"... whats gonna happen? And is it likely that the destruction of the whole wicked system of things will take place at the hands of Jehovah God, the Great Executioner of his judgments against Satan and his wicked organization?

Well, a lot will have to happen [inaudible] to occur by September the fifth, the end of the lunar month of year Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Five, a *LOT* will have to happen. And when you consider how much has to happen and how if it depended on the normal outworking of things it seems very improbable, very unlikely, that all that has to take place in fulfillment of prophecy, will be accomplished by September the fifth, at sundown.

Not to say that God can not bring it about by then. He is almighty, he has his time, and he acts on time. He is a precise timekeeper, and if it's his will to have everything accomplished by September the fifth, sundown, of this year, why it certainly can come to pass.

But then when we see how things are moving along, just gradually, and there is much to be accomplished according to the prophecies, why, we begin to wonder, well, now will *ALL* these things happen in so short a period of time that is left?"

Listen to the full 1 hour audio below:

Compare what Franz was saying with the subsequent 'apology' designed to imply the fault was with the brothers who got carried away.

⁵ In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth. With the appearance of the book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man’s existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975. There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was only a possibility. Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of the expectation already initiated.

 

6 In its issue of July 15, 1976, The Watchtower, commenting on the inadvisability of setting our sights on a certain date, stated: “If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises.” In saying “anyone,” The Watchtower included all disappointed ones of Jehovah’s Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centered on that date.

Watchtower 3/15/1980, pg.17

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