I have put in my final day at this year's test of posterior endurance---Saturday at the District Convention, 2001
I took quite a few notes today, because some had specifically asked about Saturday's program. I hope all will be suitably edified by them.
Do not just listen to bits and pieces of the program, but to the whole thing. It is like a doctor's program of prescription, all is needed. Can't just take some and leave other parts. ( So no sleeping, or thinking about that home project you plan to do, More on this.)
Symposium--- Ministers through Whom We Became Believers
Story-- 2 sisters were in FS and came to a lawyers office, hesitated a little and then went in. A 6'2" 225 lb. lawyer came out, but to their surprise, he took their literature. This was not because he really wanted to read it, but because he had promised himself that if anyone ever came to his office "selling" books, he would take them. This because he had put himself through law school as an encyclopedia salesman and had a very rough time doing it. Eventually he did read the literature he had taken from the sisters, and appreciated what it said so much that he wrote a letter of thanks to the Society. Now we do not know the names of those 2 sisters, but we do know the name of the lawyer---J. F. Rutherford!
(you never know what will grow from those seeds you plant. )
Cultivating and Watering the Seeds
We are doing a historical work. If we help one person, andthey make it thru Armageddon, and have children and grandchildren, etc., then all of those people have been affected by our teaching.
(what about all those potential innocent offspring of those killed at Armageddon, do they deserve death any more than the others deserve life. Neither had any say in the actions of their progenitors.)
Experience: A sister befriended the opposed wife of a new witness. Wife sais she couldn't study because she worked full time and had lots of errands to do on the weekends. The sister asked her, "If someone told you that you could bring permanent benefit to your family and the only requirement to work toward this is about 1 hour a week?" the wife agreed to study.
(and blah, blah, blah and so on. Yea, 1 hour ---to begin. If she told her how much time it really takes, the woman would have run screaming!)
Another encouraging experience:
A man in very rural territory rode a horse 7 hours looking for someone to preach to. Finally came to a farm house, but the womanscreamed at him to leave. He was crushed, but when he went back to his horse, there were 2 children playing with it. He talked to them and left a 'Paradise" book ( you know, the scary one) Years later at an assembly a man came up to him. It was one of the children, and now he was a CO, and his brother is a special pioneer! (WOW!)
Teaching Them to Observe All Christ Commanded
We want to reach not just the head, but the heart as well. For many people we contact, the longest journey they may make is from the head to the heart. (not that we are judging)
Who really is the FDS who gives food at proper time?That resource made available to us an abundance of food. As tese teachings penetrate the hardened hearts of our students, encourage them to widen their activities, and before and after each study, talk about organizational arrangements, the FDS, and the worldwide scope of our brotherhood with video and brochures.
(we want to be sure they know who they answer to)
We should encourage them to reach out to the visible part of God's org; this means go to the KH, and their former priorities should take second place.
Add to Your Endurance Godly Devotion
You won't be discouraged or depressed if you are keeping busy in your theocratic schedule.
Finding Refreshment Under Christ's Yoke
The yoke of Christ means taking on the responsibility of a disciple, but does it automatically refresh? Reports show that some feel increasingly unable to fulfill Christian activities, that they are barely treading water. Should you disappear & try to solve the situation away from Jehovah's people? Mt 11:28---I will refresh, my load is light. Refreshment is equated with taking his yoke. A yoke is a harness to enable one to do work or carry a heavy burden. Do not run away, but accept and take it on. Jesus said, "Learn from me". He tells us, "follow me through the directions I give through my organization."
Concentrate, focus, put off every weight that slows us down. Has something caught your eye? 0% interest, no pymt for 2 years? How will we pay when we musr? Are we stabbing ourselves all over with many payments?
Other weights--- getting into lucrative business opportunities, thinking we will have more time to pioneer. Now we will be tied to it and slow our spiritual activities.
One Christian brother stops himself from losing his simple, balanced life with ,"Keep it simple!" to self.
Elder advice: Avoid debt--credit cards are spiritual enemies. Think about the spiritual consequences. We are happy and can attend all the meetings.
Another experience. In 85' a family scaled down from home & 2 cars to townhouse & 1 car. Cut back on social & recreational pursuits to make needed time for study & rest. Both are pioneers, daughter pio. 15 years. Their son has been very generous to them. ( he must be the only one with a decent job)
Baptism talk:
What does it mean to be baptized into the father, son, & holy spirit?
Father-- Accept Jehovah as father, sovereign, & obey his commands
Son-- Acknowledge Jesus' sacrifice & recognize the value of the ransom
Holy Spirit--- vital to understand the deep things of God & display fruitage of the spirit Pray for the HS to read the Bible--this is the key to unlocking understanding of it. ( I thought the WT did that for us)
To continue to progress & serve God!
1. Schedule time for personal study, don't run off reserves, they will run out.
"I forced myself to study 1 1/2 hrs a day & soon saw results in comments at meetings."
2. Work on quality of prayers. Be specific, meaningful, intimate. Pray for strength of faith & loyalty.
3. Keep in close contact with Christian cong., impossible to serve Jehovah apart from it.
4. Take ministry seriously, you will be ordained minister after baptiam. As we live forever on earth, Jehovah will jave numerous tasks for all of us. This is the first one. (Don't we ever get to rest?)
Carry it out to the best of your ability. If you touch a mind, you touch a person for life. (I guess that is why we are all still here on this board)
Saturday Afternoon
Do not interpret the scriptures or try to direct people's steps with our own opinions!
Often the verses we read may be somewhat general to the student; make application of it and tailor it to the individuals needs.
(These seemed somewhat mutually exclusive to me)
Are You Willing to Serve Others
A call for brothers to take responsibilities to shepherd the cong. Be self-sacrificing. We need help!
Experience: A brother held back from a bit of lacking of appreciation and he had no schooling, but asked what he could do to help. He was given cleaning assignments, in 2 different congregations, lasting several years. FINALLY, he bacame an elder.
(I guess cleaning is the key to qualification. That's why so many are janitors)
Parents---do you believe that a career in Jehovah's service is the best that they can choose? (polite applause)
(This next part seemed like a recipe for reenforcing mind control!)
"Benefit From Theocratic Education"
Part 1 Increase Our Attention Span
Do we get distracted by minor interruptions, crying babies? Does the phone, noise, or a child's news distract us from our study? WE should make an effort to get right back to it.
The heart can be easily distracted. Are we thinking of shopping trips, home projects. or personal problems at the meetings? What about food, entertainment, or a member of the opposite sex? We might drift away!
We can increase our attention span by self-discipline, and listening intently to Jehovah
How? Personal study. Start slow, gradually increase time. Linger, don't rush. Prepare for meetings to share something. Meetings are designed to exercise our minds!
Look up scriptures, take notes, review with others.
To prevent sluggishness abvoid eating a heavy meal before meetings or times of instruction.
(Now they are telling us when to EAT! On evening meetings, just when are we to eat our main meals?)
Train your perceptive powers to distinguish between right & wrong. When we are faced with a challenge, we will know exactly what to do. (If we don't, the WT will tell us)
Don't criticize speaker's faults, focus on the information.
(just in case you did not get the point)
Experience: 15 year old boy, attening meetings since 5 years, baptized at 13, and already a reg. pio. had trouble paying attention as a child but parents pinched and nudged him to take notes. (Did this myself. )
Whan asked how he prepared for meetings, said he gets rid of distractions, no tv or music, and CAN'T EAT A HEAVY MEAL, or he won't want to study.
Part #3 Make Sure of the Healthful Teaching
Satan serves up poison teachings to ruin our spiritual health. He tries to poison us gradually by raising doubts about what we are taught from God's word and his organization. (All things being equal) Jehovah has provided a trustworthy source to identify healthful teachings and poisonous ones--the Bible.
We can protect ourselves. Our minds constantly absorb things around. We must constantly scrutinize things we watch, listen to, and read. Like what? False media promotes selfish indulgence, philosophers advocate atheism or agnosticism, and APOSTATES tickle the ears of disgruntled ones.
Do we have a liberal view of entertainment?
Have we allowed curiosity to get the better of us causing us to view apostate material?
Do we say those philosophers may ahve a good point or two?
Is it any wonder that all such things are in direct opposition to the healthful teachings!
Those who deviate are puffed up with pride, mentally diseased over questions about words, wicked reasonings. It leads to works of the flesh. 1Tim 6:3-5
Protection from 2 sources, personal study and cong. meetings.
Prepare, buy out time from other less important pursuits and activities.
Should we not cultivate a positive attitude about what we receive at meetings and in Christian publications?
What if it seems repetitive? We should appreciate the reminders, look for new angles and applications.
Part #4 Practice the Things You Learned
If we are to benefit from the things learned, we must practice. Could we be part of the problem people aren't responding to us in the field? (We get the blame for everything) Do we use the things we learn in the ministry school or just do our regular thing?
Experiences promoting telephone witnessing, school witnessing, workplace witnessing.
New Provisions for Our Spiritual Advancement (Harold Jackson)
New book announced: Benefit from Theocratic Ministry Education
288 pages, hardcover, magazine size, illustrations, 87 languages.
to be released as available beginning early 2002. to begin use in Jan 2003.
Features counsel page in book for student, no more loose counsel slips.
No marks of W(ork), I(mproved), or G(ood)
Overseer will note in you book date of beginning to work on a point and when you have satisfactorily completed it.
Some new counsel points:
naturalness, interest in other person, accurate reading
a new feature--exercises
effective use of questions---prepare several questions to open meaningful conversation
repetition for emphasis---repeat one improtant point at the end of a call for the person to remember
main points stand out---review WT study article using bold headings and review questions alone. Try to discern the mmain points
Family heads may want to use these exercises as family study projects. (it never ends)
Format changes to the Theocratic Ministry School-- Jan 2003
1. 5 min. discussion of a speech quality and how to develop it
2. 9 min. Bible highlights with audience participation
3. 10 min. instruction talk
4. 1st student talk--public reading. A simple reading from the Bible or WT article with no intre or conclusion
5 & 6. Student talks on reasonging book or other; can be just a subject and do your own research (that could get dangerous)
Sisters to use a setting from list of 29 in new book and work through list.
samples:
overcoming conversation stoppers
Bible study demo on initial call
telephone , street witnessing
witnessing to someone of another language
parent reasoning with a child
Written reviews will be replaced with periodic oral reviews open to any to participate
END OF SATURDAY
Well, does your posterior feel a little numb. Stand up and sing a song while we tell you about the new donation based parking arrangement.
I hope I did not overdo it for everyone. I really felt they were cracking the whip over us. Telling us to study, study, study, meetings, meetings, service, service, and every thing else on the back burner. And if you feel tired or depressed you just need more of the above and you will be fit for God's new system. I wanted you to get the real flavor of what it is like. It makes me have compassion for what the R&F goes through ( that's still me for most purposes), and why so many can't break out or may even when they may treat us badly. The pressure was so great to do more, more, more, and the experiences are so idealized and at the extreme end of what anyone can do.
LMR