I’m old enough, that when I was in high school, we had protesters. The issue, in those years, was mostly the Vietnam War.

Some perpetual protesters were friends or acquaintances of mine, but they had their own protest movement, like a religion, and they lived it. I remember green army surplus jackets, fist pumps, and people shouting slogans at every school assembly.

That was life in the seventies.

Now, the protesters are back, but this is a new generation. My schoolmates probably got haircuts and good jobs, after they graduated. The new generation of protesters are political leftists, like in my younger years, and they are described as Politically Correct / PC (that is an old title), or woke (some people are offended by this title), Progressive, or just Leftist.

Now they have many issues to protest, and not just a war in Asia. I don’t know who even remembers the Vietnam War, today, but there are other things to protest and argue about; very many. Now we even have protesters protesting protesters.

Recently, in Canada, in the city of Toronto, the annual “Pride Parade” was scheduled. I don’t think I need to explain what that is; it used to be called the “Gay Pride Parade.” Changing vocabulary is an important part of leftist protests. At the same time as the parade, a pro-Hamas group was protesting the war between Israel and Hamas. I’m sure we all understand what that movement is about.

The two groups intersected each other on a street in Toronto, and the Palestinian-Hamas side blocked and stopped the Pride Parade. Apparently, each group had its own message, and reasons for marching in the streets.

Both groups were on the same streets of the same city, at the same time.

We are living in interesting historical times.

The protesters that I knew believed that they had the truth. There were only a few issues that they wanted us to know about. Now, we have people fighting over the microphone, trying to prioritize their message, their truth, over all other messages.

Now, it’s our truth versus your truth. Modern protesters are dividing into factions, and opposing each other.

The police were escorting the Pride paraders, and I’m sure the escorting police were worried about a potential clash.

In other areas of the world, religious Muslims can violently oppose homosexuality. There are news stories about accused people being hanged from construction cranes (Iran) and thrown from tall buildings (Islamic Front in Syria).

But, the two protest groups in Toronto were modern leftists. If there is any good news in this story, people shouted and argued, and held up signs. There was no dangerous violence.

We are living through an interesting history.

About two thousand years ago, we had the same pattern. The Roman Empire, where Jesus and His followers lived and worked, was divided and factional. There were many conflicting and contradicting factions.

When Jesus spoke to crowds in his region, He was arrested and brought to a Roman judge named Pontius Pilate. Jesus’ enemies wanted their truth to prevail, and they asked Pilate to condemn Jesus to die on the cross.

Pilate spoke to Jesus and asked for his perspective. Jesus answered:

“For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world; to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked, ‘What is truth?’ When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders and announced, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against him.’”

(John 18: 37 to 38)

We all know the story. Pilate said that the man was innocent and then sent him to die. It was a case of convenience instead of truth.

If it is true that we are moving into a factional society where the truth belongs to the loudest and most angry argument, we need to find our own way. We each need to find the truth. Loud voices only give opinions. That man Jesus told us about living in divided and factional times:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

(John 10: 10)

I hope we all can see the times that we are living in, and I hope we can each find real truth. Jesus promised us life with the real truth.