THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION/A Focus OF THE SOVIET ATTACK

What the Exile Accomplished

The Soviets soon learned that stopping the Witnesses from worshiping Jehovah would be much more difficult than they had imagined. Despite the protests of their captors, the Witnesses sang praises to Jehovah while being forced  into exile and hung signs on their railway cars that said:  "Jehovah's Witnesses on Board."  One Witness explained:  "At the railroad stations along the way, we met other trains carrying those being exiled, and we saw the signs that were hung on the railway cars."  What encouragement that provided!

So rather than being disheartened, those being exiled reflected the spirit of Jesus' apostles.  The Bible says that  after these were flogged and ordered to stop preaching,  "they continued without let up teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ."  (Acts 5:40-42) Indeed, as Kolarz said about the exile,  "this is not the end of the  'Witnesses' in Russia, but only the beginning  of a new chapter in their proselytizing activities.  The even tried to propagate their faith when they stopped at stations on their way into exile."

When the Witnesses arrived at their various destinations and were dropped off, they gained a good reputation for being obedient hard workers. Yet, at the same time,, in imitation of Christ's apostles, they, in effect, told their oppressors:  'We cannot stop speaking about our God.'  (Acts 4:20)  Many listened to what the Witnesses taught and joined them in serving God.  

The consequence was just as Kolarz explained:  "In deporting  them the Soviet Government could have nothing better for the dissemination of their faith. Out of their village Isolation [in the western Soviet republics] the 'Witnesses' were brought into a wider world, even if this was only the terrible world of concentration and slave labor camps." 

Next time:  THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION/ A Focus OF THE SOVIET ATTACK - ONE OF  THOUSANDS Fyodor Kalin Describes His Family's Exile

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