Testimonies of Sabbatarians

Well, good afternoon, everyone! We thank you very much for being able to come to the Bible study this afternoon. I think that you will be enriched by the stories from the gentlemen here who are visiting from Portland, Oregon. So the first thing we'll do is ask God's blessing on the Bible study, if you'd all please rise. Our Father in heaven, we come before you on this, during this time, of the Feast of Tabernacles. We're so very grateful to you for your great love towards us. We're so very grateful to you for revealing your truth, your principles, your laws, your Sabbath, your holy days. We're very grateful to you for the understanding that we have, but we're also very grateful to find those of like mind and like spirit with whom we can share our faith.

And we're very grateful for these gentlemen who have come from Portland and will be speaking about their experiences, about them becoming Christians from places in the former USSR. So we're very grateful to you. We ask for blessing upon the Bible study this afternoon. We give you praise and thanksgiving in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Okay. So we've been really looking forward to this event to be able to just do more than do a concert, which will be tonight at 7 p.m. And I really do hope that all of you come this evening because it is an event that you will not want to miss. They also have an album of their music that will be available, and it'll be webcast as well tonight. But one thing that I have learned from 1991 when I began to work with people of like mind in the former USSR, and at that time it still was the USSR just before it collapsed, is that God has been working with whomever He chooses to work with, whomever He chooses to open their mind, He does. We can't control that. God works with people everywhere in the world. And these are some of the people with whom God has worked in those parts of the world who He's brought together into this place. I have worked with Sabbath keepers in Ukraine. A number of them, a goodly number of them, have emigrated to the United States of America and mostly settling in the West, in Western cities, mostly Portland, but other cities like Sacramento, Spokane, and even other parts of the United States like Missouri. But we have been very privileged to be able to connect with these people and to understand where they have come from and what they have experienced. When I was in Ukraine, I talked to their leaders and we, one statement that we made one to another was, you can learn from us, but we can learn from you. We want to learn from each other, not only us telling people how to live, but also learning from the experiences of others.

They have come from parts of the world where the politics has been unstable, changing, countries collapsing, not like the United States, which has had a stable government for over 200 years. Their experiences are certainly very, very interesting to learn from. They have many stories of miracles, faith, and deliverance, as they have trusted God without a large organization, as they have worked in environments where the laws were not conducive to Christian liberty.

The stories truly are very, very impressive. So what I want to do today, the gentleman here, are from what is called the Church of Christians of the Sabbath day. Now, how did I come into contact with this particular group? Because actually in Ukraine, where I have been working, I have worked with other Sabbath keepers. But one day, this gentleman, Sergei Batrudinov, called me and said that he wanted to help our church and to help life nets with projects overseas. And I thought, well, who is he? Why is he doing this? And he made some statements about the fact that they were aware of us, that they wanted to show gratitude, they wanted to glorify God, and that they wanted to work through us. And they made a very generous donation for a borehole in Zambia, which was then drilled. It was a very generous donation of several thousands of dollars.

Then, after a short time, Sergei called me and said that he wanted to go and do some work in Zambia. And I said, oh, you don't want to go to Zambia, you know. That's not a good place to start working. It's a very, very difficult and far away place. And you have to know what to do and so forth. But he was insistent on going. What did you go with, Karkadi? Okay.

Sergei and Karkadi then called me and said that they wanted to go to Zambia, at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. This is that same time of year. And so I said, okay, that would be a good time to go, because we have one of our people from America, Aaron Dean, who's going there, who could orient you. Our pastor is there. And they said, okay, we'll make arrangements and go. As I told some of you on the Sabbath day, they quickly made arrangements and found one of the easiest ways possible. I have never been able to go to Zambia like that. Portland nonstop to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Lusaka. I have never taken an easy trip like that. It's always been through South Africa, overnight up to Lusaka. Very, very complicated.

And so the two of them went for the Feast of Tabernacles. And while they were there, they financed the drilling of another borehole. They participated in our Feast of Tabernacles and spoke to our brethren at the feast site outside of Lusaka. I was very, very impressed by these people.

And then I had the opportunity, a little over two years ago, to visit their church in Portland and become even better acquainted. And then this last year, I invited them to come to the Feast of Tabernacles here. And Sergei says, well, maybe we could sing for you. I thought, oh, what kind of music, you know, what kind of, what is this? He said, maybe I could sing for services.

And so he brought the singers last year, and we were dumbfounded. We were just impressed so much with the beauty of their music, the passion of their music, the harmony of their music. I have played this music many, many times over the past year and have given and shown it and had others hear it in our church. So I said, when you come this year, we would like you to do a full concert. And they will do a concert this evening with eight or nine numbers at 7 p.m. I think that you will find this very good. So what I would like to do, because I know somewhat about them, but I don't know everything about them, so I'll be just as interested as you are about them, about their background, because they come from different countries in the former USSR. Actually, none of them are from Ukraine. Only Victor, at the very end, is from Russia. But we have Sergei Batroudinov here, from Tajikistan. It's a country which borders Afghanistan. We have three or four Islamic countries represented here in this particular group. Some of them are the children of parents who became Christians during Soviet times in those areas. I think that we will be very interested in hearing their stories. So what I would like to have done now is to turn it over to Sergei and have him tell you about himself, and then have him introduce every one of the other gentlemen here, and have them tell their story. Hopefully, we'll have a little bit of time for questions afterwards that you can ask questions for these gentlemen here. So, Sergei? That should be it.

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. My name is Sergei. Mr. Victor already introduced me.

Sorry.

So, I just want to say thanks. Thank you for all of you. Thank you for Mr. Victor to invite us to tell you about our story. Well, that is not a miracle like I was dead and the god raised up me.

Unfortunately, so many people just expect something really, really miracle to believe for a god.

And that's what's me. I was born in Tajikistan. I was born in a family who never believed for a god.

So, how can you become a Christian? I want to say just a little bit of story about that.

Till 1991, when the USSR was destroyed, at the same time, in Tajikistan, it became a civil war. I don't know if you listen about that or not, but so many people have been killed in this war. And the god was to save me. Save me, save my family, save my family, that was miracle, but I was blind. I never see, I was like, oh, that's how it's supposed to be.

If you take a gun and go in a war, so you should be killed, but I never get a gun in my hand, that's why I'm a good person. So, that's what I think before I become a Christian.

The one day my friend, he was inviting me in a, oh, that's a little stadium, and the stadium said, some people come from the Korea, from the South Korea, and they want to tell for us something we never listened before, we never heard before. I was like, what they can tell me, they even didn't speak my language. What they can tell me about that? I was like, okay, I went up there.

Actually, when the people was, had been inviting United States, so many people just came to listen to the word from the God. Unfortunately, not in Tajikistan. We have around eight million people in the whole country. It's really, really small countries. It's about eight, maybe eight and a quarter million people. Size is probably the half of the Oregon state.

Yeah, that is really a small country. 95% of this country is just in the mountains.

It's absolutely beautiful country. It's got a lot of mountains, you know, rivers, but unfortunately I have to live from up there. When they become a war, civil war, some people want to be Islamic. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, so some people want to become a country Islamic, and we have a lot of threats. Even I was, even I didn't believe for a god from that time too, but I was still on a threat too from these people. If we come to your country, you're going to be a Muslim, and you get no choice. Well, that's, you know, it's not so many opportunities I got.

I was filled up with some applications to come to the United States, but before to come to the United States, like I said, it was few people come from the South Korea. I was shot. They sold everything what they had. They sold cars, houses, everything. When they came to Tajikistan, they leave only room, probably 10 by 8, maybe 10 by 10 feet. Really small room, got nothing, only simple. One table, one chair, and a couple of clothes. That's it. That's it for the house. And they start to preach, preach about Jesus, preach about God, and the God, how the God lives and do for us.

And the first time in my life, tonight, I sit down in a chair and listen to those people.

It was some interpretation. That was not really a good interpretation, like probably I speak in English right now, but anyway, what they told me, it was touching, it was touching my brain, my heart.

I was like, okay, can you pray for me? They said yes. But I still was confused a little bit.

That's not what I was exactly looking for in my life. I was looking for a good job, make a really good career, finish some institute. I mean, to make a lot of money. That's my focus was in my life. They would pray. They put the hand in my head and pray.

And, you know, something happened with me. Everything was changed when I opened my eyes.

The world was changing.

And I still remember that's what I feel on that time.

That's I can't explain for you. You have to feel by yourself. When the God touch your heart, it's absolutely amazing. Well, unfortunately, today so many Christian people went to the church, served for a God, prayed, but never feel the God inside by the Christian. They did just the call Christian people. All what I want for God touching every single heart on this world.

And after that, my life was changed, completely changed. I already see how the people do during that time during the Civil War. And I was looking at it as like, that is really poor people. They didn't know what they do. They fight for everything. We need to focus for one thing, who was dying for me and for you.

Then I came to the United States, and there is day, probably remember every single person in the world, 2001. September 11, 2001. I came to the United States just a little bit, just exactly after this day, in October 2001. And I went, I came to New York.

And I see how the people were sad up there. And they tried to feel strong. They tried to be like, they tried to be strong. But when you look in their eyes, there was so many disappointed.

Then I'm still asking the God why there is happening. Why there's so many people who doesn't do anything bad, supposed to be passed away, supposed to be killed.

Till I find a few, only few months ago, I find the answer for this question. I read the Bible from the beginning to the end, several times. I preach. I went in so many places back in Tajikistan. I was speaking with my friend, my best friend. Thank God today he's in a church.

But I find only, like I said, a couple weeks ago, why that is happening with us.

Today we have to work, all of us, all what we did, just the drill couple wells in Africa. That's probably the smallest thing for we can do. It's very, very difficult if you do by yourself. It's absolutely very difficult. But if we all combine in one, like one hand, see the one hand see the one hand has five fingers. It's all different fingers, but it makes it really strong when they're all together. They can make a lot more just the drilling one or two wells in Africa.

And today we have to do something more for our God because the God gives his own son to us.

That's probably the short story about me. Let's all work and tell you as well.

Okay, how can become a Sabbath? How can keep the Sabbath day?

Okay, when I start to went to the church, I have a friend. He was witness on the chahoa, and he's come to my house. And I have, you know, a lot, a lot of book from them. I have a lot, a lot of book from the baptism or some art dogs or whatever. And the one morning I was wake up, I open all books, what I have and start to read. It was probably like four o'clock in the morning. I remember that time. It's so summer. I open all books and open the Bible.

And I start to compare. I read in the Bible. It doesn't say what they read in this book. I just closed the book. And constantly, when I more think about the God, the God show me about the seventh day, seventh day. I was atheist. I was like most people in the world, most children in the world when they went to school, they got to have programs, you know, the human become from the monkey. That's what I learned. It keeps right there for all the time. But it's only only when you read really, really close on this commandment, it's only this commandment said that I was created the world for six days. If I accept this commandment, I'm expecting God who was created this world. I was like, wow, that's amazing. I'm just the key thinking about that. And my friend, I never know, he's keeping Sabbath. He was lived next to my house. Sometimes he just went somewhere and come back, went somewhere and come back. I was like Vitaliy, where are you going all the time? He's like, have the Sabbath keys, we're missing him. He's like, oh, I went to this service. What kind of service? And the Sabbath service. I was like, wait a minute, yeah, there's something wrong. Look at this. Every world keeping a Thursday was Sunday. They went to the church Sunday. I was like, okay, did you read the Bible on that particular time? I'm just start to read. I was like, oh yeah? Show me any places what you told me about Sunday. You have to observe Sunday. I was taking a book and came and found it. Like, okay, that's the answer.

And more and more and more time when I went to the church, the Sabbath, more and more, it's open for me. Now I understand there is Sabbath day, there is seven day, it's only shadow, shadow on a seven thousand day, then it's going to be Sabbath forever. If I observe this day today, I honestly observe there is Sabbath, which is going to be forever. That's how I become Christian on the Sabbath day. Okay, okay, okay. There is our caddy, it's my brother-in-law, but it's another brother-in-law and comes up. Actually, I'm very, very rich right now. I have one sister-in-law and nine, eight brother-in-law. That's for a big time. Well, include me.

Include me. So, I want to introduce the caddy and he will speak a little bit about himself, about his family, and how he becomes Christian. Thank you so much. God bless you.

Hello. I don't have a story like Sergei, of course, but I have a little bit that I heard from my parents how our line of family became Christian. It started, I don't even know the years, but my grandpa, he was in prison in the Soviet time. I believe it was in the USSR back then, and they put people in prison for any reason. I mean, they had, either they were rich, they had too much, or they were Christian, or they did not obey the government. They'll just put them in prison. So, when my grandpa came out of prison, he met with my grandma.

And after then, they became Christians. They started going to church, and I don't even know him. I never saw him because I was only a couple of my brothers and sisters were able to see him. Because when he came out of prison, he was 50 years old, and that's when my dad was born at age 50.

So, that time, of course, I didn't have time to spend with my grandparents or know about their story, or all I have is a little bit of what I heard. But in my life, of course, I was born in a Christian family. And if you're in a Christian family, you go to church, you read the Bible. But at age 21, that's when I actually became a member of a church. I got baptized. And of course, after that, I told myself, this is not it. This is just the beginning.

If I continue being a family of Christian family, is that it? Is there more to this life?

No, I said, I have to do something for God. I have to do something in my life more than just going to church, reading a Bible, and listening to my parents. So, we, of course, Anton and I, we always talked about singing. We were in choir. We had the same interest to continue in our life. And he wasn't baptized at that moment. But all that took years to become a group that we are here.

And that's where my service to God started, where I told myself, okay, what can I do? I was singing in choir at that time, and I enjoyed it. And I was like, okay, we have to do something. And of course, we all joined. And everybody has their way of telling that story, how we became one. But, of course, talking to one another, we all have been friends here from when I came to the United States. Victor, on the right side, he was, to me, he was like an American when I came to the United States, because he was here a couple of years earlier. He already knew English. So, when I started hanging out with him, I was like, you know, Russian, I don't know English, and they're talking to their friends and family on English. I was like, kind of staying away. And then, you know, we started hanging out, and we lived across the street. And that's how we became friends. And actually, outside that, my dad and his dad, they were friends when they were in childhood.

And it was interesting to see them here. I don't know if they knew that they were here or not, but we met up in the United States, and from that point, we became friends with Victor. Then Peter and Michael, we became friends after they came to the United States, and we met up, and we started hanging out, you know, with youth. And Vadim, he's actually my brother-in-law. And we're close, but we're so, we used to be so apart. And that's my little bit of what I had to say about my story. How did you come to the beliefs of the Sabbath and the clean and unclean meats, and the beliefs that we have? Is it through here, through Sergei, or through Victor? Well, I was always in church, and we were always in Sabbath. Yes, Sabbath, keeping in church. But before me, there was, of course, difference. And my mom's story, that when she was in Uzbekistan, they sometimes gathered with different religions, just because it was so tight. And in that, at that time, they didn't like Christians. So when they had a chance, they would met up with Adventist people, or with other, not just Sabbath keepers, but they will all praise the Lord together.

But my mom stayed in Sabbath church, and when they moved to places where I had bigger church, we just continued staying. Can you tell us a little bit more about in the Islamic countries, like Uzbekistan, the tensions against the Christians?

They've always been different throughout the times. When I was growing up, I only lived there until age 12. I didn't feel that much of pressure, but of course, there was always separation. There was always, you can't really speak about God in public. They didn't like that. Before me, there was actually, it was harder times. Right now, it's very hard. So it always changes, but since I was, just because I was so young, I didn't have much experience with interacting Muslim people with Christians. I just started going to school, and we moved to the United States.

It was very short for me. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Michael. I'm probably going to have a short story, because I was raised in a family of Christians, Sabbath daykeeping. When I moved here, I was only 12, so I don't have any experience in... I moved from Kyrgyzstan, so it's... Kyrgyzstan in Kyrgyzstan, I think mostly was Orthodox. So there was no Muslims, maybe there was, but not as much as in Uzbekistan, even near, like, close countries. I've heard a lot of stories about my parents when they were in school. They were mostly pushed because of... they were Christians. They used to have...

they had a school on Saturdays, but they never came. So the next day, they lined up all the students and picked on my parents because they were Christian. My grandfather was killed because he couldn't go to the war. Actually, they didn't know that he was killed. He was basically taken, but my father, before we came to the United States, he actually found that document saying that he was killed.

When I was like... yeah, like I said, we... I came from Kyrgyzstan. There were about about five families in our church. It was bigger at that time, but everybody started moving to the United States. So when we left the United States, there were only like two families left.

So there was a choice between moving into the U.S. or Uzbekistan or Russia to our brothers and sisters.

Well, we got lucky and we got in the United States. Thank God.

I didn't know anybody here, so when I came here, we got friends. And one day, I think it was 18, Arkady came to me and said, do you want to be in a group, singing group?

I was kind of bored at the time, so I said yes.

I didn't know what was going to end up from this. Maybe a couple months we're going to sing, that's it.

But we kept on going and that kind of helped me be in church, be active.

Yeah, I got baptized probably around age 20-21. And yeah, the group kind of helped me because we helped me lift my spirit up almost every time. Probably if I wasn't there, it would take me longer to get to God, even though I was born in a Christian family. Because I knew about Sabbath, I knew everything, but I kind of didn't get it on my own. Yeah, I'm thankful to God that I'm here.

Thank you.

Hello, everybody. My name is Anton, and this is my brother, Arkady, and my brother-in-law.

Married my sister. I have two sisters and he married one of them. And I'm happy that it's him.

So I just kind of wanted to kind of think about my roots, because if it wasn't for the roots that, you know, I probably wouldn't be here standing in front of all of you. And I think it's important to remember our roots.

Because roots are kind of like the foundation of what from what we become. And like my brother told a little story about, it was probably about my dad's father and how he became a Christian. I kind of wanted to talk about my mom's side and her father. And because he's the person that I still remember because I was able to meet him when I was a little kid.

I wanted to remember when I moved here. I was nine years old. And I remember this verse from the Bible that says, so he loved the world and gave his only son for those who believe so they can be saved.

And I knew that verse because I would stand up in front of the church and our parents would teach us, you know, verses from the Bible and we would, you know, speak in front of the church. And I remember that, but I never knew the meaning of what it meant until, you know, I grew up and understood, you know, who Jesus was and what he has done for us.

And it's important for me to remember that and remember what happened before that because when my mother grew up and when she was a teenager, she went through a lot where, you know, she wasn't an adult, but she had to act like an adult and make those decisions because if she hasn't, she wouldn't be, you know, a Christian woman. She would have given up, but she hasn't. And she's been an example for me to never give up.

Like Michael mentioned, they had school on Saturdays, the students, and obviously our parents, my mom, when she was a teenager, she didn't go to school on Saturdays. And the teachers always, you know, complained about that. And, you know, and they called her father into, you know, like a court and saying, okay, well, because they stood strong in their faith. And, you know, my mom at that moment stood up and said, why are you putting my father in jail when it is me who makes that decision not to go to school on Saturdays? And I remember that story from my mom telling me, and it's very encouraging because even at her young age, she was able to, you know, stand up for what she believed in. And there's times when even her father, there's different beliefs. Some people believed in Sabbath and some believed, you know, going to church on Sundays. My mom believed in Saturdays. And there was times where she kind of disobeyed her father by running out of the window to go to church on Saturdays, you know, and her father would be mad. But, you know, they were also Sabbath keeping, but it was kind of like a different church. And it was interesting, you know, to think that at that young age, my mom was, you know, such a strong believer. And to this day, you know, she stood her ground. And thanks to her and my father, we are able to remember that.

And maybe someday I can tell that story to my kids, you know, because it's important. And I believe what my parents believed in. Not because they've taught me that way, because I was able to make my own decisions when I grew up. And I was able to find evidence in our scripture to what they believed. And that's why, you know, I'm here and I believe in what I believe. And I hope to, you know, stay that way, encourage my kids and teach them to stay strong in their path and the path that leads to Jesus Christ to God. Thank you.

Peter Good evening.

I'm Peter. I'm nobody's brother-in-law. But these are all my best friends.

We migrated to the United States when I was nine years old. And I come from, I was born in a small country called Moldova. It's about the size of the Sergius country and kind of squished between Romania and Ukraine, for those who wonder where it's at. Also, it was one of the Soviet countries.

My grandfather was the one who was the first believer in our family. And he was in the World War and he got injured there. He was shot. And then when he was dismissed from his duty, that's when he met people, foreigners from other countries that were able to preach to him. And he was the first believer in our family. And as brothers were talking about how difficult it was in the Soviet Union, he was, well, my grandfather was the first to experience that, but then it was all reflected on my parents and us up until about really until about 1992, when the Soviet Union fell apart.

And by saying how it reflected, you know, we're talking about going to school and when the teachers or principal or whoever was in charge knew that something's different about this person, they would follow you and they wouldn't just let go. If they find out that everybody was sneaking out to go to church, you know, there wasn't a church like this, you know, out in the open. You had to go hide and go to houses just to read the Bible, get together because it was against the law. And then if somebody found out from government officials or even teachers, you know, they would do things to expose that or to shut that down.

Like, for example, you know, my parents, when they were in school and somebody found out that they were going to church on Sabbath, they scheduled them to go to school on Sabbath, knowing that that's their only, you know, day that they cannot go to school.

And so that's some of the difficult things that they went through. And I'm sure glad that they were able to stay faithful to God and keep the Sabbath, you know, and God has always been able to do something to prevent something bad happening, even though my uncle, he was in jail for 10 years for his religion, because it was against the law. But what I'm trying to say is God's always been able to do something to avoid prosecution. Or like, for example, when my parents were called out to go to school or to other meetings that mandatory that the government said, you know, they wouldn't come.

And then when they were called out to court or to go in front of, to answer to somebody why they weren't there for prosecution. Every time somebody had to come in and say, let them go, they didn't do anything wrong, you know, and my parents, they didn't even know that person that came in the room and say, don't do anything to them. It was somebody high and higher up in the government that was always, you know, it's obvious for me and for everybody that hears the story that that was the work of God.

Because they, if not, they would all be in jail and that knows how difficult it was. And then growing up in schools always, they would, they would, they would beat you there for being a believer, because it was an atheist country. You know, they take their long ruler and then just smack you with it. You know, it wasn't, it wasn't that bad, but then it was very humiliating. And everybody would laugh and the teachers would allow that. In fact, they would start that.

So I'm very thankful that I didn't have to go through all of that. I was born in 1988, but by the time I went to school was about 95. So I didn't have to go through any of that. And I always was kind of the curious type. And when I started to to realize what, because my parents would always teach the Sabbath, even from when we were little, as far as I remember, we would make us memorize the Ten Commandments in Russian and tell them in church, go in front of people and teach us that Sabbath is the right way to do it.

But then, you know, I was curious when I was about 16 or 17 years old. And I didn't quite understand how could there be so many people out there that go to church on Sunday and there's just so little people that keep the Sabbath. And why am I one of those? And I started looking into it more deeply into the Bible and into the Scripture. And God showed me, you know, reading the first the first books of Moses, you know, talks a lot about this laws and this deep, meaningful laws that, you know, I didn't understand back then when I was 16 year old.

I mean, they're talking about some stuff like, well, that's beyond me. But then God has opened that everything shadows to something much bigger. Everything shows to something. Everything leads to something.

And that's kind of how I became to understand that I'm in the right place. I'm in the right family.

I'm in the right I'm in the right belief. I started to understand the Sabbath is God's holy day. And that's what needed to we need to preach out there more. And the arcade also he is the founder of this group. We can say he came to me I was about I believe I was 17 as well, kind of like Michael, by all the same age and arcade offered us to say because there was there was a youth choir, but nothing that he wanted to do something unique, something special. You know, five guys singing in harmonies.

And I thought that was that's a good idea. So, you know, I said yes. And one move that I don't regret doing. And we have to we have had the opportunity to visit quite a few places to tell, share our stories and tell people about our story and what we do and about Jesus. So I you guys will get the chance to hear us later at seven o'clock. And thank you very much for letting me share my story. Here's Vadim.

Hello, everyone. I used to be nobody's brother-in-law until Arcadia married my sister.

And around that time, they were the group was already formed. And they needed a piano guy. And I always enjoyed playing music. And that's when Arcadia came over to my house. He wasn't married yet, but he would he was dating my sister. And he showed up to my house and he heard me play. And he saw potential, saying that, hey, that could be a good piano guy for the group. And that's how I got involved. I learned all their songs. And whenever there's the basically my role in the group is to show them their parts. I play them their parts. Sometimes they have a track. Most of the time they have a track. Sometimes I would play something live. And that's my role in the group.

Anyways, I'm about myself. I'm very blessed to be born and raised in a Christian family.

Fourth, third generation. And by blessed, I mean that I'd never have to face poverty or be in a war zone like Sergei described his experience. And I didn't have that where I was humiliated that at school for my religious beliefs because I came from Uzbekistan and I was four years old when I got here. So I don't remember much of Uzbekistan and I'm thankful to God.

Because this is a beautiful country where everybody can practice their religion.

And basically I did not have to go through all those struggles that my parents had to go through because my parents did live through the Soviet times and they did have Saturday school which they skipped because they went to church on Sabbath. And they did get humiliated for that.

So I'm very fortunate. I only hear stories of how it was. And then my great-grandfather was also he was imprisoned and declared as enemy of the country for not serving in the military.

And basically if you ended up going to jail then the conditions are really bad there. Basically after they serve, say, 10 years, after they get released they're, you know, sick and then after that they don't really live long. So I'm very grateful to be where I am right now and not have to go through all those difficult experiences that my great-grandparents, my grandparents, and also the struggles that my parents went through. And that's my story. Victor. Hello, everybody! Like he presented me, my name is Victor. Same as your fearless leader over here.

He's just a prettier one. So I was very young when I came to the United States. I grew up in a large family, nine kids, and basically our family fled USSR for religious persecution. And as a lot of the gentlemen said, very difficult times back then. You know, you hear a knock on the door, everybody's hiding the Bible, you don't speak about God, you don't mention it, anybody's singing is quiet. And so it became very, very difficult. And this is why everybody was fleeing. Lots and lots of people fleeing. They saw the opportunity left to a better place. And as we were leaving all this hype, you know, we're going to a better place in the United States. And we landed in New York and stayed in a hotel there. And they gave us some milk, and I tasted the milk, and even the milk tasted better. It was sweeter. Found out later as additives. But either way, they had me fooled. And growing up here, I struggled with a little bit of a different similar battle, but different here. And as I grew up, and as society developed, science continued to grow, and as it did in different other different countries.

And I was always a child with a lot of questions. Always had questions. Sometimes I feared to ask questions, thinking it was a dumb question, but I would quietly go and search for answers, you know, just to spare myself the embarrassment. And growing up at school, I had science growing. A lot more atheism and a lot more contradictions to to my religion as I grew up. And children at school would challenge me, and I would listen to scientists on TV on the internet challenge Christian faith. And they would ask questions that I did not know the answers to. They would use these big words that I thought were genius and not even my parents used, because they, you know, less education. And I would ask my parents' answers, and they wouldn't always have the answers. This set me on a course of just looking for the truth, is what I wanted to do. And really, science, philosophy, sociology, the fundamental principle of it is looking for the truth. Everybody wants to know who created the earth. Each one of them is trying to prove something. God does not exist. God exists. And why? And I began to ask all these questions. And there was a Stephen Hawking's, he wrote a book recently, and the book is called A Great Design. And he says, philosophy is dead, is how he says it. Philosophy is dead.

And there's a few gentlemen that were having coffee one time, and they were debating a little bit. And one of them was an atheist, had his education in science, thought he knew everything.

And going back and forth with this Christian philosopher, he's telling him that science is growing and continues to grow. And we continue to find more answers to our questions. And eventually, we're going to find all the answers. And this will disprove God. We continue to climb this ladder that is getting us to a place where God does not exist, because the answers are out there.

And they continue to talk and he says, I love these two guys, John and Bill. I love them.

And the philosopher says, how do you know?

He says, how do you know what love is? What kind of scientific scientific proof, anything you can support, what love is and what it isn't. And how do you know love is good and love is bad? Science doesn't deal with emotions. It doesn't deal with what is a good conscience. It doesn't deal with those things that have feelings.

Morals is what the word I'm looking for. It doesn't deal with morals. And here he is making this claim that he loves these people. How are you going to prove this?

So this gentleman, he didn't have the answer to that, of course, because this is a philosophical question. It's not a scientific question. And here, science is trying to prove that God does not exist. They're trying to prove something that they can't prove. It's a fundamental principle of science. They're trying to find the truth, and they're trying to prove something that it's not even in their realm to prove. And how do you know that?

How do you prove something? How do you prove love? You're trying to disprove love, but God is love. And you make this scientific assertion that contradicts your own society or your own explanations, and your logic doesn't line up. And finding some answers, looking for the truth, and speaking to different people, and looking for mentors and people that would guide me in the direction. I stopped battling with atheism and science. It didn't become a competitor for me anymore. I then dove a little deeper into doctrine and the faith itself. I had no questions about faith any longer because I know nobody can prove that God does not exist because I've seen God in my life. And how can somebody prove something that I've seen? And then opening the Bible, looking for the answers of how do I know I'm believing the correct way you want me to believe? How do I know that I'm doing the right things that you want me to do? Starting from the beginning of chapter one of the Bible, God created heavens and earth and the earth. In the first two chapters, He explains how everything happened. And He explains all the laws that He placed. He made all the laws with the sun, with the moon. He made laws with all the animals. And He made laws with the human being. He gave them one law and it was not to take the forbidden fruit. And a covenant was made that day. And Ozziah tells us that Adam broke that covenant. And the sign of that covenant was a Sabbath day.

Sign of that covenant was Sabbath. And Adam broke that covenant. And with the long story short, I realized that in order for us to go get back into covenant with God, we needed to enter the rest once again. And we can only do so through Jesus Christ. The one who came, who lived, died, and He rose. And that is my faith today. And there's no competitor out there that can stand against this faith because I've seen it firsthand and I've tested it through science, through philosophy, and it's all there. Amen. Any questions for me, Victor?

Let's see if this works here. We might have just time for a few questions. I have just been absolutely fascinated by the stories of these people because while I know them, I didn't know all the things that I did and I didn't realize some of them spoke English as good as they did.

That was fascinating. Is there anybody here who would like to ask a question? Yes, could you maybe jump up here? Yeah.

Thank you for coming. It's fascinating. One of the things that I have a question about is that all of you came from several areas, but you all speak of parents and grandparents being in the church, in a Sabbath-keeping church. Do you have any idea how long the origins of those churches in those separate countries are all spread out? Do you know how long ago, how old they are, where they came from? I'm just wondering where they came from, what the origin of these Sabbath-keeping churches are in these countries.

Anybody want to answer that? Okay, here.

Okay, back in 2005, I went in Ukraine as they also preached about the God up there, and I found some people that was on the Zakhar Park here, probably someone familiar with this place, and I found the picture that was back in the end of the 19th century.

It was around 60-70 people who were on this particular picture. Besides that, I really don't know. I tried to find out more generations. I mean, even before that, I can't find.

That's exactly it. That's who was this Sabbath-keeping. It was over 100 years ago, that's for sure.

Maybe even more, but I can't find any evidence about all other people. I'm sure, because those parents were keeping Sabbath too.

Let's take a few more questions.

I don't know how far it went, but I was kind of curious to find out that small thing. I'm not sure if I'm 100% right, but when there was a Soviet Union, everybody kind of spreading it out, because they couldn't have big churches. They almost had five families. As soon as somebody found out that they're Christian, they had to move. Basically, they dropped all the houses, they left them, and moved to another country. That's why they kind of spread out over to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, when it was all one USSR. It was kind of easy to travel.

But yeah, that's...

Yeah, they kind of had new believers and kind of spreading out. That's what I know. But yeah.

I might be able to add just a little bit. So from what I was taught and kind of grew up with understanding was that after when Jerusalem was conquered by Rome and then the 12 tribes of Israel were scattered, because of the persecution they were scattered all abroad. And other persecutions, like what happened in Russia and Ukraine and other areas in Germany, this caused more spreading, which then headed south into the Muslim countries and other areas, which is...

I believe is a logical explanation for what kind of happened and may continue happening.

It's very old. Yeah, it's very old. Yeah, and there's actually towards the Siberia area, we know that there's a significant amount of Jewish people, Orthodox Jews, that did migrate from Jerusalem, and they have been there for several hundred years.

We have to come up here.

I'm going to the background, coming from communist block countries and parent stories and stuff like that.

It was probably pretty refreshing, or you probably celebrated the idea that it comes from a country that embraced freedoms that allowed you to worship the way you wanted to worship, allowed you to attend Sabbath services without being persecuted. How concerning is it to you that some of the things that your parents seen, and some of the things that made you experience, even before you got to this country, that you start to see this coming around in the country, in the country where you came from, where you thought you were giving living freedoms, now you're starting to see a government persecuting people who uphold Christian values, and said that we're going to put somebody in jail because they don't want to condone homosexual marriage or things like that. How does that make you feel now? I guess I'm the talker today. Okay, and to quickly answer the question, yes, it's very concerning, and especially now that we have kids. Not so much concerned about myself, you know, I'll get around, I'll be okay. But children that are going to grow up, and this is only continuing to grow, and it most likely will continue to grow as the end of days come, and we have to live with this. And I forgot what I was going to add to that.

I know I had a good point I wanted to make.

Maybe I'll remember and come back to it. How about that?

Okay, I think that we have to prepare. Okay, well, I just want to thank you for coming. This is a very, very interesting time here to hear these gentlemen. I think what we'll do is we'll talk to them a little bit afterwards here, but then they have to set up for the concert tonight. Make sure that if you know somebody who hadn't made it here today, you should take them and bring them here for this event, because you will really be inspired by the music, the harmony. Also, they brought words for the songs that are in Russian. They brought American words that will be put on the screen, so we're arranging for that, too. So they have four songs in English, and then the rest of the songs, some of them they have words in English. Okay, thank you for coming. Oh, yes.

Not yet. They actually apologized to me for not getting their CD ready for the evening tonight, but we will make it available as soon as it's available. They do have their CD from last year, which has two songs, I think, in English, or just one song, Alpha and Omega.

Well, you'll hear it again. Okay. We're working on. So we're working on. Okay, thank you. Let's all be dismissed.