Pentecostal Problems in Belarus

https://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/22551/belarus-authorities-demolish-worship-place-of-vibran-evangelical-church

There's a small bit in this article that's pertinent. The pastor of the church in question was interviewed by Evangelical Focus in 2021 and in that exchange he was critical of Minsk and the Lukashenko government.

The large Evangelical-Charismatic congregation (which has become more akin to a small denomination) has expressed vocal support for the protests against the government and Evangelical Focus is an arm of the Lausanne Movement – itself a kind of subsidiary of American Evangelicalism. It's clear that the church has also brought in or cooperated with Forum 18 which as I have argued elsewhere is rather cozy with the European Establishment. In fact the article in question is basically a re-working of a Forum 18 piece.

In the context of an authoritarian state that is antagonistic to the West (and vice versa) one would think churches would want to disassociate themselves with the enemies of that state. The broader associations aren't a case of genuine ecclesiastical internationalism or a robust concept of the Kingdom. No, these connections express the idealism of 'rights' and democracy being combined and confused with the gospel message and the nature of the Kingdom.

Don't misunderstand me. The government of Belarus is corrupt and wicked and yet these Christian leaders are fools and have misunderstood the nature and role of the Church and its witness. They are indirectly (and directly) appealing to the political powers that want to remove Lukashenko. You can't blame him for thinking them a Fifth Column – and he treats them accordingly.

Like all who drink from the poisoned well of Dominionism, they have confused the Gospel-Kingdom message with political activism and they are reaping what they have sown.

The pastor made it worse by giving hostile interviews after they were shut down in 2021 – and thus in 2023 (and in light of the changing regional geopolitics) the regime has decided to tear down their building and break up the group.

Is it persecution? There's plenty of that in Belarus I am sure – as there is in Russia as well. And yet this case is not so clear cut and is tainted with the same Evangelical-Dominionist virus that we see at work in China. In many cases these people are not being persecuted for the gospel but instead are facing punishment for political activism. It doesn't mean that we don't pity them or feel empathy but they need to repent and re-think what they're doing and break with the Western Evangelical forces that would use them and exploit their suffering in order to serve political ends.