When the Church and Government are intertwined the Prophetic Witness of the Church is Compromised

 

Last week a group of prominent American evangelical leaders wrote a letter to Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church imploring him to intervene and stop the bloodshed in Ukraine. He has fully endorsed the Russian onslaught of Ukraine and fully supports President Putin.

One could wonder why a so called Christian leader could in good conscience support what we are watching in Ukraine: The brutality, the targeting of civilians and the raw use of power to destroy a people and a country. It is a good question and one that religious movements everywhere should pay attention to - including in the United States.

Why would the Russian Orthodox Church support what President Putin is doing, which includes the slaughter of fellow believers in Ukraine? The answer is simple. The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader has made a Faustian bargain with the government of Russia. In exchange for their support of the government, they receive the security of being able to operate unimpeded by the Russian government and even receive significant financial support from the government. Unlike other Christian movements in Russian who are under significant pressure, they reign supreme.

In exchange, the church promises to support the Russian government, endorse their policies, and even join the government to defend Russia against negative Western influences. Understand that this is a partnership between the government, the church and inevitably the Russian intelligence agencies who are intertwined with this whole security issue. 

To complicate issues, in 2019, many Ukrainian parishes left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with was under the Russian Orthodox Church to form a new Orthodox church of Ukraine. This infuriated the Russian Orthodox Church and Mr. Putin who saw this as a threat to Russia.

David French in an insightful article entitled The Best of Christian Compassion, the Worst of Religious Power says this about the current situation in Russia. "This is the church at its worst, when it weds itself to state power and wields the sword to advance God's kingdom on earth. We are watching the deep darkness of malevolent Christendom, a religious movement that will slaughter innocents to fight "decadence" and bomb hospitals to combat "sin." When you see Putin's armies advance, you can think, this is why our nation rejects established religion."

Ironically, it is also believers who are laying down their lives to fight this onslaught of the Russian government and Russian Church as well as Christians who are providing much of the relief to the refugees that are inhabiting Ukraine or fleeing Ukraine.

It should also be noted that many evangelicals over the past several decades have been seduced by Putin's "religious veneer" as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and a friend of its Patriarch. Indeed, they are joined at the hip, both benefiting from the arrangement but there is nothing Christian about Mr. Putin nor is he a person of personal faith. He cares about one thing only: Power and his agenda of recreating the Russia that existed before communism. Ironically it would seem that the Russian Orthodox Church wants exactly the same thing and in its proximity to power it also has power. 

None of this, however, has anything to do with Jesus or the Gospel. I think regularly of the hurting heart of God watching what people are doing (in His name) in Ukraine. It is sick and sad and not Jesus in the least. 

All of this should cause the American church and especially evangelicals to be reflective on the dangers of intertwining the church with politics or the church with the political power of the government. And it has done plenty of this. Any of these "bargains" end badly for Jesus and the church. The power of the church comes from the power of the gospel, not from its proximity to political power. The situation with the Russian Orthodox Church is a warning as to where this relationship will end. Power corrupts politicians but it also corrupts religious movements who seek to derive their influence and power from those who are in power and have influence.

The religious right in the United States needs to understand the truth about power that Paul wrote in Romans 1:16-17. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

The power the church needs and has comes from the gospel and not from political proximity. When the church and government are intertwined the prophetic witness of the church is compromised and its power is diminished. 

See also, Putin is the New Stalin and Russia, Ukraine and the thin veneer of civilization

Putin is the new Stalin

 

I have come to the conclusion, with considerable unhappiness that Putin is the new Stalin and just as President Xi is taking China back to the days of Mao, so Putin is taking Russia back to the days of Stalin. And in both cases, those were dark days where many suffered unjustly. Why do I suggest this. Consider the following which come directly out of Stalin's playbook.

Those who disagreed with Stalin paid for that disagreement with their lives, imprisonment (Siberia) or torture. The same is happening under Putin. He has killed his enemies in Russia and outside of Russia, has imprisoned thousands and even a statement of opposition to the current war can get you fifteen years in ugly Russian prisons. And, like Stalin he seems to care not what the rest of the world thinks.

Putin, like Stalin dresses actions with a veneer of judicial "fairness." Time and again, charges against his political enemies have been decided before a trial which is simply window dressing.

Subordinates would not tell Stalin what they really thought for fear of their jobs or lives. Neither does it seem that Putin's people are willing to speak truthfully with him if it means disagreeing with him.

Stalin was willing to kill people indiscriminately to accomplish his purposes without an ounce of remorse. He starved the Ukraine killing millions, and shot those who got in his way, or that he thought might get in his way. Putin used these kinds of tactics in Chechnya, Syria and now in Ukraine. People's deaths don't bother him. Shelling hospitals and schools and residential areas is a war tactic. Millions of refugees does not phase him. He will do whatever he needs to in order to accomplish his ends. Without apology and without conscience. There is a ruthlessness to both men that defies logic or humanity.

Putin, like Stalin is a liar to the core of his being. Both believe that the more you say something untrue the more the population will embrace the lie. And in many cases that is what happens. It is impossible to believe anything that Putin says and the same was true of Stalin.

Stalin tightly controlled the media in order to ensure that his party line was the one line that was communicated. Putin does the same thing and has essentially shut down any independent media in the country by passing laws that lie about the war or the country or its leaders. Of course the definition of a lie is whatever Putin does not want to hear.

Putin sees himself as a Tsar - one who is all powerful, always has the final say and whom no one can cross. While Stalin would not have thought of himself that way, he cultivated the same result by ruthlessly eliminating any and all rivals. Putin, like Stalin is consumed by his legacy and power.

Both men were and are deeply suspicious of people of faith. Stalin closed the churches and imprisoned or killed pastors. Putin has co-opted the Russian Orthodox Church for his own political purposes and has made the lives of evangelicals very difficult. The Orthodox church has made a Faustian bargain with Putin and benefits monetarily from that bargain (or did till the ruble became worthless). Evangelical Christians who will not make such a bargain are harassed, denied building permits or the ability to minister as they desire.

Both Stalin and Putin are characterized by an utter lack of any sense of righteousness. For them it does not exist. What matters is raw unadulterated power. Period. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of that power or their personal will can be sacrificed at will.

What characterizes both men is the utter disregard of what the world thinks of them. Apart from wanting to be feared, they are willing to engage in war crimes, killings, corrupted judicial proceedings and blunt force to get their way regardless of world opinion. It takes a very cold and ruthless heart to go there but that is what we are dealing with.

Putin crosses a line - bans Russians from preaching the Gospel outside churches. From Joel Rosenberg's blog.

Putin crosses a line — bans Russians from preaching the Gospel outside churches. Here’s the latest from Joel Rosenberg's blog.