I'm finally a recovering conspiracy theorist.

 I've been a conspiracy theorist my entire life. My mother was a conspiracy theorist, because her father was a conspiracy theorist. I remember pouring over my grandfather's books and newspaper collections as a child; the very beginning of my disdain and distrust of both the media and the governments they painted pretty pictures for. Or, sometimes hideous pictures, depending on the commission. He'd been clipping and collecting newspaper articles since the Alger Hiss trials of the 1940's, and with three copies of "Witness" in his collection, it was one of the first politically fueled books I'd come to read. 

My mother was convinced the government had a dossier on each member of the family, because my grandfather told her there was. She was convinced they were monitoring our every move, waiting to pounce on our dissent and imprison us, apparently. My father was a pastor of a few very small, non-denominational Churches during my childhood. Nothing large or noteworthy as his theology was and is the black sheep of the religious world. Yet still, my mother was convinced there were government spies within each congregation. Watching us, waiting. She confided in me that she "knew" my father's best friend was actually a plant. A spy. An opinion she maintained until her death. 

To say her paranoia rubbed off would be an understatement. But that's not to say it wasn't useful. In some ways, it was. From about 12 years old into my late 30's, I was your cookie cutter conspiracy theorist. I knew aliens were demonic entities and had first-hand experience with them. I knew 911 was bogus when they rolled the TV into my health class freshman year. I knew both major political parties were a charade before I could legally vote. I knew history was re-visionist and the text-books lied. I grew up using alternative medicine and avoiding big pharma. I didn't brush my teeth with fluoride or use aluminum deodorant. I wouldn't use birth control. I wouldn't call the police or trust any government entity. I acknowledged the sinister intent of the Social Security Administration. No microwaves in my house. But I digress. All these things are actually good to be aware of, and if not for my family legacy of conspiracy theorists I would have succumbed to a lot of propaganda and potentially dangerous life choices. 

And yet, there is something sinister in the conspiracy theory realm. Claiming the title of conspiracy theorist, it seems, comes with unspoken obligations in the internet age. You need to know everything. You can't allow anything to escape your radar. You need to stay up to date on the goings on of all the elite controllers. You must see the psyops before they arrive. It's an all-consuming assignment. It silently feeds the ego. You develop disdain for not only the evil entities in power but for all your fellow man who can't or won't see things for what they are. You start repeating lines like, "If you don't know the truth it's because you don't want to know the truth," which sounds correct but is actually a way for your subconscious to claim superiority over others. The statement is directly meant to shame those that don't see what you see. As if you see all, perfectly (We don't; 1 Corinthians 13.12). You begin to think you must be special, or anointed, or chosen. Pride. I started noticing these alarming trends in the conspiracy community years ago, and at first, it really seemed like good intent. But it's clearly more of a Maximillien Robespierre-esque move of becoming what you hate, albeit subconsciously. But that's how the enemy works best. 

The internet and social media have essentially replaced news networks (for most people), at this point. The alternative media has been hijacked by the same elitest powers that used to coerce and manipulate the opinions of the masses via CNN. Now they use the conspiracy tagline to manipulate. We have obvious controlled opposition putting out absurd theories that the masses now latch onto just as easily as they did to the two-party system. If you believe every single person who's ever acted in a movie is a lizard person (or trans), that the CERN large hadron collider shut down caused fake clouds to be replaced by real clouds, that the real sun (God's creation!) has been replaced by a fake sun, or that you're a prophet anointed by God himself; your thoughts have likely been compromised by the enemy as well. 

We have to test every spirit. 1 John 4:1. We have one straight edge to compare everything in the world against and that straight edge is the Word of God. If that supposed prophet on Instagram intentionally quotes scripture out of context, they're not a prophet of YHVH. And when you find yourself being consumed by conspiracy theories rather than the Word of God, you're being influenced by false prophets. I've been there myself, which is why I say I'm a recovering conspiracy theorist. Like a recovering alcoholic is still an alcoholic; a recovering conspiracy theorist is still a conspiracy theorist. I just don't let the conspiracies consume me anymore. Philippians 4:8.