Police enter the room where the small church gathers as they sing the words of the chorus “Christ is with me” one of the officers, wearing a mask to hide his identity, walks to the front of the room and says,
“Please show me the documents and registration for conducting this event.”
“Are you a church” the policeman asks.
The people respond in one voice “Yes.”
“Then where’s your church documents?” the officer demands.
One brother explains, “Right now we don’t have documents.” He goes on to explain, “The thing is I’m just leading the service right now.”
The officer buts in, “What are your legal grounds for conducting these services?”
“We are conducting these services based upon our faith in Jesus Christ.” The man answers.
Masked police officer questions church leader after raiding their worship service.
The video cuts to a clip of a hand-made banner written in Ukrainian that says “Christ has Risen.” 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’s book “Hitler’s Cross: The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used As a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda” as if it was promoting Nazism.
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.
Remember that earlier this year I wrote about how Luhansk People’s Republic was banning all “religious groups” and forcing all churches to register with the government and to submit their doctrinal beliefs to government “experts” 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.
Below I have translated the most recent announcement from the Luhansk People’s Republic concerning the ban on the Baptist Union.
Employees of the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of Luhansk stopped activities on the territory of the Republic of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists (AUC ECB), the press service of the ministry reported.
“The Ministry of State Security in the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) suppressed the destructive activities of the extremist religious organization” All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians Baptists. ” This religious organization centered in Kiev evaded compulsory state registration, carried out destructive activities on the territory of the Republic, “it was informed.
The MGB noted that the organization’s leaders avoided state registration and held large gathers in violation of the requirements of the decree of the head of the People’s Republic of Luhansk “Concerning the application of certain measures related to restricting of large gatherings provided for by theLPR Law on Martial Law” and the LPR Law ‘On Freedom of Conscience’ and religious associations “.
In addition, the idea of forcible 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.
“To achieve their goals, representatives of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians of Baptists” in the territory of the People’s Republic of Luhansk subjected their parishioners psychological influence with the use of psychotropic drugs,” the ministry said.
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.
“According to the experts’ 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’s Republic of Luhansk, including those associated with the distribution of religious booklets of an extremist nature,” the Ministry of State Security stressed.
Please continue to pray for churches in both Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republic!
