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“Death lays his icy hand on kings.” – James Shirley

Do dictators repent before they die? The short answer is that we do not know, because we cannot estimate God’s boundless and unconditional mercy. He loves even the dictators. He unlocks the floodgates of grace to save those souls for whom he suffered a horrific death. But will dictators accept God’s amazing grace and his unfailing love? With the use of God’s gift of freewill, they can admit grace or shut the door to it. Their answer, which we do not know, would decide the result.

Past

Take Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) of the USSR (now Russia), who was among the most ruthless of dictators to gatecrash into history, having captured, tortured, and executed about 15 to 20 million of his countrymen. He brooked no opposition, purging those who posed even a slight threat to him. Siberia, known for its harsh winter, was home to millions of his ill-clad detractors. With savage candor, he said, “One death is a tragedy. One million is a statistic.”

He was found on the floor, falling off his bed, when his aides broke open the door of his bedroom. His daughter, Svetlana, wrote about the look in his eyes. “It was a horrible look – either mad or angry and full of fear of death.” He was spiritually dead before death, as fear ravaged the bravado he displayed until then. No wonder Shakespeare wrote, “Death is a fearful thing.” Stalin experienced it.

Like Stalin, other dictators were filled with fear before their death. Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was viciously attacked by fear before he died. With an iron fist, he ruled over the people of Italy, emulating his friend and neighbor Adolf Hitler in exterminating Jews.

In 1943, when he sensed that he would lose WWII, he told an interviewer, “Seven years ago I was an interesting person. Now I am a corpse.”

While his words were prophetic, they were an expression of fear. In April 1945, he and his mistress tried to escape Italy, but were stopped by the people who brutalized them and shot them, hanging their corpses head down in the marketplace. In their anger, people spat on their bodies, pelted them with stones, and struck them viciously. Their anger had not abated. He had time to repent, but did he?

Not far from Mussolini was Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), in Germany. He knew that the Allies were winning and that he would face humiliating defeat. Not the Gestapo, the secret police, the monsters in charge of the torture chambers of his concentration camps, nor his cursed firing squads could save him. He chose the way of the coward – to kill himself.

“Suicide is the worst form of murder because it leaves no opportunity for repentance,” Judy Collins wrote in her book “Sanity and Grace.”

While Eva Braun, his mistress turned wife, swallowed cyanide, he shot himself in the temple because he heard what happened to Mussolini and feared a worse death at the hands of the invaders. The bodies of the couple were burned to prevent seizure by the invading troops. He is known to have read Scripture in his youth. Did he recall the words of Jesus, “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Mt. 26:52? He did not use a sword. He died from a bullet from a gun. With his seminary background and Catholic upbringing, one hoped that he would repent and die in the grace of God. But we are left wondering. Did his ego permit him to repent?

Tyrannical, cold-blooded, and despicable was Moammar Gadhafi (1942-2011) of Libya, in Africa.  For 42 years, he ruled his people, fancying himself to be God. He amassed a personal fortune of more than $200 billion.

“When man dies, he carries with him in his clenched hands only that which he has given away.” Rousseau

Perhaps Gadhafi did not read Rousseau and believed that he could bribe his way into heaven. Dissent against him and his ruthless regime grew, but found no voice until a revolution broke out. Emboldened by their initial success, people turned violent in protest. Gadhafi was forced out of an escaping convoy, dragged through the streets, beaten, stabbed six times, and shot many times, a brutal and horrible end. Although he made some noises about his beliefs, those who watched him die did not see enough remorse.

Not to be outdone by other dictators, Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) of Iraq, subjugated and oppressed his people using deceptive and crafty ways, always bent on furthering his personal goals of fame and prosperity. He was brutalized by his stepfather, and he let the pent-up venom spill onto the people he controlled, in twisted logic justifying his repressive actions. The US overran his forces and captured the dictator, whom they hanged not long after. He is known to have prayed during his detention, but it is not known if repentance was a part of that prayer.

The list of such dictators is long and frightening. They left deep wounds of their savage rule on the unfortunate people they governed. Other names, besides the five briefly covered above, are Francisco Frank (1892-1975) of Spain, Francois Papa Doc (1907-1971) of Haiti, Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006) of Chile, South America, Nicolae Ceausescu (1918-1989) of Romania, Europe, Kim II-Sung (1912-1994) of North Korea, Asia, Mao Zedong (1893-1976) of China, and Idi Amin (1925-2003) of Uganda, Africa. Their history is written in blood. But not all of them died horrific deaths. Some became ill with age, and died in pain and discomfort. None of their stories had a happy ending. In some way, they had to pay a price on earth for their misdeeds before meeting their Maker.

Dictators go back to the time Jesus walked the earth and before, including Tiberius Caesar of Rome, Herod the Great of Israel, and Pontius Pilate of Jerusalem, who left lines in Scripture that trickle blood. Jesus referred to them as tyrants.

“Their great ones are tyrants over them” Mt.20:25

Evil has always walked free because man, in his arrogance, obeyed the voice of free will that shouts dissent.

Present

If much can be written on the past, what of the present? What death awaits the likes of Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and some in South America, Africa, and Asia? Jesus said that we reap as we sow. These men sowed badly through lies, false promises, two-faced hypocrisy, division, injustice, and repressive ways of ruling their people.

Will they be spared the punishment they deserve? We do not know. If they repent, through the prayers of some who intercede for their salvation, there is hope. Otherwise, no. The clock ticks inexorably as they paint their evil deeds in hues that attract some sycophants.

What of us?

Are we mindful of our death? Are we prepared? Is repentance foremost on our minds? We have received the Lord’s compassion and mercy, more than we merit, and have no reason to complain. Unless we reflect on death and our preparedness, there will be no change in our lives. We shall continue to ply the same old shuttle in the same old loom of life – lusting, envying, lying, unforgiving – not stopping to reflect on death that comes unannounced. If we cease to be better, we shall soon cease to be good. That is why death is a salutary thought.

Living saints

No doubt we are traumatized by the lives of dictators, fearing the worst. But in faith, we can draw inspiration from the lives of living saints, those who live among us and shed a gentle light.

From the pages of history, we can pick names that stir us to change:

• Mahatma Gandhi died with the name of God on his lips.
• Martin Luther King Jr. died courageously, setting us an example through his prayerful life.
• Mother Teresa lived and died a saint.
• John Paul II showed the world what it was to stay connected to God and people.

Their lives crackled with electricity, living pragmatically, not dogmatically, unlike the dictators who had and have no answer to the steady gaze of their conscience.

Help

Can we face death on our own? Surely not. We need help – the help of the Holy Spirit to give us the grace of perpetual repentance, humility, and surrender to the will of God, accepting the harsh facts of life while trusting in his mercy.

“Lives of great men (i.e., living saints) all remind us we can make our lives sublime. And, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time.” Longfellow