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Letter to the Editor
Glad to Be a Jehovah Witness
My Story of Growing Up a Jehovah Witness With Severe Ulcerative Colitis
A lot people say JW's claimed that the end of the world would come in 1975, like DH who says a lot of thing but never proves anything, that's what's nice about America. I got acquainted with JW's in 1971 when I was in Nam and by that time had no use for religion or governments and all I thought there was to do is eat, drink and enjoy life. Then I read, "The Truth That Leads To Everlasting Life" and I thought another religious scam, so I sat out to prove they were wrong. I checked every reference I could that they used in that book.
When I got home from Nam in 1972 I went to the Santa Ana Central Library to study things I could not while I was in Nam and found nothing they used wrong. I studied another book and found nothing wrong with it either. There were some people that I should get baptized as the world might end in 1975, but not the Watchtower. Those that were there to save their lives and not there for the love they had built up with the knowledge of God and His Son, well they did not last after 1975 for to long, which just fulfills Matt 16:25, "For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it."
I did not get baptized till 1980 after a lot more studying and proving the truth to myself. The Watchtower organization has made mistakes, but when they have not tried to hide them, they can't as they are written and out there for all to see, but they change and go on. In the Bible of all the persons that God used to represent only one did not make a mistake and the world hung on a tree Acts 5:30. So, if you can find a perfect man run organization they will not let you in. Below is a page from a 1966 Watchtower and for the life of me I can not find were it says the end in 1975.
THE YEAR 1975
At the Baltimore assembly Brother Franz in his closing remarks made some interesting comments regarding the year 1975. He began casually by saying, "Just before I got on the platform a young man came to me and said, 'Say, what does this 1975 mean? Does it mean this, that or any other thing?'" In part, Brother Franz went on to say: 'You have noticed the chart [on pages 31-35 in the book Life Everlasting-in Freedom of the Sons of God].
It shows that 6,000 years of human experience will end in 1975, about nine years from now. What does that mean? Does it mean that God's rest day began 4026 B.C.E.? It could have. The *Life* *Everlasting* book does not say it did not. The book merely presents the chronology. You can accept it or reject it. If that is the case, what does that mean to us? [He went into some length showing the feasibility of the 4026 B.C.E. date as being the beginning of God's rest day.]
'What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?' asked Brother Franz. 'Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could. Does it mean that the attack of Gog of Magog is going to be made on Jehovah's witnesses to wipe them out, then Gog himself will be put out of action? It could. But we are not saying. All things are possible with God. But we are not saying. And don't any of you be specific in saying anything that is going to happen between now and 1975. But the big point of it all is this, dear friends: Time is short. Time is running out, no question about that.
'When we were approaching the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, there was no sign that the Gentile Times were going to end. Conditions on earth gave us no hint of what was to come, even as late as June of that year. Then suddenly there was a murder. World War I broke out. You know the rest. Famines, earthquakes and pestilences followed, as Jesus foretold would happen.
'But what do we have today as we approach 1975? Conditions have not been peaceful. We've been having world wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences and we have these conditions still as we approach 1975. Do these things mean something? These things mean that we're in the "time of the end." And the end has to come sometime. Jesus said: "As these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near." (Luke 21:28) So we know that as we come to 1975 our deliverance is that much nearer.'
"Let us make the most of the time and get in all the good hard work to Jehovah while the opportunity affords," he urged.
In closing, at most assemblies, plans for the coming year were unfolded, to have a large number of district assemblies in the smaller cities throughout each country. Then the happy gatherings were dismissed as they had begun their five-day assemblies, with song and prayer to Jehovah God.
Conventioneers, though somewhat reluctant to leave assembly cities and relinquish the close association of their brothers, nevertheless felt enriched by the spiritual feast they had enjoyed. They were glad to be Jehovah's witnesses. The convention was a most rewarding, prayerful experience for which they were most grateful to Jehovah their God. They were determined to remain on guard and to maintain the glorious spiritual freedom with which they have been blessed.
John Piper
Tags: Jehovah Witness
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