“And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem...And they went in their simplicity, and they knew not anything” (2 Samuel 15:11).
King David was many things, but a good father was not one of them. This fact is evident in how he raised Adonijah (to whom he never said “No!”), Amnon (who raped his own sister), and Absalom (who tried to kill his father, David).
After David sinned with Bathsheba, the prophet Nathan announced, “the sword shall never depart from thine house” (2 Samuel 12:10). Fulfilling this curse, Absalom led a revolt against David.
It began with Absalom sitting in front of David’s palace, daily criticizing him. With this steady and unrelenting flow of negatives, “Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Samuel 15:6). The Israelites became so infatuated with Absalom that they followed him even though they didn’t know what he actually stood for. “They went in their simplicity and they knew not anything” (2 Samuel 15:11). The result was that they took David (who had brought them genuine prosperity and national security) and drove him out.
But we can hardly blame these ignorant Israelites, for they didn’t have the advantages of today’s social media to help them know what was true. Absalom wasn’t tweeting out his beliefs, and without Fox or CNN to inform them, how were the Israelites supposed to know what Absalom really believed?
But social media apparently doesn’t make a difference. After all, 29-year-old freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has one of the nation’s largest followings, with some four million on Twitter[1] and three million on Instagram.[2] Nevertheless, many today have no idea what she really stands for.
She is the poster child for modern socialism[3]—a belief that 40 percent of the nation,[4] 69 percent of Millennials,[5] and nearly 80 percent of Democratic college students say they support.[6] But when asked whether they agree with the hallmark characteristics of a socialist government, only 2% of Americans actually support it.[7] They don’t really know what socialism actually is, but just “follow in their simplicity.”
She is also the originator of the Green New Deal, which would completely eliminate both airplanes and cows (yes, cows). And it would only cost Americans an additional $93 trillion—just for this one program[8] (an amount four times more than our current already-way-too-large national debt).
Millions follow charismatic or likeable leaders without knowing or understanding any part of their platform. The New Testament explains that: “They heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4-5).
And that: “[B]ecause they refused to love the truth….God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)
Far too many today make the same mistake the Israelites did by turning against what brings them the protection, stability, and prosperity they enjoy but now take for granted.
We have to be different. We must seek the truth and then share it with those around us, even if doing so is difficult. As the Apostle Paul urged, “reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2).
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[3] Tina Nguyen, “‘We Can’t Compromise Where We’re Going:’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Takes Her Socialist Revolution to Washington,” Vanity Fair (November 2018), here
[4] George Barna, “Americans Favor Capitalism, Tempted by Socialism, Ill-Informed About Both,” George Barna (March 28, 2018), here
[5] Justin McCarthy, “In U.S., Socialist Presidential Candidates Least Appealing,” Gallup (June 22, 2015), here
[6] Emily Ekins, “Millennials like socialism—until they get jobs,” The Washington Post (March 24, 2016), here
[7] George Barna, “Americans Favor Capitalism, Tempted by Socialism, Ill-Informed About Both,” George Barna (March 28, 2018), here
