Matthew 24:4
Matthew 24:44Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.
is read by JW publications as Jesus's general warning against false christs and false prophets in the last days — including the Christendom denominations whose preachers, on the Watchtower's reading, have led billions astray. The verse is treated as setup for the composite-sign apologetic (vv. 5-8): false christs, wars, famines, and earthquakes are the things to watch for, all increasing in intensity as evidence of the last days that began in 1914.
Read v. 4 with as a parallel. Jesus warns his disciples not to be misled by people who say "the time is very near now" — exactly what the Watchtower has done since 1879. The verse is not a checklist for spotting Christendom; it is a warning against eschatological urgency that wrests the Olivet Discourse from its first-century context. Pair with the failed-date list (1874, 1914, 1925, 1975) and the changing "this generation" definitions (1914 generation, anointed-overlap, etc.). The very organisation that quotes the verse to mock false christs has produced multiple failed predictions about the timing of Christ's return — and Jesus warned, by name, against exactly that error.