Weapons of mass destruction
The term “weapons of ass destruction,” or WMDs for short, became a permanent part of the American lexicon in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
A cowardly atrocity and a crime against humanity no doubt, but it did not do the harm to the American republic that its perpetrators expected. No, the nation came together and survived. And eventually tracked down the egotistical devil responsible for it and punched his ticket to hell. Ah, the good old days.
Today Americans are doing what the terrorists never could. Members of Congress assault each other in the Capitol. People who scream “blue lives matter” one day, beat a Capitol police officer to death the next; and anyone who calls for restraint and reason is castigated as weak or a sellout. What is happening to us?
Today we face a new kind of threat. A far more dangerous threat. A threat the army and police cannot protect us from. That threat my friends, is the “weapon of mass delusion.” Like a deadly virus, it attacks from within, it can make otherwise good people do unspeakably evil deeds.
We must take a moment to remember here, that the people who quite literally “drank the Kool-Aid” with Jim Jones did not start out as suicidal fanatics. They were once reasonable people who followed a bad leader. The same holds true for the people who died with the “Wacko from Waco” David Koresh, and the list goes on.
The Devil does not come to you and introduce himself as such, he will always first appear as something — or someone — that is attractive and desirable. The people who survived Jonestown and Waco all say they cannot quite remember when it all started to go wrong, but when they did it was too late. It was all so subtle, all so insidious. One might call it foreplay for coitus of the mind.
There is a defense from this of course. No one who read their bible and understood it would have followed David Koresh around the block, much less into the hell he caused. The same holds true for the Jonestown case, Jim Jones’ followers had been making excuses for his sins and hypocrisy for some time before the Kool-Aid incident. The defense against evil leaders is to hold to what we know is right and to not make excuses when the leader betrays what we know to be right. This principle most especially applies to leaders we like, as we will naturally criticize leaders we do not like.
The second defense is to hold members of our own cohort accountable when they betray the most basic principles of decency and honor. Threatening the Secretary of State’s wife with rape is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Even worse, if that were possible, are the excuses I have heard, such as “well, he is a RINO.” Seriously? Your disagreements with the man’s politics visited on his wife? There can be no justification and no excuse. And these sorts of sinful delusions are not limited to any one side of the political spectrum, the fiasco in Portland and the murder of a little girl at a protest in Atlanta are proof enough of that.
In these times of instantaneous worldwide communications, the Weapons of Mass Delusion are both more effective, and more insidious, than in times past. Therefore, we must be all the more vigilant in our commitment to principle over emotion. To ideals over slogans. In holding ourselves and those whom we can influence to account, we protect not only ourselves, but our neighbors as well. In other words, when your buddy starts spouting some delusional conspiracy theory, do not coddle, tell him plainly and frankly that he is off base. It is important to remember, many people left the Branch Davidian cult long before things got out of hand. The same hold true for the Jones case. These were the people who saw the truth while others were still making excuses for a corrupt leader.
The Weapons of Mass Delusion we face today are many. Radical Islam. Neo Nazis. Self-serving politicians, all catering to our baser instincts. A continual assault on both character and virtue. It is important also to remember that Barabbas is always more popular than Christ. “But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them” (Mark 15:11). Here again, we see the people led astray their leaders and priests, but the people can decide if they will follow or not. It is always the choice we must make.
And this is where it becomes personal. No doubt there were some in both Jonestown and Waco who did not know any better. These were victims. There were others who knew better and went along anyway. These were not victims, these were co-conspirators, these were perpetrators just as guilty as Jones or Koresh. We must be ever vigilant to not let ourselves, or our friends and relatives, fall into either category. At least not without warning. Let us learn the Barabbas lesson, “Never trust a preacher who tells you how to vote, or a politician who tells you how to pray.”