As the Director of International Ministry for the Friends of Israel, I have been quite busy with the problems caused by the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. We have workers in Ukraine with their families who are in harm’s way. We also have many Polish workers who are managing two Jewish refugee centers in Poland and other means of taking care of the Jewish people fleeing Ukraine. The specter of a wider war has all of us on edge and probably praying more than we had before.
There are two issues that have come to my mind in light of the reaction to this perilous situation. First, there is the tendency on the part of some lovers of prophecy to go too far and start sensationalizing prophecy. This is done mostly by mapping current events to prophetic passages in the Bible. While the current events in the world could be the setup to the end-time events (rapture, tribulation, coming of Christ to earth, kingdom), we won’t know that until we get to the end-time days. We must be cautious and not overstate. As dispensationalists we must always be text-driven and not current-events driven.
Second, I have found myself praying against Putin and the Russian Army in this invasion. It raises the question of whether imprecatory praying is valid for the Christian in this dispensation in light of Christ’s call for us to love our enemies. I believe that it is valid, but I would like to hear from any of you about your rationale one way or the other.