The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

The “Seven Times” of Daniel 239
the complete fall of Gentile governments is not indicated as taking
place till nineteen years later, or in about 1934. 8
So what could be expected to take place in 1934? The Herald of
Christ’s Kingdom indicated:
The reasonable deduction is that the great changes and events
which we have heretofore expected to take place in 1914 would, in
view of the foregoing, be logically expected to be in evidence
somewhere around 1934. 9
Other articles followed in the issues of May 15 and June 1 of
the Herald, giving additional evidence for the necessity of these
changes and answering questions from the readers. The changes
evoked much interest among the Bible Students:
Many have freely written us that they have heartily accepted the
conclusions reached. . . .
It has been of special interest to us to receive advice from
brethren in several different quarters telling of how for some
months or years before receiving our recent treatment of the
subject, they had been led to make an exhaustive examination of
the chronology and had arrived at exactly the same conclusions as
those presented in the HERALD with regard to the 19 years
difference in the starting of the Gentile Times , and found that all
the evidences showed that Nebuchadnezzar’s universal kingdom
began in his first year instead of his nineteenth. 10
A-2: The Bible Student controversy on the Gentile times
chronology
However, most Bible Student groups rejected the conclusions of
the Pastoral Bible Institute. The first counterattack came from P. S.
L. Johnson, the founder of the Laymen’s Home Missionary
Movement and editor of its periodical The Present Truth.
8 Ibid., p. 120.
9 Ibid.
10 The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, June 1, 1921, p. 163. Interestingly, the November
1, 1921 issue of the Herald published an article prepared by another Bible Student
in 1915, in which he presented evidence and conclusions practically identical to
those of R. E. Streeter, although he dated the destruction of Jerusalem in 588
instead of 587 B.C.E. The 588 date was adopted by P.B.I. in subsequent issues of
the Herald. As this man had no connection with P.B.I., he preferred to be
anonymous, signing the article with the initials J.A.D. The Beraean Bible Institute,
a Bible Student group with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, also accepted
the conclusions of the P.B.I. editors, as seen from their People’s Paper of July 1
and September 1, 1921, pp. 52, 68.