World War 1 and 1914 (page 7)

Room 215

.....tick, tick, tick... hear that? It's the clock that ISN'T broken counting down toward the Great Centenary of 2014. What will the WT ``brain trust" do with that? Organize a big, exclusive By Invitation Only party at the Stanley Theater for their hoi-polloi, complete with hats, confetti and noisemakers?

TD

I cant agree with that comment! The sheer technological innovations being brought out(Machine guns,planes,Tanks ,shells etc)meant a slaughter the likes of which had never been seen before!

If by this you mean that people were killed in new and different ways that had not been seen before, I'd agree. A huge amount of WWI casualties were caused by mustard gas for example.

However if by this you mean that the sheer number of casualties had never been seen before I disagree. Significantly more people died in the Taiping Rebellion (1854 - 1864) than died in WWI.

Schizm

For some 35 years prior to 1914, The Watchtower (now the most widely distributed religious magazine on earth) had been calling attention to 1914 as a year marked in Bible prophecy. These prophecies began to have a remarkable fulfillment in 1914. One of these was Jesus' own prophecy, uttered 1,900 years ago, concerning "the sign" that would appear at the end of the system of things and that would prove that he was invisibly present with kingly power. In answer to his disciples' question about this "sign," he said: "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress." (Matthew 24:3, 7, 8) In striking fulfillment, the first of the world wars started in 1914....

As quoted from: http://www.watchtower.org/library/lmn/article_10.htm

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czarofmischief

The answer is that Armageddon did happen in 1914. Satan won, he kicked Jesus ass, big style. That's why nothing changed and why Jehovahs true organization, as it was at the time, has now lost it's way, because Jehovah was cast into the abyss, so it is directionless. Ole Satan is now having his wicked way with the harlot.

Yep. It was all going so well until Jehovah got his arse kicked. And now Satan, having got what he always wanted, is kinda pissed and bored with the whole thing. Jehovah now lives near my house and is thinking of restarting his career by running for Pittsburgh City Council. Yep, he's hoping to be the multiverse's first Democratically Elected Supreme Sovereign.

CZAR

hillary_step

I think it was Carl Jonsson who researched the whole issue of 1914 and actually found that the JW's were not the first group to look to 1914 as a 'special' year. In fact political historians of the day were warning of the imminence of war around 1914 and this many years before it actually happened. This was based not on a tenous interpretation of Biblical prophecy, but on reading the political and social tensions of the age.

Best regards - HS

belbab

There is a prophecy regarding 1914 that is far more accurate than anything that Russell said.

In a post some time ago, http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/27736/355558/post.ashx#355558

I asked if anyone who knew German could look up some information for me, but no one responded.

If you type in Google search engine: Stormberger 1914, you will get many references to his prophecy.

Stormberger, a humble Bavarian farmworker, two hundred years before 1914 made some remarkable predictions regarding the twentieth century. Because he predicted German losses much of his writings were destroyed by Hitler. My request for someone to translate German was to research further his writings.

My post in the the thread, regarding German ancestors in America, had this purpose: If HItler had destroyed much of these writings, then may be there exists traces of it from German immigrants in America. Many German immigrants had settled in Pennsylvania. Perhaps Russell had some contact with 1914 predictions through predictions brought over from Germany from before.

I hope someone who is a better researcher than I am, can come up with further details.

One reference: http://www.crawford2000.co.uk/Storm.htm

TD

For some 35 years prior to 1914, The Watchtower (now the most widely distributed religious magazine on earth) had been calling attention to 1914 as a year marked in Bible prophecy. These prophecies began to have a remarkable fulfillment in 1914. One of these was Jesus' own prophecy, uttered 1,900 years ago, concerning "the sign" that would appear at the end of the system of things and that would prove that he was invisibly present with kingly power. In answer to his disciples' question about this "sign," he said: "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress." (Matthew 24:3, 7, 8) In striking fulfillment, the first of the world wars started in 1914....

This is a from of dissemblance known as "Implication through ambiguity." This happens when statements which the target audience regards as true are strung together in a manner that conveys a false impression. What happens is that the frame of reference suddenly shifts in a manner that the audience will not grasp. This has been a favorite technique of politicians for time out of mind.

Let's take the statements one at a time:

A: "For some 35 years prior to 1914, The Watchtower.....had been calling attention to 1914 as a year marked in Bible prophecy."

--True:

(From this point on, the frame of reference shifts from what the Bible Students believed and taught prior to 1914, to what present day Witnesses believe and teach. However since the target audience is ignorant of many of these differences, they fail to grasp the misdirection and come away with the mistaken idea that the events which transpired in 1914 were predicted beforehand.)

B: "These prophecies began to have a remarkable fulfillment in 1914."

--Ambiguous in this context: True only from the standpoint of Jehovah's Witnesses today. False from the standpoint of Bible Students prior to 1914 who believed they began to have a remarkable fullfillment in the late 1800's.

C: "One of these was Jesus' own prophecy, uttered 1,900 years ago, concerning "the sign" that would appear at the end of the system of things and that would prove that he was invisibly present with kingly power."

--Ambiguous in this context: Prior to about 1930 it was taught that the end of the system of things commenced in 1799, that the parousia commenced in 1874 and that Christ received kingly power in 1878. Not one of these were regarded as true about 1914 in the 35 years prior to that date.

D: "In answer to his disciples' question about this "sign," he said: "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress"

--Ambiguous in this context: In the 35 years prior to 1914 it was thought that these things were already under way. The dawn of the millennium in the fall of 1914 was in fact, supposed to put an end to them.

E: In striking fulfillment, the first of the world wars started in 1914....

--Ambiguous in this context. The "Striking Fulfillment" is not a fullfilment of what was preached during the 35 years prior to 1914. It is only a retrospective fulfillment of the end-time prophecies as understood by Jehovah's Witnesses today. None of the prophecies taught during that 35 year period prior to 1914 save the idea that it marked the expiry of the Gentile times are regarded by Jehovah's Witnesses today as true.

Statements B through E are therefore irrelevant to statement A.

Mulan

I agree it was a coincidence. And they didn't predict the war. They predicted that the annointed would be taken to heaven that year.

By the way, back in 2000, when Bush was first elected, I told everyone, he would have us in a war very soon. Am I a prophet, or is it a coincidence?

anuva

well schzism,

i am waiting to learn about bible and what is the meaning of "friendship of the world "......if you can kindly respond to that ...i am ready to learn more about what was so great about Russell among many preachers that came and went....., And what was so different about WW1 from other wars ..before anf after it .

i hope you understand and help me

anuva

ozziepost

I agree it was a coincidence. And they didn't predict the war. They predicted that the annointed would be taken to heaven that year.

I second that! Actually their date of 1914 was flawed anyway because WW1 broke out before the foretold great event in heaven was supposed to have happened - some months later.

That's always puzzled me - why is it that more of the dubs don't query it?

World War 1 and 1914

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