Joseph Franklin Rutherford

Joseph Franklin "Judge" Rutherford (November 8, 1869 – January 8, 1942) was the second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, succeeding Charles Taze Russell.

Behold, the King reigns! you are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom.

Quotes

• The holy spirit means the invisible power of Jehovah, holy because he is holy. This power of Jehovah operated upon the minds of honest men who loved and who were devoted to righteousness, directing them in the writing of the Bible. The spirit of God, i. e., his invisible power, moved upon the waters and thereby he created.
  • The Harp of God (1921)

• Do you believe it! Do you believe that the King of glory is present, and has been since 1874?... Behold, the King reigns! you are his publicity agents. Therefore advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom.
  • The Kingdom (1925)

• It is to be expected that Satan will try to inject into the minds of the consecrated the thought that 1925 should see an end of the work, and that therefore it would be needless for them to do more.
  • Watchtower. WTBTS. 1925 September 1. p. 262. 

• It is more reasonable to conclude that the Great Pyramid of Gizeh as well as the other pyramids thereabout, also the sphinx, were built by the rulers of Egypt and under the direction of Satan the Devil.
  • Watchtower. WTBTS. 1928 November 15. p. 344. 

• You may successfully resist any and all men, but you cannot successfully resist Jehovah God. . . . In the name of Jehovah God and His anointed King, Christ Jesus, I demand that you give order to all officials and servants of your government that Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany be permitted to peaceably assemble and without hindrance worship God.
  • The Evils of Nazism Exposed. Awake!. 1995. 

• In Germany the common people are peace-loving, ... The Devil has put his representative Hitler in control, a man who is of unsound mind, cruel, malicious and ruthless . . . He cruelly persecutes the Jews because they were once Jehovah’s covenant people and bore the name of Jehovah, and because Christ Jesus was a Jew.
  • The Evils of Nazism Exposed. Awake!. 1995. 

Quotes about Rutherford

• Rutherford loved to depict the clergy as money grubbers with their hands in the pockets of the people, and big business as greedy commercialists exploiting the workers. In fact, Rutherford was himself guilty of these very things. While his workers plodded from door to door selling his prolific writings, the Judge lived the life of a major industrialist. He spent winters at Beth Sarim and traveled by steamship to Europe each summer. At Brooklyn headquarters he maintained a luxurious apartment on the top floor. All of this was done during the depression, when soup lines were the norm in America. Ironically, although Rutherford fashioned the organization into the "Fuller Brush" of religion, he himself never went door to door. The reason given was that he was too busy with executive responsibilities.
  • Leonard & Marjorie Chretien (1988), Witnesses of Jehovah: A Shocking Exposé of What Jehovah's Witnesses Really Believe, Harvest House Publishers, p. 46

• The Judge had a prodigious appetite for alcoholic beverages and was not pleased when Prohibition became law.
  • Leonard & Marjorie Chretien (1988), Witnesses of Jehovah: A Shocking Exposé of What Jehovah's Witnesses Really Believe, Harvest House Publishers, p. 46

• Rutherford, though not an appointed Judge, acted the part by title and deed, while criticizing the clergy for their titles. He railed against the clergy for its class distinctions while himself exercising the control and rule of a Pope. He castigated the political arena while employing the tactics of a back-room politico. His rhetoric was never without euphemisms attacking the "greedy commercialists" while himself leading a lifestyle that would make them envious. The Judge pointed his finger at a doomed world of decadent people while himself enjoying fine liquor, quality cigars, and the company of female traveling companions. He acted as a prophet of God predicting the end of the world and the resurrection of the Princes in 1925. He built a mansion to house the Princes upon their imminent return but was the only "Prince" to ever inhabit the home. Either Rutherford was a con man or else had delusions that exceeded even Pastor Russel's. Probably the truth is that he possessed both of these traits.
  • Leonard & Marjorie Chretien (1988), Witnesses of Jehovah: A Shocking Exposé of What Jehovah's Witnesses Really Believe, Harvest House Publishers, p. 50