“The facts show that during this time and up to the present hour the “slave” class has served as God’s sole collective channel for the flow of Biblical truth to men on earth. Just as the early Christian congregation collectively served as the channel of communication from heaven to earth, so in our time. (Eph. 3:10) Abundant spiritual food and amazing details as to the doing of God’s will have been flowing through this unique channel actually as a miraculous evidence of the operation of holy spirit.”
The “faithful and discreet slave” doesn't just consist of the Governing Body. There's quite a few individuals on the Watchtower writing committee. The only difference between them and others in Jehovah's Organization is they research the Bible and how it relates to history, the future, science and other aspects of society on a full time basis and have been doing so for quite some time. How do you think a “channel of communication” for Bible interpretation should work itself out?
Other churches teach the same thing but through their actions identify themselves as false prophets.
“Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to you in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them. Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit; a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can a rotten tree produce fine fruit. Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire. Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those [men]. Matthew 7:15-20
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13001a.htm
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The truths revealed may be such as are otherwise inaccessible to the humanmind — mysteries, which even when revealed, the intellect of man is incapable of fully penetrating. But Revelation is not restricted to these. God may see fit to employ supernatural means to affirm truths, the discovery of which is not per se beyond the powers of reason. The essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man. The mode of communication, however, may be mediate. Revelation does not cease to be such if God's message is delivered to us by a prophet, who alone is the recipient of the immediate communication. Such in brief is the account of Revelation given in the Constitution "De Fide Catholica" of the Vatican Council. The Decree "Lamentabili" (3 July, 1907), by its condemnation of a contrary proposition, declares that the dogmas which the Church proposes as revealed are "truths which have come down to us from heaven" (veritates e coelo delapsoe) and not "an interpretation of religious facts which the humanmind has acquired by its own strenuous efforts" (prop., 22). It will be seen that Revelation as thus explained differs clearly from:
- inspiration such as is bestowed by God on the author of a sacred book; for this, while involving a special illumination of the mind in virtue of which the recipient conceives such thoughts as God desires him to commit to writing, does not necessarily suppose a supernatural communication of these truths;
- from the illustrations which God may bestow from time to time upon any of the faithful to bring home to the mind the import of some truth of religion hitherto obscurely grasped; and,
- from the Divine assistance by which the pope when acting as the supreme teacher of the Church, is preserved from all error as to faith or morals. The function of this assistance is purely negative: it need not carry with it any positive gift of light to the mind. Much of the confusion in which the discussion of Revelation in non-Catholic works is involved arises from the neglect to distinguish it from one or other of these.
http://niv.scripturetext.com/mark/8.htm
Catholics believe that Peter’s confession of Christ in the Gospel passage in Mark 8 and apostolic succession confirms the teaching authority of the Pope and Bishops in matters of faith and morals over other religions and at the same time deny the apostolic succession they claim in their own words:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02429a.htm
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia and other sources, Benedict IX was around 18 to 20 years old when made pontiff, although some sources claim 11 or 12. He reportedly led an extremely dissolute life, and also allegedly had few qualifications for the papacy other than connections with a socially powerful family, although in terms of theology and the ordinary activities of the Church he was entirely orthodox. St. Peter Damian described him as "feasting on immorality" and "a demon from hell in the disguise of a priest" in the Liber Gomorrhianus. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him "a disgrace to the Chair of Peter."
Protestants have referred to the drunken prostitute in Revelation as the Roman Catholic Church even though Protestants share the same record of bloodshed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whore_of_Babylon
Historicist interpreters commonly used the phrase "Whore of Babylon" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church. Most Reformation writers and all Reformers themselves, from Martin Luther(1483-1546) (who wrote On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church), John Calvin(1509-1564), and John Knox(1510-1572) (who wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women) accepted this association. The "drunkenness with the blood of saints and martyrs," by this interpretation, refers to the inquisition and the veneration of saints and relics and the Sunday sacredness, were viewed by Reformers as idolatry and apostasy. This interpretation continues to be taught in churches arising from the Adventist movement and it is kept alive by contemporary figures such as Ian Paisley and Jack Chick.
