LESSONS TO LEARN FROM JANUARY 6TH.
THE RALLY IN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK was typical to a point of all Trump rallies. Thousands upon thousands of patriotic and decent people, passionate yet peaceable, of every age and color, etc. assembled to demonstrate their support of President Trump and their opposition to an election that has been fraudulent and criminal. All day long, they were respectful of people and the places where they gathered. Then the unexpected and incomprehensibly unfortunate happened. A very tiny percentage of Trump supporters let their passions get the better of them, and played, in a powerful way, right into the hands of those presently at work overthrowing our country.
The damage done in the space of two or three hours time by these relatively few people to the cause of resistance to tyranny is incalculable. Probably they were well meaning, but that’s irrelevant. Perhaps and probably antifa-types were involved in stirring them up. But that’s irrelevant too. They didn’t exercise responsible control of their passions. They did things that were bad and wrong, in an hour or so they made themselves a catalyst for those involved in the leftist takeover of America. The vast, vast, majority of patriotic, conservative, Christian, pro-America Trump supporters reject and condemn this kind of behavior, unlike the Democrat liberal left element that encouraged and supported burning, looting, rioting, murdering and maiming by their constituents throughout almost all 0f 2020.
Behavior can be understandable, but still inexcusable. Righteous causes are never helped by unrighteous behavior. This needs to be remembered. Passion is like fire; it is a tremendous force for good, but only to the degree that it is controlled. We are dealing right now with a maelstrom, a tsunami, of evil in our body politic and in our culture, and God has given us only one formula for the overcoming of it. He has told us to “recompense no man evil for evil,” but to “overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:17, 21).
None of this is to suggest that resistance, offered in different ways, isn’t in order. It most definitely is in order. There are, by biblical and other definition, “just” wars and “just” causes. Our own Revolutionary War that brought us our liberty in the first place was one of these just causes. Regaining our freedom constitutes a just cause.
There are unjust ways and just ways to fight battles and conduct war. Right now, courage must be combined with cool-headedness and composure. Passion in the cause of liberty is essential to our regaining our liberty, but like fire it must be controlled and focused to be of any good; and not allowed to break forth like wildfire and do more harm than good.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
—Ecc. 3:1