In an attempt to get his like-minded people out of harm's way, Charles Russell repeatedly changed the name of his organization, now calling it the Watchtower and the Tract Society, now the Association of the Tribune of the People.

It was not until 1884 that the Jehovah's Witnesses won the right to freedom of activity, after which they finally defined themselves as the International Society of Bible Students and noticeably intensified their missionary work. At the same time, the Society bought a building in Aleden, Pennsylvania, where the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses had been located for 20 years. In 1909, the ruling corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses purchased a plot of land in Brooklyn, a suburb of New York, where it is located to this day.

In 1886, Russell published The Divine Plan of the Ages, the first book of a seven-volume work under the general title Studies in the Scriptures,16 in which he expounded in detail the doctrine of the "Bible Students." Soon the second and third volumes were published - "The Time Is Near" (1889) and "Thy Kingdom Come" (1891). The Day of Vengeance, the fourth volume, was published in 1897 and was later renamed The Battle of Armageddon. Then appeared: "The New Creation" (1899) and "Salvation" (1904). The last, seventh, volume, "The Completed Secret", was published in 1917 after the death of Charles Russell on the basis of his preparatory materials17.

Russell's theological heritage is not limited to this. He wrote the works "Food for Christians Who Think," "Old Theology," "The Photo-Drama of Creation," and others, in which the author tirelessly reminded the reader that it was better to leave the Bible unread than to ignore his commentary on this book.18 To make sense of the confusion of Russell's theological views, one must indeed read all of his books, but in brief they are as follows. The "beginning of the end" of this world dates back to 1799 (the date, as we have mentioned, is borrowed from the Adventists), and its end was scheduled for 1914. The countdown of the end of the world was associated with a specific historical event. In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte carried out a coup d'état and came to power. In 1809, he deprived Pope Pius IX of his temporal supremacy and annexed the papal lands to France.20 Thus, the secular domination of the papacy ended, and the time of the end of this evil system of the world order began.

In the third volume of Studies in the Scriptures, developing his theological speculations, Russell wrote: "We present the biblical testimony which shows that from the creation of Adam to 1872 6,000 years elapsed, and from that time we have already entered the seventh thousand, i.e., the millennium of Christ." Here, with his characteristic assertiveness, as well as his lack of evidence, he declares that the Second Coming of Christ took place in October 1874.

It was further explained that in 1878 Christ invisibly came to His spiritual temple of Earth, located in heaven, and resurrected all the righteous who had died, out of the 144,000 who were numbered among the "heavenly class." "We consider it an established fact," wrote Russell, "that the end of the kingdoms of this world and the establishment of the kingdom of God (the millennial kingdom. - I.E.) on their ruins will be completed around 1915."23 "This kingdom will begin with the resurrection of the saints of the Old Testament, from John the Baptist to Abel... They were honored to be earthly ministers."24

From 1909 to 1914, Russell's prophecies were circulated in more than 3,000 different newspapers and magazines.25 This period was marked by increased active missionary activity of Russell, who visited many countries. Numerous editions of Scripture scholars of those years contain reports of Russell's triumphal journeys, which "captivated" the whole world. However, even in this noisy propaganda campaign, there was a swindle. "In many of the cities in question (in the Brooklyn editions of the Jehovah's Witnesses. - I.E.) no one heard any of Russell's sermons."26 For example, in 1912, a request was made from the United States to the city of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands in order to obtain a recording of the pastor's widely advertised speech. To which the answer was received: "To your inquiry about Pastor Russell, who spent several hours in Honolulu with the Bible Student Committee for the Study of Foreign Missions, we inform you that he did not give any speeches."27 The answer became the property of the press and greatly undermined the authority of the restless eschatologist-Jehovah's Witness on the American continent. Likewise, the sermons in China and Japan turned out to be little more than a catchy publicity stunt.28

The Rasselites did not forget about their daily bread. In 1913, the International Tract Society actively advertised wheat seeds (at $1 a pound),29 promising that miracle wheat was guaranteed to yield five times as much as ordinary wheat.30 For the caricature that the Eagle magazine placed on Russell with his miracle wheat, he sued the publishers, but lost the case - the wheat turned out to be of poor quality. In the light of these revelations, the public accusations of the American Baptist pastor John Ross Hamilton against Charles Russell became particularly acute, revealing the destructiveness of the teaching invented by a man who was neither a scientist nor a theologian. Russell sued the pastor for libel and stated that he had a higher scholastic education, that he was a specialist in historical and dogmatic theology, that he was fluent in ancient Greek and Hebrew, etc. But when he was unable to name the letters of the Greek alphabet that had been shown to him, it became clear that Russell had once again become a major disgrace.32 It turned out that his entire education was limited to seven years of school, which he dropped out of at the age of fourteen. It turned out that Russell had lied when he claimed to have been ordained a priest. Therefore, if the reader happens to meet modern very respectable gentlemen from the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses, remember that this truly destructive teaching is originally based on lies.

Despite its vigorous activity on virtually every continent, the Watch Tower Society had only 5,100 active preachers by 1914.

We have already mentioned some of the scandalous trials that shook the Society. It is worth mentioning one more thing. In 1897, the wife of Charles Russell, who had previously declared herself his ideological follower, broke off all relations with her husband, accusing him of repeated adultery with other followers of the Society. This time there were no divorce proceedings - Russell promised his ex-wife a solid lifetime financial compensation. The scandalous case was hushed up. However, soon the former spouses had mutual financial claims. The chief Jehovah's Witness refused to provide his wife with material assistance, for which M. Russell filed a lawsuit to the court for the division of property, where the main motive for divorce was the infidelity of her husband, confirmed by numerous testimonies. The court found Russell guilty and satisfied the claim of his ex-wife. Russell's position was further complicated by the fact that, on the advice of friends, he managed to donate a large part of his disputed property to the Society he headed before the court decision was made, and thus deprived his wife of a large part of the share of the property.

But then came the long-awaited year of 1914 for Jehovah's Witnesses, and with it the First World War. The Jehovah's Witnesses, in the name of the International Tract Society, solemnly declared that this war would develop into Armageddon.

Section II: New Deadlines and "Old Disappointments"

1. Armageddon is canceled