One thing I keep up with on a regular basis is the whole New World Order and conspiracy topic. If you are not familiar with the topic I would recommend you looking at the websites for Radio Liberty and Cutting Edge. Also the book or video “Brotherhood of Darkness” by Dr. Stan Monteith is a good introduction to the subject. For a more “scholarly” view, look into “Tragedy and Hope” by Carroll Quiggley and perhaps “Fire in the Minds of Men” by James H. Billington. There are some other works, but those should be enough to get you some basic information.
Brief introduction for those interested. There are a lot of conspiracy websites and ideas floating around out there. You have to be careful about what you read because there is a lot of misinformation on the subject. A book I would highly recommend for any Christian is “Conspiracy” by Gary North. It is available here as a free ebook, also I think you can get it on interlibrary loan. It really pulls together the Christian basis for conspiracy theories.
The Christian view of conspiracy is simply that there is a conspiracy against God. The Christian sees two classes of people, saved and unsaved, saint and sinner if you want to put it like that. But two classes. One which has been reborn by the Spirit of God and the other which has not but is still in sin and in the flesh. One group desires the things of God and the other does not. The conspiracy is basically those in the second group, essentially led by Satan (“ye are of your father the devil” John 8:44) against God and His people. The idea is that all/most these groups that many say control the world (Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, International Bankers, Illuminati, Masons, Rosicrusians, etc.) does, but ultimately are under control of a higher power, the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the one who has the power to offer all the kingdoms of this world (Matthew 4:8-10). It is hard for anyone to “prove” a real conspiracy between individuals of various groups, from any direction, whether this traditional conspiracy prospective, or the more liberal kind such as Domhoff writes of in his books about “Who Rules America?”
These groups certainly have members in various organizations and there is an obvious connection between the elite and groups, perhaps enough to warrant conspiracy. Many like to scoff and say that the elite is too big and power among them is too scattered for there to be a real conspiracy between international figures and rich of this country, and that may be true. However they all share the same ideas, from being raised up in a similar background (elite), being educated in the same general principles, and ultimately, most being under Satan’s power as they have not been born again. Satan can do whatever he wants (in the boundaries God sets for each person), to those who are not God’s. So there need not be any “physical” connection or link between people and groups, since it is the ideas that the “NWO folk” perpetuate that is important, not necessarily the people themselves.
The Patriot, Freedom and Tea Party movement are also important to look at. Many people within these movements hold at least one conspiracy view of an event in American history though with all that has been going on lately, they need not have it. The idea behind these groups and the various subgroups with varying degrees of “conspiracy fanatics” is that the world, and especially America is not going in the right direction and that people (whether visible or behind the scenes) are leading it that way.
I commend their stated enthusiasm but at times, the whole movement is overrun by fear. I see the masses at Washington D.C. for the Tax Day rally and many signed up for a group of “patriots” but hardly see anyone RSVP for important and educational events. I wonder if there will be any real change at a local level. I wonder if people will get involved in their city to work for real positive change.
I was reading this article and the idea caught my attention. I would consider myself one who likes the Constitution (but have not read it all the way through) and one who would prefer small and limited government (though I still have some questions to those who rally behind it extremely dogmatically). Having said that, this article reminded me that many times, groups are not the best way to go about doing something. A good group which is passionate about the issues and wants to get things done can be the best thing in the world, but groups can also slow you down. I honestly want to be part of a group that is passionate about getting this country back on track. There are two problems with that though.
One is partly mentioned in the above article, that groups can be easily infiltrated. The other side of that people join who are interested, but not committed. I think I remember hearing that those people are the ones who complain the loudest when you want to get something done *smile*
Before I tackle the other thing, I want to also say that the author also mentioned that people don’t really care about joining clubs, organizations and the like. (A book I’ve heard that was good that deals with this is the book “Bowling Alone” by Putnam.) People have become more inward looking in the couple of decades than ever before. It is interesting that the reasons I’ve heard for this was the increased commute time, increased TV viewing, and women going into the workforce. Anyway it will be interesting to see how people who are very individualistic (first being American, and second, being proponents of individual liberty, limited government etc) try and join with other like minded people to accomplish a goal. It is like trying to get the individual states to unite just enough to defeat the British all over again.
The other problem with groups that are working through political action to try and “throw the rascals out” is the simple fact that many of those who are trying, are essentially on the same side. As I mentioned earlier, the main conspiracy is a spiritual one. The Devil and his people against God and His. I understand that many of the Patriots are God-fearing people, and thats all well and good. Moral people make for better leaders than wicked ones, however many church goers are not really Christians. Christians are those who have realized their guilt for breaking God’s law and have acknowledged that they have sinned before a Holy God and ask forgiveness from Him, knowing that they cannot do anything and that Jesus, God’s Son, paid the penalty for them. By realizing that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” we can come to God and ask Him to forgive us. He will, and we can be the children of God. Up until then, even the most moral and religious person is doomed to hell and eternity away from God. Many Patriots who are religious are really on the same side as many liberals and the NWO folk they seek to oppose. If they go into office, they will be faced with the same problems and temptations that those before them have fought, and without God, they will fail.
The problem is ultimately spiritual, and even good Christians can work on this NWO problem, and I believe we should. But the NWO will come, and will be run by anti-christ and Satan. But that is not the end! Christ will ultimately prevail! We win in the end.
We won’t be able to change the ultimate direction of it, but for now here are some things we can do.
1. Trust in Christ to save you. Without Him, you’re essentially on the same side as the conspiracists
2. Get involved with those around you. People are hurting, they need someone to care about them. People are more open to any message you have for them if they know you care.
3. Remember what is truly important. Don’t get caught up in the materialistic aspect of the world. Life is not about things, it consists of more than possessions (Luke 12:15)
4. Spend some time learning. Not just about the latest conspiracies, but take the time to educate yourself about common topics such as Science and Math and History. Broaden your horizon and get a wider perspective.
5. Get involved locally. If you’re really interested in things to do, go to a city council meeting or some other local assembly. Find the time to talk to them.
6. Don’t do so much. It seems counter-productive, but often we are so busy that we forget about others, and forget about what is important. We can feel that we are doing something when it is all just busy work. try not to commit to too much more, start doing only what means most to you. (For more on this see this page)
7. Learn solitude. Unless you have a very committed group of people that you can bond with, unfortunately you’ll have to do a lot on your own.
I believe that you may have a global impact with what you decide to do, but you’ll have a lot greater impact on those who live right next door to you. We may not mean much to the world, but we could mean the world to one person.
Feel free to email me at allen@allenrreid.com