Dear Friend,
An amazing, revealing, and profound switch that few could have imagined not very long ago.
THE AMAZING COLD WAR REVERSAL
Word for the Month & for Tuesday, April 1
Scripture: 1 Kings 8:61
See Message: The Schizophrenic Nation
In the days of the Cold War between the United States, its Western allies and the Soviet Union, it was common for Americans to refer to Russia or the Soviet Union as 'godless.' Today in 2014, the same charges are again being raised. Only they're not coming from America but from the Kremlin and they're not being directed at Russia -- but at the United States and the West. In a recent state of the nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said this: "Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. 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." The former KGB officer spoke of Russia as a staunch defender of "traditional values" against the moral bankruptcy of the West. Putin pointed to social conservative values and religious conservative values as the force needed to prevent the world from descending into "chaotic darkness." Along these lines, Russia adopted a law banning "homosexual propaganda" and another that makes it a criminal offense to insult the religious sensibilities of believers -- actions which have been condemned in the West. Putin's words were echoed by Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, leader of the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Kirill accused Western nations of fostering the 'spiritual disarmament' of their people. Kirill criticized the laws of several European nations that ban believers from displaying religious symbols, including crosses, on their necklaces at work. In an address on Russian television, the patriarch spoke of the underlying thrust of Western culture: "The general political direction of the [Western political] elite bears, without doubt, an anti-Christian and anti-religious character....We have been through an epoch of atheism, and we know what it is to live without God... We want to shout to the world, 'Stop!'" At the height of the Cold War in the 1950's America experienced the 'Red Scare,' the fear that the nation was in serious danger of being infiltrated, undermined, and taken over by communists -- a fear of godlessness. If you had told those in fear of this Russian-based godless ideology that one day, it would be America that was seen as a godless nation, and Russia, as the nation warning against it and seeking to protect itself in defense of Christian values -- they would have thought it the height of craziness, or science fiction. But it is not science fiction. It's the new reality. America far more than Russia is now viewed by much of the world as a largely godless nation, and the West, an increasingly anti-Christian civilization. The communists never took over America... but godlessness has. In The Harbinger, the progression of judgment now manifesting in modern America, begins in the last days of ancient Israel -- with a terror strike on a nation described in the Hebrew of Isaiah 10:6 as 'khanef.' Khanef means 'morally polluted,' 'hypocritical' and 'godless.' Who could have imagined then, that we would now live in a world where the warnings against godlessness come from Russia and are directed at America and the west. The true answer to godlessness comes not from military power, but from a people consecrated and committed to live all the more godly. Let us be that people. This month, make it your aim to be that person! And may the Lord greatly bless you as you do.
Your brother and co-laborer
in His love and service,
Jonathan
