Fritz Springmeier

In 1910 and 1911, Jews flocked to hear a Christian preacher. His message at St.Louis (June 11-12, 1911) was "Zionism, the hope of the world."This fatherly figure of a preacher, the likes of which the Jews had never seenbefore, was C.T. Russell. And he captured many of the Jews' attention if not their hearts.They flocked to his meetings. Four thousand Jews listened to this Christianpreacher at New York City's Hippodrome on Oct. 9, 1910. Later in London 4,600 went tothe Royal Albert Hall (site of many large Masonic gatherings) to hear him, and 800 at theShoreditch Town Hall. 1,200 Jews came at Manchester, 1,400 Jews turned out atGlasgow, Scotland, and another 5,000 at Cincinnati, OH.What captured their hearts? Russell sums up his hippodrome message, "We werenot preaching Jesus to them. Our message was to the Jews as Jews, from Is. 40:1,2,Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." 22Russell's repeated assurances that he wasn't proselytizing the Jews achieved theirgoal to calm the fears of wary Jews. Further, Russell had a radical message for his time,Zionism. Russell was a Zionist before the word existed.Russell's ZionismIn 1880, Russell began to predict that the Jews would return to Palestine.He wrote an article "God's Message of Comfort to the Jews" telling the world thatGod had promised the Jewish nation would be restored. This article was made into a 32page Bible Student tract around Sept., 1881, and reprinted again in tract and newspaperarticleforms in Dec. 1887. One source also says the booklet was put out in 1912. ThisComfort for the Jews is not to be confused with Rutherford's later book in 1925 by thesame title.Russell's third book, Thy Kingdom Come, spends its entire 8th chapter on "TheRestoration of Israel."His prophecy about the Jews returning to Israel are, in this Author's estimation, hismost accurate. The others failed. This prophecy goes unmentioned by today's WTbecause it clashes with their present light that the nation of Israel is not in God's plan.Russell applauded as he saw his predictions on Zionism starting to happen.Russell advertized Dr. T. Herzl's lauching of Zionism. Russell published a Yiddish paperDi Stimme, which circulated in Europe and Russia. With Jewish help it was circulatedworldwide. It was especially popular in Poland.The WT Society collaborates with Jewish groupsAfter Russell's death, and while Rutherford, the second WT president was confinedin a Federal Penitentiary, the WT headquarter shifted back from Brooklyn to Pittsburg.The Watchtower magazine on Sept. 1, 1918 prints a revealing letter from the men inPittsburgh who were running the Watchtower Society. The letter equates the WatchtowerSociety with the Jewish Zionist movement. Whether the two are actually the same or not,it is evident from this article, that the Watchtower leaders were not concerned that theSociety and the Zionist movement be identified together."On Saturday and Sunday we had the pleasure of hearing our dear Brother Thornexpound the further unfolding of God's plan. He spoke of the restoration of the Jews totheir land, called the attention to the significance of their Passover Supper coming theday following ours, and also to the significance of the opening date of the of the recent