Did Watch Tower Teachings from Rutherford's Time Influence the "Nation of Islam"?

[JW Insider]

This subject was brought up in a rather off-topic way (by me, sorry) in a discussion that included the idea of using baptism to clarify denominational distinctions.

The WTS has influenced several spin-offs and sects over the years, although obviously this does not mean that the WTS is responsible for how its teachings are used or misused by others

I don't have any fears about the influence of WTS doctrines on other religions. For example, the WTS has taught several generations, now, that traditional doctrines about hell, hellfire and eternal literal torment should be reconsidered. Many denominations now preach a doctrine about hell that would have been unheard of in these same denominations 130 years ago. If the WTS teaching has had some influence on that, I don't think this is anything to be ashamed about. It's possible that as doctrines are repeated and slowing sink in, that this makes conversion to JW doctrine much easier. At any rate, it makes people think that there might be non-traditional ways to learn about a loving God, and other things about his Person, and personality, which is a good thing, in my opinion.

So back to the topic. In the next post I'll present a well-documented research paper on the topic written by an academic. I believe it makes the point that it really is possible to trace influence by the Watch Tower's teaching on the "Nation of Islam."

[JW Insider]

Here is the article I spoke of in the opening post. What follows is entirely made up of quotations and excerpts from the article with no additional comments added:

 

WATCHTOWER INFLUENCES ON BLACK MUSLIM ESCHATOLOGY: AN EXPLORATORY STORY

WILLIAM A. MAESEN

Department of Sociology

Lewis-St. Francis Colleges

. . .

DOCTRINAL SIMILARITIES

The doctrines to be cited here are drawn principally from the works of Joseph F. Rutherford, second president of the Watchtower Society, and Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims. These are official, authoritative sources for beliefs of the respective movements, at least at the time of the early 1930s. (Since the time of Rutherford's writing, the Watchtower Society has made some changes in its belief system.) At least one other writer has noted the doctrinal similarities (Essien-Udon 1962: 403n.); another has hinted at suspected adaptations (Martin 1968:262). . . .

1914: Deferred End of Time

The Watchtower Society held that the end of the "Gentile times" must come in 1914,. . . Some believed Jehovah stopped World War I so that a great preaching activity might begin before the "final end" (Rutherford 1928b: 202-204, 1936:211). Black Muslims teach the world's time was out in 1914, but "so-called Negroes" must hear Islam before the judgment can occur. Hence, Allah delayed the final end (Essien-Udom 1962:155, Lomax 1963:169; Muhammad 1965:18, 83, 289, 294).

Millennium Now Beginning

Jehovah's Witnesses taught that the millennium, the last 1,000 years after the 6,000 from the creation of Adam, began in the 1870s (Russell 1911:33, 1917: 301; Rutherford 1921:239). (The date for the end of the 6,000-year period was changed later to 1975, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society 1966:31-35.) Black Muslims also teach that the world is in its last 1,000 years after the 6,000 following the creation of the white man, but the millennium period began in 1914 (Muhammad 1965:141-42).

Battle of Armageddon

The Watchtower Society anticipates the Battle of Armageddon which would end Satan's rule (Rutherford 1927:317-18, 1932:150, 1933:311-29, 1934:12), . . . Black Muslims also anticipate the Battle of Armageddon, which for them, will signal termination of the "white rule." The battle is a central expectation (Essien- Udom 1962:239; Lincoln 1961 :87; Lomax 1963:27; Muhammad 1965:32,210-11).

144,000

Until around 1935 the Watchtower Society preached . . .  144,000 elect people . . . requiring no resurrection (Rutherford 1921 :259, 1926:271, 1930:235). Black Muslims instruct that 144,000 black people would survive the Battle of Armageddon since Allah permitted the Messenger (Elijah Muhammad) to reconvert only that number to Islam (Essien-Udom 1962:155, 371; Muhammad 1965:46).

New World on Earth

Jehovah's Witnesses held that the earth will not be burned up but will abide forever (Rutherford 1928a :25). After 1935 the Watchtower Society preached there also would be an "earthly class" (Macmillan 1957:145-58; Watchtower Bible and Tract Society 1959:139-40). This "great multitude" would be saved from the Battle of Armageddon so that it might create Jehovah's New World on Earth (Rutherford 1936:294).

Black Muslims also believe the earth will not be burned, but will exist for many thousands of years (Muhammad 1965:281). But the 144,000 would be an earthly, rather than heavenly, group constituting Allah's New World (Essien-Udom 1962: 157; Muhammad 1965 :46, 82-83, 247).

Non-immortality of Souls

The Watchtower position taught there is no immortality of the soul nor eternal hellfire. Instead, the dead are asleep until the judgment (Rutherford 1926:298, 1928a: 118, 1929 :272-73). Black Muslims do not profess immortality of the soul, but believe heaven and hell to be conditions in this life rather than postmortem places (Lincoln 1961 :80; Malcolm X 1965:209; Muhammad 1965: 76, 303-304). Consequently no one already dead will be resurrected in the hereafter (Muhammad 1965: 304).

EVIDENCE OF INFLUENCE

Are the influences more apparent than real? It appears not too likely. Wallace F. Fard, founder of the Nation of Islam sect, and Elijah Muhammad endorsed Rutherford. During the 1930s Black Muslims were encouraged to read Rutherford's writings and to purchase radios to hear his addresses (Beynon 1938 :900; Lincoln 1961 :13; Lomax 1963: 44). Rutherford appears to be one of the few white men referred to in a favorable manner by Muhammad (1965: 323). Such prestige suggestion could make Nation of Islam leaders selective to Rutherford's positions.

. . . . Although neither Black Muslims nor Jehovah's Witnesses is pacifistic, since both would fight in holy wars, both have taken strong stands against military service (see Maesen and La Fave 1960).¹ 

Another similarity is that both groups also take positions against salute to the flag, although it is not clear that this similarity can be attributable to influence by the Watchtower Society. Black Muslims took this position in the early 1930s (Lincoln 1961:15; Muhammad 1965 :237-40). The Watchtower position was not formalized until 1934-35 (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society 1959:143-44; Manwaring 1962 :30-33).

. . .

1. When Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was starting his fight for deferment from induction into the armed forces, claiming status as a Nation of Islam minister, one of his attorneys was Hayden C. Covington (New York Times 1967:58). Covington was the Watchtower attorney who argued Jehovah's Witness ministerial deferment cases before the United States Supreme Court (Shrake 1967:20).

. . .

REFERENCES

Beynon, Erdmann D.

1938    The voodoo cult among Negro migrants in Detroit. American Journal of Sociology 43 (May): 894- 907.

Empson, William

1948    Seven types of ambiguity. New York: New Directions.

Essien-Udom, E. U.

1962     Black nationalism: A search for an identity in America. New York: Dell.

Lincoln, C. Eric

1961    The Black Muslims in America. Boston: Beacon Press.

Lomax, Louis E.

          1963     When the Word is given.... New York: Signet Books.

Macmillan, A. H.

1957    Faith on the march: My life of joyous service with Jehovah's Witnesses. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Maesen, William A., and Lawrence La Fave

1960    The Jehovah's Witnesses today: A study by participant observation. Proceedings of the Southwestern Sociological Society 9 (April):102- 104.

Malcolm X

1965     The autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove Press.

Manwaring, David R.

1962     Render unto Caesar: The flag-salute controversy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

... [etc]...

[JW Insider]

Personally, I don't think this information is important. I think it's just WTS trivia that will hold some historical interest to academics. But this doesn't mean that evidence should be merely denied just because someone wishes to play the part of the opposer whenever evidence seems inconvenient.

One reason, however, to accept evidence in the way it is intended, is that evidence often pops up again in unexpected places, and we often find it useful to draw on the expertise of others to draw proper conclusions. One example where this type of evidence could have helped, was when I first heard (from a Bethel roommate) that Haydn C Covington had been a lawyer for Cassius Clay (one of the most famous American heavyweight boxing champions) usually known as Muhammad Ali. I didn't believe it at first, and it made no sense to me. (At the time, I was told that Nathan Knorr was very angry at Covington for this and found a way to punish him for it. I took this a crazy gossip.)

Now, of course, it makes more sense that the famous boxer, as a minister for the Nation of Islam, would hire Rutherford's most famous lawyer.

[Anna]

7 hours ago, JW Insider said:

Now, of course, it makes more sense that the famous boxer, as a minister for the Nation of Islam, would hire Rutherford's most famous lawyer.

Ha!

[Anna]

2 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_C._Covington

Interesting. And that article also mentions Olin Moyle, who, according to wikipedia became "one of the leaders of the United Israel World Union, a movement that sought to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism". Now there's some more WT trivia I didn't know

[JW Insider]

3 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Basically, the info is in the same place you drew most of your information from. But I don’t demand the source.

If that was meant for me, I drew none of my information from that source at all. The reason I did give the source without even being asked is because I quoted directly from it. I picked that particular one because the references section also provides some additional resources. Anyone who wishes could then check these additional sources to see if they were utilized accurately. A few of them are even available online. For example: https://ia902304.us.archive.org/28/items/blackmuslimsinam030743mbp/blackmuslimsinam030743mbp.pdf

If you were referring specifically to Ali and Covington, I haven't read much about it. My oldest son is an attorney with access to LexisNexis and other resources, but it's low on my list of things to look into. I was glad for what you included above. My roommate knew some facts, and at the time, I was able to just call my father and ask what he knew about it. I recall that my parents were very surprised that I hadn't heard anything about it prior to 1976. They thought it was common knowledge. It had just never come up before that I had remembered.

As far as there not being any "positive" influence, I wasn't referring to Covington's specific case with Ali. I was referring to unknown potential positive influence. While pioneering I handled a lot of Bible studies in the prison work that we did from our congregation, both high-security and intermediate-security prisons. The Nation of Islam was a well-known presence in the high-security prisons. I'm not black so I wasn't allowed to study with anyone from that group. (Prison rules, not ours.) But perhaps there was a time when imprisoned Black Muslims were more receptive to the work of Jehovah's Witnesses conducting Bible Studies in the same prisons due to their semi-acquaintance with some of our doctrinal foundations, or a receptiveness to Rutherford's teachings. That assumption might be a long shot, but it's usually true that the more someone knows about our doctrines, the more receptive they are to listening, or at least not actively opposing.

[JW Insider]

41 minutes ago, Anna said:

"one of the leaders of the United Israel World Union, a movement that sought to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism".

More related trivia:

Guess who wrote the book mentioned below?

Pastor Charles Taze Russell: An Early American Christian Zionist

by David Horowitz

 

Yep, you guessed it. It was David Horowitz. I read this book, and I photocopied it, too. It praises Russell for being one of the only Christian Zionists who expected Jews to remain Jewish, and didn't think they needed to convert to Christianity to be "saved."

 

Guess who was the FOUNDER of the same United Israel World Union?

 

David Horowitz

 

Guess who worked with both Horowitz and Rutherford and became a Bible Student under Russell's aegis?

 

Yep!

 

[Anna]

On 1/11/2017 at 10:21 PM, JW Insider said:

More related trivia:

Guess who wrote the book mentioned below?

Pastor Charles Taze Russell: An Early American Christian Zionist

by David Horowitz

 

Yep, you guessed it. It was David Horowitz. I read this book, and I photocopied it, too. It praises Russell for being one of the only Christian Zionists who expected Jews to remain Jewish, and didn't think they needed to convert to Christianity to be "saved."

 

Guess who was the FOUNDER of the same United Israel World Union?

 

David Horowitz

 

Guess who worked with both Horowitz and Rutherford and became a Bible Student under Russell's aegis?

 

Yep!

 

Ha! Not Olin Moyle  Just one happy family 

[Anna]

On 1/9/2017 at 4:09 PM, JW Insider said:

that Haydn C Covington had been a lawyer for Cassius Clay (one of the most famous American heavyweight boxing champions) usually known as Muhammad Ali

A little more trivia: I mentioned to my husband about Covington and Muhammad Ali, and he said that at one time (late 70's or early 80's) Ali and some of his relatives visited my brother in-law's congregation. Apparently one of Ali's relatives is/was a Witness.

[JW Insider]

Looks like it's time to add a necessary caveat again. For any readers who wonder whether this is a typical way in which JWs discuss information with each other, it isn't. Outsiders should not read too much into the way in which this particular topic has been discussed here. Most Witnesses are quite patient and reasonable, and do not so quickly lose control or lose confidence in their evidence such that they resort to the ad hominem. red herring, strawman, or any number of other logical fallacies. Please do not let this dialogue in any way shape your opinion of Jehovah's Witnesses in general. So with that said . . .   

You've done it again Allen. You have claimed that a point of fact was wrong, and then provided detailed evidence proving that you misunderstood. You provided evidence that shows that your claim is false. It has become even clearer with these recent posts that you are an opposer of true facts. I get the impression sometimes that you actually know that the evidence shows you are wrong, and that you just like to play the part of an opposer, which makes it odd that you so often use the word "thespian" as some kind of accusation against others. 

You made one partial statement that is true, and I will address it:

On 1/12/2017 at 1:51 AM, AllenSmith said:

they could have included any number of other denominations when it came to the understanding and belief of a literal “Hell”, and similar Ideologies

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/belief-in-hell/dont-believe/

This is absolutely true that they could have.  Maesen even admits this along with admitting certain other weaknesses in his "Exploration" of the idea (that the NOI was influenced by Rutherford's teachings). I saw a couple more weaknesses based on Measen's misunderstanding of Watch Tower teachings. (For example, he thought that Rutherford was teaching that only 144,000 would survive Armageddon, which, if it were true, creates a closer match to the "official" NOI teaching. But of course it's not true.)

The problem of course is that while official leadership of the NOI did borrow from a few different sources, they also singled out Rutherford as someone to read and listen to. Currently, of course, they deny Rutherford's influence, and you apparently believe them, which is fine. But there has been no attempt to explain why they once encouraged the buying of Rutherford's books, and they even encouraged people to buy radios to listen to Rutherford's lectures. So while they could have picked up a non-traditional view of "hell" from other sources we should still factor it in as we try to explain why they endorsed Rutherford. Rutherford was apparently the only white man the NOI ever endorsed as a kind of teaching source. That fact alone appears to entail some kind of influence. At least posit some reasonable explanation of that fact before going on to just say they could have got their idea about hell from other denominations. On that matter, too, please note the following:

• The Nation of Islam (NOI) teaching about "hell" is closer to Rutherford's than to the most common Christian sources, Jewish sources or even the Quran, which equates hell with Gehenna (Hebrew Gehennom; Arabic, Jahannam).
• The Pew survey you linked is not useful regarding the point made. That survey evidently asked about religions that believe in "hell" and apparently did not distinguish religions that believed in "hellfire." You will notice that it gives the impression that 98% of JWs believe in "hell" and 2% do not, while only 55% of Christianity in general believes in hell. This response is worthless because we already know that 100% of JWs believe in hell, and 0% believe in hellfire. Other denominations would more likely respond that they do not believe in hell only when what they really mean is that they do not believe in a literal hellfire.

At any rate, this is not about any one reason, but about all the composite doctrinal reasons, combined with the official endorsement of Rutherford as a teacher. Perhaps they did get their idea about hell from another place. So now we should try to explain their interest in the meaning of:

• 1914
• Armageddon
• The 144,000
• The Millennium.
• New World on Earth
• The Mortal Soul

Was there any other person who spoke of these 6 other items as much as Rutherford did, during the very time when they encouraged members to listen to Rutherford and read his books? 

The idea that the world's time was up in 1914 and that it was a time of judgment deferred so that more could be saved is curious in many ways on its own. How many religions do you know that were also teaching this besides the religion represented by Rutherford?

[JW Insider]

4 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Their purpose to have Rutherford's literature read? was that they liked that Rutherford was fighting the establishment in their eyes. Yet, with your own eye's you can read what they thought of their influence by Christianity. Malcolm X found out later, as did Muhammad Ali. That's why "Ali" dropped the Nation of Islam.

OK. You apparently believe that what you've said here provides a serious response to the question. You believe that NOI leaders and founders chose to endorse Rutherford because they liked that he was fighting the establishment in their eyes. You apparently believe that because they claim no influence from Christianity, that they must be telling the truth. You believe that "Malcolm X found out later, as did Muhammad Ali." They found out WHAT later? That the NOI had been too much influenced by Christianity? Did he find out that they had been influenced by Rutherford? Or that they had not been influenced enough by Christianity or Rutherford? You probably didn't mean that, but you don't say what they found out. Why do you think "Ali" dropped the Nation of Islam? You don't say. Why not?

What you hadn't noticed, first of all, that the choice of Rutherford even at the level of someone they liked for their particular perception of the way he was fighting the establishment is already an admission of influence. The only way it would not be is if they chose him at random, or decided to endorse him because they thought they could influence him. We know that this wasn't the reason. Otherwise "influence" is already admitted in anyone's non-random choice and endorsement of teachers, writers and speakers. The more time one spends listening, reading, and learning from someone, then the greater the potential influence. And any later denials of such influence is not very meaningful if teachings have already been endorsed and adopted.

I noticed that you have not yet attempted to answer questions about why Armageddon, 144,000, and 1914 were adopted into the teachings of the NOI. I don't really expect you to, unless you are willing to discuss specifics. So far you have quoted a lot of specifics, some of which support exactly what I have been saying, and none of which have given anyone any reason to question the claim that teachings promoted by Rutherford had an influence on the NOI.

4 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

You just want to find fault with the Watchtower, plain and simple. Your type of disingenuous schemes are will known, now. 

This is your typical red herring. But I can't see why anyone would get fooled by it, because it claims no fault with the Watchtower. If you feel that it reflects badly on the Watchtower anytime Rutherford's teachings might have influenced a group whose teachings you generally find distasteful, then you are hanging onto an illogical premise. I wonder if you can even explain why you think this claim reflects as a "fault" with the Watchtower. We could have a similar discussion about a dozen other groups influenced by the Bible Students. I wonder what your criteria would be for deciding whether or not a certain level of influence counts as influence. Based on your comments, so far, I have to suspect that your criteria has more to do with the reputation of the group, or your personal "perceptions" about the one who presented the facts. 

In spite of these defects in your presentation so far, I will attempt to take you seriously and address a few more of the claims you made so far:

On 1/12/2017 at 1:51 AM, AllenSmith said:

Fard, was a racketeer, He saw an opportunity after the death of “Ali” to come up in the ranks of prominent men, and started finding any kind of scam to employ to have people listen to his message. The Watchtower views were among them. The reason he chose the Watchtower was due to him seeing similar challenges the “Society” was having when it came to legal matters. Did Fard promote the Watchtower teachings? NO! He promoted how to observe the operation on how Bible Students dealt with people (interactions) and gain social understanding by suggesting to his followers to read “Rutherford’s” literature to have a better understanding of his philosophy. Not their faith.

So your claim here is that Fard started using any kind of scam to have people listen to his message, and the Watchtower views were considered by him to be, for him, a kind of scam to get people to listen. So you agree he wanted people to listen to the Watchtower views, but that this type of scam, you think, would not have any influence on those listening. Perhaps you can explain that claim. It sounds naive.

You do give a reason, but it seems to be your own reason that you present without evidence, and not the reason that you can give any evidence for. You say he chose the Watchtower because he saw a similarity in legal challenges. He very well may have. I wouldn't doubt that this was noticed, although remember that we are talking about a period PRIOR to 1933. The number of court cases and arrests were picking up since the late 1920's but we weren't really winning many of the court cases until late 1933 and beyond. So this might very well be one of the reasons that NOI leaders took notice, but it doesn't at all prove that they were not also influenced. 

You merely make a claim "Did Fard promote the Watchtower teachings? NO" You say it was only about observing how Bible Students dealt with people in their interactions to gain "social understanding." And you say that he suggested reading Rutherford's books to better understand his philosophy, not his faith. Again, I'm quite sure that this was one of the ideas behind their interest in Rutherford. It's pretty clear they didn't want to BECOME Bible Students. But again this does not mean that they would not be influenced. Even if Fard or Malcolm X told NOI members that they should study the Watchtower's operations, style, social methods, legal arguments, and philosophy, this does not provide any evidence that they were not influenced, nor that the members themselves would be able to avoid influence from such observations.

If what you say is true, you would certainly expect to find those very important warnings like: "Study them, but don't be influenced by their teachings." You don't find that however, and it turns out there is a very good reason. The reason is that there is plenty of evidence that what attracted NOI leaders was the teachings themselves. I already gave you an overview of that in Maesan's article, for which you only commented on "hell" instead of the more Watchtower-specific doctrines such as 1914.

You are probably aware that William Maesen's article that I quoted from was just a shorter version of papers presented in 1969. "This is a revised and shorter version of papers read at the fall meeting of the Michigan Sociological Association at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, 21 November 1969; and at the annual meeting of the Illinois Sociological Association at Loyola University, North Campus, 30 October 1970." In it he quotes from authors who had made this deduction prior to him. 

I mention that because of what you said about Google book authors seeming dependent on him. In fact, there are prior resources that are more specific, that I haven't even touched on yet.

But I will give you an opportunity to offer your own hypothesis for doctrinal similarities first.

[JW Insider]

22 hours ago, JW Insider said:

But I will give you an opportunity to offer your own hypothesis for doctrinal similarities first.

I noticed you still can't handle the core of the question, about their doctrinal similarities. You've touched on "hell/hellfire" but that's only a start.

20 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

You're supposed to be the genius here. You’re the man with the plan because of your insight in the Bethel House.

All your many ad hominem "red herrings" about how I'm 'supposed to be a genius' and supposedly have 'insight' for having worked at Bethel might really be seen as outright dishonesty on your part. I usually ignore these diversions, as they have nothing to do with the question, but I'll respond here:

You claim to have two PhD's in Theology. I admit that I expressed my doubts when you first made this claim, and I'm sorry for doing that, but I never claimed that you didn't have them. On the other hand, I have never claimed that any of my experiences at Bethel made me intelligent, or that I was chosen for any of my assignments due to intelligence or insight. I readily admit to being a fool on most subjects, and I readily admit to having been studious on a narrow set of subjects. My regular daily assignments at Bethel revolved around the Art Department, and because of my nerdy personality, I was also allowed to do extra research. (Every artist does some level of research when given an assignment.) I'm sure that the only real reason I was also assigned to work on a series of research assignments for Brother Schroeder, is that he knew my father from KM school, and my father is also fairly well known as an Electrical Engineer, specializing in audio/sound, and he has helped the Society on various projects for decades.  So, from literally my first day at Bethel, Brother Schroeder and Charlotte "took me in" as a kind of adopted son in hopes that Judah would have a friend of the same age, and he even asked me if I could get Judah interested in studying NT Greek. I was, and still am, just an amateur at NT Greek. But he knew about it, and he thought that this hobby should be "nourished," so several of his assignments were based on NT Greek. He might have thought at first that he was just giving me a good excuse to spend more time in the libraries, which I loved. But naturally, as a young kid, just turning 20, I also tried to impress him by putting more work into the assignments than he expected, and so I continued to get regular research assignments from him for several more years, even for a few years after I got married and left Bethel. I know for sure that none of my assignments were based on genius, because I know for sure that I am no such thing.

20 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Your questions just come to show how clueless you really are.

Actually, my questions, you might recall, were just reminders that these were points you skipped, and evidently had no answer for. They even tended to show that your line of reasoning could be flawed, because they can imply that you knew I might be right. I notice that you still haven't addressed them. For now, I will assume that the reason you didn't try to answer the question about why they left is because you realize the point is either not important to your claim, was completely irrelevant, or perhaps even counters your claim.

20 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

If you can’t further your research on why Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali disassociated themselves from the Nation of Islam. Figure it out. Read their “Bios”

I never cared and still don't. Although Malcolm X's reasoning is widely known from his autobiography, I never knew what Muhammad Ali's relation to the NOI was, exactly. 

If you think you can tie something from their biographies to the point of the question, feel free. As for me, I'll stick to the point. Here is something that is not a diversion, but gets to the actual point of discussion. It's from one of the major works of Elijah Muhammad: "Message to the Blackman in America." I've added some highlights, but these are exact quotes, many of which are very much aligned with the pre-1930 Bible Student doctrines, not necessarily current doctrines. Sometimes it's clear from context that these doctrines have been re-interpreted, but there are some places where the context brings in even more details that match the wording of the Watch Tower publications of the time period. You should also note that Judge Rutherford was referred to "for his interpretation of the Bible," not his legal maneuverings, or methods. Note that the beliefs are never exactly like the Watchtower; we are only talking about "influence."

Page 191: They hated Judge Rutherford for his interpretation of the Bible which condemned the church and its father, the Pope of Rome.

Page 11: He (devil), the god of evil, was made to rule the nations of earth for 6,000 years, and naturally he would not teach obedience to a God other than himself.  So, a knowledge of the true God of Righteousness was not represented by the devils. The true God was not to be made manifest to the people until the god of evil (devil) has finished or lived out his time, which was allowed to deceive the nations (read These. 2:9-10, Rev. 20:3[,]8-10).

Page 88: We are now living in the early morning of that seventh thousand years. The world of evil was given 6,000 years to reign over the righteous. Now, since their time expired in 1914, as all religious scientists agree, we are in the seven-thousandth year since the creation of Adam,

Page 18: He spoke with authority, not as one who is under authority but as one independent. He said the world's time was out in 1914, but people could get an extension of time, depending upon their treatment of the righteous.

Page 20: They will fail and be brought to disgrace as Pharaoh's magicians and he himself were by Allah (God), for you have not known Him, or His religion, as Israel had not known God by His name Jehovah (Exod. 6:3). . . . They felt that they should not believe Moses' representation of God by any other name than God Almighty, regardless of Moses' stress upon Jehovah as being the God of their Fathers.

Page 72: This mighty One, is known under many names. He has no equal. There never was one like Him. He is referred to in the Bible as God Almighty, and in some places as Jehovah, the God of Gods, and the Lord of Lords.

Page 21: Armageddon has started, and after it there will be no Christian religion or churches.

Page 56: When should we expect Allah (God) to make all things NEW? After the destruction of the wicked, their king and world. Just when should the end of the old world be? The exact day is known only to Allah, but many think that they know the year. But we all know that 1914 was the end of the 6,000 years that was given to the old world of the devils to rule.

Page 57: Seventh, it is the only religion that has the divine power to unite us and save us from the destruction of the War of Armageddon, which is now. It is also the only religion in which the believer is really divinely protected. It is the only religion that will survive the Great Holy war, or the final war between Allah (God) and the devil.

Page 12: Because of the false teaching of our enemies (the devils), God has made Himself known; (for I teach not the coming of God but the presence of God, in person.) This kind of teaching hurts the false teachings of the devils, for they knew that God would come in person after you. They, (the devils) also are aware that God is present among us, but those of you who are asleep they desire to keep asleep.

Page 37: . . . another new people must be made to be the ruling voice of tomorrow out of this old world that is now living her last days.

Page 109: The rising of opposition against divine truth, revealed in the last days (years), also has been told by the prophets of old, and we have it in writing that this opposition against the truth is not to be feared by you who believe and have understanding. The truth will be attacked by the disbeliever and hypocrite in the last days.

Page 54: . . . could easily be frightened and worked up into emotion by the preacher, yelling and spitting out foam all over the pulpit, preaching hellfire after death and the dying of Jesus on the cross. He would paint an imaginary picture in the minds of the listeners -- of meeting some dead relative up in the heavens (sky) after death or mourn them into grief and sorrow. My people are leaving and rejecting such nonsense as they advance more and more educationally.

Page 170: It is the Pope of Rome today whom the church accepts as its intercessor between and Christians and God. And all Catholics, such as priests and cardinals profess to have the power to pray the soul out of purgatory.

Page 158: condition, they are classified with the devil, to be destroyed in hellfire -- the final end to both.

Page 88: The early morning is the first part of the seventh thousand years [note: Millennial Dawn] and the year under the name Millennium (which the Christians say means the 1,000 years Christ will reign on the earth). This is the 1,000 years which it will take to restore peace and honor, after the removal of peace breakers. This time also includes the birth of a new nation from the mentally dead. . . . For in that 1,000 years of Millennium, the disbelievers will cease to be. And to those who live in that time it shall be binding upon them to serve and obey One God:

My own suspicion is that Rutherford's new campaign about the "Birth of a Nation" as the final piece of the failed 1925 Millions campaign would have caught the attention of several African-Americans and other blacks all over the world. Rutherford, a master advertiser, had re-used the name of the recent, infamous, racist movie (Birth of a Nation) that promoted the KKK as saviors of the South. (Rutherford claims that he published this article [in the March 1, 1925 Watchtower] even though the majority of the Governing Body "strenuously objected" adding that "by the Lord's grace it was published and that really marked the beginning of the end of the editorial committee, indicating that the Lord himself is running his organization." - See June 15, 1938 Watchtower, page 185.)

Of course there are many ideas that we could associate with the Watch Tower's teachings, which are not necessarily from the Watch Tower publications. Many of the individual points above could easily be countered with contradictory material or shown to be taken somewhat out of context. If we decided to take them apart piecemeal, one by one, it would be easy to make some headway against the idea of influence by the Watch Tower's teachings. But they still need to also be taken altogether, as a "composite" item of evidence.

20 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others:

I gladly accept the definition you gave. I think this is exactly what we are talking about. We are not talking about acceptance of the Watch Tower's views, or promotion of those views. We are talking about producing effects on another person's opinions, etc.