Deceit, Lying; Easter and Freedom by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired

Deceit, Lying; Easter and Freedom
by Colonel Bob Pappas, USMC, Retired
Deceit, lying, and relevant synonyms which when used, are intended to protect from perceived assaults on one’s ego or alter-ego but the end of which leads to the “second (eternal) death.” It began with the serpent lying to the woman in the Garden of Eden telling her: “Thou shalt not surely die,” which in due course led to the fall of humankind: “For as in Adam all die..”
It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that great harm results from deception and lying whether at the personal, communal or national level. Likewise “spin” is an interpretation of someone’s communication. It transforms the communication from precisely what was stated to a fallacious derivation with an underlying motive pertaining to what was stated; or in plain English: spin is a deception pertaining to a set of facts with the intention to sway opinion. We see it every day in politics or life in general, the purpose of which is to gain some advantage or avoid some undesirable outcome. Human life at every level is best when all parties deal in truth. i.e. No spin; “Let you yea be yea and your nay be nay;” or, as the courts require, “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
As one who started small, I became the purveyor of some real whoppers when it came to deception and lying. I deceived and lied in little things, medium sized things, and life-event things. I even lied when I didn’t “have to” lie. By the time I was in my thirties, deceiving and lying were so routine and flowed so easily from my lips that they became all but indistinguishable from truth. Not that I always lied, on the professional front, when dealing with hard data, I could be as factual as anyone. But when it came to protecting my ego I made excuses that were nothing more than deception and lies whether the circumstances were personal or professional.
Oh, I could see it in others and self-righteously condemned them, but when it came to my own, I had deflector shields all over the place. I could lie as deftly as an expert ping-pong player. I knew I lied, but lying and deception became an integral part of my life. The more I lied the greater the burden on my conscience but I seemed as powerless to change that as the inability to change the reasons for the lies in the first place.
Then one day God used the most important person in my life to hit me between the eyes with: “Robert, you are lying to me.” Those simple words were so filled with underlying love, so direct and pure in their delivery that it became a life-changing event. First, I admitted my lost state which included a lot more than lying; Second, I asked God’s forgiveness. For the first time in my life I understood the meaning of and absorbed “God’s Grace” made possible through His love for me and for all mankind: the sacrifice, death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Third, I promised to live for Him and turned my back on the old ways. There is a song whose words include: “Then Jesus took my burdens, I could no longer bear; then Jesus took my burdens, in answer to my prayer…; Yes, Jesus took my burdens and filled me with a song!” I accepted God’s Gift and now live for Him and enjoy a new, transformed life.
As one who has devoted his life to the cause of freedom, finding spiritual freedom is by far the most freeing event I have experienced.
Many years have passed since that life-changing event, and since then every day is both wondrous and fulfilling. I am a new creature; indeed I know what it means to be born again. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Now I get it, freedom is more than absence of restraint, it is: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Martin Luther King proclaimed its essence at the conclusion of “I Have a Dream” with the words: “Free at last, free at last, Praise God Almighty, I’m free at last!”
Yes, “For as in Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
That, dear reader is real freedom! Take it, absorb it, and share it!
Have a Blessed Easter!
Semper Fidelis

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Beautifully written, thank you Colonel Pappas.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67