shali

I believe it will be too but the headline won't be " all leaders turn their power over to the UN". I think it will be more like "World Leaders declare World Peace as UN now makes decisions" or something like that. It won't make the leaders seem so weak and ineffectual.

It will be interesting to see if that is kept on the "down low" or not (authority given to the UN) because world governments may decide they don't want anyone to know so as not to cause a mass panic. I can't imagine so many of today's proud, arrogant rulers turning over their authority to the UN and then wanting it spread all over the place, unless they come up with some weakly plausible lie about why they did it.

I'm not sure why we would need an official announcement from the GB about the GT starting because it was my understanding that when the United Nations puts an end to all religion, that is the start. When that happens, it will make worldwide news, I don't think there will be any doubts. But it's always nice to have confirmation from the one true source of truth. When religion takes a hit, so will it's buildings and wealth, so I can imagine all religious property will be systematically confiscated and handed over to it's respective government, That is probably the reason that our publications always picture us meeting in other places besides our kingdom halls during that period of time. I would rather not think of that time as "scary", more like challenging. People outside our organization will be scared because they never imagined this happening - people are out of their minds now over the slightest thing, when something this big happens it will really amp up the craziness and chaos. But the Bible assures us that we will be "dwelling in security" because Jehovah will be taking care of us and keeping us united and still able to worship him. It will be that last moment of the GT when Gog of Magog attacks that might seem a bit frightening, but there is the reason we need to make our faith unbreakable now, so that we can "hold our heads up, knowing our deliverance is near".

Of course you are all in our prayers, as well as our family in Venezula. These disasters happen so fast and furious that it is hard to wrap our minds around it all. How Jehovah's organization keeps up with all the disasters is beyond me! The cost and the volunteer manpower needed for disaster relief committee's has to be enormous, yet it is always there and ready for the next disaster. Keep donating, keep praying and keep the faith!

The earth is definitely in peril. The weather patterns are so far off and every single decision greedy men and corporations make just plunge it further into disaster after disaster. These data centers going in all over the world are the last nail in the coffin I think. They will cause untold damage to the water and atmosphere and sink innocent people who depend on these resources further into despair. It's no wonder the Bible tells us that "men will become faint out of fear". The news media is geared to make people afraid of absolutely everything - everything we eat, every kind of medicine we take, every phone call or message we get, every place we go, - every decision we make is a wrong one. The stress of life is getting too great and people are going nuts because they can't handle it. Seems like life is nothing but mass murders, natural disasters, fear of another world war and general craziness. And this all BEFORE the GT happens! Life after the GT starts is something we all must spiritually and mentally prepare for now - I have a feeling what we are experiencing now will feel like a cakewalk compared to after the GT starts.

We have a brother and sister in our congregation that worked on the first 4 to 6 video's and they said he wears a "topper" basically and it's not because he has thinning hair, it's so that his hair looks consistent from scene to scene. This brother also told us that the brother portraying Jesus has always been single (his choosing) but now that these video's have been released, it's been a lot harder for him (I imagine sisters are coming out of the woodwork). So this brother could actually use our prayers to help him stick to his choice to remain single.

Nice of Reuters to give a "blurb" on the subject. I thought that was done back in 2017 but it seems now they are going after the real estate brought through the Swedish Branch of Jehovah's Witnesses. The greed and averice! Gotta fund that war machine.

Hamas's giving up its weapons is conditional though"-they want an end to all Israeli military aggression and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza AND (this is the big one) - the deployment of an "international stabilization force." (whatever that will be) So now whether is happens or not is basically up is Israel and we all know Israel wants to wipe Hamas completely off the map.

It makes me wonder if they refused to cooperate with some criminal element (drugs or weapons) and they were made an example of as to what happens when you don't do "as we say". I can only imagine how it pained Jehovah to show restraint in this matter and not interfere, it had to hurt him tremendously to let these brothers all die in this manner. Satan is the one at work here and we can only assume from the way they died, that he got no victory whatsoever with these young worshippers of Jehovah. They will see the reward Jehovah as in store for them!

Back on topic - the GT hasn't started yet.

I've talked to Jehovah about how I feel many times but he keeps "upping the ante" on the terms so I figure that I am in the minority in feeling this way and that most others like to hear those terms - it spurs them on to continue forward in their momentum. To each their own!

The brother made a generalized calculation based on what we can only assume are facts. We assume that everyone who is baptized loves Jehovah. We don't automatically assume he is baptized and doesn't love Jehovah. You are obviously focused on those who aren't baptized but perhaps have shown a love for Jehovah in the past or could still have that love lurking deep in their heart. Those are numbers we cannot count - that is all there is to it - those are the facts. Like I said before, the brother made his calculations with the current FACTS on hand without assuming bad motives to anyone. Only Jehovah knows how many will survive Armageddon and we won't truly grasp the extent of his mercy until that day is over and done. So just accept that this brother was just stating the facts we have on hand (just like you can't calculate the exact population of the earth on any given day because people are born and die everyday) so his calculation about the population of the earth wasn't completely correct either but he went with the current facts on hand but in the end - it's Jehovah that determines who will survive and who will not based on their hearts. From the current information we have been receiving about what will happen after the Great Tribulation starts, it appears that one does not have to be baptized to survive Armageddon - they just need to show their heart aligns with Jehovah and his earthly organization. But there is no way of calculating at this point how many more that will add to our current number of dedicated and baptized witnesses until after Armageddon. Either way, the point the brother was making still holds true - compared to the entire population of the earth on any given day, the amount of people who will demonstrate that they truly love Jehovah will be a very tiny percent. Probably less than 1 or 2% (although we hope for higher), it just goes to show how massive Satan's influence has been on this entire world.

He was referring to those who are currently dedicated and baptized. Those are the only true numbers we can go by and if you just use the numbers of those who have "proved" their love for Jehovah by getting dedicated and baptized, his calculations are correct. We won't know until after Armageddon what the true percentages will end up being.

I guess all I am saying is leave those terms out of it until it is noticeably apparent that those terms are going to be exactly true. The GB does kind of have an indication of when the GT will start (when all the body realizes all of them have had their final sealing for instance and can put out beacons to find out if others of the anointed around the world are experiencing the same thing, I imagine that in the GB they would inform others on the GB if they have had their final sealing because most die soon afterward and it's time to think about a replacement or helper to step in their place). To me the constant use of those terms without them coming true in what physical people feel is a reasonable amount of time for "imminent" or "on the verge of" or even "soon" would keep alot of us from feeling weary and like our hope has gone unfulfilled constantly. I would rather they leave those adjectives out until they become the truth.

Or maybe it's just a random date that has nothing to do with any other date because it will be a Day all it's own, like something that has never occurred before. And since it's the day Jehovah will sanctify his name and do away with all his opposers - he gets the right to choose that date. I have a feeling it as more to do with "hearts" than anything random though. Jehovah is searching for the right-hearted right now and still finding them. His love of people has always outweighed his own interests - if it didn't, none of us would be here.