When you think of the top 5 most influential people in history, who comes to mind? When I think more deeply about this, it actually seems a bit more difficult than I first realize.
For instance, we may say that someone like Thomas Edison is one of the most influential because of the lightbulb. Or Johannes Gutenberg because of the Printing Press. But then when I think about it straight up, I realize that these are honestly things that probably would have been done anyway. Maybe not for another 50, 100, or even 200 years, but they likely would have been done.
That doesn’t mean that these people weren’t influential, but it makes me wonder if they really are the most influential. Who are people that were in the right place in power or science at just the right time to make the world we live in the way it is?
Once again, after listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast, someone that comes to mind is Cyrus the Great. The great ruler of the Persian empire in their rapid ascent into power. This man had a massive impact on the world. Maybe not even as much because of what he did but because of what he didn’t do.
As I mentioned in a blog post the other day, he was a king known for his generosity to the kings and people who’s land he conquered. Instead of killing the leaders and demolishing the land, he often allowed them to continue living there and in some cases kept the kinds in leadership positions.
During this time, there was a little remnant of people from a well-known religion that had been scattered about without a homeland due to the Babylonians coming in and destroying it. This religion was Judaism. Cyrus the great seemed to have had it in his power to really wipe out these people, or at least be very unkind to them. But God had a different plan for him. Instead, he did more than not killing these people, he helped them.
He gave them back their land and even helped rebuild the walls of the city.
But what if he hadn’t done that? There is, of course, the part to content with that God had ultimate control, so even if he had wanted to wipe them out God would not have allowed him to since the promised one (Jesus) was still to come.
But pretend for a second that’s not the case. What if Cyrus had wiped out this tiny religion? That doesn’t only knock out Judaism. Because Islam and Christianity are religions both based on the Jewish religion. If there are no Jews, descendants of Abraham, there is no Jesus, if there is no Jesus, there is no Christianity.
As I mentioned before. God was in ultimate control over this and it would be impossible to go against what God plans, but think of the other things like this. Other people who were in these places at just the right time to have such a massive impact on the world.
Who’s really had the largest impact on the world?