Jehovah's Witnesses splinter groups

 

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A fair number of splinter groups have broken away from Jehovah's Witnesses throughout their history. While the legal entities founded by Charles Taze Russell (the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the International Bible Students Association, etc.) have always remained grouped, various congregations in the Bible Student movement rejected their leadership, typically over doctrinal differences, including the issue of the distinctive preaching work for which Jehovah's Witnesses are known. The majority of these occurred from 1916 - 1930.

Note that most of these groups split off before the group known variously as 'Russelites' and 'Bible Students' adopted the name “Jehovah's Witnesses” in 1931. Because many of those groups used some variation of 'Associated Bible Students' or simply 'Bible Students' etc., it was felt that there was a need to clearly distinguish those that became known as Jehovah's Witnesses from the other groups. Many of those who broke away continue to call themselves some variation of Bible Students.

First splits : 1909

In 1907, Pastor Russell more pointedly expressed that Christians were not developed under the New Covenant, but that the New Covenant was future, and made between God and the nation of Israel for the purpose of teaching the world his plan.

This, and controversy over other doctrines, led some to leave in 1909, leading to the formation of New Covenant Bible Students.

M.L. McPhail, Pilgrim member of the Chicago Bible Students, also disassociated himself from Russell's movement at that time and led the New Covenant Bible Students in the United States, founding the New Covenant Believers in 1909.

Second crisis : Pastor Russell's death

After Charles Taze Russell's death in 1916, Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected second president of the Watchtower Society and immediately started an intensive work of restructuring the movement which, by 1928, led to nearly three-quarters of the membership departing association with the Society. One of Rutherford's most controversial moves was the expulsion of four members (R. H. Hirsh, I. F. Haskins, A. I. Ritchie, and J. D. Wright) of the seven-member Board of Directors appointed by Pastor Russell, and replacement with his own appointees in July 1917. After their expulsion, these four members eventually formed the Pastoral Bible Institute, and started publishing The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, edited by R. E. Streeter.

The Australian Berean Bible Institute also formally separated from the Watchtower society in 1918.

In December 1918, Charles E. Heard and some others, considered Rutherford's recommendation to buy war bonds to be a perversion of Russell's pacifist teachings, and founded the Stand Fast Bible Students Association in Portland, Oregon.

In 1917, Alexander F.L. Freytag, Branch manager of the Swiss Watchtower Society since 1898, founded the Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society (also known as the Philanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man and The Church of the Kingdom of God, Philanthropic Assembly) and started publishing his views; he was ousted from the Watchtower Society by Rutherford in 1919.

Paul S. L. Johnson [1] founded the Layman's Home Missionary Movement in 1919.

In Germany, Ewald Vorsteher was disfellowshipped in the early 1920s after refusing to follow instructions from the Watchtower Society. He published "Wahr­heitsfreund" ("Friend of Truth"). His home was searched by the Gestapo in 1933 and the discovery of papers critical of the Nazi regime was used as a justification for the persecution of both Bible Students, and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Later departures

In 1928, Norman Woodworth [2] left the Watchtower society to create the radio program Frank and Earnest with the help of the Brooklyn congregation of Bible Students. This eventually led to the founding of the “Dawn Bible Students Association” for the purpose of printing and distributing the Studies in the Scriptures series that the Watchtower Society had officially ceased publication of in 1927.

Also in 1928, the Italian Bible Students Association in Hartford, Connecticut led by Gaetano Boccaccio also withdrew its support from the Watchtower Society and changed its name to the Millennial Bible Students Church, then to Christian Millennial Fellowship, Inc.. In 1940 Boccaccio began printing the New Creation magazine and continued up until his death in the early 1990s. The magazine continues to be published by Christian Millennial Fellowship led by Elmer Weeks in New Jersey.

Jesse Hemery, one of the most prominent Bible Students of England, had been appointed president of the International Bible Students Association by Pastor Russell in 1901, and held that post until 1946. In 1951, he was disfellowshipped by N.H. Knorr and founded the Goshen Fellowship.

Although many members did expect to receive their heavenly reward in 1914, because Bible chronology led them to understand that this was the "end of the Gentile times" prophesied in the Bible, their expectations were somewhat premature and they realised that this was not the year of God's war of Armageddon. They did, however, correctly predict this year as one of "woe for the earth". The "New York Times" carried an article in 1914 which referred back to announcements by Jehovah's Witnesses in 1879 of the impending disaster of 1914. Some members, who were disappointed by this new understanding, left the organisation in protest.

The German Bible Students Association had stayed affiliated to the Watchtower Society but had no contact under Hitler's regime, who persecuted them severely. However, when the contact was re-established, they disagreed with the changes that had occurred in the meantime, and disassociated themselves with the Watchtower Society.^{[citation needed]}

In 1948 Jehovah's Witnesses in Romania came under ban through the Communist Regime which lasted until 1989. They had limited access to changing Watchtower doctrines and studied largely from the books of Rutherford and older magazines. A prominent teaching was that the Higher Authorities did not refer to governments but to Jehovah.(Superior Authorities) After coming out of ban they were at a disagreement with the changes in teachings that had happened over the years and formed "The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses" Association (http://the-true-jw.oltenia.ro/) adopting a resolution in 1992.

Dissensions

Throughout Watchtower history, numerous groups and individuals broke away and formed their own religious communities; in point of time, the majority of these happened around the death of Charles Taze Russell, known as Pastor Russell, in 1916 and the subsequent power struggle that ensued for control of what was then known as the 'International Bible Students Association,' and also as 'Russellites.' Most know them now by the more familiar 'Jehovah's Witnesses.' ^[1] However these groups have very low membership and few are commonly known. As cited by one of the splinter groups,'The Herald:'

"The most sizeable movements, with over a thousand each, are in the United States, Poland, Romania, and India. The Herald magazine currently reaches subscribers in nearly fifty different countries and, through its web page, has an outreach to many more.

^[2]

As of 2007, official membership statistics of Jehovah's Witnesses cite more than 6 million Witnesses.

Other Groups

• Bible Student's Fellowship (San Diego, California)
• Bible Student Ministries Bridgewater, New Jersey
• Bible Way Publications (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
• Chicago Bible Students (Chicago, Illinois)
• Christian Renewal Ministry (Saratoga, California)
• Church of God, Faith of Abraham (Wenatchee, Washington)
• Eagle Society (address unknown) Haviland Davis (Albany, New York)
• Hirsho-Kittenger Movement (now defunct)
• Olson Movement (now defunct)
• Ritchie Movement (now defunct, led by A. I. Ritchie, vice-president of the Watchtower Society)
• Sturgeon Movement (now defunct)
• Lord's Witnesses (http://www.truebiblecode.com)
• Servants of Yah (now defunct)
• Friends of the Nazarene

See also

• Bible Student movement (for more information on the groups after their separation from the Watchtower Society.)
• History of Jehovah's Witnesses

References

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