I came across some more of their bizarre end times views:
From the Adventists Charles Russell inherited an obsession with biblical prophecy concerning the end times. When their prediction of Christ’s return to earth in 1874 proved false, Russell claimed the return was invisible, that actually the date marked Christ’s "second presence," i.e., His elevation to active kingship, the beginning of a forty-year harvest which would culminate in 1914 with the "end of the Gentile times." 1918 was to usher in the millennium.
After the failure of Russell’s prediction, Rutherford wrote that "in 1925 we can expect to witness the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other stalwarts of the Tanach. They will rise again and be restored to perfect humanity in order to be the visible, lawful representatives of the new order of things on earth."8 When 1925 came and went without any sign of the Tanach prophets, the Judge decided that henceforth there would be no further "announced dates," but that "the resurrection of the dead will soon begin. By ‘soon’ we do not mean next year. But we confidently believe that it will happen before another century has passed."
Witnesses now teach that Christ’s "second presence" occurred in 1914, and that Satan was so angered at Christ’s enthronement that he entered into combat with Christ (World War I). This was cut short in 1918 when Christ "cleansed" G-d’s temple (this is variously interpreted by the Witnesses) and "re-created" the deceased (extinct) members of the anointed class, who now reign with Him in heaven. Since that date, Christ has been judging the nations, separating people into "sheep" and "goats", a process that will culminate in the Battle of Armageddon when the combat between Satan and Christ will be resumed as a world-wide holocaust. Arrayed against G-d on the side of Satan will be all organized religions, Christian and non-Christian, as represented in scriptural prophecy by the whore of Babylon. Witnesses believe this battle is imminent (hence their slogan, "Millions now living will never die!"), and that it is their mission to convert people to the "right" side, because no one who opposes G-d’s organization (the New World Society of G-d’s Witnesses) will survive this battle.
In the ensuing millennium, Satan will be bound and the vast majority of mankind will be raised from the graves with physical bodies (i.e. brought back from non-existence) and given a chance to prove their "unbreakable steadfastness" by passing various tests in order to spend eternity on the paradise earth. Clearly, for G-d’s Witnesses the judgment is based "not on deeds done in this life but on what is done during the millennium."10 At the end of the millennium the final test will come when Satan is loosed. Those who join his assault against G-d’s holy ones will be thrown with him and all his hordes into the lake of fire where they will be annihilated.
Witnesses feel compelled to prove themselves worthy to survive Armageddon. Their faithfulness is measured by their zeal in canvassing their neighborhoods and promoting their system. They distribute and sell more than 150 million books and magazines every year, in more than 55 different languages. "Passive members...are not tolerated...We are thus dealing with a movement which aims at world conquest and employs to this end vast sums of money and the most modern methods of propaganda."
- Fr. Alexey Young
