Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventist Connections, Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Europe, Jehovah's Witnesses Beliefs

2. All of these people were or are Jehovah’s Witnesses

4.  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

5. Presence of Jehovah’s Witnesses
No Presence of JW

6. Active Jehovah’s Witnesses (Publishers) who spread the Message
(May require up to 12 hours a week)
7,400.000

7. , 6000 hrs

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

9. 20,000 -25,000 JW in Germany in 1933
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.

10. 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
Helene Gotthold, a Jehovah's
Witness, was beheaded for they were arrest and its members’
her religious beliefs on
December 8, 1944, in Berlin. She interned in various concentration
is pictured with her children.
Germany, June 25, 1936.
camps. Most of the family remained
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum incarcerated until the end of the war.

11. Concentration Camp Mark of JW
Marked with
purple triangular
badges

12. u s tr ia )
o ri a l P la q u e s (A
M a u th a u s e n M e m
Jehovah Witnesses were victims of terror
in this Concentration Camp, they suffered
and died for their Christian Convictions

13. JW from my county, executed on Feb. 23, 1943
TechelsbergLetter to his Parents
am Wörther See
"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.

14. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Communism – East Germany
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

15. 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 fired
There 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

16. “A religious sect known as Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States
have been repeatedly set upon and beaten. were "the principal victims of religious
They had committed no crime; but the mob persecution ... in the twentieth century,"
United States Solicitor General, Archibald Cox
adjudged they had, and meted out mob
punishment.
Solicitor General Francis Biddle
Mob action against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Springfield, Illinois 1942

17. 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 Gobitas,
the government had the 1943
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
Barnette government the authority to
expelled
from compel the saluting of the
School American flag or the
recitation of the pledge of
allegiance. Billy Gobitas

18. 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

19. Expansion of Civil Rights
the 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

20. Austrian SDAs are denied full legal
recognition as a religious community and they
relie on the work of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
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

21. General Information about the JW
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.

22.  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!

23.  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.

24. “I confess indebtedness to Adventists.”
Russell, THE WATCH TO WER, JULY 15, 1906 C. T. Russell Friend of Adventist
Jonas Wendell George Stetson
Russell attended Adventist meetings
of Jonas Wendell, George Stetson
and George Storrs .
Russell learned "much" about theology
from Adventists
 soul sleep
 Prophetic calculations
 Predictions about the Advent
and End
French writers call the JWs:
Les Témoins de Jéhovah :
Ch. T. Russell, Co-publisher of Adventist Une secte Adventiste
Prophecy Magazine with N. H. Barbour (An Adventist Sect)

25.  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.

26. 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.

27.  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

28.  Beth-Sarim
 Palatial San Diego home
built by Rutherford 1929
 It would be used by the resurrected O.T. "princes”
Abraham…

29. Since 1884 there have been only six
Presidents:
William Henry 1881 December, 1884
Conley
Charles Taze 1884 October 31, 1916
Russell
Joseph Franklin
1917 January 8, 1942
Rutherford
Nathan Homer
1942 June 8, 1977
Knorr
Frederick
1977 December 22, 1992
William Franz
Milton George
1992 October 7, 2000
Henschel
Don Alden
2000 incumbent
Adams

30. “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 Pastors
Voluntary
Appointed

31.  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.

32. What Do They NOT Believe?
 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

33. What Do They NOT Believe?

34.  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.

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

36. What Do They Believe?

37. 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

38. History of Eschatological Doctrine
Last Days Christ's Christ Resurrection Judgment of Great
Begin Return as King of 144,000 Religion Tribulation
1914, 1915,
1879–1920
1918, 1920
1878
1920–1925 1925
1799 1874
1925–1927 1878
1878
1927–1930 1914 within
generation of
1930–1933 1914
1933–1966
1918
1966–1975 1975?
1919
within
1975–1995 generation
Invisible return of of 1914
Christ and beginning of
1995-present millennium imminent

39. All of those on the cover are dead
“this generation will by
no means pass away”

40. “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
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
No Jehovah's Witness should want to go to college. Rather, work in
the Watchtower Organization!
Watchtower 1st September 1975 p543

41.  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

42. 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