By Dan Wooding

Founder of ASSIST Ministries

NASHVILLE, TN (ANS) -- A leading Russian Christian leader and broadcaster has revealed that these are “dangerous times” in his country.

In an interview at NRB 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, Igor Nikitin, president of two Christian television channels, TBN Russia and TBN Ukraine, said: “We are all living in a dangerous time and we need to give our trust to the Lord. It is definitely preparing us for the last days.”

Nikitin, who also heads up the St. Petersburg-based Association of Christian Churches in Russia, went on to say, “In Russia it’s definitely becoming more dangerous, but the good news is that more people are turning to the Lord after watching our television programs.”

He stated, “We have had some exciting times as well because, in the last year, we have had over 20 court cases from secular stations who have tried to close us down. We have also had government officials, who are also trying to shut us down, but we have won each one of them and we have become stronger out of this difficulty.”

Russia has certainly had its share of violence during 2010. According to The Voice of Russia website (http://english.ruvr.ru), some 410 people last year fell victim to terror attacks in Russia.

This data was cited by the deputy head of the National Counter-terrorism Committee’s office Evgeny Potapov. According to him, among those killed were 119 civilians, while the rest were security forces personnel, government and public figures. Potapov also said that all “high-profile” terrorist attacks committed in Russia in 2010 had been solved.

Scene after the the Moscow metro bombings

These included the Moscow metro bombings, the market blasts in Vladikavkaz and an explosion at the Baksan hydroelectric power station. 375 militants were killed, more than 600 - detained.

“In addition, some 93 terrorist attacks were successfully averted,” said the website.

Commenting on the violence, Nikitin then said, “I believe that when Russians become Christians, they are getting stronger out of all of these explosions and terrible situations. They are learning to trust God.”

Are you getting any personal threats?

“I’m a Deputy Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Russian Federation and in Russia we have quite a bit of the excitement with the all the corruption. So we have to stay very careful, but the Lord is protecting us,” he said.

When asked how people could pray for him, Nikitin said, “I want to encourage people not to just to pray for us for also for our viewers. We are receiving up to 10,000 letters every day and most of them contain prayer requests. One third of the letters we’re receiving are from the Muslim world with testimonies of salvation and testimonies of the healing.

Broadcasts in Israel

“We are very thankful to the Lord for the Jewish believers and many churches that are just blossoming because of our television broadcasts in Israel.

“So we believe that this is the most exciting time for all of us,” said Nikitin. “It’s the last days, so we need to preach the Gospel to as many countries and people as we can.”

Nikitin then revealed that his network is now the eleventh biggest in Russia, even among the secular stations.

“We have also four different channels now and secular channels as well,” he concluded. “We are on 850 cable networks in Russia and have one of the largest viewing audiences in Russia with over 11 million viewers.”

I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.

Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 47 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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