Watchtower Contradicts The First
Resurrection
In April 1986, the Watchtower stated that because
certain first century "Christians" taught that the resurrection had already
occurred, they were apostates:
Yet, on this one basic point, what
they were teaching as to the time of the resurrection, Paul rightly branded them as
apostates, with whom faithful Christians would not fellowship. [Watchtower 4/1/86, Page
31: "Paul wrote about some in his day: "Their word will spread like gangrene.
Hymenaeus and Philetus are of that number. These very men have deviated from the truth,
saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of
some." (2 Timothy 2:17, 18; see also Matthew 18:6.) There is nothing to indicate that
these men did not believe in God, in the Bible, in Jesus' sacrifice. Yet, on this one
basic point, what they were teaching as to the time of the resurrection, Paul rightly
branded them as apostates, with whom faithful Christians would not fellowship."]
In their lastest history book: Jehovah's
Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom published in 1993, the book shows that the
founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society [now the legal representatives of
Jehovah's Witnessesses] Charles Taze Russell, taught that the resurrection began in 1878:
[The Bible Students] concluded that
... the resurrection to spirit life of those already sleeping in death began then.
[ Proclaimers, Page 632: "Based
on the premise that events of the first century might find parallels in related events
later, they [the early Bible Students associated with C. T. Russell] also concluded that
if Jesus' baptism and anointing in the autumn of 29 C.E. paralleled the beginning of an
invisible presence in 1874, then his riding into Jerusalem as King in the spring of 33
C.E. would point to the spring of 1878 as the time when he would assume his power as
heavenly King. They also thought they would be given their heavenly reward at that time.
When that did not occur, they concluded that since Jesus' anointed followers were to share
with him in the Kingdom, the resurrection to spirit life of those already sleeping in
death began then."]
Russell taught this for the remaining
years of his life. The Watchtower Society was still teaching this in 1925:
It is the understanding of the
consecrated that the sleeping saints were resurrected in 1878.
[Watchtower 2/1/25, Page 371]
By 1927, however, the Watchtower
Society said:
... the resurrection of the sleeping
saints did not take place in 1878. [4]
[Watchtower 5/15/27, Page 151:
"It seems impossible to find anything in these parallel events to indicate the
resurrection of the sleeping saints in 1878... Again referring to the quotation from
Volume III: The conclusion there reached, that the parallels bear upon the resurrection of
the saints, results from the assumption that the Lord was supposed to have taken his power
and begun his reign in 1878, and that therefore he would resurrect his saints at
approximately the same time. But there is nothing to indicate that Jesus Christ took his
power and began his reign in 1878. He could not consistently do so until the expiration of
the Gentile Times... the Gentile Times ended in 1914, and the nations were angry, and it
was the Lord's due time to take possession and oust Satan. Seeing then that the Scriptures
conclusively prove that the Lord Jesus Christ did not take his great power and begin his
reign in 1878, but that he did so in 1914, it follows that the resurrection of the
sleeping saints did not take place in 1878."
This presents a curious situation:
Charles Taze Russell was an apostate according to the 1986 Watchtower, since he declared
that the resurrection had already occurred.
Moreover, the Society says that
Jehovah selected it as His earthly organization in 1918. At that time, they were still
teaching Russell's "apostate" interpretation.
Note: In the Watchtower (06/01/27),
it was stated (on page 165) that the resurrection had in fact taken place in 1918:
"The anointed and faithful ones constitute the temple of God... Such of course
include both the sleeping saints and the faithful ones who afterwards have their
instantaneous change... Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for his saints... it would
hardly seem that he would awaken the sleeping saints until this preparatory work was
completed... it follows, then that the temple of God was brought together in 1918, and
that that marks the time of the resurrection of the sleeping saints."
