I have friends who are historical experts and read books by well studied professional researchers. I am exposed to many truly knowledgeable people as a volunteer docent at a small local museum. I am amazed at the things our predecessors have gone through. They are a well of our experience which we can dip in to at any time we want.

Some nations around the world are controlled by terrible dictators who turn their country into total servitude to their personal will. Other countries have fought against those leaders to win freedom and democracy for their people. We can see, in these large events, the true war between good and evil that are large on grand scale of nations, but work the same on the individual scale of people.

Hitler and Japan wanted to enslave the world to their will. The rest of the world fought against that evil. We could easily see the evil in those countries during that time. They were barbaric to anyone who was not like them or disagreed with them. They would abuse or kill anyone who challenged them. They intimidated others into being lackeys to their will. We can see the same traits between individuals. I’ve met people I easily thought could be a “Hitler” if they had the control of a nation instead of just being a supervisor in a local store.

Humanity has all the traits of good and evil you could ever hope to experience. The traits have been played out many times in many ways through past generations. We celebrate our heroes and hate our demons from the past. Now those traits are being portrayed by this generation. Nations are simply groups that have come into agreement to stand together. Their stance as a nation comes as a collection of all the individual choices collected together. A stance will be established when enough choices agree.

Hitler could not have done what he did if the people of Germany refused to agree with him. He lied, manipulated, intimidated, and twisted the feelings of the people, and they were in enough of a struggle that they chose to overlook the truth to accept what Hitler pitched. Everyday of our lives, we face the same war on a much smaller scale.

Human appetites can dictate behavior and take on the traits of a dictator. The appetite for sex has drawn many otherwise successful and famous people down a completely destructive road. Did they overlook the truth of the danger to accept the desire? Yes. Addicts and alcoholics all know the danger and horror, yet they persist in the folly. Once a person has committed to the dictator, politician or appetite, backing out becomes increasingly hard as the lies become steel bars on a locked cage. Where is freedom?

For countries, freedom comes through the soldiers who are willing to fight and die for the right of their people to be free. An individual has to become a soldier to fight and die to the appetite or lies that hold them in bondage. We are all in a war.

The great hope is that Jesus has overcome this world and all the bondages in it. He is the personification of freedom. He was not bound by selfishness or any appetite like so easily ties humanity up in hardship. Jesus is a warrior like no other. He fought, died, resurrected, and continues to fight for each of us every day. He has set a standard that no bondage can cage. His standard is beyond what man can do or create without Him. Humanity has an image of perfection which only God can fulfill.

The great joy we have is that we are not alone. The Holy Spirit has been given to work with us as individuals, as groups, as nations according to how willing we are to accept and receive Him. He gifts us with the freedom Jesus won against all the failures of man. We only have one caveat. We must choose. We must choose Jesus and the Kingdom of God and its standards to have that freedom.