Hidden Wounds: Sexual Abuse In Slavic Families

I was born into a God-fearing Ukrainian family. I was taught to love God, serve people, and preach Jesus Christ without compromise. The core biblical values have been deeply enrooted inside of my heart from a very young age. I love Slavic people, not only because I am one, but especially because we have fiery passion to serve God and spread the kingdom of God to all nations. However, I have been deeply concerned at how sexual abuse victims are being covered up in many Russian-speaking churches or otherwise also known as Slavic churches. (This happens in all countries but from the personal stories that I have interviewed we will keep the perspective as such).
Each culture has things to be greatly proud of and things to hang heads in shame. This is one where we need to reevaluate our perspectives to see if we love reputation more than the healing process of the Holy Spirit. 

Is reputation more valuable than inner healing from sexual abuse? Many would answer with a resounding, no! So why do we keep sweeping these “dirty” sins under the church or ministry name and letting women, men, young and old continue to live in suppressed pain and depression? Just to shed a little light, there are many sexual abuse victims in the Slavic community who are in desperate need of healing. Yet this subject is seldom given the proper light and even worse given almost no chance of understanding how to get healed. So why is it so rare to hear a word spoken on healing sexual wounds in the church? Can I be brutally honest with you friend?; We love the name recognitions and reputations of not only our church names but our family names.

It is hard to read about our hidden problems and even harder to write about them. We as Spirit-filled believers and leaders need to understand that our ministry is not in our family name or in our church name but in the name of Jesus Christ. It is in the healing power of the Holy Spirit where liberty is born and souls are given a deep cleansing application that only the hand of God can purify. The platform of love, edification, and support must surround our friends who have become victims to this plague called sexual abuse in our generation. Most importantly, an opening and window of opportunity should be presented for the inner healing of God’s Spirit to start its process inside these souls. 

God wants to heal! We must break down the walls of prideful worship to exist and give the liberty of the Holy Spirit to flow into our ministries, churches, and families. We have lifted up our names yet have given hurting souls no direction that the power of the cross of Jesus Christ is still fully able and willing to remove the pain, hurt, shame, guilt, and frustration of what had happened in the past. God is a healer of the inner most parts of our souls. He wants us not only fully healed but empowered to do His will with great confidence and faith. 

3,000 Slavic Women Who Cried I would like to share a very emotional event that happened with a very close ministry friend of mine. He ministered a few years ago at a women’s conference in Kiev, Ukraine with an attendance close to 3,000 women. As he closed his final message and address the crowd, he was being tugged by the Holy Spirit to ask if any women in the conference would like healing from any form of sexual abuse that happened in their life to come to the alter for prayer. He was anticipating a small time of prayer ministry to occur but what happened next brought him to an emotional weeping at what he was witnessing. All 3,000 women were standing up out of their seats and coming forward to the front stage for prayer. All the aisles were being filled up quickly with all these 3,000 women crying and weeping for God to heal them from sexual abuse from their past. Many of these women were pastor’s wives, leaders, and workers in the kingdom of God. God hears the cry of his people! He wants to heal! God wants to heal! God wants to heal!
How long is long enough? Do we want people free in the power of the Holy Spirit or do we want to protect a prideful name?
I personally have counseled, prayed, and seen inner healings of victims from past sexual abuse. It is the most humbling experience to see a woman or man who was caught in hell’s pit of sexual torment and brought into the light of Jesus Christ to experience the love of God and find Holy Spirit healing. God still heals! God wants to heal! Let God heal you!
Our intersection must always be at the foot of the cross! That’s where healing flows like fresh pressed olive oil. That is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is most effective. When we can bring people to Jesus Christ and help them understand that their healing was paid by His precious blood miracles happen. I pray for the outpouring of God’s love to manifest its grace in your life. He is so good and so kind and so gentle! Jesus wants to heal! 

Challenge
If you have been sexually abused, don’t suppress the pain. It must be dealt with by the Holy Spirit. Find someone who can minister to you that you can fully trust. In the name of Jesus Christ don’t walk in shame, guilt, and condemnation anymore Jesus wants to still heal the past sexual abuse. He still loves YOU!
Leaders: Enough with our ministry names, church names, or family names. We feel if sexual abuse situations come out from within our ministries or churches that we will have bad reputations of being a “good pastor” or “a good minister” or “a good preacher” or “a good family”. It’s not about US! It never was. It is about the healing work of Jesus Christ!
(More Help: If you seek additional help concerning sexual abuse or have questions on getting freed you can feel free to contact me and we will try to find the best help for you.)