JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Hugo McCord

A religious sect that rejects both the word “church” and “religion” was founded by Charles T. Russell (1852-1916) in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1872, and was designated as the “New World Society,” or the “International Bible Students,” or the “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.” Russell had been influenced by Mrs. Ellen G. White, and he brought over her doctrines of mortal-soul and no-hell from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

At first Russell set “the second advent of our Lord” in “the fall of 1874” (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Brooklyn: International Bible Students Association, 1925, III, 125). Then he changed the date to 1914: “In A. D. 1914 ... Christ Jesus came to the Kingdom” but “unseen to men” (THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE, p. 300, cited by James M. Tolle, AN EXPOSE OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, San Fernando, Ca.; Alexander St. Church of Christ, 1957, pp. 1-3).

This alleged invisible coming of Christ contradicts the Bible, for it says that his coming will be both visible (Revelation 1:7) and audible (1 Thessalonians 4:16). “With the end of A. D. 1914,” wrote Russell, “what God called Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will have passed away” (STUDIES IN SCRIPTURES, ibid., III, 153). This destruction, he said, would include the “Church of Rome” and “all Protestant sects as well” (ibid., p. 154).

When Russell died, “Judge” (one time he was a special judge) Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869-1942) became the new head of the sect. He predicted in a tract published in 1920, MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE, that in 1925 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other saints would return to human perfection here on this earth in a visible way.

A man of 70, said Rutherford, will become young again, and live forever on this earth (MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE, pp. 88-90, cited by A. G. Hobbs, FALSE TESTIMONY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, p. 2). The Society bought a dream mansion at San Diego, Ca., and named it Beth Sarim (“House of Princes”) to be ready for the coming of the patriarchs. Rutherford lived in the mansion until his death in 1942. The mansion was sold, and the tract was withdrawn from circulation.

In 1931, at Columbus, Ohio, “Judge” Rutherford changed the name of the Society to “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” misusing Isaiah 43:10; 42:8. But the name “Jehovah” is not in the Bible. It was invented in 1520 by Petrus Galatinus, confessor for Leo X (B-D-B, p. 218). Even in its correct form it never appears in the New Testament, which calls God’s people “Christians” (1 Pt 4:16).

In 1945 Rutherford’s successor as president, Nathan H. Knorr, started the idea that blood transfusions are sinful, and his followers to this day will let loved ones die rather than allow a transfusion.

In 1950 the Society issued its NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES, removing the inspired writers’ “Lord” and substituting “Jehovah” 237 times. However, since the insertion of “Jehovah” in 1 Pt 3:15 would make Jesus “Jehovah,” that was a place where they left the inspired word “Lord” in place.

They made Jesus “a god” (John 1:1), and so they teach polytheism. Yet they still allow Thomas to call Jesus “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). To them both Jesus and Satan are sons of God. Jesus, like Satan, is a created angel. To them Jesus is mighty but not the Almighty (cf. Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Colossians 2:9). If Jesus is a created being, as they claim, then he created himself (Colossians 1:16; John 1:3). If he had a beginning, as they misuse Revelation 3:14, then he could not have been “first” (Revelation 1:17).

They deny that the Holy Spirit is a person (cf. John 16:13; Romans 8:27; Ephesians 4:30). Sometimes the word “soul” refers to breath or simply biological existence, which they emphasize, but they ignore its use as man’s immortal nature (Matthew 10:28; James 1:21; 5:19; 1 Peter 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Revelation 6:9-10). Man is a soul (Genesis 2:7; Acts 2:41; Romans 13:1) and he has a soul (Exodus 30:15; Luke 12:20; 1 Peter 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Their statement that “immortality” is never applied to men in the Bible can also be said of angels, but they, like men, never die (Luke 20:36; John 11:26; Revelation 14:11). 1 Timothy 6:16 must therefore mean that God is the only source of immortality. Ecclesiastes 9:5 must refer only to dead bodies, for Samuel could talk after dying (1 Samuel 28:13).

To JWs Luke 12:32 was not fulfilled until 1914, but Jesus said it would be fulfilled before some of his apostles died (Mark 9:1).