In recent years, I have come across the term “conspiracy theory” often in the media and in political debate. When one person warns of impending problems, another often uses the term to downplay what is happening. And there are a lot of warnings, warnings about agendas that are supposedly behind the policies. People who criticize the whole climate policy or the so-called nitrogen policy, to name but a few issues, are often dismissed as conspiracy theorists who need not be taken seriously, there is no need for a substantive debate in such a case, it would be like “pearls before swine”. The question that arises in my mind is whether this way of acting, with the aim of silencing possible opponents from the outset, is not precisely an indication that the intended or implemented policy cannot stand up to a substantive test. Even in church circles, this means is quickly used in order to avoid having to deal with questions of substance, accompanied by all sorts of unrest that a substantive assessment might entail.
Turning now to the Bible, there are some observations to be made here. So-called conspiracies certainly occur regularly. The takeover of power by Absalom in the days of David is such an example of a conspiracy. We also find such an example in the book of Acts, when a group of Jews set out to kill Paul.
12And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
(Acts 23:12-15)
Apparently, even in biblical times, there were people who made arrangements in secret to achieve a predetermined result, in this case the death of Paul. We need to consider that people with shadowy agendas do not reveal them openly, but decide things behind closed doors. Today it seems to be more and more common for deliberative structures to emerge that seem to elude public scrutiny. To take just one example, we are now familiar with the World Economic Forum (WEF), which organizes annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, where high-ranking figures from society, politics, and international business meet to discuss the future of the world. These meetings take place mainly behind closed doors. The question may be asked, why does this have to take place behind closed doors? In addition to this forum, there are many such consultative structures internationally that escape public scrutiny, which justifies the question of what good this does.
In Psalm 2, however, we find such an example, with the underlying motivation. Let us look at the text:
1Why do the heathen rage,
And the people imagine a vain thing?
2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3Let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.
(Psalm 2:1-3)
Every day we face a great battle between good and evil. The devil, the liar from the beginning, uses all kinds of tricks to secure his interests, often not openly, but secretly. The nations and their rulers in many cases are under the dominion of darkness and so they use such means with the ultimate goal of pushing God and Jesus aside so that they can do whatever they want without being bound by anything. And don’t think that it’s not happening to us, that would be very naive. Even within the structure of the church, the enemy manages to penetrate and wreak havoc from within. This is evident in the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of being children of the devil.
44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
(John 8:44-45)
What is clear from this is that the religious system of that time, connected with the synagogue, had been infiltrated by people who outwardly pretended to be very pious, but who, according to Jesus, were actually in the service of the devil and his minions. If this was true in Jesus’ day, then we must assume that it is still true today. What you often see is the Bible being discredited with so-called scientific arguments to sow doubt in people’s hearts, often with disastrous consequences. To give just one example, what I often come across is the suggestion that the Old Testament was written in the period after the Babylonian exile, around the second or third century B.C., and that everything about what happened before that is based on ancient stories and is exaggerated. The result is that Moses and what he supposedly wrote down, including the descriptions of creation, the flood, the exodus from Egypt, and the law at Sinai, are questioned. Thus, the Bible would no longer be trustworthy and should be taken with a grain of salt. The Bible itself explicitly warns against this phenomenon:
3knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
(2 Peter 3:3-7)
We are warned against deliberately and knowingly doubting the historicity of creation and the flood in order to dismiss the coming judgment. The consequence of this course of action is that we believe we can do whatever we want. God’s standards and values are largely set aside. The whole “woke agenda” being pushed internationally is a prime example of this. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we are awake and not so naive as to think that this will pass us by. Psalm 2 teaches us that there is a conspiracy against God and Jesus in one form or another. So the hallmark of vigilance is to assume in advance that we are being deceived; gullibly thinking that people, especially those in important positions, have our best interests at heart is extremely naive and therefore dangerous. God warns us against a false heart:
9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
(Jeremiah 17:9-10)
Assuming the goodness of people seems like a noble thing, but when we realize that people can be under the direct influence of the devil, you have to assume that there is a high probability they are lying. A good example of corruption can be found in the Bible. When Ahab (in 1 Kings 22) wants to battle against Syria, he asks his colleague from Judah, Jehoshaphat, to march with him. When Jehoshaphat asks for a word from the LORD, Ahab comes up with 400 prophets who are apparently so under Ahab’s influence that they all give the same wrong advice. When Jehoshaphat then asks if there might be an independent prophet, Ahab comes up with Micaiah:
7And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? 8And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
(1 Kings 22:7-8)
This Micaiah would have been dismissed as a conspiracy theorist in our day. By being vigilant for possible hidden agendas, we are apparently in good biblical company. The prophets who eat at the king’s table are not trustworthy and are plagued by a spirit of falsehood, and these prophets represented the vast majority at the time. Micah, on the other hand, was a loner; only he was right. Do we dare to be a Micaiah?
