Prophets?

I keep seeing Jehovah’s Witness saying that we never claimed to be prophets. Saying you’re a prophet doesn’t make you one, just like saying you’re not a prophet doesn’t automatically excuse you. According to the Bible, what makes someone a prophet is whether they speak in Jehovah’s name and whether those words come true (Deut. 18:20–22). If everything comes to pass, they’re a true prophet. If even one thing fails, they’re a false prophet. It’s that simple.

Let’s look at a very specific claim the Watchtower Society made. They printed for years on the inside cover of the Awake! magazine until 1995

“This magazine builds confidence in the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure new order before the generation that saw 1914 passes away.”

Let’s ask some simple questions Who printed this statement?

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Did the Creator actually promise this? There’s no scriptural record of Jehovah saying this. Did it come to pass? No,the generation of 1914 has passed. So who is being misrepresented here? The Creator.

If Jehovah did not say it, but they said He did, that is false prophecy. It doesn’t matter if they claim not to be inspired prophets, the test is whether they claimed to speak for God and whether it came true.

Ironically, The Watchtower magazine itself once condemned such behavior in others

“True, there have been those in times past who predicted an ‘end to the world,’ even announcing a specific date… Yet nothing happened. The end did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing was the full measure of evidence required in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.” — Awake! Oct. 8, 1968, p. 23

By their own standard, the Watchtower’s failed predictions also lack the required evidence, and by definition, constitute false prophecy.

This isn’t a “close enough” situation. Biblically, it’s one strike and you’re out.