Did C. T. Russell Teach that Moses was an Egyptian?

The following is in response to some statements made in a video by Jerry Jones regarding the Photo Drama of Creation. Evidently, Mr. Jones meant to say that Russell was not the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which would be correct. 

Mr. Jones begins by claiming that Brother Russell was "crazy". This is evidently stated to influence the mindset of the hearers to accept what is being presented as being "crazy".

Mr. Jones further sets the mood by speaking of the "lies" of the Photo Drama of Creation.

A segment of the Photo Drama is presented, although the recording was very hard to understand. Thus, we are not sure exactly what was being presented. The segment presented is evidently that numbered as Segment 21. This segment partly corresponds to that which is found on pages 20 and 21 of the Photo-Drama book.

Evidently, Mr. Jones fails to comprehend the purpose of Russell's use of Abydos tablet. It should be obvious that he was simply pointing to that tablet as corroboration, a vindication, of the Bible. Thus the problem is that rather than seeing the Abydos tablet as being a corroboration or vindication of the Bible record as stated, it is being imagined and assumed that Russell's references to the Abydos table was for the purpose showing that Moses and other Bible characters before him were Egyptians, although nothing in the Photo Drama makes such a claim. The focus is taken away from the substantiation of the Bible record as presented in the Egyptian tablet, to making it appear that Russell claiming that Adam to through Moses were all Egyptians, a claim that is nowhere presented in the Photo Drama.

Evidently, it is being thought that Brother Russell was denying that Moses was a Hebrew, which is not at all the purpose of what was presented in the Photo Drama. Anyone truly familiar with the works of Russell would know that Russell believe Moses to be a Hebrew, not an Egyptian. Brother Russell did quote the Bible as saying "Moses was 'learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.'" (Acts 7:22) This, however, does not mean that Russell was claiming that Moses was an Egyptian.

However, most people, even most JWs, are not familiar with what Russell taught, and thus can make easy prey for those who would distort what Russell wrote or said to make it appear to be saying something never intended. What Mr. Jones sees and imagines to be "lies" is simply statements meant to show the corroboration of the Bible in an Egyptian record.

Except for what is being distorted, the video never presents any real evidence to substantiate calling Russell a "lunatic". It is claimed that the Photo Drama as too many lies in it. I cannot say that there is absolutely no error at all in the Photo Drama, but, as with the work of other Biblical commentators, I would simply refer to it as an error or mistake. Russell did not claim that his work was infallible, and totally without error. Indeed, he stated many times that he was not infallible in his conclusions.

Mr. Jones evidently is reading the authoritarian claims made by Rutherford and later JW leadership back to Russell. Russell himself many times disclaimed having any special authority over fellow Bible Students, and that only Jesus, through the writings of the New Testament, is the authority in the church.

It was not Russell that twisted things around, but it does appear that there are those who would twist what Russell presented around to make it appear to be something other than what it was intended to be. He was, in fact, simply defending the accuracy of history as given in the Bible. See the segment presented in this video at: https://youtu.be/G9QLXPyKSyc.

Closely related to his, however, is the segment before. See the segment before at: https://youtu.be/iOoOpPza1KI

Nevertheless, Brother Russell was never a member of the JWs. Russell preached against such an authoriatarian organization, and sought to keep the Watch Tower Society from being used for such a prupose. Brother Russell was not part of any "governing body" of such an organization. Indeed, he preached against such authoritarianism. See links to some of our related research on our page: Russell on Authority and Organization. 

It was not until after Russell died that Rutherford created the organization that he later named called "Jehovahs' Witnesses". By 1928, the vast majority of the Bible Students had already in some way rejected Rutherford's "Jehovah's visible organization" dogma.

This author will be eternally thankful to God that He used Brother Russell to bring forth so many truths from the Bible, especially as to the ransom for all, God's great plan of the ages, and why God is permitting so evil and suffering among mankind. Whatever research was done to present this video is in reality certainly does not represent what Russell taught about Moses correctly. It twists things Russell stated to make it appear to mean something else than what he intended. We highly doubt that whoever did the "research" actually did any extensive research to see what Russell actually did teach about Moses, but instead was more interested in finding something that could be used against Russell. The following links is to a Google search that lists some articles Russell wrote about Moses: http://tinyurl.com/mhf-moses.

We do hope that future video presentations as stated in this video regarding the Photo-Drama are researched more thoroughly than what is presented in this video.