ANDDONT: Whether Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 or 587 does not matter, the simple fact is you cannot draw a straight timeline from that event to 1914 (or any other date)! Additionally, not one thing Russell predicted would occurr in 1914 actually happened. A 100% failure! Hardly the trait of someone who claimed to be God's hand-picked "faithful and discreet slave".
AndD, just for your information, there are three things the WTS associate with 1914: 1) The end of the gentile times, 2) the 2nd coming, linked to 2520 years from the fall of Jerusalem per the "7 times" prophecy, and 3) the beginning of the "last generation" of 80 years.
One one is correct, #3. The "last generation" begins with a world war, that is, "nation vs. nation and kingdom vs. kingdom," so 1914 is still a good year for the 'last generation which would see the second coming before that generation ended, which ends after 80 years at the most, in 1994 per Ps. 90:10. So that is ONE THING that is correct.
The other two references are incorrect. The "end of the gentile times" is the year the Jews had a homeland again and officially came out of exile, which was not until November 30, 1947. So November 30, 1947 ends the gentile times and thus the end of the 1290 days noted in Daniel. That also mens the 1335 days, 45 years later, ends in 1992. Thus based on 1947 we can date the 2nd coming to 1992.
Which brings us to #2, the date of the second coming. The 2nd coming does not occur in 1914 but in 1992. But the prophecy of 2520 years is correct. If we back up in time from 1992, established by 1947 ending the 1290 days, then 529 BCE must have been the original date for the fall of Jerusalem in year 19 of Nebuchadnezzar II. That is what the elect, "anointed" are faced with now post 1947 and the clear "end of the gentile times" that year.
At this point, we are faced with making some sense out of 529 BCE being a legitimate date for the fall of Jerusalem based on ancient records, most of which do not reflect this. As you well note: "All secular archaeologists, historians, scholars (people with actual university degrees) say 587 BCE."
But what you don't realize is that people aspire to have degrees so they can lie, deceive and propagandize their own agendas. It's like the mafia getting their own people to get appointed as judges. Case in point is Carl Olof Jonsson. He publicly claimed I was lying about a "year 9" reference in the SK400. He spoke as an expert when he did so. The article he commented on published the entire text and thus the 9th year reference as well. Only later, in some of the XJW discussion boards when confronted did he admit that he made a mistake and claims he was not aware of the "ninth year" reference in the text. So what kind of an expert is he? Or is this just a man with his own dishonest agenda?
Same goes for very prominent expert who translated the VAT4956, a second critical document for dating the NB Period. He lied about what was in the text! Sure, when confronted, he admitted his error but still refuses to make a formal retraction and correction. So my impression of people with degrees are that they are really hiding behind those degrees as propagandists. They are part of the problem.
Now in this specific case, we find that the Jewish rabbis are revising the Book of Esther in the 3rd Century CE to conform to the revised timeline. They changed the marriage of Esther from Artaxerxes I to "Ahasuerus"/Xerxes. Otherwise, the Book of Esther contradicted the Biblical record.
So now what to do? Your mind is confused over what should be basic and SIMPLE and easy, which is likely going to be the truth. But just the opposite goes here. A whole lot of effort went into covering up the revisions made during this period and they continue. It's hard to talk to someone who is so impressed with professional liars. So what I have done is simply become the analyst. I simply point out what the "experts" like to leave out.
For instance, the "70 weeks" prophecy should hae been fulfilled by Cyrus thus dating the 1st of Cyrus to 455 BCE. Martin Anstey came to that conclusion and in his book, "Romance of Bible Chronology" indicated that the Persian Period was 82 years too long. So that's not me saying that, that is another scholar with a different opinion and interpretation of the Bible's timeline. Now, just being academic here, if we consider that 455 BCE is the Biblical dating for the 1st of Cyrus, even if this is unproven and critically contradicted by all the secular records out there, then we have a complete timeline to compare to the secular one. We know from the Bible and Josephus, for instance, that the 70 years of exile and desolation began with the last deportation in year 23 of Neb2. Now, keep in mind, we're just looking and analyzing and comparing. Thus, if 455 BCE is the Biblical date for the 1st of Cyrus per that prophecy, as Anstey claims, then year 23 would fall in 525 BCE. But that is where it gets interesting. If 525 BCE is year 23, then 4 years earlier would date year 19 to 529 BCE. OOPS! Where did we hear that date before? Thus when we date the second coming based on 1947 to 1992, and we get 529 BCE for the year of Jerusalem's fall, then funny to me, you get the same date when you follow Martin Anstey and others who date year 455 BCE to the 1st of Cyrus!
But that's not all. Just by simple analysis of the SK400, two eclipses have the precise times revealed in the text. This establishes an interval between the eclipses of 2:46 (2 hr 46 min). This interval is not confirmed for 523 BCE, "year 7" of Kambyses. When we do a thorough search for a match for these two eclipses in another date, we get a precise match for 541 BCE. That is a 50% eclipse in Tammuz and a total eclipse in Tebet, with an interval of precisely 2:46. If we apply this to "year 7" of Kambyses, it matches no other timeline we are looking at. But if we apply "year 7" to Nebuchadnezzar II, we hit the jackpot! Why, because when year 7 falls in 541 BCE to match the SK400 eclipses, then year 19 falls in 529 BCE. Now see where this is going?
So now look what has happened and what we have to deal with. We now have a confirmation from 1947 when the 2nd coming should have taken place in 1992. That forces us to date the fall of Jerusalem in 529 BCE, but when you use strict Bible chronology and date year 1 of Cyrus to 455 BCE, then you also get 529 BCE for the fall of Jerusalem! Is that a coincidence? Hell no! This is when most people who were smart a confident a minute ago usually start to play dumb. At any rate, the SK400 now can be used to confirm the same dating. Thus we have a secular reference that confirms the true chronology. But at this point, it also proves the 587 BCE timeline is revised and fabricated. So you can see, once you see this, we can't take the current popular timeline seriously, but it does bring into question whether or not the academic world already knows about the revisions but for political reasons or religious reasons have decided it would be too big of a scandal to expose it. Now remember, there is more involved in this. The Jewish rabbis as early as the 3rd Century CE knew about these revisions and made efforts to cover this up. Originally, the revisions were related to Greco-Persian politics and polemics. But that was all over by the time of Christ and later. So now these revisions have a new purpose and use and so covering up the revisions is now a modern concern.
So at this point, the elect are not really that concern that the rest of the world is deceived by the media and the academic world about this timeline. We have little choice but to follow Scripture here. 1992 is the date of the 2nd coming per 1947's end of the gentile times and the end of the 1290 days. We are stuck with 1992 and we are stuck with 529 BCE as the date for the fall of Jerusalem. But very funny to us, that date comes up independently via the SK400 or the Bible's own timeline that dates the 1st of Cyrus in 455BCE.
BUT NOW WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP? Your next step is to look into how feasible or possible it is to remove some 82 years of fake Persian history!! That is the only way you can contradict 529 BCE as being the true date for the fall of Jerusalem! So can you confirm these alleged fake 82 years and prove the Bible's timeline is wrong? I'll tell you right now. You can't! Instead, you find all kinds of things that prove the timeline was altered.
Case in point a reference to "The Delian Problem", a math problem said to have been consulted by the oracle at Delos to Plato in the 2nd year of the war. The revised date of the war was pushed back from 403 BCE to 431 BCE. Only problem is, Plato was born in 428 BCE so now he is being consulted 2 years before he was born! Whereas when the work of reestablishing the true timeline, which we do for the Greek timeline via a critical eclipse in the first year of the war which points to 403 BCE as the beginning of the war, we find Plato is 25 years of age at the time. So removing the extra years from the Persian and Greek timeline actually makes the timeline work. It doesn't distort the history it corrects it. That is, it makes more sense Plato was being consulted at 25 than 2 years before he was born, right?
Now finally, for those who quote "Nobody knows the DAY nor HOUR." Well that is quotes as if this is a general reference, that is, that nobody is going to have a date, that is the YEAR for any major events in the Bible. WRONG. The "day" and "hour" does not mean you don't know the YEAR! The YEAR of the 2nd coming has to match three prophecies! The "70 weeks" prophecy, the "7 times" prophecy and the "1335 days" prophecy. All of these point to the specific YEAR of the 2nd coming. But knowing the year does not mean you know the "day" or "hour" of this event. So knowing the year does not contradict this statement. This statement is thus very specific, it means precisely what it says: nobody knew in advance the DAY or HOUR of the 2nd coming and we still don't! We just know it happened sometimes on December 25th or 26th, 1992. In the meantime, all three prophecies all point to 1992-1993 as the year of the 2nd coming. I'll just list these briefly and then shut up:
1. The "7 times" prophecy, 2520 years from the fall of Jerusalem. You can date that event to 586 BCE if you wish, but we also have the option via the SK400 to date it to 529 BCE, or from the Bible's dating of the 1st of Cyrus to 455 BCE also to 529 BCE. The latter two would date the 2nd coming in 1992. That is, between the Summer of 1992 and the Summer of 1993.
2. The "1335 days" prophecy, dates the 2nd coming 45 years after the "end of the gentile times" which ends Jewish exile and thus ends the 1290 days of the "dashing of the holy ones to pieces." When 1947 fulfills the 1290 days, then the 2nd coming must be dated 45 years later, and thus sometime between November 30, 1992 and November 30, 1993.
3. The "70 weeks" prophecy confirms that Christ arrives at the first and second coming during the 70th week. The first 70th week was from 29-36 CE. So this is fixed. When we count down to the 70th week of our time, it falls from 1989-1996. That is, we SIMPLY count down 70-week periods from 36 CE. 4 x 490 = 1960 + 36 = 1996. So the 70th week of the 2nd coming ends in 1996. Christ comes to fulfill the first half of the week the first time and the second half the second time. This means that Christ must arrive less than a year from Passover of 1993, the mid-week passover. That means sometimes after passover of 1992 and before passover of 1993.
When we combine the three prophecies above, we know that Christ must arrive no earlier than November 30, 1992 but no later than April 6 (passover) of 1993! So we know the month and the year, but still not the "day" nor "hour."
So, you go ahead and believe that Plato was consulted about a math problem 2 years before he was born, which is the 586 BCE chronology! I prefer to follow the Bible and date the 1st of Cyrus in 455 BCE, regardless of what the secular records now supported by lying academics shows. They just promote and flaunt the revised records, which are contradicted by the Bible. But some of the secular records, like the VAT4956 and the SK400 prove what the true timeline originally was and confirm that the current timeline is fabricated. So it is a matter of knowing and knowing how to get past the lies and deceptions of those who claim to be experts, like CO Jonsson and Hermann Hunger and others.
The elect know what the true timeline is; we're not that concerned about late bloomers who love darkness ever figuring this all out.
