Presently the news media is filled with the takeover of Vladimir Putin and the Russian army of the Crimea, a large peninsula belonging to the Ukraine jutting into the Black Sea. It’s obvious the US will do nothing substantial as this man, bent on restoring the pride of Russia, plunders a sovereign country. In his wake there will be a return to “the old way,” which means Jews will be facing a frightening uncertain future in the Ukraine. There are estimated 100,000 or more Jews living there who are potentially in danger, as well as our “Fishermen” who have been helping Jews immigrate to Israel for over 20 years.
The history of that area has not been kind to the Jews. Their horrific past includes the slaughters of the Cossacks in the mid 1600s where half the Jewish population was murdered by marauding bands of thugs. Later, during the Programs (organized killing of Jews), which began in the late 1800s and carried over into the early 1900s, tens of thousands were slaughtered. In WWII over 1 million Jews of the Ukraine were killed, with one of the most notorious massacres taking place September 1941, where 33,771 Jews were killed over two days in a ravine in Kiev called Babi Yar. In October of that same year, 42,000 Jews were killed in Odessa, a seaport of Ukraine, not far from Crimea.
One observation I’ve made as I’ve travelled for years in and out of the Former Soviet Union is: Spirits don’t die. There has been an unseen, underlying, diabolical spirit of murder, violence, domination and corruption over most of the FSU countries for centuries, especially Russia. A casual perusal of former Czars and dictators reveals a pattern of unbelievable, untethered violence resulting in the death of literally millions of people.
In recent decades, with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the region has experienced a relative calm as borders have softened. Consequently, Jews have been free to immigrate to Israel and Christian ministries have flourished across that land. It has, without a doubt, been the hand of God.
But times are changing. Fanatical Islam, the murderous bad-boy on the block, isn’t going away. Now, with the diminishing of the United States as a moral force on the planet, nothing is in place to repel countries like Russia, Iran, North Korea and others, from following their own self-serving schemes. Indeed, these are grave times.
Please pray for the Jews of the Ukraine. One of the saving graces of these days is that there is a homeland waiting to take them in. The choice for Jews living in other lands they call home, is heart rending and difficult, no doubt, but from a spiritual perspective, this is the prophetic season God said He would call for His children to return to the land He promised.
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