When the announcement of returning to KH was made last week I did say that I was surprised to see that there were no measures in place for returning to the door to door ministry.After all this has been the no 1 trademark of JWs fir the past 100 years.Now this week Robert Hendricks the spokesperson for the US Bethel has madecsome statements in relation to the door to door ministry that has not only confirmed my suspicions but give rise to fears that we are seeing the fazing out of this ministry from now.His statements present logical arguments I never heard from any JW in the past.
“This is historic for us because it will be the first time, globally, we’ll be holding hybrid meetings,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. These new guidelines come just in time for two global events to be held at Jehovah’s Witnesses’ 120,000 congregations. A special talk with the “Where Can You Find Real Hope” is scheduled April 10, and the annual commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ will be held April 15. Both gatherings will be held in person at local Kingdom Halls with live speakers. “Coming to a Kingdom Hall is a personal choice. Our congregants are eager to get back. Some may not. They’ll have the option to stay home,” Hendriks said.
(=Unlike yester years where we were commanded to return to the KH now for the first time I see this happy go lucky attitude towards attendance.You wanna come ,come,you want to stay at home stay.I've never seen this attitude before, that's new to me) The article continues, "that’s why Jehovah’s Witnesses — a global denomination of 8.6 million — are not yet ready to begin their public ministries, including going door to door and setting up witnessing carts across cities. Letter writing and phone calls, which replaced door-to-door knocking, will continue. “When we start knocking on doors again, we’re not giving our neighbors a choice. Some won’t be comfortable with that right now, and we’re OK with that,” Hendriks said. “We want to make sure that our neighbors are not only safe, but also feel secure, and it’s going to take some time.” Hendriks said cart witnessing may be the first of their public ministries to resume. “We’re going to take one step at a time,” Hendriks said.
(=so they are taking their sweet time, what happened to all time preach at any cost especially as we are living at the time of the End) For Jehovah’s Witnesses, the pandemic has meant putting principles ahead of personal preferences. Life is sacred, Hendriks said, and “in-person ministry is not as important as a life … especially when we were able to be so productive virtually.”
(=have you as a JW or XJW ever heard anyone spokesperson or GB member say that ministry is not as important? In all my years as a jw I never thought I would see the day that this reasoning will be presented in public)
But, also, Hendriks said, “Jehovah’s Witnesses are in subjection to the government.”
(=so if the government tells you the there is a pandemic therefore you can not preach you will listen to the government? When did Jws ever did that? Their history is full of examples of witnesses that went to prison or endured persecution because they disobeyed their government and preached against local restrictions.This is not JW speech I really don't know what that is) “When the governments say you can’t do something, we don’t fight it, not unless it’s something that God has told us to do,” Hendriks said. “We don’t go to the government and start complaining about laws. When the government says you need to mask up, we mask up. When the government says you need to get vaccinated, we get vaccinated. When the government says you need to stop meeting in public, we stop meeting in public,” Hendriks added.
(=Here is a possible scenario, Satan knows that the good news of the kingdom will be preached before the End as the Bible says and he wants to cancel this crucial preaching ,he doesn't want people being saved) What better way ? He creates a global pandemic and gets all governments to impose restrictions.By the way this is not a totally crazy scenario.During the pandemic you were allowed to go to the supermarket but you were not allowed to go to Church.So there was something sinister behind these restrictions , to stop Christians gathering together that is Bible command.That's all Satan has to do and JWs will stop preaching.
That to me guys screams COMPROMISE and is an outright apostasy even by last years JW standards.
Are we seeing the fazeing out of the most important aspects of this movement which is the door to door ministry? I believe we are.
Maybe the governing body feel more people can be reached by telephone or writing to people. They may have a point. Firstly witnesses nearly always go in pairs to the doors, thereby halving the number of people they could witness to. Secondly, at least two thirds of doors they knock on have nobody home. So it may be that more people are reached by writing or telephoning. It seems they no longer are going to use the argument that Jesus and his followers went door to door, therefore they should too. I guess they now realize the scriptures do not say that was how the preaching was done. Interesting times ahead I think.