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Armageddon Around the Corner

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Armageddon Around the Corner The true story behind the world% fastest growing religion I AATC $4.75 (Continued from front flap) ARMAGEDDON public office, salute the flag, or take active parts in labor or civic organizations. AROUND THE CORNER In this book for the first time a complete and objective report on Jehovah's Witnesses is A Report on Jehovah's Witnesses presented. It begins with the colorful Pastor Russell who started the cause eighty-odd years by WILLIAM J. WHALEN ago, promoted a questionable "Miracle Wheat" as well as a cancer cure, got involved in a ILLUSTRATED drawn-out divorce case, and died aboard a rail- road train wrapped in Pullman sheets fashioned When a stranger rings your doorbell, the at his request into a Roman toga. It goes on chances are that if it is not a Fuller Brush man through the era of Judge Rutherford, who it will be a Jehovah's Witness. thought the way for Witnesses to further the Every member of this militant sect considers movement was to draw attention to themselves himself an ordained minister. Every member by general cussedness, and who began his is officially known as a publisher, too, for it is twenty-five-year administration of the Society his job to distribute the publications of the by serving a term in Atlanta penitentiary. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society as widely account continues up to the present highly as possible. He is a dedicated salesman offering efficient and publicity-conscious organization, his prospects what he believes to be the most which recently sponsored the largest conven- valuable commodity on earth: survival-the tion jrl the history of New York City. opportunity to live through the impending The movement is administered from Bethel Armageddon and help repopulate a paradise Home in Brooklyn, New York. Here 125 million on earth afterwards. copies of books, periodicals, and tracts are With the patience of Job and the persistence turned out every year by one of the world's of an insurance agent, he is making modern largest printing plants, operated entirely by 700 religious history. For no contemporary religion resident Witnesses. The official journal, The begins to match the thoroughness of indoctri- Watchtower, reports a circulation of 3,800,000 nation, the rate of growth or (except perhaps copies twice a month-several times larger than for Mormonism) the extent of lay participation the largest Catholic or Protestant periodical. of Jehovah's Witnesses. With eight times as What Vatican City is to Roman Catholics, many believers now as in 1942, the movement Boston to Christian Scientists, Salt Lake City could before long become a threat to organized to Mormons, this center on Columbia Heights Christianity if it continues at the same pace. in Brooklyn is to millions in many countries, The gloomier the world scene, and the greater who are making Jehovah's Witnesses the fastest the threat of nuclear war, the brighter is its growing religion in the world. recruitment picture. Converts include former President Eisenhower's mother and Mickey Spillane. Jehovah's Witnesses do not vote, serve in the THE JOHN DAY COMPANY armed forces, accept blood transfusions, run for New York (Continued on back pep) WILLIAM J. WHALEN has held for over ten years the dual posi- tion of University Editor and assistant professor of English at Purdue University. Earlier, while working for a master's degree in journalism at Northwestern, he became interested in American religious cults, including Jehovah's Witnesses. He has published four previous books, including one on Protestant denominations in the United States that is intended as an introduction for Catholic readers. Armageddon Around the Corner A REPORT ON JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES William J. Whalen ILLUSTRATED THE JOHN DAY COMPANY, NEW YORK Preface Of the three major indigenous religious movements in this country-Mormonism, Christian Science, and Jehovah's Wit- nesses-only the third has been more or less neglected by students of the American religious scene. Not more than a handful of studies, mostly partisan, have examined Jehovah's Witnesses as a religious and sociological phenomenon al- though this cult, the youngest and smallest of the three, lays claim to being the fastest-growing religion in the world. The growth of Jehovah's Witnesses should be of interest not only to the clergy and members of the traditional churches but also to sociologists, lawyers, psychologists, mass communicators. The Brooklyn-based cult has something to tell each. The best recent study of the Witnesses is unfortunately not available in English translation. It was written by a French Canadian Jesuit, Fr. Gerard Hbbert, and published in Mon- treal under the title Les Tdmoins de Jdhovah. One of the rare objective studies in English was a slim book by Royston Pike. When a Knoxville, Tennessee, building contractor 5 PREFACE wrote a laudatory account of the cult he collected a portfolio of rejection slips from leading publishers until he finally turned to a vanity publisher. To the amazement of the book trade Marley Cole's Jehovah's Witnesses: The New World Society sold 100,000 copies the first year and ended among the top ten best sellers for 1955. His book was recommended in the pages of the Watchtower and by speakers at district and regional assemblies of Witnesses. Presumably many Wit- nesses bought the book. A sequel by the same author, Tri- umphant Kingdom, was issued two years later by another vanity publisher but failed to achieve the success of the first book. The two Cole books and another book written by a veteran Witness, A. H. Macmillan (Faith on the March) are exam- ples of favorable treatments published by non-Witness presses. On the other hand a number of Protestant ministers have written books and tracts exposing what they believe to be the unscriptural basis of the cult. The best example of books in this category is Jehovah of the Watchtower: A Com- plete Expos6 of Jehovah's Witnesses by Walter R. Martin and Norman H. Klann, both Baptist ministers. Their book has gone into its fifth printing. Finally there are the two exposes by a disaffected ex-Witness, William J. Schnell, called Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave and Into the Light of Christian- ity. Schnell makes his main appeal to evangelical Christians and urges them to combat Witness witnessing. Two published Ph.D. theses have appeared. One, in ab- breviated form, was published by the Yale University Press in 1933: The International Bible Students by Milton Stacey Czatt. The other was written by the present Dean of Students at Brooklyn College, Herbert H. Stroup, and published by the Columbia University Press in 1945 under the title The PREFACE 7 Jehovah's Witnesses. Both were excellent pieces of scholarly research although the Czatt study is now somewhat dated. Considering the expansion and impact of the cult, the avail- able secondary source material is small. On the other hand, the researcher finds himself over- whelmed by the printed output of the Watchtower Society. J. F. Rutherford, the Society's second president, wrote 22 full-length books and dozens of pamphlets and tracts. The flow of books, magazines and tracts has not abated since his death in 1942. Since then the Watchtower has released 15 more official texts. Of course, a writer cannot rely only on such material. He must also employ observation, interviews, correspondence, etc. My aim has been to produce neither a whitewash nor an attack on Jehovah's Witnesses. Skeletons in Watchtower closets will be rattled but accomplishments will not go un- recognized. I should make it clear that I am not a Jehovah's Witness but a Roman Catholic layman. My chief purpose is 1 not to produce a point-by-point refutation of Watchtower doctrines on Biblical or theological grounds. Others more qualified than I as theologians may undertake this task if they wish. In fact, Father Hkbert and the Rev. Messrs. Mar- tin and Klann already have. Inconsistencies in this book in the words "Watchtower" and "Witnesses" are carried over from the cult's own usage. It has employed at various times both "Watch Tower" and "Watchtower,'' and my effort has been to make in each case the choice appropriate to the time and place. For reasons of their own, cult members never capitalize "witnesses"; when quoting from their publications I follow this style, but other- wise I use the capital, as does everyone except members. Several people have been kind enough to review the manu- 8 PREFACE script and offer valuable comments and insights. I would like to thank Father Hebert, Professor Emeritus Charles S. Bra- den of Northwestern University, Rev. Edwin G. Kaiser, C.PP.S., and my colleague Mr. Richard L. Pierce. It goes without saying that they do not necessarily agree with every statement I make nor should they be held responsible for my errors. Finally, I should like to thank my wife for her patience, encouragement, and suggestions. W. J.W. Lafayette, Indiana January 22, 1962 Contents Preface 1. Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses? 2. Pastor Russell Turns the Hose on Hell 3. Judge Rutherford: "Millions Now Living Will Never Die" 4. President Knorr Remodels the Watchtower 5. The Theology of Jehovah's Witnesses 6. Inside Kingdom Hall 7. The Vatican in Brooklyn 8. When Good Witnesses Get Together 9. Missions and Overseas Expansion 10. Attitudes Toward Church and State 11. Witnesses in Court 12. Who Joins the New World Society? 10 CONTENTS 13. Schisms and Heresies 207 14. Whither Witnesses? 219 Appendices: A. Growth in Major Countries, 1918-1961 231 B. Annual Production of Books, Pamphlets and Magazines 233 C. The Three Corporations of Jehovah's Witnesses 234 Bibliography Notes Index I1 lustrations (all following page 96) Judge J.
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