bruceq

A while back there was discussion of the NPR story:
"Lack Of Education Leads To Lost Dreams And Low Income For Many Jehovah's Witnesses" 
I read the article, but I didn't have to. The title says it all. Just where do you look for fulfillment of your dreams? This system of things or the one to come?

Well said. The same happened in the Fist Century when Jesus said to eat his blood and flesh which his hearers knew was wrong yet many left following him anyway without a hint of respect for the signs that indicated he was the true one that was to come. If they just waited they would have been blessed. Many other examples like Korah and so on...You would think some would learn such principles if they only read the Bible instead of being complainers. Jehovah does not like ANY complainers or murmurers for obvious reasons such as in Numbers chp. 16 where Korah's arguments sound EXACTLY like JTR's with the tryanny "Now do you also want to make yourself an absolute ruler over us? as well as "Why, then, should you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah? Num 16. Jehovah says showing such disrespect to his human reps was showing disrespect to Him. And we know what happened.
   Of course as the end nears the world is becoming more secular and athiest and agnostics are the fastest growing religion for that reason. However here is an interesting article:
https://priceonomics.com/jehovahs-witnesses-a-case-study-in-viral-marketing/
Note this quote below :" But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!"
 
Jehovah's Witnesses: A Case Study in Viral Marketing
· 46,623 views · More stats
   Share Do you still hold your parents’ faith? If they raised you a Jehovah’s Witness, it’s likely your answer is, “No.” There’s over a 6 in 10 chance, in fact.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their origins in a 1870’s religious movement, called the “Bible Student Movement”. Charles Taze Russell’s independent bible study lead him and his cohort to novel interpretations of the bible, which they codified and disseminated through publications like Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ Magazine. The church’s Governing Body -- which is responsible for refining the church’s interpretation of the bible -- is a group of seven men, and is based in Brooklyn. They still oversee the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society corporation, which was formed in 1884 to distribute the movement’s tracts and bibles.
Like many organized religions Jehovah’s Witnesses have their fair share of rituals, prophesy, and dogma. They refuse blood transfusions, believe that Armageddon will happen within in our lifetimes, and they abstain from holidays with “pagan origins” -- including Easter, Christmas, and birthdays.
But what tends to set Jehovah’s Witnesses apart in American society is their commitment to evangelism. All baptized members of the church are considered ‘ordained ministers’ and termed “publishers.” This authority comes with a mandate: publishers are required to go out and preach to the best of their ability. Hence the armies friendly young Jehovah’s Witnesses in their suits, spending their Saturday going door to door with bibles and armfuls of colorfully-illustrated Watch Tower pamphlets.

On the point of house-to-house ministry, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization quotes the bible: “Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of people of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19, 20)” But unlike many of the more common Christian denominations, Jehovah’s Witnesses are required to report back on their evangelical efforts to a central organization.
If a baptized Jehovah’s Witness fails to submit reports monthly, they’re termed “irregular” and investigated by the community elders. If he or she fails to submit a report for six consecutive months, the publisher is termed “inactive”. Extreme breaches of conduct can result in disfellowshipping -- i.e. banning from the community. The church tracks “active” publishers as its main membership statistic.

When you consider the fact that 39% of self-identifying Catholics attend religious services in the range of “A few times a year” and “Never” -- or the 46% of Mainline Protestants, 45% of Jews, 68% of Buddhists -- Jehovah’s Witnesses have a comparatively steep requirement for membership. The cultures of these faiths allow for individuals to affiliate informally, with minimal external, measurable engagement. Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, keep track of who is in and who is out and keep track of their participation. They don’t practice infant baptism for this same reason: “Instead of specifying an age to get baptized, God’s Word describes the spiritual condition of those qualified to take that step [...] baptism is for those who are already disciples of Christ.” To be in, you really have to be in.
It’s to be expected that this opt-in system and paperwork-heavy user experience would cause a terrible churn rate. This is not a seamless religion by any stretch.
A Highly Competitive Marketplace

When Pew Research Center surveyed Americans on their religious affiliations, they reported that the United States has a “very competitive marketplace”: “every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents.”
A lot of this dynamism is lost in top-line statistics. For example, about a third of all Americans raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic, but the percentage of the population made up of Catholics has remained relatively stable for the past several decades because these multitudes have been offset by new immigrants to the U.S. identifying as Catholic.
These attrition rates start to look pretty good, however, next to some other numbers. Jehovah’s Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of all the groups -- that’s them all the way on the right. 63% of Americans who were raised Jehovah’s Witness say they aren’t Jehovah’s Witness anymore.
Still “Winning”
But as our bar chart shows, the large religious groups that allow for more informal membership are losing members too -- every major religious group is. According to Pew, 44% of all adult Americans have changed their religious affiliation, and the group that has grown the most by a long shot is the sector of Americans who claim no religious affiliation.
By Pew’s analysis, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Mormonism are all net-negative: there are more people raised in the religious groups who have left, than there are people who have converted into the religious groups. Even Hinduism -- which has the lowest attrition rate -- is just breaking even. But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!

In a shrinking market, it pays to invest in some viral-marketing. Which is where the 1-million-plus Jehovah’s Witness ministers in America come in. They’re all active recruiters. If Jehovah’s Witnesses were a SaaS company, every ‘customer’ would have to spend several hours a week reaching out to prospective customers, or they’d get their subscription cancelled.
Jehovah’s Witnesses gain about 30,000 members a year through baptism -- some of those are children of Jehovah’s witness families, and others are converts. If they didn’t lose so many members to conversion they’d be growing at an even faster rate.
We can actually model how much faster, with a simplified formula for viral growth. Viral marketing depends on existing customers recruiting new customers -- like how you can get more free storage capacity on dropbox if you refer your friends. If you know how many users you have (current_pop), on average, how many new customers each existing customer can recruit in a year (baptisms_per_publisher), and if you know what percentage of your customers drop out of the service per year (annual_churn_rate), then you can calculate future populations based on your current population: 
According to JWFacts.com (whose statistics seem to match up with the annual Watch Tower reports), there were about 982,5233 active publishers in 2002. The conversion rate is tiny, at around 3 baptisms a year for every 100 publishers. But according to this model, the steady stream of converts means Jehovah’s Witnesses can still grow -- even if their recruitment strategies are responsible for some of their attrition.
The average churn rate over the past decade has sat at around 1.5% of the total population. If they were retaining members at the rate the Catholic church used to -- .4% in the early 1980s -- they’d hit 2 million publishers in the United States by 2032.


There are a lot of assumptions that go into viral marketing. Companies tend to like these projections because investors tend to like the look of exponential growth, but like many attempts to predict the future they’re imperfect. Some things that could disrupt this model are changes in church policy and prophesy, and major world events. Apparently membership ballooned right before 1975 because church leaders had “built up hope” that the world would end that year. Membership declined in the years following, when it didn’t. The actual Armageddon would also probably halt the church’s viral growth.
Which brings us to another factoid that might disrupt this model: being a Jehovah’s Witness is not for everyone. This market is not infinite. It has a ceiling, and in fact, given the American trend towards secularism in the past few decades, that ceiling is getting lower. But for the time being, Jehovah’s Witnesses make up about 1% of the U.S. population. This means they have a lot of room left to grow, and -- unlike the other major Christian denominations -- they’re making headway, modest though their growth factor may be.

Well said. The same happened in the Fist Century when Jesus said to eat his blood and flesh which his hearers knew was wrong yet many left following him anyway without a hint of respect for the signs that indicated he was the true one that was to come. If they just waited they would have been blessed. Many other examples like Korah and so on...You would think some would learn such principles if they only read the Bible instead of being complainers. Jehovah does not like ANY complainers or murmurers for obvious reasons such as in Numbers chp. 16 where Korah's arguments sound EXACTLY like JTR's with the tryanny "Now do you also want to make yourself an absolute ruler over us? as well as "Why, then, should you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah? Num 16. Jehovah says showing such disrespect to his human reps was showing disrespect to Him. And we know what happened.
   Of course as the end nears the world is becoming more secular and athiest and agnostics are the fastest growing religion for that reason. However here is an interesting article:
https://priceonomics.com/jehovahs-witnesses-a-case-study-in-viral-marketing/
Note this quote below :" But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!"
 
Jehovah's Witnesses: A Case Study in Viral Marketing
· 46,623 views · More stats
   Share Do you still hold your parents’ faith? If they raised you a Jehovah’s Witness, it’s likely your answer is, “No.” There’s over a 6 in 10 chance, in fact.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their origins in a 1870’s religious movement, called the “Bible Student Movement”. Charles Taze Russell’s independent bible study lead him and his cohort to novel interpretations of the bible, which they codified and disseminated through publications like Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ Magazine. The church’s Governing Body -- which is responsible for refining the church’s interpretation of the bible -- is a group of seven men, and is based in Brooklyn. They still oversee the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society corporation, which was formed in 1884 to distribute the movement’s tracts and bibles.
Like many organized religions Jehovah’s Witnesses have their fair share of rituals, prophesy, and dogma. They refuse blood transfusions, believe that Armageddon will happen within in our lifetimes, and they abstain from holidays with “pagan origins” -- including Easter, Christmas, and birthdays.
But what tends to set Jehovah’s Witnesses apart in American society is their commitment to evangelism. All baptized members of the church are considered ‘ordained ministers’ and termed “publishers.” This authority comes with a mandate: publishers are required to go out and preach to the best of their ability. Hence the armies friendly young Jehovah’s Witnesses in their suits, spending their Saturday going door to door with bibles and armfuls of colorfully-illustrated Watch Tower pamphlets.

On the point of house-to-house ministry, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization quotes the bible: “Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of people of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19, 20)” But unlike many of the more common Christian denominations, Jehovah’s Witnesses are required to report back on their evangelical efforts to a central organization.
If a baptized Jehovah’s Witness fails to submit reports monthly, they’re termed “irregular” and investigated by the community elders. If he or she fails to submit a report for six consecutive months, the publisher is termed “inactive”. Extreme breaches of conduct can result in disfellowshipping -- i.e. banning from the community. The church tracks “active” publishers as its main membership statistic.

When you consider the fact that 39% of self-identifying Catholics attend religious services in the range of “A few times a year” and “Never” -- or the 46% of Mainline Protestants, 45% of Jews, 68% of Buddhists -- Jehovah’s Witnesses have a comparatively steep requirement for membership. The cultures of these faiths allow for individuals to affiliate informally, with minimal external, measurable engagement. Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, keep track of who is in and who is out and keep track of their participation. They don’t practice infant baptism for this same reason: “Instead of specifying an age to get baptized, God’s Word describes the spiritual condition of those qualified to take that step [...] baptism is for those who are already disciples of Christ.” To be in, you really have to be in.
It’s to be expected that this opt-in system and paperwork-heavy user experience would cause a terrible churn rate. This is not a seamless religion by any stretch.
A Highly Competitive Marketplace

When Pew Research Center surveyed Americans on their religious affiliations, they reported that the United States has a “very competitive marketplace”: “every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents.”
A lot of this dynamism is lost in top-line statistics. For example, about a third of all Americans raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic, but the percentage of the population made up of Catholics has remained relatively stable for the past several decades because these multitudes have been offset by new immigrants to the U.S. identifying as Catholic.
These attrition rates start to look pretty good, however, next to some other numbers. Jehovah’s Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of all the groups -- that’s them all the way on the right. 63% of Americans who were raised Jehovah’s Witness say they aren’t Jehovah’s Witness anymore.
Still “Winning”
But as our bar chart shows, the large religious groups that allow for more informal membership are losing members too -- every major religious group is. According to Pew, 44% of all adult Americans have changed their religious affiliation, and the group that has grown the most by a long shot is the sector of Americans who claim no religious affiliation.
By Pew’s analysis, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Mormonism are all net-negative: there are more people raised in the religious groups who have left, than there are people who have converted into the religious groups. Even Hinduism -- which has the lowest attrition rate -- is just breaking even. But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!

In a shrinking market, it pays to invest in some viral-marketing. Which is where the 1-million-plus Jehovah’s Witness ministers in America come in. They’re all active recruiters. If Jehovah’s Witnesses were a SaaS company, every ‘customer’ would have to spend several hours a week reaching out to prospective customers, or they’d get their subscription cancelled.
Jehovah’s Witnesses gain about 30,000 members a year through baptism -- some of those are children of Jehovah’s witness families, and others are converts. If they didn’t lose so many members to conversion they’d be growing at an even faster rate.
We can actually model how much faster, with a simplified formula for viral growth. Viral marketing depends on existing customers recruiting new customers -- like how you can get more free storage capacity on dropbox if you refer your friends. If you know how many users you have (current_pop), on average, how many new customers each existing customer can recruit in a year (baptisms_per_publisher), and if you know what percentage of your customers drop out of the service per year (annual_churn_rate), then you can calculate future populations based on your current population: 
According to JWFacts.com (whose statistics seem to match up with the annual Watch Tower reports), there were about 982,5233 active publishers in 2002. The conversion rate is tiny, at around 3 baptisms a year for every 100 publishers. But according to this model, the steady stream of converts means Jehovah’s Witnesses can still grow -- even if their recruitment strategies are responsible for some of their attrition.
The average churn rate over the past decade has sat at around 1.5% of the total population. If they were retaining members at the rate the Catholic church used to -- .4% in the early 1980s -- they’d hit 2 million publishers in the United States by 2032.


There are a lot of assumptions that go into viral marketing. Companies tend to like these projections because investors tend to like the look of exponential growth, but like many attempts to predict the future they’re imperfect. Some things that could disrupt this model are changes in church policy and prophesy, and major world events. Apparently membership ballooned right before 1975 because church leaders had “built up hope” that the world would end that year. Membership declined in the years following, when it didn’t. The actual Armageddon would also probably halt the church’s viral growth.
Which brings us to another factoid that might disrupt this model: being a Jehovah’s Witness is not for everyone. This market is not infinite. It has a ceiling, and in fact, given the American trend towards secularism in the past few decades, that ceiling is getting lower. But for the time being, Jehovah’s Witnesses make up about 1% of the U.S. population. This means they have a lot of room left to grow, and -- unlike the other major Christian denominations -- they’re making headway, modest though their growth factor may be.

Well said. The same happened in the Fist Century when Jesus said to eat his blood and flesh which his hearers knew was wrong yet many left following him anyway without a hint of respect for the signs that indicated he was the true one that was to come. If they just waited they would have been blessed. Many other examples like Korah and so on...You would think some would learn such principles if they only read the Bible instead of being complainers. Jehovah does not like ANY complainers or murmurers for obvious reasons such as in Numbers chp. 16 where Korah's arguments sound EXACTLY like JTR's with the tryanny "Now do you also want to make yourself an absolute ruler over us? as well as "Why, then, should you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah? Num 16. Jehovah says showing such disrespect to his human reps was showing disrespect to Him. And we know what happened.
   Of course as the end nears the world is becoming more secular and athiest and agnostics are the fastest growing religion for that reason. However here is an interesting article:
https://priceonomics.com/jehovahs-witnesses-a-case-study-in-viral-marketing/
Note this quote below :" But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!"
 
Jehovah's Witnesses: A Case Study in Viral Marketing
· 46,623 views · More stats
   Share Do you still hold your parents’ faith? If they raised you a Jehovah’s Witness, it’s likely your answer is, “No.” There’s over a 6 in 10 chance, in fact.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have their origins in a 1870’s religious movement, called the “Bible Student Movement”. Charles Taze Russell’s independent bible study lead him and his cohort to novel interpretations of the bible, which they codified and disseminated through publications like Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ Magazine. The church’s Governing Body -- which is responsible for refining the church’s interpretation of the bible -- is a group of seven men, and is based in Brooklyn. They still oversee the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society corporation, which was formed in 1884 to distribute the movement’s tracts and bibles.
Like many organized religions Jehovah’s Witnesses have their fair share of rituals, prophesy, and dogma. They refuse blood transfusions, believe that Armageddon will happen within in our lifetimes, and they abstain from holidays with “pagan origins” -- including Easter, Christmas, and birthdays.
But what tends to set Jehovah’s Witnesses apart in American society is their commitment to evangelism. All baptized members of the church are considered ‘ordained ministers’ and termed “publishers.” This authority comes with a mandate: publishers are required to go out and preach to the best of their ability. Hence the armies friendly young Jehovah’s Witnesses in their suits, spending their Saturday going door to door with bibles and armfuls of colorfully-illustrated Watch Tower pamphlets.

On the point of house-to-house ministry, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization quotes the bible: “Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of people of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19, 20)” But unlike many of the more common Christian denominations, Jehovah’s Witnesses are required to report back on their evangelical efforts to a central organization.
If a baptized Jehovah’s Witness fails to submit reports monthly, they’re termed “irregular” and investigated by the community elders. If he or she fails to submit a report for six consecutive months, the publisher is termed “inactive”. Extreme breaches of conduct can result in disfellowshipping -- i.e. banning from the community. The church tracks “active” publishers as its main membership statistic.

When you consider the fact that 39% of self-identifying Catholics attend religious services in the range of “A few times a year” and “Never” -- or the 46% of Mainline Protestants, 45% of Jews, 68% of Buddhists -- Jehovah’s Witnesses have a comparatively steep requirement for membership. The cultures of these faiths allow for individuals to affiliate informally, with minimal external, measurable engagement. Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, keep track of who is in and who is out and keep track of their participation. They don’t practice infant baptism for this same reason: “Instead of specifying an age to get baptized, God’s Word describes the spiritual condition of those qualified to take that step [...] baptism is for those who are already disciples of Christ.” To be in, you really have to be in.
It’s to be expected that this opt-in system and paperwork-heavy user experience would cause a terrible churn rate. This is not a seamless religion by any stretch.
A Highly Competitive Marketplace

When Pew Research Center surveyed Americans on their religious affiliations, they reported that the United States has a “very competitive marketplace”: “every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents.”
A lot of this dynamism is lost in top-line statistics. For example, about a third of all Americans raised Catholic no longer identify as Catholic, but the percentage of the population made up of Catholics has remained relatively stable for the past several decades because these multitudes have been offset by new immigrants to the U.S. identifying as Catholic.
These attrition rates start to look pretty good, however, next to some other numbers. Jehovah’s Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of all the groups -- that’s them all the way on the right. 63% of Americans who were raised Jehovah’s Witness say they aren’t Jehovah’s Witness anymore.
Still “Winning”
But as our bar chart shows, the large religious groups that allow for more informal membership are losing members too -- every major religious group is. According to Pew, 44% of all adult Americans have changed their religious affiliation, and the group that has grown the most by a long shot is the sector of Americans who claim no religious affiliation.
By Pew’s analysis, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Mormonism are all net-negative: there are more people raised in the religious groups who have left, than there are people who have converted into the religious groups. Even Hinduism -- which has the lowest attrition rate -- is just breaking even. But Jehovah’s Witnesses are actually net-positive. Despite their heavy leakage, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the largest Christian group gaining American membership. They’re winners!

In a shrinking market, it pays to invest in some viral-marketing. Which is where the 1-million-plus Jehovah’s Witness ministers in America come in. They’re all active recruiters. If Jehovah’s Witnesses were a SaaS company, every ‘customer’ would have to spend several hours a week reaching out to prospective customers, or they’d get their subscription cancelled.
Jehovah’s Witnesses gain about 30,000 members a year through baptism -- some of those are children of Jehovah’s witness families, and others are converts. If they didn’t lose so many members to conversion they’d be growing at an even faster rate.
We can actually model how much faster, with a simplified formula for viral growth. Viral marketing depends on existing customers recruiting new customers -- like how you can get more free storage capacity on dropbox if you refer your friends. If you know how many users you have (current_pop), on average, how many new customers each existing customer can recruit in a year (baptisms_per_publisher), and if you know what percentage of your customers drop out of the service per year (annual_churn_rate), then you can calculate future populations based on your current population: 
According to JWFacts.com (whose statistics seem to match up with the annual Watch Tower reports), there were about 982,5233 active publishers in 2002. The conversion rate is tiny, at around 3 baptisms a year for every 100 publishers. But according to this model, the steady stream of converts means Jehovah’s Witnesses can still grow -- even if their recruitment strategies are responsible for some of their attrition.
The average churn rate over the past decade has sat at around 1.5% of the total population. If they were retaining members at the rate the Catholic church used to -- .4% in the early 1980s -- they’d hit 2 million publishers in the United States by 2032.


There are a lot of assumptions that go into viral marketing. Companies tend to like these projections because investors tend to like the look of exponential growth, but like many attempts to predict the future they’re imperfect. Some things that could disrupt this model are changes in church policy and prophesy, and major world events. Apparently membership ballooned right before 1975 because church leaders had “built up hope” that the world would end that year. Membership declined in the years following, when it didn’t. The actual Armageddon would also probably halt the church’s viral growth.
Which brings us to another factoid that might disrupt this model: being a Jehovah’s Witness is not for everyone. This market is not infinite. It has a ceiling, and in fact, given the American trend towards secularism in the past few decades, that ceiling is getting lower. But for the time being, Jehovah’s Witnesses make up about 1% of the U.S. population. This means they have a lot of room left to grow, and -- unlike the other major Christian denominations -- they’re making headway, modest though their growth factor may be.

The last post was from from another city. The ban has not taken legal effect until after the appeal process in June although as seen here some cities are enacting it and the brothers are clearing out before the legal ban takes effect just in case.

Jehovah's Witnesses clear out their property
WHAT DO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES OWN IN ST. PETERSBURG?
One of the most influential religious organizations in the world has now fallen under a ban in Russia
Moskovskii Komsomolets, 5 May 2017
 
The Supreme Court has actually ruled that the Jehovah's Witnesses conducted extremist activity. Now they are required to cease their work immediately, which they have already done. Further, apparently, there will be new owners of their property. And these believers' property is good, especially in St. Petersburg.
 
People left in tears
 
In the northern capital, which has traditionally been considered to be multi-confessional, a place was found for the Jehovists also. Here they own a dozen hectares of land in Kurort district in the village of Solnechnoe, with dwellings and office buildings. They also own a congress hall with 2,500 seats on Kolomyazh Prospect, building 21, with a hectare of land. And several smaller buildings.
 
The central office of the Russian Jehovists is located in Solnechnoe. In the plan of its  arrangement it may be compared with a monastery. Families of clergy worked and lived there. In all, about 300 persons worked in the settlement of the Administrative Center.
 
Now the buildings on the shore of the Finnish Gulf are empty. The inhabitants began leaving with their things as soon as they learned of decision of the court. Many had lived and worked here for years and therefore they departed in tears.
 
"We will challenge the decision, but we do not want to create in the authorities the impression that we are not obeying the court," one of the former leaders of the center explains.
 
Instead of a dump they built a palace
 
There existed the myth that back in the early 1990s Mayor Anatoly Sobchak presented the Witnesses a parcel of 10.5 hectares in Solnechnoe and a hectare on Komomyazh. However, as it turned out, according to documents the religious organization acquired the territory of a former Pioneer Camp in Solnechnoe, which included residences, buildings, and a boiler house, from a construction company for 150 million rubles. According to representatives of the Jehovists, the camp had been completely ruined and they rebuilt it and turned it into a well landscaped lot.
 
At the time, fellow Jehovist believers from Finland, Sweden, and Norway worked on the construction. They brought a Finnish architect. The Scandinavians brought construction materials and hired workers. The construction began in 1992 and by 2002 the entire "camp" was ready. And all of this belonged to citizens of other countries, the Witnesses aver, and therefore it cannot be confiscated.
 
While the construction of the camp was underway, the Witnesses found the land for the Hall of Congresses. Mayor Anatoly Sobchak signed an order to transfer to the Jehovah's Witnesses one hectare on Kolomyazh Prospect. It was leased for 49 years under the condition that for each square meter they were supposed to pay 10 rubles as their contribution to the development of the city. It turned out that the land was not without a surprise—under the future building was found a hazardous waste dump. But the Jehovists paid for the complete disposal of harmful waste.
 
Despite the rumors about the foreign imprint in the immovable property of the Jehovists, according to information of Rosreestr [Russian Register] both the land in Solnechnoe and the hectare on Kolomyazh today are registered to the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The foreign owners, who might have been able to protect the property of their Russian fellow believers, could not be found. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2017)

Hundreds of people in Russia have to leave your house. Who are they?
 
An unprecedented step in the history of Russia. There are hundreds of citizens of the Russian Federation who have not committed crimes, and no offense, they want to seize their property, which they built on their funds, with their own hands. The state of the Russian Federation wants to take away even the property that belongs to the document with their international colleagues. Who are these people? In Russia, these people have repeatedly been victims of criminal prosecution only because of their religion - it is Jehovah's Witnesses. Dozens of buildings of worship, which some witnesses are home, such as the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses, or, as they call it themselves witnesses, Bethel (the biblical name, which means House of God), which is in reality hundreds of people is a literal house shall be confiscated. 

And this unprecedented news confiscation and prohibition has caused an international outcry. 
Here are a few examples:
*** The EU condemned the Russian government against Jehovah's Witnesses 
http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-deems-jehovahs-witnesses-extremist/28442809.html Toner urged the US to "ensure that laws against terrorism and extremism do not apply to peaceful religious minority groups. " He also urged the Russian authorities "to lift the ban on the activity of" Jehovah's Witnesses ". Russian Armed Forces on April 20 acknowledged extremist activity" Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia "and banned his work. Representatives of the" Jehovah's Witnesses "have declared their intention to appeal to the European Court of human rights. The protection of the organization were the German Foreign Ministry and the EU's foreign service. 

  RIA Novosti Ukraine:  
http://rian.com.ua/world_news/20170421/1023412404.html 
Newsweek ( "Newsweek"): United States: Ban Witnesses in Russia demonstrates "paranoia" Vladimira Putina government 
http://www.newsweek.com/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-putin-587179 US News & World the Report: The State Department condemned the religious oppression in Russia https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-04-21/state-department-condemns-russian-clampdown-on-jehovahs-witnessesAmbassadors influential countries in the world were very disappointed and amazed the decision of the Supreme Court to ban Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. At a recent conference May 2, 2017 with President Vladimir Putin in his residence in Sochi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern over violation of civil rights in Russia and, among other things, was the unprecedented ban on Jehovah's Witnesses.






    The UN called on Russia to stop the persecution of the Witnesses.
Despite this injustice, many families of Jehovah's Witnesses have to leave the Russian branch of Jehovah's Witnesses, which for some was their literal home. 
You can just speculate - how can "extremists" to create and maintain such a beauty? After all this beauty, which was created by the witnesses at its center, as you saw in the video, in reality, actually is in the hearts of those who built and cared for this place. And in almost all places taken care of where they live and work, Jehovah's Witnesses, you can only see the reflection of love, peace, calm, caring, but not the opposite of this - no "extremism", what exactly are accused Jehovah's Witnesses. This place is too open, beautiful, peaceful and clean in every way, only one it destroys all the Russian charges against Jehovah's Witnesses. 

You can also see a report released a few years ago, just about the Center, which wants to confiscate their state, and the people who live there. This report answers many questions and gives a lot to understand and see who they are - Jehovah's Witnesses and to liquidate them if necessary? http://www.fakt777.ru/2017/05/sotni-lyudej-v-rossii-dolzhny-pokinut-svoj-dom.html

The last post was from from another city. The ban has not taken legal effect until after the appeal process in June although as seen here some cities are enacting it and the brothers are clearing out before the legal ban takes effect just in case.

Jehovah's Witnesses clear out their property
WHAT DO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES OWN IN ST. PETERSBURG?
One of the most influential religious organizations in the world has now fallen under a ban in Russia
Moskovskii Komsomolets, 5 May 2017
 
The Supreme Court has actually ruled that the Jehovah's Witnesses conducted extremist activity. Now they are required to cease their work immediately, which they have already done. Further, apparently, there will be new owners of their property. And these believers' property is good, especially in St. Petersburg.
 
People left in tears
 
In the northern capital, which has traditionally been considered to be multi-confessional, a place was found for the Jehovists also. Here they own a dozen hectares of land in Kurort district in the village of Solnechnoe, with dwellings and office buildings. They also own a congress hall with 2,500 seats on Kolomyazh Prospect, building 21, with a hectare of land. And several smaller buildings.
 
The central office of the Russian Jehovists is located in Solnechnoe. In the plan of its  arrangement it may be compared with a monastery. Families of clergy worked and lived there. In all, about 300 persons worked in the settlement of the Administrative Center.
 
Now the buildings on the shore of the Finnish Gulf are empty. The inhabitants began leaving with their things as soon as they learned of decision of the court. Many had lived and worked here for years and therefore they departed in tears.
 
"We will challenge the decision, but we do not want to create in the authorities the impression that we are not obeying the court," one of the former leaders of the center explains.
 
Instead of a dump they built a palace
 
There existed the myth that back in the early 1990s Mayor Anatoly Sobchak presented the Witnesses a parcel of 10.5 hectares in Solnechnoe and a hectare on Komomyazh. However, as it turned out, according to documents the religious organization acquired the territory of a former Pioneer Camp in Solnechnoe, which included residences, buildings, and a boiler house, from a construction company for 150 million rubles. According to representatives of the Jehovists, the camp had been completely ruined and they rebuilt it and turned it into a well landscaped lot.
 
At the time, fellow Jehovist believers from Finland, Sweden, and Norway worked on the construction. They brought a Finnish architect. The Scandinavians brought construction materials and hired workers. The construction began in 1992 and by 2002 the entire "camp" was ready. And all of this belonged to citizens of other countries, the Witnesses aver, and therefore it cannot be confiscated.
 
While the construction of the camp was underway, the Witnesses found the land for the Hall of Congresses. Mayor Anatoly Sobchak signed an order to transfer to the Jehovah's Witnesses one hectare on Kolomyazh Prospect. It was leased for 49 years under the condition that for each square meter they were supposed to pay 10 rubles as their contribution to the development of the city. It turned out that the land was not without a surprise—under the future building was found a hazardous waste dump. But the Jehovists paid for the complete disposal of harmful waste.
 
Despite the rumors about the foreign imprint in the immovable property of the Jehovists, according to information of Rosreestr [Russian Register] both the land in Solnechnoe and the hectare on Kolomyazh today are registered to the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia. The foreign owners, who might have been able to protect the property of their Russian fellow believers, could not be found. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2017)

Interesting how when opposers lies about the Witnesses come to light they go into hiding. " the plaintiff withdrew the claim were most likely dictated by a desire to save face"  

Jehovah's Witnesses escape liquidation in Nizhny Novgorod province
ARZAMAS PROSECUTOR CANCELS PLANS TO BAN UNREGISTERED GROUP OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Portal-Credo.Ru, 5 May 2017
 
A lawsuit for banning an unregistered religious group of Jehovah's Witnesses in Arzamas (Nizhny Novgorod province) was withdrawn from the court on 4 May by the city prosecutor's office. Earlier, on 10 March, the prosecutor's office filed in Arzamas district court a plaintiff's declaration for banning the activity of a group of believers that was functioning without registration, a Portal-Credo.Ru correspondent reports.
 
Attorney Arli Chimirov, who is representing the interests of the believers, said "citizens have the right to exercise their rights to joint confession of religion and without creating a religious group, according to the procedure of article 7 of the federal law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations." In the attorney's opinion, this lawsuit should not be considered in court at all.
 
Hearings in the Arzamas city court began in late March and a subsequent session was held on 3 May. Assistant prosecutor Yulia Plakunova maintained that residents of Arxamas who profess the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses believe "in life after death and healing without medicines." This statement evoked puzzlement in the judge, who asked to clarify just what it is that Witnesses maintain. Mrs. Plakunova referred to the witness Meshko. The judge began reading the testimony of the witness, according to which everything was the other way around. Nevertheless, the assistant prosecutor continued to insist on her point and several other points of the indictment, which also suffered from lack of evidence. At a result, the judge suggested to present the missing evidence by 4 May.
 
However on 4 May Yulia Plakunova did not appear at the court session. Instead a statement arrived from the Arzamas prosecutor withdrawing the lawsuit. The court accepted the withdrawal and closed proceedings on the case.
 
"The prosecutor's office did not have a choice and the reasons why the plaintiff withdrew the claim were most likely dictated by a desire to save face," the attorney for the defense, Arli Chimirov, said.
 
The story of the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Arzamas received surprisingly blatant publicity in the press. It was reported, for example, that the prosecutor's office accused the citizens of the exclusivity of their religious convictions, which were incorrectly interpreted. Besides the aforementioned belief in "life after death," the plaintiff's declaration contained this accusation: "They manipulate the consciousness of people to refuse worldly values, teaching the existence of purity and light beyond the grave, without the problems and obligations of life." (tr. by PDS, posted 5 May 2017)

News source in Russian Far East speaks up for Jehovah's Witnesses
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: ARE THEY BANNED OR NOT?
by Katerina Chernova
Suchan, 26 April 2017
 
Like a stormy wave throughout all the news media of Russia rolled some triumphant articles to the effect that supposedly the "sect" of Jehovah's Witnesses had been banned on the legislative level. . . . This is not true.
 
It was an amazing fact that this news was picked up literally on the fly by everybody who was not too lazy, referring to the fact that the Supreme Court ruled the organization "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be extremist and banned its activity. People who attend meetings of an organization with a name that includes the words "Jehovah's Witnesses" were harassed, insulted, humiliated, slandered, and called all manner of nasty words. And why? What did these people do that was bad for society in their meetings? We conducted a small investigation and we are prepared to describe it.
 
For starters, let's clarify the situation in the legal field. At the present moment no judicial decision HAS TAKEN LEGAL EFFECT prohibiting the activity of the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses. What for a week has been blared "into all horns" by all news media, social networks, and simply "proactive" people, as an order, which incidentally is not ruled out, is just one decision of the Supreme Court which at the present time is being appealed and has still not taken legal effect, and consequently is a judicial act on paper, with which the defense did not agree and so it is appealing it.
 
What is more, an earlier initiative for placing Jehovah's Witnesses outside the law has already been overturned judicially . . . although one should not forget the kind of "cunning" with which the destruction of an organization may be approached. That is, first deliberately refuse to recognize it as illegal but then in the process of further judicial investigations nevertheless ban it in general and pretend that the decision was reached in an equal conflict of two sides and not treacherously and against the wishes of millions of people, infringing their constitutional right to freedom of religious confession. That is for the courts. So that keep in mind that so far, for the present time, Jehovah's Witnesses are within the law and are not banned!!!
 
And now about particulars. . . . The position of citizens . . . . It is very negative in many cases. But in digging deeper into the topic, those citizens who vehemently spoke out AGAINST Jehovah's Witnesses still were not able to establish their position adequately and justifiably. In all cases completely, people began almost hysterically to get angry and accuse Witnesses of taking people's money, property, and other valuables and to talk about imaginary cottages built with this money. . . . But when they are asked to name just one victim from whom money, apartments, or something else was taken by the Witnesses, NOBODY was able to remember A SINGLE case in fact! So we asked to show us or give the address of just one cottage of a Jehovah's Witness, built with money stolen from people. And again, nobody knows a single real instance.
 
So why such persecution of this organization? Everything is explained quite simply. Witnesses in the recent past preached too aggressively and insistently, they pestered people on the street, they knocked on doors, they went to workplaces, which irritated atheists and people who believed otherwise. As a result, in a few years they were able to provoke such antipathy against themselves among simple people—that's all! But! At the same time their ranks, strange as it seems, grew. The organization accumulated members while nobody was left without apartments and money.
 
Many people turned around their personal life because at the meetings they learned humility and forgiveness of loved ones, many cast off harmful and addictive habits, some found for themselves the meaning of life, and generally no evil came of it.
 
It is not without importance that various rituals of the type of "baptism," "weddings," and the like are conducted among the Witnesses on a cost-free basis. Take note, Witnesses for a long time have not been pestering people on the streets, they do not go from house to house, and they do not "tug" anywhere, they live quietly and peacefully, and they try to serve people and God—just so.
 
At the same time we have not noted particular growth of the popularity of the Orthodox Church. We have heard many complaints against it regarding the impossibility of performing any ritual in the event that a person does not have money. That is, you want to be "baptized,"--some "donation;" you want to be "married,"--it takes so much cash; a "funeral,"-- it is also not for free. People murmur, priests in gold and jeeps, but candles in churches are only for contributions. Just so.
 
It was possible to find a version that "the war on the Witnesses" was declared out of fear that they will overtake Orthodoxy, that people will be drawn to them sincerely, they will leave fat priests, and this is impermissible!
 
In general, think for yourself and do not go along. As always, we are not justifying anybody; we do not take anybody's side. We are for justice. The court's decision has not taken legal effect, and people should not be deceived that THEY ARE BANNED, SHUT DOWN, and outside the law already! This is not true! The court's decision has still not taken legal effect. They are within the law and have the right to their own meetings and activity.
 
The editors appeal to those citizens who have reliable information about incidents of extortion or seizures of property by Jehovah's Witnesses. Come to our offices and we will help you recover everything by legal procedure. And indeed we would like to see just one such person from whom something has been stolen. We have not been able to find such. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 May 2017)

ALL OF US SHOULD PRAYERFULLY CONTEMPLATE WHAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN IN THE NEAR FUTURE SUCH AS WITH OUR BROTHERS IN RUSSIA. THE FACT IS JEHOVAH IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL OF MATTERS AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS IT WILL BE "IN STYLE" TO HIS GLORY. HERE IS THE TALK BY BR. JACKSON OF THE GOVERNING BODY THAT IS MOST FITTING AT THIS TIME TO REVIEW:
   Expect the Unexpected Bro. Jeffrey Jackson, 2016 Annual Meeting
   I'm sure everyone of us here today will agree that this year's regional convention program was absolutely fantastic! And probably one of the most common comments that have been made is that many brothers and sisters have said this convention has truly prepared us for the great tribulation and we certainly feel that way.
   But as our minds think about the great tribulation and the importance of Jesus words, it's true at times that our imagination perhaps become very active, we have maybe have questions: how long will be the great tribulation? How will it affect me personally? Will I be able to get my medication? What about my cat? Well the short answer to all those intriguing questions is: we don't know. But there is something that we do know beyond any doubt whatsoever, let's turn to the book of 2 Peter 2:9 and this fact fills us with confidence as we look to the future to the outbreak of the great tribulation. So 2 Peter 2:9, there it tells us: So, then, Jehovah knows how to rescue people of godly devotion out of trial...
   Yes, brothers and sisters, we know Jehovah! We know his record! We've studied the scriptures! And we totally believe that no matter what happens, even though we don't know the details of what the future holds, we believe that Jehovah knows how to rescue righteous persons. And we've seen time and time again how Jehovah does the unexpected. When we look through the scriptures, that point is emphasized over and over again. There are two scriptures that help to fortify this faith and belief that we have. Let's look at them together. The first one is found in the book of Eph 3:20. Here the apostle Paul under inspiration tells us: "Now to the one who can, according to his power that is operating in us, do more than superabundantly beyond all the things we ask or conceive."
   Now this is a fantastic expression! In the writing department if we were to write this, I'm sure the proofreaders would correct it, but this is under inspiration. First start let's think of the word "superabundantly." The proofreaders may tell us for a start, abundant is enough but here we have superabundantly and it doesn't stop there does it? Because Paul then says under inspiration more than superabundantly. And it's gets even better: beyond all the things we ask or conceive! This is certainly making a point, isn't it? What is the point? That Jehovah can do things beyond what we would expect! It's so interesting for us to note that Jehovah does not limit himself to what we ask for in our prayers! And we could be happy of that because he goes beyond anything that we could ever think of to solve our problems. So it's true at times we may see no way out of our problems, we may feel overwhelmed, but remember what does it say here? Jehovah has the power to do more than superabundantly beyond all the things we ask or conceive.
    Now the second scripture is in the book of Philippians 4:6. Here again we are told: "Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God that (now notice again) surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus." 2
   Have you noticed in several of the talks today, the point is being made over and over again that this precious possession that we have is our relationship with Jehovah. We need to trust him. Now when the peace of God comes to us because of praying to Jehovah and trusting him, what does it say here? Then that surpasses all understanding. Other translations put it this way: surpasses all our dreams, excels all human planning, is more wonderful than we could imagine. Truly, brothers and sisters, we don't need to know all the details of what the future holds. We know that our loving God Jehovah will do things in a wonderful way. Yes, he does the unexpected and he does it with style! That's the amazing thing! As we read through the scriptures we see his over and over again.
   Let's think about Haman back in the days of Esther and Mordecai. Haman had a lot of money, a lot of influence and a plan. He wanted to commit genocide to destroy all of God's people and it looked like the plan was going to succeed, but Haman didn't know what Jehovah had in mind. Esther, Mordecai were in place and how things turned out. The very day that the Jews should have been slaughtered and completely eradicated was the day that their enemies were killed instead. But as we read through those events, Jehovah did so many unexpected things. Personally I just love chapter 6. Right in the middle of this intrigue, where we see what Jehovah is preparing, then there is an account about the King not being able to sleep. Isn't it wonderful, you see Haman comes in at the wrong time for Ha'man he assumes wrongly that the King is going to bless him and what's the result? He has to be humiliated, walking around in front of Mordecai on a horse wearing the Kings clothes. That's style. Jehovah didn't have to do that, but when we look back on it, that really is style isn't it? And we can be sure that Jehovah will continue to do these things for his people.
   Recently of course we just watched that beautiful presentation with regard to Hezekiah. Didn't that full length movie help us to imagine exactly what happened at that time. But in the case of Hezekiah, what did he do in the time leading up to that event? Well he fortified the city, he stopped up the wells so the Assyrians wouldn't be able to get water, he did all sorts of things to plan and yet, none of that was needed. Why he didn't realize what Jehovah was going to do, the unexpected! We didn't even expect it when we saw that angel in the movie, did we? What a wonderful presentation it was, but you see Jehovah again did the unexpected. None of his people were thinking that Jehovah would do that and yet he had the situation under control.
   And of course time and time again as we look through the scriptures, we see this empathized. Moses and the Israelites. If we were standing with them there on the shores of the Dead Sea with the Egyptians coming behind us, who of us would have ever guessed that Jehovah is now going to part the Red Sea? I mean that was unexpected! It was also unexpected that the Egyptians would be so stupid to follow the Israelites! And yet it resulted in a wonderful victory for Jehovah's people. You see, expect the unexpected when it comes to what Jehovah does.
   Now thinking back to what the apostle Paul was inspired to say to the brothers in Philippi, let's think about the setting of when he wrote that and a little bit of the background. The apostle Paul said basically 'Don't worry, pray' because Jehovah can do the unexpected. Well was Paul perhaps writing at that particular time as an academic sitting behind a desk, someone who is testing out something he doesn't really know about? Of course not, we remember back at that time in 60 to 61 c.e. the apostle Paul was in prison in Rome. He'd already experienced many, many different hardships. He knew what it was like to be in a time of trial, but even the very fact that he was writing to the brothers in Philippi is of 3 interest. Let's just refresh our memories about this, you see the record in Acts 16, but what actually happened ten years before Paul wrote the letter to the brothers in Philippi? Well Paul was in Asia Minor he was going, trying to find somewhere where the Holy Spirit would allow him to preach. So he went to one location, no, went to another location, no, eventually he arrives at Troas and there one evening he sees a Macedonian man. And what does he say? "Step over to Macedonia." Well Paul naturally assumed this was Jehovah's direction and immediately he made plans to step over into Macedonia and this actually started the preaching work in Europe. Well he arrived first at the seaport of Neapolis and then made his way to Philippi. Well immediately there was some success. Some started to accept the message, but what happened shortly thereafter? Well as we already mentioned today, the account tells us that Paul and Silas were beaten up and thrown into a dungeon, into a prison.
   Now if you were Paul and you were sitting there in prison with your back paining, singing songs to bring yourself comfort, perhaps would you think this: 'What is Jehovah doing? I mean I was in Asia Minor, I could have preached anywhere in Asia Minor, but no, the vision said step over into Macedonia, now I'm assuming there's a big door of activity opening, but now here I am in prison. Why did Jehovah direct me to come here?' Honestly, I think most of us would probably start thinking along that line and perhaps be discouraged. Perhaps at times you felt you followed Jehovah's direction and then you've had problems, so we're use to understanding that situation, but what happened that very night? An earthquake! The doors of the prison open up, the jailer and his family accept the truth and then this is where it proves again Jehovah has style! Those magistrates apologize to Paul, Paul says 'no you take us out and you escort us out of the city!' Now that's style! And as we read, what do we notice? I imagine this in my mind it says Paul said goodbye to Lydia and I imagine, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm imagining the magistrates standing outside Lydia's home waiting for Paul to say goodbye and then continue to escort them out of the city. Now not only is that style, but it was practical because it appears that perhaps Luke the doctor was left to stay there in Philippi and establish the congregation and no doubt those magistrates would have thought twice before they did anything bad to the Christians after that.
   But what's the point? At times we may feel that there's no way out of our problems, but surely the lesson that we learn over and over and over again is that Jehovah can turns things completely around. Yes even though we might speculate and think, what if maybe he'll do this, in the end when we look back on events, we can't help but be impressed with how Jehovah handles things. He has everything under control.
   So that brings us back to the Regional Convention, the Sunday program. We all enjoyed that symposium of talks with the little videos dealing with the great tribulation. Maybe for most of us it took us awhile to work out what they were doing in the basement. Usually by the time there was a knock then we started to realize that it was at the time of the great tribulation. And with excitement we watched as that door opened and there the police, the military were facing our brothers and sisters and you were waiting, will the angel come and take them out? Will fire come from heaven? And we were left hanging, why? The simple answer, we don't know, but one thing is for sure, if Jehovah is on our side, we do not need to fear men. Yes it's true, we don't know all the details of the great tribulation. We don't know exactly what's going to happen in the future, but we do know that our loving Heavenly Father Jehovah God has everything under control! Yes he has style so we can expect the unexpected!
 

Hope you feel better soon and thanks to all.

(Psalm 91:5) You will not fear the terrors of the night, Nor the arrow that flies by day,
(Psalm 91:13) On the young lion and the cobra you will tread; You will trample underfoot the maned lion and the big snake
Sadly, Gods people will need to be MORE cautious than the serpents......................

Informant's report leads to fine of Jehovah's Witness
LEADER OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGREGATION IN KYZYL FINED FOR CONDUCTING MEETING
SOVA Center for News and Analysis, 3 May 2017
 
The head of a local religious organization was punished for conducting a meeting after the suspension of its activity.
 
On 3 May 2017, the MVD for the republic of Tuva reported that on 19 April 2017, a magistrate judge of court district No. 2 of Kyzyl found the leader of a local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses guilty of committing an administrative violation of law, provided for by part 1 of article 20.28 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law (organizing the activity of a religious association with respect to which a decision has been made to suspend its activity). He was fined 1,000 rubles.
 
The ministry reports that on 5 April a telephone report came into the dispatch center of the city directorate of the MVD, which said that on Churgui-oola St. in Kyzyl "people are meeting and discussing religious topics and also are discussing the topic of the possible end of the world." Personnel of law enforcement agencies established that the premises belong to the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Kyzyl.
 
The activity of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses and the rights of local religious organizations that are members of its structure were suspended by the Russian Ministry of Justice on 15 March 2017 in connection with the submission of a lawsuit for its liquidation in the Supreme Court. Later, on 20 April, this lawsuit was granted.
 
From our point of view, the liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses organizations for extremism, prosecution of their members, and prohibition of their texts do not have legal grounds and are a clear manifestation of religious discrimination. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 May 2017)

Yes, Bruce, please stay. I need your encouraging input. Yes we are all imperfect, but it is the love that separates us. Agape!

Easy remedy  , once you find out it is fake news since you are the moderator then it is your responsibility to remove the post instead of being critical of everyone else for reading it since you left it up. 
I would have removed it if I knew how so I changed the heading so it would expose fake news. Was I so wrong to do so? 

Here are some books for research regarding the Tetragrammaton in the New Testament as found at "Watchtower Historical Items and Research Publications" on ebay:
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New Testament Letters  
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Egypt Israel in Ancient Times  
Divine Name Controversy  
Synonyms of the Old Testament  
Dead Sea Scrolls [Burrows]  
Who Was a Jew  
The Lord and the Tetragrammaton  
Modern Matthew [Carr]  
First Edition of the New Testament  
Epistles of the Romans [Rutherford]  
Emphatic Diaglott  
The Living Words  
Hebrew English New Testament  
Interlinear Bible [Green]  
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New Testament Greek to Hebrew Dictionary  
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Original Aramaic New Testament [Peshitta]  
Reina Valera Santa Biblia  
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New Testament Letters 
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Divine Name Controversy 
Synonyms of the Old Testament 
Dead Sea Scrolls [Burrows] 
Who Was a Jew 
The Lord and the Tetragrammaton 
Modern Matthew [Carr] 
First Edition of the New Testament 
Epistles of the Romans [Rutherford] 
Emphatic Diaglott 
The Living Words 
Hebrew English New Testament 
Interlinear Bible [Green] 
Archaeology and the New Testament 
New Testament Greek to Hebrew Dictionary 
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia 
Original Aramaic New Testament [Peshitta] 
Reina Valera Santa Biblia 
Julia E. Smith Bible 
Hexapla Polyglot 
1611 Edition of King James with Tetragrammaton on New Testament Title Page  
Hawaiian/English Parallell Bible 
Bay Psalm Book 
The Name of God Yehowah 
Indian Algoonquin New Testament [Eliot Bible] 
Polychrome Bible 
Hebrew Gospel of Matthew [Howard] 
The Stones Cry Out 
Cairo Geniza 
Jubilee Bible 2000 
Anchor Bible Dictionary 
The Restored New Testament [Willis Barnstone] 
The Companion Bible [KJV] 
Messages of the Apostles 
New Testament [Kneeland] 
Interlinear Psalster [Bagster] 
Hebrew-English Genesis [Greenfield] 
NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English [Kohlenberger] 
Holy Bible [Sharpe] 
New Testament [Heinfetter] 
Studies in Matthew [Bacon] 
Epistles of Paul [Stevens] 
Divine Name King James Version 
The Exhaustively Cross-Referenced Bible [Goodwin] 
First Epistle of St. Peter [Hort] 
Quotations in the New Testament [Toy] 
Gospel According to John Indian Language [Buckner] 
Shem Qadesh Scripture 
Liberal Translation New Testament [Harwood] 
Literal Translation New Testament [Heinfetter] 
Inclusive Language Bible 
Scofield Reference Bible 
Restoration Sacred Name Bible 
Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition 
Gospel of Mark [Swete] 
KJV Names of God Version 
Pulpit Commentary 
Annotated Bible [Gaebelein] 
Adam Clarke Commentary 
Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ 
Adair History of the American indians 
Commentary on Revelation [Swete] 
Jehovah in the New Testament [In Italian] 
Hieroglyphick Bible [Thomas} 1788 
Edwards Family New Testament 1851 
New Testament Text and Transmission {Comfort} 
Translation Handbook on Luke 
Messages of the Bible Synoptist {Sanders} 
Jewish Annotated New Testament 
Newberry Reference Bible 
Commentary of the Bible {Dummelow} 
Critical Commentary of Luke {Plummer} 
Critical Handbook of Mark and Luke {Meyer} 
New Testament Commentary {Hendriksen} 
New American Commentary {Stein} 
New Darby Version 
Jesus The Jew {Geza Vermes} 
Did Only the High Priest Use the Tetragram in Jesus' Time? 

TrueTomHarley  " There is no finer way to get some grumblers going than to say: “oh, we changed that."
I think it is great that we have had 51 new adjustments in understanding especially related to Great Tribulation and prophecies in just the last 10 years. That compares with the same amount in the previous 50 years showing the end is very near  as the Scriptures say: "
   9  See, the first things have come to pass; Now I am declaring new things. Before they spring up, I tell you about them.” Isa.42:9   and " 7  For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing Unless he has revealed his confidential matter  to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7. TrueTomHarley "One character hoo-haws over the fact that growth among Western nations is quite modest and sometimes has even reversed. He thus reveals his bias that these are the only people who matter"
I am sure the people outside the ark were also "hoo-hawing" once the rain started and saying "hey there are only 8 people in that ark why is Jehovah so concerned with quality of people and not quantity"?

Merkel, Meeting Putin, Raises Treatment of Gays and Jehovah’s Witnesses
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALISON SMALEMAY 2, 2017
Continue reading the main storyShare This Page Share Tweet Email More Save Photo   President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany spoke at a news conference in Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday. CreditPool photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko MOSCOW — Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, took the opportunity of a rare visit to Russia to raise domestic human rights issues on Tuesday with President Vladimir V. Putin, a noted departure from their continuing differences over Ukraine and Syria.
Ms. Merkel said she had talked to Mr. Putin about her concerns on civil rights in Russia, including, among other issues, the persecution of gay men, a new ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses and arrests of anti-Kremlin protesters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/world/europe/merkel-putin-russia.html
Also watch it here at 9:48 min : httyoutube.com/watch?v=QpwR44MRXDI … ps://youtu.be/QpwR44MRXDI

I like the frank statement in Paragraph 12 of Sunday's Watchtower stuydy: “The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.”
 
There is no finer way to get some grumblers going than to say: “oh, we changed that.” Hostile people scour past publications, discover where you’ve once said ‘A’, whereas now you say ‘B,’ and pounce all over the ‘flip-flop.’ They thereby reveal that they themselves reason like 10-year olds.
 
It's not a piece of cake looking into the future - everyone knows that - so if you mess up, you back up and tackle the subject anew. We do it all the time. For decades, we have spoken of ‘tacking’ and the ‘light getting brighter.’ What is that if not an admission that we’ve often been wrong? We’re very open about it. So when the grousers come around with their grousing over teachings that have changed, they look pretty silly if they harp on it – we’ve never said that they don’t. There are many examples in the Bible of faithful ones doing or saying things that did not pan out.
 
The logical extension of this is that with any new understanding, one can always accept it as tentative, the best understanding available at the moment. Nobody expects you to herald these new understandings from the rooftops. They are not the basic fabric of the truth that we teach to our Bible students – they are for our own edification. So long as you don’t go setting yourself up as a counter-authority with your ‘better understanding,’ everybody gets along just fine.
It’s all a matter of respect for authority versus contempt for authority. That point the Governing Body just clarified? You may have noticed that point some time ago in your own private study of the Bible. And if this was the greater church world, you would have run out and started up your own sect over it. Instead, we wait on the human authority Jehovah has provided.
One character hoo-haws over the fact that growth among Western nations is quite modest and sometimes has even reversed. He thus reveals his bias that these are the only people who matter. One explanation for what he observes is that nowhere is contempt for authority of any sort more prevalent than in the West – independence is the revered goal held before all here. Another is the effect of this world’s ‘higher education,’ which pushes with all its might an atheistic view. 
 

Really, really staunch Church members do not cease being Church members when they are not attending Church - say, when they are working at their government jobs.

Go-pher it!

The future for Jehovah's Witnesses
WITHOUT WITNESSES: HOW WILL JEHOVISTS LIVE AFTER THE BAN IN RUSSIA?
"Telegraf" found out what adherents of the Jehovah's Witnesses and experts think with regard to the ban of their activity in Russia
by Dmitry Matveev
Telegraf, 28 April 2017
 
On 20 April, the Russian Supreme Court found the activity of the "Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" to be extremist and banned its work. Not long before that, the Russian Ministry of Justice put a stop to the work of the central office of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization because of rulings that 95 of the books the organization distributes are extremist. Telegraf talked with adherents of the organization in Russia and abroad and found out how their life will change after the ban.
 
Nobody compels people to become Jehovah's Witnesses by force; they come to the faith by themselves. Anton Chivchalov, an adherent of the Jehovah's Witnesses, described for Telegraf how he became acquainted with this teaching quite by accident back when he was a teenager and found their literature in the home of his grandmother. "It was in Ukraine, Lvov province, the city of Chervonograd. I was immediately attracted by the logic and reasonableness of the presentation. All this contrasted sharply with the perception of religion that I had before that: something gloomy, confused, mixed with strange rituals, 'for old ladies,' and so forth," Anton explained.
 
He wrote a letter to the Jehovah's Witnesses' affiliate in Germany and requested literature, which he quickly received. Anton said that for some time he corresponded with believers from another city and then he began to study the Bible more seriously and to attend meetings, first in Ukraine and later in Russia. In 1996 he himself received baptism as a follower of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
 
Originally he was attracted by the reasonableness, clarity, logic, and integrity in its teaching. "Before this, my religion was associated with stupidities like holy water which my grandmother fed me (incidentally, later she also became a Jehovah's Witness). But I unexpectedly discovered for myself that the Bible gives absolutely reasonable answers to important questions and formulates an integral and logical picture of the world. For example, before that I did not find anywhere a more logical explanation for the nature of evil than in the Bible," Anton Chivchalov explained.
 
He added that if one speaks about Jehovah's Witnesses as people, then he sees among them genuine Christian qualities. "These are brotherly love, mutual help, a serious attitude to the study of the Bible, treating it as a handbook and guide for all areas of life, and zeal in the work of evangelism. All of this is today in great deficit among other Christian churches," Anton explained.
 
The follower of Jehovah's Witnesses said that in his family people are sufficiently educated to be able to respect the religious convictions of other people. "My grandmother and my younger brother also became Jehovah's Witnesses and my mother is now actively interested in the faith," he explained.
 
"Jehovah's Witnesses will submit an appeal of the decision of the Supreme Court, including in the European Court for Human Rights, and therefore not everything is so unambiguous. "If there is an unfavorable outcome for us, we will not be able to conduct large worship services and we will not be able to use the houses of worship that we built, nor to import literature. Of course, in a law-based state in the 21st century, freedom of religious confession should not look like that," Anton considers.
 
At the same time, he thinks that the matter will not come to mass imprisonments, but it may come to mass fines, warnings from prosecutors, acts of vandalism, dismissals from work, confiscations, humiliations in law enforcement agencies and insults. "Unfortunately all this has already begun, even before the decision of the Supreme Court. Here much will depend on the position of specific officials in places," Anton Chivchalov explained. He said that our government thinks that law enforcement agencies should hunt for defenseless women with Bibles and not catch criminals.
 
Anton explained that he has no fear. "We try to remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'They persecuted me and they will persecute you also.' Each person, coming to Christian faith, should be psychologically prepared for persecution. And Jehovah's Witnesses do not entertain historical experience; after all we went through much more severe soviet and hitlerian repressions," Anton explained.
 
"What do I feel? I feel great responsibility to do all that I can in order to help my brothers and sisters in Russia, to sanctify God's name and establish his kingdom. This is the main thing that we do in whatever country we live in and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. This is what always unites us as a world brotherhood," the follower of Jehovah's Witnesses summed up.
 
The ban of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia shocked the world community. Sergei Afanasiev, an adherent of Jehovah's Witnesses living in Ukraine, said that the ban of the organization in Russia was a shocking experience for the whole world. Jehovah's Witnesses are known as peaceful citizens, who do not participate in political activity and categorically oppose violence. This means that the Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a political lobby and they are neutral and submit to any government. And it is for this reason that our situation in a country is a marker of religious liberty. Usually persecutions in authoritarian countries begin with Jehovah's Witnesses, but they never end with them," Sergei said.
 
As regards citizens of Ukraine, the ban of Jehovah's Witnesses evoked diverse reactions. "Even those people who categorically disagree with the views of Jehovah's Witnesses condemned this ban and sympathize with Jehovah's Witnesses. Such people are the majority," Sergei explained.
 
He said that it is still unknown when and which actions the government will take against Jehovah's Witnesses. "What is already now is they are sealing up buildings and believers who gather in their own homes for reading and discussing the Bible are issued prosecutorial warnings. That is, my fellow believers can expect very difficult times," he explained.
 
Sergei does not think that the authorities will immediately start criminal prosecution of believers with real criminal sentences. For now public opinion or the reaction of the world community will not permit doing this. "However it is not necessary to imprison; Jehovah's Witnesses who wind up in the list of extremists will be deprived of work, the right to business activity, and the right to have bank accounts and to get credit. This is quite enough in order to turn peaceful and honest citizens into outcasts," he says.
 
Jehovah's Witnesses are law-abiding and they respect authority, whatever it is and however they are treated. Sergei Afanasiev says that followers of the teaching will not organize pickets or protest demonstrations. They will not be saboteurs, spies, terrorists, or pests. They will continue to be peaceful and honest people, and the only opposition will consist in their continuing to believe, gather together, fellowship, and speak about their faith with others.
 
He said that if Jehovah's Witnesses are imprisoned, they will be model prisoners. "This is known from historical experience. In nazi camps, Jehovah's Witnesses accepted the rules of camp order as the law of the state and they obeyed them very precisely, but without violating their own principles. The Jehovah's Witness Elza Abt, a prisoner of Auschwitz, wrote in her memoirs that during the evacuation of the camp in January 1945, she and other women Jehovah's Witnesses were put on an ordinary passenger train. The convoy allowed them to occupy seats in various cars and practically did not guard them. They did not know the locality and they accidentally missed the station where they were supposed to transfer to another train. If they had escaped, nobody would look for them. But Elza and several of her fellow believers turned themselves in to the first SS they met and were put into the right camp. If they had acted differently, it would have placed the lives of hundreds of their fellow believers at risk," Sergei Afanasiev said.
 
He added that all Jehovah's Witnesses' property is supposed to be confiscated. But the Kingdom Halls that the Jehovah's Witnesses use have various forms of ownership and some of them belong to foreign legal entities. That is, confiscating immovable property will not be as simple as the Ministry of Justice suggests. Practically all the buildings that the Jehovah's Witnesses use were built by the adherents themselves and wth their donations. "In light of this, confiscation of the property of religious organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses will possibly seem even more savage and blasphemous than the confiscation of property from the Orthodox Church after 1917," Sergei Afanasiev summed up.
 
The ban of the Jehovah's Witnesses was a purely political decision, and the Russian Orthodox Church had nothing to do with it. "As regards possible pressure on the political authorities on the part of the RPTs, the dominant religious tradition in the country, which has a ramified structure, with the aim of eliminating competitors and changing the general cultural and world view field, and the public space and information field is saturated with these speculations. I think that they all are far from the truth, and on the "political" level everything is not so far," Viliam Shmidt, a professor of the Russian Academy of State Service and a religious studies scholar, explained for Telegraf.
 
The expert said that adherents of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia are not as many as adherents of religiosity that is untraditional for Russia on the whole. "For the RPTs it would be more desirable if such small, untraditional religions did not have the status of 'religious,' but this is impossible, the religious studies scholar explained.
 
In the event of a ban, Jehovah's Witnesses will go underground. "What is expected from the Jehovah's Witnesses after the ban? A rather strange question. What can one expect from 'fundamentalist' pacifists? They will live as before, to be sure now without the right of public associations. A large portion of them will find themselves in a compulsory shadow, in 'the religious underground,' as it was in the soviet period, when religious traditions were fought as public worldview vestiges. In the 21st century, fighting with ideas, not of a social and political order but of a metaphysical one, at the state level, is unfortunately extremely vulgar political views and practices," Viliam Shmidt concluded.  (tr. by PDS, posted 1 May 2017)