History’s tyrants have at least one thing in common – their willingness to destroy and slaughter anything and anyone who stands in the way of conquest. This is not new. From Genghis Khan to Adolph Hitler to Vladimir Putin, civilization’s greatest monsters have always been able to justify unspeakable atrocities in the name of imperial expansion.

Putin’s rationale for invading Ukraine was especially chilling, given its Hitleresque overtones – denying Ukraine’s right to exist while providing the same sort of fractured justification the world heard from Hitler before he annexed the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

Among the differences between then and now is the world is much smaller. Weaponry is far more advanced and information (true or false) can spread internationally within seconds.

Explaining all of this to young people, in my case college students, most of whom were born after 9/11, can be a challenge. Mostly, they ask, “Why? Why is Putin doing this? Why is he killing Ukrainians?” Telling 19-year-olds about Ivan the Terrible or Julius Caesar only satisfies to a point.

There is another answer.

Evil is present in the world and we underestimate its existence at our peril. After all, the devil’s greatest trick is convincing us he doesn’t exist. Thus, the manifestations of evil shouldn’t surprise us.

In the New Testament, in Matthew’s gospel, in chapter 6, Jesus says, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”

As Christians, we accept this and find comfort because we know the ultimate outcome; in the end, God wins. Death and evil are already in checkmate. In the meantime, we’re not called to a spirit of fear or fatalism so what should be our response?

A good place to start is to turn our gaze away from the tyrant and toward his victims. There is a massive humanitarian crisis unfolding as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flee the country for parts unknown. Many who remain are, at this moment, huddled in bomb shelters, without food, water or medical care. Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are fighting and dying. And much of this unfolding human drama is being witnessed live throughout the world.

We need to remind ourselves that what we see is real, more real and potentially combustible than any such conflict in our lifetimes. We don’t know what’s going to happen but we should all be well aware of what can happen.

But there’s work to do. First, we can pray. Pray for the people of Ukraine and for their courageous president. Second, we can look for ways to get involved in a material way via volunteer and financial support. For example, Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit, international Christian relief organization, has deployed disaster response teams to Poland, Romania and Moldova to receive and help thousands of fleeing Ukrainians who left their homes with nothing more than they could carry. Samaritans Purse typically provides food, clothing, shelter and medical care to victims of disasters, from hurricanes to wars. There are other churches and organizations in Ukraine right now doing what they can to meet the needs of suffering people.

Christians are called to empathy and turning empathy and compassion into affirmative action is both a Christian and patriotic response. As author and Iraq war veteran David French writes, “a healthy patriotism extends our sphere of concern” while an unhealthy nationalism “narrows our focus, leaving us often indifferent to the suffering of others.”

The Bible is replete with passages about empathy. But nowhere will you find empathy described as a virtue we can manufacture or acquire simply by trying a bit harder. The Spirit of God gives us an empathetic heart. That’s not to say a non-Christian can’t show genuine empathy. But Christian empathy comes from Christ and it can turn a self-centered rascal into someone willing to die for someone else.

What can we do for the people of Ukraine? We can pay attention. We can donate to charity and yes, we can pray for them. And we can pray that we will never become indifferent to their or anyone else’s suffering.

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Copyright 2022 Rich Manieri, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Rich Manieri is a Philadelphia-born journalist and author. He is currently a professor of journalism at Asbury University in Kentucky. You can reach him at [email protected].