Они стучатся в двери вашего дома

и обещают вам рай на Земле,

но если вы откроете им двери своей души,

то попадете в ад...

Глава 1. Тоталитарная секта

Секта «Свидетели Иеговы», известная также как «Общество Сторожевой башни» (ОСБ), является одной из самых старых тоталитарных сект, действующих у нас в стране. Часто эту секту считают протестантской, христианской деноминацией. Более серьезные исследователи характеризуют ее как псевдохристианскую арианствующую1 милленаристскую2 тоталитарную секту. Но и это не совсем верно. На самом же деле, «Общество Сторожевой башни» является псевдорелигиозной коммерческой организацией, основанной на квазикоммунистической идеологии с элементами язычества и прикрывающейся несколькими христианскими образами и концепциями. Эту точку зрения я постараюсь доказать в ходе моего повествования.

Of all the totalitarian sects operating on the territory of our country, this sect most of all even outwardly resembles the Communist Party. Perhaps that is why it manages to achieve such notable success throughout the post-Soviet space. The structure of Jehovah's Witnesses is remarkably similar to that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with its "democratic centralism." Instead of divine services, Jehovah's Witnesses3 hold "party meetings," "party studies" lessons, and "party congresses" (annual "Congresses of Jehovah's Witnesses"), and in the eschatological perspective they expect a very concrete earthly paradise (read communism), where there will be plenty of food and little work, where everyone will be taken "according to his ability" and given "according to his needs." Neither God (Jehovah) nor Christ has a place in this earthly paradise.

Jehovah's Witnesses are known primarily for their active propaganda activities. More often than members of many other sects, they go from house to house, pester people on the streets, hand out their leaflets and magazines, obsessively offer to study the Bible together and invite them to their meetings.

They are also known because of their specific feature - a fanatical refusal of blood transfusions. They trace the prohibition against the use of blood to the book of Leviticus and to the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where the Apostolic Council recommends that new Gentile Christians abstain from eating animal blood, in particular. In 1961, the leaders of the sect proclaimed blood transfusion to be the same as eating and declared it a mortal sin.4 Because of the ban on blood transfusions, a lot of people died both abroad5 and in our country. Here are just a few examples.

In March 1996, due to the refusal to administer drugs made from donor blood, "Jehovah's Witness" Y.F. Molchanova died in the City Clinical Hospital No. 40 in Moscow.6

According to an information letter from the same hospital, the sick "Witness" "was repeatedly visited by 'brothers' in faith – Jehovah's Witnesses, who exerted brutal pressure on the patient, tried to force the attending physician to refuse to carry out life-saving therapy, and called on him to 'sacrifice himself to Jehovah.'"7 Numerous similar cases have been recorded abroad.8

On September 7, 1996, seventeen-year-old Irina Godlevskaya, who had been injured in a car accident, was admitted to the trauma department of the Riga City Emergency Hospital. She lost three liters of blood, but resuscitators managed to stabilize her condition. Now it was necessary to perform a blood transfusion, but the girl and her parents – convinced "Jehovah's Witnesses" – refused. For a whole week, doctors fought for Irina's life, convincing her family of the indispensability of the transfusion. And all that week, strong young Jehovah's Witnesses with mobile phones were on duty in the hospital department, who made sure that Irina was not given a transfusion without their consent. In the end, the girl and her mother agreed to the operation and the transfusion was started, but it was too late. Irina died9.

But the most terrible consequence of the superstition of the Jehovah's Witnesses is the death of the children of sectarians, to whom their parents forbid blood transfusions, even in case of mortal danger.