Matt 24:29-31: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds,from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.
Matt 25:31-46: "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. . . . And these will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life."
BOTH of the above passages of scripture have future fulfilments, says the Watchtower Society. Yet JW's are told that we are presently in the "Lord's day" and presently experiencing the "hour of judgment" (Rev 1:10; 14; 6,7).
'The Hour of the Judgment Has Arrived'!
14 As we keep on the watch, what can we expect? The book of Revelation outlines progressive steps in the fulfillment of God's purpose. Acting on what it says is vital if we are to prove ourselves ready. The prophecy vividly describes events that would occur in "the Lord's day," which began when Christ was enthroned in heaven in 1914. (Revelation 1:10) Revelation alerts us to an angel who has been entrusted with "everlasting good news to declare." He proclaims in a loud voice: "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived." (Revelation 14:6, 7) That "hour" of judgment is a brief period; it includes both the pronouncement and the execution of the judgments that are depicted in that prophecy. We are now living in that period." - (Watchtower 2005 10/1 pp. 21-25)
How can it be that we are "now living" in the "hour of the judgment" and are in the "Lord's Day" when Jesus has not yet sat on his judgment throne and is not yet separating the sheep from the goats?
The "Old Light"
You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p 183, states: "since Christ returned and sat down on his heavenly throne, all humankind has been on judgment... During the present judgment people are being separated as 'goats' to Christ's left hand or as 'sheep' to his right." (emphasis added)
The WT of Jan. 1, 1988, p 16, confirmed this: "Yes, all mankind is being scrutinized to see who are 'sheep' and who are 'goats.'... the messages are broadcast by human mouthpieces under angelic direction. A person is identified as a 'sheep' or as a 'goat' by the way he responds to the angelic messages. During this 20 th century, only Jehovah's Witnesses have cooperated with the angels in this vital work." (emphasis added)
The "New Light" in 1995
In the Watchtower of Oct 15, 1995, the Watchtower Society suddenly announced the rejection of this long-standing doctrine regarding the present separating work, teaching instead a future judgment: "Does this parable apply when Jesus sat down in kingly power in 1914, as we have long understood?" The Watchtower says No: "the rendering of judgment on the sheep and the goats is future. It will take place after 'the tribulation ... breaks out and the Son of man 'arrives in his glory.'" (emphasis added)
"Understanding the parable of the sheep and the goats in this way indicates that the rendering of judgment on the sheep and goats is future. It will take place after 'the tribulation' mentioned in Matthew 24:29-30 breaks out and the Son of man 'arrives in glory'" (The Watchtower, Oct. 15, 1995, pg. 23).
So, according to current Watchtower teaching, we are now living in the "hour of the judgment", but the "rendering of judgment on the sheep and goats is future".
Confused? Obviously the Watchtower Society is.
yadda