Ukraine and the Line between Good and Evil
Photo by Katie Godowski from Pexels
As I sit at home in rural Ohio, I find it difficult to pull myself away from the computer and the news about Ukraine. Our family spent nine years as missionaries in Ukraine, working in theological education at Kyiv Theological Seminary and REALIS while church planting. Our children went to Ukrainian public schools for five years. We lived, loved, laughed, and labored beside our Ukrainian friends, and they became family. Since the Russian invasion, as a family we have been emailing, phoning, and texting Ukrainians and Americans about this situation and garnering information to know how to pray and to help with relocation issues. We lived through the Orange Revolution in 2004 and were concerned then that something like this would happen then or again in 2014.
As I write this, the war is only one week old. How much has changed in just one week. Peace and safety have been replaced with death and destruction. On the news, virtually every scene from Kyiv brings back memories of our time there and the ministry with which we were involved. I find myself mentally superimposing our family photos and activities onto those locations where I see tanks, soldiers, and damaged buildings. This whole situation is so surreal. Ukrainian cities like Bucha, Irpin, Brovary, Sumy, and Chernigov are now in the news. They are strange names. You probably have never heard of them before this week. I’ve ministered in all these cities. Online I see images of them with burned-out tanks, destroyed buildings, and wounded people. When I see them in my mind, memories flood back of students, churches, ministry retreats, and beautiful forests. Faces and names come to mind and I wonder if they are OK. As I watch the news I see shortages of essentials like food, water, and fuel. What I don’t see are shortages of blame. Everyone has someone to blame for this catastrophe. Regardless of what caused this situation, over a million people have become refugees in one week and thousands have died. I must admit that it is emotionally traumatic and I’m feeling rather numb. When I watch the news, I understand what is truly being said, not just what the translation provides. As a missionary, educator, theologian, and friend, how do I process this?
What many people don’t know is that Ukraine is the Bible Belt of the former Soviet Union. There are more believers in Ukraine than in the whole former Soviet Union combined. It has more seminaries, Bible colleges, and evangelical churches than in all of Russia. When I was there, I often said that when the generation that never lived under communism came into leadership (which is now), the church in Ukraine would become a mighty force for the gospel. Ukraine has the largest concentration of evangelicals in all of Eurasia. It is in a strategic location and has begun to send out missionaries. Over recent years, Ukraine has become a hotbed of church planting and mission work, going where Americans could not or would not go. Now, at this critical moment in church history, the enemy is attacking and seeking to destroy this work of God. Some seminaries and churches have turned into refugee centers while others have had to evacuate. We are seeing sin and the work of the evil one on full display. This is a physical manifestation of a spiritual war for Ukraine… and the world. Satan does not care who wins or who loses. Satan celebrates the death, destruction, and the magnification of evil. God, however, brings good out of evil and is spreading the seed of the Gospel through these Christian refugees who will have a strategic voice in their new homelands. The people they will encounter will say, “Tell me your story.” Pray that these Ukrainians will have the courage and strength to give testimony to God’s grace despite their suffering.
War is a reflection of sin in the heart of men and women that goes all the way back to Cain killing Abel. War is full of hate, atrocities, death, destruction, theft, and even murder. It brings out the worst in humanity. As we approach this situation and consider good and evil and what it means, I am reminded of a quote by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Soviet dissident.
Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains… an unuprooted small corner of evil.
Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person (The Gulag Archipelago).
What we see before us is evil unleashed and without constraint. It is a manifestation of that evil in the heart of humanity, in my heart and your heart. Not all Russians are evil and not all Ukrainians are good.
My friends who are fighting or fleeing have seen more than their share of trauma during their lives. One dear friend lived in Chernobyl and saw the burning reactor from her apartment in 1986. Her family was given 15 minutes to collect a few personal items and was told they would return a few weeks later. Last week her family was awakened to bombing near their home and orphanage. They began fleeing to the west with several vanloads of orphans under their care. She is looking to relocate to Eastern Europe while her husband continues humanitarian and relief work in Ukraine. The Ukrainian pastor of our church there has been serving as a chaplain since 2014 and was wounded several times. He and his family have fled their house because the bombing came too close. After some rest, he is continuing his work as a military chaplain. The stories go on and on.
We are all hearing speculations about the potential for World War III, the antichrist, prophecy, and Russia jumping from Ukraine to Israel. While my purpose is not to jump into that fray, I have had an interesting thought that the ribs in the mouth of the bear (Daniel 7:5) may refer to Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. There is some indication that Russia is planning to invade Moldova next. Only God knows how these events may or may not play into biblical prophecy. Regardless of your views of the last times, there are only so many probable outcomes that can happen in this situation.
The powers that be in Russia remove their leader and stop the war.
Russia totally conquers Ukraine and potentially Moldova and the Russian empire is formalized with its new Iron Curtain.
Ukraine defeats the Russian Army and drives it back.
War between Russia and Europe escalates to levels we don’t even want to think about.
Some miraculous divine intervention brings peace.
Apart from option five, more death, destruction, and suffering is likely to continue. Regardless of what happens, God is sending Ukrainian believers like seeds throughout hardened Europe to take the Gospel. Pray for them that God would give them boldness and that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit as they give testimony to God’s deliverance. God has used wars in the past to spread the Gospel, beginning with the persecution and destruction that hit Jerusalem in the New Testament.
In the words of our Ukrainian pastor from a text earlier this week, “Today we returned home to continue serving people and soldiers, now the siren has sounded – bombs are flying at us, keep praying, we really need it!” When it comes to prayer, we often don’t know what to pray for, so some practical points from Scripture will help. I would ask you to pray the following, based on Scripture and what I hear from my Ukrainian friends. These are all in line with scriptural admonitions, praying according to His will. Please pray that:
God’s people would be able to clearly hear His voice at this time (Psalm 86:11);
God would confuse those who would do evil, especially to his people (Psalm 55:8-11!!);
God would send laborers into his harvest: in Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe especially (Matthew 9:38);
God would protect His children (Psalm 91 & 46);
God would give wisdom to those in authority and who make decisions that there may be peace (1 Timothy 2:1-3);
God would grant unity and love among His people (John 17:21).
God is hearing the prayers of the world for Ukraine and He is miraculously providing for them and preserving them through these trials. They are suffering and they are suffering deeply. God is delivering them not from suffering but through their suffering. In the West our theology of suffering is weak and has not yet been tested by war in our country in our lifetimes. May we learn from our brothers and sisters how to deal with suffering. God wants to bring peace to each of our hearts and see victory where good triumphs over evil and He reigns as king. As our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are uprooted and scattered throughout Europe and the world, they will be taking the seed of the Gospel that was planted in their hearts. It is being watered through the tears of their suffering. This tragedy may be the means for the greatest Ukrainian mission movement of all time. By His grace alone, they will be able to give testimony how the Gospel has overcome their trauma, hatred, evil, and suffering. Pray that they would allow Him to move that line in their heart and fill them with His presence and His love. It is His story through them that will change the world.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”
Todd Marshall is Vice President for Correctional Education and Innovation at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.