Paul S. L. Johnson

Paul Samuel Leo (formerly Levitsky) Johnson (1873 – 1950) was an American scholar and pastor, the founder of the Layman's Home Missionary Movement.

He was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania in October 1873, to Jewish parents who had recently immigrated from Poland. His father was a prominent Hebrew scholar, and eventually became president of the Titusville synagogue. His mother died when he was 12, and his father remarried, both of which caused him distress; he ran away from home several times.

He eventually converted to Christianity and joined the Methodist Church.

In 1890, he entered the Capital University of Columbus, Ohio, and graduated in 1895 with high honors; he then went to the Theological Seminary of the Ohio Synod of the Lutheran Church and graduated in 1898.

In May 1903 he left the Lutheran Church as a consequence of changes in his beliefs. He eventually formed a friendship with Charles Taze Russell, and served as his personal secretary. In time, he became Russell's most trusted friend and advisor.

He suffered from a nervous breakdown in 1910.

Johnson left the Watchtower Society when Joseph F. Rutherford took over its direction after Russell's death. He then founded the Layman's Home Missionary Movement in 1919, and served on its board of directors from 1920 to his death in 1950.

Johnson taught that as Pastor Russell was the "Parousia Messenger" he was the "Epiphany Messenger".

External links

* [http://www.epiphanystudies.co.uk/johnson.htm Biography]
* [http://www.heraldmag.org/2004_history/04history_7.htm History of various Bible Students groups] , with a few notes on Pastor Johnson (also [http://www.heraldmag.org/2004_history/04history_6.htm] ).