It only took a couple of peeks around the internet (adding, of course, some additional keywords like \u201ccharlatan\u201d to make sure I didn\u2019t just get Jones\u2019 fan pages) to learn a bit about this individual. He makes outlandish claims. He is so problematic that he is viewed as a liability at best by other conspiracy theorists<\/a> and by other wacky Christians<\/a>. That\u2019s without the cynics who think he\u2019s just another charlatan<\/a> who is in it for the money<\/a>.<\/p>\n The \u201cinformation\u201d this cousin had heard was typical conspiracy theory<\/a> end times stuff that has been around since the 1970s (if not indeed longer, in other forms). The idea of chips in passports or even under your skin, a single world government, it\u2019s all been standard fare in these circles<\/a> for three or four decades.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s think about that for a second: we\u2019re supposed to believe that there is a New World Order<\/a> that has sufficient conspirators and technology to take over the world, and yet the secret has been out for about 40 years and they still haven\u2019t managed it? That\u2019s not a very successful New World Order. I\u2019ll be honest, any conspiracy that has had its cover blown 40 years ago and still hasn\u2019t managed to achieve its aims is unlikely to be more successful now.<\/p>\n The irony is that these conspiracy theorists always talk about a loss of freedom, curtailing of liberties. And yet this nonsense thrives best in America, precisely because of the freedom of speech that allows them to spew their nonsense anywhere on the web, in books, on TV, and in plenty of other places \u2013 although you still have to pay if you want the DVD with all the details. Conspiracy theorists have long known how to milk people\u2019s fears for money. And unfortunately the Christian emphasis on faith, on being countercultural, and on expecting persecution leaves many gullible souls open to being taken advantage of by charlatans.<\/p>\n A key factor, however, in all conspiracy theory end times New World Order angles on things is Americacentrism<\/em>. It isn\u2019t that people are starving daily in other parts of the world that leads them to believe that these are the end times. It isn\u2019t that other people have had their freedoms curtailed for generations that is a sign of the end. It is a downturn in the U.S. economy that is treated as a foreboding omen, even if at the worst point in the latest depression most Americans are still far better off than most people around the world at the height of American prosperity. It is rumors about concentration camps for Christians in Indiana (that one made me laugh out loud) that worry American end-times oriented Christians, who seem to live in blissful ignorance that there are real<\/em> camps elsewhere on the planet.<\/p>\n It is this Americacentrism that leads to the reading of the Book of Revelation as being about the present. It is simply too much for the American ego to bear the obvious truth glaring at us from the pages of the Book of Revelation itself, speaking to us in a voice that sounds strangely like Dr. Phil\u2019s: \u201cIt\u2019s not about you<\/em>.\u201d The meaning of the text is perfectly clear. It addressed Christians in the time in which it was written, made not-that-subtle references to the Roman Empire and emperors (not just the number 666<\/a>, but also the city on seven hills), and provided the clearest evidence in the verse that woke me from my own misguided apocalyptic frenzy in Revelation 17:9-11<\/a>, where we are told that the beast\u2019s seven heads represent kings, \u201cfive of which have fallen, one of which now is, and one of which is to come\u201d, as well as an eighth who belongs with these others. If this wasn\u2019t true in the time when the author wrote the book and sent it to the churches in his time, then you are making him a liar and what he wrote to be lies. He didn\u2019t write \u201cWhen Alex Jones, or Hal Lindsay, or Tim LaHaye arrives and provides the key to interpreting what I\u2019ve written, it will then be true that five have fallen, one now is\u2026\u201d But because we so desperately want to be at the center of things, we ignore the plain meaning of the Bible, which even in one of the hardest books to interpret is plain enough that Christians ought not to be so easily hoodwinked.<\/p>\n Perhaps the key to reading the Bible and understanding it is indeed to watch less Alex Jones and more Dr. Phil. It\u2019s not about you<\/em>. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not relevant<\/em> to you. But when you are so eager for the book to be written directly to you that you are willing to ignore the clear evidence that it was written first and foremost for other people in another time and place, you\u2019ve not only fallen into the trap of misinterpreting the Bible. You\u2019ve done so motivated by one of the sins that Christianity has historically condemned, namely egotism<\/em>, egocentrism<\/em>, the belief that it is<\/em> all about me. That, more than anything else, is at the root of much misguided and mistaken misuse of the Bible, and much else besides.<\/p>\n But of course, once you\u2019ve bought into this worldview, it is easy to dismiss a voice like mine as yet another servant of the New World Order, in cahoots<\/a> with the evil one<\/a>. But it remains the fact that other countries censor their citizens\u2019 access to the internet, and the fact that people are openly speaking against the supposed New World Order is strong evidence against their own claims about a New World Order. And so I invite you to start over at the beginning. Don\u2019t take my word for anything, and don\u2019t take theirs. Be skeptical<\/a> of everyone who is telling you something. Don\u2019t believe me just because I am not<\/em> asking you to buy a DVD to get the full story. Be skeptical even so. Dig beneath the surface. Just don\u2019t assume that the people who are saying things you agree with aren\u2019t \u201ctickling your ears\u201d, for the Bible has warned you about precisely that. If you don\u2019t like what I\u2019m saying, that suggests that at least I\u2019m not in the ear-tickling business. But of course, most people have at least someone who likes what they are saying. So even that can\u2019t be your guide. You\u2019re just going to have to take the time to investigate. Otherwise, you\u2019re entrusting your soul and your money and perhaps even your leadership in various other ways to people who may or may not be telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You can\u2019t assume that just because someone\u2019s claims are peppered with Biblical allusions that what they are saying is \u201cwhat the Bible says.\u201d<\/p>\n I am incredibly proud of my wife for having dealt with a telephone call from a concerned cousin with a great deal of patience while offering wise yet direct answers (as well as questions). The phone call related to the end of the world and the \u201cinformation\u201d that the cousin in question had been getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-4123946100966279979?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")