Unwritten prophecies of JWs,

by Brummie 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Brummie

  ...that helped the WT to recover after 1975 failure

  All of us could document the written false prophecies of the WTower, 1799, 1874, 1914 -15-18-19-1935-75.by 2000....etc But how about the unwritten ones? Can you document any?

  around about the late 70s, early 80s there were approx 2-1/2 million JWs, I remember a talk being given that stated (para) "as our numbers draw near to the 3million mark we have to keep in mind that it was approx 3 million that Jehovah led out of Egypt, would it not be appropriate for Jehovah to do the same thing again...?"

  This, while not written down (at least I dont think it is), put into our minds that Armaggedon was immediately upon us and would most likely happen when JWs hit the 3 million mark! Naturally some weakening JWs would immediately enroll the pioneer ranks in order to survive. I reckon it was this sort of talk that helped the Watchtower to start to grow and get over the disasterous falling away following 1975 prophecy.

  Where there is a prophecy, there is a willing pioneer. Pioneers helped them to grow again.

  Following this there was the implication of the birds multiplying in unusual numbers, which hinted that they were being gathered for armaggedon...again the zealousness of JWs began to show, years later we had a talk saying this was "speculation" and we shouldnt speculate (I guess years of WT study taught us how to speculate)

  Then there was the 1986 year of peace and security, in 1985 this was made a big issue at the "integrity keepers" convention, we were really expecting the outbreak of sudden destruction even though it wasnt written down.

  I think if we put out thinking caps on we could come up with loads of unwritten prophecies (which are really just the predictions of the WTowers fortune tellers).

  Anyhow, thats it.

  Brummie
• 

  Narkissos

  there was the implication of the birds multiplying in unusual numbers, which hinted that they were being gathered for armaggedon...

  That's the first time I hear about this one... sounds Hitchcockian!
• 

  bebu

  Following this there was the implication of the birds multiplying in unusual numbers, which hinted that they were being gathered for armaggedon...again the zealousness of JWs began to show, years later we had a talk saying this was "speculation" and we shouldnt speculate (I guess years of WT study taught us how to speculate)

  YIKES.

  Sorry Brum, I don't know any unwritten prophecies, but I had to comment on this one!

  bebu
• 

  stillajwexelder

  I remeber a written one which was in the 1989 WT but withdrawn when they did the bound volume - you remeber - the one about the preaching work being finished by the end of the century -

  Unwritten - man lives 3 score and 10 years (70 years) so 1914 + 70 = 1984

  but Jehovah especailly merciful - man can live 4 score for special mightiness 1914 + 80 = 1994
• 

  Brummie

  Yea Bebu and Nark, that bird thing was a big sign of Jahs day of wrath, I remember it well and there did seem to be a lot of birds around giving me the evil eye...(cue sinister music)..

  but Jehovah especailly merciful - man can live 4 score for special mightiness 1914 + 80 = 1994

  You gorra laugh aint ya

  Brummie
• 

  avishai

  Then there was the 1986 year of peace and security, in 1985 this was made a big issue at the "integrity keepers" convention, we were really expecting the outbreak of sudden destruction even though it wasnt written down

  I remember that BS.
• 

  Narkissos

  I remember the oil crisis about 1973-74. We were in a very 75-oriented congregation and this was definitely the beginning of the end. Some found in the book on Daniel (Your Will be Done?) a sentence about the King of North taking over the riches of the King of the South, "including oil"... That was it!

  About the same time there were some brief panic-induced food distribution shortages in France, and my father managed to buy large quantities of basic foodstuff (flour, sugar, etc.) in prevision for the "Great Trib." We had a whole room full of it (we had a large house in the Beaujolais countryside, with several brothers and sisters working there part-time and pioneering; in the circuit it was known as "the little Bethel"). In the next few years the weevils made the best of it.

  Some time later, a fellow pioneer used to joke about 1984 as "his" ultimate deadline (the 10-y-o in 1914 would be 80, the limit of a "generation" according to Psalm 90). I was df'd in 86, but afaik he's still in.
• 

  candidlynuts

  the birds.. southeast usa in the 70s.. millions of black birds that would darken the sky.. everyones cars and yards were full of bird feces..i was a kid and heard i dont know how many talks on how the birds would eat your eyeballs. skeered the jeebers out of me!

  talks during the "youth' book years when a brother would ask all kids that were in school to raise their hands and then say LOOK, before these kids can graduate high school THE END will be here!

  it wasnt written but it sure was spoken!
• 

  willyloman

  In the years after '75, the WTS was being very careful about forecasting future dates. But at the same time, to keep people's minds off the 1975 prophecy, they kept reminding the dubs that "this generation will by no means pass away" until end of the system comes about. And a generation, it was frequently intoned from the platform and in the pages of the magazines, is 70 or 80 years. Thus, as someone already posted above, the logical conclusion we were all expected to reach was that the system would end in 1984 or 1994, or sometime in between.

  In the late 70's, in the aftermath of the 1975 fiasco, this seemed plausible. It was still far enough away that all the things the WTS had to occur on the earth could reasonably take place, and yet it was close enough to '75 to "rescue" that prophecy... see, all you had to know is that Adam was alone on the earth for a few years before Eve was created, and that explained the discrepancy (Freddy Franz explained it all in a talk in 1975).

  Still with me?

  In my opinion, this was the major "unwritten" prophecy of JWs during the last quarter of the 20th Century. Which makes it all the more remarkable that they were forced to abandon the "generation" teaching as they did in November 1995. Remember how important the "generation" teaching was to the dubs? They built their lives around those calculations, and when nothing happened at the end of 1994 (a year that "ended" in about Sept-Oct of 1995, per the dub rendition of the Hebrew calendar), something had to "give."

  And something did. What gave way was the sense of urgency on the part of most individual dubs. It began to wane in that year and today... it is virtually nonexistent, except among a few diehards to whom no one pays the slightest attention.
• 

  Wolfgirl

  I remember the thing about the birds multiplying. I remember my sister and I walking to school, seeing big crows circling around, and saying, "Look! Armageddon must be close!" I cannot believe I was so stupid. (She's still in.) I remember the International Year of Peace thing in '86 as well. We were all so certain this was it. And then when George Bush Sr started talking about the "new world order," we figured something was up.