r/exjw • u/Any_Art_4875 • 1d ago
Ask ExJW When did it become a cult?
I'm curious about understanding the process. How did it go from a fringe belief, to conspiracy theorists, to cult/"high control"?
It seems like it must have been a gradual process since older literature sounds less restrictive... But maybe I'm misinterpreting?
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u/Similar-Historian-70 1d ago
I think in the time of Russell they were just some weirdos who believed in Pyramids as a sign from God and in Miracle Wheat but it wasn't a high control group back then. Then Rutherford took over and made a cult out of it. Knorr and Franz optimized this cult to a high control group.
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u/brownbrosef 22h ago
Finding out it was established by the masons led me down a hell of a rabbit hole. And I think it would have been better off under someone like Russel, Rutherford was a power hungry lawyer.
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u/pukesonyourshoes HASA DIGA EEBOWAI 15h ago
Finding out it was established by the masons
It wasn't.
From Grok:
There is no definitive historical evidence to confirm that Jehovah’s Witnesses were established by Freemasons. The origins of Jehovah’s Witnesses trace back to the late 19th century with Charles Taze Russell, who founded the Bible Student movement in the 1870s, which later evolved into Jehovah’s Witnesses under subsequent leadership. Russell, a religious figure from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was influenced by Adventist teachings and focused on Bible study, prophecy, and a rejection of mainstream Christian doctrines like the Trinity. His work led to the formation of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1881, which became the organizational backbone of the movement. Claims of a Freemason connection often stem from speculation about Russell’s personal affiliations and the use of certain symbols in early Watch Tower publications, such as the cross and crown or the winged sun disk. These symbols bear some resemblance to those used in Freemasonry, leading some to assert a link. For example, Russell’s interest in pyramidology—particularly the Great Pyramid of Giza as a prophetic "stone witness"—and his burial site near a pyramid-shaped monument have fueled conspiracy theories. Critics also point to a 1913 sermon where Russell spoke at a Masonic hall and used language that some interpret as sympathetic to Freemasonry, though he clarified he was not a member. However, scholars and researchers who have studied Russell’s life and the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses generally find no concrete proof that he was a Freemason or that the organization was founded by Freemasons. Russell’s writings and teachings often opposed secret societies, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses today explicitly prohibit members from joining groups like the Freemasons, viewing them as incompatible with their faith. The symbolic overlap may reflect broader cultural influences of the time rather than a direct organizational tie. Some argue that Russell borrowed ideas from various sources, including Adventism and possibly Masonic imagery, but this does not equate to Freemasonry establishing the group. The debate persists largely in online forums and among critics of the religion, with some asserting a hidden Masonic agenda based on circumstantial evidence, while others dismiss it as unfounded. Without primary documentation—such as membership records linking Russell to Freemasonry or explicit Masonic involvement in the Watch Tower’s founding—the claim remains speculative rather than proven. Historical analysis leans toward Jehovah’s Witnesses emerging from Russell’s independent religious efforts, shaped by his context but not demonstrably a Freemason creation.
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u/OperationAlarming700 1d ago
After 1914.
There’s a movie they published years ago about how Jehovah’s Witness were formed, and you could see that in the 1800s, specially 60s and 80s they were a group of biblical intellectuals who gathered together with people from different religions (Protestants, evangelicals, Batists and catholics) to discuss the Bible and other projects and they really were just a group of individuals who were interested on finding the truth.
Once their leader died in 1916 and with the fail of the Bible prophecies in 1914, with the new leader they became a cult and start controlling people’s lives.
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u/Any_Art_4875 23h ago
Thank you for that context! "Biblical intellectuals".... It's crazy how much that sounds like the COMPLETE opposite of today
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u/Jtrade2022 19h ago
Exactly! They switched from International Bible students to Jehovah’s Witnesses
That and whenever they decided 1919 jehhoover picked them out of all other religions
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u/Sweet_Audience_8212 1d ago
Good question, I would say in the 70's and 80's it was fringe beliefs centered around a congregation where the local elders held court, made all the decisions and just about followed the schedule.
Back in the 1800's many churches used literature from a religious publishing house. In many ways Wt was similar. If you see it as a bunch of independent congregations attached to a publishing house it doesn't feel too bad.
Fast forward to the 80's much of this is left in place. Slowly things happened. Everything went centralised, money, buildings, scheduling etc.
There was much more leeway in some things.
Now we have the leaders front and centre, no movement available by the local congregation and a very strict "obey" narrative. Is say the birth of broadcasting and death of local trusts was the start of cult life.
It definitely didn't feel like this even in the 90's
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u/Any_Art_4875 23h ago
That kinda helps explain why older people who have been in it longer and haven't felt personally affected by stuff like dating rules might not feel that they're in a cult...
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u/Sorry_Clothes5201 not sure what's happening 16h ago
Many of the older ones came in as adults, so by that time some of them get roped in they had already gone to school, taken take promotion, gotten married to a 'wordly' person, fornicated, smoked cigarettes, etc so they dont see the strictness because it wasn't their childhood. Also, less tech savvy so they wouldnt have knowledge of the bizarre JW things unless it happened right in their face.
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u/StyleExotic5676 13h ago
I agree with this as it happened to me as my mother came in when I was a child, she has no idea of what my child hood was like and she would never understand, point less to even try and explain. To late, damage done 🥲🥲
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u/Ensorcellede 1d ago
I'm not sure about 'conspiracy theorists,' but I think the big shift was when Rutherford become president. That's when things got more regimented and hierarchical.
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u/Sweet_Audience_8212 1d ago
I'm not sure, a lot of churches had the same structure but didn't end up being a cult. It's an interesting topic though.
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u/Any_Art_4875 23h ago
I think it would be fascinating to study why some groups trend in one way versus another, since they do seem to start similarly....
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u/Fulgarite Fabian Strategy Warrior 1d ago
I think if nothing else, it was clearly a cult in Rutherford's day by the standards of our time. The problem is that cult mentalities were common at that time. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and so on.
Russell produced a grab bag hodge podge of occult nonsense: The weird thing to me is how Russell used all sorts of occult/magick ideas with no regard for their origin. Contrast this with fear of pagan customs today and it's ironic. The "Golden Dawn" ? Pyramids?
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u/Any_Art_4875 23h ago
Yeaaaaaaa.... How can they believe they were the only ones with the truth, if by their standards what they had wasn't the truth 🤯
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u/lastdayoflastdays 23h ago
Rutherford was a lawyer and he was the one that made this religion so full of rules and policies. He closed every loophole in order to lock people into the cult. Total control of someone's life in the name of God.
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u/PridePotterz 23h ago
Judge Rutherford was the big push. Then knorr gave it the final touches. By then you couldn’t stop the machine
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u/Mysterious_Yak_79 23h ago
Great question — and yes, you’re right to think it was a gradual evolution. The Watch Tower movement didn’t begin as a stereotypical cult — but over time, it developed many of the key traits of a high-control group. Here’s a rough timeline of how that shift happened:
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1870s–1916: The Russell Era (Founder) • Charles Taze Russell formed Bible Student groups focused on independent Bible study and prophecy. • Early teachings were unconventional but not authoritarian. • Members had more personal freedom, and birthdays, higher education, and celebrating holidays weren’t strictly forbidden yet. • There was disagreement and open discussion within the movement.
Not yet a cult, but definitely fringe and apocalyptic.
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1917–1942: The Rutherford Era (The Enforcer) • Judge Joseph Rutherford succeeded Russell and centralised authority under the Watchtower Society. • He introduced the term “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in 1931. • Rutherford created a top-down hierarchy, demanding strict loyalty to the “Faithful and Discreet Slave” (i.e., the leadership). • He banned Christmas (1927), birthdays (1951), saluting the flag, and military service. • Rutherford aggressively cut off dissent and excommunicated dissenters.
This is where the cultish structure really began to form.
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1942–1977: The Knorr Era (Growth & Tightening Control) • Nathan Knorr expanded the group worldwide through missionary work and literature. • Introduced the Theocratic Ministry School (public speaking) and door-to-door training. • The Governing Body became more prominent. • 1940s–1970s: education beyond high school was discouraged, and shunning became formalised in the 1950s. • 1975: The infamous failed prediction of Armageddon sparked mass disillusionment.
By this point, the group was becoming a full-blown high-control religion.
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1977–Present: The Modern Cultic System • Governing Body formally took over as a collective leadership in 1976. • From the 1980s onward, policies on shunning, blood transfusions, disfellowshipping, and thought control intensified. • 1990s–2000s: More aggressive legal control, child abuse policies, and manipulation of historical teachings. • 2013 onward: Shift toward even more authoritarian control — “tightening the screws.” • The 2014 “overlapping generations” teaching was a desperate move to maintain urgency after all other timelines failed.
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In Summary:
The transition from a fringe apocalyptic sect to a full-fledged cult happened between Rutherford’s rule and the post-1975 period, becoming unmistakable by the 1980s.
What began as an independent-minded movement morphed into a system of total thought control, especially once the Governing Body seized doctrinal authority and enforced obedience at the expense of family, autonomy, and conscience.
If you’re curious, I can link this to Steven Hassan’s BITE model or Lifton’s criteria for thought reform — both make it clear just how far gone it is.
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u/Wrong_Persimmon_7861 23h ago
This is why I still agree with the Bible Students that “Religion is a Snare and a Racket.” It truly is, and they knew it. Became a cult when they forgot that’s where ALL religious movements go once human egos take charge.
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u/lifewasted97 DF:2023 Full POMO:2024 22h ago
Culty from day 1 but more sinister as time went on.
You had Russell leading the pack, The bible students. Seems like a genuine effort which is why a lot of us wanted to believe in restoring and looking at the bible differently.
However, that's kinda the start of a "cult / sect" minus the control aspect.
There were presidents, so that's your single leader, Russell lights people following a single man. Later took Jehovah's Witnesses and became more covert.
Cult picked up more sinister when you had the change of hands and power shifting with the various presidents and leaders.
Doctrine was introduced and various rules. No beards, changing pictures of Jesus to clean shaven, pictures of Jesus on a stake. Dissfellowshiping and shunning. Elders were voted in like a popularity contest, now it's just politics behind closed doors.
Sex within a marriage became grounds for elders to intervene and start telling couples what to do. Now it's just don't ask don't tell.
Things change but they are much more clearly a cult with some dangerous practices that hurt many people.
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u/Any_College5526 21h ago
I don’t know when they became a Cult, but before that they were a Snare and a Racket, and before that they were just a Grift.
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u/Creative_Minimum6501 20h ago
The organization took a really dark turn in 2013 when they announced at their annual business meeting that all of the 144,000 who were not on the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses were fired from their positions as nembers of the Fsithful and Discreet Slave.
That meant that instead of having thousands of mostly unknown people who were thought to have direct communication with Jesus, only a few men had those superntural powers. Since then, those men have become well known idols to JW grunts, dominating their worship.
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u/ntdrk 19h ago edited 19h ago
C T Russell, opening pages in Studies in the Scriptures
the message of fear and control was pretty early on, definitely cult vibes trace back to original founder of the movement that became JWs.
see JW try to defend it https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1957494
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u/Any_Art_4875 18h ago
Oh man 😂 ...Are they still reading Scripture Studies?
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u/constant_trouble 23h ago
Always was. Christianity was and is. This group found a new way to twist it into high control.
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u/Awake_and_Aware 21h ago
From the very beginning. Anytime teachings get away from scriptures and doctrines are created with no biblical support, and loyalty to a man or group of men as God's anointed channel is claimed... it's a cult.
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u/Sorry_Clothes5201 not sure what's happening 16h ago
whenever it started to meet the criteria of a cult is when it became one. for example, information control (jw site, WT only), blind loyalty(to GB even to point of death by refusing a blood transfusion), social control(no non jw friends, excommunication), etc
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u/_Melissa_99_ jer 25:11-12 serve...Babylon for 70 years. But when...fulfilled 12h ago
I think the groundwork was laid after Rutherford n his 2 influential friends rigged the elections of 1917 n tried everything to maintain control and to reinforce themself as god's spokesperson. Demonizing dissenters and misinforming his readers. Gradually the demonization was expanded. And in the 1930ies, He eradicated elected elders, grabbed Control over churches, spread his own Gospel and established His movement as religion. With himself as the channel. Disagreeing with him was disagreeing with god.
That tone didnt exist in the 1910s, became more in the 1920ies and was fully flashed out since then.
My take is it became a cult about 1931-1933.
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u/the-8th-trumpetblast 12h ago
Rutherford sealed the deal. It was pretty casual before that. There’s a picture of a Christmas tree at bethel floating around somewhere
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u/Constant-Profit1577 10h ago
The lste Jordan Maxwell said it came from the york rite cults of freemasonry. So from the start.
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u/HaywoodJablome69 1d ago
I’d say you move from ”kinda wacky” to “full blown cult” when you stop talking to ex members
I think DFing started in the early 50s, so then.