Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses?
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I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1944 to 1994. I left their organization because I discovered that many of their teachings are not found in the Bible. Still, I believe they are basically kind and gentle people. That includes most of their governing body leaders, some of whom I knew as close friends. I would not encourage anyone to study with them, because that may eventually lead to an almost completely slavish submission to their organization and certainly not to God and Jesus Christ.
I believe the following is a fair assessment of what I believe about Jehovah's Witnesses after being a devout member for fifty years. I welcome any inquiries and suggestions at ftoth77@yahoo.ca.
Frank Toth
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I. Group Profile
Name: Jehovah's Witnesses
Founder: Charles Taze Russell
Date of Birth: February 16, 1852
Birth Place: Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Year Founded: The history of Jehovah's Witnesses begins in 1869, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, when Charles Taze Russell began a Bible study which led to this separate movement. The name "Jehovah's Witnesses" (based on Isaiah 43:10-12) was not adopted until 1931.
Brief History: Although Charles Taze Russell was born to Presbyterian parents, he joined a Congregational Church at the age of fifteen. Soon, however, he became troubled by certain doctrines such as predestination and eternal punishment. At the age of seventeen he was a skeptic and disbelieved the Bible. -- Hoekema, p.223-24.
"Brought up a Presbyterian, indoctrinated from the Catechism, and being naturally of an inquiring mind, I fell a ready prey to the logic of infidelity, as soon as I began to think for myself. But that which at first threatened to be the utter shipwreck of faith in God and the Bible was, under God's providence, over-ruled for good, and merely wrecked my confidence in human creed and systems of Bible misinterpretations." -- Charles Taze Russell, quoted in The Watchtower magazine, 1916.
His wavering faith was re-established in 1870 after dropping in on a Second Adventist Bible study conducted by Jonas Wendell. Soon after this meeting, Russell organized his own Bible study with a circle of friends who came to regard him as their pastor.
Although Russell believed that the Second Adventists were "called of God" and he never renounced them (Russell still maintained his association with the Adventists and credits some preachers with teaching him much), a miscalculation concerning the Second-Coming of Christ caused him to re-evaluate Adventist teachings. -- Hoekema p. 224, Penton, p. 15.
In response, Russell, together with his organized Bible study group, determined that Christ's return would be an invisible or spiritual one. He later wrote a booklet entitled "The Object and Manner of the Lord's Return" to describe his new ideas and views on the issue. When he read similar ideas in N.H. Barbour's The Herald of the Morning, Russell joined him in editing the periodical. Both agreed that the Adventists had been mistaken in awaiting Christ in the flesh. In 1877, Russell and Barbour wrote and published Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World. -- Hoekema, p.224-25; Penton, p.18-19.
"This book set forth their belief that Christ's second presence began invisibly in the fall of 1874 and thereby commenced a forty-year harvest period. Then, remarkably accurately, they set forth the year 1914 as the end of the Gentile times..." -- Qualified to Be Ministers, published in 1955 by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
Charles Taze Russell disassociated himself with Barbour, however, a couple of years later over disagreements of theology. He withdrew from the Herald of the Morning magazine and began publishing his own - Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence - in 1879. (Penton, p.23) This periodical proved influential as around thirty congregations were born in seven states after only one year. In 1881, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was established as an unincorporated body. Three years later, it was organized as a corporation. (Hoekema, p.225) Some consider the birth of the corporation to be the beginning of the Jehovah's Witness movement, which would set the date at December 13, 1884. The purpose of the society as a corporation was as follows:
"the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means of the publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers and other religious documents, and by the use of all other lawful means..." -- found in Article II of the charter.
In 1886 Russell began writing what is now known as the Studies in the Scriptures, a text viewed as sacred. (Hoekema, p. 225; Penton, p.27) Charles Taze Russell died in October of 1916, leaving Joseph Franklin Rutherford with a solid foundation for the group we now call the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was under Rutherford, in 1931, that the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" was adopted. Russell did not choose a successor, instead Rutherford was elected in spite of opposition. (Beckford, p.23. His general acceptance from the group was rocky -- many schisms arose, -- as Rutherford disassociated himself from some of Russell's original ideas and practices. (Ibid, p.46)
After Rutherford's death in 1942, the previous vice president, Nathan Homer Knorr, rose to the position of president. One of his major accomplishments was the founding of the Watch Tower Bible School of Gilead in the state of New York. This school is dedicated to equipping missionaries through intense scriptural study and learning evangelistic techniques. (Ibid, p.49) Presently the organization is ruled by a governing body and various sub-committees.
Sacred or Revered Texts: The Bible (New World Translation) and Watchtower Society publications.
"(N)ot only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the Scripture Studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has became familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years - if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references and had not read a page of the Bible as such, he would be in the light at the end of two years, because he would have the light of Scriptures." -- Charles Taze Russell, quoted in The Watchtower, September 15, 1910.
Size of Group: The 2001 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses marks the membership of Jehovah's Witnesses at 6,035,564 across 235 countries.
It is important to note that Jehovah's Witnesses count only active publishers in their statistics. Therefore, membership does not include all 14,872,086 who attended a special annual meeting in the spring of 2001.
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II. Organization, Practices, and Beliefs
Organization: The headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses is located in Brooklyn, New York and is called Bethel, meaning "House of God." (Kephart and Zellner, p. 286) A governing body consisting of 18 men meet there weekly to discuss many sorts of issues. There are also 5 committees - the Service Committee, Writing Committee, Publishing Committee, Teaching Committee, and the Chairman's Committee -- which aid the governing body in decision making. Below the committees are the district and circuit overseers who accompany Witnesses to home meetings and visit congregations usually twice a year. (Kephart and Zellner, p.286) Congregations meet five times a week in what they call Kingdom Halls. Elders, or overseers, lead the congregations voluntarily. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses are considered to be either Publishers or Pioneers. -- See Glossary below.
Across the globe, about 100 branch offices participate in printing and mailing literature for the Jehovah's Witnesses. This includes Bibles, many different pamphlets, and two magazines which are published semi-monthly entitled The Watchtower and Awake! -- Kephart and Zellner, p.287.
Aside from the money earned from selling publications, the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society finances itself through contributions that the average Jehovah's Witness imposes upon himself. Charles Russell explained the method in 1914:
"We have no church organization in the ordinary sense of the word, no bondage of any kind, no obligation to pay, either to the parent society or anybody else, either ten percent or any other sum...No solicitations for money in any way are authorized by the society...Every amount therefore, that has come into our hands, and been used, has been a voluntary donation from a willing heart..." -- Kephart and Zellner, p.290.
Practices: The principal self-defining characteristics of Jehovah's Witnesses, according to Beckford, are: learning the official doctrines, showing willingness to proselytize actively, participating in all congregational meetings, and being baptized into the Watch Tower faith. -- Beckford, p.70.
The 5 meetings they are expected to attend faithfully each week are as follows:
Public Talk: Usually each Sunday, when an Elder (or rarely a Ministerial Servant) will deliver a talk about a specific topic.
Watchtower Study: A lesson based on a study article in the current Watchtower; usually following the public talk.
Theocratic Ministry School: Generally takes place during the evening on a weekday. Speakers practice giving talks and witnessing.
Service Meeting: Usually after the Theocratic Ministry School. It includes training for various ministry activities. Sometimes, elders will address specific issues and concerns of the congregation.
Book Study: Held sometime during the week where a portion of a Watchtower publication is studied in depth.
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Beliefs: Although Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs come from the Protestant and Adventist tradition, they do hold many beliefs that set themselves apart. The following are some key beliefs that make them different:
Jehovah God: Their God is the God portrayed in the Bible as all-powerful, all-knowing, and everlasting. They refer to Him as Jehovah, stressing that it is the true, personal, and exclusive name that all should use.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity. As mentioned above, God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator. The relationship between Him and Jesus is that of Father and Son: Jesus is the first creation of God. He was fully human. The Holy Spirit is an active force which operates for God on earth.
Satan, the Devil: Satan is seen as an enemy of God. He is misleading and afflicts pain and sorrow. Through spiritism, nationalism, and temptation, Satan leads people astray. The way to resist the devil is by learning about Jehovah.
Man: Jehovah's Witnesses accept the Genesis account of the fall of man. Man is blemished with sin because of the disobedience Adam and Eve showed towards God. Every man is born with sin, except for Jesus, who was born to a virgin. They also believe that man is a mortal soul, that when a person dies, he dies as a soul and his spirit or life force is returned to God. Upon their resurrection, the righteous will experience eternal life. The intentionally wicked will never rise again, while others will be raised during the Millennium to be tried with regard to their acceptance or rejection of the gospel.
Salvation: In contrast to some Christian traditions that believe salvation is achieved by accepting Christ as Lord -- "once saved, always saved," -- Jehovah's Witnesses believe it is possible to fall from grace.
"The Bible sets forth conditions that must be met if we are to be saved from the effects of inherited sin" -- Watchtower, 09/15/89.
Accepting Jesus as Lord is essential, but failure to exercise fidelity to God's requirements can result in the loss of the gift of salvation.
"[B]elievers...will be saved to eternal life only if they continue to adhere to all of God's requirements ... Those losing faith in Jesus also lose everlasting life." -- Watchtower, 09/15/89.
Heaven: Heaven is where Jesus Christ and the other "anointed Christians" will live. There they will rule over the kingdom which will be on earth. Seats are limited: only 144,000 will gain access to heaven.
Hell: Hell is non-existent for the Jehovah's Witnesses. There is not a fiery-torment, claims Russell, because it runs contradictory to God's loving nature. Those who don't qualify for heaven or the kingdom that will be established on earth will simply dissappear, as if they had never existed.
The Great Crowd: These are the subjects of the kingdom ruled by Jesus and the 144,000. They will live forever on the new earth if they continue to obey God.
Kingdom of God: This unique government rules over the earth from heaven. Jehovah fulfilled His promise to Jesus that he would rule in 1914. When Jesus became king, Satan and his evil angels were kicked out of heaven and sent to inhabit the earth. This is how the Jehovah's Witnesses explain the wars, crime increases, and other "bad" things which are happening in our world today. All these things indicate that Jesus has established his reign and that we are in the last days. Within a certain time frame, some faithful followers, 144,000 to be exact, will join Jesus and assist him in his reign. After Jesus judges his people (some receiving everlasting life others non-existence), Jehovah will rule again.
Holidays: Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or any other holidays. They believe these celebrations grew out of ancient false religions. Also, because early Christians did not celebrate these occasions, they believe they should not either. The one day they do observe, however, is the Memorial of Christ's Death around the time of te Jewish Passover.
Other practices particular to Jehovah's Witnesses are their refusal to: salute a nation's flag, serve in a nation's military, vote, and receive a blood transfusion. Each member is also bound by a prohibition of the use of tobacco products in either smoking or chewing. -- Beckford, p. 4-6, 113; Botting, p. 5-32, 187-194; Kephart and Zellner, p.291-98; Stark and Iannaccone, p.135-6; Watchtower: Official Web Site of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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III. Issues and Controversies
Jehovah's Witnesses are the most fervently attacked new religious group today. They are heavily criticized on the Internet. Counter-cultists have taken the lead in this attack. In addition, many former group members have published books or created web sites that share a negative perspective on the Jehovah's Witnesses. Because this group does have such a large following, it is not surprising that they would be heavily attacked. Studies show that the larger and more controversial the group, the greater the tension between them and society. Also, the more people who belong to a group, the more people there will be who may denounce the faith and become active "apostates" -- dissenters who crowd the web proclaiming the evils of the group to which they once adhered. In this sense, it seems natural that the Jehovah's Witnesses would be so heavily criticized. At the same time, however, the intensity of attack is still alarming. Main issues which cause criticism include failed prophecies, blood transfusions, and nationalism.
Failed Prophecies: Jehovah's Witnesses have calculated many dates which were meant to invite extraordinary events. They have predicted Armageddon's start at least six times, but their predictions were proven wrong each of those times. They still hold fast to the date of 1914 in which Jesus Christ is supposed to have returned invisibly, but they maintain an almost unbelievable silence, even among themselves, concerning the errors in their calculations for Armageddon to occur in 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941 and 1975. -- Kephart and Zellner, p. 291.
Blood: Their stance on refusing blood transfusions comes from an interpretation of Bible verses found in Genesis, Leviticus, and Acts. For example, Leviticus 17:10, New World Translation, reads:
"God told Noah that every living creature should be meat unto him; but that he must not eat the blood, because the life is in the blood."
Jehovah's Witnesses consider blood transfusions to be "eating blood." Because of this interpretation, many people have chosen to die rather than recieve one. Also, criticism has risen against parents who refuse transfusions for their children.
Nationalism: Jehovah's Witnesses believe that "they owed allegiance to no person, flags, or nation; they owed allegiance only to Jehovah," therefore, they do not vote, salute the flag, or participate in military duty. Men have been jailed for refusing to be drafted. Children have been expelled for not pledging allegiance to the flag.
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IV. Legal Matters
Jehovah's Witnesses have had more cases go to the Supreme Court than any other group, making them lead challengers of the interpretation of the First Amendment religion clause. Between the years of 1938 and 1955, forty-five U.S. Supreme Court cases were held involving the group. Interestingly enough, the Jehovah's Witnesses won thirty-six of those.
Two particular issues that have generated much criticism are blood transfusions and pledging allegiance to something other than Jehovah. As noted above, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to do both. Courts have dealt with both of these issues, among others.
Two examples are:
In 1940, the Minersville School District v. Gobitis case upheld the school's decision to expel two elementary school students because they didn't salute the flag. The basis of the decision lay in the desire to create national unity.
In 1943, however, this decision was reversed in the West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette case. The court ruled that forcing students to salute the flag was a violation of their rights.
Bergman lists five cases under the heading of Blood Transfusions (p.173). One was People v. Labrenz, Illinois, 1952:
A case in which the Superior Court of Illinois ruled that the parents of seven-day old Cheryl Labrenz could not jeopardize their child's life because of their religious beliefs.
"Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. It does not follow, however, that they are free in identical circumstances to make martyrs of their children before they have reached an age of full and legal discretion, when they can make that choice for themselves. Laws, while they cannot interfere with religious belief and opinion, may be constitutionally appropriate for interferring with religious practices." -- Cumberland, in Caring and Curing, p.475.
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V. Did You Know......
...Jehovah's Witnesses are disproportionately female - 55% of them are women. -- Stark and Iannaccone, p.149.
...Jehovah's Witnesses are not legally allowed to practice their beliefs in most of the Islamic world. Ibid, p.136.
...Jehovah's Witnesses are considerably successful in retaining their kids within their belief system. Ibid, p.153.
...Jehovah's Witnesses are less likely to attend college. Ibid, p. 148.
...Jehovah's Witnesses are as likely to have been divorced as any American. Ibid, p. 150.
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VI. Glossary
Armageddon - the holy war between Christ and his forces and Satan and his forces. This is an imminent war in which the world will be destroyed.
Goat - someone opposed to Jehovah's Witnesses.
Last Days - the time between 1914 and Armageddon.
Millennium - a 1,000 year period, beginning after Armageddon, when Christ will rule over the earth. During this time, the dead will be resurrected, humankind will attain perfection, and paradise will be restored.
1914 - the year of Jesus Christ's invisible return (his Second Coming).
Pioneer - a full-time, voluntary minister who is required to complete 90 hours of missionary work per month.
Publisher - a part-time missionary who has certain requirements to fulfill. These include: spending a certain number of hours distributing literature door-to-door (there are no formal quotas anymore; on average: 17 hrs/month), attending several meetings and services per week, and keeping complete records of missionary activities.
Sheep - Jehovah's Witnesses and potential converts.
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society - the official legal corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses. With it's headquarters in New York, the society prepares different publications, including The Watchtower, Awake! and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. It's main task is "symbol management, or more specifically symbol manipulation, which includes reiterating and reaffirming for the community the continued veracity of specific symbols, and the quiet shelving of others considered to be outdated." -- Botting, p.94, 187-194.
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VII. Links to Jehovah's Witnesses Web Sites
Search the Internet for information on Jehovah's Witnesses and you will come up with over twelve thousand sites. Indeed, the amount of information is overwhelming. Here are just a few sites to get you started.
http://www.watchtower.org/ (Jehovah's Witnesses: Watchtower Society Official Web Site) -- Official web site of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society -- the legal organization used by Jehovah's Witnesses. This site can be accessed in 16 different languages and contains a significant amount of information revolving around the history, beliefs, publications, and controversial topics of the group. This is the organization's authoritative source on who the Jehovah's Witnesses are and what they are about.
http://jehovah.to/ (Jehovah's Witnesses United) -- This is a very valuable page for many reasons, including gaining an understanding about the distinctive theological beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses. When the World Wide Web exploded in the mid-1990s, the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses discouraged members from creating pages. This didn't keep members from doing so. This is an information packed page and a good example of why the leadership should not have discouraged the development of pages by members.
http://www.jw-media.org/ (Jehovah's Witnesses) -- The is the authorized site of the Public Affairs Office of Jehovah's Witnesses. It provides media information. http://www.jw-media.org/
http://witnesses.about.com/culture/witnesses/ (About.com on Jehovah's Witnesses) -- About.com is a vast commercial site with information on thousands of topics. This Jehovah's Witnesses page offers significant resources that are not available on most other sites including links to the text of Supreme Court cases involving JWs.
http://witnesses.net/ (Witnesses.net: Jehovah's Witnesses On Line) -- This page is a large niche site geared to Jehovah's Witnesses. They carry a world-wide daily news summary of JWs as well as headline stories of secular news. There are many types of discussion forums.
http://watchtower.observer.org (Watchtower Observer) -- This page is self-described as the "Official Ex-Jehovah's Witness Page." Maintained by Kent Steinhaughs, a former Jehovah's Witness from Norway, it uses Jehovah's Witness literature to invalidate the legitimacy of the group's beliefs. Information on medical issues, doctrine, history, and Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich can be accessed from this site. In addition, hundreds of links are found on this site, including some in foreign languages.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witness.htm (Religious Tolerance Page) -- Officially, this page is entitled "Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance".The religious tolerance page neither promotes a specific viewpoint nor attacks religious beliefs. Information on many religious groups is given, but this link will get you straight to the section allotted to Jehovah's Witnesses. They provide information on Jehovah's Witnesses' history, beliefs, texts, practices, organization, and opposition. In addition, links to other web-sites are given.
http://www.watchman.org/jwpro.htm (Watchman Fellowship, Inc.) -- Watchman Fellowship, Inc. provides a site dedicated to presenting Christian responses to cults, sects, and new religious movements. The organization also publishes a journal entitled The Watchman Expositor, which is available on-line and contains articles concerning non-traditional religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses. Rick Branch offers a profile of Jehovah's Witnesses about their beliefs, history, publications, and so forth. He also adds Biblical references meant to discredit much of Jehovah's Witnesses theology. It is also has links telling you what hard-copy resources, in their opinion, are valuable to get your hands on.
http://www.irr.org/jwfacten.html ("Facts About the Jehovah's Witnesses") -- This is a page of the Institute for Religious Research, a major counter-cult organization. The content of this page is devoted to refuting the theological teachings of Jehovah's Witness. It also challenges the integrity of the leadership.
http://home.sol.no/~jansh/wteng/jwindex.html (All Along the Watchtower) -- A counter cult site full of links to articles, books, JW home pages, and more. Topics include Blood, Watch Tower and Hitler, Prophetic Dates, and Frequently Asked Questions, to name a few. It is maintained by Jan Haugland who lives in Norway and is studying Religion at the University of Bergen.
http://www.freeminds.org/index.htm (Watchers of the Watch Tower World) -- Free Minds, Inc. (a non-profit, educational organization) maintains this web site. The founder of Free Minds, Inc., Randall Watters, was a Jehovah's Witness for eight years before leaving the group and becoming a Christian. He served as a pastor for some time, but now focuses on exit counseling and educating people about cults. He outlines characteristics of cult recruitment, programming, and retention and then lays out some general topics, such as doctrine and history, and provides links to specific articles concerning those ideas. Watters has written most, if not all, of these articles. He also offers many links to similar types of sites.
http://www.rickross.com/groups/witness.htm (Rick Ross on Jehovah's Witnesses) -- Rick Ross, "Cult Expert and Intervention Specialist", is owner of this page. Ross plays an active role in "deprogramming" individuals involved in, what he would call, destructive and unsafe cults or groups. His web-page includes many articles from different publications from around the world. These articles, dealing with numerous groups and issues, make up the majority of the page. Some of these article are written by Ross, but most are not. Ross is not shy in sharing his credentials and accomplishments - i.e. what television programs he has been on and which publications have quoted him. Other information is given about him, in the form of a biography and newspaper articles, as well. His Frequently Asked Questions section covers the definition of a cult, which will lead you into his pages on over 100 groups.
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VIII. Bibliography
Alley, Robert S., editor. 1988. The Supreme Court on Church and State. New York: Oxford University Press.
Amundsen and Numbers, editors. 1986. Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Religious Traditions. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., p.468-485.
Beckford, James. 1975. The Trumpet of Prophecy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Bergman, Jerry. 1984. Jehovah's Witnesses and Kindred Groups: a Historical Compendium and Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Botting, Heather and Gary. 1984. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
Cole, Marley. 1955. Jehovah's Witnesses. New York: Vintage Press.
Crompton, Robert. 1996. Counting the Days to Armageddon: the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Second Presence of Christ. Cambridge: James Clarke and Co.
Curry, Melvin D. 1992. Jehovah's Witnesses: The Millenarian World of the Watch Tower. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti. 1978. Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Horowitz, David. 1986. Pastor Charles Taze Russell: An Early American Christian Zionist. Philosophical Library Inc.
Melton, J. Gordon. 1993. Encyclopedia of American Religions. 4 ed., Washington D.C.: Gale Research, Inc. p.581-582.
Penton, M. James. 1997. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. 2nd ed. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press.
Rogerson, Alan. 1969. Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. London: Constable.
Stark, Rodney and Iannaccone, Laurence. 1997. Why the Jehovah's Witnesses Grow so Rapidly: A Theoretical Application. Journal of Contemporary Religion: Vol.12, No. 2: pp. 133-156.
Zellner, William and Kephart, William. 1994. Extraordinary Groups: Jehovah's Witnesses. New York; St. Martin's Press.
Counter-Cult References:
Hoekema, Anthony. 1963. The Four Major Cults. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
Martin, Walter R. 1982. Kingdoms of the Cults. Minneapolis: Bethany House.
McDowell, Josh. 1993. A Ready Defense. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Tucker, Ruth A. 1989. "Jehovah's Witnesses: A Religion of Protest." Another Gospel. Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books. 117-148.
Schnell, W.J. 1956. Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave. Grand Rapids: Bake Book House.
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The above is quoted extensively verbatim from a document created by Julia Neubauer
For Soc 257: New Religious Movements
Spring Term, 1998
Last modified: 05/17/01
