The “Bible Student Movement,” small groups in various cities, foreshadowed Jehovah’s Witnesses. A class was begun in the 1876 by successful businessman Charles Taze Russell in Pittsburg. Members elected him their Pastor.  The carefully organized group  focused on denouncing organized religion. Russell collaborated some with Nelson Barbour until 1879, the year Russell published  magazine The Herald of the Morning Dawn now called The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. Circulation grew from 6,000 to around 20 million today. Awake! has a similar circulation. Russell incorporated the printing facility,  “Zion’s Watchtower Bible and Tract  Society,” at Pittsburg  in 1884. Before we continue, please select subscribe, the thumbs up icon  and the notification bell. Expenses are covered. We  appreciate your support. 

In 1886, the society published a series of seven books. Russell wrote 6. The last was authored after he died by J.  F.  Rutherford, Russell’s lawyer and successor; considered by many co-founder of the movement. Originally entitled The Millennial Dawn, it  is now Studies in the Scriptures. Headquarters were relocated to  Brooklyn, New York. The society steadily acquired real estate  including entire city blocks and soon became a financial empire. It was recently relocated to Upstate New York, and  owns state of the art equipment and facilities. James 3:14 says “bitterness and selfish ambition” war against the truth. Tracking Russell is a tragic trail of scandals. Let’s examine a few.

The first  surrounded Russell’s wife, Maria Frances Ackley, who left him in 1897. She was originally attracted  to Russell’s  teachings, and functioned as unofficial  co-director of “Zion’s Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.” Six years after leaving, she sought legal separation on the grounds of mental cruelty, forced celibacy and cold, indifferent treatment. Ackley was awarded  $6,036 alimony, around $140,000, in 2023 money. The trial spawned investigations of Russell’s religious enterprises, which   were conducted through several subsidiaries, all under a holding company 99.9% of which he controlled.  Russell answered to no one; he received a substantial stream of wealth from a financial megalith successfully organized to hide his assets; thus Ackley’s meager alimony settlement.

Second was “The Miracle Wheat” con.  A March 22, 1911 Brooklyn Eagle article, “Pastor Russell’s Miracle Wheat: Fraud And Deception In Watchtower Roots,”  exposed the con. The  U.S. Department of Agriculture sued Russell  for falsely claiming “Miracle Wheat, ” which he sold for $60 a bushel and $1per pound, far above the price for ordinary wheat at the time By claiming its yield was six times greater than ordinary wheat. USDA research found Russell’s wheat yields were below average; and authorities required him to refund all money.  (Leslie Rumble, Radio Replies, 2:1,352).   In 1911 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a caricature of Russell and beneath it this question: “If Pastor Russell can get a dollar a pound for miracle wheat, what could he have gotten for miracle stocks and bonds…?”  

In a third scandal, Russel claimed to preach long messages to massive crowds around the world. In February, 1912, The Brooklyn Eagle  published an article, “Pastor Russell’s Imaginary Sermons,” and said  during his world tour, Russell bought newspaper advertising to publish sermons he “delivered” to massive crowds in distant places. Yet he never presented them. Instead, the Eagle wrote of a “typical” so-called presentation, “His first stop after sailing from the Pacific Coast  was Honolulu. Russell bought blocks of advertising space in advance and  published long sermons he supposedly delivered to large crowds.  He published a long sermon he claimed to have presented in Honolulu. According to the  Hawaiian Star, “He was here for a few hours with a Bible students’ committee…but did not make a public address….” Investigations revealed he repeated the sham at other, renown, venues. 

Conclusion

Russell coined the phrase, “Millions now living will never die.”  perpetrated other scams, surrounding failed date-setting for the end. 

Mark Twain said, “It ain’t the parts  understand in the Bible that bothers me; it’s the parts of the Bible I do understand.” Jehovah’s Witnesses were founded and now continue trying to determined what cannot be determined: the time of the end. Jesus said in Mark 13:32, “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”