Of course, this is just my opinion. Since the Watchtower has many ridiculous teachings, it is actually difficult to boil it down to just one, but in my opinion, this is the worse.
*** REVELATION CLIMAX chap. 26 p. 172 pars. 4-5 God's Sacred Secret, Its Glorious Climax! ***4 When the sounding of the seven trumpets got under way in 1922, the Bible Students' convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, featured a talk by the president of the Watch Tower Society, J.F. Rutherford, based on the scripture "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17, King James Version) He concluded with these words: "Then back to the field, O ye sons of the most high God! Gird on your armor! Be sober, be vigilant, be active, be brave. Be faithful and true witnesses for the Lord. Go forward in the fight until every vestige of Babylon lies desolate. Herald the message far and wide. The world must know that Jehovah is God and that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the day of all days. Behold, the King reigns! You are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom." God's Kingdom by Christ Jesus was brought to the fore, and that set off the great surge of Kingdom preaching that has included the judgments heralded by the sounding of all seven of the angelic trumpets.5 The trumpet blast of the seventh angel was reflected in highlights of the Bible Students' convention in Detroit, Michigan, July 30-August 6, 1928.
1. 1922 Cedar Point, Ohio: A challenge to Christendom's leaders in religion, politics, and big business to justify their failure to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness. Messiah's Kingdom is the panacea.
2. 1923 Los Angeles, California: The public talk, "All Nations Now Marching to Armageddon, but Millions Now Living Will Never Die," called on peace-loving "sheep" to abandon the death-dealing sea of humanity. (hyh)
3. 1924 Columbus, Ohio: Ecclesiastics indicted for self-exaltation and refusal to preach Messiah's Kingdom. True Christians must preach God's vengeance and comfort mourning humanity.
4. 1925 Indianapolis, Indiana: A message of hope contrasting the spiritual darkness in Christendom with the bright Kingdom promise of peace, prosperity, health, life, liberty, and eternal happiness.
5. 1926 London, England: A locustlike plaguing of Christendom and its clergy, exposing their rejection of God's Kingdom, and hailing the birth of that heavenly government.
6. 1927 Toronto, Canada: An invitation, carried as by armies of cavalry, calling on people to forsake 'organized Christianity' and give heart allegiance to Jehovah God and to his King and Kingdom.
7. 1928 Detroit, Michigan: A declaration against Satan and for Jehovah, making plain that God's anointed King, enthroned in 1914, will destroy Satan's evil organization and emancipate mankind.
Looks like trumpet #2 was off key!
Some of the "trumpet blasts" refer to things that they have since changed even before the Revelation book was printed. I seem to remember something about the elder arrangement being one of the "blasts" but has since been changed.
It is sickening the Watchtower teach this stuff about the 7 trumpets to this day. They are very keen in linking dates of conventions with scripture. Rutherford started all that. It is absurd that the date of a convention was foretold in the bible. That is sheer lunacy. The core of Watchtower doctrines are based on the dates of conventions. This alone convicts the Watchtower of being a false prophet of the highest degree.
18 comments:
This teaching was always absurd for me, even in the days when I was an elder. It's really nonsense to link 7 conventions to the 7 trumpets or watchtower articles to world-shaking events ...
And even more amazing that millions of people believe this crap and think it makes them superior to the 'worldly' people who will be destroyed at Armageddon...
It is their way of keeping everyone in a blither.
The whole audience is not understanding it either but they will blindly clap and comment on how good the talk was but in fact it is all a bumble in their minds.
It is like those lemmings that follow one another in large numbers over the cliff to their death. I think that was a 1958 Disney movie called White Wilderness.
This is one of the best teachings of the Witnesses.
Who else has any idea what that means? Nada, no one.
Nothing wrong with trumpet 2. Millions now living will never die. It was not specific to the time he was living anymore than that which was in the Bible was back then.
And this is nothing related to prophesying. This is stating fulfillment of prophesy.
The convention in 1919 is fulfillment of prophesy in that is when many things in Revelation happened. That is when the advertising started and the preaching work.
What have other religions done?
Oh my God, ronde, now you're really scaring me. Can you really be this stupid? Are you so in need of a religion that you will believe anything? Did you have a emotionally scarred past so that when the Witnesses came along they offered you hope? Is that it? Since you asked, other religions have orphanges, soup kitchens, clothing drives, hospitals and many other things that are vital for a human to exist. Even though the Watchtower is worth billions they have none of those things.
Who is teaching you ronde. They are doing a poor job of teaching you accurate information. Rutherford wrote Millions Now Living Will Never Die and he wrote it specifically for the time in which he lived. Millions of Witnesses put their lives on hold waiting for Rutherford's promise. They believed that they would not die in this system. Read the book and decide for yourself. Do some research for yourself.
Lol! Ronde, I suggest you go do some 'personal bible study', i.e. study of the organisation's publications such as the older bound volumes of the watchtower and awake. Your ignorance is quite laughable..
If you knew the history of the JWs, you would know that Rutherford did not come up with the title "Millions now living will never die". It was another person with them. If you would get information from real and accurate sources such as Fred Franz rather than Randall Watters, you would have accurate info.
And that's all that you can say, ronde? Classic misdirection tactics of JWs. Unable to answer a question that directly challenges the nonsense they're saying, they come out with something out of leftfield. I say again - Ronde, go do some 'personal bible study'... or else start listening to what we apostates have to say :)
ronde, please, Fred Franz was a member of the Governing Body. He was part of the problem. I would rather listen to Randy any day that believe what Fred Franz told me. Fred Franz is responsible for some of the most outrageous claims made by the witnesses. Better off listening to Randy. He actually has a more balanced view of the organization. For the record, Rutherford wrote the book Millions Now Living Will Never Die.
GBLetters said:
"ronde, please, Fred Franz was a member of the Governing Body."
So what of it? He was the VP and Pres of the WTBTS also. So what of it.
" He was part of the problem."
So what Ray Franz. But Ray was a traitor and the biggest flip flopper of them all. He said that JWs have the truth, and rather than a quote from Randy Watters, I have a talk from him where he says that himself. Ray - Flip flop - Franz.
" I would rather listen to Randy any day that believe what Fred Franz told me."
I know that. You are atheist and so is Randy.
"Fred Franz is responsible for some of the most outrageous claims made by the witnesses."
Maybe, that is his right and the Witnesses have the right to believe what they want about them. But there were not rules.
" Better off listening to Randy."
Why? Listening to him won't get you life or even sanity.
"He actually has a more balanced view of the organization."
That is total BS. He is over on the left coast and the most leftist of them all.
" For the record, Rutherford wrote the book Millions Now Living Will Never Die."
I didn't say he didn't write it, I said that he did not come up with the title. Fred Franz was there, Randy was not. Fred Franz said that Rutherford had a different title until someone suggested that one.
How sad that someone could be an elder and yet reject what the brothers of Jesus are saying! Unreal. There is no religion in the world that could come close to explaining what Revelation means, and I personally think the the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses have it right on! Why couldn't what they say about the 7 trumpets be right? Can anyone else say what they mean? They get so many other things spot-on, I'm willing to take their word for the 7 trumpets. I think the book in question is beautiful, and I believe that millions if not billions of people now living will never die, we are that close to Christ's Thousand-Year Reign. Listen, people, or you're going to be shocked when Armageddon actually hits!
Thanks Pam for a good response.
Many on here join the mob without thinking.
I would have to say that the most ridiculous teaching of the Watchtower was a 1962 Question from Readers about Christians being in nudist camps.
It states that it would be hard to believe that men and women of the world are of such a high moral tone that in the presence of nude women they would not be likely to trangress what Jesus said in Matt 5:28 about keep looking at a woman so as to have passion for her.
Well, the opposite is true. It is the clothing that creates the longing and the craving.
If I had pizza everyday, I would get tired of it and it wouldn't mean anything. If I ate it once a month, I would have a craving for it.
If I drove a Ferrari every day, I would not steal one to joyride in it as I wouldn't need to. But if I drove a Pinto everyday then I would have a craving to steal a Ferrari to joyride in it.
Nothing non-Christian or adulterous about not wearing clothes.
How can you believe everything about "the truth [of JW's leaders]" knowing it can change in any moment - say, the next Witness-
specific Watchtower study edition??? Also, if we are so close to the end shouldn't the light be brighter than ever? Why the need for all these changes recently? (And don't tell me it's because we are closer than ever.) Shouldn't these changes have come earlier if we are so close to the end? Also, just because the GB tries to explain Revelation, it doesn't mean they understand it - remember, they aren't inspired and so every interpretation in the Revelation book is subject to error. (Think about that because that's a true and sobering statement.) It's only "their" intrepretation. So, where does that leave us... a history full of errors and false promises that caused people to make important decisions based on those false promises and NEVER received an apology. Just excuses like 'we're not perfect' or 'we never told you we were inspired', and the excuses go on and on. What's interesting is that JW's are accustomed and trained to berate those who lose faith, but I ask, "Who casued them to lose faith?" And, when the answer points back to the GB, that's a thought provoking reply, isn't it?
"How can you believe everything about "the truth [of JW's leaders]" knowing it can change in any moment - say, the next Witness-
specific Watchtower study edition???"
There are and have been no changes.
What he refers to as changes are not changes at all as nothing changed.
" Also, if we are so close to the end shouldn't the light be brighter than ever?"
It is brighter, the question is our observance of it.
" Why the need for all these changes recently? (And don't tell me it's because we are closer than ever.) "
What changes?
"Shouldn't these changes have come earlier if we are so close to the end? Also, just because the GB tries to explain Revelation, it doesn't mean they understand it - remember, they aren't inspired and so every interpretation in the Revelation book is subject to error. "
No one said that they understand it. But we as a congregation go with how they present it. As one congregation we go with how the overseers teach it. That is how congregations work.
"(Think about that because that's a true and sobering statement.) "
No, its not.
"It's only "their" intrepretation. So, where does that leave us... a history full of errors and false promises that caused people to make important decisions based on those false promises and NEVER received an apology. "
You just sound like sour grapes.
Read the Bible.
I remember my father-in-law, who is still a faithful JW to this day, saying he always thought it was amazing how bible prophecy was fulfilled by "a bunch of old ladies sitting under the trees in Cedar Point."
Anon said:"I remember my father-in-law, who is still a faithful JW to this day, saying he always thought it was amazing how bible prophecy was fulfilled by "a bunch of old ladies sitting under the trees in Cedar Point." "
Well, it was fulfilled by them. 1919 and the Cedar Point assembly was fulfillment of prophesy of getting out of Babylon and the starting of the preaching work.
But what do you think of Jonah and his being a prophet?
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