[DAII]

Originally Posted by timlan2057

I must confess I am not familiar with this story. My history studies leave me little time for current events, and I'm not really interested anyway, in reading the plethora of websites and poring over the many news channels.

I do see some parallels, assuming Daniel has the story straight.

"The Siberian Seven?" "The Russian Seven?" --or whatever they were called, supposedly being "persecuted" in the old Soviet Union? And hey, they probably were.

Bottom line: Nathaniel Urshan talked a blue streak about them for over a year in every district conference, general conference etc. The Herald and the Forward were saturated with "progress reports."

They were "ours!" They were "our people!"

You'd think it would have been the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and Campmeeting Jubilee when the Soviet government finally let those people emigrate.

Now this is just my opinion here. Any heat should be directed toward me; that's okay, I can take it.

But those Herald pictures at the airport of Urshan with his arms around the patriarch of the seven? Daniel's imagery brought that to mind--"incessant ownership." It was like Urshan didn't want anyone else--as far as religious leaders from other movements--in publicity photos.

But I noticed as a younger minister how quickly it all became hushed once they finally got those people to the US. All we heard at the next General Conference--very soon after they arrived--was "they're attending one of our churches and doing fine."

Well, bottom line, those people were trinitarians and NEVER attended a UPC church. They immediately went to the Assemblies of God or whomever. If they had REALLY been attending a UPC church, they and their pastor would have been paraded like circus elephants on every conference and campmeeting platform in the country.

A lot of high-pressure offerings were taken to FREE THE SIBERIAN SEVEN!

It all ended up being a big publicity stunt.

I wonder ... would Urshan have pushed that like he had, if he had realized there was NOT any UPC street cred to be earned from the "Russian Apostolics" who were not REALLY apostolic--at least not in Urshan's sense?

Of course, looking back at the REAL historical writings, I think Andrew Urshan was not "apostolic" in the sense Urshan, Hall and others tried to portray him.

But I digress. I see parallels with the "Russian Pentecostals" from the 80s and this situation.

Funny how Bernard--and to be fair, not just Bernard--draws these doctrinal and fellowship lines in the sand domestically, but is so quick to claim someone on the foreign field obviously not Grade-A UPC--because he thinks there might be some good pub coming from it.

Great post ... you've nailed it ... I thought of the Siberian Seven as I went to be last night and their parallel.

I have contacted various Branhamite people in the sites provided and await their take on the matter.