A group representing evangelical Christians in Ukraine is urging House Speaker Mike Johnson to push for a vote to approve billions of dollars in aid to the war-torn country.
As lawmakers returned to Washington from a two-week break Monday, Johnson gave no word of any plans for a vote on President Joe Biden's supplemental request for $95.3 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific region, and for humanitarian relief. The Senate passed the measure in February.
"Speaker Johnson, the evangelical churches of Ukraine need your vote and help today," the Rev. Anatoliy Kozachok, acting chair of the Ukraine Council of Evangelical and Protestant churches and senior bishop of Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, wrote in a March 26 letter to Johnson, obtained by Newsmax.
"Russian invaders are destroying us," Kozachok wrote. "As evangelicals, we are being accused of working for the interests of the American government. Every evangelical Christian has become a target for the Russian FSB [Federal Security Service] on the occupied territories.
"The Orthodox Church of Russia recently adopted a document using pro-life rhetoric but endorsing [to] further take over all the lands of their liking. And the mentioned document adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church advocates atrocities, and further invasion, contrasting Russia and the 'rotten West' [to be understood as democracy]."
On Monday, Southern Baptist leaders wrote to Johnson, a member and former official of their denomination, urging him to support Ukraine, the Baptist Press reported. The letter was signed by Dan Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Richard Land, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and former commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
"Baptist organizations have been the largest contributors to relief in Ukraine since Russia's illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine," the letter stated. "The Southern Baptist Convention's Send Relief ministry has poured millions of dollars into helping Ukrainian refugees in the surrounding countries and continues to assist Baptists in Ukraine."
Kozachok wrote "we ask for your prayers and action on behalf of 8,000 evangelical churches in Ukraine."
"Without military help, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ will die," Kozachok wrote. "Yes, the Lord is our hope, but we need you to act. We ask you to vote without delay and approve a military and economic help package."
Newsmax reached out to Johnson's office for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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