They appointed Frank to oversee the department instead of me. Let's see how they like the skulls I've hidden in this picture!

Mail is pouring in about those skulls. If the blame falls on me I'll be disfellowshipped!

DOES the material in JW publications always reflect the official teachings of the Watchtower Society? No, not always—despite the Society's assurances:

Each article in both The Watchtower and Awake! and every page, including the artwork, is scrutinized by selected members of the Governing Body before it is printed.
       —The Watchtower March 1, 1987, page 15

Although the Governing Body does exercise strong control over the publications, there are times when dissident writers and artists at Watchtower headquarters have found ways to express a message contrary to the Society's teachings.

I learned this surprising fact in 1981 when I was still an active Jehovah's Witness "in good standing" with the organization. A prominent Watchtower writer had visited our area as a "Bethel speaker" at a special one-day assembly, and he used the opportunity to rebuke the elders in the audience for "driving the young people out of the Truth by enforcing rules on dress and grooming that are not biblical." Yet, official letters from the Service Department at Brooklyn headquarters appeared to support those very actions by local elders

When I took the bold step of writing a personal letter to this Bethel speaker he phoned me and confessed he was the writer of certain Watchtower articles putting conscience above organizational rules, but he added that those articles "wouldn't get past the censorship today." (For additional details, see Blood on the Altar, pp. 206-209)

A surprising amount of material does, however, "get past the censorship" and actually appears in print in Watchtower publications. Dozens of skulls, hideous faces, etc. hidden in Watchtower illustrations are documented in Darek Barefoot's book Jehovah's Witnesses and the Hour of Darkness. Although plainly visible, the Society has denied their existence:

Even the Watchtower Society’s publications have been the subject of rumors—for example, that one of the artists had secretly been introducing pictures of demons into the illustrations, and was subsequently found out and disfellowshiped!
Did you share in spreading any such stories? If so, you were—perhaps unwittingly—spreading an untruth, since they were all false.
—The Watchtower September 1, 1984 , page 20

Some Witnesses have been disfellowshipped for accepting what they could see with their own eyes, instead of the Society's denial.

Dissident material in JW publications has also included articles (as noted earlier) and teachings. An interesting example may be found in the 1979 book Commentary on the Letter of James—written by missionary instructor Ed Dunlap, according to former Governing Body member Raymond Franz on page 228 of his book Crisis of Conscience.

Dunlap's frank honesty and his adherence to the Bible rather than organizational tradition led to his being convicted of apostasy by a judicial committee in 1980, and to his expulsion from the sect a year after his book was released. (See Crisis, pages 236-289.) On page 47 the Commentary speaks of all believers receiving a new birth as spirit-begotten sons of God:

"Besides being the God of Christians, Jehovah is also their Father, for he has begotten them by means of his spirit to be his sons."

An article in The Watchtower of January 15, 1981 (page 31) rejects this view and corrects the Commentary by suggesting the insertion of "the word 'anointed' in this sentence on the bottom of page 47." (The official teaching is that only a small anointed class receive the New Testament promises, while the "great crowd" of believers are excluded from the body of Christ and the heavenly hope.)

Another example of material that got "past the censorship" relates to the sect's central teaching about the “faithful and discreet slave” of Matthew 24:45. The official teaching has varied over time: first, the "slave" was the Christian congregation collectively, then Watchtower founder Charles Taze Russell became identified as the slave, and later the original teaching was restored, with stress on the idea that, "Today that 'slave' is represented by the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses." (The Watchtower, May 1, 1992, p. 31) Interestingly, the JW book Our Incoming World Government—God’s Kingdom says this on pages 158-159:

The King Jesus Christ detests lukewarm service, halfhearted attention. He wants no hypocrites in his kingdom. This vital point is emphasized by Jesus Christ in the illustrations of the “faithful and discreet slave” and “that evil slave,” the illustrations that he gave right after urging his disciples to ‘prove themselves ready’ at all times. (Matthew 24:45-51) There is a grand reward reserved for Christ’s disciples who prove themselves to be faithful, discreet and loving slaves of his, uncompromisingly devoted to his handling of the promised world government.

So, Jesus wants all to be faithful and discreet. What a blow to the JW leadership doctrine!

A final example of what may be dissident sabotage—or simply a sloppy oversight—relates to an illustration showing Christians being executed on crosses:

- - - - - - - - - -