Good News from Moscow

Small cells of Christians dedicated to helping others meet regularly for prayer, fellowship and learning. Pray for them. 

The battle for sanity and sobriety in Russia is progressing. Despite the resistance of the wickedness of drug pushers, the past trauma of Christians and churches, the lack of widely accessible Christian recovery ministries, we see numerous people having good experiences.

1. Hundreds are finding Christ.
2.Pastors and Priests are being healed and strengthened to lead.
3. Churches of all sorts are gaining strength and impact after 70 years of suppression, persecution and poor leadership.
4. Ministries dedicated to growth, healing and recovery are growing despite strong governmental disapproval.
5. Our colleagues have multiplied over and over from Moscow to Siberia to Simferopol.

You can send a donation to Russia at our web page.

She Made it Home to Moscow

Our friend made it home. PTL! It was a long and winding rip with delayed flights and missed connections as well as callous airlines.

Support Our Work in Russia

Group work is essential!

Over 20 years ago we felt the Lord nudge us to go to Russia. It was under the control of the USSR then so I was sure we would not be allowed to set up a ministry there. But in 1989 Perestroika came and we decided to fly from Norway to Moscow to visit a person I met at a Christian conference in the USA. She took me to meet her friends at a meeting of a group trying to form a "Christian School of Psychology". It was a meeting that God orchestrated.

Out of 200 million Russians, I met the one person I could work with to advance God's love in the former USSR. This person had the training and personality needed. They had started  a school to teach Christian Counselors because they saw the destruction around them.

I liked that but I knew that academic psychology was not the answer. I wanted to equip believers to promote growth and healing in a society ruined by Atheism. I had seen the power of Ephesians 4 when care and counsel is not only taught in theory but practice to ordinary lay people. It takes a unique person to lead such an endeavor, and God provided that person.

The Requirements

1. Well educated in basic psychology but teachable and open to integrate the Bible and counseling
2. An innovator with great flexibility.
3. A deeply committed Christian who does not reject psychology
4. Honest and trustworthy
5. Able to teach others
6. A strong will
7. Not power hungry
8. Speaks English well
9. Is tough, assertive and frank instead of passive and dependent on rich American churches.

I met such a person. Like General a Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, the best man for the job was a woman.

Thank God for such a find. Thousands are being redeemed as a result. You can find out more at the Sweeten Life web.

Why the USSR Attacked Christians

Why did the USSR, (United Socialist Soviet Republic) want to kill the churches, pastors, priests and people? What religious philosophy drove them to do such evil things?

The basic principles of socialist religion are: 

Abolition of private property, destruction of religions other  than atheism, destruction of family and destruction of individual human rights. 

They say that sex within marriage is a terrible thing. Thus, marriage must be destroyed as an institution. 

Berdyaev says, that both socialism and religion emphasize equality. Religion achieves this ideal by promoting creation by and contact with God, the highest plane of human existence. (imago Dei) Socialism, on the other hand, aims to get equality of persons by destroying all the higher aspects of the personality.  These include, love, kindness, mutual commitment, family life, sanctity of life, intellectual achievement, motivation, self-esteem, etc. All are to be banished, rooted out with a viciousness usually reserved for mad dogs.

 Women and children always suffer the most from these socialist regulations for they are given the hardest work.  (P 30) We are restoring Christian love, truth and power to these wastelands of atheist, socialist destruction. See how at Sweeten Life Systems web.

Russian Seminary Training

The Soviet Socialists forced the Russian Orthodox seminaries to stop teaching love, kindness and compassion. For example, priests learned to verbally attack widows who wept or showed signs of grief. Children were harshly rejected and not allowed to ask questions or show any emotional needs. 

The Soviets rejected all signs of tender loving care and required the priests to treat people hatefully. Church leaders followed the orders very closely. The toxic ideas promoted by the Soviets’ infected the church with harsh behavior at every level.  These evils are still blossoming in our Church and Seminary.”

Following my 45-minute talk, one professor stood and attacked my ideas with great vigor, in English. He insisted that such things as care, counseling, helping addicts and marriage support was impossible in Russia and the Orthodox Church. Since I try never to argue with such a person, I introduced my colleague from Moscow, an MD Psychiatrist.  She answered all the questions posed by the professor and the faculty and students entered into a delightful debate about the possibilities of such practical ministries.

Protestants were persecuted as well. Baptists and Pentecostals are bitter at the state. They were forced to reject any signs of emotional life or fun. The philosophy for 70 years led some parents and pastors to severely punish children who got out of order. Some of these habits continue even today. Our teaching emphasizes love, nurture and healing adults wounded by such extreme trauma. Violence is rampant in Russian society and some areas of the church. Only a long-term, sustained program of biblical teaching and emotional restoration can turn the situation around.

The Soviets used their knowledge of Pavlovian Psychology to foster Learned Helplessness among the populace because they hated anyone that was aggressive or assertive. The only antidote is good theology, good teaching and a lot of healing. Evangelism alone will fail to touch the hearts of the Russian people. Christians must add teaching on nurture, mutual care and family life. 

Read our materials at Sweeten Life Systems to discover how you can learn to care in the Name of Jesus. We really need your prayers and support.

Let the Little Children Come to Jesus

Unfortunately, many churches in Russia continue to reflect the Soviet view instead of the bible. Some leaders reject ministry to the whole person. They fear counseling, psychology, medication, 12 Step Groups and any “non-spiritual interventions”.  The Church turned its back on those suffering from medical, educational, mental, emotional and relational difficulties during the Soviet era and came to think the Communists were right. 

Several Baptist leaders angrily told me that harsh threats were the only biblical way to treat believers, including children. One US Evangelist went to Russia to preach to the unconverted but discovered that the way the churches treated their children and youth was so cruel they returned to train youth Ministers and children's Ministers. 

See our web page for ways to show love wherever you are

We will draw more with sugar than we will with vinegar. 

Ministry in Russia to Restore Compassion

The traumatic history of Europe in general and Russia/USSR specifically has serious implications for Christians. For centuries the secret sauce of success for world missions has been "Find a practical need and meet it".  In many instances that has led them to deliver high quality medical services. In that way people saw the love and care of God through Jesus the Great Physician. 

Because the Communists chose to throttle the Christians in Russia and the USSR by forcing them to stop all benevolent ministries, the care and cure of the soul was severely neglected by everyone. The church was not allowed to care and the state rejected the idea that the soul existed. The result was a disaster. 

In the midst of a 70 year reign of socialist terror, all formal nurture was drained from the culture. For example, people were suspected of evil is they showed others open respect, empathy, or warmth.  People stopped the practice of welcoming a neighbor with a smile and polite "How are you?" Kindness, the oil of human interaction was soon drained from society and replaced with a callous disregard for mutual compassion. 

Only Christians with the fruit of the Spirit can restore those nations to healthy living.

Russian believers whose goal is to build the Kingdom of God needed to relearn the Christian approach of "Loving our neighbor". Much of our work is designed to help Christians re-engage with humanity. Our books and classes all focus on listening, caring and mutual respect.