@moshe:
It's one of those , Aha!, moments that hits you right after you leave the KH. If Jehovah picked the WT Society back in 1919 as his one true Christian congregation and then [assigned] them and only the International Bible Students the big work of preaching the King and Kingdom, at those famous ... Cedar Point conventions, then WHY did Jesus start the big work so early, when He knew everyone who heard the life saving message from Rutherford's gang was going to be dead in a few years- everyone was going to the grave, not straight to the New System of things. Just try and get a JW to explain that paradox.
What "paradox"? There's no "Aha!" moment here. If you thought that you could maybe go toe-to-toe with me on the Bible, you'd lose (modesty isn't one of my strongest virtues, but I'm working on this), and regarding the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, I have at times gotten a few of the years wrong myself, but as far as this bit of history is concerned, you're dead wrong here. All of the men that preached the good news of the kingdom of God, all but the Lord Jesus Christ, who was resurrected, died, and Jesus knew that his apostles would all be dead when he indicated on Nisan 11, 33 AD, that Jerusalem would be trampled on by the nations "until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)
Note that these appointed times weren't "fulfilled" or completed until the year 1914, so it would be absurd for you to be suggesting here that the preaching campaign that had been underway since it began back in the year 29 AD began "early" when Jesus has been ruling over those of his anointed brothers that were called and chosen by God, not just during the first century AD, mind you, but over those that were called and chosen by God from the second century AD onward, on through to the 20th century when it was Jesus officially began to invisibly rule as king of the world in the midst of his enemies. (Revelation 11:15; Psalm 110: 2) Although they could not have known what came to be revealed during the years that preceded the end of these "appointed times," they certainly knew Jesus to have been the Son of God and they were certainly teaching others to this effect well before the 19th century.
As a matter of fact, @moshe, there were Quartodeciman churches during the second century AD that observed the Memorial of Jesus' death as had been done by Christians during the first century AD. The "Church Fathers" or "Apostolic Fathers" that lived during the second century AD -- Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Polycarp -- did not believe God to be a Trinity. In the 15th century, the Socinians denied the Trinity as did the Anabaptists. There was an Anglican clergyman during the 19th century -- John Aquila Brown -- that back in 1823 wrote a publications called "Even -Tide," which pointed out that the Gentile Times would be fulfilled in either 1914 or 1918, so contrary to popular belief, Russell wasn't really the first one to break the case.
There were witnesses to Jehovah's praise way before Charles Russell and Nelson Barbour first began to herald Jesus' presence in 1874. Ok, they were wrong and were 40 years early, but this wasn't unusual, for Jesus had related a parable back in 32 AD in which he pointed out that he would be going away for awhile "to a distant land to secure kingly power for himself," because his apostles had wrongly imagined that "the kingdom of God was going to display itself instantly." (Luke 19:11, 12) Jesus said: "I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things" (Matthew 28:20), so there's no reason to conclude that followers of Jesus Christ weren't being called and chosen by God to become heirs of the heavenly kingdom before Pastor Russell came along. Of course, you are free to believe what you wish, but I think it to be ignorant to conclude that Jesus wasn't "with" his followers through the centuries while these appointed times were running their course.
Joseph Rutherford only became the president of the WTS after Russell's death, so what difference does it make that Rutherford should be launching a preaching campaign about the king and his kingdom at an international convention held in Cedar Point, Ohio, back on September 5-13, 1922? I know you wrote "1919," but these years are what I have called "the political years," when Rutherford and seven others that had been incarcerated in the Atlanta Penitentiary for some nine months were finally released on bond. It was actually on September 8, 1922, when a banner displaying the words, "Advertise the King and Kingdom" were unveiled at this 1922 Cedar Point convention.
The convention to which you refer, the one that convened on September 1-8, 1919, wasn't an international convention, but, as I said above, I sometimes get dates wrong, too. I see no paradox. If you care to elaborate, I'll listen; maybe you meant to say something else, although it seems clear enough to me that scorn for Jehovah's organization is what drove you to point out an irony that even doesn't exist in this thread. If instead you should decide not to pursue this thread, I'll be ok with that, too. Perhaps I should review some of your other posts here on JWN to see if this post of yours is just a fluke on my part, a bobble on your part, or if your posts are typically laced with ignorance and whimsy. I believe I've posted to a few of the same threads to which you have also posted in the past, and if I can find the time to review them, I will.
BTW, @moshe, the good news was preached then, in 1919, just as it is being preached today, to wit, to the living, not to the dead.
@djeggnog
