This Past Year Of Vladimir Putin Has Been, To Say The Least, Interesting!

The last twelve months have been rather remarkable for Mr. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.

He has further solidified his control over the country since returning for his third term in May of 2012. He accepted Edward Snowden, the American NSA whistleblower and/or traitor. And he allows Snowden to continue releasing information both embarrassing and damaging to the United States.

Putin bamboozled President Obama into making a deal with Syria over its chemical weapons -- a deal it clearly never intended to keep. And he brokered another deal to remove the West's sanctions against Iran while allowing the Iranians to keep their nuclear program and continue pursuing nuclear weapons.

He also appears to have succeeded in turning the new Egyptian government away from the West and rebuilding old alliances between Egypt and Russia. He hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games which ran their course without any major failures or terrorist incidents. And, for good measure, the Russians won the most medals at the Games.

For Mr. Putin, it was icing on the cake that last October, Forbes named him as "the most powerful person in the world." Putin beat out the usual winner, the President of the United States.

All in all, a pretty good year for a lowly, lifelong Russian civil servant, wouldn't you say? And I'm sure that the man who once publicly described himself as "a galley slave" for the Russian people is grateful for the opportunities afforded to him and the success he's enjoyed.

And he should be, because there's a lot more to Mr. Putin's success than meets the eye. Last year, he was required by new Russian laws to disclose his personal income. He dutifully reported that he earns a salary of $187,000 per year and has about $180,000 in the bank.

However, Mr. Putin failed to fully disclose all of his assets and earnings, as politicians are sometimes wont. Don't be too hard on him, though. He only neglected to mention his other assets totaling a mere $74.7 billion. You read that right -- Billion. Vladimir Putin, the humble "galley slave" to the Russian people, has managed to parley his civil servant's paycheck into a fortune of $75 billion, making him the third richest person in the world. However, since so much secrecy surrounds the Russian president, many observers think his fortune may be even greater, making him the world's richest person.

And, of course, his twenty mansions around the world, luxury yachts, and various jets and automobiles are probably redundant. The Russian government provides him 15 presidential helicopters, 40 private jets (some with gold-plated interiors), even more luxury yachts, and a couple of palaces to shelter him during those harsh Russian winters.

So Vladimir Putin is not only a global peace broker, as NBC sports anchor Bob Costas implied during the Olympics, but he must be a financial genius, too, to amass this kind of fortune.

I believe what he really wants is for Russia to rule as the world's only superpower -- while he rules Russia. In fact, he seems to have made it his life's goal to see Russia restored to its past glory. The former KGB colonel longs for the days when the Soviet Union was feared throughout the world.

We know this from what Putin said in 2005, "...the collapse of the old Soviet empire was 'the greatest' geopolitical catastrophe of the century." Don't forget that he was referring to the century that saw World Wars I and II, the Holocaust, the Russian genocides, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the revolts of the British colonies, Vietnam, Korea, and other geopolitical catastrophes. All of which were apparently trifling compared to the collapse of the USSR and the supposed end of the Cold War.

So imagine how the world's most powerful person and, perhaps, its richest, too, must have felt when upstart Ukraine had the temerity to overthrow his loyal puppet president, Viktor Yanukovych, and send him packing back to Russia! The European Union had offered to improve its business ties with Ukraine. Russia made a counter-offer to keep the former Soviet satellite in its orbit and under its supervision. The Ukrainians wanted to move closer to the European Union with its liberty and prosperity rather than Russia with its suffocating control. So when Yanukovych picked Russia, the Ukrainians rebelled, kicked the bum out, replaced him with an evangelical Christian, and scheduled new elections for May.

But Putin was pretty upset because he invaded Ukraine. But to be accurate, President Putin didn't actually invade Ukraine, his Russian forces did. And they tried to fool everyone by removing all of the insignia on their uniforms and arriving in unmarked transport trucks, tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, and airplanes. Another hint as to their identity was that they landed at the Russian naval base and airport in Sevastopol.

Some Russian ships also showed up to block the way of escape for the Ukrainian warships docked at their own naval headquarters in Sevastopol.

The Russians defended their actions by reminding the world that it wasn't Ukraine proper (the mainland), it was only the southern Crimean peninsula where a lot of Russians already live and Russia has a long-term lease on a naval base at Sevastopol. And they were only there to protect their fellow Russians.

But Crimea is still part of the sovereign nation of Ukraine, and now it is being occupied by the Russian military. So I guess that constitutes an invasion, doesn't it?

In 1991, after the Soviet Union fell, Ukraine declared its independence. In 1994, it agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal (the third largest in the world) if the sanctity of its borders were guaranteed by the West. Ironically, that treaty was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Now, Russia has broken that treaty and the U.S. and U.K. are too weak to enforce it. I'll bet the Ukrainians wish they had kept a few of those nukes and Putin is glad they didn't!

Of course, President Obama has made a few veiled, obscure threats on Ukraine's behalf. He's basically said that we're going to get together with some of our friends in the West and do something, maybe. But we didn't do anything when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008; we didn't do anything about Syria; we've not done anything to stop Iran; North Korea takes delight in yanking our chain regularly; Egypt and Saudi Arabia have concluded we can't be trusted; al-Qaeda ridicules us in their magazine and online; and Palestinian Authority officials openly mock us while cashing our welfare checks.

So I'm sure President Putin isn't worried about our ability or desire to stop him. How un-worried is he? German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Putin after the invasion. She described him as out of touch with reality. She told President Obama that Putin was "in another world." That's a pretty scary description for the leader of the nation the Bible refers to as "Magog."

I don't believe that Putin has much to fear, and is relaxed because he knows the U.S. is focused on more important things like promoting homosexual rights around the world, specifying where Israelis can and cannot build apartments, and stripping our military down to its pre-World War II strength levels, and the list could and does go on.

But as a student of the Bible, one understand that the ancient prophets predicted that in the last of the last days, Russia (Magog) would come roaring back under its visionary leader (Gog). They would eventually lead a coalition of nations headed by Iran (Persia) in an attack on Israel. Though the prophets predicted that a form of the revived Roman Empire (the EU?) would strike back, nowhere does it mention any nation or power that resembles the United States of America.

I have said for some time, now, that America must fade from prominence on the world stage, and become a "second" or "third" rate nation. The Bible indicates that we will either not exist or will be too weak to make any difference in the events of the last days.

The implication of the prophets' predictions when viewed in the light of this week's headlines can lead to only one conclusion: we are in the closing days of this Age of Grace.

And that is the reason that you must make certain you are ready to meet Jesus Christ when He returns to catch away His true Church. Make sure your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your co-workers have heard the Good News of the Gospel so that they, too, can be ready to meet Him when He returns.

Confess that you are a sinner. Ask God for forgiveness. Believe that Jesus Christ took upon Himself the punishment you deserved and died in your place. Accept that sacrifice. Understand that your sins have been forgiven and washed away forever and that you are now a new creature in Him. Then turn from your sin, follow Him, and trust His Holy Spirit to give you the power to do so. Read your Bible regularly to mature in your faith. And find a Bible-believing church where you can benefit from good teaching and fellowship with fellow believers.

Then hang on! It's going to be a thrilling ride from here on out! it sure would be "a good day to fly!"