The Christian and Conspiracy Theory

While the liberals may view belief in the conspiracy view of history as absurd, or even as a sign of membership in the “lunatic fringe,” the orthodox Christian must assert it to be basic to the philosophy of history.¹

At the risk of being misunderstood: We’re dedicating an issue of Faith for All of Life to the subject of the Statist Agenda. To do this we must address the idea of conspiracy. You’ll better understand our reasons for doing so when you’ve digested each of these pertinent articles. Many, as Rushdoony says, believe a conspiratorial view of history is absurd and does not warrant the serious investigation of academic professionals. But, for the Christian, conspiracy is to be considered, consulted, and eventually condemned.

Conspiracy provides the back-story to Biblical history. Out of the serenity of the Garden a cosmic battle ensues between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15); and this conflict continues throughout the Biblical narrative at an unabated pace. It’s a saga that is paramount to understanding our present time, and recognizing it is crucial to provoking indifferent Christians to embrace their Kingdom responsibilities.

At the outset I’d like to first highlight an important clarification. As you might imagine there are few favorable words spoken about conspiracy theorists. In preparing for this issue I received a few cautionary words about spending too much time investigating the works of darkness. I acknowledge those exhortations, but I persist in this theme because it provides context to the rapid decline of our free republic. Ironically, I still find R. J. Rushdoony to be one of the more profound conspiracy “factualists” — he was no theorist — and his Biblical examination of the problem provides the foundation to my approach.

The benefit of conspiracy theory is that it places flesh and blood on an otherwise abstract enemy. It’s one thing to talk about the “state” as totalitarian and evil. It’s quite another thing to show you how they do it! My intent is to provide you a brief glimpse so that your pure mind is stirred and your resolve is galvanized for the magnificent calling to dominion.

Biblical Conspiracy

Since the first day of judgment in Genesis 3, Satan has pursued a great conspiracy to destroy the seed of the woman. The schemes are carried out through the sinful minds of evil men whose goal is to seize the throne of God and cast away the fetters of God’s righteous nation. This protracted struggle is reiterated for us in the oft-quoted second psalm:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Ps. 2:1-3)

The kings and rulers “set themselves” against the Lord. They labor for God’s throne but seek the destruction of His anointed. The “anointed” will ultimately be personified in Christ and His church. These evil rulers perceive they are suffering under the bands and cords of God’s law, and the representative body of God must be first removed to clear a path to the throne. Biblical history is filled with the vain attempts of perverted despots to destroy God’s holy seed. Shortly after Pentecost the early church leaders recognized Psalm 2 as the framework for the conspiracy to crucify Christ:

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. (Ac. 4:27-28)

Men do conspire and the conspiracies can be massive in scale. In Acts 4 the conspiracy involved Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel. What critics often overlook is that complex conspiracies can be carried out without leaks because the conspiracy is satanically controlled. Without awareness the entire nation of Israel conspired against Christ, and that deception overlaid corporate Israel like a blanket. Propagandists would refer to this as “conditioning.”

Despite the difficulty in accepting conspiracies, the orthodox Christian must see Biblical history as conspiracy from beginning to end. The Darwinian unbeliever cannot accept such a foolish view of the world. His materialist philosophy will only permit the impersonal forces of nature blindly nudging history along its circuitous timeline. Rushdoony was clear on the error of such a position, and the necessity for the Christian to embrace history as conspiracy:

History, therefore, is not the outworking of impersonal forces but a personal conflict between the forces of God and anti-God…. The Bible as a whole presents a view of history as conspiracy, with Satan and man determined to assert their “right” to be gods, knowing, or determining, good and evil for themselves (Genesis 3:5). From beginning to end, this is the perspective of Scripture, and only a willful misreading of it can lead to any other position.2

Conspiracy and Hyperbole

Despite the Biblical justification, conspiracy theorists are often discounted because of their outlandish conclusions. One British “specialist” teaches that a race of reptilians (human/reptile) actually runs the world while others suggest aliens or a single religious leader (antichrist?). Other theories are a bit more down to earth and can include the Jesuits, Freemasons, Zionists, Illuminati, and international bankers.

In the history of legend and lore, the heroes and villains were simply exaggerations of reality. This allowed the ancient world to identify with the gods because the people saw in them grand reflections of the material world. Humor works much the same way. We laugh at what resembles us though it is portrayed in hyperbolic form.

Conspiracy theories can be exaggerations of reality. Whereas you and I may chuckle at the suggestion that aliens “rule the world,” it doesn’t preclude elite groups from manipulating the centers of world power. Conspiracy theories can be extreme, but to deny these exaggerations any correspondence to the truth is naïve and an underestimation of man’s sinful capacity.

The New World Order

The conspiracy theory of which most Christians are aware is what has been referred to as “The New World Order.” The confirmed role players are such elitists as the Illuminati,3 the Council on Foreign Relations (C.F.R.),4 and the Trilateral Commission;5 along with the adjunct assistance of big foundations such as Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie. The alleged politico-economic tools of this conspiracy are the United Nations and the Federal Reserve.

The New World Order involves a cadre of international financiers that seize control of sovereign nations through the central banking system. In the United States this includes the Federal Reserve. By creating fiat money, these international hucksters enslave free societies via national debt. The objective is to transform a free market into a socialist economy of government regulatory control. Once that is achieved, the now fettered nation can easily be transferred into a one-world order under the dictatorship of a world-government headed up by the global elite.

Astute Christians such as Larry Abraham, co-author of None Dare Call It Conspiracy and author of Call it Conspiracy, saw early on the insidious truth of the New World Order and helped expose it to millions of readers. The New World Order became kitchen table discussion after the 1990 State of the Union Address by then President George H. W. Bush in which he declared:

We stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective — a new world order — can emerge….

Ironically, President Bush gave this speech on September 11, 1990. However, Larry Abraham claims the New World Order expired after the recent failure of the European Union, the unexpected economic rise of China, and the regional instability of radical Islam (see his article on page 11). Abraham did admit in his Call It Conspiracy that stopping the globalists doesn’t prohibit these satanic serpents from resurrecting their fiendish plots:

If we change the policies of the U.S. Government, both at home and abroad, the game is over, and those “who will be like God” will slither back into the darkest regions and wait to prey on man’s ignorance in some future time.6

One would think such evil plans would also be thwarted by the death of the participants. Yet recent history demonstrates that this is not so. Structural posterity is as important to the ruling group as perpetuating the faith is to the church. Larry Abraham cites a portion of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four that describes this well:

A ruling group is a ruling group so long as it can nominate its successors. The Party is not concerned with perpetuating its blood but with perpetuating itself. Who wields power is not important provided the hierarchical structure remains always the same.7

The New “American” Order

So, shall we then rest if the New World Order is licking its wounds? I would answer with a resounding, NO! What should incite our observation and target our prayers is the rapid transformation of the American way of life and its relation to the post-9/11 world. Since September of 2001 the radical changes in U.S. foreign policy, homeland security, and new legislation (i.e., The Patriot Act) are great threats to the foundations of our once-free republic. I rehearsed this first in the hearing of those Christians who seem bent on “reclaiming America” from the secularists but seemingly march in “lock step” with the present administration. The culture wars are important, but the increasing infringement upon our civil liberties may soon prohibit all social agendas.

The illustration of the frog in the kettle best describes the current conditioning imposed on the American populace. We are being desensitized to the rapid loss of civil liberties and the transformation of policing policies. This is all done under the guise of national security. This is the epitome of the Orwellian order where “doublespeak” (language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its meaning) is used to control the mass populace.

In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, the character Winston Smith works at a government building (a pyramid) called The Ministry of Truth. Written on the building are the slogans of The Party: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. This form of doublespeak permeates Orwell’s novel in such dramatic fashion that it stands as a clear warning to all generations regarding the dangers of government control.

At no stage in American history have we been closer to the fictional hyperbole of Orwell’s world. Daily we are inundated with doublespeak, legislation, and institutions that isolate the undiscerning to a perpetual ignorance. Citizens are simply indifferent to the rapid loss of civil liberties. Here are a few examples of New American Order doublespeak:

Freedom Means Tyranny – We are continually told that Islamic terrorists attacked us because of our freedom, and that the War on Terror is the primary means to preserving that freedom. But, ask yourself, are you more “free” since 9/11? The obvious answer is, no. You can now be searched without a warrant, frisked at airports, and monitored in your daily routines. This is all for your protection, of course. So, when politicians say “freedom” we can usually expect more restraints upon our liberties.

Peace Means War – In contemporary political rhetoric much is made of living in peace. America is out to establish that peace — by force if necessary. It’s Pax Americana at the barrel of a gun. Much ado about “peace” is often the prologue to “war.”

Patriotism Means Agreement – Patriotism once meant a love and support of country. Now it means agreeing with the present foreign policy. To disagree is considered unpatriotic and lending aid to the enemy.

Security Means Loss of Liberty – In 2001 America traded its liberty for security by signing the Patriot Act. In actuality, there’s nothing patriotic about it. When they say they are working to preserve your liberties, they mean adding more security that inhibit those liberties. As Benjamin Franklin once quipped, “Those who are willing to trade freedom for security deserve neither freedom nor security.”

The New Imperialism

[T]he more the U.S. becomes socialistic, the more it will require imperialism to survive. A parasite, when it destroys one host body, requires another to survive.8

Rushdoony, as always, is on target here. Although it’s difficult for Americans to view their country as imperialistic, it’s the order of things when you’re abiding in a socialistic society that regulates and consumes its productivity. Most Americans see imperialism as the handicap of old Europe, but Robert Kagan, neoconservative thinker, highlights the role reversal between Europe and the United States in what he refers to as the “New World Order”:

Two centuries later, Americans and Europeans have traded places — and perspectives. This is partly because in those two hundred years, and especially in recent decades, the power equation has shifted dramatically: When the United States was weak, it practiced the strategies of indirection, the strategies of weakness; now that the United States is powerful, it behaves as powerful nations do. When the European great powers were strong, they believed in strength and martial glory. Now they see the world through eyes of weaker powers. These very different points of view have naturally produced differing strategic judgments, differing assessments of threats and of the proper means of addressing them, different calculations of interest, and differing perspectives on the value and meaning of international law and international institutions.9

A frightening portion of this citation is “now that the United States is powerful, it behaves as powerful nations do.” What powerful nations is he referring to? Ancient Rome? Greece? Nazi Germany? The Soviet Union? Most “powerful nations” were tyrannical and imperialistic. Are we to mimic them?

Kagan also alludes to addressing national threats. By this does he mean other nations that might be opposed to American hegemony? Part of addressing these threats requires massive defense spending on a global scale. This strategy was spelled out clearly in the now famous neoconservative document Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century. This defense strategy was prepared by the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) and in September of 2000 — one year before 9/11 — suggested that in order to galvanize public support for such massive defense spending the U.S. needed another “Pearl Harbor”:

Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor. Domestic politics and industrial policy will shape the pace and content of transformation as much as the requirements of current missions.10

We all know what transpired a year later — a “catastrophic and catalyzing event” took place that overshadowed the old wound of Pearl Harbor. And since then American forces are engaged in two wars in the Middle East with the possibility of more conflict as the War on Terror unfolds.

Police State USA

Besides billions being spent on defense, a new phenomenon has altered the once free landscape of the American republic. Massive bureaucratic behemoths like the Department of Homeland Security are clamping down on every aspect of society. Being searched is now routine and it’s easy to see that in the near future showing our “papers” at checkpoints could be the norm.

After the fiasco in New Orleans, the idea of “martial law” is now embedded in the American psyche. We’ve all seen footage of federal troops patrolling an American city brandishing automatic weapons and military assault vehicles. It seems we are moving ever closer to a police state as such events as natural disasters might be placed under the jurisdiction of the military.11

But still the majority of Americans are willing to tolerate such a federalizing of their country. After all, it makes all of us safer, right? Conservative Congressman Ron Paul has faithfully warned the public of the current threat of tyranny that is crouched at the door of the United States:

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse. Those who believe a police state can’t happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.12

How do you know when the police state has fully arrived? How close are we to an actual tyranny? Rushdoony provided the criterion for such a totalitarian state:

An attack on the local police is an attack on the right of self-defense. When the local police are destroyed, the totalitarian state will have arrived in full force. That great civilian army of local police, and a citizenry with police powers and the right to bear arms, is thus a major target of subversive activity, assault, legislation, and propaganda.13
[emphasis added]

The subversion of our republic necessitates the federalizing of local police. By creating a federal police force, the government can homogenize policing policies to better handle the increasing threat of international terror and natural disasters. When presented in such a way to a frightened public, it’s easy to see how we can easily take that next step.

The Conspiracy of the State

If I had a dollar for every time Rushdoony mentioned the “state” I’d be a wealthy man. He knew that statism was a manifestation of the Adamic rebellion — the will to be as god. I know of no other man who has dedicated more space to exposing the demonic subterfuge of the prince of darkness. It can be said that “Rush” was not ignorant of the devil’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11).

Yet for all his labor in the camp of the enemy he understood better than any the strategy for overcoming darkness and advancing the cause of Christ. In this sense, Christianity is itself a conspiracy. As one Christian leader once said to me, “Let us conspire together to do good.” However, Christians can avoid the label “conspiracy” because our victory in history is established on the predetermined victory of the Son of God:

But conspiracies can be either good or bad, and this is well known. The reluctance to call one’s own position a conspiracy rests on the premise that destiny cannot be conspiracy; it is historical inevitability.14

Embracing this predestined victory and working in terms of it is the central task of Christian Reconstruction — the only remedy to international tyranny:

[W]e must be mindful that the cause is Christian Reconstruction. We have an obligation under God to bring all things into captivity to Christ, and under His dominion, to establish Christian order.… We need to do this in delight and anticipation of a godly order; we also need to do it in fear of the consequences if we do not. Either we work to establish a godly order, or we go down into the hell of total statism.15

Achieving the reconstructed social order will require long-term thinking. Deliverance will not come politically — although civil government is a targeted sphere. Our calling is based upon godly service as Gary North makes plain:

Our job is not to “throw the rascals out” in one glorious national election. Our job is to replace them steadily by our own competence.… It is victory through steady, long-term replacement. We need the conspirators to “mind the land” while we are preparing ourselves for full-time, comprehensive biblical service.16

The Focus of Our Fears

Adolph Hitler once said, “Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.” For Hitler terrorism was a tool to aggregate totalitarian power for his Nazi party. Hitler created the terror and used the great lie to control his countrymen. Regarding the lies of the party, Joseph Goebbels — Hitler’s minister of propaganda — penned this entry in his diary:

The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state.

Fear is a means of control and conspirators will use fear to obtain the federal powers of totalitarianism. It is fear that the state desires and it is the lie that creates it. But the Christian must never grant tyrants their coveted wish. Fear is precious in the sight of the Lord and is reserved for Himself. Isaiah offers a telling correction to our present generation regarding the conspiracies of evil men:

For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy. Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear,  and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary. (Is. 8:11-14)

Dread is the strongest form of fear and must not be given to the conspirators. To fear them is to declare them gods. It’s to suppose they can thwart the sovereign decree of God. Our dread is reserved for God alone because it is a form of worship. In this sense the Christian can never exalt conspiracy theories above the doctrines of God and the promise of cultural victory. Rushdoony states the matter with perfection:

The view of history, as conspiracy, however absurd to the liberal with his impersonal philosophy, is a basic aspect of the perspective of orthodox Christianity. As Psalm 2 presents it, the unGodly (sic) nations and peoples rage, they conspire together and imagine a vain thing, the triumph of their conspiracy. Precisely because it is a vain thing, the orthodox Christian’s philosophy of history cannot make the conspiracy, however central to the stage of history, the main fact of history. Believing as he must in the sovereignty and predestinating power of God, the meaning of history is for him transcendental. The main fact is the eternal decree and the certainty of the Son’s victory, Who shall make the nations His inheritance and possess the ends of the earth, in history and beyond history.17 [emphasis added]

There you have it — the center of history is the eternal decree and the assurance of the Son’s victory. All conspiracies evoke a chuckle from the Almighty (Ps. 2:4) because of the tardiness of their plans. God declares, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6). It’s too late. The king is installed. He now bears authority both in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and His dominion is an everlasting one that shall never pass away (Dan. 6:26).

The power brokers have seized the centers of power: banking, industry, media, and education. The conspiracies are manifold and often ignorant of one another. International financiers manipulate the money supply while secular educators humanize another generation of children. Corporate-controlled media curtails the truth while the defense industry grossly profits from perpetual war. They each pursue their selfish ends with no real regard for the other.

Yet together they represent the corporate body of the first Adam who sought a shortcut to glorification. But it is only our conformity to Christ’s image that makes us “like God.” Seizing the reins of power in neo-babylonian towers will only incite the fury and wrath of almighty God. It will never grant them the godhood they desire.

In closing it is vital to remember that the victory is ours because the victory is Christ’s first. Therefore resistance to tyranny begins with a return to His rule and the implementation of His dominion mandate. Let us bow the knee rather than reach for the sword.