On Friday, the man known as “Putin’s chef” seemed on the verge of overthrowing Putin himself. Now he has been exiled to Belarus, where he may be targeted for assassination. Meanwhile, Putin remains in power.

But is he really?

“Putin’s chef” rebels against his master

Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin was born in 1961 and raised in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union. As a teenager, he was caught stealing and spent nine years in detention. After his release, he began selling hot dogs in Leningrad, then became involved with grocery stores, gambling, and the restaurant business.

He met Vladimir Putin along the way and began receiving numerous government contracts to supply meals to the Russian military and schools. Over time, due to catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef,” he became a wealthy oligarch.

In May 2014, Prigozhin founded the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization that has fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine and is accused of horrific war crimes. As the invasion foundered, he became a vocal critic of Russia’s military leaders.

Last Friday, he claimed that regular Russian forces launched missile strikes against his Wagner forces, killing a “huge” number. In response, he ordered his troops to advance north on Moscow and demanded the ouster of Russia’s defense minister and chief of the general staff. In response, checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops were stationed on the city’s southern edge. The city went on alert as crews dug up sections of highways to slow the march.

Wagner troops advanced to one hundred and twenty miles from Moscow when Prigozhin called a halt, claiming he decided to avoid “shedding Russian blood.” According to UK security services, he did so after Russian intelligence services threatened to harm the families of Wagner leaders.

In a deal announced Saturday, Prigozhin will go into exile in neighboring Belarus, charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped, Wagner fighters will not be prosecuted, and some will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. Prigozhin ordered his troops back to Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.

“The final chapter of his rule”

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said Putin “has been diminished for all time by this affair,” which constituted “the biggest internal challenge to President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s paramount leader for twenty-three years.”

Lucian Kim, NPR’s former Moscow bureau chief, put the rebellion in the larger context of Putin’s “suicidal war against Ukraine.” He writes: “The longer he stayed in power, the less interested Putin became in being remembered simply as the leader who stabilized Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That was not enough. Putin wanted the legacy of restoring an empire, beginning with Ukraine.”

However, “Though battered and bloodied, Ukraine is unified and clear about its purpose. Now Russia looks like [a] failed state. Nobody in Russia understands what the war in Ukraine is about. And after Prigozhin’s rebellion, nobody knows if that war might not still come to Russia.” As a result, “It is unclear if we are witnessing the beginning, middle, or end of Putin’s end. What is certain is that it is the final chapter of his rule.”

The New York Times quotes Konstantin Remchukov, a Moscow newspaper editor with Kremlin connections, who said people close to Putin could persuade him “not to stand for re-election in Russia’s presidential vote next spring.” He explained: “If I was sure a month ago that Putin would run unconditionally because it was his right, now I see that the elites can no longer feel unconditionally secure.”

British political analyst Daniel Hannan believes Prigozhin’s coup is “the beginning of the end for Vladimir Putin” since his “power rests on projection, on propaganda, on the image of invincibility. Now, all of a sudden, the curtain has been snatched back, revealing the Wizard of Oz as a small, mediocre, frightened man.”

“Shadowed by an illusory person”

In point of fact, we are all such a “wizard” projecting what psychologist Karen Horney calls our “idealized self” to the world. The problem with pretending to be what we are not is not just that our fiction is inevitably known by others. It is that our fictional self is not known to God.

In New Seeds of Contemplation, the monk and theologian Thomas Merton writes, “Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him.”

Think about that fact: our false, idealized self does not truly exist, but God can know only that which does exist. He cannot help us contact Martians since there are no Martians. He cannot help us “know thyself,” the Western quest since Socrates, since there is no true “self” to be known apart from the One who, as St. Augustine prayed, “made us for yourself, O Lord.”

Consequently, Augustine continued, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

“An exchanged life, not a changed life”

The good news is that the God who made us and thus knows us better than we know ourselves can remake us as his “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, to be your best self today, stop trying to be what you want others to see and ask Jesus to make you like himself (Romans 8:29) by transfusing your character with the “fruit” of his Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23).

Watchman Nee was right: “Victory has to do with an exchanged life, not a changed life. . . . It is not an evil ‘I’ being changed into a good ‘I, or a filthy ‘I’ being changed into a clean ‘I.’ It is to be ‘no longer I.’”

Jesus was adamant: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Paul testified that he had been “crucified with Christ” so that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). And Christ living through Paul changed the world.

Will you ask him to do the same through you?

Denison Forum

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of when the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion law to the states. Christian leaders described the decision as “the day we have all been waiting for” and “one of the most important days in American history.”

However, Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the Court’s majority decision, cautioned that “we do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision. We can only do our job.”

And, as the last twelve months have shown, America remains as divided as ever on this issue.

Abortions are down but still occurring

After Roe v. Wade was originally passed in 1973, forty-six state legislatures had to rewrite their abortion laws, “bringing them into line with what had been, until then, the most liberal abortion laws in the nation.”

The response to the Court’s decision last year was not nearly so uniform.

Currently, thirteen states have what could be described as a total ban on abortion—though differences exist even within that grouping on how to treat issues related to incest, rape, and the health of the mother. By contrast, six states have no restrictions at all, allowing abortions up to the moment of birth. The remaining thirty-one states fall somewhere in the middle, with the majority drawing the line around the time that the fetus becomes viable.

The net result has been an estimated 24,290 fewer legal abortions from July 2022 to March 2023, the most recent month for which such data is available. The stipulation of “legal” abortions is important, however, as recent months have seen a dramatic increase in the availability and use of abortion pills, even in states where such an action is against the law. For example, Hey Jane—one of many telemedicine abortion providers—has seen a 164 percent increase in patients over the last year.

One of the newer developments in this area has been the increased frequency of international providers of abortifacients shipping the drugs to doctors and clinics in states with “shield laws,” which allow them to then distribute the pills to states with abortion bans without worrying about the repercussions of those laws.

The increased reliance on medicinal abortions is why the case over the legality of one of the most commonly used abortifacients, mifepristone, is so significant for the future of the abortion issue in America. The pill is currently part of the regimen used in more than half of all abortions across the country. A case that could revoke its government approval is likely to come before the Supreme Court for a second time in the coming months or years.

Regardless of how that case plays out, however, the fight to protect the lives of the unborn is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, and current trends indicate that it is only going to get more difficult.

The best way to protect the unborn

While more states appear willing to pass laws that protect children later in pregnancy, public opinion has actually shifted over the last year to favor greater access to abortion.

Of Americans, 69 percent now support the right to first-trimester abortions, an increase of 2 percent from before Roe v. Wade was overturned. A similar trend exists for second- and third-trimester abortions as well, with almost a third and a quarter of the population supporting each, respectively.

Clearly, changing laws is not enough to change hearts on this issue. So where do we go from here?

Ultimately, this is not a fight that can be won in the political sphere. Whether it’s ordering pills through the mail, traveling out of state, or any number of other avenues, people who see abortion as their only option—or even just continue to see it as a viable option—will find a way to kill their unborn children. As such, the solution is to worry less about making it harder for people to attain an abortion and instead focus more on reducing their perceived need to seek it out in the first place.

And, as former NFL tight end and longtime advocate for the pro-life movement Benjamin Watson recently pointed out, roughly 76 percent of women say that “they would prefer to parent their child if their circumstances [were] different.”

As such, he argues that the best way to protect the unborn is to “widen our view on what might be a pro-life issue, meaning that it helps human flourishing as opposed to strictly legislation,” adding that he longs for the day when abortion is both “unthinkable and unnecessary.”

However, until the day that it becomes “unnecessary,” there is little we can do to make abortion “unthinkable” to those who are frightened by the prospect of adding a child to their lives.

Fortunately, there are quite a few ways we can help with that.

3 pro-life actions you can take today

While there are a number of ways that we can—and should—engage with the issue of helping to meet the needs that often lead people to consider abortion, a few basic steps can make a big difference in that struggle.

To start, we must understand that the vast majority of women facing the decision to terminate their pregnancy are not bad people. As Watson pointed out, more than three-quarters of them would prefer to keep their baby if they could see a realistic way to do so. As such, a little bit of empathy can go a long way toward helping them feel less trapped and more open to choosing life for their child.

Second, ask God to point you toward ministries and groups that make it a point to reach out to women in need. Whether it’s crisis pregnancy centers, local food banks, or any number of other organizations that do similar work, joining or supporting such groups as the Lord leads can help to fill in the gaps that make it difficult for people to consider adding a child to their lives.

Lastly, pray about whether the Lord might be calling you to consider adoption. It’s not for everyone, but let God be the one to make that call. And if his will for your life is not to take in a child who needs a home, ask him to show you ways that you can help support those he is calling to take such a step.

Whether it’s providing financial support, emotional support, or even just going through the process of gaining clearance to babysit for kids in foster care, or for parents in desperate need of a night out, each of us can do something to help support those who have chosen to give their children the chance to live.

How is God calling you to help?

Denison Forum

Since the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered in 1985, the site has been the subject of endless fascination. Now the deep-diving submersible Titan, used to take people to see the wreck, has gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean with its passengers and crew aboard. According to the Coast Guard, it lost contact with a surface vessel on Sunday morning during a dive about nine hundred miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The submersible holds five people and usually dives with a four-day supply of oxygen. It typically carries a pilot, three paying guests (at $250,000 per seat), and what the company calls a “content expert.” At this writing, a major search and rescue operation in the North Atlantic has failed to locate the craft.

Why are so many people focusing on five missing people out of a global population of more than eight billion?

For the same reason I included this Time headline in today’s Daily Article: “6 Killed, Dozens Injured in Spate of Weekend Mass Shootings Across US.” For the same reason a Dutch court sentenced a soccer player to eighteen months in jail for stabbing his cousin in the knee. And for the same reason a music festival in Washington state was canceled after a shooting at a nearby campground left two dead.

Humans are each made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). Accordingly, there is something in us that cares intuitively and intrinsically about what happens to other humans. The English poet John Donne (1572–1631) was right: “Each man’s death diminishes me, / For I am involved in mankind.” As a result, “Send not to know / For whom the bell tolls, / It tolls for thee.”

However, legal systems birthed by such solidarity are the best that secularized societies can do to restrain fallen human nature. As the violence reported above demonstrates, they’re not nearly enough.

“What defines this next phase of human history”

Adrienne LaFrance is the executive editor of The Atlantic. In her latest article, she states that artificial intelligence “may well be the most consequential technology in all of human history.” As recent coverage has shown, AI is capable of disrupting and even threatening our future existence.

However, as an illustration of our fallen nature, LaFrance warns that “neither the government’s understanding of new technologies nor self-regulation by tech behemoths can adequately keep pace with the speed of technological change or Silicon Valley’s capacity to seek profit and scale at the expense of societal and democratic health.” As a result, she argues, “What defines this next phase of human history must begin with the individual.”

In part, this means that we should resist relying on “overconfident machines [that] seem to hold the answers to all of life’s cosmic questions.” Instead, “we should put more emphasis on contemplation as a way of being. We should embrace an unfinished state of thinking, the constant work of challenging our preconceived notions, seeking out those with whom we disagree, and sometimes still not knowing. We are mortal beings, driven to know more than we ever will or ever can.”

Her brilliant essay is right as far as it goes. The problem lies in its title: “The coming humanist renaissance.” Nothing in the article suggests that resources for facing humanity’s future exist outside humanity’s present. Given that she is writing a secular article for a secular outlet, this should not surprise us.

“Let light shine out of darkness”

Before you and I became followers of Jesus, we were “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1–3).

What was true of us is true of anyone who does not know Jesus personally: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

By contrast, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). This is not because of our merit but God’s mercy: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5).

Now God is calling us “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24).

“You have all the power you need”

How do we do this?

Sanctification begins with a mindset: “Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). Then it proceeds to a choice: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (v. 12). Instead, “Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1–2).

This process starts every day at the beginning of the day when we submit our minds and lives to God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Then we walk through the day in conscious dependence on him to lead and empower us. When we fall to temptation, we turn immediately to Christ, asking for his forgiveness and cleansing grace (1 John 1:9).

As we live in the power of God’s sanctifying Spirit, our holiness then becomes our most compelling witness.

Max Lucado notes: “As a Christian, you have all the power you need for all the problems you face. The Bible says your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit who is in you. The question isn’t, ‘How do I get more of the Spirit?’ but rather, ‘How can you, Spirit, have more of me?’”

Will you ask the Spirit this question right now?

Denison Forum