Focus on Charles Taze Russell

Many statements have been made to the effect that all of Charles Taze Russell’s expectations concerning 1914 were a failure. However, for those familiar with Russell’s writings, it is obvious that what is being said is not entirely true. Yes, not all Russell expected for 1914 came to pass, but his main expectation, that the “time of trouble” was to begin in 1914, we believe did come true.

The truth is that Russell was not expecting all human governments to be immediately overthrown in 1914. Russell did make some statements of which he later acknowledged that he was wrong, but this does not mean that the year 1914 itself was a failure. His expectations concerning the “change” of the church by 1914 or end of 1915 and the New Covenant established with Israel by end of the 1915 did fail. He expected the harvest to end in 1914 (or 1915), but after 1914 he believed that the harvest had not ended. These expectations did not come true in 1914, but other expectations did come true. He also expected that anarchy would set in, especially upon the nations called “Christendom”, by the end of 1915. Of course, Russell never claimed to be making “prophecies”, nor did he claim that his calculations were infallible. Indeed, he disclaimed such many times, and even cautioned several times that he could be wrong concerning what was expected at 1914 or 1915.

The events of and following World War I saw the ascendancy of Israel to political autonomy and eventual life as a nation, one of the major steps in the setting up of God’s kingdom. The year 1917 saw the ousting of the Turks from Jerusalem by General Allenby, and Britain’s commitment, through the Balfour Declaration, to establish a homeland for the Jewish people. The Land of Israel reappeared on the world political map.

Did we see the full establishment of God’s Kingdom in 1914/1915? What exactly did Russell expect regarding this? Russell believed that the full setting up of the earthly phase of God’s kingdom would follow the time of trouble that was to begin in 1914; he had stated that he did not know how long that the time of trouble would last, but that he “expected” it to be over shortly after 1914, probably by the end of 1915. He was short-sighted in this regard, but this does not do away with the overall picture.

Please note that we don’t defend each and every statement that Russell said (nor do we believe Russell himself would do so), and Russell himself said over and over all throughout his ministry that his expectations were not infallible, and that he could be wrong on the some things expected at certain certain dates.

Nevertheless, when viewed from God’s standpoint, we are still “shortly after” 1914. Although Russell himself did not think the time of trouble would be this long, he did allow that it could be. Some Bible Students believe that it is possible that the time allotted for this period is 120 years (1914+120=2034), but that these days will be “cut short” some time before they are allowed to reach their end. We do not put this forth as a “prophecy”, nor would we feel anything was wrong if 2034 came and went and nothing had happened as far the full binding of Satan and the destruction of his empire is concerned. All things are in God’s hands.

Russell, after 1904, expected the spiritual phase of God’s Kingdom (which he believed had already been set up over the years from 1874 to 1878) to bring in, not an immediate total destruction of the Gentile Kingdoms, nor that God’s Kingdom would immediately bring peace to the nations in 1914, but rather just the opposite, a time of trouble, which would eventually bring in the Kingdom rulership all over the earth. Before 1904, he had expected the time of trouble to begin before 1914 and end in 1914; but in 1904 he began to see 1914 as the “beginning” — not the end — of the time of trouble. This somewhat overrides all of the earlier statements concerning the consumation of things in 1914.

He certainly didn’t believe that 1914 would be “the end of the world”, as that term is usually used. Early in 1914, an issue of The Bible Students Monthly was issued with the large bold heading “END OF WORLD IN 1914″. Some have quoted the large headline of this tract as proof that Russell was expecting the “end of the world” in 1914. However, such neglect the subheading under the larger headline, which states: “NOT THE VIEW OF PASTOR RUSSELL NOR OF I.B.S.A.” A scan of this is presented below:

Russell viewed the end of the age as a period of time, which had begun in 1874, and, at least after 1904, he believed that it would be over within one or two years after October 1914, although he did state he could not be certain about this. One could say that there was an “age” that ended in 1914, but many Bible Students view the “end of the age” as a period of time covering 1874 to whenever Satan is sealed in the abyss so that he is not able to deceive the nations. Please note that never did Russell prophesy anything, nor did he claim to be a prophet (except that that term can be applied in the broader sense); he never claimed to be an infallible, inspired foreteller of events, and stated such many times.

Many who criticize Russell are often totally ignorant of what Russell taught concerning 1914 between the years of 1904 to 1914. They tend to quote from what Russell wrote before 1904, thus readers do not receive the full picture concerning what Russell wrote in the ten years preceeding 1914.

We are reproducing in separate parts some of the things Russell said concerning 1914, the time of trouble, and the “end of the age”, etc. The main focus of these quotes is between the years of 1904 to 1915, although there are some quotes given before 1904 are in some way relevant.

Note that we do not necessarily agree with everything he said (nor do we believe Russell himself would agree with everything he stated). We also note that in Russell’s day there was no central governing body amongst the Bible Students, and there were some Bible Students who disagreed with many of Russell’s conclusions during the times he made these statements, as one can see from the quotes below. We do believe that many of his statements were overconfident, and some others were overstated. As one can see, however, Russell stated that these were his own surmisings as a result of his study of the prophecies. He never tried to force anyone to accept his expectations. One should also realize that some of his statements were “spur of the moment” or “off the fly” statements that were recorded and put into print.

This page updated November 4, 2009