Point discussed:
1. Islam is now larger than Christendom. According to the mankind search for God book, the inside map shows the amount of people in major religions. The numbers for the Islamic religion is now much larger. So all this time that we were looking at Christendom to be this large factor, it could very well be the Islamic groups instead. They are so large, and with all that has happened in the past three weeks, the religion has aggravated the King of the North and the Wild Beast. They will be looking for a way to rid themselves of a large group.
2. We were urged to read Ezekiel 38 and 39.
3. The end is rushing up to meet us. The signs are all there. After a
disaster, people have all these feelings. When it reaches anger, that is when to watch around us. This is when action is likely to be taken.
4. No neutrality or pacifism will be allowed by governments. They will
insist we take a side, and when we don't, they can use this as an excuse to take action against us. We could be termed a 'dangerous sect.' We can look for all property owned by the watchtower society to be seized.
Branches, land, farms, kingdom halls. They might use the excuse that
they need the land to fund wars or something of that possessions. Money, property, things, will be meaningless to us. Only our heavenly
treasures will have value. Some of us may have to find shelter with other witnesses.
5. We will have no legal rights to speak of. Going to court, the police, etc. Any rights gained by us to date will not exist.
6. The bible does not tell us how far things will go-only that we will
wait on God to take action.
7. The Kings of the North and South prophesies are coming true. They are very important to us, even though we don't know who the king of the north is yet. He also brought out that we don't understand everything yet, and may not have complete understanding before this all occurs. If I did not interpret this comment correctly I apologize. This is how I heard it. It does make sense. All through history, many things were understood afterward. Hindsight, so to speak.
8. Gog of Magog is also important. He will be spewing his rage, because of the witnesses of Jehovah. He will do anything he can to destroy us. Daniel 11:45.
9. This will be worse than any war ever fought on earth before.
Other scriptures mentioned in connection to these points: Eze 38:10, 13, 16, 22; Isaih 30:15; Zachariah 14: 12, 13
10. No matter what happens to us during this time, we can take comfort
that God is with us. Romans 8:31. There are more with us than are with
them. Psalms 56:11, 118:16; 16:8. God will not save each and every one
of his witnesses from death, but we have too much value to him for him to let us all be exterminated.
11. Apostates are rampant, (Matthew 24:24)waiting for a time when they
can publicly denounce God's people. That doesn't mean they are not active now. They are publishing materials and speaking loudly. But it will get worse.
And as Jesus and Paul pointed out, there will be traitors in the
congregation. Probably more than we have thought there would be. Because of this we need to be cautious- Never let the right hand know...And as today's watchtower put it, cautious as serpents and gentle as doves.
There will be no need for some to know everything, especially the government.
12. Physical signs. Matthew 24:29. These will happen. The celestial
signs will occur( i.e. sun darkened, moon not there), and in such a manner as to leave people in no doubt as to who is causing them. These will be in conjunction with his vengeance on those persecuting his people.
Zephaniah 1:17, 18. How can they hurt us if they have no eyes to see us? How can they pull a trigger if they have no arms? As Matthew 24 points out, (verses 30-31)there will also be an angelic presence in the heavens- a visible one. He in the heavens, sword drawn, with the angels behind him.
THESE SIGNS WILL TAKE PLACE.
13. There will probably be a time when the preaching work will slow
drastically. Our main focus may be on keeping alive and enduring.