Diagnosis

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“People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance.”

― Niccolo Machiavelli

According to the Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary the sin of Envy involves jealousy over the blessings and achievements of others especially involving the spiritual enjoyment and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ freely and graciously bestowed upon the people of God. 

The sin of Envy is often confused with the sin of Covet. Covet means to have an unhealthy desire for what others have which in turn can lead to the sin of Envy which is where the jealousy and other actions that follow can come into the picture obviously making a bigger mess of things. 

For some context when you covet something you just want it, whereas if you envy it you’re jealous that someone else has whatever it is that you want. Therefore, if the other person doesn’t deserve it because you can’t have it then nobody deserves it. 

I want you to keep this in mind, but for the moment I want you to put this on a shelf as I’ll come back to this in a bit. 

I’ve talked about being a GenX kid growing up in the 1980s here on this platform on more than one occasion in several of my episodes. However, just in case you’re new to my show I’ll mention it here again because it is going to have some significant context here regarding today’s episode. 

Growing up in the 80s, or more specifically the mid 80s, as I approached the age of 10, 11, and 12 I can remember the difference of the culture then compared to what it has been here in the United States since that time. In other words, even though I was only a kid during that time I can still remember how powerful the culture was in terms of America being the dominant force in the world and how the culture had a strong America First attitude that could be seen literally everywhere you looked. 

The reason for this was due to the fact that the American populace, or a more engaged populist movement, was unified behind an anti-Communist America First president that lived in that time by the name of Ronald Reagan. 

To illustrate this prevalence of strength throughout American culture at that time even the entertainment industry was especially dominant with a culture of action movies that celebrated masculinity and femininity in a way that hasn’t been done since then. The music was iconic, people were more engaging with one another, and the economy was booming after President Ronald Reagan came into office to cut down federal bureaucracy while his Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker blew up interest rates to 20% in order to wring the inflation out of the system from the damage that the previous Carter administration had caused. 

Does any of this sound familiar? 

It’s crystal clear that history has repeated itself in a large way today compared to the late 1970s leading into the 1980s. I mean in the 70’s leading up to the 80s communism was on the rise with it making its presence known during the cold war until Reagan, with a little help from his friend Paul Volcker, fired up the economic engine of the nation. This ran the Soviet Union, along with many communist countries throughout the eastern bloc, into the ground as they just simply couldn’t keep up with the building up of the United States economic engine and military might.

As we look at today’s battle