Paul Samuel Leon Johnson

Paul Samuel Leon Johnson

Paul Samuel Leon Johnson (born October 4, 1873 in Titusville , Pennsylvania , † October 22, 1950 ) was the founder of the lay home mission movement, which is represented in over 10 states today . He served as a church leader, author, and preacher.

life and work

According to the Lay Home Missionary Movement, the biography of Paul Samuel L. Johnson is as follows:

He was born in 1873 to Jewish parents who emigrated to America from Poland . Johnson was raised in the Jewish faith, learned Hebrew, and became a bar mitzvah (son of the commandment) at the age of 13 .

Taken by his father to a funeral, he first saw and heard the Bible Student Charles Taze Russell preaching. His father's remarriage after his mother's untimely death in 1886 caused him to run away several times in 1887. During this time, now 14 years old, he came to the Christian faith. His father then put him in a reformatory for difficult-to-educate boys. With the support of a Lutheran minister , he renewed his “consecration vow” after his release in July 1889, was baptized and returned home. The conflict with his father persisted. So he was sent to Allegheny to live with a guardian - very close to the Bible house where Charles Taze Russell lived.

Paul Johnson began studying theology at Capital University in Columbus , Ohio. In 1898 he became a pastor in Columbus , Ohio. The Bible teachings he discovered for himself and which led him away from the Lutheran teachings included:

1. The unity of God against the Trinity
2. The mortality of mankind
3. The death as a punishment for sin
4. The papacy and Protestantism as an "animal" and its image
5. The Millennium as Judgment Day
6. The future trial for the unelected
7. The end of the age 1914

On May 1, 1903, he resigned from the Lutheran Church.

After a visit to the Bible House of the Watchtower Society , he was named a "pilgrim" (speaker) on May 4, 1904. When after Russell's death in 1916 the new leaders of the Watchtower Society changed numerous doctrinal points of Russell, Johnson accused the newly elected President Joseph Franklin Rutherford of usurpation . A major part of his life's work since then has consisted of defending the teachings of Russell.

In July 1919 he founded the Laity Home Mission Movement (LHMB) together with former members of the Watchtower Society and friends . He began publishing The Present Truth and Herald of Christ's Epiphany to instruct Christians on biblical doctrines. He also published "The Herald of the Epiphany", later renamed "The Biblestandard" ("The Bible Standard"), to explain the "basic teachings of God's plan". Numerous books followed during another 30 years of his life that interpret many parts of the Bible.

Most of his activities consisted of trips, during which he gave lectures in different places. He directed the production and publication of millions of free Bible treatises , most of which were written by Russell, and a lecturing bureau of over 100 speakers. He saw himself as a "general pastor, administrator, teacher" and led the movement until his death.

Johnson married Emma McCloud on January 3, 1905. The marriage remained childless.

See also

• Charles Taze Russell
• Lay Home Missionary Movement

Publications

• The Present Truth and Herald of the Epiphany of Christ , monthly Christian magazine
• The Bible Standard , 8-page bi-monthly magazine
• Epiphany Scripture Studies, Volumes 1 to 17 (“God”, “The Creation”, “Elijah and Elisha”, “The Chosen of Epiphany”, “Merarism”, “Gersonism”, “The 4th Book of Moses”, “The Messenger of Parousia "(Volume 1)," The Messenger of Epiphany "," The 2nd Book of Moses "," The Bible "," The books of Samuel - Kings - Chronicles "," The Messenger of Parousia - Volume 2 "," Christ - Spirit - Covenants "etc.)

Web links

• Biblestandarte.de
• Pastor Johnson's report on the 1933 European Pilgrimage
• Biography of Pastor Paul Samuel Leon Johnson