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Home - The Dean-What Does “Actor” Rocky Balboa and Today’s Benedict Arnolds "Politicians" Have in Common? They are Both Actors!

What Does “Actor” Rocky Balboa and Today’s Benedict Arnolds "Politicians" Have in Common? They are Both Actors!

An actor is defined as a person who behaves in a way that is not genuine.

A couple of years ago, I had seen a documentary on the Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, who played the role of “Rocky Balboa,” the Italian Stallion, the boxing heavyweight champion of the world.

During this documentary, I noticed that while he was filming for another Rocky movie in Philadelphia, the people (fans) from Philadelphia greeted him as “Rocky Balboa.” I wondered how many of them that actually seen the Rocky movies really knew his real name.  They knew him as the character he portrayed, not as who he really was.

Furthermore, how many of them actually deceived themselves into believing that Rocky was also the heavyweight champion of the world (Jeremiah 9:14).

This was, in fact, the reality many of the people (fans) in Philadelphia had when it came to that of Sylvester Stallone.

Friends, the man’s real name is Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone. He has never been in a ring a day in his life to fight professionally, and he is not the heavyweight champion of anyone’s world except those that paid for the ticket to see this actor play the part of one.

Speaking of Actors..How many politicians today run on the promises that they fail to keep once they win the office they sought? They put themselves up to be something that they are clearly not. Like that of the actor Sylvester Stallone, they say that they are someone that they are not, and act another way. Christian conservative is what politicians usually sell themselves out to be.  Yet, what they deliver, time and time again, is not at all what they promised they would do. It is what they do that shows you who they are (Matthew 7:16).

It is true that “the man and the office are one in the same,” and like that of the actor, the act is not apart from the actor? They are still the same person regardless of what they want someone to believe them to be, one thing is for sure, their actions speak a lot louder than their words.

It is like that of the laws in this country that need to be enforced. We do not need more laws. We need good men to enforce them laws. That is how we know that they are good, by again what they do.

On so many occasions politicians act out that they are good and yet, they implement that which is unlawful which reveals who they really are.

Of course, when found out for the hypocrites that they are, they then advocate compartmentalization.  They want you to accept that their personal life is separate from their public life.  That is just simply not true!

Who they are in private, is who they are in public regardless of the act if you judge them by their fruit. There is no separating the two. Look to what they advocate and produce and you will understand.

It has been rightly stated: “Public character…is no evidence of true greatness, for a public character is often an artificial one.” (Luke 12:2)

For example, Benedict Arnold, in his public capacity, was:

  • A general of the American Army
  • An early war hero in the American Revolution
  • A leader in the battle of Saratoga

However, during the same time:

  • He was embezzling supplies destined for the starving troops at Valley Forge
  • He was pocketing profits made from illegal sales
  • He was betraying West Point to the enemy

Was his public life or his private life a more accurate indicator of his true character? Obviously, his private life (Luke 22:48).

Somehow or another, the United States has now become a place where entertainers and politicians are mistaken for people of genuine identities.  Instead of advocating the light, it now advocates the darkness as the light (John 1:4; Isaiah 5:20).

“It is not then, in the glare of public, but in the shade of private life, that we are to look to the man. Private life, is always real life. Behind the curtain, where the eyes of the millions are not upon him… There he will always be sure to act himself: Consequently, if he act greatly (In private), he must be great indeed. Hence, it has been said that, Our private deeds, if noble, are noblest of our lives.

It is in the private virtues that lay the foundations of all human excellence.” –Mason L. Weems, The Life of Washington (cf. Hebrews 4:13) So do yourselves a favor and begin to judge them by what they do, rather then what they say that they are, in this way you will see them for who they really are.

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