A few people have asked why I included the Jehovah’s Witnesses in my list of groups with strange extraterrestrial doctrines in Exo-Vaticana.  First, it is essential to recognize that the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe themselves to be the only true religion and have consistently taught that all others are of the devil. That includes evangelicals of all stripes. A lesser known but pertinent fact is that the founders of Watchtower Bible and Tract Society held beliefs similar to modern UFO cults. We submit two examples from their officially sanctioned literature. The JW cult began as a splinter group when founder Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916) broke ties with the Adventists in the wake of several date setting failures. His following grew as his publishing arm “Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society” spread his strange doctrines far and wide. In Thy Kingdom Come(1891), the third of a seven volume series, he argues that Jehovah resides on a star called Alcyone in the Pleiades star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. Arguing more like an Ancient Astronaut Theorist than a theologian, he wrote concerning the center of the cosmos:

Astronomers are not yet fully agreed as to what or where that center is. Some, however, believe that they have found the direction of it to be the Pleiades, and particularly Alcyone, the central one of the renowned Pleiadic stars. To the distinguished German astronomer, Prof. J. H. Maedler, belongs the honor of having made this discovery. Alcyone, then, as far as science has been able to perceive, would seem to be ‘the midnight throne’ in which the whole system of gravitation has its central seat, and from which the Almighty governs his universe.[1]

Taken at face value, this drastically diminishes divine omnipresence to a specific location within the material universe, an idea far removed from biblical Christianity which holds that God transcends His material creation being present everywhere at the same time (Ps. 139:7-9). Russell also denied the doctrine of the trinity. Interestingly, the Pleiades cluster is the claimed home of the so-called Nordic aliens popularized by contactees like “Billy” Eduard Albert Meier who started the FIGU cult. Meier, infamous for his hoaxed flying saucer photographs, issues antichristian rants coupled with new age teachings dictated by Semjase, an alleged Pleiadean.[2] The correlation between the Pleiades and diverse cult groups suggests a common spiritual source albeit not space aliens. Russell was also particularly fond of Egyptian symbolism such as the winged sun disk, an emblem tracing deep into the Old Kingdom (26 BC) as the mark of Horus, a deity believed to incarnate as Pharaoh.

Winged Sun Disk in J.W. Literature

Nimrud Stele (Egypt 9th century BC)

Certainly, the biblical narrative paints Pharaoh as an idolatrous oppressor of God’s people who hard heartedly opposed Moses. In fact, God specifically associates him with Satan, the great dragon (Eze 29:3). From Egypt, the Pharaohic symbol spread to Mesopotamia and even as far as Persia and became more generally associated with divinity, royalty and power in the Ancient Near East. Mysteriously, it has also been discovered in the records of ancient cultures as far away as South America and Australia. Thus, it meets Carl Jung’s definition of a culturally transcendent archetype. In the middle ages, it appears in alchemical works and grimoires. Accordingly, its popularity with nineteenth century occultists suggests Russell was no stranger to their works. In fact, just prior to his publication, the winged-sun-disk was featured in magical works by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society, the Rosicrucian Order, and Freemasonry. This makes for strange bedfellows indeed.

Given all the above, the winged sun disk was an extremely odd pretense to Bible study. Employing a syncretic hermeneutic, he justified it with a metaphor from Malachi, “the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings” (4:2) a prophecy to be fulfilled by Christ as “the light of the world” (John 8:12). Nevertheless, its occult connotations suggest this application was reckless at best and, at worst, indicative of a syncretistic occultism. Considering his bizarre Great Pyramid teachings, the weight of the evidence supports the latter.

Russell’s Pyramid Memorial Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Most cult-apologetics texts discuss Russell’s failed predictions that Christ would return in 1874 then revised to 1914. However, it is lesser known they were based on the Great Pyramid, a monument he believed to hold the key to prophecy. Based on various internal measurements and convoluted mathematics he originally arrived at 1874 as the dawn of the tribulation:

 Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation — no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this “Witness” fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject…” [3]

As time passed uneventfully, he manipulated a few of the numbers and moved the date forward:

Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 will be the beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation — no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this “Witness” fully corroborates the’ Bible testimony on this subject…” [4]

Given his prayers were directed toward Alcyone, a Pleiadic star, alongside his obsession with all things Egyptian, one might conclude Russell was subject to same deceiving spirits who inspire UFO cults and alien contactees. In fact, one might argue that Charles Taze Russell is a spiritual ancestor to the modern Pleiadean contactee. A few years after the 1914 date passed, Russell died. A new excuse we needed as 1914 came and went.

Another fanciful rationale for the downfield creep of the eschatological goal posts helped smooth the transition while Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869-1942) picked up the pieces. A highly educated and charismatic leader, he played a primary role in their doctrinal development and growth. It was under Rutherford’s leadership that the smallish fringe group grew into the incorporated juggernaut called “The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society” known commonly as “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” However, his prodigious success as a religious huckster far outmatched any alleged competence in biblical exegesis. Retaining his mentor’s characteristically syncretic hermeneutic, from Job 38:31 and 2 Chronicles 6:21 he also derived a Pleiadean theology:

 The constellation of the Pleiades is a small one compared with others which scientific instruments disclose to the wondering eyes of man. But the greatness in size of other stars or planets is small when compared to the Pleiades in importance, because the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God. [5]

It boggles the mind to assess the damage inflicted upon the divine attributes of Christian orthodoxy but suffice it to say biblical theology does not lead to the conclusion that the triune God can be spatially located within creation. Think of it this way, because God created all things (including the Pleiades), He is necessarily external to that creation, although he may enter into it as he so chooses.

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