TUESDAY - 13TH DECEMBER, 2022
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola & Oreoluwa ADEJUMO
CHARACTERISTICS OF RABBLE ROUSERS - His Pleasure Series 014
THEY NEED A LARGE FOLLOWING
Acts 5:36-37, KJV
"36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. 37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed."
Brethren, there's a level of boldness and confidence you have when you know how many people and what status support you on a cause. You'll suddenly become inflated and strengthened. Some long years ago, back when kingdoms still reign and the power of life and death resides with the monarchy, only kings, warlords and some nobles have such attention and attentive ears of many followers. Power therefore was retained and lodged in their custody. Today, because of the Social Media and the Internet, this power has been dislodged and distributed all over the world even to the most ordinary of men who would dare to rise with something new to impress or win natural men to following. Immediately, you'll see people give their obedience even if all he feeds them with are pornographic and sensual tastes. If you want to test how powerful such mundane fellow has become, criticize him and see how many of his followers will pick on you. This online war might even be taken on ground and you'll see massive crowd protest even against the government because of one person taken in. There's power in number. God had to strengthen Israel on many occasions not to be afraid of numbers and not trust in same (II Chronicles 20:1-22, I Chronicles 21:1-7)
So, a rabble rouser can't but feel powerless if he is isolated and it's known to him that he's alone. I once watched a political movie where an opposer of a dictatorial government was locked up. Because he was still alive and same is known, he rose thousands of protesters across the country and in all squares. The military intelligence advised the president to have him executed once and for all so that any aftermath would be dealt with instantaneously and that the followers' hope might be quenched. Even if you jail a rabble rouser without stamping him out, you may not know peace. The remedy is that he must be totally silenced.
Look at Theudas, about 400 men were loyal to him. Why won't he feel like somebody destined for power and to be heard more and more? Consider Judas, many more submitted to him, why won't he feel secure in the midst of such huge population and begin to believe in the self deceptive cause he began and that it was real? He was said to have, "drew away much people after him." "Drew away" means to collect wrongly or illegally. The same thing the dragon did in Revelation 12:4, "and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:" You see, rebellion survives more with much following. And if you don't know, people feel secured joining a big factor or cause. They believe it can protect them and even sway people's opinions. But if you have the number and yet you're not of God, you shall be scattered. For Theudas and Judas to survive, they do on the involvement of others they shout their slogans to and who reply in enthusiasm but the Roman military stamped them out, killed both of them with some of their followers while others were scattered. This is what Gamaliel was saying they should leave the latest cause of "preaching Christ" to meet. He said, "if it's of men, it shall come to nought but if it's of God, it can't be overthrown lest you're even found guilty fighting against God (Acts 5:38-39). Theudas' and Judas' moves were broken because they were not God's cause. If any foundation is not hosted to this anchor, it can't survive the coming rage. It'll be tested and it can't but be consumed. So, it's still not the many population of a cause that'll prevent it from being broken vice versa. It's solely, "if it's God's." God do give authentic people population as followers as well but He never and they should never make it the source of their strength. I ask, "in who lies your strength, God or your congregation/many followers?"
PRAYER: Lord, may I not be deceived by the multitude of followers and hailers. May You be my Origin and Source of strength.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Daniel 6:1-28; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 28:21-22
Powered by Morning Wings Ministries. Share and tag others. Enquire or counsel through +234 80 77 63 85 50 or +234 8137 04 68 12 II morningwingministry@gmail.com & Blog @ www.morningwingsministry.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment