FOOTNOTE:

3 - Many of us are tricked into following orders and only realize we got tricked later on. It's scary because all you need is just one person to relax their standards a bit. You've got to remember many in this crowd believe "The Ends Justify The Means". That's how the frog was slowly boiled and eaten. They're inched along slowly, asked to lower their standards just a little. Oh ignore that one exception, it's all for a good cause after all. You've got to remember Donald Trump wants to make all women wear dog leashes and keep gay people in cages. So please disregard your conscience for the next 24 hours. And on and on.........

Sometimes you'll see this phenomenon referred to as "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.".

Unfortunately it gets worse. After you agree to lower your standards then you're asked to put on the blinders, followed by those old people wrap around sun glasses that hardly let any light in at all. Your future gets worse and worse but you still have to wear shades.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

MARTIN NIEMÖLLER:

The East German Stasi Kommissar comes next and then everything turns to shit.

Fortunately we stopped it early this time. Last time it killed 26 million Russians, 20 million Chinese, 7 million regretful Germans, 6 million Jews, 3 million Japanese, ~400,000 British and ~400,000 Americans. But make no mistake, there's always another battle in this war. The best trick the devil ever played is convincing the world he doesn't exist. We always win in the end though. Have no fear.

Ha hah, no.

"I believe he was a man wrongfully accused"

Yep. That could happen with this cluster fuck too on both sides. People could get sold down the river and scapegoated all day long. And this thing is so massive it could suck people in from everywhere. I've heard up to 30% of Congress could get brought down.

That's why in addition to finding religion I'd argue people like Sessions might consider granting immunity deals for all involved. Some people got sucked in without their consent and then coerced into playing along with the music. Without immunity deals the in fighting and retributions could be ugly as hell. What a cluster fuck this thing could turn out to be.

On the turning of the other cheek, I think that's fine once, but then a smite might be more productive than a smile.

As Dubbya once said, "Fool me once..."

"The King of Kings allowed me to countenance this and still keep my sanity." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm buddhist, with the same sentiment. thx for putting it in words. been a tough road.

FOOTNOTE:

"*" Matthew 25:31

                                         The Sheep and the Goats

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

DarkMath, there are few words to describe how incredibly awesome this post is. I too have turned back to my faith. The peace I feel from knowing that everything will work out exactly as planned is amazing, but I sure did start this quest with anger and a thirst for vengeance. Soooo awesome that you shared this with us!!! Thank you and God bless you!!!

FOOTNOTE:

"**" There are people in this story who are about to get a lot closer to God. And hopefully that's not literally closer because suicide is a sin. The closer to God we're talking about is the fact there are no atheists in a fox-hole and the perps stopped going to church a long time ago. They'll be in need of salvation in short order because they've got the biggest artillery barrage in American History aimed right at their heads.

Given that fact and since past in prologue you don't have to look too far back in American History to realize we've seen this movie before. And within that version of a seemingly perpetual shit show a one Charles "Chuck" Colson figured prominently. So prominently his story could be one of the missing puzzle pieces that might allow us to finish this chapter with our sanity intact.

Chuck Colson's story could be that ray of light after some "persons of interest" get their light fixtures blown out and are looking for replacements. Chuck Colson was the first man down the last time this happened. And I'd bet his story may help birth a few new Chuck Colsons in the coming months and years.

Chuck Colson and I went to the same college albeit many years apart. I first learned about Chuck Colson and his story around 1990 when I was still in college and saw Oliver Stone's film JFK. The film itself was so well made and brought up themes of such consequence it was all I could think about for months. My fascination with that story quickly grew to fascination about that entire period in American History. Learning about it became a compulsion. I devoured everything I could find.

Chuck's name comes up not infrequently and my first opinion of Chuck Colson was pure disgust. I considered writing a letter to the school's alumni magazine just so I could smear his name. You've got to remember at that time in my life I was an atheist and God did not exist. Therefor it was not possible that Chuck Colson could have atoned for his sins and have been forgiven. What's "atonement" anyway. Oh yeah, it's that thing Marx and Lenin talked about when explaining how the working class gets forcefully addicted to religion in order to keep them quiet.

So lets just say I was full of hubris in those days and that justified me being livid. In fact it was kind of fun getting that angry. I struggle with that addiction to this day. Just look how rip shit I got these past 6 months here. Back then I was angry at Chuck Colson for being such a willing participant in a system that was so morally and ethically wrong no one who had graduated from the university we went to would have any problem in understanding that fact. Deep down I suspected Chuck Colson knew that too and was miserable accordingly and that made me smile. I knew deep down inside Chuck Colson must have been hurting like no one could believe.

Only later after I had graduated did I learn of the repentant Chuck Colson). I read what he did after he got out of prison and it moved me greatly. I was an Atheist up until then and around the time I'd heard of his ministry I had started my own mental and physical extended vacation in Hell. I was never incarcerated like Chuck was but I can guarantee you I had hit a bottom somewhere in the same zip code of what Chuck had experienced. Occasionally as I peered up from a bottomless pit I'd think of Chuck Colson offering his hand to help me out. I never took it. I had more digging to do. I had been cursed with the disease of alcoholism from both grandfathers and my father. There was a time a 1/5th of Scotch seemed as wholesome as a 1/5th of milk. And they went down about the same. Alcohol ruled my life. It hit me coming and going. Losing my Atheism and accepting a loving God was the only way I made it back to sanity alive and in one piece.

I never thought Chuck Colson would feature so prominently at such hard corners in my life. All I can say at this point is things like this make me wonder how much of our lives are planned out long before we ever get there. And I have a sneaky suspicion Chuck Colson may be looking down at me as I write this. If you are Chuck thank you for your story and thank you for your ministry. You are proof God forgives and will let us back in the fold at any time. All we have to do is stop digging and throw in the towel.

I agree with many things you say. Been there, done that.

How can a loving God be so mean? He isn't. It's humankind who is mean. The creator gave us the free will. Now it's our task to create a better world. And from the bottom of my heart I believe that Pizzagate is the key to awaken humanity.