DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- MOB MENTALITY

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – MOB MENTALITY

"Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they came together." (Acts 19:32)

In our current culture in America, we are inundated with mobs and riots. It seems that that is the occupation of some people. They join any conflagration that comes along. At the very least, it must be a pastime they enjoy – marching, yelling, chanting, demonstrating, painting graffiti and destroying buildings. It doesn't matter what the cause is that they are marching for. I would suppose that many do not know why they are demonstrating, but the cause is not the motivation. It is just the excitement of the crowd. When a mob gathers, it can lead to a lot of confusion and evil doing.

There is usually a ring-leader or agitator that is working up the mob. That was the case of this riot in Ephesus. His name was Demetrius, who was a silversmith who made silver shrines for the goddess Diana. As the Apostle Paul began to get more and more converts and people turned to Christ, Demetrius saw his business dwindling. He made a lot of money at his craft, and when he saw his business going down the tube, he called the other silversmiths and incited them to riot.

While they were marching, the whole city rushed to the theater to see what was happening. Many of them did not even know what they were rioting about. They just got caught up in the crowd.

We need to be careful to not get sucked into the mob mentality, just because everyone else is doing it. Following the Supreme Court decision regarding abortion, it seems the whole country is up in arms, if we could believe the media. If the Ephesians were chanting, "Great is Diana" for two hours, the chant today would be, "Great is abortion." Mob mentality has taken over in spite of rational thinking about the value and meaning of human life.

God has called us to be light in a dark world. There may be a place for peaceful demonstrations for righteousness by of a group of Christians, but mostly, we are light in the darkness one candle at a time. We do not radiate Christ's light by riots against something, but by standing firm for God's righteousness. But most of the time we demonstrate God's holiness by the way we live, one person at a time.

Love, Dad