Protesters confront Los Angeles police department personnel in riot gear in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
Mayor Karen Bass imposed an 8 p.m. curfew last night for downtown Los Angeles as anti-ICE protests continued in the city. She did so “to stop the vandalism, stop the looting,” noting that twenty-three businesses were looted Monday night. She added, “Since Saturday, we have seen a concerning escalation in unlawful and dangerous behavior.”
Meanwhile, in a televised address, California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned President Trump’s deployment of the military to quell the protests as an assault on democracy. A federal judge in California has set a hearing for tomorrow afternoon on the state’s request to restrict the federal government’s use of Marines and National Guard troops in the Los Angeles area, limiting them only to protecting federal property.
More protests are planned for today in Seattle, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and other cities. Hundreds of people have been arrested in at least five cities since last Friday. By Monday, organizers had scheduled demonstrations in nearly every major city.
Who is behind them?
“People who are all hooded up”
On one hand, exercising our First Amendment right to free speech is a basic American value. From the Boston Tea Party to today, we have valued the right to protest peacefully against our leaders and others with whom we disagree. On the other hand, demonstrations that degenerate into violence and break the law can obviously have no place in a civil society.
The problem is, both are happening in LA and other cities.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell drew a distinction between protesters and the masked “anarchists” he said were seeking to exploit the state of unrest to vandalize property and attack police. “When I look at the people who are out there doing the violence, that’s not the people that we see here in the day who are out there legitimately exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said. “These are people who are all hooded up—they’ve got a hoodie on, they’ve got face masks on.”
He added: “They’re people that do this all the time. They get away with whatever they can. Go out there from one civil unrest situation to another, using the same or similar tactics frequently. And they are connected.”
“A liar and the father of lies”
Across this week following Pentecost Sunday, we have been reflecting on the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and world. One of the most significant ways he helps us in this chaotic culture is by granting us the discernment to know truth from falsehood, right from wrong.
In a postmodern, secularized society where all truth claims are considered subjective and relative, opinions can masquerade as facts and are amplified by digital and social media with no editorial accountability. And when bad actors use the conflicts of our fallen world to exacerbate the crises we face, we should not be surprised at the cultural confusion and chaos that results.
At its heart, all such deception is spiritual in nature, which is why the work of the Spirit is so vital. It is not just that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Making things worse, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
We should not be surprised: Jesus warned us that Satan is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). As “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) so as to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
As a result, he is able to convince Hamas that slaughtering Jewish civilians is a defense of Islam required by Allah. He is able to persuade atheists and agnostics that their intellectual objections to Christian truth are justified. He is able to delude lawbreaking protesters into believing that their “cause” is worth what it costs the rest of society.
And he seeks to deceive Christians as well, tempting us to hate those who hate others and reject those who reject our Lord.
The truth is, the more people reject Jesus, the more they need Jesus. The more they refuse biblical truth, the more they need such truth in their lives. The sicker the patient, the more urgent the physician.
What the devil especially hates
So, let me ask you: As you have watched coverage of the chaos in California, how have you responded? Are you interceding for those committing violence, praying for them to come to repentance and for those who influence them to do so for righteousness?
I confess that I struggle to do what I am asking you to do. I need the Spirit to “guide [me] into all the truth” (John 16:12) by giving me “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and the compassion of the One who prayed for his crucifiers (Luke 23:34) and intercedes for sinners like me right now (Romans 8:34). I need the “love” that is a “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) if I am to “love [my] enemies and pray for those who persecute [me]” (Matthew 5:44).
Since “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12), I need to be “praying at all times in the Spirit” (v. 18).
This is a practical reason why I need to be “filled” and controlled by the Spirit again today (Ephesians 5:18). The more I submit my mind and heart to him, the more he manifests the character of Christ in my life and prayers. The same is true for you.
Part of “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) is loving those to whom we speak. One of the most powerful ways we can impact our broken world is by using its suffering and sinfulness as invitations to intercession and then seeking to answer our prayers personally and practically.
Erasmus said that the devil especially hates for evil to be used for good.
Will Satan hate how you respond to this article today?
Quote for the day:
“Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees.” —Charles Bent
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