Life Is Brief

and God has the Last Word

Richard Hollerman

We know that Pregozhin was a ruthless man. He was wicked and brutal. Even his closest allies said that he was cruel and vicious. Now he is gone, as we have said in another post.

The fact that he and his Wagner mercenary group was harsh and unkind was a fact that was widely acknowledged. He was willing to pay his forces to slaughter the enemy. Of course, we know that his friends adored him for his brutality and supported him for his ruthless spirit of conquest. He represented Russian idealism and people flocked around him for his earnest work in making the nation great.

We know that he objected to a soft approach and wanted to quell the opposition. Toward the end, the support of Belarus supported him and, for some unknown reason, he returned to Russia to pursue his evil agenda. People liked him for his promotion of Russian ideals even against hostile forces that surrounded him. Even Russian President Putin couldn’t get along with him and many suspect that he had something to do with the execution of Pregozhin along with eight of his trusting compatriots and the two pilots.

This ruthless “general” or mercenary leader, who led a group of wicked men and is not dead, but will one day face God in judgment. Putin knows this but doesn’t care. And the Russian Orthodox Church knows it also but doesn’t care. In their deepest heart, surely they realize that this apostate and rebellious follower, who killed so many, who destroyed so much, but who also continued to maintain his religiosity, was wrong. But know Pregozhin is gone himself and cannot be reclaimed. He and those who followed him, unmindful of his wickedness, are gone. And we only can find consolation by doing what we can, under the Lord and by His power, to do what we can.

What can we say about this situation? We have already presented an installment regarding him, what he stood for, and his untimely end. We know that life can be brief. Actually, life under the best of circumstances is brief and will soon end. Thus, we read that our time on earth is brief and will soon pass away (1 John 2:15-17). We also read that we are to “number our days” in light of the future (Psalm 90:12). We further read in Psalm 39:4: “LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am.” Do we take this to heart? Do we realize that we are “transient” and will soon pass away?

Further, in Job 7:6 we learn that our life is like a “weaver’s shuttle” thus we need to bear this in mind day by day. (See also 1 Chronicles 29:15; Job 8:9; Psalm 78:39; Job 9:25; Psalm 89:47; Job 14:2; Psalm 102:11).

Our life is like a swift eagle and it will soon fly away. We read in James 4:14: “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” If we are like a vapor that will soon disappear, why do we go through life as though we will go on and on, without end?

But we know that Jesus will give us eternal life by His grace (see John 3:36; 11:25-27) and we can depend on Him for our all and our life (John 14:6; 5:11-13). Only by giving our life to Him will we find life eternal. We must either live eternally for Christ or die without Him (Matthew 25:46). With Him we will live eternally with the best of all and without Him we will forever be separated from Him (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Which will it be for you?