This post is pretty long, I'm just warning you now. The WTS teaches that there has always been an FDS. I know we're used to just thinking of it as the WTS, but who was it over the past centuries, as taught by the WTS. A friend sent this to me, and we used it in our Heresy Trial!
Questions Regarding FDS:
(1) Does the Society teach that there has always been a "faithful and
discreet slave" from Pentecost A.D. 33 down to this very day?
"Down through the years the slavelike congregation has been feeding its true
members faithfully and discreetly. From Pentecost, A.D. 33, up to this very
present hour this has been lovingly and carefully performed. Yes, and these
"domestics" have been fed on progressive spiritual food that keeps them
abreast of the "bright light that keeps getting lighter and lighter until the
day is firmly established" (Prov. 4:18). All this has proved to be "food at
the proper time," as stated by Jesus."
(Watchtower, 7/15/60, page 435)
"Jesus Christ is the Head of the congregation, his slave, and his words show
that he would strengthen them to feed his domestics right down through the
centuries."
(Watchtower, 1/15/75, page 46)
(2) Who was the faithful and discreet slave in the 1100's and 1200's?
Religous groups such as the Waldenses.
(Watchtower, 8/1/81, pages 12-15)
"It is quite evident that the early Waldenses were faithful Witnesses of
Jehovah."
(Theocratic Aid to Kingdom Publishers, page 307)
(3) Who was the faithful and discreet slave in the 1300's, 1400's and
1500's?
Religious groups such as the Lollards and the Anabaptists.
(Watchtower, 9/1/80, pages 24-28, and additional articles)
(4) Were these disconnected, isolated groups, who merely had in common that
they were disagreed with the present religious system and so were persecuted,
or were they "the faithful and discreet slave class" in their time?
"Jesus had said: "Look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of
the system of things." (Matt. 28:20) Jesus Christ is the head of the
congregation, his slave, and his words show that he would strengthen them to
feed his "domestics" right down through the centuries. Apparently one
generation of the "slave" class fed the succeeding generation thereof, as
well as continuing to feed themselves."
(Watchtower, 1/15/75, page 46)
"The Finished Mystery" elaborates on this, and states that the "angels of
the seven congregations" of Revelation chapters 1 and 3 were: The Apostle
Paul, Apostle John, Arius, Waldo, Wycliffe, Luther, and Russell.
In 1917, shortly after Russell's death, the Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society published "The Finished Mystery", the seventh volume in Studies in
the Scriptures, and declared that Russell had been the "angel of the
congregation of Laodicea".
"Charles Russell as the Laodicean messenger of the Church, faithfully filled
the office of ‘that Faithful and Wise Servant’ while here on earth."
(Watchtower, 12/1/1923, p. 360)
Some of the "Witnesses" at that time refused to accept this seventh volume
as being from the "faithful and discreet slave" and they were thrown out.
Rutherford called them "the evil servant class" for refusing to accept the
seventh volume.
Those faithful to the organization continued to believe in Russell as the
"slave".
"Oh the blessedness of those who have sat at the Master's table, as he has
served through his faithful and wise steward, who was made ruler over the
household to give them meat in due season! Volume after volume, with abundant
side dishes, has he given us. Of a truth he was made ruler over "all the
goods," all the "meat in due season." "
(Watchtower, 4/1/19, page103)
"We believe that all who are now rejoicing in present truth will concede
that Brother Russell filled the office of special servant of the Lord; and
that he was made ruler over all the Lord's goods.... Often when asked by
others, Who is that faithful and wise servant?, Brother Russell would reply:
'Some say I am; while others say the Society is.' Both statements were true;
for Brother Russell was in fact the Society in a most absolute sense, in
this, that he directed the policy and course of the Society without regard to
any person on earth. He sometimes sought advice of others connected with the
Society, listened to their suggestions, and then did according to his own
judgment, believing that the Lord would have him thus do."
(Watchtower, 3/1/23, page 68)
"The Scriptural proof is that the second presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
began in 1874 A.D."
(Prophecy, p. 65, 1929)
"This chronology is not of man but of God … of divine origin … absolutely
and unqualifiedly correct."
(Watchtower, 7/15/1922, p. 217)
"In the latter half of 1917 the faithful forefront preachers of the
"discreet slave" class energetically took up distribution of "The Finished
Mystery", for within seven months the Society's outside printers were busy on
the 850,000 edition. "The sale of the Seventh Volume is unparalleled by the
sale of any other book we know, in the same length of time, excepting the
Bible." (Watchtower 1917, p. 373).
(Watchtower, 4/1/55, page 206)
"In 1879 Charles Taze Russell began the publication of The Watch Tower, of
which he was the sole editor as long as he remained on earth."
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 4, 1917)
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty, of Revelation 1:8.
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 15, 1917)
"Fall 1874 A.D. Second Advent of the Lord"
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 60, 1917)
"Reexamine … Vol. 2, pages 246 and 247; change the 37 to 40, 70 to 73 and
1914 to 1918, and we believe it is correct and will be fulfilled ‘with great
power and glory.’ "
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 62, 1917)
Scriptures prove that the Lord’s Second Advent was in 1874.
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 68, 1917)
Eighty-eight proofs that the Lord’s second Advent occurred in the fall of
1874.
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 68–71, 1917)
Michael in Revelation 12:7 is the pope of Rome.
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 188, 1917)
"… six thousand years of evil which ended in 1874."
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 301, 1917)
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of Revelation 21:6.
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 318, 1917)
"The Millennium began in 1874, with the Return of Christ."
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 386, 1917)
Destruction of Christendom in 1914–1918
(Studies, Vol. 7, p. 398, 1917)
