Bible Student movement
[2][3] The most significant split began in 1917 following the election of Joseph Franklin Rutherford as president of the Watch Tower Society two months after Russell's death.
Thousands of members left congregations of Bible Students associated with the Watch Tower Society during the 1920s, prompted in part by Rutherford's failed predictions for the year 1925, increasing disillusionment with his ongoing doctrinal and organizational changes, and his campaign for centralized control of the movement.
[2] William Schnell, author, and former Jehovah's Witness, claims that three-quarters of the original Bible Students who had been associating with the Watch Tower Society in 1919 had left by 1931.
[b] By the end of the 20th century, Jehovah's Witnesses claimed a membership of 6 million,[7] while other independent Bible Student groups had an estimated total of less than 75,000.
[8][9] In 1869, Charles Russell viewed a presentation by Advent Christian preacher Jonas Wendell[10][11] (influenced by the Millerites)[12] and soon after began attending an Adventist Bible study group in Allegheny, Pennsylvania led by George Stetson.
Russell acknowledged the influence of Adventist ministers including George Storrs, an old acquaintance of William Miller and semi-regular attendee at the Bible study group in Allegheny.
[13] In early January 1876, Russell met independent Adventist preachers Nelson H. Barbour and John H. Paton, publishers of the Herald of the Morning, who convinced him that Christ had returned invisibly in 1874.
[e][18] Various concepts in the book are still taught by the Bible Student movement and Jehovah's Witnesses, including a 2520-year period termed "the Gentile Times" predicted to end in 1914.
Russell believed that 1878 also marked the resurrection of the "sleeping saints" (all faithful Christians who had died up to that time) and the "fall of Babylon" which he taught to be God's final judgment of unfaithful Christendom.
[23][24] October 1914 was held as the end of a harvest period that would culminate in the beginning of Armageddon, manifested by the emergence of worldwide anarchy and the decline and destruction of civilized society.
[25][26] Russell broke with Barbour in July 1879 over the doctrine of substitutionary atonement and began publishing his own monthly magazine, Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence (now known as The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom), and the pair competed through their rival publications for the minds of their readers.
)[f][28] In early 1881, Russell predicted that the churches ('Babylon') would begin to fall apart and that the rapture of the saints would take place that year, although they would remain on earth as materialized spirit beings.
[19] In 1886, he wrote the first of what would become a six-volume Bible textbook series called Millennial Dawn, later renamed Studies in the Scriptures,[32][g] which presented his fundamental doctrines.
The Photo-Drama represented a significant advancement in film production, as the first major presentation to synchronize motion pictures with audio by use of phonograph records.
[46][47] Russell reconsidered the question and in January 1907 wrote several Watch Tower articles reaffirming his 1880 position—that "the new covenant belongs exclusively to the coming age"[48]—adding that the church had no mediator, but that Christ was the "advocate".
[49] On October 24, 1909, former Watch Tower Society secretary-treasurer Ernest C. Henninges, who was by then the Australian branch manager based in Melbourne, wrote Russell an open letter of protest trying to persuade him to abandon the teaching, and calling on Bible Students to examine its legitimacy.
[51] By-laws passed by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors stated that the president would be the executive officer and general manager of the society, giving him full control of its affairs worldwide.
[53] In June Hirsh attempted to rescind the new by-laws and to reclaim the powers of management from the president,[54] but Rutherford later claimed he had by then detected a conspiracy among the directors to seize control of the society.
[56] On July 12, Rutherford filled what he claimed were four vacancies on the board, appointing Alexander H. Macmillan and Pennsylvania Bible Students W. E. Spill, John A. Bohnet, and George H. Fisher as directors.
[56] Between August and November, the society and the four ousted directors published a series of pamphlets, with each side accusing the other of ambitious, disruptive, and dishonest conduct.
An editorial committee continues publication of the magazine[68] in a reduced capacity, and reproduces other Bible Student movement literature, including Russell's six-volume Studies in the Scriptures.
[69] In December 1918, Charles E. Heard and others considered[citation needed] Rutherford's indifference[70] regarding the purchase of war bonds to be a perversion of Russell's pacifist teachings, and contrary to scripture.
In 1931 Woodworth and others founded the Dawn Bible Students Association to resume publication of Studies in the Scriptures, which the Watch Tower Society had officially ceased printing in 1927.
The split was not intended to eliminate or restrict personal fellowship but was viewed as a "stand for the truth"[citation needed] by ceasing sponsorship of elders associated with the Dawn Bible Students and avoiding attendance at their conventions.
[73] In 1928, Conrad C. Binkele—the former Branch Manager of the Watch Tower Society—founded the Free Bible Students Association in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and published a religious magazine called Der Pilgrim from 1931 to 1934.
The Watch Tower Society remains the denomination's primary administrative body, and their beliefs and organizational structure have diverged considerably from Russell's teachings.
Johnson's death in 1950 led to an internal disagreement over his role as a teacher chosen by God and resulted in the formation of new splinter groups, such as the Epiphany Bible Students Association and the Laodicean Home Missionary Movement.
Johnson believed he had been appointed by God as Russell's official spiritual successor, that he was the last member of the 144,000 of Revelation 7, and that hope of a heavenly reward of immortality for the Christian faithful would cease after his death.
[citation needed] Alexander F. L. Freytag, manager of the branch office of the Watch Tower Society in Switzerland since 1898, developed disagreements with Russell's teachings.
In 1920, Freytag founded the Angel of Jehovah Bible and Tract Society, also known as the Philanthropic Assembly of the Friends of Man and The Church of the Kingdom of God.
