Bethel elder arrangement ends on August 31, 2006
What is the above all about? Can anyone post a link or explain?
2006 - A Year of Movers and Shakers for The Society
by truthseeker 33 Replies latest jw friends
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toreador
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Justitia Themis
Dear Art:
I'm not sure I feel comfortable giving more information. Is there something specific you would like to know?
Regarding the Bethel elder arrangement, I was speaking with a close friend. She and I have a mutual close friend who served at Bethel as a commuter pioneer and married a Bethelite. While at Patterson, her husband reported wife abuse (domestic violence), and got on the wrong side of a Bethel elder. This Bethel elder succeeded in driving them to leave Bethel. Her husband can never seem to be appointed. Whatever congregation they go to, this Bethel elder still tracks them and slanders his reputation.
He is now very content to serve the publishers (who love him dearly) in whatever capacity. You don't need the initials MS or E after your name to be helpful.
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blondie
In view of the twittering among JWs due to the 2006 yeartext, what was the yeartext for 1974? And what happened in 1975...nothing.
(Habakkuk 3:17-18) 17
Although [the] fig tree itself may not blossom, and there may be no yield on the vines; the work of [the] olive tree may actually turn out a failure, and the terraces themselves may actually produce no food; [the] flock may actually be severed from [the] pen, and there may be no herd in the enclosures; 18 Yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.
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w74 1/1 pp. 25-26 "Faith Divorced from Deeds Is Lifeless as a Corpse" ***33
So today we find hundreds of thousands of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses with strong faith. They have it on their lips that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God, and in their hearts is the faith that God raised Christ Jesus up from the dead. Having this kind of faith and publicly declaring it, telling people of all nations and tongues about it, they have an assured expectation of salvation to everlasting life.
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Extreme pressure may be brought upon them by the wicked system of things during its closing hours; they may suffer economic hardship; at times their very survival may appear to be in doubt. But in the face of all this, with faith in Jehovah they will have reason for joy. As the prophet Habakkuk was inspired to write: "Although the fig tree itself may not blossom, and there may be no yield on the vines; . . . yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation."—Hab. 3:17, 18.
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We today are very close to that critical time. We are living in the last days of this system of things, and we see the fulfillment of prophecy, especially that set forth in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, which describes the very things that would occur before this system of things comes to an end. Jesus said, as recorded at Matthew 24:14: "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." Jehovah’s witnesses believe this.
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w73 12/15 pp. 758-759 Why Exult in Spite of Personal Hardships? ***War always brings disagreeable conditions for those involved, especially for those under attack. The "war of the great day of God the Almighty" at Har–Magedon can be expected to bring hardships for those who are then under attack by the combined enemies of Jehovah’s worshipers. It was not as a mere possibility of such hardships that the prophet Habakkuk spoke of such a thing, saying: "Although the fig tree itself may not blossom, and there may be no yield on the vines; the work of the olive tree may actually turn out a failure, and the terraces themselves may actually produce no food; the flock may actually be severed from the pen, and there may be no herd in the enclosures; yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." (Hab. 3:17, 18) Habakkuk speaks of this as a very real likelihood.
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Habakkuk prophetically envisioned extreme economic hardship for Jehovah’s "anointed one" because of the international attempt to scatter the worshipers of Jehovah. It would seem as if there was nothing for these to live on. Their survival was in doubt!22
Even today, in this "time of the end," when the famines, pestilences, earthquakes and international warfare are taking their toll of the inhabitants of the earth even before the outbreak of the "great tribulation," the economic and other living conditions of all mankind are working hardship for more and more people. Even during the "great tribulation" itself, according to His own prophecies, Jehovah God will take action against his earthly enemies with plague, earthquakes and other elemental forces against which His enemies cannot fight with their nuclear bombs and economic and medical programs. Who can escape from being affected to some extent? It is true that the spirit-anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites and the associated "great crowd" are, like Jesus, "no part of the world," yet they are "in the world" and cannot help but feel effects due to world conditions. Moreover, as "objects of hatred" by all nations and peoples, they cannot expect to be given favored treatment and exemptions from worldwide discomfort.—John 15:19; 17:11.Despite all these hardships brought upon them for their faithfulness to the one living and true God, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses will cry out: "Yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation."—Hab. 3:18.
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Their God, Jehovah, is a God of salvation, and he will save them. Jehovah will vindicate himself as their Savior and Deliverer. When they seem to be in their worst extremity and certain extermination threatens, the "day of distress" will break forth upon their persecutors and attackers. It will swiftly invade them like a raider, for then Jehovah will go forth with his heavenly angels under Jesus Christ and will save his faithful witnesses on earth. They will become witnesses of Jehovah in a further regard, when they behold him destroy all the enemies on earth and vindicate his universal sovereignty. -
Euphemism
doinmypart... could you point me to the thread on the end of the Bethel Elder system?