Should We Pray for God’s Judgment on Putin?

Should we pray for God's judgment on Vladimir Putin? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you and our phone lines are open right now. You can call us at this number. 833-2673.

You can spell it out on your phone, 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, here is a question we received from one of our listeners named Rhonda. There are so many prayers going forward, and my faith is dwindling. And that's part of what I'm calling because I'm wondering if God really exists in the midst of all this chaos. And I'd like to see a miracle, and I'm not. And that is my question.

Thank you. Rhonda, I am with you in terms of wanting to see the Lord intervene. And of course, we don't know, you don't know how God is answering the prayers that are being offered up right now. I mean, the reality is God is at work and God is moving even in the midst of the devastating circumstances that happen, the things that happen around us, and even through calamities and wars and those kinds of things, the things that we're seeing in Europe right now.

So don't lose hope, sister, don't lose hope. This scripture makes it absolutely clear that even while the nations of the world are at war, raging against one another, that God is seated on his throne, that Jesus Christ right now is reigning from heaven. This is the promise that we see throughout the scriptures.

I think of Psalm chapter 2, you know, God's king, God's anointed, reigning from Mount Zion, making his enemies a footstool for his feet. This is the promise that we have in scripture. And while right now at the present time we don't see all the nations of the world submitted to the rulership of Jesus Christ, we know that God is going to judge the world and we know that God is working through the proclamation of the gospel. We know that the gospel is being preached right now in the Ukraine, in Russia, and so that Jesus is working there by his word and spirit. And that's what you want to continue to pray for, is that the Lord would advance his kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel and rest in the fact that he's going to do that as he promised in his word. And so, sister, I just want to encourage you and say yes, the Lord is at work and you can trust in him.

Thank you for your call. Ronda, we actually have a core question that helps to respond to part of what you're asking there. It's called, how can Christianity be true if God allows evil and suffering?

This would be a great one to pick up right now as you're entering into conversations with people about what's happening in Ukraine. Again, it's how can Christianity be true if God allows evil and suffering? You can find that by going to our website corechristianity.com forward slash free downloads. Just look for that core question. By the way, our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, how your faith intersects with what's going on in today's world, give us a call, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Get a lot of questions about the church and the purpose, the function of the church here at Core Christianity. We put together a great resource absolutely free on that particular topic. Yeah, it's called Eight Things Everyone Should Know About the Church. And as you said, Bill, here at Core Christianity, we love the church, the local church. I'm a pastor of a local church, and I know there's a lot of confusion about what the church is and the role of the church in the world today. And so we want you to get a hold of this resource again, Eight Things Everyone Should Know About the Church, yours for free over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. You can download that resource.

You can also call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to one of our listeners that called in earlier this week. Hi, Pastor Adriel. My name is Connie. I love your program, by the way.

So informative. My question is going to make you think that I may not even be a Christian, but I am. And I know the Bible says, love your enemy. My question is, when do we get to pray what I think they call the precatory psalm? Kind of the like, go get them, God.

Like, I'm very angry with Putin right now for what he's sending to the Ukrainian people. And so do we get to pray, God, would you take him out? Or are we—I mean, I have prayed.

God saved the man. But I don't know what to say. If you could answer my question, please. Thank you. Bye-bye. Yeah.

Hey, Connie, thank you for that question. And we ought to have, as believers in Jesus Christ, a righteous indignation when we see injustice, when we see people being hurt and the innocent being harmed. I mean, there's a cause for anger, and I think righteous anger here. Now, when do we pray the imprecatory prayers? What you see in the psalms—and for those of you who don't know what that is, in the book of Psalms, at times the psalmist will pray for God's judgment to rain down on his enemies, on the enemies of the psalmist even. I mean, these heavy-duty psalms, really, where the psalmist is crying out and saying, God, let him have it, that kind of a thing. Well, we're called under the new covenant to love our enemies, so is it ever proper for us to pray these curses on the enemies of God?

What about a guy like Vladimir Putin, who is in the center of the news right now with the things that are happening in the Ukraine? First, I think of the exhortation that the apostle Paul gives in 1 Timothy 2, where he says, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So first, I think we have this exhortation, this encouragement to pray for all people, in particular kings and leaders, those who are in authority, for their salvation, that they would come to the knowledge of the truth, that they would repent of their sins and follow Jesus Christ.

And so that's the first thing I would want to say. This is something that's very clear that we need to be doing for the leaders around us, civil leaders, also for the leaders of other countries, men like Vladimir Putin. You do have at times in the New Testament the disciples of our Lord calling for judgment, calling for justice. The passage of scripture that I think of is in Revelation chapter 6. These are the martyrs beneath the throne of God, crying out to the Lord. And John says in Revelation chapter 6, verse 9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the witness that they had borne, they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. You see how they're crying out for God's justice, for God's judgment really upon those who persecute the church and put Christians to death there in the context here. And typically, this is why it's so important to understand the context of some of the things we see, like with the Psalms of imprecation. Typically, those prayers for judgment were prayers that were made against the enemies of God's covenant people, those who were attacking the city of God, if you will. It's a very particular context in the history of redemption. And so is it ever appropriate for the church when people are coming against the church, against the gospel, persecuting the church, for the church to say, God, bring justice, bring judgment. Well, yeah, I think it is appropriate at times, and that's what you see in Revelation chapter 6. But we're also called to pray for mercy and for the salvation of the Lord to reach even those enemies. I mean, you think of Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of the church who's converted and becomes this mighty apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray that that would happen in Putin's life, and pray that the Lord would work mightily in that way. And I think that when you do so, you can do so confidently knowing that that's something that God calls us to do, 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and following. So, Connie, God bless you, and thank you for your question. Connie, thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity.

We really do appreciate you. Let's go back to the phones. Barney is on the line from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Barney, what's your question for Pastor Adrian?

Yeah, thank you for taking my call. I had a question for you. I've got three verses here.

I'm going to go through them. 1 Timothy 1, 2. I have a point here. Under Timothy, my son, in the faith, 1 Timothy 4, 1 says, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly in the latter time some shall depart from the faith. And then 4, 16 says, Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt most save thyself and them that hear thee. And my point is, Timothy was a son in the faith to Paul. And I'm just looking at this, and every time I'm about set on this once saved, always saved, I get another scripture.

I've got 41 now. And the point is, is that he's talking to Timothy. He says, Continue in this, and you shall save both thyself and them that hear thee. So, you know, you guys encouraged me to study the Word. I just have a question about, nobody can pluck me out of his hand, but can I pluck myself out of his hand? That's my question.

Hey, Barney, God bless you. And, you know, I've heard it put that way. I mean, there's some people who think, well, yeah, you know, they say, well, the Bible teaches you can lose your salvation. And then there are others who say, well, I don't think I can lose my salvation, but I think I could walk away from it. I think I could, as you put it there, you know, pluck myself out of God. Nobody's going to pluck me out of God's hand.

But if I want, I can jump out of God's hand, that kind of a thing. Well, first, it's important to understand in 1 Timothy chapter 4, I mean, this is really this sort of prophetic utterance that Paul gives. The Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons. This is apostasy, a great apostasy, if you will, that is a turning away from the truth. And you see this in various places in the scriptures talked about in Paul's letters to the Thessalonians, 2 Peter, where it talks about false teachers that are in the church, these apostate teachers, if you will. I don't think that these individuals are losing their salvation, right? So I think that they're people who were in the faith, if you will, in the sense that they had received this teaching for a period of time. They sat under it, maybe they embraced it and even taught it, and yet they turned away from it.

They rejected the gospel that they were around in proximity to, but had never truly embraced for themselves. And my view is that those who truly embrace the gospel, in whom the Spirit of God is at work, those who are regenerated by the Spirit, born again of the Holy Spirit, that while they may struggle, and we all struggle with sin, and there may even be periods of really battling with something or doubts that we have in the Christian walk, that that ember of faith that's always burning, if you will, isn't going to be put out. And that while those individuals might wander, I mean, you think of somebody like the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15, and for a season be walking in a way that's not pleasing to the Lord, that God ultimately causes those who are His to persevere, to persevere in grace. That God doesn't just cause them to persevere, but that God is the one who preserves His own Barney. And what a comfort that should be for us as Christians, because we know the fickleness of our own hearts. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love, as the great hymn says, here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

We know our weakness, our struggle. We need a God who is going to keep us, who's going to hold on to us, and that's precisely, I think, what Christ does for His sheep. And so while there are those who are around the church and in the church and maybe even have positions of authority and teaching who are there for a while but then leave, they commit apostasy, I don't think that that means that they were ever truly saved. One passage that you could go to, I think, that confirms this is what we read in the book of 1 John.

In 1 John chapter 2, John is writing about apostates, those who were in the church but then left, rejected the teaching, rejected the gospel. He says in verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might be plain that they all are not of us. There it's very clear. They were around, but they're not really of us.

How do we know that? Well, they abandoned the faith. And so there's one passage of scripture for you to think about, brother.

God bless. Barney, we actually have a great core question on this topic as well for anyone who's having questions about their salvation. It's called Can I Lose My Salvation, a great free resource. You can find that at corechristianity.com forward slash free downloads. Look for Can I Lose My Salvation.

This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open. We'll be taking calls for the next eight minutes or so. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, or doctrine or theology, hop on your phone right now. Call us at 833-THE-CORE. By the way, we're going to be recording a second Core Christianity program today. So you can actually call for the next 40 minutes or so with your questions. So if you can't call during a live show, you can call during our recorded program. 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. We do receive emails as well. And if you have a question for us, you can email us at questions at corechristianity.com. And Adriel, here's a question from Chrissy.

She says, Hi, I'm an inner core member with a question. I have family that I know believes in Jesus and his resurrection. They celebrate Christmas and Easter, but they only go to church when we ask. It seems like they believe, but there seems to be very little relationship with Jesus, and it doesn't appear they hold on to him with trust for everything in their lives.

I know I can't judge their hearts, but I worry that I won't see them in heaven. Also, Pastor Adriel, a question. Do you have a photographic memory? There you go, Adriel.

The last one is easy. No. In fact, my memory is not that good. I struggle with that. But with regard to your question with family, well, first, you know, none of us perfectly follows after the Lord or perfectly trust God with everything in our lives. But there is a very concerning nominal Christianity that's out there. That is, I'm a Christian, but really a name only. Yeah, I was raised this way. I identify as a Christian.

I guess if I had to say I believe something, it would be that. And that looks like I go to church on Christmas. I go to church around Easter time. You know, I maybe say prayers before bed every once in a while, that kind of a thing. But that's not what Christianity is all about. And in my estimation, someone who has truly apprehended, understood the grace of God, experienced the forgiveness of sins, the washing away of their sins.

You just can't get enough, if you will. This idea that it's like, oh, I have that, but I just really don't care about God or go to church or any of those things. That's, I think, a really serious problem indicative of an issue, a deep spiritual issue. And I think the way that we address this deep spiritual issue is not by saying, you need to try harder. Boy, do you really love God? Better go to church every single Sunday, that kind of thing.

No. We want to point people to the wonder, the magnitude, the beauty of what God has done to redeem us so that we would be drawn in. It's the kindness of God, Paul says to the Romans, that leads us to repentance, that causes us to realize just how good the Lord is so that we want to offer our lives to Him in worship.

Our bodies, Paul says in Romans chapter 12, is living sacrifices to the Lord. And when somebody, you know, they're just sort of going through the motions to go to church, you know, once or twice a year, that kind of a thing. When somebody is in that situation, my sense is that they've not really understood the wonder, the depth, the beauty of the gospel. And so I think the way you can be an encouragement, Chrissy, to your family members is to talk about that gospel, to talk about the glory of Christ, what He's done to redeem us, sinners who did not deserve it, who had not earned it. And you come to find that the more we experience that, the more we know that, the more we want to be in church around other believers, around others who are calling upon the name of the Lord, the more we want to strive after holiness and serving the Lord.

And so I would say make the gospel front and center, the goodness of God, the kindness of God to you and to your family. And as you have those conversations and, you know, and get to gauge a little bit more of where they're at, calling them to live as becomes the followers of Christ. Because there are, as you know and as we see, many people who do have that sort of nominal Christianity say, yeah, I'm a Christian. I think it's okay for us as believers. We ought to as believers say, okay, well, what does that actually mean and what does that look like? Because here's what the Word of God says and here's how we're called to live. Here's what we're called to believe, to embrace. And for many people, we ought to challenge them in a godly way, in a good way, in a helpful way and call them to live as becomes the followers of Christ in light of the love of Christ.

We love him because he first loved us and so that's more than anything what we all need to grow in our understanding, what your family needs to grow in an understanding of is that love of Christ for them so that they might in turn love him as well. Chrissy, thanks so much for your question and we'll be praying for your family members and encourage you to pray for them as well. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, we're going to be recording a second Core Christianity program after this one ends. So if you've had a question that's just been burning on your mind and you've wanted to ask Pastor Adriel, you can call us for the next 35 minutes or so at 833-THECORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Also want to mention we have that great resource that's free called 8 Things Everyone Should Know About Church. It really dives into the purpose, God's purpose for the church and its function here on earth.

So check that out by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Let's go to a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners. This is from Rick.

I was just listening to the young lady that was talking about shaving her head and whatnot. The pastor was reading about Paul and that he only meant it for Corinth there. And my question is, I thought the Bible was, you know, God inspired. So if Paul had said it, I was or I always thought that God basically inspired him to say that. So if it was just for them people then at that time, why is it that it's different for us if it was God inspired the whole Bible?

I don't understand why it's not for us as well. Rick, thanks for that question. And yes, we do believe that all scripture is inspired by 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. Paul says all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. And so I wasn't meaning to suggest, a young woman asked a question about head coverings in the book of 1 Corinthians and just how we were supposed to understand that today.

And I mentioned that there were reasons to believe. I believe that the exhortation that Paul gives there, the teaching that Paul gives there is related to a specific situation, related to the context there in Corinth, some of the history there. And that doesn't mean that it's not for us in terms of we can't draw application, teaching, correction, reproof from it. It just means that we need to understand it in its context and how it might apply to us today. And so nothing in the scripture is irrelevant to us.

It's all relevant. The thing is we need to understand it according to its context and then draw out the applications once we understand the teaching of the scripture in its historical setting. And so that's the key there. We need to also recognize that some things in the Bible are prescriptive for the church at all times, meaning rules for us to embrace and to follow.

And some things are more descriptive. The disciples talking about things that were taking place in the apostolic period, for example, descriptions of the life of the church there that we can learn from, that we can glean from, but there weren't meant to be prescriptions for the church in all ages. And so some of this just gets into the importance of basic Bible interpretation, understanding the scriptures in their context, and then being able to, from that place, draw out proper applications. And that's what we want to do on this broadcast. We want to dig into the Word of God, understand the scriptures in their proper context, the historical setting and background, and from there, glean what God is speaking to us today through His Word and by His Spirit. And so thank you for that question, Rick, and may the Lord bless you. .