Of five US
CHURCHES, 4 CONDEMN RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE and blame Russia solely. The Mormons do not take a side.
Protestants
Baptists
Episcopalians
Methodists
Mormons, Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints
Catholics
Of these 5 churches, all except the Mormons support the US
explanation of the war and blame Russia .
The Mormons don’t take a side.
Baptist response rising
as war in Ukraine escalates
MARCH
8, 2022. Hubert Yates, Correspondent.
Mississippi Baptist Convention
Board (MBCB
https://thebaptistrecord.org/baptist-response-rising-as-war-in-ukraine-escalates/
Mississippi Baptists have long
standing ties to the Eastern European people of Ukraine since they gained their
independence from the former USSR in 1991.
Volunteers from Mississippi
Baptist churches and pastors from our state have made many trips to the cities
and communities of Ukraine sharing the Gospel and assisting the growing
indigenous church with discipleship and training over the past two
decades.
With this strong tie and the
many friendships that exist, Mississippi Baptists are joining together to
express concern, pray, and respond with our Southern Baptist partners in
meeting the needs of the Ukraine people.
The invasion of Ukraine by
Russian forces continues to escalate and intensify. Heavy fighting and shelling
continue across several towns and cities in Ukraine, with increasing human cost
and humanitarian consequence.
At least 752 civilian
casualties, including 227 deaths, were recorded February 24-28 by the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Fifteen of the
deaths and 28 of those injured were children.
Most of these casualties were
caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from
heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems as well as air strikes,
according to the same source.
Reports of civilians trapped in
towns and cities under shelling continue, including in Volnovakha and Mariupol
in Donetska oblast as well as in other locations within and beyond eastern
Ukraine. Hostilities or shelling have also continued in and around major
cities, such as Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv.
Clashes have also been reported
near the “contact line” in eastern Ukraine, with communities on both sides
severely impacted. Damage and destruction to water, electricity, and sanitation
facilities, as well as road and residential infrastructure, continue to be
reported across several areas, shattering people’s lives, and disrupting access
to these vital services for hundreds of thousands.
Population movement remains
fluid and on March 2, numbers escalated with 200,000 crossing borders to flee
the conflict. As of March 3, a total of 877,000 people have crossed into
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, and other countries, according to
UNHCR.
In country, more than 100,000
people have been internally displaced so far with numbers escalating, according
to the same source (Real figures are considerably higher as corroboration is
ongoing, albeit with delays and security challenges and some sources say IDPs
may be closer to 200,000 – 300,000).
Reports indicate that 30% of
those crossing will move on to Western European countries quickly, within one
to three days. Women and children still represent the largest populations of
those displaced.
Southern Baptists through our
joint International Mission Board (IMB)/North American Mission Board (NAMB)
Crisis Response ministry program, SEND Relief, continues to be in contact with
our partners on the ground (existing national ministry and other trusted
partners).
SEND Relief’s response
continues to expand to address this major crisis. SEND Relief began responding
with food relief before the invasion and continues to collaborate with national
partners to provide food, shelter, transportation, clothing, and ministry to
those displaced and impacted by the crisis in Ukraine.
SEND Relief has expanded
response to displaced people in countries that border Ukraine. Total resources
committed, planned, and in progress is $518,488.00 and has currently served
over 59,200 Ukrainians in need.
SEND Relief has a Southern
Baptist Disaster Relief Disaster (SBDR) Assistance Response Team (DART) team en
route to the crisis area, made up of volunteers from Southern Baptist Disaster
Relief state partners.
SEND Relief anticipates that
opportunities for volunteer response will increase after the SBDR DART team
completes the initial assessment. Responding teams will need to meet
international travel requirements, complete IMB requirements for international
response prior to deployment, and be prepared to operate in hardship
conditions.
The best current ways for
Southern Baptists to respond is by praying and giving.
Prayer Requests
— Pray for peace in Ukraine and Russia.
— Pray for God to change the hearts of those in power in
Russia.
— Pray for God’s protection for believers serving and
ministering on the front lines of this crisis.
— Pray for those suffering in
the areas of active conflict and for those who have lost loved ones.
— Pray that God will open people to the hope of Christ
through this difficult season in their lives.
— Pray that the displaced can
find a shelter and basic needs as they flee from the conflict.
— Pray for minority groups being displaced, who are often
forgotten and dis-enfranchised.
— Pray for women and children
displaced from home without their husbands and fathers, who are often the
primary providers in these families.
— Pray that partners and the local church will have wisdom
and strength during this time.
— Pray for local churches and partners in Poland, Moldova,
Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia as they seek to help those
fleeing and traumatized by war.
— Pray for the SBDR DART team as they serve in response.
— Pray that as we serve together and offer compassionate
ministry in these difficult circumstances that all we do would glorify our
great Lord and Savior.
To Give
Church gifts in support of the
SEND Relief response may be given through the Mississippi Baptist Convention
Board utilizing the Church Mission Giving Designation Form (Pink Sheet)
designating International Disaster Relief/Ukraine Conflict Response. Submit to
MBCB, P. O. Box 530, Jackson, MS 39205
Individual Gifts may be given
directly to SEND Relief online by clicking here.
Yates is disaster of relief
director for the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB). He may be
contacted at hyates@mbcb.org. The MBCB disaster relief ministry is supported by gifts
to the Mississippi Cooperative and donations designated for disaster relief.
House of
Bishops condemns war in Ukraine. . . .
BY EGAN MILLARD Posted Mar
22, 2022 https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/03/22/house-of-bishops-condemns-ukraine-war-anti-transgender-legislation-at-first-in-person-gathering-since-covid-19-pandemic/ |
[Episcopal News Service — Navasota, Texas] The
House of Bishops voted unanimously to issue statements condemning Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine and political actions targeting transgender people at
its March 15-21 meeting.
The
House met in person for the first time since September 2019, with 133 bishops
and bishops-elect present, at Camp Allen, a retreat center near Navasota,
Texas, owned by the Diocese of Texas.
The
Ukraine statement – written by the Rt. Rev. Mark Edington, bishop of the
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, with input from other bishops –
denounced the “utter depravity” of the Russian military’s assault on the former
Soviet republic in moral and political terms.
“We
are gathered at a moment of profound jeopardy to the principles of
international law and peace,” the statement read. “As we meet and pray together
as a House of Bishops, Ukraine — an independent, sovereign nation that has
posed no threat to others beyond its borders — has been invaded by military
forces of Russia, without provocation and without justification.”
In a referendum on Dec. 1, 1991, the statement noted, 90% of voters
approved the declaration of independence from the Soviet Union that the
Ukrainian parliament had issued in August of that year.
In
an interview with Episcopal News Service, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
acknowledged the complex balancing act between the West’s support for Ukraine’s
self-defense and the risk of escalating the conflict.
“[Ukrainians] have a right to defend their
freedom and to protect it, and the rest of the world’s got to do whatever it
can not to precipitate a worse war that will engulf the whole world, but to do
everything possible to stand for human rights and decency. That’s not utopian
thinking,” Curry said, also offering a comparison to the Gospel passage in which
Peter draws a sword to defend Jesus.
“Jesus
lived in the real world,” Curry said. “He had clear ideals and clear principles
that he was articulating, no question about that. But he was in the world. Now,
he did tell Peter, ‘Put that sword back in its sheath.’ But he didn’t tell him
to get rid of it.”
Edington
told ENS that Episcopal congregations are already seeing Ukrainian refugees in
their cities. He is consulting with congregations, Episcopal Relief &
Development and the Church of England’s Diocese of Europe, which has a church
in Kyiv — Ukraine’s capital — and also in some of the cities where convocation
churches are present.
In
the meantime, Edington said, it was important for the bishops to speak out in
unison against the invasion.
“We
have a job to speak the truth as we see it, through the light of the Gospel, to
say, ‘These things are wrong,’” Edington told ENS. “We chose to speak in terms
of universal principles that we feel are connected to our Christian claim about
the dignity of all people, and one of them is the right of nations to determine
their own fate.”
By
providing the historical context for Ukraine’s independence from Russia, the
statement described the Ukrainian people’s self-determination as a fundamental
right.
“There
is a direct link between our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of all
people in Christ and the demand to respect the will of nations to determine
their own destiny — the rule of ‘jus cogens,’ in international law — when
expressed freely through the ballot box,” the statement read.
The statement denounced the
“utter depravity of the war,” in which Russian soldiers have killed at least
900 civilians as of March 20, according to the United Nations.
“It
is evident that Russian military forces have directly and indiscriminately
attacked civilian residences, medical facilities, even agreed corridors for the
humanitarian withdrawal of civilians in areas of combat,” the statement read.
“These actions are a fundamental violation of the rights and dignity rightly
accorded all people, and a flagrant breach of international norms.”
The statement echoed a
resolution passed by Executive Council resolution in
January, before the invasion, expressing “grave concerns about the escalation
of tensions and military buildup along the border of Russia and Ukraine.”
All
bishops present at the March 19 House of Bishops meeting approved the
statement, in which they said they would pray for Russia to immediately cease
hostilities; for the safety of refugees, diplomats and political dissidents;
and for other churches to speak out in opposition to the invasion.
The House of Bishops also
discussed the spate of state laws and political directives targeting
transgender youth. Dozens of bills have
been introduced in state legislatures over the past two years limiting
transgender minors’ access to medical treatment and restricting their
participation in sports. In some cases, the parents of transgender children
have been threatened with legal action, as is now the case in Texas due
to a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott classifying
certain kinds of medical care, such as hormonal or surgical treatments, as
child abuse.
Curry
told ENS that while the war in Ukraine and anti-transgender laws are obviously
very different issues, the bishops’ responses to them come from the same
source.
“People
can think ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ can be trite and simplistic until
you have to do it,” he said. “And that same principle that applies for
transgender children applies for the people of Ukraine. They’re God’s children,
and nobody, no human being is meant to be abused. Put down. Oppressed.”
Several
bishops testified in support of a statement condemning these laws and
directives, sharing personal stories about their own transgender/nonbinary
relatives or parishioners and the fears that they face, even in states where
they seem unlikely to pass. The resolution originally mentioned Texas “and
other states,” but a number of bishops asked that their states also be
mentioned by name. After some debate about how specific the statement should
be, it was amended to include “Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New
Hampshire, Michigan, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota ,
Mississippi, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, South Carolina and any other
states, municipalities, and school districts targeting transgender children and
their families.”
“In
light of the baptismal covenant’s promise to see Christ in all persons,” the
statement read, “… we … voice our love and continued support for all persons
who identify as transgender or non-binary and their families. We decry
legislative initiatives and governmental actions targeting trans children and
their families. We urge all in our church to create safe spaces and shield all
people from harassment based on gender identity.”
Curry
and others said it was important for both lawmakers and the transgender people
whose lives their decisions affect to know where the bishops stand.
“Whether
you’re liberal or conservative, there’s such a thing as human kindness and
human decency. And for those of us who are Christians, there’s such a thing as
unselfish, sacrificial love that seeks the good and wellbeing of others,” Curry
told ENS.
“We
don’t expect that it’s going to change votes, but we pray [it does]. Maybe the
most important thing is if it brings some comfort, some affirmation to
transgender folks, that you are children of God, created in God’s image and
likeness, as are we all.”
Also during the meeting,
the Rt. Rev. Whayne Hougland Jr., former bishop of the dioceses of Western
Michigan and Eastern Michigan, was readmitted to the House after a yearlong
suspension. Hougland had been suspended from episcopal ministry in
June 2020 after admitting to an extramarital affair. Hougland’s suspension
period ended in July 2021, and he resigned his position in
both dioceses. Along with the suspension, Hougland completed the other
stipulations of the disciplinary accord, including receiving counseling.
The Committee on
Resignations reported that Hougland had “completely and generously and
graciously fulfilled” the terms of the accord and proposed a motion to readmit
Hougland to the House as a non-voting member, an action allowed under the House
of Bishops’ Rules of Order, section V.M.4.
The motion passed the House unanimously.
In addition, the House
issued a pastoral letter calling
for peace in the Holy Land and expressing that Jerusalem “must be equally
protected and accessible to faithful Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and to all
people of goodwill,” in accordance with 2018 General Convention Resolution
B003. With that resolution, General Convention
voted to “reaffirm its long-established position calling for the holy city of
Jerusalem to be the shared capital of both the State of Israel and of a
potential Palestinian state” and “urge the House of Bishops to disseminate as
soon as is practicable a Pastoral Letter supporting Jerusalem’s prophetic
identity as the Holy City of Peace.”
Constituting one-half of General
Convention,
the House of Bishops comprises all active and retired bishops in The Episcopal
Church. The House typically meets twice a year, though its meetings have been
held remotely during the pandemic. The House of Bishops and its counterpart,
the House of Deputies, are next scheduled to meet in person July 7-14 at the 80th General Convention in
Baltimore, Maryland.
United Methodists Stand with Ukraine
https://www.resourceumc.org/en/topics/united-methodists-stand-with-ukraine#:~:text=United%20Methodists%20across%20the%20globe,Discipline%2C%20Social%20Principles%20%C2%B6165.
United Methodists across
the globe are condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As Christians “we
believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We
therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy.” (2016 Book
of Discipline, Social Principles ¶165.C). We also know our God stands with the
oppressed and calls on us to support them. See some of the ways United
Methodist leaders, organizations and individuals are responding to the invasion
of Ukraine through their prayer, aid and witness.
MORMONS
Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints gives statement amid Ukraine crisis
Feb 25, 2022, 2:34 PM | Updated: 6:54 pm
BY ELIZA PACE, KSL TV
https://ksltv.com/485351/church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-gives-statement-amid-ukraine-crisis/
SALT LAKE CITY—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a
statement of their deep concern and prayer for peace amidst the current
conflict in Ukraine. The full statement is found below.
“We are heartbroken and deeply concerned by the armed conflict now
raging. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has members in each of
the affected areas and throughout the world. Our minds and hearts have been
turned toward them and all our brothers and sisters.
We continue to pray for peace. We know that enduring peace can be
found through Jesus Christ. He can calm and comfort our souls even in the midst
of terrible conflicts. He taught us to love God and our neighbors.
We pray that this armed conflict will end quickly, that the
controversies will end peacefully and that peace will prevail among nations and
within our own hearts. We plead with world leaders to seek for such resolutions
and peace.”
U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops’ Administrative Committee Releases Statement on Ukraine
MARCH 16, 2022 PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/us-conference-catholic-bishops-administrative-committee-releases-statement-ukraine
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB)
Administrative Committee has issued the following statement today on Ukraine.
The Administrative Committee is led by the president of the Conference and is
comprised of the USCCB’s officers, chairmen of the Conference’s standing committees,
as well as a representative from each episcopal region of the United States.
The committee operates as the board of directors of the Conference.
The committee’s full statement follows:
In union with the Holy See, we
call for the immediate cessation of Russia’s armed aggression and unprovoked
war on Ukraine that has already exacted a staggering toll - thousands dead and
an exodus of three million refugees - with no end in sight. We join our plea
with that of the Holy Father on March 13 when he said, “In the name of God,
listen to the cry of those who suffer, and put an end to the bombings and the
attacks!” Similar appeals have been raised throughout the Orthodox Christian
world and indeed by many Russians themselves.
We are witnessing an unprecedented
threat to world peace. This possibility of global warfare is compounded by the
unthinkable consequences that would result from the potential use of nuclear
and other weapons of mass destruction.
We call on Catholics of the
United States and all people of good will to pray for an end to this war in
Ukraine and for peace based on justice and respect for international law. We
remember always that prayer is never a feeble gesture of last resort! It is a
weapon of hope.
We continue to call on the U.S.
government to aid humanitarian access and to support and provide assistance to
those who remain in Ukraine and those fleeing the country. We call on all
Americans to contribute generously and sacrificially to Catholic and other
humanitarian agencies supporting these efforts.
At this dark time, we are
united with the suffering people of Ukraine. May Our Lady of Fatima and the
patron saint of Kyiv, St. Michael the Archangel, guide all peoples in the
pursuit of peace and watch over all those in the path of war.
Russia-Ukraine war: Some pastors wonder about “end of days”
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-religion-baptist-74edf434be618f1552ce555f5bbb9cda
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted some of America’s most
prominent evangelical leaders to raise a provocative question — asking if the
world is now in the biblically prophesied “end of days” that might culminate
with the apocalypse and the second coming of Christ.
There’s no consensus on the answer, nor on any possible
timetable.
Megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, addressing his congregation at First Baptist Dallas, said many Christians are
wondering, in the face of carnage in Ukraine, “Why does God permit evil like
this to continue? …. Are we near Armageddon and the end of the world?”
“We are living in the last days,” Jeffress said, “We’ve been
living in the last days for the last 2000 years. We don’t know, is this the
end? Is this the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?”
The curators of raptureready.com -- which shares commentary about “end of days” prophesies
– suggest things could move quickly. Their “Rapture Index,” -- on which any
reading above 160 means “Fasten your seatbelts” -- was raised this week to 187,
close to its record high of 189 in 2016.
One of the most detailed alerts came from televangelist Pat
Robertson, who came out of retirement on Feb. 28 to assert on “The 700 Club” that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by
God” to invade Ukraine as a prelude to an eventual climactic battle in Israel.
Robertson said verses of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel support this
scenario.
“You can say, well, Putin’s out of his mind. Yes, maybe so,”
Robertson said. “But at the same time, he’s being compelled by God. He went into
the Ukraine, but that wasn’t his goal. His goal was to move against Israel,
ultimately.”
“It’s all there,” added Robertson, referring to Ezekiel. “And
God is getting ready to do something amazing and that will be fulfilled.”
Also evoking Ezekiel – and a possible attack on Israel -- was
Greg Laurie, senior pastor at a California megachurch whose books and radio
programs have a wide following.
“I believe we’re living in the last days. I believe Christ could
come back at any moment,” Laurie said in a video posted
on YouTube.
Citing the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, he said
biblical prophesies “are being fulfilled in our lifetime.”
“We are seeing more things happen in real time, closer together,
as the scriptures said they would be,” Laurie said. “So what should we do? We
should look up. We should remember that God is in control.”
Predictions of an imminent “end of days” have surfaced with
regularity over the centuries. Pat Robertson, for example, has inaccurately
predicted apocalyptic events on previous occasions.
“One of the characteristics of apocalyptic thinking is that the
most recent crisis is surely the worst — this is the one that is going to trip
the end times calendar,” said Dartmouth College history professor Randall
Balmer.
“Now, admittedly, there may be some evidence for that,
especially with Putin mumbling about nuclear weapons,” Balmer added via email.
“But I also remember the urgency of the Six Day War and George H. W. Bush’s
Persian Gulf War and, of course, 9/11.”
The suggestion that God is somehow using the Russia-Ukraine war
to fulfill biblical prophesies troubles some Christian scholars, such as the
Rev. Rodney Kennedy, a Baptist pastor in Schenectady, New York, and author of
numerous books.
“This evangelical insistence of involving the sovereignty of God
in the evil of Putin borders on the absurd,” Kennedy wrote recently in Baptist News.
“Rapture believers fail to understand that if they assist in
bringing about world war, there will be no Superman Jesus appearing to ‘snatch’
all true believers into the safety of the clouds,” Kennedy wrote. “The rapture
is an illusion; the rupture caused by Putin is a deadly reality.”
Russell Moore, public theologian at the evangelical magazine
Christianity Today, said it’s wrong to try to connect world events to end-times
prophecy, noting that Jesus himself said his second coming would be unexpected
and unconnected with “wars and rumors of wars.”
“It’s not consistent with the Bible and it’s harmful to the
witness of the church,” said Moore, noting that the world has outlived many
episodes of end-times speculation.
Moore said most Christians he’s talked with are more concerned
about Ukraine’s well-being.
“I’m surprised at how little I am finding the idea that these
events are direct biblical prophecy,” he said. “I’m just not seeing that in the
pews.”
That’s a change from the recent past, he noted, when many
evangelicals tried to interpret world events as a road map to the apocalypse –
driving sales for hugely successful authors Tim LaHaye (“Left Behind”) and Hal
Lindsey (“The Late Great Planet Earth”).
“It’s very rare for me to find someone under the age of 50”
preoccupied with such views today, Moore said.
Jeffress said members of his congregation in Dallas are “very
troubled by the atrocities being committed against the Ukrainian people and
think we should push back forcefully against Putin’s aggression.”
“However, they are not headed toward their bunkers and preparing
for Armageddon — yet,” Jeffress said via email. “Most of our members understand
that while the Bible prophesies the end of the world and return of Christ one
day, no one has a clue when that day will be.”
Laurie, in a written reply to questions from The Associated
Press, said his congregation at Harvest Christian Fellowship “isn’t fixated on
the ‘end times.’”
“My message for Christians during this time and really all
people in general is don’t panic, but pray,” Laurie advised. “Live every day
like it may be your last.”
The war in Ukraine has heightened anxieties for some members of
Mercy Hill Chapel, said Oleh Zhakunets, lead pastor of the small Southern
Baptist church that holds services in Ukrainian and English in Parma, Ohio, a
Cleveland suburb.
Several members have close relatives in Ukraine – some in more
dangerous zones in eastern Ukraine and others who are welcoming refugees in the
west, he said.
“It’s a bag of mixed feelings,” said Zhakunets, citing their
worries for loved ones and their hope that God is in control.
Congregation members believe in biblical passages detailing
signs of Jesus’ return, he said, but they don’t see Russia’s invasion as
fulfilling a specific prophecy.
“A lot of that is just guesswork,” Zhakunets said. “We have hope
that he’s coming, but in terms of specifics, we’re not going to give that kind
of what we see as a false hope.”
___
Associated Press reporters Peter Smith, Holly Meyer and Deepa
Bharath contributed to this report.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the
AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment
Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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