What Did Jesus Say About ‘Hell’?

What Did Jesus Say About ‘Hell’?

“Jehovah’s Witnesses” teach that ‘Hell’ and ‘the grave’ are synonymous terms, that they mean the same thing, and are therefore interchangeable terms.

I know this well because I was taught this, believed it, and preach it to the public as one of “Jehovah’s Witness” the majority of my life. I began preaching this from door to door at age eight in 1959. I did so in ignorance of the real truth and because I was putting trust in “earthling man” and another human being’s reasoning ability. Christ had to cleanse my mind.

Here is the standard remarks of a “Jehovah’s Witness” about ‘hell’:

Quote:”Hell is the Grave ( the condition in which life ceases Eccl. 9:10 until such Time as The Resurrection of The Just and Unjust begins Acts 24:15. In KJV Old Testament the Hebrew word “ Sheol “ translated 31 Times Hell, 31 Times Grave, 3 Times Pit.”

“Jehovah’s Witnesses” have a habit mix things that shouldn’t be because they are things that have nothing in common with one another.

When Scripture speaks of “Gehenna”, “Lake of fire”, “Hell”, it is not referring to the common grave or state of the dead who have died the death due to original sin. ‘Hell’ is not the wages of sin as it is in the Adamic death we as humans suffer. ‘Hell’ is the wages for being wicked.

Today when most people use the term ‘hell’ they are not talking about the condition in common grave.

The word ‘Hell’ as most people use it, is not referring to common grave nor the state of the human dead from inherited sin.

We can know this for a certainty. It is IMPOSSIBLE for that to be the case because Jesus himself stated ‘who’ hell was created for and it wasn’t for humans. He refers to this state of existence as “the eternal fire”:

“Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!”

Matthew 25:41 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Jesus said that this state of existence was created for “the devil and his angels” and not a human being. So it is clear that ‘hell’ is not mankind’s resting place after death.

Why do I know Hell exist? Because Jesus said it does. Do you believe what Jesus says or do you find it necessary to modify his words to fit what you prefer to believe?

Hell exist because Christ said it does.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses” do not believe that we are ‘spirit creatures’ poured into fleshly bodies.

They believe that God’s “spirit” that is in us is basically some ‘atmosphere of energy’ or ‘air’ breathed into us by God at birth and at that then we become a “living soul”. They believe and teach that God’s spirit in us is like start up power and not a living thing…’alive’.

They refer to it as “God’s active force”.

But their other teachings certainly infer that ‘something’ survives death that can be asleep and awaken. But they deny man is a ‘spirit’ in flesh. If we are nothing but flesh with an ‘air’ of energy blown into us, then what is it that is sleeping then in death?

How do they make sense then of these words also uttered by Jesus?

“Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28

If nothing of us survives death of the body, how could his words above have any real meaning. What could possibly be a fate worse than death to an already unconscious spirit? Is the first resurrection’s purpose to wake the dead simple to inform them they won’t be being resurrected to life and to say to them “Now go back to sleep”? What purpose would that serve?

The Second Death is not Adamic death repeated.

That death is not the ceasing of our existence is clear in Jesus’ words that upon his arrival he summon all the dead from the tomb. Summon ‘what’ if nothing exist after we die?

John 5:28-29

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” New King James Version

“Jehovah’s Witness” beliefs about the ‘spirit’ aspect of human existence cuts off any further consideration that eternal torment in Hell is even possible.

The word ‘Hell’ as most people use it, is not referring to common grave nor the state of the human dead from inherited sin.

We know that for a certainty. It is impossible for that to be the case because Jesus himself stated ‘who’ hell was created for and it wasn’t for humans. He refers to this state of existence as “the eternal fire”:

“Jehovah’s Witnesses’ have no rational explanation of Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the wicked rich man. What Jesus said is impossible within their belief. They avoid discussion of this passage of Scripture as a result. It just doesn’t fit in to what they want to believe.

Watchtower Society disciples do not prove themselves to be disciples of Christ. “You cannot serve two masters”.

Matthew 6:24

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;” King James Version

I am reminded of the situation between the devil and the woman Eve in the Garden of Eden and the scene of original sin.

There the devil posed a question to Eve that opened the door to Eve’s thinking independent from the express words of God. After God had unambiguously stated the penalty for disobedience to His command, the devil questioned whether it was so. It was a question that should have never been considered.

The woman Eve was even able to recite the commandment back to Satan. But the he was able to sow doubt in her mind as to whether God would really carry out what He said He would or that God even meant what He said. He asked Eve, ”Is it really so…?”

Even though Christ said Hell is real and exist, even though he states that it was created for Satan and his demons, even though he said those there will be tormented forever, even though he offers a parable of a man in Heaven and a man in Hell having a meeting after they both have died, “Jehovah’s Witnesses” do just as the Tempter did to Eve by casting doubt and confusion on something clearly stated by Christ Jesus about Hell.

The Only Hope For A Future Life

The Only Door Into The Kingdom

The Only Hope

Hebrews 9:27

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

(KJV)

Every human must die one time.

Resurrection is the only door into the kingdom. It is the only hope the Bible teaches. Death is inescapable.

We determine what is to follow by our deeds during our lives. Which ever outcome, we will face death.

Many have falsely associated, “coming out of the great tribulation”, or surviving the tribulation, with the salvation of their flesh.

However, “coming out of the great tribulation” is about the survival of the ‘spirit’.

Revelation 7:15 states that the ones these words refer to are in Heaven, “standing before the throne of God”.

“Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people robed in white, and where did they come from?”

I said to him, “Sir, you know.

Then he told me:

These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and they serve Him day and night in His sanctuary.

The One seated on the throne will shelter them:”

These who, “come out” have had to have died because flesh and blood cannot enter Heaven.

In addition to that, the pattern God established only allows for anointed priest to enter the Temple Sanctuary.

The Messiah came out of a ‘great tribulation’ through enduring death. He surrendered his flesh but saved his spirit. His spirit was raised from the dead and when he returned to Heaven, he entered a brand new body.

‘Coming out of the great tribulation’ is not about the preservation of one’s fleshly body any more than it was for the Messiah. Like him, survival of the coming great tribulation or “coming out of the great tribulation” is a matter of preservation of the ‘spirit’ or the ‘real’ you.

The ones pictured in the book of Revelation as being seen before the throne of God, have come out of the final great tribulation upon the Earth in the same manner as Christ. They have saved their ‘souls’ by keeping spiritually pure and completely obedient to God’s will. They have surrendered their old fleshly bodies for new bodies in Heaven.

Its clear their survival has nothing to do with not dying nor does it have to do with humans living through the tribulation, the End, and never dying. One must come to grips with their own mortality.

Again, the Bible teaches, “all men must die one time”.

Hebrews 9:27

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

(KJV)

It is a false expectation that you will enter the Kingdom of God and never face dying.

Where are those in union with Christ who have already died? Are they in Heaven?

The Bible states that those living at the Lord’s coming, those to pass into Heavenly life at death in “the twinkling of an eye”, would not precede those who have already fallen asleep in death.

This has led many to assume that the opposite is true. That those who are already dead get raised first.

In this way they are saying a raising to life in Heaven has already occured or is happening now.

Untrue.

The apostle merely pointed out that Christ brother alive when he arrives benefit from not having to sleep the Adamic death. But, they will arrive in Heaven simultaneously with their already deceased brothers.

Christ does not receive his ‘bride’ in bits and pieces but as a father presents a bride…whole, prepared, and fully adorned as the Bible tells us.

Remember, that Jesus said when he arrives, “all those both the righteous and the unrighteous” who sleep in death will hear his voice and rise to Judgment.

These ‘righteous’ are those call from death to heavenly life. This is the “first” resurrection. The “first resurrection will not occur until Christ returns. Therefore those who already have died in union with Christ remain asleep in death.

The rest of those who die in Christ return in a ‘second’ resurrection.

Proof of God’s Existence

The levels of required proof

Proof

Romans 1:20-21 King James Version (KJV)

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Most Bible studiers are very familiar with the words of Scriptural text above. We often observe natural creation around us and clearly see evidence that is all must have had a Maker, a Creator. We see an order that simply could not have arisen of or by itself. That is what the verses quoted above are in essence saying.

Proof of that designed order can be seen at even a deeper level of physical existence. This article will reveal that pattern of order in a way that until recent times could not be fully appreciated.

The two objects to be considered could not be compared until modern technology allowed them to be. And yet, there is a third proof to be added to these two.

From The Macro To The Micro

Above is a pictorial illustration recognizable to be the known pattern of order of the “solar system of planets that the Earth is embedded in.

It has some key distinct features that are also recognizable.

We know that at its center lies the Sun. We know that each planet has a fixed orbit that has been thus far continuous. That each orbit has but one planetary body in it.

As illustrated below, these planetary bodies have sub-planetary bodies that act in conjunction with the planets by orbiting around them.

And a closer looks reveals other physical phenomena; comets, asteroids, and gas clouds that are interwoven into the solar system of planets that act in harmony with its workings and preservation.

It is hard to believe that all of this order came from a chaotic, uncontrolled diffusion of matter.

`Order` is a controlled `Effect` that has to have a controlling Causation. Stated simply, `Order`begets `Order`.

Stated simply, `Order`begets `Order`.

There had to be a PRIME MOVER

Those who believe in an uncontrolled ‘big bang’ creation are left to answer, “What or Whom was the prime mover?”. The concept of ‘Order‘ resulting from ‘Random Choas‘ is foreign to real science.

The Solar System is the first “object” of our comparison. And now the second.

Bohr model of the atomic structure at top and bottom. Rutherford model, center

At the left, is what is known as the bohr model of the atom (Rutherford model also shown). As with the Solar System of the Sun, it too has some key distinct features that are also recognizable.

First, the nucleus exactly like the Sun is the center mass that the electrons orbit in distinct valence bands. Two planets cannot share the same orbit around the Sun and the same is true of electrons as they orbit the single nucleus.

With the invention of powerful ‘Super Colliders’ like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland (below), gives humans the capability to examine the atom and atomic behavior at an incredible level. Research has revealed much more activity than has been presumed. Atoms are made not only of electrons, protons, and neutrons; but, they are also made of other smaller particles that act in conjunction with or upon the larger ones.

The Solar System and the atomic structure compare in ways that could not be the result of a coincidence. One from our vantage point is huge and the other is infinitesimally small. Yet they are the same basic pattern in design.

While explorers have located celestial bodies orbiting other celestial bodies in other regions of the universe, nothing like the highly complex solar system of the Sun has been found. In that regard, it remains totally unique.

This certainly does not fit with what is known about the ‘random drift’ or ‘splay’ of general uncontrolled diffussion. If you were to spray water from your water spray bottle forever, you would not see this phenomena.

There is no rational explanation other than these creations are the result of intelligent creation by a PRIME MOVER.
The Prime Mover who created all things is the One and Only, Almighty God.

And a third proof of fixed order in the universe rather than chaotic diffusion of matter is the fix order of the constellations.

If the universe is the result of some unprovoked mass ejection of matter in a great uncontrolled path of diffusion, then what explains the fact that the constellations, although complex in order, maintain that established order without flying away from one another in varying directions (non pattern-splay)?

Once again, this does not agree with what is known about the behavior of diffusion from a mass uncontrolled ejection of matter into space.

What controls them and what causes them to be bound together?

The Holy Bible points to the only reasonable answer to these questions in Job 38:31-33.:

Job 38:31-32 Good News Translation (GNT);

31 Can you tie the Pleiades together
or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?

32 Can you guide the stars season by season
and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?

33 Do you know the laws that govern the skies,
and can you make them apply to the earth?

Another thing translation expresses it this way:

Job 38:31-32 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

31 Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?

32 Can you bring out the constellations[a] in their season
and lead the Bear[b] and her cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of heaven?
Can you impose its authority on earth?

These are the words of the Creator Himself, as He reasons with His servant Job. In fact the entire chapter is Almighty God pointing to proof that there must be a Prime Controller and a Prime Mover of all things. And that is He.

Much of humankind has stubbornly rejected the clear proof of God’s existence for the very reasons stated in the Book of Romans in chapter 1 and verses 21 and 22.

Romans 1:21-22 Good News Translation (GNT)

21 They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.

They say they are wise, but they are fools; (GNT)

The similarity between the pattern of the construction of our solar system and that of the tiny atom, as well as the fixed, unchanging order of the constellations gives ample testimony to the existence of God.

Give Him the honor and praise He deserves.

PART TWO

I was taught in public school in 1960 that the solar system is an atomic structure and why.

I was shown diagrams of the solar system and the Bohr model of basic atomic structure side by side as I show in the article ‘Proof’ in an illustration. I was shown diagrams of the solar system and the Bohr model of basic atomic structure side by side as I show in the article ‘Proof’ in an illustration.

Since that time, teaching this truth has disappeared from curriculums and isn’t mentioned anywhere.

It is to cover up flaws in a big bang accidental universe. It cannot explain this order as a result of random diffusion.
The big bang was the only explanation they could think of to explain how the cosmic material got dispersed. But explosion collapse eventually. Evidence indicates the opposite is happening to the universe.

Basic physics never entered their minds.

What does physics 101 teach?

“A ball a rest when put in motion”…This is the beginning to understand the concept of how potential energy gets transformed or converted into kinetic energy.

That happens if the ball at rest is set in motion down a potential gradient slope. It falls some distance or height or potential drop.

So, instead of the initial mass at rest exploding, it was send down such a gradient carving it’s own path due to it’s enormous mass and momentum. Imagine a bullet being fired into a wall; a channel is made from motion and mass.

As it traveled down the slope, the friction caused from resistance to it’s forward momentum created a tremendously super-heated plasma cone that separated nuclear bonds and dispersed materials from the mass into it’s wake..the materials that make the physical universe. We are actually following the ball in what it is leaving behind as it continues it’s path forward.

This model explains why the cosmos shows signs of growth the not collapse. It is because the process is ongoing and has no reason to collapse.

The creation was orderly and it produced order. That’s why we behold order.

The big bang was all they could think of. They had a confirmation bias that excluded a truly objective search for truth. Things that disprove it are squelched and covered up.

The ‘Firmament’ and ‘Space’

Hebrew concept of the firmament above creation

Firmament is a descriptive word of Hebrew origin.

The Hebrew word for this is raqia (pronounced ra-KEE-ah). Biblical scholars understand the raqia to be a solid dome-like structure.

The Big Bang theory offers no explanation for how the space was created for an explosion to occur. How was the space produced and what is it contained within? According to the big bang approach, there is endless open space out there.

But remember, before anything occured the great mass sat at rest. It must have rested on a platform of greater strength of material in order for its weight to rest upon it. Therefore, not all is empty space. There must be a firmament above.

Examining a natural physics approach, the initial mass set in motion down a gradient would create a firmament, a substrate in a semi-softer material (similar to carbon or graphite but extremely densely dark matter) and leave substantial residual dust and debris from the carving.

That dust and debris are both heavy and they effect the disposition and placement of materials along the slope.

As it falls it creates a cascading carpet effect with internal eddies, vortexes, and depressions creating an internal ‘ripple’ effect down slope.

Motion is the ‘start up’ to energy conversion as physics 101 teaches us. And yet, it never entered the minds of scientist to put ‘motion’ into their calculus. Perhaps because ‘initial motion’ necessitates a ‘Prime Mover’ or Master Controller.

Albert Einstein’s theory regarding a “time/space continuum in operation in the universe involves a constant, (k) which is equal to ‘the angle of some fixed slope’.

Fluid dynamics play a key role in the perpetual motion of the cosmos making a time/space continuum possible.

The cascading residual dust plus the angle of slope are key how the universe is laid out like a carpet and provides a stream and direction for “time/space” to flow. It is the same principle of a stream water running continuously down a mountain side.

The Big Bang theory offers no fixed slope for a time/space continuum to exist. The explosion would propel materials in all possible directions. There would be no fixed slope and yet their diagrams mysteriously create one. Also an explosion will separate physical structures but will not separate atomic bonds or structures.

The Big Bang theory offers no fixed slope for a time/space continuum to exist. The explosion would propel materials in all possible directions. There would be no fixed slope and yet their diagrams mysteriously create one. Also an explosion will separate physical structures but will not separate atomic bonds or structures.

“Go to a certain man in the city,” he said to them, “and tell him: ‘The Teacher says, My hour has come; my disciples and I will celebrate the Passover at your house.’”

Nisan 14 begins sundown March 30, 2018

Nisan 14^th begins at sundown March 30,2018 and ends at sundown March 31, 2018.

According to well kept records by the only people who could possibly be an ‘authority’, the Jewish people themselves, this is the night that the actual Passover took place and both Jesus and everyone else who had gathered in Jerusalem that evening where there to honor the occasion. The Bible states that Jesus like everyone else partook of the ritual Passover meal and then immediately after, instituted the Lord’s Supper.

Standard Jewish conversion calendar. Note the date corresponding to Nisan 14

Why Are The Jewish People The Only Legitimate Authority?

Paul states, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:2-3).

The remarks Paul makes above are in reference to his own kinfolk, the Jewish nation of Israel. He knew how hard his people strive to keep the traditions of the Commandments, but could not be obedient in actually doing God’s will in obeying God’s righteous code of conduct. They substituted this kind of obedience with simply meeting the ritual requirements of the Law.

The Jewish people have been fastidious in the keeping of the ritual celebrations God commanded them to keep for thousands of years. It is their source of belief that they are pleasing the God of Abraham.

Yet the devil would have us believe that the Jewish people who have celebrated this occasion far longer than any non Jew even knew it existed, are wrong when it comes to interpreting their own calendar and when their special occasions occur.

Dating and keeping observances like the Passover is what the Jewish people have been faithful in doing for millenia.

This means that when he instituted the meal, it was at the beginning of the 14th, not the end (it was the end of the 13^th, and the beginning of the 14th), and he was killed approximately 21 hours later, still on Nisan 14. After sundown began the next day, Nisan the 15^th.

By the beginning of Nisan 15, Jesus had already died.

Reflect back for a moment to circumstances at the time of the literal  Passover in Egypt and how a day was considered by those given the command to observe it.

At the time God gave his Commandments to Israel, their day began with the evening beginning that particular day.

So, different from how we look at a day in which the evening is at its conclusion, the evening was at the beginning of a day.

So the eve of Nisan 14 is not at its conclusion since that eve is marks the beginning of the following day.

Note God’s instructions:

Exodus 12:18

EasyEnglish

In the first month, you must eat bread without yeast in it. Do this from the evening of the 14^th day until the evening of the 21^st day.

ISV

In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you are to eat unleavened bread.

KJVLite

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.

NHEB

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.

NHEB-HWHY

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.

The evening of Nisan 14 is on the eve of March 30, 2018, which is why the Jewish calendar shows that date corresponding to Nisan 14 and not March 31, 2018.

God himself expressed the importance of keeping this observance according to strict adherance to His instruction. This would include its timing.

Exodus 12

“This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”

Jesus was perfect in his obedience to God’s Law.

Similar Error In The Recent Past

Nisan 14, 2017 and Nisan 14, 2016

Nisan the 14^th began at sundown April 10, 2017 and closed in the western hemisphere Tuesday April the 11th before sundown.

That can be verified by referring to a Hebrew calendar or even the Farmer’s Almanac.

Sundown April 11, 2017 started Nisan the 15^th.

On the night of April the 11th 2017, Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrated the Lord’s Evening Meal the day after Passover, on Nisan 15.

If the original Israelites had done so, they would have died.

Last year (2016), Jehovah;s Witnesses around the world celebrated a full month ahead of Passover in the month of Adar II . They had their celebration on FEBRUARY 25, 2016.  Nisan 14 occurred on April 22, 2016.

Others Jehovah;s Witnesses can’t understand that Preparation day ended at sundown April 10, 2017, that Passover day began at that time, and that that is time when the Israelites locked themselves in their dwellings and quickly ate the meal. While inside that same night, God’s angel passed through Egypt but he passed over the homes that were marked with blood on their doorpost. (Foreshadowing the blood of Christ that covers and protects).

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses can’t seem to be able to tell time. And many who left the Organization because they saw them to be teachers of inaccuracies; still go to them to get information for instance, the proper time for the memorial celebration. They go to a polluted stream expecting to find clean water.

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The‘Golden Image’….A case of Mistaken Identity

It is not about varying arguments about interpreting the prophecy concerning the ‘gentile times’ found in the Book of Daniel.

This article is about how Jehovah’s Witnesses view the prophecy. It accepts the beginning date of 606/607 B.C.E. as the starting point when God removed the crown and scepter of Divine sovereignty. That the period of the “appointed times of the nations” (Gentile Times) was to last 2,520 years till end. And that in correlation with other Scripture, that the end of this period would as well mark the beginning of “the last days”. During these last days, the One with the right to rule (Lord Jesus Christ) would appear and re-establish the presence of Divine rulership.  It does not agree with the common assumption of when this prophetic period expired.

The number “1914″ is a very significant number.

Please remember the title of this article as you read.

After a brief introduction into the subject, you will be directed to other post url’s that contain all of the arithmetic in detail including a mathematical plot of the question of what C.E. year marks the end the Gentile Times.

IF YOU BELIEVE as Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the significance of the number “1914″ in fulfilling the completion of the GGentile Times (appointed times of the nations), then please take note.

Yard to meters….gallons to liters….etc. When going from one standard of measure to another, naturally some mathematical conversion is necessary. That is important to remember.

These facts that are easily verifiable:

The number “1914″ is a number derived from subtracting 606/607 from the number 2,520. That number is: 1914 lunar calendar years that were remaining till expiration when the Common Era calendar came into use. That number is defined therefore as: 1914 lunar-years counting down.

According to the calendar used in the Bible, that “1914″ is equal to 1914 times 360 days; which is equal to 689,040 days.

Our current Common Era calendar is based on a 365 day year. 1914 C.E. is therefore equal to 1914 times 365 days; which is equal to 698,610 days.

They do not equal and therefore are not the same. There is a difference  of 9,570 days between the two calendars . In Common Era years that equals 26.21 years.

Because of this difference, there is a 26.21 common era year deviation from the original “1914″ we started with.

Since “1914″ is a number in a sequence of numbers counting down, mathematically it is a negative number  (-1914) . And because it is used to find the difference between the two calendars, that result is also a negative number (-26.21 C.E.).  

-26.21 C.E. is the conversion factor.

This all reduces to a simple addition of the two numbers.

The mathematics involved in solving this problem is not as straightforward as a person might intuitively think.

The plot below is based on the equation at the bottom.  That equation is the mathematical representation of the question:  What C.E. date corresponds to the end of the Gentile Times?   The associated articles explain what the correct date actually is, as is based on the standard applied mathematics for a problem with these parameters and factors.

According to what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe about the interpretation of this prophecy, the date 1914 C.E. is a false image  (a false positive)  of that  number’s real value. This mistaken identification has altered man’s perception of where he actually stands in the stream of time and events. Please consider Dan. 7:25.

Is 607 B.C.E. a Valid or an Invalid Date?

Is 607B.C.E. worthy to be considered as a valid date or not?

For your consideration.

The use of the word “valid” is critical of course, because it must first be understood:

Valid of or for what exactly?

What purportedly is supposed to have occurred at that time?

The answer is contained in the Holy Scriptures.

The period of the “gentile times” or  “appointed times of  the nations” is an issue of sovereignty,  kingship, and dominion.

Note Ezekiel 21

English Standard Version

25 “And you, O profane and wicked one, prince of Israel, he whose day has come, it he time of your final punishment, 26 thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted. 27 A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.”

“Remove the turban and remove the crown” is the Scriptural demarcation for the start of this period of gentile domination.

This has nothing to do with the physical destruction of the city of Jerusalem.

The city and Temple both were reconstructed shortly after the exile.

What did not return was the nation’s sovereignty.  From the fall of the last king in the Davidic line until the destruction in 70 C.E. by the Romans, Israel existed as a vassal state to a greater national power. (gentile power)

Logically if it were linked to Jerusalem’s actual destruction which was around 587 B.C.E.  the numbers wouldn’t reconcile.

In 2 Chronicles 36:17-23, Almighty God himself through His prophet, stated that the captivity that would mark the beginning of the gentile time period was to last 70 years.

This event marked the withdrawal of God’s sanction of the kingship.

---

New International Version

17 “He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

23 ‘This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”

587 B.C.E., minus the 70 years of captivity period, would produce 517 B.C.E. as the year the release would have to had to occur. But we know for a fact that the captivity ended when King Cyrus conquered Babylon between 539 B.C.E. and 536 B.C.E. This would mean the captivity was only some 50 years long and not the 70 God had pronounced.

Therefore, it is impossible for the destruction of the city of Jerusalem to be the starting point of uninterrupted gentile domination of the Earth.

The gentile times was to be a period during which there would be an absence of a Divinely sanctioned representative of Sovereignty ruling in kingdom of man.

There are indicators that mark when this time period began.

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King Josiah was the last faithful king who sat on the throne of his forefather David.

He died about 609 B.C.E. and was succeeded by his son Jehoiakim who reigned between 609 and 598 B.C.E.

Jehoiakim was an unfaithful despot who was overthrown.

The overthrowing of the anointed King of Judah has to be a marking point because “the turban was lifted and the crown removed” from Jehoiakim because of his rebellion against God.

2 Kings chapter 24:1-6 chronicles these events.  Jehoiakim is there described as a “vassal” to the gentile King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel reports that in third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Jerusalem came under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar (606/607 B.C.E.)

Daniel 1:1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

1 “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it.”

His son Jehoiachin was also wicked. He reigned a brief 3 months and was led off into captivity in shackles to Babylon by the king of the gentiles; well before Jerusalem was destroyed.

As regards his successor Zedekiah, there is a notable sign too about his appointment.

Another apparent marker of Israel’s having been yielded over to continuing gentile domination was the installation of Zedekiah by the gentile King, Nebuchadnezzar.

Wiliam F. Albright dates the start of Zedekiah’s reign to 606 BCE, while E. R. Thiele gives the start in 597 BCE.[1] On that reckoning, Zedekiah was born in c. 627 BCE or 618 BCE, being twenty-one on becoming king. Zedekiah’s reign ended with the siege and fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar II, which both Albright and Thiele agree took place in 586 BCE, though more recent evidence dates the fall of Jerusalem to 587 BCE.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zedekiah

Any of these time frames, place the effects of gentile domination closer to the death of the last faithful King Josiah,the overthrowing and the carrying off into captivity of the last wicked of king to rule officially, Jehoiachin.

This was the period from 609 to 598 B.C.E.

Again, this is a prophecy about sovereignty and sovereignty has to do with kingship and dominion.

Any date suggested should be marked with signs that indicate a change from Divinely consecrated rulership to uninterrupted rulership by gentile nations.

Truthfully, I do not follow how C.T. Russell and the WTS arrived at the date 607 B.C.E. as a legitimate starting point of the gentile times, but the date itself is consistent with the relevant factors marking their begin.

What isn’t accurate is the teaching that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. and that  the beginning of the appointed times of the nations was linked to that event. (The destruction of the city)

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This is an example of mixing ‘apples’ and ‘oranges’ and causing predictable confusion.

Most people refuse 607 B.C.E. simply because of the false connection to the destruction of Jerusalem. So they hear nothing beyond that error. Oral traditions and not the Holy Scriptures set Jerusalem’s destruction and the desolation as the beginning point the gentile times began. These were effects of that shift that had already been ongoing.

Absent of that, 607 B.C.E. is a year within reason, viable on its own merit.  And, 537 B.CE. + 70 years if captivity equals 607 B.C.E.

Whereas if one claims that the fall of the city of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. was the starting point; that will not reconcile with the date Cyrus freed the captives nor did it mark the beginning of gentiles exercising continuing sovereignty over Israel.

The devil knows that all he need do is slightly distort a reality to succeed in misleading.  This is a mixture of truth and falsehood that must be separated; which means it cannot be accepted in whole as valid, but neither should the interpretation in its entirety be rejected.

C.T. Russell was a mixed seed of good and evil personified.  He drank from two different spiritual cups and became a brook babbling both sweet and bitter water. He in turn, produced an organization and a message of like kind.

This operation of error also involves the projected date 1914 C.E.

1914 lunar years (360 days per year) counting down, cannot equal 1914 common era years (365 days per year). 

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