Conspiracies Abound

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” Isaiah 8:11–15 ESV

I am amused at how quickly people can be turned by what is going on around them and what people are saying about those things. It is interesting how fear can take over in a moment, especially with the rate news (or some semblance of news) can be transmitted. I have read articles about an event and within the article, the journalist will interject their opinion or other statements not related to the current event, in order to point people over to their side of thinking. Gone are the days of responsible news reporting. What is even more stunning is how the people of God are given to the same fears and perpetuating of rumors and stories. 

While we don’t have time or space to dive into the background of this passage, I found that Isaiah had separated himself from the public opinion of the day so to be completely identified as speaking from God’s perspective only. I shared part of this passage on social media just to see what would happen. As I guessed, not much came out of it, other than a few likes. Why? 

The American church has become more a political arm than the gospel army. So as it’s political directive goes, so goes the church. Every “wind of doctrine”, every conspiracy, every thing said by the “so-called” enemy creates a response that is driven by influences outside of God himself. This is not the church of the New Testament. So our eyes are not on Christ but whatever else we have put in his place. We want to make the world a better place but not in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus, rather the gospel of “the right”. 

What is the main point? My observation over time is how much we tie the world’s failures to how successful or not the church is or will be. As things become less moral, we have taken the position of trying to force better behavior. It is why “conspiracies” can capture our full attention and keep us from being all that God has intended. Fact is, the church, led by Christ and powered by the Holy Spirit is unstoppable and should be on the offense, not digging in, holding ground and hoping for the best (see Matthew 16:13-20). It really doesn’t matter what the world is up to or the direction it is heading (we already know this but…). Just as instructed to Isaiah, the church is to not listen to the “conspiracies” around it and center its mission on Jesus. See where God is working and go there. That is where success will be found. And for us, as one pastor says over and over “we were made for such a time as this”. 

Let us not get caught up in conspiracies and become caught up in the miraculous work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He declared that he is “the way, the truth and the life”. Our mission is not to make people better. Our mission is, however, to point people to Christ and then teach them “all that I have commanded”. I dare anyone to read Matthew 5-7 and find any directive towards nationalism. Instead, what we will find is how we are to live in relationship to God and to mankind (yes, that is all mankind). Obedience to Jesus is where we are to stand firmly. What Paul instructed the church at Rome in the latter part of his letter is important to us today to follow. We are to encourage those who are weaker in their faith and not come off as arrogant. We are to pray for our governmental leaders (interesting in light of who was in charge when Paul wrote this). We are to love our enemies, even serve them, meet their needs. Everyone is our neighbor. Do good, seek justice and live humbly before God. 

So, take less time to “follow” news media outlets, social media and the like and encourage one another to give ourselves wholly over to God. Love Him completely and love others. 

In His Name

Scott