Posted on 05/08/2024 4:57:37 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
"Your church has no right to exist, as it has connections with America and other Western countries," Russian authorities told the deacon of the Pentecostal church in Nova Kakhovka, Oleksandr Prokopchuk. They arrested him and his 19-year-old son. Both were later found dead in a forest. In occupied Sloviansk four members of the Evangelical Church of the Transformation were accused of being American spies because some U.S. dollars were found in their pockets. They were subsequently shot and killed.
Evangelicals are targeted by the Russians disproportionally... Protestants were the victims of 34 percent of the reported persecution events...Baptists made up 13 percent of victims – the largest single group after Ukrainian Orthodox. Under Russian control 400 Baptist congregations have been lost, 17% of the total in Ukraine.
Petro Dudnyk, Pastor of the Good News Church, explains that the occupying forces "thought and spoke like this: you are the American faith, the Americans are our enemies, the enemies must be destroyed."
By hurting those who practice an “American” religion the Kremlin can claim it is striking against American power....
But it’s not just individual clergy Russian forces go after, sometimes it’s whole congregation..
When Russian occupying forces shut down the Melitopol Christian Church, they used sledge hammers to break into the building. Members were interrogated as to whether the church was hiding any Americans. The house of worship was expropriated and given to a Russian Ministry. Its fifty foot cross was chopped down...
Sometimes the Russians also try to “cure” protestants. Viktor Cherniiavskyi, was held for 25 days, beaten with a baseball bat and given electro-shocks. A Russian Orthodox priest was present in this process, and tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian...
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
LOL, you don’t learn the religious statistics of a vast nation by visiting there.
What percentage of Russians attend church monthly?
If you are trying to say something you need to actually say it, these meaningless random photos are useless.
“””””Not true. I was in Moscow a few years ago, and got handed gospel tracts. I know Christians who live there. I have not heard of any persecution happening.”””””
Russia Charges American Pastor Under New Anti-Evangelism Law
“An American pastor has been charged under Russia’s new “anti-terrorism” law for conducting a religious service in a private home and sticking an advertisement in a public place inviting people to worship. The law puts severe restrictions on religious freedom by banning religious gatherings in homes and regulating propagation of religion.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/russia-charges-american-pastor-under-new-anti-evangelism-law.html
Russian courts rule that personal evangelism is an illegal form of church recruitment
““This is the first time that Russian courts have ruled that individual Christians handing out Christian Bibles, books, and tracts in public is an illegal form of church recruitment,” says Representative Foley. “There are previous cases where courts have fined Christians for doing various Christian activities, but those rulings associated the offense with churches’ failure to register with the government. But in these two rulings, no mention is made of the registration status of the defendants’ churches. Instead, the courts criminalized the public distribution of Christian literature, ruling that it is not an act of personal evangelism.”
https://dotheword.org/2023/07/04/russian-courts-rule-that-personal-evangelism-is-an-illegal-form-of-church-recruitment/
Churches to Russia: We’re not leaving
“ Several U.S.-based religious denominations remain defiant in the face of new laws that would ban them from proselytizing in Russia.
The so-called “Yarovaya laws” make it illegal to preach, proselytize or hand out religious materials outside of specially designated places. The laws also give the Russian government wide scope to monitor and record electronic messages and phone calls.”
https://pres-outlook.org/2016/07/churches-russia-not-leaving/
Russian Evangelicals Penalized Most Under Anti-Evangelism Law
“So far this year, Russian authorities interrupted a Baptist worship service in April and charged its 71-year-old pastor with illegal missionary activity. In January, two Baptists were punished for discussing their faith at a bus stop.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/may/russian-evangelicals-anti-missionary-fined-yarovaya-law.html
Russia’s Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church
(UPDATE) Putin signs new restrictions that limit where and how Christians share the gospel.
“This week, Russian president Vladimir Putin approved a package of anti-terrorism laws that usher in tighter restrictions on missionary activity and evangelism.
Despite prayers and protests from religious leaders and human rights advocates, the Kremlin announced Putin’s approval yesterday. The amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, go into effect July 20.”
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/june/no-evangelizing-outside-of-church-russia-proposes.html
Please, no spamming.
“””””Your church has no right to exist, as it has connections with America and other Western countries,” Russian authorities told the deacon of the Pentecostal church in Nova Kakhovka, Oleksandr Prokopchuk. They arrested him and his 19-year-old son. Both were later found dead in a forest. In occupied Sloviansk four members of the Evangelical Church of the Transformation were accused of being American spies because some U.S. dollars were found in their pockets. They were subsequently shot and killed.
Evangelicals are targeted by the Russians disproportionally... Protestants were the victims of 34 percent of the reported persecution events...Baptists made up 13 percent of victims – the largest single group after Ukrainian Orthodox. Under Russian control 400 Baptist congregations have been lost, 17% of the total in Ukraine.””””
It seems to cover all Christianity that isn’t of the Russian government’s controlled denomination.
Well that pretty much slammed the hood down on that exchange. Nice...
You are a stinking liar. You know that Ukraine is welcoming to Baptists and other sects ant yet you post such libel.
That is absolute nonsense, and absolutely ridiculous.
You have totally made all that up, all of it, 100%.
well, to be blunt, Russia has been cracking down on American religions since the early 2000s.
not just evangelicals but the other religions invented in the USA in the 1800s - Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists etc.
Exactly
Russia persecutes Christians and the sun rises in the east
Which is simply ignorance. Evangelical faith is not American, nor liberal, as instead it is overall ancient and transnational, and even the US those who most strongly esteem Scripture as the accurate and wholly inspired word of God, with its basic literal hermeneutic have long testified to being the most conservative major group basic values , despite divisions. More so than Russian Orthodox.
No amount of testimony will be accepted by persistent Putin devotees. Of course, Ukraine is not evangelical either.
A bare statement, while survey shows:
"63% of Russians consider themselves Orthodox believers" and 66% of Russians – the population as a whole, without reference to one’s faith – trust the Russian Orthodox Church." - https://www.pravmir.com/over-65-of-russians-trust-the-russian-orthodox-church-poll/
More findings from that same source are that,
For many people, however, “Orthodox” is basically a cultural identification label and does not necessarily imply adherence to specific religious doctrines—a Levada poll found that 30 percent of those who saw themselves as “Orthodox” did not even believe in the existence of God. To single out the believers from the “culturally Orthodox,” we started by asking whether respondents considered themselves as belonging to any religion at all. Slightly more than half, 55 percent, answered in the affirmative. Of these, 81 percent indicated Russian Orthodoxy. This means that altogether 45 percent of our respondents considered themselves Orthodox believers.
Moreover...we found that Orthodox Christians, despite the ROC’s strong stance on abortions, were only marginally more opposed (48 percent) than the non-Orthodox/nonbelievers (46 percent) (see Table 2).On whether certain other behavior could be justified, 55% of self-declared Orthodox believers affirmed fornication could be, which is actually just slightly less than non-Orthodox/nonbelievers (57%)
Pew research finds that in Russia,
just 6% of Orthodox Christian adults say they attend church at least weekly, 15% say religion is “very important” in their lives, and 18% say they pray daily. Other former Soviet republics display similarly low levels of religious observance. Together, these countries are home to a majority of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/08/orthodox-take-socially-conservative-views-on-gender-issues-homosexuality/
Across all three waves of ISSP data, no more than about one-in-ten Russians said they attend religious services at least once a month.
Meanwhile,
America has incurred the wrath of God, being more blessed and accountable than others. To which applies:
Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. (Hosea 8:3-4) I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. (Hosea 8:12) For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. (Hosea 8:14)
Yet,
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1 Peter 4:17-18)
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