Month: January 2024

Beth Sarim

January 30, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Beth Sarim is not the name of a woman.

It’s the name of a house—a house that was built in San Diego by the Watchtower organization in 1929.

The Watchtower says that it was built for Watchtower president Joseph Rutherford’s use: “In time, a direct contribution was made for the purpose of constructing a house in San Diego for brother Rutherford’s use. Concerning this property the 1939 book Salvation stated: ‘At San Diego, California, there is a small piece of land, on which, in the year 1929, there was built a house, which is called and known as Beth Sarim.’” (Yearbook, 1975, p. 194)

But that’s only a half truth.

It was actually built for King David and the Old Testament patriarchs, whose return was expected at any time. Continue reading

Comment Policy    

1925—Millions Now Living Will Never Die

January 23, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Contrary to the Watchtower’s prophetic pronouncements:

  • The end of the world’s governments did not come in 1914.
  • The churches were not destroyed wholesale in 1918.
  • The “earthquake” did not come in 1918.
  • The “fire” did not come in 1920.
  • The republics did not disappear in 1920.
  • A “spasm of anguish” greater than that of World War I did not come upon Christendom in 1920.

The Watchtower leaders could have admitted their ignorance and stopped prophesying.

Instead, they charged ahead, proclaiming boldly that the resurrection of the Old Testament patriarchs would occur in 1925 and that “millions now living will never die.” Continue reading

Comment Policy    

The Finished Mystery

January 16, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The next president of the Watchtower, Joseph “Judge” Rutherford, eventually rejected many of his predecessor’s teachings, but he couldn’t do so right away because Charles Taze Russell was revered by his followers.

When Russell died in the fall of 1916, the Watchtower leaders moved quickly to bridge to the future.

In 1917, they published The Finished Mystery. It was presented as Volume 7 of Studies in the Scriptures, the posthumous book of Russell.

In fact, it was written by other men.

The Watchtower now claims that in 1918-1919, Jesus Christ personally inspected all the world’s religions. He found the Watchtower organization to be spiritually cleansed from past errors and faithfully dispensing spiritual food. Accordingly, he designated it to be the “faithful and discreet slave” of Matthew 24:45 and gave it dominion over all of his affairs on earth.

In effect, it became Jehovah’s one true religious organization on earth, authorized to speak and act on his behalf.

Given that The Finished Mystery was the last book it published and promoted before Jesus’ claimed inspection, I want to take some time to discuss it. Continue reading

Comment Policy    

1914—Changed Meanings

January 9, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In last week’s post, I mentioned that when its 1914 prophecies failed, one of the options the Watchtower exercised was to recalculate and reinterpret Scripture.

In this post, I will detail some of the changes they made.

Most Jehovah’s Witnesses are completely unaware of the Watchtower prophecies I have documented so far in this series.

In fact, they have been taught and believe a whitewashed version of Watchtower prophetic history. Continue reading

Comment Policy    

When 1914 Prophetic Speculation Failed

January 2, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In an earlier post entitled “When Prophetic Speculation Flops,” I noted that when someone’s “end of the world” prophecies fail, their disappointed followers demand an explanation and threaten to leave.

When that happens, they have a number of options. Continue reading

Comment Policy    

© 2025

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑