The church believes that saluting put flags above God.

Outside of the faith, he’s best known as an influential force in American law, leading the church’s fight for the right to avoid being forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Rutherford also gave the church its name. By one account, members of the church brought portable record players with them and played his speeches to potential converts. He’d already made waves by speaking against World War I and even landing in prison with other church leaders on sedition charges.Īmong other things, he helped develop the church’s reliance on door-to-door preaching and conversion. Rutherford came to San Diego around 1930, about 15 years into his term as president of the church. The 10-bedroom Spanish-style house was the 1930s home of a retired judge who steered the Jehovah’s Witnesses during one of their most controversial periods, a time when they changed their name, were prosecuted by the Nazis and helped set the course of religious rights in America.

Brews & News: Voice of San Diego Live PodcastsĪs Jehovah’s Witnesses from across Southern California came to Mission Valley last weekend for an annual convention, they may not have known how close they were to a onetime landmark of their faith: A mansion in Kensington that was supposed to house biblical patriarchs like Abraham and Moses upon their return to the earth.

Thoroughly revised, the third edition of Penton's classic text includes substantial new information on the sources of Russell's theology and on the church's early leaders.A Mansion for the Resurrected, in Kensington | Voice of San Diego Close Others involve internal controversies, including political control of the organization and the handling of dissent within the ranks. Some of the issues he discusses are known to the general public, such as the sect's opposition to military service and blood transfusions.

His book is divided into three parts, each presenting the Witnesses' story in a different context: historical, doctrinal, and sociological. As a former member of the sect, Penton offers a comprehensive overview of the Jehovah's Witnesses. James Penton's Apocalypse Delayed has been the definitive scholarly study of this religious movement. They distribute a billion pieces of literature annually, and continue to anticipate the end of the world. Ever since that time, Jehovah's Witnesses have been predicting that the world would end 'shortly.' Their numbers have grown to many millions in over two hundred countries. The first prophecy was not fulfilled, but the outbreak of the First World War lent some credibility to the second. Russell, their founder, advised his followers that members of Christ's church would be raptured in 1878, and by 1914 Christ would destroy the nations and establish his kingdom on earth. 'Since 1876, Jehovah's Witnesses have believed that they are living in the last days of the present world.

Apocalypse Delayed by M. James Penton