Post by ResLight on Dec 19, 2013 20:44:57 GMT -5
"A.D. 33, to A.D. 70 was 36 ½ years; and so from A.D. 1878 to the end of A.D. 1914 is 36 ½ years. And, with the end of A.D. 1914, what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will have passed away, as already shown in prophecy" (Thy Kingdom Come, p.153)."
This is sometimes quoted as evidence that Brother Russell believed that the end of the world, or the end of the time of trouble, was to come in 1914; actually, it is evidently one of the places that was never updated to match Brother Russell's new view of 1904, in which he was no longer expecting the end of the time of trouble for 1914, but rather that he was expecting the time of trouble to begin in 1914, and that the time of trouble would bring the destruction of Babylon, the sectarian churches. Brother Johnson's edition of 1927 is the only one I know of that has been updated, which reads:
A.D. 33, to A.D. 69, was 36 ½ years; and so from A.D. 1878 to October A.D. 1914 is 36 ½ years. And, with October A.D. 1914, what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will begin to pass away, as already shown in prophecy.
Nevertheless, from 1904 onward, Brother Russell was no longer saying that the sectarian churches, denominations, would be be destroyed before 1914, but they would be destroyed in the time of trouble which would begin in 1914.
Notwithstanding, Russell was indeed expecting that the time of trouble would only last a few months or a few years; he certainly did not present anything that indicated that he thought that will would last for 100 years, although he did state:
We are expecting that in October, 1914, that a great change will be due. Now, how quickly will it come? Whether on the stroke of the clock or not we do not know. We believe that it will land upon humanity by that time. Perhaps some of it will come before that, but we believe it will be stayed off until that time. Now, dear friends, what if it does not? We are just as well off as the rest. That is what the Bible states. If it does not state that to you, we have no quarrel. And if it does not come we will not try to bring it about. But on contrary, we will try to practice peace and holiness withal. We are children of peace and peacemakers, not strife breeders. But we believe the Bible teaches October, 1914, as the time. If that is incorrect, for a year or five, or one hundred years, no matter, it is coming some time, whether we have it right or not.
++++++++++++++++++ The Daily Oklahoman, January 19, 1913, as reproduced in Harvest Gleanings, Volume I, page 578.
