Salvation is in Preaching
00:00, June 4, 2006 | News | Freedom of thought, conscience and religionAfter the end of this secular system, those who will be faithful Jehovah witnesses till the end of their life will be saved. “Jehovah Witnesses” religious organization believes that the existing system will soon collapse. The way to escape it is not a piece of bread but is the spiritual food and worshiping God. 160-170 people in Vanadzor live with this hope. Their main goal is the preaching which means to inform people about the missions and kingdom of God by “baptizing them by the name of Father, God and Holy Spirit”. “The best thing a Christian must do is the spiritual support”-says Gevorg Ananikyan, one of the priests of this organization in Vanadzor.
That is why Jehovah Witnesses do not do charity. “There is neither time nor finances for it”. At the same time Gevorg Ananikyan does not exclude that their followers can feed the one who is hungry, can support someone who needs it. But the main thing is preaching and not giving it up. The way they make God’s commandments reach people, that is preaching, differs from the way of work of other organizations. These are Jehovah Witnesses that visit strangers, knock at their doors and if they don’t face an obstacle perform their mission. “Some don’t accept, the other closes the door. Another one can take a stone and pursue us”- presents the difficulties of preaching, saying that Jesus Christ was also oppressed and there were people who did not believe him either. The organization has special hours for assemblies where one part from the Bible is presented and the priests and witnesses discuss it. He says that in their assemblies there are not democratic orders, they are theocratic. Theocracy is ruled by God and it has its God-Jesus Christ. The responsible person for organizing the assemblies is the priest, which does not mean a chief. Priest means a servant for everyone. The priests are involved in the council from where the presiding overseer is elected who is also the head of the organization.
Everybody who wants to be involved in the organization of Jehovah Witnesses first of all will understand that the Bible is really the truth. After studying the Bible when the person realizes that God is true and understands he needs to change his life, he gets involved in this organization and is called a Jehovah Witness. If he is ashamed of being introduced as such then he cannot be considered Jehovah Witness. “Christ said that who was ashamed of him he would be ashamed of that one”. G. Ananikyan says that Jehovah Witness will correspond to the demands that are mentioned in the Bible. But if the witness fails to be such and behaved badly then he will be excluded from the organization. Of course if he does not want to stand on the right way. The priests try to meet and help him. If support doesn’t work then he is declared not to be Jehovah Witness any more.
The representatives of this organization which preaches the word of God, are people with different education and work. Only political actors are exception. They can’t be involved in politics and spread the word of God at the same time. “The Bible says that Jesus Christ’s followers must not be from the secular world. Jehovah Witnesses must be entirely neutral towards political things”-says G. Ananikyan. That is why the members of this organization do not participate in elections; do not share the opinion of this or that politician. Such neutrality does not suppose that they will show disobedience to governmental resolutions or overlook laws. “The Bible says that every person should obey his authorities”-mentions the priest of the assembly and adds that it does not mean that God appointed those authorities. Jehovah just allows the existence of people’s government in order not to have an entire chaos on the Earth. Religious ideology and faith does not prevent Jehovah Witnesses to have an active role in public life. They consider themselves a part of society that is ready to take part in the activities of the community if it is not of political character.
Jehovah Witnesses confront patiently the problems of becoming a full member of society. In case of necessity, they are ready to protect their rights. There are many cases when this organization appeared in court instances to protect the interests of their followers and to restore the justice. If several years ago young Jehovah Witnesses had to be put into prison instead of serving in the army, now they give their freedom for a real alternative service. Actually, RA law “On Alternative Service” does not give them the opportunity to pass to a service different from the military one, in the consequence of which they still get into prison.
“Justice will not gradually increase but decrease”-says Gevorg Ananikyan-“the Bible says that God of this country is the devil”. The devil does its best to increase injustice. Jehovah Witnesses are sure that only the kingdom of God will save the existing system. “Today Jehovah has already created small oases on this Earth, where even in the world of devil the bad became good just in the circle of Jehovah witnesses”-Jehovah Witness Gevorg is sure about this. They believe that God must leave these oases and abolish everything.
Naira Bulghadaryan