Long before doomsday end-time false prophet
Harold Camping came along with his
Family Radio broadcasts predicting the end of the world in
1994 &
May 21, 2011,
Jehovah's Witness founder & "destruction of the earth" predictor
Charles Taze Russell did it first. In fact the
Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the end of the world many times throughout their history.
Larry Wessels, director of
Christian Answers of
Austin, Texas/ Christian Debater (
YouTube channel: CANSWERSTV, see websites: BibleQuery org, HistoryCart com & MuslimHope com), has dealt extensively with Jehovah's Witnesses over the last 30 years (including witnessing for Christ at many of their conventions). Here, Larry Wessels presents a series of informative programs on the Jehovah's Witness religion which was begun by one man named Charles Taze Russell who had no formal theological training but was able to spread his strange & peculiar beliefs throughout the world. This man
Russell even believed that
Revelation 14:6 was talking about him & that
Revelation 8:3 referred to Russell's "
Watch Tower Society."
The beginning of the Jehovah's Witness religion can be traced back to Russell who was a men's clothing manager. Russell was born in
Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1852, was raised as a Presbyterian, but later changed to the
Congregational Church. Russell was unhappy with many church teachings, especially predestination and eternal punishment, so he left the mainline churches for good and at the age of 18 began his own
Bible class consisting of six people. By 1876 his small group of followers elected him as "
Pastor" and the title stuck. Russell's following began to grow in 1879, when he first founded and published a magazine entitled, "
Zion's
Watch Tower and
Herald of Christ's
Presence," which is now known as "
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's
Kingdom." Through this magazine Russell was able to preach doctrines he really believed in, such as
Jesus was not God in the flesh, but rather
Michael the archangel created by Jehovah; the
Trinity (
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) doctrine was Satan- inspired; Christ was not raised bodily from the grave, just spiritually; there is no hell of eternal suffering; Jesus' second coming will not be in the flesh and visible; and the
Holy Spirit is not God. Some of Russell's other teaching included:
Negroes were degraded according to
Gen. 9:22, 25 ("Zion's Watch Tower," 8-1-1898, pp. 229-230); he declared, "Some have a strong desire to worship God, others have a weak desire, and others have no desire at all
..." due to the shape of their heads ("The Watchtower," 3-15-1913, p.84, 667). Russell's passion for date-setting the end of the world and
Armageddon was reflected in his use of the ancient
Egyptian pyramids as his source, particularly the
Great Pyramid at
Gizeh. Russell's Watch Tower literature reflected this belief until his death. Russell's book, "Studies in the
Scripture," vol.
III, chapter ten states. "The testimonies of God's stone witness and prophet, the Great Pyramid in
Egypt...
The Great Pyramid... an outline of the plan of God, past, present, and future". (pp. 313-314, 1903 ed
.). Russell took measurements of the Great Pyramid (a monument to pagan and occultic
Egyptian religion) and then predicted endtime dates with the calculations.
Russell also made claims about so-called "
Miracle Wheat" and "Millennial
Beans" (Russell lost a lawsuit concerning his "
Miracle wheat" -- see
Martin & Klann's excellent book, "Jehovah of the
Watchtower" published by
Bethany House Publishers, with complete documentation on this case and others); he stated that 97% of appendicitis cases are due to "biting of worms near the junction of the transverse colon with the small intestines" and a special medicine offered by the Watch Tower would solve the problem ("
The Watch Tower," Jan. 15, 1912).
Despite Russell's "inspired" teachings he later perjured himself under oath in the Russell vs.
Ross "defamatory liable" case of March17, 1913 by first claiming to understand the
Greek language in which the Bible was originally written.
Russell died on
Halloween in
1916 and was succeeded by a
Missouri lawyer named
Joseph Franklin Rutherford who introduced the name, "Jehovah's Witnesses" at a 1931 convention in
Columbus, Ohio thus freeing followers from previous titles such as "Russellites", "
Millennial Dawnists," and "Wathchtower people."
Rutherford carried on much of Russell's belief in pyramids for most of his presidency as well as adding new beliefs and doctrines (such as devils could be saved, from Rutherford's book "
Angels," p. 43, circa 1934).
The Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be the prophet of God for today as stated in their April 1,
1972 "
Watchtower" magazine, page 197.
The May 15,
1955 "Watchtower" says that the Jehovah's Witnesses compromise Jehovah's channel of communication but is this really true?
Part 3 of 4 part series.
Type "LARRY WESSELS
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES" in Youtube search box for more.
- published: 29 Apr 2011
- views: 4904