Richard Hollerman

This morning I heard of the news. We had wondered about this and know of his past misdeeds, killings, and travels to Africa for gold, but now (this morning) we learned of his death. Although we are not 100% sure of his death, for he was known to have doubles in his life, but it does look like it may have been genuine.

This is what we have learned thus far:

Yeugheny Pregozhin, was in an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft, made in Brazil. He, of course, was working for Vladimir Putin and then on June 24 initiated a coup. He lost this and then went to Belarus.  The plane carried eight people on the passenger list, but may have carried ten (10) people in total, including the two pilates. At about 30 minutes into the flight, from Moscow to St. Petersburg, at 28,000 feet, it exploded and then descended and crashed south of Tuer in Russia. Rumors abound. Some say that it might have been a missile; others say that it could have been a drone; and still others say that it might have been an explosion caused by a bomb. None of these are provable at this time.

We know that Putin, the leader in Russia, had encountered multiple oppositions from Pregozhin, the head of the mercenary force that invaded Ukraine. We wonder whether Putin may have had second thoughts regarding this “chief” of his mercenary army. Pregozhin, we have read, was many years ago, the “taster” and “chef” Putin and his food.

Since then, of course, we know that this evil man was responsible for the murder of thousands upon thousands of Ukrainians and bombed (with missiles) so many of the buildings and infrastructure in this country. We know that Vladimir Putin hates opposition and does all he can to squelch this by every means. We wonder whether he had anything to do with the killing of his mercenary chief, Pregozhin. At this point, we don’t know, even though we know that a dozen people have been killed before Pregozhin.

We realize that there have been a dozen people “eliminated” by Russian opposition who defied the Russian opposition. Some months ago, we realize that Pregozhin was involved in a coup d’é·tat then he fled to the neighboring nation of Belarus, with his loyal following (probably many of whom killed and bombed and attempted to wipe out Ukrainian opposition, at the behest of President Putin. His mercenary forces were defeated and now Pregozhin was leader of others. The last major photo we had of him was from Northern Africa where he was involved in gold purchasing.

And now he is gone. The reports say that his plane went down between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The enemy of Putin and loyal “son” of Russia, beloved by many, is now gone. He apparently was removed with no change in his opposition and no remorse in his attitudes. He must have died as an unrepentant murderer.

I had to think of Psalm 73, especially verses 3-16. Here the psalmist says that he (about whom he wrote) was “arrogant” and had “prosperity” (v. 3). He had no “trouble” as others do (v. 5) and had “pride” (v. 6). The writer said that these “wicked” are “always at ease” and “increased in wealth” (v. 12). But then, we read that they have been cast down to “destruction” and are “destroyed” in a moment” (vv. 18-19). The writer then consoles himself by admitting, “I am continually with You” and God has taken his “right hand” (v. 23).

As I said, Pregozhin, who killed so many, was killed himself and surely cast off eternally from a just God. He will forever face the unending wrath of Almighty God (Revelation 14:10-11; Thessalonians 1:7-9). But will there be someone who brings Putin himself to repentance? We will be waiting to see!

 

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