Controlled Behaviour?

[Brad Smith]

https://www.jw.org/en/news/region/russia/Eighty-Five-Year-Old-Brother-Yuriy-Yuskov-Convicted/

 

"He received a five-year suspended prison sentence. He is not required to go to prison at this time."

 

This poor brother has received a suspended prison sentence, what this means is that if he breaks the law again, he will go to prison for five years. So he was arrested for standing for Jehovah and they want him to stop that behavior, so they gave him a suspended sentence. If he performs the behaviour that got him arrested, he will go to prison.

 

Now, this makes me think of Daniel in the Bible, when the King signed the order that affected Daniel's praying each day, he kept on praying the same way as before the order, was arrested and thrown into the lion's pit. That was my thoughts on how Jehovah must feel regarding the matter - but what do I know.

 

Now what would you brothers say, because it may also be one of us put in this position, do we cave in, or do we keep preaching with boldness?

 

Edited March 23 by Brad Smith
Clarified some sentences.

[Mrs.Blessed]

"No temptation has come upon you except what is common to men. But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out so that you may be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

We are all one, we must pray for our dear brother. 

Jehovah will care for His precious servant. If it is beyond our brother's ability then we know nothing is impossible with Jehovah, He can make a way out for our brother or give him power beyond what is normal to endure to the end.

[Thomas Walker]

I never thought of the Daniel parallel, but dang. It's perfect.

 

A suspended sentence is the law saying 'We're watching you for this exact thing.'

[Friend of Peace]

“Cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16)

 

Jesus’ counsel should apply into our preaching even more when under ban. For our brother, it may be that he decides to change his whole approach in keeping his ministry discreet informal rather than door-to-door, and he shouldn’t be criticised for doing so. He still is fulfilling the commission to preach and in “difficult times.” (2 Tim. 4:2) 

[Mike047]

Most of our ministry, is likely to change soon so that we focus more on informal and public witnessing, carefully judging whether to approach someone with our message. Many countries have experienced this situation for some time, but when we in the UK have the same issues we will also need to become inconspicuous, melting into the background