Are eager to suggest dates which turn out to be wrong
4.Are historically compelled by error to make corrections
5.Do not consider themselves dogmatic but compel their members to follow their pronouncements without question
6.Consider what they publish to be direction from Jehovah as ministered by Jesus Christ and yet cannot make true statements free from error.
7.Are the only True religion filled with a history of mistakes, wrong predictions, faulty understanding requiring adjusments and on a progressive path to pure worship while constantly changing course which sometimes includes doubling back to a former belief.
Gee, who would ever consider them False Prophets?
-
thetrueone
Good one Terry and most JWS cant comprehend that.
But we're still his one and only true worshipers chosen by god to spread his divine message. .......cough ......cough
-
Spade
There's a difference in having the gift of prophecy in the context of predicting future events or a prophet that declares glad tidings and good news from a divine source.
it-2 p. 694 Prophet
The Greek pro·phe′tes literally means “a speaker out [Gr., pro, “before” or “in front of,” and phe·mi′, “say”]” and thus describes a proclaimer, one who makes known messages attributed to a divine source.
The original etymology of the Greek term for a prophet can be found in a Greek Lexicon:Prophetes - Greek Lexicon
http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=4396
1. In Greek writings, an interpreter of oracles or of other hidden things
2. one who, moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman, solemnly declares to men what he has received by inspiration, especially concerning future events, and in particular such as relate to the cause and kingdom of God and to human salvatione. of men filled with the Spirit of God, who by God's authority and command in words of weight pleads the cause of God and urges salvation of men
The Watchtower Society has been more definitive (especially in later years) about the concept of prophecy and how it applies to them. Those who label them false prophets generally disagree with their overall message. You can still disagree without placing some sort of label on them. Their predictions about the future always revolved around Armageddon. This seems to be the real issue to people; more so than a mistaken viewpoint about when specifically it will actually come.
-
brotherdan
The Watchtower Society has been more definitive (especially in later years) about the concept of prophecy and how it applies to them. Those who label them false prophets generally disagree with their overall message. You can still disagree without placing some sort of label on them. Their predictions about the future always revolved around Armageddon. This seems to be the real issue to people; more so than a mistaken viewpoint about when specifically it will actually come.
It doesn't matter how they change their definition of "prophecy". They practiced false prophecy. You only have to do it once to be a false prophet. I personally had nothing against their teachings that made me doubt them. But when I educated myself about the organizations true history, that is when I began to disagree.
Here are a couple links to think about. Please listen to them and tell me what you think:
1. http://jumbofiles.com/nk9b4rzdap2o/bill_cetnar_1.mp3.html
2. http://jumbofiles.com/65g0df9c1cg1/keith_walker_false_prophet.mp3.html
Both of these talks are very well prepared and provide specific sources that show that the WT can be nothing OTHER than a false prophet. If the label applies, then there is nothing wrong with us using it.