The worship of the GB/F&DS was always there. But in the past they were at least smart enough to be subtle about it.
Now the subtlety and pretense of intelligence has been completely abandoned in favor of flat-out indoctrination. And yes, I've read/heard from the literature/platform SEVERAL times about "Mother". Which is ironic considering that in past literature, i.e. the WT trying to educate people about the dangers of propaganda, warned against this very thing, even going so far as to explicitly use the word "Mother". There is not a single WT (well, "study", i.e. non-public WT, that is) in recent memory that does not remind us who's REALLY in charge - dear old Faithy - at least once. (Usually they draw attention to themselves at least twice in any given study mag). The only thing "Faithful" about the "slave" is how faithful they are to themselves and the constant reminders of their importance. There is absolutely NOTHING "discreet" about them at all anymore. Think about it. Does a "slave" who is REALLY "faithful" and "discreet" constantly throttle you intellectually and spiritually, in effect saying, "Hey. HEY! Up here! Look at me. LOOK AT ME!"?
And the sad irony is, with the flat-out lies in their literature about their past, they are actually proving THEMSELVES to be MORE "apostate" by their own definition than actual "apostates" who want to educate people about, i.e. what Pastor Russell REALLY taught.