The Founder and Leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Charles Taze Russel the founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was born on Feb 16, 1852 to Joseph and Anna Elisa Russell. He belonged to a congregational church. He spent his early years in Allegheny and Pittsburgh. At the age of 25, he became the manager of several clothing stores in North Pittsburgh. 

Founding of Watch Tower: He developed a strong fear of hell taught in his Church and began to attend the Seventh Day Adventist Church. He could not accept their doctrines and started a Bible study in 1870 when he was 18 years old. He began to call himself as a ‘Pastor’ from 1876. In 1884, he founded Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society at Pittsburgh and registered it as a non-religious organisation. He changed the name of his society in 1896 as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and moved his headquarters in 1908 to Brooklyn, New York, which is now called as ‘The Brooklyn Tabernacle’.

Publications: In 1879, he published a magazine by the name ‘The Herald of the morning’ which is now published in the name ‘Watch Tower’. Russell wrote six volumes, in the seven-volume series, called ‘Studies in the Scriptures’. He taught that these studies are very important equivalent to the Scriptures. He claimed that one would not be able to understand the Scriptures, without the aid of these books.About 30 million copies of these books have been sold out by his followers so far.

His Personal Life: He made absurd claims about himself and his books. He claimed that he is greater than men of God like St Paul, John Wycliffe and Martin Luther. His family life was a failure. His wife sued him for adultery and mistreatment and she won the case. He accumulated money for the society by selling ‘Miracle Wheat’. He personally owned 990 of the 1000 shares of his society. He claimed that he was ordained and knew Greek very well. But in the court he was proved that he never got ordained and that he could not read Greek letters.

He claimed that he was a scholar. But later under the examination of the court, he admitted that at the most he had attended school only for seven years, and left the school at the age of fourteen. But he was a hard worker. According to the ‘Watch Tower’, in his life time, he had travelled more than million miles, gave more than thirty thousand sermons and wrote books totalling over fifty thousand pages. (Qualified to be Ministers, Anon…1955, p 310).

Joseph Franklin Rutherford: Russell died on Oct 31, 1916 when he was travelling in a train in Texas. J.F. Rutherford became the next president. He was a lawyer and a good administrator. He interchanged some of Russell’s doctrines with his teachings. He introduced the name ‘Jehovah’s Witness’ to his organisation by quoting Is 43:10. 

He wrote book by the name “The Finished Mystery’, which produced division in the society with the formation of another group by the name, ‘The Dawn Bible Students Association’. He wrote over one hundred books and booklets, and they were translated into more than 80 languages.

Nathan Homer Knorr: N. H. Knorr became the third president in 1942 after the death of J.F. Rutherford. He was a good administrator and gave importance to the training of his followers. He established training schools and sent out trained people who were able to reach many people.

After his death in 1977, Frederick W. Franz became the president. Under his president ship, the society became stronger and there was a tremendous increase in the spreading of Jehovah’s Witnesses all over the globe. He is one of the translators of the New World Translation of the Bible. He claimed that he knew Hebrew, Greek and other languages, but in the court he admitted that he could not translate Gen 2:4 from Hebrew.

1. T. Russell’s failure in family life and dishonesty in public life makes the present day Jehovah’s Witnesses to say that they are not the followers of Russell. But at the same time they teach his doctrine, print his books and quote him in their writings. Let us be careful not to fall into their clutches and avoid reading their literature. Is it not very important for you, to pray for these people, and take steps to bring them also to Christ?