Did the Watchtower Really Claim to be a Prophet?

I remember it well. I was sitting in the ornate kingdom hall in Ridgefield, New Jersey, in 1977. Plush movie-theatre-style seats, ornate black wrought-iron chandeliers, and a stone-floor foyer that inspired whispering. During one talk from the platform, we were told that Jehovah’s Witnesses were the modern-day Ezekiel class. Later, as we studied the Watchtower, we heard references to the Jeremiah class. Years afterward, I also heard the organization identify itself as the John class.  I was a newly baptized Jehovah’s Witness, fully indoctrinated, and didn’t think much of it. The Governing Body heard from God and told us what they learned. We were a class of people, a prophet sounding out the warning to a dying world. Or so I thought.