When most people think of the Law of Cause and Effect, they would probably envision one circumstance making changes to another circumstance. Sort of like the Domino Effect, where a series of dominos are lined up in a manner that if any one of them should fall it would cause a ripple effect where all of or most of the other dominos would also fall as a result. Some domino displays are so elaborately designed that a fallen domino can catapult a marble, or turn a cog on a gear, etc. Though a simplistic concept, it can be very detailed and extensive in design. While this type of expression of cause and effect is admirable and even entertaining with inanimate objects like: dominoes, cards, or even Jenga – when it comes to human beings, relationships, and the fallout it all can get really messy. It’s akin to one falling rock starting a whole avalanche, there is no resetting the game or easy clean up. This is essentially the mechanics of a mob. Mobs are nothing new, from ancient times to today, if a group of angry and lawless people can get together and cause mayhem and destruction, especially when they believe they have a valid reason to do so, they will.
Merriam-Webster defines mob as: “a large and disorderly crowd of people; especially : one bent on riotous or destructive action.”
scirp.org defines mob justice as: “a situation in which a large disorganized crowd of people take the law into their hands and aggressively carry judgment and punishment on a suspected criminal. People become the executor of the law without following the due process.”
Now that we have a clear definition of the words mob and mob justice, how does a mob start? What is the 1st domino per se? For a violent, angry, destructive mob the catalysts are usually fear, offense, and manipulation.
Fear – The Replacement Theory, overblown news stories that become impending doom to a group of people, taking away “God given rights,” fear of change, and the fear of a beloved leader being ousted. There are many more examples that we can learn from the global community, however for Americans, all we have to do is look at what happened in the 2020 Presidential Election and what happened leading up to the votes being certified in January 6, 2021, and you will clearly see how fear mongering was used to get those that participated in the insurrection at the US Capitol all riled up. Another aspect of creating fear amongst various demographics is creating “culture wars,” where the effort to squash political correctness by outright attacking the views, lifestyles, and expression of all who share opposing or differing views is sickening. While I personally am not a fan of political correctness, I do not find that others need to be muted or invalidated so that I can maintain my beliefs. The fear mongers who thrive on freaking out about culture issues do so to get their audience to take action, and in some cases to form a mob.
Offense – Laws are getting passed that are not welcomed, other differing/opposing points of views are being validated, offended that changes will be made whether you like or not, white supremacy ideology. Why White Supremacy ideology as an offense? White Supremacy Ideology is founded upon the beliefs (although scientifically and historically inaccurate) that people with fair (white) skin are superior to all other people, especially those who have dark skin. They use a scripture from Genesis where Noah issued a curse on his grandson because his son uncovered his nakedness. Basically Noah had gotten drunk and fell asleep somewhere naked or exposed. When his son found him, instead of doing the decent and moral thing – which would be to cover him and make sure he was okay, the son instead ran to get the other sons and mocked Noah to them. The other sons refused to look at Noah in his compromised state and instead assisted Noah. When Noah found out what happened he was rightfully upset at his son, and spoke harsh words, which many consider as a curse, upon Ham. This curse says something to the effect that Ham’s offspring would have dark or black skin. This scripture has been used to attempt to justify many of the atrocities that have historically been done to people with dark brown to blackish skin tones – mostly people whose ancestry is from Africa. White Supremacy takes it a step further by surmising that if Black means cursed then whit must mean blessed. There are other scriptures and Christian literature, songs, etc. that use terms like: “being washed white as snow,” etc. These foundational beliefs are what make people who believe them offended when they witness people of color in positions of power, benefiting in ways that white people typically benefitted like: being successful in a well respected position, having a high paying job, owning a home and or land, etc. Any semblance of a person of color or another ethnicity having equal to or more than they have makes them feel like their rights are somehow being violated. This is dangerous for people of color, non Christians, and for America. They attack democracy, especially the modern expression that actually includes ALL people as equals by quickly reminding us that when the US Constitution was written, it was referring ONLY to land owning white men. Not even the Indigenous Peoples who were here before the European colonizers arrived were considered in the original US Constitution. The US Constitution has since been amended many times to create the government that we have today, however because of the rise of white supremacy ideology many people are not satisfied with it.
Manipulation – Some of the people that participated in the January 6th Insurrection in 2021 and have been convicted and sentenced because of their participation now have a different perspective than they did in hindsight. Because they believed the former President would “pardon” them for their crimes for him, they risked their lives and the lives of the Law Enforcement and other people in attendance on that day, and now they are paying the price. Many of them can’t believe how they were convinced that the Big Lie (that Trump won the 2020 election/ that the election was rigged) and how they actually thought that the former president would help them out if they got into trouble. To date, the former president has not paid for any legal expenses, or managed to get any pardons for those who are now serving time in jail for their participation in trying to get him reelected. While some of the people who took the bait are still loyal to the former president and would do it all again for him, there are plenty of people who can finally see that they were used, bamboozled… manipulated, and would not be found near any type of mob ever again.
While this blog is specifically referring to mobs that form to carry out their idea of mob justice, it is important to note that not all mobs form for the purpose of justice or retaliation. For example mobs formed by the KKK were formed to intimidate and assert power over the minorities in a particular town or neighborhood. Mobs have formed when a favored sports team lost an important game, or when drunk/chemically intoxicated people get into fights. So there are many scenarios where this type of phenomena can happen, but those are unorganized or unplanned examples in contrast to deliberately and intentionally signaling to a group of people to fight or carry out mob justice for a cause or personal benefit.
In the Bible there are various examples of mob violence and the consequence of that. The mob that confronted Lot when 3 “Sons of Men ” or angels visited him, in a smaller simpler way Joseph’s brothers acted like a mob when they attacked him and threw him into a pit, then sold him to a caravan of merchants passing by. There is an example in Judges 19 that is similar to what happened to Lot at Sodom and Gomorrah, although it did not turn out as well for those involved. And of course we can not forget that there are several instances in the New Testament where mobs were either after Jesus and his Disciples, or after the Apostle Paul. In John 18, Pontius Pilate was facing the dilemma on whether or not to crucify Jesus, according to Roman law, he really could not find any fault with Him. So he decided to give the mob of Jewish Pharisees, Sadducees, and citizens the option to free Jesus and have Barabbas (a known criminal) crucified or to free Barabbas and have Jesus crucified. As history goes, Barabbas was freed and Jesus was crucified.
TRIGGER WARNING – The following section is about violent acts, sexual assault, and other unpleasant topics.
The pure evil that is rooted in mob violence and destruction is very dangerous and we must not allow any political figure, any person of influence, or anyone at all be allowed to stir up unchecked violence and destruction on US soil ever again if possible. What happened on January 6th 2021 as bad and insidious as that was, there are levels that are way worse and none of us want to see it. As mentioned earlier in the blog in Judges 19 there is an account in the Bible about a Priest who had/married a concubine and the result of them traveling through a city they were not familiar with towards evening. The concubine has become upset with the Priest and went back to her father’s house. The Priest some time later went to the concubines’ father’s house to pick her up and take her back home. The woman’s father insisted that the priest stay and not travel late in the day. So this happened for a few days, and finally the Priest decided to travel late in the day with the concubine against her father’s suggestion. When they arrived at a certain city an elder noticed them and invited them to stay with him so that they would not be vulnerable on the streets at night. The priest and the concubine accepted the invitation and feasted at the elder’s home for the rest of the evening. Later that night a mob of men from the town arrived at the elder’s house and demanded that he send out the Priest so that they could “have relations’ ‘ with him. The elder refused and offered his virgin daughter and the priest’s concubine instead. The mob relented, so the elder grabbed the concubine and put her out of the house to the mob. The mob attacked her and basically raped her to death. When the Priest went out of the house the next day to look for her, he found her dead. He did not bury her, instead, he dismembered her and sent parts of her to all of the other Israelite tribes. This caused outrage amongst the tribes when they found out what happened and demanded that the tribe of Benjamin, whose men were responsible for the crime, make restitution somehow. They refused and an all out war broke out. Many people died, including the concubine who was assaulted, abused, raped and tortured to death, but also the many warriors that fought to avenge her death.
Now apart from the many questions that a person from the 21st century has reading this account from the Bible has, about why was the woman thrown out at all? Was there another way to de-escalate the situation? Why didn’t the Priest and the Elder realize that the woman might die? The main question is what stirred up the mob in the first place? The truth that is evident in this Bible passage is that it really doesn’t take much to start a mob up. The men who made up the mob mentioned in the story would have been considered to be “Sons of Belial” or sons of the devil/satan. You see, these men had already given themselves to wickedness and evil ways before the Priest and his concubine ever arrived in town. The story doesn’t tell us who the ringleader is or why they even wanted to do that, but just like the mob of men from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah the men were insistent on committing wicked acts with one of the men.
In the Greek the word Belial means worthless, the mob, the sons of Belial are committed to worthless and wicked acts. Just think about it, in the January 6th example all of the destruction, mayhem, and fall out from that was worthless. The goal to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the Presidency was thankfully not achieved, nothing that was done in that violent and chaotic display proved any of the rhetoric that the participants believed to be true. The only value or worthy thing that can be taken away from that Insurrection is that we NEVER want it to happen again, for any reason, for any cause… it is just NOT WORTH IT!
Characteristics of the Sons of Belial
Do not believe or act as if the rules do not apply to them – The sons of Eli (the Priest who mentored the prophet Samuel) had sons who ate the fat from the meat sacrifice to God, the fat was supposed to be the best part and reserved only for God. They also defiled the temple by having relations with the temple workers. This is expressed in the lawless behavior of the mob, they believe they can do what they want irregardless of laws and rules in place. (1 Samuel 2:12-25)
They want Barabbas – It doesn’t matter if Barabbas is a criminal and known for his wickedness. For whatever reason, this is their guy. They do not want the true Christ Son of the Living God. They want someone just as lawless as themselves. (John 18:38-40)
Their hearts and minds are set to wickedness – Like the wicked men from Sodom and Gomorrah, and from Judges 19, these are people who are always ready to do or join in with the violence and evil acts going on. (Judges 19:1-27)
They invest in worthless things: conspiracy theories, the Big Lie, participating in fake militias, participating in the KKK, Neo Natzi groups, and groups dedicated to the former president. In 1 Kings 22, King Ahab was attempting to convince King Jehosephat to go to war with him, so his enemy would be defeated. Jeshosephat wanted to know the word of the Lord concerning Ahabs’ proposition. So Ahab had all of his false prophets prophesy to Jehosephat that it was ok to go to war and that they would win. But Jehosephat was not easily convinced so he requested a true prophet of God to prophesy. The prophet Micaiah mockingly prophesied that it was ok to go to war, then when questioned told them that God sent a lying spirit to Ahab’s prophets so that he would be destroyed. Micaiah prophesied exactly how Ahab would die and was promptly locked up. Ahab risked and lost his life by rejecting the truth and perpetuating a big lie. (1 Kings 22:1-38) Do not believe, buy, support, or invest in any worthless thing that the Sons of Belial offer to you.
We do not want mobs and mob justice to be the norm in this country, or anywhere in the world for that matter. Of course the Insurrection at the US Capitol is not the first or only example of mob justice and mob activity in this nation, however it is the clearest example on how people can be manipulated and encouraged/emboldened to participate in such activities. Below is a link to an article about a mob attack that happened in Taxco, MX. This is not to disrespect Mexico or any of its citizens, but to show what happens when mob justice is normalized. We need to pray and be vigilant not just for the US, but also for our neighboring countries, our allies, and really globally as well. Let’s put some intercessory pressure on the spirits behind the mob attacks and mob mentality. Let’s put those Sons of Belial on the run and agree for no mob attacks today, tomorrow or ever again in the name of Jesus. Let’s not accept and allow politicians, and influential figures to manipulate the well meaning people who may be scared and offended about the changes happening to the country. Let’s not make excuses for those who express hateful, violent, and bigoted rhetoric that is stirring up people to violence. Let’s call out and confront those that would have others violently do their bidding or destroy our democratic governing systems. Let’s not turn away and ignore the threats and signals for violence against Judges, Prosecutors, women, and family members who are put in danger through reckless rhetoric on social media. It may be time to set some precedents that have never needed to be set before to quelch the rise of violent domestic terror groups in this country. Time to take the kid’s gloves off and admit there is a problem with organizing hateful and violent crowds and stop hiding behind the right to free speech. You know that phrase, “I can show you better than I can tell you”? Well let’s not wait until the mob feels like they need to “show and prove”. They are telling us exactly what they want to do, who they want to do it, and are just standing by waiting for the opportunity. They are not playing when they express what violence they want to commit, it may seem funny like a joke, but the joke will be on us if we continue to ignore, explain away, and sit passively inactive while they organize for war.
How many people have gotten more guns and ammo since Jan. 6, 2021?
How many people weren’t at the Insurrection, but wished they were, and are getting ready for the next one?
How many dog whistles, and silent instructions are being sent to mobilize people for the next big mob attack?
Do we really want to be in the “Find Out Section” following the upcoming US Presidential Election?
Many of you reading this are like me in the sense that you naturally have an aversion to confrontation, conflicts, and violence. You may not be the one who wants to riot in the streets when an injustice is committed. This is ok, take your position of influence with your loved ones and help them to come out of mob mentality by praying for and with them, providing factual information that will break lies that they believe, not rejecting them and punishing them for their views for evil rhetoric towards your views. Emphasize that your relationship with them is more important and that you want them to be around in the future to continue the relationship, not in jail, not dead, and not on the run for committing violent crimes. Cover the vulnerable in your life, especially people in public positions, family members, and women or girls that may be targeted, and of course all whom the Lord leads you to pray for. A lot of people do not believe that God answers prayers, or you just do not have that experience. If prayer is not your jam, do what you can do to help your loved ones and keep them safe, while avoiding being caught up in the violent rhetoric. Above all, let’s agree that we cannot have another Insurrection or outbreak of mob violence for any reason.
Thank you for reading! Here is the link to the article about mob violence:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mob-mexico-brutally-beats-suspected-212137548.html
If this blog post has been a lesson and a blessing to you please share with others who might enjoy it.
Blessings Always,
Dionne Renae ♥♥♥
Lessons 'n Blessings 