US and Russian officials meet today on war in Ukraine

High-level delegations from the US and Russia have begun meeting in what the Wall Street Journal calls the “highest-profile Russia talks since [the] Ukraine invasion.” Today’s discussions in Saudi Arabia could lead to an eventual summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The State Department described the talks as an opportunity to explore Russia’s intentions on the Ukraine conflict and other central issues rather than the start of a detailed negotiation over Kyiv’s future.

According to international relations scholar Michael C. Horowitz, Mr. Putin’s “intentions” center in his belief that an independent, democratic Ukraine is a threat to him and to Russia. Three years ago, he began the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II in response.

Mr. Putin alleges that NATO and the West broke promises in 1990 not to expand eastward beyond Germany, a claim Western leaders dispute. The flatlands to Russia’s west have enabled several invasions from Europe over the last five centuries; Putin therefore views NATO’s “encroachment” into Ukraine as threatening his nation’s security.

Ukraine and the West vehemently disagree, seeing Putin’s immoral and illegal invasion as a part of his metanarrative to elevate “Mother Russia”—and himself—on the world stage.

“Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger”

In other news, Israel yesterday eliminated Muhammad Shaheen, the head of Hamas’s Operations Department in Lebanon. According to Israeli security forces, Shaheen was planning attacks not only against Israeli citizens but also against Jewish targets outside of Israel.

As with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, once again we see the power of a worldview to shape the world. Hamas is not only convinced that Israeli citizens are complicit in a perceived theft of their land from its “rightful” Palestinian owners; they also view Jews themselves as “apes” and “pigs” (Qur’an 5:60; 2:65; 7:166) and claim that they control the world media. They blame Jews for “most of the revolutions we heard and hear about” and allege that they were behind World War I and World War II.

In short, Hamas is convinced that Jews are hostis humani generis, the enemies of humankind itself. Killing Jews anywhere in the world therefore advances their ideological agenda.

As a third example of the power of worldview, my wife and I recently watched the Netflix excellent limited series, All the Light We Cannot See. Based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, it is set in Nazi-occupied France.

At one point, a young man is being groomed for Hitler’s SS through physical abuse and mental torture, all under the guise of Friedrich Nietzsche’s dictum, “Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger.” The Germans are portrayed as fanatically committed to Nietzsche’s Übermensch doctrine, by which our highest aspiration should be to become an “overcomer” who rules the passive nihilists that make up most of humanity.

This doctrine, coupled with Hitler’s fervent belief that the Jews were responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War I, motivated the rise of Naziism and the murder of six million Jews.

“A watchword, magnificent and mighty”

According to Scottish biblical scholar James Stewart,

Every new idea that has ever burst upon the world has had a watchword. Always there has been some word or phrase in which the very genius of the thing has been concentrated and focused, some word or phrase to blazon on its banners when it went marching out into the world. Islam had a watchword: “God is God, and Mohammed is his prophet.” The French Revolution had a watchword: “Liberty, equality, fraternity.” The democratic idea had a watchword: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

Then he added:

The greatest idea that has ever been born upon the earth is the Christian idea. And Christianity came with a watchword, magnificent and mighty and imperial; and the watchword was, “the Kingdom of God.”

Stewart was right:

• Jesus announced, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
• He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) and to “seek first the kingdom of God” (v. 33).
• The Lord said of himself, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).

The psalmist declared, “God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:8). Note the present tenses. No matter the circumstances or appearances, God is right now “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible” (1 Timothy 1:17).

What to do when we’re afraid

Jesus came to “preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:43). Why is this kingdom “good news”? It tells us:

1. We have a king. Despite the tragedies and challenges of this broken world, there is purpose and order to the cosmos (cf. Colossians 1:16–17).
2. Unlike the autocrats and terrorists who seek to rule by force, this king knows and loves us (Psalm 139:13–16; Romans 5:8).
3. We can have a personal relationship with him that will save and transform us (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
4. He will bring this fallen world to an end one day when Jesus returns as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

Accordingly, we can pray with David,

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3).

Of what are you “afraid” today?

Quote for the day:

“Christ liveth in me. And how great the difference—instead of bondage, liberty; instead of failure, quiet victories within; instead of fear and weakness, a restful sense of sufficiency in Another.” —Hudson Taylor

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