“JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WAS EXPECTED”

[Bible Speaks]

“JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WAS EXPECTED” NEVER GIVE UP!

Dr. N. S. Gordienko, a professor at Herzen University in St. Petersburg, described in his book what the persecutors accomplished. He wrote: “The results were just the opposite of what was expected; they wanted to weaken the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the USSR, but in fact they only strengthened it. In new settlements where no one had heard of their religious confession, Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘infected’ the locals by their faith and their loyalty to it.”

Many Witnesses quickly adapted to their new circumstances. Small congregations were organized, and territory was assigned. Nikolai Kalibaba says: “There was a time in Siberia when we did preach from house to house or, more accurately, from one house to another house two or three houses down. But this was risky. How did we do it? After the first visit, we tried to make a return visit in about a month. We started out by asking people, ‘Are you selling any chickens, goats, or cows?’ Then we gradually turned the conversation to the Kingdom. 

After a while, the KGB learned about this, and soon an article was published in the newspaper warning the local population against talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses. The article said that the Witnesses went from house to house asking people for goats, cows, and chickens—but what we really wanted were sheep!”

Gavriil Livy relates: “The brothers tried to participate in the ministry even though they were closely watched by the KGB. The attitude of the Soviet people was such that if they suspected that someone was attempting to talk to them about a religious topic, they immediately sounded the alarm for the police to come. 

Despite this, we continued to preach, although without any visible results at first. However, over time the truth began to change some of the local people. 

One of them was a Russian man who drank heavily. Upon learning the truth, he brought his life into harmony with Bible principles and became an active Witness. Later, a KGB officer called him and said: ‘Whom are you spending your time with? Those Witnesses are all Ukrainians.’

“The brother replied: ‘When I was a drunkard and wallowing in the gutter, you paid me no attention. Now that I’ve become a normal person and a citizen, you decide that you don’t like it. Many Ukrainians are leaving Siberia, but they will leave behind local Siberians whom God is teaching how to live.’”

After a few years, an official from Irkutsk wrote to Moscow: “Several local workers have declared that all of these [Jehovah’s Witnesses] should be sent to one area in the north somewhere so that they would be cut off from all contact with the population and be re-educated.” Neither Siberia nor Moscow knew what could be done to silence Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Read a large article in full at:

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/302008006