In 1916, Charles Russell dies before Armageddon and the establishment of the millennium. The Jehovists of America were headed by Joseph Rutherforth (1869-1942), who joined the sect in 1906 and then became a close friend and legal adviser to Russell. It was Rutherforth who Russell entrusted to defend his interests in the divorce proceedings.33

It was not easy for the second president of the Society to convincingly substantiate the new system of theological views of the Jehovah's Witnesses, adopted after the end of the First World War. The unfulfilled aspirations of the Jehovah's Witnesses, who eagerly awaited the beginning of the millennium in 1914, prompted many of them to leave the Society. Some moved to other religious denominations, others simply became lukewarm believers, and still others began to create their own "societies" of Jehovah's Witnesses, simultaneously accusing Rutherforth of misinterpreting Russell's teachings. In 1918, Rutherforth expelled Paul Johnson from the ruling corporation of the Society for continuing to preach about the final determination and resurrection to spiritual life by 1914 of the righteous among the "heavenly class", a total of 144 thousand. At the same time, Johnson referred to Russell. According to the teaching updated by Rutherforth, the gathering of the "body of Christ" is not yet over and many of the living have a chance to get into the coveted "class". As for Russell's prophecy regarding 1914, there was a complete forgery. Thus, soon after 1914, in the new edition of the second volume of the works of C. Russell, the words "the deliverance of the saints must take place some time before the onset of 1914." were changed as follows: "The deliverance of the saints must take place shortly after 1914."34

In an attempt to justify Charles Russell, Rutherforth argued that his predecessor had been misunderstood because he had predicted a symbolic Armageddon, the First World War of 1914. According to his explanations, in 1914 Christ took the throne of heaven and threw Satan down to earth. He started World War I, and Jehovah only suspended the war in 1918 to prepare the people for Armageddon. Nevertheless, many believers, feeling deeply deceived, indignantly perceived the attempts of the leaders of the sect to find an excuse for the failure of Russell's prophecies. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the leaders of the Society made harsh anti-war (according to other sources, anti-government) statements in the press, for which some of them, including Rutherforth, were sentenced to several months in prison. Soon, due to religious and political differences, a split occurred in the Society. Three Jehovah's Witnesses were formed independent of the Brooklyn Center. One of them took the name Epiphania (from Polish - advent, appearance); another is the Committee now called the Society for the Study of the Scriptures, and the third is known as the Society of Free Students of the Scriptures.

In an effort to convince his co-religionists that there was a natural process of cleansing the Bible students of those who had fallen into heresy, Rutherforth published a pamphlet in 1919, Babylon Has Fallen, from which it followed that all religions, including Christianity, were an invention of Satan.36

Even the short-term imprisonment of several Jehovah's Witnesses was declared prophetically predicted in the biblical books of the prophet Daniel and the Apostle John the Theologian, and their release from custody was likened by Rutherforth to the liberation of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity.

As soon as the creation of the International League of Nations was announced in 1919, the Jehovah's Witnesses hastened to announce37 that in this way the prophecy of Daniel, who announced the coming "abomination of desolation" (Dan. 9:27), had been "fulfilled."

2. New Dates for the Beginning of the Millennial Kingdom

Not wishing to leave his followers without hope for the imminent destruction of the "evil civilization" and the triumph of the kingdom of justice in its place, Rutherforth wrote in his book "Millions of the Living Now Will Never Die" that from now on the adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses were invited to agree that the period of Christ's forty-year presence in heaven, Whose Coming took place in 1874, had ended. and his complete victory over the devil, and the end of the times of the Gentiles.

Charles Russell himself called the "time of the Gentiles" the period that could be salvific for all unbelievers, i.e. the time before Armageddon, during which all unbelievers would be destroyed.

"It is possible," wrote Rutherforth, "that all secular systems and arrangements will fall in 1921, and we may certainly expect that 1925 will be marked by the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other faithful prophets of old to the perfect human condition."

According to Divine prophecy, they will be resurrected as visible legitimate representatives of the approaching new order on earth. "On October 1, 1925, we may look forward to the resurrection of the worthy followers of the prophets of old times, and the beginning of the blessing of all the tribes of the earth, both living and dead."38

It should be noted that this date (1925) first appeared only in Russell's 7th volume, where he writes: "Surely Satan believed that the millennial kingdom was to be established in 1915 ... But there is evidence that the establishment of the Kingdom in Palestine will probably come in 1925," that is, ten years before the date we calculated. Apparently, Russell never mentioned this date (1925), it was later included in one of the works published under the name of Russell by his followers. It was not until many years later that the Jehovah's Witnesses admitted that there was a belief in their ranks that in 1925 the living members of the "little flock" (out of 144,000) would be raptured to live in heaven.

In May 1925, a congress of Jehovah's Witnesses was held in the United States. Recall that in the book of the prophet Daniel there is a mention of 1335 days (Dan. 12:12). Rutherforth declared that there was no need to convert this figure into years, as prominent Adventist William Miller had done. And if we add these days to 1922, when the Congress of Jehovah's Witnesses also met, we get the date of 1925. However, to the great chagrin of the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses, 1925 did not become the time of Armageddon. But what is Armageddon if, according to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Bible contains predictions even of a short imprisonment for the leaders of the Brooklyn Center.39