WTS excuse for wrong warnings: complete with weasel words.
*** w97 8/15 pp. 15-16 Living for Today or for an Eternal Future? ***A Faithful Watchman
13 In the meantime, we do well to heed the direction given by the ‘faithful slave.’ (Matthew 24:45) For over a hundred years, the modern-day “slave” has faithfully served as a “watchman.” (Ezekiel 3:17-21) The Watchtower of January 1, 1984, explained: “This watchman observes how events are developing on earth in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, sounds the warning of an impending ‘great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning’ and publishes ‘good news of something better.’”—Matthew 24:21; Isaiah 52:7.
14 Remember: It is a watchman’s job to call out “just what he sees.” (Isaiah 21:6-8) In Bible times a watchman would sound a warning even when the potential threat was too far in the distance to be clearly identified. (2 Kings 9:17, 18)False alarms surely occurred back then. But a good watchman would not hold back out of fear of embarrassment. If your house was on fire, how would you feel if the firemen failed to appear because they figured it might be a false alarm? No, we expect such men to respond quickly to any sign of danger! In a similar manner, the watchman class has spoken out as circumstances seemed to warrant doing so.
*** w03 1/1 p. 21 “Keep on the Watch”! ***
“Happy Is the One Who Is Keeping in Expectation.”—Daniel 12:12
Imagine that a watchman suspects that a thief is planning to burgle the premises he is guarding. When night falls, the watchman listens intently for any noise that might betray the presence of the burglar. Hour after hour he strains his ears and eyes. It is easy to see how he could be deceived by a false alarm—the sound of a gust of wind in the trees or a cat knocking something over.—Luke 12:39, 40.
Something similar can happen to those who are “eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:7) The apostles thought that Jesus would ‘restore the kingdom to Israel’ soon after his resurrection. (Acts 1:6) Years later, Christians in Thessalonica had to be reminded that Jesus’ presence was some time in the future. (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 8) Still, false alarms about the day of Jehovah did not make those early followers of Jesus abandon the path leading off into life.—Matthew 7:13.
In our day, disappointment over seeming delays in the coming of the end of this system of things should not cause us to drop our guard. An alert watchman may be deceived by a false alarm, yet he had better keep on the watch! That is his job. It is the same with Christians .
