1914 A Significant Year - Not Just For the Jehovah's Witness Religion!

by donuthole 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  donuthole

  Was doing some reading on the teachings of the Nation of Islam (the religous group that Malcolm X originally belonged to). Thought it was interesting that they believed that 1914 marked the end of 6000 years of the white man's dominance in the world.

  Previous research on the group informally known as the 2x2's or Cooneyites revealed that their ousted founder, William Irvine, preached that 1914 would be the end of the age of grace and a cut-off point for the saved and the world would enter a time period of judgment.

  Does anyone else know of any groups where 1914 is held to be a Biblically significant date?
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  JWoods

  Did they believe it PRIOR to 1914, or AFTER? If prior, did they predict WW2 instead of the end of the world?
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  cameo-d

  Donuthole,

  I think this is a very interesting find. I have never thought that WT pulled 1914 out of thin air because I don't think they have that much originality. I have always wondered where the connection lies.

  "Where flowers of legend grow, underneath there is solid earth."

  I think I will dig a little on this and see what else we can find.
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  cameo-d

  Approaching Omega: The End of All Things

  In the few years just prior to the First World War, Irvine began placing increased emphasis on eschatology. [17] This has been later cited as one of the contributing factors towards the first division in the young denomination. He preached that the Age of Grace, during which his “Alpha Gospel” had been proclaimed, was coming to a close. As his message turned towards themes of a new era which held no place for the ministry and hierarchy which had rapidly grown up around the “Alpha Gospel,” resentments on the part of several Overseers came to a head. [18]

  Schism

  All this led to a division in the church over the period 1914-18. Various leading workers did not accept new developments in Irvine's revelation, and although most accepted that in the beginning Irvine had received a genuine revelation from God in his “Alpha Gospel,” they did not accept his "Omega Message". These overseers rebelled against Irvine's leadership (1914), and they refused to give him opportunity to speak at conventions held within their respective geographic regions. There were many excommunications of Irvine’s followers during this time, and his name was seldom mentioned from that time onwards. By 1918, the parting of the ways had become permanent.

  The greater majority of church members remained under the overseers who followed Irvine's “Alpha” revelation. Few were aware of the circumstances of his departure, and no public discussion of the matter seems to have occurred, although rumors of a “mental breakdown” or “indiscretions with women” were spread (the latter may have arisen out of his having fathered a son out of wedlock as a young man prior to his start in ministry). A small group of loyalists continued following Irvine. Unlike those who continued to follow only his “Alpha Gospel,” these refused to adopt any official name, although they came to be known among themselves as the “Message People” or “The Witnesses.”

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Irvine_(Scottish_evangelist)#Omega_Message
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  AllTimeJeff

  I just had an interesting thought about 1914. Esp for us former JW's.

  To illustrate a point first, what are we going to remember 2001 for? 9/11.

  1941? Pearl Harbor.

  1914?

  Most sane people remember or know that it was all about the start of WWI, the first modern 20th century war, complete with tanks, airplanes, flame throwers, and mass casualties the likes of which we hadn't seen before. Until WWII.

  But JW's and ex JW's still have 1914 as that goddam prophecy the GB keeps trying to maintain, thanks to the odd coincidence that WWI started that year.

  As Terry mentioned on another thread, a stopped clock is always right two times a day. Doesn't mean it works.

  The real legacy of 1914 for the world is that tragic war. JW's are just a freak footnote to that year, but it doesn't matter in the least to the real significance of that year.

  Of course, those who have escaped the JW cult have an entirely different view of that year, and we should honor that. But some perspective in restoring what that year really means for mankind and our planet is never a bad reminder, imo.
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  cameo-d

  He also claimed that he was one of the two witnesses of Revelation.

  More interesting info can be found here:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Conventions

  This evangelical organisation, also known as the 'tramp mission' or 'the church without a name', attracted crowds to open-air missions held across the country.

  In 1914, this brought about a schism in the church and Irvine left, along with a few hundred loyal supporters. They became known as the Message People, the Witnesses, or Irvinites.

  http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst1358.html

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  As far as the Cooneyites....could this have been one of Rutherford's relatives?

  Edward Cooney was born in 1867 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in the north of Ireland, the third of eight children. He was baptised into the Church of Ireland at St. Anne's parish church (now St. Macartin's Cathedral) in that city. His father was William Rutherford Cooney, a prominent local merchant, and his mother was Emily Maria Carson Cooney.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Cooney
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  cameo-d

  The 2x2's seem to use many of the same buss words as JW and some doctrinal ideas seem to be similar.

  "He called his religion "The Truth". "

  http://www.tellingthetruth.info/founder_book/00wmibook.php

  "Members call each other "the Friends"."

  http://www.veteransoftruth.com/category/main/child-sexual-abuse-2x2039s

  "I was raised in a religious sect known as "The Truth". As a fourth generation member of this sect I knew no other type of spiritual doctrine. Members of “The Truth”, as with most sects, believed they were “God’s one true people”, and all other doctrines were "of the Devil”. "

  (They also seem to hold to the same "don't tell" policy about child abusers.)

  "I also believed the workers had a policy of advising that the friends not report each other to the police. What I have learned is that the workers have had no set policy on anything, except that the reputation of the ministry must be protected. I also found an apparent willingness on the part of the ministry collectively to sacrifice innocent souls to accomplish that ministerial protection."

  http://www.veteransoftruth.com/category/main/child-sexual-abuse-2x2039s?page=1

  (I found this post especially distressing. It almost seems like this group is JW offspring that have been locked away in the closet.)

  "I have tried looking into the roots of my parents religion. They didn't call themselves anything, but other people outside the religion referred to them as the 2by2's. This was because their preachers travelled and ministered in pairs like Jesus' disciples were supposed to do. They call themselves the friends or refer to their belief system as the "truth". I left the religion when I was 12 and my parents are dead so I can't ask questions from that source. I'm not sure they even knew the beginnings of their religion because they believed they were the original way Jesus and his disciples preached."

  http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/gnosticism/90158-anyone-heard-2-2s-religion.html

  Their format was similar to JWs in that bible studies were at home, there was a public worship meeting, and there were periodic assembly type conventions.

  Also this sounds similar to what I have read here about discipline in the Hall:

  Ex-members report that infants as young as three months old are swatted. One said that

  fussing of small children is an unacceptable disruption of the meeting, so children must be taught quickly and firmly how to behave and be silent. Children are expected to behave as miniature adults and whatever must be done to achieve this end is done.

  (And this, too. Maybe this is just true of all cults and that's why I am seeing the similarity.)

  Conformity to a strict life-style is expected of all children and young people in the Truth. They are discouraged from participating in after-school sports and other social activities. Their circle of friends does not extend beyond the group.

  http://www.apologeticsindex.org/742-chapter-7-abusive-churches-foster-rigidity
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  cameo-d

  WATCHTOWER'S BASTARD CHILDREN

  The growing size and wealth of the movement started to affect Irvine. The dedication of his early years gave way to a grab for privileges and power. He spent most of his time travelling around the world to speak at conventions and increasingly exercised a dictatorial control over the church. Opposition grew. His fall came when he allowed himself to be influenced by C.T. Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He adopted Russell's second coming theology - 1914 was the end of the age of grace. He saw himself and John as the "witnesses" from the book of Revelation. His strange teachings disturbed many and so in 1913 John Hardie did not allow Irvine to take the stand at the Woodside convention in South Australia. Opposition grew and finally in 1914, William Carroll, the Overseer in Victoria, Australia, decided to take control. Overseers worldwide acted to exclude Irvine from the movement. It was simply reported that his health was not "as good as usual". He continued to write to many members, prophesying a worldwide drought in 1919. He then travelled to Jerusalem and lived there till his death in 1947. Naturally, some members continued to support Irvine and were summarily excommunicated.
  http://www.lectionarystudies.com/sects5.html

  ...three interconnected and little-known nameless sects. These usually meet in homes. The largest of these calls itself "The Truth" and is presided over by a homeless, itinerant ministry who are known as "Workers," "Apostles," "Servants,"etc. http://www.workersect.org/index.html

  If "The Truth" is indeed the Watchtower trademark, then this serves as the DNA to identify these three nameless groups as illegitimate, orphaned offspring of Watchtower doctrine. The similarities are uncanny. The abuse of the members is very much the same as what ex-JWs have exposed about the WT organization. These are the long lost unclaimed relatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses who have been thrown to the curb like Ishmael.