Mention any one of a hundred "alternate viewpoints" of a famous event: 9/11, JFK, HAARP, UFO's, bigfoot, the moon landings, planet x Roswell, and many others and you're bound to be labelled a conspiracy theorist. All because you didn't buy the official story from the people who sold it.
Jesse Ventura has a show about them, people spend large portions of ther lives studying-and being afraid of-conspiracies. Most people just roll their eyes and go back to their lattes and 9-5. After all,no one could lie to the whole world, could they? There's no way people could get away with conspiracies now, everyone is working for the better good of humanity. Republican politicians want to keep conservative family values. Democrats want to help social justice.
Nevermind that Goebbels (i think, maybe it was Himmler) in Nazi Germany said that if you tell a lie big enough and often enough the masses will believe it. Maybe i made that up and twisted it around. Sorry.
While there a large number of conspiracy theories about, and i'm sure a large number of them are disinformation, there are likely a number that are actually true. Though many of them are fascinating I don't want to touch on any from today. Rather, i want to show, by studying history and the Bible that conspiracies are actually to be found everywhere. And if they happened in the Bible and throughout the more recent past, why wouldn't they be happening under our noses?
One of the first conspiracies, to be found would be Genesis 6. When satan and the fallen angels came down took human women and had children with them. This is expanded on in the non-canonical book of enoch.
If that's too mythological for you, how about Babel? Humans conspired to build the tower to reach into Heaven.
Those are both fairly fantastic, though i believe they were true and happened as the Bible said. But how about something more "down to earth"?
Let's look at a few, there are quite a number of conspiracies in the Bible. I won't post links as there are so many. I'll just give you the verse and the briefest summary i can.
In english the words conspiracy, and related to conspiracy comes up alot. Its fairly consistent in the Hebrew it looks like as well. The Genesis reference is H5230 in Strong's (thanks BLB!) Which means "Nakal" or to be crafty/deceitful.
Most of them seem to use H7194 (qashar) or some variant which means very much the same as conspiracy's definition, which is to tie or bind together. H7195 also comes up which is qesher, which is also conspire but can mean treason as well.
We're not told how many are in on each conspiracy, some of them seem to imply a "lone nut" approach, that of one person killing the king, or it could (IMO) mean that one person led others against said king, and we just don't get how many others were involved. The Bible doesn't say, but we do get a clear sense there is conspiracy, and treason.
Gen. 37 - Joseph's brothers conspired to kill him, but sold him into slavery instead.
Numbers 16 - Korah, Dathan and Abiram conspired together and led 250 people in a revolt against Moses. You really need to see how God dealt with that!
1 Samuel 22 - shows us that Saul had become a "conspiracy nut," thinking that David was conspiring against him.
2 Samuel 15 - Absalom and David's counselor Ahitophel led a conspiracy to get rid of David and make Absalom king. David prayed and Ahitophel's counsel turned into foolishness. (Prayer can disrupt conspiracy proving that God is more powerful!)
1 Kings 15 - Baasha conspired to assassinate King Nadab. It also appears that it displeased the Lord, and he was punished for it in Chpt 16.
1 Kings 16 - Baasha's son Elah ruled, then one of his officers conspired and killed him.
2 Kings 9:14 - Jehu conspired against King Joram and killed him.
2 Kings 10 - King Ahab (i THINK) admits to having conspired against his master. King Jehu (at God's command) also seems to engage in a conspiracy against the priests of Baal.
Actually, 1 and 2 Kings are full of conspiracy, and assassination. If anyone interested in how conspiracies often enact a regime change should just read those. The following all mention some conspiracy.
2 Kings 12, 14, 15 (at least three conspiracies!), 17, and 21.
2 Chronicles 24 - King Joash (i presume) conspired with the people to kill the prophet Zechariah. Later, others conspired and killed Joash.
2 Chronicles 25 - King Amaziah was killed by a conspiracy of the people it seems, though the word "they" appears. (THEY always show up!)
2 Chronicles 33 - King Amon's servants conspired and murdered him, in turn they were killed by the people.
Nehemiah 4 - Arabians, and a bunch of various "Ites" conspire to attack Jerusalem during the rebuilding.
Jeremiah 11:9 - the men of Judah and Jerusalem were wrapped up in a conspiracy to chase after false gods, and Jeremiah was told this by God Himself!
Ezekiel 22 - God again reveals a conspiracy of the false prophets in Jerusalem (i believe) seemingly to get rich and to violate the priestly law.
Amos 7 - Amaziah the priest accuses Amos of conspiracy, yet seems to be conspiring against Amos.
Luke 20 - here, and various other parts of each Gospel, the Sadduccees and Pharisees and Judas conspired to kill Jesus Christ. Of course, Christ being God's Son, one with the Father, was basically in charge of when they could act upon that.
Acts 23 - more than 40 Jews conspired to kill Paul.
Revelation 18 - Dr. Future's favorite verse (j/k doc) seems to say that the kings of the earth committed adultery with the Babylon system and the merchants of the earth also used that system (and drugs/sorcery) to get rich at the expense of deceiving the people of the Earth.
So, there is alot evidence of conspiracy in the Bible, and much of it seems to be related to people overthrowing kings, but there also seems to be a few instances of where rulers or religious authorites misled the people. The biggest one of course is that the Babylon system deceived everyone.
Though this is a long list, i would say this hardly begins to scratch the surface of the things the men have conspired to do. Think about how many other conspiracies there may have been throughout all of history, for one reason or another. And keep in mind that this doesnt cover the ones we know about from recent history.
Hitler's Reichstag fire which led to him getting more power, and the "final solution".
The gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to the Vietnam war has recently been revealed as having been a cover up, or due to faulty intelligence AT BEST, deliberate distortion to get into a war at the worst.
Those are but a few.
Since conspiracies are indeed a reality, what should we do? First i would say, realize that a majority of conspiracy theories are probably bunk, BUT there are probably some with truth in them. I recommend looking at the evidence yourself and vetting it. Don't take it for granted that Jesse Ventura, David Icke or abovetopsecret have all the answers.
Second, use common sense. There are probably a ton of 9/11 conspiracy theories, and they can't all be right. So, take the most credible and realistic and stick with that.
Third, more importantly DON'T WORRY ABOUT CONSPIRAICES! There's nothing most of us can do anyways, not to mention that worrying about being victim of one would do nothing also. Fear not men, who can only harm the body, but rather fear God who will judge us one day. (Thats a haphazard paraphrase, sorry.) Also, take Isaiah:
Isaiah 8:12 - 14
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and [let] him [be] your fear, and [let] him [be] your dread.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. "
(Confederacy is the same as H7195, conspiracy)
NLT
"Don't call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don't live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the LORD of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. "
This is good advice, because God is sovereign and nothing happens that is outside of His plan. You can't surprise God, and nothing that happens in the world surprises Him. Just know that God loves you, He has a plan for you and He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for you, and if you believe in Him, you will share in Jesus Christ's resurrection.
Appendix
(Search for consp* in the Bible
http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=conspir%2A&t=KJV&sf=5)
No comments:
Post a Comment