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Posted on 02/08/2014 11:05:26 AM PST by ReformationFan
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- God once used a donkey to alert a wayward prophet that he was on the wrong track. Could it be the Lord is using a bear, a Russian Bear, to do the same with the nations of the West, in particular the United States?
"Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values," Russian President Valdimir Putin said in his state of the nation address in mid-December, The Washington Times reported.
Putin continued, "Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation."
Some have dismissed Putin's rhetoric as nothing more than political posturing. However, leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church have echoed their president's assessment.
Patriarch Krill I of Moscow, the leader of the Orthodox Church, "accused Western countries of engaging in the 'spiritual disarmament' of their people," The Times reported.
"The general political direction of the [Western political] elite bears, without a doubt, an anti-Christian and anti-religious character," Patriarch Krill said. "We have been through an epoch of atheism, and we know what it is to live without God. We want to shout to the whole world, 'Stop!'"
Another leader of the Orthodox Church, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, "suggested that the modern-day West is no better for a Christian believer than the Soviet Union," The Times also reported.
"The separation of the secular and the religious is a fatal mistake by the West," Chaplin said. "It is a monstrous phenomenon that has occurred only in Western civilization and will kill the West, both politically and morally."
One would be hard-pressed to dispute these assessments from the Russian Bear.
In 2005, USA Today reported, "Every major religion except Islam is declining in Western Europe, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. The drop is most evident in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, where church attendance is less than 10 percent in some areas."
If reports are correct, the Russian government is seeking to recover from its past suppression of Christianity. Among these efforts are the rebuilding of churches, religious instruction in public education and state paid chaplains in the military.
The impact of Christian teaching on the Russian people still has a ways to go. Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Gallup organization reveal that the morality of the Russian people is not too different from Americans.
When it comes to attitudes about the moral acceptability of certain practices such as abortion, unmarried sex and divorce, Americans and Russians seem to agree.
However, what must be considered is that less than 25 years ago (the Iron Curtain came crashing down in November 1989) Russia was a society that had been dominated for nearly 70 years by a communist philosophy that indoctrinated its people in atheism. Russia, it seems, now is trying to move toward the light of Christianity.
Could it be Russia's move to Christianity is why 72 percent of Russians believe that homosexuality is morally wrong, as compared to only 38 percent of Americans? Sixty-eight percent of Russians also believe gambling is wrong, while only 31 percent of Americans feel the same way. Forty-four percent of Russians believe that drinking alcohol is morally unacceptable, while a 2012 Gallup poll found that 66 percent of Americans consume alcohol on a regular basis.
It stands to reason that if the Russian people continue to embrace the tenets of Christianity it will be reflected in their morality. Conversely, as America continues to move away from the teachings of the Bible, morality among the masses will continue to decline.
In July 2012 the following was posted on the website of evangelist Billy Graham:
"Some years ago, my wife, Ruth, was reading the draft of a book I was writing. When she finished a section describing the terrible downward spiral of our nation's moral standards and the idolatry of worshiping false gods such as technology and sex, she startled me by exclaiming, 'If God doesn't punish America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.'"
Countless preachers in recent decades have echoed the sentiment of Mrs. Graham. However, America has continued to run headlong toward a godless secularism characterized by an unfettered, unaccountable hedonism. It seems the God of the Bible is irrelevant even for many who profess to follow Him.
America has thus far ignored the warning of the prophets in her midst. Is God now trying to get the attention of America by speaking through the Russian Bear? It wouldn't be the first time the Lord used an unlikely source to communicate truth. Just ask the wayward prophet Balaam. --30--
Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press, director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention's office of public affairs, and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).
Putin is right on this one.
Cluesless trash. Meanwhile, non-ROC churches have their buildings looted, permits withheld, and their missionary activity curtailed, in favor of a KGB controlled state church which most Russians don’t even believe in, but claim membership in anyway. The Putin love affair is sick and stupid.
Bfl
I have little knowledge about the situation and would like to become informed.
My sentiments exactly. Putin is a former KGB thug who would stepped over his own grandmother if he’d been ordered to.
“Feel free to post recent links documenting what you’re claiming, and correctly attributing these incidents to Putin or those near him.
I have little knowledge about the situation and would like to become informed.”
You can read a strong collection of links detailing Russkie persecution of non-Russian Orthodox churches in post 36 of this thread, though the link might take you to it right away:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3119253/posts?page=36#36
Originally posted by daniel1212. I recommend going through ALL the links, and reading every bit of it. It’s horrific. Freepers who think Putin is their ally just because he thinks homosexuality is a sin are in for a rude awakening when they realize he thinks THEY are in sin too by not being members of a statist religion like the ROC.
Now for the KGB controlled reference in my post:
“The Vatican’s dealings with Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church also deserve major media attention. David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent, says Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was exposed by material from the Soviet archives as a KGB agent. “This means he was more than just an informer, of whom there were millions in the Soviet Union. He was an active officer of the organization,” writes Satter.
Former KGB officer Konstantin Preobrazhensky has called the church “Putin’s Espionage Church,” and devotes a major portion of his book, KGB/FSB’s New Trojan Horse, to the topic. “During the Soviet period,” wrote Preobrazhensky, “the Moscow Patriarchate [of the Russian Orthodox Church] bishops were all KGB agents, and the highest of them were also members of the Communist Party.” The FSB is the successor to the KGB.
In connection with Putin’s visit to the Vatican, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, who worked on KGB operations as head of Romanian intelligence, explains the background of what is coming to pass: “On December 5, 2008, Aleksi II, the fifteenth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, died. He had worked for the KGB under the codename ‘Drozdov’ and was awarded the KGB Certificate of Honor, as was revealed in a KGB archive accidentally left behind in Estonia when the Russians pulled out. For the first time in its history, Russia had the opportunity to conduct the democratic election of a new patriarch, but that was not to be.”
He goes on: “On January 27, 2009, the seven hundred Synod delegates assembled in Moscow were presented with a slate listing three candidates: Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk (a secret member of the KGB codenamed ‘Mikhaylov’); Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk (who worked for the KGB under the codename ‘Ostrovsky’); and Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga (who had the KGB codename ‘Topaz’).”
In the end, when the bells at Christ the Savior Cathedral tolled to announce that a new patriarch had been elected, Kirill proved to be the winner.”
Rest at link:
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/pope-francis-jihad-and-moscows-espionage-church/
Make sure you read the whole thing. Kirill is currently a Patriarch and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The KGB has long worked to infiltrate and use religion for their own purposes, and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the ROC is being used any differently today under Putin, which seems to be aiding him in maintaining his power. If you want an idea of what kind of ideology Putin is in to, and where he is taking Russia and how he intends to keep power, check out this psycho, Alexander Dugin who has close ties with Putin, also described as his “geopolitical strategist” depending on who you ask:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/russia-theme/who-is-alexander-dugin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin
I’ve heard him talk before. He talks rather casually about world war three and killing us all, conquering France and renaming it Gaul, and he makes a great deal out of the value of the Russian Orthodox church. It’s similar to what that Swedish (or Norwegian?) shooter was spouting about, the fellow who killed 30+ kids at some socialist camp, and got virtually no jail time for it, if you recall. Dugin has ties with Putin’s inner circle, and it is not a coincidence that Putin’s strategy consists of anti-Americanism and faux-religious outbursts.
People need to be careful about who and what they’re really praising. These guys are setting up to be our mortal enemies.
Links?
Or are these more like the People's Temple "Christian" Churches?
In the West, there are over 75 "Christian" Churches or denominations that fully endorse LGBT "rights" and lifestyles that are untouched by the government while the same government removes all Christianity from schools, public property and public calendars and accommodates and requires Islam at taxpayer expense. Certainly Christian Russia would not tolerate organizations actively destroying Christianity
See previous post. And no, these aren’t socialist churches. These are Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostals. The ROC, actually, is the socialist church, if you consider that its leaders are former KGB.
Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, with extension of that incarceration for as long as he is deemed a danger to society. This is the maximum penalty in Norway; he's expected remain in prison for the remainder of his life.
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He surely did not direct us into the place we ourselves have created!
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Are you still killing your unborn? -- GOD |
Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
But there IS hope!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
US total: 9.44
Russia total 15.76
| country | recorded | unrecorded | total | beer | wine | spirits | other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Moldova |
8.22 | 10.00 | 18.22 | 4.57 | 4.67 | 4.42 | 0.00 |
 Czech Republic |
14.97 | 1.48 | 16.45 | 10.14 | 2.33 | 3.59 | 0.39 |
 Hungary |
12.27 | 4.00 | 16.27 | 4.42 | 4.94 | 3.02 | 0.14 |
 Russia |
11.03 | 4.73 | 15.76 | 3.65 | 0.10 | 6.88 | 0.34 |
 Ukraine |
8.10 | 7.50 | 15.60 | 2.69 | 0.58 | 5.21 | 0.02 |
 United States |
8.44 | 1.00 | 9.44 | 4.47 | 1.36 | 2.65 | 0.00 |
50 percent of Protestants affirmed gambling was a sin, versus 15 percent of Catholics; that getting drunk was a sin: 63 percent of Protestants, 28 percent of Catholics; gossip: 70 percent to 45 percent: homosexual activity or sex: 72 percent to 42 percent. Ellison Research, March 11, 2008 http://ellisonresearch.com/releases/20080311.htm http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080312/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful.htm |
As a frequent visitor or a part-time resident I confirm that Russian love to alcohol is fading. Some 15 years ago you could insult them refusing to take a couple of shots after lunch and they have routinely got drank every evening. Today it is quite weird to drink early, and there are a number of people who aren’t drink at all. Drunks in the streets are rare appearance right now, comparing to old times.
Are not drinking i suppose you meant, which is a good change.
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