Was Rutherford a necromancer?

Necromancy, the communication with the spirits of dead people, and some people do this to try to glean information from a supernatural source. Could it be that certain religious leaders and figure heads have actually practiced necromancy?

Necromancy is strictly condemned in the Bible. (Lev 19:31; 20:6;20:27;Deut 18:9-12; Isaiah 18:19)

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 — There should not be found in you anyone who … inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to Jehovah…

The two hopes doctrine

The Jehovah’s witnesses believe that the Christian congregation is divided up into two parts, the “two hopes”. The ones who have the hope of living in heaven and the ones who have the hope of living on earth in the future. This doctrine is a theological oddity, so how did it come to be? For the longest time the Jehovah’s witnesses believed that only 144.000 would be saved. By the 1930s the number of witnesses partaking of the memorial were above 30.000, so it was obvious that heaven was too cramped for all of them and the idea that all Christians throughout history numbered only 144.000 became less plausible. So rather than drop that idea, Rutherford and his companions got a great idea: A two-caste system! A few will go to heaven and the rest will stay on the earth!

From where did it come?

But where did they get the idea for this? The Watchtower of January 1st, 2007 explains:

10 Can we say more precisely when the first resurrection begins? An interesting clue is found at Revelation 7:9-15, where the apostle John describes his vision of “a great crowd, which no man was able to number.” The identity of that great crowd is revealed to John by one of the 24 elders, and these elders represent the 144,000 joint heirs with Christ in their heavenly glory. (Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 4:4) John himself had a heavenly hope; but since he was still a man on earth when the elder spoke to him, in the vision John must represent anointed ones on earth who have not yet received their heavenly reward.

The article is discussing the identity of the 24 elders in Revelation 7, saying that they represent the anointed in heaven, and John represents the anointed still on earth. So what does it mean that one of the anointed in heaven spoke to one of the anointed on earth?

11 What, then, can we deduce from the fact that one of the 24 elders identifies the great crowd to John? It seems that resurrected ones of the 24-elders group may be involved in the communicating of divine truths today. Why is that important? Because the correct identity of the great crowd was revealed to God’s anointed servants on earth in 1935. If one of the 24 elders was used to convey that important truth, he would have had to be resurrected to heaven by 1935 at the latest. That would indicate that the first resurrection began sometime between 1914 and 1935. Can we be more precise?

Since they believe the resurrection happened before 1935, they believe that “the correct identity of the great crowd was revealed to God’s anointed servants on earth in 1935” by one of the anointed who died and was resurrected to heaven. In short, they believe that the “communication of divine truths” that they have received (such as the two hopes doctrine) were communicated by the spirits of dead people to the leaders of the Watchtower.

What is it called when you communicate with dead people? Necromancy.

What does God think about necromancy? He hates it.

Deuteronomy 18:10,11 — There should not be found in you … anyone who inquires of the dead.

The best case scenario is that this is like how the Catholics pray to saints for help. The more likely scenario is that if the Watchtower actually gets their information this way, then they are most likely influenced by, or directly communicating with demons.

Is this the way God does things?

1 John 4:1 — Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired statement, but test the inspired statements to see whether they originate with God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

When someone comes to you and tells you that you should believe them because they were contacted by a spirit who claimed to be a dead person who told them so, what should you do? Test whether they originate with God or not. The only story in the Bible of someone supposedly getting information from a dead servant of God is when Saul sought out the medium of Endor to call up the ghost of Samuel. Is this what is going on at Watchtower headquarters? What does Jehovah think of this? God does not communicate through the spirits of dead people, so the teaching of the two hopes doctrine most likely comes from a demonic source.

1 Timothy 4:1 — However, the inspired word clearly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons.

Surely true Christians would reject any teachings that originate with demons.