There's no real confusion among Jehovah's Witnesses—not yet anyway. The Society presumes to have it all figured out. One thing ought to be clear, though, and it is this: Jehovah has a Day of Judgment, during which time he will separate people, one from another—the good from the bad—the faithful from the faithless.  However, immediately prior to and an ongoing aspect of Jehovah's day is that there is an apostasy.

Speaking of Christ's presence, Paul wrote to us, saying: "Let no one seduce you in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction."

Unfortunately, Jehovah's Witnesses have been seduced into believing that Paul's prophecy was fulfilled over a thousand years ago when the Catholic institution came into existence; as the original embodiment of the apostasy from Christ's teachings.  Of course, Christendom is an apostasy from the truth. However, it is not reasonable that Jehovah would give, as a signal of Christ's imminent presence, a sign that was fulfilled some 1,700 years ago.  It is more reasonable to believe that the apostasy that precedes Christ's presence is an apostasy among Jehovah's own anointed congregation—such as is already in evidence in the Watchtower's NGO affair, for example.

As for the great influx, as you word it, the prophecy of Haggai says that God will rock all the nations and as a result of those earth-shaking developments the desirable persons from all the nations will be gathered into God's cleansed house of worship. Strictly speaking, then, there is no "great crowd" as of yet. It forms during the tribulation and every member of the so-called great crowd comes out of the tribulation into Jehovah's new world. So, the great ingathering is most likely a re-gathering of those, who by that time will have been stumbled and scattered by the persecutions and tribulations to come.

But, while the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses are not confused as to what the near future holds, what happens when our expectations do not match up with unfolding realities? To be sure, it will be a time of great confusion for Jehovah's Witnesses; for the reason that the Watchtower has indoctrinated us with a false vision of what is to occur during the tribulation. Furthermore, the Watchtower shows no inclination, whatsoever, to even reconsider the prophecies. Their stubborn refusal to listen to any counsel virtually assures us that the arrival of Jehovah's Day will result in great confusion within the organization.

But, that seems to be the means by which Jehovah will cause the separation and final ingathering. If you recall, the apostles had to endure a very difficult period of confusion when, contrary to their mistaken expectations, Christ was killed by the Jews. Jesus even forewarned Peter that Satan had demanded to have the disciples to sift them as wheat. We are due to be subjected to a similar trial of sifting, shaking and confusion that can only be endured by those who actually have faith in Jehovah and Christ.

For example, Isaiah 22:5 says: "For it is the day of confusion and of downtreading and of confounding that the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, has in the valley of the vision."

Ezekiel 7:5-7 reads: "This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, 'A calamity, a unique calamity, look! it is coming. An end itself must come. The end must come; it must awaken for you. Look! It is coming. The garland must come to you, O inhabiter of the land, the time must come, the day is near. There is confusion, and not the shouting of the mountains."

The 1st chapter of Joel foretells the desolation of God's holy place: "Alas for the day; because the day of Jehovah is near, and like a despoiling from the Almighty One it will come! Has not food itself been cut off before our very eyes; from the house of our God, rejoicing and joyfulness? Dried figs have shriveled under their shovels. Storehouses have been laid desolate. Barns have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. O how the domestic animal has sighed! How the droves of cattle have wandered in confusion! For there is no pasturage for them. Also, the droves of the sheep have been the ones made to bear guilt."

Micah 7:4 similarly foretells of a day of confusion: "The day of your watchmen, of your being given attention, must come. Now will occur the confounding of them."

First, it is important to note that people do not necessarily have to be responsive to God's message in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. In fact, if the 1st Century is any indicator, while most people are religious, the majority simply are not interested in worshipping God in spirit and truth. And, those are the only ones that God is looking for. So, the fact that most people don't get it is not important—many do.

But, as for the global aspect of our preaching: Ironically, back before 1914 the brothers didn't see any way that they could evangelize the whole world before the end—as Christ's great prophecy calls for. But, with full faith in God and putting one foot in front of the other, they got to work and came up with some very innovative ideas; like the Photo Drama of Creation and using newspapers and radio broadcasts as well.

Again, sometime during the Second World War, when it appeared to the brothers that the world was about to arrive at Armageddon, the then president of the Watchtower make some quotable remark that it did not appear as if the great crowd was going to be all that great after all.

Now, though, over 50 years later, the Watchtower definitely has the means to reach masses of people around the earth in over 100 languages.

But, the question is whether what we are doing now is actually accomplishing the complete fulfillment of the prophecy that says "And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come."

Over the years the Society has gone back and forth with the idea that at some point Jehovah's Witnesses will issue a sharp denunciatory message of doom to the world. Regrettably, we seem to have settled upon the notion that we have already announced the world's doom.

To illustrate the point, the Society's Revelation Climax book still clings to the absurd idea that various conventions back in the 1920's coincided with angelic trumpet blasts heralding Jehovah's awesome judgments. However, the November 15th, 1981, Watchtower pointed forward to the tribulation when God's judgment messages would be proclaimed. It reads:

"We can expect a similar expansion of our preaching activity now, at this climax of the ages. No doubt, before the "great tribulation" is finished, we will see the greatest witness to God's name and kingdom in the history of this world. And while now the witness yet includes the invitation to come to Jehovah's organization for salvation, the time no doubt will come when the message takes on a harder tone, like a "great war cry." Revelation 16:21 shows that "a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent [nearly 100 pounds] descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great." Hailstones are frozen, hardened water. So this pictures how, at the end, Jehovah's judgment message sent down upon disobedient mankind will be like a barrage of hard-hitting hail. The fact that the plague of hailstones is spoken of as being "unusually great" suggests that at the very end there will be a hard proclamation of Jehovah's "day of vengeance" by Jehovah's servants."

So, which is it? Is there a future period of more intense witnessing in store for Jehovah's Witnesses or have we already accomplished God's work?

The answer is that there is a much more intense phase of kingdom preaching to come during the actual conclusion of the system of things. Perhaps the 10th chapter of Revelation contains the most relevant and vital prophecy that sheds light on a future preaching work. Ironically, though, when the Watchtower stamps prophecies as already having been fulfilled, when in reality they have not been, it only serves to blind Jehovah's Witnesses rather than enlighten us. Unfortunately, that is the case with the 10th chapter of Revelation.

The prophecy in question envisions a "strong angel" coming down out of heaven; "arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet were as fiery pillars, and he had in his hand a little scroll opened." The vision depicts the angel standing astride the earth and sea—as if to lay claim to the planet. The Watchtower rightly identifies that the angel as Christ Jesus at the time when he comes to lay claim to his kingdom over the earth. However, did such a momentous event happen back in 1914 as we presently suppose? Consider closely what the towering angel thundered, saying to John: And the angel that I saw standing on the sea and on the earth raised his right hand to heaven, and by the One who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it, he swore: "There will be no delay any longer; but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news which he declared to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish."

Reasoning on the Watchtower's long-held interpretation: If Christ returned in 1914 how can it reasonably be said that "there will be no delay any longer"? Hasn't that generation all but passed away? Surely, by any sane reckoning the passage of over 80-years is a delay. Furthermore, if Christ came in 1914, how could it possibly be true that the good news was "indeed brought to a finish" back then? According to the Watchtower's own teaching, wasn't that just the beginning of the modern preaching work? How could that prophecy have been fulfilled in 1914, when it pinpoints the moment in history when the sacred secret and the good news are finished?

It is important to establish the fact that the vision has not been fulfilled yet because the concluding part of the vision indicates that there is a final preaching work to be done after the sacred secret and the good news come to their finish. Revelation 10:8-11 foretell this very thing, saying: And the voice that I heard out of heaven is speaking again with me and saying: "Go, take the opened scroll that is in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the earth." And I went away to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me: "Take it and eat it up, and it will make your belly bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." And I took the little scroll out of the hand of the angel and ate it up, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; but when I had eaten it up, my belly was made bitter. And they say to me: "You must prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings."

The instructions to "prophecy again" no doubt have to do with an intense kingdom witness during the tribulation period. Just how that will come about is not clear just yet, but we should not doubt Jehovah's ability to make it happen; in order that all things may be fulfilled.