"Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead!"

The Wizard of Oz song "Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead," popped into my head last week, when, after the sadistic killing of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyans danced in the streets. I had a first-hand experience with tyrannicide 33 years ago when I lived in Afghanistan. In a coup d’état that toppled the government, the President and 40 members of his family—women and children—were brutally massacred. The next day Afghans were jubilant!

So while I was not surprised by the primal mob instincts of the Libyans, I was alarmed by the casual attitude toward such barbarianism by the “civilized” world. No doubt criminal justice demanded Gaddafi’s death, but not to be slain like an animal, dragged through the streets, his body displayed on a filthy mattress in a meat locker. One world leader declared, "On this foundation, families, communities and the nation of Libya will flourish.” Ya think?

Can anyone believe a peaceful democracy can grow out of such anarchy? An ideology of hatred turned into one of forbearance and unity? “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence,” said Martin Luther King. “The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble,” said the Psalmist (46:6). Is this not further evidence  that “the secret power of lawlessness is already at work” among us? (1 Thess. 2:7).