What baffles me is that anyone could influence peoples lives this way without any direct communication from God. All these claims are based on hearsay from ancient texts.
If the clouds opened over Pastor Russel, and the voice of the almighty spoke from heaven and instructed him to say and do the things he did, I would understand. But as is the case in all religions, this never happened. He and his replacements just interpreted the ancient texts (hearsay) and F'ed up millions of lives.