Saddleback Church’s lead pastor and best selling author, Rick Warren, used his social media accounts to deliver a staunch rebuke towards the U.S. for buying Russian oil, arguing that the nation is funding a murderer.
The pastor’s posts have gone viral on both Twitter and Facebook and have garnered many responses, mostly in agreement with Warren’s statements.
“Everyday that the U.S. continues to buy 600,000 barrels of Russian oil A DAY,” Warren wrote, “We are funding the murder of Ukraine. Appalling. Indefensible. Stop it now.”
Two hours later, Warren posted again, saying, “Everyday that the U.S. continues to buy 600,000 more barrels of Russian oil each day, we are funding the murder of Ukraine. Appalling. Indefensible. Stop it now.”
On February 28, Warren encouraged those who are praying for Ukraine to continue to do so and shared a message of gratitude from Ukrainian pastors. “For days I’ve been in contact with many pastors in Ukraine, Russia, and nearby Poland which is accepting refugees,” Warren said. “They’ve all asked me to THANK YOU who are praying for them during this war. Keep praying everybody!”
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President Joe Biden announced on February 22, 2022 that the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia. “Today, I am announcing the first sanctions to impose costs on Russia in response to their actions yesterday. These have been closely coordinated with our allies and partners who will continue to escalate sanctions on Russia,” Biden said.
According to the report from The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. imported approximately 8% of its oil from Russia in 2021, which comes to around 672,000 barrels a day. If each barrel costs around $100, that means that America imports roughly $67 million of oil from Russia a day, or roughly $2 billion a month.
Others Call for the U.S. to Stop Buying Russia’s Oil and Encourage Prayers
Many other Christians would agree with Warren’s call to U.S. leadership to stop purchasing oil from Russia and have questioned why we are still doing so.
Journalist Todd Starnes questioned why the US is still buying oil from Russia, saying, “Why is the United States still buying oil and gas from Russia?” He later said, “Biden simply refuses to stop buying oil from the Russians.”
Former Mars Hill communication director Justin Dean posted, “They don’t care about US sanctions because they are getting what they need from China. And Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline and we get that oil from Russia now, so it’s us who are dependent on Russia not the other way around.”
