Putin Country by Anne Garrels

Putin Country by Anne Garrels

Author:Anne Garrels
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9780374710439
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux


ELEVEN

THE BELIEVERS

In the early 1990s, Chelyabinsk, like the rest of Russia, was flooded with foreign missionaries seeking lost souls. Reforms had unleashed a free market for the nation’s hearts and minds. Every possible denomination descended on the country, from Turkish and Arab Muslims targeting Islamic communities to American evangelists who deemed this “godless” industrial wasteland ripe for the picking. For a while, American missionaries attracted impressive audiences. Russians were indeed lost and for a brief moment were happy to look to the West for answers, whether it involved a fast track to God, democracy, or decent living standards.

The Tuesday night show in the former Communist Party theater was definitely not what the Bolsheviks had in mind. It was 1994, and the Seventh-Day Adventists were back for the second year in a row. Alerted by radio ads and posters, 850 people had been coming every night to hear the Americans. For five weeks, it was standing room only. With a full screen flashing photographs and videos behind him and speaking through a translator, Pastor Paul Wolf asked the assembled to show their joy because Christ was coming into their lives. “One more time,” he urged, “let’s sing ‘Jesus Never Fails.’”

The Seventh-Day Adventists established their first congregations in Russia before the revolution, but under Soviet rule they were banned. Paul Wolf was here to restore the faith. Russians of all ages sat for three hours on hard seats through a Bible lesson, a sermon, and a health lecture. He advised the assembled to adopt a simple diet of grain, fruits, and vegetables. Speaking of the dangers of too much sugar, he warned, “There was a man in history who loved sugar very much, and his name was Adolf Hitler. He loved sugar, and that kept him out of balance. You don’t want to be that kind of person.” God only knows what Stalin’s sugar intake was.

The rapt audience was also urged to stop smoking, though after several weeks of counseling only seven of the hundreds in the hall stood up to say they had quit. Mainly women, they were invited to come up to the stage, where each was presented with a tiny American flag. In those days, that seemed cute.

At the end of the evening, the crowd, which was stiff from sitting so long, shuffled to the foyer to line up for their overcoats. Some said they were attracted by the direct, simple emotional message—a stark contrast to the ritual and formality of the Russian Orthodox Church. One forty-year-old man told me he felt welcome here. He enjoyed the Americans’ homey style. He said everything was understandable, and he liked the fact the Americans dealt with the body as well as the soul. Most, though, were not ready to commit to any particular church. They had only recently begun to explore religion and still had many questions.

Those who attended more than ten of the Seventh-Day Adventist meetings received a free Bible. Many of those Bibles ended up in the street markets, where desperate Russians were selling whatever they could.



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