The last 12 months has brought three lifetime friendships to a close. As people with whom I journeyed for years have turned down pathways different than mine, I have had to cut off one particular individual in particular. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he could hold some views different than my own on a few topics; rather, it seemed to be the totality of everything he posted on social media.
The commonality that we once enjoyed in Christ was overshadowed by the issues of the day.
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer. – 2 Timothy 2:4 CSB
As others have used social media as their personal platform to “discern” and then “correct” the actions of others, I have had to cut off another particular individual who had become a self-appointed judge over everything I was reading, listening to, or even mentioning in passing. I knew that moving forward, I could never send him another book or video recommendation without him then immersing himself in deep analysis of everything.
The commonality that we once enjoyed in Christ was overshadowed by his compulsion to judge everyone and then “report” to them in essays that were pages long, or personal video statements that were an hour long.
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. – Romans 14:4 NIV
As others have used social media and email to be over-sensitive, reactionary, and impulsive, I had to cut off one person in particular who was upset that I didn’t wish to spend an hour listening to a sermon from someone whose broader theology I fundamentally disagree with.
The commonality that we once enjoyed in Christ was overshadowed by his short fuse when it came to how I wanted to spend my discretionary time listening to Christian podcasts and teachings.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. – James 1:19 NET
So that’s three different people.
At a wider level, there have been the people in my life — and yours — who have bought into every conspiracy theory that is floated on social media or mass media. In my life it was the woman whose pandemic vaccine contained metal particles; the man who said we were asked to stay six feet apart not to avoid spreading the virus but so the satellites could track us; the woman who told me that we are approaching an electromagnetic pulse which is going to erase our internet files; or the woman who claims that there are forces at work whose goal is to de-populate the earth.
Many conspiracy theories about everything from “big pharma” to heads of state of been widely accepted by Christian people. We seem to be especially susceptible.
The last three years have been years of great distraction.
Which brings me to a verse of scripture I’d simply not heard discussed:
“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.”– Isaiah 8:12
At BibleRef.com:
No specific conspiracies are mentioned, but human nature has always tried to explain difficult circumstances in overly simple terms. Sometimes those explanations have no basis in what is real. Conspiracies usually involve assigning secret motives to those in power. They can also be suggestions that those who seem powerless are secretly in control of everything behind the scenes. When such conspiracies take root among a people, they can cause immense panic and damage. The priority of knowing what is true gets lost as people get caught up in fear.
One result of buying into conspiracies is to stop trusting in the Lord and His control over all things. Instead, those who believe such lies live in fear and dread of forces they cannot control and believe are set against them. Such fear is not from God.
Isaiah said they were worried about the wrong things. Instead of fearing their enemies, they should have been thinking about the Lord. The Lord promised that He would be a sanctuary for those who put their trust in Him. But to those who rejected His offer, He would be “a stone of stumbling” and a hunter’s snare.
According to the notes in The NET Bible:
The background of this command is uncertain. Perhaps the “conspiracy” in view is the alliance between Israel and Syria. Some of the people may have even thought that individuals in Judah were plotting with Israel and Syria to overthrow the king.
(It’s amazing how the more things change, the more they stay the same!)
I believe the key to this verse is in the second part, “you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it;“ (NASB) or “don’t be afraid of something, just because they are.” (CEV) Fear will paralyze us all.
The last three years in particular have been years of great distraction. As I’ve indicated with my own stories, these years have also greatly contributed to great disunity among believers including the fracturing of lifelong friendships. And if I may say it, the years have brought great deceit as the contagion of false information is spread at alarming rates.
Don’t be a conspiracy-monger. Don’t look for conspiracies where they don’t exist. Don’t allow yourself to be overcome by fear.
Here’s Philippians 4:8 in both The Amplified Bible and The Message:
Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
Christianity 201 