I turn serious this week with an evaluation on current events. Two thousand years ago, Judas, a disciple of Christ, became impatient. Despite the fact that he had the enviable position of treasurer for his disciple group, he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more. He wanted to have greater reward than just carrying a pittance of a money bag. He wanted to be treasurer of a kingdom, the Kingdom; Jesus’ new kingdom here on earth. He no doubt went to bed each night imagining the wealth that could be his as overseer of such a vast treasury. A King who would be so powerful, that all the earth’s wealth would be at his disposable.

One thing he failed to understand however, God had another plan. When Judas stood before the priests after betraying his Lord for 30 pieces of silver, he realized too late that his betrayal would NOT accomplish his dream. He was inconsolable because he realized he had set into motion horrifying events due to his greed that now could not be stopped. I call his actions, the Judas Syndrome.

While walking in the mall recently I chanced upon a large yellow funnel. Oh it looked like funnel. In reality it was an elaborate piggy bank for a local charity. As you placed your coin in the wide mouth slot, you stood mesmerized as the quarter wound its way around the outer lip. Faster and faster it sped up as it wound it’s way closer and closer to the center until in a blur, it dropped into the center hole of the receptacle never to be seen again by the giver.

As I reflected on this repository, I came to the realization that in my present life, I was the coin I had just deposited. I don’t know who holds the key to the this bank, all I know is as I start out on my coin’s journey, it appears I have a wide berth of freedom. My path appears wide open and I enjoy the speed in which I travel. But the longer I roll, I become distracted. I come to the realization too late that my path is really a vortex. The pull on the path I am on is dragging me in a direction I don’t want to go. Whoever manufactured this bank, like the political forces we have today, know it’s rigged for one thing, the sole benefit of themselves.

Every week I watch the news I am led to believe that gross incompetence or ignorance is too blame for our present circumstances. These are actual headlines in the news the past few weeks :

• Army lab ships multiple locations mishandled Anthrax and it’s been going on for over a decade.
• Unchecked Illegal Alien minors swarming the borders is bringing new cases of virulent diseases.
• Despite runaway spending, the federal government ignores the warnings.
• 121 illegal immigrants who avoided deportation now charged with murder
• The US Immigration Service released 65,000 criminal back onto our streets and not one person has been fired over it.

Incompetence? Ignorance? I disagree. I am under a different assumption. I believe the “powers at be” have a full blown case of the Judas Syndrome. Someone couldn’t be satisfied with their wealth, they wanted more. So they set into motion a chain of events that will eventually wreak havoc on us all.

In the past few years we have seen long-time business icons going bankrupt, job participation rates collapsing to pre-World War levels, and seen the erosion of some Free Speech and 2nd Amendment freedoms. We see major bills and amendments passed without transparency, immigration laws flouted and borders left unguarded. We’ve seen one of the largest corporations in America have the best financial year in it’s history only to replace some long-time employees with cheap labor brought in from foreign countries. Adding insult to injury, the Corporate CEO of this US company was paid an annual salary of $46 million dollars.

No matter if you are a member of any political party, you and I are being short-changed. Someone else has a key to the bank. Like Judas, I believe a chain of events has been set into motion by our leaders that will lead to trouble never envisioned. We can blame the Judas Syndrome for this.

Excuse me for a moment,  I’m watching my life mirror the little coin in the funnel. I’m slowly being dragged into the center hole of oblivion.