At a rally in Moscow on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin paraphrased John 15:13 to justify the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children.
During his speech at the rally held in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium to “celebrate” the eighth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation, which is not recognized by most countries, Putin lauded the Russian military for “heroically” fighting in Ukraine.
“You know, I remember the words from the Bible. There is no other love rather than if someone gives soul for their friends,” Putin said, according to the BBC broadcast of his speech. The remark was followed by huge applause from the crowd.
Putin’s remark was a reference to John 15:13, which states: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
“We are seeing the heroic deeds of our guys in this operation,” Putin added, according to the CNN translation. “These words from the holy scripture of Christianity, it’s something that is very dear to those who profess this religion.”
“But everything is down to the facts that this universal value for all the peoples and all the confessions of Russia and for own people above all and the best confirmation of that is how our guys are fighting in the course of this military operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping and supporting each other,” he continued. “If the need comes, they will shield each other on the battlefield from the bullets as brothers. We have not had such unity for a long time.”
During Putin’s speech, Russia 24, the state-owned media outlet broadcasting the address, switched to footage of a military band playing on the same stage, The Moscow Times reported. The independent news outlet noted that “Russian state television is tightly controlled and such interruptions are highly unusual.”
However, the Kremlin later claimed the broadcast was “interrupted due to technical problems on the server.”
While the RIA Novosti news agency reported over 95,000 in attendance and over 100,000 outside the stadium, the newspaper cited reports of some people being forced to attend the rally.
“They stuck us in a bus and drove us here,” one woman was quoted as telling the SOTA news outlet outside the stadium.
Some reports in Russian media also suggested that people were offered 500 rubles (approximately $5) to attend the event.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday it had recorded 2,149 civilian casualties, including 816 killed and 1,333 injured, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24….
The above comes from a March 19 story on the Christian Post.
All you Catholic “integralists” take note: this is what it really means when we have an alliance of “altar and throne”.
Yeah I will take the altar and throne over a LGBT corrupted government
I think you’re confusing integralists and neoconservatives.
Putin is another politician who, like our president and speaker of the House, uses religious phrases and misquotes the Bible, including the words of our Lord, in order to manipulate people to evil agendas. May we and other Christians not be deceived.
Putin is a horrific liar and a ruthless murderer. Just like Hitler, Stalin, Jinping.
Dangerous business, lifting phrases out of scripture to justify yourself….A first year bible student could tear Putin apart using scripture without a lot of effort.
If LGBT can take “love your neighbor” out of context to suit their agenda, then sure why not Putin too?
Did the Good President quote Psalm 91:11-12 as well?
America is a very young country, compared to others– only about 250 years old! Many dangerous ideologies of the corrupt, evil and of misfits, are always lurking around the fringes of a society. It is important for people to work hard and live right, do as God says, stat alert, watch over your kids as they grow up, and defend your home and family, neighborhood, city, and country, against all possible evils. The beliefs of Lenin, Marx and Stalin, destroyed Russia, Eastern Europe, China, and many other countries, disintegrating their cultural and religious heritages, and establldhing brutal regimes of atheism and Communism. Hitler nearly destroyed Germany and Western Europe, during WWII. The violent 1960s “hippie” liberal-leftist revolutionaries destroyed Christian Morality, our cultural foundations, our education system, and many of our other good institutions, in America. These evil, filthy, corrupt, Godless misfits, some of them paid political leftist agitators, turned decent American kids into ignorant, brainwashed, rebellious, anti-American, anti-Christian, immoral, corrupt, sinful, dope-addicted misfit freaks. Hating God, virtue and Goodness, hating society, loving evil, crime and filth, selling their souls to the Devil. Life has been very hard, since Adam’s Fall. And the Devil never sleeps.
In my comment of March 19 at 10:21pm, I have a typo in my third sentence. It should read, “…stay (not “stat”) alert, watch over your kids.. . “
If we could purge America of BLM, Antifa, the Democrat Party, Planned Parenthood, that would be a great start to making America great again.
Dream come true
No more sex-ed in schools, no more gay marriage, no more LGBT and gender-crazy agendas.
Even better…….
The USA may be “young” but we have the oldest continuously used Constitution.
Let’s be clear! Putin is not a Christian. He is a war criminal who has murdered innocent men, women and children using horrific, barbaric weapons banned by international agreements. Like many authoritarian dictators he misuses religion to benefit his standing with the mob that supports him. Remember, Communists despise religion and consider it to be the opiate of the people. Like his good friend, former President Trump, Putin is an megalomaniac who thinks only of himself.
Sounds like the average politician to me, even some Republicans. Just look at our worn torn cities here. Most are not even fit to live in any more. Many of these politicians start wars in other countries, but scurry to the bunkers when the bombs fall. Zelvensky calling Putin names after he did that filthy dance and encourages corruption is like the pot calling the kettle black.
A clarification to the last line of my last post: it was Zelvensky who did that filthy dance in women’s high heels. If he is the only hero the Ukrainians have, and that is the kind of man they want running their country, they are in deep, deep trouble. Of course, we have just as bad over here.
Who is Zelvensky?
You just blew the cover of America’s most important secret agent in Ukraine. Shush! I hope Putin doesn’t read this page.
Volodymyr Zelensky. I misspelled it. No wonder Biden is all ga ga over him.