With Russian propaganda painting America and the West as morally inferior, citizens of the former Soviet Union nation would probably be surprised to know that HIV prevalence in their country is almost double that of the United States.
Reports on HIV in the United States reveal that, compared to heterosexuals, the AIDS infection rate is almost 50 times higher among homosexuals. So how is it that Russia, who recently passed legislation banning, among other things, the distribution of LGBT propaganda to children, has almost 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS (ranked #12 in the world according to the CIA World Factbook)? Well, while AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease, it's not the only cause of infection. In Russia, one of the primary causes of infection is by dirty needles shared by heroin addicts.
Recently, we blogged about the fact that applying the Golden Rule is simply not enough to right the ship in the former Soviet Union. And icons of the Russian Orthodox church are not enough, either. Salvation from sin in Christ alone has the power to change not only a thieving and covetous heart, but the hearts of the sexually immoral, of drug abusers, of sinners like me, and sinners like you.
Not only do immoral and unbiblical actions greatly increase the risk of a person contracting horrible diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, it increases the risk for innocent bystanders as well. Like Olga Moroz, wife of pastor Ruslan Moroz in Far East Russia, who is slowly recovering from a tuberculosis infection so severe it carved a hole in one of her lungs.
Unofficial statistics in parts of Far East Russia put tuberculosis infection rates as high as 1 in 3. Many of those who contract the disease are alcoholics and the downtrodden, whose already compromised immune systems provide greater opportunities for TB bacteria to gain a foothold. And these just happen to be the people Pastor Moroz, his family, and his church minister to on a daily basis.
Please pray for the students and graduates of SRS and their churches. Pray that God will deliver them from the evils of contagious diseases that are so prevalent in the former Soviet Union, so that they can minister to those who desperately need to hear some Good News.
And finally, as you are able, please support these men and their field director, Rev. Blake Purcell, as they labor with joy in a difficult land.
Thank you and God bless,
David Shormann, PhD
Secretary, SRS
Unofficial statistics in parts of Far East Russia put tuberculosis infection rates as high as 1 in 3. Many of those who contract the disease are alcoholics and the downtrodden, whose already compromised immune systems provide greater opportunities for TB bacteria to gain a foothold. And these just happen to be the people Pastor Moroz, his family, and his church minister to on a daily basis.
Please pray for the students and graduates of SRS and their churches. Pray that God will deliver them from the evils of contagious diseases that are so prevalent in the former Soviet Union, so that they can minister to those who desperately need to hear some Good News.
And finally, as you are able, please support these men and their field director, Rev. Blake Purcell, as they labor with joy in a difficult land.
Thank you and God bless,
David Shormann, PhD
Secretary, SRS
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