I know you may call me another Russel or something, but I am just showing what I've found. I am very amazed by what seems to be an uprising inside and outside of the Jehovah's Witness religion against the Governing Body and Watchtower Corporation.
It seems that all the scriptures about Babylon and the apostasy apply to them today. But check these two things out. Before the presidency of Nathan H. Knorr the WT and even Rutherford preached against disfellowshipping, and Rutherford even said it was a tool of Satan used by the Catholic Church to silence people from standing up for the truth. There was much more freedom of conscience among the Bible Students in the earlier days, especially before Rutherford, people were not labeled "apostate" for merely having a difference in opinion. I know that may be hard to believe, but please look this up on the internet and dig deeper than just the sites that are only showing the dirt on the Bible Students. So to me, the Witnesses were officially lead into captivity to "Babylon" when Knorr became president in 1942.
Well Daniel 9:2 says that Israel was held in captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Do the math, if indeed it was 1942 that the Witnesses became captive, and I think that the facts show this, then the release date for spiritual "Jews" and the destruction of "Babylon", the "Governing Body", and maybe the WT Corporation", would be 2012.
Here is the second time scale I will give you. Most of us have totally discarded the 1914 date as a false prophecy, but let me help breath new life into it. Russell and others get the "gentile times" notion from the book of Daniel chapter 4. Daniel talks about a tree that is chopped down and is banded with iron and copper for 7 times (or years), and after the seven years the bands are taken off and the tree is allowed to start growing again. Jewish years are 360 days as can be seen at Revelation 12: 6, 14, and if you add 360 times 7 you get 2,520 years, thus arriving at 1914 AD from 607 BC.
Well what Russell and others didn't point out is that after 6 years on the Jewish calender they added an extra 30 day month to the year so that their years stayed in line with the solstices and equinoxes ( so you don't have summer when you should be having winter), so if you add that 30 day month, you get 2,550 years.( An example of a 390 day year can be found at Ezekiel 4:5). Well the date 539 or 538 is when Cyrus released the Jews from Babylon after he conquered the empire, and this date is confirmed from "secular" records. Actually, if you go back in time 70 years from the release of the Jews from Babylon you arrive at or around 607 BCE. I have read that although the city of Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 BCE (Jerusalem was actually destroyed in 586 BC) some went into captivity at this time to put pressure on Judah to submit to Babylon. But if you start to count the 7 Gentile Times from 538 BC and add that extra 30 day month, you also arrive at 2012.
This will take research on your part, but Russell NEVER said that the world would end in 1914. It's true, please check what I have said. Instead he said that their would be a time of trouble as foretold in Dan. 12:1 and that out of a state of revolution and anarchy God would establish Kingdom rule on earth.To quote Russell from his book, "The Battle of Armegeddon", he writes, "When the Prophet Daniel inquired concerning the meaning of his vision, the angel replied, “Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the Time of the End”—not the end of the world, but the end of the Age—the end of this Dispensation. “The earth abideth forever.”—Eccl. 1:4." Russell did however expect the Kingdom to establish it's rule in a short period of time, maybe within 10 years after 1914, but he was never dogmatic about how long it would take.
Really, 1914 WAS the beginning of a time of trouble, and what's striking is that if you apply the 30 days to the gentile times from 607 BC, you end up at the end of WW2 1944. It was indeed a 30 year time of trouble, 2 world wars and a great depression. After WW2 under Nathan Knorr the WT began a very intensive world wide preaching campaign about paradise earth. And although they are guilty of gross error (like banning blood transfusions, disfellowshipping, organ transplants, ect. thus incurring bloodguilt) and indeed held God's people in spiritual captivity, they spread the word of the Kingdom and the earthly paradise all over the earth. It was at this moment that it seems the bands had been broken off the stump in Daniel chapter 4 and the sprout of the tree began to grow, but as in Jesus illustration at Matthew chapter 13 there were two types of growth. Both weeds and wheat, an evil slave and a faithful slave. Matthew 24:45-51
The Jehovah's Witnesses as I can see were the only group claiming the name Jehovah in such a large way in our day. Also the only group that basically put the old covenant back into effect complete with an earthly high priest class, bodies of older men, and harsh punishment for disobeying the Law. Instead of literally stoning sinners to death, they cut them off from the congregation, including their own family members. Although claiming to be spiritual Israel and Christ brothers, they actually resemble fleshly Israel much more. I say even more than the literal nation of Israel today, who superstitiously refrain from saying the name Jehovah for fear of being damned. By giving the Law power again they inadvertently set up a "tutor leading to the Christ", but now that "the faith has arrived, we are no longer under a tutor". Galations 3:24, 25
There is a parallel between Jesus day and ours. The Scribes and Pharisees claimed to represent Jehovah, and no doubt took pride in being the only nation that served the true God. The same can be said about the Governing Body and many elders. Just like the Pharisees, they scrupulously abide by the law, even abstaining from microscopic blood fractions, not toasting, making extreme bedroom laws not found in the Bible, 'binding up heavy loads and putting them upon the shoulders of men', 'giving the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, but disregarding the weightier matters of the Law, namely, Justice, and mercy and faithfulness.' Matthew 23:4,23 They 'swallow the gnat, but gulp down the camel' letting people die by abstaining from blood transfusions to show that they view life as sacred which is represented by the blood!!! Really, I could go on and on. Just read Matthew chapter 23, you will see the parallels.
Before I write a book let me make my point. The harvest, the separation of the weeds from the wheat, the exposing of the man of lawlessness, the fall of babylon, and the release of God's people from Babylon the Great seems to be in progress right now. Matt. 13; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 18 The good news about this harvest is that they no longer have the power to actually kill us for standing up for love, truth, and freedom. Jesus and the apostles died for truth and freedom, the least we can do is risk losing our family and friends. It may be hard, but I think that our families and friends will follow suit this time around.
