{"id":31091,"date":"2022-09-10T15:16:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/christians-conspiracy-theories-and-credibility-why-our-words-today-matter-for-eternity\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:16:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:16:32","slug":"christians-conspiracy-theories-and-credibility-why-our-words-today-matter-for-eternity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/christians-conspiracy-theories-and-credibility-why-our-words-today-matter-for-eternity\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians, Conspiracy Theories, and Credibility: Why Our Words Today Matter for Eternity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor Frank Pomeroy lost his 14-year-old daughter and 25 others in the deadliest church shooting in American history. Unfortunately, that wouldn\u2019t be the last time he and his congregation dealt with an armed trespasser screaming death threats near their church building.<\/p>\n

In the weeks and months after the November 5, 2017 tragedy at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, individuals claiming the shooting was a government hoax began harassing Pomeroy and other survivors and victims.<\/p>\n

Pomeroy says the conspiracy theorists immediately began calling the church and making threats. Eventually the phone and online harassment led to a physical confrontation on the church property.<\/p>\n

In March 2018, Robert Ussery and Jodi Mann accosted the pastor on the church property, accusing him of being a paid government actor who helped make up the story of the shooting.<\/p>\n

Ussery, who was armed with an illegally obtained gun, screamed and cursed at Pomeroy, demanding the pastor prove the tragedy happened. When Pomeroy mentioned the death of his daughter, Ussery yelled that the pastor\u2019s daughter wasn\u2019t murdered because there was no proof she even existed.<\/p>\n

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A church member called the police who came and arrested Ussery and Mann, but not before the duo threatened Pomeroy. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna hang, traitor,\u201d Ussery said, \u201cthat I assure you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna hang, traitor, that I assure you.\u201d \u2014 Conspiracy theorist Robert Ussery to pastor Frank Pomeroy, who lost his lost his 14-year-old daughter and 25 others in the deadliest church shooting in American history.<\/p>\n

Both were arrested and face multiple charges related to the incident. In addition to the gun Ussery had with him, police found a cache of weapons at his home.<\/p>\n

The most frightening aspect of the confrontation for Pomeroy wasn\u2019t Ussery\u2019s willingness to hurt someone or even his being armed. \u201cThe scary thing was the look in his eyes that confirmed he believed all the ludicrous things he was saying,\u201d Pomeroy says. \u201cIt was like looking into the face of pure evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the pastor says God gave him a peace and enabled him to keep things in control, leading to a resolution without bloodshed\u2014this time.<\/p>\n

But conspiracy theories have become a growing concern for many pastors and church leaders across the country. In a recent Lifeway Research study, 49% of U.S. Protestant pastors say they frequently hear church members repeating conspiracy theories. While spreading harmful information has no religious or ideological limits, such dangerous explanations have a long, unfortunate history among Christians.<\/p>\n

Church historians, Christian apologists, and those who have personally suffered as a result of conspiracy theories say followers of Christ must be concerned with seeking and following truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFast food for the mind\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By definition, conspiracy theories are descriptions of an event that reject the standard explanation and credit a covert group or organization with carrying out a secret plot. They arise around almost every significant world event and even some not so significant events.<\/p>\n

Mary Jo Sharp, author of Living in Truth: Confident Conversations in a Conflicted Culture<\/em>, says there are two main reasons people are drawn to conspiracy theories\u2014ease of understanding and escape from the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, conspiracy theories provide people with a neat-and-tidy box in answering a question or issue,\u201d she says. \u201cWhile the theory may seem outlandish or complex, it typically limits the scope of the issue in question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharp says conspiracy theories often ignore the myriad of complex beliefs, desires, and motivations humans bring to an issue. Without those complicating matters, the conspiracy theorist can more easily comprehend the issue and move on with other things. \u201cBelief in a conspiracy theory may be born out of a good desire to understand a situation but devolves into finding quickly digestible answers,\u201d she says, \u201clike fast food for the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBelief in a conspiracy theory may be born out of a good desire to understand a situation but devolves into finding quickly digestible answers, like fast food for the mind.\u201d \u2014 @MaryJoSharp Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

The outlandish explanation also allows adherents to escape the \u201cmundane rigors of everyday life,\u201d explains Sharp, an assistant professor of apologetics at Houston Baptist University. \u201cA conspiracy theory adds a little Hollywood drama to life. It pulls us out of our daily grind into a realm of the fantastic and tantalizing.\u201d The one exposing the \u201creal truth\u201d behind an event can be the hero of the story.<\/p>\n

This desire, however, runs contrary to the Christian life and biblical teaching, according to Sharp. Christ is the hero of the story, and His followers should find their excitement in Him, she says. Embracing conspiracy theories is an \u201cunfortunate situation\u201d for the Christian says Sharp, \u201cas the Lord of creation and His unparalleled action in human history should be the source of our wonder and awe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conspiracy history<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite this, Christians have been susceptible to various conspiracy theories throughout church history. \u201cThe issues surrounding conspiracy theories are not new, have affected Christians in almost every era, and can be very dangerous,\u201d says John Mark Yeats, associate professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

"The issues surrounding conspiracy theories are not new, have affected Christians in almost every era, and can be very dangerous," says church history professor John Mark Yeats. Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

As the black plague ravaged Europe in the 14th century, Yeats says people were desperately looking for answers as over a third of the population died from the disease. Jews became a scapegoat when, because of their kosher diet and biblical hygiene practices, they limited transmission.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome communities saw this lack of proportionality of death in their communities and began to blame the Jews for poisoning the wells of Christian communities,\u201d says Yeats. \u201cThis conspiracy theory joined with a host of others about the Jews and led to the mass slaughter of multiple Jewish communities often at the hands of angry mobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church historian Nathan Finn says there is a \u201clong and sordid history of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories among Christians.\u201d Finn, the provost at North Greenville University, says a prominent belief among medieval Christians was the \u201cblood libel,\u201d an accusation that Jews would ritualistically murder Christian children and use their blood in sacrilegious ceremonies that mocked baptism and the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

These myths resurfaced later in works such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion<\/em>, which Adolf Hitler believed to be true and used as a justification for the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Christians can also spark conspiracy theories by misinterpreting Scripture to defend sinful behaviors, as the \u201cCurse of Ham\u201d theory began as an excuse to justify slavery.<\/p>\n

Christians can also spark conspiracy theories by misinterpreting Scripture to defend sinful behaviors, as the \u201cCurse of Ham\u201d theory began to be circulated in the 17th century as an excuse to justify the enslavement of Africans by Europeans, says Yeats.<\/p>\n

According to the theory, Noah\u2019s curse spoken against Ham\u2019s son Canaan in Genesis 9:25-27 made Canaan\u2019s skin dark and designated him a slave to his brothers. Slavery defenders claimed the curse stretched to anyone with dark skin and \u201ctheir subjugation was biblically justified,\u201d says Yeats. Pro-slavery leaders and pastors promoted the conspiracy theory to defend their position and claimed abolitionists were attempting to reverse the scriptural mandate.<\/p>\n

The theory persisted well beyond the institution of slavery in America and the Civil War. Martin Luther King Jr. specifically referenced the Curse of Ham in a 1956 sermon calling it \u201cblasphemy\u201d and \u201cagainst everything that the Christian religion stands for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern Christian conspiracy theories<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In more recent years, eschatological expectations often play a role in Christians accepting conspiracy theories, according to Yeats and Finn. \u201cFar more common among Christians today are various conspiracy theories related to the end times,\u201d says Finn, \u201cmany of which include some combination of thinking a public figure is the antichrist, suspicion of technology, and concerns about a one-world government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, he says many evangelicals were convinced the \u201cwww\u201d shorthand for \u201cworldwide web\u201d in internet addresses was a stand-in for 666 and the mark of the beast in Revelation. Some were also convinced that George H.W. Bush had signed a document that placed the United States under a new world order that would evolve into the antichrist\u2019s one-world government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Scriptures are clear that Jesus will return physically to draw all things to a close, interpretations of Revelation, Daniel, and other apocalyptic language in the Bible are often co-opted by groups in an attempt to move their own agenda forward,\u201d says Yeats. In the 19th century, heightened expectations of Christ\u2019s return birthed Mormonism, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, and the Seventh Day Adventists, according to Yeats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Scriptures are clear that Jesus will return physically to draw all things to a close, interpretations of Revelation, Daniel, and other apocalyptic language in the Bible are often co-opted.\u201d Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

Times of crisis can also lead to a rise in conspiracy theories. In Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, Daniel Kahneman\u2019s best-selling book on our decision-making processes and what makes us prone to errors, the Nobel prize winning economist says: \u201cThere is evidence that people are more likely to be influenced by empty, persuasive messages, such as commercials, when they are tired and depleted.\u201d Enduring a yearlong pandemic and a contentious election season have left many \u201ctired and depleted,\u201d leading them to be prone to deception.<\/p>\n

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See also  What Do Churchgoers Want to Change About Their Churches?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Numerous conspiracy theories sprouted and spread online recently in an attempt to explain what seems to be unexplainable. This lack of solid information also leads to an increase in our susceptibility. Kahneman writes how knowing little \u201cmakes it easier to fit everything you know into a coherent pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of these seemingly coherent patterns today have been attributed to the QAnon conspiracy movement, named after an anonymous \u201cQ\u201d who pushes conspiratorial explanations for even the most mundane of occurrences. In the summer of 2020, QAnon followers began to assert Wayfair, an online furniture store, was not-so-secretly selling missing children on their website.<\/p>\n

Many people in church pews have probably never heard of QAnon, but they\u2019ve likely seen material on their social media feeds that originated with the group. According to one scholar tracking online extremism, QAnon content grew 71% on Twitter and 651% on Facebook in just four months in early 2020.<\/p>\n

Personal costs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While the ramifications of conspiracy theories and Christians\u2019 embrace of them can cause cultural and national problems, there can be significant costs to individuals and families. Like Frank Pomeroy, Christian author Lore Ferguson Wilbert knows those ramifications all too well.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither me, nor my seven siblings were given Social Security numbers at birth because my parents believed they were the \u2018mark of the beast,\u2019 and we\u2019d be \u2018selling our souls to the devil\u2019 if we accepted the mark,\u201d says Wilbert, author of Handle With Care: How Jesus Redeems the Power of Touch in Life and Ministry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither me, nor my seven siblings were given Social Security numbers at birth because my parents believed they were the \u2018mark of the beast,\u2019 and we\u2019d be \u2018selling our souls to the devil\u2019 if we accepted the mark.” \u2014 Lore Ferguson Wilbert<\/p>\n

Eventually, their family moved to a remote area in the northern part of New York state where they stockpiled supplies, planned to build a bunker, and lived in constant fear that the government could come to take them away. \u201cI had a \u2018go-bag\u2019 packed under my bed,\u201d says Wilbert.<\/p>\n

After observing inconsistencies in her family\u2019s daily life and the doomsday Y2K scenarios failing to materialize, Wilbert says she could no longer \u201cdo the gymnastics necessary in order to keep up with it all.\u201d She began the long process of striking out on her own.<\/p>\n

Despite leaving her family\u2019s conspiratorial mindset behind, Wilbert continued to wrestle with the ramifications of growing up in that environment, careening from complete skepticism of authority to absolute trust in certain leaders. Neither of those were healthy, she says, and eventually brought on another crash in her life. \u201cThis led me to a period of deep doubt and disillusionment with God and the church, but also cultivated a healthy curiosity for what is at the bedrock of the Christian faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilbert says she lost her faith as she worked to emerge from her conspiracy-soaked upbringing, but \u201chealthy curiosity\u201d led her to teachers who articulated the gospel in ways she\u2019d never understood previously. \u201cI deeply value discernment as a spiritual gift because I think it\u2019s the Spirit-fueled answer to skepticism,\u201d she says. \u201cI am always going to be a curious person, but when I lean too far into my doubts, that\u2019s dangerous. And when I lean too far into putting my trust in people, that\u2019s dangerous too. I have to abide in Christ, not in the ideas of men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastoral way forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As someone who has seen the devastating effects of conspiracy theories firsthand, Frank Pomeroy says pastors can help their congregations avoid such thinking by concentrating on Scripture and avoiding fear-driven perspectives. \u201cIf one is walking in victory rather than fear, he is more likely to be able to stand on the Word of God and not need to seek out false or alternative meanings to the things around him,\u201d said Pomeroy. \u201cThere is so much we do not know, but we can take faith in the fact that our God knows all, loves us, and will watch over us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much we do not know, but we can take faith in the fact that our God knows all, loves us, and will watch over us.\u201d \u2014 Frank Pomeroy Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

Pastors can model this by their own behavior in public and online, according to Pomeroy. \u201cWe must be diligent to only share what we know and not fill in the gaps or then we become part of the problem,\u201d he says. \u201cWe must keep reminding people that God knows the whole picture, and He does not need us to try to fill in the gaps He has not shown us yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Jo Sharp agrees that pastors must lead by example and model a better way on social media by pointing people to search out original sources and gain broad perspectives before commenting on a viral event or issue. \u201cThey can also train their congregations to recognize conspiracy theories and logical fallacies,\u201d she says. \u201cHelping believers think well and use sound reasoning will assist them with the careful engagement of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond right thinking, Sharp says what is most often needed is right loving of those who think differently. \u201cPastors and leaders can help their congregations learn empathy for others,\u201d she says. \u201cOne of the most needed responses to the chaotic nature of our world is a listening ear and a broken heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most needed responses to the chaotic nature of our world is a listening ear and a broken heart.\u201d \u2014 @MaryJoSharp Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

Credibility concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Conspiracy theories can have a personal cost even for those who haven\u2019t faced gunman at their church or abusive home situations. As Sharp argues, they can harm our witness and credibility to non-Christians. \u201cIf a Christian cannot be trusted to pass along worldly information in a responsible manner, then it would be perceived they are irresponsible in their ability to share other-worldly information, such as ideas about God,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch carelessness can act as evidence for a non-believer that Christians are not thoughtful, nor intelligent people. Trust is at the center of the gospel, and it must be cultivated in our relationships with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a former atheist, Sharp recognizes the importance of Christians maintaining their public witness. When a non-Christian friend or coworker sees the believers in their life sharing conspiracy theories, she says they can begin to believe, or become further entrenched in, popular misconceptions about Christianity. \u201cWhen Christians spread conspiracy theories that lack data, thoughtfulness, and intellectual rigor, they may inadvertently reinforce these current cultural stereotypes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

When Christians spread conspiracy theories that lack data, thoughtfulness, and intellectual rigor, they may inadvertently reinforce negative cultural stereotypes of Christians \u2014 @MaryJoSharp Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

For Sharp, Christians must always be \u201cgospel-forward in how they live their public lives.\u201d She says that anything a follower of Christ chooses to pass along in person or on social media should first be processed through the question, \u201cHow will this affect my ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ?\u201d She maintains, \u201cWhat I post today could influence how people view my beliefs tomorrow.\u201d And, as a result, it could influence where someone spends eternity.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Earls<\/h2>\n

@Wardrobedoor <\/p>\n

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Aaron is the senior writer\/editor at LifewayResearch.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n