Johannes Greber and J. F. Rutherford: Doctrines of Demons

Ken Raines

"It is advantageous of the demons that they get people to believe their form of theology. It prevents people from loving and worshiping the true God." (The Golden Age, April 17, 1929, p. 469)

Below is an overview of the theology or teachings of the "holy spirits" or "angels" that communicated with Johannes Greber and "Judge" Rutherford. The quotations attributed to Greber were taken from his book Communication With the Spirit World, published in 1932 (second edition). The page numbers in parentheses are referring to this book. The statements with quotation marks are quotes by Greber of the spirit that communicated with him. The quotations in the Rutherford sections are taken from his books or from Rutherford era Watchtower material.

Angelic Inspiration

Greber: ... only through contact with the world of good spirits can we arrive at the truth. There is no other way. (p. 6)
Rutherford: Since 1918 the angels of the Lord have had to do with showing the Ezekiel class the truth. (Vindication III, 1932, p. 316)

Greber: It is the purpose of this book to describe the path which brought me into communication with the world of God's spirits and laid the truth open to me. (p. 8)
Rutherford: ... the interpretation of prophecy does not proceed from man,... the Lord... sends the necessary information to his people by and through his holy angels. (Preparation, 1933, p. 28)

Spirit Mediums

Greber: "Mediums are the instruments of the spirit-world and are intended to make possible communication between the spirits and material beings." (p. 121)
Rutherford: Is The Watchtower a means or channel employed by God to transmit information to his people?.... No man can properly interpret prophecy,... the Lord sends his angels to transmit correct information to his people,... (The Watchtower, February 15, 1935, p. 52)

Greber: "Whenever messages from the spirit-world through writing are set down by a person, you speak of him as a 'writing medium'. The manner in which the writing is accomplished differs widely in the case of the various writing mediums. In one instance the thoughts may be inspired into the medium and written down by him; he is therefore sometimes known as an 'inspirational medium'. Another's hand may be guided at the same time that the words he writes are inspired into his mind. All the while he is fully conscious of his actions..." (p. 109)
Rutherford: ... the remnant are instructed by the angels of the Lord. The remnant do not hear audible sounds, because such is not necessary. Jehovah has provided his own good way to convey thoughts to the minds of his anointed ones. (Preparation, 1933, p. 64)

Greber: "You have there at present two kinds of mediums undergoing a course of preparation at the hands of the spirit-world. One is a so-called 'inspirational medium' into whom certain thoughts, determined by the spirit, are instilled with such force, that the medium's own thoughts are completely expelled from him, leaving him wholly within the spirit's power. The medium not only receives all the thoughts from the spirit, but is compelled to write them down or utter them, retaining the full use of his faculties meanwhile." (p. 36)
Rutherford: Surely the holy angels Jehovah God,... are clothed with power to put questions in the minds of those on earth who are devoted to God. It is not necessary to know just how this is done, but there can be no doubt about the power of the deputies of the Lord. (Light, book 1, 1930, pp. 61, 62; The Watchtower, May 15, 1938, p. 157)

Rutherford: The Lord used The Watch Tower to announce these truths. Doubtless he used his invisible deputies to have much to do with it. This is not what some may regard as spiritism, by any means; but it does mean that God can direct his people without any audible communication with them. (Light, book 1, 1930, p. 64)

Restoration of the Truth

Greber: "Into the places of the good spirits stepped the Powers of Evil, whose chief concern it is, to obscure and to reverse the truth.... Thus it came that since the time when communication with God's spirit-world as the sole road to the truth was dispensed with, errors of the most varied and far-reaching nature have crept into Christianity. Century by century conditions grew worse. Truth after truth was contaminated by error.... (pp. 358-359)
Rutherford: The time came when God would, and did, send Jesus to restore these fundamental truths to those who desire to know the truth.... That work of restoring the truth began about 1875 A.D., and in the years that followed there were brought to the attention of the true Christians the great fundamental truths that had been long obscured. (The Golden Age, August 21, 1929, pp. 761, 762)

Greber: "But the time will come when the teachings of Christ will be restored in their full purity and truth. (p. 20)
Rutherford: The restoration work ... was a restoring to the faithful the truths of and concerning the Kingdom. In the time of that prepatory work the false doctrines of the trinity and eternal torment were completely taken away... (Jehovah, 1934, p. 338)

Omnipresence of God

Greber: "God therefore has a figure and a countenance, and can be seen by spirits, though not by human eyes. Inasmuch as God possesses shape and personality, He is not omnipresent in the sense in which you understand the word.... as a personified spirit He is not everywhere.... God is able to visit all parts of the Universe in person." (p. 261)
Rutherford: The Bible gives ample proof that there is no such thing as intelligence without a body. Humanity cannot think without a body. God himself has a body -- a spirit body; it is an organism... (The Golden Age, January 16, 1924, p. 253)

Rutherford: The Bible seems to show that God's throne in heaven is in what we call the north, very likely near the stars called the Pleiades. (The Golden Age, May 16, 1928, p. 540)

Omniscience of God

Greber: "It is true that He is aware of all things and all events through the force that emanates from Him.... Through His power He maintains contact with everything that exists: nothing can escape His notice." (p. 261)
Rutherford: The word "ghost" is from the Greek word which, in the Revised Version, is properly translated "spirit". It does not mean a person or a creature or being, but means the power of Jehovah God, which power is invisible to human eyes. The holy spirit,... otherwise translated "holy ghost", therefore means the invisible power of Jehovah... (Riches, 1936, p. 188)

Greber: ...spirits of God stand watch over each living being and... they report on whatever happens. Hence nothing can take place without being known to God, and for this reason you speak of God as being omniscient. In this you are right, although in one respect you exaggerate His omniscience.... God knows everything that has taken and is taking place. He knows the past and the present.... But He has no foreknowledge of those future events which men may shape by the exercise of their free will. He does not know beforehand what a creature of His will do..." (p. 262)
Rutherford: God must have a medium far speedier than light or electricity for His service, in order to keep in instant touch with the outermost parts of His vast domain... (The Golden Age, August 26, 1925, p. 755)

Greber: "... for even God's knowledge is subject to eternal laws..." (p. 262)
Rutherford: You will see, now, how very simple it must be for Jehovah to keep an automatic check on a creature's movements, and on the movement of his brain, his thoughts, his memory. It is possible for the record of man's life from birth to death to be preserved by talkie film.... And what is the memory of God?.... Whether His own great mind retains such countless details or whether they are held in the minds of trusted angels or by some automatic equivalent of mechanical means matters not.... (Consolation, March 23, 1938, p. 4)

Greber: "Ignorance of future decisions freely made by His creatures, does not indicate that God is in any way imperfect..." (p. 262)

The Trinity

Greber: "As you can see, the doctrine of a triune Godhead is not only contrary to common sense, but it is entirely unsupported by the Scriptures." (p. 371)
Rutherford: Another lie made and told by Satan for the purpose of reproaching God's name and turning men away from God is that of the "trinity".... The doctrine of the "trinity" finds no support whatsoever in the Bible, but, on the contrary, the Bible proves beyond all doubt that it is the Devil's doctrine, fraudulently imposed upon men to destroy their faith in Jehovah God.... Therefore it definitely appears that the doctrine of the so-called "holy trinity" is another of Satan's lies. (Riches, 1936, pp. 185, 188)

Greber: "Christ taught a unipersonalist God, the Creator of Heaven and earth. He knows no triune God of Whom the Catholic and other Christian denominations teach. Only the Father is God.... That Christ is not God I proved to you by the Scriptures... The entire Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, recognizes only one God in one person. The Father is God, and He only..." (pp. 364-365)

Jesus Not God

Greber: "You see how illogical it is for your former religion to base its contention of the Divinity of Christ upon the phrase: 'I and the Father are one', in the face of the fact that the same oneness that exists between them is promised to all who believe [John 17:22, 23].... He is not God." (p. 333)
Rutherford: "My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) "The head of Christ is God." (1 Corinthians 11:3).... When Jesus had finished his work, he prayed to Jehovah God his Father and said: "Father,.. glorify thy Son,..." .... If the Father and the Son were one in substance and eternity, why should one pray to himself? (Riches, 1936, p. 187)

Greber: "After His resurrection, Christ said: 'I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God'.... '... for the Father is greater than I'. (John 14:28) (p. 364)

The Holy Spirit Not God

Greber: "... there is not in the entire New Testament even the most far-fetched evidence to support the doctrine that... the 'Holy Ghost' is a Deity equal to the Father." (p. 369)
Rutherford: These scriptures conclusively prove that the holy spirit is not a person and is therefore not one of the gods of the trinity.... These and other scriptures expose the falsity of Satan's doctrines of incarnation and the trinity... (Reconciliation, 1928, pp. 115-116)

The Father Alone is God

Greber: "The Father alone, and none besides Him, is God." (p. 333)
Rutherford: The beginning here referred to could not mean the beginning of God the Father, because he... never had a beginning.... The Logos was the first and only direct creation of Jehovah... (The Harp of God, 1921, p. 98, p. 99 in 1928 and later)

Greber: "The Father is God, and He only..." (p. 365)

Jesus Christ Created by Jehovah

Greber: "Christ is the highest Spirit which the omnipotent God could create.... the first-born of all creation'. (Colossians 1:15.) Christ is therefore not God, as is so generally thought today, but the first created 'son of God', and, as such, His highest and most perfect Creature." (p. 267)
Rutherford: The Logos was the first and only direct creation of Jehovah; and thereafter God's creation was performed through his Logos. This is the thought expressed by the Apostle Paul, who said Jesus "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature; for by him all things were created...." -- Colossians 1:15-17. (The Harp of God, 1921, p. 98, p. 99 in 1928 and later editions)

Greber: "At that time you were told that Christ is the highest of the spirits created by God and the sole one to be created directly; that the rest of the spirit-world came into being through Christ... Christ Himself was not God, but only the first of God's sons..." (p. 301)
Rutherford: By these scriptures we are advised that the Logos was the only direct creation of Jehovah God, and that thereafter the Logos was Jehovah's active agent in the creation of everything that came into existence. (Deliverance!, 1926, pp. 12-13)

Greber: "Paul calls Him the Firstling of creation; He was, therefore, created by God and hence God's creature, and is no more God than are His fellow creatures..." (p. 366)

Jesus and Lucifer Brothers

Greber: "The second 'son of God' was he whom you call 'Lucifer -- the 'Light-Bearer' -- next to Christ the greatest of created spirits... (p. 267)
Rutherford: The Holy Scriptures show that the term "morning stars" refers to two mighty creatures of heaven, namely, Michael (the Logos) and Lucifer.... These two mighty creatures were brothers; both sons of God. (The Watchtower, March 1, 1932, p. 76)

Greber: ... he [Lucifer] wanted to be the supreme ruler... He wanted to usurp his brother. (p. 271)

John 1:1

Greber: "First and foremost the text should read: '... the Word was a God'; and not: 'the Word was God'... John uses the term 'a God' as it was applied in his day to all who were God's special instruments... " (p. 368)
Rutherford: "... and the Logos was a God.".... By these scriptures we are advised that the Logos was the only direct creation of Jehovah God. (Deliverance!, 1926, p. 12)

Salvation of Demons

Greber: "The rank and file, those spirits which had been deluded into joining the revolt, were still animated by sentiments very different from those entertained by their leaders.... God's ways are wonderful,.... after the deflection of the spirits, He determined upon a plan by which He would recover those who had forsaken Him." (p. 279)
Rutherford: Some Demons Have Some Honesty ... While the demons as a whole are "lying spirits" because nothing they may say is to be believed; yet the Scriptures say of some of them that "the devils also believe and tremble." (James 2:19) There seems to be some Scriptural ground for hope that some of these demons may at length be saved... (The Golden Age, May 9, 1923, p. 508; The Golden Age, March 30, 1932, p. 390)

Greber: "After the revolt of a great part of the spirit-world, God determined upon a plan for saving the unfortunate beings which had fallen into the Abyss, and for bringing them back into His Kingdom.... Those who had been misled were guilty of weakness only, but those who had led them astray had sinned with premeditation..." (p. 281)
Rutherford: The Scriptures disclose that those 'sons of God' were seduced or turned aside from the path of righteousness by fraud, practiced upon them by Satan and the demons,... they were no part of Satan's crowd... (The Watchtower, June 1, 1937, p. 164, §5)

Resurrection of the Flesh

Greber: "The 'resurrection of the dead' has therefore not the slightest reference to the resurrection of the physical body. There is no resurrection of the 'flesh'.... Another falsification, attributed to Saint Matthew, which speaks of the dead having risen on the day of the Crucifixion, whereas in reality it is related that an earthquake had cast bodies from their tombs,..." (pp. 385-386)
Rutherford: Our Lord's human body was, however, supernaturally removed from the tomb.... Whether it was dissolved into gases or whatever it is still preserved somewhere... (The Time is at Hand, 1889, (1927 edition), p. 129)

Greber: "Materialized in human form, Christ appeared to those who had been closest to Him in life... His mother, His Apostles and His friends." (p. 351)
Rutherford: On the day Jesus was raised from the dead.... he did not appear... in the same body which was crucified.... how did he get the body if it was not the one in which he was crucified?.... The only answer is that now, as a divine being, he had the power to create a body and clothing and appear at any time and upon any occasion that he desired.... He had the power to create a fleshly body and appear in it and dissolve it at any time... (The Harp of God, 1921, pp. 166-168 [pp. 169-171 in 1928, 1937, 1940 editions])

Greber: "Not even of Christ was the natural body raised.... it was not redissolved into terrestrial od by way of decay... but by dematerialization..." (p. 385)

Greber: "Here [Matthew 27] you have merely another of the many instances of the falsifications introduced in the past into the Sacred Texts, for very particular reasons. The false doctrine had been set up that the earthly bodies of men will be resurrected..." (p. 348)
Rutherford: Question: Please explain Matthew 27:52, 53.... Answer: There are reasons to believe that these verses are spurious... (The Golden Age, April 17, 1929, p. 478)

Reincarnation

Greber: "Spirits, parted from their material bodies by corporeal death, enter into the respective parallel spirit-spheres where they remain until they are reincarnated by rebirth on earth. Spirits which have not progressed are reincarnated." (p. 282)
Rutherford: Demons deceived a seven-year-old boy in India into thinking he is a reincarnation of a dead sheik.... this is all the work of devils, out to discredit the Bible.... The Brooklyn Daily Eagle,... recently published a five-column article advertising the claims of the demons that reincarnation is going on in various parts of the world.... which is opposed by every word of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. (Consolation, November 17, 1937, pp. 6, 8)

Hell

Greber: "A doctrine to which you cling with astonishing tenacity... is that of an 'eternal Hell'. This is a bogey which you seem unwilling to surrender." (p. 377)
Rutherford: There is no place for the eternal torture of men or souls. God is not a feind.... It is an invention of the Devil... (Creation, 1927, p. 273 early editions, p. 256 later editions)

Greber: "I hope I have convinced you with my explanations, that there is no authority in the Bible to support your inhuman and untrue doctrine of an everlasting Hell." (p. 379)
Rutherford: The doctrine of eternal torment is a wicked defamation of Jehovah. It is a foul stain upon his lovable name. (The Harp of God, 1921, p. 55)