It is the last hour! As you have heard, the antichrist is coming.
1 John 2.18
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Besides being an abominably heartless, ruthless, brutish, sadistic, narcissistic, and megalomaniacal small man of no stature, is Vladimir Putin also a Christian? Technically, yes. But then so are Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump—as were Pope Urban II, Napoleon, and Harry Truman.
Jesus must be rolling over in his grave.
(Oh, wait …)
Putin’s father was an atheist. His mother was a Christian. She had her son baptized in the Orthodox Church. Putin claims to have ever after worn his baptismal cross around his neck, under his shirt (when he has one on).
Of course, it’s easy to wear the cross. Hard to carry it. Easy to be a Christian. Hard to follow Jesus.
Putin’s namesake, Vladimir the Great, was also a Christian. He originally embraced Slavic paganism, but in 988 he converted and Christianized the Kievan Rus people. And now his namesake is poised to pulverize Kyiv and all the Christians therein.
Putin is a disgrace to the name of Christ.
According to legend, Vladimir the Great lived the teachings of Christ. He practiced charity. He handed out food and drink to the less fortunate and went out to meet people who could not get to him. He was known to help his neighbors by carrying their cross of burden. He founded churches, established schools, protected the poor, and lived mostly at peace with his neighbors. Hence, he became known as St. Vladimir.
Putin is a disgrace to his namesake.
Is Putin a Christian? Technically, yes. Actually, no.
Jesus refused the sword, fed the hungry, healed the sick, soothed the tormented.
As it turns out, I was a little too kind to call Putin “a small man of no stature” in my post this past Wednesday (“Putin Is a Small Man”). I’ve been duly corrected.
Last Sunday Epiphanius I, leader of the independent Orthodox Church in Kyiv, called Putin “the Antichrist.”
The spirit of the Antichrist operates in the leader of Russia, the signs of which the Scriptures reveal to be: pride, devotion to evil, ruthlessness, and false religiosity. That was Hitler during World War II. This is what Putin has become today.
To which Orthodox Patriarch Krill of Moscow replied: No, he isn’t.
And so it goes.
Words. Sanctions. Prayers.
Nukes.
(Jesus, can you hear us?)
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A prayer for America in our time of darkness. Today for the people of Ukraine.
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See Paula’s photo (Always Face the Sun) on the home page. Posted March 2
G.K. Chesterton observed, “Just going to Church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.” Similarly, wearing a cross under one’s shirt has no bearing upon one’s behavior and values. A Buddhist expression says it best: “My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.”
Just a generation ago my Polish father spent five years in a German prison camp. Because of Hitler, my mother as a teenager was caught alone in a house as Allied bombs rained down on the city of Mainz. Ever after, she would hide in a closet and shake when there was a bad thunderstorm. I remember that well from my childhood. My brother fought in Vietnam, my son in Afghanistan.
“When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.” – from Where Have All the Flowers Gone.
Seasons they change while cold blood is raining
I have been waiting beyond the years
Now over the skyline I see you’re traveling
Brothers from all time gathering here
Come let us build the ship of the future
In an ancient pattern that journeys far
Come let us set sail for the always island
Through seas of leaving to the summer stars
Scattered we were when the long night was breaking
But in the bright morning converse again – Select lines from the “The Circle is Unbroken” by Robin Williamson
Yes, V Putin is a Christian – in name only. And No, he is not a Christian in thot, word or deed. “Ye shall know them by their fruits”. It is bitter fruit… for so many decades…all leading to the darkness displayed in Ukraine by the namesake of a former saint?!?! Vladimir… all the more dark as seen in sharp contrast to the lite coming from Ukraine’s leader and her people… and the blue & gold supporters, the sunflower lovers around the globe.
Yes, pray for healing, pray for stamina, pray for food, water, shelter; pray for all that Ukraine needs to resist the darkness spreading…“When will we ever learn?” 🙏🏼💓
Taught to seek peace, live Love and turn the other cheek, but we aren’t taught not to call out hypocrisy. Hate and evil in the name of Jesus the Lamb of Peace, may be the ultimate heresy.
I keep imagining Putin getting smaller and smaller, shrinking into a tiny dot that dissolves and is no more. Trump, on the other hand, I see as a large, bulbous, gaseous balloon that gets bigger and bigger until it bursts into nothingness. This may not be “Christian,” but as a Presbyterian Neo-Pagan, I practice it as a form of prayer.
Some of the Popes weren’t very holy either – and what about the Crusades? And then there was the bombing of Dresden. And Hiroshima – intentional infliction of mass civilian casualties. “When will we ever learn?” Probably never.
It’s a waste of time & energy to even ask that question when we all know the answer!
Interestingly, there’s another Vladimir (or more accurately, a Volodymyr — that’s Ukrainian for Vladimir) who lives in the very city that Vladimir the Great resided. As a Jewish person from a Russian speaking family, he’s not technically a Christian, and yet he’s accused by the Muscovite false Vladimir of being a neo-Nazi bent on the genocide of Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
Very interesting…
Putin is indeed an AntiChrist Archetype, but he cannot exist without his counterpart. The rules of energy say so. Underneath his darkness are the buddings of light, and they are universally present. I have faith in goodness.
Bradley
Putin may be a Christian doing what he thinks is the right thing to do. How can we condemn someone who is doing what they believe is proper? It comes back to the things we are taught, who are we to judge? He may not be a Christian in our minds but who are we to know his feelings. I don’t like his actions and would do what I could to stop them. He appears to be everything you have labeled him and maybe more but I can’t say he is not a Christian. He is a lot more and I pray for his absence soon.