Wednesday 5 July 2017

A conspiracy?

For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand,
and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
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.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken,
and be snared, and be taken. – Isaiah 8.11-15

I love a good conspiracy story. I think everyone does. At one point back in the 70s I joined the John Birch Society which is a hyper right wing conservative group dedicated to exposing all the conspiracies and groups and organisations in the world and how it is all being done to destroy our lives. Two of my favourite writers, Agatha Christie and Taylor Caldwell, were believers in the world conspiracy to control all the nations of the world. Just look through any list of television programmes on various cable channels and you will see that conspiracies are still big business. I don’t know for sure, but I would not be surprised if there was a ‘conspiracy channel’ out there somewhere.

The problem with all of these conspiracies is that once we get past the intriguing titillation they are all based on stirring up fear. They are based on the notion that some vast international conspiracy is so powerful that it is in control of our lives and it is what is going to determine our future.

But here God says ‘don’t you worry about conspiracies or confederations that may seem to endanger you. Instead set the Lord apart from all that in your lives. He will be your protection and your safety even when those things happen.’

So we need not be too concerned and the Illuminati or any other supposed vast world-wide conspiracy. They can’t win out anyway. Instead let us keep our focus on the high and lifted up thrice holy God that Isaiah saw in the vision that called Him to service.

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