March 23, 2022

Isolated, angry, narcissistic, suspicious, and paranoid are apt descriptions of Saul in the last half of 1 Samuel. It is eerily descriptive of Vladimir Putin. Plenty of people have tried their hand at psychoanalyzing both men trying to come up with some rational rubric that would help make sense of their otherwise irrational behavior. Putin is destroying both Ukraine and Russia and, I would argue, is doing even more long-term damage to Russia than Ukraine. How does Putin think that his invasion of Ukraine elevates Russia in the eyes of the world? The guy is unhinged and he has nukes. It is not a comforting combination.

Do I think Putin is THE antichrist? No. But I think that he is AN antichrist. He has set himself up as the savior of Ukraine and demands unquestionable obedience to his ideas and plans. My sense is that Putin and his government are so corrupt that he can no longer tell the difference between truth and error. He has lied so much that he believes his own lies. Two stories from this past week support this.

First, I read the account of an Ukrainian citizen who was shot by a Russian soldier in the leg, which splintered his bone. He was given shelter by his townspeople who tried to find pain meds for him until they could safely transport him to the hospital. For about two days they tried to convince the Russian soldiers to let them take this wounded man to the hospital and were finally able to do so. Once he was there, he received medical care and a visit from Russian soldiers who told him that they were there to protect him. They were there to protect him?!?!

Second, Putin had a pro-war rally in a Moscow stadium this past Friday night, where he quoted Jesus from John 15:13 as justification for invading Ukraine. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” According to Putin, Russian soldiers are laying down their lives for their Ukrainian friends. How can you kill tens of thousands of civilians, displace millions more, bomb into rubble entire swaths of cities and call it laying down your life for your friends?

We are tempted to read this and conclude that there is no way that Putin could possibly believe that what he is doing is noble. However, people who lie not only deceive others, but they end up deceiving themselves. Over time, they believe the lies and get to the point where the gyroscope of their spiritual spidey-sense is so out of whack, they cannot discern what is up from down. I think Putin believes his own lies and we are prone to do the same.

We are all tempted to lie to ourselves. This is why we need to regularly pray as David did, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

Grace and Peace,

Bob

Sunday’s text: 1 Samuel 15