2/ Up to and including the October 1, 1931 edition of The Watchtower, there was no mention of Zion as the name of Jehovah’s organization at all in the mission statement. But from the next edition -October 15, 1931 until August 1, 1950 they stated Zion as the name. What changed?

3/ The October 1, 1931 edition of The Watchtower is the one announcing the new name “Jehovah’s Witnesses”. After the edition where this was announced, the mission statement included the name of Jehovah’s organization as “Zion” and did so for the next 19 years until 1950.

4/ Today the earliest edition of The Watchtower you can read in the Watchtower Online Library or JW Library is January 1, 1950. Compare it to what you see in the printed edition:

4/ You won’t see the very last time they published in the inside page of the Watchtower that Jehovah’s organization is called Zion on August 1, 1950 because they cut that part out for the online editions. (I crossed out the part that’s missing online.)

5/ From August 15, 1950 The Watchtower (printed edition) no longer mentioned the name of Jehovah’s organization.

6/ In online version of The Watchtower, you won’t find “The Purpose of The Watchtower” section at all, here’s the August 1, 1950 WT online compared to print edition.

7/ From its first edition in 1879 until 1909, “The Watchtower” magazine was called “Zion’s Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence” In January 1909, “Zion” became “The” in the title.

8/ So we can see that Zion was the name of Jehovah’s organization for years and years. But then they stopped saying it. So is this still the name of Jehovah’s organization? If it is, why hide it? If it isn’t, where is the explanation of the change?

9/ Interestingly if you look up “Zion” in Insight on the Scriptures, you are directed to “New Jerusalem”. Instead of Zion, this is the term used.

10/ Up until 1950 the name was “Zion”. What is it now? It most likely still is “Zion” but you won’t see it spelled out the way they used to because it’s too controversial.