{"id":9574,"date":"2018-07-28T08:47:48","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T05:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=9574"},"modified":"2018-07-28T08:49:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T05:49:05","slug":"all-baptist-union-churches-shutdown-by-authorities-in-eastern-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/all-baptist-union-churches-shutdown-by-authorities-in-eastern-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"All Baptist Union Churches Shutdown by Authorities in Eastern Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Police enter the room where the small church gathers as they sing the words of the chorus &#8220;Christ is with me&#8221; one of the officers, wearing a mask to hide his identity, walks to the front of the room and says,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Please show me the documents and registration for conducting this event.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Are you a church&#8221; the policeman asks.<\/p>\n<p>The people respond in one voice &#8220;Yes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then where&#8217;s your church documents?&#8221; the officer demands.<\/p>\n<p>One brother explains, &#8220;Right now we don&#8217;t have documents.&#8221; He goes on to explain, &#8220;The thing is I&#8217;m just leading the service right now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The officer buts in, &#8220;What are your legal grounds for conducting these services?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are conducting these services based upon our faith in Jesus Christ.&#8221; The man answers.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9575\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9575\" data-attachment-id=\"9575\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/all-baptist-union-churches-shutdown-by-authorities-in-eastern-ukraine\/screen-shot-2018-07-28-at-8-32-41-am\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-28-at-8.32.41-AM-e1532756048599.png\" data-orig-size=\"1200,865\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Screen Shot 2018-07-28 at 8.32.41 AM\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-28-at-8.32.41-AM-1024x738.png\" class=\"wp-image-9575 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-28-at-8.32.41-AM-e1532756048599.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"865\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-9575\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Masked police officer questions church leader after raiding their worship service.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The video cuts to a clip of a hand-made banner written in Ukrainian that says &#8220;Christ has Risen.&#8221; Then it cuts to a clip of the masked police officer writing down a statement from the man who claimed he was leading the service. They show a stack of Evangelical Christian books prominently displaying Erwin Lutzer&#8217;s book &#8220;<span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2LV2tZv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hitler&#8217;s Cross: The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used As a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0as if it was promoting Nazism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The rest of the video goes on to show the police officers searching the church and a small dormitory where apparently some of the church members lived.<\/p>\n<p>Remember that earlier this year I wrote about how Luhansk People&#8217;s Republic was<a href=\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/religious-groups-outlawed-in-unrecognized-republics-of-eastern-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> banning all &#8220;religious groups&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0and forcing all churches to register with the government and to submit their doctrinal beliefs to government &#8220;experts&#8221; for approval. It looks as if this recent raid on this small church and the announcement below about stopping all activities of the Baptist Union are probably connected with the enactment of this new law back in February.<\/p>\n<p>Below I have translated the most recent announcement from the Luhansk People&#8217;s Republic concerning the ban on the Baptist Union.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"GCVcZrV3eY\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/novorosinform.org\/732439\">\u0412 \u041b\u041d\u0420 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0435\u043a\u043b\u0438 \u0434\u0435\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043ec\u0442\u044c \u0443\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u044d\u043a\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0435\u043a\u0442\u044b<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"https:\/\/novorosinform.org\/732439\/embed#?secret=GCVcZrV3eY\" data-secret=\"GCVcZrV3eY\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"\u00ab\u0412 \u041b\u041d\u0420 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0435\u043a\u043b\u0438 \u0434\u0435\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043ec\u0442\u044c \u0443\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u044d\u043a\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0435\u043c\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0439 \u0441\u0435\u043a\u0442\u044b\u00bb &#8212; \u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u044f\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Employees of the Ministry of State Security of the People&#8217;s Republic of Luhansk stopped activities on the territory of the Republic of the\u00a0<b>All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists<\/b>\u00a0<b>(AUC ECB)<\/b>, the press service of the ministry reported.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;The Ministry of State Security in the territory of the Luhansk People&#8217;s Republic (LPR) suppressed the destructive activities of the extremist religious organization&#8221; All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians Baptists. &#8221; This religious organization centered in Kiev evaded compulsory state registration, carried out destructive activities on the territory of the Republic, &#8220;it was informed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The MGB noted that the organization&#8217;s leaders avoided state registration and held large gathers in violation of the requirements of the decree of the head of the People&#8217;s Republic of Luhansk &#8220;Concerning the application of certain measures related to restricting of large gatherings provided for by theLPR Law on Martial Law&#8221; and the LPR Law &#8216;On Freedom of Conscience&#8217; and religious associations &#8220;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In addition, the idea of \u200b\u200bforcible seizure of the Republics by the armed forces of Ukraine was preached in the religious association, and close ties were maintained with representatives of Ukrainian nationalist armed groups.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;To achieve their goals, representatives of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians of Baptists&#8221; in the territory of the People&#8217;s Republic of Luhansk subjected their parishioners psychological influence with the use of psychotropic drugs,&#8221; the ministry said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>When checking the activities of the organization were found printed publications, audio and video materials aimed at inciting hostility and hatred on the grounds of nationality, origin, membership of a social group, as well as to justify war crimes committed by Kiev security officials against civilians in Donbass.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;According to the experts&#8217; conclusions, the literature found is recognized as extremist. Further measures are being taken to identify, suppress and block the illegal activities of religious organizations in the territory of the People&#8217;s Republic of Luhansk, including those associated with the distribution of religious booklets of an extremist nature,&#8221; the Ministry of State Security\u00a0 stressed.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Please continue to pray for churches in both Luhansk and Donetsk People&#8217;s Republic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police enter the room where the small church gathers as they sing the words of the chorus &#8220;Christ is with me&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193],"tags":[72,400,196,77],"class_list":["post-9574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","hentry","category-ukraine-2","tag-church","tag-eastern-ukraine","tag-persecution","tag-ukraine","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-2uq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5109,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/ukraine-war-through-the-eyes-of-the-church-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":9574,"position":0},"title":"Ukraine War Through the Eyes of the Church -Video","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I want to share with you a video but I must warn you it is graphic. It documents the experience of believers in Eastern Ukraine from the time when the war started until now. It's called \"Spiritual Soldiers on the Eastern Front\" and the video was created by \u00a0Together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ukraine&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/eyes-of-church2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/eyes-of-church2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/eyes-of-church2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11325,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/ministry-to-church-leaders-from-eastern-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":9574,"position":1},"title":"Ministry to Church Leaders from Eastern Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"February 11, 2019","format":"video","excerpt":"Last week I traveled to the town of Svyatohirs'k in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine where I met with leaders from 20 churches in and around the war zone. 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I also share with you a story of people finding peace right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Gospel Today&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Gospel Today","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/bread.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/bread.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/bread.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4659,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/a-shocking-answer-to-prayer-in-eastern-ukraine\/","url_meta":{"origin":9574,"position":3},"title":"A Shocking Answer to Prayer in Eastern Ukraine","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever prayed for something that you didn't expect God to do, then when God does it you're shocked? 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Church Building Seized In early September Russian backed separatists armed with machine guns marched into the Church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/church-antratsit.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6545,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/the-heavy-toll-of-ukraines-war-on-soldiers-and-civilians\/","url_meta":{"origin":9574,"position":4},"title":"The Heavy Toll Of Ukraine&#8217;s War on Soldiers and Civilians","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"June 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As the war in Eastern Ukraine continues to drag on the country is slowly becoming aware of the heavy mental, emotional, and psychological costs brought about by brutal fighting, death, and destruction. Warning: The video below does contain some very graphic scenes. Recently I came across this report from Vice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-04-at-12.26.48-PM.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3871,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/praying-for-ukraine-a-7-day-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":9574,"position":5},"title":"Praying for Ukraine -A 7 Day Guide","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently our team of missionaries decided that we need to raise awareness of what is happening in Ukraine and to encourage people to pray. 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