I have the impression that the general opinion is that you should not think in conspiracies. Certainly not as a Christian and you are certainly not allowed to preach about it. Right-thinking people don't want to associate with these people, whom they often call wappies.
Recently I came across a text in the Bible about a conspiracy and then I went looking for whether the Word of God has anything to say about conspiracies. It was an instructive voyage of discovery.
The reason
The text below prompted me to look for conspiracies in the Bible
“And when it was day, some of the Jews plotted: they cursed themselves, saying that they would not eat and drink until they killed Paul. There were more than forty who plotted this conspiracy.” (Acts 23:12-13)
It is about a plot that is being hatched to kill Paul. It is also called "conspiracy" in the same verse. The word "conspiracy" occurs only once in the New Testament, but "conspiracy" occurs several times in the Bible.
When you walk through these histories and look at the context of 'conspiracy', a number of common features stand out. The most easily recognizable features of Old Testament conspiracies are:
- It is a 'secret' operation that is, as it were, prepared 'under water' and then suddenly resurfaces in society.
- The preparation is aimed at acquiring the most effective group of fellow 'combatants' necessary to achieve the goal.
- The goal is to remove the ruling power. In Old Testament times, it is always about the king who must be killed so that the murderer can take his place.
Absalom
The first mention of a conspiracy in the Old Testament concerns the rebellion of Absalom against his father, King David (2 Samuel 15:1-13). David was God's chosen king, not Absalom, and it didn't end well for Absalom.
The preparation takes several years, during which he displayed the same patient scheming and ruthless determination as when he sought to avenge his sister's rape. He used the first four years to undermine David's authority and confidence in him. He promises the people better and more just rule than David's and tries to get people with flattery behind him (verses 5,6). Make sure you have supporters everywhere, who will stand up for you and support you when the time comes. Then (from verse 7) he uses his time to prepare the military side of the operation. We also see that two hundred men from Jerusalem go with him without knowing the background and the real purpose (verse 11).
The religious aspect (to call it that) in the story is remarkable. In verses 7 and 8 Absalom announces that he wants to serve the Lord, first in Hebron and then in Jerusalem. It is an indication of how Absalom was; he thought he was sincerely serving the Lord with his evil plans. These are apparently things that he could easily combine. We'll talk about how this can be done later.
Finally, this: the history of Absalom reminds us of the Antichrist and what the Bible says about him. More on that later.
The Jews and Judas
About a year ago we talked about the betrayal of Judas. The Jewish leaders who understood the Lord Jesus were religious people who thought they were serving the Lord God, but in the meantime were deceived and were inspired by Satan. The Lord Jesus names it very directly and says that “the devil is their father” (John 8:44). That arouses their anger so much that they turn it around and blaspheme the Lord Jesus by saying He has a demon (John 8:48); It's something they've said more than once.
That the Jews were inspired by demons means that they practiced idolatrous practices. Judas belonged to the same 'club' in the sense that he had contacts and consultations there. Spiritually he was on the same wavelength as the Jews, as evidenced by the fact that Satan himself gives him the plan to betray the Lord and moments later even Satan himself enters him (John 13:2,27,28). Judas was also one of those who thought they were serving God, while unknowingly opening himself to the demons in the invisible world.
The Lord Jesus calls Judas “a devil” (John 6:71) and “the son of perdition” (John 17:12). The latter name is only used in the New Testament for the antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and therefore Judas – just like Absalom – is a prototype of the antichrist.
The Jews and Paul
The Jewish leaders have conspired against the Lord Jesus; they did not believe Him and He was a threat to them. The people would only go after Him, then they would lose their position and their power. That is why the Lord Jesus had to be killed.
The same they then passed on to the apostles and the believers, after the Lord went to heaven. Not only in Jerusalem, but also in many other places, the apostles were threatened and hindered.
Finally, with regard to Paul, we read at length one more time about a conspiracy.
“And when it was day, some of the Jews plotted: they cursed themselves, saying that they would not eat and drink until they killed Paul. It was more than forty who plotted this conspiracy.” (Acts 23:12-13)
Those 'a few Jews' turn out to be no less than forty in the next verse. A good-sized company that places itself under divine judgment even with a curse, should they fail in their purpose. You could call it some sort of secret society.
What is also striking in the story is that the conspirators try to draw the official authorities into their plan in order to achieve their goal.
In the end, their conspiracy against Paul—at least for the time being—blown up.
All the scheming and actions of the Jews against the disciples and apostles of the Lord they did with religious intent, really believing that they were serving God. The Lord Jesus foretold it:The time is coming when whoever kills you thinks they're doing God a favor.” (John 16:2).
The religious component of the conspiracies
In the conspiracies that we encounter in more detail in the Bible, we always find a spiritual component. This is true in Absalom's conspiracy against David as well as in the conspiracies of the Jews against Christ and the apostles.
That this is an important aspect that we must take into account is confirmed by the fact that the idolatry of the people of Israel by the Lord Himself'a conspiracy' is called.
“There is a conspiracy of his prophets in his midst. (…) His priests have violated My law, (…) His princes are like wolves in his midst (…) His prophets plaster them with whitewash. They see false visions and foretell their lies, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And the LORD hath not spoken!” (Ezekiel 22:25-28)
The idolatry of the leaders of the people (prophets, priests, princes) results in great wrongs. Someone writes of it: “By a Jeckyll & Hyde (of here) transformation turned the civil authorities, who should have been shepherds with the welfare of their flock at heart, into wild beasts that preyed upon the sheep (see also Ezekiel 34:8).[2]“
This "terrible transformation" of the leaders is the result of their idolatry. They bonded with the demons in the invisible world and because of that they were capable of such terrible things.
That is an essential aspect about which we have already written the following in response to Deuteronomy 29:18 and 19 (see here).
- (…) when a person comes into that state of higher consciousness, he experiences harmony, peace, tranquility and love and that the distinction between good and evil diminishes or even disappears completely (see e.g. here).
When the one who thinks he is serving the Lord, but meanwhile is under demonic influence and persists in this idolatry, is confronted with God's judgment (“hearing the words of this curse”), this is simply rejected and denied. There are a few revealing expressions in this 19th verse and they describe the condition of one who is in a state of higher consciousness. They describe exactly what goes on inside.- He blesses himself in his heart. The word for 'bless' comes from 'to kneel'. You can say that he kneels to himself and sees himself as god. That is indeed what happens in the state of higher consciousness.
- “I will be at peace”. 'Peace' is not only the absence of war but also something like 'wholeness', completeness'. The idolater deludes himself that God does him no harm because there is nothing flawed in him. He sees himself as good in the sight of God, even if he continues to "follow his hardened heart."
- “I follow my hardened heart”. Interesting is the meaning of 'hardened'. The KJV here says “I walk according to the imaginations of my heart” and the Naarden Bible says: “with the certainties of my heart I will go on”. The combination of both is exactly what happens in the higher consciousness: your perception of reality changes, you get imaginations (images) that go deep into your soul and that you take for the real reality. These are the real certainties that settle deep inside and that no one can take away from you. As a result, you are no longer open to what God really has to say to you.
- “The abundance will take away the thirst””. The KJV says: 'to add drunkenness to the thirst' and also the Naarden Bible has 'drunkenness' instead of 'abundance'. Drunkenness is a state where you are "under the influence" and not by yourself, but by something or someone else. You are no longer in control of yourself and become like Paul[6] says 'carried away by the dumb idols' (1 Corinthians 12:2). There is apparently a thirst, a longing for something (or God?) that is satisfied by 'drunkenness', that state of higher consciousness, where you 'experience the real bliss'.”
- People who 'straying from the way of reason' and going down the path of the "God experiences" thereby come under the influence of demons - without their noticing it, which changes their views. These new ideas become so deeply ingrained in the soul that they are almost impossible to get out. After all, for this person they are ideas that come from God, they are, as it were, 'sacred' to him because they are linked to deep inner experiences, which he believes are the work of God in his soul. He is therefore not aware of any harm, believes that he leads a life pleasing to God and continues 'calmly' on the chosen path.
The work of the demons in a man's soul ultimately makes him one who does evil, while he himself is fully convinced to do good for 'God' and men. He is conscious of no evil and continues to follow and carry out the plans of his heart with vigor.
A conspiracy in the country
Idolatry was a constant problem among the people of Israel. Of the idolatry in the land the Lord says it is a 'conspiracy' is (Ezekiel 22:25). To my knowledge, this is the only time God's Word mentions it that way, but it is also very telling. When we know what idolatry is and how Satan tempts people in it, we also learn something about the conspiracy.
- To begin with, it has to do with Satan's plan to take the place of Christ and remove Him from our human world to that end. You could also say that Satan wants to take the place of God and remove everything that reminds and serves God of God. That was his goal in the beginning and will remain so until the end.
- Satan begins with cunning temptation and comes with a beautiful story in which he promises everything. He tells man two things (Genesis 3:1-5)
- God does not want the best for you; 'there is more' and He remembers that. He actually lets you down. Satan thus suggests that God does not intend the good for you.
- I promise you freedom. The freedom that God withholds from you to determine your destiny and determine what is right or wrong.
- Satan robs God's Word of its power, so that the space is created to respond to temptation. As a result, the Word of God becomes less and less important to man, until eventually none of it remains.
- Satan works step by step, he infiltrates with one or a few and those contacts lead to his (secret) network being expanded. Until he gets to the point where the whole community can be 'taken over'. That is how he worked with the people of Israel and that is how he also works in the church of God (see for example Revelation 2:9). Nearly all the letters in the New Testament warn against 'the devil's crafty temptations' (Ephesians 6:11) so that the believers may discern it and guard against it.
The purpose of Satan's plan—called a "conspiracy" by the Lord—is to eventually gain complete control over all of God's people.
An exciting question
We have seen that conspiracies do occur in the Bible and that its main biblical features are:
- Satan is the instigator and works through his demons in people who are open to it.
- The purpose of conspiracies is always to occupy the supreme place that belongs to Christ alone and to bring men under one's own power.
- Conspiracies don't happen overnight. They need a time of (usually secret) preparation before they surface and become publicly visible.
Moreover, the first phase is usually that of covert deception and (military) force is often used in the realization of the plan – the second phase.
When we now ask the question whether there is a conspiracy going on today and it might have a satanic background, this is often brushed aside, also by Christians. But what we've come across in Scripture doesn't make the question and the suggestion so crazy at all and you should be able to take it seriously.
Next time we will also talk to DV about that, but in anticipation of that already this.
I think we are biblically in the biggest conspiracy ever; a plot with satan as the instigator, that too. The plot follows the same pattern as the other plots in the Bible. We know very little about what goes on 'under water'; The bible doesn't call it that for nothing 'the mystery of lawlessness' (2 Thessalonians 2:7). If we know its principles, we can recognize it. .
“And we implore you, brethren, as to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our union with Him, 2 that you are not easily shaken or frightened, not by an expression of the spirit, not by a word, nor by a letter that should come from us, as if the day of Christ had already come.
3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, is revealed, 4 the adversary, who also exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshiped as God, so that he sits as God in the temple of God and presents himself as God.
5 Don't you remember I told you these things when I was still with you? 6 And you know what restrains him now, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only there's someone who's holding him back now, until he's gone from the middle. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord will consume him by the spirit of his mouth, and destroy him by the appearing at his coming;
9 him whose coming is according to the working of Satan with every power, signs and lying wonders, 10 and with every deception of the iniquity in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And therefore God will send them strong delusion, that they may believe the lie, 12 that they may all be condemned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in iniquity.
13 But we must always thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, that God hath chosen you from the beginning unto salvation, in sanctification by the Spirit, and faith in the truth. 14 To this he has called you by our gospel to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Stand firm then, brethren, and hold fast to the traditions in which you have been taught by our word or by our letter.
16 And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 may comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and work.” (2 Thessalonicenzen 2)
And last but not least
In addition to what Paul writes to the Thessalonians above, there is another special scripture for children of God who live in a time of conspiracy. And that is the call not to think or speak in terms of conspiracies, because we know that our God is above all and has all things in His mighty hand. He oversees everything, and His providence directs things toward His goal—the glorification of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
“You must not call a conspiracy anything this people calls a conspiracy; and what they are afraid of, ye shall not be afraid, neither shall you be afraid.
Isaiah 8:12-13
The LORD of hosts, Him you shall esteem holy (…)”
We don't care about the conspiracies in the world, we don't get angry about it and we don't fight it because we know that our Lord,'the Lord of the Armies' above everything else. We have nothing to do but testify of Christ and bring the people to Him while we still can.
[2] Allen, Ezekiel 20－48, p. 39.
Posted message
Via-via I got the question from someone who did not agree with the last comment, that it is not our vocation to concern ourselves with the 'worldly conspiracy' (so to speak). Referring to Ephesians 5:11 – “And participate not in the barren works of darkness, but rather expose them.”
My answer to that is the following three points:
- The letter to Ephesus is addressed to the church of Ephesus and is about the 'functioning of the Christian church according to God's purposes'. The quoted text is therefore intended to be applied within the municipality. Every congregation has the task of walking together as 'children of the light' (vs8) and when people come in with evil practices (vs3-5) and/or “deception with meaningless words' (vs6), then we have a duty to bring it to light in the church. Ephesians 5:11 is by no means a call to expose the dark things that are happening in the world. Then we take the text out of context and we go the wrong way.
- An example from the New Testament is when Paul walks around Athens and sees how everything there bears witness to idolatry (Acts 17:15-34). He doesn't rail against all the wrong he sees, but he takes it as the starting point for a gospel proclamation on the Areopagus. A call to repentance, because a day is coming when God will judge people righteously through Jesus Christ, the One who rose from the dead. That is the only message that arrives and confronts people with their guilt before God and the question of their salvation.
If in Athens Paul had tried to explain how wrong all this idolatry is and how they serve Satan and his demons, it would have done little. 'Pity Paulus, but we really think differently about that.'
The only thing that works in an evil and dark world is the clear gospel as Paul brought it to Athens. Only then can God's Spirit work in hard hearts to repentance, as happened to some (vs34).
The same is true for us today. - We are here on earth but we do not belong to the world; we don't belong to 'the system', so to speak. The Lord Jesus has released us from it by His work (John 15:19). That's why we also live here as 'foreigners and sojourners' (see for example here) and we are pilgrims on our way to the heavenly Father's house.
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