I received this rather hopeful story via email from a ministry friend in Crimea.
"Dear brothers and sisters,
… This Easter is going to be very special for our family and our friends here.
There is no peace in our country, not only in the Crimea but in eastern and central parts the situation is tense, there are armed people in the streets, now and again we hear reports about shooting and someone being hurt or killed. The economy of the country is fallen apart. Several banks are being closed. There are no job opportunities for many. People are divided, even [within] one family people may be divided ... Some are happy... others suffer....
...In the Soviet times Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote that Stalin killed thousands of priests in prisons. Thousands and thousands of Christians ... were tortured and killed in labor camps in the North. One of prisoners who survived such a camp wrote a book about his experience "A Candle Which Is Not to Be Blown." In the book the author writes, "Many say that serious temptations and tests make one's faith stronger and develop the soul, yet at the camp I saw the something different - serious tests destroyed the faith and turned the soul into burnt desert. Maybe, that the Apostles had the same feelings when the One they loved had died on the Cross? With His death their hope to the victory of peace, good and justice in the world had died as well. The Apostles sat in the room, depressed and hopeless, their despair did not go away even with the news from the women that Jesus rose from the dead. It was only the personal meeting with Christ that changed everything."
Amazing how many similarities we see in the current events here and in the events in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago! We see a powerful ... empire, believers who feel lost, [and] those who stay faithful, ... Like 2000 years ago it is only the unity with brothers in spirit and the real relationship with [a living] God [that] can give us power to move on.
May your Easter season be blessed with peace and joy, with fellowship with faithful friends and may the temptations which come from the Lord never burn the soul but make it stronger!
Sincerely yours,
A* and A*"
There is no peace in our country, not only in the Crimea but in eastern and central parts the situation is tense, there are armed people in the streets, now and again we hear reports about shooting and someone being hurt or killed. The economy of the country is fallen apart. Several banks are being closed. There are no job opportunities for many. People are divided, even [within] one family people may be divided ... Some are happy... others suffer....
...In the Soviet times Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote that Stalin killed thousands of priests in prisons. Thousands and thousands of Christians ... were tortured and killed in labor camps in the North. One of prisoners who survived such a camp wrote a book about his experience "A Candle Which Is Not to Be Blown." In the book the author writes, "Many say that serious temptations and tests make one's faith stronger and develop the soul, yet at the camp I saw the something different - serious tests destroyed the faith and turned the soul into burnt desert. Maybe, that the Apostles had the same feelings when the One they loved had died on the Cross? With His death their hope to the victory of peace, good and justice in the world had died as well. The Apostles sat in the room, depressed and hopeless, their despair did not go away even with the news from the women that Jesus rose from the dead. It was only the personal meeting with Christ that changed everything."
Amazing how many similarities we see in the current events here and in the events in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago! We see a powerful ... empire, believers who feel lost, [and] those who stay faithful, ... Like 2000 years ago it is only the unity with brothers in spirit and the real relationship with [a living] God [that] can give us power to move on.
May your Easter season be blessed with peace and joy, with fellowship with faithful friends and may the temptations which come from the Lord never burn the soul but make it stronger!
Sincerely yours,
A* and A*"
