The Truly Masterful Conspiracy

Sermon for North Hill, July 30, 2011
Texts: Genesis 3:15; 50:15-21, 2 Kings 5; 6:8-23; Revelation 5:13-14,

(Editors Note: Why waste your time fretting over petty conspiracies like the Illuminati, the U.N.'s plan for one-world government, the cabal of rich people, communists, socialists, Islamic World Domination Dreamers, European Sunday Promoters, right wing fundamentalists, etc. If we're going to talk conspiracy, let's talk about one that is actually going to succeed. Which is what this sermon does.)


I was in a meeting not long ago with several other ministers. We got to talking about an incident during campmeeting. A young man with severe psychological problems showed up. He was off his meds and became severely agitated and aggressive. I called the police who came and took him away. It was a scary few minutes but no one got hurt and the young man did not end up with any criminal charges on his record.

One of the preachers in the meeting said, “Isn't that just like the Devil. He'll do anything he can to block the special blessing God has for his people at campmeeting.”

I smiled inwardly at his naivete. I saw it exactly opposite. Here was a needy, damaged person. When he was off his medication, he was a risk to himself and others. God sent him to the one place where his edgy behavior would get him arrested before he hurt anyone – an arrest that would end with him in the care of mental health professionals instead of doing jail time.

I had even received a tip off about his problems before he arrived so I called the police much quicker than I would have otherwise. No one got hurt. (Several us were scared!) He got help. Campmeeting was not disrupted. God won.

So, if the Devil was involved, if the Devil had, in fact, sent this young man to “block the special blessing God had planned for campmeeting,” it was a miserable failure. God won. Again. Poor Devil. He's such a loser!

One of the most foundational, bedrock convictions of Adventism is something we call “The Great Controversy.” It's the way we tell the story of the universe. We insist it is the real story of what's happening. It is the secret knowledge of how the universe works. It is the story of a Grand Conspiracy. God is pulling strings, positioning secret agents and public forces, manipulating evil and empowering good so that in the end, love triumphs and evil dies.


There are a couple of reasons why the Adventist conviction about God's conspiracy to assure the triumph of love matters. First, it gives us hope if we have suffered from the machinations of the devil or evil people. We may suffer, but ultimately our suffering will be alleviated – no, I should say our suffering will be engulfed in joy, dissolved in joy. Joy is eternal. Suffering is terribly real, but it will prove to be ephemeral.

Second, this story matters because it gives us the wisdom we need to align our efforts, our energies with the flow of history. We can avoid the tragedy of giving our lives in service to a lost, misguided cause.

Imagine how Robert E. Lee must have felt after the Civil War. He had turned down President Lincoln's offer to lead the Union armies and cast his lot with his beloved Virginia. It was a dumb choice. It turns out he was fighting a tragically misguided war to defend the most monstrous institution in the history of the United States. You know where history was headed. Slavery lost. The South lost. Lee lost. If, instead, he had aligned himself with history, if he had placed his considerable abilities in the service of freedom for Black people, it is probable the Civil War would have been much shorter. Hundreds of thousands of lives might of have been spared. The South would have avoided horrific devastation. Lee could have been a champion instead of a loser.

Attempting to stop the unstoppable course of history is tragic and dumb. We know how the human story is going to turn out. We know where history is going. Since God is the one directing the conspiracy of love, it makes sense to join.

Over the past year we've watched history march forward in the Middle East. If President Mubarak had understood the story was going to go, he would not have foolishly stood in the way of his people's longing for freedom and opportunity. But he did not understand where the story was going. He did not know the plot.

Adventists believe that eventually the human hunger for freedom and truth, for justice and the triumph of love will be satisfied. God is conspiring to make it so. He will not be forever thwarted. Since God is going to win. It makes since to join the conspiracy now.

China's communist party is doomed. The Wahabism of Saudi Arabia is doomed.

Love will win. Freedom will win. Tyrants can delay the progress. Tradition can stall the forward march of history. But neither tyrants nor tradition can forever delay the triumph of love. God will win. Love will win. That's the way the story goes.

To be sure, the Bible acknowledges the activity of the Devil. There are disastrous failures of goodness. There are heartbreaking victories by the forces of evil. But these are merely twists in the plot. They do not alter the end of the story.

God wins. Love wins. No matter how many times the Devil springs surprise attacks. No matter how many suicide bombers he commissions. No matter how inept or weary the agents of God, the eventual end of the story is guaranteed. God guarantees it.

God's victory will be so complete, so total, that the entire universe will celebrate it. Even the Devil will eventually bow and admit God is right. The conspiracy of love will prove so successful, eventually every force of evil, even humans who have appeared utterly captivated by wickedness – all will finally pay obeisance to God and love.

This is the direction of history. This is the climax of the plot. This is where the conspiracy is headed.

So we live in hope. The oppression of Islam will vanish. Communism will collapse. The tyranny of right wing zealots will disappear. The suppression of women and marriage by the papal system will evaporate. The swagger of capitalism will collapse.

Love will triumph. Community, harmonious relationships, altruism, mutual care and respect, righteousness and peace will fill the earth.

Allow me a couple of applications:

1. God is more clever and powerful and determined than the Devil. In light of this, it is silly to obsess over the putative conspiracies of the left or right. The Illuminati, the papal system, socialists, communists, Muslims, the U.N., the Aryan Brotherhood – pick your favorite bogey man – each of these and all of them together are no more consequential than Hosni Mubarak. They will fall. They will fail. They do not run the world. They will not rule the world. So don't freak out. Refuse to feed your worry. Instead feed your faith. Don't listen to people like Rush Limbaugh or Walter Veith. These men are most eloquent when talking about stuff they fear or hate, a profoundly misplaced eloquence.

2. Devote yourself to doing what you can to further the conspiracy of goodness. Enlist in the winning movement. Practice generosity. Give yourself to the cultivation of affection and intimacy with family and friends. Spend less than you earn and build savings regularly. Exercise regularly. Eat wisely. Spend time every day watering the plant of faith through reading, prayer, meditation, music, art, acts of service. In case I've not been clear enough: Read (books, internet sites, magazines) stuff that celebrates goodness. DO NOT READ stuff that outlines the methods or supposed accomplishments of the forces of evil. If everything the fear-mongers say is true, what should you do? The things I've listed above in this paragraph. If nothing the fear-mongers say is true, what should you do? The things I've listed above in this paragraph. The fear-mongers give no guidance for life. They offer no wisdom, no help. So leave them alone. Give your attention to the winning conspiracy, not to the ones guaranteed to fail. Do things you'll be happy to talk about at the victory feast of the conspiracy of heaven.