Persuasion is Better than Force -- The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

How did the German nation go from generally peace-loving to warmonger activism, taking over countries and exterminating entire peoples?

The rhetoric of one evil dictator, whose intimate knowledge of German antipathies and sympathies enabled him to tap in to their frustration and financial fallout. Adolph Hitler mesmerized audiences, from the fledgling National Socialist German Worker's Party to the massive hordes of Nuremberg. The German people were enthralled with national socialism, the argument that the state was everything, that a one thousand year reign awaited the German people, that the injustices of the Versailles Treaty would be avenged speedily.

He convinced people with his words. He demonized the Jews with ongoing propaganda. He brainwashed a loyal cadre of true believers, who would stop at nothing to enforce the Nazi agenda. And the crowds went with it.

For better or worse, persuasion is stronger than force.

I can hold a gun to one man's head; he will obey me, not because I have persuaded him, but because he wants to preserve his life. Whether by force of falsehood or fact, persuasion is the ultimate in end.

Words persuade faster, when properly articulated and convincingly enunciated.

The pen is mightier than the sword. Despite the bloody revolutions of centuries, the force of language is more powerful than the force of arms.

Jesus Christ declared that there is power in the Word:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matthew 21:21-22)

The Gospel of Mark adds more to this promise:

"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."(Mark 11:24-25)

Even the Gospel of Luke renders an account of Jesus' appraisal of the power of the spoken Word:

"And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you." (Luke 17:6)

We can move mountains without moving, just be what we say, whether to others, or within ourselves. Contrary to the apparent contradiction between the force of breath and the force of arms, words make the world go round.

In fact, it was the Word that made the world in the first place:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

"The same was in the beginning with God.

"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:1-3)

And

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 3:11)

Even the apostle James commented on the power of the tongue:

"So the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" (James 3:5)

Solomon wrote it best:

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." (Proverbs 18:21)

Imagine, we have the power of life and death in our own mouth, through the words that we use! Whichever fruit that you wish to eat, consider carefully with what you say.