-
Conformity Is This World’s Sheep Dog Trials – A Very Serious Matter Series
Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Jul 26, 2022 (message contributor)
Summary: Conformity is the rule these days under increasing totalitarianism, but that will present problems for the Christian. One stands firm or compromises. To be faithful means holding fast to God’s word, not yielding our faith to distorted values so that we “fit in.” This is a difficult area.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Next
CONFORMITY IS THIS WORLD’S SHEEP DOG TRIALS – A VERY SERIOUS MATTER
INTRODUCTION TO CONFORMITY
The sheep dog trials found in sheep breeding countries is a competition where sheep dogs round up a group of sheep and ensure they are penned. The winner is the fastest. Australia, New Zealand and the British Isles are strong on that. If any of you saw the film “Babe” then it featured there, only that a pig did the rounding up. The sheep were being conformed by control. It was/is all about conformity.
One definition of conformity is this – “Conformity, the process whereby people change their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to match more closely those held by groups to which they belong, or want to belong, or by groups whose approval they desire. Conformity has important social implications and continues to be actively researched.” (John M. Levine Professor, Psychology, University of Pittsburg)
If I can backtrack two years to the earlier stages of COVID, this is what I recall. In my State in Australia, there was a massive conformity in operation. Where I live had never had a Covid case in the community, person to person, and the active cases that were around, were 1200 miles away. Nevertheless we had draconian implementations from the State Government for the entire State with no exceptions. All we heard of was social distancing, and so many regulations. We had to sign in with our details, sign out, have restricted numbers at church, operate in a two square metre space, wash hands with sanitiser all the time. Police were going around spying on churches and clubs to find and fine offenders. That did happen. Someone would go into a church unannounced but the purpose was to spy on the people to see who they could get for “covid breaches.” Galatians 2:4 And that because of false brethren (and even governmental controllers) unawares brought/sneaked in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: (KJV). It is all about control and more control. Sadly, once a Marxist inclined (totalitarian) government gets its hands on control, it is not going to relax its rules any further.
Other nations were not as controlling but a few were equally so. It seemed to me the United States was stronger on individual freedoms with less controlled conformity. Florida was a shining example of the importance of individual freedoms.
Because of these covid regulations then there was mass conformity, and it was a surprise in the election that followed not too long after, that this conformity met with people’s approval. The populace was/is being rounded up like sheep but they don’t appear to resist what’s happening. In fact it seems most are happy about it.
Compliance is becoming the norm in my country. People who once relied on their own decision-making are now just going with the flow wherever it takes them. That makes them subjects of easy manipulation. It is dangerous. We see examples of that behaviour both in the bible and in history.
Could this have happened 50 years ago? In all that I can ascertain, the answer is “NO” and the reason for that was that discernment was at a much higher level then. Why has it changed? The simple answer is that we had a Christian ethic to a greater or lesser extent 50 years ago, and more Christians than right now. (true born again believers in Australia may not be above 1% nationally). The bible was read in schools, the Lord’s Prayer was said in some classrooms and on parade. There was a bible reading every day on National Radio and a short Christian thought each day and a devotion to close the day. Not only does this not happen now, but in more places it is illegal to do so.
In the past that meant there was more discernment, better elected political representatives, and a lot more common sense. When there is no light people stumble in darkness. Spiritually and morally, blind people are leading the morally and spiritually blind.
Conformity needs triggers for it to be successful. The greatest of these has been the corona virus and that has been universal. There are two movements in the world, both of which have become a religion with their high priests and fanatical advocates. They are climate change, which is supposed global warming under a nebulous name, and world socialism. Conformity leads to an agenda and that purpose is not for the advancement of the Lord or His people.
Climate change I believe is a hoax aimed for compliance of nations under a central governing body (Try Paris and Brussels.) The World Economic Forum and the United Nations have the aim of globalism with conformity to their Great Reset. World socialism is gaining acceptance in momentous strides. One by one the nations of the western world are succumbing to socialism that is very cunningly promoting gender equality, gender reassignment, grossly distorted deviant sexuality, false environmentalism and a whole host of moral-destroying policies like homosexual marriage, green energy, abortion, and children’s sexuality being confused. Lies are promoted as truth and organisations openly lie and there is no accountability. Look at the current despicable behaviour of the great media and social media platforms blocking any dissent or opposing views to theirs, which I will not expand on, bringing in conformity to world socialism so blatantly.