Yes Faye, this is the classic new light. How could you take the 144k number literally and find yourself with 150k believers all going heavenwards at death let alone all the supposed faithful in antiquity?
New light is just a miserable confidence trick where the tricksters have to think on their feet because the dim-witted believers will believe anything they are told so long as it is faintly plausible. One hundred and fifty thousand JWs was going to get the leadership busted so with sleight of hand a new idea would distract them from the contradiction.
Actually the idea of the “little flock” was stolen by the Judge from the pen of another Bible Student called Alexander Freytag who opposed Rutherford on the death of Russell and who was consequently banished from the Watchtower. He began his own Russellite based adventist religion which is still active in mainland Europe today. It prescribed clean living, not smoking, vegetarianism and pure air breathing in anticipation of life in a new world. Sigh!