For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law,

and if I perish, I perish."

Esther 4:14-16, ESV

According to the Federal Reserve, over 70 million bank transactions occur every day. Credit sources reveal an addition 110 million credit card transactions occur each day in America. That's over 180 million transactions each day. They are settled each night, to the penny, without fail. Errors are rare because banks consider money important, and so do their clients.

Did you know that average number of votes in America each election cycle is usually under 150 million? Yet these votes take days to count in some states, weeks in others. What are they doing? If banks can accurately and honestly settle more than that number of transactions every day, why can't we do at least that well when the counters have two years between elections to get it right?

What does this have to do with anything? Just this: My generation, the baby boomers, grew up in a nation that was far from perfect, but with far less open corruption. I remember as a teenager watching the impeachment hearings for a corrupt President. He had to resign in disgrace. What was his terrible crime? He lied to the American public and got caught. He did so in an era when Americans would not tolerate open lying from their officials. A poll was taken at that time of the most hated individuals in history. The top three were Satan, Adolph Hitler, and the lying President - Richard Nixon. People despised and would not tolerate any politician who lied to them.

Now people will not vote for a politician unless he does. And, should he get caught at lying, his side will only say that it's no worse than the other side's fellow. While this may be true, it is not right, and we should not tolerate corruption, but we remain silent because we don't want to stand out or look foolish...

and we doom our children and grandchildren's generation to be ruled by evil men because we are afraid to say anything.

Esther, in her time, was a young Jewish lady who had been made Queen by an incredible series of events. In fact, the only logical conclusion that one could draw was that she was Queen because God wanted her to be so. There was a plot against her fellow Jews during her time as queen that threatened to wipe out the entire race. When she was asked to intervene with the King, this young lady was at first reluctant to do so. But she was reminded that her silence would come only at the risk of great peril, so this courageous young lady spoke out and saved her people.

She knew that she could not remain silent, even if speaking out put her own life at risk, because too many people were depending on her.

We could learn a lesson from Esther.