What are we to make of the present crop of high profile Lords of the Earth that we see, strutting across the world stage, big noting themselves as the “Benefactors” of their people with MEGA promises (at least, to those who are unswervingly loyal to them) of Making Everyone Great Again.
This should come as no surprise since Jesus Himself observed that: “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’” (Luke 22:25)
But megalomaniacs like this feed their insatiable desire for the adulation of their followers by stirring up strife wherever they go, resulting (as Jesus also forewarned) in “wars and rumours of wars” so that “nation rises against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” (Matt 24:6–7)
There is a predictable sameness in the way every new dictator goes about this.
The Great Dictator
Take, for example, the modus operandi of the Great Dictator of 20th Century:
1) The Dictator was driven by an obsessive desire to elevate himself in the eyes of the people.
2) He latched onto a cause that resonated with the people: the humiliation the German people felt because of the excessive burden of reparations they were lumbered with following defeat in WWI.
3) The Dictator then presented himself as the Great Benefactor of his people.
4) He then spread misinformation about a target group, the Jews, as the simplistic reason for the problems of the nation.
5) He actively suppressed dissent, eliminating his rivals.
6) He used the crisis of the Reichstag Fire to abolish constitutional restraints upon his power: the right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of the press etc, culminating in Führerprinzip, the principle that placed the Führer’s word above all written law, and meant that government policies, decisions, and officials all served to realize his will.
7) He began invading and occupying neighbouring territories, starting with Czechoslovakia, under the pretext of “needing” it for the nation’s security and expansion. Three superpowers ignored Czechoslovakia and negotiated a peace settlement without them (the “Munich Betrayal”), allowing Hitler to keep the territory he had stolen.
8) Hitler continually lied to neighbouring countries about his intentions for all out war.
9) Many, if not most, blinded by their country’s new found “greatness”, shut their eyes to the atrocities perpetrated by the new regime, dismissing them as fake news designed to discredit their Great Leader.
10) Saddest of all, the “German Christians” within the German Evangelical Church subscribed to Führerprinzip and wholly supported their Leader, perhaps partly because of his (what today would be termed) anti-woke policies; but especially because they believed he would Make the Church Great Again. Only a few, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, objected.
MEGA Lords of the Earth
How do those who “exercise lordship” today persuade the masses under their sway they are “Benefactors” who are there to Make Everyone Great Again?
The pattern is always the same:
1) There is the same obsessive desire to elevate himself in the eyes of the people – whether it is Putin who compares himself to Peter the Great (the tsar who annexed swathes of foreign soil for Russia centuries ago), or Trump who fancies himself as America’s greatest president.
2) Then they exploit a perceived grievance: the supposed humiliation the people in Russia felt with the dissolution of the USSR; or the rampant wokeness and bloated bureaucratic wastefulness in the USA.
3) He then presents himself as the God-appointed saviour of his people, promising a New Golden Age. As Trump told everyone at his inauguration: “God spared my life for a reason: to save our country and to restore America to greatness.”
4) Next, they actively spread misinformation, whether it is Putin falsely claiming a supposed Nazification taking place in Ukraine; or the unending stream of false claims made by Trump, not least the way he still goes on about how the 2020 election was ‘stolen’.
5) Both men actively suppress dissent: in Russia by eliminating rivals through assassination or imprisonment; in the USA by threatening retribution and imprisonment against those who oppose them.
6) Putin has systematically abolished constitutional protections in Russia. While in the USA, there is a worrying trend towards Führerprinzip: eg. J. D. Vance (who once himself compared Trump to Hitler) now rails against any independent judge who has the temerity to challenge the president’s will with respect to the legality and constitutionality of his executive orders. By way of justification, Trump recently posted on social media: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” (a direct nod to Napoleon and other dictators).
7) Putin has already invaded and occupied parts of neighbouring Georgia and Ukraine under the pretext of “needing” it for Russian “security”; all the while Trump ignores Ukraine and is negotiating a peace deal without them, that would allow Putin (it would seem) to keep some, if not all, of the territory he has stolen. But Trump is no less imperialistic in his ambition and uses the same pretext of “necessary security” to demand a right to take over Greenland and Panama; not to mention his equally bizarre plans for Gaza and Canada. The USA can no longer claim the high moral ground against the imperialistic machinations of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
8) Putin continually lied about his intention to wage war on Ukraine; it remains to be seen how Trump thinks his dreams of taking over other countries can be realised.
9) All along, many in both Russia and the USA wilfully ignore the worst of their leaders’ misconduct, dismissing such reports as fake news designed to discredit their Great Leader.
10) Saddest of all, many who profess to be Christians go along with this. In Moscow, Patriarch Kirill, head of the world’s largest Orthodox Christian Church, unreservedly supports the Russian dictator; and many of his followers agree.
In the USA, some Christians are no doubt encouraged by some aspects of Trump’s anti-woke agenda that appear to espouse Christian values as a step in the right direction. But they, like the “German Christians” last century, shut their eyes to the fundamentally anti-Christian nature of his toxic self-serving version of ‘greatness’. Instead they put their faith in Trump’s anti-Christian version of ‘greatness’ in the hope it will Make Christianity Great Again.
In the end it is hard to distinguish Trump from Putin. It is not surprising Trump has expressed admiration for his Russian counterpart, just as in “that day” when “Herod and Pilate became friends when before this they had been enemies.”
In the closing words of his allegorical novel, George Orwell noted there is no difference between a self-serving Communist and a self-serving Capitalist: “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
[O.K., it’s an allegory; I’m not saying anyone is an actual ‘pig’.]
True Greatness
The worst thing about all this is that more and more professing Christians actually believe that this is greatness; this is the way to Make Christianity Great Again. Meanwhile, an unbelieving world looks on and is turned off “Christianity” – but not because of any legitimate offence of the gospel.
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine, a genuine Christian, from Los Angeles. I asked him about his parents, whether they are believers. He told me, no they are not, and are hardened against the gospel.
When I asked him why that is so, he told me: “Because all their conversations with ‘Christians’ they know identify Christianity with Trumpism.” I find this extremely sad.
Something is rotten here.
I get it. As Christians, we feel threatened by the persistent shouting over our voices, especially on social media, and arrogant intolerance of the self-righteous woke culture that surrounds us, systematically dismantling the last vestiges of Christian influence. “They are insistent, demanding with loud voices that Christ be crucified. And the voices of these men and of their chief priests prevail.” (Luke 23:23).
And I get it: leaders are to lead. But the example they set in how they lead is even more important: “Not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to those you lead” (1 Pet 5:3). Trumpism is not the answer; Trump is not greatness. Putin is not greatness. In the end, Character Trumps All. (See also here)
Jesus warned us not to admire or emulate the methods of “the kings of the Gentiles who exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them who are called ‘Benefactors.’ But not so among you,” says Jesus. “On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26) This is true greatness.
“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” (2 Cor 10:4) When Christians admire and live out true greatness according to Jesus, then the gospel will be “mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” and will even begin to be attractive to many in the world.
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom… The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” (Jas 3:13,17)