Only the gospel of sanctification can transform Russia!
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May 21, 2007 |
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 ~Rev. Vladimir Osipov
(Senior Pastor, St. Petersburg Manmin Church, Russia; Doctors Degree Candidate, St. Petersburg Seminary)
Born in a small rural town of Russia in 1957 and being engrossed throughout much of my youth in films, I dreamed of spending my adulthood at sea. So I enrolled at the naval academy and, until the age of 35, traveled Russia's many rivers and did end up spending a great deal of my time and life at sea. As I realized I was unable to spend much time with my wife Yelena, I began contemplating the solitary life at sea as well as the meaning of life.
Accepting Christ while a naval officer, beginning the life as a pastor
Right about then, at the urging of my friend who asked me to learn together with him God's Word, I took advantage of a long vacation and enrolled at a Moscow seminary. There, I could understand the existence of God but I just could not believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. I tried so many things, including receiving prayer from a pastor, but I just could not believe.
"God, I've tried to believe as I have been told. But I simply cannot believe."
Then I heard a thunderous sound coming from within my heart.
"I am God the Almighty, Maker of all things in the universe. Why should it be difficult for Me to conceive a life in the womb of a woman?"
After hearing this voice, I could now believe in God in earnest. When I began reading the Bible, I shed tears as I could now fathom the parts I had been previously unable to understand.
That very night, I vowed to end my life as a naval officer and begin it anew as a pastor carrying the gospel. October 1992, a month after completing the courses at the seminary, I founded a church and in 1994, I was ordained as pastor at the Sovereign Grace denomination.
Heartbroken by Russia's spiritual stagnation
When Russia opened itself up to the rest of the world in the early 1990s, there seemed to be a revival in Russia as mission organizations from the United States, Canada, Germany, Finland, and Korea came to spread the gospel and people in greater numbers sought to attend church. People of Russia were taught that through their faith in Jesus, they could be healed of their diseases, receive blessings, and experience prosperity in every affair of their lives.
However, as people who failed to receive blessings despite leading their lives in Christ began returning to the world, stagnation developed in Russia's Christianity. I tried to figure out why this was happening but could not get a clear-cut answer. I hoped to carry out my share of God's work by founding new churches and running a drug rehabilitation center to save the dying souls. Without a teacher to solve such spiritual stagnation, I was carrying out my ministry purely in my own might.
 Understanding secrets to revival through Dr. Jaerock Lee
Upon learning that the Association of Christian Churches in Russia (ACCR) was hosting "The 2003 Russia Miracle Healing Festival with Dr. Jaerock Lee" in St. Petersburg, I enlisted as an Organizing Committee member and assisted with the proceedings of the Festival, which was broadcast to more than 150 countries via 12 satellites and on free-to-air television channels, and immediately created an unprecedented sensation in the history of Christianity in Russia. There, the blind opened their eyes, the mute began to speak, and the crippled stood up to walk and run.
After receiving teeming grace from the Festival, I kept in touch with Manmin Joong-ang Church and was able to visit it for the first time in October 2006 for its 24th anniversary celebration. That visit was a turning point in my life as I discovered the cause and the solution to Russia's spiritual stagnation through messages of Dr. Jaerock Lee. The solutions were found in leading sanctified lives in Christ and fiery prayer.
The images of Manmin members praying for 3 hours every evening and Dr. Jaerock Lee's passionate love for God and his relentless resolve to carry out the Great Commission of the Lord and spread the gospel to the ends of the earth were exactly the type of Christian I had long sought.
Resolved to transform Russia with the gospel of sanctification
 My church eventually became a Manmin branch church and at the end of March 2007, I visited Korea again, this time to receive prayer from Dr. Jaerock Lee and be commissioned as Manmin's missionary to my motherland.
I believe that the only way to transform Russia is found in transforming each individual with the gospel of sanctification.
I seek to further spread the gospel of sanctification by establishing a Manmin International Seminary (MIS) branch in Russia, embarking on mission trips throughout Russia and to former republics in the Soviet Union of Belarus, Dagestan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, nurturing and training disciples, and launching a Manmin Mission Center.
I give all thanks and glory to the living God!
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