As I described in last week’s post, for some time after the 1925 debacle the Watchtower stopped proclaiming specific dates for the “last days,” preferring instead to tie them to “this generation.”

According to president Joseph “Judge” Rutherford, this meant everyone in the new creation—from Jesus’ original disciples down to Rutherford himself and all 20th century “anointed” ones.

At least some of “this generation”—the anointed—would be on earth when Armageddon came.

Once Rutherford explained that there are two classes of Christians—the 144,000 anointed and the great crowd of other sheep—it was no longer clear who the anointed were.

This amorphous concept was open ended and did nothing to fuel end times fervor. Continue reading