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Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses |
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Jehovah's Witnesses 5 Minutes |
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| June 30 1997 Edition | Copyright © 1997 by Timothy Campbell |
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Introduction |
The Watchtower Society generally avoids claiming to speak as prophets, because of the stringent Biblical requirements for prophets as regards accuracy. (Deut. 13:1-4, Deut. 18:20-22) Since the Society has made numerous errors in the past, it prefers to say that it is "spirit-directed" rather than "inspired". More to the point, the March 22 1993 Awake! (footnote) says the following:
Jehovah's Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus' second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions "in the name of Jehovah." Never did they say, "These are the words of Jehovah."
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The Statement of Purpose |
In 1968, Awake! magazine's "statement of purpose" (which appears on the inside front cover), explained its raison d'etre with humility:
"Awake!" pledges itself to righteous principles, to exposing hidden foes and subtle dangers, to championing freedom for all, to comforting mourners and strengthening those disheartened by the failures of a delinquent world, reflecting sure hope for the establishment of God's righteous new order in this generation. (January 1 1968)
In 1975, Awake! rephrased the statement of purpose:
Most importantly, "Awake!" provides hope, giving you a basis for confidence in the Creator's promise of a new order of lasting peace and true security within our generation. (January 8 1975)
In paraphrasing God's "promise", they came close to saying, "These are the words of Jehovah", but while the statement resembles a prophecy, it is not very specific. The statement of purpose was made slightly more emphatic at the beginning of 1978:
Most importantly, "Awake!" builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new order within our generation. (January 1 1978)
This was still quite mild -- arguably not a prophecy.
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The Advent of Prophecy |
At the beginning of 1982, the Society placed the following text in the Awake! masthead:
Most importantly, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new order before the generation that saw the events of 1914 C.E. passes away. (January 1 1982)
Here we have all the requirements of a prophecy: it is delivered in God's name -- explicitly stating that it is his promise -- and it is specific.
Some ardent Witnesses might argue that the prediction was not "said in God's name". It is true that the Awake! does not say, "Jehovah said the following..." but such a defense basically amounts to this: "We said the Creator promised it, but we never claimed He said it in his own name".
In the middle of 1983, the promise was rephrased slightly:
Most importantly, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure New Order before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away. (June 8 1983)
Eliminating "C.E." (Common Era) was a good editing decision, since it removed a possible source of confusion for readers who are used to seeing "A.D." (Anno Domini) in a date. Of more significance is the capitalization of "new order". By writing "New Order", the Society informed the reader that something definite was promised.
Oddly enough, the "statement of purpose" was removed from Awake! at the beginning of 1987. It returned in 1988, in slightly revised form:
Most importantly, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away. (March 8 1988)
"New Order" was replaced by "new world". This was slightly less emphatic, but the statement still retained the mark of a prophecy: it was delivered in God's name, and made a specific prediction.
The January 8 1991 issue of Awake! changed the word "importantly" to "important" -- a simple grammatical correction.
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The Prophecy Restated |
Since 1945, the Society had maintained that a generation could not be more than 80 years long (Psalms 90:10). However, since they predicted "a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away", the prophecy had clearly failed by 1994.
Something had to change. On page 17 of the November 1 1995 Watchtower, in the article "A Time to Keep Awake", the Society stated:
Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term "generation" as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.
The theme was expanded on page 19 of the same magazine:
Therefore, in the final fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy today, "this generation" apparently refers to the peoples of earth who see the sign of Christ's presence but fail to mend their ways.
The same month, the statement of purpose for Awake! was changed:
Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things. (November 8 1995)
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False Prophets |
In assessing the meaning of all this, let us refer to Deuteronomy
18:21-22:
And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which
Jehovah hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name
of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet
hath spoken it presumptuously...
The Watchtower Society -- who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses -- specifically stated that God had promised something, and it did not happen.
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