Here's a something rough, and maybe not be the right type of info for something like this, but I'll throw it out there:
How has today's Good News of the Kingdom come about?
Charles Russell taught early on that the "little flock" spoken of in the Bible meant true believers who were the bride of Christ. They'd be transferred to heaven at the end of the "gentile times" in 1914, when all the earth's rulers are overthrown (p 101 ), clearing the way for God?s kingdom. Mankind on earth would not be destroyed, but serve in a 1000 year "probation" period with a goal of becoming perfect humans like Adam in the garden. Together with Christ, the "little flock" would be earth's divine new rulers, becoming "redeemer" and "spirtual mother" for all generations of mankind. They'd be able to appear on earth as invisible spirits or by materializing into physical bodies. Russell got the details on this from a man named Nelson Barbour, who described this very plan in his books and magazines. Barbour had come from a big movement led by Baptist preacher William Miller , who calculated through passages in Daniel and Revelation that 1843 (later 1844) was the year of Christ's return. After his prediction failed, Miller admitted he was wrong about the whole date-setting thing and called it quits. Some of his followers, however, insisted that something invisible really did happen on that year. Many others including Barbour came up with countless new end-date predictions along with new ideas and explanations on the ultimate fate of mankind. Barbour identified 1874 as the year of Christ's return by "correcting" Miller?s calculations and publicized the big news in his magazine . After 1874 passed with nothing happening, rather than admit failure Barbour started to claim that he was right after all, that Christ actually had returned, except that it was an "invisible presence" and no one could see him. His magazine nearly went broke because hardly any of his subscribers bought this story. But one reader--a young and wealthy CT Russell--was so impressed with these ideas that he became Barbour's partner in the magazine operation. Russell adopted all of Barbour?s chronology (1914, 1874, 1799 , etc.) along with his specific views on the coming kingdom. After Russell and Barbour broke things off, Russell started molding these ideas in his own new "Watch Tower" publications. He started linking the "little flock" with the 144,000 that was mentioned in Revelation. According to his new understanding, Russell's own followers were the last surviving portion of the 144,000, and the full number was chosen in 1881. He determined that 1878 was the year when all the dead members of this group (going back to the apostles) were invisibly resurrected into heaven. As for the kingdom, he wrote that the 144,000 in heaven wouldn't ever have to come down to earth after all, because in 1914 Old Testament "ancient worthies" like Abraham, Issac and Jacob were going to be resurrected to earth as perfect humans. They'd be put in charge of mankind (p. 619, 625) and have the ability to receive orders directly from the 144,000, kinda like how perfect Adam communicated with Jehovah in the garden. Since Russell's death certain details on all this have been revised:
- 1918, rather than 1878, is now the year that the dead members of the 144,000 were resurrected to heaven.
- 1935, rather than 1881, is now the year that the full number of the 144,000 was chosen.
- Some of the 144,000 will remain on earth for a while to set up the Kingdom, rather than the "ancient worthies" (Abraham, Isaac, etc.). A big WT campaign had promoted the idea that these "ancient worthies" would be resurrected to perform such a duty in 1925, and a mansion was later built for them in San Diego, but this understanding was eventually changed.
- Once the Great Crowd was identified, a harsher view of Armageddon was implemented. Not only will Church and Government institutions be destroyed, but no living person outside of the organization could really expect to be spared from destruction--not even their kids (Riches, Rutherford, 1936, p. 98)...Many past generations will still be resurrected, though. In contrast, Russell had taught that just about everyone would live to get a chance at redemption in the new system.
- 1914, rather than 1874, is now the year that Christ returned invisibly. 1914 is also the start of the last days, rather than 1799. One calculation in support of 1874 (as the start of the millenium) was that 6,000 years of human history ended in 1873. This has been changed to 1975.
- The end of the "Gentile Times" in 1914 now marks the beginning of the end of the present system, rather than the actual end of the present system as originally promoted by Barbour/Russell.
- The 144,000 became the "Faithful Discreet Slave class" who are officially represented by an organization. The "spiritual mother" became the organization itself. In contrast, Russell had taught that there would be no organization set up to redeem mankind until God fully sets up his kingdom, when the 144,000 leaders are in heaven.