"The 12 apostles acted as an authoritative central governing body."
The Watchtower 5/15/97 p.15
On Wednesday, August 25th, it was announced at the breakfast table at Bethel that two new members were being added to the Governing Body. They are Anthony Morris and Geoffrey Jackson.
"Tony" and "Jeff" were already considered "Governing Body material" because they were GB assistants in Bethel and "partake" of the "Memorial".
Morris is from Italian descent and, unlike most of the predominantly childless GB, has raised two sons "in the Troof". He is in his fifities. Jackson is the first Australian member of the Governing Body. He is from the island of Tasmania and is also in his fifties.
With these two new additions, the GB now adds up to twelve members. Here are the others:
The old guard:
Carey Barber Albert Schroeder John Barr Daniel Sydlik Theodore Jaracz (the Boss!)
The new kids on the block (but as diehard as the old ones):
Guy Pierce Samuel Herd Gerrit Lösch David Splane
Steve Lett
Although it was possibly unintentional (the member total has oscillated since the seventies), they now make up a "perfect ideal number" since they see themselves as the modern counterpart of the twelve apostles.
Far from being an impressive fact, as it will no doubt sound to faithful Witnesses, the existence of the current 12-member GB is a real embarrassment to the JWs. It's one of the greatest confirmations that it is really a make-believe religion. Why? Because one of the cornerstones of the JW doctrine is that the 144,000 number was completed in the twentieth century. The Watchtower says very clearly that the heavenly calling ended in the mid-thirties. No one less than their chief theologian, the deceased Fred Franz, said it in no uncertain terms:
*** w99 2/1 19 Our Treasure in Earthen Vessels ***
"No More Additions!"
At a Gilead graduation in 1970, Frederick Franz, then vice-president of the Watch Tower Society, told the students of the possibility that they, who were all of the other sheep with earthly hopes, might baptize someone who might claim to be of the anointed remnant. Could this happen? Well, he explained that John the Baptist was of the other sheep, and he baptized Jesus and some of the apostles. Then he went on to ask whether there still was a call for gathering in more of the remnant. "No, no more additions!" he said. "That call ended way back there in 1931-35! There are no more additions. Who, then, are the few newly associated ones who are partaking of the Memorial emblems? If they are of the remnant, they are replacements! They are, not additions to the ranks of the anointed, but replacements for those who may have fallen away."
It has been 70 years since 1935!! Going by Franz's teaching, we can say that most members of the "anointed class" actually end up "falling away" and being "replaced", since the call ended in 1935 and there are still thousands partaking (when at least 75% should have had already died, taking as basis a normal mortality rate).
Now let's do a little research on the birthyear of the Governing Body's members:
Carey Barber ………………1905
Albert Schroeder…………..1911
John Barr ………………… 1913
Daniel Sydlik……………… 1919
Theodore Jaracz……………1924
Guy Pierce …………………1934
Samuel Herd ……………….1935
Gerritt Losch ……………….1941
David Splane ……………... 1944
Steve Lett …………………. 1949
Anthony Morris..................Late 40's/Early 50's (?)
Geoffrey Jackson ..............Late 40's/Early 50's (?)
The Watchtower says that babies cannot be anointed. And then we come to the death-blowing conclusion: according to JW doctrine, most of the GB were anointed after Heaven's Door was closed! With the two GB additions, the post 1935 anointed are the majority!
How can that be? The Watchtower has never made a comment about that kind of fact! They have painted themselves into a corner. Why does the "faithful slave" need so many "replacements"?
Will they bother to comment? No. It's just a fake doctrine. Witnesses don't take the time to check reality, and the GB knows it very well. Much like the discarded "generation of 1914", the 1935 doctrine has an expiration date. But you can be sure that Morris and Jackson, like the rest of the Governing Body, won't take their time to explain this doctrinal mess.
They'll make it up as they go along.
Neo
