Is There A Conspiracy Against Christians in America?

 Today, Thanksgiving Day, many of those who seek to follow Jesus Christ and the Word of God are convinced there is a dangerous conspiracy against such followers and other conservative voices in this country. Certainly, former president Donald Trump and his followers believe that to be true. Modern news outlets are spouting "fake news." Elections are rigged. Washington is biased. The far left socialists are planning to take over this country. On and on it goes, fed by Facebook and other social media.

However, this is not a modern phenomenon. Many serious Christians for years have held to conspiracy theories and projections. From a dire projection of the Tribulation days cited in the book of Revelation, to various number theories about "666," to the evil happenings in our nation and world today, such people truly believe we are living in end times and dark days. They are hoping for a reprieve and praying that Jesus will come again -- the sooner the better. All that is happening politically and socially, they claim, point to such terrible times. And a number of them believe this darkness is being engineered by a secret government society seeking to overcome this country and, in fact, the whole world. After all, the Antichrist will rise up and take control of the media outlets and the freedom loving nations of the world. Perhaps he is already here at work.

In a more sophisticate vein, places like Hillsdale College and its newsletter, Imprimis, are publishing authors and speakers who are telling us that far left conspiracies abound and why they are growing and increasing in this country. Classic college and university institutions have been invaded by woke-inspired professors and administrators (Issue April/May 2022). The Department of Justice has become politicized (Issue August 2022). Inflation in America has been spawned by radical economists and pundits. And on and on it goes. The Constitution is being assaulted and overtaken by anti-God socialists and others, pretending that they are supporting human rights and American freedoms. Conservative think tanks are producing papers and court cases citing the effects of conspiratorial thinking in America.

Is there a conspiracy against Christians in America? Well, yes and no. It all depends on your view of freedom, government, the Bible and the reality of sin and evil spawned by a real Devil and his forces in this world. Most non-Christians I know do not have a secret agenda against Christians and Christian churches. To claim they all have been brainwashed by left wing media and woke-inspired institutions and policies may be over the top. There is indeed anti-Christian godlessness in the news rooms and governmental institutions in this country. They have an anti-God point of view and claim that conservative religion is harmful to American freedoms. To say that this is a thought out conspiracy against followers of Jesus may be saying too much. That people have been "brainwashed" by anti-Christian and anti-biblical media teachers, professors and outlets may be very hard to prove, at least not in the classic definition of brainwashing.

What we can say, I believe, is that there are indeed anti-God forces at work in the media and governmental institutions at all levels. Anti-biblical, yes, conspiratorial, not really. There is a blindness to God and biblical spirituality that is apparent. Most non-Christians do not even think these things through. There is also a growing degree of biblical illiteracy among many Christians, and this increases their lack of informed perception about what they hear and read. We should not be shocked by anti-Christian reports and influences on us. This has always been the case in Christendom in any age.

How should we respond to such forces? It does not help to try to pin conspiracy theories on most non-Christian social and media and institutional pundits. There may be a few who want to overthrow all biblical Christian teachings and churches in this country. They may even try to convince many that we as biblically minded believers should be silenced, fined and even jailed for our beliefs. Such a day may increasingly come upon us (this is not to say there are not instances of such happenings today). We need to be informed, perceptive and smart Christians, people who indeed understand the times and sinful forces around us, but seek to lovingly and patiently teach those who will listen God's Word and God's truth. Becoming more and more "closet" or "cocooned" Christians who read and study only what we agree with will not help our country. The Bible instructs us to "test" all things, to hold fast to what is good and not to repay evil for evil (1 Thessalonians 5:21, 22; Romans 12).

The Church In A Divided America

 The Church in a Divided America. Recently, Barna Associates published a survey result called, "Does A Divided Public Look to Pastors for Guidance?" (https://www.barna.com/research/midterms-pastors-guidance/) (October 19, 2022). Unsurprisingly, Barna found that the majority of the American public look to government or themselves for guidance and answers to the current divided agendas. The American Christian public will seek guidance from pastors and other Christian leaders as well. There are always many ways to look at these survey results. Here are some of the ways I look at this.

The Church is not (and should not) be in the business of political infighting or resolution. The Church is charged by Jesus Christ with the proclamation and dissemination of the gospel message, that repentance and faith in Christ is the only way to really change and transform a heart or many hearts. Our mission and mandate is to respect and honor governmental leaders and institutions, but only to a point. We are not to become political allies or servants of a political party or parties. We are to keep the main thing the main thing in our witness and contact with the world. To go beyond biblical teaching and dissemination is not to be the purview of the Church.

Individual transformational change by the grace of God in Christ Jesus is the only final solution to infighting of any kind. The heart must be changed for the head to be different. We are to think God's thoughts after him--not before him, not in addition to him, not above him, not in place of him. For this to happen, the center of our being must be radically transformed, from the inside out. This has always been the message and mandate of Christian pastors and the church.

Do such changes make divisions disappear? Unfortunately no, due to remaining sin and selfishness in us. But such changes, when they are sincere and real, make divisions less divisive and less offensive and easier to navigate. I remember days when we could have town and church debates without heckling one another or fighting with one another or shooting one another. We respected one another. I am saying that we must regain respect and honor of one another, and such perspectives come from a heart wedded to Jesus and his Word. 

The fact that most of the public see themselves as the ultimate solution to our divisions (40+ percent) betrays the source of those divisions. We want our way, and only our way to be the final solution. This cannot happen apart from the above transformative thinking that I have stated. We do not trust anyone except ourselves, and that is the root of all corporate problems in America. We cannot solve what we have created and what we sponsor and fight for. We need Jesus!

Roe vs Wade Reversal: A Pyrrhic Victory?

 In 279 BC a warrior king, Pyrrhus, fought the Roman army at the Battle of Asculum, winning a costly victory. Commenting on his victory, Pyrrhus stated, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined."  It is from reports of this semi-legendary event that the term pyrrhic victory originates.* It is a victory to be sure, but perhaps won at too great a cost to the victor. I wonder if the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court reversal isn't one of those victories for pro-life conservatives.

I write this as a Christian conservative, a pastor-theologian who has worked with and for pro-life groups and defended anti-abortion actions through the years. Yet, the hue and outcry against the Court's decision has made the seeming victory quite hollow and inconsequential, given that many states, including my own (PA), have sought to guarantee a woman's right to abortion on demand. We live in an increasingly fractured society moving toward increasing civil strife. While we pat ourselves on the back for a hard fought 50-year victory in the nation's highest court, we had better watch those same backs for the resounding flak from a decidedly godless society and cultural order. This may prove to be a pyrrhic victory.

Our problem with abortion and other societal ills we blame on progressive leftists is not about a single decision from a single court case. It is deeply rooted in an anti-Christian framework that keeps getting larger and bolder and more encompassing day by day and year by year. We are not, and never have been, a "Christian nation." Sorry that such a historical fact shakes us up. At best, we were founded by, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights, was written by Deists who were far less than biblical Christians following the lordship of Jesus Christ. They were Victorian moralists at best, and that is not Christianity. We applaud their commitment to principles such as the Ten Commandments, school prayer activities and so forth, but that was far from biblical faith and hope.

The problem with our anti-Christian society is a problem of the heart. Our hearts are not aligned with God's truth because they are not infused with God's work of grace and new life. The debate about post-modernism and beyond is quite beside the point. We have chucked God's Word and thus God's truth with our own take on what is proper and not proper. Not only have we become situational ethicists, we have become rebellious overtakers of God's world, imposing our own standards, if there are any, and decrying any attempt to bring society back to submission to what God wants. We have remade God in our image, our likeness, and have defined him to be our projection of him.

We do not want to look at the heart because we assume that at root we are "good" people. A few of us may prove to be bad, but that is due to mental illness or a harsh childhood. The Bible defines us as sinners, rebellious at the core, and seeking our own ways to run from God and his rule in our lives. We can and have debated the essence of the human soul, and one can trace the historical, philosophical, and theological argumentation to show how "clever" we have been to redefine good and evil and dispense with sinful depravity. 

Consequently, in all arguments with abortionists, they choose to ignore and refuse to acknowledge the humanity of the unborn child--it's just a mass of tissue, at the control and desire of its carrier. A woman therefore has the inalienable right to terminate this blob of tissue wherever and whenever it is convenient. Every abortionist cites rape, incest and poverty as key ingredients to a woman's right to abortion. Few, if any, address the human child that is being murdered in the abortion procedure. And few talk about the woman who has an abortion simply because the child is "inconvenient" to her life and her career. The discussion is openly biased against a pro-life stance. Where are the protective rights of the unborn child?

At heart is the blatant denial of what true human freedom should cherish. Dumping the strictures of the moral code of the Bible means freedom without responsibility and accountability. We can do whatever we want, and the only guard to that freedom is what the majority of unbiblically minded people propose. We are horrified at mass shootings of children and comfortable with mass abortions of the unborn. Not only is that obviously one sided and unfair, it is criminally negligent.

However, abortion proponents are not only not giving up. They are actively resisting and rebelling against the Court's decision and any state that seeks to enact laws protecting the unborn. And federal and state judges sympathetic to their cause are blocking the High Court's decision. 

What can be done now to avoid a Pyrrhic victory of pro-life rights? We need to ramp up pregnancy clinics that treat a woman and her unborn child as children of God, made in the image of God. We need to provide rape and incest and poverty victims with love and alternate solutions to their forced pregnancies. We need to proactively work to fill doctor's offices with pro-life medical caregivers. We need the Church to speak for pro-life against anti-God and anti-biblical sentiment and policies. This is not going to bring America "back to God." That is a failed and false dream. But it will show the resurrection hope that Jesus Christ brought to this world. And that is worth fighting for.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus