Gaddafi, Saddam and Osama: On The Death of a Tyrant

Muammar Gaddafi was killed this week by a force of citizens of his country that indicated that enough was enough. He had to die to liberate their country. I’ve heard much about him over the few years of my own life, driving me to wonder how long many have waited for that moment.

In the last few years, two other noted and well hated leaders were killed, namely Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

Saddam Hussein, former premier of Iraq, was executed after a death sentence was passed for him, to atone for a multitude of offenses of local and international law, after a well publicised war against terror waged mainly by the United States and England.

Bin Laden, the former leader of the Al-Qaeda was executed by American military personnel after they finally found him hiding in Pakistan earlier this year.

In all cases, many persons worldwide rejoiced and it is totally understandable in human context how someone may have come to do so.

As Christians however, we are bound by different rules to those that have found popularity in the world. We cannot rejoice in these deaths, as each of them, though they signal ground breaking changes to the world’s realities, they still mean that another soul may have been lost without accepting Christ as their saviour.

Be happy perhaps for those who may have been liberated, for the other lives that may be saved, or freedom found, but not for the death of a tyrant.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Such stirring words spoken, but they follow the simple utterances of Christ as he spoke to the masses on a mountain, as quoted in Matthew 5:

Matthew 5: 44 - 47
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?”

It isn’t easy, is it? I know it isn’t. The truth is however, this is the basic premise of philos, or brotherly love.

You are your brother’s keeper. Yes, Cain had it wrong.

If this is not something that you think you can do, I beg you to spend some time in the word. There is a verse in Proverbs that we all know, and here is another occasion it applies:

Proverbs 3: 31
“Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.”

The hate you may express against another man, though he may have “sacked and pillaged” or caused wars and strife, is not of God. Matthew 5 has a lot to say on the topic.

ThoughtProverbs 10: 12
Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongsLet us instead reward hate with love. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in the quote previously mentioned, you can’t drive hate out with hate. Hate has a strange way of causing more hate. You can only end hate with love.

Muammar Gaddafi’s last words, as he begged for his life, according to an article in the UK’s Guardian were “What did I do to you?”. Shortly afterward he was killed with his own favourite gold gun, as reported by an Australian news site.

I wonder if, when asked that question, one could have the strength to respond and say “It’s not what you have done to me, but what God can do for you.”

I pray we all find the strength to answer similarly.

Written by :

Maurice Burke

 

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