A BIG Increase in 2014 YB

[Dustparticle]

 Have anyone noticed the big increase in the 2014 YB? There is a 25.9 percent increase in 30 lands that are not reported. There are almost 10,000 more publishers in those lands in 2013, than 2012. Jehovah must shaking the lands that are banned.

[Nobody]

Thanks for pointing that out. i had missed it!

[Julsey]

Also an increase in Memorial partakers! 

[Shawnster]

Also an increase in Memorial partakers! 

 

Troublemaker

[timpin]

a milestone   ... ONE MILLION PIONEERS!   ...  one out of every eight Witnesses is a Pioneer!   ....   applications are available from the service committee

[Nobody]

Also an increase in Memorial partakers! 

 

It's funny, that used to be the first thing i looked for. Now it's the last.

[kejedo]

I am looking at the new YB on JW.org, but am not able to view the Service Year Report (Chart). Of all the stats, my favorite is the closest fit of witnesses to population. When I got Baptized in the 80s it was Guadeloupe that had the most witnesses per population unit, but in recent years it has been St. Helena. Guadeloupe = about one in 54 are our brothers and sisters. In St. Helena, approx one in 35 is a witness. St Helena is the Island where Napolean Bonaparte was exiled. (Second exile, many people think Elba, but that was the previous exile.) Years ago, in our book study in NH, a brother read a letter from another brother from Guadeloupe. It said, "If you get to talk to someone at the door, it is probably some one else's call." That happens frequently here in NY, too. When I look at a picture of Napolean with his hand inside his vest, I imagine him pulling out a Watchtower.  

[Julsey]

Troublemaker

Hey, I think it's a great thing!  Maybe Jehovah is speeding up the in-gathering of anointed ones along with those of the great crowd, which means the end is that much closer! 

[minister159]

@Julsey:

 

Yeah BUT, ... did you read the footnote reference in this week's WT study in paragraph 13: W1/1/07 pages 30-31 regarding their final sealing?

[Brenda]

I'm looking but I don't see it.

[trottigy]

That not all of them have had their final sealing yet?

Trottigy

Edited January 12, 2014 by trottigy

[Brenda]

@Julsey:

 

Yeah BUT, ... did you read the footnote reference in this week's WT study in paragraph 13: W1/1/07 pages 30-31 regarding their final sealing?

 

OK I see it now.  I didn't pick up on the footnote reference.

[Julsey]

@Julsey:

 

Yeah BUT, ... did you read the footnote reference in this week's WT study in paragraph 13: W1/1/07 pages 30-31 regarding their final sealing?

Yes, BUT...<g> To get to the final sealing, we first have to have the initial sealing.  This probably isn't going to come out the way I want it to, but I would guess that the more quickly that happens, the faster we can get the waiting over with.    Having said that, Jehovah has set the day, so we don't know now how long that wait is going to be.  :-/

 

*** w07 1/1 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***

Paul stated that anointed Christians are “sealed for a day of releasing.” (Ephesians 4:30) This indicates that the passing of time, usually many years, is involved after that initial sealing. Anointed ones need to remain faithful from the day they are sealed with holy spirit until the ‘day they are released’ from their fleshly bodies—that is, until their death. (Romans 8:23; Philippians 1:23; 2 Peter 1:10)

[perspective]

I am looking at the new YB on JW.org, but am not able to view the Service Year Report (Chart). Of all the stats, my favorite is the closest fit of witnesses to population. When I got Baptized in the 80s it was Guadeloupe that had the most witnesses per population unit, but in recent years it has been St. Helena. Guadeloupe = about one in 54 are our brothers and sisters. In St. Helena, approx one in 35 is a witness. St Helena is the Island where Napolean Bonaparte was exiled. (Second exile, many people think Elba, but that was the previous exile.) Years ago, in our book study in NH, a brother read a letter from another brother from Guadeloupe. It said, "If you get to talk to someone at the door, it is probably some one else's call." That happens frequently here in NY, too. When I look at a picture of Napolean with his hand inside his vest, I imagine him pulling out a Watchtower.  

 

When I was a kid my mom studied with someone that had relatives in Guadeloupe.  They came for a visit and had nobody to speak to, until they met my mom.  My mom speaks French.  So, we all got to meet them, and they even came to a meeting with us, with my mom doing her best to translate (though her French was a bit rusty).  Even back then they talked about how you couldn't go anywhere without running into a brother or sister, and how friendly the territory was because everyone was aware of the Witnesses.  They showed us photos of the country, and wow, it was beautiful.  I've always had a soft spot for them and always watch their numbers.  Never saw them again, but here I am probably well over 20 years later and I still remember them.

[kejedo]

Dear Perspective, we have a young sister in our congregation visiting here from Indiana. Her family has spent a good deal of time in China, speaking Mandarin, (Put-awn-wah). I speak a bit of Cantonese (Gwang-Chow-wah) and a smattering of other languages. Fortunately, we have an amazing amount of diversity in our territory. I am always flummoxed when thinking of the many languages that Jehovah understands and the countless persons he knows. My sons are in their twentys and thirtys. (None of my family is in the truth, yet, sigh.) Thanks for sharing the tender story of the family from Guadeloupe with your mother as French translator. It made my day. Do you ever watch The MIddle?   

[GrumpysWife]

Such incredible experiences, I couldn't put it down.

[perspective]

Dear Perspective, we have a young sister in our congregation visiting here from Indiana. Her family has spent a good deal of time in China, speaking Mandarin, (Put-awn-wah). I speak a bit of Cantonese (Gwang-Chow-wah) and a smattering of other languages. Fortunately, we have an amazing amount of diversity in our territory. I am always flummoxed when thinking of the many languages that Jehovah understands and the countless persons he knows. My sons are in their twentys and thirtys. (None of my family is in the truth, yet, sigh.) Thanks for sharing the tender story of the family from Guadeloupe with your mother as French translator. It made my day. Do you ever watch The MIddle?   

 

Nope, don't watch "The Middle".  I've seen it a time or two and have a vague familiarity with it, but not much.

 

Glad you enjoyed the story.  I grew up in an area of Louisville (KY) with an apartment community filled with various nationalities.  They spoke Arabic, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Spanish, French, Russian, Bosnian (not sure that's the name of the language) and many other languages.  You could go from door to door with the Good News For All Nations and just go from language to language.  We had tracts, and would hand them out.  The people were so happy to see something in their own language.

[kejedo]

Secularly,I teach ESL to many language groups (I think I counted 20 once, but some were duplicates), and I have noticed that people are delighted to hear or read something in their own language.  I have learned to speak a little to most everybody. Eastern Europe is easiest since every one understands Dobra Dan and Du Vitseynya, (Good day and Good bye), except Poland which uses Dzien Dobre for Good Day, and Russia which uses Dos Vedonya for goodbye. IN southern Asia, the languages are very different, but I know a little. A number of my former students are now Bible calls. The circuit overseer said to keep up with the foreign language calls b/c many of our brothers originally started reading our literature with just an interest in the English language and developed an interest in the truth. More good things to pray about.

[Brother_Bliss]

Interesting thing about anointed ones is that there have been more than 144,000. It's that in the end, only 144,000 will be finally chosen. The initial sealing has always only been an invitation - but it can be revoked.

 

Likewise, those of us other sheepers have likewise received an invitation to live forever on earth. It can be revoked too if we fail to meet the requirements.

[Allabord4Jah]

We had a brother in our hall who once was baptized (about 1 month before the memorial) started to partake.  He was newly divorced, and had 3 kids.  Then a few years later, he went on vacation and met a newly baptized sister with 2 children from her previous marriage (worldly man) and she had 2 kids.  So he did a worldwind courtship (3 months) and married her.  Brought her over (they came from a small island) with her 2 kids.  His 3 kids, didn't get along with her or the her children.  Only one of his own children did, and the 2.  They were making great spiritual progress, then a few months ago, she had to return to the islands, she took her 2 kids with her.  He was home with one of his 3 kids when they could visit.  He did not have custody of any of them.  In November 2013, I was sitting at my meeting and during the announcements his name came up and he was DF'd.  He was sitting there right in front of my row in the middle of the hall.  He started to cry, but after awhile (attending meetings) I never saw him again.  I don't know what went on, but it was obvious that he was not repentant during the time the brothers met with him.  He was a really nice guy, about 35 years old now.  You know when I read that number in our year book and the number of the anointed keep going up and not down, I get really happy that am not the one to call judgement on these people.  I trust Jehovah knows who his real chosen ones are.   He's the one who does the pic ken!    There's a lot of mental illness out there, who wouldn't be mentally ill in a world run by the devil?   Glad Jehovah is the reader of hearts and kidneys!  If my heart hurts, I take a baby aspirin!  If its my kidneys' I drink cranberry juice, much safer then figuring out who did what and why.  

[Brother_Bliss]

We had a brother in our hall who once was baptized (about 1 month before the memorial) started to partake.... and [later] he was DF'd.  He was sitting there right in front of my row in the middle of the hall.  He started to cry, but after awhile (attending meetings) I never saw him again.  I don't know what went on, but it was obvious that he was not repentant during the time the brothers met with him.  He was a really nice guy, about 35 years old now.  You know when I read that number in our year book and the number of the anointed keep going up and not down, I get really happy that am not the one to call judgement on these people.  I trust Jehovah knows who his real chosen ones are.   He's the one who does the pic ken!    There's a lot of mental illness out there, who wouldn't be mentally ill in a world run by the devil?   Glad Jehovah is the reader of hearts and kidneys!  If my heart hurts, I take a baby aspirin!  If its my kidneys' I drink cranberry juice, much safer then figuring out who did what and why.  

 

Well, he could really have been anointed. Anointed brothers and sisters at times were unrepentant and disfellowshipped and later reinstated even in Bible times (1st and 2nd Corinthians being the prime example). Did any of them get a final seal and a crown reserved for them? Only Jehovah knows.

 

I've always said we should not concern ourselves with the number of partakers nor those who say they are anointed, even when the predominant school of thought was that the partakers number should start dropping like flies. Today I am glad that the FDS tells us to stop watching that statistic as if it were a prophetic sign of the times.

[ReadYourBible]

No Bob, don't you know all those claiming to be anointed must be mentally ill?       *clonazepam anyone?*
 
I wonder how this makes our mentally ill brothers and sisters feel, when they hear these sorts of things?  Let's take a stab at this in the shall we.  First off, mental illness isn't something anyone chooses.  Hmmn, strangely enough, neither is being anointed.  
 
Mental illness can make you self conscious, you can become excessively worried about how others view you and how you view yourself.  Hmm, this also happens when you're anointed.   
 
Mental illness can cause some people to behave poorly toward you, and they don't believe you when you're truly sick, in fact they usually tell you its all in your head until you have a major coronary and die from your 'imaginary' illness.    
 
Being anointed can cause some people to behave poorly toward you, after all you can't really be anointed.  If you happen to do something that is incredibly human, and get disciplined for it.... they might even ask you if you have a problem with your head, when really you've had a spiritual coronary.   *have another clonazepam!*   
 
 
Then there's the ones who are both anointed AND mentally ill.  Talk about a double whammy.  
 
We had a fellow in a previous congregation of mine several years ago.  He started partaking of the emblems, his wife left the truth and him, taking their children with her.   People started whispering campaigns behind his back saying he was mentally ill and then he was killed, in the weirdest of accidents - he was headed to work, slipped under a bus and was run over.   I remember hearing the things about him, and it made me sad and angry at the same time.   
 
Sad because I couldn't believe that those who claimed to be Christians were saying the most awful things behind this guys back, angry because the one who should have stood by him during this time basically handed everyone the knife to slit his throat and then took another and carved his heart out of his chest when she left with his children.   I couldn't quite put my finger on it then, but looking at it now, it was a Judas betrayal to the tee.
 
I've commented about this before, but it means something differently to me now.   I see it for what it was, a test of my own heart. Could I step back and analyze the situation and come up with an answer that would be acceptable in Jehovah's eyes?   Could I keep my lips in check when everyone else was running theirs?  Could I look at this person without bias, without putting him on a scale and measuring only what my limited perceptions could see?  Could I treat him just as I'd treat anyone else?  Could I view him without prejudice?  I think that's the bottom line.  
 
It matters not about numbers of partakers, it matters only about the sanctification of Jehovah's glorious and precious name.   It matters that we do the best we can at finding his lost sheep so we can flesh out the size of our flock before it's GO time.  

Edited January 16, 2014 by cerebral ecstasy

[Julsey]

Couldn't have said it better, Sharon.