WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CONSPIRACY - Sadell Bradley- 07/29/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD CONSPIRACY Sadell Bradley 07/29/2020 "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." -Frederick Douglass You would think that Frederick Douglass was speaking in 2020 and not in the 1800s. 200 years later, his words still ring true. Conspiracy theories are everywhere. A CONSPIRACY is a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful; the action of plotting or conspiring. CONSPIRE means that events or circumstances seem to be working together to bring about a particular result - typically to someone's detriment. If you've been paying attention, you might have heard everything from...these illnesses and deaths are not due to the COVID-19 virus, but 5G cellular towers. How about this one...the virus is for population control to neutralize the financial effects of Baby Boomers on Social Security funds. Or...this situation's intent is to negatively affect people of color, in particular African-Americans. They're going to use Blacks to test the vaccine...and all of this is just a precursor to them implanting a chip into everyone so we can ALL be tracked by the government. A conspiracy theorist believes that in back rooms somewhere, people with power are making decisions that disenfranchise the poor and the weak in order to retain money and control. On either side of the political aisle, folks surmise that plots are being hatched that allow for certain perspectives to be propagated, and rule to be sustained. Conspiracies increase our levels of distrust, so it's hard to know what to believe. NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN In Isaiah 8, the prophet makes statements during a time when Syria and Ephraim were in cahoots which would have meant treason. Everyone was suspicious that their neighbors were traitors. Isaiah was warned not to treat this Syro-Ephraimitish alliance as a serious danger. (Cambridge) He brings a Word of refocus for the remnant of God's people that would be good for us as well. "11The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 12“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.13Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. 14He will keep you safe...20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness. (NLT) LET GO, AND LET GOD! We're struggling to discern the truth these days. Everyone is talking and it's hard to know whom to trust. It's a good thing we can stop trying so hard to decipher through all these news stories and conspiracy theories. Instead, we can go higher and trust in the LORD. Isaiah said, "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation." (Isa. 12:2)