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 ...
There is no Freedom of Religion in Russia.
Duh.
Don’t the Russians have enough problems without creating new ones that don’t exist?
Does anyone blame Russia for not wanting American Religion? How many churches in America fly Ukraine and LGBTQI flags? Can you imagine what Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Peter, would say about American Churches?
There isn’t here really...
SAINT-PETERSBURG - On December 8 and 9, a conference of the Russian Pentecostal Union in the Northwestern Federal District, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, was held in St. Petersburg.
700 participants from churches of St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Murmansk, and Kaliningrad regions, and the Republics of Komi and Karelia gathered together to pray, encourage one another, and delve into God's Word.
Bishops Eduard Grabovenko, Pavel Zhelnovakov, Vasily Evchik, Alexander Tsvetkov, Fyodor Velichko and Sergey Linnik preached at the conference.
Vladimir Ivanov, Head of the Department for Relations with Religious Associations of the St. Petersburg Governor's Administration, and Mikhail Kolotushkin, Head of the Department for Relations with Religious Associations of the Leningrad Region Administration, addressed the conference participants with welcoming remarks.
On December 9, the conference included the ordination of Bishop Sergey Pobedinsky (Velikiy Novgorod), as well as one pastor and seven deacons of churches that are part of the North-West Association.
The conference was a significant event for many brothers and sisters from local churches.
“...A Russian Orthodox priest was present in this process, and tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian.”
Maybe they though he was from the United Methodist Church.
What sort of “evangelicals” are they? The politicized LGBT brand that is allied with Biden, the EU, and Ukraine?
There’s no religion in Russia.
Does the Russian government hate evangelicals more than the people running the institutions that matter in the United States?
Answer: Don’t know..... but my gut says this is simplistic propaganda-information intended for US Evangelicals, to sway them in a interventionist position on the Russia-Ukraine War.
If they are trying to push homosexuality or transgenderism upon the people, then no thanks. Otherwise, a close eye will be kept upon them. I personally believe that is the responsible approach. It's the approach we should have taken.
Since this is a Time article, whatever they claim must be taken with a heavy dose of skepticism.
But I am not inclined to get involved in telling other nations how they much act. I might tell them that I disagree if the punishment exceeds what is reasonable. The person evangelizing chose to go there and evangelize, so the risk is totally upon them, as far as I am concerned.
I’ve long suspected that Russia’s prohibition on Mormon missionaries is big part of the reason that Mittens Romney was on the “Russia Russia Russia” bandwagon before it was cool. (anyone remember a dozen years ago when Barry Obama make fun of Mittens’ animus toward the Russkies?)
I don’t know who or what is ever going on in Russia, but I do know AOL Commie News are the biggest liars on the planet. They make the Asspress look even handed and objective.
No, the Russians are not religious, they don’t go to church and don’t actually have much of anything to do with Christianity, they have a state church of symbols, pomp, and ceremony but the people don’t attend the church and need Christians to evangelize them and bring them to Christianity, something the government and the state church fight.
AIL News? I don’t believe commie, left wing sources.
Pretty sure this is anti Russian propaganda and nothing else.
According to you.
And only you.
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