ÿþ<html> <head> <title>The Problem with &#39;False Prophecy&#39; Polemics</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-gb"> <meta name="keywords" content="False prophecy, false prophets, Jehovah's Witnesses, Watchtower, Watch Tower Society, Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Frederick Fred Franz. !2845B5;8 53>2K, !B>@>6520O 0H=O, 5@52>4 =>2>3> <8@0, ;65?@>@>:8"> <meta name="description" content="A defense (defence) of Jehovah's Witnesses against accusations that they have promulgated false prophecy."> <link rel=stylesheet type="text/css" href="style.css"> </head> <body bottommargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" rightmargin="0" topmargin="0" background="background.jpg"> <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="148" height="111"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><IMG height=111 alt="" src="topleft.jpg" width=148 border=0></FONT></td> <td width="100%" height="111" background="topbg.jpg"> <font face="Trebuchet MS"><span style="font-size: 11pt"><!----- Insert your logo below ------------------------------------------> </span><FONT color=#0080ff size="7"><EM><STRONG>Bible Translation and Study</STRONG></EM></FONT><font size="7">&nbsp;<!-----------------------------------------------------------------------> </font></font> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="96"><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><IMG height=1 alt="" src="spcr.jpg" width=96 border=0></FONT></td> <td width="100%"> <table width="100%" cellpadding="15" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td><font face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><!------------------------ Content zone, add your content below ----------------------------> </font> <center><h3><span lang="en-gb"><FONT size=5 face="Trebuchet MS" >The Problem with &quot;False Prophecy&quot; Polemics </FONT> </span> </h3></center> <DIV><FONT size=2> <DIV class=Section1> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> Suppose I had access to everything you had done or said since you were a little child, stored on a computer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>It would be a simple matter for me to pick out a hundred or two hundred of the worst things you</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">d said and done over the course of your life, to write them up in a list with dates, times and places and then to proclaim, in the same way as a correspondent did in one of his emails to me:  The question is not what you have got wrong, but whether you got anything right. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>On the other hand, by a similar process of selecting the 100-200 kindest, most generous, loving things you</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">d done, I could equally make you look like a saint.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Both pictures would be true in a sense, but neither would be the whole truth.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Why is this important?<o:p></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <img border="0" src="watchtower.jpg" width="106" height="135" longdesc="The Watchtower" align="left" hspace="14" vspace="14" alt="The Watchtower">In the last 125 years, Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s Witnesses have published literally millions of words in publications such as <i>The Watchtower</i>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This includes powerful arguments against atheism and the theory of evolution, eloquent defences of the Bible as the inspired word of God, articles upholding the Bible</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s stance on moral issues such as abortion, fornication, adultery and homosexual lifestyles.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Watchtower publications have long exhorted their readers to display Christian qualities and imitate Jesus.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>They have shown how applying the Bible</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s counsel can benefit family life.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Through&nbsp; <i>The Watchtower</i>, millions of people have been comforted by the Bible</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s message of hope.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> You might expect that evangelical Christian organizations would happily applaud most of the above.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>After all, evangelical Christians believe in God and reject evolution, consider the Bible to be God</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s inspired word, oppose sexual sins and abortion.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>They, too, speak of the need to imitate Jesus and display Christlike qualities.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>You would expect, then, that evangelical Christian groups could find a lot of positive things to say about <i>The Watchtower</i>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>You</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">d think they</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">d congratulate Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s Witnesses for energetically spreading the above-mentioned views throughout the world and in literally hundreds of languages.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>But you would be wildly wrong.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> An analysis of quotations from <i>The Watchtower</i> and other Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s Witness publications made by evangelical Christian writers - particularly on the Internet, but also in print - reveals that, far from commending Witness literature for all the positive material they publish, these writers consistently attack Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s Witnesses and actively seek anything that could possibly be used to discredit them - including many things published more than 100 years ago!</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> You could compare their attitude with that of a man who visits one of the world</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s most beautiful cities - say Vienna.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Instead of touring the most attractive parts of the city, though, this man visits the Municipal Garbage Dump and photographs the rubbish there.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Then he goes to the industrial area and photographs the factories.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</SPAN>Everywhere he goes he looks for the ugliest, most sordid parts of the city.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Making copious use of close-ups to highlight the least attractive parts and using the most unflattering camera angles, he ensures his pictures give the worst possible impression.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Then, on his return home, he shows the photographs to his friends, to convince them that Vienna is the most awful city in the world.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS">In resorting to similar tactics, critics of Witness publications immediately reveal their bias.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>The Watchtower Society is their ideological opponent, to be defeated at all costs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>They comb through old <I>Watchtowers</I>, going back as far as 130 years.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>They take whatever suits their purpose and ignore the rest.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>They rip quotes out of their context, attempting to make it look as though they say much more than they actually meant.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; Why do they do it?&nbsp; They do it because it is their job to do it!&nbsp; </SPAN>In short, they are far from being an objective source of information.</FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS"> Frankly, few Jehovah&#39;s Witnesses are likely to be taken in by such chicanery.&nbsp; It is easy to detect an agenda behind this type of mudslinging.&nbsp; Just about anyone who wanted to believe it has already done so.&nbsp; And as for the rest of us, what hasn&#39;t killed us has made us stronger.</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> But we should not reject a person</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s criticism simply because we feel it is wrongly motivated.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Prejudiced and hate-filled people can sometimes be at least partially right.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>As Christians, we should be discerning, remembering the admonition of the proverb,  anyone inexperienced puts faith in every word. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>(Proverbs 14:15)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>With that in mind, let us examine the assertions commonly made in anti-Witness literature concerning the Witnesses</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> alleged  false prophecies .</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <H1 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" align=center><SPAN lang=en-gb> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size=4>Taken Out of Context</FONT></SPAN></H1> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <SPAN style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></SPAN></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0> </span> <SPAN style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <font face="Trebuchet MS"><b>We have not the gift of prophecy </b> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0></font></SPAN><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><BR clear=all> </span></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV> <SPAN style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> Zion&#39;s Watch Tower, July 1883.</SPAN></DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">The standard technique of critics appears to be to present a list of alleged  false prophecies , the <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> &nbsp;longer the better.&nbsp; There are dozens of such lists on the Internet.&nbsp; These take the form of quotations from The Watchtower and other Witness publications. </SPAN></span> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <p>Whereas the majority of the quotes themselves are accurate, the context in which they were presented - both the immediate context of the printed page and the historical context - is omitted.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Selective quotations ensure that anything that gives the impression of certainty is usually included, whereas any cautionary statements are omitted.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></p> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> We are not for a moment denying that the publications - in particular the earlier ones -<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN> have at times published information that was speculative in nature and turned out to be mistaken.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>But the fact is that, for each of the dates commonly touted by critics as </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb">  </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">false prophecies</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> (1874, 1914, 1925, 1975), Watch Tower publications had published cautionary statements to the effect that it was by no means certain what would happen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Consider, for example, the following statements, which emphasise that the basis for the conclusions was <I>Bible study</I> not some message from God:</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="#_ftn1" name=_ftnref1><SUP><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana"><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1">[1]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt"> <span lang="en-gb"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><SPAN><STRONG>With regard to 1874:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></STRONG>It should be noted that </SPAN></FONT></span><FONT size=2> <FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb">  </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">The Watchtower</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> was not published until 1879 and Russell himself did not become aware of the 1874 date until 1876!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>So it was hardly a matter of a failed prediction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt"><FONT face=Verdana><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> With regard to 1914: :<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></SPAN></B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> &quot;We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises . . . We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our <I>interpretation </I>of prophecy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them&quot; (emphasis added).</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" href="#_ftn2" name=_ftnref2><SUP><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote"><U><FONT color=#0000ff>[2]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt"> <SPAN lang="en-gb"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><STRONG>With regard to 1925: </STRONG>&quot;The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during this year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year.&quot;</FONT><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" href="#_ftn3" name=_ftnref3><SUP><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana"><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1">[3]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT size=1> </FONT> </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><FONT size=2> </O:P> </FONT> </FONT><FONT size=2></SPAN> </FONT> </SPAN><FONT size=2></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt"><FONT face=Verdana><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> With regard to 1975: </SPAN></B> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb">  </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> asked Brother Franz. </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb">  </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">s witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And <I>don</I></SPAN><I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975</SPAN></I><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="#_ftn4" name=_ftnref4><SUP><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana"><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1">[4]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> <img border="0" src="Russell.jpg" width="200" height="252" align="left" hspace="8" longdesc="Charles Taze Russell" alt="Charles Taze Russell">It</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb"> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s obvious, therefore, that the situation was by no means as clear-cut as Watchtower opposers would have us believe.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>By omitting these more cautionary statements, many of which are in the same articles as the quotations they like to print, enemies of Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses give a misleading picture of events and endeavour to make a suggested interpretation look like a prophecy.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">No Claim of Inspiration</O:P></FONT></SPAN></B></P> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >Not to be overlooked is the larger context of the role of the Watch Tower publications.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Whereas Watchtower writers undoubtedly pray for God</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s blessing on their work and sincerely believe that God answers these prayers, they make no pretensions of being inspired, infallible or perfect.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Consider the following extracts from Watch Tower publications, which prove that this is the case.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>(This is just a small selection of examples.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Many more could be cited, but care has been taken to include at least one example for every decade since <i>The Watchtower</i> began to be published.)</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana><B > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >1870s: </SPAN></B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >We do not object to changing our opinions on any subject, or discarding former <I >applications </I>of prophecy, or any other scripture, when we see a good reason for the change,</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >in fact, it is important that we should be willing to unlearn errors and mere traditions, as to learn truth.... It is our duty to &quot;prove all things.&quot;</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >by the unerring Word,</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >&quot;and <I>hold fast </I>to that which is good.&quot;</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana><B > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >1880s: </SPAN></B> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > We have </SPAN><I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >not</SPAN></I><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > the gift of prophecy. </SPAN></FONT></FONT><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5" href="#_ftn5" name=_ftnref5 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[5]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="1"> </O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></font></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0> </font> <b><font face="Trebuchet MS">We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophecy and our calculations of chronology.</font></b><font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0><BR clear=all></font></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV><font face="Trebuchet MS"><i>Zion&#39;s Watch Tower</i>, 1908</font></DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana><B > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >1890s</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >: <I>Nor would we have our writings reverenced or regarded as infallible, or on a par with the holy Scriptures. </I>The most we claim or have ever claimed for our teachings is that they are what we believe to be harmonious <I >interpretations of the divine Word, </I>in harmony with the spirit of the truth. And we still urge, as in the past, that <I>each reader study the subjects we present in the light of the Scriptures, proving all things by the Scriptures, accepting what they see to be thus approved, and rejecting all else. </I>It is to this end, to enable the student to trace the subject in the divinely inspired Record, that we so freely intersperse both quotations and citations of the Scriptures upon which to build.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6" href="#_ftn6" name=_ftnref6 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff >[6]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><STRONG>1900s:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></STRONG></SPAN><I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >It is not our intention to enter upon the role of prophet to any degree, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >but merely to give below what seems to us rather likely to be the trend of events</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >giving also the reasons for our expectations.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7" href="#_ftn7" name=_ftnref7 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff >[7]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Someone may ask, Do you, then, claim infallibility and that every sentence appearing in &quot;The Watch Tower&quot; publications is stated with absolute correctness? Assuredly we make no such claim and have never made such a claim. What motive can our opponents have in so charging against us? Are they not seeking to set up a falsehood to give themselves excuse for making attacks and to endeavor to pervert the judgments of others?</FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8" href="#_ftn8" name=_ftnref8 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[8]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="1"></O:P></font></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><SPAN ><STRONG >1910s:</STRONG><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></span> <FONT face=Verdana> <FONT size=2> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >However, we should not denounce those who <I >in a proper spirit </I>express their dissent in respect to the date mentioned [1914] and what may there be expected . . . We must admit that there are possibilities of our having made a mistake in respect to the chronology, even though we do not see where any mistake has been made in calculating the seven times of the Gentiles as expiring about October 1, 1914.</SPAN></FONT><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9" href="#_ftn9" name=_ftnref9 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff >[9]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> <FONT style="font-size: 11pt"> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><SPAN lang="en-gb"><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" ><STRONG>1920s: </STRONG>Many students have made the grievous mistake of thinking that God has inspired men to interpret prophecy. The holy prophets of the Old Testament were inspired by Jehovah to write as his power moved upon them. The writers of the New Testament were clothed with certain power and authority to write as the Lord directed them. However, <I>since the days of the apostles no man on earth has been inspired to write prophecy, nor has any man been inspired to interpret prophecy.</I></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10" href="#_ftn10" name=_ftnref10 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff >[10]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></FONT><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"><FONT size=1> </FONT> <FONT style="font-size: 11pt" size="2"> <B></O:P></B> </FONT> </FONT></SPAN><FONT size=2> <FONT style="font-size: 11pt"> </P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana><B > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >1930s: </SPAN></B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >We are not a prophet; we merely believe that we have come to the place where the Gentile times have ended</SPAN></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11" href="#_ftn11" name=_ftnref11 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff size="1" >[11]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=2></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"><SPAN> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt" ><STRONG>1940s: </STRONG>This pouring out of God&#39;s spirit upon the flesh of all his faithful anointed witnesses <I>does not mean those now serving as Jehovah&#39;s Witnesses are inspired. It does not mean that the writings in this magazine The Watchtower are inspired and infallible and without mistakes. </I>It does not mean that the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is inspired and infallible, <I> although enemies falsely charge us with believing so.... </I>But we confess with the Scriptures that <I>the day of such inspiration passed long before 1870, </I>as the apostle Paul showed it would. . . . <I >Inspired speaking and writing passed away with the last of the twelve apostles, </I>by whom the gifts of the spirit were imparted to others. Yet God is still able to teach and lead us. <I>While confessing no inspiration for today for anyone on earth, </I> we do have the privilege of praying God for more of his holy spirit and for his guidance of us by the bestowal of his spirit through Jesus Christ.</FONT></SPAN></span></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12" href="#_ftn12" name=_ftnref12 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[12]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT size=1> </FONT> </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > </O:P></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=2> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana><B > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >1950s: </SPAN></B><I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >The Watchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >nor is it dogmatic. It invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13" href="#_ftn13" name=_ftnref13 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff size="1" >[13]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT size=2></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"><SPAN> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt" ><STRONG>1960s</STRONG>: The book [<I>Life Everlasting in Freedom of Sons of God</I>]<I> </I>merely presents the chronology. You can accept it or reject it</FONT></SPAN></span></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14" href="#_ftn14" name=_ftnref14 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[14]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Our chronology, however, ... is reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible)</FONT></SPAN></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15" href="#_ftn15" name=_ftnref15 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[15]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P><FONT size=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=left border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></font></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0> <b>Don&#39;t any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975</b> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0><BR clear=all></font></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV><font face="Trebuchet MS">F. W. Franz, quoted in <i>The Watchtower</i>, 15 October 1966, page 231.</font></DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"> <SPAN ><STRONG> 1970s</STRONG>: In this regard, however, it must be observed that this  faithful and discreet slave was never inspired, never perfect. Those writings by certain members of the  slave class that came to form the Christian part of God</SPAN></FONT></span><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Word were inspired and infallible, but that is not true of other writings since. Things published were not perfect in the days of Charles Taze Russell, first president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; nor were they perfect in the days of J. F. Rutherford, the succeeding president. The increasing light on God</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Word as well as the facts of history have repeatedly required that adjustments of one kind or another be made down to the very present time.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16" href="#_ftn16" name=_ftnref16 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[16]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"><SPAN> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt" ><STRONG>1980s:</STRONG> It is not claimed that the explanations in this publication are infallible. Like Joseph of old, we say:  Do not interpretations belong to God? (Genesis 40:8) At the same time, however, we firmly believe that the explanations set forth herein harmonize with the Bible in its entirety, showing how remarkably divine prophecy has been fulfilled in the world events of our catastrophic times.</FONT></SPAN></span></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17" href="#_ftn17" name=_ftnref17 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[17]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><SPAN ><STRONG>1990s:</STRONG> Those who make up the one true Christian organization today do not have angelic revelations or divine inspiration. But they do have the inspired Holy Scriptures, which contain revelations of God</SPAN></FONT></span><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s thinking and will. As an organization and individually, they must accept the Bible as divine truth, study it carefully, and let it work in them.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18" href="#_ftn18" name=_ftnref18 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[18]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><span lang="en-gb"><SPAN> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt" ><STRONG>2000s: </STRONG>Although the slave class is defined as  faithful and discreet, Jesus did not say that it would be infallible. This group of faithful anointed brothers still consists of imperfect Christians. Even with the best of intentions, they can be mistaken, as such men sometimes were in the first century.</FONT></SPAN></span></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19" href="#_ftn19" name=_ftnref19 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[19]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >It</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s therefore quite clear that Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses make no claim to divine inspiration for their publications.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><B>Thus, the critics&#39; assertion that  the Watch Tower claims to be an inspired prophet is manifestly false.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></O:P></B></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" >&nbsp;</P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; text-align:center" align="center" ><b><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Did </font> <FONT size=4 style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" face="Trebuchet MS"> <span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> Haydon Covington concede that the Watch Tower is a False Prophet?</span></FONT></b></P><FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Did Haydon Covington concede in the <I> Walsh</I> trial that the Watch Tower Society has promulgated false prophecy, as is stated by critics?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Even if he had done so, what would that have proved?&nbsp; If Covington had said that the thought the Society was a false prophet, then he would have been mistaken, that is all.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>However, a look at the court record (even as it is quoted on anti-Witness web pages) shows that Covington did nothing of the sort.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN></O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></font></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <font face="Trebuchet MS"> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0> <b>Critics&#39; allegations that &#39;The Watchtower claims to be an inspired prophet&#39; are manifestly false</b> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0><BR clear=all></font></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> </FONT> <FONT style="font-size: 11pt"> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS">The court records show that Covington</span></FONT><FONT size=2><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > said:  <B>I do not think we have promulgated false prophecy</B> ... there have been statements that were erroneous, that is the way I put it, and mistaken. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>When asked <I >hypothetically</I> if it would have been a false prophecy <I>if</I> the Society had authoritatively promulgated 1874 as the date for the return of Christ</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s coming, Covington himself pointed out that this was only an <I> assumption</I>, and is then is recorded as having said the words  I agree that .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This is an incomplete sentence in English.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Now it could very well be that he was interrupted and was not intending to agree that a false prophecy had been made.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>If we take the court to read  I agree <I>to</I> that , he was simply agreeing <I>hypothetically</I> that the Society would have been guilty of false prophecy under a certain set of circumstances, namely if it had promulgated as authoritative that Christ returned in 1874.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Now the records show that Covington had not studied the Society</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s literature relating to 1874, saying  you are speaking of a matter that I know nothing of. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>So, Covington</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s comments, viewed in their proper context do not prove the point Witness critics are trying to make.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Covington certainly did not mean that the Society was responsible for a false prophecy, as he had just a few moments earlier stated the very opposite.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN>And as we have seen, the Society did not  authoritatively promulgate 1874 as the date, it merely presented it to its readers to decide for themselves.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >Of course, Witnesses <I >do</I> believe that God is using them - and their publications - to accomplish his work.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>But that is not the same as believing that God personally directs the writing of Watchtower Publications in the way that he inspired the Bible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>The above quotations - and many others - show that at no time in the history of the organization has it claimed to be God</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s prophet, inspired or infallible.</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20" href="#_ftn20" name=_ftnref20 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[20]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >It is evident here that critics are setting up a <I>straw man</I> argument.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>In other words, they are imputing to Watch Tower a position that it does not claim for itself and then refuting <I >that </I>position, instead of the Society</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s actual position.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This is really nothing but a dishonest debating trick.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Thus, the Watch Tower quotations, taken in context and stripped of all hyperbole and rhetoric, establish basically one thing only: that Watch Tower publications have on a number of occasions presented interpretations of Bible prophecies which later turned out to be incorrect.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>It is not possible to argue on the basis of the Watchtower literature that (1) the Society claims that its literature is inspired of God or infallible, (2) that it claimed to speak in the name of God as a prophet.</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >Admittedly, it would certainly have been better for all concerned had the publications refrained from publishing such speculative interpretations, which doubtless led to disappointment for many.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN></SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >The Watchtower</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >, far from covering over these facts, has admitted openly that this is the case, as is seen from the following extract from <I>The Watchtower.</I></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">In its issue of July 15, 1976, <I>The</I> <I >Watchtower,</I> commenting on the inadvisability of setting our sights on a certain date, stated:  If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises. In saying  anyone, <I >The</I> <I>Watchtower</I> included all disappointed ones of Jehovah s Witnesses, hence including <I>persons</I> <I >having</I> <I>to</I> <I >do</I> <I>with</I> <I >the</I> <I>publication</I> <I>of</I> <I>the</I> <I >information</I> that contributed to the buildup of hopes centered on that date.</FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21" href="#_ftn21" name=_ftnref21 ><SPAN class=MsoFootnoteReference><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote"><U ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[21]</FONT></U></SPAN></SPAN></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="1"></O:P></font></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Thus the Watch Tower Society has recognised that it was a mistake to speculate.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>But was it the only ever religious organization to make such a mistake?</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Double Standards and Bigotry</O:P></FONT></SPAN></B></P> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >If Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses have had mistaken expectations about the fulfillment of Bible prophecies, they are far from alone.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Many other students of the Bible - including some highly respected Catholic and Protestant writers - have made similar mistakes to Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Whole books have been written on the subject of predictions that failed to come true, but let</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s look at just three examples from the world of Protestantism: Martin Luther, John Wesley and Billy Graham.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" >Protestant leader <B >Martin Luther</B>, believed that the end would come in his day.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN></SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >He believed the</SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><img border="0" src="luther.jpg" width="80" height="99" longdesc="Martin Luther" align="right" hspace="14" vspace="14" alt="Martin Luther"></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > Turkish war would be &quot;the final wrath of God, in which the world will come to an end and Christ</SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > will come to destroy Gog and Magog and set free His own&quot;?</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22" href="#_ftn22" name=_ftnref22 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff size="1" >[22]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > and that &quot;Christ has given a sign by which one can know when the Judgment Day is near. When the Turk will have an end, we can certainly predict that the Judgment must be at the door&quot;</SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23" href="#_ftn23" name=_ftnref23 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="1" >[23]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> </DIV> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><img border="0" src="Wesley.jpg" width="100" height="128" align="left" hspace="8" longdesc="John Wesley" alt="John Wesley">Methodist founder <B>John Wesley </B>wrote: </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >&quot;<B><SPAN style="COLOR: black">1836</SPAN></B> The end of the non-chronos, and of the many kings; the fulfilling of the word, and of the mystery of God; the repentance of the survivors in the great city; the end of the &#39;little time,&#39; and of the three times and a half; the destruction of the east; the imprisonment of Satan.&quot;</SPAN></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24" href="#_ftn24" name=_ftnref24 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff size="1" >[24]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><SPAN style="COLOR: black; font-size:11pt; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="en-gb"></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P> <DIV class=Section1> <o:p><FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >In 1950, <B>Billy Graham, </B>the well-known US evangelist, told a rally in Los<img border="0" src="bgraham.jpg" width="93" height="117" longdesc="Billy Graham" align="right" hspace="14" vspace="14" alt="Billy Graham"> Angeles:  I sincerely believe that the Lord draweth nigh.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>We may have another year, maybe two years, to work for Jesus Christ, and, Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe it is all going to be over ... two years and it</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s all going to be over. </SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25" href="#_ftn25" name=_ftnref25 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[25]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span></P> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"> <FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"> If it had been Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses who had said the things that Luther, Wesley and Graham proclaimed, these proclamations would have been added to the list of quotations supposedly proving <img border="1" src="graham.JPG" align="left" longdesc="McLoughlin, William G., 1978 Revivals, Awakenings and Reform. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. pp.185." alt="McLoughlin, William G., 1978 Revivals, Awakenings and Reform. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. pp.185." hspace="10" vspace="10" width="469" height="197">that the Witnesses are false prophets.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Unsurprisingly, however, the sources that attack the Witnesses for false prophecy do not generally take the same position when it comes to Protestant figures who have made very similar errors.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >This should give all of us food for thought.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>If a newspaper editor were to publish in his paper all the crimes committed by members of just one ethnic group or race, dwelling on them in great detail, even repeatedly bringing up very old offences, but at the same time, ignoring all the crimes committed by members of another group (perhaps his own), then thinking people who looked at the facts would conclude that he was nothing but a bigot. What are we to think, then, when certain ones opposed to Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses constantly harp on what they incorrectly and maliciously term  false prophecies of the organization, reproducing <I> ad nauseam</I> the same quotations from Watch Tower literature, the majority of which were published almost 100 years ago, while remaining deadly silent about all similar errors by those who share their theological convictions?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Is the word </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >bigoted</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > any less appropriate?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>At any rate, their agenda is obvious and respect for the truth is not high on their list of priorities.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=left border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0> </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> <b>Were Martin Luther, John Wesley and Billy Graham false prophets?</b> </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0><BR clear=all></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></SPAN></FONT> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> I do not think that the comments of Luther, Wesley or Graham make them false prophets, for the same reason that I don</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >t accept that the Watch Tower is a false prophet, namely, that interpreting Bible prophecy is not the same as prophesying.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="4">Prophecy and Interpretation</O:P></FONT></SPAN></B></P> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >It is true that Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses believe they are being guided by God.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>But, </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >guidance</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" > is a much broader concept than </SPAN> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >inspiration</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>True, inspiration is a form of guidance, but it is only one form.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp;&nbsp; </SPAN>In this regard, Stafford makes a very telling point:</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 12pt 36pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">It cannot truthfully be said that to be inspired by God to produce flawless information is the same as being guided or lead by a flawless source, whether that source be the Scriptures or an angel sent by God. Why? Because in the former case the person is taken over by God, given a vision, revelation (sometimes in a dream), or put into a trance. The person then receives God&#39;s thoughts and will which are then channelled through the individual, providing information he or she would otherwise not have known. However, in the latter case one could simply misunderstand or ignore the directions given, which would make the accuracy of what they do or say dependent upon whether or not they correctly understood the inspired source.</FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26" href="#_ftn26" name=_ftnref26 ><SPAN class=MsoFootnoteReference><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote"><U ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[26]</FONT></U></SPAN></SPAN></A></SPAN><FONT size=2><FONT size=1><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > Prophecy involves much more than simply predicting the future.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>It involves claiming to have a message directly from God.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>It is not the same as interpreting events or even interpreting the prophetic parts of the Bible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Russell understood this and that is why he said:  </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >The most we claim or have ever claimed for our teachings is that they are what we believe to be harmonious <I >interpretations of the divine Word, </I>in harmony with the spirit of the truth , adding  <I >we are far from claiming any direct plenary inspiration </I></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27" href="#_ftn27" name=_ftnref27 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff >[27]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=208 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=5> <IMG height=1 alt="" hspace=0 src="o.gif" width=5 border=0></TD> <TD class=sibtbg> <DIV> <DIV class=mva> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="left_quote.gif" width=24 border=0></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> <b>The Watch Tower Society is not a false prophet, for the simple reason that it is not a prophet.</b> <IMG height=13 alt="" src="right_quote.gif" width=23 align=right border=0></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2><BR clear=all></DIV></DIV> <DIV class=mva> <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></SPAN></FONT> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" <FONT size=2> Similarly, when Wesley drew the conclusion that the end would come in 1836, he did so on the basis of his understanding of the Bible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Of course, this understanding turned out to be completely and utterly wrong, but that does not make him a false prophet.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>When Billy Graham stated in 1950 that the end would come within two years, he was not claiming that God had personally spoken to him through a dream or a vision.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>He was just stating what he believed after comparing world events with what he knew from the Bible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>No charitable person would accuse Graham of being a false prophet because of that (although it is obvious that he did make an error of judgment).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Likewise, when Luther stated that the Turkish war would lead to the end of the world, he was woefully mistaken, but that certainly does not make him a false prophet.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Incidentally, Luther, on the basis of his understanding of the Bible, also contradicted Copernicus and insisted that the earth was the centre of the universe!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp;</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28" href="#_ftn28" name=_ftnref28 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff size="1" >[28]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></span><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ></O:P></SPAN></P> </FONT> <FONT style="font-size: 11pt"> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <font face="Trebuchet MS">Thus</font></FONT><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >, the Watch Tower Society is not a false prophet, for the simple reason that it is not a prophet.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>It makes no claim that any of its members have heard voices from God,<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>seen visions or in any other way been directly influenced to make a certain proclamation beyond what is in the Bible.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>It <I >has </I>made mistakes in explaining or interpreting parts of the Bible, but as we have seen, so have other religious organizations.</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> </FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" size="4" >Conclusion</O:P></FONT></SPAN></B></P> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">On the basis of the above, critics of Jehovah&#39;s Witnesses have some questions to answer:</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >(1) Do they think it is truthful and fair to focus on a minute selection of the Watch Tower</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s published material - the most negative part - and ignore everything else?</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >(2) Can they cite the Watch Tower publication where the Society claims to be an  inspired prophet (their expression, not ours).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>On what do they base that conclusion, and how do they explain the dozens of quotations I have presented from the Society</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s literature - from all periods of its history - where the Society denies that?</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29" href="#_ftn29" name=_ftnref29 ><SUP ><SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote" ><U><FONT color=#0000ff >[29]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A></O:P></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=1></P> </FONT> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >(3) Why do they present the Watchtower</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s statements about future events as prophetic statements, rather than what they really were - interpretations? </O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">(4) Do they believe that others who have had mistaken expectations, including Martin Luther, John Wesley and Billy Graham, are false prophets, and if not, why not?</O:P></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><FONT face=Verdana> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >Jehovah</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" >s Witnesses do not believe that they should be above honest criticism and have not hidden the fact that they have made errors in their interpretations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>But honest criticism implies respect for truth - the whole truth, not just extracts taken out of context and twisted to give an impression that they were never intended to give.</O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt" ><B> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Beware of half truths.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>You might end up believing the wrong half!</O:P></FONT></SPAN></B></P></DIV> <DIV style="mso-element: footnote-list"><span lang="en-gb"> <font face="Trebuchet MS" style="font-size: 11pt"><BR clear=all></font></span></DIV><FONT face=Verdana > <DIV style="mso-element: footnote-list"> <HR align=left width="33%" SIZE=1> </DIV> </FONT> </FONT> <DIV style="mso-element: footnote-list" align=center ><span style="font-weight: 700"><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="4"> Footnotes and References</font></span></DIV> <FONT size=2> <P class=MsoNormal style="mso-element: footnote" ><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="#_ftnref1" name=_ftn1 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[1]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>I am grateful to other Witness writers for bringing many of these citations to my attention.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Additionally, the book <I>Jehovah s Witnesses Defended, Second Edition [JWD2] </I> by Greg Stafford contains extensive research on this matter.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Quotations from publications after 1950 are generally taken from the <I >Watchtower Library 2003 </I>CD-ROM.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Almost all Russell s writings are freely available on the Internet.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P> <DIV id=ftn2 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" href="#_ftnref2" name=_ftn2 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[2]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Zion&#39;s Watch Tower, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >January 1, 1908 (reprint) page 4110</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn3 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" href="#_ftnref3" name=_ftn3 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[3]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watch Tower, </I>January 1, 1925, page 3.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn4 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="#_ftnref4" name=_ftn4 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[4]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower, </I>15 October 1966, page 631.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn5 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5" href="#_ftnref5" name=_ftn5 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[5]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Zion</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >s Watch Tower, January 1883, page 425.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn6 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6" href="#_ftnref6" name=_ftn6 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[6]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Zion &#39;s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ&#39;s Presence, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >15 December 1896, reprint, 2080 (emphasis added).</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn7 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7" href="#_ftnref7" name=_ftn7 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[7]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >&quot;Views From the Watch Tower,&quot; <I >Zion&#39;s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ&#39;s Presence, </I>1 March 1904, reprint, 3327 (emphasis added).</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn8 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8" href="#_ftnref8" name=_ftn8 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[8]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Zion&#39;s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ&#39;s Presence, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >15 September 1909, reprint, 4473.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn9 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9" href="#_ftnref9" name=_ftn9 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[9]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ&#39;s Presence, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >15 November 1913, repr. 5348 (emphasis added).</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn10 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10" href="#_ftnref10" name=_ftn10 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[10]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Prophecy </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >(Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1929), 61-62 (emphasis added).</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn11 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11" href="#_ftnref11" name=_ftn11 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[11]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Light, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >vol. 1 (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1930), 194 (emphasis added).</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn12 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12" href="#_ftnref12" name=_ftn12 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[12]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower</I>, 15 May 1947, pp. 157-8.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn13 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13" href="#_ftnref13" name=_ftn13 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[13]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >&quot;Name and Purpose of the Watchtower,&quot; <I >The Watchtower, </I>15 August 1950, 262-263 (emphasis added)</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn14 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14" href="#_ftnref14" name=_ftn14 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[14]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower, </I>15 October 1966, page 631.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn15 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15" href="#_ftnref15" name=_ftn15 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[15]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower</I>, 15 August 1968, page 499.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn16 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16" href="#_ftnref16" name=_ftn16 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[16]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower</I>, 1 March 1979, page 23-24.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn17 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17" href="#_ftnref17" name=_ftn17 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[17]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I >Revelation - Its Grand Climax at Hand</I>, page 9. (Published 1988)</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn18 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18" href="#_ftnref18" name=_ftn18 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[18]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>Jehovah s Witnesses - Proclaimers of God s Kingdom</I>, page 708 (Published 1993)</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn19 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19" href="#_ftnref19" name=_ftn19 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[19]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I>The Watchtower, </I>1 December 2002, page 17.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn20 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20" href="#_ftnref20" name=_ftn20 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[20]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Occasionally, <I>The Watchtower<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN></I>(for example 1 April 1972) has referred to true Christians (not specifically to the writers of Watch Tower publications) as  prophets .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>However, the word is placed in inverted commas, which shows that it is not meant literally.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>The 1972 article is simply drawing parallels between experiences in the life of the prophet Ezekiel and those of Christians today as they fulfil Christ s commission to preach to all the nations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>This sense of the word  prophecy is recognised by many  mainstream Christians., Billy Graham s biography is called  A prophet with Honor .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>Pope John Paul II spoke<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>of  the  prophetic office of the People of God - meaning their responsibility to give a Christian witness. (</FONT><A href="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0264of.htm" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0264of.htm</FONT></A><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">) In view of other comments (cited in the main article) in which the Society specifically repudiates prophet status, both before and after this article was published, attempts to use this article to demonstrate that the Watch Tower Society claims to be an inspired prophet are obviously misrepresenting the sense of the article.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn21 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoFootnoteText><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21" href="#_ftnref21" name=_ftn21 ><SPAN class=MsoFootnoteReference> <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt" ><U> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[21]</FONT></U></SPAN></SPAN></A></span><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" > </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >The Watchtower, 15 March 1980, page 17-18.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn22 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22" href="#_ftnref22" name=_ftn22 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[22]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >John T. Baldwin, &quot;Luther&#39;s Eschatological Appraisal of the Turkish Threat in <I>Eine Heerpredigt -wider den Tuerken </I>[Army Sermon Against the Turks],&quot; <I>Andrews University Seminary Studies </I>33.2 (Autumn 1995), 196.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn23 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23" href="#_ftnref23" name=_ftn23 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[23]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Ibid, p. 201.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn24 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24" href="#_ftnref24" name=_ftn24 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[24]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" lang="en-gb" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS"> </FONT><A href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.i.xxviii.xxiii.html" ><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.i.xxviii.xxiii.html</FONT></A></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25" href="#_ftnref25" name=_ftn25 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[25]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>McLoughlin, William G., 1978 Revivals, Awakenings and Reform. University of Chicago Press. Chicago. pp.185.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>See also  US News and World Report (December 19, 1994)</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn26 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoFootnoteText><span lang="en-gb"><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26" href="#_ftnref26" name=_ftn26 ><SPAN class=MsoFootnoteReference> <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; font-family:Verdana" ><U> <FONT face="Trebuchet MS" color=#0000ff >[26]</FONT></U></SPAN></SPAN></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS"> <I >Jehovah s Witnesses Defended, Second Edition</I>, pp. 462-3.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></span></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn27 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27" href="#_ftnref27" name=_ftn27 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[27]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes; color:black; font-family:Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" >&nbsp; </SPAN><I > <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >Zion&#39;s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ&#39;s Presence, </SPAN></I> <SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" >15 July 1899, reprint, 2506</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn28 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28" href="#_ftnref28" name=_ftn28 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[28]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN lang=en-gb style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" ><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>Luther is also quoted on certain websites as having said that Jesus would return 300 years from his time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN>(<i>The Familiar Discourses of Dr. Martin Luther</i>, trans. by Henry Bell and revised by Joseph Kerby [London: Baldwin, Craddock and Joy, 1818], pp. 7,8.)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes" >&nbsp; </SPAN>I have not been able to verify this source, although I have no reason to doubt it.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt" lang="en-gb" ></O:P></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV id=ftn29 style="mso-element: footnote"> <P class=MsoNormal><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn29" href="#_ftnref29" name=_ftn29 ><SUP > <SPAN style="mso-special-character: footnote; color:black; font-family:Verdana; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-font-kerning:0pt" lang="en-gb" ><U><FONT face="Trebuchet MS" >[29]</FONT></U></SPAN></SUP></A><span lang="en-gb"><FONT face=Verdana><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Trebuchet MS; mso-font-kerning: 0pt" > A computer search for the expression  inspired prophet on the Watchtower 2003 CD-ROM (containing <I >The Watchtower</I>) since 1950 plus most other publications, revealed that the expression came up 44 times. 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