FROM THE HEART OF A PASTOR OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
When I awoke this morning to write my reflection on the deceptiveness and destructiveness of crowd mentality, my mind turned to the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse that lasted for two weeks, with dozens of witnesses, photo evidence and video clips, as well as testimony from Kyle himself.
Kyle was accused of fatally shooting two men and injuring a third. At the moment of this refection, the case is in the hands of the jury that sat in the courtroom and watched intently as the prosecution and the defense delivered dueling narratives in their arguments. At the center of the trial is the question of whether Kyle was reasonable in his belief that shooting the three men was necessary to save himself from death or serious injury.
In taking the witness stand, Kyle insisted, “I didn’t do anything wrong; I was defending myself.” In his closing argument, the prosecutor, Thomas Binger, urged the jury to “Look for the truth,” with the subsidiary comment that, “So many people look at this case, and they see what they want to see.”
On the other hand, Mark Richards, the defense attorney, argued that the case was “a political case.” “We can take politics out of it,” he said, “as in Democrat and Republican, but the district attorney’s office is marching forward with this case because they need somebody to be responsible. They need somebody to put and say, we did it; he’s the person who brought terror to Kenosha.”
My interest in the trial is not so much to report on what took place in the courtroom, to speak of the judge’s outburst as he screamed at the prosecutor, by claiming that the prosecutor had been bringing extraneous information into the trial, after being instructed not to do so. Neither am I interested in analyzing whether Kyle’s tears in the courtroom were intended to impress the jury or the external world watching on TV. Nor am I interested in whether the jury will find Kyle guilty or not guilty. No! No!
My interest and pity go out to Kyle and all the little persons who are being caught up in the mentality of the crowds that are crying out for justice or what some are not sure of. Yes, it is pathetic that so many in the crowds are crying out, but have no notion what they are crying for. The crowd’s mentality is reminiscent of the trial of Jesus when the crowd was saying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Again, I do not say that Mr. Rittenhouse or all of the little people who get caught up in the crowds should get away without being responsible and accountable, but I think of the injustice when all of the people who inspire the crowds seem to be getting away scot-free.
In thinking of the crowd, my mind rests on an incisive comment that widely known author, speaker and commentator Charles Colson, and a co-author Harold Fickett, made many years ago in their book, The Faith. The comment seems very prophetic and contemporary, so I quote it in detail:
“As we’ve seen, Satan practices his deception not only on individuals but on entire cultures. He uses false religions and false ideas to ensnare cultures into evil. If he can turn people toward worshiping a false god, he can compromise millions of consciences at once.
The most tragic instances of this phenomenon come in the form of otherwise decent men and women carrying out crimes against humanity. Hitler was a monster, but thousands upon thousands of normal Germans ran the Nazi war machine and the Holocaust death camps. Ordinary people also carried out the Turk’s genocide against the Armenians, ran the Soviet Gulag and China’s Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, and the Rwandan genocide. . . In our country (USA), slavery turned otherwise good Christian hearts to stone, which continued to manifest itself in segregation and today’s racial division.” (The Faith, 2008, p. 79) (Emphasis mine).
Does the above sound prophetic and contemporary? What Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in his book, Moral Man and Immoral Society, is also true. He noted that while many people might do moral things while they are alone, when they are caught up with the crowd, they do evil things. The point I am making is that many people in our society today are just caught up in the crowd, and they are shouting, rioting, getting involved in insurrections, shooting, calling for the death of those they think are standing in opposition to them, and exhibiting all kinds of destructive behaviors that they might not have done by themselves.
As I have stated, some leaders are urging them on; whether they are standing or sitting in silence or passing laws to protect the outrageous behavior, we are to take note. But do not miss the point that many people are being destroyed because they are standing with the crowd instead of taking time to recognize the demons in these crowds with their satanic beliefs and ideas.
After observing the above, all I can do is issue the following seven points of encouragement to anyone who would wish to be called a child of God:
1. Do not get corrupted in the emotions of a crowd
2. Do not get your mind messed up
3. Do not lose your individuality
4. Do not destroy your good character
5. Do not let anyone steal your sweetness
6. Do not let anyone push you to harden your heart
7. Do not let anyone make you into a monster
Of course, I must add the eighth warning from the writing of the apostle Paul, which he offered to Christians in Rome:
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you (Romans 12:2 TLB).
A final plea is this: Don’t get caught up with the crowd.
