Posted on 01/08/2015 6:36:56 AM PST by marshmallow
Evangelicals in Russia have become ardent fans of President Vladimir Putin because of Russia’s efforts to maintain its influence in Ukraine, its takeover of Crimea in 2014, and the widespread Russian belief that the West is to blame for the present economic woes on the home front.
This realization dawned on me during my November visit to Russia. The evidence is hard to ignore. Meeting in St. Petersburg back in May, the official Congress of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists ended their meetings with a strong endorsement of Putin just two months after brutal conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine.
Addressing Putin, they said, “We express to you sincere appreciation for your labor in the post of president. . . . We reaffirm our principled loyalty with respect to state authority, based on the unchanged words of the Bible, ‘Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God’ (Rom. 13:1, ASV).” The evangelical congress also directly challenged the legitimacy of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and the February 2014 overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich.
Originally, I suspected backroom state pressure must have been at play. But after conversations with more than a dozen Protestant and Orthodox believers in Moscow, I have to admit that no outside interference was necessary to generate such high praise for Russia’s president.
Putin is genuinely popular—and admired—by Russians across the spectrum: among believers as well as the religiously indifferent, among Protestants as well as Orthodox, and among academics as well as taxi drivers.
This holds true even after the December collapse of the Russian ruble. Quite a few of the trusted Christian leaders who I interviewed in Moscow have family members in Ukraine, or are themselves originally from.....
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Thug though he may be, Putin has proven to be something of a firebreak against the rising tide of the global moral cesspool. By standing firm for traditional values he has no doubt gained the support of Evangelicals and many others in his country.
The article didn’t make much sense to me, nor did it seem to be very substantive or based on anything.
Putin ping!
In the East there is someone that causes the western liberal's maniacal laughter to stop. Vladimir Putin. He has real world power, which causes the liberal media to fearfully ignore or warp his image. Like a good Christian King he leads a nation to Christ. Deep down in their evil souls they shriek like devils because they know Christ is true God and true power that they cannot defeat. They thought the Bolshevik revolution destroyed Holy Mother Russia. Christ cannot be defeated and his servant Putin has welcomed Christ and His church.
-- from the thread US threatened by Russia's ChristianityTwo years ago, Gayne C. Young, a Texas-based writer and blogger for Outdoor Life, scored the interview of a lifetime. As a beat writer, Young had enjoyed the outdoor exploits of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been documented shooting a gray whale with a crossbow, tranquilizing a tiger attacking a news crew, hunting shirtless, fishing shirtless, and riding horseback shirtless. On a personal level, Young liked the rugged brand of masculinity that seemed a throwback to Teddy Roosevelt. "Although you have Clinton shooting ducks, you never see it. Although Rick Perry says he enjoys hunting, you don't see it. They say they do, but they don't. Obama says he shoots skeet, but they only released one picture," Young says. "Here's a guy out there fishing, with no qualms. He's like, 'You don't like it? Tough.' Then he'd escalate and do more."
-- from the thread The Secret American Subculture Of Putin-WorshippersHow's this for a fish story: In the latest episode of Vladimir Putin's ongoing rugged outdoorsman fantasy adventure series, the Russian president, clad in a camouflage jacket and hat, appears to catch a massive pike...Russia's defense minister, who was on the trip, says the fish weighed between 26.4 and 33 pounds, but a Putin spokesman pegs the weight at 46.3 pounds. Russian bloggers are for some reason a tad skeptical. Several have posted images of bigger fish they've caught themselves that have weighed far less. "They must have forgotten to unfreeze the pike," one social network post quipped. Another wrote, "The Kremlin must have weighed the pike the way they count the votes." Come on guys. It's not like Putin would fake a spectacular exploit.
-- from the online article Putin Catches '46-Pound Fish'
Exactly. Just because a thug says nice things about Christianity doesn’t mean we should support him. If, at some point, its in his interest to crush religion, he will do it.
We see this here in America where nothing any longer is black and white, right and wrong. Everything is confused, and if there is clarity with an issue, you can count on (usually the left) to deliberately inject moral confusion into any issue. I think the same is true worldwide and in Russia.
Bottom line?
There is national blood, and there is the blood of Christ. Which is thicker?
Excellent post!
It could also be that Evangelicals in Russia have freedom to promote Christ and hold their meetings and services, while holding the line on homosexuals and Muslims.
Just because a ruler is not perfect, does not mean that they are not being used by God to perform His will, and people are being saved and lives transformed in Russia.
‘Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God’ (Rom. 13:1, ASV).”
At the time St. Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these words, Nero and the Romans were the “higher powers.” Paul would die at their hands. God doesn’t ask His people to do easy things, but the reward is more than worth it. As St. Paul also wrote, “ For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I Corinthians 1:21
I'm curious what "traditional values" of Putin you like.
Murdering & imprisoning political opponents? Invading other countries & killing their people? Harassing Christian churches that are not Russian Orthodox? Having at least one mistress & getting divorced?
Pushing back hard against “gay marriage”. Speaking out in support of traditional Christianity. Anti-drug and anti-drinking crusades. That sort of thing.
Certainly I am not a fan of how he treats opponents, dissidents, Ukrainians, etc.
Nothing new about THUGS in charge of Russia. This list reads like a list from America's Most Wanted: Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachov
Russian politics seem to breed thugs so perhaps it's necessary to survive.
Putin is among the worst of the despicable, murderous thugs on this planet. He is no more a Christian than Bill Maher.
Cozying up to the Russian Orthodox Church has zero to do with religion and everything to do with raw political power.
That people on FR support him in way, shape or form is an absolute disgrace to religious & conservative principles.
Traditional values? What about divorcing his wife for a younger (gymnast) model?
“It could also be that Evangelicals in Russia have freedom to promote Christ and hold their meetings and services, while holding the line on homosexuals and Muslims.”
Well, that’s certainly not true. You have all the freedom in the world to practice Russian Orthodoxy under the Moscow Patriarchate, everything else is at the regime’s discretion.
Putin is among the worst of the despicable, murderous thugs on this planet. He is no more a Christian than Bill Maher.
Cozying up to the Russian Orthodox Church has zero to do with religion and everything to do with raw political power.
That people on FR support him in way, shape or form is an absolute disgrace to religious & conservative principles.
His willingness to forcibly impose certain Christian standards of behavior is apparently enough to make him a good guy in the eyes of some.
Since it's no longer 1962, I'm happy to own up as being a qualified supporter. He's head and shoulders above any of the secular leaders of so-called "Western democracies". His personal life is a scandal but aside from China, Russia is the only non-Islamic country where the governing elites are not lead around on a leash by homosexual activists and secular, anti-Christian humanists.
It's in these terms that one must understand the situation in Ukraine which has been entirley misrepresented in the West as an archetypal Cold War, communist versus freedom-loving, pro-American democracy confrontation. It isn't. Russians see it as encroachment of the pro-homosexual, secular European Union agenda into Ukraine which is looking west, not East. An outbreak of the European sickness which sees it abandoning its Christian heritage in an onrushing demographic winter.
Where Russia is now is not ideal but it's on a journey, as we all are. Like any journey, the critical issue is not so much where you are at any given time but the direction in which one is heading and Russia is heading out of darkness and into light. It's emerging from a 75 year atheistic nightmare and attempting to pick up the pieces.
We, on the other hand, are heading in the opposite direction. The darkness grows ever deeper by the day.
Hey, I’m not defending the guy, I’m just saying he talks a good game on traditional values, and obviously a lot of people over there are eating that up.
I agree...did not mean to sound mean ;-)
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