(Published March 1986)
"And they [the Herd, the mob, the in-crowd] cried out again, Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified" (Luke 15:13,15).
If you will read very carefully the full account of Pilate's dealing with this case, you will find that he was fully convinced that Jesus had done no wrong, that he-made every effort, short of offending the Herd, to set Jesus free. Sure he should go free; but the Herd, the mobbish, the majority, demanded our Lord's death; and Pilate, willing to compromise his convictions for the favor of the crowd, delivered Jesus to be crucified.
We see a similar scene in Ephesus when the preaching of the gospel stirred up a mob against two of Paul's companions at Ephesus. "And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre" (Acts 19:29). Then in verse 32 we read: "Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together." In other words: the majority of the Herd, the mob, didn't even know why they were doing what they were doing, they were merely following the actions of the crowd."
We are told in Exodus 23:2, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." In other words, have your own convictions even if they differ from the crowds. Stand by those convictions regardless of the persecution and misunderstanding of the crowd. Refuse to let the herd mold you into their mold. The first indication that a thing is wrong is when everybody's doing it. Did you get the impact of that statement? Let me repeat it so that it may be indelibly imprinted on the flyleaf of your brain: The first indication that a thing is wrong is when everybody's doing it. An analysis of Calvary's scene reveals this. Human emotion can be the worst enemy of Divine truth.
Human nature hasn't changed much since Bible days. The modern religious crowd still resents and crucifies truth in favor of their emotional preferences. Calvary is a perfect example of truth being lost on the raging sea of human emotion. But sooner or later the storm dies and truth surfaces again. The term "Herd" applies in more than one way. I have seen it in the fads and styles of today until lam sick of it.. The designers of Hollywood and Paris, modern-day facsimiles of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, the godstars of rock music, TV, the sports world, etc., sets our habits of life, our dress styles; and the Herd that worships at their altars daily, follow suit. Like the Ephesians, they really don't know what it is all about; but not willing to stand alone, they join the stampede and become like zombies, influenced and motivated solely by the dictates of the world, the Herd, the mob. Mobocracy would probably be the word for it.
Never have we had access to so many beautiful clothes and easily cared-for materials than we have today. I often stand in front of the store windows and admire the beautiful dresses, blouses, etc., for women and the classy, beautiful suits, dressy shoes, colorful ties, etc. for men. The other day I strolled through a cloth-mart and was fascinated by all the beautiful colored materials - silks, polys, cottons, you name it. If ever our ladies had an unending supply of beautiful material with which to make beautiful dresses, it is today. But is this the case?
In spite of it all, we have the dirtiest, sloppiest, shaggiest,' cruddiest crowd of people we have ever seen. Faded, jagged, ragged, patched, skintight blue jeans is the dress style for the Herd, both male and female. Dirty; smelly, unhealthy tennis shoes are the in-thing for the Herd; and like meek lambs to the slaughter, the majority of the rest of the mob follows suit. We do not wish to be different; we are afraid we might offend somebody. We are slavish followers only, not leaders. So we lift our voices with the mob and join their ranks. They call it "The Unisex Generation," and they named it right. About the only evidence that would establish male or female identity is underneath the outside garb; for outwardly, one has to take several looks often times to know whether to say "Sir" or "Ma'am."
Now let us look at the religious world. The Herd in this case could apply to any group who form a clique, a dynasty or religious movement that loves itself more than truth. Mobocracy always makes truth its victim. When good people give thoughtless credibility to a movement or power structure, a blind infallibility to the words of charismatic men, truth ends up on a cross. There are two extremes in the religious world today, those who are dead, formal, ritualistic, the same old six-and-seven Sunday after Sunday. No enthusiasm, no concern for the lost, no sacrifice; just tranquility, which often is the same kind you find in a cemetery.
Then the other extreme is the crowd whose whole experience is based on fleshly emotionalism with no real change of heart and radically changed life. Now lam for a little emotionalism when it is prompted by the Holy Spirit. I love to see God's people weep for joy, shout His praises. I love to hear, the "Hallelujah's" and "Amen's" and spirited singing. I miss it so much in most of the services I attend today. However, I am talking about emotionalism., that stems from the flesh, one that is generated by the amplification of a sensual stlye of music, the loud beat of jungle drums, the furious clapping of hands, religious gymnastics.
People whose experience is based on emotionalism do not want to be bothered with the facts. The mind of Christ establishes all truth on the basis of an intelligent review of all available facts. When a man allows his emotions to block out the rational powers of the mind, he loses his dignity and assumes an animal level of behavior. If the Word (Divine fact) and the spirit (Divine presence) is overwhelmed by human emotion, actuality is thrust aside by the stampeding Herd. The earth thunders with their excitement and short-lived burst of power. But alas, they are blinded in the dust of confusion, running with the rest because they don't have the intestinal fortitude to break away. In their attempt to be "in" and accepted by the mob, man enters the dark streams of emotional instability.
Today much of the church world lives in the age of the din. Thousands of voices with a thousand doctrines scream out to us in a world that has become the devil's sounding chamber. So many enticing voices and Hollywood personalities clamor after our emotional allegiances that many a faithful disciple has had his feet turned off the highway of holiness and lined the church of "Everybody's Doing It."
Many Christians of our day, having lost their hold on the Word of God, have passed into a state of false sublimation. Apostasy is nothing but an emotional twilight zone within the church where human emotionalism has exceeded the moral laws of the Word of God. Truth, and not emotion, is the force of true Christianity. The transformed Christian rejoices in truth but never apart from it.
Neo-church movements and TV preachers are using business psychology tactics computers and theatrics to produce numerical and financial results. Who ever got the idea that attracting numbers was the criteria of truth or of God's blessings? The stampede is not in the direction of the church whose pastor preaches hell hot and heaven high and hard to gain who calls sin by name and demands his people to depart from it; who demands separation from the world, its isms and schisms; who faithfully proclaims the Word without fear or favoritism. The Herds are not likely to be there. Then, must he change his message to make it all more palatable to the Herd and woo them in with whatever gimmicks might fit their carnal fancy? Absolutely not! If he does, he is a traitor to the kingdom.
But the Herd does not have to look far or long to find the wolf in sheep's clothing who will conform to the wishes of those like in Isaiah's day. Poor old Isaiah. He had a Herd in that long-ago who cried out to the preachers, 'See not [do not look at what we do] and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things [tell us how nice we are; soothe our souls with a sugarcoated message; tell us we are all God's children and that a loving God would not let one of us be lost; preach positive; leave off the negatives, those are old-fashioned; smother us and lull us to spiritual sleep with waves of love preaching] prophesy deceits" (Isaiah 30:10). That Herd would have no problem finding a pastor for their church today.
The science of business psychology is doing it every day for big business. Its use of the media, semantics and graphics, appealing to the emotional and psychological base of man, will produce generic results, but to produce spiritual disciples, we must use spiritual methods. Hollywood and TV stars appearing in the pulpit with sloppy agape doctrine will bring numbers and a certain prestige, but it will not build separated, spiritual churches. Many modern Christians think that an emotional experience with "Jesus" constitutes the evidence of salvation. That is devilish fantasy!
Yes, from the day when the Herd decreed the slaughter of our Lord Jesus to the day when they threw Gaius and Aristarchus out and would have none of their Jesus preaching, right on down to this very day, mobocracy has not changed much. Every Christian should set aside a very solemn moment and ask himself:
Am I running with
some herd, or am I walking with God?
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