Arauna

I replied above: I am happy that we are now called Jehovahs Witnesses because it brings honor to God's name and we are therefore distinct from all other Christian denominations by our loyalty to person of jehovah God. I am happy that we do not cling to the cult of persona. There was a tendency of old for people to do this as in case of Russel and Rutherford. There is a need to distribute the same choice of "food" to everyone world-wide. A brother in Uzbekistan must have the same food available for meetings as in Kenya. For this to happen there is a need for central translation and distribution services. Practical reasons drove the centralization of services. A Jewish scholar set out to collect extant manuscripts where the pronouncement of jehovahs name is indicated by th point system. So far he has collected over 1000 from museums all over the world where they were hidden. Many bible names such as Jeho-saphat, jeho-ram etc. also contain the name of the true god. Hallelu-jah. The pronunciation is correct....... but the use of this name is even more important than the pronunciation.

I agree with first part of the statement. What we see happening in the world is an added bonus because it confirms what we understand from the scriptures such as: " lift up your heads when you see these things"...... When we see what Jehovah predicted happening in real time we have additional reason to rejoice apart from having the regular gratitude and joy for " knowing" him.

The original "white guys" Caucasians, come from this area. Armenia (neighbour) was part of ancient kingdom of Urartu. Turkey took mount Ararat from Armenia during the genocide period I believe but one can still see it from the Armenian capital city, Yerevan In the museum, I saw a massive cauldron which was taken from Assyria in time of Sargon 2. Georgian language and Armenians see themselves as related peoples. Of course throughout the history they were taken over by Turks, arabs, Russians etc which influenced the culture. These two countries are strong orthodox Christians and managed to retain this. I think the mountains assisted them to fight back invaders successfully. Mountains everywhere....... even modern warfare has problems with mountains (as in Afghanistan).

No I just did a normal risk assessment of the threats to the earth and its population and realized that the bible is absolutely spot-on in its prophecies. Jehovah will definitely step in before we ruin it completely - so to look at certain milestones we have reached is practical. Based on evidence....... For example: Isaac had faith that jehovah could resurrect him if he allowed his father to sacrifice him. His father had faith based on evidence . Did he just blindly believe? Definitely NOT. He had "evidence" . He knew that his mother was beyond the age to bear children and jehovah revived her womb to produce his life. Jehovah could give him life again. True, Abraham knew that the promise would come through isaac and he had seen evidence of jehovah in his life before.

A lot of culture here and many of the tribes can tell you stories where they come from. They drink beer too - a lot...... but wine is their forte.. it is a 4000 year tradition and they have approx 525 different grape varieties!

I have often seen you quote scriptures to suit yourself and with a very warped or emotional perspective. One can have "evidence" - even if things are not seen. The simplest example is wind. One cannot see it but one sees the effect..... therefore there is wind. How do they know there was a big bang...... they measure things which we cannot see with the eye. How do we know God exists? Because we can see intelligent design..... the unseen wisdom in the design..... I can go on and on. For someone who claims to be anointed your insight goes as far as quoting tons of scriptures without understanding what they really mean.

I do field service regularly on the glass bridge - seen in the beginning. Went to a wedding recently - the entire day. Brothers and sisters did these dances (old brothers too!) They love singing and dancing. They sing without music - beautiful in harmony. The city Tbilisi is one of the newest tourist attractions of the world as the nature with north and south Caucuses mountains is breathtaking. The city has very old buildings. Unique style balconies in wood which looks like lace. The wine industry originated in this area..... I think Noah drank too much of this wine! They mature it in the ground in large pots! It goes down real SMOOTH!!!!!!

If you have stomach surgery and cannot eat - you eat through a drip in the arm. There is no difference between this way of eating blood. The scripture says : ABSTAIN from blood...... this means eating, drinking, in artery, etc. When it comes to fractions - how do we know what has fraction in it? When you wash your meat a fraction may still be there...... but Jehovah is not unreasonable. He can see when we obey his laws WILLINGLy........ .try our best to keep the everlasting covenant of respect for the blood which represents life. We cannot wilfully go ahead and break the law of God.

Jesus himself said that no flesh would be saved unless God stepped in. While it is not a teaching of ours to 'fear' destruction of the earth there is a prophecy which shows we are indeed 'ruining' the earth. Rev 11:18. I follow news regarding this issue and the true state if affairs regarding the biosphere is hidden from the public, while scientists are playing along with US government policy to hide the true state if affairs. Ice on Himalayas is melting as is a threat to the country of Bhutan, Maldives going down with rising waters. Forests are dryer in certain areas, leaves and roots so dry that new saplings are dying. Fires in Sweden, Russia etc. The biggest secret is climate engineering..... on and on.... bla bla.... too much information available but people do not go there. Hebr 11:1 Faith is based on evidence. Blind faith is not faith.

Whether they drank blood in Roman times and eat blood sausage in our times does not matter. What matters, is to follow bible instruction. The first law jehovah gave to Noah after the flood was about blood - it is called the 'everlasting covenant' which was repeated to Israel and also by jesus' disciples. So what part of the instruction "abstain from blood and fornication" may we disobey? If we break the one instruction - is it not as serious as breaking the other one? One must choose - do you want to obey the bible - or not. This is not a WT Society issue but one about obedience to God.

Whatever happens in a court. Rutherford did well to change the Name because it brings attention to the name of jehovah. I became a witness and left the church I was in BECAUSE the churches stick to traditions that are centuries old. There is no place for spiritual growth. If these IBSA guys still cling to age old ideas and the person of Russel - no matter how sincere- their inability to change may be their Achilles heel. Russel made quite a few mistakes....... because the light was only starting to shine in the days of the bible students. As Christian's we need to grow all the time. Core teachings remain the same but as prophecies go into fulfillment we will definitely see new light.

Same here. So, no prob. If you had anything to add about the festival of Akito that I do not know about - I am prepared to listen. Isaiah 2:2-4 shows a nation in the time of the end dedicated to name of jehovah that is world wide. That nation already exists and similar to the time of Israel the nation is not perfect but serves a purpose. It fulfills prophecies and does the final preaching work of the "kingdom". While I agree with you that jehovah will clean the entire organization (start with his nation first) it does not mean that they do not fulfill his prophecies.

As far as I know many languages do not have a seperate word for indefinite and definite article like in English. This is what I understood about Greek when I looked at this many years ago. A letter at the end of the word indicates the difference between "the God" and "a God". So the theon above is translated correct because it says "the god" John 1 verse 1: the God said to a god...... Al-lah also means "the god" .........the highest God.

I do the same. I read stuff and then move on.

Thanks for saying this. Jesus was the first to obtain immortality and incorruptability from Jehovah as a reward for remaining faithful to him until death. Jesus was like the other angels before he came to earth. His everlasting life depended on him staying loyal to God. Read Hebrews 1 in its entirety. Satan was an angel (like jesus) and became disobedient..... he will be destroyed. The lie was told by Satan to Adam when he said: you will not die. People still believe this lie. They believe that humans have a soul that goes out and it is immortal.......ecclesiastes 9: 5& 10. Eccl 3: 19 & 20 shows that the soul knows nothing and humans die like an animal. They do not have an immortal soul. Adam would have lived forever while he obeyed God. The bible clearly shows that the soul dies at death. We will be recreated at time of resurrection. SO WHAT has this to do with Jesus? Prophecy indicates in Isaiah 53 : last verses that Jesus will put his "soul" in death to pay for our souls as randsom. Eze 18:4 says: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. So our souls die and Jesus put his souls willingly in death to save us. Abraham offered up his son..... this was a prophecy of what jehovah would do for us. Isaac could have pushed his father away but he willingly allowed his father to sacrifice him because he believed God could resurrect him - give him life again like when He opened his old mothers womb to give birth to him. God was kind to Abraham because he substituted isaac with an animal but had to go the whole way with Jesus. Jesus willingly came to earth and knew beforehand that he would go into non-existence for three days. This is the example of obedience to death. For dying unjustly while being perfect, jehovah granted him immortality and incorruptability. Jesus really died - his soul died. Churches who teach that Jesus is God do not really understand the randsom sacrifice. They talk about the blood of jesus but do not understand the depth of the sacrifice of Jesus. They do not really believe that he died. If you are immortal - you cannot die.

I did not insult you. You insult yourself in the way you speak to people. A person can have some knowledge but when you come across as arrogant and unreasonable then you are doing this to your own image...... you do not need anyone to point it out ........ it is obvious. JW insider is consistently polite and decent.... and you are now speaking in a most disrespectful way. ...... because I insulted you? Now that is truly logical - lol! Back to subject: I have studied other languages and know this about Greek. When only one letter differs at the end of a word then it changes the meaning of the word. TheoN means God, theoS means : a god. So when it comes to the word lord it would be the same. The language I am now learning has a letter or two at the end of the noun which is a preposition such as from, of, etc. A non-governmental organization: please inform me what is wrong with this designation?

When I became a US citizen I pledged loyalty for my new country but refused to go to war for this country. I signed a document. I will never do anything against this country - so in my actions I support it. I obey it in everything, until they expect me to break the law of God by going to war or to stop preaching or make acknowledgement of immorality mandatory. What about Roman's 13: Let every person be in subjection to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except by God; the existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God. 2 Therefore, whoever opposes the authority has taken a stand against the arrangement of God; those who have taken a stand against it will bring judgment In order to get a library card - do you not think you are taking it too far by trying to prove how righteous you are? We have a saying in my language which means " you are splitting hairs" over nothing. They registered as a NGO to get access to library..... and other services in a normal online procedure. Question: Do you read through ALL the policies when you use an internet account etc....... you may be surprised at what you sign up to. I do get a lot of insults regarding my intellect..... and my devotion to mommy watchtower ....... to be expected when people do not have a love for truth or think we are babies who cannot think straight and only drink JW propaganda like mothers milk. Please explain this statement.

To fulfill Daniel's prophecy there were two rulers..... Darius the Mede and the Persian from Shusan. In 538 BCE Cyrus was crowned King of Kings. And if I remember correctly the festival of Akito was 14 days long. He went up into the tower of Babel (the temple on top) and slept with the high priestess. The people loved this festival with its many activities. To obey scripture is not dangerous. That is your personal opinion because you prefer to do and think your own thing. You are a slave to your own desires. I just googled and this came up. Cyrus then claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and became popular in Babylon itself, in contrast to Nabonidus. For this reason he was there personally..... I remember now: he was crowned King of four corners if the earth.

Cyrus appointed Darius the Mede as Satrap (hence the 2 horned beast in Daniel - media and persia). Darius the Mede ruled but Cyrus came back to Babylon in 538 BCE to be crowned King of Kings. As I studied this history many moons ago - I did not just read about dates but tried to understand the culture- I recall that BAbylon became the most important ancient religious centre. There is good reason why jehovah calls the world empire of false religion "Babylon the Great" because it was from here that most false traditions spread. What is very significant is the mix of religion and the highest head of government (religion and politics). Even when Syria became a dominating world power in the region and there was strife between these countries- their cultures were intertwined. Several kings still travelled to Babylon to be crowned as king of kings - it was the tradition with great significance. It was a sign of great power and blessing of the gods..... or humiliation. The temple complex of Esigilia was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar and shrines erected everywhere. He did his research like modern rulers do and restored the old traditions in their full glory. No wonder he was so proud of himself! Political turmoil or domestic turmoil? Yes it was celebrated every year BUT it was NOT celebrated for quite some time. Nabonides did not attend any of the festivals as king- especially the festival of Akito which was seen as a grave sin This was the reason he was hated by his people. They were sure their gods were going to punish them all for his neglect. He left Beltshazzar in charge while he went off to Arabia (city of Tema) to build a temple to the Moongod. His mother had been a priestess of the moongod. This was seen as treason. The festival was re-installed with great pomp.

Be obedient to those taking the lead amongst you: what do YOU believe this scripture means. "Obviously because we can all have our own opinions as to what each scripture " - your quote. This kind of philosophy/thinking I found prevalent in the west in first world countries...... at work.....everywhere . Meaning that there can be no unity because all do and think as they please but only cooperate and keep quiet because they want their pay . This way of thinking has also infiltrated the Christian congregation...... each one wants their independent opinion - not realizing that this causes division. I prefer to try to understand why the GB opinion differs from mine. You think I am a GB puppet - I am not. However, I have learnt to think about what the GB say and why they say it..... so I can cooperate to the best of my abilities. The sin Adam did was egotistical - he wanted to be independent from jehovah. This tendency is still the greatest deceiver of those who like to deceive themselves. Their freedom is not true freedom because they are a slave to themselves. Anna will not listen to me - she knows better. She happens to agree with me because it is logical. Something you do not see. You listen to Witness who will lead you down the garden path because you like your own opinion and independence more than the truth. You are a slave to your own desires/ideas. Not to the point where they all want special treatment. The special use is being a slave of God...... and the commission is to preach and teach. I know another anointed lady who has been a pioneer most of her life, she must now be 87 and still going strong. Smart but humble, raising 5 faithful children with an unfaithful husband who later divorced her. She gave me wonderful advice. Apparently she still cooks for pioneers.....

Actually, the festival of Akito was left out and no-one wrote about it. Mr Allen was not as thorough as he thinks he is. Try not to be so dismissive. Did you not read in 1 cor 8 that knowledge puffs up? Or have you also thrown God out with the bathwater like Allan has ? A lot of knowledge without insight does that to people...... I have not researched this but I believe one cannot do hurricane relief work or other disaster relief without such a membership. The org. needs to register as a non-governmental organization because access will be restricted. Knowing some people who are quick to judge our org, this membership will stumble them as well - just as the library facilities membership did. People allow themselves to be influenced by the devil and it shows in their attitudes. I have done my personal research - I believe the biblical time line is extremely important as in any project that is managed. Jehovah is administering his universal project perfectly Eph 1:9. One can intrinsically prove that the bible is the word of God by the logic, continuity and consistency of its main theme and the time-line of the kingdom that is given.

Unfortunately most Christian denominations still take whole blood - so reading the bible did not help them to apply the scriptures in their lives to "abstain" from blood. The GB council does help many to see this important principle to respect life. I have seen nothing logical coming from you. Only personal deprecating comments and misapplied scriptures.

I saw your application of the scripture you chose - it was taken out of context...... but I did not want to waste my eyes to answer you. Signs of the times are here like blossoms on the fig tree. .... whether you believe in signs or not. I see them and my faith is stronger for it. I also appreciate how the GB has identified the UN, beast and image of the beast correctly even though many here view them as bumbling old men. The bible indicates that women must wear a head covering when they teach and if brothers are available to step back. This was in the congregation back in time of Paul when all were anointed. Women who are anointed know what jehovah expects and will not push themselves forward.

I (the little person), enjoyed how you laid out the British part of the empire history in the middle east before 1914 and you mentioned how Russel understood 1914 to be significant - by whatever means. To me, this history you highlighted is important history of the "little horn" in Daniel chapter 7, the one which boasts and later grows and becomes the 7th head of the beast in rev 13 - also depicted as the false prophet of Revelation 13 (the beast with 2 horns -anglo-american dual world power- who speaks like a lamb but is a dragon.) This is the beast who will harass the holy ones of God and also, in it's time the Son of man will go into the court before his Father and receive his crown - the kingdom government. This time sequence is important in time of end prophecy because it relates to the other prophecies in Matt and Luke about the perousia. This is the 7th beast which must rule for a period of time and in which time according to Daniel 7 - jesus would be crowned in heaven........... and the " image of the beast " will come into existence (go down and come up again). This happens AFTER Jesus is crowned in heaven. These previous 7 beasts were confined to certain parts of the globe where the majority of god's people were to be affected by its hegemony. Since the nation of God- dedicated to his name and called his people according to Isaiah 2:2-4- will come from every tribe and nation "in the last days" , one realizes that one now must look at global events - no longer only at regional developments or to single empires (7 consecutive heads). The nation of God will be affected by what is going on at a global scale in time of end since the "image of the beast" has 7 heads with 10 crowns and it becomes the eighth king for a short period. All those who refuse to worship the image of the wild beast will be killed and will not be able to buy or sell in the countries they are living. Rev13:15. This happens before Armageddon. The 7th head and image of the beast which is the 8th king, clearly indicates quite a period of time will pass after the crowning of christ. Jehovah is a strict time keeper and let's us know in his word what to expect. We have already entered the time where 176 nations have willingly given the "image of the beast " authority to control its policies. The UN has already dictating policy to EU, Canada, Australia, NZ, southern and central Africa and has just given Russia and China the go-ahead for its 35 satellites to surveille those under its jurisdiction when China and Russia have synchronized their surveillance systems by June 2020. Beidou and GLONASS. It is capable of much more than they are telling. The middle east, Turkey and north Africa will work with Russia. China and Russia has forged its alliance which is getting stronger. UN sees China as a world model to follow - crazy though it seems. They believe that control of populations will bring world peace. Those who do not obey will face the consequences. America has been infiltrated by NGOs and foreign money via foundations, propaganda and philosophy, to the extent that it will comply with UN wishes. I doubt the next election will be fair because Google is working with UN as is other major super capitalist / oiligarchical corporations . .... filtering all propaganda to suit UN objectives. BUT we may still be surprised as there is a nationalistic popular resistance in EU, UK, and US against UN policies of globalization with no borders. This may lengthen the time for UN to brings its plans to fruition. So we can read the times we are living in but do not know how fast or slow it will proceed. ..... so the day and hour remains elusive. I look at current "global " history - to see where we are in stream of time. The slave has given us enough food and understanding to peer into the scriptures on our own. They have understood the beast, image of the beast etc. Spot-on. There is no doubt in my mind that they are used by jehovah - warts and all. This is why the GB is so urgent in its message to get ourselves into spotless condition to stay faithful. Things/events will now start moving very fast so that no-one can keep up with the quick developments. UN, Russia and China have been working on 20-25 year strategies....and global capitalists in the West and UN have all been working together for at least 70 years. Their plans will come to fruition because opposition will be crushed in a brutal way. We are already almost there but the exact new developments and the time remains hidden. I read the 607 discussion on this forum a while back ..... I saw that no-one mentioned the festival of Akitu which took place in 538 BCE. Cyrus was appointed king of kings on Nissan 1-14 in 14 day festival. It was then when he gave decree that all could go back. It gave one year for Israelites all over the empire to get the message, pack up, meet each other and take the trek of 4 months back to Jerusalem. All contributors did not know about this or wilfully ignore this historical fact. .... in order to disprove the accuracy of 607 BCE.

I just wrote (and lost) a long answer which demonstrated how in the entire US civil war just over 640,000 were killed - not millions. Another war in which in one day 3000 persons were killed in 1838...... in which guns were used in fierce battle. Only with godly intervention there were millions upon millions killed. Only after 1914 do we see unprecedented numbers of persons killed in one day..which fits the horses of Revelation....... the front horse being a crowned king. Just read Matt 24 again and see the sequence of events in Jesus' time and today as well. Some here have taken it out of sequence and context. I wrote a paragraph about the constant wars and how Titus came back in 70CE - lost this too! Today we have similar signs. I read today how the Beidou positioning and surveillance satelite system will take over the world by the alliance between Russia and China (with UN approval ) which will give them more navigational power (even underwater) than USA. Google is cooperating. After June 2020 the world will start to change and you will see what I have been talking about. The signs are already here. When the thief will break in, we do not know. My eyes are weak and my fingers bad..... so I say goodbye. I will go and give ideas to those who want to hear. Not those who think they are superior to JWs or secular in their thinking. I have to use my eyes on more worthy pursuits. I know what is going on in the world but my thinking is not worldly. I have not been compromised by secularism.