The History of Jehovah's WitnessesThe Jehovah's Witness religion grew out of the 19th century Adventists. It was first organized by Charles Taze Russell. Charles grew up in Pittsburgh as a Presbyterian and was very fascinated with different religions. When he turned 17 Charles discovered seventh-day Adventists. In 1875 Russell devoted his life to his faith and launched "Zions Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence". As memberships to "Watchtower" grew they expanded and formed "Zions Watchtower Tract Society". Then finally in 1884 it became incorporated and Russell was named the President of the organization and the final name was changed to "Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society" . Next in 1890 the first hymn book was written and called "Poems and Hymns of the Millennial Dawn" which contained over 300 hymns and poems. Their headquarters were moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1909. In 1916 Charles Taze Russell died at the age of 64 from cystitis and Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over. Rutherford was a Bible scholar and interpreted Romans 13 for his members. He interpreted as that they did not have to follow secular laws unless they were aligned with God's commandments. This caused a lot of conflict during the first world war and Rutherford and 7 of his colleagues were sentenced to 20 years of prison for promoting evasion. Then in 1942 Nathan Korr takes over as president of the organization and writes the first curriculum for Jehovah's Witness students and also sets up the first schools for Jehovah's Witness. Currently there are 6.5 million people following the Jehovah's Witness doctrine today. With the most of them living somewhere in Europe and South America.
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