“Naked Aggression”

February 27, 2022

In the last few days, all around the world we have witnessed Putin’s naked aggression against the democratic Republic of Ukraine and its people.  43, 303,109 human beings (as of February 22,2022)  are being assaulted and slaughtered without remorse by the conscripted army of Putin’s Russia.  Putin is apparently obsessed to restore the former borders of the communist Soviet Union and/or the glory of the Russian Empire in Europe.  One of the larger countries in Europe, formerly in the orbit of the Soviet Union, Putin lusts to replace in Ukraine the democratically elected government and President Volodymyr Zelensky with a puppet government of his own choosing.  As I write this article, USA Today reports that Russian troops have just entered Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.   They report at least 240 civilian casualties have been confirmed to the United Nations, including 64 civilians killed in the fighting.  The United States and its European allies have agreed to remove “selected” Russian banks from the international SWIFT messaging system for the movement of financial transactions.  The army and citizens of free Ukraine are fighting for their lives.  They are fighting effectively, much more than most predicted.  At the time of the writing of this article, the Russian army has not taken the capital Kiev and President Zelensky and his army and free citizens are defending their country!

It is assumed, beside what has been done, including condemnation of Russian in the United Nations (with China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstaining, Brazil joining the United States and only Russia vetoing), that other sanctions are being contemplated by the United States and Europe, in a effort to isolate and punish Putin and his rich cronies.  It is known, thus far, that 140,000 refugees from Ukraine have left the country.  It is estimated at least 4 million may eventually leave.  BBC televised new reports yesterday showed lines of refugees (many women and children) in cars and walking on the highways, moving north and west toward Free European nations bordering Ukraine, in an effort to find sanctuary from the fighting in Ukraine. Some observers liken this to what occurred when Hitler invaded Poland and other nations in the early period of WWII.  Other news stories showed Ukrainians of all ages collecting supplies for hospitals to treat the wounded soldiers and civilians of the fighting.  Ukrainians joined by Russians protested outside the Russian Embassy in London, wearing the Blue and Yellow colors of Ukraine in solidarity against Putin’s naked aggression against the people of Ukraine.  In Russia itself, protest among citizens have been seen and many arrested protesting against Putin’s Russia and his war of aggression in Ukraine.  There seems to be a generational divide between the older and younger adults in Russia, foretelling probable fractures in that oppressed society.  Putin has been Russia’s president for 20 years and over the past two years has been increasingly isolated by the Covid-19 pandemic.  From what many commentators are saying, he has no one who can get through to him to stop the aggression.  Putin is trying to rewrite the political and military equation of Europe, reduce the power of NATO which he feels has encircled Russia, thereby in his mind reducing Russian influence and power in the European continent and allowing the United States to place troops on Russia’s doorstep.  Putin finds this unacceptable and is trying to change that reality.  Unfortunately, enemies of democracy, as Trump and his cronies in the Republican party are celebrating Putin’s slaughter of the Ukrainian people and their freedom and democracy!  Is this not madness, for Republicans in the United States, purely for political gain against President Biden, to celebrate an attack on European democracy?   Not only is Putin’s naked aggression on full display, but Trump and others who support him as well.  It causes many to question Trump’s loyalty to the United States democratic government and shows his contempt, poor judgment and misunderstanding of the ways and means of government of the United States of America.  He should be stripped of any future involvement in our democracy as his way is a cancer spelling death and destruction to our democratic way of life.  Instead of restricting the power of the vote, we should be allowing all free citizens in the United States to vote.  Some Republicans who lust for power in our own democratic society are joining those greedy for money in corrupting the American way of life.

In times of societal division and upheaval, persons who mesmerize even conservative Christians for political gain cause many persons to lose perspective of the historical foundation of democracy and the freedom we currently enjoy following the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi regime in Europe.  How quickly we have forgotten the sacrifices of millions who laid down their lives so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have today.  Have we forgotten the slaughter of the 6 million Jews and the millions (including Gypsies) more who were killed by Hitler simply for being a so-called “enemy of the state”?  Is that what we want for ourselves again?  Persons who celebrate aggression against a democratically elected government are celebrating the rise of oppression of the human family!  Should we not oppose oppression in all its many forms and insidious erosion of our freedom to live as human beings?  The American experiment of democracy is not very old in a historical context, a mere 246 years.  Are we so naïve to believe that it cannot be eroded and lost by our own stupidity in not working to preserve it?  I bet those who celebrate Putin’s aggression would not be so excited about it were they rotting away in a Gulag in Russia as Alexander Solzhenitsyn knew so well!  Do we remember anything at all? 

There is a saying that says, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!” (likely from George Santayana, a professor of Harvard which he abandoned).    The original quote apparently read, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (bigthink.com/culture-religion)

I speak as a Christian pastor and as a practicing physician.  I am sincerely worried, not only about what is happening in Ukraine, but what is happening the United States of America.  If we make statements as some have made that “I don’t even know why we are concerned about Ukraine,” this truly shows a complete ignorance of history and the foundational principles of our democracy.  Today with the amplification of the Internet platforms, stupidity can be presented as intelligent speech!  There is an assumption that simply saying something repeatedly makes it true.  What a horses ass!!!  There are historical realities which are true no matter if forgotten and there are statements of sheer stupidity which will never be true no matter how many times they are said!

I TRULY FEAR FOR OUR DEMOCRACY!

Let us commit ourselves to remember what should not be forgotten and to fight vigorously against whatever is not true based on historical facts!  There must be truth and non-truth, and we can celebrate the first while denying the second.  Otherwise, we have chosen to live in fantasy, not reality and we have thrown out science and fact for mere human opinion.

There should be those of us who are committed to vetting the truth, not for the sake of power but for the sake of the truth as a foundation for our democracy.  It is those who hold onto the truth as vetted by those who seek righteousness, mercy and justice for the human family who hold the power of the future hope and dreams of us all!  Surely, we must care what type of planet our grandchildren will inherit!  Surely, we are willing to sacrifice ourselves and our own needs for the betterment of those who come after us, to leave this world as a better place than when we entered it!  Is it not our desire to live in such a way as to honor our God in Christ and to witness to the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ our Savior?

I make this protest against naked aggression wherever it is found in our human family, at home and abroad.  It is the same damnable thing everywhere!  We can talk of China’s oppression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang, or Saudi Arabia’s execution of persons who dare to express their opinion or criticize the government, or Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people, or the Yemeni conflict between Abdrabduh Mansur Hadi-led Yemeni government and the Houthi armed movement and the oppression of their citizens, many who are starving for food as these groups battle for who will rule the government.

Shall we mention North Korea’s Kim Jong Un who oppresses his people allowing them to starve while he shoots ballistic missiles in the sea of Japan’s coast?  What about the corruption of the government of North and South Sudan?  Does anyone know who is getting all the money from their oil sales?  I could mention the oppression of the Muslins in India by the Hindu led Central Union Government (Gol), President Ram Nath Kovind and Head of Government Prime Minister Narenda Modi.  We are also familiar with the Ayatollah of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and the power to control the personal lives of Iran’s citizens.  And in the United States, we have our own ugly legacy of the oppression of black America, where black lives do matter, just not as much as privileged white folks who have wealth.  We  have not mentioned the Syrian catastrophe, the rise of Isis and the Taliban who oppress the people of Afghanistan.  And what about the stateless Rohingya people (Indo-Aryan) from Myanmar (former Burma)?  Need I go on.

We notice when oppression is called out on the world stage, those who are directly involved in doing it either abstain or veto the vote at the United Nations.

What am I saying? 

As Christians, if we do not oppose the aggressor then we become one of them, complicit in their oppression of the human family.  I gave multiple examples to show how pervasive oppression of one people group by another has been and is on-going.  Putin’s aggression in Ukraine is the latest, most egregious example.  Christians, as Jesus himself, are on the side of those who are being oppressed, whether by sin or other persons or nation states.  As the scripture tells us, “God is the defender of the orphan and the widow”, those who are outside of the normal power structures and protections of human society. This includes the illegal immigrants in the United States.  When in the Old Testament, the rich landowner who grew grain was to leave the corners of the fields with unharvested grain, left to be gleaned by the poor (see the Old Testament book of Ruth), this was a means in that agrarian society to “care for the least among us.”

As Christians, do we have any choice to “turn aside and refuse to see our fellow suffering human being?” Do we remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? (The Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25-37) Is it easier to watch the Beijing Olympics than it is to talk about the oppressed Uighurs in China? Can we not celebrate the games of our youth, as a means to better community, while at the same time asking the hard questions of righteousness demanded by the human family?

I argue, I hope effectively, for those of us who are Christians to not lose sight of the reason we are placed on this earth by God our Savior.  It is not for us, as Christians, to gain wealth, or simply to gorge ourselves on entertainment media seeking another dopamine high for our brain!  Surely, we are about more than that!  Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled!” (The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 6).  There are other verses in Matthew besides this one.

All of us are overwhelmed by the stresses of modern life and particularly the last few years of the Covid 19 pandemic.  We certainly deserve time off from our labors after working the 60 hours a week it takes to fund our modern lifestyle.  Have we asked ourselves, it this all we are about?

I am writing this article to challenge myself, to see if I can remember why I am placed on this earth and  why in the beginning I chose (or was chosen) to serve my Lord Jesus.  This long discourse is simply my way of saving myself.  The things I am saying today are things which must be said.  Someone must say them, lest we forget how to speak.  Truth, the truth of the gospel of Christ is something which will either unite or divide us.  But the truth of the gospel of Jesus is true no matter whether I say it, or whether I believe it or not.  Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM”  (The Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 58)

There are realities which are before us, which define us, who we are and who we will become!  This is true for us, for all of us, for every generation!

If Putin or anyone chooses to ignore the God in Christ who is the Logos, our Creator, who is the originator and the sustainer of our life, they are being unwise.  The day is coming and it is not far away, when we will all stand before our God and give an account of what we have done or did not do in this life.  The scripture declares that “the fear of God [the Lord} is the beginning of wisdom.”  (From the Old Testament, Proverbs chapter 9, verse 10).  If the “fear of the Lord” is the beginning of wisdom then the end of wisdom must be “doing what our God and Savior has told us to do!”

Let us pray:  God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through your Blessed Holy Spirit:  Remember us today and grant us wisdom, courage and strength for this hour coming on this earth.  Remind us again who we are in Christ and to whom we belong in Christ our Savior and our Lord!  Help us to see clearly your righteousness, to live in your truth and to be full of your mercy and grace.  Remember us, today, O Lord Jesus as we strive to remember you.  We are prone to laziness, distractions, and fear.  Give us instead boldness, courage and faith, so that we might show forth your righteousness, defend your justice, work for and find your way in the earth.   Forgive us when we have not been what we should have been, help us amend who we are and direct what we shall be, for the sake of your own kingdom of righteousness, goodness and truth, for we pray in your strong, blessed and holy name, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Redeemer and our Friend!  Amen.

Let all of God’s people say, “Amen!”

“Amen!  We praise you, Lord Jesus Christ!”

Bill Wilson, servant of God, by God’s grace and mercies.

“Amen.”