Read source passages and their interpretations here, or browse the full bibliography for additional works.
Discourse attributed to the Buddha, transmitted in the Aṅguttara Nikāya
Contains an explicit prediction that the true teaching will remain five hundred years rather than one thousand, in the narrative of women’s admission to monastic life.
Text available here
Gotamī’s ordination and five hundred years →
View cited source · suttacentral.net ↗Edition and location
Bhikkhu Sujato English translation, SuttaCentral Bilara published branch; segment identifiers retained as locators.
AN 8.51 §§25–30, with the admission narrative in §§1–24
Marvin R. Vincent
Explains the lightning as the worldwide recognizability of the coming and the trumpet as a summons of God's people.
Text available here
Vincent: a coming visible throughout the world · commentary →
Vincent: the trumpet summons God’s people · commentary →
View cited source · biblehub.com ↗Edition and location
Bible Hub English transcription of Word Studies in the New Testament; exact print edition requires collation.
Matthew 24:24-31
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; unsigned article
Unsigned lead article of The Watch Tower for 1 January 1925. It acknowledges that many expected the church’s change to heavenly glory during 1925 and says this “may not be.”
Text available here
The Watch Tower at the start of 1925: “It may not be” · commentary →
View cited source · archive.org ↗Edition and location
The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Brooklyn), vol. XLVI, no. 1, 1 January 1925, unsigned lead article “Work for the Anointed,” p. 3, paragraph 2, complete. Internet Archive scan of the 1925 volume, page image inspected (leaf 3). Printed paragraph number omitted; italics rendered plain; whitespace normalized.
The Watch Tower, p. 3, paragraph 2
Grace Dangberg
Dangberg distinguishes Wodziwob from Wovoka, examines claims of Christian influence and discusses the reliance on translated or late remembered accounts.
Text available here
How the account reached print · commentary →
Avestan traditional hymn; James Darmesteter English · Avestan hymn; historical author unknown
Saoshyant and helpers restore an immortal world and overcome deceit; distinguish hymn from later Pahlavi expansions.
Text available here
Resurrection and the renewal of the world →
View cited source · avesta.org ↗Edition and location
Peterson digital edition, 1995, spelling normalized; Darmesteter SBE American edition 1898 as webpage identifies
Yasht 19.88–96; especially 89–90 and 92–96
Zoroastrian Middle Persian compilers; English E. W. West
The Zand-i Wahman Yasn is a Middle Persian apocalypse. It presents future upheaval and restoration through a dialogue between Zartosht and Ohrmazd.
Text available here
Peshotan comes to restore the religion →
Hebrew Bible · Book of Zechariah
Zechariah describes a crisis at Jerusalem, the splitting of the Mount of Olives, flowing waters, and divine kingship over the earth. These connected images are central to later readings of the city’s end-times role.
Text available here
Zechariah 14: the Lord stands on the Mount of Olives →
Church of Christ (Temple Lot); Otto Fetting, selected article
Volume 5, no. 5, May 1928, printed pp. 69–70: Manifestation Received By Apostle Otto Fetting. Complete original newspaper text.
Text available here
Start the temple in 1929; finish within seven years →
Fetting’s first reported messenger visit →
Fetting’s twelfth visitation →
The original 1928 printing and the temple deadline · commentary →
What the first printed account preserves · commentary →
Later instructions on baptism and the temple · commentary →
Later instructions on baptism and the temple · commentary →
View cited source · stavamediastorage001.blob.core.windows.net · PDF ↗Edition and location
Volume 4, no. 5, May 1927, printed pp. 69–70: A Message from “The Messenger.” Complete first-visit account with editorial introduction and Fetting’s closing signature; the separately headed second visit is outside this selection.
Complete first-visit account, printed pp. 69–70; later numbered Message 1
Unsigned articles; C. T. Russell, editor
The 1880 issues of Zion’s Watch Tower, the Pittsburgh monthly edited by C. T. Russell. Its articles date Christ’s presence from 1874, treat 1878 as a turning point, expect the saints’ change by the fall of 1881 and end the times of the Gentiles in 1914.
Text available here
Zion’s Watch Tower, 1880: the 1335 days end in 1874; trouble ends with the Gentile times in 1914 · commentary →
Zion’s Watch Tower, 1880: the 1335 days end in 1874; trouble ends with the Gentile times in 1914 · commentary →
Zion’s Watch Tower, December 1880: the saints changed probably by the fall of 1881 · commentary →
View cited source · archive.org ↗Edition and location
Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Pittsburgh), vol. II, no. 2, August 1880, unsigned lead article “A Reason for the Hope: Dialogue,” the Watchman’s answers, issue p. 2 (reprint pagination [124]). Witness: the Watch Tower Society’s later reprint typesetting of the 1879–1881 issues, Internet Archive item magazines-zions-watchtower-and-herald-christ-presence-1880, leaf 62, page image inspected. Selected units: the paragraph “Another prophetic proof” through “to meet Him in the air.” and the paragraph “Again we have found the word” through “consumed all earthly kingdoms.”; the intervening paragraph is omitted and marked “…”. Italics rendered plain; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized. The print reading “years. or until the autumn of 1881” is retained.
August 1880 p. 2; December 1880 p. 7
Articles signed A. D. J. or unsigned
The 1881 issues of Zion’s Watch Tower, a monthly published at Pittsburgh, in which readers address questions to “Brother Russell.” Articles that year discuss expectations for the fall of 1881 and reject other groups’ hopes based on the “Mother Shipton” rhyme and the Great Pyramid.
Text available here
“A. D. J.”: the saints’ change by the fall of 1881 · commentary →
Zion’s Watch Tower on the 1881 hopes built on the rhyme · commentary →
Zion’s Watch Tower after October 1881: the seven years of favor ended and “the door was shut” · commentary →
View cited source · archive.org ↗Edition and location
Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Pittsburgh), January 1881, article “How Long, O Lord?” signed “A. D. J.”, issue pp. 4–5 (reprint pagination [180]–[181]). Witness: the Watch Tower Society’s later reprint typesetting of the 1879–1881 issues (bracketed reprint page numbers), Internet Archive item magazines-zions-watchtower-and-herald-christ-presence-1881, leaves 6–7, page images inspected. Selected unit: from “The laying of the foundation-stone” through “the time given for building.” (the paragraph continues). Line-end hyphenation joined; italics rendered plain; whitespace normalized. The print reading “rest. and” (Dan. xii. 13 quotation) is retained.
January 1881 pp. 4–5; May 1881 p. 5
Zion’s Watch Tower (C. T. Russell, editor)
Zion’s Watch Tower for 1904, edited by C. T. Russell. Its article of 15 November, “Further Confirmation of Our Chronology,” draws the millennial day of a thousand years from the end of the Gentile Times in October 1914, and a millennial reign of 1000 years from 1874.
Text available here
Zion’s Watch Tower, 15 November 1904: the millennial day from October 1914 and the Millennium from 1874 · commentary →
View cited source · archive.org ↗Edition and location
Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (Allegheny, Pa.), 15 November 1904, unsigned article “Further Confirmation of Our Chronology,” pp. 343–344 (reprint p. [3460]): the paragraph on Diagram No. 3 from “Diagram No. 3.—This diagram presupposes” through “the end of the millennial day.”; the first two sentences of the next paragraph; and the paragraph on Diagram No. 4. Diagram No. 3 marks “1000 Yrs” after “1914 A.D.” with the words “Restoration by second Adam”; Diagram No. 4 marks a “Millennial reign 1000 Years” from the “End of 1874 AD” to the “End of 7000 yrs after Adam’s fall.” Read in the Watch Tower Society’s reprint of the magazine: Internet Archive item magazines-zions-watchtower-and-herald-christ-presence-1904, BookReader leaves 165 (running head “November 15, 1904”) and 166. Transcribed from the page images. Small capitals rendered in title case (“Diagram”, “Dawn”) or with capitals (“A. D.”, “B. C.”); “Millenium” kept as printed; line-end hyphenation joined; whitespace normalized; omissions marked “…”. C. T. Russell was editor.
pp. 343–344