Not to defend this war in paricular, but wars in general can indeed be very right, and just... war is not an evil Need I remind you that the annihilation of the CHurch of England which we've all seen in our lifetimes did not happen due to a war... it came from peace, complacent fat degradation, and lazy heresy Evils do not come from war more than from some other source... peace can be just as evil and just as deadly
Ukraine perhaps was wronged by the violent invasion from Putin, but their souls were -already- being killed from the new ideology of Ukrainian gay pride parades, LGBT marches, abortions, and trangender "celebrations" Vladimir Zelensky who is for unrestricted abortions and prostitution did THIS -- here he is in drag performing a quasi-demonic dance... The culture of Eastern Europe is being completely degenerated by the demonic western influences, and is rapidly disappearing before our very eyes THIS is who Zelensky is... a vile perversion of a human being, and not the "hero" or the wholesome "family man" presented to us by our media controllers
He is not evil because he may be a secular person. Based on this diatribe there's plenty good reason to invade the USA if you think it's OK to do so based on the behaviour of a country's head of state.
I admit some concern about this posting. It seems to me, highly unlikely that this would pass the pub-test as a 'just' war. Listening to Vladimir Putin's long adress on the subject, it was difficult to conclude that he was arguing it was a just war. It think he argued in fact that NATO and he US were the enemy, and that the Ukraine was in fact a buffer state created by Russia that had been invaded by NATO forces. He deliberately referred to them as Nazi's which was clearly intended to inflame the situation, and macking Zellenskyy's heritage as the child of Jewish parents. The nearest he got to a claim for a Just War was when he referred to it as a Peacekeeping force. Internally the Russian Media have been told not to use the word 'war' or 'invasion' when discussing the events unfolding in Ukrane. Peace of course is seen from at least two angles. There is the idea of ereine (greek) which essentially more substantially connected to the absence of war and violence. There is also Shalom (Hebrew) which is a more constructed view in terms of that which builds for growth and development. The ancient city Jerusalem has a name which literally means City fo Peace, though for much of its life it has known little. Jesus himself is sometimes described as Prince of Peace, bulding in part of the prophesy in Isaiah 9, probably originally penned in relation to the birth of Hezakiah. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:2-6 This conflict is not about Gay Pride, LGBTQIA+ activism, and abortian. The You-Tube spoof video is a complitaion of some of Zellenskyy speaking in the current situation, and a Ukrainian boy band from 2012 track of a song called love - I note Zellenskyy was not part of the band, produced by the band. Apart from both being Ukrainian they seem to be unrelated. My view is that it is probably the work or the Russian Propoganda machine. His movie Love in the Big City 2 was banned in Ukraine because it was too pro-russian. The description of him as a 'vile perversion of a human being' seems to my mind a little overstated and bordering on unhinged, especially in the absence of any real evidence to support the claim.
Thus we see the effects of fake news. Why do you think Jesus Christ called himself THE TRUTH. How can you be so certain this is not put together by Putin and his demonic thugs to elicit exactly the knee jerk, Right Wing, Conservative Evangelical uproar that he wants to goad you and those like you to proclaim. He knows you so well and can so easily use you, just as Satan can, if you let him. RESIST HIM! It's LENT, you are under attack from Spirituial wickedness in high places. RESIST! Christian dost thou see them, on the holy ground. How the troops of Midian prowl and prowl around? Christians up and smite them. Counting gain but loss. Smite them by the merit - Of the holy cross. Christian dost thou feel them, How they work within, Striving, tempting, luring, Goading into sin? Christian never tremble; Never be downcast; Smite them by the virtue - of the Lenten fast. Christian dost thou hear them, how they speak thee fair? 'Always fast and vigil? Always watch and prayer?' Christian answer boldly' 'While I breathe I pray:' Peace shall follow battle, Night shall end in day. Well I know thy trouble, O my servant true; Though art very weary, I was weary too; But that toil shall make thee - Some day all mine own, And the end of sorrow - shall be near my throne. (J M Neal)
The Church of England is being REFORMED by God. We've prayed for it, we're now at getting it. The Reformation did not complete the necessary purging of heresies and unChristlike attitudes to our neighbour pandemic of the first Elisabethan era. Misogny, violent homophobia and other judgmentally sinful cruel abuses of 'the least of these', are finally being shriven from the church. At last The Church of England can effectively and not hypocritically preach the true Gospel of Peace. .
I did not say that it is okay to invade Ukraine because of their incredibly corrupt lifestyle and the abandonment of our Christian values in the hearts of their people... I merely said that Ukraine is a tragedy, and we should recognize that even before their bodies began to be killed by external warlords, its people's souls had been for decades killed by Western globohomo oligarchs There are no innocent idealistic victims here; I would never let my kids be exposed to the perversions of Vladimir Zelensky on my television, as my leader, dripping poison into the souls of my children.... Meanwhile Putin may be a violent autocrat, and he may endanger the bodies of my children; but he can never endanger their souls.. Thus while I resent Putin, I no less resent the abhorrent anti-Christianity, Christophobia, that exists in the Ukraine of today Indeed
What you read was something you would never hear in YOUR comfortable church on any Sunday morning. It's the opposite to the false gospel tacitly preached within much of American Christianity that mixes Love with conditions. It mixes Grace with an angry, vengeful God. One who loves people so much that He tortures them eternally if they don't love Him back in return, and mixes Jesus with a white, sexist, racist, male heterosexual, privileged bigotry and nationalism. Now lets get back to Putin the Aggressor and the suffering people of Ukraine, (no matter how depraved they may be labeled).
However you did make a pretty far reaching statement about just wars, and then made some claims about the leadership and pople of the Ukraine. Indeed you then spoke of the evil of one of the fruits of the spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So whilst you did not say it was OK, you certainly left yourself open to an understanding that Putin's 120,000 strong fully armed and equipped Peacekeeping force was to be understood as the greater good. Now I can not speak to the heart of Vladimir Putin, however he presents and promotes himself as an Orthodox Christian, and I have no doubt that under his rule the Orthodox Church in Russia has done well, and that he has acted on behalf of Christians in middle eastern settings. That does not give him permission outside the general provisions that we all are expected to abide by. to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Sorry, Botolph, you can have her. We don't want her. When I last visited Australia it seemed to be going quite Americanised, so I think it'll be be a good it.
Seeing others information about the Ukrainians, (and based on what I’ve been reading, eg. the pro-Nazi Azov Batallion), I am withdrawing my request of prayers for them. I’m not for them being invaded, but they’re hardly innocent doves either.
I can appreciate Zelenskyy not wanting to give up any territory to Russia. It strikes home in my mind since Lincoln wasn't about to give up the South when they wanted to secede. But the ethnic Russians inhabiting Donbas have been fighting (literally) for several years to be allowed to at least vote on secession, and at this point with Russian troops in-country it seems like Zelenskyy is gambling with his life and the lives and safety of many Ukrainians by taking a hard line. If he would compromise on Donbas and on the NATO issue this conflict might be ended. Instead he's taking a chance that he can resist a hugely superior army (greater numbers, more equipment) indefinitely. Putin can't give up or lose at this point; he's committed. If he loses or withdraws, he's finished politically. That means he's now in a corner, so to speak. A corner of his own making, no doubt, but he has no choice now. Either he gets at least part of Ukraine (one way or another) or else he and Russia are both disgraced in the world's eyes; little ol' Ukraine will have beaten Russia, and Russia will no longer be considered a superpower nation on the world stage. Putin will do anything to prevent this outcome. Therefore, the sanctions and the arms shipments are more dangerous and threatening in Putin's eyes than we might have imagined. Putin will lash out with everything he has before he'll give up. An animal is at its most dangerous when cornered.
I just wish our elected representatives cared as much about our own border as the borders of far-away countries.
Any interested in this further may find this article useful. Azov is far from the only neo-Nazi group endorsed by the Ukrainian government. There is a whole constellation of varying and disparate neo-Nazi groups not only openly operating within the country, but actively funded (even before the war), and even incorporated into the Ukrainian armed forces (even before the war): "How Ukraine’s Jewish president Zelensky made peace with neo-Nazi paramilitaries on front lines of war with Russia" https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/04/nazis-ukrainian-war-russia/ "While Western media deploys Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewish heritage to refute accusations of Nazi influence in Ukraine, the president has ceded to neo-Nazi forces and now depends on them as front line fighters." "After Prime Minister attends neo-Nazi concert, Zelensky honors Right Sector leader" "In November 2021, one of Ukraine’s most prominent ultra-nationalist militiamen, Dmytro Yarosh, announced that he had been appointed as an advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yarosh is an avowed follower of the Nazi collaborator Bandera who led Right Sector from 2013 to 2015, vowing to lead the “de-Russification” of Ukraine."