Jehovah's Witnesses' False Prophecies

Jehovah's Witnesses' False Prophecies

Jehovah's Witnesses have a long history of issuing false prophecies and then lying to cover them up. Here is how to use quotations from the Jehovah's Witnesses' own publications to educate them about their false prophecies.

1897 - 'Jesus returned to earth in 1874'

Christian -  In 1897, your founder Charles Taze Russell wrote Millennial Dawn, which was later renamed Studies In The Scriptures. Could you please read for us the words boxed in red below from page 621 in Series 4 of his Studies In The Scriptures, 20 million copies of which were distributed around the world during his lifetime?

Jehovah's Witness - "Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874, A.D., according to the testimony of the prophets, to those who have ears to hear it: and the formal inauguration of his kingly office dates from April 1878 A.D.: and the first work of the Kingdom, as shown by our Lord, in his parables and prophecy (the gathering of "his elect"), is now in progress."

Christian - So Charles Taze Russell published in 1897 that Jesus returned to earth in "October 1874," didn't he?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.

Christian - Did Jesus return to earth in 1874?
Jehovah's Witness - No.

Christian - So this was a false claim, wasn't it?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.

1908 - 'Jesus' earthly reign will begin in 1914'

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from Times of the Gentiles chapter (page 101) in the 1908 edition of Charles Taze Russell's The Time Is At Hand?

Jehovah's Witness - "the 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced."

Christian - Who wins "the battle of the great day of God Almighty"?
Jehovah's Witness - God Almighty.

Christian - And whose rulership begins "with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership"?
Jehovah's Witness - God Almighty's.

Christian - Did this battle of the great day of God Almighty end in 1914 and God Almighty's rulership begin in 1914?
Jehovah's Witness - No.

Christian - When World War I, then known as "The Great War," broke out in July of 1914, Charles Taze Russell claimed that it was the "battle of the great day of God Almighty" that he had prophesied and actually managed to sharply increase the number of his followers. But when the war did not end in 1914, they left him in droves; he was exposed as a false prophet and died in 1916.

1918 - "Millions now living will never die"

Christian - To stem the outflow of members, Joseph Rutherford, who took over as the second president of the Watch Tower Society, began giving lectures in 1918. Could you please read the title of his lecture below?

Jehovah's Witness - "Millions Now Living Will Never Die."

Christian - Do you know why he said millions alive in 1918 will never die?
Jehovah's Witness - No.

1920 - "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be resurrected in 1925"

Christian - Please read the words boxed in red below from pages 89 and 90 of his 1920 book titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die:

Jehovah's Witness - "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 chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection."

Christian - So Rutherford was saying that in 1925, which was only 7 years away from 1918, "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old" will return and join the millions of people who are alive at the start of the Messianic kingdom and therefore will never die, wasn't he?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.

1922 - 'We are sure about 1925'

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red in this September 1, 1922 issue of the The Watch Tower (page 262)?

Jehovah's Witness - "If any one who has studied the Bible can travel through Europe and not be convinced that the world has ended, that the day of God's vengeance is here, that the Messianic kingdom is at the door, then he has read the Bible in vain. ... The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures because it is fixed by the law God gave to Israel."

Christian - So in 1922, the Watch Tower Society doubled down on Rutherford's prophecy about 1925, didn't it?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes it did.

Christian - Could you please read the sign on top of the kiosk below?

Jehovah's Witness - "The world has ended! The golden age is here! Millions now living will never die! This means what it says: It's a fact - investigate."

Christian - Please read what Rutherford's followers were instructed to tell people: 

Jehovah's Witness - "Good morning! Do you know that millions now living will never die? I mean just what I say - that millions now living are never going to die. 'The Finished Mystery', the posthumous work of Pastor Russell, tells why there are millions now living who will never die; and if you can keep alive until 1925 you have excellent chances of being one of them."

Christian - Did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob return and the Messianic kingdom begin in 1925?
Jehovah's Witness - No.

Christian - How many years has it been since 1918, when Rutherford began to prophesy, "Millions now living will never die"?
Jehovah's Witness - 103.

Christian - Fewer than one million people are alive today around the world who are at least 103 years old. So Rutherford's prophecy has been proven false, hasn't it?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes it has.

1925 January - 'Now, we are not sure about 1925' 

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from page 3 of the January 1, 1925 issue of The Watch Tower?

Jehovah's Witness - "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 the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his own people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year"

Christian - So when the world rang in 1925 rather quietly, the Watch Tower Society began to backpedal, didn't it?
Jehovah's Witness - It sounds like it.

1925 September - 'It was Satan'

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from the September 1, 1925 issue of The Watch Tower (page 262)?

Jehovah's Witness - "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 of the work"

Christian - So when there was no sign of the prophesied and resurrected Abraham, Isaac and Jacob nine months into 1925 and membership again began to drop, the Watch Tower Society is claiming that their false prophecy had been Satan's, isn't it?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.

Christian - Are they saying that Satan spoke directly and audibly to "the consecrated"?
Jehovah's Witness - No.

Christian - Then Satan must have spoken through Rutherford and the Watch Tower Society, right?
Jehovah's Witness - (silence)

1931 - "Quit fixing dates"

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from pages 338 and 339 of Rutherford's 1931 book titled, Vindication?

Jehovah's Witness - "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. ... they also learned to quit fixing dates for the future."

Christian - Instead of confessing and repenting of his false prophecy, Rutherford dared to publish a book that he titled, "Vindication" and is gaslighting his follower, claiming that "they" learned to "quit fixing dates," isn't he?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes he is.

1968 - "Armageddon will be in 1975"

Christian - By the 1960s, a new generation of Jehovah's Witnesses was running the Watch Tower Society, and the downside of issuing false prophecies about the year of Armageddon to boost membership until the prophesied year was a distant memory. Could you please read the words boxed in red below from page 4 of the October 8, 1968 issue of the Awake! magazine (source)?

Jehovah's Witness - "within a few years at most there will take place a climax in human affairs so gigantic that it will affect every person on earth, every man, woman and child. It will, without fail, affect you. What is this climax? God himself will take a direct hand in world affairs. He will use his overwhelming power to crush wickedness and wicked people. (Rev. 11:18) This act of God is called "Armageddon" in some Bible versions... Time is fast running out for it! It is much later for this world than you may think! Indeed, it has only a few more years of existence left!"

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from page 14 and from the timeline in page 15?

 

Jehovah's Witness - "only seven more years from the autumn of 1968 to complete 6,000 full years of human history. That seven-year period will evidently finish in the autumn of the year 1975... Ending in 1975 ... 1975 C.E., End of 6,000 Years."

Christian - Could you pleases read the words boxed in red below from page 23?

Jehovah's Witness - "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 was the full measure of evidence requirement in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Missing from such people were God's truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them. But what about today? Today we have the evidence required, all of it. And it is overwhelming!"

Christian - Who is the "they" whom the Watch Tower Society, which publishes the Awake! magazine, is calling out for having been "guilty of false prophesying" "an end to the world" "in times past"?
Jehovah's Witness - Charles Taze Russell and Joseph Rutherford?

Christian - Could you please read the words boxed in red below from page 197 of the April 1, 1972 issue of The Watchtower?

Jehovah's Witness - "So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? - IDENTIFYING THE "PROPHET" - 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 the time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses."

Christian - Jesus did not return to earth in 1874. The world did not end in 1914. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not resurrected in 1925. Armageddon didn't take place in 1975. And of the people who were alive in 1918, a few hundred thousand - not "millions" - are still alive today. So all of these were false prophecies, weren't they?
Jehovah's Witness - Yes.

Christian - In what you just read, to whom did the Watch Tower Society attribute all of these false prophecies?
Jehovah's Witness - "Jehovah's ... witnesses."

Christian - Are you remaining with a group that issued all of these false prophecies about God and intentionally butchered His Bible because the group is true or because you are afraid of losing your family and friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses? And is a nice social life on earth worth spending the rest of eternity burning in the fire of hell for having blasphemed the Creator God as a mere creature?