Joseph Franklin Rutherford

…Association), led from 1917 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869–1942), continue to believe in the imminent return of Christ and the end of time.

…as president in 1917 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (Judge Rutherford; 1869–1942), who changed the group’s name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931 to emphasize its members’ belief that Jehovah, or Yahweh, is the true God and that the Witnesses were his specially chosen followers. Rutherford molded the Witnesses into a cadre…