Does your faith need strengthening? Are you confused and wondering if Jesus Christ is really "The Way, the Truth, and the Life?" "Fight for Your Faith" is a blog filled with interesting and thought provoking articles to help you find the answers you are seeking. Jesus said, "Seek and ye shall find." In Jeremiah we read, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall seek for Me with all your heart." These articles and videos will help you in your search for the Truth.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Provações São Benéficas

Uma compilação

Se por um lado, “muitas são as aflições do justo,”[1] por outro é reconfortante saber que “todas as coisas contribuem juntamente par ao bem daqueles que amam o Senhor, daqueles que são chamados segundo o seu decreto”.[2] Na verdade, para conseguirmos superar nossas muitas provas, provações, dificuldades, e tentações, é de suma importância incluir em nossas vidas esta vital promessa em Romanos 8:28.

Se não passarmos os acontecimentos do nosso dia a dia pelo crivo de Romanos 8:28, se não observarmos constantemente nossos desapontamentos, mágoas, provas, doenças, adversidades, à luz de Romanos 8:28, sinto dizer que deixaremos de aprender muitas e valiosas lições que o Senhor quer nos ensinar. Além disso, deixaremos de sentir a paz resultante da confiança nessa preciosa promessa e princípio.

Seaprendermos a simples equação: "provações = bem," teremos uma vida mais rica, aprenderemos maiores lições, sentiremos paz, e será mais fácil reconhecer a mão do Senhor em tudo que nos acontece. Faz uma grande diferença quando encaramos um dilúvio de problemas, batalhas, e tribulações esperando pelo pior, ou se encaramos essas dificuldades como desafios procurando descobrir tudo de bem que o Senhor vai gerar por meio disso. —Maria Fontaine

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Deus frequentemente faz Suas melhores obras às ocultas. Ele não nos permite provações a esmo… Ele não permite batalhas aleatoriamente… Toda dificuldade foi desenhada por Deus para o nosso bem. Elas são o forno que Deus usa para nos moldar. Nós somos o barro, e Ele o grande oleiro.

O que Deus pode fazer de bem fora das nossas vistas? Seguem-se alguns dos milhares de resultados obtidos por Deus.



Ele nos faz depender dEle.

De fato, já tínhamos sobre nós a sentença de morte, para que não confiássemos em nós mesmos, mas em Deus, que ressuscita os mortos. —2 Coríntios 1:9 NVI

Batalhas e provações nos lembram da realidade de que dependemos desesperadamente de Deus. Não conseguimos agir separados de Deus. Não chegaremos ao Céu sem a graça do Deus que nos mantém e ressuscita. Deus nos deixar passar por dificuldades para reduzir nossa autoconfiança e aumentar nossa confiança nEle.



Ele gera perseverança.

Meus irmãos, considerem motivo de grande alegria o fato de passarem por diversas provações, pois vocês sabem que a prova da sua fé produz perseverança.—Tiago 1:2–3 NVI

Se não perseverarmos… seremos como uma semente que germina rapidamente mas não tem raiz. A nossa vida será sufocada pelos cuidados deste mundo. Deus quer que tenhamos uma fé constante e perseverante que não se deixa abalar facilmente pelas provações e dificuldades. As provações amadurecem a nossa fé e produzem perseverança.



Ele nos capacita a consolarmos a outros.

Bendito seja o Deus e Pai de nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, Pai das misericórdias e Deus de toda consolação, que nos consola em todas as nossas tribulações, para que, com a consolação que recebemos de Deus, possamos consolar os que estão passando por tribulações. —2 Coríntios ­­­1:3–4 NVI

Quando passamos por dificuldades, sentimos o consolo de Deus de uma maneira ímpar. E conforme esse consolo permeia nossas vidas, também nos prepara para consolarmos a outros. Se não recebêssemos esse consolo de Deus, não teríamos condições de consolar outros. As dificuldades nos capacitam a consolar a outros.—Stephen Altrogge[3]

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Nenhum de nós vai conseguir amadurecer sem o calor das batalhas. Assim como o sicômoro tem que ser machucado para amadurecer, e a espiga precisa ser debulhada para chegarmos ao grão de milho, e assim como o trigo não produz farinha se não passar pelo moinho, também nós não teremos muita utilidade sem antes sermos afligidos. Por que haveríamos de querer perder esses benefícios? Teremos que esperar com paciência, dizendo: “Seja feita a vontade do Senhor”. Ele esperou para nos dar a graça; então devemos esperar para Lhe dar a glória. —Charles Spurgeon

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Confiarei mesmo que minhas embarcações
Retornem do mar devastadas;
Confiarei na infalibilidade de Deus,
Sabendo que o mal redundará em bem;
Ainda que desolado com a perda material,
Clamarei com o coração sempre leal:
“Em Ti eu confio!”

Confiarei mesmo que grande o pesar,
E avassalado por problemas;
Confiarei nas metas que desejo alcançar,
Impelido pela angústia e dor;
Ainda que tremendo com o peso da cruz,
Eu sei que as perdas trazem luz,
E vitória ainda maior!
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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Nenhum médico jamais receitou um remédio com tanta exatidão como Deus dosa cada provação. Ele nunca erra na fórmula. —Henry Ward Beecher

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Dificuldades, provas, quebrantamentos, mágoas, sofrimento e desapontamentos são causados por muitas coisas e ocorrem por diferentes razões. Mas não importa a sua origem, você pode ficar tranquilo na certeza de que todas as coisas contribuem juntamente para o bem daqueles que Me amam. Como você Me ama, posso transformar essas batalhas em bênçãos.

Se pudesse ver como Eu vejo — além de hoje, além deste momento e do sofrimento — entenderia melhor por que as batalhas equivalem a bênçãos. Entenderia melhor por que esta perda, esta dor no seu coração, este período de grande tentação e provação com o tempo se transformará em bênção.

O segredo para entender, a chave para entender, está na questão “tempo”. Se tiver fé que Eu atuo na sua vida e que todas as coisas contribuem juntamente para o bem, com o tempo, aquilo no qual acredita por fé, passará a entender e ver, e se tornará realidade em sua vida. —Jesus, falando em profecia

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O meu bem mais valioso é um colete salva-vidas que uso para navegar no mar da vida. Se, ao contemplar o horizonte, percebo nuvens escuras, coloco o meu colete bem firme e fico pronta para enfrentar a implacável tormenta.

Minha pequena embarcação é açoitada pelas fortes ondas que ameaçam encharcar tudo e me afogar. Mas sei que com o meu salva-vidas vou sobreviver. Na verdade, vou fazer bem mais do que isso. Vou me reerguer, talvez exausta e machucada, mas vitoriosa.

Às vezes as tempestades me pegam desprevenida, e a fúria das águas fazem meu barco emborcar, me lançando nas águas geladas. Engasgo, cuspo fora água, pego ar, mas me vejo presa num redemoinho. Quanto mais me esforço mais a água me prende.

Ali, sozinha, indefesa e sentindo-me derrotada, minha esperança só vai se reduzindo e fico aguardando o fim. Afundo mais uma vez e ouço uma Voz saindo da tormenta:

— Agarre o salva-vidas! É a sua única esperança.

Esforçando-me para ver no escuro, percebo algo flutuando e vejo que é o meu salva-vidas — sempre perto quando mais preciso dele. Eu o visto e ele me leva à superfície.

Envolta nas trevas, as ondas espumando me jogam para lá e para cá, ameaçando me afogar. A chuva cortante continua machucando meu rosto, mas estou à tona, confiando, sentindo-me segura com meu salva-vidas e esperando a tempestade amainar.

Quer saber o segredo do meu colete-salva-vidas? É tão simples que você talvez nem dê importância. É o versículo da Bíblia: “Sabemos que todas as coisas contribuem juntamente para o bem daqueles que amam a Deus”[4].

Todas as coisas — tempestades, a chuva e os ventos também — são para o nosso bem.

Um dia, de alguma maneira, vamos entender. —Stellaris Jade

Publicada no Âncora em outubro 2013. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.


[1] Salmo 34:19.

[2] Romanos 8:28.

[3] Trecho extraído http://blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/god-often-does-his-best-work-in-the-darkness-15992.

[4] Romanos 8:28.

Positive Statements for Fighting Negativity

By Maria Fontaine
Audio length: 7:06
Download Audio (6.5MB)

I’d like to share some faith-building statements, inspired by the Lord, that I pray will help bolster your faith when you’re battling negativity. There’s quite a bit of variety in these, but if there aren’t any that fit your situation to a T, hopefully they can serve as examples and help you to come up with faith boosters that will express the feelings on your heart and the battles that you face.

* Whether I feel capable and talented or not, I am determined to do my best. The Lord is the one who has made me, so the Lord is the one who will do it through me. I believe that faith is doing, not feeling, so I am going to do my best, by faith, regardless of how I feel.

* I made a mistake today, but I’m determined to grow and learn from it. I am not going to allow discouragement and condemnation to drag me down because of this mistake. I choose instead to praise You, Jesus, for this mistake, because through it I can learn greater lessons of humility. And now I’m going to get up and try again.

* I am making progress, because today I’m determining to fight, and today I refuse to quit.

* So what if I’m not perfect? I’m fighting for change and growth. As long as I am following Jesus and what He shows me through His Word, I can trust that I am moving forward and becoming the person the Lord wants me to be.

* I am going to praise Jesus today regardless of how I feel. I don’t care that I’m tired, worried, anxious, or discouraged over these many little things. Today, I want to feel happy, content, praiseful, cheerful, and positive. So I am going to fill my mind with good things, positive thoughts, and words of praise. I thank You, Jesus, for this day dedicated to praise!

* I may feel like a mess—I may even be a mess—but Jesus promised that there is always strength available to me. I claim that strength for today.

* I refuse to dwell negatively on myself. I’m going to look outward, toward others, toward other needs or needy situations, toward the lost souls who are desperately in need of Jesus. Today I am going to do something positive for someone I come in contact with. I’m going to do something today to make their day better and to make them happier.

* Jesus chose me. Jesus bought me. Jesus paid the highest price for me. I am worth it. I have been bought with the price of Jesus’ blood; that’s how precious He deems me. I am valuable to Jesus, and I am going to live this day to make Him proud of His investment.

* I will not compare my life negatively with others. Jesus would not withhold any good thing from me,1 so if there is something that I would like but it is not possible for me to have it, I can safely assume that it would not be good for me to have it.

* Even if I’m not the best at what I do, I can do my personal best in whatever I do. And I will do my personal best no matter how I feel about myself or my talents. Even if I don’t have any talents in certain areas, if the Lord is asking something of me, He’ll help me to accomplish it.

* No matter how I feel, I am beautiful. I am God’s creation, and He never says “Oops.” I’m beautiful, because He made me. I am going to be content in whatever state I’m in. I will be thankful for how He’s made me. I will be happy for the way He’s formed me. I want Him to know that no matter what, I love Him and will be continually praiseful.

* I am making progress in my spiritual life, and each day Jesus is taking me further. The Lord isn’t comparing me to others, so neither should I. I will be content with the way the Lord has made me, what experiences He’s trusted me to go through, and the spiritual depth and maturity He has given me. I will continue to love and serve Him to the best of my ability no matter how I feel about the progress of my spiritual life.

* The Lord has made me unique; He’s given me unique abilities, a unique mind, a unique personality, a unique flavor to add to this world. I will show Jesus that I am happy with how He’s created me, and I’m happy to be His creation by living the life He’s given me to live, wholeheartedly, contentedly, cheerfully, happily.

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A heart at peace gives life to the body.—Proverbs 14:302

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But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.—1 Timothy 6:6–73

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Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.—Psalm 103:1–24

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You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.—Isaiah 26:35

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Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.—Psalm 37:4–56

Originally published April 2006. Adapted and republished March 2014.
Read by Irene Quiti Vera.


1 Psalm 34:10.

2 NIV.

3 KJV.

4 KJV.

5 ESV.

6 ESV.

Russian troops take over Ukraine’s Crimea region

By Tim Sullivan and Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press, March 1, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP)—Russian troops took over Crimea as the parliament in Moscow gave President Vladimir Putin a green light Saturday to use the military to protect Russian interests in Ukraine. The newly installed government in Kiev was powerless to react to the action by Russian troops based in the strategic region and more flown in, aided by pro-Russian Ukrainian groups.

Putin sought and quickly got his parliament’s approval to use its military to protect Russia’s interests across Ukraine. But while sometimes-violent pro-Russian protests broke out Saturday in a number of Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine, Moscow’s immediate focus appeared to be Crimea.

Tensions increased when Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, made a late night announcement that he had ordered the country’s armed forces to be at full readiness because of the threat of “potential aggression.”

Speaking live on Ukrainian TV, Turchynov he had also ordered stepped up security at nuclear power plants, airports and other strategic infrastructure.

Ignoring President Barack Obama’s warning Friday that “there will be costs” if Russia intervenes militarily, Putin sharply raised the stakes in the conflict over Ukraine’s future evoking memories of Cold War brinkmanship.

After Russia’s parliament approved Putin’s motion, U.S. officials held a high-level meeting at the White House to review Russia’s military moves in Ukraine. The defense secretary, CIA director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were among those in attendance. The U.N. Security Council held a closed-door meeting for the second consecutive day to discuss the current situation in Ukraine.

“Russia and the West find themselves on the brink of a confrontation far worse than in 2008 over Georgia,” Dmitri Trenin, the director of Carnegie Moscow Center, said in a commentary posted on its website. In Georgia, the Russian troops quickly routed the Georgian military after they tried to regain control over the separatist province of South Ossetia that has close ties with Moscow.

The latest moves followed days of bloodless turmoil on the peninsula, the scene of centuries of wars and seen by Moscow as a crown jewel of the Russian and Soviet empires. What began Thursday with the early-morning takeover of the regional parliament building by mysterious troops continued Saturday afternoon as dozens of those soldiers—almost certainly Russian—moved into the streets around the parliamentary complex and seized control of regional airports, amid street protests by pro-Russian Crimeans calling for Moscow’s protection from the new government in Kiev.

Obama on Friday called on Russia to respect the independence and territory of Ukraine and not try to take advantage of its neighbor’s political upheaval.

He said such action by Russia would represent a “profound interference” in matters he said should be decided by the Ukrainian people. He has not said, however, how the U.S. could pressure Moscow to step back from its intervention.

Ukraine’s population of 46 million is divided in loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the European Union while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support. Crimea, a semi-autonomous region that Russia gave to Ukraine in the 1950s, is mainly Russian-speaking.

Crimea only became part of Ukraine in 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred jurisdiction from Russia, a move that was a mere formality when both Ukraine and Russia were part of the Soviet Union. The Soviet breakup in 1991 meant Crimea landed in an independent Ukraine.

Russia put pressure on Ukraine from another direction when a spokesman for state gas company Gazprom said that Ukraine owed $1.59 billion in overdue bills for imported gas. Sergei Kuprianov said in a statement carried by Russian news wires that the gas arrears would endanger a recent discount granted by Russia.

The Russian payment demand and loss of the discount would accelerate Ukraine’s financial crisis. The country is almost broke and seeking emergency credit from the International Monetary Fund.

The tensions barely touched everyday life in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea, or anywhere on the peninsula. Children played on swings a few blocks from the parliament building, and most of the city’s stores were open. Couples walked hand-in-hand through parks. Crimea’s airports—civilian and military—were closed to air traffic, but trains and cars were moving to and from the Ukrainian mainland.

“Things are normal,” said Olga Saldovskaia, who was walking through town with her son and grandson. While she doesn’t like having gunmen in the streets, like many people in this overwhelmingly ethnic Russian city, she also found their presence reassuring.

“If anyone tries to hurt the people here, they will protect us,” said Saldovskaia. She said she sympathized with the pro-democracy protesters in Kiev, but also worries that turmoil in the capital could lead to violence against ethnic Russians. She added, though, that she definitely doesn’t want Crimea to become part of Russia.

“Russia is not just all flowers and candy,” she said.

At heart of Ukraine drama, a tale of two countries

By Tim Sullivan and Dusan Stojanovic, AP, Mar 1, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP)—In the afternoon, when the shift ends at the coal mine and the miners walk out into the cold and past the old concrete statue of Lenin, they often head to a tiny corner store a block away. There they’ll stand in the parking lot for a while, drinking little bottles of the vodka called “Truthful.”

They know what is happening in Kiev, the capital city that can seem so far away. They’ve seen pictures of the democracy protesters shot dead in Kiev’s streets, and the TV reports on the mansions of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the one-time thug and pro-Russia politician who grew up in this far-eastern city. They watched from afar this week as protesters, many from western Ukraine, helped form the country’s new government.

They don’t like it at all.

“I have always felt that we are so different,” said a miner who gave his name only as Nikolai, a thickset 35-year-old who went from high school directly into the mines. People speak Russian across most of Ukraine’s east, and worship in onion-domed Orthodox churches. They were shaped by 70 years of Soviet rule and its celebration of socialist industrialization, and by the Russian empire before that. To them, the government is now being run by outsiders who care little for this side of the country. “If they try to pressure us, our region will revolt.”

His words are echoed—except for a few key words—in a conversation 800 miles (1,250 kilometers) to the west, in a medieval cobblestoned city, Ukrainian-speaking residents and houses displaying the EU flag and its yellow stars.

“We are simply different people from those living in the East,” said Ludmila Petrova, a university student in Lviv, a hotbed of support for Ukraine’s pro-democracy forces and opposition to Yanukovych. “They don’t know what the West is. We have a different history. Maybe it is better that we separate once and for all.”

If Ukraine looks neatly delineated on maps, its often-bloody history is a tangle of invasions and occupations, peoples and beliefs. It is a place that has been struggling for centuries to define itself. And now it finds itself so sharply divided—between support for Russia on one side of the country and loyalty to the West on the other—that it often seems more like two countries than one.

On opposite sides of Ukraine, two cities, each of about 1 million people, illustrate that divide.

The eastern city of Donetsk can seem like a cliche of post-Soviet grimness, a place of Stalinist-era apartment blocks, tin-roofed shacks and loyalty to Russia. In the west, Lviv has emerged as a center for Ukrainian artists and writers, a huge draw for European tourists and a city desperate for closer ties to the West.

To the fiercest pessimists, as well as to extremists on both sides, the cities are already in different nations.

“The country is already separated,” said Ivan Reyko, a 30-year-old factory worker from Donetsk who joined a recent demonstration of about 100 people in the city’s main plaza, Lenin Square, where a 30-foot-tall statue of the Soviet hero gazes proudly toward the horizon. “There is no way back to a united Ukraine.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been long dreaming of pulling Ukraine, a sprawling country of 46 million seen as the ancient cradle of Slavic civilization, closer to Moscow.

In Lviv, though, a bookish, soft-spoken mayor is dreaming of something else.

Andriy Sadovyi has been a powerful symbol of resistance to Yanukovych, as well as regional powerbroker who cut ties to the central government even before the president was forced from power. Sadovyi, who insists he only wants regional autonomy in Ukraine, has called repeatedly for unity.

“Ukraine is strong only if it is united,” he said a couple days after Yanukovych fled the presidential compound. “Any division would destroy Ukraine.”

Modern Lviv sees itself at the core of Ukrainian hopes for a more open, democratic government. But the area, once part of neighboring Poland and long a wealthy agricultural region, also saw the rise of a series of nationalist movements in the 1930s. When Germany invaded Ukraine during World War II, some residents cooperated with the Nazi occupiers, who were seen as liberators from the hated Soviets. Tens of thousands of the region’s Jews disappeared into Nazi camps or were gunned down in their homes by death squads.

When the war ended, Moscow exacted its revenge: nationalist fighters who fought Red Army soldiers were purged and sent to prison gulags, along with Roman Catholic and nationalist leaders who could challenge Russian authority. The city was transformed from a cosmopolitan center into a decaying backwater. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, political groups from Lviv were key in fighting for Ukraine’s independence.

For two decades, anti-Russian feelings quietly burned across the region, along with anger at Yanukovych.

Even today, thousands of people in western Ukraine, a handful even wearing Nazi-themed uniforms, hold rallies every year honoring men who fought Stalin’s forces during World War II.

Fierce historical loyalties helped drive the support that has poured from Lviv into Kiev and the capital’s Independence Square, epicenter of the anti-Yanukovych protests, which began late last year. For months, Lviv residents have donated food, medicine and clothing for the protesters, and many have joined them. The city’s churches serve as warehouses for aid for the demonstrators, who continue to occupy the square, fearing the return of the former president or his supporters.

Over the months, western Ukraine became virtually independent as Yanukovych focused his attention on the Kiev uprising. Then, a few days ahead of Yanukovych’s disappearance, central rule all but disappeared in Lviv, when masked youths stormed the city’s police headquarters, looted weapons and set fire to a number of municipal buildings. With policemen nowhere to be seen, order in the city fell to unarmed “voluntary citizen patrols” in bright yellow vests.

A handful of regional leaders also began talking about changing the country’s laws, so that Russian is no longer recognized as an official language. This terrifies some in Donetsk, which is in the heart of a region where Russian has been the main language for generations.

Alexander Kravtsov, a top official in Donetsk and member of Yanukovych’s political party, says he believes most people in the region still believe in a united Ukraine, but warned that the number who identify with Russia will grow significantly if they feel threatened.

“People are scared of what has happened in Kiev,” he said.

Talk to the pro-Russia protesters at Donetsk’s Lenin Square, and the list of those blamed for the changes in Kiev ranges from Ukrainian fascists to Jews to Masons to the U.S. government.

Out by the mines entrance, though, few have the energy to protest.

Donetsk was built directly over a maze of mines, and the city’s working-class neighborhoods sit beside mountains of reddish slag that can rise 10 stories high. They are places where stray dogs are blackened by the dust that fills the air and where you can never escape the oily smell of coal. The little houses, with their leaning plaster walls and central chimneys, look like something out of the 19th century. They are filled with people who say they can barely feed their families between paychecks, and who are far too frightened to give their names to a reporter.

They may not like what is going on in Kiev, but most are simply focused on keeping their jobs.

“I don’t go to political meetings, I don’t go to protests,” said a somber, fifty-something miner with exhausted eyes and bad teeth. The idea of war, or of a divided country, frightens him more than anything else.

“All of us are Ukrainian. All of us,” he said. “We are one people.”

Crimea’s Leader Moves to Cement Control Over Region

By David M. Herszenhorn and Andrew Higgins, NY Times, March 1, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine—The newly installed, pro-Russia prime minister of Crimea declared on Saturday that he had sole control over the military and the police in the disputed peninsula and he appealed to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for help in safeguarding the region.

Even as the prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, issued his public appeal for assistance from Moscow, it was clear that Russian military forces had already effectively seized control of the Crimean capital, Simferopol, and by extension much of the peninsula, making any official declaration of Russia’s role or actions little more than a formality.

The region’s two main airports were closed, with civilian flights canceled, and were guarded by heavily armed men in military uniforms. Similar forces surrounded the regional Parliament building and the rest of the government complex in downtown Simferopol, as well as numerous other strategic locations, including communication hubs and a main bus station.

At street level, there were no indications on Saturday afternoon that the newly appointed government in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, had remaining authority or control over Crimea, an autonomous republic on the Black Sea.

On Friday, officials in Kiev accused Russian armed forces of invading Crimea and violating Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and President Obama pointedly warned Russia against military intervention. On Saturday, officials in Kiev reiterated their objections but, for the moment, seemed otherwise powerless.

There was no immediate new comment from Washington, where officials seem to have very limited options in responding to Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

In his statement Saturday, Mr. Aksyonov, said, “Understanding my responsibility for the life and safety of citizens, I appeal to the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, for assistance in providing peace and tranquillity on the territory of the autonomous Republic of Crimea.”

“As chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” Mr. Aksyonov said, “I make the decision to temporarily put the armed units and groups of the Interior Ministry, the Security Service, the armed forces, the Emergency Situations Ministry, the fleet, the Tax Service, and the border guards under my direct control. All commanders shall follow only my orders and instructions”

He added, “I ask anyone who disagrees to leave the service.”

The Kremlin, in a statement released to Russian news services, said it “will not ignore” Mr. Aksyonov’s request for assistance.

And separately, in what appeared to reflect coordinated Russian responses after the Crimean appeals for help, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that unidentified gunmen “directed from Kiev” had tried to seize control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs building in Simferopol.

The Foreign Ministry said that “vigilante groups” trying to seize the building had been repelled but that the attack “confirms the desire of prominent political circles in Kiev to destabilize the situation in the peninsula.” Local officials said an exchange of gunfire had occurred.

As tensions flared in Crimea, an outpouring of pro-Russia sentiment was underway in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, where several thousand people attended a rally to denounce the new interim government in Kiev, local news agencies reported. Many demonstrators expressed support for annexing eastern Ukraine to Russia and demanded a public referendum.

The protesters removed the Ukrainian flag from the top of the regional government administration building and replaced it with the Russian flag.

There were unconfirmed reports, meanwhile, of additional Russian military forces arriving in the Crimea, including Russian ships landing in Fedosiya, in eastern Crimea. On Friday, American officials said that they had confirmed reports of Russian troop deployments in Crimea, including special forces and specially trained marine and airborne units. Ilyushin transport planes were said to have ferried in troops and there were reports of Russian helicopter flights.

The Russian military activity prompted Mr. Obama’s warning to the Kremlin about respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Crimea, while part of Ukraine, has enjoyed a large degree of autonomy under an agreement with the federal government in Kiev since shortly after Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union. The strategically important peninsula, which has been the subject of military disputes for centuries, has strong historic, linguistic and cultural ties to Russia. The population of roughly two million is predominantly Russian, followed by a large number of Ukrainians.

The consolidation of control by Mr. Aksyonov and the appeal for help from Moscow further inflamed tensions in the dispute over Crimea and deepened the crisis confronting Ukraine’s interim government in Kiev. Officials in Crimea on Saturday announced that a public referendum on Crimean independence would be moved to March 30, instead of being held along with the Ukrainian presidential elections on May 25,

Officials here in Kiev reacted angrily to Saturday’s developments and reiterated their demands that Russia pull back its forces and confine them to the military installations in Crimea, including the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol that Russia has long leased from Ukraine.

“The presence of Russian troops in Crimea now is unacceptable,” Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk said on Saturday in Kiev. Decrying the Russian deployment as a “provocation,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said, “We call on the government of the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its troops, return to the place of deployment and stop provoking civil and military confrontation in Ukraine.”

On Friday, heavily armed men took up positions at Crimea’s two main airports, and officials in Kiev said soldiers had also seized control of the regional Parliament building and the headquarters of the regional government in Simferopol. On Saturday, the men patrolled the perimeter of the Parliament building. There were no signs of panic in Simferopol, where the police blocked off a central street but traffic was otherwise moving normally; many shops were open amid general calm.

The United States and its Western allies have rushed to recognize the legitimacy of the new interim government in Kiev, though numerous questions remain about the votes in the national Parliament to remove Ukraine’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, from power.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, there were signs of concern among business leaders over an effort by several European countries, including Austria and Switzerland, to freeze Mr. Yanukovych’s assets as well as those of his family members and other prominent associates.

Systems Capital Management Group, the company controlled by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, issued a statement saying that its operations were not affected by the freezing of assets. In its statement, the company said that it “operates in full compliance with the law and beyond politics” and that the freezing of assets “have not affected our operations in any way.”

Mr. Akhmetov is long known as a close ally of Mr. Yanukovych and his company’s statement suggested that he wanted to distance himself from the ex-president. On Friday, Mr. Yanukovych held a news conference at a shopping mall in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where he insisted that he was still the legitimate president of Ukraine and planned to return.

The new government in Kiev has said that Mr. Yanukovych and other top officials are now wanted on charges of mass murder in connection with the deaths of more than 80 people in clashes between antigovernment protesters and the authorities late last month.

American officials did not directly confirm a series of public statements by senior Ukrainian officials, including the acting president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, that Russian troops were being deployed to Crimea in violation of the two countries’ agreements there.

In his statement on Friday, though, Mr. Obama cited “reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,” and said, “Any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would be deeply destabilizing.”

“There will be costs,” Mr. Obama said in a hastily arranged statement from the White House.

The warning came after a day in which military analysts struggled to understand a series of unusual events in Crimea, including a mobilization of armored personnel carriers with Russian markings on the roads of Simferopol and the presence of the masked gunmen at Crimea’s airports.

American officials said they believed that unusual helicopter movements over Crimea were evidence that a military intervention was underway, but cautioned that they did not know the scale of the operation or the Russians’ motives.

Russia on Friday denied that it had encroached on Ukrainian territory or would do so. After an emergency meeting on Ukraine at the United Nations Security Council, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, said that any troop movements were in line with arrangements that allow it to station soldiers in the area.

“We have an agreement with Ukraine on the presence of the Russian Black Sea fleet and we operate under this agreement,” Mr. Churkin said.

Pope Francis: Scandal kills, and Jesus’ teachings are Christianity, not communism

David Gibson, Religion News Service, Feb 27, 2014

Also: the pope, in his homily at Mass on Thursday morning, says that all the Christian apologetics in the world won’t convince an unbeliever to believe—but living a genuine Christian life can.

In other words, practice what you preach. What a concept!

As he did in decrying the weapons industry earlier this week, Francis used as his first reference point another powerful selection from the New Testament Letter of James, in which the apostle blasts the wealthy, warning them of a terrible judgment to come for exploiting their workers:

You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Says Francis:
“The Lord is very strong here. If someone hears this they might think: ‘But a communist said this!’ No, no, the apostle James said this! It is the word of the Lord. It is about inconsistency. When a Christian is not consistent and lives with this inconsistency they create a scandal. And Christians who do not live consistent Christian lives make a scandal.”

Francis then pointed to the Gospel reading from Mark and the well-known passage in which Jesus prophesies all manner of punishments for those lead others astray:

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.”

“Inconsistent Christians do so much evil,” the pope said. “Scandal kills.” He continued:

“If you find yourself in front of an atheist … and he tells you that he doesn’t believe in God, you can read him an entire library of books that say they prove that God exists, and you can even prove that God exists, and he will not have faith.”

“But if before this atheist you give the witness of a consistent Christian life, something will begin to work in his heart.”

What Changed the Vikings?

By Jerry Newcombe, Christian Post, February 28, 2014

I saw an advertisement recently for a series on the History Channel on the Vikings. A viewer’s guide blurb reads, “Chronicling the medieval adventures of a band of Norsemen.”

“Adventures”? I guess that’s one way to put it. They went around killing people, raping women, stealing, and destroying things.

For two centuries the Vikings were the scourge of Europe. But what changed them? Who changed them? It’s really one of the great stories in human history.

Norway, my wife’s native land—we were married there, in fact—was once dominated by Vikings. These days, Norway has a reputation as a country committed to peace. The Nobel Peace Prize is given in Norway.

But it didn’t used to be that way … as you can see, I’m sure, in this TV series on the Vikings.

Sometime in the 800s or so, Norwegian Vikings would plant their crops in the spring and then board ships they made to invade all over Europe. They would return with loot, just in time for harvest.

The Christians in the pillaged lands would pray, “God, save us from the Norsemen [Vikings].” Religious institutions (e.g., monasteries) in particular were a favorite target of the Vikings because they often housed treasures and were often poorly defended.

The Vikings pillaged, raped, and killed men, women, and even children. They would systematically put to the torch what was left.

Dr. Kennedy and I noted in the book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? “Their fighting men, berserkers, were so fierce in battle that our word berserk comes from them.” (They used drug-inducing mushrooms in battle.)

But when one of their leaders, “St.” Olaf (995-1030), claimed to become a follower of Jesus, things began to change. I put the “saint” in quotes because by Christian standards, he wasn’t always too saintly.

He forced his people to worship Christ instead of their gods, like Odin (from whence we have the word Wednesday, i.e., “Odin’s dag” in Norwegian) or Thor (Thursday). As Thomas Jefferson rightly said, “the holy author of our religion” doesn’t force Himself on anyone. The gospel should never be imposed by force. But despite this rough start, Christianity began to take root.

Over time, the Vikings were changed. As Dr. Kennedy and I note, “…over time, many of the Scandinavians became true Christians, and so the Vikings stopped their terrible raids. Virtually every Norwegian, Dane, Swede, and even many British [because of the Viking raids] are descendants of these formerly fierce and warlike people.”

The gospel had such an effect that by 1020 A.D., Norway passed laws, reflecting these new values. Norwegian historian Sverre Steen writes about that law that “old practices became illegal, such as blood sacrifice, black magic, the ‘setting out’ of infants, slavery and polygamy.”

I recently preached a funeral for a Norwegian/American. The coffin of the deceased had an American flag on one part and a Norwegian flag on the other.

I noted to the assembled mourners how the Norwegian flag, and all the flags of the Scandinavian countries, are based on the cross of Jesus. Only the colors are different. The Danish flag (a white cross with a red background) is among the oldest national flags in the world.

Norway has sent out more Christian missionaries per capita than any other country until recent years. Norway is now one of the most humanitarian countries when it comes to helping the world’s poor. In short, Norway—a formerly warlike, barbarian nation—now has a good reputation as a peace-loving country.

My wife Kirsti told me, “It was Christianity that changed the Vikings. No doubt about it. Before Christianity came, things like humility, kindness, gentleness were considered a female weakness, instead of as virtues.” The Vikings are a trophy of the gospel of Jesus.

Take a Walk, Sure, but Don’t Call It a Break

by Dan Pallotta, HBR, February 27, 2014

Every weekday morning, I take a three-and-a-half mile walk around my neighborhood, in pretty much whatever weather my New England town throws at me. I split an apple and give half to each of the horses at the corner of Cross Street. The sounds of their chomps and slurps fill me with vicarious happiness.

When I was a kid I walked to school every day with John Flaherty, Doug Casey, and Rollie Graham. At the end of the day, after debate practice, Bill Bailey, Paul Salamanca, and I would walk home. We never stopped talking for a minute, and we could have used another hour each day to say all that was on our minds.

Part of the reason I created the Breast Cancer 3-Days, a charity walk, back in 1998, was to offer women with breast cancer and their supporters the luxury of having three days to converse, to daydream, and to imagine—without any of the aggravation of day-to-day life intruding.

But we’re wrong to think of walking only as a way to calm the mind, a source of exercise, or as a leisurely luxury. When it comes to work, walking can dramatically increase productivity. In a very real sense, walking can be work, and work can be done while walking. In fact, some of the most important work you may ever do can be done walking.

Last year I gave the closing talk at the 2013 TED Conference. The talk has been viewed nearly three million times and is now one of the 100 most-viewed TED talks of all time. I rehearsed the talk entirely on icy-cold morning walks over the course of about two months last January and February. Far from a luxury, I dreaded those walks, because my rehearsing was hard work. The productivity of that hour was so dense—it was mentally exhausting. Had I stayed home, chained to my desk, where most of us are taught that real serious work happens, the work would have been easier—but far less productive. I’d have gone online every few minutes to check a favorite news site. Grabbed a chocolate chip cookie or a glass of water. Checked my e-mail. Walking affords no such distractions. It’s just you and the work.

A 2013 study by cognitive psychologist Lorenza Colzato from Leiden University found that people who go for a walk or ride a bike four times a week are able to think more creatively than people who lead a sedentary life. The British Journal of Sports Medicine found that those benefits are independent of mood. Sunlight also boosts seratonin levels, which can improve your outlook.

These findings are absolutely true for me. The first mile of my walk is just a racket of competing voices of judgment and to-do lists. But after about two miles, no matter how low my mood may have been at the outset, those voices settle down.

Henry David Thoreau said famously, “Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” The endorphin increase that comes with climbing hills makes the ideation that happens almost predictable. There are particular spots on my walks at which the ideas begin popping into my head, as if dropping from a magic tree on the side of the road there. Many refinements in essential phrases or visuals for my TED talk came to me at that spot.

But it’s work. The ideas don’t come unless I’ve engaged with the issue at hand. If I had U2 blaring in my ears, which would be a lot easier, they’d stay buried or just out of reach.

Last year my company, Advertising for Humanity, was up against a final deadline for a big branding assignment for a major client, and after months of work the idea just wasn’t gelling. On a morning walk it came to me. The new campaign has been a huge success. Our creative team did a walk together a few months back for another major assignment. The road seemed to be far more effective than a whiteboard for distilling the problem down to its essence. The clearing we created led to yet another big idea that has been a phenomenal success.

Walking is great for professional heart-to-heart talks. When I was running a large business in Los Angeles, I would often take employees on walks down Sunset Boulevard to talk things out. Biographer Walter Isaacson noted that walking was Steve Jobs’s preferred way to have a serious conversation. It’s not a break. It’s a change of scenery, but it’s work. The walking just makes it more productive work. The movement makes the conversation less stiff, more authentic, more responsible, even.

So, when you really need to get something done, get away from your computer and your conference room, and go for a long walk. It’s not a luxury. It’s work.

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