Just Say Nyet to War in Ukraine, Da to Peace

Updated 3/12/2022  Added Video:  Why Ukraine Matters::  https://www.goodcatholic.com/video/why-ukraine-matters-to-catholics-how-to-help/

I have argued that the biggest threat to Europe, Africa & the Middle East is not Russia or the Taliban, but Islam. The Biggest Threat to China is not Russia or the USA but Christianity in general & Pope Francis specifically. In fact, Christianity has been a threat to authoritarian regimes for 2 000 years.

You may recall that On April 6, 2009, President Obama, speaking  in Turkey, effectively proclaimed that the United States did not consider itself a Judeo-Christian nation.

Christianity in the world

"Although, as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation" - "fact checkers immediately went to work to refine what Obama actually said - very much along the lines of rewriting history.  Ditto for the statement: " I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." included in his book Dreams of My Father.  Again self-proclaimed fact checkers came in to argue semantics.  While we can argue semantics ad nauseum, the fact speak for themselves:  Obama, like Joe Biden,  a self professed Christian, 

was the most Anti-Christian president in US history

Biggest World Threats

On July 7, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a package of amendments with the declared purpose of countering terrorism and ensuring public safety. These amendments, known as the Yarovaya law, which went into effect July 20, present a number of severe restrictions to religious freedom, essentially banning preaching, praying, proselytizing, and disseminating religious materials outside of officially-designated locations. Writes Religious Freedom Institute's Elizabeth A. Clark.  

It is no coincidence that the main reasons for Russia's annual population decline are high death rate, low birth rate, high rate of abortions, and a low level of immigration. According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook, Russia has a very high death rate of 13.4 deaths per 1000 people per year.  In 2005, 1.6 million abortions were registered in Russia; 20% of these involved girls under the age of 18. Official statistics put the number of abortions at 737,948 in 2016. As of 2010, the abortion rate was 37.4 abortions per year per 1000 women aged 15–44 years, the highest of any country reported in UN data. While in the U.S. we have Black Genocide:  The killing of preborns, mostly African American, enabled by progressive policies and the main stream media, Russia has its own genocide as a result of banning Christianity

Using the same data, ABC News could have accurately reported that the Killing of preborns was down by 60% in Texas in the first month under the most pro-life law in the U.S. - but decided to support the killing lobby

Christianity in a most restrictive environment was the religious self-identification of 47.1% of the Russian population in 2012 according to Atlas. Whereas Ukraine is an overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian nation, much larger than that of the United States and overwhelmingly much larger than that of the United Kingdom at around 55%

The history of the Church is full of many Martyred saints, who received recognition for great deeds or meritorious conduct. Many lost their lives in defense of the faith, while others were themselves the mothers of important saints. Many were also honored for their contributions to the Church and their community. Catholic Online writes that "The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation. It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching, "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth" ( Acts 1:8 )


Today, the Catholic Priest who runs the Ukranian Catholic EWTN network decided to stay in Kyiv, rather than to flee.

Ukraine Priest willing to be martyred 

St Thomas Aquinas posited that to one who has faith no explanation is necessary to one without faith no explanation is possible:  While Wikipedia diminishes the power of prayer "The efficacy of prayer has been studied since at least 1872, generally through experiments to determine whether prayer or intercessory prayer has a measurable effect on the health of the person for whom prayer is offered. Empirical research indicates that prayer and intercessory prayer have no discernible effects."  The Anti Catholic New York Times goes even further:  At least one earlier study found lower complication rates in patients who received intercessory prayers; others found no difference. A 1997 study at the University of New Mexico, involving 40 alcoholics in rehabilitation, found that the men and women who knew they were being prayed for actually fared worse."  In a study by the US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health concludes. "We believe that the research has led nowhere, and that future research, if any, will forever be constrained by the scientific limitations that we outline."

On the other hand, the Catholic Church believes miracles are works of God such as healing miracles- Jesus healed people who were sick or disabled. Exorcism. the act of freeing someone of demons. Restoration of Life -there are three occasion in the gospel eyes Jesus raises people from the dead and Nature miracle - a miracle in which Jesus shows his power over nature.

James 5:13 tells us about the power of prayer in "The Prayer of Faith Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.[a] 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects."

I also pray I will not be tested beyond the Threshold Of Belief - because prayer and suffering are not mutually exclusive, but complementary as illustrated in todays reading of 1 Peter 1:3-9 "A Living Hope3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice,[a] though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Without having seen[b] him you[c] love him; though you do not now see him you[d] believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. 9 As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your soul"

Certainly peace under a nuclear threat, at this moment seems unattainable; Belarus just revoked her non-nuclear status, allowing Russia to mobilize nuclear force.  Perhaps as impossible as the victory of David over Goliath.  But  Matthew 19:26  tells us  Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.

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