Remember how you would tell your parents that all your friends are doing something so why can’t you do it? And your parents would sternly say as they looked at you, “If they were jumping off the cliff does that mean you should do it?” Even if you didn’t like when their answer was in the form of a question, it actually made sense. Didn’t it?

To many people just go along with the crowd uncontested, believing that numbers confirm a right moral action. When in fact, that can be a very dangerous way of choosing your course in life. God has given us His written word to follow so not to

The Bible instructs us to do what’s right even if it goes against the majority.  (tweet)

get distracted. In Prov. 14:12 it says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” NKJV When a man’s ways go outside God’s Word it will lead him down a path ending in destruction.

Our nation was shocked at the unfolding of the events in northwest Guyana on November 18, 1978, where 918 people died in the settlement of Jonestown under the leadership of Jim Jones. The outlandish deception of so many people, including children and adults alike sent a fear of mind control to everyone who heard the news. Soon after the murder of a United States Congressman and four others, who had came to investigate accusations from family members of individuals being held against

Just because everyone is doing it, it doesn’t make it right   (tweet)

their own will. These murders spawned what has been viewed as a mass suicide or as many voices say, including Jonestown survivors as a “mass murder”. This deceptive and murderous act was clothed in a religious tone thinking there was a better life awaiting them if they drank the kool-aid laced with cyanide poisoning.

The evidence is strong that not only were these people coerced, but also many were forced to drink the kool-aid, resulting in over 900 lives dying. This shocking incident of deception and control birthed the saying, “don’t drink the kool-aid” which means to not let anyone deceive you. Yet this phrase shouldn’t be tagged to any authentic move of God. The scripture in 1 Pet. 5:8-9, exhorts us to be alert and watchful not to allow the enemy or anything to come into our lives drawing us away from God.

With all the confusion going on in our society there are plenty of people that are involved in all kinds of things that not only would make your great grand-parents roll over in their grave but it is flat out wrong before God. In James 4:17 it says, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Gods Word instructs us to do what’s right even if it goes against the majority. Don’t drink the kool-aid and definitely don’t swallow the deceptive lie that says, just because everyone seems to be doing it doesn’t make it right. God is the answer!

Don’t be confused in thinking God’s outpouring of love and power in the earth is another Jonestown situation. The Bible is crystal clear and gives some simple checkpoints that will keep you from falling into deception. Being involved in a community of believers where each family is encouraged to have a personal faith in Christ, being encouraged to talk with and hear God themselves. Sit under leadership that teaches a balanced Word of God, pointing to Christ and the inherent scripture as supreme authority. Be a student of the scripture and never entertain doctrines outside scripture. If you will do this, you will never have to be in fear of drinking the kool-aid.