The article reflecting our position is based on the thoughts of Andrey Malov, Taras Nikolaevich Dyatlik, Olga Demchuk
You who love the LORD, hate evil! (Psalm 97:10)
That’s it, with an exclamation mark! Recognize evil as evil, disagree with evil, oppose evil, fight evil, don’t reconcile yourself to evil, don’t conceal evil. Just hate evil! Above all, those who love the Lord. Hating evil is part of loving God.
We are dealing with great Evil now. Unbridled, out of every shore imaginable and unthinkable. Bloodthirsty and ruthless. Cloaked in warped information. It is surprising that there are those who still question whether what has come to Ukraine from a neighbouring country is evil. It is surprising that there are those who want to stay away from confronting Evil. And this evil has already turned into a horrible monster, feeding on the blood of Ukrainian children and civilians and the fear of Europeans and Americans.
The whole world now seems to have a chance to see and be horrified by the scale of Evil. Don’t skip the pictures from Mariupol, Bucha, Irpen, Akhtyrka, Zhytomyr, Kiev, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv etc. Look at the mass graves of civilians. Look at the corpses of Russian conscript boys. And decide for yourselves to hate the evil. In any of its manifestations. In you personally, in society, in the church – alas, it has found a place there too.
One must not flirt with evil. One must not underestimate it. It is criminal to be afraid of evil. It is right to hate it.
Silent Christians have become accomplices to evil, instruments of raising slaves (as Dietrich Bonhoeffer has powerfully pointed out).
Many of you talk about how it is a kind of unspiritual to talk about some faults of Christians or Russians, etc. right now. On this subject I suggest you read Nimoeller. The killing of civilians by Russian troops is increasingly turning into genocide of the Ukrainian people by the Russian authorities. Yes, many are trying to say that it is all the authorities and we have nothing to do with it. But anyone who at least once voted for Putin, for United Russia, took part and rejoiced in the pseudo-referendums in Crimea and Donbass when the first attempt to destroy Ukraine began in 2014 has a stake in the crimes of this government.
We pray that in the evangelical churches a prayer of renunciation will sound from everyone who voted for Putin and United Russia, who gave the pulpit in his church to Zhirinovsky, from everyone who allowed the ideology of the “Russian world” to take over his mind. That a prayer of renunciation be resounded for belief in propaganda narratives that dehumanise human civilisation, Ukraine and the rest of the world, and elevate Russia’s spiritual crosses to the rank of divine.
Yes, many now have a fear of coming out, speaking out publicly, etc. Although many so-called non-Christians overcome this fear. And it is they who are spiritual, with the real power of the Living God, and not those who are zealots who bleat like fanatics the usual memes to the letter of the Bible, to the essence – no! A true renunciation of Putinism, a sincere repentance before God and the Ukrainian people is the way to heal the Russian people! Many pastors still believe the Kremlin demonic media, and do not believe their brothers and sisters in Christ from Ukraine, and by that like Cain they dirty their hands in the fratricidal war.
To think missionally, is not to let the ideology of the “Russian world” and the Kremlin media and Putinism rule your worldview, your practical theology, your attitude to the rest of human civilization and to Ukraine. Already today you can begin the process of confession, repentance, purification of the Church from Putinism. And Erwin Lutzer’s book “Hitler’s Cross” may become a good first guide in this process.
Ukrainians are peaceful, they have not attacked anyone, they have not declared war on anyone. Georgia has not attacked Georgia. Moldova didn’t attack Moldova. Ukraine did not attack Ukraine. The aggressor is Russia and the Kremlin, and all those who directly or indirectly take part in it, justifying the Kremlin’s aggressive stance and militancy missionally, theologically, ideologically and practically. This applies to Western Christians too! No matter how much you cover your ears, by silence you become an accomplice! The Holy Spirit and the demonic ideology of the “Russian world” cannot exist in one heart. The Holy Spirit humanizes, the “Russian World” dehumanizes. Reconciliation is impossible without naming things and phenomena by their proper names. This is confession. This is the return of humanity. And our Ukrainian Humanity is not about “you invaded with an armed, murderous herd, and we forgive you”. Humanity is about being on the side of the living, on the side of light, not on the side of evil, darkness and destruction.
The unprecedented courage and patriotism of the Ukrainian people has changed universal human values. Ukraine has enabled the world to unite and become more humane, united by faith in the victory of light over darkness, of humanity over demonism!
