Jesus' Conspiratorial Worldview

Jesus Christ taught a conspiratorial worldview. So did His apostles. In fact, the entire Bible documents many conspiracies. Evil men have been forming conspiracies for thousands of years, and modernization has done nothing to eliminate conspiracies, because it is the basic nature of power-hungry people in rebellion against God. Today, modern technology and media are especially effective in concealing conspiracies, so most people are ignorant, deceived, unconcerned and in danger! If you do not want to be one of these poor souls, then this article is for you.

Jesus Christ's teaching on conspiracies

Here are a few quotes that are worth noting:


Jesus said: "I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk around in the darkness, but will have the light of the Life." - John 8:12 SCS
"Now this is the basis for the condemning, that the Light has come into the world, but the people loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were malignant. For whoever practices evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But whoever does the truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they are done in God." - John 3:19-21 SCS
Jesus told His unbelieving brothers, "The world cannot hate you, but does hate me, because I testify about it that its works are malignant." - John 7:7 SCS
When Jesus' disciples asked Him about signs of His return and of the completion of the age, He said: "Watch out, so that no one deceives you, because many will come in My name saying that I am the Christ, and they will deceive many." - Matthew 24:3-5

Conspiracy is organized sin

The Bible teaches that all humans except Jesus have a sinful nature (Isaiah 1:18, Romans 3:23, Hebrews 4:15), and our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). Some people try harder than others to avoid sinning. This requires carefully applying the Bible to daily life situations so as to live a godly life. This godly life includes not following the sins of people in the world and also speaking out boldly about Jesus and the truth of the Bible.

Eventually, if you really want to live a life dedicated to Christ Jesus, you will be in the minority and persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). This may include people talking negatively behind their backs and conspiring to exclude you, take away your privileges or perhaps harming you. Such actions are normally done in secret, because it is not convenient to do them openly.

At a high level, among world leaders, conspiracies are naturally bigger, more evil and more secretive and often use coercion or deceit to obtain something by illegal, immoral or unethical means. With modern technology and media, the degree of coercion and deceit is greater today than it has ever been in all of history!


Conspiracy in the Old Testament

Due to his love for God, King David was often in trouble, having to cry out to God for protection and help due to conspiracies formed against him:

O God! Please hear the sound of my mournful appeal; I ask You to protect my life and cast off the threats of the enemy. I ask you to hide me and cut me off from the conspiracy of the wicked and from the insurrection of the workers of wickedness. They sharpen their tongues like swords; they spit out evil and poisonous words like shooting sharp arrows, that they may shoot and kill an innocent man from well-concealed positions; they snipe at him unexpectedly without any fear. They encourage each other, make an evil plan and discuss how to secretly devise traps, saying, "Who will be able to see them?" They craftily plot evil, saying, "We've devised the most detailed and careful conspiracy!" Men's thoughts and meditations of the heart surely cannot be measured. – Psalm 64:1-6

Conspiracies can be found all over the Old Testament. Here are 20 examples:

  • Genesis 37 - Joseph's brothers conspired to kill him.
  • Judges 9 - Abimelech hired worthless men and killed his 70 brothers.
  • 1 Samuel 23 - King Saul plotted evil against David.
  • 2 Samuel 15-17 - Absalom and Ahithophel conspired against King David.
  • 1 Kings 15 - Baasha conspired against King Nadaab the son of Jeroboam and killed him.
  • 1 Kings 16 - Zimri conspired against King Baasha and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 12 - King Jehoash’s servants conspired and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 14 - The people conspired against King Amaziah, son of Joash, and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 15 - Shallum conspired against King Zechariah, son of Jeroboam III, and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 15 - Pekah, an officer of King Pekaniah, conspired and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 15 - Hoshea led a conspiracy against King Pekah and killed him.
  • 2 Kings 21 - The servants of King Amon, son of King Manasseh, conspired and killed him.
  • Nehemiah 4 - Sanballet, Tobiah, the Arabs, Amonites and the Ashdodites conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
  • Esther 2 - Mordecai discovered a plot against King Ahasuerus.
  • Esther 3 - Haman conspired against the Jews.
  • Esther 5 - Haman plotted against Mordecai.
  • Psalm 2 - The nations plot a vain thing against the Lord's anointed.
  • Isaiah 5 - Syria, Ephriaim and the son of Remaliah plotted evil against Judah.
  • Jeremiah 40 - Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, sent Ishmael to murder Gedaliah.
  • Daniel 6 - The administrators and satraps plotted against Daniel.

Conspiracy in the New Testament

Conspiracies can also be found in the historical parts of the New Testament.Here are five examples:

  • Matthew 22 - The Pharisees plotted against Jesus to entangle Him in His talk and destroy Him.
  • John 12 - The chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death.
  • Acts 9 - The Jews in Damascus plotted to kill Saul after his conversion.
  • Acts 20 - The Jews in Greece plotted to kill Saul as he was about to sail to Syria.
  • Acts 23 - Forty Jews in Jerusalem formed a conspiracy to kill Paul.

The Bible teachers that the fundamental reason men form conspiracies is that they are evil or depraved. Many people will not admit to having evil in their hearts, but that is just because they are not close to God. In other words, the closer we get to the Light, the more dirt we can see. It takes some courage to look into our hearts, because we simply do not like the evil motives and thoughts that are there, and prefer to think that we are more noble or upright in character than we really are. The Apostle Paul explained it this way:


What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have already charged both Jews and Greeks6 that they are all under sin. Just as it is written:

“No one is righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have been made useless; there is no one who shows kindness, no, not so much as one.”
“Their throat is an opened grave; they habitually deceive with their tongues.”
“Viper's venom is under their lips”;
“whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world become accountable to God. It follows that no flesh will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because through the law comes the real knowledge of sin. – - Romans 3:9-20 SCS

The good news of Jesus is that we can overcome our sinful natures and be changed from inside out by His power and grace. The bad news is that most people do not seek to overcome with Jesus’ help, and the most powerful people in our world are either sold out to living for themselves or have made secret deals with the devil – literally! In return for their service, the devil gives them power over people all over the world. The Apostle Paul said that this strong delusion in the last days:

That [lawless] one’s coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all wicked deception among those who are wasting themselves,because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved. Yes, because of this God will send them an active delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all may be condemned who have not believed the truth but have taken pleasure in wickedness. - 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 SCS

What to do?

Many conspiracy theories have been floating around since the time when JFK was assassinated. It is normal and acceptable to doubt official stories when they do not match all the facts. Although some conspiracy theories turn out to be false, many turn out to be true. Sadly, though, by the time people figure out that they were true it is already too late to do anything about them.

If you are want to understand more about conspiracies in our world today, here are some suggestions:

  • Pray and ask God to show you what is true and what is false, especially things that most people think are true but are actually false. Matthew 7:7
  • Read the Bible and listen to the Spirit of God speak to you personally from the pages regarding your own life and the world around you. John 10:27
  • Put on the belt of truth every day. Ephesians 6:14. This means thinking about the Bible and speaking truth. Put on the breastplate of righteousness every day. Ephesians 6:14. This means living a righteous life as defined in the Bible, not as defined by society. Determine in your heart to believe everything the Bible says and to obey all of Jesus’ commands.
  • Be regularly acquiring good friends and information sources and letting go of bad friends and bad information sources. Proverbs 13:20. This includes looking for people who believe the Bible and want to obey it as well as people who try to tell the facts about the world that help people to be safe and healthy – people who have no affiliation with corporate media, government-backed media or organizations that make money by appealing to worldly desires.
  • Avoid worldliness - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:15,16) - and avoid information sources that promote worldly thinking. Anyone who ignores conspiracies is probably sold out to the world system and not worth listening to.
  • Be cautious in listning to alternative media that does address conspiracies but is also wordly; such sources tend to present good information but promote the idea that they can change things through human effort. They do not realize that it is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12), and only people who follow Jesus and the Bible can truly overocme. In fact, they may be stirring up rebellion.
  • Speak the truth to friends and loved ones whom you care about, and be ready for opposition. Opposition is good for helping us check our motives and to motivate us to be more diligent to pray, study the Bible and do good research on current events.
  • Read some of the articles that have links on this page.