Joint Statement About the War Against Ukraine by Seminaries Around the World

The Christian Church has been instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Created by the Word of God and directed by the Holy Spirit, the Church confesses one Lord and Savior Jesus, His gospel and law. Therefore, as part of the Church and under the Lordship of Christ, we are called to speak the truth and expose deceit (Eph 4:15; 4:25).

In the light of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine, we consider it necessary to strongly condemn the open and unjustified aggression aimed at destroying the statehood and independence of Ukraine and based on blatant lies from the lips of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the country's top leadership.

We reject Putin's mythical narrative, which has nothing to do with historical reality, about the alleged artificial creation of the Ukrainian state.

We condemn Putin's cynical lies about Ukraine's alleged genocide of the people in the east of the country, lies that Putin uses to satisfy his own geopolitical ambitions, which are clearly contrary to God's revelation (Deut. 27:17; Prov. 22:28).

We confess the real and unlimited power of God over all countries and continents (Ps 24:1), as well as over all kings and rulers (Prov 21:1), therefore, nothing in all creation can interfere with the fulfillment of the good and perfect will of God. We, together with the first Christians, affirm “Jesus is Lord,” and not Caesar.

We express solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We share the pain of those who have already lost their loved ones. We pray that all of the aggressor's plans would be thwarted and put to shame. We call on all people of good will around the world to resist the lies and hatred of the aggressor. We call on everyone to petition for a cessation of hostilities and to exert every possible influence on the Russian Federation in order to stop the unmotivated aggression toward Ukraine. We ask you to pray for peace for the people of Ukraine and for courage and wisdom for Christian churches so that they continue to serve those in need.

We pray for our authorities and put our hope in the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is, and remains, our refuge and our fortress, even in time of war (Ps 46).

Signed:

Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine

Baltic Reformed Theological Seminary (Riga, Latvia)

Evening Reformed Seminary (Almaty, Kazakhstan)

Kyiv Theological Seminary

Odessa Theological Seminary

Poltava Theological Seminary

Reformed Theological Seminary of Donetsk (temporarily located in Kyiv)

Reformed Theological Seminary Heidelberg, (Germany)

Seminary in Western Russia (we withhold the name of the seminary)

Seminary in Western Siberia, Russia (we withhold the name of the seminary)

Taurian Christian Institute (Kherson)

 

The War in the Ukraine: Praying, Hurting, Longing

The following prayer offered by Scott Smith, founding pastor of Christ Community Church in Franklin TN, is laced with grief and lament, sobriety about the reality of evil, and fervent trust in God's presence and promises for his persecuted in Ukraine and around the world.

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them… They will neither harm nor destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isa. 1

 Lord Jesus, our hearts break, our anger is growing, our fears are real. The evil we are witnessing in the Ukraine fuels our longing for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision. How long, O Lord? Have mercy, King Jesus. We pray for the church, children, and citizens of the Ukraine. We pray for the growing masses of Russian citizens protesting this horror. 

Jesus, hasten the Day when all enmity, strife, and violence will be gone forever—no more wars or even rumors of war. All selfishness, racism, tribalism, or trafficking have an expiration date. As you have promised, “They will neither harm nor destroy anywhere…” Your entire every-nation Bride will love one another as you love us, Jesus. Hallelujah, what a glorious, guaranteed hope. 

Hurry the Day when God’s glory will cover the earth like saltwater covers the oceans of the world—the Day when knowing the Lord won’t be something we do, but who we are. The Day when we will finally and fully love and worship you with everything we have and are. 

Until then, keep us groaning and growing in grace, Lord Jesus. Grant us quick repentances, softer hearts, and a passion for local reconciliation and global mission. May the world recognize us as your disciples by the way we love one another. You have come, and you’re coming again, Jesus. How long, O Lord? So Very Amen.

Scotty Smith, founding pastor
Christ Community Church
Franklin TN

 

World Walkers in the Word

When we take our contentious conversations like on race, gender, and politics onto Twitter, Facebook
and other social media, we can be forced into a two-dimensional mold, where slander and belligerence are rewarded, and where we’re taught (contrary to James 1:19) to be slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to anger. As image-bearers of God we become little more than tribal mouthpieces against positions we want to try to eradicate.

We Christians, who are in the world but not of it, are nevertheless “world walkers” who navigate between its darkness and the light it’s been given. Our navigational beacon is described in Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” – This single verse sums up the hundreds of Scriptures that talk about light and darkness in the City of Man. The great 19^th century preacher Charles Spurgeon graphically described the verse this way:

“We are walkers through the city of this world, and we are often called to go out into its darkness; let us never venture there without the light giving word, lest we slip with our feet. Each man should use the word of God personally, practically, and habitually, that he may see his way and see what lies in it. When darkness settles down upon all around me, the word of the Lord, like a flaming torch, reveals my way. Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over the heaps of ordure [dung] which defiled the road. This is a true picture of our path through this dark world: we should not know the way, or how to walk in it, if Scripture, like a blazing flambeau, did not reveal it. One of the most practical benefits of Holy Writ is guidance in the acts of daily life: it is not sent to astound us with its brilliance, but to guide us by its instruction. It is true the head needs illumination, but even more the feet need direction, else head and feet may both fall into a ditch. Happy is the man who personally appropriates God's word, and practically uses it as his comfort and counsellor, -- a lamp to his own feet.”

“And a light unto my path. It is a lamp by night, a light by day, and a delight at all times. David guided his own steps by it, and also saw the difficulties of his road by its beams. He who walks in darkness is sure, sooner or later, to stumble; while he who walks by the light of day, or by the lamp of night, stumbleth not, but keeps his uprightness. Ignorance is painful upon practical subjects; it breeds indecision and suspense, and these are uncomfortable: the word of God, by imparting heavenly knowledge, leads to decision, and when that is followed by determined resolution, as in this case, it brings with it great restfulness of heart.”

Don't Surrender the Theological High Ground

The past few years have been difficult for us all. The secular and evangelical world
as we know it has changed and is shifting at breakneck speed. The challenges are immense that face us all. God is doing things we never imagined. But rather than jointly pursuing the transcendent glory of God’s truth, linking arms with fellow believers, and standing together to defend the faith once delivered to all the saints, we’ve become small-minded, opinionated, prideful, and petty.

Cloaked in a façade of “theological disagreement” and convincing ourselves that we're “defending the truth,” evangelicalism has surrendered the theological high ground for the miry pits of a self-righteous argumentative spirit. Social media has become nothing more than the clothesline for the evangelical dirty laundry of our quarrels and back-biting, giving the lost world even more reasons to reject the Shepherd because of the behavior of his sheep.

We’ve abandoned godly intellectual discourse for spiteful attitudes reduced to name-calling and character-destroying tactics. We’ve sequestered ourselves into camps and cliques, demonstrating that divisiveness is of greater value than the unity for which our Lord prayed. We’ve thrown away the succulent fruit of humility, love, kindness, and peace, choosing instead to feast upon rotten imitations that feed our self-righteous individualism. We’ve erected walls and rifts within the family of God that only repentance and forgiveness can tear down.

Doctrine is always worth debating and truth worth defending. But over-spiritualizing our opinions leads to pettiness and has no place in the household of God. A wise person can always differentiate between petty arguments and worthy debates (Prov 10:19; 11:12; 17:27). Remember the instruction of Scripture to set aside our differences in order to work together for the sake of the gospel (2 Tim 2:23; 1 Cor 1:10; 11:18; Phil 1:27). Any church, ministry, or institution that abandons this command is not worthy of the name.

When those we used to call “friends” become our enemies, it’s time we reevaluate our personal walk with Christ, repent of our sin, seek God's forgiveness, and extend forgiveness to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Please accept my most sincere apology and forgive me for any part I have ever played in this infighting. We are better than this, brothers and sisters. We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light—act like it.

Some of you will go on about your business, but to those with open ears, as a fellow-laborer, I implore you to abandon these petty strategies for the sake of the gospel. If we’re going to show ourselves to be fools, be fools for the sake of the cross!

 

by Dustin Benge
Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Historical Theology
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Satan's Strategy #1: Bait and Hook

"Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." James 1:13-14

This is Satan's most common scheme: He presents the bait and hides the hook. Satan presents sin as fun, satisfying, profitable, and pleasurable, while concealing the miseries and pain that always accompany sin. 

Surely this is part of what Scripture calls the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). We are tempted to believe that our happiness and fulfillment require us to indulge some sin. The “passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) seem irresistible, in part because temptation presents to me only the alleged benefits of sin. Far from conferring benefits, however, sin is the very thing that cripples us. When we commit sin, as Brooks puts it, wrath, misery, shame, and loss are always close behind (p. 29). 

Sin is bad for many reasons; one of them is that it wreaks havoc in a man's soul. It promises satisfaction, but delivers emptiness. Sin leads to more and bigger sins. It either makes us feel guilty and ashamed (which is bad), or creates moral numbness in us so we no longer feel guilt and shame over our sin (which is worse). But Satan hides these hooks and presents only the bait. 

Satan used this ploy successfully in the Garden of Eden. He told Eve that the forbidden fruit would open her eyes, thus causing her to be like God (Genesis 3:4-5). The serpent presented the bait, and said nothing about the hook. Richard Sibbes, one of Brooks' contemporaries, wrote, "Satan gives Adam an apple, and takes away Paradise. Therefore in all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose." Satan also tempted the Lord Jesus Christ in this manner: He offered Christ the largest bait imaginable, namely all the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8-9). 

The bait looks attractive because we believe that sin leads to happiness. Temptation offers shortcuts to fulfillment; it promises quick contentment. But obedience to God is the only sure route to satisfaction. God's laws are guidelines given by a loving Creator who desires for His creatures to flourish. Holiness—not sin— leads to happiness. Sin's remnants in us rebel against this truth, which is why we often struggle with obedience to God's will. Satan exploits these vestiges of sin in us and fans our doubts about whether God's way is truly the best way. 

When we are tempted, the alleged benefits of a sin appear large-just like a juicy worm appears large on a fisherman's hook. The worm does taste good to the fish when he swallows it. But along with the worm comes a hook. Expect Satan to entice you with bait that has special appeal to you. "Satan, like a fisher, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish," observed Thomas Adams, one of Brooks' fellow pastors. 

Sin's hook is painful. It injures, damages, enslaves, and sometimes disables. Sin leaves long-term (and occasionally life long) scars. Although God forgives sin, He frequently allows us to live with the consequences of our sins.

Christian, believe God's assessment of sin: It brings misery. 

Robert Spinney (PhD, Vanderbilt) is professor of History at Patrick Henry College, where he teaches American history and historiography. He is the author of City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago and World War II in Nashville: Transformation of the Homefront, as well as an American history textbook and numerous ministry-related booklets. Dr. Spinney formerly served as a pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Hartsville, TN, and at Winchester Baptist Church in Winchester, VA.