December 10, 2025 Show with Mykola Leliovskyi & Ron Jones on “Updates from a Ukranian Christian & Advancements in the Spread of the Gospel”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

George Duffield, 19th century gospel minister George Norcross, and sports legend

Jim Thorpe. It's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnson. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth, who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Wednesday on this 10th day of December 2025.

I'm thrilled to have both a returning guest and a first -time co -host with me today on the program.

First of all, we have for the third time on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Mykola Leliovsky, who is professor of biblical theology and hermeneutics at Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary, pastor of Lviv Central Baptist Church in Lviv, Ukraine, and founder and director of Journey Christian Publishing.

Today, he will be addressing updates from a Ukrainian Christian on advancements in the spread of the gospel in that war -torn country.

It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Mykola Leliovsky.

Thank you so much. It's an honor and a privilege to be with you again. And I understand that congratulations are in order because of the birth of your son.

And that took place, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, on November 29th. And if you could please tell us the name of this little boy.

Yes, that is correct. He goes by DJ, which stands for Arthur Jack.

And nothing exotic about that at all, but a great name. And you've got to tell my listeners why you named him specifically

Jack. Why was that in his name? I mentioned earlier that it was after Jack Bauer, but all the cool

American action heroes are named Jack. Jack Bauer, Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher. Well, we are all praising

God here in the States who know you, that you are still with us after what's going on in Ukraine as far as the

Russian invasion of Ukraine. And we'll be picking up on that later on during the main part of our program.

But first of all, let our listeners know something about the

Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary. Now, I don't know if that's the same seminary where you were previously teaching under a different name or if it's an entirely different school.

It's a different school. So a lot has gone on in almost three years since we last spoke on the show.

I've moved town. I've gotten married. And as you mentioned, our child was born.

And before, I used to serve the Lord at Grace Bible Seminary in Kiev, Ukraine.

But since I've moved, it's a different school. It's with the biggest conservative evangelical denomination in Ukraine, the

Baptist denomination here. So I served there as a professor and dean of graduate and online studies.

It's a blessing to serve the Lord with my gifts and to impact the lives of students. Amen. Now tell us something about the church where you are now pastoring,

Lviv Central Baptist Church. Yes. So as we moved into this town,

I really wasn't familiar with many churches here. But this church is close by to our place.

And they welcomed us with open arms and been able to build good relationships with people there.

And actually, they asked me to join the pastoral team not too long ago. So blessing to be a part of what

God is doing there as well. Praise God. And last but not least, tell us about Journey Christian Publishing.

Yes. So that is also something that was started after we've talked last time.

So because of the war, there's been a shift in Ukraine from Russian language resources and books towards the

Ukrainian language. And with some encouragement from some friends and actually your listeners that I got to meet after we've talked last.

Wow. Yeah, decided to start a publishing house and like a media resource ministry to flood the market, so to speak, with good,

God -honoring, solid, reformed literature and resources. Well, praise

God. Now, are these primarily reprints of older works from history that are being republished in Ukraine or the

Ukrainian language? Or are they new works by you and other contemporary authors or a combination?

I guess you would say a combination. We're trying to do books that have not been published previously in Ukrainian language or in Russian language for that matter.

Because even though Russian language is not popular, I mean, people still understand it and would use it if they would find it useful.

So we strive to provide a new wave of resources, introduce them to new theologians, new pastors, new authors, but some old ones as well.

So it's a good mix, I think. Great. Well, I'm looking forward to our discussion today.

I'm also thrilled to introduce to my audience a first -time co -host with me.

His name is Ron Jones. I met Ron months ago. Perhaps he can even be more precise on exactly when we met.

It might have been over a year ago at the local Christian Businessmen's Connection Wednesday gatherings at Fay's Country Kitchen here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

And I really began to quickly like this brother and admire him and respect him.

And I thought it would be perfect for him to be a co -host today, especially since he has experience as a missionary in Ukraine.

Ron Jones is an American businessman and missionary to Ukraine, where he moved with his wife and children in 2018 and established

Business Lab Ukraine, but evacuated with his family in 2022, just three weeks before the full -scale invasion by Russia began.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you for the very first time to Iron Trip and Zion Radio, Ron Jones.

Thank you very much. I've been looking forward to joining you today. And yeah, we've known each other now for probably a little more than a year, year and a half, maybe two years.

But good to have just good Christian brothers and fellowship that we do on Wednesdays.

And when you told me about Mikola joining you on this podcast, my ears perked up because I love

Ukraine. I love our brothers and sisters there. And so I'm happy to join you today and happy to serve as your helper and co -host.

And we have a tradition here on Iron Trip and Zion Radio whenever we have a first -time guest or co -host in your case, we have that guest or co -host give a summary of their salvation testimony.

And that would include any kind of religious atmosphere in which you were raised and the kinds of providential circumstances our sovereign

Lord raised up in your life that drew you to himself and saved you. So let's hear a summary of your story.

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I am a blessed man that God has always been near and dear to my heart.

I was born and raised here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, born into a

Christian family and was raised all my life in a loving Christian home.

And so God really kept me from a lot of dangers, a lot of bad roads that I could have went down.

But his preserving hand was just guiding me along the way. I will say, you know, at some point,

I think around 13 years old, I remember one Sunday night at church, the pastor making that call.

And I really began to recognize the fact that I'm a great sinner and I need a

Savior. And so I made that dedication at 13. And of course, through life and as I've grown up through the years, there's been different challenges.

And I really began to recognize, really in my college years, in my early 20s, a point at which no longer could my beliefs be based just upon what my parents thought or what they taught me.

But I had to know that I know that I know what I believe and why

I believe it. So during those college years, God really took me through some journeys of deep investigation into Scripture and different things to really understand fully the salvation that he gave me.

So, yeah, it's been great, a great blessing, a great heritage to have that God has kept me and he has blessed my family and blessed all of our journey since then.

And so I can do nothing but give him grace. Amen. Now, why among all the countries and nations on the planet

Earth did you have a burden on your heart for Ukraine that led you to the mission field there back in 2018?

Well, you know, shortly after turning 13 years old,

I remember praying in our church. It was in the 80s, and we would have missionaries come and we'd hear stories of the

Communist Soviet Union and how they persecuted Christians. And I remember my church praying,

Dear God, if you want me to be a missionary, I'll serve you. But please do not send me to the

USSR. They're killing Christians there. Whatever you do, don't send me there.

Of course, you know, you're not supposed to pray a message like you're not supposed to make a request like that because God always has his way in the end.

And I guess it was what really sparked my interest was in 1991 when

I was in college, I was able to take a trip to the former

USSR literally six months before the Soviet Union collapsed.

So it was in the summer of 91. And we were in mostly just Russia at that point, but it was it was just a part of the

USSR at that time. And I fell in love with the Slavic culture and the

Slavic people. And little did I know, but that journey, that that trip in 91 kind of set a trajectory for my life to always have a heart.

And a love for those people. And so there's a lot of a lot of years between there.

But up until the point then in 2018, where we actually had the opportunity to go and serve there full time,

I did make several trips to Ukraine starting around 2005 or 2006.

As God opened doors, we would go over there and serve on short term basis.

And then eventually in 2018, we made the full time commitment. And you launched a business while there to use as a vehicle to evangelize the

Ukrainian people in addition to serving them with a business. Yeah, yeah.

Well, it wasn't so much a business, but it was a marketplace ministry. We called it Business Lab Ukraina, Business Lab Ukraine.

And it was to our main vision and mission was to help business people become better Christians and to develop

Christians into godly business people. So we worked from both ends.

Those that are existing in the business world, we minister to them to bring the light of the gospel. And those that were mostly the youth of the church that were passionate about doing something entrepreneurial to teach them how to do business, how to run companies, but according to biblical principles.

Now, tell us about this new ministry that you are currently working with,

Bible to School. Yes, God has opened the door since coming back in 2022.

It was a difficult transition to leave the country that I love.

And so for a year or two, we served as providing a lot of relief and support to ministries inside Ukraine.

So we raised a lot of funds over here. This year, I accepted a position and began working at an organization called

Bible to School. And our vision and what we do is we teach the

Bible to public school students during the school day.

Which kind of surprises a lot of people, because if you know the American culture, we think that that's not even possible to talk about religious things during the day.

But there is a pathway that we've found to that, and we use something called fellow release time.

And we are able to get the children released to us for an hour a week. And so we hold these

Bible classes across the nation. We're in four different states right now. We have over 3 ,000 students that are enrolled in our classes.

And God has been blessing that we're growing and we're wanting to serve more and more kids to teach the public school students the

Bible, but during the school day. Now, I believe that the parents must be giving their consent to this.

How do they know how to connect the Bible to school to get their own children involved in this?

Right. So what we typically, we will have a member that comes to us and says, hey,

I want to bring this Bible to school program to my school, to my school district. And we work alongside them and help them develop their team of volunteers to be able to host the

Bible to school classes at their own schools. The caveat that we're able to do this through the federal release time is we have to do off school sites.

So we have to take the children to a neighboring church or a community center.

We have to, of course, not use any tax funds. We don't use any tax money.

And third, we have to get parental permission. But here's the neatest thing,

Chris, that I love about this ministry. Of the 3000 plus students that are coming to us, 52 % are from or unchurched.

They don't go to church on Sunday. They are not taught the Bible in their homes. Yet these parents, they're like, hey, we know that we need to get spiritual impact into our kids.

And they allow us to take, they give their permission, we take their kids. And it's a great unreached, an unreached mission field for us here to get these children who are not going to Sunday school, who are not hearing the

Bible. But we get to do it during the school day. So God's God's led me to Bible to school.

I'm loving what I'm doing. And we'd love to to see see more and more people involved with it.

Well, if anybody listening wants to learn more about Bible to school, go to Bible, the number to school dot com.

That's Bible, the number to school dot com. And God willing, we'll be repeating that towards the end of the program.

Well, Micola, as you have said, it's been three years since you have been on Iron Trepans Iron Radio.

And I was wondering if you could not only remind us about some things that have already occurred that we discussed during our last two interviews, but also, obviously, we want some updates.

And so perhaps you could bring us back to right prior to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine and tell us something about how

Russians and Ukrainians were getting along. In fact, our mutual friend,

Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries, I know, was going to both

Russia and Ukraine teaching. And there were students who were

Russian, I believe, even in Ukraine, sitting at the feet of Dr.

White's teaching. But you pick it up where we left off, then bring it to the point of the invasion and bring us forward to our current present day.

Yeah, so I've mentioned previously that there was a time where Ukrainian and Russian got along just fine.

Basically referred to each other as brotherly nations. You could travel to Russia from Ukraine or from Russia to Ukraine without an international passport.

So I've taken advantage of that and traveled to Russia several times to be involved in ministry there.

And we did have plenty of students from neighboring regions of Russia in Ukraine at our schools.

And overall, I think it just seemed like the situation was pretty stable and we are enjoying relative peace.

And things were just getting better after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which brought the Great Depression into the former

Soviet Union states. But a slow recovery, of course, not without problems, but it led to a pretty stable, peaceful coexistence.

But then, you know, the events of political events like the revolution or in Ukraine, where the people did not support the president who changed.

There was a referendum and the people wanted to kind of move towards the

European Union and pursue more of Western values. But apparently he was very pro -Russian and so there's a lot of demonstrations and things like that.

And Vladimir Putin took advantage of that in 2014, 2015 and annexed

Crimea and began a kind of guerrilla warfare in the eastern part of Ukraine with two cities, two areas proclaiming independence from Ukraine.

And then there was a red flag, but apparently

Ukrainians didn't take it very seriously. And 10 years later, you know, it was a full -scale invasion.

I think I mentioned last time that there were rumors of it because, you know, they were amassing troops on the border of Ukraine.

And for many, it was just really hard to believe that that was going to happen because that made absolutely no sense for anyone.

Anything that Vladimir Putin has said since makes also no sense for what his purpose is, what his goal is.

He claimed that he's trying to denazify Ukraine and protect the rights of the

Russian -speaking citizens here. But the sad part is that, you know, the eastern part of Ukraine, the southern part of Ukraine has generally been very warm towards Russia and very friendly.

And those are the areas that have seen just tremendous devastation and many, many great cities have been flattened, you know, and just people have suffered so much.

And those were the people who, if anything, would be kind of encouraging

Ukraine to have an amicable, peaceful relationship, coexistence with Russia. Now, why did that occur there then?

Well, because those are the neighboring territories. And so, in my opinion, this is just my opinion and speculation,

Vladimir Putin was greatly misled or just fooled by his intelligence officers or whoever his advisors were.

And it basically seems like they told him that if you invade

Ukraine right now, they will let you waltz right into Kiev and welcome you as a liberator and a new regime.

And Russia would be supported by most people, just like it was in Crimea, because he took Crimea without firing a shot.

Of course, you know, they had to create a phony referendum and pretend like, you know, that was the will of the people.

But at least at that point, there was no Ukraine didn't really resist and kind of took it very quickly and without much resistance.

And so I think that was his idea to just do this blitzkrieg attack and seize control of the capital.

But as it turned out, you know, that definitely wasn't what they were able to accomplish.

And Ukraine was able to withstand the initial attack.

And now this war has been going on for years with absolutely no foreseeable off -ramp in the future.

At this point, there's really not a clear path to peace.

And so unfortunately, you know, in this time that the war has been going on, there's been 10 million people leaving

Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people dying, soldiers fighting each other.

There's civilian deaths every day because of the attacks with drones and missile strikes.

And so it's just a really, really sad situation. It really shows kind of the ugliness of sin and the worst manifestation of war and people hating each other for absolutely no reason and fighting with each other.

So until Putin's imperialistic desires are satisfied,

I guess we're going to have to put up with what's going on. Now, I know that you are not a mind reader and only

Christ truly knows the hearts and minds of men. But is there any kind of sense that you have been able to get whether the

Russian people are really reluctantly doing this because they have to?

Or when you said that there's hatred, mutual hatred towards each other over nothing, how much of that is based in really genuinely believed ideology and so on?

Well, that's a good question. I don't think that I'm qualified to speak authoritatively on it.

I mean, I hear that there are surveys done in Russia from just the population, whether they're in support of war.

And we hear numbers of upwards of 70 percent that they're supporting this war.

But at the same time, I know that the propaganda machine has been just brainwashing people's minds, just like in Soviet times for the past 15 or 20 years.

I mean, if you think of it, there are people in Russia who are about 25 years old who haven't known anyone else in power but Vladimir Putin.

Since he's come to power in 1999, he's been the sole ruler of Russia.

And, you know, just his authoritarian tendencies have been getting worse and worse and worse.

Ten years ago or so, he passed these laws prohibiting evangelical Christians of evangelizing people on the streets or inviting people to church without a permit from the government.

And it's just been kind of initially, you know, in the late 2000s, he's kind of been posing as a figure who wants to bring

Russia into the West. And he was open minded and, you know, kind of progressive.

But now he's just looks like an old school KGB style dictator. Go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead. Well, I was just curious, have things just progressively increased in the hostilities and the violence?

Or has there been a lull, that kind of a thing? So when everything happened, you know,

I think people were just still recovering from initial shock. And I remember I've seen footage where Russian soldiers and tanks and armored transport are going down Ukrainian roads and they get lost.

And Ukrainian citizens are joking around like, oh, you know, do you need me to help you find your way? And so people weren't,

Ukrainian people were not prepared to just, you know, answer with hatred what was going on because they just didn't believe that.

It just didn't make sense, honestly, like for Russia to come into Ukraine and start a war.

It just didn't make any sense because what was the goals? Okay, so he's going to occupy entire

Ukraine, the largest country in continental Europe. And what is he going to do with the 40 million population?

And so it didn't make sense. And so people were just kind of trying to use humor to,

I guess, deal with that. But then as the attacks increased and just the brutality of the war really was on full display with just all the atrocities perpetrated by the military and attacks on civilian objects, whether intentional or unintentional, still caused tremendous damage to hospitals and schools and other things like that.

So now a typical Ukrainian, you know, is not a good Ukrainian unless he hates

Putin and prays every night for, you know, for him to die. And so it pretty much goes for just the average

Russian, you know, has become kind of... When I was a child, you know, I was still from that generation that remembered

World War II. And so we had this kind of common collective enemy in our minds, which was the

Nazis, you know, that have occupied Ukraine for over three years and sent many people to, you know, concentration camps and things like that.

And so now I think in our collective memory for many, many years, you know, unfortunately, I believe it is very unfortunate that, you know, the

Russian people will be this vicious enemy that was kind of the epitome of evil that, you know, brought so much suffering and pain to our land.

Now, before we go to our first commercial break, I wanted to know, have you lost any close friends, loved ones, family members?

I personally did not lose anyone who is related to me or who

I've known very well. But there are, you know, students that I've known who have passed away and there's six men serving from our church right now, our local church in the military.

God has preserved their lives for this point. But my fellow pastors and other churches have lost members and people in their families have also lost members.

OK, when we return, we're going to have Ron Jones, my co -host, chime in with his own questions.

And by the way, Ron, you can feel free at any point during our interview to chime in with a question.

You don't have to wait for me to announce that you're going to ask a question. But we'll have you begin with questions when we return from our first commercial break.

If anybody would like to join us with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

Give us your first name, at least your city and state of residence, your country of residence, and only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with my cola. Loliosky and an update on the spread of the gospel in Ukraine, in that war -torn country.

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The Lord bless you in the knowledge of himself. Welcome back. If you just tuned us in, this is

Chris Arnzen of Iron Trap and Zion Radio, and our guest today is

Mykola Lalioski, a Reformed Baptist pastor in Ukraine, and he's giving us updates on the spread of the gospel in Ukraine amidst the suffering at the hands of the invading

Russians. And we would love to hear from you, and what you have to ask at ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.

Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. Only remain anonymous if your question involves personal and private matter.

And Ron Jones, my co -host, if you'd like to ask Mykola some questions.

Absolutely. Well, Mykola, I really appreciate what you had to say, and it echoes some of the similar feelings that we had living there.

I remember, and I'll just share for instance or two with you, when we were ordered to evacuate by our missions organization,

I remember driving across the city, across Kiev, as we were heading to the airport to evacuate, and my wife just looked at me, and she's like, there's just no way that Russia's coming, that life had been continuing on.

Just like you said, Mykola, Ukrainians never really thought that Russia was going to invade.

They just said, hey, you know, Russia's always been, we call it saber -rattling, has always been kind of just throwing threats, and this is just nothing new.

Obviously, shortly after we left, it became real.

And one other observation, and I just share this with our listeners, because I think it's interesting in how today's technology and instant communication and news affects.

I remember literally arriving back here in Pennsylvania, and once the invasion began,

I had three children that lived with us here in Kiev. They had many friends, and I remember, you know, they continued to maintain connection with all their

Ukrainian friends, and we were driving across town. In fact,

I hate to say it, but we were at the drive -through at the fast food restaurant, and my daughter is

FaceTiming, my 12 -year -old daughter is FaceTiming her friend, in Kiev, and all of a sudden

I heard her friend come on. She's like, oh, wait, wait, okay, I got to go, I got to go, because the sirens just went off, and we've got to go turn off all the lights, and we got to go hide in the bathtub.

And the reality of that moment has stuck in my mind.

Just the tragedy that has all of a sudden just beset my brothers and sisters in Ukraine, it was just devastating.

And even for my young children to be able to process that as they, unfortunately, we all saw the pictures and witnessed all of the atrocities that we've seen over the years, it's been terrible.

But, Mykola, you said something that was really interesting, and I would like to get your thought on it, because this is some of the things

I'm hearing from my contacts within Ukraine. The evangelical community, although it is,

I guess we call Ukraine the Bible Belt, it's still not very large in Ukraine.

And that evangelical community always seemed to have good relationships with the evangelical communities inside Russia.

And there was some back and forth of both the Bible school students and professors and that type of interaction.

However, I have heard, and maybe you can speak to this, I've heard that obviously since the war, that that's kind of now kind of all broken down, and there's really been a separation between the two evangelical churches.

Do you see that, or have you observed that? Yeah, there definitely has been a separation, whereas before it was very, very closely tied.

And there was many, many Ukrainian missionaries serving in Russia. The Christian population of Russia is very small.

You referred to Ukraine as the Bible Belt, and I've heard that there was, before the war started, there were more evangelical

Christians in Ukraine and Romania together than in Europe and Russia together.

Wow. And so right now, we have 4 % evangelical

Christians in Ukraine, that's from about 30 million population. So the community is small, but it has grown.

Last time, there was a census 10 years ago, the percentage was only 2 % evangelical.

I'm not sure how solid all the 4 % are, but even though before the break we talked about a lot of devastation and hurt brought on by this war, there has been a lot,

God has been doing a lot, just wonderful testimonies of people coming to the

Lord, searching for Christ as their hope and comfort amidst immense tragedy.

God is still on His throne, and He uses all of these things for His own glory and for the good of those who love

Him. So that is very encouraging to see. And the evangelical church in Ukraine has really played a very large role in providing relief and support to, even though it's, like you said, 4%.

From what my understanding is, and maybe you can tell me, but they are providing a lot of the humanitarian support to those communities that were suffering.

Yeah, the church, I feel like the church has really been united in its response to serve the communities.

Our local church here in Lviv, you know, Lviv is kind of the last city in Ukraine before you cross the border.

And so there's a flood of millions of people that went through and, you know, there's thousands and thousands of people living at the church in the first days of the war.

And the church responded very well with providing meals and accommodations. But since then, you know, we have many ministries in the community to internally displace people from the

East who have moved here. My wife and I are involved in a children's club that we do every other

Saturday for children from, you know, underprivileged families, broken homes and people who are living.

The Ukrainian government has built this modular neighborhood, basically container homes for people from the

East. And so we either go there or have them come to the church. And the women have a special program and the children have a special program.

We have a ministry to widows and mothers who have lost their husbands and sons fighting in the war.

There's a big, big famous cemetery not too far away from where we live in Lviv. And it's constantly expanding because we have a special area honoring the soldiers who are fighting in this war.

And it's just basically doubled in size, not quadrupled since the war started.

And we have ladies from our church going to the cemetery and, you know, crying with the people there who are mourning their lost ones and loved ones.

And they're hearing their stories and they're offering hope that is in Christ. And some of those people, some of those women have come to the church.

And so it's, I mean, it requires a tremendous, tremendous amount of the gift of mercy and compassion because I've been in some of those situations where, you know, you're with a family that's grieving and you're trying to, you know, provide some kind of relief, maybe just, you know, physical or material.

But at the same time, you know, you want to point them to Christ. And the temptation is, of course, to say, oh, you know, don't worry.

You know, you'll be in heaven with your father or your husband. But, you know, we know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone.

And so you don't want to give that false hope. You don't want to dishonor the gospel in that way.

Of course, you know, trying to comfort the person. But it is a very uncomfortable situation.

I understand why so many people have that temptation. But we have some just wonderful people in our church who share the gospel without compromise, but also love and cry and surround them with just the kindness and the goodness of the

Lord. Well, we do have a very timely question that is a perfect segue to what you were just talking about.

We have Seth in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. With so many lives lost during the course of the conflict, do you find that the church is playing a substantial role in God -centered grief counseling?

So, like I said, the church, I feel like there are challenges, of course.

I feel like many things have—the crisis always reveals the weak spots.

And so the church in Ukraine is not flawless and perfect. But I do feel like it has taken the opportunity to use what's going on, to share the gospel and to point people to the hope and comfort that only

Christ can bring. Of course, you know, there's many different views on counseling in the

Church of the Ukraine. There's, you know, the full -on Christian psychology. There's some integrational ministries.

And there's also just, you know, biblical counseling approaches. But, you know, there's been a lot of books translated.

Some of them are good. Some of them are not so good. So I feel like there's a huge interest in, you know, trauma, grief, crisis counseling.

There's seminars happening all the time. We've hosted a bunch of seminars ourselves with different pastors, theologians, medical professionals.

But at the same time, I still, you know, for me personally, when I go out and I see a young man without a leg or without an arm walking, you know, either with his family or by himself,

I just, you know, it's very hard to bring yourself to even come alongside him.

Because in my mind, I'm like, well, why is, you know, it should be me, you know? I mean, he's looking at me and I'm a young, healthy man.

And, you know, his loss, he's lost his health. And in Ukraine, you know, disability and all of that is not like it is in the

States. So it's a very dire situation. But at the same time, in our church, we do have a group of men who have a ministry in the rehabilitation center here in Lviv.

And they go and visit those men weekly. We have a ministry that even goes to the prisons where the

Russian soldiers, prisoners of war are kept. And the gospel is preaching there. Praise God.

You know, amen, amen. And it's just amazing to see, you know, how

God has gifted and empowered his people to respond in ways that, you know, could only be explained by spirit empowering.

And so I would say the church is doing its best, not always perfectly, but doing its best to provide, to point people to God, to point people to a personal relationship with Him.

Okay, we've got Franco in Madrid, New Mexico. Franco asks, have you or any of your colleagues in ministry in Ukraine remained in contact with Russian Christians that you knew who were being educated by the same schools you were mentioning earlier?

So I might get into trouble for saying this. Because many of my friends just are so put off by what's happening in Russia and how the church there, if not some denominations in the evangelical church are supporting the war, promoting the war.

Other denominations, I guess, are just staying silent. And so me personally,

I found out about this war from a brother in Russia, from a dear friend who called me at 6 a .m.

And he said, is it true? And I was like, is what true? You know, it's 6 a .m. He goes, our president just addressed the nation live on TV.

And, you know, Russia is ahead. You know, they're a couple of hours ahead in time zones.

And so he said, is it true? Are there bombings and are there rockets flying into Ukraine right now? And I kind of stopped talking to him and I opened my window and I heard sirens and explosions.

And so I found out that the war started from a friend in Russia. And my friends there have been praying for us regularly.

They've been supporting us in any way that they can. And in my opinion, there's still many solid, biblical, faithful Christians in Russia who are appalled and, you know, just full of indignation about what's going on.

But honestly, I don't really see anything that they can do. I know that some people in Ukraine want them to march down Red Square and bang, you know, break down the doors of the

Kremlin and demand for Putin to end this war. But honestly, if the situation was reversed,

I'm not sure what the Ukrainian Christians would do in that situation.

OK, we've got Althea in the Bronx, New York. And Althea asks,

I have heard on American television that Ukraine has outlawed or to some level persecuted certain branches of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Is this true? Now, I do not recognize the Eastern Orthodox Church as genuine

Christianity, but I still believe in the human right to believe in any religion one chooses to.

Yeah, that's a great question. And unfortunately, there's been so much confusion in the

American media about what's going on over here. And it's really sad that things in America has been so politicized and so polarized that it was just sad to see that it seemed like whatever the

Democrats say, the Republicans have to say the opposite or vice versa. And this whole situation with the war in Ukraine is a prime example of that.

But in regards to the question about the Orthodox Church, so to give you just a little bit of context, after the collapse of the

Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state and created its own independent

Ukrainian Orthodox Church. But the majority of people still remain loyal to the

Eastern Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. And so I'm not sure how well -versed you are in how the

Orthodox Churches are run. Not at all. Other than the guests I've had who are experts on it, but I don't remember everything they said.

Yeah, so it's a little different from the Roman Catholic Church, which is more centralized. The Eastern Orthodox Churches kind of have their own independent churches all over the world, but the largest one was in Russia.

And so almost a third of the

Russian Orthodox Churches were in Ukraine. But as Putin consolidated power over Russia, he turned the

Orthodox Church into another branch of government. And so it was very, very clear when the war started that the

Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was being used against Ukraine.

And so for purposes of security, not religious intolerance or any other purposes, the

Ukrainian government has prohibited the activities of the

Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Because I think to anyone who is an impartial observer of what's been going on with the

Russian Orthodox Church in Russia in the last 15 or 20 years, they could say that it's not a religious organization, it's more of a political organization.

And before that, in 2018, Ukraine actually received permission from the

Orthodox community. He is referred to as the Patriarch of the Universe. He was in Constantinople in Greece.

So he stole my title then. So the

Patriarch of the Universe has given the Ukrainian church official recognition and there was a united Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

And so there's a lot of politics with the traditional big religions and things like that.

But I do agree that the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, whether the

Russian Orthodox Church or the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, does not preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, when you said that doesn't mean... Go ahead. No, you can continue. I was going to add this one caveat that it doesn't mean that there are no born again people in the

Orthodox Church. Because I believe, you know, there's a Bible there, there's a chance that they will hear sin and Christ and those things.

But that would be despite what the church preaches and promotes, not because of it.

Now, when you said earlier, and I can't remember the exact phrasing you used, but you said that the

Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been prohibited from taking part in their activities or something like that.

What exactly do you mean by that? So, basically, they were disillusioned.

Is that the right word? They're disbanned. They no longer can function.

Oh, they can't even gather for worshiping? Yes. Hmm. But that's the...

Just to clarify. This is Ron Jones, by the way, folks. Yeah, it gets a little complicated for Americans and Westerners to kind of figure this out.

And, Nikola, you're right. It mixes a lot of politics things. The Orthodox Church is alive and functioning in Ukraine.

But it is functioning under the Ukrainian Orthodox umbrella. And Nikola, correct me if I'm wrong, which was established in 2019.

So, again, correct me if I'm wrong, but up until 2019, most of the

Orthodox Church in Ukraine was the Russian patriarchy. Ukraine was then introduced.

A lot of them then started to switch their allegiance to the Ukrainian patriarchy, which would be obvious because it is in Ukraine.

And so the Orthodox Church still functions, but it's that politicized part of it, the

Russian Orthodox, which is what has been limited. Is he correct in that?

Yes, yes, that is correct. So just to illustrate, imagine that the United States is at war with Great Britain and the

Anglican Church is in the United States. And the head of the Anglican Church is the king of England. And the church has to serve the interests of the king.

And that goes against the country trying to survive this onslaught.

And so because basically the reason why is, you know, our intelligence services have provided evidence and shown demonstrated clear evidence that the

Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine was undermining the defensive effort.

They were spying, they were just aiding and abetting all the infiltrations and activities going on in Ukraine.

And the Russian Orthodox Church has been persecuting evangelical Christians in annexed and occupied territories.

And so it's just for the sake of security and for the sake of common sense, the activities of this foreign adversarial entity were stopped.

But like Ron said, Ukraine still is a majority

Orthodox country and the Orthodox faith is not prohibited. And all the

Orthodox churches that existed under the Russian patriarchy are still open and existing under now the

Ukrainian patriarchy. And, you know, the theology is not different, the politics is very different.

And so have most of the parishioners of the

Russian Orthodox Church, who in essence have become homeless, have they now begun attending the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church? Yes. And according to the polls, they did a poll like a year into the war, which institution has lost the most respect in the eyes of the nation, and it has been the

Orthodox Church. Because even the parishioners attending the Russian Orthodox Churches, they recognize that, you know, the church that they were attending was a political organization, if not a military criminal organization that was perpetrating crimes against the country.

OK, we have to go to our... Ron, we can pick up where we left off and I'll remember to go directly to you.

We have to go to our midway break. And once again, if anybody has a question of your own, submit it to ChrisArnzen at gmail .com.

ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence. We do have some folks waiting for their questions to be asked and answered, and we will get to as many of you as we can.

Don't go away. We're going to be right back after these messages. Hello, my name is Anthony Eugenio, and I'm one of the pastors at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Corum, New York, and also the host of the

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It's such a blessing to hear from Iron Sharpens Iron radio listeners from all over the world.

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Truly grateful for many things that the

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So go to royaldiadem .com today and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Before I return to my guests,

Mykola Laliovsky and Ron Jones, and our discussion giving you updates on the spread of the gospel in Ukraine amidst the violence and death and misery in that war -torn country, we do have some important reminders for you.

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Go to IronSharpensIronRadio .com, click Support, then click Click to Donate Now. Last but not least, if you are not a member of a biblically faithful,

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and put, I need a church in a subject line. That's also the email address to send in a question for Mykola Leliovsky.

As we continue our conversation on Ukraine, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. Now, Ron Jones, you had a question for our guest

Mykola. Well, actually, just to follow up from the viewer, the email that you received, the question that was asked to Mykola was about the

Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church being kind of restricted. I have seen so many different, maybe call them conspiracies or alerts about things going on in Ukraine that we hear in the

West that simply just aren't true. And I would say just to caution our folks here in the

States, always be careful the news you hear because there's always variations on that.

I mean, I remember getting back from Ukraine and the big story was, well, you know, this

Russia is coming in because there's such a big Nazification. There's Nazis all throughout

Ukraine. I've lived and breathed there for many, many years in Ukraine.

I never met one Nazi. So there's always these conspiracies that people want to create.

And just always search out the truth on that. That would be my encouragement. Wasn't there, though,

Mykola, some kind of an element, even if it's rather small, just like it is in the

United States, of some neo -Nazi groups in Ukraine that might have even been fighting in the war against the

Russians? Well, there is a far -right group,

I guess. I'm not sure how Nazi they are, but there are a far -right group called

Azov. And far -right are usually kind of very patriotic and nationalistic.

So they've been heavily involved in the fighting. But to hear that Ukraine in general,

I would say, tends to be very liberal because of the influence of the United States. The culture is still very traditional and community -oriented and kind of family values.

But at the same time, the rates of divorce and abortions are just off the charts.

But in terms of religious freedom, in terms of just general politics, it's nothing out of the ordinary,

I would say. And not anything like the Russian propaganda is putting out there.

And unfortunately, Tucker Carlson. Yes, I love Tucker Carlson in many ways, but I do know that he has been off base on a number of things.

We have a listener. Let's see.

I was just looking at the question. We have Latrice in Cabot, Arkansas.

Latrice asks, How may we benefit from and gain access to the publishing ministry you mentioned earlier if we have friends and family members and neighbors who are

Ukrainian and we want to give them Christian literature in that language? So the best way to do it would be to go to the website www .dodorozh

.org, which is the Ukrainian word for journey .org.

Or I guess you can write me on Facebook. The good thing is that...

I'm sorry, go ahead. Can you just repeat the letters in that website again? Yes, it's d -o -d -o -r -o -z -h dot o -r -g.

OK, and I'm sorry I interrupted you. Yeah, so I'm easy to find.

If you just type my name, Nikola Leliovsky in Google, I'm the only person in the world without a name.

Really? I'm not hard to find. I am, yes. Wow. We got a once -in -the -world person on our podcast today.

That's incredible. You know, I have a very rare name, Christopher Arntzen.

And so from time to time I Google my own name to see who else has my name.

And to my horror once, I think I Googled it or typed my name into the search engine on YouTube.

And I hear an announcer saying, Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the anti -god communist organization,

Christopher Arntzen. And I can't even remember if that's the exact name of the group. But not only was the guy a communist, he was a homosexual.

And I thank God that he looked nothing like me and sounded nothing like me.

That was quite a… If you Google my name, you won't find me until page 53 or 60.

It's one way down the list. Oh, yeah, of course. Ron Jones. It's got to be. Now… I always felt bad for our friend,

Phil Johnson. That's right.

Oh, so Phil knows you. Yeah, Phil has been to Ukraine many times and always had a very good friendship.

I want to make sure, before I forget to ask you this later, how you would like our

Christian listeners to respond. We do have listeners all over the world.

You might even have some Ukraine other than you. In fact, by the way,

Bron doesn't know this. The first time I became aware of Mykola's existence was someone said to me,

Did you know that some guy in Ukraine has posted your parody song about Martin Luther, the great reformer, on YouTube?

His name is Mykola. And I looked it up, and it was Mykola Lelioski. And I'm like wondering, who is this guy in Ukraine?

And you haven't even heard this song yet. I've got to share it with you after the show, Ron. Great. But I can't even remember how long it was after that.

I think it was even over a year after that I found out who you are. But anyway, going back to my question.

How would you like our listeners all over the world who are Christians to respond to the information you are giving them now?

And not only, obviously, prayer, but what other ways can our listeners help?

Yeah, so going back to what you mentioned, that was a great song. And I found out about you from Dr.

James White when we became friends. He talked about you a lot, and you moderated some of his debates.

And I believe that you're the best moderator that he's ever had. Oh, thanks, man.

That means a lot. And so at that time,

I started listening to Iron Shepherd Sharpens Iron as well and found it very helpful. Praise God.

Yes, a great show. And so it was an honor and a privilege to be on the air when you asked me to.

And because of that, because when I was on the air, some people contacted me and just expressed support and asked for ways to help.

And some people just went ahead and sent money and were very, very generous.

And we were able to use it for many different purposes because there's been so many needs and so many people suffering and hurting and so many great opportunities for the gospel.

So if anyone out there listening would like to send a designated gift for whatever purpose that they feel, some of the ministries that I mentioned, our local church, dealing with orphans, dealing with widows, dealing with wounded soldiers, dealing with just all kinds of people hurting in this world for us to perhaps give them a

Christmas gift and invite them to church and share the gospel and just start a relationship.

We can definitely do that. And that would be much appreciated. If there's something else, if you're interested in some other ministry or you want to get connected,

I would be happy to do that. Our seminary has over 1 ,500 students right now and they're actively involved in serving the

Lord all over Ukraine and even in Poland and countries around Ukraine as well.

So I would be happy to serve in that way. I'd like you to tell me and our listeners some things about Ukraine that might surprise us.

Ukraine is a great place. So my wife, she's a Korean -American and she married and moved here after the war began, almost five months into the war.

And when she moved here to marry me, people thought she was crazy. Her parents still say that in the

Korean community back in L .A. where they're from, they consider them to be bad parents because they sent their daughter to a war -torn country.

But basically the response to my wife was kind of divided into two groups.

Some people thought she was absolutely crazy to come here and other people were absolutely blown away by this romantic story that she told them about falling in love with a

Ukrainian guy and leaving California to come and live in Ukraine. But she absolutely loves it here.

She says she's never going back. And by God's grace, we were able to come and visit in September.

And her family, she hasn't seen them for a couple of years, so we came for a couple of weeks to visit.

And after a week there, she said, wow, I really miss home. And home forever is

Ukraine now. And to be quite honest, I told her, I wish we would stay here for a couple of weeks more because California is great to visit.

So Ukraine is a lovely place. If you ever come and visit, you will love the fellowship.

You will love the food. You will love the earnestness that the people have for the

Lord and just the heart that they have to share the gospel and to live out their

Christian life amidst very difficult circumstances. So if you want to experience

Christianity like it was in the book of Acts, come to Ukraine and see for yourself.

Wow, what a commercial. And let me guess, you became acquainted with your wife through Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

By the way, I'm sure I would look. Go ahead, Bron. Here's a little known fact about Ukraine and maybe it is more well known now.

But they were in the Christmas season. Carol of the Bells is a

Ukrainian song. It was written for the Ukrainian New Year. Wow. Yeah.

So it is a song about a little bird. But we love it here as a

Christmas carol. It's called Carol of the Bells. But they call it, I think it's, Nikola, maybe you can remind me, but is it called

Shedrick? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Shedrick. It's kind of a diminutive form of a carol song,

Christmas song. Yeah, I would have you sing a few bars of that,

Ron, but I'm afraid I'm having a nightmarish experience. No, we don't want to chase people away.

I know that I would love Ukrainian food because I do love

Russian food. And in fact, my late wife and I, our favorite restaurant in Manhattan that we would go to on special occasions.

And tragically, it no longer exists because of the horrible mandates from the

New York City government during the COVID crisis. And our favorite restaurant shut down, but it was called

Firebird. And man, oh man, did that place have some extraordinary food and the best borscht

I ever had in my life. How would you compare Ukrainian and Russian food?

Is it very similar? Is it different in any specific way? It's very interesting that a lot of Ukrainian food gets mislabeled as Russian food.

And, you know, I don't blame people for that because other than Chernobyl and all these wars, most people never heard of Ukraine.

So borscht is a Ukrainian dish and it is absolutely delicious. My wife loves

Ukrainian food and that's all she wants to eat. And I do love kimchi, a

Korean delicacy. Yes, she does eat kimchi with her Ukrainian food.

Really? At the same time. Does she like holodets? So holodets is this very gross looking dish for most people.

It's basically like fat jello that has a little bit of meat in it.

It's like deep jello. Yeah, it's only served for New Year's.

So people usually don't have it other than that. When my wife saw it for the first time, she was like, what in the world is that?

So there are certain food shock situations. But if you're an adventurous eater, you'll definitely enjoy trying some of the dishes here.

OK, we're going to our final break and it should be shorter than the other breaks. And you'll have one more opportunity to send in questions if you have any.

And I would advise if you do have a question, send it immediately because we are rapidly running out of time.

Chris Arnzen at Gmail dot com. Give us your first name, at least city and state and country of residence.

Don't go away. We'll be right back. I'm Dr.

Tony Costa, professor of apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love.

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his

Holy Word and to enthusiastically proclaim Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net. Or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York, that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

...Grace Church at Franklin here in the beautiful state of Tennessee. Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpens Iron radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, the end from which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe ten minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our

Sovereign Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.

I'm Simon O'Mahony, Pastor of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Originally from Cork, Ireland, the Lord in His sovereign providence has called me to shepherd this new and growing congregation here in Cumberland County.

At TRBC, we joyfully uphold the Second London Baptist Confession, we embrace congregational church government, and we are committed to preaching the full counsel of God's Word for the edification of believers, the salvation of the lost, and the glory of our

Triune God. We are also devoted to living out the one another commands of Scripture, loving, encouraging, and serving each other as the

Body of Christ. In our worship, we sing psalms and the great hymns of the faith, and we gather around the

Lord's table every Sunday. We would love for you to visit and worship with us. You can find our details at trbccarlisle .org.

That's trbccarlisle .org. God willing, we'll see you soon.

Puritan Reformed is a Bible -believing, kingdom -building, devil -fighting church. We are devoted to upholding the apostolic doctrine and practice preserved in Scripture alone.

Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image -bearing prophets, priests, and kings.

We teach families to worship together as families. Puritan is committed to teaching the whole counsel of God so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

We sing the psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt

Christ. This is Pastor David Reese of Puritan Reformed in Phoenix, Arizona.

Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth.

Puritan Reformed Church. Believe. Build. Fight. PuritanPHX .com

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of TheReformRookie .com

and co -founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the

Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew Bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com. That's nasbible .com to place your order.

Greetings. This is Brian McLaughlin, president of the SecureComm Group, and supporter of Chris Arnzen's Iron Sharpens Iron Radio program.

SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.

We can be reached at securecommgroup .com. That's securecommgroup .com.

But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters, of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.

Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.

In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt

God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.

I sense that same God -given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a savior who died for sinners, and that God forgives all who come to him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the

Bronx in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.

That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.

That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's word, and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

God bless you. And please, folks, never forget that this program is also paid for in part by the law firm of Buttafuoco &

Associates. If you're ever the victim of a very serious personal injury or medical malpractice anywhere in the

United States, please call my longtime friend and brother in Christ, Daniel P.

Buttafuoco, attorney at law, at 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or visit his website, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com,

1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com. Please make sure you tell Daniel P. Buttafuoco, attorney at law, that you heard about his law firm,

Buttafuoco & Associates, from Chris Arntzen of Iron Trip and Zion Radio. This program is also paid for in part by one of our largest sponsors, who just recently renewed their annual advertising contract with us,

Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia. If you live in Cumming, Georgia, or in the nearby area, have family, friends, and loved ones in that area, or if you're traveling through on vacation or for some other reason, look them up.

Pay them a visit on the Lord's Day. That's HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com, HeritagePresbyterianChurch .com.

And also, don't forget all men in ministry leadership, my next

Iron Trip and Zion Radio biannual Free Pastors Luncheon will be taking place

Thursday, March 5th, 2026, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m.,

at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania. And it's absolutely free of charge.

And not only will you eat for free, enjoy the fellowship of other men in ministry for free, and hear the preaching of Dr.

Conrad Mbewe, our keynote speaker for the second time, who is pastor of Kobwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, and founding chancellor of African Christian University.

All of that's absolutely free. And on top of it all, you'll be receiving a heavy sack of free brand -new books, personally selected by me and donated by generous

Christian publishers all over the United States and United Kingdom. So, if you'd like to register, if you're a man in ministry leadership, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

and put Pastors Luncheon in the subject line. And keep in mind, on the night before the luncheon,

Wednesday, March 4th, at 7 p .m., Conrad Mbewe will also be speaking at my church, where I'm a member,

Trinity Reformed Baptist Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. And that event is open to everyone, not just men in ministry leadership.

So, every man, woman, and child is welcome. If you want to find out more about Trinity Reformed Baptist Church of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, go to trbccarlisle .org,

trbccarlisle .org. And, Micola, we do have a listener question for you from Harry in Loma Linda, California.

And Harry wants to know, what are the greatest threats to evangelical

Christianity in Ukraine by cults and false religions? That's a good question.

I think, just in general, the greatest threat is immaturity of people in the church, doctrinal immaturity, practical immaturity.

I mentioned that the Baptist Church is the largest evangelical denomination, conservative evangelical denomination in Ukraine.

Before the war began, there was about 150 ,000 Baptists in Ukraine, but there's 160 ,000

Jehovah's Witnesses. Wow. There's a very strong Jehovah's Witness presence, and since Putin banned them in Russia, a lot of them have moved to Ukraine.

There's Mormons, there's a Mormon temple in Kiev. There's, you know, anything you can imagine. In Lviv, almost every weekend, we have

Krishna worshipers singing Hare Krishna songs in the center of Lviv and things like that.

I would say that, you know, just people really understanding the faith, understanding the authority of the

Bible, understanding the sufficiency of the Bible is a great way to kind of defend yourself from the influence of false teaching.

And that is why I think the book ministry and the media ministry that I mentioned earlier is so important.

And from what I understand, some of these LLM AI models are trained on YouTube videos and other resources that are out there online.

So we're trying to put as many solid, reformed resources out there in Ukrainian language so that when people search for things, when people ask questions from these

AI models, that they would get good answers. And I certainly trained my

Chad GPT to be a five -point Calvinist by now. Praise God for that.

By the way, do you have any additional questions before we run out of time, Ron? No, it's just a pleasure to hear the great work that you're doing there.

And we're so happy that God has kept you and your family safe. So thank you. Okay, we have

Stephen in Garden City, New York. Stephen asks, you mentioned before about a massive exodus of Ukrainians because of the attacks by Russia.

Where are most of those Ukrainians fleeing? A lot of them are in Europe, all over Europe, but a lot of them are also in the

States. But 10 million people have left Ukraine. Quite a lot of people.

Wow. I think we in the U .S. have accepted around 120 ,000 to 160 ,000

Ukrainians, I believe is what I've never read. Wow. Let's see, we have time for maybe one more question.

Let's see, are your sermons available anywhere on Sermon Audio or YouTube?

And are they in English, Ukrainian or both? My sermons are available not on Sermon Audio, certainly on YouTube.

I also did a podcast for a long time. So if you search my name, you'll definitely find it because like I said, it's a very unique name.

I don't have a lot of stuff in English out there. Most of my stuff is in Russian and Ukrainian. Okay, let me make sure.

Why don't you, it will be a lot faster if you spell your last name since you said you're the only human being alive on the planet

Earth with that name. Which is fascinating to me because I'm assuming both your first name and your last name are common

Ukrainian names. No, my last name is very unique. Oh, it is? It's a

Polish descent. Oh, okay. My first name is M -Y -K -O -L -A. And my last name is

L -E -L -I -O -V -S -K -Y -I. Nikola Leliovsky. So you can search for that either in English or if you transliterate it into Ukrainian or Russian.

Yeah, that is interesting, your spelling, because I think you're the first person I ever encountered with both a

Y and the I together at the end of your name. Yeah, so like I said, international names kind of get jumbled up.

So it should be just an I because it's a Polish name and you know that all the Polish names just end with Ski. But the

Ukrainian twist on it is the Y -I. When I called the United States and they tried to pronounce my name, it was just funny.

By the way, my mother's side of my family are all from Poland.

They immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. And so I tell folks that I am a

Norwegian Pole, both of Norwegian and Polish ancestry. My ancestors were

Vikings who raided their own villages. Well, you know that Lviv used to be part of Poland until 1939.

So you should come and visit and have some more with us over here. Bring Ron as well when this war is over.

It'll be a great time to have you guys here. Well, if you want to look up Mykola on Facebook, you can find him and find out all the information that you need about his publishing ministry, about his church, how to support him.

And also don't forget about the ministry where my co -host Ron Jones serves,

Bible to School. That website is BibleTheNumberTwoSchool .com,

BibleTheNumberTwoSchool .com. I want to thank you both for being such wonderful additions to Iron Trip and Zion Radio today.

And I want to thank everybody who listened. I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater