We live in a time when everything is called conspiracy. In the political world of the USA we are deeply divided. What makes this so awful is that we don’t trust there are any reliable sources for truth, for fact. Each side accuses the other of conspiracy. President Trump and his allies have expressed there is the conspiracy of a ‘Deep State’ within government, supported by the media, with the purpose to defeat his own agenda and remove him from office. They have developed the concept of ‘Fake News’ and make it seem that everything mainstream media presents to us is biased, distorted, or false. To them Congress has no legitimate right to oversight and investigation because they are biased, only seeking to destroy Trump. To them Federal agencies like the FBI, CIA, and State Department are full of people engaged in this conspiracy against Trump, and thus, are not to be believed.

Those among the Democrats also express views of conspiracy. They promote the belief that it was Russian efforts to elect Trump that tipped the election to him. They question the source of Trump’s wealth and its influence in his decisions. They bring accusations of abuse of power and of incompetence.

The purpose of conspiracy theories is to create mistrust and fear. It is to cause us to fear a future if the other side is in control. It causes us not to listen to others because we do not believe they are telling us the truth. It leads to an almost blind loyalty because there is such mistrust of the bias of the information given to us.

Closely aligned to this conspiracy theory approach is a second argument that what my side has done wrong does not compare to what the other side has done. Everyone is doing things that aren’t right, but that is just the way it is in politics. The wrong my side has done doesn’t compare to the wrongs the other side has done. So again, we have no standards of truth or right practices to live by. Everyone is doing wrong, but I’m okay because my wrong isn’t as bad as the wrongs of the other side.

If this rampant spread of belief in conspiracy and justification of my side’s wrongs compared to the wrongs of the other side stayed exclusively within politics that would be one thing. However, this same strategy is being used in how to view the Bible and its teachings. We see today those that say the Bible is not reliable because it was written by flawed people with cultural bias. They say the clear teaching of the Bible on issues like marriage, sexuality, or holiness are not what we are to live by today. New interpretations state that teachings on sexuality, marriage, and creation by God came from people who have read that into the Bible. One leading theologian changes the very meaning of the atonement. Another writes off the whole Old Testament as not reliable and not for the church today. Others accept that sexual behaviors can be sinful, but that everybody sins, and we should not draw so much attention to sexual sins compared to others like pride, gluttony, gossip. Others write off hell as not being compatible with the truth that God is love. Thus, Christians lose confidence in the Bible and how it has been taught for centuries. We lose accountability for sin because we say everyone sins and mine isn’t as bad as others. Many believe sin doesn’t matter because God loves us no matter what we do. We are left with a church that lives as the generations in the time of Judges, with every person doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

The Bible clearly and prophetically speaks to those who view that everything is conspiracy or who say that everyone sins, so we shouldn’t identify some over others. God says through the prophet Isaiah, “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 call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him shall you honor as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread.’” (Isaiah 8:11-13)

We don’t need to fear a conspiracy of others. We need to fear God. We need to honor His Word, the Bible, knowing that Jesus endorsed the Old Testament down to its smallest letter and the smallest parts of a letter (Matthew 5:17-20). Let us remember that the Bible defines sins that, if people continue to practice them, they will not be saved (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Let us remember that God has called us to holiness in conduct because He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Let us remember that the grace of Jesus has not come to enable us to continue in sin, but to find freedom from its power and freedom to walk in His grace and truth.

In our politics let us remember God is working His will among the nations as history rapidly moves to the crowning of the Lord Jesus Christ as King and Lord of all. Let us stop advancing the conspiracy theories so freely offered and believed. Let us use common sense and wisdom from the Spirit of God to sort it through and not overreact. Let us hold leaders accountable to standards of right conduct regardless of what others have done. Let us relax politically and focus on what we are to do, which is to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to all who will hear. Let us live with bold confidence because God is working His will and because our hope for the future is certain. Let us hear the voice of God through another passage in Isaiah, “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God and there’s no other; I am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:8-11).