This “Golden Age” would see the Earth transformed to its original purity, with a “righteous” social system that would not have poverty or inequality. Russell and his followers looked forward to Jesus Christ establishing a “millennium” or a thousand-year period of peace on Earth. These students understood “ Jehovah,” a version of the Hebrew “ Yaweh,” to be the name of God the Father himself.
The group was led by Charles Taze Russell, a religious seeker from a Presbyterian background. The story of Jehovah’s Witnesses begins in the late 19th century near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a group of students studying the Bible. Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and why would the Russian, or any, government consider them to be a threat? Early history Russia, with a population of more than 150 million, has a total of 117,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses – one Jehovah’s Witness per 850 people. There are over eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses in 240 countries worldwide. The Russian government also has the legal authority to liquidate any property held by Jehovah’s Witnesses as an organization. But, as of now, Jehovah’s Witness gatherings and preaching are criminal offenses in Russia. As a last ditch effort, Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses intend to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. On Monday, July 17, the Russian Supreme Court rejected an appeal of an earlier ruling sanctioning Jehovah’s Witnesses as an extremist group.
