|
 Printer
friendly document
Are
we the last generation?
If we are to believe the
doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses this is a question
that is of utmost importance. How so? The last generation
is the only generation that has a choice. On page
255 of the Watchtower's book You
Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth;
they present the choice that needs to be made by the last
generation. They say, Really,
there are but two choices. Christ compared it to the
choice of either one of two roads. One road, he said, is
"broad and spacious." On it travelers are permitted
freedom to please themselves. The other road, however, is
"cramped." Yes, those on that road are required to obey
the instructions and laws of God. The majority, Jesus
noted, are taking the broad road, only a few the narrow
one. Which road will you choose? In making your choice,
keep this in mind: The broad road will suddenly come to a
dead end--destruction! On the other hand, the narrow road
will lead you right through into God's new system. There
you can share in making the earth a glorious paradise,
where you can live forever in
happiness.
How
is the last generation different?
How is the last generation
different from every other generation according to
Watchtower teaching? For every other generation
the two roads are reversed. The broad road is now the one
that leads to paradise earth and almost every single
person that lived and died was on that broad road leading
to paradise. Everyone on the broad road qualifies for a
resurrection on paradise earth. It matters not whether
the person lived for God or if they exercised their free
will to live for themselves, as long as they lived and
died before the last generation they will find
themselves following the broad road into paradise - no
questions asked!
But what of the narrow
road? How is the narrow road different for all previous
generations than it is for the last generation? This
narrow road for past generations became the road that
leads to eternal destruction and only a few in number, in
comparison to the billions on the broad road, found their
way onto the narrow road. Those who found it will never
experience a resurrection. They will never get a chance
to see paradise on earth. They are wiped out from God's
memory and will never receive a second chance for life as
everyone else receives.
Who
are the ones who are lost?
Who are the unfortunate
souls who found themselves on that dreaded narrow road
that leads to destruction? They were people who became
Jehovah's Witnesses from the time the Watchtower first
started preaching the end of the world message. These
formerly faithful Jehovah's Witnesses originally believed
the message of the Watchtower that the end was just
around the corner, but after living through one failed
prophecy after another, they abandoned their faith in the
Watchtower organization. The Watchtower brands such ones
as apostates and deems them unfit to receive a
resurrection. Since 1879 anyone who became a Jehovah's
Witness but who left the Watchtower is on that narrow
road to destruction. They are the only ones from
previous generations who will not receive a resurrection.
What a shame! Since everyone who was preached to by the
Watchtower from 1879 to the very early 1900's is dead and
gone, the only lasting effect the Watchtower managed to
have for that generation was to create a way for some to
lose out on paradise. If you take the Watchtower's
doctrine to its logical conclusion, the generation of the
late 1800's and early 1900's would have been better off
never having heard the message of the Watchtower.
Everyone who didn't hear the message is guaranteed life
in paradise. But for those who heard and believed but who
became disillusioned, the Watchtower became to them a
stench of death.
Who
is 'in' and who is 'out' of paradise earth?
Now let's summarize from
the Watchtower's teachings to find the three groups of
people who will be 'in' paradise and the three groups who
are 'out'.
Those
who will receive life, the 'in' group
are:
1. Every person who never
became a Jehovah's Witness and who dies before
Armageddon will receive a second chance.
2. Every current Jehovah's
Witness who is worthy enough to merit everlasting life
will go into paradise.
3. Every practicing
Jehovah's Witness who dies before Armageddon will
receive a second chance no matter how worthy they
are.
Those
who will not receive life, the 'out'
group:
1. Every non-Jehovah's
Witness living at the time that Armageddon occurs
will die. They will not receive a second chance
for life.
2. Every Jehovah's Witness
alive at the time that Armageddon occurs but who
is not considered worthy enough will be killed and will
not receive a second chance at life.
3. Every Jehovah's Witness
who has left the organization and who subsequently dies
will not receive a second chance for
life.
The difference between the
will's and the will not's, according to the Watchtower,
is dependant on when you were born and when you died. If
you lived and died anytime up until 1879 you are
in. If you lived and died after 1879 you are
probably in - as long as you didn't subscribe to
the Watchtower's message. That way you didn't have a
chance to become an apostate and end up on that dreaded
narrow road. If you live in the last generation, you are
almost certainly out. Only a relatively small
number of worthy Jehovah's Witnesses will go into
paradise alive.
When
will the last Generation be over?
Are we finally in the
Generation of the end? The Watchtower says ‘yes' and
is now pointing to 2005 as the end of the Generation of
the Anointed that started in 1935. 1935 was the year that
the Watchtower announced that the final number of the
144,000 anointed class was completed. 1935 was also was
the start of a class of Jehovah's Witnesses who had the
hope of entering into the new paradise earth alive
without dying. In the Watchtower October 1, 1997 page 23
they say, In
1935 we came to understand that the "great crowd" was not
a secondary heavenly class. We learned that it instead
represents a class that survives the great tribulation
and has the opportunity of living forever in Paradise
on earth. (Revelation 7:9-14) With this new
understanding, some who had partaken of the Memorial
emblems realized that theirs was an earthly hope, and
they discontinued partaking.
Never before had the
Watchtower given this earthly hope. This generation of
people, starting with the Watchtower's announcement in
1935, was the one designated to survive Armageddon and
walk into the new earth alive. It has now been well over
60 years since the anointed class has been preaching to
this special generation of Watchtower survivors. The
September 15, 1997 Watchtower page 14 and 15 says,
And
for over 60 years now, God has been using these
anointed ones to spearhead the work of making disciples
of people to whom he has given the wonderful hope of
life eternal on a paradise earth.
The Watchtower's
anointed class is preaching its last message to a
generation which is quickly coming to a close. No wonder
Jehovah's Witnesses who have longed for the end for so
long have accepted this message with a renewed
excitement. This is the end of a long line of predictions
from the Society and the last chance for the 1935
generation of Watchtower survivors to enter into paradise
alive.
The June 15, 2002
Watchtower page 3 says boldly, "A
New World Within a Single
Generation".
They go on to pose this question, Can
we realistically expect to see the hoped-for "new world
within a single generation"?...The Bible points to that
prospect... And
from pages 6 & 7, His
appointed time for direct action to rid the earth of all
oppression and injustice lies in the near
future...Soon, on a cleansed paradise earth, they
will experience complete freedom from all injustice and
suffering..."Many stunning steps forward" have been made
in humanitarian efforts to help oppressed humanity...Yet,
the most stunning step will be the imminent
intervention by Christ Jesus and his associate rulers in
the heavenly Kingdom government.
When will this generation
of the end be over? The Bible points to a 70 year period
of time that is considered the maximum span of a Biblical
'generation'. Since The Watchtower is now pointing to
1935 as the start of the final generation, 1935 plus 70
years equals 2005.
New
Light? In 1935 the final countdown began! 
The Watchtower is betting
one last time that the Generation of the Anointed, the
end of the chosen ones whose numbers were completed in
1935, and the great crowd which also started in 1935 will
be the last generation. The Watchtower Jan 15, 2000 pg 13
says, Most
of the remnant are quite elderly, and over the years the
number of those who are truly anointed has been getting
smaller. Yet, referring to the great tribulation, Jesus
stated: “Unless those days were cut short, no flesh
would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those
days will be cut short.” (Mathew 24:21,22)
Evidently, then, some of Christ’s “chosen
ones” will still be on Earth when the great
tribulation begins.
And pay attention to the
Watchtower's words concerning how the great crowd can be
considered worthy to survive Armageddon:
Those
who do good things for Jesus' "brothers" because these
anointed ones are his followers have the hope of
surviving "the day of Jehovah." See the Watchtower,
September 15, 1997 page 17.
Let's summarize these
statements and give our conclusions: Some of the anointed
will be on the earth when Armageddon begins. You qualify
to have the hope of surviving Armageddon depending on how
you treat these anointed ones. The anointed class ended
in 1935. The great crowd class that is to go into
paradise earth alive after surviving Armageddon started
in 1935. Those born in 1935 will be 70 in 2005.
And of the anointed class - a young anointed individual
20 years of age in 1935 will be 90 in 2005. The
generation of the anointed runs out of time by the
farthest stretch of the imagination by 2005 and the
youngest of the generation of the great crowd who were
given the new hope of surviving Armageddon will be at
least 70 years old in 2005. Time is quickly running
out!
Jehovah's Witnesses are
even taking the Watchtower's reasoning and expanding on
it to argue that the 70 years from 1935 to 2005 relates
to the creation of Eve.
The Watchtower says that we
don't know how long Adam lived prior to the creation of
Eve. The delay in the date of Eve's creation was the
Watchtower's reason for why Armageddon didn't occur in
1975. Jehovah's Witnesses are now speculating that since
the Society draws a parallel between Adam and Jesus, and
since Jesus started to prepare his "wife" (the 144,000
Anointed class) at the age of 30, there is a possibility
that Adam also received his wife at the age of 30. Since
1975 marked 6000 years from the creation of Adam, that
would point to 2005 as the end of 6000 years from the
creation of Eve. The seventh 1,000 years is Jehovah's
rest day and is just around the corner according to the
Watchtower's calculations.
The
Generation of the Anointed and of the Great Crowd of 1935
is about to expire
Are we really in the last
generation that will terminate by 2005? Every one of the
previous expiry dates given by the Watchtower has already
gone bad, and we can be sure that this date too will come
and go. Soon the Watchtower will once again be forced to
change the 'due date' of the last generation.
Did
God make a mistake or did the Watchtower insert
themselves into God's Word?
Did you ever wonder why God
sent the message of the last generation to the Watchtower
a hundred years too early? Why did he send it to a people
who were all going to make it into paradise anyway
because they were all going to die? Did he really
send the Watchtower with this message for a dead
generation? Or is it possible that the early Watchtower
leaders were wrong about themselves being part of the
last generation, wrong about a God who discriminates
between the living and the dead and wrong about being
picked in 1878 and again in 1919 as the only faithful and
wise servant dispensing spiritual food? If they are wrong
about these things, what else are they be wrong
about?
|