The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society boldly claims to be the only organization God is using today to teach His truth and speak for Him. According to the WTB&TS, all non-JWs will be destroyed at Armageddon, an event of divine judgment, it threatens and is just around the corner. The WT Society prints over 14 million copies of its magazines every week, and has over 4 million Jehovah's Witnesses spreading its doctrines in 200 countries.
What follows are some essential facts everyone should know about the history and doctrine of the JWs. Charles T. Russell (1852 - 1916) founded the JW movement. As a teenager he rejected his Presbyterian roots, joined a more liberal Congregational Church, then left this group as well. He denied the deity of Christ and the biblical teachings on hell and eternal punishment. Russell had no formal Bible training, but borrowed and built upon various teachings that were popular at the time. For example, Adventism influenced his denial of hell, and a splinter Adventist group led by N.H. Barbour aroused his interest in endtime prophecies. From Barbour he borrowed the belief that Christ returned invisibly to the world in 1874, and that 1914 was the year the world would be destroyed and the Millennium would begin.
In 1879 Russell started his own magazine, Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence (now known as The Watchtower), to promote his doctrines. People were drawn to Russell's sensational endtime predictions, and the organization grew.
In spite of his lack of formal training in theology or
biblical languages, Russell claimed to be the only one
with the
truth, and he vigorously condemned all other Christian religions.
As a result, ministers of various denominations began exposing Russell's false teachings and questionable character. The tract "Facts You Should Know About Jehovah's Witnesses" from which excerpts have been taken is very comprehensive and includes Bibliography of sources of information. It is available free from Cephas Ministry Inc. on request.
The Free Minds Newsletter published a number of Growth Rate Charts of the Watchtower in the United States, Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland and Netherlands in the January/March 2000 issue. There are two lines: the square is equal to "average Publishers" x 1,000 - the diamond line represents the number baptized x 1,000 .
Countries with zero growth in 1998: Britain, Canada, Finland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia. Countries with zero growth in 1999: Finland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, U.S. (actually .4% decrease)
Countries with negative growth in 1998: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Countries with negative growth in 1999: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Not only the number of the countries with negative growth has increased significantly, but the three major countries which have a large Witness population, Italy, Japan and US, all finally showed a growth arrest. The changes in Italy and Japan are particularly notable if we recall their phenomenal growth up until early 1990s. The change in Japan is now quite obvious in statistics as well as the morale of the Witnesses in general in Japan. ( The information and charts used by permission of Jehovah's Witnesses Information Center at http://www.jwic.com / per Free Minds editor)