In the late 1920s, The Watchtower Organization under the leadership of J.F. Rutherford began to label the Bible Students who departed from the organization as the “evil slave.” However, in 2013, the Governing Body removed the designation of “evil slave” as a specific class, instead interpreting it as a potential threat to the composite Faithful Slave, which they assert has never materialized.
July 2013 Watchtower Study Edition, page 24, says:
Why did the Governing Body make this change in doctrine?
I can only guess since I can’t read minds. But hey, let me share my thoughts on this, and then feel free to share yours too. I really want to hear what you think. We’re all in this together trying to figure it out.
So, here’s my take on what went down. To grab total power and control, the Governing Body now claims the title of the “Faithful and Discreet Slave” for themselves. This has pushed the “other anointed” members to the sidelines, making them feel unimportant. These “other anointed” members can’t really use the idea of “special insight” to challenge the Governing Body with any real credibility or impact
When talking about the Faithful Slave, the Governing Body also had to mention the Evil Slave. The Evil Slave is closely linked to the Faithful Slave discussion, so they couldn’t just overlook it. They stopped applying the Evil Slave Class to the Bible Students who left the organization, mainly in the 1920s and 30s. Doing so would bring attention to the International Bible Students Association, or the Bible Student Movement, which has been around continuously since C.T. Russell’s time. This would go against the previous claim that these apostate Bible Students had vanished and no longer existed.
One part of the Governing Body’s plan has been to ignore the Bible Students and act like we haven’t been around for about 75 years. It’s a clever tactic. They want to prevent Witnesses from finding a real alternative. However, the Internet age makes this strategy a lot harder now.
By changing how they interpret the ‘Evil Slave,’ have they not just made things worse for themselves? They claim that the ‘Evil Slave’ is just a theoretical idea, but they don’t explain how to test if the Faithful Slave ever becomes an Evil Slave. If the Faithful Slave did turn into an Evil Slave, would that Evil Slave admit it? Definitely not. The Evil Slave would keep insisting they are the Faithful Slave. Right? So, what’s the test? Why would Jesus bring up such a scenario if it was completely irrelevant and just caused confusion? Why wouldn’t Jesus give the impression that the Faithful Slave would always stay faithful? Has the JW Organization ever ‘beaten’ their men and maid servants when they had questions or different opinions? Can we put them to the test?
For your personal reference and research, if you check out the food4jws.org site, you’ll find not just the 2013 Watchtower article, but also copies of pages from the late 1920s regarding the Evil Slave.
In these Watchtower’s by Rutherford, there are several criticisms aimed at Bible Students, calling them out for pride, laziness, slander, libel, and more. Yet, there’s no citations or proof to back up these accusations. Rutherford fails to specify any individual, group, publication, or anything else. He doesn’t include any quotes from the publications either.
