2020's been wild year for all the wrong reasons, but I am thankful to have you along for the ride. This week, here's the most listened to episode of the year. Enjoy and I look forward to more snark in 2021!
Cults and conspiracy theories are both founded on lies, but they also play heavily against people's fears and insecurities. You could say that cult leaders use misinformation and paranoia to manipulate others to follow blindly after them. It almost sounds like a lot of pastors too.
This isn't a new occurrence, a Ponzi scheme as old as time. There are always swindlers and suckers. And every time, the swindler makes the sucker believe that everyone else is the true idiot.
Christianity has a lot of willing idiots who have traded the simple message of the Gospel for complicated conspiracy theories about Satan hiding around every corner waiting to deceive you. The truth of this story is that we are our own Satan's deceiving ourselves. Yes, I said it and stand by it. Christians that believe in conspiracy theories or other nonsense like end times do it because doing the work of the Gospel is too hard and requires too much.
If we can delude and deceive ourselves that we're righteous, then we can live our lives unchecked and judge everyone else. It's Jesus that disrupts this lie. Life is better when we don't get our own way. When we learn to live as people called to help and heal, that's a vastly different reality than one lived in fear of sin.
One way is the freedom to live and love as Jesus did. The other one is to look at God's creation as dirty, evil, and broken. One way sees glory while the other sees desolation.
Conspiracy theories require mental gymnastics to fit into reality. They require us to suspend our disbelief and embrace paranoia and fear. The way of Jesus sees the face of God in others and calls us to love. Which do you want to follow?
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