03/02/2022
I'm sharing this from a friend of ours- very meaningful and powerful as related to Ukraine. I thought this was very important truth we need to know as we PRAY:
From "The Master's Seminary" grad and former missionary to Ukraine, Bret Laird:
"We are not unaware of Satan's schemes." - 2 Cor. 2:11b
"As a pastor and as a missionary who lived and served in Ukraine for over a decade, I'd like to explain to western Christians the REAL reason behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
To understand what is happening and why, we need to look beyond the physical warfare which fills our screens to the spiritual warfare that is unseen.
Ephesians 6:12 reminds us: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
When the Soviet Union collapsed, and with it the state-imposed atheism of the Communists, there was a great spiritual harvest. Millions came to faith in Christ. And while the Lord brought in a harvest from all over the former Soviet nations, by far the greatest number of conversions occurred in Ukraine.
Ukraine has always been the "Bread Basket" of eastern Europe, and that is true not only agriculturally, but spiritually. Ukraine is truly "The Bible Belt"--not only of the Slavic countries--but now of Europe itself. And beginning in the mid-2000's, churches all across Ukraine began sending missionaries to the least-reached and hardest to reach peoples of the world. The Bread of Life is going forth from the fertile spiritual soil in Ukraine to every continent on earth.
THAT beloved, is what Satan is desperately trying to stop. THAT is the spiritual warfare behind the physical warfare.
Satan's primary strategies have always been to POLLUTE the message of the gospel or to PERSECUTE the messengers of the gospel.
Satan is using a wicked dictator to build a new "iron curtain." This time, his goal is not to keep the gospel OUT but to keep it IN. It's too late to stop the gospel from spreading INSIDE Ukraine, but he is now trying to stop it from spreading FROM Ukraine.
But here's the good news: The Word of God cannot be chained. As millions of Ukrainians flee the violence, there will be many born-again believers among them. And they--just like they did in the first Russian invasion in 2014--will carry the gospel of Jesus Christ with them wherever they go.
What men intend for evil, God will use for good.
I lived among these believers. I know them. I've seen how they respond to war and to life as refugees. I've seen their courage and their devotion to Christ firsthand. So I am confident--and praying--that they, like the refugees from the church in Jerusalem described in Acts 8:4, will take the gospel with them wherever they are scattered by this invasion: "Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word." -Acts 8:4"
PRAY FOR THE CHRISTIANS IN UKRAINE!!
