War of the Worlds

THEY'RE JUST KIDS . . .

When people hear the word "Ukraine" these days, there is usually an immediate reaction to one extreme or the other, but we are embroiled in a fight for survival. This is a physical war, a spiritual war, a geo-political war, a mental and emotional war that we wrestle with daily. For us, this war is really about the innocent children and families that are suffering. THIS is what we are asking you to respond to - this is our struggle.

CLARITY AND COMMITMENT

From Shawn:

This is long, so please bear with me. My heart is broken. I'm just a little man with a big heart. I love God, my family and the people of Ukraine. 

Somebody commented on one of my posts the other day and said that I should spend less time talking about politics and more time talking about the Gospel. And they were right . . . but our difficulty, one that most are not faced with on a daily basis, is that we cannot share the Gospel with men and women, boys and girls, who are dead. 

The people that we love, the people that we are called to serve, are being attacked every single day for over 11 years WHILE we share the Gospel. If they do not survive these attacks, if we cannot provide evacuation and humanitarian aid, if we cannot physically fight off "safari" type Kamikaze drone attacks against civilians and hospitals and schools, there will be no one left to share the Gospel WITH. 

We try to do ministry the way Jesus did ministry. Jesus understood the human conditions, physical and spiritual, and as He stood on the mountain, He was moved with compassion because the people were suffering, physically and because they had no spiritual sense of purpose or direction. And He addressed BOTH of these concerns because He knows who and what we are.  See Matthew 9:35-36.

When the man was let down through the roof by four friends, Jesus said, "Your sins be forgiven you". And then He continued, "and so that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins, I say to you rise up, take up your bed and walk." He healed him, physically and spiritually. Luke 5:17-26

And when there was an obvious agent of the devil opposing Him and the ministry that He gave to the disciples, He openly, publicly, called them out and named them for what they were. Matthew 23:23-33

Jesus addressed the physical needs of the people with compassion AND shared the Gospel with them. We do our very best to model the behavior and heart of our Savior while He walked on this earth. The Gospel, its delivery and the methods of wisdom and understanding that we use to deliver the Gospel to humans in a way that they can actually receive, is critical to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We're not compromising the message at all, but like Paul, are becoming all things to all men so that by all means, some may be saved. I Corinthians 9:19-22

For us, this includes sacrifice, risk of our lives anywhere in Ukraine and especially near the front lines. Our ministry includes rescue, defense, restoration, evacuation, humanitarian aid, camps for children with PTSD and church planting along the front lines. We have a comprehensive, holistic, Gospel centered ministry. Everything that we do is motivated by gratitude for the Gospel effect in our lives. And everything that we do is driven towards the goal of creating an environment where others can receive that same grace embedded in the Gospel.

Russia and it's attacks on the people of Ukraine are SYMPTOMS. China, North Korea and Iran providing weapons and soldiers against Ukraine are SYMPTOMS. And they are puppets of a far more evil master.

Satan himself is orchestrating these attacks on Ukraine and on Israel. He is the mind that has embodied the vilest dictators of our time. There is a very real possibility that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, in MY mind, are the precursors to the appearance of the antichrist. What we are seeing now is "end of days" level evil.

But there is not conversation about the Gospel, there is not even a necessity to talk about the Gospel, if there is no discussion of evil. There is not a need for the "Good News" without the "Bad News". It is hard to fight an enemy, even a spiritual enemy that you don't identify with or know the name of. It is difficult to survive a war when you can't name the attacker. It is impossible to identify a victim if you don't talk about who the aggressor is.

When lies and politics and geopolitical posturing are being used by the enemy to cause confusion and weakness in the world so that we cannot stand up to the ultimate evil, innocent people suffer. Yes, we are in a physical war. The cause of this war is a spiritual war. The fuel for this ongoing physical war is the attack on the minds and hearts of some very good and smart people. 

I am angry and I count it as righteous indignation, a frustration that massive evil is killing people that we love and preventing them from hearing the Gospel.

This war and the politics around it are the tools that are being used to accomplish this destruction in Ukraine and Israel. I apologize that the madness that I wrestle with boils over at times. But we must advocate for justice, we much take action on behalf of the innocent. And we must do everything in our power, enabled by the Holy Spirit, while we can, to facilitate the delivery of the Gospel of grace to those in need. 

Mission 823 is based on the principles found in Psalm 82:3-4 which says, "Defend the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: Rescue them out of the hand of the wicked".

Pray for us. Pray for the people of Ukraine. Pray for Mission 823 and our ability to meet human and spiritual needs in Ukraine. We will not quit under any circumstances and pray that you will join us in this hybrid fight to save body and soul in Ukraine.