Who is Really in Control?

Thoughts on conspiracies, theories about them, and a call for Christians to be at ease

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.” - Isaiah 8:12 (ESV)

For most of my life I have basically believed that there was (somewhere) a group of individuals, hidden in the shadows, pulling the strings in world governments, media, business, etc. to further their personal interests and reach nefarious ends. This kind of thinking is not uncommon amongst Americans, and this kind of thinking is especially elevated during times of apparent chaos. Americans have never really been the type to trust big and powerful elite forces, hence the sharp debates concerning federalism in our founding period. Even now some of you are speculating as to the connection between this and the fact that certain founding fathers had attended Masonic lodges.

When one looks back at the “Cold War” era of the last century, he finds even more cause towards distrust. There are known, unquestionable instances in which the federal government has lied to the American people.¹ Even in the past decade, it was not revealed until 2013 that the NSA had been spying on and collecting data from numerous Americans, after previously denying this to be the case. In our most recent history, distrust in the government peaked during the debacle of “Covid-19”, an issue that does not need expanded upon here.

At this moment, it may seem like a raw analysis of this data demands the conclusion that yes, there are evil people working in the shadows to accomplish hidden purposes. For the record, I do not deny that this is the case. It seems likely to me that, due to man’s sinful nature and the fact that it can be demonstrated our government does not feel any need towards honesty, that something like this is afoot, no doubt about it. However, what we must avoid as Christians is ever ascribing too much power to these individuals, least we fall into what Christian Reconstructionist R.J. Rushdoony called, “satanic determinism”.

“Too many churchmen have laid the foundation, over the centuries, for a doctrine of satanic determinism. We can call it also the conspiracy theory.” - R.J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, volume 1, page 572.

What far too many Christians fall prey to, is the (wrong) belief that evil will win. That evil is in control. Now, do not get it twisted, evil very often believes to be in control. Note the words of the Psalmist:

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed” - Psalm 2:1–2 (ESV)

The word “conspiracy” simply refers to a group of people coming together to accomplish a wrongful action. And Psalm 2 describes just that. It is not a “conspiracy theory”, more like a “conspiracy proven fact”. But take a minute to think about the foolishness of their actions. These evil men, upon the earth, conspiring together to accomplish unspeakable evils, and set themselves up as the ultimate rulers of the earth are, in actuality, attempting vainly to dethrone God. Could you imagine anything more insane? Imagine a cricket trying to wrestle an elephant. That is exactly what sinful man is like when he plots to “burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:3).

^“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’” - Psalm 2:4–6 (ESV)

The Lord is not threatened for a moment at these evil schemers seeking to control the world, which is ultimately the Lord’s property (Psalm 24:1). He laughs at them. Laughing at the insanity of their actions. But also, at the pleasure of His wrath which will go out upon them. The manifestation of His terrifying fury is found in the fact that He has set up His own King in their stead, who rules out of Zion. This King is His Son, Jesus² who will “break them with a rod of iron” and claim the nations as His heritage (Psalm 2:8-9).

Don’t get me wrong, it is appropriate and necessary for Christians to recognize evils taking place in the world. But it is another thing entirely for us to be frightened. We cannot ever succumb to the false, and dare I say blasphemous notion, that anyone other than God is in control.

“To blame the world’s evils, and to ascribe the world’s government, to hidden satanic conspiracies is to be guilty of false witness against God. It is comparable to resorting to magic, witchcraft, or human sacrifice. It denies that God only is the source of prediction and ascribes power and prediction to Satan instead.” - R.J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, volume 1, page 573.

We must heed the words of Isaiah the prophet when he declared, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:12-13).

The Lord our God is the One who is in ultimate control of this universe, and even governs the affairs of men. “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing” (Psalm 33:10). He is guiding and directing world history to His own ends, and so, as we fight against the unrighteousness, wickedness and all the other works of the devil in our day, do not become so discouraged that you fall into the trap of satanic determinism. He no longer has the power, for Christ has cast him out and bound him (John 12:31, see also Matthew 12:28-29, Revelation 20:2).

Final Trimmings

Real quickly, I just want to staple a few things on here at the end. Sometimes being a “conspiracy theorist” is treated as a sin, and that is not my intention. If over the past few days you have been combing through the recently released JFK files I do not believe you are in violation of the Law of God. The point of this article was to call you to trust and fear in the Lord, as opposed to the fear of wickedness.

Also, I almost don’t even want to bring this up but since I know most of my readers are thinking about it anyways, and the caffeine is still fresh in my bloodstream, we might as well talk about the Jews. It has become commonplace for terminally online members of the “new Christian right” to basically blame all of the world’s problems on a massive, world-wide Jewish conspiracy theory. This is essentially religious dogma for some, as when reasonable guys like Jon Harris (who has much in common with them) try to pushback on this ideological narrative they turn on him like a pack of angry wolves.

For the record, I do not come at this from some blind allegiance to the (very secular) geo-political nation-state of Israel. I am not a dispensationalist, nor a Zionist (see my views on these subjects here). I am also not denying that Jewish people have had power and have used that power for evil, nor do I deny that they continue to do so. All that being said, the kind of intellectual laziness which is required to blame everything from racially-mixed couples in commercials to 9/11 on the Jews is hard for most people to comprehend. Usually, this is nothing more than a way to dress up and disguise hatred for Jews. The hatred for an entire group of people has so permeated the hearts and minds of many, that they basically see a rabbi behind every bush, and a menorah at every turn.

I’ll post here a screenshot of a recent interaction with Corey Mahler:

He did not respond to this (which I am rather thankful for, considering the fact that every time he or his followers have responded to me it has been the equivalent of school-yard bullying), but the basic point I am communicating is that to ascribe unlimited power to a group of sinful men under satanic influence is to effectively deny the sovereignty and control of God over the universe and the affairs of men. For far too long, Christians in the west have given into a pathetic and pessimistic outlook on life, forgetting that it is the meek who inherit the earth while the wicked pass away.

Ironically, while some think that the Jews (as a people group) are taking over the world, they are forgetting that it is one particular Jew to whom the world belongs, and His name is Jesus Christ, and Christ is indeed king.

1. One example from this period was the “Gulf of Tonkin” incident in which it was falsely reported that North Vietnamese ships attacked American vessels in 1964. This event was used to justify expansion into the Vietnam war.

2. Christ is king, after all.