Thanks for your comments, AbleBodied. From the Jehovah’s Witness point of view, Armageddon is a when, not a where. For most other Christians, however, it’s a where and a when. When it’s a place, it’s called simply Armageddon; when it’s a when, it’s called the Battle of Armageddon. And since, like all battles, there will be casualties on both sides, it’s not improper to ask when all these things will be? Or when will this great battle take place?
But with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’m never sure what their beliefs are on such matters. They make it sound like some day in the very near future, a huge storm will gather. Then, suddenly, demons and angels will come whoopin’ out of the sky and tearin’ into each other. Then, as the “true Christians” watch in horror, or glee, they’ll see angels dragging out their Catholic and Protestant neighbors and settin’ them on fire. The clouds then roll in thick and black, and lightning crashes in the heavens. Suddenly, like a thief in the night, the clouds part and Jesus descends whilst all the Jehovah’s Witnesses rise to meet him in the air.
In other words, it could come any moment.
Most other Christians have an eschatology that begins with Judah gathering to the lands of its inheritance and becoming a nation. After that, a kingdom will rise out of other kingdoms and that it will be a kingdom that once ruled the world, was disestablished and then reestablished. John saw the kingdom as a beast that would seek to overthrow God and utter great blasphemies. Bolstering him will be a “false prophet” who, like the beast, will receive his power from Satan. But it’s the false prophet who will wow the nations and people of the world with miracles such as calling down fire, and he will defer in all things to the beast.
Like other prophetic beasts, these will be real flesh and blood men, just as Alexander the Great was depicted before his coming as a beast revealed to the prophet Daniel. This beast, however, will come down on Jerusalem and occupy the third temple. He may even help build it. After a period of time, however, he will viciously turn on the Jews and begin slaughtering them. Zechariah points to the nations “round about” Jerusalem that will be Israel’s primary enemies, which is why I think the beast and false prophet will be Muslims. Two prophets of God will stand up against the beast and the power of Satan and the power of God will create a stalemate. But after three and a half years, the power of the beast will win out and the two prophets will be slain, their dead bodies left in the streets while a celebration takes place. But after three and a half days, these two prophets will miraculously stand upon their feet and ascend into heaven in the sight of the beast and his armies. Then all will hear a voice and a shout, and then every eye shall see the Messiah coming in the clouds and descending towards the Mount of Olives.
The remaining Jews will instantly know it’s their Messiah, and when the mountain is ripped in two by a horrendous earthquake they will flee into the newly created valley to meet him. But as they approach him, according to Zechariah, the Jews will say to him, “Where did you get these wounds?” (referring to the marks in his hands and feet). Then the Messiah will answer, “These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.” Then it will dawn on them that their Messiah was Jesus, whom their fathers turned over to the Romans. Then they begin lamentations throughout the land. The Messiah will at that time be taken to the East Gate of the city and will be heralded into the temple. The East Gate will then be resealed and never opened again.
What about the beast and his minions? All but a sixth of them will be incinerated at the Lord’s coming. And thus the great Battle of Armageddon will be over.
In prophecy, the events are structured. If, for example, you live to see the two prophets killed, you will know when Jesus will come.
Thus, Armageddon is seen differently by first century Christians and modern day Jehovah’s Witnesses. The latter see it as a when. So my question was, according to those beliefs, how long do most Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Battle of Armageddon will be?
(BTW, in your video, you made a number of errors in my view. First, it’s a stretch to believe that the JWs are directing people to Christ in Bethel. In other words, they don’t fulfill those warnings because those warnings are literal. The GB can claim to speak for God, but that’s not the same as saying that God is actually present at Bethel. Speaking for God isn’t the same as being God, as prophets have spoken for God for years. Also, when Satan told Adam and Eve that they would become as God, knowing good from evil, wasn’t a lie; the lie was that they wouldn’t die. Remember, later the [eloheim] said, Man has become as one of us, knowing good from evil. Without partaking of the forbidden fruit, man never would have become mortal. And if he didn’t become mortal, he could not have been redeemed, and if he could not have been redeemed, he never could have been achieved his potential of becoming like Christ in power and glory, inheriting all that the Father has. So arguably Satan’s temptation inadvertantly fulfilled the Lord’s plan; otherwise, why did the Father put the forbidden fruit within easy reach in a place where Satan had all the time in the world? Bottom line, the GB are at worst false prophets. They aren’t setting themselves up in God’s temple, proclaiming that they are God.)
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