Where and with whom did the religion Jehovah's Witness originate?

Answer 1

The name 'Jehovah's Witnesses' was adopted in 1931 by a man named Joseph Franklin Rutherford, he was the second official president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. 'Jehovah's Witness' is based on Isaiah 43:10-12.

Before then the followers of the Watchtower were known as the (International) Bible students. The Bible students were founded by a man named Charles Taze Russell, the first official president of the Watchtower and Tract Society, in 1881. But after Russell's death in 1917 there was a divide when Rutherford forced his way into presidency, and then began contradicting many of Russell's teachings. Between 1917 and 1931 around three-quarters of those who were associated with the Watchtower left. Today those that hold to the teachings of Russell and reject the teachings of Rutherford are known as 'Russellites' or 'The Bible Students' (a name which they kept). Several denominations later formed around, or adopted some style of, Russell's views incluings Worldwide Church of God, the Concordant Publishing Concern and the Assemblies of Yahweh. Off-shoot groups of the Bible Student movement include the Pastoral Bible Institute, the Free Bible Students and the Layman's Home Missionary Movement.

Russell got many of his teachings from Jonas Wendell an Adventist minister. His false prophecy of 1914 came from calculations from the Great Pyramid of Giza. And there is also strong evidence connecting Russell and his father with the Masons.

The modern day history of Jehovah's Witnesses started in 1870. Charles Taze Russell, raised as a Presybyterian who later associated with the Congregational Church, was searching for convincing answers to his questions. His frustration in not finding them in the established churches lead him to eventually undertake an independent study of the bible with some close associates from 1870 - 1875.

This small bible study group grew to about 30 individuals. He collaborated briefly with Nelson Homer Barbour, (1824-1908) a "Millerite" Adventist who agreed with him on the invisible nature of Christ's return to produce the journal "Herald of the Morning from 1876-1878.

Russell however was never an Adventist and voiced his disagreement with much of the Adventist teachings (notably in the physical return of Christ); that having been said, Russell's group found that there other individuals that had had similar views to theirs and publically acknowledged the value of the works of individuals such as Adventist Jonas Wendell, Henry Grew (1781-1862), Baptist Minister William Miller (1782-1849), Methodist-Episcopal minister George Storrs (1796-1879) and others.

Russell's study group of around 30 members merged with Barbours larger group in 1876 but due to a difference of opinion, the two groups split in May 22, 1879 and Russell withdrew support from Barbour and it was at this point that Russell undertook to produce his own journal "Zion's Watchtower". The first issue was in July 1979.

Charles Taze Russell disclaimed being a prophet a many times, and thus he never prophesied anything about 1914. Although Russell believed that the Great Pyramid was God's stone witness Egypt, and that it corroborated the date 1914, the date 1914 itself, however, was not based on measurements of the Great Pyramid but from study of the Bible time prophecy.

The readers of "The Watchtower" formed bible study groups all over the country and sought to share the things they were learning. Russell died in 1916 but the Bible Students continued.

It was not until after Russell died that the organization now known as "Jehovah's Witnesses" actually began to be formed. Russell did not believe in such human central authoritarianism. Joseph Rutherford was the one who actually formed the organization with centralized human authority, presenting it as God's visible organization (almost the opposite of what Russell taught). On the other hand, by 1930, most of the original Bible Students movement had rejected Rutherford's new organization, and Rutherford's new gospel (which was also almost the opposite of what Russell had taught). Rutherford adopted the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" in 1931 in order to distinguish his new organization from the old Bible Students movement.

The evidence connecting Russell with the Masons is actually imagined and assumed by those who make such claims. The tens of thousands of pages that have been produced from Russell's works give overwhelming evidence that Russell was not in support of the Freemason's organization, nor with the goals of the Freemasons.

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