I doubt that you would 'place' a lot of copies before word got out that it was an apostate document, full of lies and half truths, etc.
Better just to make them think by asking them how could Russell know that the end of the Gentile times was in 1914 back in 1876, when the book of Daniel says it would be a secret
From my notes:
Does Daniel say anything about 'the gentile times' in Chapter 4?
Did Daniel understand what he wrote from chapter 10 on?
12:8 Now as for me, I heard, but I could not understand; so that I said: ?O my lord, what will be the final part of these things?
9 And he went on to say: ?Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of [the] end.
When did the 'time of [the] end' begin?
When did Russell first understand the words of secrecy in Daniel?
In the October, 1876 The Bible Examiner, Russell pointed out that the end of the gentile times would occur in 1914.
How could Russell know the secret if it was "...sealed up till the time of the end"?
If the time of the end didn't occur till 1914, writing before 1914, how could Russell know the secret which was "...sealed up until the time of [the] end"?
If he could not know, in 1876, that the time of the end would begin in 1914, the only way Russell could know the secret that was "...sealed up until the time of [the]
end", was if the time of the end had already begun when he wrote about it in 1876.
Confusing to say the least.
The words in Daniel 12 have nothing to do with the dream recorded back in chapter 4. They only applied to the last series of visions he had from chapter 10 on.
That Daniel understood the dream of Nebuchadnezzar is seen from the fact that he interpreted it for him: "this is the interpretation, O king....." he says in 4:24, and
what is the interpretation he gives? Is it about the times of the gentiles? Does he say the tree represents God's kingdom? No, he says, "The tree that you beheld,
that grew great and became strong and the height of which finally reached the heavens and which was visible to all the earth, 21 and the foliage of which was fair,
and the fruit of which was abundant, and on which there was food for all; under which the beasts of the field would dwell, and on the boughs of which the birds of
the heavens would reside, 22 it is you, O king, because you have grown great and become strong, and your grandeur has grown great and reached to the heavens,
and your rulership to the extremity of the earth." (12:20-22).
What does the WT say Nebuchadnezzar represents?
The gentile powers?
If in the first fulfillment Daniel plainly states that the tree represents Nebuchadnezzar, in order to be at least consistent, shouldn't the second fulfillment require that the
tree and Nebuchadnezzar represent the same thing?
Daniel clearly stated that the tree represented Nebuchadnezzar. In the final fulfillment both of them must represent the same thing and if you say this king represented
worldy government ruling from 607 to 1914, how is it that during the seven times of the fulfillment of this prophecy as recorded in the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar was
not ruling?
How could he represent the ruling world powers when he was taken off his throne during the seven times?
Also, everyone knows that Israel wasn't overthrown by Babylon in the year 607 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar didn't even become king untill 605 BCE, so how could he
conquer Israel two years before he became king? These are absolute dates you can find in any and every reference work on the subject: Babylon conquered Israel
in 587-6 BCE. So, if we were to accept everything else about the WT interpretation of Daniel, we would end up with the date 1934 instead of 1914, but either
date is ridiculous because we can all see that the gentile powers are still ruling!
