February 6, 2010
Considering the circumstances Considering the circumstances

Jehovah’s Witnesses were nearly crushed in 1918 when the bulk of their Governing Body was arrested on false charges and sentenced to long terms in prison. Their spiritual Brothers were not yet well equipped to carry on the work without strong leadership and the barely-begun work faltered, stumbled and appeared to have been extinguished.

That was, in a sense, a good thing; as it made patently clear that this work was not going to be the work of man alone, but if it was to succeed at all, it would have to be the subject of heavenly direction.

In 1919, those arrested were exonerated. All charges against them were dropped and they walked out of the darkness of prison free men … freed to continue the work that they had been arrested for doing.

Later, the civil authorities jailed their chief accuser for filing false charges. He was NOT exonerated, but required to serve his full term.

But that was over 90 years ago.

Since then the entire focus has been on preaching the good news of God’s coming kingdom and teaching others how to do the same. With this as the focus, recent years have seen an average of ~1,000 individuals a day baptized. That’s roughly 10 new congregations each and every day. And every person is, at the moment of their baptism, an ordained minister charged with the solemn responsibility to preach to others and to teach them just as they were taught. This is to the end that the others might also seek baptism and their own solemn responsibility to preach.

Lather, rinse, repeat … what Jesus set in motion at Matthew 28:19,20 remains in motion.

The various regional and international building committees have been sore-pressed to keep up. Funds from wealthier lands assist those in less-fortunate lands to secure proper places of worship. Recognizing that not all who are baptized are builders, skilled Brothers travel from land to land on their vacations and train the local friends in the art and science of erecting sturdy houses of worship.

Some Kingdom Halls have thatched roofs and pounded dirt floors. Some have steel girders for a skeleton and carpets on concrete floors.

To date, an average of over 7 million of those ministers are active in any given month. This makes this seemingly small group of Christians the largest denomination in the world.

No other religion ordains a minister every 42 seconds. No other religion is making nearly the effort to fulfill Matthew 24:14 as Jehovah’s Witnesses are.

By the time one of Jehovah’s Witnesses emerges from the water, he/she is already adequately prepared for the rigors of a lifetime in the ministry. And still the training continues. Experience in the ministry is complemented by continuous reading and study and conferring with other ministers.

Considering that they are often laughed at or, when taken seriously, jailed, beaten or worse, the accomplishments of this group, with its humble roots in a small number of earnest Bible students who began coming together in 1870 (when C.T. Russell, the founder of the group was just 18 years old), are pretty impressive.

From their modest beginning in 1870 to 1970, they grew from a handful of people meeting in a private home to 1,187,772 ordained ministers in 197 lands. That was an average pace of just about 32 baptisms a day … starting with nearly none and gradually ramping up as Jehovah drew right hearted ones to him, replacing those who died or drifted away with ever-increasing numbers of loyal, active ones.

As they say, the first million is the hardest.

In 2009, reports were received from 236 lands showing a peak of 7,124,443 active publishers of the good news – an increase of 381% in a mere 39 years. (In three lands they face a death penalty, so there are no reports from those lands. Do not mistake that for a lack of activity.)

Floated on the current with Bill Canaday at 6:00 am ¤ 9 comments floating so far
 

February 5, 2010
A new blog cometh A new blog cometh

I am working on a new blog of interest solely to Jehovah’s Witnesses and, if you are a JW, I am asking for your help with it.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Stowed in: Uncategorized,
Floated on the current with Bill Canaday at 3:40 pm ¤ No comments floating so far
 
Quote Friday Quote Friday

Every once in a while I stumble upon that most fascinating of web pages … a quotes page. I’m in a generous mood today, so I’m going to share this one with you. The quotes seem selected with just a hint of an edge to them, a tiny scent of an acid wit and come accompanied by linocuts which you can purchase, if you so wish.

The link above is well into the middle of the site … be sure to scroll backwards as well as ahead.

Here’s a teaser:

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.

- George Bernard Shaw

After this has been up a few days as an ordinary post, I think that I’ll make it permanent page and every Friday pass along the best quote I’ve encountered during the preceding week.

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February 4, 2010
Hungry yet? Hungry yet?

I suppose by now that you are hoping I will leave off the rants for a while … and in a while I intend to do so.

But not yet.

Click here to read on, my friend.

Floated on the current with Bill Canaday at 11:59 pm ¤ No comments floating so far
 
If you’re on a permanent fast, you’re exempt If you’re on a permanent fast, you’re exempt

Everyone else, listen up.

I hate GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and their insidious sidekick, chemical farming, with the same passion I reserve for pedophiles, politicians, abortionists and big bankers.

Click here to read on, my friend.

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January 29, 2010
It’s a smaller world than before It’s a smaller world than before

Just this month Forbes called Monsanto heroes.

(hack, cough, cough) Balderdash. I try not to use stronger words, but they would certainly apply.

I should probably post this link on my long-neglected organic gardening blog and, after I post it here, I might just do that.

But this blog gets somewhat more traffic and I think that this video, about the effects of chemical farming in India is instructive. I know that your time is valuable. I’m asking for 30 minutes of it with the promise that I will not waste that 30 minutes. Start by viewing the film for the first 26 minutes.

Click here to read on, my friend.

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January 28, 2010
A good day A good day

I just had a really good day that I am thankful for. It was busy, productive, included good friends, a couple of laughs and some cookies.

What’s not to like about a day like that?

Click here to read on, my friend.

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January 26, 2010
Fixing an old Jaguar – 1 Fixing an old Jaguar – 1

P1050604_tn My goal of returning this Jaguar to showroom quality is complicated by the need to drive it, at least temporarily, modest funding for the project, general lack of cluefulness and cold weather with no place to work on it indoors.

It also wouldn’t hurt if I had a hoist and a machine shop in my garage and all that other junk out of it. Hmm … maybe if I kill my lawn I can get rid of the mower, string trimmer, lawn vacuum, rakes, shovels and so on. Oh … and that Geo Metro I keep promising myself to fix up.

Nah, I think you have to put the hoist in when the foundation goes down … and, besides which, I’ve only got about a 7’ ceiling in the garage.

I can foresee some awkward conversations with the insurance company if I raised the hoist high enough to work under — and with the chiropractor if I didn’t.

Click here to read on, my friend.

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Stowed in: Fiascos, Humor,
Floated on the current with Bill Canaday at 11:50 am ¤ Only one comment floating so far
 

January 23, 2010
Audio of Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches Audio of Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches

I just ran across a compilation of the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. in their audio form (mp3 format) and I thought you might have an interest in listening for yourself.

ML King was a great man, but in the end – as an assassin’s bullet proved – he was no less mortal than any of us. And that makes the risks he took, the challenges he faced and the victories he won all the more precious as an example of what it means to be an adult of any race in any nation in the present day.

Click here to read on, my friend.

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January 21, 2010
Fixing an old Jaguar – 0 Fixing an old Jaguar – 0

When I was a kid I sorely coveted a Jaguar. Most of my friends did, too, even if we realized in our heart of hearts that we would probably never own one. Even if we were still saving for a used rust-bucket deluxe so we could get a better job delivering pizzas instead of mowing lawns. Even if we more likely to die of pimples than raw horsepower.

Well, I finally got one. A Jag, that is. I already had, and lived through, pimples long ago.

Granted it’s not the same model I originally craved: this is the Vanden Plas sedan. It’s an old man’s car, but it is a Jaguar. Says so right there on the name plate.

Recently I also did the gas pedal test and yup: it’s got the heart of a Jaguar beneath that tamed exterior.

I had originally lusted after an XKE with a dozen cylinders, long hood and legendary chick-magnet powers. I first saw one up close on a side street near the New York Central Yard Office in Wyandotte, MI.  The interior was mostly rubbish and the paint had definitely seen better days. It looked like a failed ‘fixer-up’, but I wanted it. I wanted to carry the banner forward, complete the fixing-up and drive a racing green XKE with more power and speed than any young male not in the Air Force should ever have access to.

Click here to read on, my friend.

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Stowed in: Fiascos,
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