BEST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HISTORY WEBPAGE

To fully understand and comprehend "Who really are Jehovah's Witnesses?", one must first have a basic understanding of their short history. Simply take the time to read this webpage, and you will understand exactly "who is" that Jehovah's Witness with whom you are dealing.

Jehovah's Witnesses originated in the 1870s -- in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jehovah's Witnesses are an offshoot sect from the "Second Adventist" religious movement -- which itself had originated in the 1830s. In the 1830s, a Baptist preacher, in Vermont, named William Miller, began preaching that the "Second Advent" of Jesus Christ would occur sometime between Passover 1843 and Passover 1844. By 1843, there were hundreds of traveling lecturers who had joined William Miller in his "Millerite Movement". There may have been as many as 150,000 Americans who professed some degree of belief in Miller's end-time prediction. Nearly all were Protestants -- Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Christians/Disciples, etc. When the "Second Advent" did not occur by Passover 1844, a little known "Millerite" named Samuel Snow proposed a new, yet specific date -- October 22, 1844 -- a date which William Miller did not personally endorse until the first week of October 1844.

Despite William Miller's lack of support, this new specific date prediction was accepted by nearly all "Millerites" due to the promotion of that prediction by a man named George Storrs. George Storrs was a Millerite lecturer whom William Miller did not like, because George Storrs was also promoting amongst the Millerites his own heretical teachings of "soul sleep" and "conditional immortality". Today's Jehovah's Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, and the Advent Christian Church all received their "soul sleep" and "conditional immortality" doctrines from George Storrs.

Interestingly, about a week prior to October 22, 1844, George Storrs attempted to promote nationwide the belief that the "Second Advent" would occur exactly at 3:00 A.M. on October 22, 1844 (an idea originated by one of George Storrs' fellow Philadelphia area Millerites). George Storrs proclaimed that all "true believers" should flee out of every city and town before 3:00 A.M. on October 22, because GOD was going to destroy every city and town just as GOD had done to Sodom and Gomorrah. Years later, in the 1870s, George Storrs became a mentor of Charles Taze Russell -- the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

After the failure of the October 22, 1844 prediction, 75% or so of Millerites returned to their local churches and orthodox beliefs. However, the more hard-core Millerites (also known as "Adventists", or "Second Adventists") continued to believe in the imminent Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Soon after the failed 1844 predictions, these Millerites, or "Adventists", or "Second Adventists", gradually segmented themselves into separate Second Adventist groups -- primarily based on their "Non-Second Advent" related beliefs -- the Seventh Day Adventists (who believed that Saturday was the true Sabbath); the Advent Christian Church (who did NOT believe in the Trinity, Hellfire, nor Immortal Soul doctrines); and the Evangelical Adventists (whose beliefs were orthodox Christian, except for believing in an imminent Second Advent). There also were some much smaller "Church of God" Second Adventist subgroups, from which Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God eventually developed. These various Second Adventist sects continued to predict Christ's Second Advent to occur for dates in the latter 1840s, in the 1850s, in the 1860s, and in the 1870s.

In the 1860s, there was a spike of "Second Adventist Prophets" who set various dates for the Second Advent of Jesus Christ to occur from 1864 to 1868. After the failure of this flurry of "Second Adventist" predictions, and the negative public backlash from such, most Second Adventist leaders swore off the setting of dates, and simply preached that the Second Advent was imminent, and would occur in the very near future. However, there remained one lone Second Adventist, named Nelson Barbour, who refused to give up on trying to figure out "dates" from Bible prophecies. Nelson Barbour proclaimed 1873/4 as the newest and latest date for the Return of Jesus Christ.

Nelson Barbour's movement attracted roughly 15-20,000 bored Second Adventists who were unable to kick the "Prediction Addiction". One of Barbour's leading supporters was a Second Adventist preacher named Jonas Wendell, who pastored the Advent Christian Church in Allegheny (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania. It was around 1869 that a Pittsburgh teenager named Charles Taze Russell first went to hear Jonas Wendell preach that Christ would return in 1873/4.

After Nelson Barbour's predictions for 1873/4 failed, Barbour attempted to retain his followers (and more importantly - their financial support) by claiming that Christ had in fact returned to the "vicinity of the earth" in October 1874, but that Christ was "invisible". Barbour claimed that the "Second Advent" was actually a 40 year long process, during which Christ was making necessary preparations for His "visible" return (Armageddon), which would occur in October 1914. Since most Second Adventists were by then worn out from having been disappointed multiple times before, most Second Adventists left Barbour to his delusions.

However, a now older Charles Taze Russell, who between 1869 and 1875 had been tutored by Second Adventists George Stetson, who was an Advent Christian Church Evangelist and Pastor (Charles Taze Russell was chosen by Stetson to preach his funeral. In 1879, that funeral was attended by prominent members of the Advent Christian Church, who traveled from all over the nation), and George Storrs, who by then was an "independent" Second Adventist, placed faith in Nelson Barbour's latest teachings to be "The Truth". Russell financially backed Barbour's stalled ministry, and became Assistant Editor of Nelson Barbour's Second Adventist magazine. Barbour, Russell, and a few other Nelson Barbour followers began preaching that the rapture of the remaining living 144,000 heavenly co-rulers would occur on Passover 1878. After that latest prediction failed, Russell and Barbour started squabbling over some other interpretations.

In 1879, Charles Taze Russell split from Nelson Barbour and started publishing his own Second Adventist magazine, called ZION'S WATCH TOWER and HERALD OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE to publish "The Truth" that Jesus Christ had already returned "invisibly", back in 1874, and would return "visibly" in October 1914. Having stolen both Nelson Barbour's teachings and Barbour's mailing list, Charles Taze Russell gradually attracted hundreds of "Prediction Addiction" Second Adventist followers. Interestingly, since 1872, another one of George Storrs' proteges had already been publishing his own monthly religious magazine named THE WATCHTOWER. George Storrs, himself, had earlier published a book entitled The Watch Tower, in 1858.

In 1881, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was formed with William Henry Conley as the First President of the Watch Tower Society. Henry Conley, along with his wife, Sarah Conley, and the Russell family -- Joseph (father), Charles, and Margaret (Charles' sister) were the five original "Bible Students", who gave rise to today's worldwide WatchTower empire of over 7,500,000 followers.

The Conleys and the Russells had been worshipping together since around 1870. Henry Conley was a well-to-do prominent Pittsburgh "steel industry" businessman, who provided most of the money for the large distribution of literature in the WatchTower Society's first year of operation. However, despite the two family's decade-long fellowship, Henry and Sarah Conley gradually disassociated themselves from the Russells and the WatchTower Society, in latter 1882, after Charles Taze Russell started denying the Deity of Jesus Christ (copying many other Second Adventists). The First President of the WatchTower Society eventually rejoined the Presbyterian Church, and became an active supporter and national Board Member of the then inter-denominational Christian and Missionary Alliance. (Interestingly, Charles' sister, Margaret Land, also disassociated from the WatchTower Society after the death of her brother. Thus, three out of the "Five Original Bible Students", whom founded the WatchTower Society, eventually rejected it -- a fact that the WatchTower Society has never acknowledged. Additionally, Charles' wife, Maria F. Russell, the couple's "foster daughter", Rose Ball, and Rose's husband, Ernest Henninges, all three of whom were Directors and Officers of the Watch Tower Society, ALL disassociated themselves from the WatchTower Society while Charles Taze Russell still operated such. And, yes, there have been two female members of the "Governing Body".)

After William H. Conley rejected the WatchTower Society in 1882, it only puttered around up until around the turn of the century. Then, with Russell's prediction that Jesus Christ would "visibly" return in October 1914 being in people's foreseeable future, Russell's movement took on new momentum. By 1914, there were roughly 15-25,000 "International Bible Students", with varying degrees of interest and loyalty affilated with the Watch Tower Society. When Charles Taze Russell's predictions for October 1914 failed, he simply repeated what his Second Adventist predecessors had done decades earlier. Russell reset the date for Jesus Christ's "visible" return for October 1915. However, even before October 1915 arrived, Russell had already started losing what eventually amounted to half or more of his followers -- including losing their financial support.

Charles Taze Russell died a dejected man in October 1916 - interestingly on Halloween (and probably a drug addict given historical "hints" that Russell had been addicted to painkillers his entire adult life). More interestingly, Russell suddenly and unexpectedly died on a return train trip back to Brooklyn from California, where Russell had traveled to close down his recently failed "Secret Gold Mine". Given the recent failure of Russell's trademark prophecy in October 1914, which was quickly followed by the failure of Russell's revised prophecy in October 1915, both of which were then followed in October 1916 by the failure of Russell's secret Gold Mine, which Russell thought he had been led to by GOD to refinance his nearly "bankrupt" religious empire, it is a reasonable speculation that Charles Taze Russell may have committed suicide by overdosing on the painkillers that he always kept with him. [Charles Taze Russell was a longtime speculator in drilling and mining of coal, oil, and natural gas. In a 1898 court decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court even labeled Charles Taze Russell "an experienced oil operator". Click here to go to our separate FINANCIAL BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL.]

Although nearly "broke" financially, the bureaucracy of the WatchTower Society remained, as did several thousand diehards, who then began to teach that Russell was still running the WatchTower Society from heaven. Russell's lawyer and confidante, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, emerged from an internal power struggle to succeed Russell as President of the Watch Tower Society, and leader of its followers. Joseph F. Rutherford needed to both fire up the troops and fill the coffers, so he quickly had a new book published in 1917 which did just that, entitled THE FINISHED MYSTERY. Calling it Russell's posthumous work, "Judge Rutherford" (another fraud -- Rutherford was never an appointed nor elected "judge") set a series of new dates in which he predicted the destruction of the world's religious organizations in 1918 (except for the WatchTower Society); the disintregration of all governments and organized society into chaos from 1919-21; followed by the beginning of Christ's millennial reign on earth. Given the ongoing war in Europe, and the United States being gradually drawn into such, THE FINISHED MYSTERY sold like hotcakes. By the time the United States entered the war in mid 1917, the Watch Tower Society had also moved beyond the bounds of a "neutral" position on the war, and had began actively impeding the war effort. Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower leaders were convicted and imprisoned for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The war ended in 1918, and like many other radicals convicted and imprisoned under that same law, the WatchTower Society's leaders were soon released from prison - in 1919.

Despite the fact that none of Rutherford's predictions for 1918, or 1919, or any other year had or were coming true, Rutherford rallied the troops, and again continued to fill the coffers by publishing revised predictions for 1920-5. Rutherford's MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE prophesied that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be resurrected by 1925 to rule over the earth from the city of Jerusalem. As had always occurred previously, new prophesies brought new followers and new money. By the start of 1922, around 32,000 "Prediction Addicts" were again attending WatchTower meetings. By 1925, that number had skyrocketed to nearly 100,000. However, as had repeatedly occurred in the past, the failed 1925 prediction resulted in the loss of followers, and more importantly, their money. Less than 20,000 followers attended the annual Memorial in 1928.

After 1925, Joseph Rutherford strung his remaining followers along by preaching "any day now". However, some of the remaining older diehards who were still loyal to founder Charles Taze Russell were becoming displeased with Rutherford. Eventually, a nasty guerilla war for the control of the religion broke out between Rutherford and the "Russellites". The Russellites were no match for "Judge Rutherford", who although never a judge, was a ruthless attorney, and as a result, most of the oldest followers of the WatchTower Society gradually left or were kicked out during the 1930s.

During this tumultuous period, from the latter 1920s until his death in 1942, Joseph F. Rutherford changed or dropped many of Charles Taze Russell's original teachings. Many new teachings were added. Teachings dropped included those related to Zionism, pyramidology, and phrenology. The date of Jesus Christ's "invisible presence" was moved from 1874 to 1914. The start of the "last days" was moved from 1799 to 1914. The heavenly resurrection of Christ's co-rulers was moved from 1878 (originally 1874) to 1918. Etc. Etc.

In 1931, Judge Rutherford adopted the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" to distinguish his followers from the many other groups of "Bible Students" scattered throughout the country who had split off and retained Charles Taze Russell's teachings. Rutherford stopped his own "Jehovah's Witnesses" followers from celebrating their birthdays and both Christian and secular holidays. Rutherford also became radically "anti-government", and forbid all expressions of patriotism or other support for the government and the military. Rutherford also became radically "anti-Christianity". Previously, WatchTower followers had viewed other denominations as simply deluded by Satan and needing the correction of the WatchTower Society, but now other denominations became followers of Satan, and the arch-enemies of "Jehovah" and Jehovah's "chosen people" -- the followers of the WatchTower Society.

During the emotionally unsettling times leading up to America's entry into World War II, Rutherford ordered Jehovah's Witnesses to picket and distribute anti-church literature outside of churches on Sunday mornings and evenings. Anti-government literature was distributed house-to-house and paraded on the sidewalks of Main Street America during shopping hours. Not surprisingly, Jehovah's Witnesses were often verbally assaulted, and less often were physically assaulted. This was an intentional strategy to get Rutherford's "gospel" in the newspapers and on the radio. Many small-town mayors unwittingly fell into Rutherford's trap when they used the police to stop [often out-of-town] Jehovah's Witnesses from provoking their local citizenry. Judge Rutherford not only welcomed, but pursued, legal contests. These allowed the Watch Tower Society to take "cherry-picked" incidents and issues all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Once there, time after time SCOTUS overruled local ordinances and laws used to stop the Jehovah's Witnesses from publicly distributing their "gospel". From the latter 1930s through the 1950s, the Watch Tower Society won decision after decision. Civil libertarians hail Jehovah's Witnesses as the group most responsible for the broad interpretation which today's courts give the civil rights and liberties found in the Constitution. [Click here to read some rarely publicized 1940s JWs court cases.]

Prior to Rutherford's death in January 1942, the WatchTower Society had taught that World War II was the start of events leading into Armageddon, which was to occur prior to the expiration of the 40 year generation of 1914, in 1954. However, just like what had occurred with Russell and Rutherford during World War I, none of the Watchtower Society's "prophesies" came true. However, the following "Cold War" gave the Watch Tower Society everything it needed for their fallback message of "any day now". By the early 1950s, the new message was that 6000 years of mankind's existence would end in 1972, and that Christ's Millennium (seventh) would have to start sometime prior to such.

In 1966, the end of the 6000 years was revised from 1972 to 1975, and the Watch Tower Society went on a worldwide campaign of "insinuation" that Armageddon would occur in October 1975. The "October 1975" campaign was the most successful "Prediction Addicts" recruiting campaign since William Miller had predicted the end of the 6000 years for 1843-4, and Nelson Barbour had predicted the end of the 6000 years for 1873-4. Although it had taken the Watch Tower Society from the 1870s until the mid-1960s to reach the 1,000,000th member mark, the "October 1975" campaign allowed the WatchTower Society to go from 1,000,000 members to 2,000,000 members in less than a decade.

After the failure of the "October 1975" prediction, some of those one million new "Prediction Addicts" were gradually lost, but overall there was a huge gain in membership -- with their financial support. Having had decades of experience at this "game", the WatchTower Society had already prepared its members for alternate dates just in case the "October 1975" prediction failed. Even prior to 1975, there had been insinuations that Armageddon might occur in October 1984 (adding 70 years "generation" to 1914) and October 1994 (adding 80 years "generation" to 1914).

With the advent of the internet and the birth of the "information age" in the 1990s, the past history and track record of the Watch Tower Society has been exposed to the world. Not surprisingly, over the past 20 years, the only notable growth in the number of members has either been in third-world countries, or immigrants from third-world countries. Even more significant is the impact that the internet has had on the next date for "Armageddon", which in past decades has been the "seed" for the next "harvest" of "Prediction Addicts".

In 2003, the year 2034 was "trial-runned" as the next date for "Armageddon". That date was computed by adding the supposed 120 years that Noah preached until the Flood to the ever important 1914. The "2034 insinuation" evidently received little enthusiasm from the membership, because it has only been hinted at since. That date is simply too far in the future for those susceptible to the "Prediction Addiction". However, given human nature, and the fact that history will no doubt repeat itself, there likely will be a "world crisis" sometime in the near future which will allow the Watch Tower Society to fire up a new recruiting campaign grounded in a new date, be it 2034, or a closer date more likely to impact current followers.

Since at least the latter 1920s, the WatchTower Society has taught that Armageddon would occur on or before the end of the "generation" that was alive in 1914. First, the WatchTower Society added the Bible's 40 year generation to the year 1914, and arrived at October 1954. Then, even during the ongoing October 1975 campaign, they added the Bible's 70 year generation to the year 1914, and arrived at October 1984, and even added the Bible's 80 year generation to the year 1914, and arrived at October 1994.

Since the Bible has no more generation lengths left that would allow the WatchTower Society to add such to 1914 and still be in the future, the WatchTower Society changed their interpretation of the "generation" teaching to mean nothing more than that some of the LEADERS of the WatchTower Society (both present and future, and born at any time -- not necessarily before 1914) will still be alive when Armageddon occurs. Thus, one of the JWs oldest teachings about "dates" has been reduced to essentially "meaningless" status. Even more recently, the WatchTower Society has again modified its definition of "generation of 1914" to include not only the WatchTower Leaders who were alive in 1914, but also the lifespan of those WatchTower Leaders who were born decades after 1914 but who worked with those Leaders who were alive in 1914. This definition of a "generation" is so ridiculous that it seems to be more of an effort to see just how ludicrous a teaching that its membership will swallow, rather than being a serious biblical interpretation. The fact that the WatchTower leadership even would have the guts to trot out this new definition says much about the quality of the leadership, but even more about the quality of the membership.

**************** ****************

HOW MANY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE THERE?

Numbers. The WatchTower Society typically only publically reports statistics for "active" members, since it teaches that when Armageddon occurs, any member who is not "active" at that time may be judged by their god as not being a true "Jehovah's Witness", and thus will be destroyed along with all other non-JWs.

"Active" means those Jehovah's Witnesses who both regularly attend all of the weekly meetings, and more importantly, who regularly submit monthly reports documenting that they have performed recruiting activities during that month.

There are approximately 7,500,0000 "active" Jehovah's Witnesses scattered throughout the world. Of that 7,500,000 worldwide total, only approximately 1,200,000 "active" Jehovah's Witnesses live in the United States.

Cultural Makeup. The Jehovah's Witnesses started out as an "Anglo-American" religion, with nearly the entire membership being of northern European extraction. Having received only limited acceptance in the United States and in Europe, most membership growth in the past 40 years has been in third world countries in Africa and South/Central America. Even in the United States, people of northern European extraction no longer constitute the majority of the membership. In the United States, roughly 30-35% of Jehovah's Witnesses are Hispanic, and approximately 20-25% of Jehovah's Witnesses are African-American.

Actual Exposure. In the United States, in addition to the 1,200,000 "active" Jehovah's Witnesses, there are another 1,300,000 persons who are people who claim to be Jehovah's Witnesses, but only irregularly attend meetings and/or perform recruiting, or are people who are non-members who are attending some WatchTower meetings (and possibly doing some recruiting) in contemplation of officially becoming Jehovah's Witnesses.

In addition to these 2.5 million Jehovah's Witnesses and potential Jehovah's Witnesses, there very well may be another 2.5 million Americans who once fit into one of the above categories at some point in their past. Many of these people still hold to some of the Jehovah's Witness beliefs and practices, and some may even occasionally identify themselves as "Jehovah's Witnesses".

Thus, out of approximately 310 million persons in the United States, there may be 4 to 5 million persons who hold to some or all of the Jehovah's Witness beliefs and practices, and may claim to be "Jehovah's Witnesses".

For Employers, there tend to be more "Jehovah's Witnesses" percentage-wise living in heavier populated urban areas. Metropolitan employers can roughly estimate that there is one "JW" in any group of 75-100 employees or prospective employees. Employers in mid-size cities can roughly estimate that there is one "JW" in any group of 125-150 employees or prospective employees. Small town employers can probably expect that there is only one "JW" in any group of 3-500 employees or prospective employees.