Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses? - Part 1
The religious movement known today as the Jehovah's Witnesses began in Pennsylvania in the 1870s as a Bible class led by Charles Russell. Born on February 16, 1852, in Old Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Russell attended Allegheny City Congregational Church with his parents. In 1868, when challenged on his views of hell, Russell expressed doubts about eternal torment. The following year, he abandoned his church and the Bible.
In 1870, Russell attended a religious meeting led by a Second Adventist speaker named Jonas Wendall. Wendall taught that a person does not have a soul and that unbelievers are simply annihilated. This provided a resolve to Russell's concerns regarding hell.
Two years later Russell organized a Bible class to promote his views. In 1877 he met N. H. Barbour, a man who believed in the invisible return of Christ. Russell, claiming he had already come to this same conclusion, also began to promote this view. Russell published The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence in 1879 and founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1884.
By 1888, Russell's movement had grown to a leadership team of 50 people. Russell had published a series of books and was editing a growing magazine. In his writings Russell predicted that God's judgment and the millennial age would occur by 1914. Because of this teaching, the Russellites were also called Millennial Dawnists. When the prophecies proved untrue, some Russellites left the fold. But because World War I began the same year, many thought Russell's prediction was close enough and that the prophecy would soon be fulfilled.
In modern times, this growing religious movement, now called Jehovah's Witnesses, has continued to expand nationally and internationally. Their headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, is called the Watchtower, and they have their own Bible translation called the New World Translation (NWT). In 2018, the Jehovah's Witnesses' official website (2017 Service Year Report) claimed a worldwide membership of just over 8.4 million members. (to be continued)
We shall continue our look at the Jehovah Witnesses in our next post. Until then, walk with the King & be a blessing.
In His Name & for His Glory,
RL Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
Resource: www.compellingtruth.org
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