Kidnapped: The Poison of Russian Sacralism and the Twin Dangers of Persecution and Seduction

https://evangelicalfocus.com/europe/19077/pastor-and-wife-in-mariupol-kidnapped-after-refusing-to-open-premises-for-annexation-referendum

It's very sad to read of this couple that has been seemingly kidnapped by Russian soldiers. Being in Eastern Ukraine, their congregation has undoubtedly suffered from schism, the horrors and violence of war – and now this.

Our media tends to always present these soldiers as thuggish types. I agree with that depiction but unlike most of the people who surround me – that's how I view all people in such uniforms. To my shame, I was in that world long ago and the ranks of the military and police are filled with sadists and those who get high on wielding power and dominating others. War turns men into monsters and the Russians are no worse – despite how they are depicted in Western media. If you bother to go a little deeper than FOX or the CBS Evening News you'll find that American troops have also been thuggish, sadistic, and brutal when occupying countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. We won't even mention what happened in places like Vietnam and Korea. And yes, they too kicked in doors and stole innocent people from their homes leaving their friends and family members desperate and in despair. And what of America's so-called Rendition programme? 

Given the course of the war and the magnitude of their losses, I would imagine the Russians aren't feeling very friendly or compassionate.

I sincerely hope this couple and their congregation aren't part of the pro-war nationalist ethos that now dominates Ukraine.

I hope they are committed to the truth and have not fallen prey to partisanship and political action.

I hope they are staying politically neutral, refusing to endorse either side and thus condemning all the actors involved. I hope they remind people that all who take up the sword will die by it and it would be better to live under the regime of even Vladimir Putin than for Christians to take up arms and kill other men.

Should we kill to protect the Ukrainian language? What about English? Should Church leaders validate killing in order to protect the corrupt Western-installed regime in Kyiv that openly aligns with ultra-nationalists and fascists?

This doesn't excuse Vladimir Putin and his mass murder but Ukrainian Christians must refuse to take up arms and must categorically reject the Washington-Kyiv narrative regarding this war and its context. Only then do they have the moral standing to condemn Putin's atrocious actions.

If this is so, then rejoice Christians that you have been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. Let us hope that your persecution is not simply the result of meddling in other men's matters and is in reality political payback. If it is genuine persecution you have a crown in heaven. And for those concerned for them, prayer will accomplish far more than calling on special ops to launch a rescue strike.

But I must say it again – don't be fooled Ukrainian Christians. Kyiv is no friend to you either. It's yet another bastion of darkness and evil design. Nationalism, Enlightenment values, and mammon are no more Christian than the authoritarianism and nationalist sacralism of Moscow. Living as a Christian under Putin gives the believer a stark choice. Things are pretty black and white. Living under the Kyiv regime with its mammon-liberal dreams of EU and NATO membership presents many subtle dangers – a kind of seduction that can fool people into thinking it's somehow all compatible with a Christian profession.

Russia is bringing judgment on itself – and the destruction is also a form of judgment on Ukraine. And those in Washington and Brussels who have orchestrated these events, these inventors of evil things, those willing to throw away lives for the sake of their power plays, those who lie and murder and act as if God does not see – they too are under judgment. The god of this world is from the Abyss, a realm of death, darkness, and lies. It is a present evil age. The Church has no political allies in this age. We are exiles in a world of violence, idolatry, and demonism. There is danger on all sides – the physical while in some ways the most upsetting, is in fact the least dangerous. It is neither seductive nor subtle. This is a lesson that few Christians understand and one that many more reject. For many Christians that have confused piety with power and the Kingdom with worldly rule and Earthly glory, they have missed and in many cases rejected one of the key callings of New Testament Christianity – we are called to take up the cross. You can't do that when you are allying yourself with men marching under flags and carrying guns.

Pray for this couple. Pray they will be spared. Pray they will speak truth and wisdom and glorify Christ throughout their ordeal. Russia has long persecuted Christians and Ukraine (until but thirty years ago) was part of Russia and part of that larger system. Eastern Orthodoxy is in a symbiotic relationship with these states and their culture – they serve it and as such the state furthers the interests of these 'Churches'. Orthodoxy becomes a tool to enforce culture. This is true in both Ukraine and Russia.

It's really the same thing Western Dominionists want (and echoes how they will behave if given the chance) even though the majority of them haven't really thought through the implications of what they propose and fight for. In the Slavic world, Non-Orthodox Churches are suspect in the same way mosques are in the United States. As 'sects', they represent a subculture tied to a larger cultural and political threat. Just as Western Muslims must strive to divorce themselves from political Islam – Evangelicals should strive in the context of Russia and even Ukraine to separate themselves from the politics and culture wars of these lands.

But for the most part I don't think they do and this continues to be the case as Western-style Dominionism continues to creep into these countries – often funded by Western political interests. That's the sad thing. It doesn't excuse the persecutors but on one level they have been provided a reason to fear these groups and view them as a Fifth Column.

In the case of Ukraine we've already seen that the new patriarch is a creature of the West and as such his toleration is born more of corruption than idealism. We can talk all day about Moscow Patriarch Kirill, his corruption, and the way he is used and uses Vladimir Putin. But what of Epiphanius of Kyiv? He has already been compromised by Enlightenment values and promotes Ukrainian nationalism. He's playing his role. The photo-ops with American political actors weren't just for his trophy wall. They are reminders of his Faustian bargain. They mark his collaboration and the fact that he is beholden to these entities who have effectively manipulated the Orthodox hierarchy to carve out his space and install him.

Salvation is not found in the West. The West is not Zion. Enlightenment rights and freedoms are not the gospel and they are neither the fruits or the tools of piety. The Ukrainian Christians who think so are deceived. If this couple is released, they will have a golden opportunity to bear witness to the truth. They will have a platform. How will they respond – with a message of vengeance and nationalist defiance or will they shock everyone by condemning the entire war and the world order?

I pray they don't turn into sellouts like the American so-called missionary Andrew Brunson who licked the boots of Donald Trump and turned a profit on his persecution.

I dread the thought of this pastor and his wife sitting on television next to Zelenskiy.

As far as Evangelical Focus we already know where they stand in reference to the conflation of Enlightenment idealism and Evangelical Christianity. Given over to the idolatrous political paradigms and the promises of mammon, their continued bias and whitewashing of geopolitics comes as no surprise. The article itself comes from Forum 18, which is a human rights-based news outlet, an NGO that's more or less part of the European Establishment. This is not to say the story isn't true but rather to point out that the story is being pushed and framed by an outlet that has a stake in the Western narrative regarding the Ukraine War.

Pray, but keep these things in mind. And then keep praying.