This cultish tripe was taken from here: http://asboobet.blogspot.com/
Sometimes I can't believe that a few years ago I would of thought that this was encouraging.
Sunday, 19th July 2009 we had a visit from Br. David Splane of the Governing Body. The meetings were held at the Russian Bethel and our congregation was invited to attend 
. Here are my notes (if you're interested lol). Note that this is NOT a word-for-word transcript; although as I was taking down notes in my own "shorthand" I tried as best as possible to take down every word... So now I am just now kinda just filling in the "blanks".
7 Shepherds, 8 Dukes Micah 5:5 ->
"And this one must become peace. As for the As·syr′i·an, when he comes into our land and when he treads upon our dwelling towers, we shall also have to raise up against him seven shepherds, yes, eight dukes of mankind.” Background : Sennacherib of Assyria was on a mission to attack Jerusalem. King Hezekiah tried to keep him away by offering him some money- 300 talents of silver, 30 talents of gold. He even took money from the temple and gave up the golden doors!!! Sennacherib did not want to destroy the city because it was beautiful, all he wanted was to conquer it. So he decided to discourage the people so that they would just surrender the city to him. From the account at 2 Kings chapter 18: He sent a representative to Jerusalem to intimidate them (Rabshakeh- this was an official title, not a name) Some of the taunts he made: Verse 23 ->
Now, then, make a wager, please, with my lord the king of As·syr′i·a, and let me give you two thousand horses [to see] whether you are able, on your part, to put riders upon them. In other words "Look what a small group you are!!!" and trying to show how Judah was a minority against the majority from Assyria. Verse 25 ->
Now is it without authorization from Jehovah that I have come up against this place to bring it to ruin? Jehovah himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and you must bring it to ruin.’” In other words, "I have ruined 46 cities in Judah, if Jehovah was with you I wouldn't have been able to do that. This is proof that Jehovah is not with you." Verse 26 ->
At this E·li′a·kim the son of Hil·ki′ah and Sheb′nah and Jo′ah said to Rab′sha·keh: “Speak with your servants, please, in the Syrian language, for we can listen; and do not speak with us in the Jews’ language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.” We understand how negative propaganda affects us. Reports on TV and in the newspapers affect us more and are more discouraging to the brothers than to the non-JWs. (Parallel account) 2 Chronicles 32:2-5 ->
When Hez·e·ki′ah saw that Sen·nach′er·ib had come with his face set for war against Jerusalem, 3 then he decided with his princes and his mighty men to stop up the waters of the springs that were outside the city; and so they helped him. 4 Accordingly many people were collected together, and they went stopping up all the fountains and the torrent that floods through the middle of the land, saying: “Why should the kings of As·syr′i·a come and actually find a great deal of water?” 5 Furthermore, he took courage and built up all the broken-down wall and raised towers upon it, and on the outside another wall, and repaired the Mound of the City of David, and made missiles in abundance and shields. Hezekiah took practical measures to protect the city. He repaired the walls, had towers built, people had shields and he stopped up the supply of water to prevent the Assyrians from having water to drink. But Micah's prophecy showed that deliverance would come a different source- from people who looked harmless. Micah 5:5 ->
"And this one must become peace. As for the As·syr′i·an, when he comes into our land and when he treads upon our dwelling towers, we shall also have to raise up against him seven shepherds, yes, eight dukes of mankind.” In the Bible, 7 means "complete", and 8 being more than 7, means Jehovah would provide more than was necessary. But what could 7 shepherds do against about 200,000 Assyrian soldiers? Who were these shepherds? The prophet Isaiah and King Hezekiah were some of them. We note that all of Hezekiah's efforts proved ineffective, except one- his attempt to encourage the people: 2 Chronicles 32:7,8 ->
“Be courageous and strong. Do not be afraid nor be terrified because of the king of As·syr′i·a and on account of all the crowd that is with him; for with us there are more than there are with him. 8 With him there is an arm of flesh, but with us there is Jehovah our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people began to brace themselves upon the words of Hez·e·ki′ah the king of Judah. Hezekiah strengthened them spiritually so that they stopped being afraid. We may try to stop false propaganda, sometimes the Office of the Prosecutor protects us, sometimes it doesn't, we may build up legal "walls" by fighting for our rights in the courts of law, but none of these are 100% effective. But we can be spiritually strong ALL the time and also strengthen our brothers. Our success does not depend on our ability to END persecution- it depends on our ability to ENDURE it. In fact, when we are under persecution, the best way to smack Satan in the face is to step up our preaching activity. Our opposers may flourish, but sooner or later they come to an end. Examples: 1) Pontius Pilate: 3 years after Jesus' death, Pilate was summoned to Rome to answer serious accusations against him, and he allegedly committed suicide because of the shame. 2) High Priest Caiaphas was Pontius Pilate's friend and received protection from him, but after Pilate left for Rome, Caiaphas was left alone and unprotected and at about the same time lost his position. 3) In 64 C.E Emperor Nero instigated persecution against the Christians. Within 4 years Nero was brought before the Senate of Rome and condemned to die like a slave- by impaling. He took his life too. 4) In 1940 in Quebec, Canada, the Cardinal of Quebec wrote to Parliament for JWs to be banned. The law was passed withing a week. Now merely being one of JWs was a crime. You did not need to have literature, be at a Hall or be out preaching to be arrested. Children were taken away from their parents and put in orphanages. Others were expelled from school and fired from work. One brother was arrested a total of 100 times! At that time, 97% of the population in Quebec was Catholic and the JWs were only a few hundred. Today, 6% go to Mass in the cities, most of the population is atheist. And there are now about 30,000 JWs. Was the persecution effective? Yes, it made the brothers more zealous and determined and the work went ahead. The best defense is to auxiliary pioneer and intensify our efforts and the devil must know that none of his weapons against us will succeed. Not
everyone is against JWs. There are some influential people who like us, and advise us: "People just don't understand you. Perhaps if you could just make a few concessions, and water down a few things. Do you
really have to go from door to door? Do you
really have to avoid blood transfusions? What about this whole disfellowshipping business?" But when you think of it- is it
really any particular teaching that makes people not like us? They say "If only you could stop the No Blood thing...", but when did blood transfusions come about? In 1945. Did people like us before then? No. Before 1945, they had a problem with our neutrality. But when did JWs discern that Christians are to stay out of war? In 1938. Did people like us before then? No. Before 1938, they had a problem with our going from door-to-door. But when did the organized preaching work come about? In 1920. Did people love us before then? And it goes on and on.... Why will they never love us? Because the world is under Satan's rule, and Satan doesn't love us. And the feeling is mutual. We will never compromise. We shouldn't be discouraged if we can't convince them- Satan can use people who do misunderstand us. We will never reach an agreement between us and the world. Who is responsible for this divide? Jehovah is, for he said
"And I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed" (Gen 3:15) He doesn't want us getting close to the world. Worldly people cannot give us spiritual advice. [Br. Splane then went on to give an experience of a "big case" that was before the courts, and was on the waiting list to go before the European Court of Human Rights the next day. Then one prominent lawyer came to the local branch to tell the brothers "I'd like to give you some advice. I am friends with the people who will be judging your case tomorrow, and I know those people- you will lose the case. And if it goes that far, and then they rule against you, things will be worse for you. I'd advise you to just drop the case..." The brothers knew that this was a learned lawyer and probably knew what he was talking about. So they faxed Brooklyn Bethel and asked the Governing Body to advise what to do. They needed the answer before midnight, for the hearing was the next day. So the GB got together, prayed as is their custom before every meeting and then they started discussing. They wondered "If Jehovah does not will for this case to go through, why has he let it go this far? Why didn't he stop it already? Should we take advice from a worldly man? What if the lawyer is right, and we lose the case- is it too big a thing for Jehovah to overturn things later in the future?" So they replied to the branch to say "Go ahead with the case". And the next day, they went to court and we won the case- with all votes unanimously in our favour!] All of us need to have the spirit of courage. So what is this secret weapon from Jehovah? In the congregations there are more than enough shepherds (elders) to encourage the flock. We refuse to allow ourselves to be intimidated by threats. Jehovah saved Judah, but not in the way they expected. The victory was won 150 km away from Jerusalem at Lachish. 185,000 were killed overnight, and the remaining approximately 15,000 limped home. King Sennacherib was put to death while worshiping in the temple of Nisroch by his two sons. Nisroch was unable to protect him from 2 men. Isaiah, Hezekiah and others proved to be good shepherds to the people and taught them to trust in Jehovah. The most important work an elder can do is to encourage. Don't look to the world for wisdom, but remember the words of Hezekiah:
With them is an arm of flesh !!! *applause as Br. Splane and translator Alexei Nazarichev walk off the platfo
. Here are my notes (if you're interested lol). Note that this is NOT a word-for-word transcript; although as I was taking down notes in my own "shorthand" I tried as best as possible to take down every word... So now I am just now kinda just filling in the "blanks".