A Bible in Stone? The Jehovah’s Witness’ Errant Biblical Timeline Based on the Great Pyramid

Did you know that the pillar referred to in Isaiah 19:19-20 is actually the Great Pyramid?

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. Isaiah 19:19-20 ESV

Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, believed that

The Great Pyramid, however, proves to be a storehouse of important truth—scientific, historic and prophetic—and its testimony is found to be in perfect accord with the Bible, expressing the prominent features of its truths in beautiful and fitting symbols (314-15). (All quotes come from Thy Kingdom Come, 1908 edition, written by Charles Taze Russell)

While its outward form illustrates the completed results of God’s Plan of Redemption, the inner construction marks and illustrates every prominent feature of that plan as it has developed from age to age, down to its glorious and complete consummation (330).

He also believed that “The old theory that it was built as a vault or tomb for an Egyptian king is unworthy of credence; for, as we shall see, it required more than the wisdom of the present day, to say nothing of that of Egypt four thousand years ago, to design such a structure” (319). Of course, he’s dead wrong in that speculation, since the Great Pyramid was built for Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops in Greek).

How is God’s plan of redemption marked out in the pyramid? By a series of measurements first done by Prof. Piazzi Smyth, and elaborated on by Robert Menzies, which resulted in the “inch=year theory.” All of the predictions made by Charles Taze Russell are based on measurements of various places inside the pyramid that equate an inch with a year. Here is how the inch=year theory is corroborated:

Click on the graphic for an expanded view

Years before this suggestion, that the “Grand Gallery” represents the Christian dispensation, Prof. Smyth had, by astronomical observation, fixed the date of the building of the Pyramid at B. C. 2170; and when Mr. Menzies suggested that the floor-line inches of the “Grand Gallery” represent years, it occurred to some one that, if that theory were true, the measuring of the floor-line backward from the lower edge of the “Grand Gallery,” down the “First Ascending Passage” to its junction with the “Entrance Passage,” and thence upward along the “Entrance Passage” toward the Pyramid’s entrance, should discover some mark or indication in the passage-way to correspond, and thus prove the date of the Pyramid’s construction, and the correctness of the inch=year theory. This, though not unreasonable, was a crucial test, and the service of a civil engineer was obtained to visit the Great Pyramid again and make very accurate measurements of passages, chambers, etc. This was in 1872; and the report of this gentleman was confirmatory to the last degree. His measurements show the floor-line just described to be 2170 ½ inches to a very finely ruled line in the walls of the “Entrance Passage.” Thus the date of its construction is doubly attested, while the floor-lines of its passages are shown to be scrolls of history and chronology, which shall yet be generally heard as “a Witness unto the Lord in the land of Egypt” (337).

What sort of redemptive plan do the pyramid’s measurements indicate? Such things as the death of Jacob, the date of the Exodus, the time of Christ’s [invisible] second advent in October, 1874, and “the four years from 1910 to the end of 1914, indicated thus in the Great Pyramid, will doubtless be a time of ‘fiery trial’ upon the Church (I Cor. 3:15)…” (364). The reference to “the Church” is what Jehovah’s Witnesses call “Christendom,” a derogatory term they use for those who claim to be Christian but are actually outside the fold, because they are not a part of the true church of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The “fiery trial upon the Church” never occurred. None of the prophecies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have ever materialized, making the Watchtower a false prophet (it only takes one failed prophecy to make one a false prophet). (The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is the official name of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.) The whole inch=year theory was wrong from the beginning. Its entire scheme was based on a completion of the Great Pyramid in 2170 -- but the pyramid was actually completed around 2550 BC. None of this has been lost on the Watchtower however. They have made countless revisions in their predictions and literature in a hopeless battle to validate this and other false prophecies. Russell himself massaged his pyramid predictions to try to get them to more closely match his notions, and changed his measurements in the various editions of Thy Kingdom Come (ref. Eric Francke’s “A Pyramid Scheme: How C.T. Russell’s Great Pyramid Changed with the Times”).

The best way to show a Jehovah’s Witness the Watchtower’s error is with their own words. On page 374, Russell wrote:

Some may scoff at the testimony of this stone “Witness,” as they also scoff at God’s written Word; but to their scoffs we answer: Account for this peculiar fitness of things, or else venture to prophesy of the future, and see how your prophecies will result. Prove to us that it requires no inspiration to foretell future events. Show us a sample of worldly wisdom. “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and show us what will happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods [mighty ones].”—Isa. 41:21-23 (374).

The Watchtower has failed to accurately declare the things to come, failing its own test, and thereby warranting the righteous judgment of God in Isaiah 41:24: “Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.”

If you happen to encounter a Jehovah’s Witness, be respectful and patient with them. It’s helpful to be able to point out the false prophecies of the Watchtower, but do so with gentleness and respect. Asking them to come back at another time may give you the time you need to do a little advance preparation, so that you can introduce them to their real mediator, not the Watchtower, but rather Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

You can read or download Thy Kingdom Come here.

photo credit: NidalM