When one steps back and looks at the leadership style of Shasha and his quiet respectful Christian approach vs the bellowing perpetually angry Bob Thiel it is shocking. Sadly, it always seems the good ones die off or are forced out of the church while the abusive leaders continue unabated in the misery they cause.
Sasha often mentioned he wasn't fully convinced that covid vaccines were ultimately safe for everyone, safe with no side effects.
But he took the vaccine anyway to embark on a trip to very border-restrictive Australia, to meet someone there patiently & politlely waiting at least 7 years for their baptism service.
The organization he & Sasha were in at that time has a fussy main top leader who reportedly later or at some point, STILL questioned the patience of the person Sasha went to baptise...while the leader constantly presides over frequent, regular & timely approvals on many, many fairly fast-track Kenyan & African baptisms.
Sasha was somewhat uncomfortable with the covid vaccine but decided in faith that it was part of service to help in spiritual matters. Is there a chance his strokes were a remote side effect of his body or genetics reaction to covid vaccine?
Does Sasha's former leader possibly appreciate the dedicated efforts Sasha's life was all about?
The rude leader wrote an otherwise respectful brief life synopsis history of Sasha (including past Ambassador College achievements) after his passing, but took one last subtle jab at this pleasant fellow...the leader dismisses the significance of the impressive collections in Sasha's Serbian apartment, the Hope Of Israel library. The leader (Bob) then pokes one last subtle jab at Sasha, regarding : "Sasha never married, but often lived with his mother until she died a few years ago."
Sasha likely helped his Mom to serve her during any times of sharing housing with her. But his impressive home library/apartment where many church services for local & international online community were lovingly conducted, was not mentioned...although the poke of an adult's time living with a parent in a poor country holds prominece in the account from his former leader.
It's no wonder that Bitter Bwana Bob is comfortable mocking the Fifth Commandment when we consider his laxity with a couple of the others as well.
ReplyDeleteI had not been aware that Sasha had attended Ambassador College. Does anyone have further detail, such as campus and years attended? Also, with an Ambassador background, how did he ever become affiliated with someone like Bob Thiel???
ReplyDeleteWe speak of the "good" ones, differentiating them from those typically impressed by their own authority. Sasha appears to have been teaching Armstrongism, but from the accounts, at least he seems to have done in a compassionate way. If the founder, and others had also done that, maybe the movement would not be in its current dissipated and moribund state.
Good news Bruno,
DeleteSasha's sophomore class pic (Aleksandar Veljic) is in this link below for 1994 A.C. Envoy, after you download that file, Sasha's cheerful pic is on page 148!
(he mentioned attending Big Sandy, & said some faculty member then trusted Sasha to keep secure a treasure trove of church material that was in danger of new administration efforts of destroying it...Sasha added it to his wealth of info at Užice Hope Of Israel Library)
He told us with heavy heart in a recent Skype group worldwide meeting fellowship, that he was good friends there with Amy Zutz, a junior that year on page 139, before she married Steven Allwine who was another junior that year in the Envoy on page 130.
UCG hardly tends to mention that Mr. Allwine, years later in MN as a UCG elder, is now serving a life sentence in "this world's penitentiary system" (prison) after deliberately killing Amy with a handgun firearm in 2016 when he broke his marriage vows with her as his COG wife.
Sasha shared with us the disgust to hear former classmate Steven Allwine claim he "couldn't have killed her", & we knew after mountainous solid Bit¢oin & luminol evidence uncovered in the case, that Steven is playing the game of "it was my OTHER 'me' that did it".
I can attest to how caring Sasha was when many of us had heavy broken hearts regarding our own numerous sad life tragedies! Sasha would open his warmth to offer detailed comfort so many times, & we very much enjoyed our times with him whether in person, or via worldwide Skype. He spoke more perfect English than many Americans care to do.
Sure, he would exhibit strong firm corrective emotion at times when necessary whenever a dispute or social situation had to be settled. But you were always glad you trusted Sasha if you ever brought tough situations to him for help. He would have been such a wonderful old man as time goes on.
He truly made life FAR more easy to deal with after being his friend!
here is link for Sasha's A.C. pic in 1994 Envoy-->
https://herbert-armstrong.org/indexEnvoy.html
I did follow the link, and thanks for that. I had no idea that Ambassador had continued into the '90s, and it was enlightening to see that styles from our era of decades earlier were still somewhat unchanged.
DeleteHope everyone keeps all the good information like you just shared coming our way as a memorial to Sasha. Obviously he was a well loved person, with global interests, and not a stranger to tragedy. Seems like he had a great, positive impact on those around him.
& we see Sasha's keeping of the 5th Commandment being mocked snidely by the puffy Premier, when Sasha honourably treated his aging Mom well in a difficult Balkan country, where adult family members have no western stigma during housing arrangements with each other
ReplyDeleteSasha attended Big Sandy in the early/mid 90's. I didn't know him well, but he was always a very kind individual.
ReplyDeleteNothing can be said to be "ultimately safe for everyone, safe with no side effects." Every piece of food you eat or medication that you ingest can have some side effects for some people. Or you could simply choke on it when you try to swallow it. The question that has to be asked is "do potential the benefits outweigh the risks." In the case of vaccines, the answer is a resounding "YES."
ReplyDeleteok but Sasha took the vaccine for "church" even though he had not processed proof of whether it was in anyone's best interest overall
ReplyDeleteThere's a political agenda attached to these vaccines which is causing some people to question each death (even if it was apparent old age, or a car accident) to determine whether the departed had been vaccinated.
DeleteThere were grave problems with the early Russian and Chinese vaccines, which were provided to different areas of the world on an allegedly compassionate basis, and it is to the political advantage of some to use this to whore up the stats of the mostly safe vaccines we had here in the USA. It's not unlike the partsans testing biker bandannas or underwear made into masks and saying that masks are useless when the medical community has used the KN-95s very effectively for decades.
I only wish to live so long as I'm vital and viable, so placed my bet late in the game on the vaccine after conferring with my brother the doctor and friends who had gotten their shots months before.
I fear results of the upcoming election more than I do any vaccine. I'm the guy with the stash of Newports not to be opened until possibly when the election results are in come November.
Let's not exploit Sasha in an effort to support an agenda. He was one of the good ones, he's no longer with us, and that's it. Nobody gets out of life alive!
When I discuss with my wife our estate plans, she expresses the hope that "we go together", referring to the rapture. Of course, I ask, "We go together? What are you planning for, a murder suicide?"
ReplyDeleteThe best thing I can say about being in the WCG was that I met my wife there, over 50 years ago. We were members for four years, graduated from AC in Pasadena and left a year later. I was not among the chosen to be employed by the church upon my graduation. Thank God for unanswered prayers.
I was trying to exploit Sasha's former leader, not Sasha, because the former leader is so stale & devoid of much warmth when he noted Sasha's passing...after all of Sasha's significant steps of faith
ReplyDelete