by Charles Lewis
It used to be that one thing related to this Resurrection season had me utterly stumped. How is it that on a Sunday the streets of Jerusalem were filled with a multitude passionately, even lavishly welcoming an Individual whom it recognized as its long awaited Messiah, only for the same streets to be overflowing, a few days later, with a horde demanding His execution, even choosing to spare a vicious criminal's life over His? It simply didn't make sense, and the Bible didn't explicitly account for it.
But after observing, in recent months, the contrast between the actions of the various Tea Parties, 9/12 groups, etc. and those of Occupy Wall Street, ACORN, et al, I find it all falls into perfect place. It's nothing more than the difference between the mentality of a multitude and that of a mob. A distinction between individuals - in however huge a number - that have made conscious, rational decisions to serve good (and/or have been led by the power of divine grace) and a collective swarm manipulated by an outside, evil force. It's a dynamic as real now as it's always been. It's called human nature.
The Minutemen, the Patriots, the Green Mountain Boys, the original (Boston) tea party types, who, collectively, formed the foundation for the most free and moral culture the world was to know, were motivated by a higher, essentially spiritual, calling, just as were the countless believers who laid palm fronds at the feet of our Savior. Not so with the French masses who stormed the Bastille. Their legacy, unsurprisingly, has been one of nightmarish tyranny and bewildering instability.
I used to wonder what happened to the folks who'd celebrated Jesus's arrival - once the chips were down and His survival was at stake. Why didn't they counter the mindless bloodlust of the rabble, fight fire with fire, as it were? But then I've long wondered why our side can't get organized around a cause at the drop of a hat, the way the evildoers always seem to. With no justification to speak of, they typically produce an army of ruffians seemingly willing to put their lives on the line making life unbearable for the rest of us. With our people, even when our backs are to the wall (actually, especially with our backs to the wall) so much as a modest, meek quorum often seems virtually unattainable.
The explanations are manifold. First, man's sinful nature makes him eminently controllable by evil, particularly when he assembles in large groups, which function as human herds. The enemy is the ultimate expert at exploiting this. The Sanhedrin were a first class example. Orchestrating mob behavior toward an unholy agenda was what they did for a living.
Sanhedrin still function in our midst. They call themselves "community organizers" nowadays. They adhere to "rules for radicals," and their Machiavellian skills have been finely honed, with their subjects having been meticulously prepped by the government indoctrination center system.
The crowd calling for Christ's condemnation (and this is key) was made aware which side the powers-that-be's bread was buttered on and immediately fell in line, secure in the knowledge that there would be no consequences to pay. As much now as in New Testament times as well Old, a people is destroyed for lack of knowledge, especially of Scripture. I imagine quite a few became disenchanted (ignorant of Isaiah 53 and the need for the fulfillment of prophecy) when a vulnerable Yeshua allowed himself to be captured, scourged, and humiliated by His inferiors. Without the grounding of Biblical truth, we, too, can become disillusioned at the dizzyingly rapid unfolding of ominous events.
The Bible isn't clear on the point, but I reckon that the Thursday and Friday fanatics weren't, at least for the most part, the same souls who'd hailed the Master's arrival the previous Sunday. There were, perhaps, a few overlaps - much in the sense that some of my conservative colleagues have expressed a misguided affinity (in terms of a perceived common enemy?) for the occupier movement, but certainly these defectors included none who were truly led by the Holy Spirit. And those righteous ones who might have been motivated to stand up for the Son of Man would have sustained the withering wrath of the Roman army and others, and they knew it.
The current analogy is stark. OWT-ers know that the present regime approves of, encourages, and feeds off their anti-social actions, that they have nothing to fear from those one percenters presently in power.
This was made clear from practically day one, when the DOJ vacated an already consummated slam dunk against the New Black Panther Party vis a vis its brazen, armed intimidation tactics the prior Election Day in Philadelphia polling places. (And it's continued unabated through the dearth of reaction to that same NBPP's recent, outrageously felonious advancement of a bounty on the head of a Florida Neighborhood Watch captain.) The kid glove handling of the rampant crimes of the "occupee-ers" just reaffirms this state of affairs.
As for their patriot counterparts, such assurances are as far from reality as one can get. The tea partiers are aware that even the slightest foray into occupier-type behavior would be met - with the media's complicity - with overwhelming force; they'd be summarily mowed down.
Mobs are governed by the collective mindset, whereas by definition the decision to serve God and His righteousness is an individual choice. "Collective salvation," which President Obama so enthusiastically touts, is as much an oxymoron as "welfare rights," "property tax," or (and I know I'm going to lose some folks here) "Christian rock," whereas collective damnation is the way of the world.
The controlled chaos of the callers for crucifixion has been present in every country that has succumbed to Satanic communism and its various subsidiaries and surrogates. The elite call these operatives "useful idiots." Once the despots are in power, such "sheeple," rightly perceived as potential troublemakers, are the first to be eradicated, even before the entrepreneurs.
In the end, may I remind you, it is not our calling to overpower the enemy with street tactics. What if the Sunday celebrants had risen up and overwhelmed the bloodthirsty Thursday throng and prevented the crucifixion? No Lamb of God, no atonement, no salvation. There is, likewise, prophecy that must be fulfilled in these times, much of it downright disturbing. It is our calling, however, to remain faithful, to seek His guidance, and to tell the truth.
God still has a plan for His flock. The absolute futility of our capacity as humans has always been lesson one. He Who sees the end from the beginning will not forsake those who persevere to the end. May I wish a serene, hopeful, and Spirit-filled Resurrection Sunday to all my brethren.
