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You may find this of interest. Taken from Can Jehovah's Witnesses Survive? by Trevor Willis. Formatting not preserved.
LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE
Pastor Russell’s Society - 1887 to 1917
To fully understand why the Watchtower Society has found it necessary to adopt their present teachings we must go back to the early days of the movement. A man named Charles Taze Russell, known as Pastor Russell, was born in 1852 in Pittsburg, America. He was a sincere man with a keen desire to understand the Bible. In 1879 he began to gather others with the same interest and by 1881 he had formed the original the Watchtower Society. This group became known as The International Bible Students. It would be many years before they adopted the name ‘Jehovah's Witnesses.’
This small group who were sometimes referred to as Russellites, started to make predictions regarding the end of the world system. A book entitled ‘TheTimeis at Hand’ followed in 1889. The title of this book emphasised the weakness that was to become a flaw in the Watchtower Society as the years passed – their obsession with time. This book declared that Jesus Christ had already begun his presence since 1873 and would return to gather his chosen ones to heaven in 1914. Pastor Russell, along with his followers, expected to be taken to heaven to become part of Christ’s heavenly priesthood and government in 1914. The battle of Armageddon was to follow and bring an end to all religious and political set-ups. This date was arrived at by various calculations and guesswork, designed to prove that the Gentile Times would end in 1914. The Gentile Times being the time period that the non-Jewish nations would dominate the earth for. The quotes shown here are from Series II but are the same as printed in Series I:
True it is expecting great things to claim, as we do, that within the coming twenty-six years all present governments will be over thrown and dissolved; but we are living in a special and peculiar time, the ‘Day of Jehovah,’ in which matters culminate quickly; and it is written, ‘A short work will the Lord make upon the earth. The Time is at Hand - series II - pages 98, 99
In view of the strong bible evidence concerning the times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth that the final end of the Kingdoms of this world and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God will be accomplished near the end of A.D. 1915. Then the prayer of the church, ever since her Lord took his departure – ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ – will be answered; and under that wise and just administration, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord – with knowledge and righteousness, and peace (Psalms 72:19; Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 2:14) and then the will of God shall be done ‘on earth as it is in Heaven.Time is at Hand - series II - pages 98, 99
Be not surprised, then when in subsequent chapters we present proofs that the setting up of God’s Kingdom is already begun, that it is pointed out in prophecy as due to begin the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Revelation 16:14) which will end in A.D. 1915, with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced. The gathering of the armies is plainly visible from the standpoint of God’s word. Time is at Hand - series II - page 101
In the preceding chapters we presented evidence showing that the ‘Times of the Gentiles’ or their lease of domination, will run out with the year A.D. 1914 and at that time they will be overturned and Christ’s Kingdom fully established. That the Lord must be present, and set up his Kingdom, and exercise great power so as to dash the Nations to pieces as a potters vessel, is then clearly fixed. Time is at Hand - series II - page 170
Pastor Russell understood that Christ’s return would mean the restoration of Israel to their homeland as promised to Abraham. An entire chapter, entitled ‘Parallel Dispensations’ was devoted to providing scriptural proof that God had promised Israel would one day return to take possession of their land:
But we must remember that the year A.D. 1878 was but the turning point of returning favour to fleshly Israel. We have already learned, from our study of ‘The Times of the Gentiles’, that Jerusalem and its people will continue to be trodden down – controlled and oppressed by the Gentiles ‘until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,’ and hence, though favour was due to begin in A.D. 1878, the Jew will not be received back into full favour until after 1915. Time is at Hand - series II - page 221
Large portions of the Old Testament were devoted to describing the return of Israel to their homeland as well as references in the New Testament. The Society's basic teachings were Bible based but went far beyond the things written in the Bible and claimed to know when these things would happen; also they claimed that only those in their group would go to heaven with Jesus. They condemned all Christendom for refusing to agree with their time keeping. Many pages of this book were spent giving minute details of how these dates were arrived at, several charts were drawn and dozens of scriptural texts were manipulated into place to back up these predictions. The Watchtower magazine then known as Zion’s Watchtower kept its readers up to date with world events. Social, financial and political events on an international scale were monitored and given Biblical significance. Over the following two years the Watchtower magazine repeated the expectation:
The date of the close of that ‘battle’ is definitely marked in the Scriptures as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874. The Watchtower 15 January 1892
We see no reason for changing the figures - nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God’s dates, not ours. Bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble. We see no reason for changing from our opinion expressed in the view presented in the WATCHTOWER of January 15, 1892. We advise that it be read again. The Watchtower 15July 1894
Needless to say 1914 passed without these things occurring. Conveniently for Pastor Russell, World War I broke out giving his Society something to point to as a major event arriving on schedule. The fact that he had not predicted such an event was not important – something had happened! This was to be used to great effect for decades to come. The Society published a new book in 1986 which stated:
As far back as 1876 Jehovah's Witnesses realized that bible prophecy marked the year 1914 C.E. as a time when major events would take place that would have far reaching effects on human affairs. They gave reason for this wide publicity. True Peace and Security - How Can You Find It? 1986 - page 70
Throughout the years and until this day they give all members the impression that they were entirely correct in their prophecies concerning 1914. Only those who take the trouble to read what was really said will know – they were entirely wrong! Israel did not return to their homeland. The members of the Society were not taken to heaven. Christ did not come and destroy all political and religious organizations. In a rare moment of honesty, in 1930 the Watchtower Society admitted:
All of the Lord’s people looked forward to 1914 with joyful expectation. When that time came and passed there was much disappointment, chagrin and mourning and the Lord’s people were greatly in reproach. They were ridiculed by the clergy and their allies in particular, and pointed to with scorn, because they had said so much about 1914, and what would come to pass, and their ‘prophecies’ had not been fulfilled. LightBook I - 1930 - page 194
The Witnesses own Bible had warned about false prophets who speak in the name of Jehovah:
The prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: ‘How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?’ when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him. Deuteronomy18:20-22– NewWorldTranslation
Impostors will come claiming to be messiahs or prophets, and they will produce great signs and wonders to mislead even God’s chosen, if such a thing were possible. See, I have forewarned you. Matthew24:23-25– The New English Bible
By 1916 it was apparent that the date had not brought the fulfilment of these major prophecies. By then more than 1,500,000 copies had been sold. A series II was produced. The quotes shown earlier are from series II but are the same as series I. The forward explained:
This was a natural mistake to fall into, but the Lord overruled it for the blessing of his people. The thought that the church would all be gathered to glory before 1914 certainly did have a stimulating and sanctifying effect upon thousands, all of whom accordingly can praise the Lord – even for the mistake. Time is at Hand - series II - page IV
To ‘praise the Lord - even for the mistake,’ gave the impression that God was in some way involved in the false prophecy, which the final paragraph in the book had called ‘an unquestionable certainty.’ In October 1916 Pastor Russell died having sold his family business and donated a total of $250,000 to the Society, a fortune in those days.
