By Fred Holthouser
To show that we are dealing with a false religious organization and one that is a false prophet, at the end of this article I will give you a list of the false prophecies made by them and a list of some of the books where these false predictions can be found. So go to your library and look them up for yourself; many libraries have a copy of all their old literature. The predictions of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society have changed so much that it would take a long article just to list eh changes made int eh last thirty years. So it would be impossible for me to quote from all of them in this one article. When I give you the list of predictions made by them, then you should be able to judge for yourself if the Witnesses are true prophets or not. Remember the three point test that a true prophet must meet and pass.
What Is The End?
From 1914 until the present time, they have changed the prophecy of the end of the world on numerous occasions and are still trying to predict when it will end. They have been mistaken so many times that it looks like they would quit making such predictions. As the old saying goes, a child once burned is twice shy of the fire, but not these Witnesses. They still keep predicting right on in spite of the many times they have been mistaken. Remember that this is the only way that they have of putting “pep” back into the organization when the members start to wind down, do not do as much work in going door to door, and fail tot sell all the books and magazines the headquarter think that they should. Just tell them that he end of the world will be here next year or the years after, and watch them get busy in the field service!
The book called The Finished Mystery (started by Russell and finished by Rutherford) on page 62 states that the spring of 1918 will bring on Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than the one experienced in the fall of 1914. The travail that is coming is to be on nominal Christendom (Babylon). It will be a great and sore affliction time of trouble such as was not since that was a nation. This was to be the fulfillment of Revelation 11:7-13.
According to their book by Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die (pp. 88-89), it is stated that 1925 would see the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the other faithful men of old that are mentioned in Hebrews 11. These faithful men would lead the earthy class of people back to human perfection here on earth in fulfillment of Revelation 21:1-4. Some of the other book s that you can find their false predictions in are: You May Survive Armageddon Into God’s New World, Let God Be True, The Truth Shall Make You Free, and Everlasting Life in the Freedom of the Sons of God. There are many more that I can supply anyone a list of upon request and will be glad to do so. Look at 2 Peter 2:1-3, where Peter tells us that false teachers were in his day and that they would always arise. They still arise today.
A lot of these dates were changed as the need arose, so much so that it was hard for any Witness to keep up with what you were to teach at any given time. But to show that this is a false religious organization, let me quote in part from the October, 1968, Awake Magazine (p. 23). Teaching against false prophecies, the article said, “Missing was a full measure of the evidence required in, fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Missing from such people were God’s truths and the evidence that he was guiding them and using them.” Now I would like to ask one question. What organization is more famous for date setting and the missing of those dates than all other organizations on earth put together? I will answer this one for them: that organization is known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. So by their own articles, they tell us that God is not using them as his visible and legal representatives on earth because never have any of their predictions ever come true on any date set for them to happen!
Let us look at some prophecies of God and see if they were fulfilled or not. Also let us see if God ever changed any of them before they were fulfilled. Take Isaiah 45:1-2. This prophecy deals with the fall of Babylon, and even names the name of the one that was to overthrow Babylon. Isaiah’s writings were completed about 732 B.C. and this prophecy was fulfilled in 539 B.C. by Cyrus the Persian, or 139 years after the prophecy was made. See also Jeremiah 25:8-9. God prophesied that Babylon would overthrow Israel and lead them off into captivity. This prophecy was given in the year 632 B.C. and was fulfilled in the year 607 to 609 B.C., or twenty-five years later. Let us stop for a moment. Did God change any of these prophecies just because they did not come true? Or, did He ever say that they came true but no one saw them come true because they were invisible to the human eye? God never said any of those things and all His prophecies came to pass just like He said they would. So we can see that the Witnesses have not spoken as the Lord commanded and they are to be considered false prophets by all Bible standards.
More False Claims
In the Witness Book of Government which was released in 1928 (pp. 247-250), the seventh trumpet was blown and the Theocratic government was to start to rule over mankind in fulfillment of Revelation 11:15-18. In their book of Paradise Restored to Mankind by the Theocracy, on pages 282-301 (which is a whole chapter), just like in other false organizations they claim to have unity in spite of all false predictions. This in itself is a false claim as the Witnesses have broken into several groups in the past. Some of them are still in existence today, such as the Dawn Bible Students, Back to the Bible Ways, and some others that could be named. But this is enough to show you that there is not much unity shown here, no matter what they claim.
Just like the Roman Catholic Church, in spite of all their wrong predictions and in spite of all that they have done to people and the false teachings that have been done in the name of God, the Jehovah’s Witnesses still claim to be God’s visible and legal representatives here on this earth. What nerve it takes to condemn someone for doing something when you are doing as bad yourself! One time I had the congregation overseer get all over me for my son playing with a toy cap pistol; when I went to his house to see him on some business of the congregation, there his two boys were playing with the same kind of toy cap pistols. He told me when I called his hand on this that I was to do as he told me to do and not as he did. This is typical of the hypocrisy in the way the organization is run from the top down. You just do not question them about what they teach no matter how false it happens to be. What they say goes. If they are wrong in their predictions they will just change them as the need arises for them to do so.
In the eleventh chapter of Revelation, the kingdoms of this world are not asked to join the kingdom of God, which contradicts what the Witnesses teach. The Bible does not teach that the kingdoms of earth with their governments are to become the kingdom of God. After the period we know in history as the Dark Ages, there was a change in the hearts of the world rulers and the change put the Bible back into the hands of the common people. In this way, they could learn the truth of God’s word and come into the kingdom of God in obedience to the gospel plan of salvation on an individual basis. Whole nations have never accepted the truth of God’s word and according to the Bible they never will this side of the judgment bar of God, but we must all stand before this judgment bar of God on an individual basis and not as a nation. We must answer for what we have done in this body whether it be good or bad, as the Bible teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Romans 14:12.
Guardian of Truth XXVII: 3, pp. 72-73
February 3, 1983