Greetings to you all,
Within our church culture many of us would most probably read this next sentence and attribute it to an old Plain Truth article. “Deep in the flat and featureless landscape of eastern Ukraine, it is all too possible that the outline of World War III is taking shape.” However, it is the introduction to an article which appeared this week in the British Daily Mail. Following are some thoughts from the article – emphasis mine:
Whipped up by the Kremlin propaganda machine and led by Russian military intelligence, armed men are erecting road blocks, storming police stations and ripping down the country’s flag.
They are demolishing not just their own country — bankrupt, ill-run and beleaguered — but also the post-war order that has kept most of Europe and us, here in Britain, safe and free for decades.
Vladimir Putin is striking at the heart of the West.
His target is our inability to work with allies in defense against common threats. The profoundly depressing fact is that the events of the past few months, as Russia has annexed the Crimea and suppressed opposition in Ukraine, have shown the West to be divided, humiliated and powerless in the face of these land grabs.
We are soon to face a bleak choice. We can choose to surrender any responsibility we have to protect Ukraine and the Baltic states — almost certainly Putin’s next target — from further Russian incursion. Or we can mount a last-ditch attempt to deter Russia from furthering its imperial ambitions.
If we do choose to resist Putin, we will risk a terrifying military escalation, which I do not think it an exaggeration to say could bring us to the brink of nuclear war.
Putin knows that. And he believes we will choose surrender. For the real story of recent events in Ukraine is not about whether that country has a free-trade deal with Brussels or gets its gas from Moscow.
It is about brute power. It is about whether Putin’s Russia — a rogue state on Europe’s doorstep — can hold its neighbors to ransom, and whether we have the will to resist him. So far the answer to the first question is yes. And to the second a bleak no.
But the biggest benefit to the Russian president lies abroad. He makes no secret of his hatred for the West. He is contemptuous of, yet fears, our soft power. He resents the laws, liberty and prosperity that our citizens enjoy. They throw into bleak contrast the dismal life that his own corrupt and incompetent rule offers Russians.
He also despises our weakness. He sees a Europe and America that talk tough but have failed to provide a united response to the growing catastrophe. Yes, we talk a good game — Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for ‘a clear and united international response’ — but our deeds do not match our words, and Putin knows it.
That will be the end of NATO — and the dawn of a terrifying new world in which international rules count for nothing and the strong dominate the weak. Russia — ruthless and greedy — can play divide and rule for decades to come.
As the centenary of the Great War in July approaches, historians are vying to pinpoint the chain of events which started that conflict.
I may be wrong, but in 100 years time, will their successors look back at the events in Ukraine to make sense of the beginnings of the next world conflagration?
For me, this article serves to highlight the growing weakness of the West. The “West” comprises mostly the descendants of Israel who govern by “rule of law” and have ridden high on the promises made by God to Abraham. It appears that the time for being brought low is at hand. Notice what God says to the modern day nations of Israel, particularly Britain and America. “Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples, Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength but he does not know it. Yes, grey hairs are here and there on him, yet he does not know it. And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, but they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him in all this. Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense – they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria. Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them, I will bring them down like birds of the air. I will chastise them according to what their congregations have heard” Hosea 7:8-12.
In regard to Russia, I can’t help but think about Balaam’s encounter with Israel when Balak sent for him in order to pronounce a curse on Israel. Balaam could only speak what God told him to speak. Balaam ended up actually pronouncing a blessing on Israel, much to Balak’s displeasure. It wasn’t time for curses on Israel from God. According to Josephus’s account, he adds the details that Balaam told Balak how he could get Israel to bring curses on itself. Simply induce them to idolatry through sexual immorality. This advice worked exceedingly well.
Russia has wanted to bring the US (West) down for a long time. But it has not been God’s time for curses on the modern peoples of Israel up to recent time. God did not allow Russian dominance. However, it is well documented that Russian plans called for anything that helped the West to decay from within. They bided their time while the West shrugged off the moral base of its civilization. It is now bringing curses upon itself by the willful rejection of anything to do with God. Idolatry and sexual immorality are once again eating at the heart of Western civilization. The Russian President can only do what God allows – and it appears God is now allowing him great latitude.
These are sobering days to be contemplating the real work God is doing in preparing a people to declare His name to a world that will be truly humbled through intense conflict. The Days of Unleavened Bread help us focus on what is important to our heavenly Father.
Due to the Holy Days and all that is going on this week there will not be a Bible Study this Friday evening. Services for the weekly Sabbath (19th) will be the usual weekly Sabbath time of 11:30 am Pacific.
Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard
