The latest of the major cults arising and exercising much influence in our country is today known as Jehovah’s Witnesses—a cult which will soon count itself to be 100 years old, though its earlier days are strangely passed by in its more recent literature. Although this cult has always produced an enormous literature (one periodical has 3 million circulation a week) and its members are zealous in the promotion of beliefs and the circulation of books and magazines, it may be surprising that, according to their own statistics, they do not have today in this country—though approaching the century mark—more than one quarter of a million followers.
STRANGE TITLE
The very name Jehovah’s Witnesses, which has been the organization’s official title for the last 30 years, indicates somewhat the basic tenets of the group. “Jehovah’s Witnesses” is a title based upon a phrase found three times in a central passage in one book of the Bible, namely, Isaiah 43:10, 12, and 44:8, in which the Lord says, “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen.” This title deserves more careful study than it has received. In the first place, the words of the Lord were spoken to the people of Israel. In these two chapters of Isaiah, the Lord again and again identifies the people to whom he is speaking as Israel, and sometimes calls them by the name of Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes from which Israel developed. God is speaking as “the king of Israel” (44:6). Whatever else Jehovah’s Witnesses may say, they would not dare to claim that 2,500 years ago, God, speaking through Isaiah, was referring to this cult when he used the phrase, “my servant whom I have chosen,” and yet it is to these “chosen” people that God assigns this particular type of witnessing. The word here translated witness in its various forms is found about 300 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes it is David who is the witness (Isa. 55:4): we read that God has established a testimony in Jacob (Ps. 78:5), or in Joseph (Ps. 81:5). Over 150 times the word is used in reference to the Tabernacle as “the Tabernacle of testimony.” Often it is used in reference to the word of God, as “Thy testimonies are very sure” (Ps. 93:5), and in the 119th Psalm.
This word witness holds great importance in the New Testament Scriptures. Christians are repeatedly exhorted and commanded to be witnesses, but never once are they referred to in the New Testament as “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” It is essential, I think, to enlarge upon the evidence here. The Holy Spirit has been sent to bear witness of Christ (John 15:26). All Christians are to be witnesses of Christ (John 15:27; Acts 3:15; 5:32; 10:39; and 22:15). The Apostle Peter says that he was a witness “of the sufferings of Christ” (1 Pet. 5:1). The Apostles were especially to be the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 4:33; 10:41; 13:31). Our Lord just before his ascension told the disciples that they were to be witnesses of the things concerning himself (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8). Moreover, the Apostle Peter reminds us that it is to Christ that all the prophets bear witness (Acts 10:43), and this includes Isaiah. One verse in the New Testament does indeed contain the phrase “the witness of God.” But this is how that phrase is used: “… the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son. And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:9–11).
This modern cult, in taking the title of Jehovah’s Witnesses, thus identifies itself with a pre-Christian revelation given to Israel, and in so doing it ignores and in fact repudiates all the New Testament passages relating to this matter of witnessing. Because of this fact, we shall not be surprised to find that its literature denies the Godhead of Christ. Its adherents do not preach a gospel of redemption through Christ’s precious blood, and they do not bear witness to the resurrection of Christ, because they do not believe that he rose from the dead. As a corollary, the emphasis of Jehovah’s Witnesses is on an earthly kingdom, their many places of worship being called Kingdom Hall. It is not wrong to believe in a final earthly Messianic kingdom. But since the advent, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ this is not the basic message for the redeemed.
Jehovah’s witnesses did not always fear this name. From the beginning of Pastor Russell’s work in 1872 and for about 12 years, they lacked a specific name. In 1884, they adopted the name of Zion’s Watchtower Society (note again the Old Testament emphasis in the word Zion). In 1909 they were known as The People’s Pulpit Association, although they are silent about this in their own contemporary literature. In 1914 they took the widely-used name, The International Bible Students’ Association. Not until 1931, under the leadership of Judge Rutherford, did they adopt the title used today, Jehovah’s Witnesses, a title which Pastor Russell never used nor intended to use. One conclusion at least must be drawn. For 60 years this group was without the title which they now believe has been divinely given to them.
Moreover, in a very mysterious way they seem by their silence to be repudiating the work and teachings of their earlier leaders, both generally and specifically. For example, Pastor Russell put a great deal of emphasis on the prophetic teachings of the great pyramids of Egypt, but Judge Rutherford repudiated this in the cult’s later official publications (see The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, Vol. 49, 1928, pp. 339–345, and 355–361). Christian Scientists are unwaveringly loyal to the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, their founder. But not so Jehovah’s Witnesses. Toward the end of Judge Rutherford’s leadership (he died in 1942), the writings of Pastor Russell were scarcely referred to, and for the last 20 years, they have not officially been distributed. The same thing has happened to the writings of Judge Rutherford. One cannot find the name of Pastor Russell as an author in the United States catalogue after 1935, and one cannot find the name of Judge Rutherford as an author in the same exhaustive work after 1944! This emphasizes one undeniable fact that the early teachings of the leaders, at least in part, are now given up, and that only the more recent literature, which by the way is always anonymous, is to be considered official and worthy of confidence for this generation.
As one delves into the literature, one will find many reasons why the earlier writings, of which millions of copies, once distributed, should no longer be recognized as authoritative. Take for example the constant shifting of dates from the end of this age, the coming of antichrist, and so on. In 1889 Pastor Russell wrote concerning the Gentiles: “The full end of their lease of dominion will be reached in 1914, and that date will be the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 2, pp. 76 f). This statement was repeated frequently, even after 1914 had passed. Judge Rutherford then set 1925 to be an epochal year in world government, but this likewise proved incorrect. Although the World War took place in 1914—which was hardly what Pastor Russell promised—he then declared that Christ did return to earth in 1914, expelled Satan from heaven, and proceeded to overthrow Satan’s organization and establish the theocratic millennial kingdom (see The Kingdom is at Hand, pp. 300 ff.). The fearful events that we have witnessed on earth since 1914 do not bear testimony to any theory that Satan’s organization is now being overthrown! In fact, in the 1923 edition of Studies in the Scriptures, the phrase “before 1914” is now changed to “very soon after 1914.” While they teach that Christ’s second advent has already occurred, for which there is no evidence, they at the same time repudiate the clear teaching of the New Testament concerning this event. Judge Rutherford insisted that “we should not expect the Lord’s second coming to be in a body visible to human eyes” (The Harp of God, p. 225).
SOME UNSAVORY FACTORS
Hundreds of pages have been written about the falsehoods, indiscretions, and questionable practices of Pastor Russell, and it is only necessary to recall these briefly. Pastor Russell’s wife, whom he married in 1879, and who in the early years was a devoted follower of her husband’s teachings, felt compelled to separate from him in 1897, and brought suit for divorce in 1913. The divorce was won, and, though the verdict was constantly appealed, yet five different times the courts sustained the original verdict. The sordid story of the Egyptian wheat need not be considered here. Pastor Russell faced numerous court trials, both in our country and Canada. While he was a man of great energy and organizing ability, with some facility in clearly expressing his views on the Scriptures, the subjects of holiness, of conflict with evil in the soul, of surrender to the leading and dominion of the Holy Spirit, find no emphasis in his literature nor in the cult’s teaching.
When we come to the doctrinal beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, we face the most tragic aspect of the entire movement. Underlying all its other teaching is the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses are anti-Trinitarian, and in repudiating the doctrine of the Trinity they remove themselves beyond the pale of the Christian Church. Specifically they say that “This One was not Jehovah God.… He was a mighty one, although not almighty as Jehovah God is.… He was a God, but not the almighty God” (The Kingdom at Hand, pp. 34 f; also Reconciliation, p. 111). In fact, they have the abominable idea that God had two sons, the Logos, to be identified with Christ, and Lucifer, the son of the Morning who, ultimately by his fall, became the devil. Not only do they repudiate the deity of Christ but they deny the personality of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit is not a person and is, therefore, not one of the Trinity” (Reconciliation, p. 114).
Furthermore, they hold the view that Christ was not crucified, but was impaled on a tree, and that the Cross is a pagan symbol, a phallic emblem. They insist that at Christ’s death, his human body somehow evaporated or God buried it somewhere unknown to anyone. Christ the Man has been dead all these centuries, and the one who was raised from the dead was not the human Christ but an invisible spirit, and the body in which he revealed himself to the disciples after his death was not the body in which he died.
These radical departures from the clear teachings of Scripture are not simply new or fantastic interpretations of what may be called “debatable areas” of biblical teaching; they are repudiations of the great central truths of the Christian faith! To deny these truths is to excommunicate oneself from the true Body of Christ, the deity of Jesus Christ, his redeeming work accomplished on the Cross, his bodily resurrection, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, a true love for the brethren, the certainty of a judgment to come, and the absolute oneness of all believers in Christ, whatever be their particular denominational adherence. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a commendable enthusiasm in propagating their views, but they proclaim a false religion.
BITTER REPUDIATION OF CHRISTIANS
One of the most deplorable features of the whole movement, from the very beginning of Pastor Russell’s teachings, is the constant and abusive verbal attack on clergy and Christians. They have been called the tools of Satan, the incarnation of anti-Christ, Haman, and so on. These anti-Church fanatics even go so far as to make Ezekiel 22:26–29 apply to clergymen of the Church today. The Church is called the great enemy of God, and they frankly say they must hate God’s enemies. The Church is likened to the Moabites whenever it opposes Jehovah’s Witnesses. One quotation from Judge Rutherford will suffice: “Organized Christianity is hypocritical and selfish in the extreme. There is no real love amongst the people who make up that crowd. The entire crowd is against Jehovah” (Preparation, p. 318). How wicked for a group not yet 100 years old to designate as servants of Satan, deceivers, and liars, thousands of faithful ministers and missionaries who have lived godly lives in this century and in others, winning souls, comforting the bereaved, bringing hope to the hopeless, and preaching the Gospel that has set millions free from the power of sin.
If such fantastic beliefs are proclaimed by Jehovah’s Witnesses, if the cult’s early days were overshadowed by the unethical experiences of Pastor Russell who alienated great numbers of his followers, how then can one account for the multitudes won to its fold? For one thing, the movement claims to be exclusively biblical, and many people still look upon the Bible as the Word of God, but lack the power to discern the false from the true, would be drawn to a group that talks so much about the Bible. Secondly, some people like to think that they belong to an exclusive group, such as “the 144,000,” especially if they are persecuted for it, as many of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have been. They therefore think that they are the specially elect of God, and this appeals to their pride. Thirdly, they are drawn and held by the very zeal of the movement. They are told to distribute periodicals, rap at the doors of neighbors, take on missionary activities, and promote the teachings of their cult with all the vigor they have. Finally, many people need someone to address them with absolute authority. They need an authoritarian teaching and such they find in Watch Tower literature.
I do not want to say anything disparaging concerning the persons found in this group. But for the most part (and here they differ from Christian Scientists) it must be said that they are rather uneducated. They are almost afraid of education. Sunday Schools are scarce among them. They have not founded educational institutions worthy of accreditation. In fact, they have never produced one volume of biblical interpretation worthy of notice in the progressive development of biblical interpretation in modern times.
SELECTION OF BOOKS FOR STUDY
Herbert Hewitt Stroup, The Jehovah’s Witnesess (Columbia University Press, 1945)—a thoroughly documented work by one who lived at various headquarters of this group to obtain authentic data.
Milton Stacey Czatt, The International Bible Students, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Yale Studies on Religion, No. 4, New Haven, 1933)—a careful study of sources.
Royston Pike, Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watts & Co., London, 1954).
Bruce M. Metzger, “The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jesus Christ. A Biblical and Theological Appraisal” (Originally an article in Theology Today, Apr., 1953, now available in pamphlet form, from the Theological Book Agency, Princeton, New Jersey)—an unanswerable indictment of the heresies of this sect regarding the Person of Christ by an outstanding New Testament scholar.
W. J. Schnell, Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave (Baker Book House, 1956).
Walter R. Martin and Norman H. Klann, Jehovah of the Watchtower (Zondervan, 1953)—valuable discussion of and reply to the denial of the Trinity, with full bibliography of Judge Rutherford’s writings.
Samuel M. Shoemaker is the author of a number of popular books and the gifted Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh. He is known for his effective leadership of laymen and his deeply spiritual approach to all vital issues.
