The other day a former Sovereign Grace pastor asked a question. What conspiracies do you believe? And evangelicals responded on his social media. The responses really showed the brokenness of evangelicalism and much of it has dissolved.
“We have to challenge lies. We have to challenge falsehoods and conspiracy theories. If you don’t, they fester – unchecked and unchallenged.”
Brianna Keilar
Recently there was an interesting discussion on the Facebook page of a former Sovereign Grace pastor that I wanted to pull aside to look at. Stephen Altrogge used to be a pastor at Sovereign Grace of Indiana, Pennsylvania. Sovereign Grace at Indiana, Pennsylvania broke away from SGM under the leadership of Mark Altrogge and eventually became Saving Grace Church. According to the website Mark Altrogge still helps out at the church. Stephen Altrogge it appears has moved on from pasturing but still maintains a website that he updates and shares his thoughts.
What Conspiracy Theory Do You Believe?
Recently at Facebook Stephen Altrogge asked the following question, which you can see below.
The responses were shocking for me and helped reveal how broken American evangelicalism is as a movement. Look at some of what people stated on Facebook.
My Opinion? I Believe There are Many Evangelical Christians Who are Mentally Ill.
I think in a post like this I am going to say the quiet part out loud. I would suggest that the reason why so many evangelicals are into conspiracy theories is that you can most likely find higher rates of mental illness inside evangelicalism. I would suggest that if you believe in Q Anon or a host of other conspiracy theories than you are mentally ill. I would also suggest that evangelicalism attracts people who are mentally ill. Then on top of that you layer on the attacks on psychology, psychiatry and the rejection of science by many evangelicals. It becomes a hole that people get drawn to and trapped. Kind of like moths being drawn to a light on the back porch during summer. Plus you add the persecution mindset mentality and that adds to the paranoia. Evangelicals should be the very last group of people to deal with paranoia and fear. Especially if they believed their Bible, and know it well. But many don’t and and for me one of the check marks of a person of faith for evangelicalism is they most likely will be into a conspiracy theory. That is what Stephen Altrogge stand out in my view. Most average people I think would dismiss such a post. But many evangelicals responded and just look at what they wrote. From COVID-19 to the 2020 election, to science, and more. Many evangelicals hit the conspiracy theories in their response to Altrogge. Thus, they also explained why many evangelicals are broken and stuck within a broken system. Why do you think so many evangelicals are into conspiracy theories? Do many evangelicals deal with mental illness more so than regular society in your view? Feel free to discuss below.
Wondering Eagle 
I agree that there are both individual and collective psychosis at work that fuels and exacerbates this tendency to believe the most outrageous things. The sheer amount of bad information available makes it extremely difficult to invite these people to seek truth rather than affirming their own prejudices.
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Nailed it Khnashi!!
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Because Confirmation that “their own prejudices” IS Divine TRVTH is only a click-and-swipe away. And The Algorithms which take your click-and-swipe history and load your inbox with more than the same. Doesn’t take long before you’re inside the Event Horizon.
And once you’re inside the Event Horizon of a Grand Unified Conspiracy TRVTH, you’re inside it FOREVER. Like Fundagelical Eternal Hell, there is literally No Way Out.
1) Any evidence against The Vast Conspiracy is Disinformation planted by The Conspiracy.
2) Lack of evidence for The Vast Conspiracy is PROOF The Conspiracy is So Vast They Can Silence Anyone and Cancel Anything. (Except one of the Special Illuminated Few like yourself, of course.)
3) Anyone who disbelieves The Conspiracy has PROVEN themselves to be Part of The Conspiracy.
It’s like a Calvary Chapel-bot going “That’s Not SCRIPTURE – SHOW ME SCRIPTURE!” where only what’s inside the Event Horizon is SCRIPTURE(TM). Or…
“THE DWARFS ARE FOR THE DWARFS! WE WON’T BE TAKEN IN!”
— Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle
“And because they will not be taken in, they can never be taken out.”
— Aslan of Narnia, The Last Battle
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I don’t think that a higher percentage of evangelicals are suffering from mental illness, but I do think they are susceptible to conspiracy theories. My view is that there are two related reasons for that.
First and foremost, they accept these theories out of fear. Fear that their fellow church members will question their Christian status if they don’t accept them, so they will be anathematized by the church.
Related to that is the second reason – many powerful leaders in the church use these conspiracies to rule and control their followers. This is nothing more than a power play on the part of those leaders to hold tightly to their positions of honor. It actually has nothing to do with true faith; it is just a means to hold power over others.
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Good observations Ruth.
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ALL OF THEM.
There’s this 20-year-old essay on just that subject:
http://www.acts17-11.com/conspire.html
P.S. Great layout putting the big OAnon poster under the Bible Verse.
Because QAnon breadcrumbs IS a New SCRIPTURE that replaces all previous Holy Writ.
Just like Late Great Planet Earth in the Seventies.
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P.P.S. All the Dogwhistles in those Tweets. With a distinct aroma of “We’re not saying it’s Aliens but It’s Aliens.” Which translates into Christianese as “We’re not saying it’s the Mark of the Beast, but it’s The Mark of The Beast.”
Globalism, The Global (One World) Government, The Deep State, The Cabal — all the latest Code Names for Das Juden. And megapastor/televangelist Nick Fuentes (like Fred Phelps) doesn’t use the Proper Code Words — his pulpit rants are directly about “THE JEWS! THE JEWS! THE JEWS!” What really makes it South Park funny is he does this in the name of (his words, screamed out loud) “YEHHHHH-SHUUUUUUU-AAAAAAAH!”
Only difference is this time around The Deep State Cabal is raping children to death and eating them to harvest the Adrenochrome (immortality drug) from their pineal glands instead of baking their blood into Matzoi for Passover.
P.P.P.S. Note how many of the Proper Code Words use the same naming convention as in The Turner Diaries, i.e. “The” followed by a noun.
QAnon: The Cabal, The Deep State, The Storm.
Turner Diaries: The System, The Plan, The Organization, The Book, The Day.
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Consider this:
In the decades before WW2, the German people were told continually that the Jews were responsible for their loss in WW1, that the Jews controlled the media, that the Jews were drinking the blood of children, that the Jews were behind BOTH communism and shady big business, that the Jews were running a secret globalist group that was seeking to take over the world.
Through these beliefs, the German people were riled up into believing that their very lives were threatened by Jews. They were afraid of Jews. They were so frightened that they were compelled to act. World War 2 and the holocaust came about because the German people were whipped up in a frenzy of fear that led to hate.
All of these beliefs were, in the end, conspiracy theories. Mass acceptance of conspiracy theories drove Germany into the holocaust.
Now consider today. The rich use adrenochrome from children they kill in order to live longer lives; the deep state is destroying America; socialists and ANTIFA are destroying America; big business is funding socialism; the elites have no regard for ordinary people; the mainstream media cannot be trusted.
All of these conspiracy beliefs have happened before.
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Remember when conspiracy was fun?
On the night shift, listening to coast to coast AM. Richard C Hoagland and the pyramids on Mars, Major Ed Dames remote viewing and still getting it wrong, Mel’s hole.
Or “In Search of” with Leonard Nimoy. The immortal Count St Germain featuring the prophecy of Elizabeth Clair Prophet, whose ‘Church Universal & Triumphant ‘ is stocking up on anti tank weapons in Montana.
Good times….
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Speaking of Good Times,
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Of in terms of conspiracies, nothing beats the Stonecutters in the Simpsons (later replaced by The Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers).
They also had the best song:
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Question: What Conspiracy Theories Do Evangelicals Believe?
Short answer: all of them
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