Introduction

Hello!

My name is Stanley and I am an amateur historian of Christian history with a focus on the Adventist and Bible Student history.  The idea behind this blog will be to provide an accurate resource for those looking for information on the Bible Students historically speaking.  Given all the inaccurate knowledge one finds out there it will be necessary to debunk some of that information and clear away the fog so one can see clearly.  However, that is not the only purpose of this blog.  It is meant as a journey through history with a simple examination of what happened, and ultimately some of the trends which led to this particular branch of Christianity.  Since this will be formal writing I will stick with the formal third person when speaking of our self.  It is out hope you will come along with us on the journey, and then some of the other interesting topics we will eventually cover as time goes by

When one thinks of the Bible Students what usually comes to mind are the Jehovah's Witnesses, and we used to be one and that is where we first got interested in the history of the Bible Student Movement which the Witnesses formally separated themselves from in 1931 in favor of creating a new religion called Jehovah's Witnesses.  We collected the histories they published and new ones as they came out, and still do.  However, as time went by we didn't limit ourselves to their historical works.  So we are familiar with the vast collection of inaccurate books and websites out there on both the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Bible Students.  We also know where much f the inaccuracies such as the "Russell was a 33rd degree Mason" accusation all over the place and see a necessity for a site which brings the history all together in an easy yet truthful format.

Charles Taze Russell is an interesting man to look at.  At the time of his death he was the most widely read bible expounder of the time.  Contemporaries now revered had nowhere near the audience he did. During his life he wrote some eight books and coauthored one.  He also wrote most of the articles which appeared in the magazine Zion's Watch Tower over a period of some forty years.  He gave an untold number of discourses, some transcribed by followers and published, most not because he was the sort of person who spoke wherever he could find a place, be it an exalted stage such as the Royal Hall in London, or the humble street corner wherever could be had.  Although the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society accepted donations, Russell was as successful in investments as he was preaching and not only paid his own way, but often financed the launch of his own books and finally the Photo Drama Of Creation out of his own pockets.

We don't intend to dodge the difficult parts of his life.  During his lifetime he would be dogged by a scandal rag called the Brooklyn Eagle, the National Enquirer of his day.  And like that latter publication it didn't mind playing fast and loose with the truth or even making things up as it went.  They were the bane of the rich and famous, and Russell was both.  That made him and his personal life fodder for their publication and most of the inaccuracies of the historical record and which get promoted today originated right in their pages.  So those things must be tackled head on, and the truth, both good and bad, must be laid out.  That is what we intend to do.

We hope you will be fascinated by the man who went from being a humble haberdasher, go ahead, look that one up, to becoming one of the most widely known and recognizable personalities of his time as well as the movement his message inspired both then, and to this day.