Thirty-three years ago, the WTS was a different organization. Fred Franz was its president and even though he did not wield the power of his predecessors, he was regarded as primus inter pares, first among equals. He was still looked to as “seer and oracle” in the organization. There was no need to stress the role the Governing Body had apart from all others professing to be of the “anointed remnant.”
But with the death of Fred Franz in 1992 and the suceeding deaths of all those who were associated and had served along with him, problems began to arise. There were no men who had been groomed as suitable replacements for the Old Guard because the WTS never thought the twenty-first century would still see this world intact. The organization was confident that Armageddon would strike before the twentieth century ended. With no C.T. Russell, J.F. Rutherford or even a N.H. Knorr at the helm, men who had a firm grip on matters, a leadership vacuum opened at the highest levels in the WTS, and there has been an ongoing struggle to close it.
Ed Dunlap may have seen the seeds of the collective papacy now running the WTS planted back in 1980. He was most likely not alone in predicting this. But I doubt if he and others foresaw the crisis that has precipitated its creation. For it has not simply been the scramble for power that has led to this development, but also the growing numbers of those professing to be anointed has contributed as well. These “newly minted” Memorial partakers have also been clamoring for a say in how the WTS is to be led. They staked their claim to authority on the long-held teaching that all those claiming to be of the anointed remnant made up the “faithful and discreet slave class.” I believe the “new light” we are seeing is a pushback by the Governing Body against them in particular. It has also served the additional desire on the Governing Body’s part to stifle any kind of dissent regardless of its origin. I will be very interested to see what reaction the rank-and-file Witnesses will have to the information in The Watchtower. I am willing to bet it will be one of meek acceptance.
Quendi