<HTML><HEAD><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Jehovah , Jesus, cult,Heinz Schmitz, born again, saved by grace, eternal life, living forever,Jehovah's witnesses,Michael/Jesus, John Costouros"><META NAME="description" CONTENT="The truth about the JW's lies deep in their historical roots which are tainted with heretical and bizarre theories"><META NAME="ZyWorldCountry" CONTENT=""><META NAME="ZyWorldCategory" CONTENT="pp"><META NAME="FamilyMember" CONTENT="main5"><META NAME="Family" CONTENT="Gold"><meta name="generator" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"><!-- Copyright Zy.com --><TITLE>Their history says it all!</TITLE></HEAD><body BGCOLOR="#66FFCC" BACKGROUND="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/2d_00039c46.jpg" TEXT="#000000" style="text-align: center"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script><script type="text/javascript"><!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--var cm_role = "live";var cm_host = "angelfire.lycos.com";var cm_taxid = "/memberembedded";var angelfire_member_name = "journal2/theos";var angelfire_member_page = "journal2/theos/jwhistory.html";var angelfire_ratings_hash = "1284589470:66e6a2b532037bc5c0236407e41c51d4";var lycos_ad_category = {"dmoz":"society\/religion_and_spirituality","ontarget":"&CAT=family%20and%20lifestyles&L2CAT=religion%20and%20spirituality","find_what":"What is a Christian"};var lycos_ad_remote_addr = "174.3.114.164";var lycos_ad_www_server = "www.angelfire.lycos.com";var edit_site_url = "www.angelfire.lycos.com/landing/landing.tmpl?utm_source=house&utm_medium=landingpage&utm_campaign=toolbarlink";var lycos_ad_track_small = "http://www.angelfire.com/doc/images/track/ot_smallframe.gif?rand=764067";var lycos_ad_track_served = "http://www.angelfire.com/doc/images/track/ot_adserved.gif?rand=764067";//--><!]]></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-start.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-middle.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-end.js"></script><noscript><img src="http://www.angelfire.com/doc/images/track/ot_noscript.gif?rand=764067" alt="" width="1" height="1" /><!-- BEGIN STANDARD TAG - 728 x 90 - Lycos - Angelfire Fallthrough - DO NOT MODIFY --><iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90§ion=280303"></iframe><!-- END TAG --></noscript><DIV ALIGN="center"><TABLE WIDTH="85%" ALIGN="center" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0"><TR><TD ALIGN="center"><!--Main content area starts here --><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="5"><TR><TD ALIGN="left"><DIV ALIGN="center"><IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/3d_00032772.gif" ALT="Jesus is Lord" BORDER="0" width="549" height="139"></DIV><BR></TD></TR><TR><TD><table cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tr><td> </td><td align="right"> </td></tr></table><table class="messageheader" cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="0" border="0"><tr><td class="label" noWrap> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td class="label" noWrap> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td class="label" noWrap> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td class="label" noWrap> </td><td> </td></tr></table><div id="message"><div align="justify"><blockquote><pre><font size="5"><b>A BRIEF HISTORY OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES</b></font></pre><pre><font size="4">Since 1876, when Watchtower Society founder Charles Taze Russellstarted preaching that Jesus Christ had returned in 1874, and that the rapturewould occur in 1878 (thereafter revised to 1881 for obvious reasons),the religious group known today as "Jehovah's Witnesses" haverepeatedly published prophecies which did not come true, after which they revisedtheir own history in order to conceal their failures from the nextbunch of victims whom they would snare with their next bunch of falseprophecies.Charles Taze Russell preached for four decades that the Bible's "Battle of Armageddon"would occur in October 1914. When that Watchtower prophecy did not come true, Russellre-prophesied Armageddon for October 1915. After Russell's second failure in asmany years, many of Russell's followers finally realized that Russell was a false prophet,and fled the cult.Fully exposed for the charlatan that he was, Russell's healthdeteriorated, and he died the following October 1916 (interestingly onHalloween Day).By the time Russell died in 1916, the loss of book buyers and booksellers had nearly resulted in the cult's financial collapse. Doingwhat they did best, Russell's remaining followers decided to replenish theirdepleted ranks and depleted coffers by publishing a new book with newprophecies of calamity for all who did not join the Watchtower cult. Bymid 1917, THE FINISHED MYSTERY was rushed off the presses, and asplanned, the sensational prophecies found in its pages made it aguaranteed moneymaker, as literally hundreds of thousands of copieswere snatched up by Americans terrified by World War I.However, the need for quick cash had resulted in poor businessjudgment. Russell's followers failed to heed the lesson Russell had learned thehard way back in the late 1870s, when Russell had set his 1878 and 1881false prophesies too close in time.THE FINISHED MYSTERY boldly prophesied: "Also, in the year 1918, whenGod destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions,it shall be that any that escape shall come to the works of PastorRussell to learn the meaning of the downfall of 'Christianity.'" -- TFM,page 485.As if setting calamitous prophecies for "the year 1918" was notsensational enough to foster book sales in mid-1917, THE FINISHEDMYSTERY went on to set "April 27, 1918" as the time when GOD woulddestroy millions of churches and church members because they had notjoined in as cult followers of Charles Taze Russell:"Pastor Russell's voice was stilled in death on October 31, 1916. Ifan application of Ezekiel's period of dumbness is valid here as a timefeature, the tidings, the realization that Christendom is smitten bythe onslaughts of revolution, might be expected to flash throughout theworld on or about April 27, 1918, a year, five months and twenty-sixdays after the death of God's great watchman. As in Ezekiel 24:27,this would be a sign, an indication to Christendom of the truth ofPastor Russell's commission from the Almighty." -- TFM, page 530.According to THE FINISHED MYSTERY, around the same time that GOD woulddestroy the millions of churches and church members "on or about April27, 1918", loyal followers of Charles Taze Russell would be raptured toheaven. Various calamities would follow in 1919, and then:"As the fleshly-minded apostates from Christianity, siding with theradicals and revolutionaries, will rejoice at the inheritance ofdesolation that will be Christendom's after 1918, so will God do to thesuccessful revolutionary movement; it shall be utterly desolated, "evenall of it." Not one vestige of it shall survive the ravages ofworld-wide all-embracing anarchy, in the fall of 1920."These excerpts are only a sampling of the numerous (and now humorous)prophesies found in the nearly 600 pages of THE FINISHED MYSTERY.Whether the Watchtower Society was a "true prophet" or a "falseprophet" speaks for itself.By 1920, the Watchtower Society was promoting a new sensational book toreplace THE FINISHED MYSTERY as the Watchtower Society's latest "cashcow". This new book had the appealing title: MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILLNEVER DIE. This new book prophesied:" ... we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men ofIsrael from the condition of the dead, being fully resurrected andfully restored to perfect humanity and made the visible, legalrepresentatives of the new order of things on earth. ... the great jubilee cycle is dueto begin in 1925. At that time the earthly phase of the kingdom shallbe recognized. ... Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will markthe return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the faithful prophets of old,... ." -- pages 88-90.This cycle of false prophecies repeated itself during the followingdecades, but the Watchtower Cult continued to grow as it alwaysretained some victims who were willing to replace the last failed prophecy withthe glowing promises of the next.It took the Watchtower Society from the 1870s until the mid-1960s toreach their first 1,000,000 members. However, by the mid-1970smembership reached 2,000,000 members. How did the Watchtower manage todouble its membership in such a short time span? You guessed correctly.In 1966, the Watchtower Society started prophesying that the "Battle ofArmageddon" would occur in October 1975. Again, whether the WatchtowerSociety was a "true prophet" or a "false prophet" speaks for itself.Since 1975, there were "hints" at 1984 (70 year generation after 1914)and 1994 (80 year generation after 1914), and Jehovah's Witnesses nowcount nearly 6,500,000 door-knockers, with roughly an additional10,000,000 victims and potential victims attending their meetings.In 2005, the Watchtower Society taught that in 1918 Jesus Christconducted an audit/inspection of all Christian-professing religions inorder to select one single group as his sole earthly representatives.The Watchtower Society teaches that they were the only "Christians" whowere teaching "truth" in 1918, and that Jesus Christ selected them in1919 to be his sole representatives on earth to preach his truth beforehe returns to destroy all persons who fail to become "Jehovah'sWitnesses".Evidently, today's Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a clue what their"faithful and discreet slave" was teaching in 1918 or 1919.</font></pre></blockquote></div><!-- toctype = X-unknown --><!-- toctype = text --><!-- text --></div><!-- v3.303.32.21 1127876243 --><!-- 0.06525 --><script type="text/javascript">if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write("<scr" + "ipt type=text/javascript src=http://us.js1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/lib/bc/bc_1.7.0.js></scr" + "ipt>");</script><script type="text/javascript">if (window.yzq_a) yzq_a('p', 'P=JQty6kSOyNZ5G9QEQ0NCYgD4GEZfzENHPIEABICx&T=13qmukkk4%2fX%3d1128742017%2fE%3d150500158%2fR%3dmail%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d1.1%2fW%3dG%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d2399617195%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d6AC88E44');if (window.yzq4) yzq4();</script><noscript><img height="1" alt src="../../Christian/History%20of%20JW's_files/b.gif" width="1"></noscript><!-- web30403.mail.mud.yahoo.com uncompressed/chunked Fri Oct 7 20:26:57 PDT 2005 --><p> Many thanks to Mark Jasper for supplying mewith the above article.</TD></TR><TR><TD ALIGN="center"><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="10" CELLPADDING="0"><TR><TD><A HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/vasili.html"><DIV ALIGN="center"><IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/2d_000348f2.gif" ALT="For Vasili: A true experience" BORDER="0" width="194" height="19"></DIV></A></TD><TD><A HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/stories.html"><DIV ALIGN="center"><IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/2d_00035f57.gif" ALT="Heartwarming Stories" BORDER="0" width="194" height="19"></DIV></A></TD><TD><A HREF="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/eternal.html"><DIV ALIGN="center"><IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/2d_00036255.gif" ALT="How to obtain eternal life" BORDER="0" width="194" height="19"></DIV></A></TD></TR><!--Place any additional links in a separate row (3 buttons to a row) --></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD ALIGN="center"><!--Main content area ends here --></TD></TR><TR><TD ALIGN="right"><b><font size="4"> <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/theos/contents.html">Table of Contents</a> </font></b></TD></TR></TABLE><div align="center"><center><table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#000080" width="75%" id="AutoNumber2" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><tr><td width="100%"><p align="center"><font size="1">Scripture Moment </font></p><SCRIPT SRC="http://bibledatabase.com/cgi-bin/votd/rv.cgi"></SCRIPT><BR><!---------------------Praize Graphic Code - Start----------------------><a href="http://www.praize.com/cgi-bin/engine/rate.cgi?ID=10458"><img src="http://www.praize.com/images/ratings/pvote1.gif" width=88 height=31 border=0 alt="Vote for Costouros, John: Jesus is Lord at \o/ PRAIZE!"></a><!---------------------Praize Graphic Code - End----------------------></td></tr></table></center></div><!-- Christian Top 1000 code starts here --><AHREF="http://www.christiantop1000.com/cgi-bin/1000/show.cgi?id=allos" target="_blank"><IMGSRC="http://www.christiantop1000.com/cgi-bin/1000/counter.cgi?id=allos"BORDER=0></A><!-- Christian Top 1000 code ends here --><a href='http://www.ChristianLink.com'><font face='arial' size='2' color='red'>Christian Links</font></a><BR>