(As published on OpEdNews December 2nd, 2006)

A man whose country has been invaded and is under occupation by the most powerful nation in the world is suddenly arrested in the middle of the night and taken away from his family and friends by the army of his occupiers. As he is rendered from place to place his startled loved ones have no idea where he has been taken.

He is put on trial. Despite the fact that the court procedure falls pathetically short of providing him with the Due Process that is indeed at the very core of any definition of civilized government, and despite the fact that laws of neither his own country nor those of their occupiers are followed in his hearings, he is convicted and harshly sentenced.

He is beaten and tortured mercilessly, publicly shamed beyond measure and eventually he is put to death.

The leader of the occupying nation, whose military has made a gruesome habit of such atrocities publicly washes his hands of the whole affair.

This is the story of the man named Jesus of Nazareth, whom we know as The Christ, The Chosen One, The Son of Man, the only begotten Son of God. Our Saviour.

It is also the story of a number of men that have been arrested by our military and sent on orders from our government to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, Abu Gahrib in Iraq as well as being â€œfarmed outâ€ to Syria and other nations where there are no restrictions on torture to be concerned with.

To support or even passively allow these actions by our government is abject hypocrisy – enough so that if you do support these policies and actions actively I would question the depth of your understanding of the great price – the gruesomely atrocious death – paid for your soulâ€™s ransom. This according to our understanding of the redemptive sacrifice of the Lamb of God – the blood of Jesus shed for us upon the cross. Indeed, if you actively support such policies and actions I would question the very salvation you may arrogantly assume for yourself.

Are you a Roman – supporting torture, extreme rendition and even capital punishment being meted out by our government without the charges against the accused being made public, without a fair trial, without representation or the right to know and dispute the charges against him? Are you standing at the foot of the cross screaming: â€œCrucify him!â€?â€™

Or are you a Christian – standing in the gap as Christ did and does between every evil thing and those who are powerless unto themselves to escape a hideous end? Are you at the foot of the cross or are you willing to let your sins of complicity in all of this be nailed there?

The School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, from which the American government exports torture techniques to the world, must be closed at once in the name of God. You must insist upon it or leave Jesus and walk away forever from the tree upon which he was hung, leaving him there forever:

School of the Americas Watch: School of the Americas Watch