In Joel News International 886 and 890 we reported on the role Christians played in the massive protests in Ukraine. Last week saw an escalation of violence and police opening fire on the crowds, leading to the death of 88 protesters.
In the weekend the corrupt President Victor Yanukovych fled the capital Kiev. Journalists and Ukrainian citizens stormed his private mansion and surrounding grounds, closed off to the world for nearly a decade, to discover their President had lived in incredible opulence. The new government has charged Yanukovych with murder and has issued a warrant for his arrest.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, considered a hero of a 2004 Orange Revolution against Yanukovych, was released Saturday after 2˝ years behind bars. The court case against her was widely considered politically motivated. Just hours after her release, in a wheel chair, she addressed the jubilant crowds on Independence Square.
Tymoshenko sees the crisis in Ukraine as primarily spiritual. For this reason she proposed spiritual education in all Ukrainian schools. In 2010 she participated in a national prayer meeting organized by the churches in which she confessed the sins of the government. "I want to ask the Lord for forgiveness to be given to all the authorities and to me personally, for all unjust and dishonest things done," she said.
On Sunday Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, was unanimously named interim President by the Parliament in a bid to fill the political void and to end the three-month-long crisis. The choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine, does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. "He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader. It is great that Turchynov is calling for unification and healing of the nation."
Tymoshenko (left) and Turchynov (right)Ukrainian evangelicals are calling for national prayer, forgiveness and reconciliation in the wake of the traumatic recent violence. Valery Antonyuk, vice president of the All Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Churches, issued the following statement:
A Message of Reconciliation"During this time of fateful change in the life of the Ukrainian nation, the Church and each Christian individually cannot remain spectators on the sidelines of the battles and losses. The Church serves society and mourns together with it. We went through difficult days together with the nation – we served through prayer, evangelism, volunteers, medical help, clothing, and food. Today a time has come for a ministry of active reconciliation, which will help maintain unity in our country and nation.
We supported the nation’s demand to put an end to the tyranny of the authorities and repressions by the police. Now it is important to restore justice and due process of law in the country, to form a government that has the people’s trust, and provide fair presidential elections. We believe that those guilty of crimes against the people will be justly judged, and that peaceful citizens will be protected.
But on behalf of the Church we must say more, we must speak the whole truth; we must say that which is still hard to accept and fulfill; that, which is a precondition for a better future.
Therefore the Church calls the Ukrainian nation to more than just feelings of human justice – to Christian forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. We pray to God for repentance for the guilty. However at the same time we ask victims to forgive those who are already repentant as well as those who are still lost. In order to unite the nation, in order to reconcile its various parts, its various social, cultural, and political groups, laws and justice are not enough. Without repentance, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation, the country will remain divided and in conflict. This is the precondition for a deep spiritual transformation of Ukraine.
The Bible says that there is, “a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:7-8). In accordance with these wise words, we declare today to be a time to mend, and not a time to tear the nation apart; a time to seek peace, and not a time to fan the flames of war; a time to learn to love yesterday’s enemies, and not a time to continue to hate rivals and those who have hurt us.
We call on the Evangelical churches of Ukraine to serve to bring peace between people and healing to the wounds of war. We do not call black white and do not justify crimes or even mistakes. But we, as Christians, forgive, because we have been forgiven by God. He reconciled us to Himself, and gave us a message of reconciliation. This grace-giving Word to our whole nation should be heard from Lvov to Donetsk, from Kiev to Simferopol.
We also call upon the international Christian community asking for prayer and intercession for the Ukrainian nation and for help with peacemaking. We mourn for the victims, and thank God for His grace toward Ukraine, and pray for peace and spiritual revival in our nation."
The Parliament has set new national elections for late May.
Sources: CT, CTV News, Christian Telegraph, CNN, RISU
Topic: Ukraine: Pastor named interim President
