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So almost 8 billions? Would get a little house, keep a amount sufficient in the bank to live without needing to work for decades so I can pioneer until the end, do the same for my family (parents, siblings), then donate the remaining 7.99 billions to jw.org

At the moment this cyclone is sitting around New Caledonia, and will hopefullly just SKIM Vanuatu. It was a level 2 but now has strengthened to a low level 3 ... at the moment depending on what model you choose to follow - there's a 50/50 chance it will hit New Zealand by the weekend. Will know more as the days go on ... but if it tracts as with the European Model and turns North instead of travelling South, then New Zealand is out of the woods - but coastal Australia, PNG and Solomon Islands may not be. Might pay to keep an eye on this one ... it could be a bad one or it could slip by us all. Time will tell. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/110659860/is-tropical-cyclone-oma-heading-for-new-zealand-or-not

Is it Tax free? I would buy 8 billion donuts with jw.org engraved on them, and distribute them for free to all inhabitants on earth ... LOL

I live in a very old farmhouse and many of the daffodils are very old varieties... just beautiful! Sorry about the sideways photo

Monday 18 February 2019 RUSSIA: 100+ Jehovah's Witness criminal cases At least 23 Jehovah's Witnesses are in pre-trial detention, 28 under house arrest, and 42 under travel restrictions as more than 100 face "extremism"-related criminal charges. If convicted they could face up to 10 years' imprisonment. Memorial human rights group condemned Dennis Christensen's "shameful and anti-legal" six-year jail term. http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2453 Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

That angel on the far left looks like he can’t wait to execute justice in Jehovah’s behalf lol

I'm dog-sitting a male dog for a brother and sister. I have 1 male and 2 females of my own. The females don't care what I do but the males.....oh my goodness, I cannot move without them following me everywhere.

This big boy was just outside by the dumpsters. Not even bothered by cars around. My pic cannot do him justice, they are really big and you can sense the power in them when you see the rippling muscle.

I think we have had our quota of disasters. Maybe it can do us both a favour and just fizzle out... [emoji302] Just Older [emoji856]

Thank you for the Clubs feature on the forum. Brilliant idea. Thanks again. Appreciated.

Swiss scientists conducted a study that suggests sleep is significantly affected by lunar phases. Their results show changes to sleep throughout the moon’s 29.5-day cycle, and significant increases to sleep disruption during the time immediately surrounding the full moon. When researchers analyzed their data in relation to the phases of the moon, they found sleep changed significantly throughout the lunar cycle, with disruptions to sleep peaking during the days closest to the full moon: Sleep latency increased as the full moon approached. On the nights of a full moon, it took people an average of 5 minutes longer to fall asleep. After the full moon passed, sleep latency began to decrease. People spent 30% less time in slow-wave sleep—the deepest phase of sleep—at the full moon. As the full moon arrived, EEG scans showed brain activity during slow-wave sleep diminished. Melatonin levels dropped during the days surrounding the full moon, with nighttime melatonin levels at their lowest on full-moon nights Overall sleep time also dropped to their lowest levels—an average of 20 minutes less sleep—on nights with a full moon. Volunteers reported their lowest sleep quality during the full moon phase of the lunar cycle.

My "gut", IMHO, there will an amazing reversal of fortune between God's people and ROC (Russian Orthodox Church) right before or shortly thereafter start of GT... Let's see how this develops... [emoji6] Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk This only applies to to final attack on God's people... Exciting times! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

*eye roll* Someone please read the verses in Genesis 2 to that man which says otherwise. I mean, it's a cool thing they built, I like his commitment too, but not sure about it being made like a boat hull underneath though, as that is potentially a flaw that would have capsized the ark. But according to how the GB have taught, that it was purely a long rectangle with a flat base, it would have rode the waves better, and such a model has even been pressure tested in miniture form by others. Afterall, you built a ship like you do because you intend to "sail" it, direct it and so on, but this was just for surival only. It's Christindom's fault (again) that people view it as a big sailing boat. They can't get anything right and do a really good job of defaming the important details of the Bible. (But again, Babylon, Satan's influence).

Same as @Dages really. Put enough in the bank to live off the interest forever (in this system), to keep a consistency, have my own home fully paid for, do the same for family, friends, other members in the congregation in need. Then the rest would go to the organisation in donations, as well as other charitable causes (where I'd know it was going toward a good cause and not redirected somewhere). I'd love to just walk by a homeless person and put a cheque for £100,000 in his bed (or hat or whatever) when he wasn't looking, and have him never know who did it and watch from some corner, lol.

I can't wait for the first night in Paradise... I'll sleep like a perfect baby

How long will Jah allow the KOTN to be in the land of decoration?

Many things I could do with, but I probably SHOULD just spend it all in preaching where the need is highest. Irrelevant if that means I stay in my current congregation, or any other congregation in Greece or if I have to learn a new language and preach abroad. I would just not spend any time working for money and all this free time I have preaching or studying. The organization would not need to give me any money for it, quite the opposite, I would need to spend every single dollar in my bank account to the organization before I die or the GT comes, whatever comes first. But because this is a very generic answer. I will try to come up with an answer with the rule that I stay in my current congregation and continue working just like now.

Hmmm.. thinking about "Donut Club" but I have a strange feeling, that the idea will not pass Mods Team.......LOL just kidding...hmmm ....Am I?

Good news. I wanted into a cloud of gnats today in field service.

it was very interesting how the reporter in the Aljazeera news footage of Brother D Christensen's 'trial' commented that he wondered if the persecution of our people in Russia was the tip of an iceberg - as a test case, to see if religious suppression would work without too much opposition, so they can expand it to persecute other denominations. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/dane-jailed-jehovahs-witness-link-russia-190206185713694.html We also thought this was the case with the corrupt government officials in France when they tried to demand tax off the brothers a few years ago. They eventually failed, but apparently among the opposition who called for our paying tax, and spreading other nasty false propaganda, was a group led by a Russian called Dvorkin who was living in France, having supposedly 'escaped' first to the USA and claimed asylum there in the past, as if he were persecuted by the Communists, yet now acting totally opposite to that claim! He is highly suspected of being now consulted by KGB/FSB or other organisations in Russia and part of a Europe-wide religious suppression movement called FECRIS that we have been watching. He seems to have moved from France to Russia again, after he & his group failed to suppress us in France and was supplying similar exaggerated fake news as opposition propaganda about us to the media in Russia and on a small scale in Austria and other places. He also has a branch in the UK as well - we await developments!! See attached document.FECRIS Dvorkin.pdf

I love the idea of a raised garden bed. My lower back and both knees are SHOT so I can no longer bend over or kneel. I cannot wait for spring to try out this nifty idea: You can have raised beds in PVC (plastic plumbing pipe) ; Concrete blocks: or in bottles:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-vaticans-secret-rules-for-priests-who-have-children/ar-BBTM7Ef?ocid=spartandhp

My yarn has just arrived for my new project I'm going to be knitting the Skógafjall sweater by Dianna Walla using Léttlopi yarn... super excited to get started tonight! I'm just going to forget the 4 other items I'm knitting 😂

I've 'only' been working on my house for 26 years . . You made my day today 😉

i hope you're not talking about zimbabwe dollar since it's almost worthless

Sad, but true. If you read the story, Nuns also parented children. My grandfather was a painter of monasteries and convents. When I was young I expressed a desire to become a Nun. My grandfather never spoke directly to us, except to say things like, "You make a better door than a window." This time he took me aside and spoke to me, "No, you don't want to be a Nun, They've all had problems with men, and you don't know what I've seen."

So is that why everyone calls them Father?

Good question. I think we should find out. My address is.....

Very cute

Make my dads house handicap accessible, total remodel, new roof , windows ,floors. Build myself a small home, probably an A-frame. Get a new vehicle. Pay all bills. get Puerto Rico a new form of electricity and water, homes, even basic ones. Give to the Society.

Finish building the house we’ve been working on for 30 years. Put a little of it away. And give the majority of it to you name it. I’d start with Jehovah’s organization. Look for any local needs in the congregation. Then, figure out how much I could get by sending to Venezuela. Maybe really discreetly to see if any of my three kids had a desperate need. ( they all are good at taking care of themselves, and their families) As they should be. Not much would change in my life. We are not well set, financially, but try to make the best of what little we do have. And we go without nothing we need. My idea of being comfortable, financially, have enough to live on, and enough to share. That, we do.

In dreams (1987 version) - Roy Orbison Crying - Roy Orbison

So if any of you are not sleeping so well just at the moment like me here's why "The year’s closest full moon on February 19, 2019, swings a whopping 49,402 km (30,697 miles) closer to Earth than does the year’s farthest full moon (or micro-moon) on September 14, 2019. Hence, the diameter of the February full moon is about 14 percent greater than that of the September full moon. But the disk size and brightness of this February supermoon exceed those of the September micro-moon by about 30 percent". https://earthsky.org/tonight/years-biggest-supermoon-on-february-19

Yes tax free. I knew it

Oh, pretty woman Roy Orbison You got it - Roy Orbison

"Can a lack of sunlight really affect someone's mood?" There is an association between sunlight and mood. Certain circuits in our brain respond to the amount of light during the day, and these circuits have a strong influence over our mood. Therefore, in the winter months, when there is less daylight, is is common for many people to feel a depressed mood. If this mood leads to significant dysfunction, it is called 'seasonal affective disorder.' Seasonal affective disorder is similar to depression, although the symptoms are not generally as severe. However, seasonal affective disorder can result in significant problems at work, in school, or in relationships for some people. Here in the tropics, I should be thankful that we get lots of sunshine, too much in fact, but after reading the above excerpt, I think I shouldn't be complaining so much. We don't know what we got (till it's gone) Reminds me of the Passenger's song 'Let her go'. Only miss the sun when it starts to snow. I can now fully empathize with people now struggling with the brutal winter conditions. I will put up with the blistering heat anytime. Strange though, I still feel depressed sometimes but when I leave the house, somehow I have managed to shake off some of the blues. We should be thankful for whatever we're saddled with, in this present imperfect system of things. It could be worse. Matthew 6:34, The New Jerusalem Bible : Each day has enough of its own troubles

I live near this attraction. It is to scale more or less but is otherwise built with a high degree of artistic liscence. The people I’ve talked to have said it was interesting but had some very speculative features and was fairly expensive. I , for one, will go see it when and if we have to remove or revise it in the new system. I’d rather spend my money on something that furthers the kingdom or my development as Jehovah’s servant. I do recommend the Met tours in NYC.

The wonder of sleep. Sleep helps your brain work properly. While you're sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It's forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. Studies show that a good night's sleep improves learning. Whether you're learning math, how to play the piano, how to perfect your golf swing, or how to drive a car, sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills. Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions, and be creative. Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change. Sleep deficiency also has been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior. Physical Health Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke. Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. For example, one study of teenagers showed that with each hour of sleep lost, the odds of becoming obese went up. Sleep deficiency increases the risk of obesity in other age groups as well. Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When you don't get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you're well-rested. Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose level. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes. Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility. Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections. So stay healthy, folks and sleep well. My late brother suffered from 4th stage lung cancer and could not lie down to sleep at night and now his long suffering wife is suffering from dementia. A frightening disease that takes away one's past and leaves only a shadow of a former vibrant personality. So please do not under estimate the value of a good night sleep. Your brain as well as your whole body will thank you for that. Sleep away but not too much though.

Navigating difficult and slippery rainforest tracks.

It is Caturday. 🐈

Nope, but this isn't new. I think its been around about three years now. It certainly isn't a replica, since no one knows how the original structure looked. Will I ever visit? No. Ken Ham uses this ARK to teach that the entire world is only 6,000 years old. He has dinosaurs on his Ark alongside humans. So I don't feel comfortable, knowingly, giving direct financial support to outrageous beliefs like his.

I just wanted to share what one of my students asked me yesterday. I teach English language in University to first years (18/19 year olds) ... anyway we were studying a video that I had on my laptop. On the cover I have a JW.ORG sticker. So during the break one girl came up and asked "Is that the Jehovah website" pointing to the sticker. I said "Yes, do you know it?" She said, no but that she had seen it on the stands in the street. I couldn't really preach as French schools are very strict about things like that, but I did say "You should check it out, it's very interesting". I found this encouraging because it shows that when we're public witnessing, we don't really see who takes notice or not, but this young girl not only remembered the logo but knew it "belonged" to Jehovah. Made me smile.

My lil Lovey

At the Russian government press conference, journalists asked about the case of Dennis Christensen, who one day prior had been sentenced to over 6 years in prison for practicing his faith. Journalists asked whether Jehovah’s Witnesses can really be considered an extremist organization from a common sense point of view. The president's press secretary said: "We cannot rely on concepts of common sense for governmental purposes." Of course! The knee-jerk response of any jaded person in nearly any country on earth is to chuckle and say “Yeah, it is just like that here.” But there is much more to be seen here. The Russian government is plainly befuddled. The press secretary goes on to explain that the greater issue is not whether Jehovah’s Witnesses are extremist. The greater issue is that Dennis Christensen was found guilty of violating the law that says they are. Surely this is kicking the can down the road. Two months ago, at another meeting, President Putin stated that he really didn’t understand why Jehovah’s Witnesses are persecuted, indicating that the law itself makes no sense to him as applied to Witnesses. To slightly misapply the words of Jesus, “something greater than Capernaum is here.” What? Two scenarios can be advanced—one for all persons, and one for persons of biblical bent. The purely human one is that a powerful and cunning anti-cult movement takes the Russian government unawares. It takes them unawares because it is a Western import, not Russian at all, finding roots in a humanist French NGO dedicated to freeing people from ideas considered socially destructive, and nothing is more destructive to them than religion that includes the concept of authority among its members. The anti-cult movement finds its counterpart in all developed lands, though its methods will differ. There are even divisions among them. The anti-cultists in the West consider the anti-cultists in Russia to be doing it all wrong. One of them says (sigh – it is my nemesis, but there are many others): “Jehovah’s Witnesses need persecution for their beliefs to make sense. With their thuggish behavior that violates human rights, Russia is blowing a huge gust of wind into Watchtower’s sails, fueling another generation’s worth of propaganda.” Of course! They have a “persecution complex” over there—often the charge is made by Witness opposers. Why would their fellow anti-cultists—brothers in spirit if not in technique—be so stupid as to validate it by persecuting them? It is as though he says: “Look—we want what you want, the destruction of the Witness organization. But that is not the best way to do it.” ***~~~*** The second scenario, for those of biblical bent, and it may not be of interest to those not, so they have "permission" to skip this and two succeeding paragraphs, involves the fact that the Witness organization has identified Russia as the biblical “king of the north,” an entity found in the prophesy of Daniel (chapter 11). It is a complex prophesy which many students of the Bible have tackled, involving specific powers (kings) that pass their respective mantles to succeeding powers in often shifting geographical areas, commencing from Daniel’s time down to the present. Does it complicate matters with the Russian government for someone to tell them that the Witness organization says that they are the northern king? Emily Baran, who wrote the book Dissent on the Margins, about the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses during Soviet times, said that it did. It genuinely confused the irreligious Soviets and enabled them in characterizing the Witnesses as a political movement masquerading as a religion. The Witness organization goes where it goes in furtherance of its mission to live by and advertise Bible principles, largely oblivious to ones who may think that their toes are stepped on—barely aware of it at all, because they ‘don’t do politics’ at Witness HQ. There is a king of the south, too, these days associated with the United States, and neither king is overly friendly to the interests of Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, because the concept of human rights finds soil more fertile in the West than in the East, Witnesses face few legal impediments to their work in such lands. In fact, the most frequent participant in U.S. Supreme Court proceedings has been the Witness organization itself—sometimes as plaintiff and sometimes as defendant. Of them, Justice Harlan Fiske Stone once said: “I think the Jehovah’s Witnesses ought to have an endowment in view of the aid which they give in solving the legal problems of civil liberties.” The entire prophesy as seen though Jehovah’s Witnesses eyes is most recently discussed in their 1999 publication Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophesy, which is a discussion of the entire Bible book, not just the chapters involving the two opposing kings. Regardless of who interprets the prophesy, and of what time interval is covered, the kings of the north and south are continually at loggerheads. What is remarkable about the present—and this is only this writer’s perception—is that even when the “kings” declare that they would like to get along, outside forces intervene to keep them "on script." “Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with Russia?” the current American president said during his campaign. President Putin has spoken similarly. At which point, the American press intervenes to virtually ensure that they will not—it is widely recognized that east-west relations are subsequently more strained that in even Soviet times. This dovetails so well with certain biblical passages (Ezekiel 38:4, Revelation 17:17) to the effect that world powers will do things not of their own devising that the similarity is impossible to let pass without mention. One must wonder if former Witnesses, upon seeing unexpected world developments that violate even “common sense,” yet are exactly in accord with long Witness expectations, do not think sometimes that they may have deboarded the train too soon—for in the aftermath of the final contest between the kings of the north and south, a contest whose biblical role has been developing for 2500 years, the “people of the covenant” at last find deliverance. It is to be noted that enemies of Jehovah’s Witnesses present themselves, not as enemies of individual Witnesses, but of the organization that they have chosen, which they somehow portray as having “enslaved” them through various psychological techniques of “control.” In Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses as people are not banned. Only their organization is. However, most persons are not sophisticated enough to tell the difference, because essentially there is no difference. The Witness enemy is befuddled by it and beats members up with impunity. The police stand by and do nothing because they, too, are befuddled by it. The government is befuddled by it, as noted above. The Witness him or herself is befuddled by it. Everyone is befuddled by it because it makes no sense. It is like this writer saying that I love the Russian people—it is only the Kremlin that I seek to destroy. It is like my saying that the Russian people are free to drive the roads—it is only the roads that are banned. It takes a while to get one’s head around such a notion. Guileless ones are particularly disadvantaged because the presentation itself is steeped in guile. It doesn’t even matter the reason for opposition to the Witnesses. The anti-cultists of the West latch on to different reasons to destroy the Witness organization than do the anti-cultists of the East. A common trigger for denunciation in the West is that Jehovah’s Witnesses are unsupportive of gay rights, and within their community, do not allow for gay sex. This makes them absolute heroes in Russia, which also persecutes gays. Just after the Russian ban was instituted, Angela Merkel even mentioned the two populations in the same breath to Putin—questioning him of his harassment of gays and Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Many Western sources, such as the BBC, edited out Jehovah’s Witnesses so as to focus on gays.) So Russia must scramble to find different reasons. Some Russian sources commenting on recent Witness events mention as a specific objection only that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions. Even the most staunch advocate of blood transfusion will concede that the group refusing them are not to be equated with ISIS terrorists. No, on so many levels, Witness persecution defies common sense. Whenever things do that, people can be forgiven for wondering if something supernatural isn’t at work as well.

Training for the PT next week... about seeking for God's kingdom and the sermon on the mount... basics... but yes, basics are important, as the GT is very close now.

That is a very important statement and well worth keeping in mind.. This is not a KtN victory.. no different from Pilate and Jesus's statements here: (John 19:10, 11) . . .So Pilate said to him: “Are you refusing to speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and I have authority to execute you?” 11 Jesus answered him: “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been granted to you from above. This is why the man who handed me over to you has greater sin.” They are not in control AT ALL ... Ps 2:4 The One enthroned in the heavens will laugh;

In the last paragraph I chose my words wrong and wrote ‘also persecutes’ when I meant to say ‘avidly persecutes.’ The window for editing has closed. Can a mod make the change for me, because it makes a significant difference. We do not accommodate gays, but neither do we persecute them.