Do any other denominations agree with the Jehovah Witnesses that Satan was cast to earth in 1914?
Upvote:3
While I find the premise factually incorrect (see the comments), I think it might be important to bring up the fact that there is a legend that Pope Leo XIII had a vision not long before that (1884). In this supposed vision, the Devil was given 100 years to destroy the Church. Other versions of the vision have this happening later in Leo XIII's life and saying that the Devil had "chosen the 20th century." Both of these legends are likely apocryphal.
As to the year 1914, once again, it is relatively easy to show that there have been few years of peace from the 18th century onward. To my knowledge, no major congregation or sizable sect within Christianity holds 1914 to be any more significant than the start of a terrible tragedy. It is certainly not something which is held significant in the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist, etc.
To be honest, this more has the feel of Harold Camping's dubious numerology. (When was the rapture supposed to be again?)
Upvote:3
The claim that 1914 has any such special significance is a vain attempt to point to some world event and claim it is the fulfillment of a prophecy in Scripture, where the prophecy describes an event that is invisible to us and which we have no way to know whether it has happened yet or not. For this reason, you will not find this belief to be a part of Christian doctrine. Quite simply, it is someone's interpretation, which is not authoritative, and the evidence for it being correct is so inconclusive (I probably should say non-existent) that you could never get a large group of people to agree it must be the case.
Unfortunately, I doubt it is possible to find credible/official sources that address this question, but the lack of sources, outside of the Jehovah's Witnesses, that speak to the issue - either for or against - should tell you something.
Additionally, I will point out that 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." This indicates that, however Revelation 12 is understood, Satan has been active on the earth since long before 1914.
Use your own good judgement - it is probably about as good as anyone else's on this question. Do you think a convincing case can be made for 1914 having this significance? Why not any year before then? Isn't 1913 an equally good candidate? One could easily argue any for any number of years before 1914, claiming Satan came down then and was busy putting the events of 1914 into motion for x number of years. Or, one might say the prophecy is yet to come; while there were indeed some bad times in the 20th century, things could have been far, far worse, and there has been a lot of periods of peaceful times since after WWII. Even now, roughly 70 years after WWII, there are some conflicts here and there, but nothing in comparison to WWII. Also, you might look at death counts by war. Given those numbers, the Mongol conquests may have killed more people in the 13th century than WWII in the 20th century!
Finally, I would encourage you to not miss the big picture of Revelation (God judges the wicked, the righteous are saved, Satan is defeated, Jesus Christ reigns victorious, death is no more...) by getting caught up in debates about things which are not clear and cannot be conclusively settled.
Upvote:5
Yes, if you consider dissident groups of JW tradition. In my research I have found at least 3 groups that share this belief to a greater or lesser degree.
These are:
As Testemunhas dos Deuses Santos - Holy Gods Witnesses
The Herald of Christ's Kingdom (Bible Students)
The Dawn Bible Students Association
There are many other JW dissident groups but I could not verify if they still share this belief. Even because some of them doesn't exist anymore.
They are:
Laymen's Home Missionary Movement
Epiphany Bible Students Association
Laodicean Home Missionary Movement (1957-1990)
Pastoral Bible Institute
Watchers of the Morning (1937-1957)
The Christian Millennial Fellowship
The Standfast Bible Students Association
The Elijah Voice Society
The Servants of Yah
New Jerusalem Fellowship (1922-1992)
Old Paths Publications (1925-1961)
Forest Gate Church (1920-1979)
Goshen Fellowship
The Institute of Pyramidology
The Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society
Berean Bible Institute
The New Covenant Believers (Berean Bible Students Church)
Associated Bible Students
Association of Free Bible Students of France
German Bible Students Association
Greek Bible Students Association
International Bible Students of India
Polish Bible Students Association
The year 1914 is used as a basis by Jehovah's Witnesses due to a calculation created by William Miller. As far as I know, William Miller used the same calculation currently used by the Jehovah's Witnesses, but it came to 1843/1844 not 1914.
See the chart below
On the 2520 website you can see more details about the prophecy and Miller's charts.
Seventh-day Adventists use the verse of Daniel 8:14 to get to the year 1844 but no longer use the 2520 year count.
Both Wiliam Miller and Seventh-Day Adventists do not believe that Satan was cast to earth in 1914/1844. William Miller Believe that Christ would come in 1844 and Seventh-Day Adventist believe that in this year Christ started his work as a High Priest on the Heavenly Santuary.
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