Announcements
◼ Literature offer for September: Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? October: The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. Where interest is shown, offer the Require brochure, making a special effort to start Bible studies. November: What Does God Require of Us? or Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life. If people already have these, an older publication may be offered. December: The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived. As an alternate offer, you may use My Book of Bible Stories, The Bible—God’s Word or Man’s?, or You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth.
◼ The October 2002 Our Kingdom Ministry should not be distributed until after the congregation has attended its assigned district convention.
◼ U.S. Selective Service regulations require that all men register at the post office within 30 days after reaching 18 years of age. A male noncitizen under the age of 26 who takes up residency in the United States must also register with Selective Service within 30 days of becoming a resident. All of those required to do so should comply with this law, viewing it as a Christian’s obligation to the superior authorities. From the time he registers until the year he turns 26, a brother must notify Selective Service of any change of address within ten days of the change. Elders should be aware of young brothers nearing the age of 18 and new alien residents between the ages of 18 and 26 and remind them of their duty to register with the Selective Service System.
◼ The elders are reminded to follow through on instructions given on pages 21-3 of the April 15, 1991, Watchtower regarding any disfellowshipped or disassociated ones who may be inclined toward becoming reinstated.
◼ The branch office does not fill individual publishers’ requests for literature. The presiding overseer should arrange for an announcement to be made each month before the congregation monthly request for literature is sent to the branch so that all interested in obtaining personal literature items may advise the brother handling literature. Please keep in mind which publications are special-request items.
◼ Monthly editions of The Watchtower in Haitian Creole will be available beginning with the September 1, 2002, issue.
◼ Monthly editions of The Watchtower on videocassette in American Sign Language will be available beginning with the September 1, 2002, issue.
◼ A semimonthly edition of Awake! will be available on audiocassette in Korean, beginning with the September 8, 2002, issue.
◼ At times, congregations and individual publishers face legal challenges relating to our worship of Jehovah. The booklet Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News was published in 1950 to assist with these matters. Although this booklet has been of use in the past, the legal information it presents is no longer up-to-date. Thus, individual publishers and bodies of elders should not attempt to handle legal matters on the basis of the information contained in that booklet.
◼ The special public talk for the 2003 Memorial season will be given on Sunday, April 27. The subject of the talk and an outline will be announced later. Those congregations having the visit of the circuit overseer or an assembly that weekend will have the special talk the following week. No congregation should have the special talk before April 27, 2003.
◼ New Publications Available:
2002 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses—Ukrainian
“All Scripture”—Authentic and Beneficial, Brochure 1 (Brochure for use in 2002 Theocratic Ministry School)—East Armenian, Ukrainian
“All Scripture”—Authentic and Beneficial, Brochure 2 (Brochure for use in 2002 Theocratic Ministry School)—East Armenian
A Satisfying Life—How to Attain It—Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Persian, Turkish
Benefit From Theocratic Ministry School Education—Arabic, Croatian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog
Does Fate Rule Our Lives?—Or Does God Hold Us Responsible? (for Muslims) (Tract No. 71)—Czech, Dutch, Urdu
Do You Have an Immortal Spirit? (Tract No. 25)—Dutch, Marshallese, Turkish
Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!—Huave, Maya, Mazatec, Totonac, Tzeltal, Tzotzil
Isaiah’s Prophecy—Light for All Mankind II—Large Print—Spanish
Jehovah’s Witnesses—Who Are They? What Do They Believe?—Armenian, Bulgarian, Ga, Samoan, Tongan
Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life—Mongolian
Life—How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? (Small size)—Tamil
◼ New Videocassettes Available:
Respect Jehovah’s Authority—On Videocassette—American Sign Language, English