Acts 19:28-41. Demetrius' provocation against Paul and his disciples is successful and many in Ephesus become enraged. They grab two of Paul's followers and drag them into the theater. Paul wants to go in after them, but his disciples beg him not to. Inside, the crowd is loud and unruly. Some shout one thing, others another - it is complete confusion and chaos "and most of them did not know why they had come together." When Alexander, a believing Jew, tries to quiet the crowd to make a defense, they shout him down for two hours crying out "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" over and over again. Finally, the town clerk quiets the crowd and says to them that everyone knows Ephesus is "temple keeper for the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky." Since these things cannot be contradicted, the crowd should be quiet and do nothing rash. They brought men to the theater who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemous of Artemis, says the clerk. If Demetrius and the craftsman have an issue with the Jews, the courts are open to them, but anything further should be brought up in the regular assembly. They are in danger of rioting without cause. These words from the town clerk cause the crowd to calm down and disperse.

I am seeing so much of our modern times in these passages from Acts! I recently saw a video from Stanford's law school(!!) of students chanting over and over again in opposition to a speaker, a federal judge! There have been so many incidents of this on campus and in our streets in the last few years, and often it does become rioting and violence.

Chaos, disorder, and confusion are always hallmarks of Satan, so we know he is ultimately the origin of all of this. The mindless, loud chanting of phrases or talking points meant to prevent reasonable discussion and argument is an indication that the Ephesian crowd, and our college students, are in the grips of idolatry. Their god is powerless, but they are completely in her thrall, so they cannot hear any words from or defense of someone who may make them think about it deeply (or at all, really). Since they have no arguments, they shout. If shouting doesn't work, they often devolve into violence. Better to silence the truth tellers in any way rather than have their god threatened. For the Ephesians, the threatened god was Artemis. For our college students it is typically whatever the current cause of the day is - lately it is transgender issues, but it has been (and can be again at the drop of a hat), politics; the environment; race, etc, etc.

I don't think a town clerk would be able to quiet and disperse the crowds I see on college campuses these days. I think we are in a much worse place than the Ephesians were. The devil is clearly being allowed great leeway, but the constant changing of idols, necessry to keep the rage hot, shows that he knows his time is limited. There is no cooling off period between idols these days, the crowd just moves from one to the other in sheep-like unison. We know who the true Shepherd is, and we know He will ultimately put all of this to right. In the meantime, don't go into the theater, or onto the college campus, willingly, there is no reason there, only the risk of violence.