Saddam Is Dead!
Saddam Hussein is dead, and now the pundits are having a heyday criticizing the Bush administration and the Iraqi government for carrying out his execution. Even well-meaning Christians are second-quessing the morality of taking Hussein’s life. Who’s right?
First of all, it was not the U.S. but the Iraqi people who tried and executed Hussein. Those who oppose an independent Iraq or hate the U.S. ubiquitously will always find ulterior motives or presumed anti-Muslim factions who orchestrated his death, but Hussein was “weighed in the balances and found wanting!” Like Belshazzar who preceded him, he mocked the God of heaven, persecuted the innocent, and exalted himself as if he alone were sovereign, and “on that night, he was slain!” The only difference; God used the Medes and Persians to pour out His judgment upon Belshazzar. He used the Iraqi government to execute Saddam.
O, but some will say that it is different now. Christians should not take revenge and the life of another, even if it is for a “just” cause. If we are talking about individual Christian conduct, I can agree with that statement. We are to be forgiving and not judgmental, but when we carry out the just laws of government, it is a different matter. Paul said, “Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.” (Romans 13:3-5) Saddam Hussein refused to do what was right “for conscience sake,” so he faced “wrath” instead; and, governments that carry out that wrath are ordained of God!
That having been said, I must add that it gave me a sick feeling to realize that Hussein was one moment standing upon a gallows and the next, like the rich man in Luke 16, lifting up his head in hell “being in torments!” His eternal doom had been sealed, and he will never again have an opportunity to repent! That is an ominous fact and might well lead one to think that it would have been better to allow him to live that, like the Apostle Paul, he might one day receive the Savior. But, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27) and Hussein’s appointed day came… “ready or not!”
But, that is not the saddest part of the story. Remember the name, Tariq Aziz? He was the lone “Christian” in Saddam Hussein’s cabinet. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and served as foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War. It is reported that his love and support for Saddam was so great that he actually saluted the telephone whenever his president called! Now in custody, that support has not diminished. Therein is the greater shame! Hussein is dead and, as far as we can tell, is in hell for all eternity, but the one man in Hussein's life who professed to know the truth apparently never stood for it. He became a politician, a rising star in a corrupt government, and allowed everyone around him to live in ignorance and die in sin! Is he a true believer? I cannot say, but there is a Chaldean Catholic church of which he was a part, that may have missed one of its greatest opportunities.
Now, this is my point: We can sit around and discuss the morality of Hussein’s execution until the cows come home and miss God’s lesson for us. The great failure in the Saddam Hussein story is the failure of the church and individual believers, professed or real, to take a stand for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.” You see, Tariq Aziz is not the only failure. We fail when we allow our families, neighbors, and work associates to live and die without hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. We, too, become so involved in the secular that we neglect the significant.
Does Aziz have any regrets? I hope so, but regardless, I know that every true believer will… if we fail in the very purpose for which we have been saved and left here. God help us to be different!
First of all, it was not the U.S. but the Iraqi people who tried and executed Hussein. Those who oppose an independent Iraq or hate the U.S. ubiquitously will always find ulterior motives or presumed anti-Muslim factions who orchestrated his death, but Hussein was “weighed in the balances and found wanting!” Like Belshazzar who preceded him, he mocked the God of heaven, persecuted the innocent, and exalted himself as if he alone were sovereign, and “on that night, he was slain!” The only difference; God used the Medes and Persians to pour out His judgment upon Belshazzar. He used the Iraqi government to execute Saddam.
O, but some will say that it is different now. Christians should not take revenge and the life of another, even if it is for a “just” cause. If we are talking about individual Christian conduct, I can agree with that statement. We are to be forgiving and not judgmental, but when we carry out the just laws of government, it is a different matter. Paul said, “Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.” (Romans 13:3-5) Saddam Hussein refused to do what was right “for conscience sake,” so he faced “wrath” instead; and, governments that carry out that wrath are ordained of God!
That having been said, I must add that it gave me a sick feeling to realize that Hussein was one moment standing upon a gallows and the next, like the rich man in Luke 16, lifting up his head in hell “being in torments!” His eternal doom had been sealed, and he will never again have an opportunity to repent! That is an ominous fact and might well lead one to think that it would have been better to allow him to live that, like the Apostle Paul, he might one day receive the Savior. But, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” (Hebrews 9:27) and Hussein’s appointed day came… “ready or not!”
But, that is not the saddest part of the story. Remember the name, Tariq Aziz? He was the lone “Christian” in Saddam Hussein’s cabinet. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and served as foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War. It is reported that his love and support for Saddam was so great that he actually saluted the telephone whenever his president called! Now in custody, that support has not diminished. Therein is the greater shame! Hussein is dead and, as far as we can tell, is in hell for all eternity, but the one man in Hussein's life who professed to know the truth apparently never stood for it. He became a politician, a rising star in a corrupt government, and allowed everyone around him to live in ignorance and die in sin! Is he a true believer? I cannot say, but there is a Chaldean Catholic church of which he was a part, that may have missed one of its greatest opportunities.
Now, this is my point: We can sit around and discuss the morality of Hussein’s execution until the cows come home and miss God’s lesson for us. The great failure in the Saddam Hussein story is the failure of the church and individual believers, professed or real, to take a stand for the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.” You see, Tariq Aziz is not the only failure. We fail when we allow our families, neighbors, and work associates to live and die without hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. We, too, become so involved in the secular that we neglect the significant.
Does Aziz have any regrets? I hope so, but regardless, I know that every true believer will… if we fail in the very purpose for which we have been saved and left here. God help us to be different!
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