Strong and Weak Leaders

Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama

Barack Obama is a made for Hollywood president. He's cool, tall, well-dressed, good looking and well-spoken.

Not surprisingly, some of his biggest supporters happen to be Hollywood executives, actors and actresses who poured big coin into both of his presidential campaigns. If it wasn't for his Hollywood acolytes, Obama may never have reached the White House.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the exact opposite of Obama. He looks just like what a former KGB agent ought to look like--short, balding, stone-faced and menacing. 

He certainly looks like Hollywood's idea of a Russian special agent. But he's definitely not Hollywood's idea of a president who's in charge of a rising world superpower.

However, leadership isn't about looks or clothes or inspiring speeches. If it was then Barack Obama would go down in history as one of the world's greatest leaders.

But beyond the clothes, looks and charismatic speeches, Barack Obama is a proverbial empty suit. His incompetence was embarrassing and evident yet once again when he recently threatened to bomb Syria only to pull back on his threat and open the door for Putin to solve the crisis.

Obama threatened Syria after he claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical gas against his people that resulted in an estimated 1,500 casualties. 

Though no one has yet been able to determine whether Assad or the rebel forces fighting him used the gas, Obama claims that he has irrefutable evidence that Assad used the gas. And so, Obama sent five warships to the Mediterranean Sea to threaten the Syrian dictator.

And the warships sat off of Syria's coast while Obama hemmed and hawed about launching cruise missiles against Assad. Meanwhile, both Assad and the Iranians threatened to attack Israel if Obama followed through with his threat to drop cruise missiles on Syria. 

Obama's actions were intended to save face for his infamous red-line threat he issued against Assad last year if the dictator used chemical weapons on his people. Obama warned Assad not to cross his hypothetical red-line by using chemical weapons. 

Chemical weapons were used recently and Obama claims that Assad used them. By threatening Assad and sending warships, Obama imperiled the Middle East with a major conflagration. Had Putin not stepped in and diffused Obama's mess, the Middle East could have become engulfed in a major war.

Vladimir Putin certainly isn't a nice guy. He's ruthless, coldblooded and he deals harshly with his enemies. Some of his enemies are either in jail or they aren't living anymore. But he understands the world and how it works while Obama doesn't.

Putin's dramatic solution that solved a serious problem Barack Obama created has prophetic implications. The Bible tells us that a powerful world ruler is coming who will be known as the Antichrist. He will come from Russia (Daniel 11, Ezekiel 38-39) and he will initially appear to the world as a peacemaker before he goes on his reign of terror.

Vladimir Putin isn't the Antichrist. I have corresponded with Russians who believe that he is because they loathe him. I understand that. Putin is reviled by many Russians in the same way that Obama is reviled by many Americans. 

But scripture reveals that the dreaded Antichrist will rise in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Church. (Revelation 17) In order for that to happen, the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church must reunite after 1,000 years of separation. And that's going to happen.

In the meantime, ruthless leaders such as Vladimir Putin are giving us a portent of what's ahead in the future.