It is amazing what happens over 24 hours. Yesterday the election date for NZ was announced, and the boys were discussing who to vote for. Today I was distracted by being away from the family, and the sons told me that there had been a riot at the University of Berkeley.

The day after a scheduled appearance at UC Berkeley by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos erupted in violence and ended before it began, campus officials condemned the actions of agitators who invaded the campus and disrupted nearly 1,500 peaceful protesters. They also praised small groups of Berkeley students who organized themselves to begin cleaning up debris.

UCPD has launched an investigation of last night’s riotous actions, instigated by some 150 masked individuals with paramilitary tactics, including hurling Molotov cocktails, setting fires, throwing fireworks at police, pushing barricades into windows and damaging campus and city property.

“The violence was an attack on our fundamental values, which are maintaining and nurturing open inquiry and an inclusive, civil society — the bedrock of a genuinely democratic nation,” said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks. “We are now, and will remain in the future, completely committed to free speech not only as a vital component of our campus identity but as essential to our educational mission.”

He added, “We appreciate the efforts of our police and Student Affairs staff to protect the rights of both speaker and protesters and their commitment to public safety and minimizing injuries.”

Sgt. Sabrina Reich, UCPD public information officer, said campus police made one arrest last night of a non-student, on charges of failure to disperse. Officers made several dispersal announcements to the crowd assembled outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, where Yiannopoulos had been invited speak at 8 p.m. by the Berkeley College Republicans.

This morning, two Berkeley College Republicans were attacked while conducting an interview in front of Sproul Hall by two men not affiliated with the campus. The men were arrested by UCPD, which is investigating the incident and did not yet have more details.

The fruit of the progressive movement are the fruit of the flesh. It is destruction of society and families. It can be seen, and it is ugly. And we are told not to walk by these laws.

Galatians 5:16-24

¹⁶Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

It is very clear that we are not to follow the desires of our flesh: for power, glory, satiation of our gluttony or lust. For these things destroy. The irony is that the only secular people who preach this are strength or crossfit trainers, the pick up artist/red pill community, or both.

For living in the Spirit requires that the Spirit is in us. If we let our lusts rule us, the Spirit is not ruling: we are enslaved by our vices. This is a reason not to promote degeneration. John Spicer speaks well on this issue.

The phrase “walk by the Spirit” occurs not only in verse 25 but also in verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.” So here we see what the opposite of walking by the Spirit is, namely, giving in to the desires of the flesh. Remember, “flesh” is the old, ordinary human nature that does not relish the things of God and prefers to get satisfaction from independence, power, prestige, and worldly pleasures. When we “walk by the Spirit,” we are not controlled by those drives. This is what verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces another kind, and they are opposed to each other. Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh. This means that “walking by the Spirit” is not something we do in order to get the Spirit’s help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.

Ultimately, all the good inclinations or preferences or desires that we have are given by the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Spirit we are mere flesh. And Paul said in Romans 7:18, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” Apart from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is holy or good, “for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God’s law and does not submit to it because it cannot” (Romans 8:7). The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are “walking by the Spirit.” For we always act according to our strongest desires.

This is something we need to work on daily. We are told we have to take up our crosses and follow Christ. We are told we will be given the strength to withstand temptation. We are told to walk with Christ, and if we do that he will walk with us.

But this world works by identity politics: and wants us enslaved by the mark of our identity.

Do not follow this fallen fleshly narrative. Walk instead in the Spirit.