War & Peace Quote by Joseph Franklin Rutherford

Rutherford’s line is less a gentle piece of spiritual advice than a recruitment pitch dressed up as concern. The sentence sets a trap with two doors: you are either “kept in ignorance of the true way,” or you “permit yourself” to follow “imperfect man.” In both cases, the listener is positioned as vulnerable and culpable, primed to accept the implied solution: submit to the one source that claims access to “the true way.” It’s a classic move in high-authority religion: discredit rival interpreters, then present obedience as liberation.

The subtext is epistemic warfare. “Opinion” is framed as flimsy, human, and therefore suspect; “true way” is treated as singular, knowable, and guarded. That contrast flatters the in-group as rational truth-seekers while painting outsiders as duped by mere personalities. Even the phrasing “permit yourself” shifts responsibility onto the believer, creating an anxiety that can only be soothed by tighter adherence to the authorized teaching.

Context matters. Rutherford led the Bible Student movement into what became Jehovah’s Witnesses, a period marked by sharp boundary-making, centralized messaging, and a combative stance toward mainstream churches and civic institutions. The “riches” he promises are pointedly not material; they’re moral and eschatological capital - peace and “lasting happiness” as rewards for correct alignment now, with the added pressure that the stakes are eternal. It works because it turns doubt into danger and certainty into a kind of spiritual safety plan.