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Doctrine changes · Claim record

By 1943 the organisation taught that 'The King's presence or parousia began in 1914', and its 1993 history states that Witnesses 'came to understand that it was in the year 1914 that Christ's invisible presence had begun'.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-presence-1914-by-1943Concerns 1943Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1943 Verified

By 1943 the organisation taught that 'The King's presence or parousia began in 1914', and its 1993 history states that Witnesses 'came to understand that it was in the year 1914 that Christ's invisible presence had begun'. “The Truth Shall Make You Free” (book), 1943Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), 1993

The organisation’s position or later explanation: jv p. 148 (footnote) links the revised chronology to the 1943 book.

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

“The Truth Shall Make You Free” (book), “Chapter on the manner of the King's coming”

1943 · p.324 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

“The King's presence or parousia began in 1914, and then his appearing or epiphaneia at the temple came in 1918.”

Comparing the days of Noah with the present; the OCR shows the page header '324 “THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE”' immediately before the passage.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Scan OCR opened; wording and page confirmed (OCR reads 'Icing's' for 'King's').

Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'in.ernet.dli.2015.128249' (Digital Library of India scan); OCR text downloaded and searched.

Corroborated by. src-jv-1993-ch10-1874-1914

Notes. jv p. 148 (footnote) states the revised chronology 'was published in 1943, in the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free”'.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-tf-1943-presence-1914

Primary JW publication Verified

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), “Chapter 10 — Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth”

1993 · pp.120-148 · p. 133; p. 137; p. 148 (footnote) · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“From Mr. Barbour, editor of that publication, Russell also came to be persuaded that Christ's invisible presence had begun in 1874. … They also came to understand that it was in the year 1914 that Christ's invisible presence had begun”

The organisation's own history of the move from 1874 to 1914.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on wol.jw.org; wording confirmed; pages from page markers (p. 133 and p. 137).

Corroborated by. src-w-1955-0101-early-voices-1874, src-tf-1943-presence-1914

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-jv-1993-ch10-1874-1914

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-doctrine-presence-1914-by-1943/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.