I wish someone would take the time and explain how Armegeddon is what the Jehovah's Witnesses think it is.
Most Christians believe in Armegeddon; however, prophecy is clear. Armegeddon will happen in the Middle East, in an area just north of Jerusalem. Both Old and New Testaments declare:
- The Lord will set his hand a "second time" to gather Judah back to the land of their fathers (see Isaiah 11);
- The land of Jerusalem will blossom and become productive;
- The Jews will rebuild their temple after the manner of Solomon's Temple;
- The Lord will bring down "all nations" against Jerusalem (see Zechariah 12-14);
- In that day will the Lord will fight for Jerusalem, and all who try to destroy Jerusalem will, in turn, be destroyed;
- The Lord will raise up two prophets to smite Jerusalem's enemies (Gog, The Beast, see Ezekiel 38, Revelation 11);
- After the antichrist has murdered the two prophets, they will be raised three and a half days later;
- Jesus will return and destroy Gog and most of his armies (it will take the Jews seven years to burn the implements of war)
- Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives and the Jews, seeing the wounds in his hands, will realize they killed their Messiah
- There will be mourning and lamentation throughout the land;
- Those in Egypt and other countries that came down on Jerusalem that will not come up to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles in Jerusalem will be visited with draught and the plague.
These prophecies are Armegeddon, and they don't bear the slightest resemblance to what the Witnesses predict. In fact, one would have to apply "spiritual" meanings to all of these scriptures to find any other fulfillment, and there are no instances in which the Jews used anything but literal fulfillments. The JW leadership has declared that there are reasons to believe that the event will be global: "Armageddon cannot be just a conflict among earthly nations, since Jeremiah stated that 'those slain by Jehovah' will be scattered 'from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.' (Jeremiah 25:33) Thus, Armageddon is not a human war confined to a particular location in the Middle East. It is Jehovah’s war, and it is global." Actually, this is a figure of speech. In Young's Literal Translation, it states: "Wasting hath come unto the end of the earth, For a controversy hath Jehovah with nations, He hath executed judgment for all flesh, The wicked! He hath given them to the sword, An affirmation of Jehovah.Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, evil is going out from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind is stirred up from the sides of the earth.And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are." In Zechariah 12, the Lord states that he will bring "all nations" against Jerusalem.
The KJV states: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem." In our day, Jerusalem's enemies are indeed, literally, "all the people round about." (see Zechariah 12) Now notice that "all that burden themselves with [Jerusalem] shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." So it will not be a global event. All nations will be gathered together against it. Where? The valley of Megiddo. (The JWs say it's a mountain, but it's really a location in the midst of a great valley. Jerusalem's enemies will come down that valley as they attempt to take the city.)
Again, the JWs completely ignore the center of the battle -- Jerusalem. They believe Megiddo is a symbol and they do the standard magician's trick of distracting you with explanations of nuclear devices and halocaust, all the while ignoring Jerusalem entirely!
The Witness leadership knows nothing of biblical prophecy. When there are two scriptures that may be conflicting due to figures of speech, they simply choose the ones who suit their own preconceived notions of what they believe will happen. If one tried to use those methods to interpret the messianic prophecies, we would have no Messiah at all, for he would be merely a symbol, nothing more!
Based on the above, look at the monumental amount of scriptures they have to ignore to get to where they want to get. Those who buy into the WBTS interpretation will find themselves disappointed time and time again. It's the primary reason they've been wrong so many times before. (In fact, they have yet to be correct about anything prophetic!)
