Safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million Jehovah's Witnesses on earth today and told them the
Governing Body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!
What if I told you JW's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?
What if you learned it was a trick of semantics imposed like a magician's magic trick?
How difficult would such a demonstration be to carry off? Shall we try?
LET'S BEGIN at the BEGINNING.
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Here is an outline of the path we are going to travel to get to our end conclusion. Review it ahead of time and
familiarize yourself with it.
1, Under the Watch Tower's founder, Charles T. Russell, a loose federation of independent Bible Students began reading and embracing his topical explanation of the entire Bible. It was called STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES.
2. Russell, largely through use of his personal family fortune, published and distributed an amalgamation of End Times sermons, exegesis, and opinions suggesting (as William Miller's Adventist followers had done) his current generation of Christians would live to experience the return or Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
3. Gradually, especially with the help of his wife, Maria, Russell took on an international celebrity charisma. He was increasingly looked upon as a kind of latter-day, final Prophet like Daniel.
4. Self-aggrandizement warped Russell's personality. He rebuffed his wife's affections, divided fellow believers with various crackpot declarations, and began experiencing blowback in the form of criticism, rebellion, lawsuits and public exposure as a kind of fraud.
5. Before his death, a hard core of devout followers (Russellites) swallowed his End Times chronological claims that Jesus had returned (invisibly) in 1874, the resurrection of the dead had occurred in 1878, and the final Armageddon was due in 1914. All of the above was predicted with absolute confidence, and with the help of charts, pyramid measurements, and speechifying.
6. As each of Russell's preachments was laid bare by circumstance as unreliable, more and greater dishonesty became necessary for he and his followers to prop up his reputation as well as any credibility for his predictions.
7. After his death, 1916, attorney J.F. (Judge) Rutherford jumped in and seized control of whatever remained of the Watch Tower Corporation. The Judge sought to unify the stragglers any way possible.
8. Rutherford had ghost writers trump up a "posthumous final volume" of Studies in the Scripture under the title, The Finished Mystery. The vicious, anti-patriotic rhetoric landed Rutherford and directors of the Watchtower in Federal Prison until the end of the war.
9. A Writ of Error freed the Directors and President of the Watchtower Society. He immediately began consolidating the remainder of the Bible Students with bold sermons in large venues, MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE. This hinged on a brand new False Prophecy with an end date of 1925 in mind.
10. Each dramatic scheme Judge Rutherford concocted alienated more and more of the original following Russell had acquired, so--he turned to extreme measures and maintained an iron grip on the remaining extremists.
11. Rutherford attempted to lure Russellites into the fold by reassuring them Pastor Russell was editing the Watchtower magazine from heaven! He continued to promote the Great Pyramid and use the Studies in the Scriptures. As each flourish was met with skepticism and ridicule, Rutherford radicalized and turned more angry and absolutist.
12. When 1925 proved an embarrassing failure, the Judge went off the deep end. He became a tyrant with sweeping changes instituted solidifying his central authority. He began by sending representatives to all the independent congregations with "help" in organizing their study methods. Gradually he replaced the democratically elected leaders with his own puppets. Finally, he demanded every Bible student become a door-to-door book salesman with hourly quotas to fulfill, and various pressure techniques to ensure compliance.
At this point in Watchtower history, we will now begin examination of how Maria Russell's application of a parable about the "faithful and discreet slave" was used as a latter-day prophecy transferred to Rutherford, and eventually to an actual "governing body" within the organization.
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__EVOLUTION_____OF _______A _____GOVERNING____BODY___________
The Watchtower magazine's FIRST mention of a governing body came 2 years AFTER the death of President Joseph Franklin Rutherford.
"In the year 1944 the Watchtower magazine began to speak about the governing body of the Christian congregation."
The Watchtower, December 15, 1971, page 755
“A Governing Body as Different from a Legal Corporation”
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STOP RIGHT THERE!
A Jehovah's Witness of today (2015) might wonder about such a late date as 1944.
Hold that thought. We'll come back to it.
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Give close scrutiny to the use of "evidently," the Watchtower's favorite weasel word!
"How did this governing body make its appearance in recent times? Evidently under the direction of Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ."
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OH, really?
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Back to the article:
"In the first century, a group of older men in Jerusalem made up a governing body that had oversight of the congregations and of the Kingdom preaching activity in general. The same pattern is followed within Jehovah’s organization today."
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(Notice please: "governing body" is written in lower case letters, not capitalized as Governing Body. Over the years, as self-importance grew, the lower case became the upper.)
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Let us ask: "IS THAT TRUE?" Did Jerusalem have 'oversight'of everything?
Was Jerusalem's leadership the only official and central authority back in the First Century?
Paul didn't think so!
He converted to Christianity and went off preaching to Gentiles for 3 years on his own. He sought no consultation with Jerusalem.
Fourteen years after a first visit, Jerusalem had caused problems in Antioch which caused him to have to straighten out their errors of understanding regarding Gentiles. In this instance, the so-called governing body in Jerusalem was dead wrong! This is not much of a winning argument to support the Watchtower contention above, is it?
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Now, back to the 1940's and we find ourselves 2 years later, after the FIRST mention of the "governing body."
Watchtower Nov.14,1946 p.330 "Let God Prove to be True."
These are policy statements about the governing body.
The article itself was written by Fred Franz, Watchtower vice-president.
Please make careful note of the thesis argument Fred Franz is building. His subject concerns the Authority of Jehovah's Witness governing body leaders. He wants to create a strong contrast between Catholics and Protestants Vs. Jehovah's governing body leadership and authority.
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STOP!
To fully appreciate what you have just read, I need to make you aware of an important blunder in the scripture citation above.
Look closely: Romans 13:1. "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God."
A special “New Light” interpretation of the meaning of Romans 13:1, Superior Authorities was in full force at this time. Judge Rutherford had taken it upon himself to change the historic meaning from civil authority of state and government to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. This false interpretation began in 1929 and ended in 1962.
In ’62, the Watchtower flipped the script back to the original “Old Light” interpretation which Christendom had held for over 2,000 years.
This meant the “New Light” in 1962 restored the “Old light”! For 33 years, the Watchtower had obviously taught error!
Before we move forward, let us pause and reflect.
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RECAP: The introduction of the governing body took place in 1944. This was at a time when Watchtower leadership was solely vested in the Presidency. After Rutherford--Nathan Knorr shared responsibility with the so-called "oracle" Fred Franz. The two of them wielded monarchical control over doctrines and policies.
Fred Franz claimed the Watchtower Corp. and Jehovah's Witnesses were NOT being run as a hierarchy. The Bible was held out as the validating force rather than the human leaders acting as an interpreting body. Bottom line: nobody within the organization was superior to any member. The only "head" of the organization, it was claimed, were Jehovah and Jesus.
[Concerning Jerusalem's council in Acts 15, Barnes Notes, page 235 tells us:]
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The Watchtower, December 15,1971 page 754, “Theocratic Organization with Which to Move Forward Now, “says:
“The ‘faithful and discreet slave’ class of today has been appointed over all the Kingdom interests belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
When the above words were published, this was taught and believed. But why? There is only one reason. Worldwide, Jehovah's Witnesses were obligated to believe whatever the FDS told them was "Truth."
The FDS, at that time, was considered to be ALL anointed and not just the few who were Society's officers.
Remarkably, the elect and elite anointed were fooling themselves! None of this was actually true.
How do we know? 44 years later all the previous revealed/ channeled "truth" was wiped out.
Yet another flash of "New Light" made garbage out of the "oracle's" previous writings.
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HISTORICAL SUMMARY
In the July 15, 1906 (p.229) issue of Zion’s Watch Tower, Pastor C.T. Russell’s wife, Maria took the step of “identifying” her husband as the object of Jesus’ parable of the faithful and discreet slave.
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March 1, 1923, Watch Tower quotes Russell as saying that some spoke of him as the “faithful and wise servant” and others spoke of the Society as such. The magazine then adds: Both statements were true; for Brother Russell was in fact the Society in the most absolute sense, in this, that he directed the policy and course of the Society without regard to any other person on earth. In fact, a biographical issue of the Watch Tower published after his death on October 16, 1916, stated: Thousands of the readers of Pastor Russel’s writings believe that he filled the office of “that faithful and wise servant,” and that his great work was giving to the household of faith meat in due season. His modesty and humility precluded him from openly claiming this title, but he admitted as much in private conversation."
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In 1931, J.F. Rutherford renamed the Bible Students, Jehovah's Witnesses single-handedly.
In 1932, Rutherford eliminated the bodies of elders (then elected by the congregations), stating that the arrangement was “not according to the principles of the great Theocrat, who rules his sanctuary from the top down.
1938 all congregations worldwide were invited to adopt an agreement authorizing the Brooklyn headquarters to appoint any and all persons serving in responsible positions in the congregations.
The term “Theocratic organization” has been used since the December 1, 1939 Watchtower in particular.
Repeatedly, all were urged to submit to “Theocratic order,” which in actuality meant to accept what came from the headquarters as if it came from God.
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We already learned "governing body" appeared in 1944.
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1986 court testimony: Jehovah's Witnesses are admitted to be a hierarchy.
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Crisis of Conscience, by Raymond Franz, demonstrates the official transformation from individual to group for Governing Body:
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THE PARABLE had become PROPHECY, and the FDS had been co-opted as a GOVERNING Body.
As such, they took over the role of Jesus Christ toward humanity, as MEDIATOR.
1 Timothy 2:5-6New King James Version (NKJV)
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time
COMPARE WITH:
"Consequently, 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 is not using "mediator" in the broad sense common in many languages. It is not saying that Jesus is a mediator between God and all mankind." Watchtower 1989 Aug 15 pp.30-31
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