Jehovah Guides Our Global Teaching Work

HOW OTHER FACTORS HAVE AFFECTED OUR TEACHING WORK

Advances in the printing industry have contributed to the worldwide preaching of the good news. For centuries the flatbed platen printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg about 1450 changed little. During the past two centuries, however, noteworthy changes have taken place in the printing industry. Presses have become larger, faster, and more sophisticated. Paper production and bookbinding have become less expensive. Offset printing has replaced the letterpress method, speeding up the production process and improving the quality of artwork. What has all of this meant for our work?  Consider this.  The first Watchtower  (July 1879) had a printing of 6,000 copies, without illustrations, and in only one language-English. Today, 136 years later, over e50,000,000 copies of each issue of The Watchtower are being printed and distributed. It is beautifully illustrated in full color and is available in more than 200 languages. 

Consider some inventions of the past 200 years that God's people have used in preaching  the good news.  We have mentioned trains, cars, and airplanes, but there have also been bicycles, typewriters, Braille devices, audio and video recorders, radio, television, motion pictures, computers, and the Internet. In various ways, such things have helped us to accomplish our commission to make disciples. In fulfillment of the prophecy that Jehovah's people would "drink the milk of nations," we have made wise use of resources of the nations, such as modern technology, in order to produce the Bible and Bible literature in many languages. -Read Isaiah 60:16. 

Clearly, we have strong evidence of God's blessing. Of course, Jehovah does not rely on our help to accomplish his purposes. Yet, our loving heavenly Father allows us to be his  "fellow workers," thus enabling us to show our love for him and for our neighbor.  (1 Corinthians 3:9; Mark 12:28-31) May we take advantage of our opportunities to proclaim the Kingdom message, the most important work on earth.  By all means, let us show how thankful we are that Jehovah has guided and blessed our global teaching work! 

Next time: "This Is the Way You Approved"

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015