Don't Buy It!
God tells us to “buy truth and do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23), but He never says to buy conspiracies and share them.
Lifeway Research just released a new study that found that 49% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they frequently hear members of their congregation repeating conspiracy theories they have heard.
Really? People in “the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) are embracing conspiracy theories?
Miriam-Webster defines a conspiracy as “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.”
Everything about Christianity revolves around the truth:
God is “the God of truth” (Psalm 31:5) and it is “impossible” for Him “to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).
Jesus Christ is “the truth” (John 14:6) who is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of truth” (John 15:26).
The Bible is termed “the word of truth” (John 17:17).
The gospel is the “message of truth” (Ephesians 1:13).
People go to hell because they “did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
How can so many people in the church fall for conspiracies (e.g., QAnon, COVID-19 vaccine implant trackable microchips, 5G causes COVID-19, etc.)?
Because Satan is the “father of lies” and “does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him” (John 8:44)
Because false teachers “stray from the truth” (2 Timothy 2:18) and are “always learning and never able to come to the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
Because some are acting like unbelievers who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18)
Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research said, “At this time, it appears more of the theories are traveling in politically conservative circles which corresponds to the higher percentages in the churches led by white Protestant pastors.”
Let’s give that report a big UGH.
Mary Jo Sharp, a Christian apologist rightly says, “Irresponsibility with information unravels the impact of a Christian’s witness to those in their community, and, with social media, to the broader world. The non-Christian may begin to believe or become further ingrained in the culturally popular belief that Christians are anti-intellectual, including anti-science.”
Remember that the Lord says, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren” (James 1:16). We have a precious testimony to guard and maintain before a watching world that doesn’t need more confusion, but more clarity that comes through the proclamation of gospel truth.
Let’s buy into this truth, that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). This is something we know is true and God wants you and me to spread this life-revolutionizing truth.
Pastor Jeff