Alex Leonovich, a native of Russia, ministered in missionary, pastoral and evangelistic work since 1945. He was at the forefront of evangelistic broadcasting into the former Soviet Union by way of HCJB in Quito, Ecuador. As the Executive Director of Slavic Missionary Service International, Alex had an extensive outreach to the Slavic speaking world both home and abroad.

Before accepting the leadership of Slavic Missionary Service in 1958, he served as pastor of two American Russian-Ukrainian churches simultaneously for almost five years. He was marked as a "fiery youth missionary preacher” in both the Russian and English languages by his peers. After taking on the responsibility of SMS, he continued to pastor the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Manville, NJ until he resigned in 1970 to devote more time to the mission’s endeavors.

SMS is grateful to God for the faithful and fervent leadership of Alex Leonovich from 1958 until March of 2013. SMS is happy to share some of Alex’s past articles to encourage all to support the mission, as we continue to work in Slavic countries and reach Slavic people throughout the world.

The Changeless Christ in a Changing World

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

We live in a world of constant changes. Things all around us are always changing. We ourselves are ever changing and so are our circumstances. We notice the process only when it has reached a certain degree, but it is happening with no end in sight. Thinking of life in general upon our planet, how temporal and transitory everything becomes in the light of eternity. In our own lifetime we have seen nations which once were great and powerful now belonging to "ancient" history. Going back into history, we are reminded of the vast and wonderful civilizations which have collapsed. Thinking in the present, we see the erosion of morals and life in general. Changes everywhere!

Notice if you will how customs change. The fashion of one age becomes the laughing stock of another. Ideas change. New modes of thought, new points of view arise, which banish the old. Religions change, and so many of them have passed away. There was a time when people believed in the gods of Greece and Rome. Who believes in them today? We do have preserved in the days of the week the names of the gods our ancestors used to worship, but is there any thought that we shall ever worship or bow before them again?

The twentieth century has seen great changes in our conditions of life and our ideas. During recent years changes have abounded: political, national, international, economic, social and religious. Some feel that we are on the eve of great changes still to come. Men try to picture the material improvements which science promises to give us in the not too distant future. Some think that this will bring man a utopia. Others wonder whether the human race is going to destroy itself.

In the midst of all these perplexities and changes evident in life today, our text proclaims that there is a place where we can find absolute permanence and eternal reliability; and this is in a Person: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." I believe that the apostle Paul was the author of the book of Hebrews. It was a bold statement for him to make at the time when it was first said, and it seems no less bold a thing to say today. Yet, looking upon the centuries which have passed since the words were first spoken, there was no one who could deny its truth.

Plato and Aristotle were masterminds. But we know that they were mistaken on many points. How often we have seen philosophers pull their predecessors all to pieces. Theories expounded by great scientists have been destroyed, disproved or changed. But nothing that Jesus taught in his realm, which is the moral and spiritual realm, has been shown to be wrong. His claim, "Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away," is justified. Many views which were set forth by former teachers were true, but were expressed in ways which have been improved upon, and we have now no use for these ways of putting them. But nobody has yet been able to express the truth Christ taught in better forms than his. Yes, the teaching of Jesus is still alive for us in these days. There is no prospect of exhausting the truth that he taught. The matters with which he deals are still issues for us. Translate what he said into present day language, and at once they have present day values.

In just a short time, another change will take place. Our calendar will be changed, as we usher in the New Year. In this changing world may we never forget the changeless Christ. As John H. Jowett wrote in his lecture on the subject of "The Christ of Today," may we always remember "that the teaching of Jesus is unchanging, not only in its duration, but in the nature of the authority it possesses. In every age and in every clime he subjugates and makes captive the human conscience."

Alex Leonovich

("Evangelical Baptist Herald" –Winter 1994 – adapted)