How many partook in 1925? "Attendance grew steadily over the years, with at least 90,434 Bible Students observing the Memorial in 1925." BTW, there was no great crowd then, all members were considered to be anointed, due to go to heaven. I talked to Rodney Stark once on this, and he said it is hard to determine how many Christians there were in the first century. The WTS said the "apostacy" started after that with the death of the last apostle of the 12 with Jesus died. The WTS then suggests that few anointed were chosen then. 50,000 approximate for 1st century plus 90,000 = 140,000 total. They may change to "the bible does not say" but..."
https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/144000.php
To be conservative, from the figures above we can estimate that by the end of the first century there were at least 65,000 Christians and in 1935 there were 52,000 Anointed Watchtower followers. Therefore we have:
- 144,000
- less 65,000
- less 52,000
- equals 27,000 true Christians called during the 1835 years between 100 A.D. and 1935
We understand that this heavenly calling continued down through the centuries, though during the so-called Dark Ages, there may have been times when the number of anointed ones were very few. With the reestablishment of true Christianity near the end of the last century, more were called and chosen. But it seems that in the mid-1930's, the full number of the 144,000 was basically completed. Thus there began to appear a group of loyal Christians with the earthly hope. Jesus termed such "other sheep," who unite in worship with the anointed as one approved flock." Watchtower 1996 Aug 15 p.31