What is Black Lives Matter, anyway? Is it an altruistic group of people? Do they just want the world to stop thinking that black lives don’t matter?

This question is critical to answer, because suddenly America is accommodating and extolling this organization in grand fashion. Mayors are publicly apologizing to its leaders and painting its slogans on their streets in bold strokes. Blue-chip companies and moneyed celebrities are donating generously to its coffers. Police chiefs and congresspersons are conspicuously marching in its rallies. A June 10 Morning Consult poll said 61 percent of American voters view the movement favorably, two thirds again the number from just three years ago.

Virtually overnight, George Floyd’s untimely death made blm mainstream.

So just what is this movement America is now treating so reverentially?

Black Lives Matter (blm) was founded in 2013 after George Zimmerman—a private citizen, not a police officer—was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin on the grounds of self-defense. Nothing in the organization’s mission statement suggests any concern about the epidemic of black-on-black violence. It was founded on the notion that police officers across America are indiscriminately targeting and even murdering black people for being black.

blm does not advocate law enforcement reform. Its members want to defund and disband the police entirely. They aim to overturn a system they deem inherently racist. blm has grown into a global activist complex that aims to “eradicate white supremacy” and to “build local power” to resist whites. Prominent blm activists regularly endorse or even encourage destruction of property, mayhem in American cities, and violence against police.

According to its website, blm is also a “queer affirming network” that aims to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” “dismantle” patriarchal practices, and support community “villages” that “collectively care for one another.” It wants to destroy the capitalist system and replace it with a collectivist society. This is, by definition, a Marxist revolutionary movement—a Communist insurgence.

blm is not calling on people to merely understand their grievances or accept their existence. They demand total ideological conformity. Even remaining silent rather than expressing full-throated support now opens individuals, organizations and companies up to withering attacks from blm devotees—including verbal assaults, boycotts, divestment, public shaming, death threats and physical violence.

It is difficult to tell how much of the growing support for this movement is springing from genuine sympathy, and how much from compulsion, intimidation and fear. Zealous blm advocates don’t seem to care, as long as they can maintain their advance march. And whatever their motivation, large swathes of white people the world over have been acceding to and abasing themselves before this radical cult.

Space to Destroy

Minneapolis went up in flames the last week in May largely because the police were commanded to stand down. The city’s radical leftist mayor, Jacob Frey, even ordered the police to evacuate the Third Precinct so rioters could smash up the station and burn it down.

“The symbolism of a building cannot outweigh the importance of life, of our officers, or the public,” Frey later explained, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the symbolism of a smoldering police station would only embolden the lawbreakers. “We could not risk serious injury to anyone,” he said—not even the Communist agitators who were smashing, looting and burning their way through Minneapolis for nearly a week, apparently (emphasis added throughout).

Similar scenes of mayhem and devastation spread across America, particularly in cities where left-wing mayors told law enforcement to give “protesters” space to destroy. Eighteen people were killed in Chicago on Sunday, May 31, the city’s most violent day on record. Its emergency operations center received 65,000 calls for help that day—about 50,000 more than usual.

Michael Pfleger, a longtime Chicago church pastor, said he heard many people saying, “Hey, there’s no police anywhere—police ain’t doing nothing.” Pfleger said he sat and watched a store get looted for an hour and saw no police. He drove around the city to observe the looting—and the absence of police.

New York City became a war zone. This is the place where just a few weeks before, everyone had to stop working, stay home and wear masks—and police came to break up funerals for violating the latest social-distancing rules. Once the Floyd protests began, people filled the streets to march, provoke, smash store windows, steal—and scream at, attack and shoot at nypd officers. Dozens of police vehicles were damaged or burned, and dozens of officers were injured, including two struck by vehicles in hit-and-run attacks.

In St. Louis, 77-year-old retired police officer David Dorn was shot dead when he tried to fend off the mob from his friend’s pawn shop. Dorn had five children and 10 grandchildren. Mainstream media virtually ignored his cold-blooded murder, and the many other victims of the nationwide rampage. They were too busy cheering on the rioters while covering up their many atrocities.

“That ain’t a riot,” msnbc’s Joy Reid said as Minneapolis went up in flames. Her colleague, Ali Velshi, was live on location describing the riot as mostly a peaceful protest—as a raging inferno dominated the background on screen. Over and again, we were told the rioting was “mostly peaceful.” It was “caring and concerned” citizens taking to the streets, one commentator insisted. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi described the protests as “heartwarming” and said they were “bringing people together.”

Those who did acknowledge the violence justified it. They minimized the number of people committing violence, and said their rage was understandable. We were told: No one listened when they protested peacefully, so they had to riot. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones argued that the looting in New York wasn’t really violence and that theft was more like a “symbolic taking.” At cnn, Chris Cuomo said, “Show me where it says the protesters are supposed to be polite and peaceful.” His colleague Don Lemon actually compared the rioters to America’s Founding Fathers.

The Founding Fathers.

‘Brokenness’

As thousands of people incite and commit destruction in their streets, what are many of the more law-abiding Americans doing? What are many of the law-enforcement Americans doing?

Taking a knee.

In recent years, disrespect for the American flag, the American nation, the American people and especially American history has increasingly been expressed by kneeling when asked to stand. A former professional football player popularized it. Now protesters are doing it, and stridently demanding that authorities do it as well. And the authorities are complying. Mayors are doing it, members of Congress are doing it, National Guard members are doing it, soldiers are doing it, police officers are doing it.

Several videos showed blm disciples being aggressive and intimidating in bringing people to their knees. One was posted by a prankster who told a random white woman on the street, “I work for Black Lives Matter. … My ceo has told me to come out today and to bring you on your knees because you have white privilege.” The woman deferentially dropped to both knees.

Some are going even further in self-abasement. At a cult-like gathering in Bethesda, Maryland, hundreds of mostly white demonstrators sat on the ground and raised their hands as if in surrender, while repeating en masse the words of a blm leader in a promise to speak out “about racism, anti-blackness or violence,” and “do everything in my power to educate my community.” The police chief of Webster, Massachusetts, joined a throng of protesters in prostrating himself face-down on the ground for eight minutes.

Mayor Frey took a knee in front of George Floyd’s casket at the funeral, buried his face in his hand, and sobbed for more than a minute. He later appeared at a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis and confessed to the crowd through a face mask over the public address system that he, as a white man, was “coming to grips with my own brokenness.” He then lashed out at the Minneapolis Police Department, saying the “systemic and racist system needs to be revamped.”

This miserable man made extraordinary efforts to exhibit his solidarity with blm. He undoubtedly assumed this display would earn some measure of their appreciation and goodwill. Wrong. That is a fundamental misconception about this movement—a gross error that is motivating most of the apologies and confessions. It is the ignorant notion that this movement can actually be appeased and satisfied. It cannot.

Having publicly impugned his city’s entire police department as a “racist system,” Mayor Frey faced a rude awakening: The crowd was unimpressed. A woman with a microphone demanded: “Yes or no? Will you commit to defunding the Minneapolis Police Department? We don’t want no more police!” When the mayor couldn’t bring himself to unequivocally support abolishing the police, the crowd erupted. “Get the [expletive] out of here!” the woman shouted as the mob began chanting, “Go home, Jacob, go home!” The insufficiently subservient mayor slunk away in shame.

Brokenness is the right word. In fact, it well describes the status of any kind of resistance or pushback by the authorities in this country against this aggressive, clamorous, extremist movement. Instead it is full-scale retreat, evacuate, capitulate and appease. And brokenness is also what this movement is leaving in its wake when anyone even hints at anything different.

‘Silence Is Violence’

In Washington, D.C., prior to a large Black Lives Matter demonstration on June 6, Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered city street crews to paint in 50-foot, bright-yellow letters “Black Lives Matter” across three city blocks on 16th Street, leading to the White House. A town square was renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”

For Black Lives Matter D.C., this was not good enough. “This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands,” they tweeted. “Black Lives Matter means defund the police.” That is what blm stands for: No law enforcement—end the whole racist system!

The next day, blm protesters added their demand next to the original signage, in the same bright-yellow paint: “Defund the Police.”

In New York, a black activist who writes for the New York Times advised readers to tell loved ones they will refuse to visit them or answer their calls unless they support “black lives either through protest or financial contributions.” Get behind this Marxist revolution or you are disowned, says the newspaper of record. “Silence is violence,” the protesters chant. If you do not heartily endorse (and send money), you risk becoming the target of the mob.

In response to a blm tweet, a professional basketball announcer and radio show host made the mistake of posting “all lives matter” on social media. He was forced out of both jobs for being “insensitive” and disrespecting Black Lives Matter.

A professional soccer player’s wife made the mistake of criticizing looters who were destroying Minneapolis. The athlete was made to denounce his wife’s social media post and endorse blm. Yet after groveling before the mob, he was still fired.

On June 3, nfl quarterback Drew Brees said, “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America.” The leftists attacked. Other superstar athletes and celebrities seized the opportunity to accuse him of racism. People sent death threats. Then, as we’ve tragically come to expect, his “never agree” statement turned into a meek apology within less than 24 hours—followed by another apology, then another.

The list of high-profile figures forced out of their jobs for the faintest of infractions against this severe new code grows by the day: New York Times opinion editor James Bennet for publishing an editorial by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton; CrossFit ceo Greg Glassman for criticizing the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation calling racism a public health issue. Police chiefs, fire chiefs, mayors, company presidents, writers, reporters and others have faced immediate termination for a tweet, a comment, a single “transgression.” In most every case, the person has expressed profound regret for all the anguish and pain they caused by their insensitivity.

But apologies do not matter to Black Lives Matter. Once you have exhibited any deviation from unqualified devotion to the cause, you are canceled. There is no forgiveness, no redemption.

Never Satisfied

blm is on the offensive. blm is on the attack. blm is in war mode. Those who do not grasp this fact continue to behave as though acceding to its demands will advance this nation toward greater equality, more fairness, deeper racial understanding, amity and peace. It will not!

Firstly, those demands will not bring the promised results. Dismantling the police will escalate crime, not eliminate it. Collectivism will impoverish people, not enrich them. Disrupting the family structure will intensify social disorder, not tame it. Redistributing political and economic power based on skin color will aggravate racial tension, not resolve it. These are simply terrible ideas. They are radical mutations of concepts that history has repeatedly proved are disasters. And they are being pushed pell-mell by people who hate what makes America unique and want to transform it entirely. Virtually every one of these propositions, to whatever degree it is adopted, will immediately begin creating problems. And when that happens, its proponents will insist that the reason is racism, and their terrible idea simply needs to be implemented with greater force.

On top of that, no matter how many of these policies are enacted, their advocates will never absolve and forgive America for the sin of racism. Having become convinced this nation is institutionally, systemically racist, they will always be able to unearth evidence that, in their minds, proves this beyond doubt. Never will America—or any nation on Earth—meet the illusory standard of racial and social justice these radicals harbor in their minds. Even if the nation “progressed” to the point of enforced equality on all educational, financial and occupational outcomes for all races, it would only take one person in a bustling, messy nation of 330 million to do something heinous to a black man—and the fury would erupt just as violently as it is now, and worse. See? It keeps happening! Four hundred years of this! We can’t breathe!

That was all it took in Minneapolis: one person, who may well have been influenced by a demon to commit that evil act—and the ugliest of racial hatreds instantly reignited nationwide. Police killing 28 unarmed people out of 44 million black Americans feels like genocide. What evidence could change the mind of someone who believes that?

We are watching as windows are bashed, businesses looted, cars scorched, police attacked, cities decimated, mayhem escalated, people killed—and a great many people are feeling not horror, but pride. They think this is a good thing. And if you say, No—we must be able to address problems without burning our civilization to the ground, they will curse at you and say you are the problem.

This mindset cannot be appeased. The proof multiplies daily. The more “space to destroy” this movement is given, the more it destroys. The more people pander and apologize, the more strident the mob becomes, the more radical the demands grow.

Why is this?

The Supreme Racist

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

This is just one passage among dozens, perhaps hundreds, throughout the Bible revealing the active presence of evil spirits in our world. Satan the devil is “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Yes, Satan is real, and, as you can see, the evil he inspires is real. He influences attitudes, motivations and actions of human beings of all backgrounds, ideologies and races (2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9). He is the author of human nature, which creates prejudice, jealousy and envy, competition and strife, resentment of authority, vanity, lust, greed—evils that always end up leading to violence.

God made human beings of all races in His image, after His likeness (Genesis 1:26). “God that made the world and all things therein … hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth …” (Acts 17:24, 26). Satan the devil is the supreme racist—he hates all races and passionately aims to destroy the human race! To attain his goal, he is stirring racial hatreds in the nations today.

This angry, radical movement that is suddenly possessing America—a movement that hurls outrageous accusations; twists facts to spin isolated problems into “systemic corruption”; sees only America’s faults and none of its virtues; seeks to defund and disband law and order; applauds destruction; celebrates lawlessness; wants to disrupt the traditional family; foments fury; feeds on intimidation, coercion and fear; demands total unthinking conformity—this movement is not of God. God commands, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil …” (Exodus 23:2). This movement’s primary weapon is the tyranny of the angry mob.

Evidence abounds that appeasing such a movement is impossible. It is insatiable as the grave. “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20). If you think you will satisfy it by giving in, you are a fool. If you are trapped in negotiations with evil, you can give and concede and capitulate on point after point after point—and it will never be enough!

As long as you are willing to keep engaging with him, the devil will keep demanding and keep taking—and leading you down the path to your own ruin!

That is exactly where Satan is leading America today. We are experiencing the final, dangerous stages of the Communist infiltration Herbert W. Armstrong prophesied back in 1956: “It uses every diabolical means to weaken us from within, sapping our strength, perverting our morals, sabotaging our educational system, wrecking our social structure, destroying our spiritual and religious life, weakening our industrial and economic power, demoralizing our armed forces, and finally, after such infiltration, overthrowing our government by force and violence!”

America is surrendering to lawlessness. As a consequence for the nation’s sins, God has broken the pride of our power (Leviticus 26:19). The police officer choosing to lay face down in solidarity with a crowd of Marxist agitators is a tragically accurate metaphor for America’s moral courage right now. The devil is pressing his advantage, advancing against backpedaling and prostration and cowardice.

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). God does not want us leading lives of fear, abasing ourselves before self-righteous men, submitting to terrorism and tyranny. Godly people are not cowed by satanic intimidation. “[T]he righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).

Amid all the examples of self-humiliation and prostration, one refreshing clip emerged of a black state trooper from Georgia. blm protesters had demanded that he show them respect by taking a knee. He refused. “I was supposed to be out of town this weekend with my wife. … But I’m out here to make sure you’re all safe. Don’t go there with ‘respect,’ OK? I have much respect. But I only kneel for one person, and that’s God.”

If only the whole nation took such a principled stand, this whole scenario would be playing out very differently!

Recognize the riots for what they are. Recognize blm and other communistic groups for what they are. Recognize this spiritual attack for what it is. And recognize Satan for who he is. Then follow—boldly, unapologetically, faithfully—the command of God in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”