Jehovah’s Witnesses Do Not Plead Guilty, Do Not Renounce Their Religious Beliefs, and Continue Preaching

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that they are persecuted because they are true Christians. They often refer to the Bible verse: “…all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.”¹

Jehovah’s Witnesses are deeply convinced that even the harshest persecution will not put a stop to their preaching, because God is supporting them. As the July 2019 issue of The Watchtower states: “Mere human opposers cannot stamp out the worship of the almighty God, Jehovah. Many have tried and failed. Consider what happened during World War II. At that time, governments in many countries intensely persecuted God’s people. The work of Jehovah’s Witnesses was banned not only by the Nazi party in Germany but also by governments in Australia, Canada, and other lands… In 1939 when the war began, there were 72,475 publishers worldwide. Reports showed that by the end of the war in 1945, with Jehovah’s blessing, there were 156,299 publishers. The number of publishers had more than doubled!”²

Jehovah’s Witnesses are deeply convinced that even the harshest persecution will not put a stop to their preaching because God is supporting them

A study article for one of the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses (The Watchtower, July 2019) was entitled “Keep Worshiping Jehovah When Under Ban.”

This article notes that a ban can have a positive effect: people often want to learn more about Jehovah’s Witnesses, so they respond more readily to preaching; ‘many who had stopped serving Jehovah began to attend meetings and were reactivated.’³

Elders and other Jehovah’s Witnesses with whom I spoke in 2017-2023 note that as a result of the ban on the organization, indecisive people were “sifted out,” while the influx of new believers and the number of those wanting to be baptized increased, and many of those who had left the organization or had become inactive started actively preaching again. The believers in the religious groups I was able to visit were not frightened by the ban and continued preaching actively.

As a result of the organization’s ban, indecisive people were “sifted out,” while the influx of new believers and the number of those wanting to be baptized increased, and many of those who had left the organization or had become inactive started actively preaching again

New Jehovah’s Witnesses, joining after 2017, study the Bible, get baptized, and preach actively despite the threat of persecution. As the well-known religious studies scholar Professor Nikolay Semyonovich Gordienko (1929-2011) noted, this is similar to what happened in the USSR: “In Germany and during the Soviet period, they thought that you could get rid of an idea by using brute force. But a strong idea also makes strong people. So that approach backfired.”⁴

To estimate the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia in 2023, several factors should be considered.

First, between 5,000 and 10,000 believers left the country after 2017, fearing criminal prosecution for their religious beliefs.

Second, even under the most normal conditions, when there are no bans, about one percent of believers leave the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses each year, because it maintains moral requirements that are quite high (these are approximate estimates provided by Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves).

Third, the media attention associated with the ban of the legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the large number of trials of believers has made Jehovah’s Witnesses much better known than before.

Fourth, the authorities and law enforcement agencies have never been able to explain what Jehovah’s Witnesses are guilty of, or why they are prosecuted and imprisoned. As a result, Jehovah’s Witnesses have strengthened their reputation as people who suffer for their faith, for their sincere beliefs, and for the truth.

Considering all these factors, I believe that there are still about 170,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia in 2023 – just as many as there were before 2017.

Having participated in 19 trials of Jehovah’s Witnesses in different regions of the country, I have come to three fundamental conclusions:

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not afraid of being investigated, tried, or imprisoned. They consider it their religious responsibility to preach Christianity to law enforcement officials, judges, as well as to prisoners. Jehovah’s Witnesses trust implicitly the Bible’s prophecy that before “the conclusion of the present system of things,” that is, just before Armageddon, true disciples of Jesus Christ will be put on trial for their loyalty to Christ as a witness to rulers and kings. Jehovah’s Witnesses usually refer to the following passage from Mark’s Gospel: “… People will hand you over to local courts, and you will… be put on the stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them” (13:9). Similar thoughts are found in Matthew (10:17-20) and Luke (21:12-15);

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not afraid of being investigated, tried, or imprisoned

Jehovah’s Witnesses, when accused, do not consider themselves guilty and have no intention of renouncing their religious beliefs. They firmly believe that despite the fact that the Supreme Court liquidated the Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia and the local religious organizations that were legal entities, they have the right to continue practicing the religion they have chosen. They do not believe that remaining Jehovah’s Witnesses makes them criminals. They well know that Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation “guarantees everyone freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with others any religion or not to profess any religion, to freely choose, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them;”

Jehovah’s Witnesses, when accused, do not consider themselves guilty and do not intend to renounce their religious beliefs

Jehovah’s Witnesses, even when subjected to unjust persecution and violence, feel neither malice nor hatred. For example, in the film Faithful Under Trials – Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Soviet Union, there is an interview with Sergey Mokritskiy in which he recounts a conversation he had after the collapse of the USSR: “One KGB representative who dealt with the Witnesses told me, ‘For all the things the Soviet authorities did to you, you should hate them with all your heart. But I don’t see that in you. How is that possible?’ I replied, ‘It is possible. If I hated the government or opposed it, I would not be a Christian.’” On the contrary, they make a point of being kind and often compassionate in their reactions to persecutors. For them, persecution is a stage in Bible history that in the future will end with the triumph of those who believe in Jehovah God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, even when subjected to unjust persecution and violence, feel neither malice nor hatred

The entire history of Jehovah’s Witnesses proves that they will continue their preaching activity in Russia despite the ban on their organization, and that as they do so, their numbers will continue to grow.

1
2 Timothy 3:12. ↩︎
2
The Watchtower, July 2019, p.9. ↩︎
3
The Watchtower, July 2019, p.9. ↩︎
4
See the interview with N. S. Gordienko in the documentary Faithful Under Trials – Jehovah’s Witnesses in The Soviet Union (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgWRBEIPpPk). ↩︎