Melinda Mills

It did not just depend on Alexander's  decision.  God has a say in these things.
Satan is the ruler of this world (1 John 5: 19) but Jehovah is the Supreme ruler in the kingdom of mankind (see scripture below)
(Daniel 4:34, 35) 34 “And at the end of the days I, Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar, lifted up to the heavens my eyes, and my own understanding began to return to me; and I blessed the Most High himself, and the One living to time indefinite I praised and glorified, because his rulership is a rulership to time indefinite and his kingdom is for generation after generation. 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are being considered as merely nothing, and he is doing according to his own will among the army of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth. And there exists no one that can check his hand or that can say to him, ‘What have you been doing?’
(Daniel 4:16, 17) . . .Let its heart be changed from that of a human, and let it be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over it. 17 This is by the decree of watchers, and the request is by the word of the holy ones, so that people living may know that the Most High is Ruler in the kingdom of mankind and that he gives it to whomever he wants, and he sets up over it even the lowliest of men.”
 (Proverbs 21:1) A king’s heart is like streams of water in Jehovah’s hand. He directs it wherever He pleases.
Remember, too, that Jehovah said that Babylon was not be rebuilt, but Alexander had plans to do just that.
 

Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide are concerned for Mr. ChristensenÂ’s welfare and pray that his wife, Irina, can persevere without the support of her husband. He has already been in pretrial detention for nine months         
Lets  ALL  pray  for  our  dear  Brother  Dennis  Christensen  in  Russia  and  all  others
? .•*¨`*•..¸???¸.•*¨`*•. ?
Look  the  links  on  jw.org  
https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/russia/court-extends-detention-20180223/
https://www.jw.org/en/news/

But that is just toasty. We are all going to heaven. Crap. I'm not going to play with my lions and snakes. What was just said made no sense. None. How can a great crowd, one in power not number go also to heaven, when scripture states Jehovah does not speak just to be talking. His word does not return without results? What happened to his creating mankind to live on this planet, he just threw it away and wants us all to come to float on clouds in heaven with him? To be Angels, since we can't all be kings and priests, correct? 
Does not what was said sound like baloney? How was the same heavenly hope set out for the great crowd, err, "one of the earthly courtyards of his spiritual temple" that sounds like something from a church pulpit. Double talk that makes no sense. Has no scriptural basis, but it sounds good. But untrue. A lie for real. Yes, a falsehood, not the truth. The presentation was shiny but it lacked the sugar to captivate ones heart who is truly seeking the truth. For when you asked the deep questions across the spectrum, you find the holes covered by the plaster and it comes up lacking. Much like the political machinations being spewed across the television screen nowadays.

Why didn't Jesus spend his time curing and healing those in need while he was here? He had the power and time. His time and efforts were turned elsewhere,correct? Our hope is life under the Kingdom, for permanent relief. Eternally!

How and why is the Jehovah's Witness' translation of the Bible different than some more common translations?
The ENGLISH translation was theoretically accurately translated into the New Word Translation of the Bible. 
This worked well pre-2013 with the old NWT and produced a Bible that was highly respected even by critics ... well, some critics who were demonstratively objective in their analysis, such as Jason BeDunn.
THEN, they got the idea to paraphrase the Bible, and fit it to the previous policy statements of the 2010 Top Secret Elder's Handbook which made it a punishable offense to have "brazen conduct".
A catch-all that could mean anything.
With this "Silver Sword" post 2013 paraphrased Bible Translation Centers were established all over the world .... where whatever folks were available could take this simplified, paraphrased English version ... and translate it into local Languages by whoever was available that would work for free, and spoke both English and any of several hundred other languages.
The selection of translators criteria and qualifications to do this kind of work is a closely guarded "military secret". The quality control is totally unknown by ANYBODY.
Many translation centers all over the world were closed down. and the staff dispersed.
Some went home... others just disappeared mysteriously.
The pre-2013 (1962 to 2013) New World Translation is in my considered and educated opinion the finest Bible Translation ever produced by the mind of man ... into English.
I wish I had stocked up on them before they were discontinued.

The best dressed folks I ever saw were Mafioso types, the Governing Body, and of course, Penguins.

I only posted as it was same subject on my daily reposts. No worries!
Interesting how they are almost the same but mine was words. 
Two of the same subject would have been confusing. 
You are wonderful my Sister @Queen Esther

Thanks  dear  sister  @Melinda Mills...  exactly  my  thoughts  too
Sunny,  but  nice  snow - greetings  from  Germany

Heard that one several times in the past, though. It was good to hear it again, still.

WHAT A BAD, SAD, HORRIBLE  WORLD????????
PEOPLE NEVER CAN WORK IT....    JEHOVAH,  PLEASE COME SOON?? 

.... an 18 shot 9mm sem-auto handgun under my pillow is better than a 5 shot revolver under my pillow.
Ya never can tell ..... ( wink wink ).
As you can tell from my photo ... made my hair grow out in BANGS!

YOU  REALLY  CARRIED  A  WEAPON  AS  JW ????   hmmm....
STILL  MANY  PEOPLE  HAVE  TO  DIE  BEC. YOUR  CRAZY  LAWS  IN  THE  USA ;-((   poor people  and  kids

(2 Corinthians 2:15-17) 15 For to God we are a sweet odor of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the latter ones an odor issuing from death to death, to the former ones an odor issuing from life to life. And who is adequately qualified for these things? 17 [We are;] for we are not peddlers of the word of God as many men are, but as out of sincerity, yes, as sent from God, under God’s view, in company with Christ, we are speaking.
 

Things like this could have been prevented, the FBI had received numerous tips and information on this mentally-ill teen, but they didn't do a thing. Should it have been anyone of a religious background and or race, as the people say, the FBI would then react immediately.

Parents—Help Your Children Become “Wise for Salvation”
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2017688

I try to be the man, my dog thinks I am.

I have gone to an international assembly in a country with East Indian culture and the losts of sisters were elegantly dressed in Punjabi dresses with pants under them. Check out the dresses on the Internet.  They are very elegant.

It is very true that one is not one's self when sleepy.
I met him one time and he was wide awake.
...and he was dressed better than me too!

My experience of the vast majority of disfellowshipped ones who are courageous and humble enough to attend the Memorial is that they are well appraised of their position and do their best to avoid any embarrassing interaction.
 

Actually, we want the opposite. A letter was sent out to the BOE's almost two months ago. The elders were instructed to contact all Da's Df'ed and Faders to invite them to Memorial and also leave with them a copy of Return to Jehovah.
 
Try to let love motivate your actions .
As for their unrepentance, let Jesus be the final Judge.
Our current JW.org policy says we should continue to not acknowledge their presence once they do show up. I can see where that might confuse you. However it is good for them to not forget the love from which they have been banned. 
 
oh... and not ALL worldly people are fornicators and idolaters. just sayin'

I dream every time I go asleep ..... massive epic dreams .... I am going to have to use my recorder and transcribe them for instant novels.
Sometimes my dreams are nested three levels deep, and I wake up to the level above, but I am still asleep, etc. 
Many times I realize I am dreaming in the dream and can take control ... usually about flying at high altitudes.
Those are the BEST!

This article is interesting and informative.  
 
*** w15 7/15 pp. 18-19 par. 15 “Your Deliverance Is Getting Near”! ***

15 Does this mean that there will be a “rapture” of the anointed ones? Many in Christendom believe, according to this teaching, that Christians will be bodily caught up from the earth. Then, they expect that Jesus will visibly return to rule the earth. However, the Bible clearly shows that “the sign of the Son of man” will appear in heaven and that Jesus will come “on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 24:30) Both of these expressions imply invisibility. Additionally, “flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s Kingdom.” So those who will be taken to heaven will first need to be “changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet.” (Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-53.) Therefore, while we do not use the term “rapture” here because of its wrong connotation, the remaining faithful anointed will be gathered together in an instant of time.
 
Bold print mine

I believe in Raptors ...
 

Jehovah's Witnesses only formally celebrate the one event that Jesus commanded his followers. The memorial of his death (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
They also celebrate other events which are referred to favorably in the Scriptures such as marriages, anniversaries, the birth of a baby, graduations and many other happy occasions. But why don't Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate St. Valentine's Day?
Because Jehovah's Witnesses take their worship very seriously and insist upon keeping their worship of God undefiled (James 1:27), there are two main reasons why Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate St. Valentine's Day:
1.) Pagan ceremonies honoring pagan gods are mixed in with St. Valentine's Day's origins.
2.) The Bible makes it clear that there is to be no veneration or adoration of Saints as intercessors with God. Our approach to the Father can only be through Jesus. (John 14:6, 14; 1 Tim. 2:5)
St. Valentine's Day - It's Pagan Associations
It would be wrong to incorporate anything used for pagan worship, into our worship or related activities. Holidays, for example, are "Holy Days" and are a part of "worship", by their very name. Notice what the publication How It Started had to say about St. Valentine's Day on pages 46-47: "Ancient Romans placed great stress upon holidays that fell about the middle of the shortest month of the year. Dedicated to the goddess Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter, these festivals stressed love, courtship, and marriage. "That was appropriate since Juno, queen of heaven, was regarded as the special protector of women in `critical times of life.'.... "When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire by edict of Emperor Constantine, religious leaders immediately started trying to do away with pagan festivals. Many of them had been observed for so many centuries that they resisted all frontal attacks, so there were many efforts to bring about change in a more subtle fashion.
One of the most effective was a substitution of a Christian[?] observance for a pagan one, with special ceremonies held on or near the date of the long-established holiday. "Since the martyrdom of St. Valentine was celebrated on February 14, it made sense to stresshomage to the man who was said to have been stoned to death on that day in A. D. 269. For that reason the name of a man about whom no written records exist came to be attached to the day formerly dedicated to Juno." And The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 20, 1973 ed. on page 204 says this: "Valentine's Day comes on the feast of two different Christian martyrs named Valentine. But the customs connected with the day ... probably came from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercaliawhich took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the god of nature." Some would say that it's wrong to pay such homage to dead men, whether "Saints" or not, but certainly it's incredibly wrong to mix in pagan ceremonies honoring pagan gods in the process. "What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... `Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. `Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...' says the Lord Almighty." - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: "agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9)."]
Additional Reading: What is the origin of Valentine’s Day? (rs p. 176-p. 182; Watchtower Online Library)
Should We Venerate "Saints as Intercessors" With God?
Notice what Peter's response was to a certain situation in the account of Acts 10:25, 26, JB: "As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. `Stand up,' he said `I am only a man after all!'" Peter did not approve of such adoration when he was personally present. He understood what Jesus clearly stated in John 14:6, 14 that our approach to the Father can be only through Jesus and that our requests are to be made in Jesus' name: "Jesus said: `I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it.'" (JB) 1 Tim. 2:5:
"For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (NASB) Note what Martin Luther wrote concerning the reverence of Roman Catholic Saints: "The pity is that we are so blind that we do not leave the devil alone to play his tricks in his own way; rather, we support him and multiply them. I wish people would leave the saints in peace, and not mislead humble folk. What spirit was it that gave the pope authority to canonize saints? Who tells him whether they are holy or not? .... God is just in judging us with His wrath and in allowing the devil to lead us hither and thither, to institute pilgrimages, ... to set about canonizing saints and other foolish things." - p. 458, Martin Luther, Selections From His Writings, Dr. John Dillenberger, Anchor Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961.
by Elijah 

Very nice. How are the friends fairing in Venezuela (the food shortages, civil unrest, etc.)?