Faith In Action (1st DVD)

I have been comparing the DVD “Faith In Action” Part 1 with the “Proclaimers Of God's Kingdom” Book. It's not reasonable to expect the same amount of information contained in the book to be covered on a DVD in the space of an hour but I thought that the following points would surely warrant a mention on the DVD.

The first president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was W. H. Conley. Most organisations are keen to tell you who was the first president or the first manager of their organisation – they WANT you to know. They're proud of that because it's part of their history. This point is not mentioned on the DVD. It's mentioned in the Proclaimers Book on page 576, paragraph 2, line 6:

“Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was formed on February 16, 1881, with W. H. Conley as president and C. T. Russell as secretary and treasurer.”


In the same paragraph, at line 14, the Proclaimers Book says:

“In 1884, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was legally incorporated, with C. T. Russell as president, and its charter showed that it was more than a society that would direct publishing.”





The date 1874 wasn't mentioned on the DVD. This date was significant to C. T. Russell because he believed at that time that the Kingdom had been set up in heaven in that year. C. T. Russell believed that the Gentile times would end in 1914, that Armageddon was coming in 1914 and that the brothers/sisters would be taken to heaven at that time, so he was motivated to get the preaching work up and running as he thought he only had a limited time in which to get it done.

The Proclaimers Book states at the top of page 47 that “Barbour succeeded in convincing Russell that Christ's invisible presence had begun in 1874.”

In the next paragraph, under the sub-heading “Resolved Upon a Vigorous Campaign for the Truth”, the Proclaimers Book goes onto say:

“C. T. Russell was a man of positive convictions. Convinced that Christ's invisible presence had begun, he was determined to proclaim it to others. He later said: “The knowledge of the fact that we were already in the harvest period gave to me an impetus to spread the Truth such as I never had before. I therefore at once resolved upon a vigorous campaign for the Truth.”

On page 46, under the sub-heading “Time Prophecies and the Presence of the Lord” the Proclaimers Book describes in detail how in the year 1876, C. T. Russell receives a copy of the periodical entitled “Herald of the Morning.” N. H. Barbour is it's editor. C. T. Russell arranges to meet N. H. Barbour where they discuss Bible teachings and each other's ideas.

I've read the Proclaimers Book from pages 47 to 63 (up to C. T. Russell's death in 1916) and I don't see anything there that would indicate to me that C. T. Russell had a change of thought about the Kingdom coming in 1874. He says that he believes that the Gentile Times would end in 1914 and also that Armageddon is to come in 1914, but I don't see an instance where he states that he has changed his mind and now thinks that the Kingdom is coming in 1914, as opposed to 1874.

According to the DVD (under the section “1914 – A Marked Year”) the Bible Students are portrayed as coming to the conclusion that “the only one qualified to assume the throne of David is Christ himself and that he would begin to rule in 1914.”

One could “explain this away” possibly by saying that the Bible Students could have changed their minds about the 1874 date and then decided upon 1914, when they realised that they weren't going to heaven when WWI (“Armageddon”) started. However that is not the order of events depicted on the DVD. First there are the scenes where the Bible Students are gathered around discussing the Bible and drawing a conclusion about the 1914 date. Then there are a few scenes depicting how life is going along in a calm and peaceful manner, then some photos of brothers and sisters gathered together. Next there is the scene where the Archduke of Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated. This is the start of WWI. The purpose of the DVD is to present the history of the organisation in chronological order.

The DVD appears to have one version of events while the Proclaimers Book has another.


When the DVD was discussed at the meeting, the brother taking the part repeatedly emphasized how the Bible Students did their own independent research and let the Bible interpret itself. In modern times, if you try that today in the congregation and then attempt to share what you find, you get labelled an “apostate”. (Huh!) (That's sending out a mixed message).