garyneal wrote:
The elder stated that 'some guys in Europe' were calculating 1914 based on 607 B.C.E. and the 2520 years of the gentiles times at about the same time as Charles Russell. Since he said that he read the proclaimers book I did not bring up the subject of pyramidology as I did not want to make too many waves and if he did read it thoroughly, he should have at least seen where it was mentioned in that book. I did ask him, though, what exactly was Charles Russell expecting to happen in 1914. He appeared to have dodged the question and stated that Russell did not know exactly what to expect that year. Interesting since my research showed that Russell clearly expected Armagheddon to happen that year. Appears to me that there is a strong motive on the WT's part to hold on to 607 B.C.E.. I wonder if he is aware of what Raymond Franz said concerning the time when the governing body was considering moving the date from 1914 to 1957 to correspond with Sputnik? I did not ask him this.
Russell did not have any concept of "Armageddon" in the JW sense. His view was that Armageddon was a period of time, which he seemed to correlate with the "time of trouble" and the "great tributation." Russell was expecting the time of the Gentile to end in 1914, and for the time of trouble to "begin" in 1914. He did not actually set a date for the ending of the time of trouble, although he did mention dates that other Bible Students had set. Yes, Russell did say that he did know for sure what to expect would happen in 1914.
In 1909, Russell wrote:
These 2520 years we believe will expire with October, 1914; at that time we believe the Gentile lease of power will expire, and that the God of heaven will set up his Kingdom in Israel. We do not expect universal peace to immediately ensue because Christ is styled the Prince of Peace. On the contrary, to our understanding the collapse of the nations will be through a fierce strife, “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation,” in which “there shall be no peace to him that goeth out, nor to him that cometh in,” because God will set every man’s hand against his neighbor. Our belief is that the warfare between capital and labor, emperors and peoples, will be short, sharp, decisive, and bring untold calamity upon all concerned.
"Time of the Gentiles, The National Labor Tribune, July 11, 1909
In 1912, Russell stated:
We are expecting in October, 1914, that a great change will be due. Now, how quickly will it come? Whether on the stroke of the clock or not we do not know. We believe that it will land upon humanity by that time. Perhaps some of it will come before that, but we believe it will be stayed off until that time. Now, dear friends, what if it does not? We are just as well off as the rest. That is what the Bible states. If it does not state that to you, we have no quarrel. And if it does not come we will not try to bring it about. But, on the contrary, we will try to practice peace and holiness withal. We are children of peace and peacemakers, not strife breeders. But we believe the Bible teaches October, 1914, as the time. If that is incorrect for a year, or five, or one hundred years, no matter, it is coming some time, whether we have it right or not.
Convention Sermons Report
Also 1912, he stated:
We pointed out that the evidences seem more and more to corroborate our expectations. At the same time we suggested that should our expectations for October, 1914, not be realized – for years thereafter – this delay would not invalidate God’s Great Plan nor our faith therein. Our consecration vow calls for faithfulness, “even unto death” – whenever death may come.
"Our European Conventions," The Watch Tower, October 1, 1912, page 310
Again in 1912, Russell wrote:
We do not claim infallibility. To err is human. If, therefore, the Father permits us to blunder in respect to His Word in this matter, nevertheless, He will undoubtedly have a great blessing for us. And if it should be that the year 1914 should not mark the close of the Gentile Times, we would still believe that the time could not be very far distant; for the nearer we come to that time, the nearer we see the fulfilment of the things which the Scriptures indicate will then occur.
"Spare in the Day of Trouble," The Watch Tower, October 1, 1912, page 321.
Convention Report of 1913 reports this concerning Russell's sermon on "Old Earth Will Go Rolling On."
Pastor Russell at once attacked the doctrine that the world will some day be consumed in fire and come to an end. All the predictions which have been made, he said, concerning the end of the world are founded on mistaken impressions of what is contained in the Bible. When St. Paul wrote that the earth was to be burned up with fire, he meant, said Pastor Russell, not that the world was to come to an end, but that the nations of the world were to pass through a period of trial and suffering from which they would emerge a better people, inhabiting God’s kingdom upon earth.
Also in 1913, Russell stated:
We are waiting for the time to come when the government of the world will be turned over to Messiah. We cannot say that it may not be either October, 1914, or October, 1915. It is possible that we might be out of the correct reckoning on the subject a number of years. We cannot say with certainty. We do not know. It is a matter of faith, and not of knowledge. “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
"Resume of the Ending of the Gentile Times," The Watch Tower, page 307.
1915 is one of the dates that had been suggested for the ending of the "time of trouble," allowing the time of trouble to last for one year after October 1914. As best as I can determine, this date was first suggested by the Edgars (John and Morton) of Scotland around 1904. Some other dates were also suggested by other Bible Students, and some of these dates were also mentioned in the pages of Watch Tower before 1914.
I have a lot more info on the expectation for 1914 at:
http://ctr.reslight.net/2009/01/25/1914.html
