a Thousand Years, which was the text of the keynote address to major assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the world in 1969, stated about that promised reign (which would begin at "God's fixed time"): In 1968, a Watchtower article asked: "Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?": Young Witnesses were advised in 1969 to avoid careers requiring lengthy periods of schooling and a 1974 issue of the Kingdom Ministry newsletter commended Witnesses who had sold their homes and property to engage in full-time preaching, adding: "Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end." In a lecture in early 1975, then vice president Fred Franz selected sundown on September 5, 1975, as the end of 6000 years of human history, but cautioned that although the prophecies "could happen" by then, it looked improbable. After 1975 passed without any sign of the expected paradise, The Watchtower described as "unwise" the actions of some Witnesses who had made radical changes in their lives, commenting: "It may be that some who have been serving God have planned their lives according to a mistaken view of just what was to happen on a certain date or in a certain year. They may have, for this reason, put off or neglected things that they otherwise would have cared for ... But it is not advisable for us to set our sights on a certain date, neglecting everyday things we would ordinarily care for as Christians, such as things that we and our families really need." In 1979, in a lecture entitled "Choosing the Best Way of Life", the Watch Tower Society acknowledged responsibility for much of the disappointment around 1975. The following year, a Watchtower article admitted that the leaders of Jehovah's Witnesses had erred in "setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth", and that the Life Everlasting book (1966) had led to "considerable expectation" for 1975, with subsequent statements "that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility." The article added, "It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of the expectation already initiated". Baptism statistics compared with the number of those reporting preaching for 1976–80 showed that many became inactive during