The Reluctant Apostate: Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses Comes at a Price

by Lloyd Evans

John Taylor holds the distinction of being the first to unleash the boundless eccentricity of pyramidology with his 1859 book The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built? And Who Built It? Charles Piazzi Smyth followed up in 1864 with his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid. Smyth would later contribute further works on the subject after inspecting the pyramid in 1865 and taking precise measurements. Borrowing heavily from the conclusions drawn by both Taylor and Smyth, in 1891 Russell published the third installment in his Studies series: Thy Kingdom Come. The final chapter, titled “The Testimony of God’s Stone Witness and Prophet, the Great Pyramid in Egypt,” began with a letter from Smyth praising Russell’s conclusions. In this chapter, Russell insisted that various scriptures in the Bible pointed to the pyramid’s significance and divine origins.[117] He claimed that the pyramid was built at the direction of the pre-exodus Bible character Melchizedek during a peaceful invasion[118] of Egypt around 2170 B.C.E.[119] Diagrams were produced showing various pyramid chambers and passageways, and Russell declared that the measurements of these (when inches were converted into years) denoted specific periods of time in human history. In summing up, Russell remarked: The ancient structure thus being repeatedly referred to in the Scriptures, we cannot doubt that, if questioned, this ‘Witness’ of the Lord in the land of Egypt will bear such testimony as will honor Jehovah, and fully...