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Prospecting for Alaska’s Most Desirable TreasureThe Watchtower—1982 | June 1
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a surprising few ever found. Likewise, a tremendous amount of “prospecting” has been done by publishers of the “good news” in order to find the “desirable things of all the nations.” And it has “panned out,” sometimes in unexpected places and with surprisingly little effort. Note the following experience:
“My husband and I owned a mining claim about 400 miles (645 km) west of Mt. Susitna. In early April we started for Wisconsin to visit my sister and her husband. Since we had a two-hour wait in Anchorage, we went to see my other sister living there. While there, two of Jehovah’s Witnesses came to the door in what they said was a ‘Christian preaching work.’ I had never heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses so I listened to what they had to say. We actually had only a few minutes to talk, but I liked what I heard and ended up taking the Watchtower and Awake! magazines and also the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. It was the most wonderful book I had ever read! My husband has now read it and feels the way I do about it.” They were baptized in October 1980.
The searching for those who are desirable in God’s eyes in Alaska has been a rewarding work. The 1940 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses does not indicate any witnesses of Jehovah in Alaska. By 1970 there were 814 sharing in the preaching work. During the past 11 years the number grew 57 percent to 1,290 sharing in the preaching work. In April of 1981 there were 3,282 attending the Memorial celebration of Christ’s death. Truly, there are good prospects for a continued ingathering here as well as in many other parts of the world.
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Questions From ReadersThe Watchtower—1982 | June 1
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Questions From Readers
◼ What did Jesus mean when he said about a demon: “This kind cannot get out by anything except by prayer”?
A man whose son was seized by “a speechless spirit” asked Jesus to expel the wicked spirit, for the disciples were unable to do so. Jesus, with God’s powerful backing, expelled the demon. Afterward the disciples asked: “Why could we not expel it?” According to Mark’s account, Christ replied: “This kind cannot get out by anything except by prayer.” (Mark 9:14-29) In his parallel account, Matthew presents Jesus’ reply this way: “Because of your little faith.”—Matthew 17:14-20.
Why did he stress faith and prayer? Experience shows that the demons do not all necessarily have the same interests or abilities. For example, some seem to concentrate on haunting houses, whereas other wicked spirits focus on harassing or possessing humans. And we may conclude from Jesus’ reply that some demons are especially powerful.—Ephesians 6:12.
While Jesus was on earth, God enabled some of his servants to cast out wicked spirits who possessed unfortunate individuals. The twelve apostles and seventy disciples were enabled to do so. (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:17) But those of the apostles involved in the instance related in Matthew 17:14-20 and Mark 9:14-29 were unable to expel the demon. Why? What was lacking? Evidently it was the preparation called for in order to confront the sort of demon involved in this case. Strong faith was needed, along with prayer ahead of time requesting God’s empowering help. Though the accounts do not mention that Jesus offered a specific prayer in that case, he may have done so. Then he succeeded in casting out the powerful demon.
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