Whether it’s real life examples like the Kennedy Assassination, the "faked" Moon Landings or fictional examples like The Matrix or that latest flash in the pan The Da Vinci Code, people seem to love conspiracy theories. Everybody likes a good mystery story and I think most people are both fascinated and scared by the idea that there’s some kind of secret reality behind the outward appearance of life, at odds with the world as it seems to be on the surface of everyday life.
Well I’d like to tell you about a conspiracy that is as real as it gets. And it’s not a theory, it’s a fact. It concerns every single person reading this. In fact it concerns everyone in the whole world. We’re all caught up in it one way or another. And it’s more shocking than any other conspiracy theory out there.
The biggest conspiracy is this: there are forces out there who want to stop you becoming a Christian, or if you are a Christian, want to stop you living effectively as one. The forces operate in many different ways and through all kinds of people – most of whom don’t know who they are really working for! But the mastermind behind this conspiracy isn’t the US President, the head of the CIA, the US Military or NASA, or even Opus Dei and the Vatican. It is none other than Satan himself. Or maybe you don’t believe in the Devil? Maybe you think he’s just a "personification of evil" maybe? A "primitive idea" that we sophisticated Western Christians no longer accept? The trouble with these kinds of judgments are that they fly in the face of what Jesus himself believed and taught about Satan. Christ believed in him all right. I can think of no good reason why Christ’s followers should think any differently.
Of course if you don’t believe in the devil, he’s delighted. Just as there’s nothing God likes more than people believing in him and trusting him, there’s nothing the devil likes more than people NOT believing in him (although not believing in God must come a close second!). It makes his job so much easier. I can imagine Satan smiling to hear you say to yourself that you don’t believe in him. It makes you a much easier target for his deceptions. If you didn’t believe in pickpockets, you’d never point the finger in the right direction when your wallet or purse went missing, would you?
The Bible mentions this diabolical conspiracy to stop you getting the most out of life on several occasions. In Ephesians 6 Paul describes the Christian life as a fight. He makes it clear that the Christian’s fight is not principally against evil people, but against the dark powers that work behind the scenes. "Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-12, NLT).
Once this conspiracy is exposed, it begins to unravel very quickly. It is exposed as a futile attempt to defeat God, a wicked rebellion against the King of Love. And we quickly realise that those who thought they were "free" without God, actually discover they have been slavishly serving an evil master all along.
When we realise this spiritual war is going on in the background, beneath the surface of everyday life, it may make us scared at first. But it shouldn’t. It should make us determined to trust in God all the more and to fight the good fight with all our might, as that great hymn puts it.
We know that one of the reasons God sent Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and Lord was to "destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). We know how the war is going to end – with victory for God and his people and defeat for Satan, his minions and his followers. "The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever…And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11, 15, ESV).
So let us expose this real conspiracy every opportunity we get, by spreading the gospel and living faithful lives as God’s own people.
