Then we have another major article, with responses from politicians:

https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/i/6n0Ere/Avsloringen-av-Jehovas-vitners-domsutvalg---Jeg-reagerer-med-avsky

The disclosure of Jehovah's Witnesses' Judicial Committees: - I respond with disgust

"Such attempts to establish parallel legal structures must be combated with the utmost importance," says Lene Vågslid (AP), chairman of the justice committee at the Norwegian Parlament.

OSLO / KRISTIANSAND: Politicians from a number of parties respond strongly to the revelations of Jehovah's Witnesses practice with their own judiciary on the side of the public justice system.

Fædrelandsvennen has received the internal book that the elders in the closed faith community use as guidance as they govern the organization and establish a judicial selection.

Fædrelandsvennen told Friday the story of four women who have met for the juidical committees, where only men with privileges as elders can judge.

The cases were about family violence, divorce after assault complaints, sex outside of marriage and abortion.

This is one of the controversial passages in the book "Be Shepherds of God's Herd", which has been leaked to the fathers' relatives. The book explains how the elders in the community of Jehovah's Witnesses will work with their own judiciary on the side of the official judiciary: “There is no difference between suing a single brother or sister, and to sue a company where all the owners are Jehovah’s Witnesses. The spirit in 1. Corintians 6:1-8 will be humiliated if someone turns to secular courts to settle business conflicts between companies that is owned by brothers.”

Labour Party: Reacts with disgust

"I react with disgust. Such attempts to establish parallel legal structures must be combated with utmost seriousness," said Lene Vågslid (AP), chairman of the justice committee at the Norwegian Parlament.

The Labor Party has previously raised issues related to social control and honorary culture in other religious communities, and VÃ¥gslid has been contacted by people with a background from Jehovah's Witnesses.

“Therefore I have heard about the problem before. But I have to say I am very pleased that you are in the press, now we are looking at this and showing what this means," said Vågslid.

She believes that an important limit is crossed when the religious community is explicitly encouraged not to use the public justice system.

"In men-dominated environments, both this and others, the legal certainty for children and women is important to take care of. All attempts to undermine our legal state are unacceptable", she says.

Minister of Culture: - Abuse of powers

"In Norway there is no one over the Norwegian legal system, and we are all equals to the law. We should not accept that anyone is standing outside or on the side, whether they call it Sharia law or they are called Jehovah's Witnesses", says Minister of Culture Trine Skei Grande (V).

She believes parallel systems seem to be undermining for the judiciary and the community of sinstitutions.

"It's totally reprehensible to create systems on the side of this. So simple, I have to say that. Those who do this abuse their power as religious leaders."

Krf (Christian Political Party): Warns strongly

Kjell Ingolf Ropstad in the Christian People's Party also reacts.

"I would strongly warn against the development of internal courts and parallel societies. We have a court and it is important that everyone relate to it. Offenses must be notified to the police and it is serious if for example gross violence and abuse are hidden.

He sees that religious communities need to defend their teachings, but believe what he has read now goes beyond a boundary.

"I am a strong defender of freedom of belief, but when religious communities rely on the right to deal with abuse and violence it is very serious and I would strongly warn against this," says Ropstad.

What do you think that members of this community are strongly encouraged not to use the "worldly justice system"?

"It is very problematic if trust in our common justice system is being destroyed, no matter what contexts it takes place. We must do our utmost to enable people to trust the judiciary, and try to establish better dialogue with the faith communities so that we can prevent the development of such self-sufficiency systems as referred to in this case.

SV: - Nobody should be denied protection

"There is nothing in the freedom of belief that allows such business. One can not hide such freedom when establishing such systems, " said Petter Eide, Justice Policy Spokesman in SV (left-wing party).

Prior to becoming a politician, Eide's background includes being the Secretary-General of Norwegian People's Aid and Amnesty. He has worked a lot with human rights, and believes the right to believe what one does not mean you can do what you want.

"There is nothing wrong with conflict resolution mechanisms. But you can not put obstacles in the way people use police and public justice. In the worst case, you are guilty of concealing crimes in this way. No citizen shall be denied the protection found in the judicial system, " said Eide.

He reacts strongly to the history of family violence. The mandatory laws allows you to be penalized for not reporting to the police.

Eide also draws a line to Norway's efforts for human rights in other countries.

Taking the matter to the Parlament

"Norway is often quick to criticize other countries whose local courts violate human rights in matters such as legal protection for women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Then we have to clean up here at home when we see we have tendencies to this. What you point to here shows a very traditional male-structure that is completely outdated in modern society. There is a huge female suppression in the way this was put on, he says.

Now, SV will take up the case with Minister of Justice Tor Mikkel Wara, in the form of a written question in the Parlament.

"Parallel legal systems, as Jehovah's Witnesses practice, prevents individuals from being protected by fundamental human rights, such as the right to defendants, the right to get the case tried in an ordinary court," said Eide.

Democrats: Flashback from Iran

Makvan Kasheikal, party leader of the Democrats , is originally from Iran. He says he slept badly after reading the article on Thursday night.

"I got a flashback from my old home country. Iran is a country where religious men decide everything. There you call it Sharia law. So suddenly I sit in calm Kristiansand and read the rhetoric of killing and blood damage and I know it all too well again. This is shameful to read about in Norway! Yes, for any civilized society, he thunders."

Kashikal says that Fædrelandsvennen has revealed is completely unacceptable.

"It violates basic principles of law. We must have freedom of religion, but we must have the opportunity to safeguard individuals' rights. We shall not have other laws governing Norway's laws in this country."

Ministry of Justice: "A Public Task"

Fædrelandsvennen has tried to have an interview with Justice Minister Tor Mikkel Wara about the matter. He had no opportunity for it on Friday, but after going through the article, the communications department in the ministry has put the matter before him and sends the following statement:

"Treatment of abuse and violence is and should be a public task. There should be no room for serious cases to escape prosecution. The prosecutor is required to investigate and possibly prosecute criminal offenses they are familiar with. At the same time, this case shows that the police do not always receive such information. This is regrettable. The Ministry emphasizes that if you get to know, for example, serious abuse of others, retrieving information about such circumstances may in some cases be punishable as collusion or breach of contract. Retaining such information can be highly criticized and seriously harm the people concerned.

It is not allowed to make binding rules or agree to the right to report matters or to contact the police or other public authorities, no matter what the matter may be. The "court of law" must nevertheless relate to Norwegian law. Church communities have no greater or lesser right than other associations to adopt legally binding rules for the members.

A self-determination scheme may probably extend far beyond private law issues, as long as there are questions that you can freely regulate in accordance with general contractual rules, etc. Under no circumstances can the right of association exclude the legal test of prescriptive (compelling) rules. A number of other questions may also be tested to a greater or lesser extent by the judiciary, no matter how much "self-esteem" applies to the association. "

Link to the statement (behind paywall)

https://www.fvn.no/mening/kommentar/i/OnJM8w/Maktmisbruk-i-Guds-navn

Today we have TWO major articles as follow-up. Below is the editors statement:

Abuse of power in the name of God

Anyone who is concerned about receiving Islamic Sharia courts in our country should take the same fight against Jehovah's Witnesses practice!

They are nothing short of shocking, the stories we published Friday. They all focused on a religious congregation that addresses individuals. Judges and condemns them. In serious cases of violence and moral affairs. And in matters that concern individuals' privacy.

Everything outside of Norwegian justice. In the manual for the judicial committees which we have received as the first Norwegian newspaper, it is encouraged not to use the legal court system.

That is unacceptable.

This is a fine line between freedom of religion and the basic rules of society. Both parts are extremely important. Religious freedom must and must apply to all. Especially for minorities. Yes, that's what it's for. Those who do not believe in the same or who believe or practice their faith in a different way than the majority.

In many countries, Jehovah's Witnesses have been an oppressed minority. They have been persecuted for their faith and for the consequences they draw from it. In particular, their demands for non-military service provoked many regimes, both now and before. During World War II, several thousand witnesses were sent to concentration camps. While the Jews had to carry the yellow David star, Jehovah's Witnesses had to wear a small triangle.

The witnesses' struggle for recognition as a religious minority has helped promote this part of human rights in several countries. Paradoxically, they use their freedom to oppress single members in their own churches. This violation is also an offense of one of our fundamental foundations: the justice system.

Our legal system must be independent. It should treat everyone alike. And that should apply to everyone.

In Jehovah's Witnesses, judicial committees can not judge anyone in punishment in a legal sense. But they have assumed violent power over the lives of other people. Those who sit in these committees, without legal qualifications, abandon themselves to be entitled to have a faction on who of the right and who to be condemned. Thus, they inflict on a small group of people who lose a massive social penalty. Which may include public punishment from the congregation's chair.

In a democracy like ours, there can not be a parallel legal system

Another threat is social exclusion and isolation. For us outside such a sect or church it may seem strange that people who have experienced such abuse and lawlessness want to return to the church. But it is often something far more than that. The church is the social framework. Where you have grown up. There are close family members and friends. It's also where you've learned that everyone outside is wrong. A woman we mentioned on Friday's case used the following description on a life outside the church: "It is perceived as a death sentence."

That's the way it's meant. The members must be scared, not to leave the church, not to question the way it works - and not to challenge the verdict.

And as almost always in religions, established for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, who will make up the right and wrong: the rules are established by the men. The women are losers.

The right to believe and practice this is a human right. But human rights also protect the individual from injustice and abuse. Among other things, from religious leaders.

In a democracy like ours, there can not be a parallel legal system.

"Imagine you enrolled in a college class and the teacher gave you an assignment to read a chapter of the textbook before class. Now at class the instructor now picks a someone to slowly read a paragraph from the book out load. Then the teacher asks a very basic question about that paragraph and calls on someone who stumbles through rereading one the sentences. The teacher praises that student for LITERALLY rereading a sentence and then the cycle continues. Would you consider that teacher to be good? Would you consider that absurd or that the class was worth your time? Probably not."

You literally had an answer to say and you said it. I remember my mom underlining things to answer and I'd get passed the microphone and read them. Like the speakers never acknowledged the words you spoke, they'd just say "thank you sister/brother/drone so and so"

Nowhere else but like middle school does this happen

Here are some clues to help us find him: 

McLean previously owned a business restoring and selling old race cars. His specialty was CAN-AM racers from the 1960Â’s and 1970Â’s, especially Lola chassis race cars. McLean was last known to be driving an older blue or green conversion van. McLean was a Jehovah's Witness and found his sexual assault victims through people he met in church. At the time of McLeanÂ’s disappearance, he was known to have at least $100,000 in cash. McLean is knowledgeable/capable of doing home/auto repair, McLean may be working as a mechanic or handyman. In the past, McLean resided near Winchester, California, and may still be in the Southern Riverside/Northern San Diego County area. He is an experienced camper and has frequented the Anza-Borrego desert and the Cuyumaca Mountains.

McLean is a white male, 5'11, 170 lbs., with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone that has seen or may know Frederick McLean should call Deputy U.S. Marshal Tom Maranda at (619) 557-6620, extension 240. In an emergency situation, call 911.

More info at:

https://www.usmarshals.gov/investigations/most_wanted/mclean/overview.htm

it seems to be only the number of publishers, both baptized and unbaptized, excluding children and toddlers who are not publishers.

You can compare the numbers with the Charity Commission numbers and figures (combining the number of 'Trustees' (ie elders) and 'Volunteers' (ie all other publishers)

For the first three congregation in Cheltenham....

Hatherley - leak = 88 / charity =  100

http://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1067033&subid=0

Lansdown - leak = 92 / charity = 92

http://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1065294&subid=0

Pittville - leak = 114 / charity = 118

http://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1066886&subid=0

Total number of publishers in each UK congregation assigned to each convention

https://1drv.ms/x/s!AmCrvJcXI6M6gQB-RikxaoHcVQEP

Has someone found something in writing anywhere?

Why is it that in the US most witnesses call each other brother/sister [last name], but in the UK they usually just call everyone by their first names?

Massive article in print tomorrow, a follow up from the excellent "The Elder"-article printed earlier, that was made available for us in English version here.

https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/norgeogverden/i/xRWkJp/The-Elder

Tomorrow there's a huge follow-up, I will not share the full article now, due to respect of the amazing work that is done by the journalists, but I'm sure we will find a solution if you have som patience. Meanwhile there is a possibility to create an account and read the article in Norwegian here:

https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/i/yvrBLJ/Medlemmers-grove-lovbrudd-og-sexliv-handteres-i-egne-domsutvalg

I have made a translation of the headline and the intro:

Thus Jehovah's Witnesses operate outside the judicial system.

Members' gross offenses and sex lives are handled in their own judicial committee

Four Women - Four Stories - How Jehovah's Witnesses judicial committee operates serious matters internally, outside the Norwegian judicial system.

The elders manual, "Shepherd the Flock of God," shall not be read by anyone other than men who are elders in Jehovah's Witnesses. The book describes the tasks of the oldest. A large part of the book is about how the religious community will create and carry out its own religious tribunal.

Leak

After Fædrelandsvennen wrote the story of a 87-year-old elders in Jehovah's Witnesses who are imprisoned for sexual assault against a four-year-old, there were several tips and leaks of internal documents about how Jehovah's Witnesses are ruled.

The most important document in the leakages is the book " Shepherd the Flock of God ", the so-called "eldersmanual". Here's a detailed description of how Jehovah's Witnesses work with religious tribunals in Norway.

The main rule is that brothers and sisters in the religious community should not use the police and the Norwegian judicial system against each other.

Fædrelandsvennen knows people who have had to explain themselves to the judiciary in Sørlandet about a number of things.

A woman was interrogated by the men in a judicial selection on her sexual debut. Another woman feared expulsion and isolation after taking abortion.

One woman was saved in hospital. Violent blood loss during birth caused the doctors to intervene and inflicted blood while the woman was unable to explain. Afterwards, she had to respond to a court committee if she had done enough to oppose the treatment.

This is their stories:

A FORMER JehovahÂ’s Witness who sexually assaulted three young boys says his homosexual inclinations were repressed by his religion and manifested in his crimes.

Gavin Andrew Lamont, 46, was jailed for four years today for assaulting two vulnerable teenagers in the early to mid-90s and another boy about 20 years later.

Lamont encouraged the teens to give him massages and suggested he needed help checking for testicular cancer.

District Court Judge Linda Petrusa said Lamont, who knew he was homosexual from about age 13, had significant cognitive distortions around sex because of his religious beliefs.

She said the victims, who were aged between 14 and 16, were vulnerable because of their youth and lack of sophistication.

Judge Petrusa sentenced Lamont to four years behind bars for indecently dealing with a child and four counts of indecent assault.

Lamont was kicked out of the Mundaring congregation in 1997 after one of his victims complained to other members, but was reinstated after doing counselling with elders.

He was kicked out of the congregation for a second time in 2014 after another victim made a complaint.

LamontÂ’s crimes came to the attention of police last year through the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty described the case as complex, saying Lamont struggled with his sexuality because his religion told him it was a sin.

He told the court the church was the essence of Lamont’s being and said his client tried to repress his sexuality and ended up behaving in “naïve, unsophisticated and pathetic ways”.

LamontÂ’s parents and sister are all living with complicated health issues and rely heavily on his help and care.

Mr Rafferty asked Judge Petrusa to give Lamont a conditional suspended jail term, saying he was the glue that was holding his family together.

“This is a case for the exercise of mercy, its mercy towards them (his family) and nobody else,” he said.

Judge Petrusa accepted a prison term would be tough on LamontÂ’s family but said an immediate jail term was the only appropriate punishment.

In a statement to the court, one of the victims said he felt that he was “forever stained” by Lamont’s crime.

He said the abuse had made him self-conscious in his dealings with his own child.

Lamont will be eligible for parole after spending two years behind bars.

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/crime/former-jehovahs-witness-jailed-for-child-sex-crimes-ng-b88859067z

An article in the PRINT edition of The Daily Telegraph, a respected British national 'quality' newspaper - around 380,000 copies are distributed daily.

• Man's sex offence was kept quiet after Jehovah's Witness elders persuaded victim's parents not to go to police

• Jehovah's Witness elders told abused girl's parents not to report sex offender, court told

JehovahÂ’s Witnesses told girlÂ’s parents not to report abuse

The Daily Telegraph (UK), Tuesday, June 5, 2018 - page 10

JehovahÂ’s Witnesses allowed a paedophile to abuse children by telling parents of a two-year-old he assaulted not to report his actions, a court heard.

Robert LeeÂ’s crime in the Forest of Dean, Glos, went unpunished for 23 years because elders of the church persuaded her parents to keep quiet. The victimÂ’s family and Lee were JehovahÂ’s Witnesses, Gloucester Crown Court heard. Kerry Barker, prosecuting, told the court that Lee, formerly of Coleford, Glos, but now of Bradford, went on to commit more child sex offences in 2008 and 2016.

Lee assaulted the two-year-old girl twice in March 1995 in Coleford when he was 17. Sentencing Lee to two years in jail suspended for two years, Judge Ian Lawrie QC said he was “concerned” at the church’s advice not to report him. In a statement, the victim said she was “angry with her mother for being a Jehovah’s Witness and not reporting it”.

Inside the mind of a mass murderer: WAS RELIGION THE REASON? - the Australian Margaret River murder-suicide

Inside the mind of a mass murderer

Was religion the reason for the shocking way a "wonderful" farmer murdered his family?

The Sunday Telegraph (Australia), Sunday, June 3, 2018 - pages 78 & 79

Peter Miles was by all accounts not a man of religion — even if the way he ended seven lives, including his own, carried some of the hallmarks of cult-driven evil.

In the community of Margaret River, three hours south of Perth, those who knew Miles, 61, call him a "wonderful" man.

But how does a wonderful man murder his wife, his daughter and his four grandchildren?

Did Miles plan to send his family to a peaceful afterlife destination? Or did he break down, finding this material plane too painful to endure? Did he think he was doing them a favour?

The motive behind the murders on the 12ha hillside property on Osmington Rd, a 20-minute drive from Margaret River, is known only to police — if they know it at all.

"IÂ’m angry at the suggestions Peter was mad," one of MilesÂ’ neighbours said. "ThatÂ’s why I wonÂ’t talk to the media."

The media has not called Miles "mad"; rather, the restraint is extraordinary, given the magnitude of the atrocity — one of Australia’s worst massacres. The media exercised similar restraint in 2014, when Raina Thaiday’s sudden-onset psychosis caused her to stab to death seven of her children and a cousin in their Cairns’ home. In the name of God.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson listened to MilesÂ’ two-minute goodbye message to triple-0, made at around 5am on May 11, just before he took his own life. He has chosen not make the details public. However, two comments by Dawson stand out: one was that no other party was involved and, second, that police may never understand why.

Miles, a registered gun owner, somehow managed to execute his daughter Katrina, 35, and his grandchildren Taye, 13, Rylan, 12, Ayre, 10, and Kayden, 8, as they slept in their beds in an outhouse; and his wife, Cynda, 58, in the main home.

It was the deepest part of night but the fact the kids were supposedly found "peacefully" in their beds, it was as though they had been drugged - or Miles had moved with purposeful and brutal efficiency.

The common explanation is that Miles was taking a course of antidepressants that did not suit him and his mind had begun misfiring. ItÂ’s the answer most people prefer: it blames an external cause rather than the man himself.

It has been reported that the day before the killings, MilesÂ’ wife, Cynda, sent a Facebook message to a friend saying his condition was getting "worse and worse".

One person who does not accept this is Aaron Cockman, MilesÂ’ son-in-law, the father of the four children and ex-husband of Katrina. "He has thought this through," Cockman said. "He has not snapped."

Miles had been a dairy farmer most of his life. In 2000, when deregulation hit the industry, he - like a lot of small-scale farmers - was forced off his farm southeast of Margaret River. He did not sell up, but leased his share to bigger interests.

At the same time, he fell out with his older brother, Shirl, due to disagreements over the succession plan for the property - a problem that destroys many farming siblings. Peter and Cynda - herself from a longstanding southeast Western Australian farming family - bought a house in Margaret River township in 2001. They would soon be hit by grief when a son, Shawn, committed suicide by gunshot.

Ross Woodhouse, a former teacher and now one of the area's biggest dairy farmers, knew Miles all his life. For years they shared a fence and he'd taught Katrina ("lovely kid") and Shawn. Woodhouse said town life did not suit Miles. "I think his right place was on the farm. Deregulation didn't help - it took the boy out of the bush."

Miles taught agriculture at the local high school and was known to students as "Farmer Pete". Cynda was a founding member of a local society dedicated to growing organic produce, believing that good food could help her grandchildren.

This was especially important to Cynda given that her daughter Katrina's four children were autistic. The older kids had some minor early interaction at the local school but due to their special circumstances, Katrina had begun to homeschool them from 2009.

Shelley Cullen, who knew Cynda through the organic network, said the four children were "intelligent and well-liked. They were much loved by Peter and Cynda. They wanted to feed them organic food.

"They had some difficulties at school and they were helping Katrina with the homeschooling. They really were beautiful and not noticeably different to other kids. But the school system they found hard - they were very sensitive to sounds and stimuli and it was felt they were better in a quiet environment."

Miles nursed deep worries. According to Aaron Cockman, his oldest son Rylan was not expected to live beyond middle-age. Miles had already lost Shawn and now another son, Neil, was facing renal failure and needed a kidney transplant. Added to this, KatrinaÂ’s relationship with Cockman had disintegrated. Miles had taken over responsibility as the main male figure in the childrenÂ’s life.

In late 2014, Miles activated the dream he shared with Cynda to get back to the land. He sold the farm for $1.35 million and put the Margaret River house on the market, which later sold for $560,000. They bought the Osmington Road property in December 2014 for $820,000 and quickly set about planting fruit trees.

Friends dispute that Miles was deliberately isolating the family. They say he wanted the grandkids to have peace - and to provide an escape for Katrina. In October 2014, just before she moved out to the farm, Katrina posted a poem on Facebook, telling of the fear of hearing a car arriving, of being hit and humiliated in front of her children.

Aaron Cockman referred to his family-law troubles in his extraordinary media appearance 48 hours after the massacre. He said he had never visited the kids on the new farm. "I have had so much anger ever since I was cut off from my kids, so much anger," he said. "That was due to Peter and Cynda making sure I was cut off from my kids."

Katrina, meanwhile, felt the farm was working for the kids. She reported to a homeschooling site that one of her sons, who had issues with fine-motor co-ordination and visual tracking, was making "amazing" progress. She said she was "just so proud of his achievements".

Cockman said an independent psychologist's report had allowed a court order to be recently varied so he could see his kids again, under supervision; and he refuted "accusations I was abusive and all that".

The comments were both confusing and revealing - and caused a lot of conjecture. Cockman called Miles "an awesome man" who before the bitterness was "like my best friend".

And there was this about Miles: "He didn't snap, he knew what he was doing. He did it really well. If someone was going to do it, I trust he did it right and he did it right."

There was no suggestion of Cockman's involvement - Commissioner Dawson had said: "I wish to strongly emphasise police do not believe any other person is involved with these crimes."

Cockman was raised by Jehovah's Witnesses and though not an adherent, he maintained some of the beliefs (local Witness leader Ian Horner said Cockman attended the local Kingdom Hall only occasionally and "Katrina had a look many years ago but took it no further").

Faith might explain why Cockman came across as both inconsolable yet accepting of the deaths, which he didn't see as deaths at all.

He said that "the kids went to sleep and now they are nothing. But to them they are already in a new system."

The New System is a belief held by Witnesses that there will be an Armageddon followed by a resurrection in which the good will rise from their tombs and live forever, while the bad will be judged and damned again.

Only the Witnesses will survive the end-times annihilation (the date of which they have wrongly foretold on several occasions). Those who have already left this life — such as the four Cockman children — are asleep in an emptiness without pain or pleasure. They will, according to the belief, live again.

Cockman had such limited contact with Miles in recent years, he was not in a position to truly know what was going through his mind. Of many questions that remain, you are left wondering whether there was any forethought in the decision to name this pretty little hillside property "Forever Dreaming".

READ ONLINE:
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/margaret-river-murdersuicide-who-was-peter-miles/news-story/38fd27cbb4f34d6ed9913fb430bbf1df

Quote from minute 18:02 of part one

"The conflict between the bible and evolution has been sharp. Never the less, unnecessary friction has been generated. Only in respect to man does the bible declare a special direct creation of God. The statements of Genesis in respect to the lower creatures rather favors something along the lines of specialized evolution."

The proselytism of Jehovah's Witnesses: they even learn Chinese in Ecuador to recruit

RIES Secretariat, 4.06.18

**"What's the secret to having a family that's always close?"**reads Eduardo Cueva on a poster at the head of a mobile bookseller.

He translates it from a phrase written in Mandarin that attracts the attention of those who pass by the boulevard of the Quebrada, located at Av. de Los Shyris and Portugal (Quito, Ecuador). For the past two months, he and a colleague have been setting up the stand every Tuesday and talking to people who ask what it means. We read it in the newspaper La Hora.

All the book covers have colorful pictures and pictograms, and everyone talks about Jehovah's word. Cueva is from Guayaquil, is 28 years old and started learning the language when he was 20. "Some brothers came to teach Mandarin and I was included," says the young man, who speaks fluently.

No matter the language

Every day, groups of Jehovah's Witnesses are placed in different parts of the city to share their faith as part of the commands of their sect. "Messages must reach everyone, no matter what language they speak." For this reason, the sector was chosen to implement the Mandarin texts, as there is an important presence of Chinese and Mandarin speaking companies.

Although the Asian nation still does not officially allow Jehovah's Witnesses to open their offices, and in countries such as South Korea and Russia, members of this creed have been imprisoned, Cueva says that this is not an impediment to citizens' knowledge of his doctrine. From 8 a.m. onwards, install the bookcase and it is available until 12 a.m. so that people can take one of the texts for free. During the time that the initiative has been underway, not only Chinese people have come together, but also people of all nationalities says the Guayaquil native.

In other parts of the city, however, English is also preached once a week and those who are with the mobile booksellers attend to people who are interested in the explanatory materials. Books written in different languages are printed for Latin America in Brazil and Colombia and distributed from there to Ecuador.

To reach any person

Another special feature of the sect is that during all the meetings there are sign language interpreters who interpret for the hearing impaired. On the official website of the sect, there are explanatory videos for information.

Also included is a guide with phrases for people who need to preach in another language around the world. There are videos, songs, activities to practice and a manual to learn "What can you do if you meet someone who speaks another language?”.

Street proselytizing is one of the most recognized characteristics of Jehovah's Witnesses and one of their obligations. In fact, in sect jargon, they call themselves "publishers". It is common to see them in public spaces or visiting homes to preach their manipulated version of the word of God.

As we reported in 2014, at that time the sect began to test a new method of attracting followers, which is what you can now see in Quito and around the world: to be on the street, in busy places, not talking to anyone, but waiting for a passer-by to come and show interest in the books and brochures on display in these "booksellers" or small portable stands.

According to the official website of the sect, their role as preachers is explained from the biblical word, one of the quotes that are constantly repeated is the command of Jesus that is read in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all nations, [...] teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you.

Source:

http://www.infocatolica.com/blog/infories.php/1806030827-el-proselitismo-de-los-testig

And coming from a Centurian roman officer is home run.

Holy Land's 'oldest church' found at Armageddon

As if Megiddo, the biblical city of Armageddon - scene of three millennia of battles, the last cavalry charge of the first world war and the final showdown between good and evil - did not have enough on its plate. Archaeologists now claim to have unearthed the remains of the oldest Christian church discovered in the Holy Land.

Unfortunately for Israel's beleaguered tourism industry, the find was made behind the walls of one of the country's maximum security prisons.

Inmates were put to work alongside the specialists to excavate a corner of Megiddo jail for the construction of a new cell block ready for the next intake of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

Toiling behind the barbed wire and watchtowers, they uncovered a detailed and well-preserved mosaic, the foundations of a rectangular building, and pottery dated to the third or early fourth century. One of several inscriptions on the mosaic floor in ancient Greek said the building was dedicated to "the memory of the Lord Jesus Christ".

Other inscriptions name a Roman army officer, Gaianus, who donated money to build the floor, and a woman called Ekoptos who "donated this table to the God Jesus Christ in commemoration". The table is believed to have served as an altar.

"There are no crosses on the mosaic floor," said Yotam Tepper, an archaeologist who led the dig on behalf of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. "In their place is a picture of two fish lying side by side - a very early Christian symbol.

"This is an extremely dramatic discovery, because such an old building of this type has never been found either in the land of Israel or anywhere else in the entire region. The structure and the mosaic floor date back to the period before Christianity became an officially recognised religion, before St Constantine.

"Normally we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence. There is no structure you can compare it to - it is a unique find."

The Roman empire forbade Christian rituals before AD313 and Christians were forced to worship in secret. The earliest churches, until this discovery at Megiddo, include the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, said to stand on the site of Christ's crucifixion, dating from about AD330, and the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The inscriptions at Megiddo were interpreted by Professor Leah Di Segni of the Hebrew University.

"I was told these were Byzantine but they seem much earlier than anything I have seen so far from the Byzantine period. It could be from the third or the beginning of the fourth century," she said.The use of the word "table" in one inscription instead of "altar" might advance the study of Christianity, she said, because it is widely believed that rituals based on the Last Supper were held around a table used as an altar.

The church might never have been discovered had it not been for the needs of Israel's ever-demanding security apparatus. Megiddo prison is home to about 1,200 "security prisoners" who are held in "administrative detention" without ever being told exactly what it is they are accused of.

The prison is a series of fenced-in compounds with the bulk of inmates sleeping in long brown army tents enclosed by barbed wire and surrounded by open sewers. The prisoners nicknamed the jail "Jabaliya" after a poor and overcrowded refugee camp in the Gaza strip.

Megiddo has long been described by religious scholars and archaeologists as the most important biblical site in Israel. Over the centuries, more than 25 cities rose and fell at Megiddo. Some were powerful commercial centres on the ancient thoroughfare between Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Five of the conflicts fought in the 30-mile-wide Jezreel valley around Megiddo are recorded in the Old Testament. The New Testament names Armageddon - a Greek corruption of the Hebrew word "har", meaning mount, and Megiddo - as the scene of the final great battle between good and evil.

Some specialists remain sceptical about the latest discovery. "I think this is a little myth to boost tourism," said Michel Piccirillo, a respected biblical archaeologist. "The idea that it is ancient comes from the pottery and the shape of the letters on the inscriptions, but this is not definitive."

Israel's tourism minister, Avraham Hirchson, is not deterred. "If we nurture this properly, then there will be a large stream of tourists who could come to Israel. There is great potential ... " he told national television.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/07/israel.artsnews

 

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