Troubled Traitors

The Bible says: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” Matthew 26:14-16 (KJV)

At age 14 he ran away from home and fought in the French and Indian War. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he joined the American army as a colonel and in 1775 shared a command with Ethan Allen in the capture of Ticonderoga. Later he led 1000 men into Canada where he fought in the battle of Quebec. His courage in battle won him a promotion to brigadier general. But something went wrong. Thoughts of compromise ate away at his patriotic zeal. Soon the unthinkable happened. He offered his services to the British, and in 1780 devised a plan to surrender West Point to British control. Today, instead of being remembered as a national hero, Benedict Arnold is synonymous with “traitor.”

The First Battle of Bull Run might not have been a smashing Confederate victory without the flowing curls of Rose Greenhow. On July 9, 1861 she hid a message in her lovely tresses; when she combed out her hair for Rebel officers, they learned that Union troops were about to march on Richmond. A second message contained the invaders’ strength and marching orders. Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard later said that Greenhow “lived in a house within rifle range of the White House.” Her house became the heart of a Southern spy network, and at the height of her activities Greenhow directed more than 50 agents. What was her fate? Her side ultimately lost and she herself drowned as she attempted to return from banishment from the country she had betrayed!

We despise traitors don’t we. Yet are we not traitors when we allow sin in our lives? Are we not traitors when we fail to be true to the Great Commission of Christ Jesus? 

    Daily Chronological Bible Reading: Judges 8-9