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Post by Jolly on Apr 21, 2024 13:16:27 GMT
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Post by joebill on Apr 26, 2024 2:49:59 GMT
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Sometimes I find myself viewing serious subjects of high importance in a somewhat frivolous manner. The soviets had a lot of anti-religious museums when they forced young folks to tour, and generally did everything they could to destroy Christian beliefs......and we all know what befell the soviets. Now, they are at it again. Kinda reminds me how the coyote just never seems to learn how to leave that roadrunner alone ....Joe
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Apr 26, 2024 12:03:31 GMT
joebill, My take on your comment is this. There have always been certain personality types that through one rationalization or another find it pleasurable to hold total power over others. Their method is to spout altruistic and utopian myths to gain that power, and then their true selves appear. Out of jealousy to God, they refuse Him and rejoice in their "mini-god" powers, wreaking havoc on those they control for their own paranoid satisfaction, knowing down deep the falseness of their real powers over God-given human nature. How many hundreds of millions of lives were extinguished in the name of an unachievable utopia that started out as a false promise of universal happiness?
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Post by blackfeather on Apr 28, 2024 2:14:11 GMT
I question the veracity of this Time magazine story and this Azat Azatyan guy. He appears to be Ukrainian and therefore has an axe to grind. I need more proof than this. Considering that my Baptist niece is preaching in Russia, and has had no persecution, I have to wonder if this is war propaganda to counter the actual persecution by the Ukrainian government of Orthodox Christians.
I've continued to research this, so far, I have found a large number of articles about this, but it appears they refer back to this one fellow. Seeing that almost every major news source is repeating the same story makes me suspicious. It is true that Russia is not friendly to JWs, they consider them a cult, among some other smaller denominations, but the Baptists have up to now been accepted. So I'll keep my mind open, but I'll need more confirmation of this from other sources. Like I say my niece has had no problems and she is an evangelical missionary.
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Post by joebill on Apr 28, 2024 2:48:54 GMT
A third point of view.....that Putin has taken over the russian ortodox church and empowered it to do pretty much as it pleases. I did not watch the entire video...Joe
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Post by sunny225 on Apr 28, 2024 17:00:17 GMT
I question the veracity of this Time magazine story and this Azat Azatyan guy. He appears to be Ukrainian and therefore has an axe to grind. I need more proof than this. Considering that my Baptist niece is preaching in Russia, and has had no persecution, I have to wonder if this is war propaganda to counter the actual persecution by the Ukrainian government of Orthodox Christians. I've continued to research this, so far, I have found a large number of articles about this, but it appears they refer back to this one fellow. Seeing that almost every major news source is repeating the same story makes me suspicious. It is true that Russia is not friendly to JWs, they consider them a cult, among some other smaller denominations, but the Baptists have up to now been accepted. So I'll keep my mind open, but I'll need more confirmation of this from other sources. Like I say my niece has had no problems and she is an evangelical missionary. JW's ARE a cult. So are some of those other "smaller denominations". I don't allow any of their literature in my house. EVER ETA: IF your JW's are the same ones as what I am thinking of. These are the people who go to everyone's door in a neighborhood, right>
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Post by blackfeather on Apr 28, 2024 19:04:29 GMT
I question the veracity of this Time magazine story and this Azat Azatyan guy. He appears to be Ukrainian and therefore has an axe to grind. I need more proof than this. Considering that my Baptist niece is preaching in Russia, and has had no persecution, I have to wonder if this is war propaganda to counter the actual persecution by the Ukrainian government of Orthodox Christians. I've continued to research this, so far, I have found a large number of articles about this, but it appears they refer back to this one fellow. Seeing that almost every major news source is repeating the same story makes me suspicious. It is true that Russia is not friendly to JWs, they consider them a cult, among some other smaller denominations, but the Baptists have up to now been accepted. So I'll keep my mind open, but I'll need more confirmation of this from other sources. Like I say my niece has had no problems and she is an evangelical missionary. JW's ARE a cult. So are some of those other "smaller denominations". I don't allow any of their literature in my house. EVER ETA: IF your JW's are the same ones as what I am thinking of. These are the people who go to everyone's door in a neighborhood, right> They used to. A story, my wife was on the phone with her sister when some JW's came to the door, my wife told her sister that she wasn't going to answer it because she had things to do and didn't want to waste her time, then suddenly my wife remembered who she was talking to, her sister who was a Jehovah's Witness. They both laughed. I would talk to JW's if they came and if I had time. They seemed rather thick trying to get through to them. I also talked to Mormons when they came to the door. How the Russians handle it is, if you are part of a minority church like the JW's or Mormons, you can believe whatever you want, but you cannot proselytize, nor can your organization own the means to proselytize, that includes buildings, printing presses and the like. Legally you can meet in your home with those who already agree with you, but you can't have a church building. The problem arises when local politicians and police are overzealous and persecute these groups. They end up violating the federal laws on this, which when taken to higher courts the locals are put in their place. Now I do believe it is wrong to inhibit freedom of religion, so long as the religion isn't advocating violence or other criminal activity. Russia up to now has tolerated, Christianity, if you're mainstream, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and I believe the Hindu is the other of the five they accept. You are expected to study at least one of these religions while in school. Putin quotes both the Bible and the Koran in his speeches. Though I don't agree with the JW's I believe it is their right to worship as they please and to publish or preach their beliefs, those who disagree don't have to listen. So I believe Russia is wrong in restricting various smaller denominations.
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Post by joebill on Apr 28, 2024 23:19:52 GMT
The small town of Benson AZ still has the remnants of a tunnel system between homes and underground shelters used in 1960 and again in 2014 when a small cult thought they had gotten word from on high that the world was about to be destroyed by nuclear war.
We used to know some of the folks who were kids during the 1960 episode and dragged underground by their parents for 6 WEEKS, only to discover upon returning to the surface that things were as they were before, except now they were all objects of ridicule amongst the other kids. A fair number of parent/child relationships never recovered from that debacle. They were called Gophers by their classmates.
I read that in the small town tradition of the time, people were charging large amounts of groceries at local stores and after 6 weeks of no earnings they had not much chance of ever paying for them, so local retailers were in danger of going under at the time.
For a story about another local cult, google "shootout at miracle valley" Like I said, ANYTHING can and will happen in Arizona.....Joe
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