00:00:01 Welcome, dear brothers and sisters!
00:00:04 I’m so happy to share with you this update.
00:00:08 It has been amazing to see the Kingdom work move ahead,
00:00:12 even during this pandemic.
00:00:15 Various branches are reporting all-time peaks
00:00:19 in the number of publishers, pioneers,
00:00:23 meeting attendance, and Bible studies.
00:00:26 Many have reported peaks in the Memorial attendance.
00:00:32 For example, the Philippines branch reported
00:00:35 that over 739,000
00:00:39 attended the Memorial this year!
00:00:42 That is more than three times the number of publishers.
00:00:47 One hundred congregations, mostly in urban areas,
00:00:51 reported a Memorial attendance of at least 500.
00:00:56 That means that 50,000 attended the Memorial
00:01:00 in just those 100 congregations!
00:01:05 In various parts of the earth,
00:01:07 many struggle to obtain food.
00:01:11 With the assistance of hundreds of Disaster Relief Committees,
00:01:15 we continue to help our brothers.
00:01:19 For example, in Venezuela, each month,
00:01:23 we are providing an average of 130 tons of food
00:01:28 to 25,000 brothers in need.
00:01:33 One 90-year-old pioneer sister said:
00:01:37 “I know that the aid comes from Jehovah,
00:01:40 “but he uses brothers that I do not even know,
00:01:44 “and yet they love me and help me.
00:01:48 Thank you, dear family.”
00:01:53 It is heartwarming to see how Jehovah is helping
00:01:57 our brothers and sisters in Venezuela and around the globe.
00:02:02 We thank all of you for making that possible
00:02:06 by means of your donations.
00:02:09 In our last Governing Body Update, Brother Herd mentioned
00:02:13 that “about 50 percent of the worldwide Bethel family
00:02:17 have been vaccinated so far.”
00:02:21 Initially, it seemed impossible to obtain vaccines
00:02:25 in some countries of the world.
00:02:28 But it has been amazing to see
00:02:30 that now more than 80 percent
00:02:33 of our worldwide Bethel family
00:02:36 —that is, more than 19,000 Bethelites—
00:02:40 are vaccinated,
00:02:42 and we are doing what we can to assist the branch offices
00:02:46 that have not been able to obtain vaccines.
00:02:51 As you know, by keeping the Bethel family safe,
00:02:55 we protect the flow of spiritual food
00:02:58 and support spiritual activities worldwide.
00:03:03 On behalf of the Governing Body,
00:03:06 thank you, dear brothers and sisters,
00:03:08 for your tremendous cooperation
00:03:11 with all the arrangements during the pandemic.
00:03:15 There have been many adjustments in a short time,
00:03:19 but you have done so well.
00:03:22 We truly love you for your fine spirit
00:03:27 in working “shoulder to shoulder” with us.
00:03:32 While we all have had changes in our routine,
00:03:35 some of our circuit overseers who serve in foreign lands
00:03:40 have had major changes.
00:03:42 They had to return to their home countries during the pandemic.
00:03:47 Even so, some continue to serve
00:03:50 the congregations in their circuits via Zoom,
00:03:54 despite being in a different country
00:03:56 and in a different time zone.
00:04:00 Let’s hear from one.
00:04:04 A few months into the pandemic,
00:04:06 my father’s health was failing.
00:04:09 So we made the decision
00:04:11 to return to the States
00:04:12 and assist my mother.
00:04:14 Although in the beginning we didn’t think we’d be here so long,
00:04:17 it turned out that the surge in the pandemic
00:04:21 prevented us from going back to our assignment in the circuit in Bolivia.
00:04:25 Well, being displaced, we just weren’t sure
00:04:28 if we were going to be able to serve and complete our assignment effectively.
00:04:32 We felt that we needed to make
00:04:34 the necessary adjustments to have the right attitude.
00:04:37 So fervent prayer really helped us to get the right mindset.
00:04:42 And being able to see how Jehovah answered those prayers
00:04:46 is very faith-strengthening.
00:04:48 Jehovah is blessing this arrangement.
00:04:50 It’s the arrangement that has been put in place,
00:04:52 and it’s what we’re using.
00:04:53 We’re making the best of it.
00:04:55 But we’re having success because Jehovah is behind it.
00:04:58 We’ve had brothers who are now qualified
00:05:01 to be publishers —unbaptized publishers.
00:05:03 There are brothers who’ve dedicated their lives
00:05:06 and gotten baptized during this pandemic.
00:05:09 One brother in particular has so much enthusiasm for phone witnessing
00:05:13 that last month he was able to report over 100 return visits,
00:05:18 and he was able to show over 200 videos to different ones.
00:05:22 One Bible student loves her study so much, and also attending meetings,
00:05:27 that she’s willing to walk one hour each way
00:05:30 in order to have a good signal on her phone
00:05:32 so that she can tie in to her study and also to the meetings.
00:05:37 Throughout this past year,
00:05:38 I’ve learned that Jehovah has never left us.
00:05:42 He’s been in total control of every situation.
00:05:45 He’s been able to direct his organization, his people,
00:05:50 exactly to the place that we need to be.
00:05:52 This has all been proof that Jehovah will never abandon us.
00:06:00 How encouraging to hear how our brothers
00:06:04 are remaining united and spiritually active!
00:06:08 But we do have to continue to guard our unity.
00:06:13 What is unity?
00:06:15 It has been defined as “oneness,”
00:06:18 “a condition of harmony.”
00:06:20 Note how the apostle Paul describes our role
00:06:24 in maintaining unity at Ephesians 4:3.
00:06:30 There we read:
00:06:32 “earnestly endeavoring to maintain
00:06:36 “the oneness of the spirit
00:06:38 in the uniting bond of peace.”
00:06:41 Note that it takes effort to maintain our unity.
00:06:45 Paul said that we must “earnestly endeavor,”
00:06:49 or work hard, at it.
00:06:52 What could pose a danger to our unity?
00:06:56 What if we became too emotionally involved
00:07:00 in issues that are divisive?
00:07:03 The Bible foretold at 2 Timothy chapter 3
00:07:07 that men would be “lovers of themselves,
00:07:10 “. . . not open to any agreement,
00:07:12 . . . [and] fierce.”
00:07:15 We see this in the world today.
00:07:17 People are “not open to any agreement.”
00:07:21 They quickly become “fierce,”
00:07:24 taking strong positions on all types of issues.
00:07:28 As Christians, we are “no part of [the] world.”
00:07:32 We stay out of those debates.
00:07:36 For example, who would have thought
00:07:38 that wearing a mask to prevent the spread of disease
00:07:42 could become an issue?
00:07:44 From the time when we were little children,
00:07:47 our parents taught us to cover our mouth
00:07:50 when we coughed or sneezed.
00:07:53 In his precious Word,
00:07:55 Jehovah outlined many practical measures
00:07:58 that would prevent the spread of disease.
00:08:01 So how could wearing a mask become controversial for some?
00:08:05 Where is that thinking coming from?
00:08:10 We have to be careful.
00:08:12 All of us are exposed to worldly thinking
00:08:15 on television, on the Internet,
00:08:18 at work, or at school.
00:08:20 There are many websites that promote conspiracy theories.
00:08:25 If we’re not careful,
00:08:27 we could become emotionally involved in these debates.
00:08:32 We could allow ourselves to be guided by “the voice of strangers”
00:08:36 instead of listening to Jehovah’s channel,
00:08:40 “the faithful and discreet slave.”
00:08:43 As we face the end of this system of things,
00:08:46 this will become more and more essential
00:08:49 to our safety and spirituality.
00:08:53 That’s why we appreciate you dear brothers and sisters so much.
00:08:59 As soon as you discern that Jehovah’s spirit
00:09:02 is directing the Governing Body to go in a certain way,
00:09:06 you are quick to follow.
00:09:08 And as a result, we enjoy precious unity.
00:09:14 This reminds me of the Bible example of Naaman.
00:09:19 Through a messenger, the prophet Elisha told Naaman
00:09:23 he would be healed from his leprosy
00:09:25 if he bathed seven times in the Jordan River.
00:09:29 How did Naaman react?
00:09:33 Let’s read together
00:09:35 2 Kings 5:11, 12:
00:09:40 “At this Naaman became indignant
00:09:43 “and started to leave, saying:
00:09:46 “‘Here I said to myself,
00:09:48 “‘“He will come out to me and stand here
00:09:50 “‘“and call on the name of Jehovah his God,
00:09:53 “‘“moving his hand back and forth
00:09:55 “‘over the leprosy to cure it.”
00:09:57 “‘Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar,
00:10:00 “‘the rivers of Damascus,
00:10:02 “‘better than all the waters of Israel?
00:10:05 “Can I not wash in them and become clean?’
00:10:08 With that he turned and went away in a rage.”
00:10:12 Naaman had his own idea
00:10:15 about how he was going to be cured.
00:10:18 He felt strongly about it.
00:10:21 But Jehovah had a different idea.
00:10:23 To be cured,
00:10:25 Naaman would have to humble himself
00:10:28 and follow direction from Jehovah’s channel.
00:10:32 Naaman was struggling,
00:10:34 but his servants got the point.
00:10:37 What did they tell him to do?
00:10:39 And what was the result?
00:10:41 Let’s read verses 13 and 14:
00:10:47 “His servants now approached him and said:
00:10:50 “‘My father, if the prophet had told you
00:10:53 “‘to do something extraordinary,
00:10:55 “‘would you not do it?
00:10:58 “‘How much more, then, since he
00:11:00 “only said to you, “Wash and be clean”?’
00:11:03 “At that he went down
00:11:05 “and plunged into the Jordan seven times,
00:11:08 “according to the word
00:11:09 “of the man of the true God.
00:11:13 “Then his flesh was restored
00:11:15 “like the flesh of a little boy,
00:11:17 and he became clean.”
00:11:21 Do we get the point?
00:11:23 Like Naaman, we might struggle a bit at times,
00:11:27 especially if we have our own strong viewpoint.
00:11:31 But one thing is certain:
00:11:33 If we follow direction coming from Jehovah’s channel,
00:11:37 we will be blessed
00:11:39 and, more important, we will remain united.
00:11:44 Of course, the Devil is not happy to see this cooperation
00:11:48 —this beautiful unity that we enjoy—
00:11:52 so we have to be on guard so as to maintain it.
00:11:57 This reminds me of an event in my life, many years ago,
00:12:01 when this lesson was impressed on my mind.
00:12:05 At that time, some of the brothers did become divided
00:12:09 and it led to so many problems.
00:12:12 You may remember
00:12:14 that we had a video about those events.
00:12:17 Let’s watch a clip from that video.
00:12:23 A lot of pressure was on the brothers in Romania.
00:12:26 The Communist Party tried
00:12:29 to sow distrust among the brothers,
00:12:32 meeting with them separately
00:12:35 and telling some brothers one thing
00:12:37 and telling other brothers something else.
00:12:40 Sometimes it happened
00:12:42 that an official posed as an interested person
00:12:44 and was clever enough to disguise that
00:12:48 and pretend to make progress in the truth
00:12:52 —not only to the point of getting baptized
00:12:55 but even to the point of becoming an elder.
00:12:59 But he was in reality an agent of the secret police
00:13:04 with an aim to find out everything about the organization.
00:13:08 So it did lead to, in one case,
00:13:11 the brothers starting to distrust someone
00:13:16 that was actually appointed by headquarters.
00:13:18 And these brothers then separated
00:13:21 from the organization that Jehovah used,
00:13:25 and some of them were separated
00:13:28 for not just a few years but for decades.
00:13:31 And they were a large number,
00:13:34 up to 5,000 publishers.
00:13:37 They continued to meet together.
00:13:40 They were preaching and using material that they had left over from earlier years,
00:13:45 but they hardly got any new material to study
00:13:48 because they were not in touch with the organization
00:13:51 that was used by headquarters.
00:13:54 Attempts to bring the brothers back into the organization
00:13:58 were made from time to time,
00:14:01 but it seemed that the brothers from the separated organization
00:14:06 did not have sufficient trust.
00:14:08 But when we presented
00:14:12 to the leader of the separated group
00:14:15 that one from the Governing Body would come,
00:14:19 he was happy about that
00:14:21 and he had enough trust in that case
00:14:24 to agree that we should have a meeting
00:14:27 and seriously talk about reunification.
00:14:32 And so from the separated group,
00:14:35 there were Brother Albu, who was the leader,
00:14:38 and four of his main elders.
00:14:40 And from our side,
00:14:42 there was Brother Jaracz, our translator,
00:14:46 and I was part of that group.
00:14:48 Also, there were
00:14:50 several from the Country Committee of Romania.
00:14:56 I remember that the first night
00:14:58 there were a lot of accusations
00:15:01 about what the others had done or not done,
00:15:04 which did not create the best spirit,
00:15:06 and we mainly listened.
00:15:10 But everybody agreed to meet another night.
00:15:14 And the second night, Jehovah obviously wanted
00:15:17 the brothers to unite again
00:15:19 because the whole spirit was different,
00:15:22 and the brothers talked the matters over
00:15:25 and clarified some misunderstandings.
00:15:27 And at the end of the second evening, I remember
00:15:31 that the leader of the separated group, Brother Albu, said,
00:15:34 ‘Let’s do it because if we don’t do it now,
00:15:37 we may never have another opportunity again.’
00:15:43 And so the decision was made.
00:15:48 That doesn’t happen every day that 5,000 brothers
00:15:52 come back to the organization.
00:15:57 From then on, all the practical things
00:16:01 were put in place to accomplish this reunification.
00:16:04 They were asked to merge with our congregations.
00:16:09 And that also took a lot of humility on their part,
00:16:14 but they were willing to do it.
00:16:16 So they were really brothers
00:16:20 in their heart
00:16:22 and loved the truth.
00:16:24 And so the reunification was accomplished,
00:16:28 and that was a wonderful victory for Jehovah and against Satan.
00:16:35 Reflecting on the experience
00:16:37 with the brothers in Romania, we can see
00:16:39 that there could always be misunderstandings among humans
00:16:44 and there could always be even legitimate complaints
00:16:49 about the misconduct of some responsible brothers.
00:16:54 But the important thing is
00:16:56 never to lose trust that this is Jehovah’s organization.
00:17:00 That’s where Jehovah’s blessing is.
00:17:03 Jehovah sees it all.
00:17:06 Jehovah uses his holy spirit
00:17:08 to keep the organization together,
00:17:10 and what he wants to have accomplished will happen.
00:17:15 If we work with the holy spirit,
00:17:17 then Jehovah will bless our efforts
00:17:20 and it will be successful to his praise.
00:17:28 Of course, these challenges were not unique
00:17:31 to the brothers in Romania.
00:17:33 Similar challenges occurred in other countries
00:17:37 that were behind the Iron Curtain,
00:17:39 including Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Ukraine.
00:17:44 So, what have we learned in this update?
00:17:49 Jehovah’s organization is on the move.
00:17:53 Even during this pandemic,
00:17:55 we see strong evidence that Jehovah’s spirit is blessing
00:18:00 and moving ahead the preaching and disciple-making work.
00:18:04 Despite many challenges, you dear brothers and sisters
00:18:08 are working hard to maintain our precious unity.
00:18:13 As a result, we are enjoying a spiritual paradise
00:18:18 as we work unitedly together.
00:18:22 Satan will continue to try to stir up division,
00:18:26 even among Jehovah’s people.
00:18:28 What can we do to successfully resist his efforts?
00:18:33 Listen to the channel that Jehovah is using,
00:18:37 “the faithful and discreet slave.”
00:18:40 Don’t allow yourself to become emotionally involved
00:18:44 with the causes of this world, whatever they may be.
00:18:48 There is no doubt that Jehovah will richly bless
00:18:52 all those who support our King, Jesus Christ,
00:18:56 and the channel that he is using today,
00:18:58 “the faithful and discreet slave.”
00:19:03 From the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses,
00:19:06 this is JW Broadcasting®.
