Soap Box

 �What is �truth�?�

Pontius Pilate asked this question as Jesus Christ stood in front of him accused of crimes against Rome.

Pilate knew that there was no validity to the charges, that the Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders wanted Jesus crucified because of jealously and fear. He was attracting so many followers they felt He was threatening their place as the undisputed leaders of the Jewish faith and defenders of the Mosaic covenant.

They felt so threatened, and valued their personal prestige and power so much that they were willing to lie and have a man they knew was totally without fault put to death in the most agonizing method imaginable.

Pilate knew the truth but, in an effort to avoid a major confrontation in an already troubled area, he erred on the side of injustice, ignoring the truth for the expediency of political correctness, putting an innocent man to death.

Truth is the victim and eventually the casualty of struggles between men who place power and control above all else; men who see people as sheep to be used to serve their greedy purposes, a means to an end, to be herded this way and that by whatever means necessary, truth be damned.

Lies are the tools of tyrants, wolves in sheep's clothing, who come on the scene claiming to be the salvation of the common man, and through grandiose promises and elaborate lies, promising much, delivering little, while all the time grasping, they seize and gobble up personal liberties and prosperity until the people are little more than chattel, controlled, spied upon and living in fear of a midnight knock on the door.

Germany is a prime example. Adolph Hitler stepped forward in a time of fiscal turmoil and promised to bring the good times back to Germany. He was charismatic and convincing and came with revolutionary ideas complete with a scapegoat, the Jews, to blame Germany's problems on.

The people believed him and incrementally handed over their personal rights and freedoms, turned a blind to eye to the inhuman treatment and genocide of the Jews, until one day they woke up to find themselves in living in a nightmare.

Cuba is another great example. Fidel Castro came to power on the tide of a popular revolution that was supposed to rid Cuba of tyranny and bring about democracy, prosperity and freedom.

In reality, Castro - with the help of thugs like Che Guevara - imprisoned dissidents and murdered political opponents and made a lush tropical Island into nothing more than a beautiful prison.

Many tyrants around the world actually begin their climb to power motivated by the desire to do great good for their people.

But the lure and seductiveness of unabridged power warps their intentions and turns them into megalomaniacs who start to believe that their way is the only way and they ride rough shod over the will of the people and whatever governing bodies that stand between them and their goals.

First the lies and deception, then the incremental power grabs, then the totalitarian, we know best, you just shut up and follow orders phase, when the National Treasury becomes a personal slush fund and puppet bureaucracies and packed courts regulate whatever can't be controlled through normal measures.

We have centuries of history of failed political systems, bankrupt nations and would be emperors to help us draw our conclusions.

Will we learn or relive?

It's getting late America.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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