This is part nine in the review of the July 2022 Watchtower.
9. Jesus foretold that during the time of the end, he would appoint a “faithful and discreet slave” to provide spiritual food. So we would expect that slave to be hard at work in our day. This has proved to be the case. Our overseer has used a small group of anointed men to provide God’s people and interested ones with spiritual “food at the proper time.” These men do not view themselves as masters over the faith of others. (2 Cor. 1:24) Instead, they recognize that Jesus Christ is the “leader and commander” of his people. —Isa. 55:4.
First, Jesus did not appoint a “faithful and discreet slave.” He appointed a slave. It is yet to be determined if the slaves whom the master appointed will have proven faithful in the assignment given them. That is why Jesus phrased it as an unanswerable question, when he said: “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? — Mathew 24:45
Just to reiterate, whether the slaves really are faithful can only be determined by the master who appointed them to their office in the first place. It is not for the slave to declare himself faithful and discreet. Like Paul said to the Corinthians: “In this regard, what is expected of stewards is that they be found faithful…For I am not conscious of anything against myself. But by this I am not proved righteous; the one who examines me is Jehovah. Therefore, do not judge anything before the due time, until the Lord comes.” — 1 Corinthians 4:2-5
To be sure, the judgment of the slaves will be the first order of business when the master comes as suddenly and unexpectedly as a thief in the night. That is why Jesus issued the stern warning: “On this account, you too prove yourselves ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not think to be it.”
Some readers may not realize it, but for many decades the Watchtower taught that the illustration of the slaves and the household was fulfilled back in the 1918-19. As recently as 2004 the Watchtower boasted that faithful slave had passed the test and was appointed over all of the master’s belongings back then. Embarrassingly, the evil slave was said to have been manifested in the Bible Students who refused to follow Judge Rutherford after Pastor Russell died.
The first edition of Jehovah Himself Has Become King (2005 edition no longer available) demonstrated that belief to be a fallacy. Copies were distributed to all members of the then-Governing Body. Subsequently, in 2013 the Watchtower revised its teaching and placed the second appointment to the future and the evil slave was rendered into a mere hypothetical.
This matter with the appointment of the slave is not the only instance either. The Watchtower has not published any so-called adjustments in their prophetic interpretation in recent years that were not in response to something from e-watchman. Even their erroneous identification of Russia as the king of the north is likely a response to my ridicule that they did not know who the king of the north was since the collapse of the USSR, even though we are supposedly deep into the time of the end when the scroll of Daniel is unsealed.
In any case, you know something is terribly wrong at Bethel when the Governing Body secretly gets their “new light” from a disheveled, disfellowshipped “apostate.” Truly, the situation with them is as Paul said of the prominent men in his day: “But on the part of those who seemed to be something—whatever sort of men they formerly were makes no difference to me—God does not go by a man’s outward appearance—to me, in fact, those outstanding men imparted nothing new.” — Galatians 2:6
As for the statement: “These men do not view themselves as masters over the faith of others” — Oh, if only that were true! Simply quoting the apostle and applying it to themselves does not make it so.
If the Governing Body were not the masters over the faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses they would not need to say it. There is no need to enumerate the many instances and examples that prove otherwise. The truth is well known and cannot be disputed. Virtually every aspect of the personal lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses is dominated by the all-imposing Watchtower.
One hypothetical situation ought to suffice to shake out the truth: What if one of Jehovah’s Witnesses—let’s say a zealous pioneer—were to have ignored the orders of the Governing Body and continued to go out in service during the pandemic? Let’s say they even took the vaccination, wore a mask and surgical gloves, and simply stood on a busy street corner with their information cart as they had been doing for years before the pandemic. In all likelihood that pioneer would have been busted—hard. They would have been deleted from the pioneer list and possibly publicly rebuked for daring to defy the GB, even though the pioneer was simply endeavoring to obey Christ’s command to go make disciples.
Sadly, apparently, none of Jehovah’s Witnesses have the spirit of Christ in them and so have dutifully obeyed the masters. To this day, the ministry is off-limits. Even as JW’s have finally been allowed to venture out of their homes to the Kingdom Hall, as regards the public ministry they must still remain cloistered in their homes writing letters even while the world goes about its business. The public ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been dissolved by the GB—for everyone’s safety. Christ’s order to go make disciples has been effectively countermanded. And the members of the Governing Body are not the masters of your faith?
By the way, the Governing Body has even piously taken to referring to those being taught as “learners.” Not that there is anything particularly objectionable about that, except the difference between the masters and the learners is a masonic distinction.
In recent years the Governing Body has also taken to referring to the apostles as the first century governing body, which the apostles were in a sense, except bestowing that Watchtower tag upon them seems designed to elevate the GB to the status of the inspired apostles. (See article: Those Who Say They Are Apostles)
Alas, though, nothing has betrayed the Governing Body as the masters of your faith to the extent that their recent advocacy of vaccinations has. When the pandemic first began and everything was shut down it was a few months before the first vaccines were made available. And when the governments were all on the vaccine bandwagon the Watchtower wisely and discreetly said it was a personal choice. They should have left it that way. But over the summer of 2021 something changed. The Governing Body flipped and began vigorously promoting the injections.
At first, it was just the Bethel family, which was not especially alarming since they are required to live and work in a very closed environment. But it didn’t stop there.
Through the monthly updates on JW Broadcast, the GB went on the attack. JW’s were told they must obey the superior authorities, surrendering their bodies to the state for experimental medicines. Then the Governing Body took the gloves off, so to speak. Elders who may have rightly had strong personal opinions about matters concerning life and death were threatened with judicial action if they dared to voice an opinion out of harmony with the dictates of the Governing Body. Brothers and sisters were berated and ridiculed for believing conspiracy theories concerning the potential dangers of mRNA injections. All Jehovah’s Witnesses were put on notice that if they refused the injections they were out of harmony with the spirit-led Christian congregation. Shockingly, one member of the exalted eight “apostles” even intimated that Jehovah had approved of the vaccinations.
Given their heavy-handedness, it is not surprising that the GB is now in damage-control mode, as exhibited by Mark Sanderson’s May presentation declaring the primary factor in promoting Christian unity is obeying the GB, even though they are not the masters of your faith.