The reason Jesus supposedly picked the International Bible Students, now known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, as
“God’s sole channel of truth” in 1919,
is because, when Christ allegedly returned in power, taking his place on the heavenly throne on October 22, 1914, Christ’s work had just begun. The next thing on his agenda was to judge among his servants on earth.
By the year 19189 Christ had allegedly judged his church. In the spring of 1919 the selection was made. Jesus supposedly picked the Watchtower Society as God's
“only channel." 10
History tells a different story:
In 1909, Russell wrote these words:
"... of his [Christ’s] presence, he [Jesus] would bring forth from the storehouse of Grace, Wisdom and Truth things ‘new and old,’ and that he would select at that time one special channel through which those blessings would be called to the attention of the household of faith—“ (Watch Tower 1909, October 1, 1909 p. 292, emphasis ours)
What Russell expressed in that 1909 Watch Tower magazine is the understanding that the Watch Tower Society had been selected by Christ as the,
“one special channel,"
long before the year 1919.
In Russell's mind, Jesus Christ's presence began on October 22nd, 1874; not in 1914, which is what the Society teaches today.
Therefore, when Russell penned the words,
"at that time,"
he was speaking of the first time the Society claimed Christ returned; which was in the 1870s!
The exact timing of Christ selecting the Society in those days is given in the 1919 Watchtower magazine:
“Is not the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society the one and only channel which the Lord has used in dispensing his truth continually since the beginning of the harvest period?” (Watchtower April 1, 1919 p. 6414)
In 1919 the Society was teaching an 1874 date for Christ’s return and an 187811 date for the beginning of the “harvest period.”
Therefore, when this “only channel” statement was spelled out, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were teaching that the “harvest period” had begun12 40 years before. So, at that time, the Watchtower Society was claiming they were,
“the one and only channel which the Lord has used in dispensing his truth continually”
since the 1870s — not since 1919 which is the Society’s current teaching.
The beginning of this supposed harvest period was pushed ahead in the early 1940s when the year of Christ’s return was changed from 1874 to 1914. This “one and only channel” claim conveniently moved ahead with the change in dates for the “harvest”13 and “Christ’s return.”
According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses these events go hand in hand. Jesus Christ had to return in power first before he could judge among the churches and reward the Society as “God’s sole channel of truth.”14
What it all comes down to is this: The Watchtower Society claimed that they were “the one and only channel which the Lord has used” 41 years before Jesus supposedly chose them in 1919.
So, if they were the “only channel” God was using from the beginning of the harvest in 1878, then why would Jesus pick them again as “the one and only channel” 41 years later in 1919? The significance of Christ picking the Society in 1919 is completely lost if they were already the “only channel” God was using before that year.
The story continues:
Out of all the Christian sects worldwide, the Watchtower Society was supposedly picked because of their outstanding record of providing,
“the Christian household with food at the proper time.”15
If this really was the case, that between 1914 and 1919 — from the time Jesus Christ allegedly returned in power, to the time he supposedly selected the Watchtower Society as his only channel of communication — the Watchtower Society was providing…
(to read more please click here:
http://richkelsey.org/JW%20ARTICLE.htm)
Endnotes:
8. “Let us now unmistakably identify Jehovah’s channel of communication for our day, that we may continue in his favor. Listen to the inspired answer to the situation, in Matthew 24:45-47 (NW): “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, he will appoint him over all his belongings.” And has he? Yes, particularly since 1919 has it been true that he has appointed the collective body of the anointed remnant over all the visible interests of the Kingdom. The “slave” then became responsible not only for ministering to the needs of the anointed body members but also for taking on the responsibility of preaching the good news of the established Kingdom to people of all nations” (Watchtower, June 15, 1957 p. 370).
9. “By his spirit, the holy spirit, Jehovah God guides or leads his people up to a certain point of time, and thus he did until the time when ‘the comforter’ was taken away, which would necessarily occur when Jesus, the Head of his organization, came to the temple and gathered unto himself those whom he found faithful when he, as the great Judge, began his judgment, in 1918” (Watchtower Publication: Preservation, J.F.Rutherford, 1932 p.p. 193-194).
10. “Is not the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society the one and only channel which the Lord has used in dispensing his truth continually since the beginning of the harvest period?” (Watchtower, April 1, 1919, p. 6414)
11. “...the harvest began in 1878, there is ample and convincing proof. The end of the harvest is due in the spring of 1918" (Watchtower Reprints, May 1, 1918 p. 6243)
12. “For instance, as we look back and note that the Scriptures marked 1873 as the end of six thousand years from Adam to the beginning of the seventh thousand, and the fall of 1874 as the beginning of the forty- year harvest of the Gospel age...” (Watchtower Reprints, July 15, 1894 p. 1675)
13. “The parallel, therefore, would establish definitely that the harvest would close forty years thereafter; to wit, in the spring of A.D. 1918. If this is true, and the evidence is very conclusive that it is true, then we have only a few months in which to labor before the great night settles down when no man can work” (Watchtower, October 1, 1917 p. 6149).
14. “The Watchtower Society is God’s sole channel of truth for people on earth today..., and has proven to be a faithful guide in the interpretation of Bible prophecy” (Watchtower, January 15, 1969 p.51).
15. “Modesty on the part of the faithful and discreet slave class, commissioned to provide the Christian household with food at the proper time, prevents it from presumptuously running ahead and wildly speculating about things that are still unclear” (Watchtower, June 1, 1997 p. 14).