The Finished Mystery is the first WT publication to identify 1918 (see pp 393ff) in the part on Ezekiel written by George Fisher. Fisher saw it as the date for the destructionof the churches of Christendom. Rutherford picked up the date in The Harp of God but at that stage he only identified it as the end of 40 years harvest of the Gospel age (which began in 1878) You have to be cautious about basing any definite conclusions concerning WT beliefs of the period on The Finished Mystery because it is a thoroughly muddled and confused book and the two authors (Clayton J Woodworth and George Fisher) seem tohave come up with two different ways to extend the fulfilments of prophecy into the post-war period. Fisher soon fell out of favour but Woodworth remained in an influential position - even though their book had been a considerable embarrassment to Rutherford who had comissioned the writing.
Where can I find WT first mention of 1918 inspection ?
by Phizzy 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Sighco
August 1st 1926 Watchtower explaining the evidence for 1918.
Page 229:
"The Gentiles Times ended in the autumn of 1914.
The evidence is quite conclusive that here the Lord
Jesus Christ, in obedience to God’s command, stood up
and began to exercise his power. (Daniel 12: 1; Psalm
110: 1, 2; 1Revelation 11: 17, 18; Matthew 24: 7, 8)
If we are warranted in applying the rule of the parallels,
then we should expect that the Lord would come to
his temple three and one-half years thereafter, to wit,
in the spring of 1918. If this is true then we should
expect also to find some evidence that the Lord there
began to cleanse the antitypical temple; and that
shortly after that nominal Christendom, or spiritual
Israel, would be completely rejected by the Lord."What exactly is the rule of the parallels?
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Phizzy
It seems as though I have stumbled on a most peculiar situation, I simply wanted to see how the idea was presented in the first place, and then maybe transport myself back to the world where people would believe that measurements made in a pyramid in Egypt could have some relevance to a small religion/publishing company, and then perhaps understand how they could swallow the B.S about 1918.
But it seems as though , perhaps, NOWHERE is the doctrine actually taught, explained, it is simply referred to in the usual "evidently blah blay Bible chronology blah blah a marked year blah blah".
Now, is that not amazing ? The whole claim for the authority and the very existence of the GB/WT as God's Organization, as God's Channel , His mouthpiece etc ad nauseum, is not spelled out anywhere.
This is smoke and mirrors gone mad, they do not even have their own teaching to back up their claims, let alone any proof, what a house of cards the whole con trick is !
Edited to say:
Sorry, jumped the gun, I posted the above before reading the 1926 WT, so this is the first instance I guess of the idea being outlined, no real proof is offered of course, and no excuse for not having known they were inspected in 1918, it takes almost 8 years before they acknowledge it in the WT.
Thanks for posting the mag sighco, it is exactly what I wanted to see. There really is no scriptural argument presented, simply ,I, Rutherford, think this scripture means this, so it does, and this forms the foundation of the modern religion, boy, talk about a house built on sand !
