Jehovah’s Witnesses today deny this, but Watchtower
literature proves it. The Watchtower book The Harp of God (published in the
early 1920s) states: “Without a doubt Pastor Russell filled the office...and was
therefore that wise and faithful servant, ministering to the household of faith meat
in due season.” The Watchtower magazine (1920) likewise said: “No one in
present truth for a moment doubts that brother Russell filled the office of the ‘Faithful and Wise Servant.’” Indeed, “the Society by overwhelming majority
vote expressed its will in substance thus: Brother Russell filled the office of ‘that
Servant.’”The Watchtower Society Changes Its Story
By 1927 (slightly over a decade after Russell’s death), The Watchtower
magazine was singing to a different tune. No longer was Pastor Russell considered
the faithful and discreet slave. Following Russell’s death in 1916, there was a split
in the organization that involved the new president, Joseph F. Rutherford.
Rutherford took control of the Watchtower organization while members loyal to
Russell broke away. Those who broke away—the “Russellites”—have continued
to the present day to view Russell as God’s special servant.16 But the Watchtower
organization under Rutherford alleged that Russell never made this claim for
himself. Rather, Rutherford said, Christ’s anointed followers in the
Society—viewed as a group or an organization—is God’s collective chosen
instrument.17
Along these lines, the February 15, 1927 issue of The Watchtower magazine
proclaimed that the phrase “faithful and discreet slave” does not apply to a single
2007-02-02
13:28:40
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