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Shortly before we got “full-color” Watchtowers in 1986 this one was published in 1984. It features a number of elderly Witnesses, almost all from Brooklyn Bethel on the cover. I was a teen when it came out and little did I know I would go there and meet a few of the folks on this cover someday. I also never thought that my favorite presentation I used to use along these lines was so far off from what is contained in the Scriptures. It shames me to this day when I think about it, but let’s save that for the end of this post.

You’ll of course notice that there is something added into the above graphic that wasn’t there in the original cover picture. That would be the names and birth/death dates of these ones. Yep, that’s right. Every one of these brothers and sisters is dead.

If this isn’t ringing any bells with you because you are too young or weren’t a Witness at that time let me summarize with this quote from the magazine:
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*** w84 5/15 pp. 6-7 1914—The Generation That Will Not Pass Away ***
From a purely human viewpoint, it could appear that these developments could hardly take place before the generation of 1914 disappears from the scene. But fulfillment of all the foretold events affecting the generation of 1914 does not depend on comparatively slow human action. Jehovah’s prophetic word through Christ Jesus is: “This generation [of 1914] will by no means pass away until all things occur.” (Luke 21:32) And Jehovah, who is the source of inspired and unfailing prophecy, will bring about the fulfillment of his Son’s words in a relatively short time.—Isaiah 46:9, 10; 55:10, 11
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Was the WT Society right in asserting this view? Was it light from Jehovah? Or just the thoughts and theories of men, like this blog and all the rest of the millions of scribbles in the dirt men make every year? Sadly, the words of this 1931 Watchtower are no longer true:

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***w31 11/1 p. 327 Taught of God***


The Watchtower recognizes the truth as belonging to Jehovah, and not to any creature. The Watchtower is not the instrument of any man or set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man’s opinion is expressed in The Watchtower.

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Contrast that humble sentiment with this one:
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*** w10 9/15 p. 13 par. 8 Unity Identifies True Worship ***
8 Similarly today, a Governing Body composed of spirit-anointed Christians contributes to the unity of the worldwide congregation. The Governing Body publishes spiritually encouraging literature in many languages. This spiritual food is based on God’s Word. Thus, what is taught is not from men but from Jehovah.—Isa. 54:13.

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Or this recent one:

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*** w10 9/15 p. 23 par. 8 “Your Leader Is One, the Christ” ***
In this time of the end, Christ has committed “all his belongings”—all the earthly interests of the Kingdom—to his “faithful and discreet slave” and its representative Governing Body, a group of anointed Christian men. (Matt. 24:45-47) The anointed and their other sheep companions recognize that by following the lead of the modern-day Governing Body, they are in fact following their Leader, Christ.

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Now we are nearing the one-hundred year mark since 1914. …Hard to believe, but true. Okay, time to tell on myself. One of my favorite presentations that I used to use effectively when talking about the last days at the door went this way:

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“So sir, as we read in Matthew 24:22, no flesh would be saved unless God cut short the days. And since Psalms 90:10 says that a person’s lifespan is 70 to 80 years, if we live a normal life in this system, we WILL see the end of the system of things.

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It seemed to be a good angle at the time. I certainly delivered it with sincerity and believed it. It makes me think of what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. He said: “What is Truth”?

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Good question Pontius…

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As adapted from the post at: http://www.theapologeticfront.com/2011/01/picture-is-worth-thousand-wordsbut.html
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9 Comments on Cover Picture – The Generation of 1914

  1. Jon says:

    If this wasnt so replusive and sickening, it would be sad.

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  2. greybeard says:

    Well done JJ!

    I agree with Jon, this is “repulsive and sickening” and it is VERY SAD. I, sad to say, believed these lies too. Simply put, the GB/JW-org, Jehovah’s Witness’s are false prophets. Christ warned us about them. The GB are men that teach lies and then try to cover them up. They even have blamed the flock for believing them in the past. Like the 1975 failure. I can’t remember exactly what they said but they put the blame on the flock for believing the end would come in 1975. They make themselves equal to Christ.

    What is truth? Jesus Christ is the TRUTH. He is the only way, the only door. I have been polluted by the Watchtower teachings and I am trying to gain an real TRUTH. I believe the WT has stunted my growth. I don’t know. Maybe it is all my fault. I can read, I can pray and Christ warned us. It’s not easy being a JW all your life then finding out what they really are. I prayed not to believe in any lies and God answered that prayer. Now getting my life right with Christ and his father is my goal. I am not even sure if I know what a real Christian is, who they are, where they are or if I am one. I just don’t know. All I know is JW’s are false prophets and I, many, have been lied to and mislead.

    Thanks again JJ,
    Your brother,
    Greybeard

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  3. andrew says:

    I remember this magazine. In the masthead of the Awake until 1995 it said “… this magazine builds confidence in the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation of 1914 passes away.”

    This was hardly the “Creator’s promise”. Now the Society is pushing the bizarre overlapping generation theory. When this came out I just had to shake my head in disbelief. I couldn’t believe that afterward some brothers were excited about the “new light”. I would have thought the Society had learned their lesson by now. I guess I was wrong.

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  4. LonelySheep says:

    Greybeard, I feel your anger and pain. I have bouts of sadness and a sickness that goes right to my core, when I think of the GB. They are truly a bunch of charlatans. I remember giving exactly the same presentation. I was a young pioneer, eager to please. I WAS SO SURE. Oh well…..

    However, the R&F have been duped and mislead and upto a short time ago I guess we all were. Therefore our bile should be directed at only the leaders, who have been so conniving. Like Jesus he condemned the leadership of his day, but for the R&F Jew he felt pity. Likewise, the old little sister, or single mum or whoever are only trying to do their best, so not lets be so hard on them. The time is approaching, when we all will be put to the test, every man, woman and child on this earth and then we will surely know who is for Jesus and who isn’t.

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  5. Willie says:

    LOGIC: If you start with the wrong date you’ll end up with the wrong answer. 1914 was an important date–the expiration of the Gentile lease of power, thus their eviction began with WWI and continues to this day (Luke 21:24). However, 1914 was not particularly relevant to the parable in Matt. 24:32-34, which is called “the parable of the fig tree.” Most students of the Bible realize that the fig tree represents the nation of Israel (Jer. 24); so when did Israel symbolically “put forth leaves”? Hindsight is 20/20–they got statehood in 1948. Now use your Psalm 90:10 scripture and start adding. I’ll add 70 years–for various reasons.

    All the promises to Abraham and Israel will be fulfilled–Jehovah swore by Himself! (Gen. 15:18; 22:15-18; 26:2-5.)

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  6. Christian PEPER says:

    The internet is destroying what is left of this CULT. While other faiths are difficult to prove or disprove one can easily PROVE that the Jehovah’s Witness is a false CULT using their own writings. The CULT will continue to collapse from within till the only people in the seats are those who are computer illiterate.

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  7. Bro. Ed says:

    Peace be with you Christian PEPER. I’m not sure I’d frame the JWs as a cult, no more than I would frame the Roman Catholics a cult. I’d prefer to call them as another division of the Body of Christ. In either case, what this site is trying to achieve is drawing God fearing Christians away from man made organizations that teach the doctrines of men, to a brother and sisterhood where there is unity in Christ, not in man made rules. I understand where you are coming from, but we who have been freed to server our Lord, must do so with humility and loving kindness. I’d hate to think some who are still loyal to the organization would read your comments and then feel that they too harsh to be genuine displays of the fruitage of the Spirit. Please don’t take my feedback as negative or hurtful, but I feel you may not fully appreciate the difficulty those who are examining their faith may be experiencing; trust me when I say, those that are still in the organization need to be shown love and patience. The Apostle Paul teaches us, “Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:14-16, 24-26 ESV)

    Your brother in Christ

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  8. disappointed says:

    What you say is so true bro Ed. True christians will reflect the qualities of our Lord Jesus and show compassion and kindness and humility, while at the same time exposing the false teachings and man made doctrines that lead us away from the truth of God’s word

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  9. Reader says:

    Matthew 24 v 15 & 34, You have to identify the Disgusting thing in Daniel 11 v 31b & 12 v 11, and what this Holy Place is; first, before discernment is possible.

    Ships of Kittim is the history clue here, 655ce not WW1
    Put on www as “Daniel Eleven Hyperlinked” Google finds it, or use link;
    http://yahweh-immanuel.info/da.....inked.html

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