"Watchtower" - Why did Russell REALLY choose that name?

by Sirona 35 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Sirona

  Why did CT Russell name his magazine “Zion’s Watchtower, Herald of Christ’s Presence” (Now “The Watchtower”)?

  I can’t find reference to that anywhere.

  It is interesting that the Witnesses’ legal corporation is also “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society”.

  Note the following:

  “In the early Stellar cults of Mesopotamia there were four “royal” Stars (known as “Lords”) which were called the Watchers. Each one of these Stars “ruled” over one of the four cardinal points common to astrology. This particular system would date from approximately 3000B.C. ….

  Towers as a form of worship were constructed bearing the symbols of the Watchers, and their symbols were set upon the towers for the purpose of evocation.

  Originally the Watchers were “lesser gods” who watched over the earth and the heavens. Among Italian witches the Watchers were the Guardians of the four entrances to the Realm of Asteris, which is the home of the gods in Strega mythology. In modern Wicca they are often conceived of as rulers of the Elemental Kingdoms, known as the Lords of the Watchtowers.

  In the Apocryphal Books of Enoch and Jubilees, the Watchers are mentioned as fallen angels, who originally were sent to earth to teach men law and justice. In The Secret Book of Enoch, the Watchers (called therein Watchers) are listed as rebellious angels who followed Sataniel in a heavenly war.

  In echonian magick there is a great emphasis on the Elemental Quarters and the Watchtowers. Some people feel that Gerald Gardner incorporated these things into Wicca through his contact with Aleister Crowley. Crowley was very much involved in Systems of Ritual and Magick that incorporated Echonian and Egyptian teachings. However the presence of these aspects in The Old Religion actually stems from much older magickal theory.

  Above quotes were taken from "The Wiccan Mysteries" by Raven Grimassi (Chaper 5 "The Watchers")

  Also, what about the title “Golden Dawn”? http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/index.shtml

  Sirona
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  Sirona

  My husband just said that it relates to a scripture in Isaiah.

  Isaiah 21:8 (New International Version)

  8 And the lookout [a] shouted,
  "Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower;
  every night I stay at my post.
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  Cygnus

  He named it Watch Tower because it sounds cool and medieval, which was all the rage in the late 19th century.
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  Sirona

  You know what? I just realised that this thread is total crap. LOL
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  Sirona

  No, hang on. What I'm really getting at here is - was Russell really a mason? I know we've batted this about a lot on this forum but I read somewhere that he actually said in a published book "I am a mason". I sort of wondered if the Watchtower was a reference to masonic ritual because masonic ritual is very pagan (Kabballah etc.) and would involve the Watchtowers in some form or other.

  Sirona
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  blondie

  Here is what the WTS says about the 1879 issue. I have an older issue from 1921 which has the same masthead and picture.

  *** w80 7/1 pp. 5-6 "Watchman, What of the Night?" ***

  the masthead under the title there appeared the significant quotation from the most ancient book on earth. It read: "Watchman, What of the Night?" "The Morning Cometh." Those words were quoted from the Holy Bible, from the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 21, verses 11, 12, according to the King James or Authorized Version. In Bible times a watchman was associated with a watchtower on the wall of a fortified city. This elevated position provided a fine lookout. The publishers of the magazine purposed to serve as a watchman class.

  As to CTR being a Mason, Andersonsifo posted some information from the local mason organizaiton in Pittsburg saying there is no record of his or his father's having a membership with them.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/98444/1706376/post.ashx#1706376

  Blondie
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  Sirona

  Thanks Blondie!

  About the mason thing, they may be lying because surely there could be descendants (family) of Russell's who are still involved?

  Sirona
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  blondie

  Check with Andersonsinfo, Sirona, with a PM. She is a researcher of great skill and she seems to believe this source is on the up and up. Just check with Andersonsinfo and see why you can believe her source.

  Blondie
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  Justin

  The few Scriptural references to watchtowers also tied in with other themes which Russell wished to stress. According to Isaiah 21:12, "The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night." (KJV) Russell believed that the Millennial morning had already dawned - that the morning had come but the night of Armageddon was still on its way. This belief has since been discarded. Another reference is in Habakkuk: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me." (2:1, KVJ) Then the prophet states: "And the LORD anwered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." (verse 2) Russell thought this was a prediction of the Chart of the Ages which he published with his book, The Divine Plan of the Ages. (Some refer to this as the Pyramid Chart because it contains a large pyramid.) Several Adventists had experimented with these sorts of prophetic charts, but either Russell or one of his associates had come up with the chart par excellence. This was supposed to the "tables" that Habakkuk had foreseen in connection with standing upon the watchtower.

  Also of significance was Ezekiel's being commissioned as a watchman (Ezek. 33:1-7), but I don't think Russell put the emphasis upon this that it later came to hold.
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  Kenneson

  I think that the 1993 "Jehovah's Witnesses--Proclaimer's of God/s Kingdom," page 48 supplies the answer: "The expression 'Watch Tower" is not unique to Russell's writings or to Jehovah's Witnesses. George Storrs published a book in the 1850s called The Watch Tower: Or Man in Death; and the Hope for a Future Life. The name was also incorporated in the title of various religious periodicals."

  So, it seems, that it was really from the Second Adventists (not to be confused with Seventh Day Adventists) that he took the name. But, nowadays, in the Quotes suit the Watchtower Society is claiming exclusivity to the name, that it's their trademark and it belongs to them. I fail to see how that can be, since they admit others used "Watch Tower" before they ever did.