Do Not Follow a Crowd to Do Evil
"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil." — Exodus 23:2
How Fast a Fad Travels Now
Perhaps never in human history have fads had the reach they have today. A trend can cross the entire world in weeks. A gesture, a symbol, a style, a phrase can go from obscurity to universal recognition faster than any previous generation could have imagined.
And the mechanism by which fads spread is the oldest one there is: everyone else is doing it.
"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil." (Exodus 23:2)
"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good." (3 John 1:11)
Where Fads Come From
Trends do not arise from nowhere. Someone originates them, and origins matter.
A great many fads originate in the entertainment industry, and a significant portion of that industry has been openly interested in occult imagery, symbolism, and practice for decades. Performers adopt symbols deliberately, explain their meaning in interviews, and watch millions of young people wear them without any idea what they signify.
This is not a conspiracy theory; much of it is stated openly by the people involved. The symbol is chosen precisely because it means something.
Young people, believers included, adopt each new trend quickly and rarely ask where it came from. The whole appeal of a fad is that asking questions makes you look slow.
The Test That Costs Nothing
Here is a simple discipline that would spare an enormous amount of trouble: before you wear it, before you display it, before you say it — find out what it means.
That is all. Not a lifetime of suspicion. One question, asked before adoption rather than after.
Most of the time the answer will be innocent. Sometimes it will not be. And the few minutes it costs you to check are among the best-spent minutes of your week.
"Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22)
The Deeper Issue
Underneath the specific question of symbols lies a larger one about the shape of a Christian life.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)
The pressure of a fad is not primarily intellectual. It is social. It works by making the person who does not participate feel foolish, backward, or excluded. That pressure is real, and it operates on adults as powerfully as on teenagers, just in different currencies.
A believer who has never once been willing to look out of step has not yet been tested.
Point to Ponder
Find out what it means before you wear it. That question costs nothing and prevents a great deal.
Verse to Remember
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." — Romans 12:2
Question to Consider
When did I last do something simply because everyone around me was doing it?
Today's Practice
Look at what you own and what you wear. Identify every symbol you cannot explain — on clothing, jewelry, accessories, phone cases, tattoos, bags, vehicles, and in your home.
Look each one up. Take ten minutes.
Where a symbol turns out to be occult or religious in origin, remove it and destroy it. Then pray: "In the name of Jesus Christ, I break every curse that came upon me through wearing this, and I command every spirit associated with it to leave me now."
Then teach your children to ask the same question. A child who habitually asks what does this mean is far better protected than a child who is simply forbidden things.
Prayer
Father, I have gone along with a great deal simply because everyone else did. I did not investigate, because investigating would have marked me out.
Forgive me for valuing acceptance over discernment. Give me the willingness to be the one who asks the question, and the willingness to be the one who declines.
Show me what I am carrying and wearing that I never examined. In the name of Jesus Christ, I break every curse that has come upon me through anything I adopted in ignorance, and I command every associated spirit to leave.
Do not let me be conformed to this world. Renew my mind, Lord, so that what I want is different from what everyone around me wants. In Jesus' name. Amen.
A believer who has never been willing to look out of step has not yet been tested.