PBI News

Pastoral Bible Institute (PBI) Annual Report for year ended April 30, 2024

The directors of the PBI and the editors of the Herald of Christ’s Kingdom have been blessed with another year of service publishing Bible truths and carrying on activities amongst the brethren around the world. The Herald magazine is now published in English, Polish, Croatian and Tamil. Additionally, our association and cooperation continue with both the Bible Fellowship Union in the UK, publisher of Bible Study Monthly, and the Berean Bible Institute in Australia, publisher of The Peoples’ Paper.

There are many workers who help produce the Herald, among them are valued proofreaders who check every article that appears in the magazine for accuracy. Through the blessing of email, we can divide the work in order to speed up production and reduce the burden on any one individual. It has been the policy of the Herald since its beginning to add names of authors to published articles, not for notoriety, but for accountability. While our editorial committee must approve each article that appears in the journal, its value depends on contributors being free to present their thoughts, provided such are in harmony with our chartered character and purpose for disseminating Bible truths.

Since its beginning in 1918, the main activity of the PBI has been serving Bible students worldwide through publication of The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom. At our fiscal year end (April 30), subscribers total 617. About one-third of our subscribers are receiving a free six-month trial. Those who cannot afford the $10 annual subscription fee continue for a limited time. Every issue of the Herald, dating back to its inception, is available online at www.Heraldmag.org. Besides continuing to offer the Revised Version Improved and Corrected Bible, we published The Acts of the Apostles, a chronological selection of articles written by Pastor Russell on this Biblical book.

Annual Membership Meeting

Our bylaws require us to hold a membership meeting following the close of each fiscal year, at which time a new board of directors begins its tenure. The meeting was held this year on July 13 via ZOOM. Prior to the meeting, the following directors were elected by ballot: Todd Alexander, Jeffrey Earl, Leonard Griehs, Ernie Kuenzli, Tom Ruggirello, George Tabac, and Daniel Wesol. The board appointed five editors to oversee the production of the Herald for the current fiscal year. Those names appear on the inside front cover of each issue, along with the requirements for all articles which appear in the magazine. Our summary financial statement for the past year appears in this issue. The PBI remains fiscally sound due to the gracious contributions we receive from many and the dedication of our volunteers who perform numerous tasks in the production of the magazine. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless our efforts, and we request your prayers that the work may continue to bring honor and glory to our Heavenly Father.
The Directors of the Pastoral Bible Institute

Fiscal 2024 Financial Statement for the Pastoral Bible Institute, Inc.

Income $22,068
Contributions ………………………………….. $18,003
Subscriptions …………………………………… 1,657
Sale of Material ……………………………….. 2,180
Interest ……………………………………………. 228

Expenses $16,292
Herald Printing ………………………………… $5,887
Foreign Herald / Other Printing …………. 4,727
Mailing — Domestic ………………………… 2,447
Mailing — Foreign…………………………… 2,443
Insurance ………………………………………… 788
Net Income………………………………………. $5,776
Net Worth, April 30, 2023 …………………. $118,495
Net Worth, April 30, 2024 …………………. $124,271

Religious

Legislation that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all state public classrooms, from kindergarten to state- funded universities beginning the start of the 2025 school year. Not long after the governor signed the bill into law, civil rights groups and organizations that want to keep religion out of government promised to file a lawsuit challenging it. — AP, 6/20/2024

An Ohio nonprofit that provides off-site Bible instruction to public school students during classroom hours says it will triple its programs in Indiana this fall after new legislation forced school districts to comply. The instruction is provided by nondenominational LifeWise Academy, which supplements religious instruction. Critics in Indiana say the programs spend public school resources on religion, proselytize students of other faiths and remove children from class in a state already struggling with literacy. Public schools cannot promote any religion under the First Amendment, but a 1952 Supreme Court ruling centered on New York schools cleared the way for programs like LifeWise. Individual places of worship often work with schools to host programs off campus, and they are not regulated in some states. — AP, 6/10/2024

As many as 200 Israelis have moved to Georgia, a former Soviet republic about three hours’ flying time from Tel Aviv. Frustrated with Israel’s high prices, politics, and worsening security situation, they’ve decided to relocate permanently to this mountainous, landlocked country in the Caucasus. Last year, according to government statistics, 217,065 Israelis visited Georgia, making them the fourth-largest source of foreign tourism after Russia, Turkey and Armenia. — Israel News, 6/20/2024

New York has seen synagogues, elderly Jews, and Jewish children targeted by vandals and attackers. This has led to growing calls for the reinstitution of a centuries-old law that banned the wearing of masks at political rallies. For 200 years, New York State had a law that banned the covering of one’s face at rallies. This law was used against groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The law was repealed in 2020 during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Today’s protestors cover their faces so that they cannot be identified no matter how illegal, hateful, or violent they become. For example, Columbia University closed an investigation into an activist who held a sign calling on Hamas to murder Jewish students because she covered her face, making it difficult for the school to identify her. — Israel National News, 6/20/2024

Social

The world is at a startling demographic milestone. Sometime soon, or perhaps even already, the global fertility rate will drop below the point needed to keep population constant. Fertility is falling almost everywhere, for women across all levels of income, education and labor-force participation. The falling birthrates come with huge implications for the way people live, how economies grow and the standings of the world’s superpowers. The replacement rate, which keeps population stable over time, is 2.1 in rich countries, and slightly higher in developing countries, where fewer girls than boys are born and more mothers die during their childbearing years. In 2017 the U.N. projected world population, then 7.6 billion, would keep climbing to 11.2 billion in 2100. By 2022 it had lowered and brought forward the peak to 10.4 billion in the 2080s. That, too, is likely out of date. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington now thinks it will peak around 9.5 billion in 2061 then start declining.
— Wall Street Journal, 6/7/2024

More than 900 artifacts have been retrieved from two ancient shipwrecks discovered in the South China Sea, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China (NCHA) said. Consisting of piles and piles of porcelain, along with other pottery works, copper pieces, ebony lumber, and animal parts, the wrecks are a testament to the vast maritime trading network overseen by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The excavation, conducted from 2023 to 2024, was a joint effort by a pair of research institutes and a local museum on Hainan Island, and involved sending manned and unmanned submersibles down to collect the relics and document the wrecks.
— Good News Network, 6.20/2024

African elephants call each other and respond to individual names — something that few wild animals do, according to new research. The names are one part of elephants’ low rumbles that they can hear over long distances across the savanna. It’s extremely rare for wild animals to call each other by unique names. Humans have names, of course, and our dogs come when their names are called. Baby dolphins invent their own names, called signature whistles, and parrots may also use names. Each of these naming species also possesses the ability to learn to pronounce unique new sounds throughout their lives — a rare talent that elephants also possess. For the study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, biologists used machine learning to detect the use of names in a sound library of savanna elephant vocalizations recorded at Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.
— AP, 6/10/2024

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes. Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people. “It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”
— AP, 6/18/2024

Most U.S. households had at least one type of computer (95%) and had a broadband internet subscription (90%) in 2021, an increase from 2018 (92% and 85%, respectively). This is according to a new report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Smartphones were the most common computing device in U.S. households (90%), followed by desktop or laptop computers (81%) and tablets (64%) in 2021.
— U.S. Census Bureau, 6/18/2024

Political

As half the world’s population votes in elections this year, voters are in a foul mood. From South Korea to Poland to Argentina, incumbents have been ousted in election after election. Voters in South Africa who are reeling from deep poverty, inequality and unemployment handed a historic defeat to the African National Congress, which lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago. The dynamic is likely to repeat itself as the European Union launches its legislative elections. In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called elections for later this summer in which his party is expected to struggle.
— AP, 6/10/2024

Russia’s population has been in decline for years, and the war in Ukraine has made matters worse. At least 150,000 Russians are dead on the battlefield, according to Western estimates. Nearly a million fled the country after the war began. The number of births is at its lowest in more than two decades (Editor’s note: see separate item on global birth rates in Social section), with bigger-than-average drops in babies born in some regions closest to the fight. The Russian president has called raising the birthrate a national priority. He declared 2024 “the year of the family” and enacted subsidies for those with three or more children. Putin has pledged to spend up to $157 billion on measures to support families and children over the next six years. Russian society itself, he said, has to change, with large families becoming more common.
— Wall Street Journal, 6/7/2024

Russia is emerging as the security partner of choice for a growing number of African governments in the region, displacing traditional allies like France and the United States. Moscow has aggressively expanded its military cooperation with African nations by using the private security company Wagner and its likely successor, Africa Corps, with Russian mercenaries taking up roles from protecting African leaders to helping states fight extremists. Africa is rich in minerals, oil and other resources, which come with political and legal challenges. Its resources are increasingly central to economic and national security, such as cobalt, which is used in electronics like mobile phones, or lithium, which is used in batteries.
— AP, 6/7/2024

Financial

The Indian economy is likely to remain the fastest-growing major one in coming years, but a majority of independent economists and policy experts say it will not make any difference in narrowing stark economic inequality. Despite over 8% economic growth last fiscal year and a roaring stock market in Mumbai that is easily one of the world’s most expensive, New Delhi still distributes free food grains to more than 800 million of its 1.4 billion people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term after a shock election in which parliament retained most ministers from his prior term.
— Reuters, 6/20/2024

Marlene Engelhorn, a member of one of the richest families in Austria, has given away her inheritance. The family forebearers founded the BASF pharmaceutical company, and also owned Boehringer Mannheim, allowed 50 members of the Austrian public to determine how her money would be divided and donated to various charitable and non-profit organizations. Her €25 million ($27 million) share of the family’s $4.2 billion fortune was portioned out to 77 groups by 50 randomly chosen citizens of Salzburg, who formed a working group designated as the Good Council for Redistribution, they met over the course of 6 weeks to make the determination and were offered “a series of lectures including from philosophers and economics professors to inspire their choices.”
— Good News Network, 6/20/2024

The Congressional Budget Office projects this year’s federal budget deficit to be $400 billion higher, a 27% increase compared to its original estimate released in February. The major drivers of the change include: higher costs from the supplemental spending package signed in April that provides military aid to Ukraine and Israel; higher than estimated costs of reducing student loan borrower balances; increased Medicaid spending; and higher spending on FDIC insurance after the agency has not yet recovered payments it made after the banking crises of 2023 and 2024. The report also projects that the nation’s publicly held debt is set to increase from 99% of gross domestic product at the end of 2024 to122% of GDP — the highest level ever recorded — by the end of 2034. “Then it continues to rise,” the report states.
— AP, 6/19/2024 (Editor’s note: See Today in Prophecy in this issue for further discussion of global debt.)

Israel and the Middle East

Despite the ongoing conflict with Hamas following the terrorist organization’s brutal attack on October 7, Jerusalem Day saw 1,445 people ascend the Mount within a span of five and a half hours. This marks a 26% rise from last year, as announced by the Temple Mount Administration NGO. Earlier in the week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Israelis to visit Jerusalem, declaring, “If we see ourselves as the sovereign of the area, our enemies will respect us.”
— Israfan, 6/6/2024

A ship’s cargo from 3,300-3,400 years ago with hundreds of intact vessels, was found at the incredible depth of 1.8 kilometers on the Mediterranean Sea floor. The cargo was found during a standard survey executed by Energean, a leading E&P natural gas company, who operates the Karish, Karish North, Katlan and Tanin offshore fields near Israel. The contents were positively identified as Late Bronze Age Canaanite storage vessels by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Jacob Sharvit, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority Marine Unit, explained, “The ship seems to have sunk in crisis, either due to a storm or to an attempted piracy attack – a well-known occurrence in the Late Bronze Age. This is both the first and the oldest ship found in the Eastern Mediterranean deep sea, ninety kilometers from the nearest shore.”
— Israel National News, 6/20/2024