WE know 1914 is false - but the JW are still dining out on it. The only thing of significance that happened that year was the Great War which 'we' saw - and the War in Heaven which was invisible (to us). I liken the Society's prophecies to dreaming - sooner or later a dream comes true.
"And war broke out in heaven" - Why and how?
by truthseeker 20 Replies latest watchtower bible
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greendawn
They gave themselves over 120 years for the end to come, from around 1870 to the present, if someone says today the end will come between 2005 and 2125 AD he may get it right by sheer chance and it means nothing.
The trick is to pinpoint the correct year but this is not possible because it's unknowable. -
peacefulpete
Revelation's literary apocalyptic genre' utilized images and motifs centuries old to liven and motivate their audience. Our book was originally a Jewish work adapted by a Christian, some suggest that the same author did the editing when he converted to Christianity. At any rate the battle scene is an adaptation of the very ancient story of an epic battle between a dragon and a hero. There have been a number of threads about this chaos water dragon battle. The Jewish notion of an angelic/demonic 'accuser' of humans has parallels as well. The author of Revelations was reusing then ancient images with current Jewish apocalypticism. Check out the paralles with the Apocalypse of Zephania from the same period:apocalypse of Zephaniah/Rev comparison
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Bagira
John 16: 7-11
7. But what I am saying is true: my going is for your good: for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Here Jesus said that he needed to go away in order to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples (a. d. 33 - Pentecost)
8. And he, when he comes, will make the world conscious of sin, and of righteousness, and of being judged: 9. Of sin, because they have not faith in me; 10. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see me no more; 11. Of being judged, because the ruler of this world has been judged. Here Jesus said that at the time of the arrival of the Holy Spirit the ruler of this world would be judged. Thims means imho that at Pentecost Satan and his angels were no longer in heaven, thus the battle must have taken place sometime between the ascension of Jesus to heaven and Pentecost.
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peacefulpete
Here is an excerpt form the Testament of Asher (2nd cent. BC) that used the dragon motif:
7 1 Become not, my children, as Sodom, which sinned against the angels of the Lord, and perished for 2 ever. For I know that ye shall sin, and be delivered into the hands of your enemies; and your land shall be made desolate, and your holy places destroyed, and ye shall be scattered unto the four 3 corners of the earth. And ye shall be set at nought in the dispersion vanishing away as water. Until the Most High shall visit the earth, coming Himself [as man, with men eating and drinking, and breaking the head of the dragon in the water. He shall save Israel and all the Gentiles [God speaking in 4 the person of man]. [Therefore do ye also, my children, tell these things to your children, that they 5 disobey Him not. For I have known that ye shall assuredly be disobedient, and assuredly act ungodly, not giving heed to the law of God, but to the commandments of men, being corrupted 6 through wickedness. And therefore shall ye be scattered as Gad and Dan my brethren, and ye shall 7 know not your lands, tribe, and tongue. But the Lord will gather you together in faith through His tender mercy, and for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.]
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jimakazi
What gets me is why earth had to be the demons final destination. I mean, why? God knew what would happen were we to have aliens on this planet, invisible, dangerous and predatory. Why not send them to Mars, or Saturn or another galaxy?
Well this was to stack the deck so to speak - I mean HE had to prove man couldn't make it on his one with HIM.
Why? pride I guess - you no one of those things we are not supposed to have, "if I say you are going to fail you ignorant little humans you are freaking going to fail even if if i have to throw satan down there to make it happen.
And repeat after me "God loved us so much that he sent.... SATAN and his horde of demons" Loving dude isn't he, just as well he doesn't hate us. make me shudder what he might do - cook us in hell or wipe out 99.9% of us at armagedon. Hang on fry or dies is what we are ment to beleive he will do!
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dh
is anyone else getting these google ads, lol.
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tdogg
I wonder if the war in heaven was like the battle between Superman and General Zod. They were all indestructible but nevertheless had to knock each other around times square and such. You know Michael delivers a whallup to Satan and he goes flying thousand of light years into some planet, destroying it spectacularly. Then Gog comes roaring back and tackles Michael into some star and they get up toe to toe slugging it out, but not doing a damn thing. The God is like, "you kids, thats enough!! It took me a billion years to make that star! Thats it! Satan you are out of here...."
Makes for a good story anyway.
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JCanon
I was there so I can confirm the particulars.
First of all it happened in 1992 which matches three Biblcial references for the second coming. But interestingly enough, it is as you said rather "victimless." What it resembles in human terms was simply a court battle. Satan was on trial for many things of the past. Satan's arguments were many including that God created him the way he was, extremely beautiful with a needy personality making it impossible to be happy and he sort of had a right to do what he wanted. The final argument boiled down to, though, that if he were so happy and wanted to commit suicide that was one thing, but deciding to murder millions of others in his anxiety attack was totally unacceptable. If he wanted to die and was so unhappy he could have arranged some sort of self destruction. What's the justification of killing innocent men? No excuse. So he was condemned and cast out of heaven.
But continue to read revealtion. A star fell from heaven to the earth at the same time. When Satan was kicked out of heaven it made it possible to set up the kingdom with those of the saints of Christ but this was the time Christ also reappeared in the earth. This was done by taking up the body of the "prodigal son", one of his followers chosen to embody his identity at the second coming. This is the prophesied second "wave offering" with leaven as Leviticus 23 points out.
At any rate, it was a court battle, legal arguments. That was the war.
But please note another reference that both the "earth" and the "sea" are to have woe when this happens. The heavens were joyous, in fact, they actually parited in heaven for three whole days! They were really glad Satan was gone. But in Revelation the "earth" and the "sea" have special references. Note the Lamb-Dragon beast comes out of the "earth" and the "666" Beast comes out of the "sea." The sea represents Christendom and the "earth" represents the witness organization. The 666 Beast is the powerful leaderships that are part of Christendom and "Western" culture which is almost synonomous with Christianinity. The Lamb-Dragon Beast represents the apostate Governing Body of the WTS. The earth represents things related to things that are connected with the accurate Bible knowledge and God's organization.
As far as why God cast the demons to the earth, ths is only temporary. After the short while allowed for setting up the kingdom and sealing the anointed, Satan will be abyssed along with his demons for the 1000-year rule of Christ. He will be let loose a short period of time after that to test mankind who come out of the millennium. We are in that critical period of time right after the war in heaven when Satan is kicked out but before Armageddon at which time he is abyssed.
Angels generally had access to both heaven and earth before, but at this point Satan was excluded from heaven and confined to the earth.
Again, this is also the time the "woman" gives birth to the Messiah, meaning one of the members of Christ's secret society (she has a place in the "wilderness" that is safe from Satan) becomes the Messiah. So the second coming and the war in heaven occur at the same time.
JC
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Leolaia
For a complete discussion on the conflict myth and the evidence that the seven-headed dragon of Revelation 12 is an echo of the primeval seven-headed dragon Leviathan=Lotan (cf. Ladon in Greek mythology), see my thread: