When Conspiracy Obsession Impacts Christian Witness
The attached article/blog immediately below is clear, gracious, and much needed. I’d encourage you to take the time to read…
The deep concern of my heart, as a pastor, is that Christians are being pulled and distracted from the mission that we have been given.
Many Christians have been effectively incapacitated from their time reading and studying the Word of God, spending time in edifying fellowship and prayer with other Christians, and the activities of loving a broken and hurting world, for the sake of spending countless hours digesting media, reading articles, and formulating arguments about things that are of secondary importance in the scheme of eternity, whether true or not!
As Christians we are to be both truth seekers and truth defenders. Paul uses the metaphor of armor when he exhorts- “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” (Ephesians 6:14a).
Yet, in the case of the pursuit of these conspiracy theories, objective, honest scrutiny will reveal much of this content as hearsay, conjecture, and anecdotal musings from compromised sources.
We live in a great country!
It is a land where we are privileged to have a participatory form of government, a place where we have immense freedoms, and home to an eclectic and diverse people!
It is wonderful to be patriotic, to love our country- I certainly do!- while also acknowledging its faults and our mistakes, past and present.
But for the Christian, the Scripture teaches that we are to long for another country, and that we are not permanent citizens of this country, but temporary residents.
My call to those of you name the name of Jesus as your Savior, is to consider the attitude of your heart toward others, to honestly evaluate the time that you are spending on these things, to weigh the occupation of your mind with these issues, and lastly, and most importantly, to be honest about the compromise of the Christian witness and gospel efficacy that is the cost of pursuing these things with such fervor.
To my non-Christian friends, Christianity is not about a political party or radical “Christian nationalism”, or a bevy of conspiracy theories. Yes, our nation was founded on biblical principles, and our system of government was intended for a “religious people”, see my thoughts on this here, our forefathers said as much.
But Christianity is about a God who came in the flesh, gave Himself, dying on our behalf in spite of our rebellious hearts and behavior, a Savior who calls us to repentance and trust in Him as the only mediator, able to restore us to fellowship with Almighty God. Christianity is further the call to live in like manner, as Jesus did, (Philippians 2), for the sake of others.
May we invite deep scrutiny into our own lives — our motives, our words and actions — as we consider the message they send to watch world.
As our Lord said in John 13:35- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
