The New Cold War

I read an article awhile back by a British journalist about recent relations with Russia that I thought was worth posting here. Russia is still Ukraine's largest trading partner, yet tensions over Ukraine's possible membership in NATO and Russian natural gas prices are increasing. I've noticed that, at least where we live, people don't have many nice things to say about our neighbor to the North.
Recently, monuments in our city that commemorate Soviet expansion have been repeatedly defaced and vandalized. The most notable one made the local paper with a picture of a monument spray painted over with the words "Glory to Ukraine". From what I understand, Russia is being viewed less as a big brother and more as a bully by a lot of Ukrainians.

The following article gives some perspective on how some in the West are beginning to view Russia. I'm interested to hear people's thoughts on this so please feel free to comment.




From The Times
February 5, 2008

Why kowtow to brutal, cynical Russia?

We have a new Cold War and we're losing it. The West must stand up to the Kremlin now

Edward Lucas

Sixty years ago the Berlin Airlift highlighted the menace of Stalin's Kremlin. Forty years ago Soviet tanks crushed both the Prague Spring and any remaining illusions about the Kremlin's grip on the captive nations. Twenty years ago we began dropping our guard, as totalitarianism withered under Mikhail Gorbachev. Now it is time to acknowledge the inconvenient truth. Russia is back: rich, powerful and hostile. Partnership is giving way to rivalry, with increasingly threatening overtones. The new Cold War has begun - but just as in the 1940s, we are alarmingly slow to notice it.

The loudest alarm signal is Russia's predictable yet mystifying presidential election on March 2. Predictable because everyone knows who will win: Dmitri Medvedev, Vladimir Putin's polite, lawyerly sidekick; mystifying because the meaning of that victory is so unclear. Will Mr Medvedev be a mere figurehead? Will he stand down and allow Mr Putin to return? What does his stint running Russia's energy giant, Gazprom, one of the world's most corrupt, incompetent and sinister companies, tell us about his plans for the future? What does his rise mean for the clans of crooks and spooks whose murky feuds have increased so sharply in past months? Once a dead art, Kremlinology is now a lively and useful discipline.

Politics in Russia is a matter of life and death. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, is on prison hunger strike in protest against the ill-treatment of his aide Vasily Aleksanyan. Mr Aleksanyan is confined in a filthy mould-infested cell because he refuses to sign a bogus confession incriminating Mr Khodorkovsky. His judicial torture, including denial of medical care, which has blinded him, has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights. It reads like something from Dostoyevsky, not a factual account of prison conditions in supposedly one of the world's top eight industrialised democracies.

That doesn't bother most Russians. Mr Putin is wildly popular; so is Mr Medvedev. Mr Khodorkovsky and other former “oligarchs” are seen as despicable emblems of the 1990s, a decade in which Russians feel they were swindled at home and humiliated abroad. Mr Putin has brought both stability and pride. For now, democracy has failed: most Russians say they agree that the media should be controlled and that the opposition should not be allowed to contend for power.

Those feelings are complex. They are partly the result of the state-controlled media's propaganda. They also truly represent tragic misunderstandings and missed opportunities in the Yeltsin years, when oil prices were low and Russian governments struggled with crippling foreign debts. Mr Putin has been lucky - with oil at nearly $100 a barrel, Russia is bound to prosper. Yet he too is a product of the 1990s, an unemployed ex-spy who became a top official in the Yeltsin Kremlin. His denunciations of that era neglect to mention its strengths: press freedom, and also economic reforms such as privatisation and price liberalisation from which Russia has hugely benefited.

Communism has gone, but in its place has come “sovereign democracy”, a potent cocktail of self-righteousness, nationalism and xenophobia that fuels the Kremlin's power grab abroad. In the “swing states” of Eastern Europe - Bulgaria, Latvia and Moldova - we are already losing the new Cold War. We have avoided catastrophe in Serbia by a hair's breadth. The great engines of EU and Nato expansion, which brought half a continent into our orbit after the collapse of communism, have stalled.

But it is not just “faraway countries of which we know nothing” that are at stake. Russia plays divide and rule with the West, ruthlessly using our democratic politics and open economies to undermine us. It has brazenly hired Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, to promote its biggest energy project, Nord Stream. This is a hugely expensive and strategically vital gas pipeline on the Baltic seabed that will bypass Poland and deliver gas straight to Germany. Like a rich and powerful man who becomes pathetically dependent on heroin, Germany is mainlining on Russian energy. The new pipeline hooks up addict and pusher directly. Instead of urgently diversifying away from gas and to other suppliers, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria are following the same path.

Russia has cowed and muzzled the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, supposedly the Continent's main democracy-promoting and election-monitoring body. It has nobbled the Council of Europe, a talking shop that is supposed to be the custodian of human rights. The British Conservatives, in bizarre alliance with Mr Putin's United Russia party, came within a whisker of electing a former KGB man and Kremlin propagandist, Mikhail Margelov, to the presidency. At its summit in Bucharest in April, Nato's European members are all set to kowtow to Kremlin pressure and give a cold shoulder to Georgia's bid to move towards membership. The EU can not even summon the willpower to liberalise its internal energy markets, let alone counter the Kremlin's ruthless use of cheap energy deals and lucrative pipelines.

Our biggest weakness is money. During the old Cold War, doing business with the Soviet Union was a rare and highly suspicious activity. Now bankers, lawyers, consultants and spin-doctors (and even, it is whispered, politicians) flock to take 30 silver roubles for services rendered, even when they are privately disgusted by the source. Until that changes, we have little chance of resisting the Kremlin - and even less of persuading ordinary Russians that their corrupt, cynical, brutal and incompetent rulers are harbingers of disaster, not triumph.

Edward Lucas is author of The New Cold War: how the Kremlin menaces both Russia and the West

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3308261.ece

Tiger on a Leash

I had my camera with me this time when we came across the same tiger we saw a few days ago. It was on a short leash tied to a bus. Again I was amazed that had we wanted to, we could have strolled right up to her. The pictures didn't come out as clear as I would have liked, but at least you can see what I'm talking about.



Please take note, apparently tigers aren't very fond of flash photography or the little green light on my camera. She became a little agitated as I snapped my last photo of the evening. Edna said she was just meowing, but I wisely chose not to test the breaking point of her leash.

What We Don't Have in America #11

#11 The Prevalence of the Murse (a.k.a. Man-Purse)


I snapped this picture while Edna and I were in Kyiv today to pick up her new passport. I wanted a picture of the Ukrainian restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I noticed the prime example of a murse that I had captured and knew I needed to write a post about it. Now, you can find a murse or mag (a.k.a. Man-Bag) in the U.S., but they're way more popular and socially acceptable for the average man to tote around here in Ukraine.

Murses come in a wide selection of styles and colors. For the sleek style of a businessman, they come in varying shiny leather finishes in a compact clutch version. I once saw a well dressed businessman waiting outside a hotel sporting a fancy clutch model complete with rhinestones on the latch. My first thought was, "Yep, I know the feeling. I can't count the times Edna has left me holding her purse outside of a store while she ran in to look at something". I was starting to feel sorry for him until three of his male companions emerged from the hotel all carrying similar clutches.

Murses also come in more sporting versions made of rugged nylon material with handy outer pockets for your cell phone. I happen to have a camera case that bears a striking resemblance to a murse. So much so, that when I attended a cultural event, two different people asked me if I had remembered to bring my camera even though I was carrying it in its case around my neck. I have to admit that it is pretty handy for carrying bus money and loose change, but for now I'm still going to refer to it as a camera case rather than my man-bag.

For the record, they're still more manly than a fanny-pack.

What We Don't Have in America #10

#10 JEK (ДЖЕК)

Cleaning up after trash collection

Jek (Джек) is the name for the people who are in charge of building maintenance and grounds keeping around the building. Most of them are older women who are usually built pretty sturdy because of the hard work they do. I'm sure there are some somewhere, but I've never seen a man doing any of the work these women do. They look pretty tough and a little scary which prompts some of the kids to refer to them as Zhakh (Жах) which means "horror". Some of the small children are even teased that the Zhakh people live under the stairs or in the rooms where they collect the trash that comes down from the trash chutes.

Cutting grass the old fashion way in summer

I can't really say that we have something like this in America. There are janitorial services and yard care services, but I can't think of anything that comes close to these dedicated group of hard working women.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Today, Edna and I saw something that I'm almost sure you would never see in America. If you did, most people would run and call the police. We were headed to meet with our friend Fedir when Edna turned to me and asked, "Is that a tiger rolling in the snow over there?" Sure enough, it was. It seemed to be playing and entertaining itself. No one else seemed to be paying any attention to it, so being the brave animal lovers that we are, we walked over to it. We could see that it was tethered to a fence post by a small rope. We asked the man standing nearby if we could look at the tiger. He said we could take pictures if we wanted, but just not to get our faces too close because she might scratch us. The man showed us how she liked to play with him and was even play biting his arm. At one point one of her claws punctured his glove so he stopped playing so rough with her and had her lay on her back while he scratched her belly. I was so mad I didn't have my camera with me.

The female tiger was absolutely beautiful and it was an amazing sight to see her playing in the fresh snow like any other pet animal. It turns out she was part of the advanced party of a circus that was setting up nearby. Like I said, you'd probably never see an uncaged tiger on the street anywhere in America. She was friendly and playful, but I'm glad she didn't maul us, because how would we explain that we were attacked by a tiger that was playing on the street in Ukraine?

What We Don't Have in America #9

#9 Crumbling Steps


These are the steps that lead up to our apartment building. Even when they aren't covered in ice they can be extremely treacherous. They continue to erode away day by day to the point where they have become more of a bumpy ramp than steps. So why am I doing a blog about crumbling concrete steps? It's not that there aren't any broken steps in America, but I came from a city where a raised crack in the sidewalk could be grounds for a lawsuit. If a tree root happened to begin lifting up the sidewalk it wouldn't be unusual for the city to paint the offending bulge a bright orange or yellow and possibly post a sign that says something like, "Caution! Tripping Hazard!". That is of course until the city can get a crew out to grind down the offending sidewalk crack or edge that is posing a grave threat to public safety.


I have to laugh every time I watch a woman in stiletto heels struggle down the steps holding on to the flimsy rail for dear life (that's only after I've successfully navigated the very same steps of death myself). I laugh only because I can imagine the very same steps being in California with a line of people at the top preparing to take a "fall" so they could sue whoever allowed this menace to society to remain in existence. I won't even mention that this walkway makes no accommodations for the handicapped, but that's a whole 'nother story. The fact is that hundreds of people use these steps and I bet not one of them has ever thought about a lawsuit. I'm not really sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, because like it or not lawsuits are probably why you won't see crumbling steps like this in America. Personally, I don't really mind the crumbling steps, they still work (sort of).

Another thing you'll most likely never see in America is a tree branch sticking out of a manhole to warn drivers and pedestrians of the impending danger left by the missing manhole cover. Those of you who live here in Ukraine know exactly what I'm talking about.

What We Don't Have in America #8

#8 Cheburashka (Russian: Чебурашка)


"Cheburashka is a character in children's literature, from a 1965 story by the Russian writer Eduard Uspensky. He is also the protagonist (voiced by Klara Rumyanova) of the animated film series by Soyuzmultfilm studio, the first episode of which was made in 1969.

According to the story, Cheburashka is a funny little animal, unknown to science, who lives in the tropical forest. He accidentally gets into a crate of oranges, eats his fill, and falls asleep. Cheburashka is not a personal name; it is a species name invented by the puzzled director of the shop where he is found. The salesman takes the animal out and sits him on the table, but his paws are numb after the long time spent in the crate, and he tumbles down ("cheburakhnulsya" (чебурахнулся), a Russian colloquialism, "tumbled" in English) from the table onto the chair and then from the chair, where he could not sit, for the same reason, onto the floor. The director of the shop, who witnesses the scene, called him Cheburashka. Words with this root were archaic in Russian; Uspensky gave them a new lease on life. (The 19th-century Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian language of Vladimir Dal gives the meaning of "cheburashka" as another name for the vanka-vstanka tumbling toy.)



Cheburashka has a bear-like body and large round ears and is about the size of a 5-year-old child; the gender of the creature is most likely male. In the tale, he hangs around with a friendly crocodile Gena, who wears a hat and a coat, walks on his hind legs and plays an accordion. He works in a zoo as a crocodile. Gena's favorite songs are "Birthdays Happen Only Once a Year" and "Blue Wagon".

In the cartoon, Cheburashka and Gena have their adventures made more difficult by a character named "Старуха Шапокляк" (Old Lady Shapoklyak, from French Chapeau-Claque, a kind of top hat). Shapoklyak is a mischievous but charming old lady. She is tall and thin, wears a hat and a dark-colored dress, and carries around a sidekick rat-like creature — "Lariska" — in her purse to help her play pranks on people. The chorus of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds".

Cheburashka was chosen as an official mascot for the Russian Olympic Team for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Cheburashka dolls were also seen with members of the Russian team in 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He is also one of the few Russian animation characters to be a subject of numerous Russian jokes and riddles.



The word "Cheburashka" is also used in a figurative sense to name objects that somehow resemble the creature (such as an An-72 aircraft which, when seen from the front, resembles the character's head) or are just as nice as it is (e.g. it's a jargon name for a small bottle of lemonade - from brand name "Cheburashka").

Cheburashka is now a staple of Russian cartoons, and there are several licensed products on the market, such as children's anecdotal books and stuffed toys."

An-72 aircraft, nicknamed Cheburashka

Joshua first heard of Cheburashka when he saw the cartoons on TV. The cartoons are in Russian but have Ukrainian subtitles which help us non-Russian speaking adults follow along better. Joshua seems to understand either language enough to get by. Cheburashka is often the subject of children's artwork at school according to Joshua. He also tells us that kids with big ears end up being teased with the name Cheburashka too. I guess Cheburashka would be the closest thing to a Russian equivalent of Curious George. Anyway, we love Cheburashka and in Joshua's words, "He's a little cutie".

What We Don't Have in America #7

#7 Marshrutka (Маршрутка)


A marshrutka, or marshrutneh taxi as they are known, is something between a bus and a van. The best translation would probably be shuttle bus. They drive specific routes throughout the city according to the number they display. There are also special ones that travel between cities. Unlike a bus, you can flag one down pretty much anywhere you see them and they'll let you out anywhere you ask along their route. They are more expensive than the buses, travel to more areas within the city, and usually get you there a little faster than the bus can. People will often sit down before getting their money out to pay and then pass it to the front for the driver to make change and then pass it back to them through the sea of people. The scary part is watching the driver make change while he's weaving in and out of congested traffic at a relatively dangerous speed.

The main reason we try to avoid them and take the bus is that they are usually packed. The seats seem to always be full which means we end up standing most of the time. Just because a driver's marshrutka is full doesn't mean he won't stop for more passengers. He will often yell back and tell the rear passengers to squeeze in tighter. In the heat of the summer this can make for an unpleasant ride at best. In the winter time, heavy jackets and clothing create an even tighter fit. The running joke is that if you asked a marshrutka driver how many people he can fit in his marshrutka, the answer would always be "one more". The real trick is trying to get a family of four off the marshrutka when you're buried twenty-five people deep.

What We Don't Have in America #6

#6 Bags of Milk

Milk here (and in various other countries) comes in bags as well as boxes and 1 liter bottles. They have the Tetra-Pak boxes of milk in the U.S., but not the bags. I first encountered Tetra-Pak boxed milk in the Army. It has a long shelf life and doesn't require refrigeration just like the Tetra-Pak bags. No one in the Army really liked the stuff because it has a strange taste to it due to the way it's processed.

They also sell fresh milk in bags, but the problem is that it rarely is fresh. We've learned not to buy fresh milk when the weather is warm because it's usually bad (bloated bags are a bad sign). There doesn't seem to be a huge priority to keep milk refrigerated before you buy it here. Even when "fresh" milk hasn't spoiled, it often has a funky taste to it. Unlike dairy cows in the U.S., there isn't the same consistency in what the cows eat so the flavor of the milk suffers. I've also heard that the way the milk is handled can affect its flavor too. You can buy whole unpasteurized milk from the little babusyas who sell the milk from their cows by the market.

All this being said, we usually stick to the boxed milk or the Tetra-Pak bags. I think it's interesting to note that bags are sold by weight not volume. They are normally 900 grams or 1 kg (.45 lbs) which usually works out to be about a liter. I have to admit that bags can be handy to carry as you can slip them into the pockets of your jacket for the walk home. It takes about 3.8 bags to make a gallon, so I can't imagine buying milk by the gallon when you have to carry it home. In the U.S. we usually bought two gallons at a time, sometimes three. Those days are long gone.

One thing that I really like is sour cream in a bag. It seems to keep better and is easier to dispense into your borshch. Ice cream also comes in a bag, but I'm still undecided as to how I feel about that. So far I haven't found any chocolate milk in a bag, so if anyone sees any please let me know.

Saying Goodbye to Baba Hanya

Some time early Sunday morning, Baba Hanya passed away after a short illness. Today we held a funeral for her in the village of Kozhenykiy where she lived. No one knows for sure how old she was. Even Baba Hanya wasn't sure what year she was born in. She only knew that she was in her 70's and her family was too poor to keep track of things like when their children were born. They were more concerned with keeping track of how many of their children survived according to what we were told.

Babya Hanya was our friend Maria's great aunt on her mother's side. We first met her last summer when she was in the hospital. Later we helped harvest her and her brother Serhiy's potatoes. Baba Hanya was so sweet to us and the boys really liked her. We were looking forward to helping her out again this Spring.

Preaching a short message outside of Baba Hanya's home

Edna and I took a bus to Kozhenykiy with Maria's sister Nastia this morning to help prepare for the funeral. We began in Baba Hanya's house where we prepared a room so that friends and neighbors could view her. We began the service when the pastor from our church arrived along with two other pastors from Kyiv. I was blessed to be able to say a few words about Baba Hanya and her family after we took her out of the house where people were gathering before the procession to the cemetery.

Walking to the cemetery

We carried Baba Hanya a short distance down the dirt road leading away from her home. We placed her on a flatbed truck that carried her the remaining mile or so up the hill to the cemetery. The women carried the flowers and funeral decorations ahead of the truck along with a portrait of Baba Hanya. I was surprised that even some of the more frail looking older women seemed to have no trouble trekking up the hill. Ukrainian babusyas (grandmas) are known for being tough and today I realized how harsh village life has made "being tough" a necessity for survival. They certainly have my respect.

One of the pastors from our sister church in Kyiv concluded the funeral at the cemetery and Baba Hanya's simple wooden casket adorned with fabric was lowered into the ground. In turn we each placed three handfuls of dirt into the grave before it was filled in. We then walked back to Baba Hanya's house to share a traditional multi-course meal together. This turned out to be an excellent opportunity for evangelism. Many of Baba Hanya's friends and neighbors eagerly listened to what the pastors had to say and joined them in prayer as we celebrated the hope of eternal life rather than mourn a death. Edna said it best when she mentioned to me that Baba Hanya's death may well have saved a life today as souls were won for Christ.

Nastia holding a portrait of Baba Hanya

What We Don't Have in America (#1-5)

After reading some posts by our friend Anya Knotts (the first of these posts is dated October 19th, 2007) about what they don't have in Ukraine as she spends an extended stay in California, I thought it was time to post about some of the things we see here in Ukraine, but not in America (or at least California). I realize that there might be some things in Ukraine that they do have in the United States that I've just overlooked, but for the most part I'll try to point out the usual stuff.

#1 would have to be the outdoor market, called a rynok (ринок) or bazar (базар).

Yes, they have "farmers' markets" in the U.S., but the bazar is everyday, all day. You can pretty much find everything you need there without going to a regular store. It just takes a little longer as you have to shop around for each item. It's usually cheaper to shop this way and the quality of the home grown produce is usually very good. During winter most of the produce is imported or has been canned in jars during the summer. The meats, dairy, and honey are sold in the indoor part to protect them from the heat of the summer. I don't think the meat vendors would pass any safe handling requirements in the U.S., but hey, at least you can tell it's fresh.

#2 is salo (сало), raw pork fat.

Joshua thinks the strips of rolled salo look like cinnamon rolls.

Salo is salted and sometimes even smoked, but the most common way to eat it is to eat a cold raw slice with a piece of garlic. Most vendors will slice off a sliver of their salo for you to sample before buying it. A chunk of salo thrown into a frying pan works good for frying eggs. If you fry up several pieces until they are crispy, it tastes just like the fried pork rinds you can buy in places like Louisiana, called cracklin.

#3 is kvas (квас), a refreshing summer time drink.

Kvas is made from black bread and has a unique taste. During the summer they sell it from wheeled yellow carts scattered around the city. People either love it or hate it. The boys and I love it, but Edna says she'd sooner drink pond water. On really hot days I'd carry jugs to get filled with kvas so we could enjoy it at home. I have some recipes to make it at home, but it just seems to taste better out of the little yellow tanks.

#4 is live fish (Жива Риба).

Why buy fish that are already dead when you can insure freshness by killing them yourself in the comfort of your own home. You can find tanks of live fish scattered around the city with people eagerly lining up to buy them. Coming from a city in California near the ocean, we aren't too fond of fish from rivers and ponds. I never cared for catfish in Arkansas or Louisiana either. I guess it depends on where you grow up, because Edna's mom, who grew up in Croatia, loves this type of fish. Sorry, Mom, but if you ever come to visit, we're having chicken (and no you can't buy any fish and eat the eyeballs either).

#5 unattended babies.

This is something you won't see in the U.S. at least not long before someone calls the police. It's not as bad as it looks though. Small shops usually don't have enough room to bring a stroller into and it would be an ordeal to remove a baby from a stroller in the winter. The babies are all bundled up and very well protected from the elements. Taking the baby out or trying to take the stroller into the store with you probably wouldn't be too comfortable for the baby. A strong sense of community here also means that nearby people are probably keeping an eye on your baby and would most likely pop their head into the store to tell you if your sleeping baby woke up and was crying. That's just how life is here.

The strollers are pretty heavy duty as you can see from the photo. Unlike the U.S., most people don't have a car so if you have a baby you need something that resembles a light all-terrain vehicle to navigate through snow, mud, and broken sidewalks. Most businesses and public stairs have little metal tracks that line up with stroller wheels as well as hand carts, but sadly, I've never once seen a wheelchair ramp.

Hopefully this gives all of you living in the United States a glimpse of what life is like here for us. I wouldn't say Ukraine is better or worse than the U.S., just different and it's our home. I'll try and post more of these as I get time.

The Baptism of Jesus

On Saturday, we visited our sister church in Kyiv. It also happened to be the day that most Ukrainians celebrate the Baptism of Jesus (January 19th). We saw lots of people taking the plunge into the Dnipro River through holes cut in the ice to celebrate the occasion. Even the President of Ukraine jumped into the icy water on national television. And yes, Christmas trees and decorations are still up all over the city.


This excerpt from a Ukrainian website best describes what we experienced and why.

"Why are all those Ukrainian politicians jumping into the icy Dnipro when you turn on the news this month? What’s On has the scoop on a bone-chilling local tradition. If you’re a Westerner living in Ukraine, the Christmas season might seem to last forever. After all, you’re probably oriented toward a Western calendar and following the Western media, which starts carrying Christmas advertising and content in late November at the latest. Under normal circumstances you’d expect the holiday season to be over with the New Year, but of course in Ukraine, which follows the Orthodox calendar, that’s when it’s just starting. Right when you think the decorated pine trees should be coming down, some are still going up, and grocery stores keep playing Christmas songs until the third week in January.

Still, even the holiday season has to come to an end some time, and in Ukraine it ends with the upcoming feast of the Epiphany on 19 January. The Epiphany in general celebrates the presentation of the infant Jesus Christ to the world – hence the fact that it’s also called the Theophany, which combines the Greek words for ‘god’ and ‘showing forth.’ The holiday also takes into account Jesus’ christening in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, which is why the blessing of water remains a core part of its observance in all churches. In the old days, and even today, Christians (at least those who lived in cold climates) would cut a hole into the ice of their local river or lake, through which to bless the water. Locally, this body of water was called a ‘iordan’, after the Biblically important river, and a religious procession was held annually around it.

In Ukraine over the past decade, not only water blessings but bathing in icy water has become very popular. Every year you can see top Ukrainian officials, including most illustriously President Yushchenko, jumping through a hole in the ice of the Dnipro – what he calls the ‘Ukrainian Jordan’ - and taking a fast swim, gasping and grunting like a walrus and wearing nothing but a regular bathing suit. The event is usually held in Hydropark, and generates its share of media attention. Before the celebrity ice-swimmers arrive, musicians perform a holiday concert for passers-by. Despite the terrible frosts that typically befall Ukraine every year in mid-January, hundreds of people who wish to take a dip in the frigid Dnipro waters assemble near the entrance to the Hydropark metro station, ready to strip down and suffer for the fun of it."

The church we visited in Kyiv is a Messianic church and most of the congregation are ethnic Jews who are Christians. We had a great time and feel blessed to have met so many people with a genuine passion for Christ. Dominic was even presented with a kippah as an honorary Jewish member of the congregation.

Dominic wearing his new kippah.

On Sunday, we were blessed with our youngest member to attend our children’s ministry. Little Andriy is two years old and full of energy and smiles. Edna had fun helping Andriy make his craft.

Edna with two year old Andriy at church.

As usual, Maxime went to church with us and through Dominic we discovered something that broke our hearts. When the boys went Christmas caroling, Maxime had said not to tell his parents about the money he had gotten because they would keep it for themselves. We thought that he had some toy or something in mind for the money. Instead, Maxime used the money to buy himself a new pair of pants and shoes. The pants he had didn’t fit anymore and were falling apart. The shoes he had were a pair of used ones that someone at church had donated. I guess we take it for granted that parents will feed and clothe their children.

Maxime asked if he could spend the night at our place so of course we said yes. He shocked us when it came time to pray before dinner. He eagerly asked if he could be the one to pray. He not only thanked God for the food, but it touched our hearts when he thanked God for us. He even prayed that God would help us to continue learning Ukrainian. Edna and I still can’t believe that this is the same boy who six months ago didn’t understand why we needed to pray before we ate.

Maxime letting us know he wanted to pray.

Another surprise came when it was time for bed. Maxime wanted to have a Bible study with Dominic. Dominic would read a verse in English and then Maxime would read the same verse in Ukrainian. In this way, Dominic and Maxime read through several key concepts about the life of Jesus. Maxime happily told us that he understood that if we trust in Jesus then even if we die, we won’t die. Maxime then asked if we could all pray together. He began and then we all prayed in turn with Maxime closing by reading a prayer for Ukraine that he found in our Bible.

Maxime reading the Bible with Dominic and Edna

Maxime had asked to sleep in the living room instead of the boys’ room saying that Joshua would keep him up talking if they all slept in the same room. After everyone was in bed, I saw the light go on in the living room. I crept in to see what Maxime was doing and I realized why he had wanted to sleep in the living room by himself. He was reading the Bible.

Old New Year's Day

As I write this Maxime, Joshua, and Dominic are off amid the fireworks singing for candy and money again as they celebrate old New Year's Day according to the Julian calendar. Once again children have been showing up at our door singing. This has to be the longest holiday season we've ever experienced. Dominic and Joshua love it. It has been a wonderful experience for them to be able to be a part of the culture here. We are so grateful to call Bila Tserkva our home.

Today we had church at the invalid center as a combined service with the church there. Presents were handed out to the children to celebrate old New Year's Day so Maxime, Joshua, and Dominic were blessed once more. One of the items in Maxime's box was a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. Maxime thought they were the funniest thing he had ever seen. He insisted on wearing them after church when we took him out to eat. He even wore them on the bus home.

After church we met with the pastor and some of the members of the church to discuss how we can best reach out to the community and evangelize. Everyone agreed that an English club would be the best option, which is what we have been praying about. Thanks to our good friend Fedir, we can use a room in the Palace of Culture where he works. We are planning on meeting on Saturdays from 6:00pm to 7:30pm maybe once or twice a month. Eventually we would like to meet every week, but we are going to first see what kind of response we get. We have several people who are already interested or have friends who would be interested.

We want to reach out to people in the community who have an interest in speaking English. Our goal is to lead as many people to Christ as we can by our actions and our words as we build relationships based on the love that Jesus first showed us. Please pray for us as we begin this outreach and please pray for the people of Bila Tserkva as more come to know Christ.

Merry Christmas (Again!)

З Новим роком та Різдвом Христовим!

We awoke to Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) by having Maxime ringing our door bell in the morning ready to go Christmas caroling. Maxime, Joshua, and Dominic spent most of the day and evening, going door to door singing and reciting Bible verses in exchange for money and candy. I was shocked by the amount those three brought in by the end of the night.

Joshua, Alyona, and Marianna inspecting the beginning of what was to come

Edna and I were also awakened by the smell of delicious Ukrainian foods being prepared next door by our neighbor Olya. It wasn't long before she was knocking on our door and inviting us over. We wisely decided to skip breakfast and not eat anything before going over. Her three daughters, son-in-laws, and four grandchildren all treated us like part of the family. This included insisting we eat a little of everything and then a lot of everything until we thought we were going to die. Just when we thought we couldn't possibly eat anymore, they took the plates of food away, made the table smaller, and then crowded it with desserts, again expecting us to eat.

Oksana (far right) lives below us and is taking English lessons from Edna. Anya (behind Oksana) lives in the building next to us.

Throughout the evening we were treated to children and adults coming to our door to sing beautiful Ukrainian songs. We feel extremely blessed to have experienced such a wonderful celebration of our Savior's birth in the country of Ukraine.

Happy New Year from Ukraine!

З НОВИМ РОКОМ!

Maxime has been staying with us for the last three days so we decided to make sure he had a nice Christmas and New Year. We weren't sure if he was going to be in town for Christmas so we decorated our New Year's Tree and opened Christmas presents on New Year's Eve. We celebrated Christmas a little early by Ukrainian standards, but traditionally presents come from Grandfather Frost (Did Moroz) and his granddaughter, the Snow Maiden, on New Year's Eve anyway. Christmas was forbidden to be celebrated under the Soviet regime and was only brought back in the late 90's although Sviata Vechera, or Holy Supper, was still celebrated among families. It makes sense that New Year's Eve would be the most popular holiday in Ukraine as we've been told.

Maxime seemed surprised that he was actually getting such cool gifts.

We decided to let the boys go wild in their room at midnight since the rest of the world outside was exploding in colorful fireworks and explosions. I've never seen so many fireworks going off all over a city at one time in my life. No matter what direction we looked, we were treated to amazing displays of pyrotechnics. The explosions of sound and light went on for over three hours.

Investing in Prosperity

Awhile back I came across a church that used envelopes for people to put their offering in that had two verses printed on them. They seemed to be taken completely out of context.

The first verse said, “I’m on my way to my wealthy place!” -Psalm 66:12

In my NIV Bible that verse reads, “You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” In context this verse speaks of God testing his people and refining them through affliction and suffering and then bringing them out of it to fulfill his promise thus bringing glory to His name. I don’t see anything that suggests that God will shower us with material wealth for giving money to the church. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is being preached among churches that promote the Prosperity Doctrine.

The second verse said, “Give and it will be given to you…” -Luke 6:38

If you read verse 37 and then verse 38, it reads like this, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.” Jesus was speaking about spiritual abundance and that we would be held accountable for our actions in the world when we stand before the Father. You could even read these verses to say, “Give mercy and forgiveness and it will be given to you.” In verse 35 when he is speaking about material things he says this, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Yet the teaching of these types of churches tells its members to expect wealth as a reward for their giving. It seems as though people are being asked to make a monetary investment with the promise of a greater monetary reward. How does Jesus figure into this business transaction?

When Jesus speaks to the churches in Revelation, his message contradicts any promises of material wealth or freedom from suffering. To the church in Smyrna he says, “I know your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich!” - Revelation 2:9. In verse 10 he says, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.” “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” So Jesus is saying that even if we are poor and suffering we are rich and our promised reward comes after we have come to the point of death. If this isn’t clear enough, he says to the church in Laodicea, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” - Revelation 3:17

I saw an article today that brings to light exactly the kind of hurt, anger, and bitterness these kinds of teachings can lead to. Here in Ukraine they are all too common. People who are lost, broken, and suffering flock to promises of prosperity and are willing to do just about anything to hold on to the false hope they are given that seems like an answer to their problems. The sad part is that Christianity in general gets a black eye because of what a few highly visible people are doing. The following article by Eric Gorski explains why several ministries are now under investigation. I thought it was also fitting to add John Piper’s thoughts on Prosperity Preaching after the article. He does a good job of showing what God’s Word has to say about this type of preaching.

Gospel of Wealth' Facing Scrutiny

Dec 27, 2007

By Eric Gorski

The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Be faithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said, and God will shower you with material riches.

And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged $500 a year to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about recovering from childhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyant faith healer Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.

Only the blessings didn't come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money from friends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first she believed the explanation given on television: Her faith wasn't strong enough.

"I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like he was doing with them," she said. "I'm angry and bitter about it. Right now, I don't watch anyone on TV hardly."

All three of the groups Fleenor supported are among six major Christian television ministries under scrutiny by a senator who is asking questions about the evangelists' lavish spending and possible abuses of their tax-exempt status.

The probe by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has brought new scrutiny to the underlying belief that brings in millions of dollars and fills churches from Atlanta to Los Angeles - the "Gospel of Prosperity," or the notion that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches.
All six ministries under investigation preach the prosperity gospel to varying degrees.

Proponents call it a biblically sound message of hope. Others say it is a distortion that makes evangelists rich and preys on the vulnerable. They say it has evolved from "it's all right to make money" to it's all right for the pastor to drive a Bentley, live in an oceanside home and travel by private jet.

"More and more people are desperate and grasping at straws and want something that will alleviate their pain or financial crisis," said Michael Palmer, dean of the divinity school at Regent University, founded by Pat Robertson. "It's a growing problem."

The modern-day prosperity movement can largely be traced back to evangelist Oral Roberts' teachings. Roberts' disciples have spread his theology and vocabulary (Roberts and other evangelists, such as Meyer, call their donors "partners.") And several popular prosperity preachers, including some now under investigation, have served on the Oral Roberts University board.

Grassley is asking the ministries for financial records on salaries, spending practices, private jets and other perks. The investigation, coupled with a financial scandal at ORU that forced out Roberts' son and heir, Richard, has some wondering whether the prosperity gospel is facing a day of reckoning.

While few expect the movement to disappear, the scrutiny could force greater financial transparency and oversight in a movement known for secrecy.

Most scholars trace the origins of prosperity theology to E.W. Kenyon, an evangelical pastor from the first half of the 20th century.

But it wasn't until the postwar era - and a pair of evangelists from Tulsa, Okla. - that "health and wealth" theology became a fixture in Pentecostal and charismatic churches.

Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin - and later, Kenneth Copeland - trained tens of thousands of evangelists with a message that resonated with an emerging middle class, said David Edwin Harrell Jr., a Roberts biographer. Copeland is among those now being investigated.

"What Oral did was develop a theology that made it OK to prosper," Harrell said. "He let Pentecostals be faithful to the old-time truths their grandparents embraced and be part of the modern world, where they could have good jobs and make money."

The teachings took on various names - "Name It and Claim It,""Word of Faith," the prosperity gospel.

Prosperity preachers say that it isn't all about money - that God's blessings extend to health, relationships and being well-off enough to help others.

They have Bible verses at the ready to make their case. One oft-cited verse, in Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians, reads: "Yet for your sakes he became poor, that you by his poverty might become rich."

Critics acknowledge the idea that God wants to bless his followers has a Biblical basis, but say prosperity preachers take verses out of context. The prosperity crowd also fails to acknowledge Biblical accounts that show God doesn't always reward faithful believers, Palmer said.

The Book of Job is a case study in piety unrewarded, and a chapter in the Book of Hebrews includes a litany of believers who were tortured and martyred, Palmer said.

Yet the prosperity gospel continues to draw crowds, particularly lower- and middle-income people who, critics say, have the greatest motivation and the most to lose. The prosperity message is spreading to black churches, attracting elderly people with disposable incomes, and reaching huge churches in Africa and other developing parts of the world.

One of the teaching's attractions is that it doesn't dwell on traditional Christian themes of heaven and hell but on answering pressing concerns of the here and now, said Brian McLaren, a liberal evangelical author and pastor.

But the prosperity gospel, McLaren said, not only preys on the hope of the vulnerable, it puts too much emphasis on individual success and happiness.

"We've pretty much ignored what the Bible says about systemic injustice," he said.

The checks and balances central to Christian denominations are largely lacking in prosperity churches. One of the pastors in the Grassley probe, Bishop Eddie Long of suburban Atlanta, has written that God told him to get rid of the "ungodly governmental structure" of a deacon board.

Some ministers hold up their own wealth as evidence that the teaching works. Atlanta-area pastor Creflo Dollar, who is fighting Grassley's inquiry, owns a Rolls Royce and multimillion-dollar homes and travels in a church-owned Learjet.

In a letter to Grassley, Dollar's attorney calls the prosperity gospel a "deeply held religious belief" grounded in Scripture and therefore a protected religious freedom. Grassley has said his probe is not about theology.

But even some prosperity gospel critics - like the Rev. Adam Hamilton of 15,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in suburban Kansas City, Mo. - say that the investigation is entering a minefield.

"How do you determine how much money a minister like this is able to make when the basic theology is that wealth is OK?" said Hamilton, an Oral Roberts graduate who later left the charismatic movement. "That gets into theological questions."

There is evidence of change. Joyce Meyer Ministries, for one, enacted financial reforms in recent years, including making audited financial statements public.

Meyer, who has promised to cooperate fully with Grassley, issued a statement emphasizing that a prosperity gospel "that solely equates blessing with financial gain is out of balance and could damage a person's walk with God."


Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly

February 14, 2007

By John Piper

When I read about prosperity-preaching churches, my response is: “If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I wouldn’t want in.” In other words, if this is the message of Jesus, no thank you.

Luring people to Christ to get rich is both deceitful and deadly. It’s deceitful because when Jesus himself called us, he said things like: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). And it’s deadly because the desire to be rich plunges “people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9). So here is my plea to preachers of the gospel.

1. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes it harder for people to get into heaven.

Jesus said, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” His disciples were astonished, as many in the “prosperity” movement should be. So Jesus went on to raise their astonishment even higher by saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” They respond in disbelief: “Then who can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:23-27).

My question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry focus that makes it harder for people to enter heaven?

2. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that kindles suicidal desires in people.

Paul said, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” But then he warned against the desire to be rich. And by implication, he warned against preachers who stir up the desire to be rich instead of helping people get rid of it. He warned, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:6-10).

So my question for prosperity preachers is: Why would you want to develop a ministry that encourages people to pierce themselves with many pangs and plunge themselves into ruin and destruction?

3. Do not develop a philosophy of ministry that encourages vulnerability to moth and rust.

Jesus warns against the effort to lay up treasures on earth. That is, he tells us to be givers, not keepers. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19).

Yes, we all keep something. But given the built-in tendency toward greed in all of us, why would we take the focus off Jesus and turn it upside down?

4. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that makes hard work a means of amassing wealth.

Paul said we should not steal. The alternative was hard work with our own hands. But the main purpose was not merely to hoard or even to have. The purpose was “to have to give.” “Let him labor, working with his hands, that he may have to give to him who is in need” (Ephesians 4:28). This is not a justification for being rich in order to give more. It is a call to make more and keep less so you can give more. There is no reason why a person who makes $200,000 should live any differently from the way a person who makes $80,000 lives. Find a wartime lifestyle; cap your expenditures; then give the rest away.

Why would you want to encourage people to think that they should possess wealth in order to be a lavish giver? Why not encourage them to keep their lives more simple and be an even more lavish giver? Would that not add to their generosity a strong testimony that Christ, and not possessions, is their treasure?

5. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that promotes less faith in the promises of God to be for us what money can’t be.

The reason the writer to the Hebrews tells us to be content with what we have is that the opposite implies less faith in the promises of God. He says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

If the Bible tells us that being content with what we have honors the promise of God never to forsake us, why would we want to teach people to want to be rich?

6. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that contributes to your people being choked to death.

Jesus warns that the word of God, which is meant to give us life, can be choked off from any effectiveness by riches. He says it is like a seed that grows up among thorns that choke it to death: “They are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the . . . riches . . . of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

Why would we want to encourage people to pursue the very thing that Jesus warns will choke us to death?

7. Don’t develop a philosophy of ministry that takes the seasoning out of the salt and puts the light under a basket.

What is it about Christians that makes them the salt of the earth and the light of the world? It is not wealth. The desire for wealth and the pursuit of wealth tastes and looks just like the world. It does not offer the world anything different from what it already believes in. The great tragedy of prosperity-preaching is that a person does not have to be spiritually awakened in order to embrace it; one needs only to be greedy. Getting rich in the name of Jesus is not the salt of the earth or the light of the world. In this, the world simply sees a reflection of itself. And if it works, they will buy it.

The context of Jesus’ saying shows us what the salt and light are. They are the joyful willingness to suffering for Christ. Here is what Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. . . . You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:11-14).

What will make the world taste (the salt) and see (the light) of Christ in us is not that we love wealth the same way they do. Rather, it will be the willingness and the ability of Christians to love others through suffering, all the while rejoicing because their reward is in heaven with Jesus. This is inexplicable on human terms. This is supernatural. But to attract people with promises of prosperity is simply natural. It is not the message of Jesus. It is not what he died to achieve.

Christmas in Nizhyn

Dominic, Edna, Kaylee, Ashlee, Greg, and Joshua in front of the famous Nizhyn Pickle (Огірок)

We spent (Western) Christmas (as opposed to Orthodox Christmas on January 7th) in Nizhyn (Ніжин) (or Nezhin if you say it in Russian) with the Fournier family. Paul and Gretchen Fournier invited us to spend Christmas with them and their three children Kaylee, Ashlee, and Jesiah at their home in Nizhyn. Paul is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Nizhyn or Церква Голгофи as it's known in Ukraine. We were also joined by Tracy Groves from Chernihiv and Will and Ira McIntosh from Nizhyn. Will is from San Luis Obispo (small world) and Ira is Ukrainian, but speaks English so well that it's difficult to notice her accent.

Christmas Morning

We had such a great time while we were there. Dominic and Joshua said it was one of the best Christmases so far. All of us fell in love with their beautiful children. Dominic who has never wanted to hold a little one before, was carrying around one year old Jesiah and having fun entertaining him. The boys had it rough at night though. Paul made them sleep outside in the play structure that he built. OK, they begged him to let them stay out in the fully insulated, heated, electrically equipped, club house complete with DVD player and two beds, but they were rudely awakened in the morning by a rooster that decided to perch on the roof and crow.

Ashlee, Kaylee, and Joshua on the play structure.

Joshua, Kaylee, and Ashlee in The Fort

On Wednesday night we were excited to be able to attend a service at the church in Nizhyn. After studying God's Word, we hung out and talked with some of the members of the church. We felt so welcomed there and were encouraged by all that God is doing in the lives of His people. The church began as a Bible study that Paul and Gretchen led among students from the university there in Nizhyn. Their faithful work has brought about much fruit. We were blessed to hear how God has been leading Paul and Gretchen there in Nizhyn and in the time before they moved there. They are a huge encouragement to us. We are so grateful to them for opening up there home and their lives to us.

The walkway up to the church / Ira and Edna after the service

On Christmas night we all gathered around to watch the 1953 classic "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It's a story about a princess that just wants to lead a normal life. I'll leave you with what we agreed was the most memorable quote of the movie from Audrey Hepburn.

"You have permission to withdraw now."