A Look into the Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses came about from a movement called the Bible Students, which was founded by Charles Taze Russell who was the second president of the Watchtower Society. The Watchtower Society was founded in 1881 by William Henry Conley as a legal entity for the Bible Students. However, it is believed that because he and his wife later broke away from the group because they no longer believed in their teachings, they were disfellowshiped, which is known to be practiced by Jehovah's Witnesses. Disfellowshiping is the forbidding of their followers to speak with anyone who has left the organization. Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected as the third president of the Watchtower Society in January of 1917. Because of his controversial practices, the Bible Students that remained in the fellowship of the Watchtower Society adopted the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.

Joseph Franklin Rutherford was born a Baptist and later became an atheist due to his pastor condemning his fiancé to hell because she was a Presbyterian. In 1906 he became a Bible Student. For 6 years he preached a lecture series entitled "Millions Now Living Will Never Die." According to these lectures he used what was called Jubilee cycles to calculate that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and other faithful prophets would return in 1925. He had a house built in 1925 to house the prophets when they returned. In 1931 it was decided that they would no longer practice date fixing. In 1948 the house was sold and in 1950 the Watchtower published that it misunderstood the teaching by saying the "earthly forefathers of Jesus Christ would be resurrected after Armageddon." Joseph Franklin Rutherford died alone in 1942. According to the coroner's report, it was several days before he was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell with rat bites on his face and hands.

In 1972, the Watchtower published that a prophet meant not one man, but a body of men and women, which are known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses. It was also published that angels told the Society what to say and do. However, in 1976 they published a reversal of this saying that they are not inspired prophets. They believe that the Bible cannot be understood by anyone who is not a Jehovah's Witness and was written only for the 144,000. They believe that anyone who tries to study the Bible without the guidance of the Watchtower and the Scripture Studies will go into darkness.

The New World Translation is the Bible that Jehovah's Witnesses use. It is strongly urged that this be the only version they use. There is secrecy surrounding the translating of the New World Translation. A committee that was formed by the Jehovah's Witnesses did the translation and they requested that the publisher, the Watchtower Society, never publish their names. Many people believe that this Bible was written to suit their doctrine.

They are forced to go door-to-door handing out Watchtower tracts and spreading their version of the Gospel as works of faith in their religion. They believe that there is not a Trinity, that there is God and his son, Jesus. However, the Trinity is Biblically based. They do not believe in Hell and they believe that only their church members will be saved even though the Bible clearly states that those who deny Jesus will be sent there and all those that profess Jesus as Lord will be saved.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in blood transfusions because they've taken scripture and twisted it to mean they should not receive blood period. In earlier times, the ingesting of blood was practiced as part of the ceremony in worshipping idols. Also, people hoping to obtain supernatural powers or strengths practice the ingestion of blood. They don't strictly forbid eating meat, but they strongly forbid receiving blood transfusions. Although, they are not against receiving medical treatment, many of their members have died due to the forbidding organ transplants, as well as blood transfusions.

Some other practices that are forbidden by Jehovah's Witnesses and are considered as sin are voting, saluting the flag and serving in the military. They believe that God cursed black people by making them black. They also believe that it is appropriate to lie to people they feel are not entitled to receive the truth. They punish their followers that leave the organization by forbidding their members to have any contact with them. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a very controlled group and often become the victims of mental illness including paranoid schizophrenia because of the brainwashing and stress that they endure. The long history of Jehovah's Witnesses has been riddled with controversial prophecies and perverted doctrine.

In the 1970's, the Governing Body was officially formed and oversaw the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Governing Body is a a board of directors comprised of a group of elders that proclaim they are enlightened or specially anointed to teach present understandings of the Bible. Following a few others, in 1992, Milton Henshel was president of the Society until it was reorganized and the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses was made separate from the Watchtower Society. He stepped down and left his office to Don Adams who is the current president of the Watchtower Society and a non-member of the Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses.