1914 was a "turning point" invented after the fact to explain why they were not raptured to heaven that year. One time out of curiosity when I was researching 1914 and I realized that thier cronology was 20 years off I looked up what happened in 1934. You can make just as good of a point for 1934 as 1914. For instance:
- 1934 was the year that Hitler became “Furher” of Germany.
- In December of 1934 Joseph Stalin started the purges which ultimately cost the lives of up to 20 million of his own countrymen. (including millions of Jews)
- Hitler vowed to exterminate Jehovah’s people. In October of 1934 he screamed to his Reich Minister of the interior about the Bible Students: “This brood will be exterminated in Germany!”
- In 1934 the prominent Nazi propagandist Ernst Bergmann published his work Die 25 Thesen der Deutschreligion (Twenty-five Points of the German Religion) It publicly claimed that Adolph Hitler is the new messiah sent to earth to save the world from the Jews . It also taught that Christ was not a Jew but a Nordic warrior put to death by Jews, and whose death spared the world from Jewish domination.
- September 1934 Hitler declared that the Nazi’s will reign for 1000 years. He bragged that the 3rd Reich would be a 1000 year Reich or new Holy Roman Empire.
- October of 1934 Hitler secretly expanded the Army and Navy and established the German Air Force. This act broke the Treaty of Versailles virtually guaranteeing war.
- 1934 Inspectorate of Concentration Camps is established , headed by Theodore Eicke, laying the groundwork for the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as the extermination of six million Jews.
- Most interesting is the fact that it was in October of 1934 that Hitler vowed to exterminate Jehovah’s Witnesses, putting into place the machinery that would lead to the concentration camps.
- Italy Invaded Ethiopia in a precursor to WW2
- On October 7th of 1934 Witnesses worldwide sent 20,000 letters and telegrams of protest to Hitler.
Not that I believe either date has any significance at all, it is just curious how you can make history fit your view if you want to. And Rutherford wanted to.