Betrayal and Defeat Comes in Many Forms

A One-Vote Oddity

How to Destroy a Nation

 

The Great Wall of China stretches like a great dragon on the northern frontier of China. It is over 30 feet high, 18 feet thick and 4,163 miles long. It was designed to protect the nation from barbaric hordes sweeping down from Mongolia in the north.

Emperor Shi Huangdi of the Gin Dynasty is regarded by most as the first ruler to conceive of a Great Wall running the length of northern China. He demanded that the wall be six horses wide at the top, eight horses wide at the bottom, and as high as five men standing on top of one another. Every 100 yards workers built watchtowers from which invading Mongols could be spotted. Scholars estimate that over one million soldiers and conscripts marched north to build the Great Wall in the sparsely populated region.

Sometimes called the “The Long Graveyard” because of the workers who were buried within it, the Great Wall was built to make the nation secure. For one thousand years, the wall did its part to protect China. Despite its colossal size, however, it wasn’t adequate to the task.

Eventually, China was invaded from the north. The wall failed. The enemy didn’t destroy the wall, tunnel under the wall, scale the wall, or go around the wall. But three times in the span of one hundred years, China was invaded nevertheless. How? It wasn’t the wall’s fault.

In all three invasions, the enemy used the same clever tactic. They  found a gatekeeper who voted for his wallet rather than his country. They bribed him and simply marched into China. One person’s “vote” led to the invasion of the nation—three times! The nation was left undefended because of a breakdown in values rather than a breakdown of the wall.

In every election, politicians of both parties regularly appeal to our greed. “Elect me and I will lower your taxes.” “Elect me and I will provide you more or bigger programs.”  The temptation is great to vote for the politician who we think can produce the greatest benefits to us. Make sure that your vote is based on what is right for the country not just what seems right for you in the short term. Jump ahead and take a look at Proverbs 25:28. It is a good commentary on what happened in China or what could happen in the United States.