Examining Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 1) The Founders and History

Examining Jehovah’s Witnesses (Part 1) The Founders and History

If you’ve ever talked to a Jehovah’s Witness at your front door, you may have wondered: Where did this all begin? Their beliefs sound so different from historic Christianity—and they are indeed heretically different.

The Founder:

Jehovah’s Witnesses were founded by Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916). He was raised in a Presbyterian household but eventually left that tradition and joined a Congregational church. Russell wrestled with the doctrines of hell and judgment, and after someone challenged him, he began to question whether the Bible could really be trusted. A denial of the Scripture’s authority and sufficiency is always the beginning of many cults and false religions.

That moment of doubt sent him on a spiritual search. He explored other religions but found them lacking. Eventually, he came across a group called the Adventists, who were known for their fascination on setting dates for the Second Coming of Christ. This group had its roots in the Millerite movement, led by William Miller, who had predicted that Jesus would return in 1844. When that prophecy failed, it became known as The Great Disappointment. Despite the setback, some followers regrouped and formed the Adventist Church, adjusting the timeline. They now came to the conclusion that Jesus had returned invisibly in 1874, and that Armageddon would come in 1878. This idea deeply interested Russell, and he joined the movement. 

The Watch Tower

In the 1870s, Russell launched what he called the Bible Study Movement. His followers eventually made him their unofficial “pastor.” He used some Adventist ideas but rejected all historic Christian creeds and claimed that all other churches were corrupt. When 1878 passed without incident—no return of Christ, no Armageddon—Russell broke ties with the Adventists and reworked his theology.

Around this time, he sold five clothing stores he had co-owned with his father, using the profits to fund a new publication: Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, first published in 1879. The magazine grew quickly, and within just a few years, it was being widely distributed across the northeastern United States. In 1881, he formally incorporated the Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society, which would eventually evolve into the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Failed Prophecies and the Pyramid

In 1909, he moved the Society’s headquarters to Brooklyn, New York, where it remains to this day. Russell had a fascination with dates and prophecy. In fact, he once traveled to Egypt and studied the Great Pyramid of Giza, believing it held a secret eschatological timeline. He came to  the following conclusion:

1799 – The "End Times" began1874 – Christ returned invisibly1914 – Armageddon would occur

When 1914 came and went without Armageddon, he set a new date of 1915. Charles Taze Russell died in 1916, having left behind a legacy of false prophecy and spiritual confusion.

However, Russell’s followers continued to set dates for Armageddon and all of them were false: 1918, 1925, 1935, 1942, 1975...

New Leader:

After Russell’s death, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford took control of the organization. He was a more aggressive leader who tightened the group's structure and enforced stricter rules. In 1931, he officially renamed the group the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in an effort to distinguish them from other religious groups and establish their exclusive identity.

One of Rutherford’s key changes was emphasizing the use of the name Jehovah when referring to God. Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that modern Christians have tried to suppress God’s “true” name, but the name Jehovah is actually a later invention. It combines the Hebrew consonants YHWH (Yahweh) with the vowels from Adonai (Lord). They claim that most English Bibles obscure God’s name by using the capitalized “LORD,” but this was done to honor the sacredness of the divine name. Ironically, their insistence on using “Jehovah” is rooted in a misunderstanding of the very Hebrew they claim to defend.

It was under Russell’s leadership that he continued the false date setting for Armageddon. He wrote a book in 1920 called “Millions now living will never die.” This was because he saw the imminent end of the world. This was a twisting of what Jesus had said in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. He applied it to his generation although Jesus had said it to the Jewish people who heard him. To this day, the Jehovah Witnesses continue this false teaching although they have had to change the interpretation since many (if not all) Jehovah Witnesses alive in 1920 have since died.

Under Rutherford’s leadership in the 1930s, door-to-door witnessing (called “pioneering”) became a requirement for salvation. If you wanted to be in good standing with Jehovah, you had to spread the Watch Tower’s message. Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to do two hours of pioneering per week.

Later, in 1961, the group released their own translation of the Bible: the New World Translation (NWT). It is widely criticized by scholars for being biased and lacking in both linguistic and theological integrity. Rather than translating the text for what it says in the original manuscripts, many passages have been changed or added to to satisfy previously held doctrinal beliefs. We will explore examples of this in a future article in this series.

In fact, the Watch Tower Society—through publications like Watchtower and Awake! magazines—holds more authority in the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses than Scripture itself. 

In part 2, we’ll explore exactly what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe—and how those beliefs compare to the truth of God’s Word.