How many lands left?

[BenJepthah]

At this point the Good News of the Kingdom seems to have rather thoroughly fulfilled Matthew 24:14. But just HOW thoroughly. What counties currently have NO Jehovah’s Witnesses within their borders? And to what extent may the Good News have already penetrated those lands?

[Miss Bea]

From what I remember way back when, the good news is pretty well preached. We are not talking about, “lands”, but, individuals. 

[BenJepthah]

Well one might guess North Korea. < but even that seems an uncertainty > I wouldn’t be surprised to find we are there. 

[Thesauron]

Last time I checked a couple of years ago, it was 3 or so. But you have to remember that the good news has a tendency to reach even there. We preach to the refugees, and they have a tendency to relay it to their families and friends in their home countries.

[Shawnster]

 

Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia are the only countries without any Witnesses or contact with the Governing Body.  All the other countries, even banned countries like China and Russia have Witnesses who are in contact with the Governing Body in some fashion.

 

 

[BenJepthah]

I have chosen to ask this question here so that the public may get a sense of just how far flung our ministry has become and realize the reason for our growing belief that Matthew 24:14 has been fulfilled.    If the reader is of another belief, please ask yourself if your practice of Christianity has had any part or if YOU yourself have any part in the fulfillment of this Bible prophecy?  If not, why not? 

[pholmes38]

I came across this chart some months ago 

 

 

[Thesauron]

I came across this chart some months ago 
 
 

Banned is not the same as not active in. Most banned countries has a very active community of Witnesses.

[Myew]

I recently heard an older Bethelite mention this during a discussion on the nearness of the great tribulation: 'but two thirds of people have yet to hear the good news'. If I am remembering this correctly and if it can be taken verbatim, then there are many many countries needing people to travel and help work them, which is the focus of our need greater schools. I feel that with the advancement of the internet and our website, as well as cell phone usage and our app, many more people with the right disposition have an opportunity to come to know Jehovah and the work will continue speeding up. Still, we don't know how much longer this earth's ecosystem can even last before Jehovah needs to act for the sake of all life.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Myew

[Omoyeme]

9 hours ago, BenJepthah said:

What counties currently have NO Jehovah’s Witnesses within their borders?

 

It's highly unlikely the good news could/would reach North Sentinel Island (and the Andaman Islands) as a result of the native inhabitants mistrust or even disdain for the outside world.  (Read: John Chau.)

 

But then again, with God, all things are possible!  (Matt. 19:26).

[jwhess]

No one comes to be a follower of Jesus unless Jehovah invites him.  However God sees fit to do that invitation, it cannot be stopped or prevented.  Neither will any effort on our part cause God to allow someone in whom he has not invited.  He gives us the extraordinary privilege of helping the ones he selects but we do not attract or draw them to the Truth.  We do not need to be concerned with countries, lands, coverage, bans, numbers and so on.  Jehovah knows.

 

John 6:44…No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him on the last day.

John 6:65…He went on to say: “This is why I have said to you, no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

[Thesauron]

I recently heard an older Bethelite mention this during a discussion on the nearness of the great tribulation: 'but two thirds of people have yet to hear the good news'. If I am remembering this correctly and if it can be taken verbatim, then there are many many countries needing people to travel and help work them, which is the focus of our need greater schools. I feel that with the advancement of the internet and our website, as well as cell phone usage and our app, many more people with the right disposition have an opportunity to come to know Jehovah and the work will continue speeding up. Still, we don't know how much longer this earth's ecosystem can even last before Jehovah needs to act for the sake of all life.

That elderly bethelite made an erroneous assumption. We do not need to reach everyone. Jehovah makes it possible for everyone to hear the good news, and those who have a rightly inclined heart, he draws, and no one can stop him.

So, do your best in the ministry you’ve been asked to do. Learn a new language, if possible. Work to reach people speaking that language in your area. Become better at new branches of your ministry. Witness informally. Reach out to everyone you can. Tell them about the future Jehovah promises. Jehovah will take care of the rest.

[Myew]

45 minutes ago, Thesauron said:

That elderly bethelite made an erroneous assumption.

I wouldn't go that far. I do not mean to imply as if he was saying that the Great Tribulation isn't very near, but more a concern of 'how are we supposed to reach them in time?' and pondering how Jehovah would pull it off. It gave me pause that it may be longer than I think, but nobody knows. I replied with why I felt things could happen rather soon with the proliferation of the internet in developing lands along with: (Matthew 10:23) "When they persecute you in one city, flee to another; for truly I say to you, you will by no means complete the circuit of the cities of Israel until the Son of man arrives."

Edited May 25, 2019 by Myew

[stargazer]

3 hours ago, Omoyeme said:

 

It's highly unlikely the good news could/would reach North Sentinel Island (and the Andaman Islands) 

My cousin is an elder there with a thriving JW community  

Sentinal Isl. is the only exception (Govt. restrictions), rest all have been witnessed to.

[Bek]

Quote

And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations,+ and then the end will come. Matt 24:14

It does not say "to all individuals". It is actually impossible to reach every single person on earth because the global population is increasing at a much faster pace than the number of JWs. 

 

 

[Dages]

When I was in Japan, our CO (who had experience in Mongolia and Nepal) said there was no longer a real "need" in China, it's was more about India and Bangladesh, that was 4 years ago.

Edited May 25, 2019 by Dages

[sunshine]

No contact with the GB doesnt mean no witnesses.

 

Even in lands were the brothers presently have no records, the good news was indeed represented in the past and there are no doubt witnesses discretely doing their best.  Even North Korea... remember before WWII it was one country, I haven't checked year books and reports that far back but I doubt if missionaries weren't sent there in the 30s ...if they did (or if there were brothers native to Korea who returned there to share the truth with their families) then there are indeed Witnesses in North Korea.

 

Same for the totalitarian Islamic States, many of them became radicalized in the 70s and prior to that people enjoyed relative freedom.  The truth is like water,  it will always find a way..  I would hazard a guess the truth had indeed reached every nation, as in the truth has at one time or other been preached to some extent within the borders of every nation on earth.

 

So how many left?  I reckon* zero!

 

 

* Of course only Jehovah knows for sure 

Edited May 25, 2019 by sunshine

[Arumuga Raja]

How many lands left?

 

I think only tribe people lands only left🤔

[pholmes38]

I am reminded of a special assembly day several years ago, when the visiting bethel representative said (in)famously that there were only 3 countries with no witnesses in:

Somalia, North Korea and one other, which was either Iran or Iraq

 

Whether that holds true I have no idea

[BenJepthah]

It is so very encouraging to see all the comments from all the friends from so many lands. And our mutual understanding that we have already reached the “ nations” and now are down to much much smaller groups. It’s like we are in the” bonus round”.

[Allabord4Jah]

Have we completed the CIRCUIT Yet?  Jesus told his followers that no matter how they tried, they would not complete the entire circuit.  What circuit was that?  The Roman known conquest ed world or just in Judea?   Have we completed the circuit yet?  The good news has been preached through out the whole world except for 3 countries.  So we don't know if before the very end Jehovah who is in control, we don't know, might he make an opening for these nations?  Or the cannibals waiting for people down in the depths fo the jungle?

[carlos]

18 hours ago, pholmes38 said:

I am reminded of a special assembly day several years ago, when the visiting bethel representative said (in)famously that there were only 3 countries with no witnesses in:

Somalia, North Korea and one other, which was either Iran or Iraq

 

Whether that holds true I have no idea

Somalia, Afghanistan and North Korea were mentioned during the annual meeting in 2012 and it doesn't seem the situation there has changed since. We don't know if there are any Witnesses in those countries. If there are any, they are not in touch with the rest of the organization.

 

But that doesn't mean that the Somali, Korean and Afghan nations haven't received a witness. Many people from those countries have emigrated to other lands and have been contacted by us there. There are Somali, Korean and Pashtu language congregations. And these people who have learned the truth abroad have surely contacted their relatives who are living there. Besides, people from Somalia and Afghanistan have access to our website (not so in North Korea).

[Pavlos]

18 hours ago, carlos said:

But that doesn't mean that the Somali, Korean and Afghan nations haven't received a witness. Many people from those countries have emigrated to other lands and have been contacted by us there. There are Somali, Korean and Pashtu language congregations. And these people who have learned the truth abroad have surely contacted their relatives who are living there. Besides, people from Somalia and Afghanistan have access to our website (not so in North Korea).

That's the point! The prophecy in Is 2:2 doesn't mention about people from all the lands, but people from all the nations.

Also in Somalia, the good news have been declared until 1990. The "1992 Yearbook" says a possible reason why there are no Jehovah's Witnesses in Somalia today:

 

"Unfortunately, the economy and the security of the country deteriorated so much that many foreigners and even local people left the country. By the end of 1990, all the publishers were gone too. This may have been providential, since the 1991 civil war turned the country upside down, with random killings terrorizing Mogadishu". - yb92 p.164

 

Jehovah protected his people there! 

[Bek]

On 5/25/2019 at 4:18 PM, Dages said:

When I was in Japan, our CO (who had experience in Mongolia and Nepal) said there was no longer a real "need" in China, it's was more about India and Bangladesh, that was 4 years ago.

I wonder why he said that. At the time, China was more or less OK for preaching. I agree about India, Bangladesh and possibly Pakistan. Southeast Asia is another densely populated region with 650m people.

 

India definitely needs a lot of preachers considering how vast it is and the ratio of JWs to the total population. I once met a brother from the UK who lived in India where he preached for three years. He said it got harder for foreigners to get a visa after Modi's government came to power. Another difficulty is that Hindi is not universally spoken across India. Often brothers need to learn Hindi and another local dialect. 

 

We have many Indian students in my region where they study medicine and IT, because it is much cheaper than in their home country. Our congregation mainly preaches to such students. In the last few years, two Indian students got baptised in our congregation. At the moment, there are a few interested ones. The problem is when they get back home, there are no congregations in their home states. Some of them have to travel to Dheli or some major cities to find JWs. 

[carlos]

18 hours ago, Bek said:

We have many Indian students in my region where they study medicine and IT, because it is much cheaper than in their home country. Our congregation mainly preaches to such students. In the last few years, two Indian students got baptised in our congregation. At the moment, there are a few interested ones. The problem is when they get back home, there are no congregations in their home states. Some of them have to travel to Dheli or some major cities to find JWs. 

I remember some years ago the Chinese congregation in Madrid received similar instructions. Although there are thousands of Chinese immigrants here, they were told to concentrate for a time in Chinese students who come to Spain for a one or two years to finish some university course. The aim was to help interested ones to progress quickly, so that when they went back to China they were already baptized and with some experience and could be used in the congregations there.

 

We have a good number of Indian brothers and sisters in JWTalk.