Ancient Israel was supposed to be a spiritual exemplar—a light shining to the nations. Instead it became a microcosm of this dark fallen world (the macrocosm).

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LEMMINGS OFF A CLIFF

Like many of you, if not most I assume, I had assumed in my youth that the little rodents called lemmings had an inbred death wish in that a large group of them will on occasion get together and decide they must run at full speed toward a local towering seaside cliff and then rush headlong right over the side, diving into mass lemming destruction in the deep briny waters far below. I never learned why they did this only that they did. And that was that. I probably heard this for the first time when I was quite young and never questioned it, you know, the same way we hear and learn a lot of stuff growing up without ever questioning it (pretty much all of it for most people).

When I got a little older I began to put two and two together and saw the need to question a few things here and there because some of what I learned in life didn’t add up. Somewhere in that youthful time frame was the genesis of my early onset critical thinking skills in that I learned the best course was to question pretty much everything. One of the things I figured out was that lemmings running over a cliff was a myth. They don’t actually do this. Though endowed by the Creator with tiny little rodent brains their brains actually work pretty well which means their gray matter is not really loaded with a little kill switch that somehow gets triggered (by “instinct” I assume?) to gather with a bunch of like-minded ones and go flying into eternity.

However, that does not mean they don’t have a rodent herd mentality because they actually do band together in large groups on special occasions. These are kind of like political rallies or rock concerts. Or lemming mega churches. Actually, banding together in large groups is the way lemmings migrate. In herds. Lemmings migrate in herds. They do this when their present environment no longer adequately engages in supply side economics and they go off looking for a new land of rodent milk and honey. And they are wise enough to travel in very large groups.

On the way over yonder, when they come upon the inevitable natural barrier, they do their best to go around it or through it even if it means a good climb or a decent descent or a good swim through a local body of water. And it is likely, sadly, that there may be a few casualties but not on purpose. It is also likely they have no rebels in their herds like cheesed-up bikers or rat finks or squirrelly agitators. No, the little critters are just migrating together with a herd mentality.

HUMAN HERDS

Regarding rebellion, however, especially spiritual rebellion, humanity in general has been proven over the millennia after the fall of man and advent of spiritual death to also possess a built-in herd mentality and also be in possession of pure animal instincts. Though there is a brain in the head (a much larger one) it often does not have the power to overcome raw unbridled emotions which many people live by or an additional component which the New Testament refers to as “the lust of the flesh.” One would think evolution would have granted an in-brain controller or governor (like in the old lawnmowers) of some kind in the physical evolutionized superior body to limit the desired excesses of physical cravings and whatnot.

But then again, evolution is a ridiculous unscientific theory dashed to bits on the rocks of proven-wrongness though many believe it is why humans actually exhibit animalistic behavior because they are actually animals anyway which seems to be proven worldwide on a daily basis.

Looking for clues, psychology says the human soul is composed of will, mind, and emotions. The New Testament says it a little differently in that the big three composing the entire human are spirit, soul, and body. In both cases there appears to be a controller/governor which should seemingly rule the other two, the first being the will ruling over the mind and emotions and the second being the spirit ruling over the soul and body.

However, the Bible also teaches that the spirit of man died in the Garden of Eden due to the sin of Adam and Eve and cannot ever be resurrected unless one is born again as taught by the Lord Jesus. This means human beings in their natural unregenerate pre-born again state are merely soul and body with no spirit to rule over/control/govern them, which again puts the focus on the will within the soul (according to Psychology) as the only possible authority figure to ride herd on the other hapless members. Such members often have zero impulse control and complete inability to resist temptation.

But where does the human will gets its strength? How can it possibly conjure up the great power it needs to shut down the all-over-the-map, out-of-control, physical-body/fleshly/human-nature/animalistic-tendencies coupled with raw/uninhibited/wild/hysterical/uncontrolled emotions with the consistency of water? That appears to be asking a lot of little mister will and it likely is since this guy was never intended to be able to achieve such a world class accomplishment.

So if the spirit is dead (before being born again) and the will is too weak, what keeps humans on the earthly societal straight and narrow since many people appear to try hard to do what is right, at least in civilized societies with a Christian ethic, and have a pretty good amount of success? What is the actual controller/governor riding herd on one’s behavior? I know what you’re thinking: God has given us a conscience, a built-in sense of right and wrong that seems to be like the little angel guy on one shoulder debating with a little devil guy on the other as both try to convince us to do either the right thing or the wrong thing.

It would appear then, that if a herd of humans gathers together based on doing the right thing then one will have a pretty good society or culture. Or nation. Maybe even a church. Which means there would exist relatively good nations in the world (which must be in the minority because achieving such good nationhood is hard). And of course there would also be nations of the other kind. And sometimes there are nations which have a good conscience so to speak (good leadership) but possess a majority of unwilling members who have the decided tendency to listen to the little devil guy instead of the angel guy.

The opposite would also be true in that, due to unfortunate events like an evil group wresting government control in a good nation, in which a good nation ends up going bad because the good people thereof are too stupid, lazy, willingly uninformed, and hopelessly weak to overthrow the evil ones. (This should sound very familiar.)

What is more, sometimes there is a very special nation such as the ancient nation of Israel which had God Himself as their Leader and yet they still couldn’t get it together the vast majority of the time. I mean, if the Lord God of all Creation is your Leader (Conscience/Controller/Governor), how can you not have a good nation or even a great one? Yet we know the history, however. And we know it almost never worked with ancient Israel except in fits and starts. And that it certainly wasn’t because the Leader was not good because He was both Good and Great. Sadly it has generally been the same with every nation on earth in that they all end up going bad eventually mainly due to a violation of the conscience on an increasingly mass scale.

THE FEW, THE REMNANT, THE SAVED

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:15]

I would think the evidence of this world would indicate there is therefore nothing to be done about the human problem but await the big incinerator below the big cliff and be done with the whole mess. Actually, as it turns out, that is the final solution. But not for everyone. For the majority of ancient Israel, yes. For the majority of humanity in general, yes. But again, the big fire will not claim everyone. One must take a looksee, therefore, into what the few who escape the culminating conflagration have in common.

We can start with the greatest Human Being who ever lived (there is no second place). Stay tuned…

© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]