5. History of Jehovah Witnesses

Most people have had a visit by Jehovah’s Witnesses from the local Kingdom Hall. Reactions vary, from rudeness, to hospitality.  Just who are these Witnesses? Are they Christian? Are they a cult? To find these answers we need to examine the facts.

         Today, the active number of Jehovah Witnesses is 6,429,000, and there are 95,919 congregations.[1] In 2003, 258,845 new Jehovah Witnesses were baptized. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the official name, claims to be God’s prophet on Earth.

"The historical facts show that 1919 was the year when the remnant on earth of the 144,000 Kingdom heirs began to be freed from Great Babylon. In that year the message of God's established kingdom began to be preached from house to house and publicly by Jehovah's Christian witnesses in a fearless way. This preaching of the Kingdom as established in 1914 was in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24:14: 'This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations."
Babylon the Great Has Fallen!, 1963, p. 515.[2]

 We acknowledge as the visible organization of Jehovah on earth the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and recognize the Society as the channel or instrument through which Jehovah and Christ Jesus give instruction and meat in due season to the household of faith.
The Watchtower April 15, 1939

 How can somebody know if this organization is speaking for God?   The Jehovah Witnesses give us the answer to this very question.

 “Reasonable persons agree that the only fair method is to examine the evidence on both sides, both for and against a disputed theory. That is how one arrives at the truth.” (Awake, Oct. 22, 1973, page 6)

 “Can there be false religion? It is not a form of religious persecution for anyone to say and to show that another religion is false. It is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.” (Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1963, page 688)  

 A  Short history of the Jehovah Witnesses

 The founder of the Jehovah Witnesses is Charles Taze Russell, who was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on February 16, 1852.   He was the son of Joseph L. and Anna Eliza Russell, young Charles was raised a Congregationalist and spent most of his early years in Allegheny and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, in the year 1868 he found himself losing faith in Churches, Church Creeds, the Bible and God.

 Adventist past
At this point, a chance encounter with Jonas Wendell, a Second Adventist preacher restored his faith.

 Seemingly  by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty dingy hall in Allegheny, Pa., where I heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches.  There, for the first time, I heard something of the view of the Second Adventists, the preacher being Mr. Jonas Wendell. 

Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906 Page 3821 Society’s reprints

 The Adventist movement and it teaching would influence the young Russell in the formation of his doctrines and teachings. The Adventist movement traces it roots back to William Miller a Baptist lay preacher who in 1816 began preaching Christ would return in 1843.  His preaching attracted many from Baptist and mainline churches, close to 50,000 put their trust in Miller’s timing of prophetic events.  When in March 1843 the Lord did not appear, the date was recalculated to March 1844 and then to October 1844.  Miller and the Millerites were disappointed and a shattered people.  Dr. Josiah Litch, a Millerite leader in Philadelphia wrote on October 24^th,

 “It is a cloudy and dark day here—the sheep are scattered—the Lord has not come yet”[3]

 Most of his followers returned to their churches before his death in 1849. Others kept the movement alive and formed into several sects.  These “Adventist” groups included the Advent Christian Chruch, the Life and Advent Union, the Seventh-Day Adventist, and others  which split to form the Watch Tower movement.  David Reed, a former Jehovah’s Witnesses connects the dots between Russell and the “Adventist” movement.

The end of the Civil War in 1865 found former Millerites promoting new dates for the Second Coming.  George Storrs of Brooklyn, New York, who published the Bible Examiner and was instrumental in forming the Life and Advent Union, focused his followers’ hopes on 1870, while a group headed by N.H. Barbour of Rochester, New York, looked to 1873 or 1874, and published their calculations in Barbour’s periodical the Herald of the Morning. ….Barbour and Storrs were among the Adventist leaders who shaped the thinking of a newcomer to the religious scene, teenager Charles Taze Russell.[4]

Charles continued to study under Adventist teachers for sometime and at the age of 18 organized a Bible Study group.  Two Adventist he gave credit to guiding him into greener pastures were Advent Christian Church minister George Stetson and the Bible Examiner’s publisher George Storrs.

Thus I confess indebtedness to Adventists…And here I should and do gratefully mention assistance rendered by Brothers George Stetson and George Storrs, the later the editor of the The Bible Examiner, both now deceased.  The study of the  Word of God with these dear brethren led, step by step, into greener pastures….

Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906, Page 3821 Society’s reprints[5]

 Russell’s Bible study continued and in 1876, when he was 23, his bible study group elected him “Pastor”.  During this time, Russell received a copy of the Herald of the Morning, N. H. Barbour’s magazine that foretold the return of Christ in 1874.  The year of 1874, having since past Russell noticed the group believed Christ returned invisibly in 1874.  The magazine was failing, as many readers refused to accept the invisible Second coming.

The summer of 1876, Russell became the financial backer of the magazine. He was added to the masthead as assistant editor, and he contributed articles and money to the publication.  Russell’s and Barbour’s groups became affiliates.  Since the Lord returned “invisibly” in 1874 they believed the saints would be “Caught away bodily” three and half years later, to be with the Lord in the spring of 1878. (Zion’s Watch Tower, July 15, 1906, Page 3823 Society’s reprints) When the “Catching away” (The rapture) did not occur as expected Barbour and Russell split. Barbour had “New Revelations” to account for the lack of the rapture but Russell and others rejected his “Revelations” .

Zion’s Watch Tower Magazine

Russell would start his own magazine, His new magazine was called Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, and published its first issue in July, 1879.  Russell no longer considered himself a “Adventist” or “Millerite” but considered their movements of God. He viewed these movements as fulfillment of the “Midnight Cry” that the “Bridegroom cometh” in the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Russell held that Christ came invisibly in 1874.

Barbour of Rochester, was we believe, the chosen vessel of God through whom the “Midnight Cry” issued to the sleeping virgins of Christ, announcing a discrepancy of thirty years in some Miller’s calculations…and the Bridegroom due in that morning in 1874…

            If these movements were of God, and if Bros. Miller and Barbour were his instruments, then that “Midnight Cry” based on the prophetic and other statements and evidences, was correct, and the “Bridegroom came” in 1874. We believe that Midnight Cry was of God…

Zion’s Watch Tower, November 1881, Pages 288-289 Society’s reprints[6]

Starting with 6,000 initial issues the publication has grown to 17.8 million issues per month in 106 languages. In 1884, the “Pastor” incorporated “Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society” in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In 1886, the Society published the first of seven volumes entitled Studies in the Scriptures, originally published as The Millennial Dawn.  The seventh volume was edited after his death in 1917.  This volume, the Finished Mystery caused a split in the organization. One group became known as the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” under Rutherford’s leadership and the other as “The Dawn Bible Students Association”

In 1908, the headquarters of the movement was changed to Brooklyn, New York at 17 Hicks Street and became known as the “Brooklyn Tabernacle”. Today large tracts of land are owned by the society, the society also owns are a large up-to-date printing plant, which has produced billions of pieces of literature.  All employees in factory are voluntary and receive a nominal amount of money per month for personal expenses.  (In 1995 that amount was $14.00/month)

Russell’s life was filled with several legal entanglements including a divorce from his wife Maria Ackley who left him after seventeen years of marriage.

In 1897, filing for separation in 1903, the divorce revealed the financial structure of Watch Tower as recorded in his obituary in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 1, 1916.

There was much litigation then that was quite undesirable from the “Pastor’s” point of view regarding alimony for his wife, but it was settled in 1909 by the payment of $6,036 to Mrs. Russell.  The litigation revealed that “Pastor” Russell’s activities in the religious field were carried on through several subsidiary societies and that all of the wealth hat flowed into him through these societies was under the control of a holding company in which the “Pastor” held $990 of the $1,000 capital and two of his followers the other $10.[7]

The teachings of Charles Taze Russell were central to the Watch Tower Society and its membership grew under his direction.  Russell commenting on his Studies in the Scriptures published by the Watchtower wrote,

 If the six volumes of Scripture Studies are practically the Bible, topically arranged with Bible proof texts given, we might not improperly name the volumes the Bible in an arranged form.  That is to say, they are not mere comments on the Bible, but  they are practically the Bible itself….

            Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the Scripture Studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with the, after he has read them for ten years—if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness.  On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references, and had not read a page fo the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures.

The Watchtower, September 15, 1910, Page 298[8]

In 1886, Russell published The Divine Plan of the Ages projecting that 1914 would witness Armageddon and the dawn of Christ’s thousand-year rule on earth. The date was later changed to 1915.

October 31^st, 1916 Russell died aboard a transcontinental train in Texas.  He was buried in Pennsylvania and was succeeded by Judge Rutherford. In Russell’s cemetery, where early Jehovah Witnesses are buried there stands granite pyramid, measuring nine feet at its base with the name WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY with a Cross inside of a crown.

Russell taught and wrote that the Great Pyramid of Gaza was designed by Jehovah and was a blueprint to end-times chronology. This teaching was held by the Jehovah Witnesses till November 15^th 1928 when Judge Rutherford reversed the teaching calling it Satan’s teaching.

Judge Rutherford  (November 1916-1942)

After Russell’s death, there was a contentious battle for control of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.  Russell had prepared detailed written instructions to distribute his authority with several followers. Joseph F. Rutherford served as legal counsel for Russell and the society. Rutherford ignored Russell’s instruction and consolidated power under his authority.

The book Faith on the March, by A.H. Macmillan published in 1957 with Watch Tower approval and still found in Kingdom Hall libraries details the legal battle.

Rutherford consolidated his power in the local congregations by sending “Service directors” to each congregation to handle the literature shipped from Brooklyn. He began to increase their authority and decreased the authority of locally elected elders.  He aimed to set up an organization ruled from the top, a theocratic organization with him being “God’s mouthpiece”.

Rutherford started to change doctrines taught by Russell, including the name of the organization to Jehovah’s Witnesses from International Bible Students Association.  Rutherford also denounced Russell’s “Pyramid” prophecies as an attempt to find God’s will outside of the Scriptures (1929). Rutherford credited the Pyramid to Satan rather then to Jehovah God as Russell attributed it construction.

Many of the followers left the organization as a result of this action, they were later threatened by Rutherford to “suffer destruction” if they did not repent and recognize Jehovah’s will as expressed through the Society.

Beth Sarim

 One of the more embarrassing episodes of Rutherford’s tenure is known as Beth Sarim. Rutherford, prophesied that Abraham and the other prophets of Hebrews 11 would soon rise from the dead by 1925. Beginning in 1920, Rutherford declared,

  "As we have heretofore stated, the great jubilee cycle is due to begin in 1925. At that time the earthly phase of the kingdom shall be recognized."

 How would it be recognized? What event would trigger the ushering in of the kingdom?  Rutherford explained,

  "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection" (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, pp. 89-90).

 Watch Tower members were excited. Jehovah Witnesses saw their organization’s vindication in the eyes of the world. In 1925 when Abraham and the rest of the prophets did not come, some of Rutherford's followers left. Still others believed, the arrival, the Hebrews 11 prophets would be soon. Though it had not occurred by 1929, it was still a topic of much excited anticipation.  Therefore, Rutherford gave instructions to build them a house. In his book, Salvation, Rutherford mentions this house and the purpose for building it.

"At San Diego, California, there is a small piece of land, on which, in the year 1929, there was built a house, which is called and known as Beth Sarim. The Hebrew words Beth Sarim mean `House of the Princes;' and the purpose of acquiring that property and building the house was that there might be some tangible proof that there are those on earth today who fully believe God and Christ Jesus and in His kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth"

 Salvation (p. 311).

 With the house now built, there was nothing to do but wait. In the meantime, Judge Rutherford lived in this house while his wife lived in another part of the country. Moreover, Witnesses waited until 1942 when after the death of Rutherford, the house was sold.

Nathan H.  Knorr  (1944-1977)

 Following Rutherford, Nathan Knorr was immediately elected president and served in the position until June of 1977.  During his tenure, the New World Translation was created which was the first translation by the Watchtower Bible and Tract society.

During his time, the Watch Tower experienced explosive growth. When he began in 1942 there were 98,076 active members by 1977 there were 2,223,538.

Armageddon was to happen in 1975, and young Watch Tower men and women were discouraged from having children and pursuing careers. Knorr was responsible for designing the door-to-door evangelism system used today by the Watch Tower.

Frederick W. Franz ( 1977-1992)

Following Knorr death in June 1977, Fredreick W. Franz a long-time leader and then vice-president was elected president.

After his death, Milton Henschel became the President over the Governing Body.

Henschel passed away in March 2003.

Are today’s Jehovah Witnesses connected with Charles Taze Russell?

 For many Jehovah’s Witnesses some of the teachings of Russell are an embarrassment, and many Jehovah Witnesses repudiate him, denying they follow his teachings.

“But who is preaching the teachings of Pastor Russell? Certainly not Jehovah’s Witnesses! They cannot be accused of following him, for they neither quote him as an authority nor publish nor distribute his writings”[9]

This claim is not borne out in fact. Jehovah Witnesses have quoted Russell many times since his death in 1916.  His is listed as the founder of the Watchtower Organization on the official website’s short history of the modern Jehovah’s Witnesses, says, (Paraphrased)

In the 1870 an unassuming bible Study group started in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.  Charles T. Russell was the main mover of the group. On July 1879, the publication Zion’s Watch Tower was issued…In 1884 it was incorporated with CT Russell as president. [10]

1. In 1923, seven years after the “Pastor’s” demise Judge Rutherford heir to the Russellite throne, wrote a booklet some fifty-odd pages long, entitled World Distress: Why and the Remedy

·               Russell is quoted 16 times

·               His book Studies in the Scriptures is referred to 12 times

·               6 pages at the end of the book advertise Russell’s books

2.  In 1953, the publication Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists or Christians

·               Russell is quoted 5 times

·               His best known works, Plan of the Ages (1886) and The Battle of Armageddon (1897)

3. The Watchtower (October 1, 1953)

·                 Quotes Studies in the Scriptures (4:554)

4. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (1959) a society history

·                 50 pages are devoted to Russell and his contributions

Organization

The Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society controls their followers through a tightly knit organizational structure that is dictated from Brooklyn, New York.  This group is made of the “Heavenly Class” or “Anointed”[11] men (currently 12). Milton Henschel, the president presides over this group.

Future Members are baptized into the society through immersion at the local “Hall” level.  New members must immediately begin training for fieldwork by spending time with older members as they conduct their fieldwork.

·                 Publishers: Are Witnesses who commit 1200 hours per year in “Fieldwork”, including door-to-door recruitment, sidewalk soliciting and book studies with new prospective members.

·                 Pioneers: Are those who dedicate a significantly greater amount of time then 1200 hours

Groups meeting together are called congregations; their meeting place is called a Kingdom Hall

Appointed leaders are called Elders or Overseers, the person who heads the meeting is called Presiding Overseer. The Service Overseer handles service business within the congregation. Ministerial Servants are delegated administrative responsibilities to the elders.

·                 Circuits: Are 20 congregations supervised by a Circuit Overseer.

·                 Districts: Are geographical collections of circuits (22 are in the United States) District Overseer organizes the annual district convention. Here all new “Teachings” and “Rules” from the Governing Body are announced to members and new publications are presented.

·                 Branches: Are collections of Districts

·                 Zones: are Collections of Branches

·                 Headquarters: Brooklyn Society Office

·                 Memorial of Christ Death at Passover: The only day of the year which Jehovah’s Witnesses have ceremony.  This event held in large Auditoriums, requires all members be present along with family, friends and prospective members.  The elements of the Lord’s Supper are passed through the crowd.  Only the “Anointed Class” is allowed to partake of the elements.  No one born after 1914 is eligible for the class.

Kingdom Hall Meetings

5 meetings per Week all members are expected to attend.

1.             Public Talk is held each Sunday

2.             Watchtower Study follows the Public Talk

3.             Theocratic Ministry School is a weekday evening meeting

4.             Service Meeting follows the Theocratic Ministry School

5.             Book Study: Each Witnesses is required to attend a “Book Study” in addition to field work[12].

Authority

The Watchtower Society is absolute authority, The Governing body is vested with all authority including to teach and understand the Bible.  The Watchtower is God’s “Visible organization” on Earth, no dissent is allowed.

·                So Jehovah’s visible organization under Christ is a channel for bringing he divine interpretation of his word to his devoted people.[13]

·                We acknowledge as the visible organization of Jehovah on earth the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and recognize the Society as the channel or instrument through which Jehovah and Christ Jesus give instruction and meat in due season to the household of faith.[14]

·                If we are to walk in the light of truth we must recognize not only Jehovah God as our father but his organization as our “Mother”[15]

·                Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ.  It is essential for life. Doing so be complete in accepting its every aspect.[16]

·                They(Witnesses) must adhere absolutely to the decisions and scriptural understand of the Society because God has given it this authority over his people.[17]

·                Avoid independent thinking…questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization…Fight against independient thinking. [18]

·                To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it.[19]

I

Those who choose to dissent are disfellowshipped.  The congregation is to have nothing to do with the individual. Those in the congregregation are not to have any communication the member.

A disfellowshipped person is cut off from the congregation, and the congregation has nothing to do with him. Those in the congregation will not extend the hand of fellowship to this one, nor will they so much as say “Hello” or “Good-bye”…(The congregation members) will not converse with such a one or show him recognition in any way.[20]

Are only non-Witnesses are allowed to question their religion, but Jehovah Witnesses are not?

Witnesses are not allowed to read any information this is contrary to the Watchtower. This includes material from those who have been disassociated Witnesses, disgruntled Witnesses or someone who was never a Witnesses.

Have no dealings with apostates…For example, what will you do If you receive a letter or some literature, open it, and see right away that it is from an apostate?  Will curiosity cause you to read it, just to see what he has to say? You may even reason: “It wont affect me; I’m too strong in the truth.  And besides, if we have the truth, we have nothing to fear.  The truth will stand the test”  In thinking this way, some have fed their minds upon apostate reasoning and have fallen prey to serious questioning and doubt.[21]

But those who investigating the Jehovah Witnesses are told to question what they believe, to investigate and search out God’s will.

We need to examine not only what we personally believe but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated.  Are its teachings in full harmony with God’s Word, or are they based on the traditions of men?  If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It would be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God’s will is for us, and then to do it.[22]

Can anybody understand the Bible apart from the Jehovah Witnesses’ Watch Tower Organization?

The Jehovah Witnesses believe without the aid of their organization it is impossible to understand the Bible or God’s will.

·                            Rather we should seek for dependent Bible study, rather than for independent Bible study.[23]

·                            He does not impart his holy spirit and understanding and appreciation of his Word apart form his visible organization.[24]

·                            The Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as a whole, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the bible.  For this reason the bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.[25]

·                            They (Questioners) say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such “Bible reading” they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago.[26]

Beliefs of Jehovah Witnesses