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In 1875, Charles Taze Russell started bible study groups called the Bible Student Movement after being introduced to the idea that Christ has invisibly returned to Earth and devoting his life to faith.
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Russell launched the magazine "Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence," which was used to preach the group's ideals and convert others. It was also used to recruit nationally.
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Russell and Joseph Franklin Rutherford created Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society to have an organization to direct and administrate the beliefs of the group.
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The organization was incorporated, appointed Russell as its president, and changed the name to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
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By 1910, Russel had thousands of traveling preachers to spread his publishing efforts. By 1912, Russell was the most distributed Christian author in the U.S. By 1913, his sermons were printed over 3,000 times in 4 different languages.
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Russell died October 31, 1916 at the age of 64.
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Joseph Franklin Rutherford takes over as president of the society. During his presidency, he made changes to the movement, such as their established ideas and beliefs and the organization of the society. He believes society should be more centralized and focused more on missionary work.
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Rutherford along with other followers was arrested and charged due to draft evasion during the First World War. This led to Rutherford concluding that society doesn't follow laws unless it's God's laws.
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Rutherford changes the group's name to Jehovah's Witnesses to reflect their missionary work as they are a "witness" for the public.
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Jehovah's Witnesses from around the world faced hostility due to their pacifist stand on the war.
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Nathan Homer Knorr took over Jehovah's Witnesses and worked hard to make the group a "missionary machine", which greatly increased the group's numbers.
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Witnesses published their preferred version of the New Testament called "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures."
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Witnesses readapted their interpretation of a law to include obey authorities' laws.
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Witnesses had marked a date in 1975 to be the end of the current systems of things, but when that didn't occur, the group suffered backlash and a decline in membership.
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In 2000, Jehovah's Witness was no longer run by one governing body and instead separated religious and administrative functions.