HOW DID THIS ALL BEGIN : 1997 ANTI-CULT GROUP IN RUSSIA TARGETS: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

[bruceq]

EVEN BEFORE THE 1997 ANTI-CULT GROUP I HAVE INVESTIGATED THAT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC POPE HIMSELF AND ARCH-BISHOP KIRILL OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF RUSSIA JOINED FORCES TO BEGIN THE ELIMINATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DURING THE BREAK-UP OF THE SOVIET UNION !!!

The Archbishop Cannot Cope!
   LAST year, a consistory (solemn council of cardinals) was organized to discuss certain matters that are of great concern to the Catholic Church. One of these, according to the newspaper Il Sabato, is “the aggressiveness of the sects.” However, the newspaper said: “It should be no problem for the cardinals to reach agreement on this point. All are in accord that there is a need for a more in-depth study of the phenomenon of new religious movements and also a need to prevent, as far as possible, their expansion.”
Evidently, though, “the aggressiveness of the sects” is not just a problem in Italy. Il Sabato reports: “While visiting the Vatican recently, Archbishop Kirill of Smolensk [one of Russia’s oldest cities] . . . asked the pope for ecumenical aid in coping with the overwhelming growth of Jehovah’s Witnesses and similar groups in the Soviet Union.”

   In the first century, leaders of established religion had similar complaints when Christianity was spread aggressively by its adherents. On one occasion indignant Jews complained to the city rulers: “These men that have overturned the inhabited earth are present here also”! (Acts 17:6) Back then, religious leaders tried hard to stop the spread of Christianity, but they failed. Today also, any effort to stop the spread of true Christian doctrine is doomed to failure. God himself promises: “Any weapon whatever that will be formed against you will have no success, and any tongue at all that will rise up against you in the judgment you will condemn. This is the hereditary possession of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from me.”—Isaiah 54:17. SOURCE : 8/15/1992 WATCHTOWER

IN 1998 THIS ANTI-CULT GROUP TOOK JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES TO COURT IN RUSSIA  BUT LOST THE CASE.

HERE IS EVIDENCE FROM 1997 ABOUT THIS GROUP:

"Dangerous" sects named

VICTIMS OF SECTS
Argumenty i fakty, 
4 December 1997

Question: I read somewhere that there is some committee for rescuing youth from false religions. From which specific religious organizations and by what means does this committee "save" our youth? Z. Fomicheva, Ekaterinburg

Answer: The Committee for Rescuing Youth from False Religions was created by persons who had suffered one way or another from totalitarian sects. In comprises both relatives of young people who have fallen under the influence of destructive cults and sectarians themselves. Former sectarians, of course. The committee actively participated in the development of the State Duma's new law on freedom of conscience.

Each member of the committee "specializes" in a particular religious organization and provides advice and counsel regarding it. The victims of destructive cults principally need psychological help, but we still do not have this mechanism in place. Incidentally in the USA such organizations have operated for twenty years already, like the American Family Fund and the Network for Information about Cults. Their work includes counseling and psychological rehabilitation of sectarians.

The Committee for Rescuing Youth considers that the most dangerous sects operating on Russian territory include "Unification Church" (the official name is the Association of the Holy Spirit for Unification of World Christiaity), "Church of Scientology," "Jehovah's Witnesses," "Church of Christ," "International Society of Krishna Consciousness," "Aum Shinrikyo," "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Mormons), "Church of the Final Covenant" (Vissarion), "Mother of God Center," and "The Family" (also known as Children of God). It is also possible to mention "Union of Independent Christian Missionary Societiet," "White Brotherhood," "Witness Li," and "The Spiritual Center of Satora." (tr. by PDS)

http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/9712a.html

MOSCOW COURT VINDICATES JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AFTER YEARS OF PERSECUTION; 
Effort to outlaw the group is dismissed. Action called a victory for religious freedom.

by Robyn Dixon 
Los Angeles Times, 24 February 2001

Earlier generations of Yaroslav Sivulsky's family were persecuted as Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union, and then the state still sought to ban the group as a dangerous cult--even in democratic Russia.

Finally, in what was called an important victory for religious freedom in Russia, Sivulsky saw justice done Friday when a Moscow court threw out a case that sought to outlaw the group in the capital.

In 1998, an anti-cult group called the Committee to Save Our Youth pushed for action against the Jehovah's Witnesses. Prosecutors in Moscow's northern district launched the case in early 1999 based on Russia's controversial 1997 law on religion, designed to limit the activities of foreign religious organizations.

For Sivulsky, the case was a flashback to the repressive Stalin regime 50 years ago when his parents, grandparents and thousands of other Jehovah's Witness families were exiled to Siberia. His father got seven years in a labor camp, he said.

"The accusations were basically the same," he said Friday. "The accusation was that their religion ran counter to the ideology of the Communist Party."

Sivulsky, 33, was jailed for 18 months in 1987 for refusing to serve in the Soviet army. Believers do not accept blood transfusions, refuse to salute any national flag or do military service.

"In court in 1987 , I refused the services of a lawyer because the lawyer, the prosecution and the judge all played on the same team against me," he said.

Prosecutors in 1999 took action to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses under an article in the religion law aimed at cults, which can be outlawed for splitting families, inciting religious discord, encouraging suicide or denying medical care to the critically ill.

"Today's decision sends a very important and optimistic message to other religions and confessions trying to practice in Russia," said Sivulsky, who is spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.

"Russian society is not prepared to go back to totalitarian thinking," he said. "It is impossible to prohibit freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom to speak to people, which is basically what the prosecution was demanding."

Human rights groups welcomed Friday's decision but cautioned that harassment of many religious groups by bureaucrats and police remains common in Russia.

Advocates of religious freedom feared that a successful prosecution against the Jehovah's Witnesses would have opened the gates to similar actions against many other religious groups struggling to operate in Russia.

The court called in five experts to examine the literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses before the judge dismissed the prosecutor's case for the ban.

"It's a very important test case. It sets the standards for how much evidence you have to produce to ban a group like this," said Diederik Lohman, director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch. "The fact that all the literature had to be examined by experts sets a precedent for the way cases like this are to be dealt with."

The Jehovah's Witnesses group was founded in the late 19th century in the U.S. and appeared in Russia several years later. It now claims to have 250,000 followers here.

Galina Krylova, a lawyer for the group, said the Moscow case was based on absurdities.

She cited a "stupid accusation that my clients don't celebrate the Russian Orthodox Christmas--but Muslims or Jews don't celebrate it either."

Russian Orthodox Deacon Andrei Kurayev, professor of theology at St. Tikhon's Institute and Moscow State University, insisted that it was clear that the Jehovah's Witnesses are "a totalitarian sect" that must be resisted strongly by the Orthodox Church's anti-missionary program.

"This sect tries to control people's consciousness," he charged. "They very strictly limit all the information that their followers get. Thus, they are a threat not only for the state but for individuals as well."

But he said he feels that it is up to the Orthodox Church to struggle against such groups.

"We should work hard and struggle for people's souls rather than wait for courts to ban them," he said.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which bitterly opposes missionary activities, was one of the main proponents of the 1997 religion law, which forced many denominations to go through a difficult registration process. The only ones excused were those defined as "traditional" to Russia: Russian Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism.

http://www2.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/0102f.html

EVIDENCE IS HERE THAT THE ANTI-CULT GROUP WERE INVOLVED IN THE VERY LAWS THAT ARE NOW USED TO CURTAIL AND NOW BAN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES. OF COURSE THIS WILL BE A "PRECEDENT" AGAINST ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS AS THE STATE DUMA JUST SAID YESTERDAY !!!

[Bible Speaks]

And, why were Jehovah's Witnesses a threat instead of all those? Because Satan has a hook in his nose and will continue to fight till he is stopped! He only wants Jehovah's people he knows the end is soon for Him! And the Anointed. The rest are the real false extremists or part of Babylon the Great. 

????⚔️??

[bruceq]

ALSO SEE THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT THIS HERE: http://articles.latimes.com/2001/feb/24/news/mn-29749

FROM 2001

THE RUSSIAN "EXTREMISM" LAWS WERE "DESIGNED" SPECIFICALLY TO TARGET AND ELIMINATE "JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: 

EVIDENCE:

Extremism laws[edit]

The 2002 Law on Extremism, amended in July 2006, can affect religious groups, particularly Muslim groups, by criminalizing a broad spectrum of activities. For example, Mansur Shangareev was convicted of extremism and sentenced to 2 years in prison for "actively adhering to a radical trend of Islam" that claimed superiority over mainstream Islam, and for making "remarks to Muslim girls about their immodest dress," among other things.

The 2006 amendments allow some charges of extremism where people are alleged to have defended or expressed sympathy with other individuals already charged with extremism.

Laws against extremism have been tightened over time. The 2016 Yarovaya Law, named after politician Irina Yarovaya, extends the legal restrictions against extremism to include evangelism by minority faiths.^[4][5][6][7]

On May 5, 2015, customs authorities in Russia seized a shipment of religious literature containing Ossetian-language Bibles published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Russian customs officials in the city of Vyborg held up a shipment of 2,013 Russian-language copies of Bibles on July 13, 2015. Customs authorities confiscated three of the Bibles, sent them to an "expert" to study the Bibles to determine whether they contained "extremist" language, and impounded the rest of the shipment.^[8]

On July 21, 2015, the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice added Jehovah's Witnesses' official website to the Federal List of Extremist Materials thereby making it a criminal offense to promote the website from within the country and requiring internet providers throughout Russia to block access to the site.^[9][10]

On March 23, 2017, the Russian News Agency TASS reported, "Russia's Justice Ministry has suspended the activities of the religious organization calling itself Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia due to its extremist activities."^[11] The Supreme Court of Russia is scheduled on April 5 to hear a request by the Russian Justice Ministry to declare Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist organization. If adopted, the ruling would ban the organization's activity across Russia and result in seizure of their property.^[12]

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Russia}

[Evacuated]

2 minutes ago, bruceq said:

 

ALSO SEE THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

 

It says: "The court called in five experts to examine the literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses".......and that was brfore dismissing the case!!!

How many experts does it take to identify extremism?????

[bruceq]

AND NOW THE U.S. COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM HAS STATED:

 “The Russian government’s latest actions appear designed to eliminate the legal existence of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia. If the Supreme Court rules in April that this group is ‘extremist’ it would mark the first time that Russia legally has banned a centrally-administered religious organization and would effectively criminalize all Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activity nationwide. USCIRF calls on the Russian government to stop its harassment of this peaceful religious group.”

http://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases/russia-russia-suspends-jehovah-s-witnesses

AND NOW JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE BANNED IN RUSSIA.

Society April 20, 2017, 20:34 Ivan Ovechkin 

The State Duma will examine the Court's decision, "Jehovah's Witnesses"

Legal precedent will develop new laws to protect the rights of believers

 

The State Duma will examine the Court's decision, "Jehovah's Witnesses". Legal precedent will develop new laws to protect the rights of believers, told "Izvestia" of the Civil Society Development of the State Duma Committee, the issues of public and religious associations Sergey Gavrilov.

"It's a legal precedent, even though we no case law, but it is important to examine the details of the case, that we once took the decision to protect the rights of believers. We have adopted a number of amendments to the anti-extremist legislation. If you remember, the Russian parliament passed an amendment relating to the limitation antilegal missionary. Therefore, it is important to study this matter, because we may in the future have to use it in their law-making ", - said Gavrilov.

In his opinion, Russia has a lot of religious organizations whose activities are under question. 

"All organizations that we exist, except for the traditional religions, should be investigated for the protection of the interests of traditional morality, traditional Russian values, institutions respect for the family's neighbor care and love for the Fatherland. In my opinion, a lot of organizations today do not meet these criteria, "- said Gavrilov.

Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the Russian representation of "Jehovah's Witnesses" extremist organization and banned its operation in the country.

[bruceq]

JUST FOUND OUT DVORKIN IS AN  "ANTI-CULTIST" AND IS PART OF THE "MINISTRY OF JUSTICE" OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION - NO WONDER JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DID NOT GET ANY JUSTICE FROM THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE : 

RUSSIA | CHURCH

[ back ]

Photo via blagovest-info.ru Alexander Dvorkin heads the new commission on religion On 3 April, Alexander Dvorkin, the Russian priest most famous for the defamation of religious groups not belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox faith, was elected Chairman of the Justice Department’s “Commission for the Implementation of State Expertise on Religious Science”, reports Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. This committee had been officially founded a month earlier on 3 March. Dvorkin, a US citizen and according to some reports a 1983 graduate of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood/New York, is a self-avowed specialist on the cults. He is known for the broken glass and other acts of vandalism committed against religious buildings following in the wake of his public appearances across Russia. The result of his election was a vociferous and immediate outcry from academic experts on religion and others acknowledging the multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of Russian society. Citing Russian literature, the religion expert Michael Sitnikov compared Dvorkin’s election to “authorising the donkey to guard the vegetable patch”. http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue5494.html SEE ALSO PG. 79 OF THE BOOK "BELIEVING IN RUSSIA RELIGIOUS POLICY AFTER RUSSIA BY FAGAN :

[Bible Speaks]

He is a "Dork!" ???????

Sorry I'm laughing now. Can it get worse? Maybe he'll find some "snakes" ??in his "vegetable patch"? 

@bruceq Trying to get you to laugh ? 

[bruceq]

    : "¹⁷  No weapon formed against you will have any success,+And you will condemn any tongue that rises up against you in the judgment.This is the heritage* of the servants of Jehovah,And their righteousness is from me,” declares Jehovah.+ ISA 54:17

 ⁷  He will not fear bad news.+^{נ [Nun]}His heart is steadfast, trusting in Jehovah.+^{ס [Samekh] 8}  His heart is unshakable;* he is not afraid;+^{ע [Ayin]}In the end he will look in triumph on his adversaries.+ PSALM 112:7,8

¹⁸  And you will be brought before governors and kings+ for my sake, for a witness to them and the nations.+ MATT. 10:18

[Evacuated]

32 minutes ago, bruceq said:

Citing Russian literature, the religion expert Michael Sitnikov compared Dvorkin’s election to “authorising the donkey to guard the vegetable patch”.

Treacherous snake. This is why we need Jehovah on our side. We cannot win against against such devious enemies. They have no principles. We cannot fight a war on their terms. As our Brother Stephen Lett reminded us: 

Happy is the man who fears Jehovah........He will not fear bad news. His heart is steadfast, trusting in Jehovah.   His heart is unshakable; he is not afraid; In the end he will look in triumph on his adversaries.  Ps 112 :1; 7-8.

Keep digging brother......
 

[bruceq]

HEY WE BOTH POSTED THE SAME SCRIPTURE AT THE SAME TIME LOL 

[Anna]

3 hours ago, bruceq said:

On 3 April, Alexander Dvorkin, the Russian priest most famous for the defamation of religious groups not belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox faith, was elected Chairman of the Justice Department’s “Commission for the Implementation of State Expertise on Religious Science”,

Now isn't that interesting...

I am assuming this is 3 April 2017

[bruceq]

NO ACTUALLY IT WAS 2009 THE YEAR THE MINISTRY STARTED STRENGTHENING  ITS CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.