Carillet – Sharing news from our partner in Ukraine and Crimea

Beloved brothers and sisters,

 Thank you very much for your care, support and prayers! With great joy I present to you the Christian Center for Science and Apologetics October 2017 newsletter.

 The month was so rich in blessings it’s hard to decide which one to begin with, especially since many things were happening simultaneously! May the Lord be praised!

 The delivery of the first load of books shipped to the mainland Ukraine from the Crimea was one of the month’s most exciting highlights. After many years of publishing, we have quite a supply of the books stored in the Crimea. We are sending them to Russia and to other countries of the former Soviet Union. Nevertheless, in current situation it is impossible to mail or ship them to mainland Ukraine across the confrontation line. We have reprinted some titles we need most as textbooks for Christian colleges and seminaries, but for some other titles this would be too expensive and unreasonable, especially for the full-color ones. Earlier, some volunteers were able to bring a few copies like the mighty men of David brought the water of the well of Bethlehem through the host of the Philistines, but this became too risky later on.

 Nevertheless, with the fraternal help of our faithful partners, we have got the opportunity to redeem the most necessary amount of the books now by shipping them to Moscow from Crimea and “importing” them later to Ukraine from there. The total amount of shipment is about three tons and its volume is about five cubic meters (see the pictures attached)! To reduce the risk, we split the volume into two shipments. After the first one had arrived successfully, we initiated the second one – it is on its way now! Praise the Lord! Please pray with us for the successful completion of the entire endeavor.

 About 750 kilograms (1,650 lbs) of the shipment was our personal library containing a great variety of best books on Apologetics, Creation Science, Exegetics, Homiletics, Christian Leadership, etc. which I had collected in almost 30 years of the ministry. With great joy we have decided to donate them all to the library of Ukrainian Evangelical Seminary. Thus, the books will be put to the best use for Kingdom’s sake (see the pictures attached)! Please join our prayers for the students who will have access to them now!

 It so happened that we had a very special guest – Phil Casey, the president of the Literature and Teaching Ministries − right on the day the first batch of books was delivered. A huge portion of 200+ publications made by our ministry through all these years were done with LATM’s sacrificial help. At this time, along with the projects planned earlier, LATM is helping us to reprint some books on mainland and start publishing in the Ukrainian language. The publications in Ukrainian are driven by the need to spread the message of the Kingdom more effectively. It was a very special blessing for us to watch the shipment from Crimea arrive while we were visiting together the warehouse with our mainland publications (see the pictures attached).

 Together with Phil and his wife Susan, we had an exciting trip to the Western Ukraine visiting our team “scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” by the war. At the city of Rivne we had a special meeting with the translators and editors evaluating 20 years of our great partnership, casting the vision and making plans for the future (see the picture attached). It was a huge encouragement for everyone as well as the evidence that nothing in this world can halt the work the Lord is doing through His faithful workers! Please pray for them to be strong in the troubles they face and to always rejoice in the Lord sharing that joy with many others!   

 Another very special event of the month was the international conference on Worldview Foundations and Scientific Evidences for Intelligent Design in Life and Universe that our ministry is a co-founder of. For four days the leading Christian intellectualswere discussing various approaches to using the latest developments of science, medicine, education, legislation, etc. to shift the post-communist world mentality toward solid bible-based worldview. All the sessions and seminars were videorecorded and streamed over the Internet. They are now available online and can be accessed by the people in remote and restricted areas. It is amazing how media multiplies and empowers our limited efforts! Truly, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops! Praise the Lord!

 It was a special blessing and encouragement for us to see a lot of our former students who are running their own ministries now or serving at the public offices making a real impact on the society (see the pictures attached). Please pray with us for this pleiad! I believe faithful servants like these who shall be able to teach others also are the most valuable outcome of our ministry! 

 Despite a conflict of schedules we had a chance to join a morning service of the families retreat at the town of Obuhov (see the pictures attached) focus on the Biblical foundations for the role of family in society. People should be set free from the communist mentality that the government is responsible for them, for their families and their children! God created humans and family long before any government came into existence. That is why the rights and responsibilities given to person and family by the Creator are not to be passed on to any political office. Governments should exist to serve people, as opposed to people slaving for their governments! This is one of the greatest challenges in people’s mentality we face, inherited from the communist ideology. Please pray for us to make clear the authority of the Scripture!

 The last but not least special blessing of the month was teaching the Bible-based Basics of Logics course at the University of Nations to the class of Western missionaries currently serving in Ukraine (see the pictures attached). This is a tiny mite we can give back to the thousands of ministries, missionaries, churches and individuals who have been sacrificing their time, efforts, money, resources, and even their lives through all these years to spread the light of the Good News in the darkness of atheism and communist ideology imposed on many generations in our part of the world 100 years ago! May the Lord bless all of you as abundantly as you are blessing for many!

 Please keep praying for our ministry, for our team, for our families, for God’s guidance and protection in everything we do. You are in our prayers as well.

 Yours in the love and grace of Christ Jesus

 Sergei

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Christian Center for Science and Apologetics

Ministering the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union.

 INTRODUCING the Truth to skeptics;

STRENGTHENING the saints in their confidence in the Truth;

EQUIPPING God’s people to proclaim God’s Word effectively.

 www.scienceandapologetics.org

 Our financial report is available on request.