Rehashing of the “millions will never die” slogan
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To begin with, we remind below of two excerpts from the Watchtower Society’s publications which will show why they has returned to the catchy slogan of “millions who will not die:”
The “Millions Campaign” lasted for some time, and a great witness was given by this means. Newspaper notices and billboards with the words “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” were used to bring it to public attention. So extensive was the campaign that the slogan has been remembered through the years. Recalling the effect of the “Millions Campaign,” Rufus Chappell writes: “We had offered the publication Millions Now Living Will Never Die in and around Zion [Illinois] and the results were of interest. I remember a large, flashing electric sign over the Waukegan Dry Cleaners building on North Sheridan Road about five miles from Zion, which said, ‘We Dye for the Millions Now Living Who Will Never Die.’ This was a very popular subject at that time, and many people had questioned the phrase and learned the truth from this publication.” (1975 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses p. 127).
The campaign with the new book Millions Now Living Will Never Die! was vigorously carried on at this time, necessitating the printing and distribution of large quantities of copies of it. On this same subject public lectures, together with much newspaper advertising, were conducted the world over. In fact the campaign was so impressive that the title itself is still a byword among many in America and Europe to this day. (The Watchtower May 15, 1955 p. 297).
Despite the above, it is interesting that the promise expressed in the words: “Proof Conclusive that Millions now Living will never Die” has disappeared from the cover and the title page of the 1928 edition of the book The Harp of God.
The Watchtower Society, encouraged by the former success of the well-known slogan, and the fact that only few have remembered to what years and expectations it was bound, have come back to it recently. It was given a slightly different meaning, no longer making connection to 1925, but with “the generation of 1914” now!
It was no longer associated with people of other religions, only with Jehovah’s Witnesses, who become more numerous with time. The term “millions who will not die,” was taught in stages. At the beginning, when the population of the followers was too small they taught about “many who will not die” (at that point there was not even one million Jehovah’s Witnesses yet):
But note this too: before the service year of Jehovah’s witnesses ended there were 871,737 persons who associated themselves with Jehovah’s witnesses and did ministerial work. (The Watchtower January 1, 1960 p. 19).
Will Many Now Living Never Die? (The Watchtower April 1, 1959 p. 217).
Associate with the multitudes who are living for Jehovah’s new world and who now form a New World society. Serve Jehovah, his King and the Kingdom alongside these dedicated witnesses of the Most High. Embrace their Scriptural hope and be among the many persons now living who will never die. (The Watchtower April 1, 1959 p. 219).
God will view such persons as spiritually healthy and they may be among the many now living who will never die, entering into God’s righteous new order after his kingdom has done away with all those who, from God’s viewpoint, are spiritually ulcerous and leprous. (The Watchtower August 15, 1966 p. 502).
Many Now Living Will Never Die (The Watchtower August 1, 1974 p. 480).
Many Now Living Will Never Die (The Watchtower 01.01 1979 p. 32).
Slogan about “many who will not die” was in use until 1984.
See The Watchtower: October 1, 1979 p. 32; April 1, 1980 p. 31; Awake!: October 8, 1980 p. 32; March 8, 1981 p. 32; November 22, 1981 p. 32; May 22, 1982 p. 31; April 8, 1984 p. 31; November 22, 1984 p. 32.
The “new” slogan of “millions who will not die” was introduced in the middle of the eighties in the 20th century when the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses reached 2 million. The “new” slogan referred to its version of the years 1918-1925:
All the 2,501,722 loyal publishers of the Kingdom... (The Watchtower January 1, 1984 p. 30).
Millions Get Ready for Uninterrupted Life on Earth (The Watchtower October 1, 1983 p. 13).
Why Say “Millions Now Alive”?
The eyebrow-raising declaration “Millions now alive will never die off our earth” is not based upon a mere human mathematical calculation (...) There are cogent Scriptural grounds for expecting “millions now alive” to survive. (The Watchtower October 1, 1983 p. 16; See pp. 8).
So, then, the statement can now be made with confidence and with due foresight, “Millions now alive will never die off our earth.” (The Watchtower October 1, 1983 p. 17).
Today, literally ‘millions of those who will never die’ have been added to the ranks of these loyal servants. (The Watchtower January 1, 1985 p. 17).
Millions Now Living Will Never Die. This is no wild assertion. There are sound reasons to believe it. (Awake! January 8, 1986 p. 31).
Like Noah, we are entrusted with a lifesaving work but this time looking to the salvation of ‘millions now living who may never die.’ (The Watchtower January 1, 1986 pp. 15-18 par. 2).
Millions of people living today were born in the nuclear age and expect to die in it – if they do not die because of it. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not share that gloomy outlook. (Awake! August 22, 1988 p. 10).
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
This is no wild assertion. There are sound reasons to believe it. The Watchtower and Awake! magazines regularly point to these Bible-based reasons. Send only $10 and you will receive both magazines (four copies a month) for one year, postpaid. (Awake! May 22, 1989 p. 32).
Jehovah’s name will be revered, sanctified, not only by millions now living who need never die but also by thousands of millions of humankind whom he will call forth from their graves during his thousand-year Kingdom rule. They will have the opportunity of living on a paradise earth forever. (The Watchtower January 1, 1990 p. 14).
The slogan about “millions” reappeared about 70 years after 1914. And then it started disappearing after 1990. Did someone in the Watchtower Society notice that the slogan of millions resembled too much the year 1925 and its unfulfilled hopes?
On top, there is also another passage of the Watchtower Society’s literature that shows a sad image of those who supposedly were not to die and the future of those who had similar intentions:
Since the end of Satan’s world is so close, sheeplike Christians would dearly enjoy living until Jehovah’s sovereignty is vindicated during the coming tribulation on Babylon the Great and the rest of Satan’s world. (...) For a great number, it has not worked out that way. Many who had hoped to be among the “millions” who would never die have indeed died. (...) Clearly, more will die before the end comes. (The Watchtower February 15, 1995 p. 9).
We also quote the opinion issued by Raymond Franz (1922-2010), a former member of the Jehovah’s Witness’ Governing Body (1971- 1980) who summarized the old and new interpretation of “millions who will not die,” in the following way:
Although the Society has occasionally employed the catchy slogan “Millions now living will never die,” and called attention to the fact that Witness membership has reached the multimillion range, they gloss over an obvious misrepresentation. The claim that “Millions now living will never die” was not made to people living in the 1990s or the 2000s. It was made to people in the first half of the 1920s. Only a fraction of the approximately 5.9 million members of Jehovah’s Witnesses were living then. Only if there were today more than two million Witnesses around 75 years of age or older could there be any pretense that the prediction was in any way substantiated. This is clearly not the case. 1925, on which the prediction and slogan were based, proved empty of all the things foretold. The teaching was without substance, mere fluff, prophetic fantasy. (Crisis of Conscience R. Franz, 2004 p. 233).
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