Crisis of Conscience

by Raymond Franz

  This is what I had thought, until the material from the Swedish elder came in to the world headquarters. Then I realized how many facts had been either ignored or glossed over by the Society’s publications.

  Jonsson first traced the long history of chronological speculation. He showed that the practice of arbitrarily applying the “year for a day” formula to various time periods found in the Bible was initially done by Jewish rabbis dating back to the first century C.E. In the ninth century C.E. a “string of Jewish rabbis” began making calculations and predictions utilizing this day-year formula in connection with the time periods of 1,290, 1,335 and 2,300 days found in Daniel’s prophecy, in each case applying their results to the time for the appearance of the Messiah.4

  Among professed Christians, the practice first surfaces in the twelfth century, beginning with a Roman Catholic abbot, Joachim of Floris. Not only the periods of days found in Daniel’s prophecy, but also the period of 1,260 days mentioned in Revelation, chapter eleven, verse 3, and chapter twelve, verse 6, were now interpreted by employing the “year for a day” method. As time went along, a remarkable succession of dates was arrived at by the different interpreters, their predictions including the year 1260, then 1364 and, later, various dates in the sixteenth century. Changes and new interpretations were regularly made necessary as one date after another eventually passed without the foretold event taking place.

  In 1796, George Bell, writing in a London magazine, predicted the fall of the “Antichrist” (according to his view, the Pope). This was to come in “1797 or 1813,” his prediction being based on an interpretation of the 1,260 days, but using a different starting point than other interpreters (some had begun their count from the birth of Christ, others from the fall of Jerusalem, others from the start of the Catholic Church). His prediction was written during the French Revolution. Not long after he made it, a shocking event took place—the Pope was taken captive by French troops and forced into exile.

  Many took this as a most remarkable fulfillment of Bible prophecy and 1798 was accepted by them as the end of the prophetic 1,260 days. From this developed the view that the following year, 1799, marked the beginning of the “last days.”

  Further upheavals in Europe produced a spate of new predictions. Among the predictors was a man in England named John Aquila Brown. In the early 1800s he published an explanation of the 2,300 days of Daniel, chapter eight, showing these as ending in 1844 C.E. This understanding was also adopted by the American pioneer of the Second Advent movement, William Miller.

  We will see how these calculations later came to play a role in the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

  John Aquila Brown, however, developed another explanation that is intimately related to the year 1914 as that date figures in the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. How so?

  Carl Olof Jonsson’s material presented the evidence that Brown was the real originator of the interpretation of the “seven times” of Daniel chapter four, the interpretation that produces the 2,520 years by means of the day-year formula.

  Brown first published this interpretation in 1823 and his method converted the “seven times” into 2,520 years in exactly the same way found today in Watch Tower publications.

  This was twenty-nine years before Charles Taze Russell was born, forty-seven years before he began his Bible study group and more than a half century before the book “The Three Worlds” appeared.

  I was totally unaware of this before reading the material sent to the Society from Sweden. There was nothing in any of the Watch Tower Society’s publications that acknowledged these facts. There was no mention at all of John Aquila Brown.

  Carl Olof Jonsson finally published his material in 1983. Ten years after Jonsson’s book appeared the Watch Tower Society for the first time acknowledged the actual origin of the 2,520-year-calculation by John Aquila Brown—made in 1823, 50 years before Russell appeared on the scene.5

  John Aquila Brown, however, started his 2,520-year period in 604 B.C.E. and therefore had it ending in 1917 C.E. He foretold that then “the full glory of the kingdom of Israel shall be perfected.”

  Where, then, did the emphasis on the date of 1914 originate?

  After the failure of expectations surrounding the year 1844, a split-up of various Second Advent groups resulted, most of them setting up new dates for Christ’s return. One of these groups formed around N. H. Barbour of Rochester, New York.

  Barbour adopted much of John Aquila Brown’s interpretation, but changed the starting point of the 2,520 years to 606 B.C.E. and came up with the ending date of 1914 C.E. (Actually this was a miscalculation since that would only be 2,519 years.)

  In 1873 Barbour began to publish a magazine for Second Adventist adherents first titled The Midnight Cry and later the Herald of the Morning. On the following page is a copy of the title page of the Herald of the Morning of July, 1878, the year before the publication of the first issue of the Watch Tower magazine. Note the statement found at the lower right-hand corner, “‘Times of the Gentiles’ end in 1914.”

  This copy was made from one kept on file at the Brooklyn headquarters, though not accessible for general use. Its existence there shows that some persons of the headquarters staff must have known that the Watch Tower magazine was clearly not the first magazine to advocate the 1914 date as the end of the Gentile Times. That teaching was actually adopted from the Second Adventist publication of N. H. Barbour.

  It may also be noted that at that time, July, 1878, C. T. Russell had become “assistant editor” of this Second Adventist magazine, the Herald of the Morning. Russell himself explains how he came to be associated with N. H. Barbour and how he came to adopt Barbour’s chronology, much of which, including the interpretation of the “seven times” of Daniel chapter four, Barbour had in turn adopted from John Aquila Brown. Russell’s explanation is published in the July 15, 1906, issue of the Watch Tower.

  Note that up to this point Russell states that he had had no regard for time prophecies, had in fact “despised” them. What did he now do?

  Thus, the visit of the Second Adventist, N. H. Barbour, changed Russell’s mind about time prophecies. Russell became an assistant editor of Barbour’s magazine, the Herald of the Morning, published for Second Advent adherents. From this time forward, time prophecies formed a prominent feature of Russell’s writings and of the Watch Tower magazine he soon founded.6

  The “seven times” interpretation and the 1914 date that Russell picked up were all tied in with the date of 1874, given primary importance by Barbour and his adherents (1914 was still decades away whereas 1874 had just passed). They believed that 1874 marked the end of 6,000 years of human history and they had expected Christ’s return in that year. When it passed they felt disillusioned. As the earlier-quoted material shows, a Second Adventist contributor to Barbour’s magazine named B. W. Keith later noticed that a certain New Testament translation, The Emphatic Diaglott, used the word “presence” in place of “coming” in texts relating to Christ’s return. Keith advanced to Barbour the idea that Christ had indeed returned in 1874 but invisibly and that Christ was now invisibly “present” carrying on a judging work.

  An “invisible presence” is a very difficult thing to argue against or disprove. It is something like having a friend tell you that he knows that a dead parent invisibly visits him and comforts him, and then trying to prove to your friend that this is not really so.

  The “invisible presence” concept thus allowed these Second Adventists associated with Barbour to say that they had, after all, had the “right date [1874] but had just expected the wrong thing on that date.” That explanation was also accepted and adopted by Russell.7

  Today the several millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses believe and teach that Christ’s invisible presence began in 1914. Very few realize that for nearly fifty years the Watch Tower Society announced and heralded, in their role as prophet, that such invisible presence began in 1874. As late as 1929, fifteen years after 1914, they were
still teaching this.8

  Jehovah’s Witnesses today believe that Christ officially began his Kingdom rule in 1914. The Watch Tower taught for decades that this took place in 1878.9

  Jehovah’s Witnesses today believe that the “last days” and the “time of the end” also began in 1914. The Watch Tower magazine taught for half a century that the “last days” began in 1799 (accepting the interpretation by George Bell published in 1796).

  They believe today that the resurrection of anointed Christians who died from Christ’s time forward began to take place in 1918. For more than forty years the Watch Tower taught that it began in 1878.

  Their present belief is that from and after 1914 and particularly from 1919 onward the great “harvest” work is under way, to be climaxed by the destruction of the present system and all those who have not responded to their preaching activity. From its beginning, the Watch Tower magazine taught instead that the “harvest” would run from 1874 to 1914, and that by 1914 the destruction of all human institutions of this world would take place.

  The organization today places the fall of “Babylon the Great” (the “world empire of false religion”) in 1919. For at least four decades the Watch Tower placed it in 1878, with Babylon’s complete destruction due in 1914 or 1918.

  What was responsible for the change in all these major prophetic teachings held to for so many decades and by so many people?

  It was the same as in the case of all the long line of predictions from the thirteenth century onward—the failure of their published expectations to be realized.

  Some may incline to discount this as a mere assertion. After all, hardly any of Jehovah’s Witnesses now have access to older issues of the Watch Tower and today, even when discussing the organization’s past history, the Society’s publications either ignore or present only a partial, sometimes altered, view of these teachings advocated for so long a time. They give little idea of how positively and confidently these views were advanced.

  Consider then a portion of the evidence from “the record” of this organization; a record that the Watchtower says will confirm the validity of the organization’s claim to the role of modern-day prophet.

  In reviewing the earliest issues of the Watch Tower magazine, from 1879 onward, a notable feature is that they were expecting major things to happen right then. Though believing that 1914 would mark the end of the “Gentile Times,” that date figured relatively little in their thinking. They were thinking far more of 1874 and the belief that Christ had begun his invisible presence then, had thereafter entered his Kingdom rule. So they expected to experience their transferal to heavenly life very soon. With this, the opportunity to become part of the “bride of Christ” would be closed. They expected, as well, that long before 1914 the world would enter into a time of great trouble that would worsen and develop into a state of chaos and anarchy. By 1914 everything would be over, finished, and Christ Jesus would have taken full charge of earth’s affairs, his Kingdom completely replacing all human systems of rule.

  This is aptly illustrated in the following material from the January, 1881, issue of the Watch Tower, certain points being underlined here for the reader’s convenience.

  Rather than 1914, the real “anchor” date for the Watch Tower then was clearly 1874. As of that date, Christ was present. Within the following 40 years he would accomplish all his harvest work. Because of believing this, it was felt that dramatic events should be taking place very quickly, perhaps in that very year of 1881, as argued in the additional article headed “How Long, O Lord?” Note these points:

  Detailed argumentation followed, with emphasis on the fall of 1881 as the likely time for their change to heavenly life and the time “when the door—opportunity to become a member of the bride—will close.” This would be 35 years before 1914, which to them was simply a terminal point, the time by which all things would wind up.

  The expectation that the anointed Christians of the “Bride class” would undergo a transition to heavenly life by the fall of 1881 obviously did not materialize. As the years passed, the focus of attention began to lengthen and 1914 began to receive somewhat greater emphasis. It was still the terminal point, however, when the elimination of earthly ruler-ships and the destruction of “nominal Christendom” would be complete, for it was believed that Christ began to exercise his full Kingdom power in 1878, as shown in the book Russell published in 1889, titled The Time Is At Hand, pages 239 and 247.

  Even after the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, the focus was still largely on 1874 and 1878 as the key dates to which all thinking was geared. They were in the “last days” since 1799, in the “harvest” period since 1874, Christ had been exercising his kingly power since 1878 and the resurrection had then begun. The passing of the years did not change these claims. They all related to invisible events, unlike the prediction about the translation to heaven of the living saints’ expected in 1881. With no visible evidence to discredit them, these claims could be, and were, maintained.

  Within three years of 1914, in 1911, the Watch Tower still proclaimed the importance of 1874, 1878 and 1881. “Babylon the Great” had fallen in 1878 and her “full end” would come in October 1914. An ‘adjustment’ was made, however, as regards the “closing of the door” to the opportunity to be part of the heavenly Kingdom class, earlier placed in 1881. Now the Watch Tower readers are informed that the “door” still “stands ajar,” in this material from the June 15, 1911, issue:

  The windup date of 1914 was now at hand. With its arrival the harvest would be over, the last days would have reached their culmination; their hopes would be fully realized. Exactly what did the Watch Tower publications teach would take place by the time 1914 came?

  The book The Time Is At Hand, published twenty-five years before 1914, set out seven points, as follows:

  These statements are found in editions up until 1914. As can be noted in the material quoted, these editions clearly stated that 1914 “will be the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men.” It said that at that date the Kingdom of God “will have obtained full, universal control, and that it will then be ‘set up,’ or firmly established, in the earth.” Note how a post-1914 edition (1924) covers this up by saying:

  In point three, the editions prior to and up to 1914 stated that before the end of 1914 the last member of the “body of Christ” would be glorified with the Head. Here, also, the post-1914 edition changes the wording and eliminates any reference to the year 1914:

  Thus, in later editions a clear effort was made to cover up the more obvious failures of the very positive claims made regarding 1914 once that date had passed without the predicted events occurring. Few Jehovah’s Witnesses today have any concept of the magnitude of the claims made for that year or the fact that not a single one of the original seven points was fulfilled as stated. Those expectations now receive only the briefest of mention in the Society’s publications; some are totally passed over.10

  In fact, by reading the Society’s recent publications one might gather that Russell, the Watch Tower president, did not speak specifically about just what 1914 would bring. They imply that any strong expectations or dogmatic claims were the responsibility of others, the readers. An example of this is found in what was for many years the official history of the organization, Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, page 52.

  The book quotes excerpts from Watch Tower magazines but when examined they simply do not support the statement made above. The only one dealing with a specific “time element” is from a Watch Tower of 1893, which says:

  This does nothing to prove the claim made; it merely confirms what other writings of Russell show, that he definitely expected worldwide trouble to break out before 1914 arrived, not later than 1905 or 1907 according to the quoted material, and that this outbreak of trouble would lead up to the eventual destruction of all earth’s governments by that terminal date.

  Two years before 1914 arrived, the Watch Tower did urge some cautio
n on the part of its readers.

  The book Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (page 53) quotes Russell’s statement in a 1912 Watch Tower as follows:

  This, then, is the picture the organization seeks to convey. Compare that with other statements made in the Watch Tower magazine and other publications, statements to which the Society’s publications today make no reference whatsoever. Ask whether it is true that the responsibility for any dogmatic claims rests outside the Society, rests instead with those who “read into” the publications a certainty never intended, particularly as regards what 1914 would bring.

  From The Time Is At Hand (pages 98 and 99), published in 1889, we read the following:

  If you say, not merely that something is true, but that you consider it an “established truth,” is that not the same as saying that you know it to be so? Is that not ‘indulging in positive statements’? If there is any difference, how much of a difference is it?

  In the same publication, on page 101, this statement appears:

  Two years after this book was published, another book by Russell, “Thy Kingdom Come” was published in 1891, and on page 153 we find the following:

  The next year, 1892, in the January 15 issue, the Watch Tower stated that the final “battle” had already begun, its end to come in 1914:

  This short item appearing in the July 15, 1894, issue of the Watch Tower reveals how they viewed world conditions of that time as clear proof that the world was then about to enter its final throes, with its last gasp coming in 1914: