CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CHRISTIAN BASHING, AND OUR RESPONSE

 

 

In recent years, I cannot remember seeing a single article praising the Church, especially the mostly white evangelical church. While I have my own issues with the Church, after my 43 years of navigating through its sanctuaries, the criticism seems to be way over-the-top. The new refrain is that Christians are so foolish, even racist, because we voted for Donald Trump and believe in an array of “conspiracy theories.” Here is the latest article promoting Christian gullibility:

 

·       A new study by the Nashville-based Lifeway Research of 1,007 U.S. Protestant pastors with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points found that 49% of church leaders agreed with the phrase, “I frequently hear members of my congregation repeating conspiracy theories they have heard about why something is happening in our country.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/half-of-us-pastors-hear-members-repeat-conspiracy-theories-poll.html

 

I wonder how these studies and pastors are able to determine “conspiracy theories” from truth? Is there any authoritative measure to distinguish the two? There is good reason to suspect that even the “fact-checkers” and the mainstream media are committed to a left-leaning agenda. I’ve observed this many times myself. To the conservative eye, the signs are unmistakable. However, to those on the opposite side of the tracks, we are fools if we don’t agree with the statements of the accepted pundits.

 

What then do we take as truth? We are left in uncertainty and a crisis of trust, skepticism, and unbelief. The sources that Christians tend to trust are regarded as “fake news” and it also works the other way. The crisis has left us divided and without the bridge of a common “language” to re-connect. It’s also a pervasive crisis of character.

In this present crisis of believe and information, it seems that we need to return to the basics, what we can accept as truth - the Bible and the fundamentals of the Christian Faith and life - to rebuild what remains. This doesn’t mean that we have to remain silent about controversial subjects, especially those that are tearing apart the Church and taking us into an unbiblical direction. However, we have to stick to chapter and verse as we attempt to reclaim the Church for our Lord:

 

·       Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3–4 (ESV)

 

Love isn’t a matter of keeping peace at the price of allowing false doctrine. When we do so, we incur the displeasure of our Lord:

·       But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works. (Revelation 2:20–22)

 

Sometimes love must confront rather than indulge. To our discredit, we have tolerated in our midst things that we should not. As our brothers’ keepers, we too must call them to repentance as Jesus had:

·       “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3–5)

 

Jesus also required us to be a light to the world, even exposing its sins (Ephesians 5:11). As justifiably frustrated and fearful as we might be, we must not resort to violence:

·       Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:14–19)

 

Especially during these times, we must resist the urge to seek revenge, but to show that we live according to God’s teachings. This will show that our treasure is not in this world but in eternity. This is what our Lord wants of us (2 Corinthians 4:7-11).

 

Joseph had lived as a slave and a prisoner for many years. He could have become embittered after his brothers had sold him as a slave to a caravan. Joseph was entirely devoted to the Lord that he served his Egyptian taskmaster with such faithfulness that he entrusted his entire household into Joseph’s hands. More importantly, it seems that the Lord was also pleased with Joseph’s faithfulness:

·       From the time that he [Potiphar] made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. (Genesis 39:5–6)

 

Joseph also resisted the sexual overtures of Potiphar’s wife, who afterwards falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her. Consequently, Joseph spent 17 years in prison, suffering one injustice after another. He could easily have decided that since God had “failed” him, he had had enough of God, but he didn’t.

 

·       But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. (Genesis 39:21–23)

 

The Lord hadn’t failed Joseph. Despite his many years of suffering, God was preparing him to play a glorious role in the salvation of nations. When his brothers expressed their fears to him that he might now take revenge for what they had done to him, he answered with godly wisdom:

 

·       “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19–21)

 

Joseph did not gloss over their evil deeds but pointed them to Someone far more important. This is the One to whom we must look as we experience the unjust wrath of this evil world as we care for their needs. God allows their evil to serve His good purposes for our benefit. And as Joseph continued in kindness to them, we too must continue in this manner towards our oppressors. We must also rejoice in oppression as a testimony to the One who loves us and gave His life for us.