PT Barnum wrote that circuses were very skilled at attracting the public by having an exciting parade through the town, complete with a highly decorated bandwagon in 1855. Jumping on the bandwagon is defined as joining others in doing or supporting something fashionable or likely to be successful. It is based on acceptance through popularity. It is a powerful force used for good and/or evil.

Jumping on the bandwagon becomes dangerous when popularity, or perceived popularity, overtakes truth and quality. Group think or popularity can be extremely intimidating as is was in Germany during WWII. The German people didn’t start off with bad desires. They wanted respect, a healthy economy, the ability to live and grow, all appropriate. Hitler promised to provide those things and actually did so by disobeying the laws set against German military. Popularity overcame truth to a point that truth became increasingly easy to suppress. Hitler became like a god, and the bandwagon took the entire country for a ride into destruction.

It is easy for us to say that would never happen to us, but it is happening every day. Businesses and politicians use this to create popular trends to push people to accept popularity instead of verification of quality. Teenagers use the allure of popularity to pull friends into destructive lives. I saw that most students were introduced to all the things we adults don’t want the young to try by their friends, not by enemies. Churches can do this unconsciously by preferring the people like themselves instead of reaching the downcasts and outcasts that Jesus always reached.

Acceptance by others and position in the group must be something completely innate in us. Even the homeless have group priorities within their own station of life. Jim Jones used this powerful force to take a group from doing good in the suburbs to murder and mass suicide in Guyana. It is a powerful force which has to be recognized and faced. Our need opens us to the possible twisting of evil or leading by honor. How do we tell the difference?

Telling the difference isn’t easy, but it is doable. Detective shows always say, “Follow the money” to find the perpetrator. Something similar can be said in this case, “Who gets the benefit?” Selfishness can be identified. Hitler wanted all the power and glory despite all the lies he spread to make it look otherwise. A truly discerning person, of whom there were many in Germany at the time, can see the trail of truth versus lies. Hitler moved to kill all those who could discern the truth. Jews were probably a target because they believed and adhered to a God other than Hitler and could not be dissuaded. We can compare the qualities of man in Hitler to the qualities of God in the Sermon in the Mount and the listed fruits of the Holy Spirit. The difference is clear despite lies and cover up.