Some Scripture verses to consider:
Acts 19:23-34
Some people know how to agitate a crowd to accomplish their purposes. When a crowd is perturbed, it is often hard to calm them down. We must be careful about our influence, and we need God’s help as to what to do if a crowd is agitated against us. Sometimes we need to give advice to others if they want to do something that is not wise about an upset crowd. Also, we need to listen to others and to seek God’s advice if we are going to attempt to calm an upset crowd. We must be careful about crowd theology. It is easy to follow a crowd doing the wrong thing when we think they are a part of a group we believe in or are a part of.
I got caught up in a crowd one time when we were missionaries in Mexico. I was at a car agency getting ready to pay for repairs on the mission vehicle when all of a sudden everyone around me started moving toward the door. I was moving with them, caught up in the group. I went with them for a distance, and then said to myself, “I don’t belong in this crowd”, and I turned around and went back where I had been when the movement started. I found out later that some students had burned a bus. There was some political unrest in the country at the time. Evidently the group had been moving toward the scene of the burning bus. I can testify that it is easy to be caught up in a crowd! Let’s be careful that we not get caught going where we should not go.
We should not become a part of an out-of-control crowd just because they are a part of our party or of our race or because they are a part of any group we are a part of or favor. Some people who join an agitated crowd don’t even know why they are there.
We must be reasonable, godly and make the right decisions about our behavior. Prejudice often allows people to be a part of an out-of-control group. The crowd that this scripture passage talks about was out of control for about two hours because of a false belief. If we can get people to listen to us and we can give them the facts they can believe, we can often guide them in the right direction. Sometimes it is a challenge to get people to listen. Right is right and wrong is wrong
whether it is done by our group or someone else’s. We must be careful about following the crowd and going along with beliefs because a crowd of people believe them. Just because “everybody is doing it” doesn’t necessarily mean it is the right thing to do.