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I was reading some publications jw.org online library about the Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs pertaining to the end of the world, such as this article from which I quote below snippet:

5 What yet unseen event will take place next? Paul stated: “Whenever it is that they are saying: ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them.” The first phase of this “sudden destruction” is the attack against “Babylon the Great,” the world empire of false religion, also known as “the harlot.” (Rev. 17:5, 6, 15) That attack against all forms of false religion, including Christendom, is the start of the “great tribulation.” (Matt. 24:21; 2 Thess. 2:8) For many, this event will come as a surprise. Why? Because up to that point, the harlot will confidently view herself as “a queen” who will “never see mourning.” But she will suddenly discover that she has miscalculated her chances of survival. She will be wiped out rather quickly, as if “in one day.”—Rev. 18:7, 8.

6 God’s Word identifies the harlot’s attacker as a “wild beast” with “ten horns.” A study of the book of Revelation shows that the wild beast refers to the United Nations (UN). “The ten horns” represent all present political powers that support this “scarlet-colored wild beast.”* (Rev. 17:3, 5, 11, 12) How devastating will the attack be? The nations of the UN will plunder the harlot’s wealth, expose her real character, devour her, and “completely burn her.” Her destruction will be final.

What I wanted to know is, is this some modern idea among Jehovah's Witnesses that United Nations will attack religion? Or since when have they believed that this is what those events in the book of Revelation refer to?

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    sounds nearly like a conspiracy theory
    – alec
    Dec 5, 2017 at 0:21
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    @alex That's basically what it is, only it comes from Bible prophecy, so it's not really a "secret". The UN literally has "peace and security" as part of its mission statement.
    – user32540
    Dec 17, 2017 at 15:27

1 Answer 1

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Even before the United Nations existed, Jehovah's Witnesses have held the position that the United Nations is going to destroy false religion. The belief originates from back when its predecessor, the League of Nations, was formed in 1920.

Christian clergymen at that time were heralding the League of Nations as the organization that would bring about the Kingdom of God. This was seen as a big warning sign to the Bible Students at that time, since 1914 was believed to have been when Jesus began ruling over God's Kingdom from heaven, and the League of Nations was clearly being formed as mankind's attempt at world peace, not God's.

Here are some older Watchtower publications which describe these events:

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  • thank you for the answer, @4castle. It's interesting and informative, but I just now realized that your statement "Even before the United Nations existed, Jehovah's Witnesses have held the position that the United Nations is going to destroy false religion." is not in itself supported by the references. I mean, your references do bring out that JWs were of the opinion that the LoN / UN will ultimately fail, but they do not bring out that they would launch an attack on religion. Do you have any old references where specifically the attack on religion by LoN or UN is mentioned?
    – user35972
    Nov 25, 2017 at 16:16
  • @ben.g I've added one more article in order to try to tie things together. The prophecy about the "disgusting thing" of Matthew 24:15-16 is used to identify who would destroy false religion.
    – user32540
    Nov 25, 2017 at 19:39
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    thanks, I can see the explicit statement along those lines in that 1954 "Is World Unity a Dream?" article.
    – user35972
    Nov 25, 2017 at 20:01
  • @4castle Ho bro. You might find this interesting for this sight. w18 April p. 30 Questions From Readers
    – user43190
    Feb 23, 2019 at 16:59
  • @ethos I appreciate your concern. I believe my use of these articles falls under Fair Use due to the quotations being partial, credited, non-commercial, and scholarly in nature, but I will carefully consider editing my answers to direct people to jw.org.
    – user32540
    Feb 23, 2019 at 19:11

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