Jehovah Blesses Our Efforts to Observe the Memorial - OBSERVING THE MEMORIAL DESPITE CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES

 Jesus foretold that during the last days, we would face all sorts of difficult circumstances-family opposition, persecution, wars., pestilences, and much more.  (Matthew 10:36; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:10, 11) At times, these conditions make it difficult to commemorate Jesus' death. What have our brothers and sisters done to overcome such challenges, and how has Jesus helped them?

Imprisonment.  Our brothers who are in prison for their faith do what they can to commemorate Jesus' death.  Consider Artem's example.  During the 2020 Memorial season, he was confined to a 17-sq meter (183 -sq- ft) cell that contained up to five prisoners at a time.  Despite being imprisoned he was able to collect some items to use as Memorial emblems, and he planned to give the Memorial talk for his own benefit.  But his cellmates smoked and cursed a lot. What did he do? He asked them if they could refrain from cursing and smoking for just one hour.  To Artem's surprise, h is cellmates agreed not to smoke or swear during the Memorial. Artem says, I offered to tell them about the Memorial." Although they said that they did not want to hear about the event, after seeing and hearing Artem observe the Memorial, they asked him all about it. 

COVID -19 pandemic.  When this pandemic struck, Jehovah's people could not attend the Memorial in person.  But that did not prevent them from observing the Memorial.  Congregations with access to the Internet held the Memorial by videoconference.  But what of the millions who  had no access to the Internet? In some countries, arrangements were made to broadcast  the talk on television or on the radio.  In addition, branches recorded  the talk in over 500 languages so that even those in remote areas could observe the Memorial. And faithful brothers arranged for the recordings to be delivered to those who needed them.

Next time: Jehovah Blesses Our Efforts to Observe the Memorial - OBSERVING THE MEMORIAL DESPITE CHALLENGING  CIRCUMSTANCES

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