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Highlights of the Past Year2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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“THE END OF FALSE RELIGION IS NEAR!”
October and November 2006 saw Jehovah’s Witnesses intensify their preaching activity around the earth to distribute Kingdom News No. 37, “The End of False Religion Is Near!” What was the reaction to this stirring message?
“It was a winner!” said a man in Sweden who was distressed by the hypocrisy in false religion. Like this man, many began to study the Bible as a result of the Kingdom News.
Nepal
In Kathmandu, Dil gave the Kingdom News to a man who was a churchgoer but whose wife had left him two months earlier because of his drinking problem. When Dil and her husband, Buddha, returned to discuss the Kingdom News, the man stated that he did not like the conduct of some church members and that what he was hearing from Jehovah’s Witnesses was very different from what he had heard in church. The brother showed him Revelation 18:2-4 and emphasized the importance of getting out of “Babylon the Great.” On the third visit, they started a study, using lesson 13 of the Require brochure. On the fifth visit, they met the wife, who had returned home. She knew about Jehovah’s Witnesses and liked our message. On the seventh visit, the man and his wife studied the brochure together. The wife said, “My husband does not drink alcohol now.”
Brazil
A motorcycle-taxi driver who received the Kingdom News gave it further publicity by pasting it on the back of his jacket for some days. Thus passengers could not help seeing the cover on the way to their destination.
Two sisters in Brazil who approached a house were startled to find a sign posted, “You can come in, but you won’t leave this place alive.” Frightened, they asked two brothers what could be done. The brothers decided to approach the house. After praying to Jehovah for guidance, the brothers clapped their hands to announce their arrival. The householder, a policeman, amicably accepted the Kingdom News. He explained that he was renovating his house and had a lot of building materials in the backyard. So he had put up the sign to scare away thieves. When the publishers returned to visit him, he accepted a Bible study.
Mongolia
Tsetsegmaa tried many times to witness to her older sister. Although her sister went to a few meetings and attended the Memorial for two consecutive years, she showed little enthusiasm and refused to have a Bible study. When she saw Kingdom News No. 37 in Tsetsegmaa’s house, though, it aroused her interest. In a discussion that lasted two hours, she asked many questions, which Tsetsegmaa answered using the Bible. The older sister, surprised by what she heard, expressed a desire to learn more, and she now enjoys a regular Bible study.
Georgia
The Witnesses offered the Kingdom News to a woman who inquired whether it was religious. Receiving an affirmative answer, she took the Kingdom News and promised to read it. When the Witnesses returned, the woman asked whether she had been deceived by the Orthodox Church. She was concerned about world conditions and the declining moral values among the youth. She said that it was difficult to establish a common ground with her children. The Witnesses drew her attention to 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and she accepted a Bible Teach book. As the Witnesses left, she said: “I am convinced that your religion is the true one. I cannot help but commend your youth for the way they dress and for their honesty and high moral standards.” The woman now enjoys reading our magazines regularly.
Bangladesh
19-year-old Richel distributed Kingdom News No. 37 in a territory that had not been worked before. Although it was quite a distance from where she lived, Richel felt that she should go because this was a special campaign. At her second door, she met two nominal Christian girls whose father had died just two months before. “Why did God allow this to happen to us?” they asked. Richel answered from the Bible, and the girls gladly accepted the Kingdom News, saying to Richel, “God has sent you to our house.” Recognizing the girls’ spiritual need, Richel offered to study the Bible with them, and the girls readily accepted. They are good students and have many questions. Richel has to do a lot of research, but she really enjoys the satisfaction that comes from teaching the truth to spiritually hungry ones.
Armenia
A regular pioneer named Eliza received a phone call from Lilit, a former Bible student. She said, “You absolutely have to cancel whatever you have planned for tomorrow and come to see me so that we can renew our study.” What had happened? When Lilit had first begun to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses, her husband told her, “Choose either me or Jehovah.” So she stopped studying. Now two years later, she received Kingdom News No. 37 while taking her children for a walk in the park. This rekindled her interest so much that she boldly told her husband, “Living a healthy life for about 50 years and then dying may be good enough for you, but it isn’t for me!” Then she promised her husband that having a Bible study would help her overcome her negative personality traits, so he stopped his opposition. Now she enjoys her study with the approval of her husband, who cares for the children while she studies.
Cambodia
During the special campaign, a missionary named Hugues called on a Muslim man. Upon reading the Kingdom News, the man agreed that religions should not take part in wars. He himself was very disappointed in his own religion, which he said had made a bad name for itself because of extremists. Hugues read Psalm 46:9 to the man, showing God’s promise of a war-free world. The following week Hugues showed him the Bible Teach book. Now the man deeply appreciates the Bible and has a regular Bible study.
Russia
“I know that you have the truth,” said an Orthodox priest who accepted the Kingdom News from two sisters, “and that your God, Jehovah, will destroy all false religion and leave yours.” He then told them what he knew about the heavenly hope and a paradise on earth. The sisters asked him why he remained in his religion if he knew it would be destroyed. “Well,” he replied, “it is my job. I have three apartments and four cars. I can’t leave all of this.”
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Highlights of the Past Year2008 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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[Box/Picture on page 9]
A Truly Worldwide Campaign
A number of people in different places wondered whether the Kingdom News was truly being distributed worldwide. A skeptical householder in Brazil, for example, told the publisher to wait while he phoned a friend in the United States to find out if he had received it. “Yes,” replied the friend, “ten minutes ago I received a copy.” Impressed, the householder accepted the Kingdom News and promised to read it carefully.
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