All of these people were or are Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have 7,659,019 members in 236 Countries. Dallas, Texas, has more than 80 congregations of Jehovah's

Witnesses, and Houston more than 150

They spent about 1,707,094,710 man-hours of labor and “door to door” witnessing annually.

They are absolutely convinced that they are “The Only True Church.”

They have Adventist roots

I Have a sneaking admiration for their courage

Presence of Jehovah’s WitnessesNo Presence of JW

Active Jehovah’s Witnesses (Publishers) who spread the Message (May require up to 12 hours a week)

7,400.000

, 6000 hrs

people who attend Jehovah's Witnesses' annual commemoration of the Memorial of Christ's death includes active Witnesses, their children, and others

They refused : to salute flags, to raise their arms to "Heil Hitler,“ to serve in the German army To stop preaching.

The group was banned in April 1935. Those Witnesses who defied the ban on their activities were arrested and sent to prisons and concentration camps

8,800 German JW that were incarcerated, 2,800 of them were put into concentration camps. 1,500 JW that died under Nazi tyranny ( 950 Germans),

370 were executed.

20,000 -25,000 JW in Germany in 1933

Gestapo Order to arrest Jehovah’s Witnesses and Sympathizers

The Kusserow family was active in their region distributing religious literature and teaching Bible study classes in their home. The result was they were arrest and its members’ interned in various concentration camps. Most of the family remained incarcerated until the end of the war.

Helene Gotthold, a Jehovah's Witness, was

beheaded for her religious beliefs on December 8, 1944, in Berlin. She is pictured with her children. Germany, June

25, 1936.— US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Marked with purple triangular badges

Concentration Camp Mark of JW

Mauthausen Memorial Plaques (Austria)

Jehovah Witnesses were victims of terror in this Concentration Camp, they suffered and died for their Christian Convictions

Letter to his Parents

"Dear parents!I have been notified that the verdict I have received, has been approved by the Court and that I will be beheaded this evening at 6:30 PM. Dear parents, these are the few lines that I can write to you. I ask you once again not to be sad because I am to die and not to cry because I am now lost.No, because God our Lord will resurrect us and give us new bodies, in which we can serve Him forever. Liberated from sin on the new Earth, in peace and justice.In the last three years I have had to suffer much because of my faith. And likewise I will present myself to this same suffering today, in my final hour, with strength and braveness and an upright conscience, in front of my Lord.

JW from my county, executed on Feb. 23, 1943Techelsberg am Wörther See

DDR- Process against Jehovah’s Witnesses (1950)

Until 1989 5000 JW were sent to prison and work camps. 60 died during incarceration. 325 of these had also been in Nazi Prisons or

Concentration Camps

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Communism – East Germany

Jehovah Witness in the US

Young Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to salute the flag in their classroom. They were kicked out of school. Teachers who were Jehovah’s Witnesses were fired, Parents who wouldn’t salute the flag at work were firedThere was hysterical and brutal suppression of the Witnesses during the 1930s and 1940s. Their legal resistance transformed the civil liberties of all Americans.."--Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor, NYU

"The stories of persecution are horrendous..."--Journal of American History

“A religious sect known as Jehovah’s Witnesses have been repeatedly set upon and beaten. They had committed no crime; but the mob adjudged they had, and meted out mob punishment. Solicitor General Francis Biddle

Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States were "the principal victims of religious persecution ... in the twentieth century," United States Solicitor General, Archibald Cox

Mob action against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Springfield, Illinois 1942

10 year old Billy Gobitas explained why he would not salute the U.S. flag, November 5,

1935 - Library of Congress

In 1940 Supreme Court by an eight-to-one vote ruled that the government had the authority to compel respect for the flag as a key symbol of national unity. Minersville v. Gobitis

In 1943 the Supreme Court by a six-to-three vote in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, another case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, reconsidered its decision in Gobitis and held that the right of free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution denies the government the authority to compel the saluting of the American flag or the recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

Barnette expelledfromSchool

Gobitas, 1943

Billy Gobitas

Franz Reiter, a young Austrian Jehovah’s Witness…refused to join the German army On the grounds of conscience; along with him were five other young Witnesses from his hometown. On the evening of January 5, 1940, he wrote to his mother: “I am strongly convinced in my belief that I am acting correctly. Being her, I could still change my mind, but with God this would be disloyalty. All of us here wish to be faithful to God, to his honor…And now, my dear Mother and all my brothers and sisters, today I was told my sentence, and don’t be terrified, it is death, and I will be executed tomorrow morning. I have my strength from God. Reiter died by guillotine for being a conscientious objector. J. Chu, Judaism Today, N.14, 16-17

Expansion of Civil Rightsthe Witnesses have helped to widen the definition of civil liberties in most western societies, hence broadening the rights of millions of people, due to their firm stand and determination. Judging Jehovah's Witnesses, Shawn Francis Peters,

to exercise free speech to exercise freedom of association, freedom of the press, freedom of religion medical self-determination Conscientious Objector Lower risk of post

-operative infection More economical

The Church of Seventh-day Adventists‘ request for full legal recognition as religious community was rejected according to Section 11.1 of the Religious Communities Act. The Church of Seventh-day Adventists lodged a complaint against that decision with the Austrian Constitutional Court

The Church of Seventh-day Adventists also relied on the case Jehovah's Witnesses vs Austria (ECtHR, 31.07.2008, Appl. 40.825/98), where the ECtHR pointed out that the legal status of a registered church or religious community has to be generally accessible in a fair proceeding based on objective facts.

Bernhard Moser, Freedom of religion and legal recognition as a church or religious community: VfGH 16.12.2009, B 516/09

Austrian SDAs are denied full legal recognition as a religious community

and they relie on the work of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

They publish an enormous amount of material

Including two magazines AWAKE! and The Watchtower.

They produced their own version of the Bible: The New World Translation.

General Information about the General Information about the JWJW

Their own Bible was first published in serial form and as a single volume in 1961.

Only the organization can correctly interpret the Bible.

“the Bible…belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe they can interpret the Bible” (Watchtower, 1 Oct 1967, p. 587).

The New World Translation has been printed in whole or in part in more than 60 languages, with a total printing of

more than 145,000,000 copies!

Began as a “Bible Study” led by Charles Taze Russell in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (USA) in 1870.

Officially organized in 1884 as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society with Russell as the President.

Russell attended Adventist meetings of Jonas Wendell, George Stetson and George

Storrs .

George Stetson Jonas Wendell

Ch. T. Russell, Co-publisher of Adventist Prophecy Magazine with N. H. Barbour

C. T. Russell Friend of Adventist

Russell learned "much" about theology from Adventists

soul sleep Prophetic calculations Predictions about the Advent and End

“I confess indebtedness to Adventists.” Russell, THE WATCH TOWER, JULY 15, 1906

French writers call the JWs:Les Témoins de Jéhovah :Une secte Adventiste

(An Adventist Sect)

Russell came from a wealthy family, was a member of the Presbyterian Church, was a businessman and writer.

He began the group in 1884.

He was not trained in theology or biblical studies.

His religious ideas were presented in his six volume work: Studies in the Scriptures.

Many of his ideas were changed by later leaders.

This is where Charles Taze Russell (founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses and 33rd degree Freemason) is buried.

Russell’s headstone at Rosemont United Cemetery, Pittsburgh. The inscription reads LAODICEAN MESSENGER. His followers were told that he was the "faithful and wise servant" and "the Laodicean Messenger," God's seventh and final spokesman to the Christian church.

After Russell’s death there was a power vacuum which the clever “Judge” Joseph Rutherford was able to fill by outmaneuvering his competitors to become the President of the Watchtower Society.

The results, however, were splits into various groups with the Watchtower Society being the largest.

. Rutherford renamed his group Jehovah’s

Witnesses in 1931. Most of the theology and principles were

formulated by Rutherford, including the “door to door” witnessing, and the publication of the AWAKE! magazine.

He financed the organization and his lifestyle through the distribution and selling of a vast amounts of literature and the “voluntary” labor of his followers Separated from his wife and appeard to have problems with

alcohol

Beth-Sarim Palatial San Diego home built by Rutherford 1929

It would be used by the resurrected O.T. "princes” Abraham…

William Henry Conley

1881 December, 1884

Charles Taze Russell

1884 October 31, 1916

Joseph Franklin Rutherford

1917 January 8, 1942

Nathan Homer Knorr

1942 June 8, 1977

Frederick William Franz

1977 December 22, 1992

Milton George Henschel

1992 October 7, 2000

Don Alden Adams

2000 incumbent

Since 1884 there have been only six Presidents:

“Jehovah's Living Organization.”“ Obedience - This is the basic formula upon which the

organization rests and operates” Watchtower 1967 June 1 p.335 Move Ahead with Jehovah's Organization

No PastorsVoluntaryAppointed

The Jehovah’s Witnesses DO NOT believe: in the Doctrine of the Trinity. in Christ as God , but rather the First

Created being who before his human birth was the Archangel Michael in Christ crucified on a cross, but rather on a stake in the bodily resurrection of Christ. He rose with an invisible body in of person of the Holy Spirit. He is seen as a “force” not an person of the Trinity. In Hell and eternal punishment.

No celebrating Christmas No celebrating Easter No celebrating birthdays No celebrating Mother’s

Day No saluting of the national

flag No service in the army No blood transfusions

What Do They NOT What Do They NOT Believe?Believe?

What Do They NOT What Do They NOT Believe?Believe?

Salvation:

Salvation requires "taking in knowledge" of God and Jesus Christ , repentance of sins, acceptance of Jesus, and obeying the teachings of the Christ as stated in the Bible and interpreted by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Good works play a very important role.

“It is for the reward of eternal life that every last person on earth should be working for” (Watchtower 15 Oct 1972, p. 492).

“Jehovah God will justify, declare righteous, on the basis of their own merit all perfected humans who have withstood that final, decisive test of mankind [the release of Satan from bondage after the 1,000-year reign of Christ]” (Life Everlasting-In Freedom of the Sons of God, 1966, p. 400).

They believe that salvation is impossible outside of the Watchtower.

The Best 144,000 Christians & Jehovah’s Witnesses Go to Heaven

What Do They Believe?What Do They Believe?

1874 1000 year reign of Christ (millennium) to begins Invisible return of Christ (second presence) 1914, JESUS RETURNED INVISIBLY. Jesus has full control. Gentile governments overthrown. World-wide anarchy. Full establishment of invisible Kingdom God in the

Earth. God's Kingdom replaces man's governments. 1918 God will destroy the "churches wholesale" and "church members by millions“ 1920 will bring "world-wide all embracing anarchy 1925 will bring the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other Patriarchs 1940 was to be "the most important year yet" because Armageddon was very near 1975 End of the World. 1000 year reign of Christ

(millennium) begins

What Do They Believe?What Do They Believe?

History of Eschatological Doctrine

Last Days Begin

Christ's Return

Christ as King

Resurrection

of 144,000

Judgment of Religion

Great Tribulation

1879–1920

1799 1874

1878

1914, 1915, 1918, 1920

1920–1925 1925

1925–1927

1914

1878

1878

within generation of

1914

1927–1930

1918

1930–1933

1919

1933–1966

1966–1975 1975?

1975–1995within

generation of 1914

1995-present

imminent

Invisible return of Christ and

beginning of millennium

“this generation will by no means pass away”

All of those on the cover are dead

Do not pursue higher education. There is very little time left! Make pioneer service, the full-time ministry with the possibility of Bethel or missionary service, your goal. Watchtower 15th March 1969 p171

“In view of the short time left, a decision to pursue a career in this system of things is not only unwise but extremely dangerous… Many young brothers and sisters were offered scholarships or employment that promised fine pay. However, they turned them down and put spiritual interests first.“ Kingdom Ministry; June 1969, p. 3

No Jehovah's Witness should want to go to college. Rather, work in the Watchtower Organization! Watchtower 1st September 1975 p543

Courageous souls Active Proclaimers (“Publishers) Conservative standards Expanded our Civil Rights

“ Their door-to-door message may be annoying but their uncompromising faith hasn’t hurt our freedom. In some surprising ways, it’s actually helped define it.”Joel P. Engardio, filmmaker of “Knocking” about the JW

When they locked up the social democrats,I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the Jehovah Witnesses,I did not speak out;I was not a (Jehovah Witness)*

When they came for the Jews,I remained silent;I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.

Martin Niemöller

*(Jehovah Witness) – my insertion