“Jehovah’s Witnesses,” as they style themselves, have in the past been known as “Millennial Dawnists,” “International Bible Students,” and, contrary to their own wishes but in accord with the facts, “Russellites,” after their founder, C. T. Russell.

Charles Taze Russell was born February 16, 1852 and died October 31, 1916. He was colorful, controversial, zealous, shrewd and unscrupulous. The Russell of Witness literature today is afar (sic) cry from the Russell of history. Such facts as these are engraved upon the pages of authentic history: A. Charles Taze Russell founded a religious cult and used it as a money-making scheme. B. The money that flowed in through the societies he organized was under the control of a holding company in which Russell held 99 percent of the capital. C. He fraudulently advertised and sold wheat at $1.00 a pound which he labeled “miracle wheat,” but which was actually low in quality according to government tests. D. He made a trip around the world in 1912 and sent back for newspaper publication glowing reports about speeches that were never delivered to audiences that never assembled. E. While under oath he repeatedly perjured himself in more than one libel suit which he himself had initiated. F. He was, according to his own admission, guilty of immorality. In court he said: “I am like a jelly fish; I float around here and there; I touch this one and that one, and if she responds, I take her to me, and if not, I float to others.” In spite of his character, hundreds of thousands of zealous and sincere persons have entrusted their eternal destinies to the doctrines he taught.

At the age of 18 Russell organized a Bible class which elected him their “Pastor” when he was 24. In 1879 he founded the paper “Zion’s Watch Tower.” In 1881 he organized “The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society” at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Russell authored six books under the title “Studies in the Scripture”; the first was printed in 1886 and the last in 1904. A seventh volume was added in 1917, a year after Russell’s death. In 1908 headquarters of the movement were set up in Brooklyn, N.Y. It was not until 1931 that the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” was adopted. “Pastor” Russell was the first “President” of the religious organization he founded. He was succeeded by “Judge” J. F. Rutherford, who did much to embellish and strengthen the organization. In 1942 at Rutherford’s death Nathan H. Knorr took the helm.

“Russellism is a mixture of Universalism, Unitarianism, Adventism and Materialism.” Charles Russell and his followers deny that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three beings composing the Godhead, that Jesus was divine (they make him “A God” rather that “God” - John 1:1), that the body of Jesus was raised from the tomb, that punishment is everlasting, that the wicked will be raised, that the soul is immortal, that hell is an eternal reality, that salvation is extended to all the lost and that Jesus died as an atonement for all mankind. Russell taught that Christ and His apostles came to earth in October of 1874 and have been here (invisible, of course) since. He taught that the consummation of the ages and the rule of Christ would come and did come in 1914. According to Rutherford in 1918 Jesus “came to the temple of Jehovah.” They are again predicting, as they have so many times in the past, the end of all human organizations, civil and religious-this time in 1975. But if 1975 comes and goes with an obvious failure of their prophecies, they will find some way to patch it up as they have in the past. [It is obvious that 1975 passed without the prophecy being fulfilled. Only God knows the future (Isaiah 46:10). gm]

I close with the quotation of Russell’s blasphemous statement concerning the Bible and his own “Studies in the Scriptures”:

“If the six volumes of’ ’Scripture Studies’ are practically the Bible, topically arranged with Bible proof tests (sic) 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 them, after he has read them for ten years-if he lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood the 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 of the Bible as such, he would have the light of the Scriptures.” From “The Watchtower,” September 15, 1910, page 298.