In 1991 Philip Yancey – author of several books and editor of the “Christianity Today” magazine – together with 18 other American Christian broadcasters and communicators was invited by the Supreme Soviet leadership of the USSR to visit Russia. This was right after the fall of communism when in Russia and the whole region enormous, both amazing and confusing, change took place.
Yancey describes how this Christian delegation met with officials in the Kremlin palace and with Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, with KGB leaders, with monks at an orthodox monastery, with journalists from the State newspaper, with a former imprisoned believer and with professors at a prestigious Moscow school of social science.
In the conversations with all these different groups it soon became very clear that Russia was not primarily hungry for political and economical change but for a moral change. All these leaders and influential people where seeking for a stable, reliable foundation in order to rebuild their crumbling nation and they were hoping to find it in Christianity.
When I read the book I had to remind myself several times that this is not fiction, but a report about real events that happened not too long ago in our region. From the Bible I know that God is Lord over everything – over history, nations and governments. But I personally so often lose perspective and forget this powerful reality. This little book is a great reminder that our nations belong to God and that the Biblical principles still work and can bring healing, stability and hope for our nations.
Highly encouraging and recommendable!
-Heidi Kovacs
YWAM Budapest, Hungary