From Luke
The Rise of a World Leader - Why the West Fears Putin?
Why the West Fears Putin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNFmBJSAxUQ
In America, Putin is always portrayed as a communist dictator with many protesters against him. Yet, he is not a member of the communist party and the KGB no longer exists. They never show the millions of Russians who love him for saving Russia and his true beliefs. Why is the truth not reported? There is a reason. The western media thinks they can hide the truth. However,
"One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world." -- old Russian proverb
Vladimir Putin Vows to Defend Christianity Worldwide
http://www.christianpost.com/news/vladimir-putin-vows-to-defend-christianity-worldwide-69002/
Feb 12, 2014
The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church has told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week of the urgent situation Christians are facing around the world in persecution hot spots, and has asked him to use his power to aid their situations.
RT online reported that Metropolitan Hilarion, foreign relation chief of the Russian Orthodox Church presented evidence and statistics that stated, "Every five minutes one Christian was dying for his or her faith in some part of the word."
Christians face persecution in many nations; from church demolition in Afghanistan and bombings of churches in Iraq, to the violence against Christians taking place in rebellious towns in Syria.
After delivering the facts, Metropolitan Hilarion asked Putin to make protection and defense of Christianity around the globe a major part of his foreign policy.
And, as reported by Interfax, Putin replied, "You needn't have any doubt that that's the way it will be," assuring Hilarion that Russian foreign policy would defend Christians from persecution abroad.
Putin's recent actions seem to confirm his promise. Last week, Putin vetoed a U.N. motion calling for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down. Syrian Christians received this as good news. Assad is of the Alawite sect of Islam. Alawites and Christians are both religious minorities in Syria. Syrian Christians feel that sharing this minority status means Assad will provide them with protection. A Syrian Christian woman even told The Global Post, "Thank God for Russia. Without Russia we are doomed."
Putin has long been a supporter of Christianity and Christian values within Russia. He has called for the Church to play a larger role in citizens' social lives, better religion classes in schools, and television programs emphasizing religious values.
Putin Poses as Defender of Christian Civilization
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/61032
Feb 8, 2014
The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi aren’t the only platform for Russian President Vladimir Putin to assert himself on the international stage. He is reportedly planning to preside over a major Moscow conference in September sponsored by the World Congress of Families, a pro-family coalition that includes several high-profile American conservative organizations.
Putin, who is recently divorced and is said to have a mistress, will present himself as a defender of the Christian faith and Christian values, in contrast to the decline and decadence of the West. He is counting on conservatives in attendance to ignore the fact that he was a Soviet KGB officer and ran its successor, the FSB. One of the main specialties of the Soviet/Russian intelligence services is propaganda and disinformation.
The event, to be partly financed by Putin crony Vladimir Yakunin, will be held in the Kremlin, the Duma (the Russian parliament), Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Christ The Savior Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.
One of Putin’s allies, Alexey Komov, made an appearance in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday at a National Press Club news conference and blamed Wall Street bankers for funding the communist Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917.
Komov, who is the Russian representative of the World Congress of Families (WCF) and helps handle “international relations” for the Russian Orthodox Church, declared that “Wall Street bankers” were among the “international professional forces of evil,” that had “introduced communism” and “imposed” it on Russia.
To some in the audience, the comments echoed incendiary claims on anti-Semitic websites that Jewish bankers were behind Russian communism.
Sochi Olympics: Putin's moment at world podium
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2014/0206/Sochi-Olympics-Putin-s-moment-at-world-podium
Feb 6, 2014
Russia's leader, eager to burnish his legacy and boost the country's global standing, has risked a lot of prestige in staging the most expensive Olympics in history.
Vladimir Putin was at the height of his powers, and his popularity, when he boarded his presidential plane to travel to Guatemala City on a July day almost seven years ago. He was bringing a carefully prepared pitch to put to a skeptical International Olympic Committee. It bespoke a key personal dream of his and a goal he hoped would secure his legacy and elevate Russia once again to a major world power.
Speaking in English, a language he'd been secretly studying, he pledged to transform the sleepy, Soviet-era Black Sea spa town of Sochi into a world-class Olympic venue in time for the winter Games of 2014. He pledged the staggering sum of $12 billion in Kremlincash to make that happen – a bid that dwarfed the competing cities of Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. When Sochi won, Mr. Putin was ebullient.
"This is ... not just a recognition of Russia's sporting achievements but it is, beyond any doubt, a judgment on our country," he said. "It is a recognition of our growing capability, first of all economically and socially."
Visitors to Sochi this month will discover that Putin's promises have been spectacularly fulfilled. The city now boasts a gleaming new airport, dozens of ultramodern stadiums and sports facilities, and a state-of-the-art media center. It has free high-speed Wi-Fi everywhere on the Olympic grounds, a new road and rapid-transit rail line hewn from the mountainside to link the subtropical coast with the alpine winter sports cluster, and rows of new luxury hotels.
It's an impressive achievement. Even though the cost has since ballooned to an astonishing $55 billion, almost one-third of which appears to have been due to Russia's pervasive corruption, public opinion polls show that Russians remain overwhelmingly proud that their country is set to host the world's most prestigious athletic event.
Putin Preaches Godliness to America
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/02/putin_preaches_godliness_to_america.html
Feb 1, 2014
The moral disintegration must be pretty bad if a former KGB officer and current leader of what once was a communist regime feels moved to reprimand Euro-Atlantic nations established primarily upon Judeo-Christian values by calling them "godless."
Since the fall of communism, religion now plays an important part in Russian life. Rest assured: communists who've lived through state-established atheism surely recognize the obliteration of religious expression when they see it.
That's why it's pretty chilling to hear Vladimir Putin hurling accusations at the West and pointing out that what's going on is identical to what went on when communism was established and religion was completely expunged from the Soviet Union. Between 1917 and 1937, almost a quarter of a million Christians were executed, and churches that survived destruction were converted into things like museums of atheism.
Russian President Putin, who hasn't been shy about expressing his disapproval of homosexuality and has banned what he defined as "homosexual propaganda," had this to say:
Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.
Speaking to his people in the state of the nation address delivered at the end of last year, the Russian president defended traditional values, pointed out the moral bankruptcy of the West, and maintained that conservatism, both religious and societal, is what prevents what he defined as worldwide "chaotic darkness."
Quite the opposite of what goes on in America, where these days the only form of permissible discrimination involves the denigration of conservatives and people of faith, in Russia, it's now a criminal offense to "insult" the religious sensibilities of believers.
So it's come to this. In lieu of a president who respects Judeo-Christian values, an ex-KGB officer from a formerly atheist country is actually warning the West about how godlessness results in the kind of "chaotic darkness," "belief in Satan," and "path to degradation" that America is currently on.
Granted, criminalizing homosexuality and making "insulting religious sensibilities" illegal aren't policies America should ever emulate. Moreover, lest we forget, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin preaching Christ does not diminish the Russian president's dark political and personal past.
But what's ironic is that in this case, a leader who should be viewed with extreme caution is actually speaking truth to nations hell-bent on repeating Soviet Russia's mistakes.
PUTIN: AMERICA IS GODLESS, HAS TURNED AWAY FROM CHRISTIAN VALUES
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/01/29/Vladimir%20Putin-America-is-Godless-Turns-Away-from-Christian-Values
Jan 29, 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the West, including the United States, for eschewing Christian values and opting instead for a “path to degradation.”
In his State of the Nation speech last month, Putin asserted that, “Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values… Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan.” Russia has adopted new laws that ban homosexual propaganda and criminalizes the insulting of religious sensibilities.
The law on religious sensibilities was approved in the wake of a protest in Moscow’s largest cathedral by a female punk rock group, Pussy Riot. State-run television said the group’s “demonic” protest was funded by “some Americans.” Russia’s newfound embrace of traditional values has prompted a rise in Orthodox vigilantism. Extreme groups such as the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers, an ultraconservative faction who adopted a slogan “Orthodoxy or Death,” are gaining prominence.
It was not that long ago that the United States was accusing Russia for being a “godless nation.” On March 8, 1983, Ronald Reagan said this about Russia to an audience of evangelicals:
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness--pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.
History supports the 40th President of the United States' remarks. According to a 1995 Russian presidential committee report, Soviet authorities executed 200,000 clergy and believers from 1917 to 1937, many of them crucified, scalped, and otherwise tortured. Thousands of churches were destroyed, and those that survived were turned into warehouses, garages, or museums of atheism.
Moreover, another 500,000 religious figures were persecuted and 40,000 churches destroyed in the period from 1922 to 1980, the report said. Half the country’s mosques and more than half the synagogues were also destroyed. “Clergymen were crucified on churches’ holy gates, shot, scalped [and] strangled,” said Alexander Yakovlev, head of the Commission for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Political Repression. “I was especially shocked by accounts of priests turned into columns of ice in winter,” Yakovlev said. “It was total cruelty."
Putin: America Is Godless, Has Turned Away From Christian Values
http://www.trunews.com/putin-america-godless-turned-away-christian-values/
Jan 28, 2014
At the height of the Cold War, it was common for American conservatives to label the officially atheist Soviet Union a “godless nation.”
More than two decades on, history has come full circle, as the Kremlin and its allies in the Russian Orthodox Church hurl the same allegation at the West.
“Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent keynote speech. “Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.”
In his state of the nation address in mid-December, Mr. Putin also portrayed Russia as a staunch defender of “traditional values” against what he depicted as the morally bankrupt West. Social and religious conservatism, the former KGB officer insisted, is the only way to prevent the world from slipping into “chaotic darkness.”
As part of this defense of “Christian values,” Russia has adopted a law banning “homosexual propaganda” and another that makes it a criminal offense to “insult” the religious sensibilities of believers.
The law on religious sensibilities was adopted in the wake of a protest in Moscow’s largest cathedral by a female punk rock group against the Orthodox Church’s support of Mr. Putin. Kremlin-run television said the group’s “demonic” protest was funded by “some Americans.”
Mr. Putin’s views of the West were echoed this month by Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, the leader of the Orthodox Church, who accused Western countries of engaging in the “spiritual disarmament” of their people.
Who’s ‘godless’ now? Russia says it’s U.S.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/28/whos-godless-now-russia-sa
Jan 28, 2014
In particular, Patriarch Kirill criticized laws in several European countries that prevent believers from displaying religious symbols, including crosses on necklaces, at work.
“The general political direction of the [Western political] elite bears, without doubt, an anti-Christian and anti-religious character,” the patriarch said in comments aired on state-controlled television.
“We have been through an epoch of atheism, and we know what it is to live without God,” Patriarch Kirill said. “We want to shout to the whole world, ‘Stop!’”
Other figures within the Orthodox Church have gone further in criticizing the West. Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a church spokesman, suggested that the modern-day West is no better for a Christian believer than the Soviet Union.
Soviet authorities executed some 200,000 clergy and believers from 1917 to 1937, according to a 1995 presidential committee report. Thousands of churches were destroyed, and those that survived were turned into warehouses, garages or museums of atheism.
“The separation of the secular and the religious is a fatal mistake by the West,” the Rev. Chaplin said. “It is a monstrous phenomenon that has occurred only in Western civilization and will kill the West, both politically and morally.”
Is Russia more Christian than the United States? Vladimir Putin might just say Yes!
http://ministryvalues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=787&Itemid=214
Jan 3, 2014
Is Russian leadership more Christian than the United States? Is the Russian Government more Christian than George Bush or Obama ever hoped the United States to be? The answer is yes, and not only is it true, but thanks to born again Christians, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, Christian influence in matters of State is rapidly on the rise. Let's look at the facts. Video "Why the West Fears Putin"
Today, in the New York Times, Vladimir Putin invoked God quiet emphatically and certainly intentionally. He wrote "We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."
Earlier this year Barack Obama skipped Church on Christmas Day while the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on January 6, 2013, attended mid-night mass services celebrating the Russian Orthodox Christmas in grand splendor in the traditional Vigil liturgy in Saint Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the presence of 4,000 people, including Patriarch Kirill. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas following the old Julian calendar, which is 13 days "behind" the Gregorian calendar.
While Russian leaders were attending Church services, half way around the world in America, Chicago Tribune, writing about Obama's troubles finding a Church for his family, said "But as his (Obama) fellow Christians around the world attended Christmas services on Wednesday and Thursday, the president-elect and his family remained sequestered at their vacation compound on the windward coast of Oahu. His lack of attendance at formal religious services showcased a dilemma faced by Obama, who is between churches and often expresses concern about bringing the disruption of his security detail into the lives of others." According to the same report President Barack Obama has not attended a public church service since before being elected.
"The Great Prophecy is Unfolding"
So what you say? Well, today Russia is investing $100 million to rebuild Christian churches throughout the country. Money to rebuild theses churches is coming from Russian tax payers. This would be impossible in the US of course. Imagine the US Media's reaction if President Obama decided to invest $100 million dollars of US tax payer dollars to rebuild Catholic Churches. In the US there would be outrage yet Russia citizens are supportive of the investment. Russia's turn to Christianity is a virtually unknown phenomenon in the United States. Most Christian leaders are oblivious to what is happening in Russia. Pastor Robertson or Pastor Hagee still believe Russia is an atheist and communist country and these prominent End-Times Christian pastors are rasing money and rattling their sabers to go to war against the Godless state.
But the reality is Russia is indeed rebuilding Churches with tax payer funds. MinistryValues.com, in another piece, wrote "In addition to the formal exchange of wishes and thanks with the Patriarchate of Moscow, the Russian government gave the Christian Church a dramatic Christmas gift. Meeting with the patriarch at the Danilov Monastery, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that the government would provide almost $100 million US dollars (RUB 2 billion) to restore holy sites, monasteries and churches destroyed during last century's atheist drive by the Soviet Union against religion. He also said that the Novodevichy Convent, one of most beautiful and important in the country, would be given back to the Patriarchate.
Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedeve go to Church frequently, kiss precious icons of the Virgin Mary and seek political and moral counsel from the Russian Orthodox Clergy.
Furthermore, to the surprise of many Americans, particularly Evangelical Christians, Vladimir Putin wears a Christian cross with him at all times. From a Larry King Live interview Putin told Larry King: "I was surprised completely when one of the workers, just muddling through those ashes of the remnants, found that cross intact. And the house fell, that was a surprise, a revelation, and therefore I always now keep it with me. " Vladimir Putin has frequently praised the Christian Russian Orthodox Church for "educating citizens in a spirit of patriotism and love of country, passing on love for spiritual values and history." For his part, Kirill said that he hoped that the Lord would help Putin "in performing the high task God gave him." The patriarch also praised the prime minister for the way he managed the economic crisis, which has had a greater impact in Russia than elsewhere in the world.
Is the Russian Government building a more Christian society? Perhaps. But try telling that to your buddies at Church this Sunday.
Vladimir Putin is outflanking the west at every turn
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/22/vladimir-putin-authoritarianism-russia
Dec 21, 2013
This has been the year of Vladimir Putin's ascendancy. The Russian president has made Barack Obama look like a conman's stooge – a lame duck president so weak that he can barely waddle to the pond....................
Forbes magazine was not making a mistake when it called Putin the world's most powerful person in 2013. However, the Centre for Strategic Communications, a thinktank for the Kremlin's pet intellectuals, assessed his power more precisely last week when it acclaimed him "world conservatism's new leader". If you can rid yourself of the idea that being a conservative means merely supporting private enterprise, you will see what it meant.
Nineteenth-century radicals loathed Russia above all other states because it had a quasi-religious mission to preserve autocracy at home and promote reactionary regimes abroad. To true believers, the "Third Rome" of Christian tsarism defended the divinely ordained old order against the threats of liberalism, socialism, nationalism and modernity.
In his state-of-the-nation address last week, Putin sounded like the most slavophile of patriarchs when he derided the liberal west as "genderless and infertile" and promised he would fight the western elite's "destruction of traditional values from the top".
If you think that makes him sound like a Christian Coalition or Muslim Brotherhood cleric, well that thought has struck others too. The leathery old American conservative "Pat" Buchanan, who has been involved in every foul movement on the American right since Richard Nixon's day, knows a potential collaborator when he sees one. Putin could be the leader of "conservatives and traditionalists in every country", he said, and lead the fight against the "militant secularism of a multicultural and transnational elite".
Vladimir Putin claims Russia is moral compass of the world
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10513330/Vladimir-Putin-claims-Russia-is-moral-compass-of-the-world.html
Dec 13, 2013
Vladimir Putin sought to cast Russia as the moral arbiter of the world on Thursday, as he hit out at America’s “non-traditional values” and its influence across the world.
In an annual state of the nation address, the 61-year-old Russian president said his country did not aspire to be “some kind of superpower”.
“We do not infringe on anyone’s interests, we do not force our patronage on anyone, or try to teach anyone how to live,” he said.
Mr Putin defended his government’s increasingly conservative values and decried the “review of norms of morality” in the West and elsewhere.
“This destruction of traditional values from above not only entails negative consequences for society, but is also inherently anti-democratic because it is based on an abstract notion and runs counter to the will of the majority of people,” Mr Putin said, adding there could be no benefit for society for treating “good and evil” equally.
In his 70-minute televised speech from an ornate Kremlin hall, Mr Putin said traditional family values where a bulwark against “so-called tolerance – genderless and infertile.”