The Watchtower Society has done it again!
I have never really used the word “umpteenth” before, at least not in print, but it may be applicable now – as in the expression: the “umpteenth time” the Governing Body has revised and redefined that which is an integral part of their teaching on prophecy having to do with the return of Jesus Christ.
At this year’s Annual Meeting, held at the posh Stanley Theater in Jersey City, the eight member Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society declared itself to be the embodiment of the faithful and discreet slave. And now all the individuals, including both the anointed and those who are defined as the great crowd, are the domestics that are fed by the slave. Okay. But alas, there are a number of inherent contradictions with this newly revised view.
But first, though, I stand corrected.
In the previous article on ‘peace and security’ I made the statement that the Governing Body was ‘oblivious’ to the basic truth that there are two appointments of the slave. The first appointment takes place before the master arrives as a thief in the night. The second occurs during the parousia. This is evident from what Christ stated in the 12th chapter of Luke, when he said that if the slave is faithful the master will come alongside him and minister to him. The Greek word “parousia” carries that connotation of coming alongside. In other words, the parousia and the second appointment go hand-in-hand. I have written about this topic in both editions of Jehovah Himself Has Become King.
Well, now the Governing Body has come around to that view – sort of.
Previously the Watchtower taught that the faithful slave was appointed over all the master’s belongings back in 1919 and that the original appointment took place starting back in 33 CE, whenever anyone was anointed.
But, with what some of Jehovah’s Witnesses may hail as a great flash of spiritual light channeled through 25 Columbia Heights, at the Annual Meeting Guy Pierce declared that the second appointment has not taken place yet. It is future. And he even boasted that they were looking forward to their second appointment.
This is really a profound “adjustment” that I am certain most of Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot fully appreciate.
By the way, the Watchtower’s new light regarding the judgment of the slave being a future event is actually something I originally published in 2005 in the chapter entitled The Judgment. Ironically, what was once considered by the Governing Body as the ravings of a mentally diseased apostate has now become the official teaching of the Watchtower Society, and now any of Jehovah’s Witnesses who do not accept this new truth that I originally presented is subject to being branded an apostate! Only the Watchtower could pull a stunt like this without a hint of contrition or humility. (I have found myself periodically grinning from ear-to-ear these past few days.)
(Incidentally, I spoke to brother Pierce on the phone about 13 years ago and implored him to consider the absurdity of the Watchtower’s interpretation of Joel. He scoffed at the mere suggestion that the Watchtower could be wrong and sternly rebuked me for being so presumptuous so as to think I could teach them anything. He advised me to humble myself and read the Society’s Insight on the Scriptures volumes, which I thought was sound advice and have done so. But most revealing into the prevailing attitude, he then stated that if Jehovah wants the Governing Body to know anything he will reveal it to them directly and not through some nobody publisher who thinks he is anointed. The conversation was a real turning point for me in coming to terms with the blindness and arrogance of those who claim to be the only seers. By the way, over the years I have mailed all members of the Governing Body various articles and brochures and copies of Jehovah Himself Has Become King. The Legal Department always returns my stuff unopened, but they are the only ones who have.)
Why is this adjusted view of when the slave is appointed such a profound change? Well, as already stated above, the second appointment takes place when the master arrives as unexpected as a thief in the night. In other words, although they have not stated it explicitly, certainly it is implied by their new teaching that the parousia has not begun – that means Jesus Christ did not begin ruling in 1914. No doubt, though, to retain their 1914 doctrine and reconcile that condradiction the Watchtower will peddle the fiction that Jesus comes as a thief in the night on multiple occasions.
Certainly none of Jehovah’s Witnesses have the spiritual insight to arrive at that conclusion on their own; and even if they did and they even whispered it in the congregation they would be dealt with by the elders for apostasy for merely suggesting that 1914 is a hoax. But by the Society’s own teaching they have essentially repudiated 1914.
Of course, they would never admit that. And they have the luxury, for now anyway, of knowing that Jehovah’s Witnesses will believe their every utterance and would never question them, no matter how absurd or contradictory their teaching may be. But this adjustment is merely another spectacle foretold long ago in prophecy, produced by their own discomfiture of trying to lie outstretched upon a figurative couch that is too short and cover themselves with a blanket that is too narrow.
Now, as for the Watchtower’s “adjustment” regarding the institution of the Governing Body being the faithful slave, that is not really much of an adjustment at all. The Watchtower has always implied that to be the case anyway. Even though prior to the new adjustment the Watchtower taught that all anointed persons make up a composite slave class, in reality the Governing Body has always been recognized as the sole channel of spiritual food.
But, again, there are some contradictions. One, the Watchtower now says the first appointment came in 1919. If that is the case, tough, there was not even a Governing Body in existence then. J.F. Rutherford basically was the Watchtower Society – he being the sole voice and face of the organization. The modern Governing Body did not come into existence until the early 1970’s. Besides, the appointed slave is on hand when the master arrives. It does not seem reasonable that the appointment spans generations.
And, does the Governing Body realize that according to Jesus’ illustration in the 12th chapter of Luke even the faithful slave is due to be lashed with a few strokes for his failure to do that master’s will because of his ignorance?
Also, if the master has not arrived yet for the inspection that means that there is still an evil slave that is yet to be revealed. After all, if the master did not appoint the slave over all of his belongings back in 1919, as the Watchtower now admits, they must also fess up and come to terms with the fact that the poor maligned International Bible Students who stumbled over the sudden death of Russell and Rutherford’s takeover of the Society were not the evil and sluggish slaves.
We cannot imagine that the Watchtower would ever address this disturbing aspect of their new light, but that is to be expected since according to the implications of their own revised teaching, there is an unidentified evil slave lurking in their midst.
