Counting the Days to Armageddon: The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Second Presence of Christ

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James Clarke & Co., 1996 - 160 pages
Counting the Days to Armageddon is work is of vital importance for all concerned with the Jehovah's Witness movement. It provides a thorough examination of their eschatological development, treating Watch Tower theology objectively but sympathetically. Crompton also speculates about the future direction of Jehovah's Witness teaching. The book begins with a brief consideration of the biblical foundations of doctrines of the last days, particularly the books of Daniel and Revelation. There follows an outline summary of some of the main aspects of the history of this doctrine within the Protestant mainstream during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and an outline of the Adventist teaching of William Miller (1782-1849) in the U.S.A. During the time following the failure of Miller's expectations of the end of the world, his ideas were developed by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916), prime mover of the Watch Tower movement. Counting the Days to Armageddon explores the way in which Russell amended Miller's ideas, and also the distinctive way in which he handled the Dispensational categorisation of history of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) to create an extension of historicist speculation on the application of prophecy to the modern world. The response of the Watch Tower movement to the failure of Russell's expectations in 1914 is explored, and the new body of doctrine which has replaced Russell's is examined. The ways in which these doctrines have been modified in the past suggest ways in which future doctrine may develop, especially in response to the protracted delay of Armageddon. What is envisaged, in the light of the history of Watch Tower doctrine, is no dramatic collapse of the movement but rather an increasing emphasis upon other, less vulnerable areas of doctrine together with a greater turnover of membership which may, in due course, undermine the movement's stability.

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Contents

Introduction
5
The Scriptural Starting Point
12
The Historicist Millennialist Tradition
17
Dispensationalism
28
The Time is at Hand
35
Parallel Dispensations
43
Interpreting the Book of Daniel
50
Days of Waiting
61
The Great Mulitiude
105
Interpreting the Current Sources
115
The Security of 1914
129
The Response to the Crisis
138
Glossary
143
Dramatis Personae
145
The Seven Trumpets
148
The Seven Plagues
149

The Endtime Calendar
70
The Battle of Armageddon
76
The End of an Era
83
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
95
Continuing Bible Students
150
Bibliography
151
Index
155
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

Robert Crompton is a Methodist minister who was previously a Special Pioneer (evangelist) and a Ministry School instructor with the Witnesses. He holds degrees in philosophy and theology from Durham University.

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