Ukraine – Echoes of 1938

The vote is in.  Ninety-seven percent of voters in Crimea chose to join Russia.  Stalin reportedly once said, “It doesn’t matter who votes.  It matters who counts the ballots.”

Let’s think about what’s going on.   Russian president Putin has made his calculated move.  Russian troops occupy the Crimea.  Putin’s expressed justification is to “protect” the Russians who live in the province.  Never mind that Crimea provides the Russian navy with its only warm water port.  Never mind that the Ukraine was moving closer to Western Europe.  Never mind that Russians are not in the least mistreated in Crimea.

Many think Putin wants the province as the first step toward reconstructing the old Soviet Empire.

I hear echoes of 1938.  Hitler annexed Austria to the German Reich.  By means of a 99.75 percent vote of the Austrian people. Go back and watch The Sound of Music for a soft reminder.  Then came the Sudetenland, which was part of Czechoslovakia.   Three million Germans lived there.  Hitler demanded the province, ostensibly to “protect” the German population.  The French and British acquiesced.  But Hitler wasn’t finished.  He demanded that German troops should occupy all of Czechoslovakia.  It provoked a world crisis.  Just like today.

At the end of September, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hurried to Munich to confront Hitler and returned to London waving a signed piece of paper.  “We have peace in our time!” he announced.  “Hitler has what he wants.  We have his word that he’ll go no further!” 

Europe breathed a sigh of relief.  War was averted.  But eleven months later, on September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland, and the bloodiest war in human history began.

Not so long ago the world, led by a resolute America, remembered the lesson: Appeasement of ruthless and powerful evil always backfires.  But now, 70 years later, after two generations, the old story seems to be repeating.  And few remember the past.

This time, Neville Chamberlain appears to be President of the United States.  Secretary of State Kerry has explained, “We don’t want to offend Mr. Putin.” 

On March 17 Democratic pollster Pat Caddell described the administration’s reaction as, “the surrender of our country.”

My point is not to join the chorus of dismay—both Democrat and Republican—that follows this administration’s handling of the situation.  Rather, I want to consider the bigger picture and to ask, what is going on, that every few generations the same scenario seems to be played out.  And the good guys forget the lessons of the past.  Or maybe they are merely lulled by the comforts they put at risk by standing strong.  So they fail appease the aggression that threatens to engulf the world once again in death and destruction.

Jesus said to his disciples one day, “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars, but that is not yet the end.” (Matthew 24:6)  In other words, he was saying, “Get used to it.” Man has a constant tendency to fight and destroy.  The human race has gotten very good at it.

Why is this?  It is not just that man, at his core, is sinful.  We are not a good race.  We are full of violence and petty hatreds that emerge from the very core of each of us. (Romans 3:10-18)  But there is more going on here.  Given the tens of millions of deaths, the destruction of whole nations, the horror of the Holocaust—that followed 1938--which of us will not agree that something Evil was behind it all?

I suggest that the same Evil is rising again.  And there are plenty of willing agents to carry out its bidding—Russia, China, Iran, radical Islam, Syria.  If someone does not resolve to stop it, do you think there can be a different result from we saw the last time?  The intent of Supernatural Evil is to destroy the human race.  By whatever means is at hand.  Because we humans bear the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27)  Supernatural Evil (hell) desires to blot out the face of God within us.  How else may one explain it?

Think about it.  God chooses to work through humans in the ongoing war against Evil.  If we will not block its rise, if we become complicit in Evil’s grand plot, then, as Jesus told his disciples, he himself will come to put a stop to it forever. 

Best to be found standing on the side of right and good when he does that.

Dr. Rick Perrin is Chairman of the Board of World Reformed Fellowship and senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Cherry Hill NJ.  He writes a weekly blog called ReTHINK which may be accessed at www.rethinkingnews.wordpress.com. He may be contacted directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..