The Parting of the Ways - 1

 The Proclaimers book details how in 1917 and thereafter there was a split between those who stayed with the IBSA and its new president, J F Rutherford, and those who left to form a separate group, which was to split into a number of different groups over time. JFR listed some of these seceding groups in his 1931 resolution when announcing the new name of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Talking about the Society, the Proclaimers book notes (on page 629) “They did not launch a campaign of persecution against such persons (though the defectors often indulged in abuse of their former spiritual brothers.”)

The book notes that they did not persecute those who left. Perhaps the attitude towards the situation in the early days was well summed up Pilgrim John A Bohnet in a fairly gentle put-down in The New Era Enterprise (August 21, 1921 “God Blessing the Society”). Talking about the original group formed by those who left in 1917, he wrote: “It seems to be inoffensive - doing little or nothing....Some people prefer to be associated with a clique that does nothing worthwhile mentioning.”

To the end of his life Bohnet would urge these former associates to reunite and come back into the IBSA fold. See for example his plea in The Watch Tower for February 1, 1931. Some did. Others did not.

The Proclaimers book noted that some who left “indulged in abuse of their former spiritual brothers.”

Perhaps the most outspoken critic of the IBSA in those early days, whose comments seem positively vitriolic, was Paul S L Johnson. After CTR’s death he was sent to Britain and the issues there are described in the 1973 Yearbook.

Johnson was to leave the Brooklyn Bethel along with others in July 1917. He claimed to be a figure foretold in the Bible. He taught extensively on Biblical types and shadows and in many cases believed himself to be the antitype.

This self-view soon caused a rift with the original group who split in 1917 and by 1918 the inevitable happened and he formed his own movement in Philadelphia. (See Proclaimers book pages 68 and 628 and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose page 237).

However, there is one curious account from 1920 where Johnson visited Bethel. His account of this comes from the fifth volume of his extra series of Studies in the Scriptures from page 237.

It sums up his mindset and why there was little realistic possibility of reconciliation.

Johnson wanted the Society to produce reprinted material from CTR’s pen for his group to use. According to his own description he went to Bethel (quote) “as the hand and mouth of the Lord.” He was asked to put his request in writing and ultimately was refused, although he was advised that could purchase the Society’s own publications (which included CTR’s works) to use however he wished.

According to Johnson the reason given for refusing his request was because he’d come to the Society as (quote) “representative priest” and had also written off the Society as “the great company” - i.e. a secondary spiritual class. Johnson’s response sidestepped this by claiming he’d never said that in this particular letter. Technically that might have been true, although he failed to reproduce the correspondence. But Johnson had said PLENTY elsewhere. 

According to Johnson, his visit to Brooklyn dated from May 17, 1920. And if the account doesn’t have him railing against Rutherford full-steam as he usually did, it does build up into a bit of a rant. The same account shows that on the same day, Johnson, this time as (quote)I “anti-typical Gideon” also called on the original breakaway group, also still based in Brooklyn. He seemed a little surprised that he had the same negative response from them. However, his personal attack on them in his publication Another Harvest Sifting Reviewed makes that unsurprising to oursiders.

So they were strange times, and difficult times as families and friends had to choose and sometimes went in different directions. From the Watch Tower Society’s perspective, however, Proclaimers page 69 says: “Some who withdrew from the organization later repented and associated with Bible Students in worship once again.”