More sophistry.
in the speech, Putin proposed creating a special state fund to assist the families of Russian soldiers who died during the war. The head of the Russian Evangelicals, Mr Ryakhovsky, was pleased with this. “I believe that the evangelical community needs to organise close interaction with the foundation on the spiritual restoration of the voiced category of citizens”, IRP News reports.
" pleased with this" for indeed all true Christians should assist the families of Russian soldiers who died during the war. And to "organise close interaction with the foundation on the spiritual restoration of the voiced category of citizens" to assist the families of Russian soldiers who died during the war is carefully nuanced enough to be acceptable as not conflicting with the prohibition against seeking to convert others to anything other than the RO.
Mr Putin also addressed Western Christianity and criticised the Church of England, which considers the use of gender-neutral terms for God. “What can I say? May God forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Mr Ryakhovsky shares this thesis, IRP reports. “The Bible says that marriage is exclusively the union of a man and a woman, there are no same-sex marriages, and there is no reason to talk about the gender neutrality of God.”
I agree! And as said, evangelicals would vote for Putin if he would uphold the constitution, in contrast to his rule. So, consistent with your attempted negation of what actually is the reality in Russia, since I agree with the above this must mean that I can act like an evangelical in Russia as here. A youth outside prayed with me today to ask the Lord Jesus to save him, by the grace of God. And as said, thousands passed by me on Monday as I held forth the word of life, which I hope I would want to publicly do in 63% RO, though against the law.
According to Ryakhovsky, the Russian Evangelicals have “a unique opportunity to engage in the spirituality of our people. Promote spiritual, moral, family and social values. Serve the community during this difficult time.”
Indeed - as said not by Putin but by a bishop of the Russian Union of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches - as all such situations is an opportunity. Christians in China - Putin's ally - often do the same, though the gov shuts them down more severely.
Thus in conclusion, all your poor attempts (seriously) to argue against the Yarovaya laws as meaning what they say simply fail to do so, and cannot withstand the abundant testimonies to them being interpreted as meaning persecution of evangelicals evangelizing or not being politically correct.
In reality, arguing with you has become akin to contending with a cult, or an atheist, of which I have some experience, and since you refuse objective judgment then I see little warrant for more time and energy spent in attempting to reason with you. And true conversion requires honestly.
May God grant you “repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” (2 Timothy 2:25)
Those who fell outside these four patriotic religions’ freedoms were subject to anti-missionary laws and state surveillance, which eroded their ability to practice their religion openly. This tactical choice targets independent religious activity outside of the Kremlin’s control and allows the regime to prosecute religious groups through incredibly vague laws. Notable groups target under these laws include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and Evangelicals. Indeed, according to a 2019 report, Evangelicals were the group most penalized under the anti-missionary laws. For example, the Kremlin forced a Russian Christian radio station to relocate from Moscow, Russia to Odesa, Ukraine. In 2022, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended labeling Russia as a country of particular concern “for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”. - https://www.christianpost.com/voices/putin-is-not-the-defender-of-the-faithful.html
They have been voting for Putin in the same numbers that rest of the population has been -- more than 80%.
Life has dramatically improved for the average Russian during Putin's term in office. That's why he keeps getting elected.
You're not evangelical Christian. You're propagandist, probably an operative of some kind or another.
No REAL Christian is obsessed with Russia rather than worrying about erosion of freedom, including religious freedom, and moral decline in our country.
We're closer to being the old Soviet Union under Biden than Russia is. We have more political prisoners, including peaceful J6 protesters and pro-lifers that engaged in civil disobedience. We have open borders where drug and sex traffickers, gang members, Chinese nationalists and Islamic terrorists can freely flow into the country. It's our President trying to imprison his political opponent.
We're the ones that have perverted God's design for marriage. We're the ones that are performing sex changes on children. We're the ones with perverted drag queens grooming kids by reading them storybooks. Multiple states legalized abortion until birth.
If you are more concerned with Russia than this country, MAY GOD CURSE YOU and bringing you to your knees.
Another platitude because you can't back up your points.
There is NO comparison between the level of religious freedom in Russia, for evangelicals or anyone else, to China, where a church can't even operate without the consent of the communist party.
Evangelical, protestant and Catholic churches all operate in Russia and preach the gospel without government interference.
The Russian government favoring the Orthodox church is FAR different than the Chinese government shutting down churches that refuse to incorporate the government's propaganda into its sermons.
The evangelical church is operating and doing quite well in Russia, including in Moscow despite all your claims otherwise.
Based on your claims this church shouldn't be allowed in Russia, let alone with a website and thriving:
Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists: history, ministries, basic doctrine
The Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christian Baptists today is one of the largest Protestant communities in the Russian Federation. Within the walls of this ancient building, regular worship services, Sunday school classes, study groups for future preachers, and youth fellowships are held.
How is this possible if evangelicals don't have religious freedom in Russia?
Volgograd Church hosted the ‘Turn on the Light’ Youth Conference
VOLGOGRAD – On November 23-25, 2023, in the Grace of Jesus Christ Church of Volgograd the fourth annual regional youth conference “Turn on the Light” took place.
More than 300 young people from different regions of Russia participated in the conference. The came from churches of Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, Penza, Krasnodar, Moscow, Orel, Sochi, and Sevastopol. The conference “Turn on the Light” is a place for young people to meet with God, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be ready to influence the life of their city. “For no one who lights a candle covers it with a vessel, but the light lit by God shines brightly.”
Traditionally, the conference opened with an worship night. Teams from churches of Volgograd, Astrakhan, Akhtubinsk, Mikhaylovka, as well as author and Christian rapper Steph led worship. Pastors and ministers of the Grace of Jesus Christ Church of Volgograd, lead pastor of the association of the Truth Churches of Volgograd and Voronezh regions Anatoly Kozlov, and coordinator of humanitarian projects of the RCCEF Maxim Politko, preached at the conference.
Young people delved into topics: evangelism, social ministry, salvation of relatives, personal sanctification, preparation for family life, and order in finances. The conference sessions were not only in a sermon format, but also in a talk show and fellowship group format. Speakers shared invaluable experiences in applying and working the Word of God in life and ministry. Much time was devoted to prayer.
After the conference, the participants shared in small groups what they had received during the days of the conference: some received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, some were renewed in God, some underwent deep repentance, and some charted a way to be restored in God and to win the hearts of the youth. We believe that young people are the light of the world, for the city at the top of the mountain cannot hide.
The Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith
THE YAROVAYA ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS: WHO IS OVERREACTING?
A careful reading of these laws provides some insight and dampens the sensationalism. Does it give one the impression that Russian lawmakers are out to get Christian groups, as sites such as Religion News Service warn? “Religious organizations directly affected by the new laws are those with strong evangelization programs in Russia—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and other Protestant organizations with Baptist, Pentecostal and independent Christian roots,” that site reports. (They also report that all of these taken together make up no more than 1 percent of the Russian population). Are they saying that these groups’ missionary activities are “aimed at disrupting social safety and order, extremist actions, forcing adherents to break up families, and intrusion upon the personality, rights, and freedom of citizens; inclining people towards suicide, obstructing the reception of compulsory education, inducing citizens to refuse to fulfill their civil duty as established by law,” or that they violate “legislative requirements on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and religious congregation”? If their missionary work does have such aims then, yes, they are now punishable by law. Have there been sects in Russia with such aims? Yes, there have—and without having actually committed a crime or violation of public order, they have not been easy to deal with. But let’s focus on this principle of “preventative legislature”.
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In the 1990s, the newly opened borders of the former Soviet Union experienced an influx of foreign missionaries. With all due respect for these organizations and their possibly good intentions, they were rather grossly ignoring the fact that Russia has been a Christian country since the year 988. Orthodox Christianity survived severe persecutions in the twentieth century, and by the nineties it was able to regain its proper place in Russian society. Orthodox Christianity as the most ancient, unchanged form of Christianity had no need of Pentecostal, Adventist, or Mormon missionaries, especially considering these organizations’ marked departure from traditional Christianity. Such groups can only bring confusion into a society that is predominantly Orthodox Christian, because they themselves are intolerant of Orthodoxy.
This of course is not even to mention such groups as the Scientologists, now infamous for their personality-destroying pseudo-religious methodology, or Aum Shinrikyo, which released sarin gas in a Tokyo subway station in 1995. The leader of this organization declared himself “Christ”; it was proclaimed a “dangerous religion” in Japan, and put under surveillance. The group had followers in Russia, where a criminal case was opened against them in April 2016; their facilities were raided and literature, cult items, and electronic information were confiscated. Clearly there is such a thing as a dangerous religion. We are accustomed to the phrase, “freedom of religion” as an alienable right. But what about religions that believe they must kill other people in order to be “saved”?
With all the recent, serious events it is not the time to raise a hue and cry about a house church being fined. Especially since this has not become a serious problem in post-Soviet Russia, and religion is not being persecuted in principle as it was under the Communists.