conomists are still debating the causes of the 2008 global financial collapse. But in the netherworld of conspiracy theorists and neo-Nazis there is no need for debate. The crisis was planned. It was a sinister plot to establish a world socialist government.
Catastrophes breed conspiracies. The French and Bolshevik revolutions, the Great Depression, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the high incidence of HIV and crack cocaine addiction among African-Americans, and the 9/11 attacks have all been attributed to some form of conspiracy.
I never thought much about these conspiracy theories until recently.
The trigger was an animated discussion I had with several Adventist friends. Not only did they eagerly embrace these theories, but they also wove them into their interpretation of prophecy and end-time events. Unappreciated by my friends—and deeply troubling in my view—is the irreconcilable tension between conspiracy theories of history and the biblical view of history.
Denial of God’s Sovereignty
Conspiracy theorists explain all major historical events or catastrophes as intrigues by secret societies—Freemasons, Illuminati, Jews, Opus Dei—steering the world toward one global government. And some of these contend that if these intrigues are not widely known or accepted as true it is because Jews—the ultimate conspirators—control the mainstream media. In short, for conspiracy theorists malevolent and powerful secret cabals in high positions hold the levers of history.
But to ascribe such transcendent power to human beings, no matter how powerful or how influential, is to contradict clear biblical testimony of divine sovereignty over history. In fact, one of the main purposes of prophecy, especially apocalyptic prophecy,1 is to reassure believers that, “contrary to all appearances, God [is] still in control of history.”2
Or as Ellen G. White put it: “In the annals of human history the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as dependent on the will and prowess of man. . . . But in the word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.”3
Faith in God’s sovereignty over history banishes fear. “We will not fear,” says Psalm 46:2, “though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”
This faith is not naive or sentimental, to be sure. The biblical view of history is realistic. The vivid apocalyptic symbols of nondescript and terrifying beasts, gratuitously crushing their victims as they romp through the corridors of time, capture more than any other historical theory the demonic element in history. Implicit in the very bizarreness of apocalyptic symbols is a stark reminder that real evil is incredibly hideous and enigmatic. At its core it is unintelligible to human beings. This is because the devil, the author of evil, is a master of intrigue. He “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). So complete is his deceitfulness that if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect (Matt. 24:24).
It is not without significance that the Bible says very little about Satan and the demonic world. There is untold danger in trying to probe into “Satan’s so-called deep secrets” (Rev. 2:24). Indeed, as sinners entangled in a world controlled by the evil one (1 John 5:19), we are unable to treat evil objectively. We are not disinterested observers, but participants in the great controversy between good and evil. Or to put it differently, our hearts are theaters of the great cosmic war between God and Satan. Much is at stake. The interplay of our aggregate individual decisions taken for God or Satan shapes the course of history.
Modesty of the Biblical Writers
Of course, many modern academic historians do not recognize the existence of God or Satan. But in restricting themselves to narrow fields, in giving limited explanations to specific episodes, they unwittingly mirror the modesty of biblical writers. “We know in part and we prophesy in part,” Paul wrote, “but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. . . . Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully” (1 Cor. 13:9-12).
Our view of reality, Paul is saying, is partial, contingent, and subjective. For perfect knowledge, for complete understanding of things, we must await the Second Advent.
The conceit of conspiracy theorists is in their dogmatic conviction that they completely know and can clearly decipher all the diabolical schemes in history. It is a conceit reinforced by ?the deluge of information spawned by the Internet. But in spite of all the Internet’s reach and breadth, there is much that it does not capture. The inner workings of intelligence agencies, criminal and terrorist organizations, governments, secret societies, and even legitimate global businesses are always in the shadows. To be sure, conspiracies are partly inspired by the frustration in trying to make sense of these “shadow activities.”
Yet even if all the “shadow activities” in the world were known, their sheer volume and bewildering complexity would be overwhelming. They cannot be comprehended in one overarching theory. Indeed, outsized and well-funded secret services such as the CIA have serious problems synthesizing the huge amount of information they collect, let alone bending it all to their will.
The point here is that the forces and passions shaping human societies are many, varied, dynamic, and totally capricious. That is why Communist and Nazi bids for world dominance failed. The linguistic, ethnic, and cultural distinctions that God inscribed at the tower of Babel have thwarted—and will always thwart—any bid toward a one-world government.
Let’s Not Magnify the Demonic
We must never forget: “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that ?can succeed against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30). Therefore, we should never pay homage to any human scheme. God’s word to Isaiah, when the surrounding nations formed an alliance to overrun Judah, is very relevant here. “The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread’” (Isa. 8:11-13).
To gain a divine perspective on the geopolitical threats facing Judah, Isaiah was supposed to guard against popular opinions and fears. He was ?to fear only the Lord Almighty. Such sacred fear shrinks human schemes to their finite, fleeting dimensions. It glorifies God.
In contrast, obsession with human schemes diminishes divine sovereignty over history. Actually, it magnifies the demonic.
The irony, however, is that this demonic malevolence is projected on humans. Jews loom large in the world of conspiracy theorists. Blamed for every economic or political catastrophe, they are depicted as literal devils. The conviction is that “all Jews everywhere in the world—form a conspiratorial body set on ruining and then dominating the rest of mankind.”4 Ruin, then domination. This is exactly the strategy and ambition of the devil and his demonic minions. Yet from pagan antiquity through the Middle Ages to modern times, this conspiracy has been blamed on the very people whom God chose to inaugurate the plan that has thwarted Satan’s wicked ambition.
This fiendish inversion is a classic satanic strategy. At the onset of the great controversy “the very work which [the devil] was thus endeavoring to accomplish he charged upon the loyal angels.”5 Similarly, the myth of the Jewish world-conspiracy is a perfect camouflage for his end-time universal conspiracy predicted in Revelation 13 and 14. “At the end,” as Jon Paulien noted, “things are not going to be what they seem. Satan will place in motion a massive counterfeit of the true God.”6 To discredit the testing truth of the end-time and tapping into the deep wells of anti-Semitism, the devil will find it very easy to dismiss the seventh-day Sabbath and the universal call of the three angels’ messages as part of the “Jewish world-conspiracy.”
We must remember that in popular consciousness the seventh-day Sabbath is identified with the Jews. Also, it is not without significance that many take the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be a cult. This sinister label fits well into the myth of Jewish seditiousness. Indeed, Ellen G. White’s description of the end-time slanders against Sabbathkeepers is very reminiscent of the standard centuries-old anti-Jewish demonology.7
God alone knows the details of end-time events—just as He alone is in control of history. But we can remember this only when, instead of fixating on human conspiracies, we fix our eyes on His glorious promises.
___________
1Apocalyptic is a branch of prophecy that depicts God’s final victory over the evil forces in the cosmos.
2William G. Johnsson, “Biblical Apocalyptic,” in Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, Raoul Dederen, ed., Commentary Reference Series, vol. 12 (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 2000), p. 787.
3Ellen G. White, Education, p. 173.
4Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (London: Serif, 1996), p. xiii.
5White, The Great Controversy, p. 591.
6Jon Paulien, What the Bible Says About the End-time (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1994), p. 111.
7See White, The Great Controversy, pp. 590-592, and Cohn, pp. 25-117.
_____________
Elijah Mvundura is a former history and sociology lecturer at Solusi University in Zimbabwe. He now lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This article was printed January 14, 2010.
