The “Regerts” Tattoo
If you are an American of reasonable age with a functional frontal lobe, you will not forget about the protests and riots of 2020. Yes, many of us want to forget about 2020, but it has been etched into everyone’s brain, and now we think of 2020 like a regrettable tattoo. It happened, and 20 years later, there are “regerts.” Looking back, it is not difficult to identify what was going on. After the death of George Floyd, the political class kicked into high gear and shaped their distraction. The combination of COVID and race created enough tension in the country that you could cut it with a butter knife. But why the distractions? For the political left, distraction was needed so that everyone might ignore the corner house plant that was nominated for president. Everyone can see the plant, but the plant does not know how to talk. On the political right, the distractions kept “Orange Man Bad” busy. Instead of massive rallies in the middle of Iowa, “Orange Man Bad” was running damage control. What the political class was not talking about in 2020 were issues that matter to real people. There was no space to talk about taxes, the economy, and the massive debt being racked up by our government. Instead, everyone complained about masking or not masking. The wokesters made sure that if you did not get vaxed you were killing grandma and the newborn child. I can sum up 2020 with this picture. A dumpster was lit on fire, and it was floating down a river, and everyone could not help but watch the dumpster.
As the dumpster floated downstream, the elite class went to work pulling the strings of pinochle. As you know, the elite got their man, and since 2020, radical change has taken place in America. But just as every preacher says Sunday is coming, every politician and their elite overlords are saying another election is coming, which means they are once again machinating behind the scenes.
Four years later, cue the protests.
Same Song, Different Dance
I’m not sure if you noticed, but the temperature is being turned up in America. Because the Black Lives Matter movement was found to be a radical Marxist movement that was just as corrupt as it was Marxist, a new reason to protest has been crafted. The new reason for protesting might be more insidious and evil than the rioting and protesting of 2020.
At present, major universities are protesting the existence of the state of Israel, and Jews more specifically. Columbia University and its entitled student body have taken up a bulk of the news headlines. But protests are popping up in blue states all around America. You might suggest the protests of 2020 have nothing to do with the protests of 2024. Sure. Nothing to see here.
But I want to suggest that a major thread that holds together the protests of 2020 and 2024 is the absolute destruction of the West. In 2020, if you were to read the doctrinal statement of the Black Lives Matter organization, you would have seen that it hates the West. Everything from the family to religion needs to be torn down. The Black Lives Matter organization copied and pasted right from Marx and Engels. Fast-forward four years. For decades, Israel had been America’s closest ally. Israel has been a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. Many of the Judeo-Christian values that have influenced their culture have influenced America. But now the hatred of the Jews is coming to a fever pitch, and the left is taking advantage of the opportunity to tear down the West brick by brick as another presidential election looms. The song is the same as in 2020, but the dance is now focused on Israel.
Bring Back the Concentration Camps
In the blue states where protests have broken out, the chat, “from the river to the sea,” reverberates. The chant is equivalent to putting Jews back into concentration camps. The chants are anti-Semitic, and they are a direct shot at Western culture and ideals. How else do you explain the coalition between those within the LGBTQ orbit and Hamas? A member of Hamas will murder anyone who identifies with the LGBTQ alphabet if they step foot in Gaza. If you place a queer person in Tehran, the Shi’i leadership will implement a reeducation plan. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be a Palestinian who lives in Gaza and sees all the protests from the progressive left. The kind of people they hate are doing their bidding. But again, the only way we can explain the coalition is they want to burn down the house called the West. Therefore, you will continue to hear across America, “From the river to the sea,” from entitled children attending the most elite colleges who know nothing about suffering or have worked one hour their entire lives. They are protesting because they have the time to protest.
The Christian Response to an Insane Culture
As November 2024 approaches, how should Christians respond? Here are several practical steps a Christian can take as he or she sees the house burning down.
Step One: Pursue Biblical Justice
The first step is to do a deep dive into biblical justice. If you are grounded in biblical justice, you can identify the worthiness of a cause that provokes protests. What happened on October 7, 2023, is a case in point. Hamas invades Israel and murders 1,200 Israelis. Hams committed a clear injustice. Women were rapped and children killed. This is injustice. It is these kinds of people that the woke protesters are cheering on. In short order, Israel justly responded to the atrocities. Not responding would have invited further injustice. When Israel justly responded by going into Gaza, Hamas hid behind civilians. Hamas used civilians like pawns so that they could try and “show” the West how wicked and evil Israel is for killing the innocent. Hamas using civilians as human shields is an injustice. But to ensure the toxin was completely out of the body, Israel must press forward and eradicate Hamas. This is just.
So, how does one identify what is just and what is not just? Start with reading the Book of Proverbs and the prophets. Proverbs, along with the prophets, are the road map to understanding the application of God’s justice in the world. The Book of Proverbs lays down principles while the prophets proclaim judgment because of injustice. Sin exists; therefore, injustice exists. But Christians are lovers of the truth, including the truth of God’s justice. Proverbs and the prophets are the path to knowing God’s view of justice.
Step Two: Reject the Ridiculous
We are at the point in the West where ridiculousness is tolerated. Christians tend to look past the ridiculous under the guise of “niceness.” Recently, a Columbia University student made “demands” after students took over a university building. She demanded water and food. What is ridiculous is that the university building already had water. The administration did not shut off the water (although it would have been justified to do so). The student, or one of her pawns, could have made their way to the pizzeria down the street and pick up a large meat lovers pizza. That is if all the glutton-free and dairy-free folks could tolerate the pizza. My point is the students had no right to make demands. They were not being held against their rights. But they did make demands. Why? The answer is at least three-fold. First, the Columbia University Administration is feckless, which enables them to make ridiculous demands. Second, this generation of college students has been given a trophy for everything, including failure. This generation of college students feels entitled to the demands they are making because no one has ever told them “no.” Third, it is a known fact that most universities, public and private, are indoctrinating students with far-left ideologies. Moderate and conservative voices have been pushed to the edges for years. These three reasons are, in part, why ridiculous demands are made while taking up a cause where there is not an injustice.
Step Three: Mock the mockery
One of the finest stories in the Bible is told in 1 Kings 18. The prophet Elijah confronts the wicked king, Ahab. Ahab has led the nation away from the one true God, and now they worship Baal. Elijah is not having it, and in order to demonstrate that YAHWEH is the one true God, Elijah requests a holy showdown. Both sides created an altar with wood. Each side will call upon their God or gods to light the fire. No match. No gasoline. Just the prophets invoking the name of their God or gods. The one who generates fire and smoke wins. Before the showdown, Elijah says to Ahab,
Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
– 1 Kings 18:19
It is 850 verses one – not great odds by modern standards. The prophets of Baal and Asherah go first. They pray and cry out, but to no avail. After some time, Elijah pipes up. We read in verse 27 of 1 Kings 18.
And at noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
– 1 Kings 18:27-29
Did you catch all of that? Elijah mocks the pagan prophets by saying their “god” is not responding because he is taking a dump. Elijah mocks the mockery.
The mocking of mockery also takes place in the New Testament. John the Baptist is a wild man with a calling to preach to a corrupt generation. John is the New Testament version of Elijah. We read in Matthew 3,
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
– Matthew 3:7–8
The ridiculous demand of the protesting Columbia University student needs to be mocked. What she can have is a gluten-free and dairy-free pizza, which amounts to eating the cardboard box in which the pizza comes.
Step Four: Pray for Biblical Standards of Justice in the West
All the squishy Evangelical Christians have a hang-up with imposing Christian morality upon the state. The simple fact is that the United States was founded on the Judeo-Christian vision of morality and ethics. Because this is the case, Christians did not need to think deeply about what it would mean to live in a country that does not have a judeo-Christian ethic that is reflected in our laws and within society more broadly. Well, the time has come to have the grown-up conversation about what kind of country Christians now want to live in.
The question is not whether there will be a standard of morality and ethics in America but whose standard of morality and ethics will be upheld. At present, a pagan ethic has made its way into our laws and society. In 2020, the 22-year-old who threw the molotov cocktail at a private business was said to be “letting loose his pent-up anger.” He was not seen as an arson but as someone who had been oppressed according to the intersectional scale. In this situation, pagan ethics were applied. The same is true for all the people protesting on behalf of Hamas. Their pagan ethic is an ethic of death, and when they declare, “From the river to the sea,” they are only showing their cards.
“Keeping Your Cool”
Now is not the time for Christians to ignore what is going on on the streets of America. As November approaches, the temperature is going to rise. But also, now is not the time for Christians to lose their cool. There is black mold growing, and it is causing Christians to cough. There is frustration because the mold is growing, and the coughing is increasing. But may I suggest that instead of retweeting your frustration, becoming a keyboard warrior on Facebook, or letting loose on TicTok, take a moment to pray and help foster a culture where a hot gospel is preached. Elijah mocked not for the sake of mockery but because he believed in the one true God who needed to be revealed to the mockers. Christians need to place the same faith in the one true God to make a difference in our culture.
The only way out of this mess is through revival, brought upon by God, through the preaching of the gospel. The gospel needs to penetrate our society, including the protesters on the streets and college campuses throughout America. The 2024 election will not get rid of the black mold. Only the sovereign work of King Jesus can miraculously make the mold go away.
– Edmund Burke
