We have had a great discussion about World War I and its impact on the twentieth century. I hope we can have an equally interesting exchange about October 1914. We all know how important that date was in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses but what may be murkier is the WTS's later thinking on what happened that month and when. Charles Taze Russell and his followers expected the Gentile Times to conclude in that month with the Battle of Armageddon. For years beforehand, WTS literature trumpeted this expectation. None of the "Russellites" as the International Bible Students--later renamed as Jehovah's Witnesses--were also called expected the time of the end to begin in 1914. Rather they expected its culmination in that year.
When the Great War, as World War I was orignally called, broke out in July 1914, the Bible Students were thrilled. As the war intensified that summer into the worst bloodbath the world had ever seen, they were certain that it would lead inexorably and inevitably to Armageddon with October seeing the climax of events. Just when in October this was to happen wasn't exactly forecast. Some thought 1 October would be the day. On the morning of 2 October, Russell announced to the breakfasting Bethel family, "The Gentile Times have ended; their kings have had their day!" There was a great burst of applause and as one person present on the occasion said later, 'We expected the table and chairs to begin rising in the air' as a sign of their being raised to heavenly life.
Well, nothing of the kind happened of course. But later publications of the WTS still pointed to October 1914 as the end of the Gentile Times. However, the date underwent some revision. From 1 October, it advanced to 4/5 October. That was the date I read in the WTS book Then Is Finished the Mystery of God, which was published in 1969. I have never understood just how that precise date was calculated. Perhaps someone else will contribute that information. I don't know if the WTS is still advocating an exact day in October 1914 when the Gentile Times supposedly ended and Jesus Christ was enthroned and crowned in heaven.
With the centenary of the Gentile Times' expiration now approaching, I wonder if the WTS is being so precise nowadays or has it contented itself with settling only for the year rather than the day and month. There is also the allied problem of how to reconcile the start of the First World War with WTS chronology. The WTS used to claim that Satan instigated the war as a result of being cast out of heaven. But if Christ wasn't crowned until October, how and why could the war in heaven have started the previous summer? The WTS also used to say that Satan started the earthly war 'right on time', but that can't be correct if Christ had not been empowered to do so. Maybe they have fallen silent on this problem of date reconciliation, but I have to wonder how they would answer any inquiry about it, assuming there are any active Witnesses alert enough to know the history of this confusing and entangled chronology and theology. Comment is invited.
Quendi