I
ended the last article with the following Watchtower quote:
So, does Jehovah have
a prophet to help them, to warn them of changes and to declare things to come?
. . . .These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this
prophet?. . . .This prophet was not one man, but was a body of men and women.
It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that
time as International Bible Student s. Today they are known as Jehovah’s
Christian witnesses. Of course it is easy to say that this group acts as a “prophet”
of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is
to review the record. What does it show?[1]
Here
the Watchtower challenges the reader to consider, and review, their record as a
‘prophet’ of God.
Strangely,
Governing body member and Chairman of the 137th The Watchtower Annual
Conference, Mark Sanderson did not mention this quote in his talk to the
faithful. He simply told the gathered throng to continue to trust Jehovah’s
organisation. But should they trust an organisation that claims to speak for
Jehovah and have got things wrong in the past?
A Prophet
of God
When
challenged on this topic, the standard Jehovah’s Witness response is two-fold.
They may say: ‘We never claimed to be inspired prophets’, which proves they
either ignore or are unaware of past Watchtower teaching or ‘We are only a
prophet in the sense, we do not declare anything new’ – which perhaps shows
that they do not understand the biblical role of the prophet.
Let
us begin by doing what they suggest and reviewing their record: What does that record show? Well, it shows that they
have cried ‘wolf’ on numerous occasions.
- 1897 “Our Lord, the appointed
King, is now present, since October 1874,” (Studies in the Scriptures,
vol. 4, p. 621).
- 1899 ” . . . the ‘battle of the
great day of God Almighty’ (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914
with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already
commenced,” (The Time Is at Hand, 1908
edition, p. 101).
- 1916 “The Bible chronology herein
presented shows that the six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam are
ended and that the great 7th Day, the 1000 years of Christ’s
Reign, began in 1873,” (The Time Is at Hand,
forward, p. ii).
- 1918 “Therefore we may
confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle
in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection,” (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, p. 89).
- 1922 “The date 1925 is even more
distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914,” (Watchtower, Sept. 1, 1922, p. 262).
- 1923 “Our thought is, that 1925
is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has
much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base
his faith in a coming deluge,” (Watchtower,
Apr. 1, 1923, p. 106).
- 1925 “The year 1925 is here. With
great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have
confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be
changed to heavenly glory during this year. This may be accomplished. It
may not be. In his own due time, God will accomplish his purposes
concerning his people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about
what may transpire this year,” (Watchtower,
Jan. 1, 1925, p. 3).
- 1925 “It is to be expected that
Satan will try to inject into the minds of the consecrated, the thought
that 1925 should see an end to the work,” (Watchtower,
Sept. 1925, p. 262).
- 1926 “Some anticipated that the
work would end in 1925, but the Lord did not state so. The difficulty was
that the friends inflated their imaginations beyond reason; and that when
their imaginations burst asunder, they were inclined to throw away
everything,” (Watchtower, p. 232).
- 1931 “There was a measure of
disappointment on the part of Jehovah’s faithful ones on earth concerning
the years 1914, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time. .
. . and they also learned to quit fixing dates for the future….” (Vindication, pp. 338, 339).
- 1941 “Receiving the gift, the
marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle
pleasure, but the Lord’s provided instrument for most effective work in
the remaining months before Armageddon,” (Watchtower,
Sept. 15, 1941, p. 288).
- 1966 “According to
trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from
man’s creation will end in 1975, and the
seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall
of 1975 C.E.” (Life Everlasting – In Freedom of the Sons of God, 1966, p. 29)
- 1968 “True, there have been those
in times past who predicted an ‘end to the world’, even announcing a
specific date. Yet nothing happened. The ‘end’ did not come. They were
guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? . . . Missing from
such people were God’s truths and evidence that he was using and guiding
them,” (Awake, Oct. 8, 1968).
- 1968 “Why are you looking forward
to 1975?” (Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1968, p.
494).
- 1974 “Yes, the end of this system is so very near! Is that no reason to increase our activity? … Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end.” (Kingdom Ministry, May 1974, p. 3)
These quotes, and many more could be shown, prove beyond doubt that the Watchtower Society have made numerous false predictions. Their claim that they are not inspired prophets is here proved true. They are clearly uninspired and should not be trusted.
So
confident were they, that Jehovah was speaking through them regarding 1975,
that they made the following bold assertion:
"True, there have been those in times past who predicted an
"end to the world," even announcing a specific date. Yet nothing
happened. The "end" did not come. They were guilty of false
prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing from such people were God's truths
and the evidence that he was guiding and using them." Awake! 1968
Oct 8 p.23
O
the irony! So, from their own mouth, they show themselves to be false prophets.
Jehovah was clearly not guiding or using them.
Mark
Sanderson continues by informing his hearers of three prophesied events that
took place ‘right on time’. We will consider what he says next time.
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