Sandra Myers

I will admit, I am resistant to pressure for conformity in several areas. I’m not comfortable with the feeling of being pigeonholed, herded or fit into a mold that someone believes I should fit into. I’m also not trendy, but instead cautious. I suppose this is where the ‘contrarian’ part comes in.

    I don’t remember setting out in life to be contrary. It’s probably my parents’ fault (said with love and humor). As a child, I remember telling my Mom that ‘everybody else is doing it’ (whatever ‘it’ was at the moment). She used the answer, ‘if everyone was jumping off the Empire State Building, would you?’ This didn’t require an answer. Also, as a family we struggled financially, therefore, there was no keeping up with the Jones or with fads of the day. From those circumstances and inheriting other influences of my parents: my Mom’s love for reading and Dad’s curiosity about how things and the world worked and his willingness to share what he learned, taught me to think and examine what I heard and saw rather than believe and follow blindly. This contrariness carried over into my Christian life.

Are You a Contrarian?

Perhaps you are a contrarian as well. The world is antagonized by our contrariness—an unwillingness to be manipulated to follow the herd. We all know where the herd is going: like rats off the cliff (into Hell) following the tune of the pied-piper. Being contrary to the world helps us rise above the everyday trends and pressures buffeting us about from all sides:

Hollyweird and social media influencers don’t catch our attention. Who cares about the Kardashians, unless it is about their Salvation?

Mainstream Media and even some conservative news outlets all hawked the same thing during various crises. With COVID it was mask, distance, abandon your senior family members, line up for the vaccine, and another, and another, and now your babies also.

Our oppressive, destructive government (and other elite controllers) use fear (real or contrived) because who is going to let a good crisis go to waste? They use emotional blackmail to manipulate you. Cue the pictures of polar bears, puppies and whales, as well as dangle the impending destruction of Earth. If that doesn’t work there’s bullying, ostracizing, and threat of jail. Our government shut down churches under threat of jail but left liquor stores open. When they did finally allow people to go back out you often needed to present your papers (vaccine record).

Don’t even get me started on Fauci, the CDC and their lies. They preach public sacrifice for the greater good, all the while they live as they please. They would have you follow the laws of man above all, instead of the laws of our King (...These all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. Acts 17:7).

False Religious Leaders—Remember the Holy Laughter Movement? How about the “Best Life Now” load of garbage? And then there was the glittery, ostentatiousness of the TBN crowd. Why did their followers never question these gainsayers’ foundation of belief? They throw in a few Bible verses and claim to have a word from God such as about Holy Laughter and the masses fall for it.

    I give all these examples as things that matter to the world. But they don’t matter to us. 1 Timothy 6:3-5 illustrates today’s condition perfectly:

In Perfect Company

Jesus was, and still is, contrary to the world. He didn’t spend much time with the popular influencers of His day. He didn’t work to gain transient wealth. He consorted with lowly tax collectors instead of setting out to impress the elite. He spoke harshly to the popular religious leaders calling them what they were: of their father the Devil. Oh yes, He was indeed the epitome of contrarianism.

    The apostles of Jesus were no slouch. The Roman government couldn’t control them. When pressured to quit proclaiming the Good News, they knew Whom they must stand with.

    We are in Perfect Company as we maintain our contrariness to unholy laws, trends and manipulators of this world. When your Sure Foundation is Jesus Christ and His Word; when your focus is on His eternal promise for you, you too are a joyful contrarian and they can’t steal that from you. This world will not sway or move you from the joy of your Salvation.