1980 Yearbook pp. 61-63 France 1925—A CRITICAL YEAR
The year 1925 got off to a good enough start, with the French Watch Tower magazine being enlarged from 12 to 16 pages. Also, the tract entitled "Ecclesiastics Indicted" was distributed in France, many copies right outside the churches. In the whole of the French-speaking field, over two million of these tracts were put out!
That same year of 1925 sparked off even greater difficulties within the organization. The book Millions Now Living Will Never Die had been widely used in the French field since 1921, and on the basis of its contents, much was expected of 1925. But when 1925 came and went without the anticipated happenings coming to pass, those on the outside who had read the book made fun of the brothers. Brother Jules Anache in Sin-le-Noble writes: "We were scoffed at by our enemies who wrote articles, one of which was entitled 'Millions now living will never die if they take Pink pills,' referring to a remedy that was popular at the time."
Worse still, the faith of some of the brothers themselves was shaken. Some expected to go to heaven that year. This brought about siftings in the congregations, particularly in Alsace. Sister Anna Zimmermann writes: "Unjustified hopes brought about great testings. Many gave up." Indicative of this testing was the question meeting held by Brother Rutherford during the Basel, Switzerland, assembly, which took place May 1-3, 1926. The report on this convention stated:
"Question: Have the ancient worthies returned?
"Answer: Certainly they have not returned. No one has seen them, and it would be foolish to make such an announcement. It was stated in the 'Millions' book that we might reasonably expect them to return shortly after 1925, but this was merely an expressed opinion." A mistake had been made but, as Brother Rutherford stated, this was no reason to stop serving the Lord.
Just an "expressed opinion" really! Page 88 from his famous book states this was a Scriptural fact.
