The Mob Needs Jesus

Yesterday, Pr. Hans Fiene posted the following on Facebook. It is an excellent summation of what we are seeing in the United States.

"Be careful because one day the cancel culture mob will turn on you."

I get where people are going with this line, but here's the problem: A substantial percentage of people do not ever, under any circumstances, think for themselves. They do not reason through issues. They do not form opinions based on principles or logic. Rather, they uncritically accept every doctrine handed to them by those whose approval they desire.

Ask someone who once opposed gay marriage but now favors it why he changed his mind? Most likely, he won't be able to give you a real answer. He won't be able to point to a philosophical shift or a piece of information that altered his view.

He'll just tell you, "love is love," "I believe in equality," "this is who they are." He won't even give you ideas, just slogans and soundbites. Same thing with transgender issues, race issues, etc... So these folks don't think for themselves. They have no interest in doing so. They will always update and install the latest version of the woke software their leaders hand them. And deep down, they recognize this about themselves. So telling them "one day, you'll stray from orthodoxy and the mob will come for you" is foolishness to them because there is no reason for them to stray. Ever.

So you won't change the hearts of people who have no desire to defy the mob that, one day, the mob will come for them. But you might change their hearts by telling them about something better than the mob.

You see, people aren't committed to the mob because of its ideas. They're committed to the mob because it gives them a tribe to belong to. A tribe that will protect them from loneliness, from a meaningless existence, and most of all, from guilt. The mob will protect you from that nagging voice in your head that tells you how worthless and vile your sins have made you, how unacceptable to God you are. The mob will prop up the illusion that you are a righteous person who doesn't need forgiveness.

And even if people know, deep down, that what the mob offers them isn't real, they won't let go of it until they are certain that they'll gain something better in return. People won't acknowledge their guilt if they think God is going to respond by rubbing their face in it.

So keep proclaiming Jesus, friends. Keep talking about His salvation, His bloody, sin-destroying love. Every time someone repeats the new pronouns or the new line about how punctuation is a tool of white supremacy, keep going back to the crucified Son of God.

Keep planting the seed. It may not grow at all, or it may not grow any time soon. But if you want people to disavow the cancel culture mob, your best shot is to show them that there is Someone far greater than the mob.

Someone who won't make them pretend that they're not torn apart by guilt over their sins. Someone who actually gives them absolution after confession. Someone who gives them righteousness instead of making them earn it day after day after day.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The answer is always Jesus. Sometimes He's a slow and exhausting answer. But He's the only one that works.