Dear President Vladimir Putin:
The world has heard that you are threatening to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine. The news headlines show that many nations are taking you seriously. Headlines such as, “USA Stockpiles Anti-Radiation Drugs,” “Biden Warns of Nuclear Armageddon,” “Putin Isolated in Bunker,” “Gas Panic: Putin blowing up nuke in Black Sea would release killer poisonous gas cloud & trigger tsunamis, warns top professor.” In this latter report, we read that “the explosion could trigger a toxic cloud of killer hydrogen sulfide. … The sea is unique due to a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide.”
When the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Krill congratulated you on your 70th birthday, the Patriarch said, “God put you in power.” May I respectfully ask, sir, what god is that? Certainly not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” What god will raise “a toxic cloud of killer hydrogen sulfide” that will destroy innocent civilians?
I have been following the war in Ukraine since it started. I know, Mr. Putin, that some groups in America claim that the death toll has been deliberately doctored by globalists to arouse people against Russian nationalism, yet the abundant testimony of observers and Christian aid workers on the ground, plus numerous satellite photos, leads me to believe that the wanton destruction of property and the targeting of civilians is real. The attack on a maternity hospital, the use of cluster munitions and thermobaric bombs that suck oxygen out of lungs, and the testimony of refugees who have escaped to Poland and elsewhere testify to the “scorched-earth” policy you are following.
Mr. Putin, some of the reports that I have read said you are ill. I don’t know exactly what kind of illness that might be, but sir, even if you live to be 110 you will have to stand before the Judge of all the earth and give an account of your murderous deeds. You will not be able to hide on the day of judgment. Our Heavenly Father’s bolts of lightning are far more accurate than any missile Russian scientists have created. There will be no escape unless you repent of your sins and flee the wrath to come by accepting Jesus into your heart and begging for mercy for the grief and mayhem you have caused.
The Holy Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit and given as a witness to the entire world says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). In the original language the word “confess” means to agree with God. Confession of sins means “no excuses.” You either agree with God that you have sinned, or the confession is not true confession. Good intentions mean nothing to our holy God. Uzzah put out his hand to steady the ark of the covenant which was being transported in a way not prescribed by Almighty God. Uzzah meant well, but his disobedience brought sudden death on him (2 Sam. 6:7).
I know that at a pro-war rally in March of 2022 justifying the Russian invasion of Ukraine, you said, “Words from the Holy Bible come to my head: ‘There is no greater love than if someone gives his soul for his friends,’” your paraphrase of John 15:13.
You and I, Mr. Putin, and millions of Christians are grieved by the moral degeneracy in the West. One of America’s great Christian scholars, Dr. Michael Brown, a messianic Jew who loves Jesus, Yeshua, and a man filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, believes that you are motivated by spiritual beliefs more than the expansion of NATO. He cites the speech you gave on September 19, 2013, in which you stated:
“We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually redirecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilization. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. … The excesses of political correctness have reached the point where people are seriously talking about registering political parties whose aim is to promote pedophilia. People in many European countries are embarrassed or afraid to talk about their religious affiliations. …”
Mr. President, I sincerely wish that our own president, Joe Biden, and the political party he represents. would have the same sentiments that you express in this speech. I know, and believe, Mr. Putin, you are a very moral man and you claim that you are deeply grieved by the sins and evil deeds of all too many people in the West. Yet the Holy Bible informs us quite clearly that morality will never get anyone into heaven. Good works and noble sentiments such as you express are, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). God is so holy that even our repentance needs to be repented of.
There are those who manifest the “form of godliness,” but have never experienced its power (2 Tim. 3:5). These are they of whom the Lord Jesus spoke when He said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name, have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:22–23). Or, in the words of Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
As a minister of the Gospel, I believe it is my solemn duty to inform you that you are in danger of hellfire, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44–48). You are putting your faith in a mere ecclesiastical body made up of a cadre of so-called “holy men” and prelates who have no regard for the authority of sacred Scripture, a group of men where vestments and candles and ceremonies dazzle the eyes of men but are of no esteem in the eyes of the Almighty and can never thwart the wrath of God.
The eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Name above every Name, said, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). As you well know, Mr. President, the scribes and the Pharisees were the holy men of ancient Israel, yet Jesus Christ affirms that our righteousness must exceed their righteousness. How is that possible? Where can unholy sinners like you and me, and every human being, whatever their gender, ethnicity, or status in life, find such righteousness?
The Holy Bible, the unchanging Word of God, tells us that this righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and that through simple faith in Jesus Christ, this righteousness can be imputed to us. The Jews of old never found that righteousness, but believing gentiles did. “The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness” (Rom. 9:30–31).
Mr. Putin, it is not too late to embrace the Savior and not too late to put your wholehearted faith in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood will wash away your sins and will provide you with a full remission of sins. God holds no one in double jeopardy. God does not expect double payment for your sins. Jesus has already paid for your sins. His death is sufficient for every human being that has ever lived, but efficient only for those who believe in His name. If you believe in Him you will never have to pay for your sins. They have already been paid for, and that holds true for all eternity.
When Jesus Christ was on the cross He prayed for His tormentors, and then made excuses for them: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). I believe, Mr. Putin, that you do not know what you are doing. From the very beginning of this war, Russian troops have fared very poorly. And, like those people in that angry crowd in Jerusalem long ago, you don’t know what you are doing. Russia is losing face. You have not been able to turn the tide against the Ukrainians, and you really don’t know what to do. The use of nuclear weapons looks promising. Many Russians are fed up with this war and they want out. Some Russian leaders are putting the pressure on you. They want a victory. The only possibility of victory is the use of nuclear weapons. Your back is against the wall. What will you do?
My dear Vladimir, just look at human history—one war after another. Nothing has ever really been solved. People have died. Cities have been destroyed. Mothers have mourned the deaths of their husbands and sons. And what will the world think of you when the pictures start coming out—pictures of little children, their bodies blackened like charcoal from nuclear blasts. People with huge tumors on their necks and bodies. The same could happen even to the people of your great nation. What a tragedy! Even your friends in Beijing and Pyongyang will scorn you.
Annihilationists and cult members will keep on teaching that there is no hell. “God wouldn’t do such a thing,” they will say. Others will boast, “Hell is just a figment of the imagination,” but you Mr. President, will know the truth, the truth of everlasting fire and woe. For your own sake, swallow your pride. Go to the negotiating table. Russia is a huge country. How is it wise to expand this war to the point that even Russia will be harmed for the sake of a small stretch of land?
— Respectfully yours, Pastor Larry Spargimino, Ph.D.
Southwest Radio Church, Oklahoma City, OK, USA