The Librarian

Hello from Ecuador!! @anyita_gy thank you View the full article

Our little brothers and sisters of Athersley congregation, England helped us to understand the new way of presenting the back cover of our magazines tonight by rearranging themselves in the correct order as the audience were helped to see the points! Photo shared by @dolly_pinkshoes View the full article

Brothers organizing the territory after lunch in Dalby, Queensland. Photo shared by @saunders__family View the full article

Fieldservice in Holland! Auxiliairy pioneering with my cousin @damaris_v_brug ? @meetjuh24 thank you View the full article

Banked blood is being used less and less.

Hepatitis C and HIV got into the supplies

Helen 'Penny' Page of Wichita Falls, passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Services for Helen will be 2 p.m., Thursday at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1400 Archer City Highway. Interment will be in Crestview Memorial Park. Helen was born on August 27, 1926 in Olney, Texas to Claude Thaddius and Ola Elizabeth Cates Guess. She married Alfred Robert Page on February 14, 1951 in Anchorage, Alaska. He preceded her in death in 2011. She had been a resident of Wichita Falls since 1969, moving from Japan. She was one of Jehovah's Witnesses and was a housewife. She was also preceded in death by 4 sisters, 1 brother, a daughter: Debbie Logan, and a grandchild: Charlie Logan, Jr. Survivors include her married children: Roseanne and PJ Antil-Cook of Vancouver, Washington; Denise and James McClain of Wichita Falls, TX; and Steven and Carmen Page of Henrietta, TX. Also surviving her are her grandchildren: Kyle Page, Madison Wilridge, Sierra Meurer, Michael McClain, Misty McClain, Marisa Sanderson, Michelle Logan, Dee Dee Pennington; brother: Bobby Guess; 32 great and great-great grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends. Condolences to the family may be made at hamptonvaughancrestview.com http://www.timesrecordnews.com/obituaries/helen-page-2fd4eca0-c85c-70f7-e053-0100007fa827-374810081.html

Sono attese oltre 1700 persone al convegno dal tema: Imitiamo Geova". Il programma metterà in risalto come sia possibile imitare il Creatore e quali benefici pratici si possono avere nella vita odierna. Saranno presentati discorsi, interviste e riproduzioni di scene di vita reale. Roseto degli Abruzzi, 06/04/2016 - 18:55 (informazione.it - comunicati stampa - società) In una società sempre più complessa, dove sembrano non esserci più punti di riferimento i Testimoni di Geova invitano tutti alla loro assemblea annuale dal tema “Imitiamo Geova”. Gli oltre 1700 testimoni di Geova del Piceno e della Val Vibrata si sono dati appuntamento il 10 aprile a Roseto degli Abruzzi nella Sala delle Assemblee situata in via Nazionale 649. Il tema del convegno prende spunto dalla lettera apostolica agli Efesini, nella quale viene dato l’incoraggiamento a seguire le qualità del Creatore e non di qualche uomo o personaggio influente. Geova, nome di Dio riportato 7.000 volte nella Bibbia, possiede splendide qualità e il programma metterà in evidenza come manifestarle quotidianamente rechi beneficio all'interno della famiglia, della comunità e nei rapporti personali. Durante il programma alcune interviste e rappresentazioni di vita reale mostreranno a livello pratico come amore, lealtà, serietà e un concetto appropriato della giustizia siano la migliore risposta alle tendenze edoniste e materialiste spesso proposte da modelli in seno alla società odierna. Momento clou dell’assemblea, il battesimo per immersione dei nuovi ministri Testimoni di Geova in programma alle ore 11:30 preceduto da una considerazione biblica sul significato del gesto. Nel pomeriggio il discorso pubblico dal tema “Cosa pensa Dio della religione?”. A questo proposito Salvatore Buglione, ministro viaggiante e relatore del soggetto, ha dichiarato: “In un momento come questo, in cui la religione da un lato perde seguito e dall’altro è al centro di molte polemiche per l’interpretazione che ne danno alcuni, va sottolineato che, secondo la Sua Sacra Parola, Dio condanna l’adorazione corrotta ma considera preziosa quella che non si discosta dalla Bibbia e si compiace di coloro che vi si conformano”. Il programma avrà inizio alle ore 9:30 per concludersi alle ore 16:15. I testimoni di Geova sono oltre 8 milioni in tutto il mondo. Lo scorso anno in Italia quasi 5mila persone hanno abbracciato la loro fede, battezzandosi a una delle assemblee in programma su tutto il territorio nazionale. Come per tutti gli incontri dei Testimoni, anche in questo caso l’ingresso è libero e non si organizzano raccolte di fondi o di altro genere. Il programma completo è visibile con il seguente link: https://www.jw.org/it/pubblicazioni/ http://www.informazione.it/c/CBBDC112-4400-4E62-997E-53C7E85B817B/Assemblea-dei-Testimoni-di-Geova-del-Piceno-e-Val-Vibrata-domenica-10-aprile-a-Roseto-degli-Abruzzi

April 7, 2016 • From theTrumpet.com The Russian Orthodox Church has replaced the Communist Party as the ideological glue holding Vladimir Putin’s empire together. By Andrew Miiller During the Soviet era, thousands of churches were destroyed and millions of Christians were persecuted. Communist textbooks called religion “the opium of the people” and Christianity “a perverse reflection on the world.” In the 24 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, however, Orthodox Christianity has made an astonishing recovery. While only a third of Russians identified as Orthodox in 1991, over two thirds now identify as Russian Orthodox Christians. Yet the rise of the Orthodox Church hasn’t brought religious liberty to Russia. It has simply replaced the Communist Party as the ideological state apparatus used to forcibly unite Russians! In a court case under way in southern Russia, Viktor Krasnov is facing up to a year in prison for writing “There is no God” on VKontakte (a Russian social media network similar to Facebook). The authorities became aware of this comment when an online user contacted them, claiming that Krasnov was offending Orthodox believers. Police raided Krasnov’s apartment and forced him to undergo a monthlong examination at a psychiatric ward. Once he was deemed fit for trial, he was charged under a Russian law that makes it illegal to insult the feelings of religious believers. It isn’t just atheists who are no longer granted religious freedom in Russia. Alexey Koptev was arrested in 2011 after undercover police officers established that he belonged to the Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian denomination. In 2009, the city of Taganrog banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination for propagating the exclusivity and supremacy of its religion. This denomination now shares the same legal status as the Islamic State and the National Socialist Society. In 2002, Russia enacted an extremism law with a provision defining religious extremism as “incitement of religious discord” in connection with acts or threats of violence. Five years later, the law was amended to allow prosecution for inciting religious discord even in the absence of any threat or act of violence. Mormons, Scientologists and even Pentecostals are now coming under increasing government pressure. In return for public support from Russian Orthodox clergy, President Vladimir Putin attends church services and portrays himself as a defender of “Christian values.” Like the Byzantine emperors and Russian czars before him, he is using a de facto state religion to unify his empire! “The Orthodox revival gave Russians an identity after the years of uncertainty that followed the fall of the Soviet Union,” private intelligence company Stratfor wrote last month. “The Kremlin has used this to its advantage, so effectively portraying support for Putin’s government as a religious duty that the church is now seen as part of the state apparatus.” Post-Soviet efforts to remake Moscow into a representative government are failing. Russia has embraced an authoritarian leader driven to vaunt his nation back to the great power status he feels it deserves. This development has dangerous implications for the world. Russia is swiftly becoming a nuclear-armed czarist empire! ▪ See also the Russian Orthodox category

702016104_E_cnt_01.mp3 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—In an unprecedented move, Russian authorities have threatened to close the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation issued a formal warning letter dated March 2, 2016, stating that “the religious association shall be subject to liquidation” if the administrative center fails to eliminate within two months the “committed violations” framed by the government as “extremist.” Yaroslav Sivulskiy, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, states: “This closing of our national entity would include a confiscation of any properties we own and ultimately place a ban on the religious activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout Russia.” Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. Ironically, the move comes during the 25th anniversary of the first legal registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia: the Administrative Center was registered on March 27, 1991, and was reregistered on April 29, 1999. The threat to close the Witnesses’ national headquarters in Russia, located in the village of Solnechnoye about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of St. Petersburg, is the latest instance of the government’s aggression against the Witnesses. Within the past year, Russian authorities blocked imports of the Witnesses’ religious literature, as well as Russian-language Bibles, and made Russia the only nation in the world to ban the Witnesses’ official website, jw.org. “The anti-extremism laws are being misapplied toward the worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia,” comments Mr. Sivulskiy. “Jehovah’s Witnesses are contesting these decisions. We want to freely carry out our worship and our Bible education work peacefully, as we have been doing for 125 years in Russia.” However, Russian authorities have been increasingly hostile to Jehovah’s Witnesses largely due to what has been described as the government’s symbiotic relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. International media outlets have reported that this “close alliance between the government and the Russian Orthodox Church,” as The New York Times characterized it, appears to fuel aggressive acts and legislation aimed at suppressing the Witnesses’ activities as well as those of other religious minorities in Russia. The Associated Press reported that the government’s “moves against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia [have] also alarmed religious-freedoms activists.” A report from Reuters stated that such acts are being carried out “against Jehovah’s Witnesses and scores of others caught up in the widening net of criminal prosecutions brought under Russia’s anti-extremism law.” In December 2015, The Independent reported that Russia’s legislation was to help “prevent terrorist attacks and ultranationalist violence.” Yet, it has also been used “to prosecute members of such peaceful faiths” as Jehovah’s Witnesses, as described by The Huffington Post on March 20, 2016. Although the Witnesses are seeking legal redress in both domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights, The Moscow Times of March 25, 2016, reported that Russia passed a new law “giving Russian courts the right to overrule international courts’ decisions.” Visitors in the lobby of the Administrative Center. The Witnesses use the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia to organize and support free Bible education programs for Russian citizens. Experienced ministers at the administrative center also assist and communicate with Witness volunteers in Russia working to provide relief aid for victims of disasters. There are more than 175,000 Witnesses in Russia, a country with a population of over 146,000,000. David A. Semonian, international spokesman for the Witnesses at their world headquarters in New York, states: “It is greatly disappointing to us that the government would even threaten to shut down our branch office in Russia. Jehovah’s Witnesses and many others around the world are taking a keen interest in how this matter develops.” Media Contacts: International: David A. Semonian, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5000 Russia: Yaroslav Sivulskiy, tel. +7 812 702 2691 https://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/russia/threaten-shutdown-jw-national-headquarters/ See also:

My mother and I this morning doing cart witnessing in Panama. Photo shared by @kahtreena12 View the full article

Reunion Especial 2016 Centroamérica Resumen de La Atalaya por Carlos Cázares, concluye hasta el minuto 0:30:15 Informe de la Obra en el territorio de la sucursal por José Nieto, minutos 0:31:00 – 0:55:25 Serie de Discursos: Cifremos nuestra esperanza en Jehová - Como jóvenes que dan a Jehová lo mejor por John Mills, minutos 1:00:45 – 1:30:30 - Cómo nos ilumina Dios para que no tengamos miedo por Lázaro González, minutos 1:31:15 – 2:00:20 - El Dios de todo consuelo por Izak Marais, minutos 2:01:15 – Final.

Visiting London’s Bethel! Picking out the magazines brothers in Scotland needed! Photo shared by @yasminrp1 View the full article

First picture is our Grandson Eli and the Second picture is our Son Daniel both with our homemade Caleb that we made for our study night. We are from the Wigston Congregation leicester in the UK. Caleb will be placed there for all to admire @petecole69 thank you View the full article

Colourful and fruitful field ministry, Oxley Brisbane Australia @eds_jw_my_photography thank you View the full article

Early morning preaching in Glenn Heights, Texas, USA. Photo shared by @whyrdz View the full article

Public witnessing in sunny Florida, USA. Photo shared by @cynramaraymason View the full article

In service. North Kazakhstan. -40C pic by @shneider.svek View the full article

Out on Hindi ministry in Midvale, Utah. We just became a pre-group, which is thrilling. Utah is already one of the areas of greatest need in English in the US, and the foreign language field is exploding here too. Jehovah is peering it up! Photo shared by @onelittledaisy View the full article

Today we had an awesome ministry in Bratislava, Slovakia. We met this young woman (in the front) from Macau and she was realy interested about the Bible and about our preching work. She had many questions and finally we spent more than 5 hours with her answering her Bible questions. Photo shared by @luksharas View the full article

Preaching “to the most distant part of the earth” in Paute, Azuay, Ecuador. Photo shared by @geanellagr View the full article

Texas, USA. Thank you @alexramhui #jw #jwonly #jwfriends #jwfamily #jwpreaching #jwservice #jwpioneer #jwministry #jworg #jwglobal #jehovah #jehovahswitnesses #jeova #testemunhasdejeova #jehova #testigosdejehova #publicwitnessing #testemunhopublico #predicacionpublica #cartwitnessing View the full article

Barcelona, Spain. Thank you @anuska68 #jw #jwonly #jwfriends #jwfamily #jwpreaching #jwservice #jwpioneer #jwministry #jworg #jwglobal #jehovah #jehovahswitnesses #jeova #testemunhasdejeova #jehova #testigosdejehova #publicwitnessing #testemunhopublico #predicacionpublica #cartwitnessing View the full article

Venice, Italy. Thank you @angie74gm #jw #jwonly #jwfriends #jwfamily #jwpreaching #jwservice #jwpioneer #jwministry #jworg #jwglobal #jehovah #jehovahswitnesses #jeova #testemunhasdejeova #jehova #testigosdejehova #publicwitnessing #testemunhopublico #predicacionpublica #cartwitnessing View the full article

Brooklyn Bethel in the spring. Photo shared by @modernmonkeyadventures View the full article