I have just heard of a new bill that is being presented to Russian leader, President Putin, for signing on July 20th. Mission Network News shared that,

The bill, coining the name, Yarovaya Law, is actually a response to last October when a Russian plane, carrying passengers over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, was bombed and killed all passengers, a total of 224 people. ISIS had claimed the attack as its own.

But, if this anti-terrorism bill is not amended before being signed into law, the already mention parts of this bill could be very damaging for churches. Slavic Gospel Association’s President, Bob Provost explains why.

“The difference in this wording is that all religious activity is restricted to a building that’s registered as a church. Ninety-percent of all evangelical churches in Russia, dating back to the communist days, when a church wasn’t allowed to own property, and so all the church buildings were registered in the name of one of the member families,” Provost says. “And that hasn’t been changed much. And so 90-percent of the evangelical church buildings in Russia today are not registered in the name of a church.”

In other words, if the bill is signed into law as-is, 90-percent of these evangelical churches won’t even be able to hold a service without being in contempt of the law. The same would go for ministries, such as SGA, and all others working to further the Great Commission. But, there’s hope.

President Putin has the final authority to amend this bill and save what so many have worked so long and hard for: religious freedom. He could easily become the Russian churches’ hero by sparing them this blow. For this reason, SGA is asking for prayer.

“From our standpoint, we want to ask God’s people, from all over the globe, please start praying right now,” Provost asks. “That God will intervene, that God will move in the heart of Mr. Putin and cause him to not sign this law, so that the Gospel can continue to go forth all across Russia.”

And even if Putin signs this bill into law to protect the Russian people in the only way he may know how, pray for the Gospel to continue to be heard, for lives to continue to be changed, and for Putin to see that the word of God is anything but terrorism. It is a redeeming love story written for all person, including Putin himself.

Just this past week I was talking with my daughter and my mother about the tribulation. My youngest daughter asked how we would know what the “mark of the beast” was that we are told about in Revelation 13:16-17. With all the new technology that our world is facing she questioned whether or not these new implanted chips would be that mark. She was afraid that she might one day take the mark mistakenly.

My mother and I assured her that she would not. God is not out to deceive His people. His people will not have to question “the mark.” It will be clear. I shared with my daughter that “the mark” whatever it might be, will be in direct opposition to the Word of God. It will in some way represent and proclaim a denouncement of Jesus Christ.

Our great grandparents feared that the introduction of the Social Security Card was the mark and today we fear that an identification chip implanted under the skin will be that mark. Personally I don’t believe it matters whether it’s a card, a tattoo, or a chip. It’s not the mark, but what the mark represents.

As we read our modern day headlines anyone with any Biblical knowledge at all has wondered, are we drawing nigh the end? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question, except to know that today we are one day closer than we were yesterday. Knowing this should be enough to cause God’s people to get real. I don’t mean get real and fight politics. I mean get real and fight for hearts.

Never before in history has the entire world experienced terror as in our day. One centralized united group with the goal of destroying the freedom of others to believe differently than they do. Their actions are causing nations around the world to rethink their government in order to protect their land. ISIS is after territory. They are not out to simply terrorize.

Due to the reality of their intent on our world, leaders are making hard calls. Hard calls that not only affect the terrorist but affect everyone. In the meantime, here we are today in America, still free. In Russia, at least until July 20th, they remain still free. Yet, in a moment that could change, both in Russian and here in America.

So what do we do today?

We must get real. We must get ready. We must be responsible with the hope that is ours in Christ. There are things in this world that are too great for me and no matter how loud I shout I have no voice. I have learned that those are not my battles to fight.

However, when I look to my left and to my right and I place one foot in front of the other and I take the time to open my eyes and my heart… I see that within my reach there are battles raging against souls. Souls that the Lord has called me to suit up in my armor and to stand firm and fight for in the name of His Son and for the glory of His Kingdom. Yet I am not to fight with terror, hate, arguments, or force. I am instead to fight with truth, hope, peace, love, and prayer.

From faith, by faith, and for faith I am to live for the kingdom that I belong and to the One who reigns over it. I am to live for this kingdom in the way that I treat others, as human beings created in the image of the God I claim to worship and belong to. I am to live it in the way that I keep my word and honor the authority figures that the Lord has allowed over me. I am to live it by demonstrating the love of my God for me by demonstrating His love to others, especially to my spouse, my children, other believers, my coworkers, and anyone else I see on a regular basis.

It’s time get real and be serious about our Father’s business. There was never a time not to be, but if there ever was a time that we needed to be… it is now.

So, let us pray for Russia.

Let us pray for our America.

Let us pray for the Kingdom of God and our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

Let us pray for His Kingdom to come and for His will to be done.

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