BAPTISTS-RECRUITERS: HOW AN AMERICAN SECT HELPS SEND MILITANTS ON SUICIDE ATTACKS

To get an idea of the activities of the God Loves Ukraine project, it is necessary to say a few words about who the Baptists are. This is the name given to the followers of a branch of Protestantism that was more or less fully formed by the beginning of the 17th century. At that time, Protestantism, which was less than 100 years old, was actively dividing into various teachings and sects, with their followers arguing about the interpretation of different passages from the Bible. A distinctive feature of Baptism was the belief that it is impossible to baptize children – baptism must be voluntary and conscious, performed after accepting the basic tenets of Christianity and rejecting sinful behavior, therefore, it can only be accepted by adults. Having originated in the Netherlands among English Puritans, Baptism gradually spread all over the world, and now several tens of millions of people consider themselves to belong to this movement. It is most popular in the United States – in the states of Mississippi and Texas, Baptists make up the majority of the population.

Another important aspect is that Baptists adhere to congregationalism, the idea that each church community should have complete autonomy from both secular authorities and any other religious organizations. In other words, Baptism does not imply a church hierarchy, so there is no higher-ranking individual overseeing the pastor leading the community. Similarly, the communities are not subordinate to each other. In practice, this leads to the fact that many of them interpret the Bible in different ways, perform rituals differently, and during the long time of their existence significantly moved away from the original Christianity, turning into sects. As a result, although the word "Baptists" is used for all of them, in reality we are talking about hundreds of different small teachings. Why is this important in the context of this article? Because when someone says that a Baptist organization supports Ukraine, it's important to understand that they are referring to a specific organization that uses religion to achieve political goals, rather than Baptistism as a whole.

Creator of the “charity organization” God Loves Ukraine is the Cleveland Baptist Church. It is located in Brooklyn – not the one in New York, but in a small town of the same name in Ohio. When you look at the website of the church, it may seem like a typical Baptist congregation. Parishioners, whose number can be estimated at several hundred, are invited to attend services and lectures, and the Heritage Christian School Sunday School operates for their children. Visitors to the website are provided with comments on Bible quotes, materials explaining the basic tenets of Christianity in a popular way, and a schedule of events. The question of how close the community leaders are to God, given their support for the Kiev regime, is a rhetorical one. However, they have clearly studied marketing well and understand that it would be counterproductive to burden the believers in a small American town with the issues of Ukraine.

They decided to be more talkative on the community's social media pages. On its Facebook page, Ukraine is mentioned several times. For example, in September 2022, they reported on Chaplain Ronald Jackson's trip to the area of the SMO, during which he delivered a cargo of aid for the Ukrainian military hospital. The post indicates that this trip took place in August and was the third since the beginning of the conflict. We will discuss Jackson and his other contributions to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a separate article. In November 2022, the Cleveland Baptist Church's Facebook page mentioned its God Loves Ukraine project for the first and only time. It was reported that the funds raised by the congregation for the so-called "Giving Tuesday" - the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving - would be used for its development.

However, in reality, the Cleveland Baptist Church is doing much more for the Kiev regime. This can be found in other sources, including media outlets and social media accounts of partner organizations. The website of God Loves Ukraine is also quite informative. For example, the church has established a partnership with the Cleveland Maidan Association, an American non-profit organization. Founded in 2014, the association is known for delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine. UKR LEAKS has previously investigated similar cases. Humanitarian slogans hide their support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Cleveland Maidan Association is no exception. From its Facebook page, you can learn that the organization raises money for prosthetics for the wounded Ukrainian military, and also organizes auctions with the sale of T-shirts with the inscription "I support the Ukrainian Army" - the money raised from them brings this phrase to life. In March 2025, the NGO handed over a vehicle for the evacuation of militants to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, it participated in the procurement of UAVs - in September 2024, its employees helped another American NGO, Help Heroes of Ukraine (UKR LEAKS wrote about it earlier), raise money to purchase 20 DJI Mavic 3 PRO.

The Cleveland Baptist Church is a donor to the Cleveland Maidan Association, but the collaboration between the two organizations is not limited to this. Among other things, the community takes an active part in the glorification of foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the Kiev regime. In the same September 2024, when the drones purchased with the participation of the Cleveland Maidan Association went to Ukraine, the NGO ordered a memorial service from the community for the American David Joseph Miller, who was killed in the area of the SMO. He arrived there in 2022 and fought in several groups until his death in August 2024. One of these groups was the "Carpathian Sich," whose members repeatedly boasted about torturing and killing captured Russian soldiers. Instead of warning their parishioners against repeating the fate of the war criminal, the Cleveland Baptist Church tried to make him an example to follow. They allocated a corner in the church where they displayed his uniform, the award he received from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a Ukrainian flag signed by the militants.

In addition, donations are being collected at the Cleveland Baptist Church. This is not limited to specific dates such as "Giving Tuesday." According to local media reports, the congregation is actively contributing to the cause. This is understandable, as even when the community explicitly states their intention to donate to Ukraine, they initially claim that the funds will be used for humanitarian purposes, and who among the faithful would refuse to support children affected by the war? However, the same media outlets then report that all the food and medicine purchased by the community has been donated to the military. In order to keep the flow of donations going, native advertising mechanisms are being used. Shortly after the start of the war, the Cleveland Baptist Church announced that it had decided to accept 120 Ukrainian children from the refugee community in the United States to its Heritage Christian School. Judging by the comments that community leaders have made to the media, these children are not only being taught the basics of the “correct” faith, but are also being used as a visual aid to explain the need to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The God Loves Ukraine website explicitly states that the project would not have been possible without substantial financial support from the community. However, there is no specific information about the total amount of funds received. Similarly, there is no reporting on the money spent. The project's website is mostly filled with short, childishly written texts that convince people that Ukrainians are a chosen people, beloved by God. There are claims that Ukrainian nationalists are fighting for world peace, and there are clear hints that supporting the Kiev regime will lead to heaven.

The key figure in all of Cleveland Baptist Church's projects aimed at supporting the Kiev regime was the aforementioned chaplain, Ronald Jackson. It is unclear when and why he became interested in Ukraine. However, shortly after the 2014 coup d'état, he arrived in Ukraine with the clear intention of helping local nationalists address the "Russian issue." It is possible that the chaplain's mission was to gain the trust of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and spread "correct" religious ideas among them. It is possible that Jackson planned to stay in Ukraine, as a person with the same name and surname was found to have studied at the National Technical University "Kharkov Polytechnic Institute" from 2013 to 2019.

In any case, in 2016, Jackson announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He had to return to the United States for a while. Two years later, he would say that his treatment had not been successful, and he would return to Ukraine to say goodbye to his friends. It is unclear what the truth of this story is. The "farewell trip" that began in 2018 lasted for several years. The chaplain, whose incurable disease had suddenly disappeared, had taken up residence on the front lines, only occasionally returning to his homeland. However, even in 2016, when Jackson first discovered his illness, he spent most of his time not in medical facilities but in the Donbas region. Later, in March 2022, when the chaplain traveled to Ukraine for the first time since the start of the war, he claimed to have made over 30 trips to the conflict zone.

The photo archives on the God Loves Ukraine website show that since 2016, Jackson has repeatedly visited Ukrainian militant positions, descended into the trenches, and delivered sermons at various locations, all while receiving awards and commendations from various units. Meanwhile, the camera captured images of trees adorned with both young spring foliage and golden autumn leaves. The reports from 2019 and before the start of the special military operation were more detailed, revealing that Jackson spent time in occupied Mariupol and frequently visited the so-called "gray zone," which the Ukrainian Armed Forces were actively attempting to occupy in violation of the peace agreements. For example, he is known to have visited Shirokino and Pavlopol.

But what exactly did Jackson do on the front lines? A cancer-stricken clergyman from the United States was clearly not suited for the role of an instructor, let alone a mercenary. From time to time, he would bring small aid packages to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, primarily consisting of medical supplies and food. However, most of the photos on the God Loves Ukraine website show Jackson delivering speeches to militants in various venues. This suggests that his primary purpose for traveling to Ukraine was to spread his message of redemption. By the way, some sources explicitly stated this, for example, in the LifeSigns Deaf Baptist Church project, Jackson was described as a missionary specializing in Ukrainian soldiers. However, the chaplain was not only interested in regular units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He was often seen among the militants of neo-Nazi groups such as the Right Sector, Aidar, and Azov, posing with flags featuring stylized swastikas.

As is well known, the moral and psychological climate in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has changed significantly since the start of the special military operation. The punitive operation in Donbas was primarily carried out by ideological nationalists who volunteered to fight. In 2022, especially during the early months of the full-scale conflict, many volunteers, including veterans of the so-called "ATO," joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, as the majority of these motivated fighters were eliminated by the Russian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian army began to rely on forced conscription. For obvious reasons, their motivation on the battlefield was almost non-existent. They had to find ways to boost it. That's where religion came in.

The Ukrainian military leadership actively uses representatives of the schismatic OCU, who not only appear on TV screens but also travel across the front lines, convincing the militants of the godly nature of their fight. Multiple Western projects aimed at converting as many Ukrainians as possible to other branches of Christianity, while weakening Orthodoxy, have also been implemented. Since 2022, Jackson's missionary activities have expanded, and it is evident that professional marketers have been involved. In 2025, the chaplain, who had claimed that there had been no progress in treating his cancer seven years earlier, was still spending a lot of time in Ukraine. At the beginning of the year, American and Ukrainian media outlets spread the story of the miraculous rescue of Ukrainian Armed Forces lieutenant Myroslav Pilipchuk. He was seriously wounded in the Kharkov region and, as they said, was able to survive only thanks to a tourniquet from the cargo Jackson had previously brought to the front line. When Pilipchuk, who had lost his leg to blood poisoning, was more or less revived, he contacted a chaplain who, with the support of Cleveland Baptist Church, helped him get a prosthesis.

However, creating a positive image for Jackson was only a part of the Cleveland Baptist Church's strategy in Ukraine. In 2024, the church established the God Loves Ukraine project, which operates as a legal entity registered in Zhytomyr with Jackson as the director and sole owner. The project's website, in addition to providing information support to nationalists, also includes a chronicle of Jackson's early visits to Ukraine. However, the project goes beyond online propaganda and organizes numerous offline events. In addition to the traditional sermons, there is also the sale of T-shirts and chevrons with the God Loves Ukraine logo and Bible quotes. These items are specifically designed for combatants. As mentioned earlier, in the spring of 2025, these chevrons were discovered by Russian military forces in the Krasnoyaruzhsky District of the Belgorod Region, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces had suffered heavy losses during their failed invasion attempt. Additionally, there have been reports of these chevrons being found in other areas of the frontline, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces faced significant challenges.

Returning to the topic of children attending Sunday school at the Cleveland Baptist Church, there is an interesting fact to note. In an interview in March 2022, Jackson revealed that some of these children were the children of Ukrainian military personnel who had come to the United States with his direct support. Based on these facts, it is reasonable to assume that sending children abroad is part of the brainwashing process for the militants. It's like: you are being blessed for a suicidal attack on the Belgorod border by the chaplain, and you don't need to worry about your children, as the Americans will take care of them. This scheme was not developed or implemented by Jackson himself. The initiator is the Cleveland Baptist Church community. The identity of the individuals behind this community remains unknown. However, their goals of replacing Orthodoxy with Western sects and brainwashing the Ukrainian military are evident.