When Kim Jong Un makes international headlines, it’s rarely a good thing. That appears to be the case once again after the North Korean despot’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And while no official agreements were made when the pair conversed at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome—a key Russian spaceport—all indications point to an already precarious relationship becoming even more dangerous.

After all, it was Kim Jong Un’s first trip beyond his borders since 2019, and it’s unlikely he would have made the trip without assurances that it would be worth the journey.

As Mary Trimble and Grayson Logue write, “The pair smiled for cameras, pledged eternal friendship, and likely agreed to exchange munitions (from North Korea) for access to satellite and missile technology (from Russia), in violation of all manner of international sanctions.”

Such an exchange is not unprecedented, but it would mark a reversal of sorts as Russia has rarely been on the receiving end of weapons in its interactions with North Korea. When you look past their history, however, the match makes sense.

Despite the rampant poverty and starvation among its people, the US State Department estimates that North Korea spends a higher percentage of its GDP on its military—roughly 26 percent—than any of the other 170 nations it reviewed. As such, North Korea has plenty of weapons and munitions to spare.

And while the move may be a sign of desperation on Putin’s part, it also seems to indicate that he has little expectation of the war in Ukraine coming to an end anytime soon. Unfortunately, the talks with North Korea are not the only such sign in the news today.

Who is Yuri Sipko?

Yuri Sipko has been a prominent and controversial figure in Russia for many years. However, it would appear that Putin has finally decided that the seventy-one-year-old former president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists crossed a line recently in his opposition to the war in Ukraine.

After being charged with distributing “knowingly false information” against the Russian military, authorities raided his home, arrested his son—who has since been released—and put Sipko on the wanted list. Sipko, however, had already fled the country and is currently residing in Germany.

He said of the allegations, “This is a lawless law imposed by a lawless regime, against lawful people. The crime is the destruction of Ukraine. Silence, also, is a crime.”

Yet silence is the approach that many of his fellow evangelicals in Russia have chosen to take when it comes to the war. And their reasons are understandable.

As Jayson Casper describes, “Evangelical fear in Russia was legitimate. Accompanying the charges against Sipko was an official media campaign against the broader Protestant community, alleging their status as foreign agents. According to the SOVA Center, Sipko’s sermons were called ‘outright enemy propaganda’ that was developed by ‘American curators.’”

However, for many that hesitancy to view Sipko as a figure worth following is also born from a genuine belief that it is unbiblical to go against the Russian government.

“Dancing on the edge of being loyal”

Many Evangelical Christians in Russia do not want to follow the Russian Orthodox Church’s overt approval of the war in Ukraine. However, the majority also seem unwilling to condemn it.

Peter Mitskevich is one such individual and speaks for many Evangelicals in the country.

Mitskevich is the president of the Russian Baptist Union, which means he leads roughly 1,650 churches and church plants throughout the region. In the wake of the government’s denouncement of Sipko, Mitskevich noted that information was “scant” and asked that people pray for the fleeing pastor while also encouraging “peace among the nations” and pointing to Peter’s admonition to “honor the emperor” in 1 Peter 2:17.

Others are even more direct in their beliefs.

Bill Yoder, for example, is a retired church journalist in Russia and believes that Sipko is “better off in the West.” He went on to say, “It is not our task to wish victory for the other side, but Yuri went beyond this, pushing the Ukrainian cause. And theologically, he is dancing on the edge of being loyal to the authorities. . . . I wish Yuri and his family well. I don’t see him as a non-brother, but he has forsaken his church.”

While the belief that Sipko has “forsaken his church” may be a minority opinion among Russian Evangelicals, Yoder likely speaks for more Russian Evangelicals than many in the West might believe.

And the desire to keep it that way seems to be why Sipko is in Germany rather than a Russian jail. After all, if the government had truly been intent on arresting him, then they likely would have found a way to do so. However, such an approach would have run the risk of turning him into a martyr, and a martyr’s message tends to be harder to control.

Conversely, by allowing him to flee to Europe, they are able to portray Sipko and his pro-Ukrainian message as further evidence of a malign Western influence that runs counter to what it means to be a good citizen.

But while it may be tempting for us to look on in judgment at those who would believe that assessment, their response carries an important warning for us today.

Our highest priority

The vast majority of news with which we’re inundated on a daily basis is political in nature, and it’s only going to get worse as next year’s election draws closer. As such, it can be easy to slowly but steadily become more invested in the government than the gospel.

For some, that looks like agreeing with everything your political party preaches while coming to see the other side as the enemy. For others, it’s looking at issues through the lens of national impact rather than kingdom impact.

And even the opposite response of disengaging with politics completely is often born of an apathy that is more centered on the government than the gospel.

Ultimately, God does call us to “honor the emperor” and “be subject to the governing authorities” (1 Peter 2:17; Romans 13:1), but neither is ever meant to take his place as our highest priority and the primary lens through which we see the world around us.

So as politics, elections, and the host of issues that accompany them continue to dominate the news over the coming months, be intentional about going to God and his word first for understanding his will.

Let’s start today.

Denison Forum

Hurricane Lee is prompting hurricane and tropical storm watches for much of coastal New England this morning, with winds from the massive storm expected as early as tomorrow. Six thousand miles away, a massive flash flood in Libya has killed at least 5,100 people; thousands are still missing, and tens of thousands are homeless. In the first eleven days of September, eight devastating flood events unfolded on four continents. The US has already set a record for billion-dollar weather disasters in a year, with four months still to go.

Meanwhile, Apple’s latest product-launch event unveiled even more sophisticated innovations from the world’s most valuable company. But all that the high tech on my desk, in my pocket, and on my wrist can do about the weather is to report the present and attempt to predict the future. Nothing we have invented can deter nature’s unbridled power and ferocity, proving every day the finitude and frailty of humans and our urgent need for power and protection beyond ourselves.

“Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock”

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death in AD 407 of St. John Chrysostom, considered by some historians to be “the greatest preacher ever heard in a Christian pulpit.” In one of his messages, he reminded his congregation: “The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus.

“What are we to fear? Death? ‘Life to me means Christ, and death is gain.’ Exile? ‘The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord.’ The confiscation of goods? ‘We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it.’”

He therefore told his people, “I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.”

What is the pathway to such triumphant faith?

“Let the mists of worldly vanities be dispelled”

Yesterday we focused on the biblical priority of spiritual discernment and the urgency of “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Today, let’s step further in this direction by considering Jesus’ maxim: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

My attention was drawn to Jesus’ words by this reflection from St. Leo the Great (c. 400–461): “The blessedness of seeing God is promised to the pure of heart. For the eye that is unclean would not be able to see the brightness of the true light, and what would be happiness to clean minds would be a torment to those that are defiled. Therefore, let the mists of worldly vanities be dispelled, and the inner eye be cleansed of all the filth of wickedness, so that the soul’s gaze may feast serenely upon the great vision of God.”

C. S. Lewis made the same point rather more succinctly: “It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.”

How can we “want to”? Let’s take three simple but empowering biblical steps today.

One: Refuse the lure of secular thinking.

An E. coli boil water notice was issued a few days ago where I live after traces of the bacteria were discovered in a water sample. We could not see the danger, but that made it no less real.

We are wise to view secular reasoning in the same way: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Scripture is clear: “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” (Exodus 23:2 NIV) because “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4).

The Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho observed: “You have two choices: to control your mind or to let your mind control you.” As fallen people, the latter is our default. As redeemed people, we can make the daily decision to choose the former, which leads to our second step.

Two: Focus your mind consistently on Jesus.

John encouraged us, “If we walk in the light, as [the Father] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Jesus assured us: “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

In Life Without Lack, philosopher Dallas Willard writes: “Once you begin to have an impression of who God truly is, everything else fades into insignificance. When the bountiful sufficiency of God himself and the glorious realm of his kingdom are continually brought before the mind, it puts everything else in its proper place and opens us to a life in which we find God more than capable of supplying everything we need.”

As a result, it is transforming to begin your day by spending time alone with Christ. Begin by saying to him, “Speak, Lᴏʀᴅ, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9 NIV). Now read his word, pray, and worship. Then ask him to help you experience his presence through the day. Talk with him as you would with any other friend. Listen to the voice of his Spirit in your mind and heart, which leads to our third step.

Three: Submit daily to the Holy Spirit.

Paul was emphatic: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Oswald Chambers similarly noted: “The tiniest thing we allow in our lives that is not under the control of the Holy Spirit is quite sufficient to account for spiritual muddle, and all the thinking we like to spend on it will never make it clear.” Conversely, “When the natural power of vision is devoted to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the power of perceiving God’s will and the whole life is kept in simplicity.”

Marcus Aurelius observed: “Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought.”

What “shape” will your mind take today?

Denison Forum