March 2 2022.
PUTIN’S MARCH OF FOLLY.
We live in interesting times, which, by the way, is a Chinese curse. That matters are not normal, is beyond question. Normality presupposes life ruled by ‘norms’, a concept that implies ‘ethics’, a set of acceptable standards that underly LIFE.
Bonhoeffer in his book ETHICS sees life ruled by LOVE which becomes creative in FREEDOM. He writes, “One must subordinate oneself in ethical decisions to the will of God; must see one’s own actions sub specie aeternitatis, in the light of eternity, and then no matter what course is taken it will be the right one.”
I love that phrase: “In the light of eternity”. It means that, instead of looking back, to history, we look forward to our ultimate destination: The New Earth under a New Heaven.
A long time ago we took the wrong turn, of which we now see its terrible consequence: resembling a suicide scenario. Wherever we look, we see the results of our initial error, which basically stems from failing to see God as the creator, and consequently, seeing Creation as holy.
Here we are: 8 billion of us on this planet, and every single one of us a child of crude oil. Without crude oil and other fossil fuels, most of us simply wouldn’t exist. And without crude oil, we cannot continue to exist: we are on the road to suicide.
You may see that as tragic, because tragedy always connotes being overtaken by some sort of fate, something we cannot fight. No, it’s the result of sin, of pride that comes before the fall, our fall.
Putin exposed.
In the Russia-Ukraine situation, Putin’s Pride is the prevalent factor. He sees history in terms of his own place there, certainly not ‘in the light of eternity’. Putin lives in the past; he imagines himself as the Czar, and his billionaire buddies as the former nobility, while the common people are the serfs, either to conform or to be sent to prison. He wants to go back in time, a road that has led to tragedy and folly.
Christians are totally different: they look forward, expect to have eternal life, and see today as the preparation for tomorrow, living in the New Creation: they see life in the light of eternity.
So, what is world history?
World history, as we experience it today, is terribly sad: one damn thing after another, as somebody put it. It is even more so because we know that it, inescapably, leads to a disastrous finale.
We saw this ever more clearly in the events of the last week, when Putin pursued his greater Russia goal, his very own March of Folly, which will precipitate what the Bible calls, “The fall of Babylon”.
That fall is now in full swing. It has to come because it constitutes part of God’s holy justice. Revelation 18: 11 – 19 provides us with a clear clue: “The merchants of the earth will mourn”, and so will the politicians and the bankers and the money manipulators, for they are on the losing end: “in one hour the economy has been brought to ruin.”
This passage tells me two things: (1), The collapse of our world comes at a time of material prosperity, witness today, and, (2), comes totally unexpected.
The movers and shakers of today’s world are still convinced that, somehow, they can preserve our awesome civilization. They don’t believe that it is coming to an ignominious end. They think that it is just another economic downturn.
A very pessimistic view.
Here is what I see coming. Putin in his March of Folly, has not factored in a peasant revolt: the Russian people turning against him. Times have changed: Internet and Facebook and Twitter have brought everything home.
Putin, drunk on his own delusion and perverted by his own position of grandeur, is unable to face the raw reality of a popular revolt against his rule. In his manic state of self-deceit, his insane mindset refuses to face defeat. When confronted with internal revolt and growing resistance in Ukraine, rather than face failure, he orders the world’s total destruction: Putin bombs the world into oblivion: That is his ultimate March of Folly.
World history is, indeed, suicide; world history is, indeed, a leap into the abyss. That is what humanity does without prompting: God does not have a hand in all this.
Back to Bonhoeffer.
Bonhoeffer in his book ETHICS sees life ruled by LOVE which becomes creative in FREEDOM. He writes, “One must subordinate oneself in ethical decisions to the will of God; must see one’s own actions sub specie aeternitatis, in the light of eternity, and then no matter what course is taken it will be the right one.”