Certainly, there can be no complete comparison between any man and the perfect God-man Jesus Christ.  Ted Cruz, even with his Christian faith and strong conservative record, cannot even come close to measuring up to the perfect life lived by Jesus of Nazareth, nor can America’s rejection of Cruz–and the values for which he has demonstrated he stands–be placed on the same level as humanity’s rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, there are important and undeniable parallels. In choosing Barabbas over Jesus, the mob did not only choose evil over good.  By most accounts, Barabbas was not merely a common thief, but an insurrectionist who had already attempted to overthrow the Roman Empire by bloody rebellion.  In choosing Barabbas over Jesus, the mob chose the way of blind anger over the way that could have genuinely set them free in every way possible.  In choosing Donald Trump over Ted Cruz, a number of conservatives have chosen to embrace blind anger and a “burn it all down” mentality over a candidate who stood the best chance in decades of restoring respect for the U.S. Constitution from the nation’s highest office, and putting this nation back on the path of the principles which made us great to begin with.

When the mob in Jerusalem chose Barabbas over Jesus, they set their nation on a path which would eventually “burn it all down” and bring unspeakable destruction on their own heads.  Outside of God’s unmerited grace, our decision will no doubt do the same to America.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are amazingly adept at avoiding truth (and to be sure, many people fit into this latter category), the conservative record of Ted Cruz and the liberal record of Donald Trump are easy to find and verify.  The consistency of Ted Cruz and his values, as well as the inconsistency and hypocrisy of Donald Trump, are not hard to confirm at all.  The fact that Ted Cruz has demonstrated he will fight to end the corrupt status quo, as well as the fact that Donald Trump is nothing but a recipient and agent of that corrupt status quo, are also obvious to anyone interested in learning the truth.

To be sure, open-primary states (such as Indiana yesterday) where Democrats and liberal-leaning independents have been allowed to help choose the Republican nominee, have assisted liberal Donald Trump in gaining momentum that he otherwise would not have garnered within the GOP. Yet, thanks in no small part to that momentum, he has begun to pull off wins in some closed primary states, with even some people who call themselves “Republicans” supporting this liberal.

This is the part that is most amazing…and most sad. That people who call themselves Republicans, conservatives and Christians would reject a person with an amazing record like Ted Cruz, for a liberal who:

Hired foreign workers and illegal aliens and promoted sanctuary cities for illegal aliens (while still claiming with his mouth to be tough on illegal immigration)

Who leveraged sweetheart “deals” with corrupt politicians to leverage the power of government to take people’s private property away from them for his private use

Who supports men to join our wives, mothers and daughters in the restroom and locker room

Who would go even further to attempt to normalize an aberrant sexual behavior and force a once-free people to affirm it

Who would appoint pro-abortion judges to the Supreme Court so that the slaughter of innocent children can become even more entrenched in an unconstitutional fashion in our country

Who parrots the same Leftist propaganda that undermined our efforts to fight terrorism and belligerent despotism in the Middle East

Who makes deals with the same anti-American socialists who have been wrecking this once-great country for decades

Who has propped up those same anti-American socialists financially

Who lauds communist dictators and brutal thugs?

Who backs massively wasteful federal government operations that are not authorized by the U.S. Constitution

Who is such an unprincipled nut-job as to accuse Ted Cruz’s father of participating in the assassination of JFK

This is what the “Republican” Party has sunk to?

How can one rationally (rationally, mind you) expect someone to solve America’s ills when that someone has applauded and been complicit with those who have caused those ills in the first place?  Does “the fox guarding the hen house” mean anything?  We might as well appoint the cook who is poisoning the king as head chef. 

Give us Barabbas, indeed!  And in doing so, America has heaped coals of fire upon our own heads, as well as brought blood upon our heads and the heads of our children. For we will not escape judgment for choosing evil over good.

And now Ted Cruz, after being rejected by the party whose values and principles he fought earnestly to uphold, and being subjected to some of the most vile lies we have ever seen in a GOP primary, has suspended his campaign.  The American people now have no good candidates from which to choose. Again.

As time has gone on, and we have learned more about Donald Trump and seen more of the behavior that defines Donald Trump, I have only grown more sure that I cannot support such a textbook Democrat-with-an-“R”-after-his-name.

This is what John McCain was.

This is what Mitt Romney was.

But at least those two frauds didn’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars financially supporting the Leftist agenda and politicians who are killing this once-great nation. They were cowards who refused to fight for what is right, and were often found on the other side, actually fighting for our enemy’s agenda at times…but never so overtly and brazenly as Donald Trump has championed the Left’s agenda in many areas. Trump’s behavior and record are so bad, and yet the mindless support for him is so blind, Trump’s claim that he could murder somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it is not outrageous at all.

Some think that, even though America has been wise enough to reject a RINO when push came to shove in the past, now may be a time when a RINO really can win a presidential general election.  Given the level of unprecedented and astronomical stupidity and self-deception I have witnessed in the past year from within the GOP and across America in general, those who think this might be right. It can no longer be ruled out. After all, many people who are generally conservative who had the moral and intellectual integrity to admit that John McCain, Mitt Romney, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, et al are worthless RINOs unworthy of our support…have shoved their fists firmly into their eyes and ears and jumped onboard the RINO Trump Train with full-throated enthusiasm.

But I cannot see that I can rationalize my way into joining them. On Election Day 2012, I shoved my integrity into a corner, and in desperation because of the Supreme Court’s decision upholding unconstitutional ObamaCare, I whored myself out and pulled the lever for Mitt Romney.

I don’t foresee any scenario, any rationale, where I can convince myself to do that again–especially for a candidate who actually makes Mitt Romney look somewhat conservative.

No, I won’t be staying home.  I’ll likely be voting Constitution Party in the presidential race, and Republican in most other races, especially on a state and local level.

But to bring myself to even lip-sync “Give me Barabbas”?  By God’s grace, I just can’t see it.

As for America and our long-term destiny, I believe that 2016 has proven, beyond any remaining doubt, that we are now too stupid, morally and intellectually, to even deserve to be free.

*** Bob Ellis *** Is a conservative author  and Life and Liberty News contributor

      Read more from Bob Ellis and other conservative authors at American Clarion