Jehovah’s Witnesses Mobilize Global Response to Threat of Ban in Russia

[David Normand]

I agree with several of you that ours is not the only religion that is being persecuted. I did read an article about a Baptist minister that has been there for six years or so who was arrested under the same charge and is now leaving his missionary field and returning to USA. However, most other religions are being persecuted as individual churches or groups. Ours is the only one (at least at this time) that is persecuted in-mass. Congregations do not even have to have violated their extremist laws personally to risk being shutdown and having assets confiscated and members jailed for worship of the only true God. 

[Bible Speaks]

2 hours ago, Dennis Gilman said:

I also expected the same of Putin.  I sent letters to all six of the persons listed.

@Dennis Gilman I agree! Of course they won't read the letters. However, if they got 49,000.000 letters total, each official got 6 x 8,220,000 Witnesses, even young ones, it will send out a LOUD ANNOUNCEMENT to the Russian Federation and Putin that look at the response! They thought they were only dealing with 175,000 JW's Russian? No, we are a United People Worldwide and Love are whole family! Numbers will speak that the World is watching, and Jehovah's Witnesses are United with their God Jehovah! To me that shows we are bigger than he thought? He may not know or understand we have the Creator of this Universe behind us! The Nations will soon all know Jehovah! Psalms  chapter 2 says it all.

Agape, Bible Speaks ???

[bruceq]

17 hours ago, David Normand said:

I agree with several of you that ours is not the only religion that is being persecuted. I did read an article about a Baptist minister that has been there for six years or so who was arrested under the same charge and is now leaving his missionary field and returning to USA. However, most other religions are being persecuted as individual churches or groups. Ours is the only one (at least at this time) that is persecuted in-mass. Congregations do not even have to have violated their extremist laws personally to risk being shutdown and having assets confiscated and members jailed for worship of the only true God. 

YES NEARLY ALL THE CHURCHES OTHER THAN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME KIND OF REPRESSION AND PERSECUTION. [EVEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS HAD PROBLEMS  WHICH ONLY NUMBERS 600,000 IN RUSSIA COMPARED WITH 100 MILLION ROC].  BUT WHAT STANDS OUT IS THAT AT LEAST AT THIS TIME IT IS ONLY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES THAT ARE BEING TARGETED FOR ELIMINATION BY BANNING THE ENTIRE RELIGION. THAT FACT ALONE STOOD OUT TO MY BIBLE STUDY AND IT IS THAT FACT THAT MADE HIM REALIZE THAT THE WITNESSES ARE STANDING OUT AS DIFFERENT, NOT BECAUSE OF PERSECUTION BUT OF GOING UNDER BAN. EVEN IF IT DOSEN'T HAPPEN THE FACT IS STILL THERE THAT IT WAS ONLY THE WITNESSES AS MANY SECULAR JOURNALIST HAVE RECENTLY NOTICED THAT HAVE BEEN SINGULARLY TARGETED FOR ELIMINATION BY BANNING. tHE CHANGES IN THE EXTREMIST LAWS IN 2006 AND 2015 SOME HAVE NOTED THE PARTICULAR DETAILS THAT MAINLY AFFECT PRIMARILY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AS THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO COVER THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM OF WHAT RUSSIA'S LAWS DEEM EXTREMIST - DOOR TO DOOR EVANGELISM, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, PRINTING AND MANY OTHERS.

ONE ITEM OF INTEREST REGARDING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AS STANDING OUT AS DIFFERENT AND HATED BY OTHERS  IS IF YOU GO TO THE WEBSITE "RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE" {ONTARIO CONSULTANTS ON RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE] IT DISCUSSES THE BELIEFS OF THOUSANDS OF RELIGIONS. OUT OF THOSE THOUSANDS OF RELIGION ONLY ONE HAS A DISCLAIMER AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE SECTION ON THE WITNESSES. IT SAYS : 

"Note: Please don't send us abusive Emails that
attack the WTS. This section is about the WTS;
It is not an official Jehovah's Witness website.

We receive an enormous number of complaint Emails critical of our description of the Jehovah's Witnesses as a Christian denomination. Many Christians have a much more restrictive definition of the term "Christian" than we do. Before sending us a complaint Email, please read our essay on the diversity of definitions of the term "Christianity"  Also please note that we do not respond to abusive or obscene Emails which unfortunately form the majority of Emails on this topic."

NOT EVEN THE SECTION ABOUT MUSLIMS HAVE ANY DISCLAIMER OR ANY THING REMOTELY LIKE THE ABOVE. WHY WOULD ONLY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BE TARGETED FOR "ABUSIVE EMAILS" AS THIS WEBSITE NOTES?  I BELIEVE IT IS BECAUSE WE ARE "NO PART OF THE WORLD" AND THAT IS WHY THE WORLD [AND APOSTATES WHO WOULD SEND "ABUSIVE" EMAIL] HATE US AND WHY WE STAND OUT AS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IN THIS ASPECT AS COMPARED TO THOUSANDS OF OTHER RELIGIONS BOTH LARGE AND SMALL !!!

[bruceq]

3 minutes ago, AllenSmith said:

Personally, I was hoping to read True Tom’s rendition of the Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It song, as a rolling commentary, oh well!

 

The point of this exercise was to give our brothers in Russia hope with solidarity. Psalm 133:1 Context: How Pleasant to Live in Unity!

 

AGREE AS JAMES SAID "CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN YOU MEET WITH VARIOUS TRIALS". OUR RUSSIAN BROTHERS KNOW THE END IS NEAR AND THEY HAVE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE AS WE DO IF WE HAVE J.O.Y. THAT IS PUT JEHOVAH FIRST, OTHERS SECOND AND YOURSELF LAST = JOY.

[Anna]

4 hours ago, Melinda Mills said:

Letters from millions of people from all over the world and in different languages? Who will open them, sort them, translate them? Hardly Putin. He will probably sample a few. I worked for top executives  for many years and never knew one to open letters.  At best it might be delegated to some officer who will manage the whole affair and do some kind of précis of them, that is, if the whole lot are not discarded.

 

That doesn't mean that I did not write mine but not to Putin.  The very fact that we did something shows that we are giving Jehovah something to bless. But Putin opening thousands of letters? Hardly.  Wishful thinking.

I think True Tom was just being "poetic" not realistic. He is a writer you know, they can't help themselves . No offense @TrueTomHarley it was a good read

[TrueTomHarley]

It's hard to imagine that traffic to jw.org will not increase, perhaps even explode. In view of the publicity, people will want to see if it is truly extremist. This may be especially true with those we find difficult to reach: the newsworthy and well-connected. What will be the result when they discover that it is not?

Perhaps that is the greatest contribution our Russian brothers make to Jehovah.

True, some are preaching the Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter are proclaiming the Christ out of love, for they know that I have been appointed to defend the good news; but the former do it out of contentiousness, not with a pure motive, for they are intending to create trouble for me in my prison bonds. With what result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and I rejoice over this. ...  Phillipians 1:15-18

[TrueTomHarley]

On April 1, 2017 at 10:12 PM, Anna said:

 Ummmm......if you don't mind me asking, why do you always like your own comments?

Go easy on this person, Anna. I've been known to agree with my own remarks so frequently that the authorities will send for guys with straight jackets.

[Anna]

13 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

It's hard to imagine that traffic to jw.org will not increase, perhaps even explode. In view of the publicity, people will want to see if it is truly extremist. This may be especially true with those we find difficult to reach: the newsworthy and well-connected. What will be the result when they discover that it is not?

Perhaps that is the greatest contribution our Russian brothers make to Jehovah.

True, some are preaching the Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter are proclaiming the Christ out of love, for they know that I have been appointed to defend the good news; but the former do it out of contentiousness, not with a pure motive, for they are intending to create trouble for me in my prison bonds. With what result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and I rejoice over this. ...  Phillipians 1:15-18

Here is a nice bit of trivia I heard: IF we have sent 9 million letters to one official (a realistic possibility) and each envelope is 1mm thick and  stacked on top of the other, then they will reach higher than Mt. Everest . I like this visual. Better than the picture of a US post office with Christmas mail, hailed as our letters to Russia. Yes, this was circulated on social media and thousands fell for it, just like they did with the "announcement at morning worship"

[Melinda Mills]

Agree,  Ann. Seems like you can post any old picture or video with any date about some current event and call it something and people would believe it and forward it to others.  Witnesses  should learn to spot fake news and evaluate information as they should be more attuned to what is truthful.  We  were warned in the Kingdom Ministry years ago when the Internet was new.

[Bible Speaks]

@Anna Liking something it like giving it second approval. Or the saying "so be it!" Think of the positives here, we only care about others, we "like" to encourage all. Thank you for "liking" us too!               Agape, Bible Speaks ???

[Anna]

17 minutes ago, Melinda Mills said:

Agree,  Ann. Seems like you can post any old picture or video with any date about some current event and call it something and people would believe it and forward it to others.  Witnesses  should learn to spot fake news and evaluate information as they should be more attuned to what is truthful.  We  were warned in the Kingdom Ministry years ago when the Internet was new.

Yes. Not only that, but it doesn't cease to amaze me that we still have a hard time understanding that all our info. (pertaining to spiritual and/or organizational matters) always (should) come either from the Bible, via a letter read to the cong. or on the website. Any other means is hearsay or opinion. As regards the veracity of pictures shared, well a little bit of common sense definitely helps!

[Bible Speaks]

@Anna Perhaps you should only stick to jw.org? People can like their own opinions and posts. Many do sharing their own opinions, but contrast to other sites, this is called theworldnewsmedia.org There is no confusion. If something offends you perhaps stay around from the post. Many work hard here to share their thoughts. So please don't offend yourself from asking them to have your opinions. We are all accountable and many do very well in their work. Agape, Bible Speaks ???