The deeper we dig into scripture, the more we find that we have been misled about. The deeper we also dig into the systems of the world, the more we find we have been deceived there also. There are a lot of very real things we have to reconsider, and "wake up" about.
And Satan doesn't want us to find out about them. So he distracts us. With conspiracies that sound even bigger, even more important - yet are fake.
Personally, I think the flat earth issue falls into this category, but there's another thread for that discussion. There's a new one doing the rounds at the moment - the Mandela effect. Basically, the latest version of it is:
You know the Bible says the lion and the lamb will lie down together? Check the Bible. It says the wolf and the lamb. Every printed copy you can find says the wolf and the lamb, however old. But you know that cannot be correct. There are heaps of other examples where what you have always been told no longer agrees with what you know is correct. So the scientists at CERN must have gone back in time and changed history to meddle with the Bible and change it.
And the end result of that thinking is:
What is real and what is not? If you can't trust the Bible, because time-travelling illuminati scientists could have changed it, what can you trust? Only your own memory. So just believe what you know is correct, and disregard anything you read that disagrees, because it has been changed. Don't even bother reading the Bible any more, except to find where it has been changed, because you can't rely on it anyway.
And if the powers that be can even change history, there is no way to resist them, they are now all-powerful. They have essentially become gods. There is no hope in resisting, just do what you're told to stay safe. Submit to the beast.
It's ridiculous (as if history had changed our memories would be different too), and the intent (to drive people away from scripture) is so plainly obvious, that you'd think nobody would fall for it. In reality, the fact that scripture says the wolf and the lamb should encourage us to reconsider what we think we know and turn back to scripture. Yet people are falling for it in droves on Facebook. Why? Because it's so big that, if true, it would be so incredibly important that people think they must pay attention to it.
And while they focus on this they are taking time away from thinking about serious theological matters (e.g. plural marriage, what parts of the law we should follow), and serious worldly issues (e.g. vaccines, abortion, satanic influence on global leadership, microchip implants for financial transactions = mark of the beast?). These are serious concerns. Yet deep thinking people are being drawn away from them.
This tactic was actually covered by SouthPark, in an episode on the 9-11 attacks (I am not a SouthPark viewer, but have seen the occasional relevant episode). As is sometimes said, "If you want lies, watch the news. If you want truth, watch cartoons.". Note that I think 9-11 is a serious conspiracy, and this episode disagrees, but it is the principles that I want you to consider rather than the issue. This tactic can be applied to any issue.
You don't need to see the full episode, just a minute of it. Follow the link, go to 19:00 and watch until 20:30. This section is pretty clean and safe for anyone. Or I've quoted it below.
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/south ... al-deuce-2
- If people believe it, what will they do? What will they not do?
- Who gains if they do or don't do this?
In this age of the internet, when it is incredibly easy if you've got the cash to take a large number of paid online trolls and put them into discussions to plant an idea and reinforce it to give the impression of a consensus, it is very easy to make a fake conspiracy. If you make it big enough, it's very easy to get people interested in it. Make a few low-budget websites with some proofs on it and you can distract millions of hours of time from solid people who might spend that time studying something really important, and get them absorbed into your fiction instead. While you get to keep doing whatever it was you threw this smokescreen up to hide.
All is not always as it seems on the surface. Just because a conspiracy sounds really really big, doesn't mean it is true. But also, the fact some conspiracies are fake does not mean all conspiracies are fake. Some are real. And very serious. And that is why there are fake conspiracies - to distract us from the real ones.
And since the best way to distract someone from something real is to get them interested in something that sounds even bigger and more important, it is the biggest conspiracies that are most likely to be fake, as they're the only ones that would be effective distractions.
We must be extremely discerning in this age of misinformation.
And Satan doesn't want us to find out about them. So he distracts us. With conspiracies that sound even bigger, even more important - yet are fake.
Personally, I think the flat earth issue falls into this category, but there's another thread for that discussion. There's a new one doing the rounds at the moment - the Mandela effect. Basically, the latest version of it is:
You know the Bible says the lion and the lamb will lie down together? Check the Bible. It says the wolf and the lamb. Every printed copy you can find says the wolf and the lamb, however old. But you know that cannot be correct. There are heaps of other examples where what you have always been told no longer agrees with what you know is correct. So the scientists at CERN must have gone back in time and changed history to meddle with the Bible and change it.
And the end result of that thinking is:
What is real and what is not? If you can't trust the Bible, because time-travelling illuminati scientists could have changed it, what can you trust? Only your own memory. So just believe what you know is correct, and disregard anything you read that disagrees, because it has been changed. Don't even bother reading the Bible any more, except to find where it has been changed, because you can't rely on it anyway.
And if the powers that be can even change history, there is no way to resist them, they are now all-powerful. They have essentially become gods. There is no hope in resisting, just do what you're told to stay safe. Submit to the beast.
It's ridiculous (as if history had changed our memories would be different too), and the intent (to drive people away from scripture) is so plainly obvious, that you'd think nobody would fall for it. In reality, the fact that scripture says the wolf and the lamb should encourage us to reconsider what we think we know and turn back to scripture. Yet people are falling for it in droves on Facebook. Why? Because it's so big that, if true, it would be so incredibly important that people think they must pay attention to it.
And while they focus on this they are taking time away from thinking about serious theological matters (e.g. plural marriage, what parts of the law we should follow), and serious worldly issues (e.g. vaccines, abortion, satanic influence on global leadership, microchip implants for financial transactions = mark of the beast?). These are serious concerns. Yet deep thinking people are being drawn away from them.
This tactic was actually covered by SouthPark, in an episode on the 9-11 attacks (I am not a SouthPark viewer, but have seen the occasional relevant episode). As is sometimes said, "If you want lies, watch the news. If you want truth, watch cartoons.". Note that I think 9-11 is a serious conspiracy, and this episode disagrees, but it is the principles that I want you to consider rather than the issue. This tactic can be applied to any issue.
You don't need to see the full episode, just a minute of it. Follow the link, go to 19:00 and watch until 20:30. This section is pretty clean and safe for anyone. Or I've quoted it below.
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/south ... al-deuce-2
Think about every conspiracy very, very carefully.
- If people believe it, what will they do? What will they not do?
- Who gains if they do or don't do this?
In this age of the internet, when it is incredibly easy if you've got the cash to take a large number of paid online trolls and put them into discussions to plant an idea and reinforce it to give the impression of a consensus, it is very easy to make a fake conspiracy. If you make it big enough, it's very easy to get people interested in it. Make a few low-budget websites with some proofs on it and you can distract millions of hours of time from solid people who might spend that time studying something really important, and get them absorbed into your fiction instead. While you get to keep doing whatever it was you threw this smokescreen up to hide.
All is not always as it seems on the surface. Just because a conspiracy sounds really really big, doesn't mean it is true. But also, the fact some conspiracies are fake does not mean all conspiracies are fake. Some are real. And very serious. And that is why there are fake conspiracies - to distract us from the real ones.
And since the best way to distract someone from something real is to get them interested in something that sounds even bigger and more important, it is the biggest conspiracies that are most likely to be fake, as they're the only ones that would be effective distractions.
We must be extremely discerning in this age of misinformation.
