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On a daily basis, we see scenes of lawless mobs tearing down statutes, and defacing monuments and buildings of every type---often as authorities stand idly by.
Now the rage has turned toward real people.
Sunday, the mob turned toward the home of Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos placing a guillotine in front of his house.
With the demands; "Abolish police, prisons, and Amazon"...Because the goal is to "Abolish the Present---Reconstruct Our Future."
Be informed, not misled.
The richest man in the world may not be the smartest man in the world.
The United States has become the international target of radicals, because whether we like it or not---it is the pinnacle of Western prosperity and strength---God has blessed America.
Jeff Bezos, and I think he likes it, is the richest man in the world.
To be clear, I am not a fan of Bezos on many levels. To be more clear, I'm certain he couldn't care less what I think about him.
However, the lawless mobs have pivoted from bringing down statues, monuments, and buildings they don't like, to real people.
Sunday, the mob placed a guillotine in front of Bezos' home in Washington DC suggesting it should be used on him, chanting: "Abolish Police, Prisons, and Amazon."
DC protesters have set up a “guillotine” in protest of Jeff Bezos in front of his complex in DC pic.twitter.com/VZ0AWTJqaV— Drew Hernandez (@livesmattershow) June 28, 2020
At the recent "Juneteenth" celebration, Bezos showed just how out of touch he really is. He told Amazon employees---all 798,000 of them,
"I'm canceling all my meetings on Friday [Juneteenth] and I encourage you to do the same if you can"...to reflect on the issues. While some companies gave their employees a paid day off---Bezos requested that warehouse workers wear black to acknowledge the day.
Adrienne Williams, a black contract driver for Amazon in the Bay Area, commented: "What does a black shirt do for anybody in terms of social justice?" She said if they really wanted to do something for the employees---"Why don't they pay us more money?"
Suggesting to a mob mentality that they wear black and "reflect" on the issues of our time, is about as smart as Seattle's Mayor Jenny Durkan suggesting the mob peacefully vacate Capitol Hill.
What does the mob really want?
They say they want to "Abolish the Present, Reconstruct Our Future."
What's being targeted, of course, is the long history of ideas and institutions created and developed in the West.
Ironically, those institutions are leading the charge to bring about this cultural revolution---two institutions in particular---Church and State.
State-run education has set the stage for current events.
Last August, the New York Post published an article revealing how Black Lives Matter "has become the progressive left's primary vehicle for anti-racist activism. Now through the efforts of activist teachers, BLM is moving beyond street protests to establish a growing presence in the nation's public schools."
The Post says,
"The initiative began in Seattle, where teachers organized a Black Lives Matter at School Day" in October, 2016. News of the event spread, and after the National Education Association adopted a resolution of endorsement, the BLM at School Day, became the BLM at School National Week of Action to be held annually to set off the tone for Black History Month," in February.
The Post concludes, however, with what was then a prediction, we now know to be a reality.
The Post, after a serious review of the curriculum, noted that the kids will never be encouraged to inquire about the absolute numbers of shootings by police, as compared to the numbers of shootings by criminal perpetrators; nor about how many of those shot by police were violently resisting arrest.
They concluded, "The dogmatism is itself deplorable, but what is worst of all in the BLM pedagogy is the demoralizing effect likely to ensue from it. What are young students of color to infer from the teaching that they are subjects of a pervasive, radicalized despotism."
And they concluded this:
"What BLM's pedagogues want them to infer is that resistance is the one thing needful---that their proper models are the leaders of radical protest, the more radical the better"...What students are left with is a "doctrine of utter futility and hopelessness"---"The teaching is both false and grossly irresponsible"..."The key to liberty and happiness lies not in perpetuated opposition but in cultivating the virtues of mind, heart and character."
The church has abdicated its God-mandated role in society.
The message from the secular press---at least the New York Post-- seems to be begging the church to do what it is called to do---minister Truth to the mind, heart, and soul of the people---not BLM's fatalism.
The BLM curriculum that the New York Post called out, almost prophetically over a year ago, is our reality today.
Rather than leaders, the material has perpetuated an angry heart and a hopeless soul and a confused mind.
Yesterday I received a notice from an organization that sells pre-prepared sermons---no, I have never purchased one---mine are already too long.
The notice was encouraging pastors to address racial issues from the pulpit. And the way to prepare sermons for the topic would be to first, "dialog to assess what change might look like on a practical level, then talk about the Civil Rights movement and the Great Migration." The "Great Migration," of course, is the movement of blacks from the south toward the north, especially during the 1920s and '30s.
After wiping the tears from my eyes and arresting my righteous indignation, I once again realized the Truth of the words of those who led the Church, when the Church acted like the Church---not some "non-essential" organization with a few good ideas, trying to survive. And be cool.
If you read this Faith and Freedom Daily blog yesterday, you read that Pastor Charles Finney said if the culture is sick, it's the "pulpit's fault." If you didn't read it, please do.
We need to hear from the Christian past, not to destroy or discount it, but to build on it.
Here's what pastors and preachers have had to say about the Church and the Gospel:
- Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself.” – Charles Spurgeon
- “It’s not our business to make the message acceptable but to make it available. We are not to see that they like it, but that they get it.” – Vance Havner
- “The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God’s law and to show the nature of sin.” – Martin Luther
- “Let’s quit fiddling with religion and do something to bring the world to Christ.” – Billy Sunday
- “The Jesus that men want to see is not the Jesus they need to see.” – G. Campbell Morgan
- “It’s a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher” – George Whitefield
- We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little. Many services, but few conversions; much machinery, but few results.” – R.A. Torrey
- “The scriptures are given not to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.” – Dwight L. Moody
- “Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all.” – Hudson Taylor
- The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We need power, not dialog.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.