Jeff,
I must leave for a bit. Please address my question as to why God would choose to use a 'false prophet' to proclaim this good news. I would appreciate if you did not fall back to the tired 'well God uses imperfect men to do his perfect will' that we have heard a thousand times before. The WTBTS inverts that argument to attack the churches [also imperfect, but by WTS condemned for the false things they teach]. But uses it to defend themselves. So, skip that tired tirade please.
When Moses, Noah, Elijah, Jeremiah, et al, spoke good news from God, they absolutely never had to lie and hide facts and excuse themselves for being imperfect. They prophecied correctly every single time. They were imperfect. But they did not make up things to get followers. Otherwsise they would have fallen under the scriptural definition of 'false prophets', would have been stoned, dragged out of the city and forgotten. But of course though imperfect, they were not false. They actually had input from God before speaking.
Were the apostles false prophets when they expected Jesus to establish the kingdom on earth immediately? (Luke 19:11) The apostle Paul had to tell Christians in the first century that the end was still in the future and would not be until the Son of Lawlessness appear. Were those first century Christians false prophets? Several popes, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Billy Graham and other protestants leaders had false expectations and made predictions, but you never hear about from those attacking the Witnesses. Some insist Russell, Rutherford, Franz, were false prophets. But Russell said that chronlogy is not understood as easily as the basic Bible teachings. He claimed he is not an inspired prophet, but is only explaining he is understood to be taught in the Bible. He said, even before 1914, that mistakes may be made in interpreting chronology. His views has been expressed over and over again in the WT publications by Rutherford and other. I'll just quote a few statements:
“We do not object to changing our opinions on any subject, or discarding former applications of prophecy, or any other scripture, when we see a good reason for the change,—in fact, it is important that we should be willing to unlearn errors and mere traditions, as to learn truth.... It is our duty to ‘prove all things.’—by the unerring Word,—‘and hold fast to that which is good.’ ” In 1883 the Watchtower bluntly claimed “We [do] not have the gift of prophecy.” (Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1883, page 425.)
Regarding 1914, Russell wrote " However, we should not denounce those who in a proper spirit express their dissent in respect to the date mentioned [1914] and what may there be expected . . . We must admit that there are possibilities of our having made a mistake in respect to the chronology, even though we do not see where any mistake has been made in calculating the seven times of the Gentiles as expiring about October 1, 1914.” (The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 15 November 1913, reprint. 5348).
"We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises . . . We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophecy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them" (Emphasis added -Zion's Watch Tower, January 1, 1908 (reprint) page 4110)
Rutherford wrote " 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." The Watch Tower, January 1, 1925, page 3).
And, "Many students have made the grievous mistake of thinking that God has inspired men to interpret prophecy. The holy prophets of the Old Testament were inspired by Jehovah to write as his power moved upon them. The writers of the New Testament were clothed with certain power and authority to write as the Lord directed them. However, since the days of the apostles no man on earth has been inspired to write prophecy, nor has any man been inspired to interpret prophecy." (
Prophecy Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1929, pages 61-62).
Regarding 1975, Franz stated in an assembly "
"What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?’ asked Brother Franz. ‘Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah’s witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don’t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975.” (Emphasis added, The Watchtower, 15 October 1966, page 631)
I can go on with additional quotes, but the truth is the WTS never claimed to be an inspired prophet, and though they expected certain things to occur on some dates, the WTS publications qualified those statements by saying they were not inspired and that they can be mistaken about what was to happen in those selected dates. Even the apostles had false expectations, but that did not make them false prophets. Luther, John Wesley, popes, Billy Graham and other made predictions, but you never hear about them from the Witness opposers.
Just an aside note. According the Website, www.elihubooks.com, Greg Stafford will be releasing the third edition of his book Jehovah's Witnesses Defended (new edition is expected to be out in March 2006. In case you haven't read it, I think he does one of the best jobs in explaining the truth about the WTS and the so-called predictions.
Firpo Carr also plans to release volume 2 of the book The Divine Name Controversy.
---David2002
