"For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

Jesus is recorded stating this passage in Mark 8:36, and it is a recurring theme that has been illustrated throughout the course of history, and it is a lesson that has also been taught in our society.  When people place their desires into selfish ambition, all too often they have everything, and yet nothing.  Charles Dickens beloved store "A Christmas Carol" shows this.  In his book, Ebeneezer Scrooge was a selfish man chose to put his faith in his money, and it cost him dearly.  He lost the woman he loved, lost his chance for a family, and alienated all those who cared for him.  His desire for wealth did not buy him happiness, he was bitter and alone, and during one night, he witnessed how so many who had so little had much more joy in their lives than he did.  He soon learned that if he did not change his ways, he would die alone, with nobody to mourn him and would leave behind nothing but a legacy of greed and selfishness.  Ironically, this was the same fate that befell Michael Corleone, the central figure of the legendary Godfather Film Series.  In his film, Michael's desire for wealth and power cost him everything.  He lost his family, his beloved wife, even his children.  He became so obsessed with power, that he even ordered the murder of his own brother.  At the end of the movie, Michael Corleone dies alone, with nobody there to care for him, mourn for him, and leaving behind nothing but a legacy that he regrets, but is powerless to change it.  

The sad truth is, this is often the fate of the world's most infamous tyrants, whose own desire for power ultimately destroys themselves and those around him.  Hitler for instance, wanted to make his country the powerhouse of the world, to spread his race and his ideology far and wide.  In 1940 he seemed to have everything, a strong country, a strong military, and he was seemingly unstoppable.  Yet his own desire for power became his undoing.  He would die five years later in an underground bunker as his world was bombed to ashes.  Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and countless others deceived themselves into believing that the world must serve them, that the people must bow before their ideas.  For a time, they reigned over millions, but their entire reign, they only served the Prince of Darkness and Death.  For many, the lesson comes too late that despite all their efforts, they cannot silence the Eternal Truth of God, and that every life that they took in their desire for the world is eternal, and in time, they will stand before the Almighty in Judgement.