WT: World War I started in October 1914 (not July 1914)

by Calebs Airplane 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  alfredjones100

  i think that this thought is really interesting.

  my quick research ( and i'll dig a bit better when i have more time ) shows that wt articals after 1995 a bit vague when talking about ww1.

  but here are some interesting quotes;

  "What of this new creation in modern times? In the year 1914, as the Bible timetable shows, the words of Revelation 11:15 were fulfilled: “The kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord [Jehovah] and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.” The first act of Christ as newly installed King was to hurl Satan and his demonic angels out of heaven down to earth’s vicinity. This brought “woe for the earth,” in the form of the first world war and its attendant distresses.—Revelation 12:9, 12, 17". - WT '93 1/1 p.6

  "If that is the case, though, why did World War I break out in 1914? And why has our century seen worse wars than any other in history? Because the first act of the heavenly King was to banish Satan for all time from the heavens and cast him down to earth’s vicinity. The result? The prophecy says: “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) The great wars of our century are related to the anger of Satan. But notice: Satan’s anger is for “a short period of time.” The crisis will soon be over!" - WT '90 4/1 p.8
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  cantleave

  This was one of the things I pointed out to my wife when we were waking up.
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  BroMac

  nice thread, its good to see the difference between 1914 & 1918...

  so let me see if I have this right. from what is quoted above satan was 'cast out' in 1914 & 1918... who knew?
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  bats in the belfry

  I guess folks noted the discrepancy. The WTBTS is attempting to patch up the two endpoints, 1914 & 1918.

  The answer to how soon after 1914 is - soon after 1914. Wow.

  At this point, it may be helpful to consider what might be viewed as a Bible parallel. Jesus Christ was anointed as the future King of God’s Kingdom in the fall of 29 C.E. Three and a half years later, in the spring of 33 C.E., he was resurrected as a mighty spirit person. Could it, then, be reasoned that since Jesus was enthroned in the fall of 1914, the resurrection of his faithful anointed followers began three and a half years later, in the spring of 1918? That is an interesting possibility. Although this cannot be directly confirmed in the Bible, it is not out of harmony with other scriptures that indicate that the first resurrection got under way soon after Christ’s presence began.

  The Watchtower 2007, January 1, page 28 par. 12
  
  
  
  - When was Satan cast out of heaven?
  
  Although the Bible book of Revelation does not give the precise time of Satan’s ousting, it does mention a series of events that can help us to estimate when he was cast out of heaven. First among the events is the birth of the Messianic Kingdom. Subsequent to that, “war broke out in heaven,” which led to Satan’s defeat and his finally being cast out of heaven.

  The Scriptures clearly mark 1914 as the year when “the appointed times of the nations” ended and the Kingdom was established. (Luke 21:24) How soon after that did the war in heaven break out, resulting in Satan’s ousting?

  “The dragon [Satan] kept standing before the woman who was about to give birth,” states Revelation 12:4, “that, when she did give birth, it might devour her child.” This shows that Satan wanted to dispose of the newborn Kingdom quickly, at the moment of its birth if at all possible. Though Jehovah’s intervention prevented Satan from realizing his wicked intention, Satan was determined and relentless in his effort to do harm to the newly established Kingdom. It stands to reason, therefore, that “Michael and his angels” would waste no time in taking action to remove “the dragon and its angels” from the heavenly scene so that no harm could come to the Kingdom. This suggests that the defeat and ousting of Satan took place soon after the Kingdom’s birth in 1914.

  Another factor to consider is the resurrection of anointed Christians, which—as Scriptural evidence indicates—began soon after the establishment of the Kingdom. (Rev. 20:6) Since none of Christ’s anointed brothers are spoken of as accompanying Jesus in the battle with the dragon and its angels, the war in heaven and the ousting of Satan and his demons would have been completed by the time the resurrection of Christ’s brothers got under way.

  So, then, the Bible does not reveal the exact time when Satan and his demons were expelled from heaven. Nevertheless, it is evident that this event closely followed the enthronement of Jesus Christ in heaven in 1914.

  The Watchtower 2009, May 15, page 18
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  cognisonance

  I always wondered this question too (timing of WW1 with 1914 doctrine) and saw the enigma even when I thought the JWs were the true religion. Of course the thought stopping programming then kicked in...

  But I remember, after I started my path to not believing the religion, hear a brother say that the one thing that brought him into the truth was his interest in history. When he leaned that WW1 correlated with 1914, he just had to accept this was the "truth." Odd statement indeed when history doesn't show there is a correlation with Oct, 1914 and WWI.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Imagine how the "anointed" that were already dead felt in 1914 when they were resurrected.

  They showed up just after the most famous evil spirit ever was kicked out. They never met Satan.

  It's like going to Disney World and only meeting the mouse. What about the others? "Oh, they are gone."
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  Refriedtruth

  The way I heard it was that Satan knew he was about to be expelled from heaven, so he started WWI a few months early as a distraction. With the nations involved in fighting each other, they'd pay no attention to Jesus being enthroned.

  You can't make this stuff up!

  This is what I was heavily brainwashed with late 1959's into 60s and there is MORE to it Satan also instigated WW2 so as to get at and destroy Jehovah's anointed.

  That's right according to the JW WW1 and WW2 had all to do with Satan vs JW all those millions of worldly casualties was just collateral damage
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  steve2

  They always portray hapless Satan as a spoil sport. If he were such a spoil sport, wouldn't he have egged the nations on to engage in global warfare well before 1914? Now that would be a distraction from an inivisible event that is alleged to have occured in heaven wouldn't it? Why lamely wait until 1914 is well under way and then get the show started a couple of months before it officially should start? He's not much of a spoil sport if the war still started some time in 1914 thus feeding the Watchtower's monstrously proud ego ("See we were right about the significance of 1914!"). Or is Satan lolling around somewhere muttering "Rats, I should have started the war much much earlier!").

  Once again, the official explanations in the Watchtower publications about timeline discrepancies are seen for what they are: Embarassingly simplistic and lame.
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  Apognophos

  Yes, I heard the same explanation as sir82 and Refriedtruth. Since you won't really find the WT claiming a direct connection between the start of Jesus' reign and WWI, this isn't really a matter of catching them with their doctrinal pants down as much as it is some JWs having a mistaken understanding of what's been explicitly stated in the literature.
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  Terry

  Revisionist history does what you make it do while actual history tends to prick your bubble with a loud BANG!

  Facts are pesky.

  Russell taught that Jesus had ALREADY returned invisibly BEFORE 1914. ( 1874 in fact.)

  That makes 1914 the END and not the beginning of the birth of the kingdom. Armageddon=1914.

  How does that square with all the other nonsense speculation and foot-shuffling AFTER 1914 turned out to be NOT Armageddon?

  It proves what had been previously taught was ERRONEOUS speculation and not prophecy come true.

  An intellectually honest leader would do what William Miller did when he apologized for the Great Disappointment.

  An intellectually dishonest leader simply moves all the speculation up and starts over like nothing happened.

  The Jehovah's Witnesses broke the cookie jar and glued it back together each time a date failed to prove true to their predictions.

  The theology and explanations are cracks oozing glue and not the Truth.

  Bottom line? When you ask the wrong question (When did World War I start?) you ignore the IMPORTANCE of what it disproved about

  The Truth.