DISCUSS COURT CASE HERE JW.org - Jehovah’s Witnesses Mobilize Global Response to Threat of Ban in Russia

[Tbs77]

Jehovah is using the Russians to publicize His Name. And, there is nothing they can do about it. The world is actually paying attention to Jehovah's people because of their actions. I can remember one of our audio programs."Jehovah!Jehovah! I am sick of hearing that name".  (Or words similar) I can imagine Mr. Putin saying similar words. He bit off more then he can chew! And he is not through hearing Jehovah's name!
i don't know about you friends out there. But, the truth just became more serious to me. As I went over the WT for tomorrow, I decided to take some really quiet time and really go over it. ( quiet time is Hard to come by in this household) 
i watched the video regarding the trial. It put so much in prospective. And I thought about the comment from the society a while back, "will this be our last Memorial?"  Jehovah got them through this Memorial. We know, if the system still exists, the Memorial will be celebrated in Russia, but, still...
What we do know is Jehovah is in charge, and this Russian business has been a mighty witness. And, it is not over yet. We have bans throughout the earth, but with Russia being one of the largest nations on earth, it has commanded attention no one, but, perhaps Jehovah knew where this was taking us. 
Batten the hatches, friends! Settle deep into the congregation. Stay close. "Expect the unexpected" 

Well this be our last Memorial?:
March 2014
Will You Seize the Opportunity

[TrueTomHarley]

On day 2, the Russian Presiding Judge became surprisingly active, Mark Sanderson of the Governing Body said. He questioned closely the Ministry of Justice on just what might happen if Russian Witnesses were to continue reading their extremist publications. Virtually everything Jehovah's Witnesses publishes is on the government's list of extremism literature, even the children's book. The Ministry of Justice assured him there could be dire consequences. What of the rights of 175,000 Russian citizens? the judge wanted to know. Recorded audio confirmed the exchange.

 

It was not the only time he was to do his job. On Day 5, he questioned the Ministry of Justice as to the legal basis for shutting down Jehovah's Witnesses and confiscating their property. The Ministry of Justice declined to identify one.

 

Several said that the judge appeared sad as he granted the Ministry of Justice's petition to ban Jehovah's Witnesses, after reviewing 43 volumes of submitted evidence in a single hour. He knew what he had to do. But possibly he was a man with a conscience. 

 

Possibly he did not want to, even for a single hour, be chief spokesperson for the Devil.

Edited April 23, 2017 by TrueTomHarley

[Tbs77]

Christianity Today

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/april/russia-bans-jehovahs-witnesses.html



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

From this article:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/april/russia-bans-jehovahs-witnesses.html

“If Jehovah’s Witnesses are persecuted, then that means later ‘on the block’ will come other religious movements—for example, Protestant churches,” law professor Anatoly Pchelintcev told Portal-Credo, an Orthodox news site. “For the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Armageddon has arrived, and the faithful of other religions await the apocalypse.”

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[CloudJah]

1 hour ago, TrueTomHarley said:

On day 2, the Russian Presiding Judge became surprisingly active, Mark Sanderson of the Governing Body said. He questioned closely the Ministry of Justice on just what might happen if Russian Witnesses were to continue reading their extremist publications. Virtually everything Jehovah's Witnesses publishes is on the government's list of extremism literature, even the children's book. The Ministry of Justice assured him there could be dire consequences. What of the rights of 175,000 Russian citizens? the judge wanted to know. Recorded audio confirmed the exchange.

 

It was not the only time he was to do his job. On Day 5, he questioned the Ministry of Justice as to the legal basis for shutting down Jehovah's Witnesses and confiscating their property. The Ministry of Justice declined to identify one.

 

Several said that the judge appeared sad as he granted the Ministry of Justice's petition to ban Jehovah's Witnesses, after reviewing 43 volumes of submitted evidence in a single hour. He knew what he had to do. But possibly he was a man with a conscience. 

 

Possibly he did not want to, even for a single hour, be chief spokesperson for the Devil.

 

It reminds me the moment when Pilato, even if he was sure that Jesus was innocent,  decided to condamn him, for fear. Perhaps the judge too had been threatened by the politic powers above him. Anyway the judge is totally guilty and corrupted 

Edited April 23, 2017 by CloudJah

[hatcheckgirl]

It is interesting though that on days 2-5 he seemed to give our brothers a fair go in presenting their arguments.  And didn't the MOJ lawyers seem unprepared to have to defend their reasonings for the ban? It may have been that they hadn't anticipated any argumentation from the brothers would be allowed.  They really had no answers when the judge or our brothers.  This wasn't panning out the way they had been anticipating.  No free throw for them.

 

Then on the last day, the judge seems to "snap out of it" and toe the party line.  But in doing it this way, the evidence was presented and everyone got a chance to see the farce.  

 

And the fact that both the Memorial and the Special talk were possible shows Jehovah maneuvering things, hey?

[New World Explorer]

22 minutes ago, hatcheckgirl said:

Then on the last day, the judge seems to "snap out of it"

This is when Ministry of Justice complained to Putin and Putin had to Put-in few words to the judge

[Margaret]

On 4/21/2017 at 0:36 PM, Dustparticle said:

 Any work sheet on the last 2 days on the trial??? I like to keep a record on this. Thanks.

https://www.jw-russia.org/pages/17040614-132.html

[Tbs77]

This is when Ministry of Justice complained to Putin and Putin had to Put-in few words to the judge

Wonder if judge will "retire" suddenly for his "behavior" days 2-5....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[TrueTomHarley]

20 hours ago, retroHelen said:

 

I thought it was interesting what one person commented about what will happen from now on across Russia - even more than it did in the past, when not as much publicity was  available as to  what the Soviet authorities back then were doing:  

 

Moscow Echo Radio Commenter: " Neighbours will now have a great opportunity to start revenge on each other - engaging in mass false denunciations!"

Someone has to start it. I will.

 

I just heard that Putin is actually a Witness.....

Edited April 23, 2017 by TrueTomHarley

[Tortuga]

5 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

Someone has to start it. I will.

 

I just heard that Putin is actually a Witness.....

 

He will be....

 

I have a funny feeling that he will be a witness to a lot of things...

[Miss Bea]

That judge knew the injustice he was perpetrating. I wonder how many who saw it first hand will have their heart moved. Even the, Minister of, "Justice". She looked miserable. I couldn't see her look anyone in the face. It was Putins courtroom. The judge forgot that for a day. The woman, (I think it was a woman) did not. 

Its a police state. And they took on Jehovah. Big mistake. They may think they prevailed. They should have watched one of those videos on our web site. Sennacherib, and taunting Jehovah. 

I used to think the world leaders today do not know of Jehovah. Not like those in the biblical days of yore. Not so today. And, it's not over yet. Hang on friends!

[sunshine]

 

The Independent (Mainstream UK Newswpaper)

 

British Government 'alarmed' at Russian ban on 'extremist' Jehovah's Witnesses

UK calls on Vladimir Putin to uphold freedom of religion as followers ‘criminalised’

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-supreme-court-vladimir-putin-british-government-alarmed-criticism-a7696621.html

[Tortuga]

Yesterday I  listened to the 2017 Yearbook about Georgia again. It was a good reminder of what the brothers went through and how they dealt with it.

[TrueTomHarley]

16 hours ago, CloudJah said:

It reminds me the moment when Pilato, even if he was sure that Jesus was innocent,  decided to condamn him, for fear. Perhaps the judge too had been threatened by the politic powers above him. Anyway the judge is totally guilty and corrupted 

 

Not many are ready for their 15 minutes of negative fame. Even Peter chickened out. By pointed questions throughout the trial, which the MOJ was totally unprepared for, the judge exposed them as not having a leg to stand on, perhaps aiding future appeals or present worldwide review. He did a lot, even if he ultimately declined to throw himself under the bus.

[hatcheckgirl]

Yes, I've been wondering if the judge did that deliberately, to enable the brothers to have some valid points to use in their defence at their appeal, and with the European court. Either he or Jehovah did it. Because a lot of things went in our favour. Doing it this way, and then still finding JWs extremist, really shows Russia in a bad light. Every sane person knows that they are banning a non-violent group of people as extremist, and are shocked to have this turn back to the dark old days of totalitarianism.

[sunshine]

47 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

Not many are ready for their 15 minutes of negative fame. Even Peter chickened out. By pointed questions throughout the trial, which the MOJ was totally unprepared for, the judge exposed them as not having a leg to stand on, perhaps aiding future appeals or present worldwide review. He did a lot, even if he ultimately declined to throw himself under the bus.

 

 

Who knows what went on between day one and day two... It really strengthened my faith because regardless of the original plan Jehovah would not let the case go down without a thorough witness being given.  Maybe the Judges personal pride kicked in (it must be hard professionally to sit and not even go through the motions of doing your job in front of the world's press) or maybe he was told it was all looking a tad too obvious and to at least play the part of judge not puppet... in the end it showed me what Jehovah means when he says "I shall put hooks in your nose and lead you back the way you came" ... Jehovah is in control, it almost seemed that the judge was asking questions against his own will... (since he was going to decide against us, it hardly suits his purpose to expose the procecutors as having no evidence)...  but he did it anyway.  It all went on record.

 

Our God is Mighty, I fully expect to see him do Grand things to further magnify his name.

 

 

[retroHelen]

A few days ago someone put up a post from the comments of an official of the European Security Department.

 

He said that Russia knows that because of their alliances and bombing in Syria, they had become a key target for ISIS and it's affiliate groups. They had received threats to that effect.

 

He commented that, should they do the absurd thing of declaring the JW's as extremists, they will be dissipating their Police and intelligence power on hunting down and spying on thousands of innocent Russian citizens instead of focussing on the real threats.

 

In other words - Their intelligence gatherers and Police time would be so wasted on such pursuits, that they would be endangering every citizen in their own country -giving the real terrorists opportunities in areas where they are too busy/distracted rounding up innocent people and seizing their assets.

 

 Also, they are rendering their intelligence gathering as questionable and useless to European Intelligence if they persist in this absurd action. European intelligence services have no time to waste in such dangerous times, sifting through Russian intelligence unsure if the targets supplied to Europe from Russia are genuine or just denunciation on people the state no longer likes.

 

Finally, people of the World could rightly conclude that  he is rightly alarmed that wasting time on innocent people instead of focussing fully on and sharing intelligence with Europe on the real threats actually endangers more than just Russia, but the whole World's Security!!

 

 Real terrorism grows when authorities take their eyes of real danger by focusing on the wrong/soft targets.

 

Looking at things from their Worldly point of view, I hope more governments around the World come to this same conclusion about this error of the Russian State and put pressure on them to forget this and for all their sakes focus on 'real issues', so they can get themselves to the "saying Peace and Security" we want them to be doing in line with prophecy.

 

 

[tekmantwo]

18 minutes ago, retroHelen said:

A few days ago someone put up a post from the comments of an official of the European Security Department.

 

He said that Russia knows that because of their alliances and bombing in Syria, they had become a key target for ISIS and it's affiliate groups. They had received threats to that effect.

 

He commented that, should they do the absurd thing of declaring the JW's as extremists, they will be dissipating their Police and intelligence power on hunting down and spying on thousands of innocent Russian citizens instead of focussing on the real threats.

 

In other words - Their intelligence gatherers and Police time would be so wasted on such pursuits, that they would be endangering every citizen in their own country -giving the real terrorists opportunities in areas where they are too busy/distracted rounding up innocent people and seizing their assets.

 

 Also, they are rendering their intelligence gathering as questionable and useless to European Intelligence if they persist in this absurd action. European intelligence services have no time to waste in such dangerous times, sifting through Russian intelligence unsure if the targets supplied to Europe from Russia are genuine or just denunciation on people the state no longer likes.

 

Finally, people of the World could rightly conclude that  he is rightly alarmed that wasting time on innocent people instead of focussing fully on and sharing intelligence with Europe on the real threats actually endangers more than just Russia, but the whole World's Security!!

 

 Real terrorism grows when authorities take their eyes of real danger by focusing on the wrong/soft targets.

 

Looking at things from their Worldly point of view, I hope more governments around the World come to this same conclusion about this error of the Russian State and put pressure on them to forget this and for all their sakes focus on 'real issues', so they can get themselves to the "saying Peace and Security" we want them to be doing in line with prophecy.

 

 

You make some valid points.  One thing that would concern me would be that,  if the Russian forces are known to be targeting Jehovahs house,  that gives the real extremists a location to attack.  It would be a simple thing to place a device and have someone watching. 

[Iron Stylus]

2 hours ago, hatcheckgirl said:

Yes, I've been wondering if the judge did that deliberately, to enable the brothers to have some valid points to use in their defence at their appeal, and with the European court. Either he or Jehovah did it. Because a lot of things went in our favour. Doing it this way, and then still finding JWs extremist, really shows Russia in a bad light. Every sane person knows that they are banning a non-violent group of people as extremist, and are shocked to have this turn back to the dark old days of totalitarianism.

Russian courts rarely challenge government decisions, no matter what the evidence. Besides having oversight of registered non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations, political parties and religious organizations, let's just see what power the Ministry of Justice has. Hmmm... the Russian Ministry of Justice is a legislative, judicial, and executive branch of the government all rolled into one. The MOJ has oversight in creating laws, control over the prosecution department, making sure the courts carry out the laws, making arrests, and it even runs a prison! They have the power to appoint judges, transfer or remove them from office.....

 

......And ONLY the President of Russia has authority over the Ministry of Justice. Now the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin was president from 2000 - 2008, then the Prime Minister from 2008 - 2012 before being elected the President of Russia again in May 2012. (Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have a Tandemocracy where they just toggle between president and prime minister.) Oh and they extended the presidential Tandemocracy by 2 years so Putin will be there until May 2018 before swapping places again with Dmitry Medvedev.

 

 

I don't see where people can possible get the hint of any corruption going on in Russia.

[Bob]

9 hours ago, Miss Bea said:

That judge knew the injustice he was perpetrating. I wonder how many who saw it first hand will have their heart moved. Even the, Minister of, "Justice". She looked miserable. I couldn't see her look anyone in the face. It was Putins courtroom. The judge forgot that for a day. The woman, (I think it was a woman) did not. 

Its a police state. And they took on Jehovah. Big mistake. They may think they prevailed. They should have watched one of those videos on our web site. Sennacherib, and taunting Jehovah. 

I used to think the world leaders today do not know of Jehovah. Not like those in the biblical days of yore. Not so today. And, it's not over yet. Hang on friends!

I think that they are taking their chances.  I do not believe that they honesty think they won. They probably figured that the best way to at least curb our influence is to ban us, though that will not stop us. They know virtually nothing will stop us. But they cannot sit and do nothing about our preaching while hoping that somehow lies and propaganda will have success. It did not work in the Soviet age, and will not work now.

 

They know the reputational hit they'll take, and how they will be viewed as a bunch of backward-thinking bigots. But all that is worth the risk when compared against letting us be free to preach there.

[Lance]

Interesting poll

 

[TrueTomHarley]

Many times in the repressive days in both Germany and the United States our brothers blitzed areas with preaching campaigns both thorough and quick. Suppose that our Russian brothers were suddenly to intensify their service to God? Either separately or on cue. There are 175,000 of them, after all, and for the time being, they have the sympathy of the world behind them. (how often does that happen?)

 

It is not for us to say what they will do. It is their neck on the line, not ours. But they have been dealing with police harassment for some time, they did not expect to win this trial, and they know such harassment will intensify. 'Might as well supply a reason for it to intensify,' perhaps they will reason.

 

Many of our people in Russia, perhaps all of them, will be reflecting on Peter's words to the religious leaders of his day: 

 

"Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. But as for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.”  (Acts 4:19)

 

It's not that they would not. It is that they could not.

 

 

[SUNRAY]

Wouldn't it be something if there was a concise tract printed at a nearby branch to answer the false charges and a swift campaign to distribute across the country!? Wow! It could not be on the banned literature list yet!!!

Edited April 24, 2017 by SUNRAY
smiley

[tekmantwo]

24 minutes ago, SUNRAY said:

Wouldn't it be something if there was a concise tract printed at a nearby branch to answer the false charges and a swift campaign to distribute across the country!? Wow! It could not be on the banned literature list yet!!!

 

Thanks for this, kinda  made me bark out loud ---..I like the way you think. ..

[CloudJah]

8 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

Not many are ready for their 15 minutes of negative fame. Even Peter chickened out. By pointed questions throughout the trial, which the MOJ was totally unprepared for, the judge exposed them as not having a leg to stand on, perhaps aiding future appeals or present worldwide review. He did a lot, even if he ultimately declined to throw himself under the bus.

I don't think so. If judge wanted to help us, he had to watch the video of the publications put inside the kingdom all from the police group or similar. I think that after the second day of trial, during the time of suspensive of the trial, the judge must have been persecuted by someone above him, to do a negative sentence for us...like happen with Pilato and Jesus