Conmunion: Why Christians are Easy Prey to Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Cons

Why is it that so many Christians are easy prey to conspiracy theories, cults and cons?

I’ve had several genuine shocks in the last few weeks as I’ve come to understand the sheer number of Christians who believe, in the face of all available evidence, that the earth is flat; who believe that there’s a giant conspiracy among the hundreds of thousands of scientists, immunologists, politicians, nurses, doctors, international aid workers, lab techs, administrators, etc in the world to “hide the truth” about the “danger” of vaccines – or that vaccines actually spread diseases (!); who believe that COVID-19 was made by either China or the US military (which is it?); who believed Rodney Howard-Browne when he said everything was A-OK because he’d commanded COVID-19 to stay out of Florida; who’ve supported Bethel’s claims to their leaders’ healing and dead-raising abilities even after they shut down not only their church services, but also their “healing rooms” because of the pandemic; who think that taking up an MLM “business” when you’ve lost your job to the Corona Crisis is a great idea . . . I could go on.

Multi-level marketing schemes have long been the purview of army wives and stay-at-home mums, but, as Season 1 of the podcast The Dream pointed out, they abound in churches, too.  From the time of the Israelites, false teachers and prophets were a big problem.  The more you read the New Testament, the more you realise just how much of it is dedicated to dealing with bad theology and false ministries, and that mentions of “warfare” are usually referring not to binding the Devil because he’s giving you a bad day, but battling against falsehoods and the twisting of the gospel – the true version of which is clearly set out in those same scriptures (see 1 Corinthians 15:3–5).  The modern-day antivaxx movement, largely popularised by a liberal white actress and perpetuated by the hippy-dippy toxin-free crowd, has torn through church communities.  Cults – well, that’s a huge subject, but suffice it for now to say that there are good reasons many cult leaders claim they’re the returned Christ.

A Redditor on /r/atheism would say that, if we’re stupid enough to believe in an old man with a white beard living in the sky, we’re stupid enough to believe anything, but not only is that thinking bigoted and obnoxious; it’s lazy.  Many brilliant philosophical and scientific minds throughout history and today have believed in higher beings, whether they call on ancient aliens, YHWH/Adonai, Allah or the Greek and Roman panthea.

Nevertheless, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard “I’ve done my research” in the last fortnight, I could supply toilet paper to an entire third-world country.

The problem with “doing your research” is that there is a difference between “the data” and “correctly interpreting the data”.  Conspiracy theorists, wellness gurus and, yes, corporations and governments are very, very good at interpreting cold, hard facts to suit their agendas and wallets.  (That’s without even touching on the number of outright lies that get spread:  I received an email not an hour before writing this in which I counted three “facts” about COVID-19 that were debunked weeks ago – and I only watched about half of it.)

Facts:  The Run-Down

Before we try to understand all this, I want to go back to Grade 8 science class and refresh some of the basics in laymen’s terms.  Just to stir the pot, I will use the young-earth-creationist and molecules-to-man evolutionary worldviews to illustrate my points – they’ll hopefully give us a clear picture.

A theory about something becomes a scientific fact when a phenomenon is (a) directly observable; or (b) able to be recreated in a controlled environment.  Thus, creation scientists will call both evolution and creation “theories”, because neither process is directly observable or able to be recreated in a lab.

But that’s ridiculous, right?  Because we can see evolution happening around us all the time in the animals and plants?  Surprisingly, no.  What we see around us today is natural selection, the name for a process David Attenborough and his ilk disingenuously use interchangeably with “evolution”.  No scientist, if he or she is not crap-shooting crazy, will dispute the reality of natural selection.  It is crucial, in fact, to both ideas.  What we see happening when natural selection occurs is the selection and loss, or “disposal”, for want of a better word, of genes from the existing pool of genetic information within that species.  What we have never yet observed is evolution, which is a spontaneous gain of brand-new genetic information, such as “how to make a beak” in a species that has never had one.

Ah, but dinosaur fossils!  We have direct proof of evolution and millions of years.  Well, no.  The scientific fact is that fossils exist in rock.  Again, neither the creation scientist nor the evolutionist will dispute that.  We can see them.  But a scientist’s worldview dictates how he or she makes meaning from that fact.

The evolutionary scientist will say that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, because the rocks that we find their fossils in are millions of years old.

The creation scientist will say that, because fossils are made much more quickly, as animal/plant material is laid down and quickly buried by water in layers of sediment before it decays, the rocks have not actually been around for millions of years (i.e. they formed rapidly due to the presence of water and certain minerals); therefore, the existence of dinosaur fossils in layers of rock does not prove that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.

The postmodernist will say that, because we cannot directly observe the process and, even if we did, our very act of observation would change it, there cannot be an ultimate truth; therefore, your truth works for you and my truth works for me.  To each his own.

The post-postmodernist is more inclined to think of things in black and white, but live unaware of contradictions in her thinking.  Her god is science and confirmation bias its prophet.  Big Government is the Devil and the Mass Media its herald – but, oddly, the media is also her messiah.  Information can be manipulated to say whatever the government wants it to . . . but it also proves that 5G is deadly.  There is a mahoossive conspiracy to hide the ingredients of vaccines, but “the vaccine’s paper insert says it contains formaldehyde!”  (NB just for the sake of it:  our bodies naturally produce more formaldehyde than you’ll ever get from a vaccine.)  Instagram influencers and wellness gurus are totally independent beings – ascended beings, if you will – and not at all influenced by what they read and hear, or by their desire to sell you questionable supplements and essential oils – right?

The Things We Believe

It comes down to a combination of the things we believe, and a lack of awareness of the dangers of certain beliefs.  One of the most important things that should be taught in schools is how to analyse our own beliefs.

Firstly, let me say that there is no sin in doing so.  If your church tells you not to question what they’re teaching you, YOU ARE IN A CULT.  GET OUT.  If God’s Word couldn’t stand up to analysis, it wouldn’t be worth studying.  We don’t need to be afraid of hard discussions.  Discussing the minutiae of the Torah was a big part of the culture in Jesus’s time.  I have a Messianic Jewish friend who always says, “Two Jews; three opinions.”

At the same time, there is often a danger in fringe theories, or theories that have been wholly rejected by the historical church.  If the majority of the church has agreed on something since the first century, there’s good reason for it.  (I’m talking about biblical stuff here, not extrabiblical stuff that the pope supposedly got from talking on his red phone to God.)  The things that we disagree on are often secondary and not primary salvation issues, anyway.  But if someone tries to tell you, for example, that Jesus gave up His deity to come to earth and live as a man to show us how to live, alarm bells should go off in your head.

Fallacies

Let’s start with the simple stuff.  There are a couple of fallacies that people tend to buy into, some of which have actual names in social science.

Firstly, there’s the Semmelweis Reflex.  This is “a metaphor for the reflex-like tendency to reject new evidence or new knowledge because it contradicts established norms, beliefs or paradigms” (Ohio State University).  Ignaz Semmelweis was the guy who tried to tell the medical establishment that going from conducting autopsies to delivering babies without washing your hands causes infections in new mothers – infections that kill them.  He was eventually put in a nuthouse.

Right now, I can hear people going, “Aha!!  See, you can’t prove that 5G doesn’t lower the immune system!  People just refuse to acknowledge it like they did with Semmelweis.”  No, see, because Semmelweis had actual data to back up his theory.  He took two hospitals that delivered babies – one with a high death rate, in which doctors did deliveries, and one without, in which midwives did deliveries – and carefully studied why there was a difference between the two.  When he asked the doctors to start washing their hands with a chlorine solution after they did autopsies – voila! – the death rate from infections in new mothers in that hospital dropped to 0%.  Yes, you read that right:  0%.  When some idiot came along to take his place in charge of the hospital and removed the handwashing procedures, the death rate went straight back up.

When we’re talking about 5G, we’re talking about radio waves that are non-ionising.  In other words, actual scientific studies have shown that they don’t have an adverse effect on our DNA (they don’t even penetrate the skin).  This is opposed to, for example, x-rays, which do penetrate the skin and are called “ionising” waves.  The people experiencing the Semmelweis Reflex are those who still want to reject this new technology, despite its being shown to be safe.

Secondly, there is the Naturalistic Fallacy, which argues that “if something is ‘natural’ it must be good.  It is closely related to the is/ought fallacy – when someone tries to infer what ‘ought’ to be done from what ‘is’” (Ethics Explainer).  An example of this might be believing that, because marijuana is “natural” (it’s a plant!), smoking it regularly won’t kill your brain cells.  One variation is when people read about how Daniel and his fellow Jews put themselves on a vegetables-only diet, ending up stronger and healthier than the ones who were eating from the king’s table (something that the Bible is pointing out should not have happened and was therefore a work of God), and then assume that all Christians should be vegetarian or vegan.  No, hon, that passage is descriptive, not prescriptive.

This is the trap that so many, many people fall into by believing that “chemicals” and “toxins” need to be avoided at all costs and “detoxes” are necessary on a regular basis.  Ask them what a “toxin” specifically is, however, and they can’t tell you.

The truth is that the dose makes the poison.  Water, the elixir of life, can kill you if you drink too much of it.  Look out for that dangerous dihydrogen monoxide!  100% of people who drink it die!  (See, we “provaxxers” can use big scary words, too.)  Also, our kidneys and livers do a darn good job of “detoxing” our bodies for us – that’s what they’re there for.  Drinking a special tea or putting your feet in a warm bath that supposedly draws toxins out of the soles will not help your organs to function better.

Finally, there is what’s called the Appeal To Ancient Wisdom.  The website Logically Fallacious defines this as the “misconception that previous generations had superior wisdom to modern man, thus conclusions that rely on this wisdom are seen accepted as true or more true than they actually are.”  This is the very essence of the Old Wives’ Tale.  For example, if you believe that chewing on a hunk of garlic will cure your cold (or keep the vampires away), you are appealing to this fallacy.  However, the more you study ancient history, the more you realise that we didn’t have a clue what we were doing back then.  I encourage you to listen to the medical-history podcast Sawbones – you’ll quickly get the idea.  Essential oil companies rely heavily on people’s tendency to fall under the spell of this fallacy, as well as the Naturalistic Fallacy.

Gnosticism and the New Age

Gnosticism is a cult that began in the second century but pervades people’s thinking today.  It removes all faith in what we can see, hear, touch or experience and claims that the only way we can be saved is by discovering hidden knowledge about God.  The search for hidden knowledge is also the basis of most of the New Age.

This is a very old sin – the oldest there is, in fact – and, unfortunately, the church is still prone to it today:

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1–5, ESV)

There’s nothing inherently wrong with seeking to know the truth, of course – the Bible is clear that we should seek it; the problem is our motivation for seeking knowledge and where we get that knowledge from.  The desire to know something that no-one else knows often comes from pride.  It gives us a smug feeling, like a kid:  “I know something you don’t know!”  And when they’re seeking after hidden knowledge, people will begin to look more and more to strange and obscure sources, and eventually fall into mysticism, which is wholly subjective to experience and therefore not of God at all.  Distressingly, the modern church has become steeped in mysticism, in the false belief that the Gospel is not enough; people must experience the Spirit or have an encounter with God before they will believe in Him.  That’s an open door for people to start following spirit guides.

The Bible is extremely clear on this subject:

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.  Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.  (1 Timothy 6:20–21, ESV)

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.  (Colossians 2:8, ESV)

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,  and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  Where is the one who is wise?  Where is the scribe?  Where is the debater of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.  For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,  but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18–31, ESV)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:14–17)

From this desire for special “hidden knowledge” that nobody else knows comes the folly of seeking after false prophets and words of knowledge, the utter foolishness of flat-earth theory and, yes, conspiracy theories such as those held to by the antivaccination movement.

Cults

The flipside of this search for “hidden knowledge” is the need every human has to be part of something bigger than themselves – for companionship and community at the deepest level of shared belief.  That feeling of “we alone have found the truth” binds believers together.  Every cult leader takes advantage of this need and of the three fallacies I discussed earlier.  That’s why people become entrapped in them so easily.

Interestingly, many commentators have noticed the similarities between the behaviours of cult members and those involved in multi-level marketing schemes and the antivaccination movement.  Just something to think about.

Eschatology

Our eschatology is basically what we believe about the End Times.  I think this is one major reason that Christians so readily believe in conspiracy theories.  They hear about the coming Antichrist, his supposed One World Government and Mark of the Beast and they panic that they’ll be forced to take the Mark or that Bill Gates is going to sneak it into the Coronavirus vaccine.  It’s also why America cannot outlaw guns – people want to be able to defend themselves from the nasty mean government when that time comes.

But let’s take a quick look at Revelation 13:11–18:

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.  It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.  It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.

It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.  And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.  This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

This is a series of events.  Being forced to worship the beast happens before the Mark, so it’s going to be pretty clear, if these are future events at all.  We’re not going to accidentally take the Mark.  Bill Gates is not asking us to worship him, last time I checked.  Besides, if we don’t worship the beast’s image, we’re going to be killed, so the good news is we probably won’t even be here when the Mark is given!  Does that make you feel any better?!

Seriously, though, we shouldn’t be worrying about these things.  Jesus promises in Matthew 24 that there will be, throughout history, “wars and rumours of wars” and famines and earthquakes and all sorts of persecutions and tribulations, but they are not signs of His second coming!  The only sign of His coming will be this:

[T]he sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  (Matthew 24:29–31)

He then goes on to say that no man knows the day or the hour.  In other words, we shouldn’t be “reading the signs” to predict His coming – interpreting omens is, in fact, called an abomination in Deuteronomy 18.  The only sign that shows He’s coming will be when He actually comes.  Keep oil in your lanterns (16:1–13), but go about your business.

False Hope and the Need for Control

We all need hope in our lives, and most of the time we need to feel that we’re in control.  Faith healers, antivaxxers, false prophets, MLMs, even politicians – they all deliver some kind of hope and a sense of control over our fate.  The truth is, though, that we have no real control over anything of significance.  Not our health, or our finances, or our governments, or other people, or when we’re going to die.  Only God is sovereign, and the sooner we learn that, the better off we’ll be.  That’s not to say we should be reckless, of course (I have to add that because, you know, it’s the internet and people are stupid). 

The one thing we do have control over?  Our choice whether or not to believe in Jesus and accept His gift of eternal salvation.  Put your focus there.

How Can We Discern the Truth?

So, in light of all of this, how can we know what is true?  Here are a few quick tips that might help you.

The Bible

The ultimate source of truth for every Christian must – must – be the Bible.  To the non-Christian, that sounds like circular reasoning, but if you’ve determined in your heart that the I AM is indeed the one true God, you must believe that the Bible is His Word and that He has preserved it through time.

The New Testament is full of guidance on avoiding false teachers.  The best thing we can do is read the Word, and read it, and read it, and read it.  Only when we know what the real deal looks and tastes and smells like can we recognise the counterfeit.

Don’t believe people when they tell you that the Bible can be interpreted in many ways.  Usually even the most controversial verses can really only be interpreted in a couple of ways, and they don’t affect primary issues.

Don’t read and interpret it with postmodern eyes, in the belief that “we cannot know what the author intended”.  Use proper exegesis.  Don’t trip yourself up by using eisegesis (reading stuff into the text) when you study the Bible – or, as Chris Rosebrough says, don’t use narcegesis (putting yourself into the Bible).  For more on all this stuff, I recommend the book How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth.

Check Your Sources

Have a look at who is writing the script.  What are their intentions?  Are they trying to sell me something?  Are they trying to push a certain agenda?  Are they interpreting the data correctly? 

Journalists are notorious for reporting scientific data incorrectly, because they are “looking for the story”.  “Proof That Eating Sugar Causes Cancer” is a much better headline than “Study Shows A Statistically Insignificant Greater Percentage of Bowel Cancers Among People Who Eat Dessert Every Day Than Among Those Who Don’t”.

Look at multiple sources when you’re researching something, and bear in mind that it’s easy to succumb to confirmation bias.

And if your source is in any way related to Andrew Wakefield, run for the hills.

Look into the Details of Studies

There are lots of books and other resources that teach how to review a scientific paper, and how studies are misinterpreted.  The basic points are, look at the authors’ affiliations and publication history; check whether it’s a randomised double-blind placebo-control study, which is the current “gold standard” of studies; have a look at how many participants were in it – a low number of participants usually means it’s not very helpful; check whether it’s been peer-reviewed; look at whether it’s been published in a reputable publication; think about how ethical it was; and have a good think about where the flaws in it might be, or possible interpretations other than the one the authors have put forward.

One book I really recommend is Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science.

The Lost Arts of Common Sense and Logic

Enough can’t be said about using common sense and thinking things through logically.  Be like Spock.  Does this person’s claim even make sense?  If somebody says, like one woman did the other day, that viruses don’t even exist, just have a good think about whether that’s really a likely story.  Can all the powerful governments of the world be in cahoots when they can’t organise their way out of a paper bag?  Is it really likely that that women on my Yummy-Mummy Natural Toxin-Free Hippy Shiny Child Blog know more than the immunologist on a reputable website?

Finally, ask yourself this:  does this make me fearful and cause me to feel like I have to constantly be on my guard?  Am I terrified of feeding my child something that’s not labelled “organic”?  Am I spending thousands of dollars every year on my special potion containing goji berries and elderberries and high-dose Vitamin C that doesn’t have any proven positive effects on my health?  Am I punishing my body and my mind and losing precious time with my loved ones by feeding my gym addiction because I might possibly extend my life by a year or two?  Am I spending the hours I could be with my family during lockdown by scouring the internet for the latest conspiracy theory about the coming vaccine?  Am I constricted and restricted by a constant fear of everything around me – wifi, pesticides, chemtrails, medical advances, technologies, breaches of privacy, the Powers That Be, natural disasters, losing all my money, the nebulous “They” . . . ?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air:  they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”  (Matthew 16:25–27, ESV)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.  If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.  Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths.  Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. (1 Timothy 4, ESV)