1914 prophecies fulfilled invisibly (Jehovah's Witnesses)?

You will not readily find those from JW's. There are JW apostate sites like jwfacts.com that claim to have those issues and they show date, paragraph and so forth for you to look them up yourself, but good luck finding an issue that old that isn't electronic and as we all know if it is digital it can be changed fairly easy so it's really hard to know who to trust.

The first link deals with their predictions PRIOR to 1914 and how they changed their views POST 1914.

The second link is about their failed predictions with regard to 1975.

The third link is also very good and gives full quotations from their literature.

Before 1914 the group who later called themselves Jehovah's Witnesses had made a few predictions, all of which turned out to be wrong. In my copy of "The Divine Plan of the Ages" published by International Bible Students Association in 1886, there is C.T. Russell's "Chart of the Ages" at the very start of the book. the end of the book, there is a page advertising "Thy Kingdom Come" (published in 1891) and some of the things the book explains are:

"...The Great Pyramid in Egypt is a Witness to all these events of the ages and of our day - testifying in symbols. The Pyramid's downward passage under 'A Draconis' symbolizes the course of Sin. Its First Ascending Passage symbolizes the Jewish age. Its Grand Gallery symbolizes the Gospel age. Its Upper Step symbolizes the approaching period of tribulation and anarchy, Judgments upon Christendom. Its King's Chamber the Divine Nature etc of the Overcoming Church - the Christ, Head and Body. Its Ante-Chamber the Correction in Righteousness of the 'Great Company' etc. Its Queen's Chamber those of Israel and the world who attain Restitution. All these interesting topics with ten Pyramid illustrations can be had in 'Thy Kingdom Come'.

Russell believed that the Kingdom of God was established in heaven in 1874. The end of 'the times of the Gentiles' was the due date for the establishment of the Kingdom on Earth (not Heaven as is currently taught), and that event would be intimately connected with the fortunes of the Jewish nation:

"The world is witness to the fact that Israel's punishment under the dominion of the Gentiles has been continuous since B.C. 606, that it still continues, and that there is no reason to expect their national reorganization sooner than A.D. 1914, the limit of their seven times - 2520 years. But as this long period of their national chastisement draws near its close, we can see marked indications that the barren fig tree [of the nation of Israel] is about to put forth, showing that the winter time of evil is closing, and the Millennial summer approaching, which will fully restore them to their promised inheritance and national independence. The fact that there are now great preparations and expectations relative to the return of Israel to their own land is of itself strong circumstantial evidence corroborative of this Scriptural teaching." (The Time is at Hand, written by Russell in 1889. Page 92)

Now see what Russell wrote on page 97 to confirm the belief that Earth would see God's Kingdom reinstated, and that the time of the Gentiles were a punishment upon the Jewish people, their ending to be marked by the return of the Jews to Palestine: "The government which THEY will then establish will be the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth and it will rapidly replace all other national governments." And that restored government would be established in Jerusalem for the repatriated Jewish nation.

It would be interesting if any JWs would explain why this teaching about the nation of Israel (which lasted nearly 30 years) had to be replaced with the current interpretations which keep the nation of Israel out of the picture entirely.

The first President thought a generation was about 36 years, so with claiming Christ's invisible second presence happened in 1874, the original teaching about the 1914 generation was that World War 1 would culminate in Armageddon. That was changed to 1925 being the assured date for Armageddon after that idea was shown to be wrong.

In his book "Thy Kingdom Come" (published 1891) Russell expounded Daniel chapter 12, saying the time of the end started to count from AD 1799. He said there was 1,260 years of the papacy's power and that power was ended in 1799 by Napoleon's humiliation of the pope that year. More convoluted calculations led him to declare 1874 as the time for Christ to return (or, be invisibly 'present' as King):

"Fulfilment came exactly at the close of the 1335 prophetic days - in October 1874. It was just following the close of the 1335 years, the period of 'waiting', that the fact of our Lord's presence, as taught by the foregoing prophecies, began to be recognized." p83 & 92f & 119

"The only ones who see clearly the pecularily high and grand features of the call of the Gospel age... are the very ones who are also shown from God's word that the time limit of this call was reached in October 1881... Hence the general Gospel call, the true one, is ended. None can extend it." p218f

Jehovah's Witnesses and the "False Prophecies" Accusation - A Misrepresentation of the Facts

There is a big difference between someone who is just trying to understand Bible prophecy and one who claims a direct communication with God or a miraculous foresight.

If (opposers of Jehovah's Witnesses) are referring to someone who makes predictions based on a claim of direct communication from God, then we can refer to many well known evangelical preachers (usually when they need more money, or to claim God has forgiven them for moral sins).

For one example, Oral Roberts claimed to be told by a 900 foot Jesus that he was going to be used to find a cure for cancer and people should send him 8 million dollars or God was going to kill him. (His cancer medical center was only open for a few years.)

This is a clear example of one who meets the requirements of a "false prophet," since he was not just interpreting Scriptural prophecies but he claimed a direct communication from God which proved untrue (De.13:1).

We actually have hundreds of examples of where Catholic and Protestant preachers predicted times and even dates for Christ’s return. For example:

The "Father of Protestantism" himself, Martin Luther taught Christ would return by 1564.

Irish Bishop James Ussher's prediction was for 1996.

Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel predicted the Rapture in 1981.

The most famous one was actually a Baptist....William Miller who predicted 1843.

Pick up a book called "Apocalypses (Eugen Weber)" and you will see how busy Christendom has been at picking dates in the past...and they are still SPECULATING! See also books by Paula Fredriksen.

Now does this mean that these Catholic and Protestants were false prophets? We would have to conclude that they were IF we equally applied the reasoning of those who accuse JW's. However, a more reasonable conclusion would be that they were just honestly mistaken. Most of these individuals did not claim a direct and new communication from God, but only were trying to interpret the chronology found in the Bible.

Similarly we have the “predictions” of the Apostles themselves. When it came to Christ's Kingdom, the Apostles held incorrect understandings of prophecy even after Christ's resurrection (Lk.19:11; 24:21, Ac.1:6).

They obviously had incorrect views of Bible prophecy. So were they guilty of being "false prophets"? No, but they simply misapplied true prophecy because of a lack of knowledge. And significantly, Christ patiently put up with this, allowing them to grow in knowledge.

Now, what does this show us when it comes to identifying a “false prophet”?

First, a false prophecy would not be just an interpretation of what the Bible said about when a prophecy would find fulfillment. It would have to purport to be a completely new prophecy, revelation or communication directly from God.

Second, a false prophet would not present his teaching as something which was fallible or subject to change.

Even more important, a “false prophet” would NEVER teach that God had discontinued to speak directly with humans or that miraculous foreknowledge had ceased. He would NEVER deny having the ability to foretell the future.

Now, how do Witnesses measure up to these standards?

It is an irrefutable fact that Jehovah's Witnesses' very doctrine has ALWAYS been that the gifts of inspired prophesying, and direct communication from God ceased after the Apostles died. And since the 1800's they have repeatedly stated in their literature that they do not foretell the future and they are not infallible. This is a belief that has NEVER changed from their modern day inception as Bible Students to the present day.

This sentence appeared in EVERY issue of the Watchtower up to the mid- 70's:

"No, THE WATCHTOWER IS NO INSPIRED PROPHET, but it follows and explains a Book of prophecy..."

“We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises,...We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophesy and our calculations of chronology.” --WT 1/1/1908

Therefore, any accusation that JWs have made "false prophecies" can only be viewed as a misrepresentation of the facts. Every argument accusing Witnesses in this regard depends on ripping Watchtower quotes out of context.

Since Witnesses NEVER engaged in prophesying they cannot be "false prophets."

Jesus didn't say you would identify “false prophets” because they never misunderstood prophesy. He said that you would discern the true Christians from the false prophets "by their fruits," or the results of their Biblical teaching. Now, who has the historical fruitage of bloodthirsty wars, immorality, sectarian violence and factional splits? (Gal.5:19-23).

False religion is a false prophet not because it incorrectly interprets the Bible prophecies, but because their interpretations are totally and willfully contrary to what the Scriptures teach.

SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.

A person can know with certainty Catholicism is the One True Faith by reciting the rosary carefully every day.

102 year old prophecy is really old news now and I think the future is going to be wonderful now