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  • But Where Are the Fruits?
    The Watchtower—1958 | October 15
    • in all. According to one Russian Baptist clergyman: “Our people are ‘hot’ Christians. We are reviving first-century Christianity in the twentieth century.” Obviously Christendom’s vine in Russia is prospering luxuriantly, but is it bearing fruit?

      Nothing is made more plain in the Scriptures than that the true Christian vine must bear fruit that expresses itself in preaching, witnessing and bearing testimony. Jesus preached. His apostles preached. Others were commanded to preach. Salvation depended upon making public confession, all were told. But it is noteworthy that the constitution of Soviet Russia, while granting atheistic communism freedom to propagandize its beliefs, denies that right to religious organizations. Free to worship? Yes, but only so long as it is limited to religious ritual in religious edifices.

      Thus, regarding a popular Orthodox Church monthly, we are told: “No direct attempt, however, is made to convert him [the reader] by challenging the spokesmen of the atheist State on their own chosen ground of natural science. This, presumably, would be ‘religious propaganda,’ a right not provided to the faithful by the Soviet Constitution.”

      A group of United States clergymen who visited Russia in 1956 stated that the churches of Russia “are under the influence of the Russian government” and that “in return for freedom of worship” they have “apparently inclined to go along with Soviet Communist leadership in important areas,” such as the Communist peace propaganda. But is communism or is God’s kingdom the world’s hope for peace?

      God’s Word requires Christians to bring forth the “fruitage of the spirit,” which “is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,” etc. That rules out all recourse to carnal weapons. (Gal. 5:22) Far from bearing such fruit, Christendom’s vine in Russia supports the militaristic schemes of the rulers.

      Said Quaker Sidney A. Bailey in The Christian Century, March 12, 1958: “As a Quaker I was particularly interested in whether it is possible for a Russian Adventist to obey the sixth commandment. They replied that no one should kill a person who is guilty of no crime, but that it is legitimate to defend one’s family or nation from aggression.” He also asked the chairman of Affairs of Religious Cults “how the Soviet government deals with conscientious objection to military service. At first he said that there were no C.O.’s in Russia. . . . As the conversation progressed, however, it became clear to me that there are still some in Russia who refuse military service. Mr. Gostev was not precise, but . . . those who refuse all service, such as Jehovah’s witnesses, are apparently treated as deserters and are tried in military courts.”

      Christendom’s vine in Russia may be large and growing ever larger, but is it bearing the fruit of Kingdom preaching and the fruitage of the spirit?

  • Two Altars
    The Watchtower—1958 | October 15
    • Two Altars

      Writing in The Christian Century of September, 1953, Eivind Berggrav, primate of Norway (retired) said: “To some European Christians, the American churches occasionally appear to have two altars, one for the dollar and another for God.”

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