No public talk today. Abbreviated WT, Everything at home over Zoom due to Part 2 of 6 of the Regional Convention streamed from jw.org  Midweek reading: 2 Samuel 17-19

WatchtowerStudy: ‘Revelation​—What It Means for You Today’ theme scripture: “Happy is the one who reads aloud . . . the words of this prophecy.”​—REV. 1:3.

Para 2: “In other words, we find ourselves ‘in the photo.’” It’s a novel take, isn’t it? Which one are you?

Para 3: Better roll the Lord’s day understanding. Greater world is in chaos. Generation can alway become era or age if need by, like the Industrial Age or Age of the Enlightenment, even the Modern Era.

Para 8 “All those for whom I have affection, I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent.” (Rev 3:19) It’s a good verse to keep always to the fore.

Para 8: A certain chatterbox in the Zoom background exclaims ‘Daddy—that’s my daddy talking!’

Para 9: “Apostates may have “an appearance of godliness,” but … (2 Tim 3:5). Does this include the premier one of video fame who went down as with a millstone when armtwisted to admit his cavorting with the lithe and pretty young sex workers of Thailand?

One bro dutifully says apostate reports can mislead because they may contain ‘a tiny bit of truth.’ Sometimes they are exactly true, but explainable by the diff between those who think this life is all there is and those willing to put up with some inconvenience in the lifeboat. Other times the difference between though willing to sacrifice for a cause and those not. Or between those determined to cling to certain morals and those not.

Para 12: “Because you kept the word about my endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of test, which is to come upon the entire inhabited earth, to put to the test those dwelling on the earth.” (Rev 3:10)

Para 15: The eight reps of 1918, convicted under the Espionage and Sedition Act, then the charges dropped after wartime because they were nonsense, are lined up in order of (considerable) descending height. Looks odd, though it was the photographic norm of the day.

Para 17: “Time and again, Jehovah’s servants have won court cases that have allowed them a certain measure of freedom. How have they used this freedom? They have made full use of any opportunities to do the work Jehovah has given them.  Some modern cases:

https://bitterwinter.org/ghent-decision-overturned-jehovahs-witnesses/

https://bitterwinter.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-sexual-abuse/

https://bitterwinter.org/russia-persecution-of-jehovahs-witnesses-unlawful/

Para 18: After all is said and done, this verse remains the call to action: “And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14)

Para 19: I told the elder I love to tease that I might be fearful to deliver a hard-hitting message during the great trib but if I had some practice, I might be okay. So could I be the one to announce it whenever he was to give the talk?

Two fine remarks from the bro, the last during public prayer stating how not just the bad things but also the good are highlighted in Revelation, the other that apathy can become contagious when one rests on past laurels. Alas, his laptop froze up briefly, delaying the prayer.

**Pursue Peace Convention opens, first talk, with the bro who has lamented that he would like to retire, “but they wan’t let me.” (Streamable & featured at jw.org.)

Yikes! The video of “an abundance of grain on the earth; On the top of the mountains it will overflow. … “ (Ps 72:16) includes several succeeding overhead pics of delicious foods as though from an Instagram account.

Ha! Of course! The first act of the wolf who becomes a lamb is to shave! Long live Symbolism.

Whoa. Those five talks of Isaiah prophesied seemed to go by at lightening speed but were apparently the same length as ever:  “My Servants Will Eat . . . My Servants Will Drink” (Isaiah 65:13, 14)• “They Will Build Houses and . . . Plant Vineyards” (Isaiah 65:21-23)• “The Wolf and the Lamb Will Feed Together” (Isaiah 11:6-9; 65:25)• “No Resident Will Say: ‘I Am Sick’” (Isaiah 33:24; 35:5, 6)• “He Will Swallow Up Death Forever” (Isaiah 25:7, 8)2

At one video, briefly I thought of Connie, long since deceased, who told everyone how to do everything, always with hat firmly secured as though a helmet to grant immunity.

Ha! Stepdad is trying so hard to conduct the family study—but he sucks at it! B-O-R-I-N-G! Mom does it better but she’s staying low-key. ‘Not sure if I’m getting through to them,’ he says. ‘Keep it up,’ she says. Trying to figure it out—and eventually they do.

“I really like Brother Noumair’s talks,” said my daughter’s friend—followed by a long long pause, and it finally dawned on everyone that was the sole remark. She burst out laughing. EVERYONE likes Bro N’s talks. She had just taken for granted that there would be a follow up comment.

This is not your fight, Jesus taught them in the Garden of Gathsemene. “If we truly believe the good news of the kingdom we will not do anything that hinders our ability to tell it.”

The video of the man leaving Malawe for South Africa, disrupting family stability, reminded me of ‘Cry the Beloved Country,’ one of those most moving novels I have ever read.

The orange book ‘True Peace and Security’ was originally brown.

#Midweekmeeting:

“Me·phibʹo·sheth, the grandson of Saul, also came down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his garments from the day the king left until the day he returned in peace.”  2 Samuel 19:24.   How does one ‘not care for his feet?’

Furthermore, the forest devoured more of the people than the sword did on that day. 18:8. Like one of those ‘Lord of the Rings’ forests.

At once A·bishʹai the son of Ze·ruʹiah said: “Should not Shimʹe·i be put to death for this, because he cursed the anointed of Jehovah?”  2 Samuel 19:21   He said it at the time too:  “Then A·bishʹai the son of Ze·ruʹiah said to the king: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, please, and take off his head.”  16:9

I’m not so sure I’d drag an atheist into a discussion of Adam and Eve, That said, no end of people look for the reason behind suffering, and if they find something they can sink their teeth into, for some of them that atheism goes out the window. (Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth)

“Abʹsa·lom eventually found himself facing the servants of David. Abʹsa·lom was riding on a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a large tree, and his head got entangled in the big tree, so that he was suspended in midair while the mule he had been riding kept going.” Reminds me of that quote from the Erie Canal museum, “A mule will labor ten years, willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once,”

“Some Bible publishers have failed to give credit where credit is due. For example, one Bible translation lists the names of over 70 people who in some way contributed to its production. Yet, this same Bible omits the name of the Author —Jehovah God —altogether!” That IS odd.

Pray and barely say a word? A thought that had never occurred to me, from https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1958841   “by listening to the Holy Scriptures the words of the prophets, the thoughts of the apostles and the wisdom of Jesus Christ all flow through the mind, refreshing it and …1/2

building it up. In this way one can spend all night in prayer with God and hardly say a word.”   Best article on prayer I’ve ever read, said the one who called my attention to it……2/2

Seems to fit here with this study part on getting the most from Bible reading.