September-October 1998

General War

by Susan Stewart

When my editor told me that we were going to have breakfast the next morning with a Russian General and then conduct an interview, I thought, "What's the point?"

We publish a Christian magazine. I write about Christian topics. What could a communist soldier have to say to our readers?

But, dutiful employee that I am, I arrived early the next morning and entered our small conference room, welcomed by the smell of fresh coffee and toast. But I didn't have much of an appetite.

I had done my research the night before and realized that this man I was going to be talking with was a dangerous one. At one point there was a bounty of $1.5 million on his head. He led 100,000 combat troops during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His code name was General War.

What would he look like? What would he be like? I waited.

He arrived, accompanied by his interpreter and dressed in full military uniform (although he left over one-half of his 70 medals at home). His brilliant blue eyes pierced mine as he quickly took in the surroundings with the skill of a trained surveyor. We exchanged hellos through the interpreter and sat down to breakfast.

His mouth looked like a mouth that enjoys a smile. But I couldn't be sure. I watched the corners of his lips intently. No smile. Would it be an uncomfortable morning?

Strange thoughts danced around the child side of my mind. "Maybe I should salute?" The grown up part answered sternly, "Maybe not." I thought about goose-stepping, but it's not one of my strong points. I needed to get focused, but I felt an equally strong urge to avoid those eyes.

Then came a few words of Russian. I glanced at the interpreter, Pablo, who showed no emotion but quickly began in English.

"For a Russian soldier, there are two rules."

Uh oh. Rules already. Had I broken some common but little known Russian rule of etiquette?

"Rule number one: The Commander is always right."

Yes sir, yes sir. I had no doubt that was true. I'd agree to anything at this point...

"Rule number two: If the Commander is wrong, refer back to rule number one."

Immediately, the blue-eyed, white-haired grandfather burst into hearty laughter.

Infectious warmth spread around the room, and soon after I felt the joy of the Holy Spirit. This man was a Christian and a bit of a jokester. He was also a poetic storyteller.

I soon learned that the passion of Russians -- so obvious in their art, literature and music -- is not abandoned at the door of their military academies. And when that passion is turned loose for Jesus, there are virtually no limits.

General War

Vycheslav Borisov was born on June 30, 1939, in Ramenskoye, Russia. His father died in WWII without ever knowing his son. When Vycheslav was 16, he was enrolled in an elite military academy for children of soldiers killed in combat. Since then, he has known no other life but the life of a soldier.

Borisov took the military oath in 1959, and within three years began his climb to the top of the military ranks. He was second in command during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and has met with and served as advisor to many Russian leaders.

Now retired, General Borisov serves as a voluntary advisor to the Russian parliamentary commission regarding the need for spiritual awakening among military personnel. His code name is still General War, but he's fighting in a new army.

I asked him to share his amazing conversion story, which began when his helicopter was hit as

he was flying over the mountains in Afghanistan. Who says God doesn't "do" big miracles anymore? This one helped to divide the Red Sea of communism.

The General's Story

About 14 years ago, we were in the middle of a very heavy, dirty, terrible war in Afghanistan. I believe that that war demonstrated to the world what a crisis the Soviet Union was in. It also demonstrated the crisis all the communist ideologies had reached.

There I was, second in command over all the Soviet troops -- more than 100,000 Soviet officers and soldiers under my command -- and in one operation in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, my helicopter was hit. It was falling to the ground in flames.

Now, every man wants to live, and I wanted to live also. I thought to myself, what can save me here? I quickly calculated all the possibilities and all the alternatives. Nothing. There was no way out.

I remembered my life in great detail in those moments, and I bid farewell to everyone. I remembered five Soviet generals who had died in the very same way that I was dying now.

I could see the earth coming closer. There must have been several seconds left, and it was terrible. I felt a kind of animalistic fear, the desire to live. And suddenly I remembered my soldiers. Not the 100,000 soldiers that I was in charge of, but of a particular group of 20 or so soldiers that were under my command.

An Underground Faith

These soldiers were peculiar soldiers because of their mindset. They were weird to us. They would come to serve under my command with a great, deep faith in Jesus Christ from the underground churches of Russia.

Very quickly we would single these soldiers out, we would black-list them, watch them day and night, work with them and pressure them. There was only one purpose in mind -- to uproot from their minds and hearts their faith in Jesus Christ, fill them with the ideology of communism and make them an obedient weapon in the hands of the Soviet system.

Because of my education in the Soviet system, I understood that there was nothing else that should exist in the world but the communist ideology. Any other ideologies are misled. They are against man, and they are against man's existence. We must eliminate them.

We had an organization in the Soviet Union that had the entire Soviet people under control and under fear. The KGB. But even though they were a very great organization and would produce much fear, they didn't have good results with these young Christian men.

These young men would declare, "You can put us in prisons. You can put us before a firing squad like you did our fathers for their faith, but we will not betray our love for Jesus Christ."

So, it was my duty to speak with them, "You are young men. Why is it that you believe in this God? You're very mistaken. But don't get upset, because it's natural. You're young, and it's common for youth to be misled and misguided, and of course your brain is full of all kinds of fantasies."

They would reply, "General, we're not misled. You are misled. There is a God. Believe us, there is a God. And every man must meet with God here on this earth. If he doesn't meet with him here, he will meet with him at that great judgment day."

I would mock them and say, "You know, the first astronaut to go into outer space was a Russian. He was the pride of the entire planet. And he came back from outer space and reported to the Russian government that he found no God out there. And you're telling me about a God?"

And they would respond to me, "But General, how could he have met God? He is a communist after all!"

I would tell them, "There's Marx, there's Lenin, and if you want to live well, you have to believe in those men."

They'd say, "General, if something terrible should happen to you on this earth, Marx and Lenin will not help you. But God will help you. Only he loves us all, and only he wants to come to help us in very extraordinary circumstances as well as help us in practical and real ways."

I couldn't change any of these young men's minds about God. But their words I remembered. And now in this falling helicopter, I turned to God. It was quick, faster than a computer processor. I said, "God if you really are out there, I ask you, help me. I ask you to save me for the sake of my family, for the sake of my children."

I couldn't remember anything past that. The helicopter splattered against the ground. I lost consciousness.

A Real Awakening

Some time had gone by before I could feel that I was still a living human being. My body was in great pain. Every cell in my body had been permeated with intense pain. I couldn't move a bone in my body, and with great effort I opened my eyes. As a military man, I began to evaluate my surroundings.

What happened? Where am I? I saw a beautiful blue sky overhead. I saw the mountains and the grass. A warmth flooded my soul. This isn't hell yet, but it didn't look like paradise either! The dead surrounded me, and an amazing thought penetrated all of my being.

This thought has been leading me ever since that day, and it continues to be strengthened every day: There is a God, and he who calls upon the name of the Lord, he shall be saved.

In the manner that I could, I thanked God.

I was unconscious again for a long time. The only survivor of the crash, I was in intensive care units for many, many months and was carted around from one hospital unit to another. They even sentenced me in their report to the government, "General Borisov is greatly injured. If we are lucky he'll at least remain alive, but he'll be 100 percent handicapped." But I was a happy man, because now I knew there was a God. In the manner that I could, I prayed to him and asked him to help me!

Of course, I didn't know how to pray in the way we pray today. I had never been in a church, never met with a pastor or a priest, never held a Bible in my hands -- such a remarkable book, the Book of Life. I was afraid, knowing the consequences, to pronounce the word "Bible" out loud. It was a forbidden book in our country.

Of course, all my friends knew what had happened to me. They were amazed I was saved. I would tell them, "Well, don't you know there is a God."

Their jaws would drop, and the great leaders of our nation would say about me, "It's quite obvious that the lights are on but nobody's home." They wrote me off as crazy. They couldn't understand this event. And, depending on who I would tell, some would even be afraid to be associated with me and meet with me as a result of my experience.

A Second Birth

But I consider his love toward me an extraordinary love. After all, I was a communist with the ideology of communism cemented into my brain. I did not believe in God. I did everything to hinder the growth of Christianity in my army and in my country. But when I found myself in my last moment of life, in my last breath of air, when nobody could help me, I turned to God. He heard my prayers and gave me a second life.

God always amazes me, because he does all these things for us. I asked that he would bring that dirty war to a quick conclusion and bring all the soldiers, unharmed and uninjured to their families where they were loved. I asked that he would help me become a soldier in his own army. And God has done all these things.

Six months after the crash, the same medical staff examined me once more. Now they proudly proclaimed to the government, "We have accomplished a medical miracle. General Borisov is healthy!"

But I know who did it. I know who gave me not only a second life, but health itself, and who has made me a soldier in his own army. He gives me strength to walk in this new life and allows me to bring more and more soldiers and officers to know the happiness and the joy of salvation.

Bringing Light into the Darkness

American missionaries have helped me bring Bibles onto military bases in Russia, and because of my experience, I began opening my bases to Christianity, preaching and building churches on the bases.

Many things came about as a result of God's transformation in my life. But the most beautiful thing is that more soldiers, officers and generals are recognizing who their commander-in-chief really is.

Now, the main task we face is to carry Christianity to the people of Russia. Christians in all nations should unite because their one goal is to bring salvation to the world. We have one Bible, and God is one, and his love towards us is one. Christians of America are the people I thank today for shining the light of Jesus into Russia.

I thank them and ask them not to stop, but to continue and increase that flow of the gospel. Success will be real when our efforts increase rather than decrease.

Russia is very, very deep in darkness. For 80 years she was sent down a dark road to a dead-end. To come out of this, a very long time will have to go by. This is why spiritual education is so important. It's a very difficult and complex thing to educate people in the spirit and much effort is needed. It's easy to lose your faith.

The Bible talks about these things. If man has lost everything of his worldly possessions but has hung onto his faith in God, he has lost nothing. But once he loses his faith in God, he has nothing.

Russia needs faith in God. First she needs to repent. She needs the forgiveness of God and to see God's loving face turn toward her. For that to happen she needs to know who God is, what Christianity is, and then you'll see Christianity flourish. Then Russia will be able to be a Christian country.

North Americans can help through their prayers for mother Russia. First, thank God and praise him for all the love that he has for us. Then ask him to help us, that we could change the mentality of the Russian people and change their spirits toward God.

Ask that Russians would remember their history. For many years before communism, this country lived with a deep faith in God. Pray that they would quickly return to God. God is the only one who will help them live and help them restore peace in their lives. 

Editor's Note: Plain Truth Ministries helped sponsor a student (studying to be a medical missionary) on a summer mission in Russia. PTM is helping to supply Russian Bibles and is thankful for the ongoing missionary work of Bible societies in Russia.

8-year-old, Natasha Ivanova, studies United Bible Societies' new Russian Children's Bible Taking the Word to the Former Soviet Union The former Soviet Union is hungry for God's word! This past summer Plain Truth Ministries helped sponsor Carrie Fields on a mission to the Ukraine. With the help of PTM, Carrie was able to buy and distribute Bibles to those in need. During her stay in the Ukraine, Carrie wrote to us, "The Ukrainian economy has been going downhill since the fall of communism. Most of the people here are unemployed and the few that do have jobs haven't been paid in six months if they work for the state. The people here have no hope in their lives and it is nice to be able to give them some by sharing the Word of God with them." Carrie has returned to the United States to enter graduate school with the goal of becoming a medical missionary. PTM supports and is appreciative of all the ministries that are helping give the gift of the Holy Scriptures to a people that are in great need. Our November/December issue will feature an interview with Dr. Eugene Habecker, president of the American Bible Society, which has taken a leading role in distributing Bibles in the former Soviet Union.

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