The modern-day history of Jehovah's Witnesses began with the forming of a group for Bible study in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in the early 1870's. At first they were known only as Bible Students, but in 1931 they adopted the Scriptural name Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, a legal religious corporation that is used by Jehovah's Witnesses, was incorporated in 1884 in accordance with the Nonprofit Corporation Law of the Commonwealth of Pennsyvania, U.S.A. Thus, by law it cannot be, and is not, a profit-making enterprise, nor do individuals make a profit through this society. The Society's charter states" "It [the Society] does not contemplate preuniary gain or profit, incidentally or otherwise, to its members, directors or officers."
Isa.43:10-12: "You are my witnesses," is the utterance of Jehovah, "even my servant whom I have chosen, in order that you may know and have faith in me, and that you may understand that I am the same One. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none. I-I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior." "I myself have told forth and have saved and have caused [it] to be heard, when there was among you no strange [god]. So you are my witnesses, is the utterance of Jehovah, "and I am God.
Their beliefs and practices are not new but are a restoration of first-century Christianity. According to the Bible, the line of witnesses of Jehovah reaches back to faithful Abel. Hebrews 11:4-12:1 says:"By faith Abel offered God a sacrifice of greater worth than Cain
...By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear...By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed in going out into a place he was destined to receive as an inheritance...By faith Moses, when grown up, refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, choosing to be ill-treated with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin...So, then, because we have so great a cloud of Witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
With reference to Jesus Christ, the Bible states: " These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God." Of whom was he a witness? He himself said that he made his Father's name manifest. He was the foremost witness of Jehovah.
-Rev.3:14; John 17:6.
Interestingly, some of the Jews asked whether the activity of Jesus Christ represented "a new teaching." (Mark 1:27) Later, some Greeks thought the apostle Paul was introducing a "new teaching." (Acts 17:19,20) It was new to the ears of those who were hearing it, but the important thing was that it was the truth, in full harmony with God's Word.
Why are Jehovah's Witnesses persecuted and spoken against?
Jesus said: " If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of he world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you." (John 15:18,19; see also Peter 4:3,4.) The Bible shows that the whole world lies under Satan's control; he is the principal instigator of he persecution.-1 John 5:19; Rev.12:17.
Jesus told his disciples: "You will be objects of hatred by all people on account of my name."(Mark 13:13) The word "name" here means what Jesus officially is, the Messianic King. Persecution comes because Jehovah's Witnesses put his commands ahead of those of any earthly ruler.
When Jesus sent out his early disciples, he directed them to go to the homes of he people.(Matt. 10:7, 11-13)The apostle paul said regarding his ministry: " I did not hold back from telling you any of he things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house."-Acts 20:20,21; see also Acts 5:42.
A conference of religious leaders in Spain noted this: "Perhaps [the churches] are excessively neglectful about that which precisely constitutes the greatest preoccupation of the Witnesses-the home visit, which comes within the apostolic methodology of he primitive church. While the churches, on not a few occasions, limit themselves to constructing their temples, ringing their bells to attract the people and to preaching inside their places of worship, [the witnesses] follow the apostolic tactic of going from house to house and of taking advantage of every occasion to witness."
-El Catolicismo, Bogota, Colombia, September 14, 1975, p.14.
Jesus foretold for our day this work:"This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all nations; and then the end will come." He also instructed his followers: "Go...and make disciples of people of all the nations."-Matt.24:14;28:19.
The message that the Witnesses proclaim involves the lives of people; they want to be careful to miss no one.(Zeph.2:2,3)Their calls are motivated by love-first for God, also for their neighbor.
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