COVID, QAnon conspiracy theories and more!
April 2020
COVID-19 Conspiracy theories spreading faster than virus itself
As government and industry researchers are working nonstop to understand this new coronavirus, COVID-19, conspiracy theorists are also working feverishly to provide their answers. And millions of YouTube viewers are watching, then linking the theories to their social network.
Here are some of the popular—that’s the scary part—explanations:
• The virus is a military bio-weapon created by the Chinese government. (Or if you’re from China, brought to Wuhan by the United States.)
• A “human depopulation scheme” masterminded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
• Spread through a “tainted batch of children’s blood that the world’s celebrities drink to stay young.”
And the theory du jour:
• “Global elites” using 5G technology to spread the virus. Conspirators claim the high-speed upgrade in wireless communications causes damage to the human immunity system which presents as COVID-19. But wait, there’s more! The government-mandated quarantines are being used to secretly install 5G technology in schools in California. “They have just set off phase 2 of their depopulation agenda.”
So, here’s a newspaper column I wrote in the last century about conspiracies, urban legends, fake news, and other rumors, proving there have always been and always will be paranoid speculation.
Is the world ruled by alien “shapeshifters”? Did the U.S. government plan the September 11, 2001 “terrorist” attacks? Are humans causing climate change and melting polar ice caps?
Apparently, conspiracy theories and doomsday scenarios have been around for thousands of years. But first, some recent “revelations:”
World ruled by “shape-shifting” lizards
Christine Fitzgerald, a close friend and confidant of Princess Diana for nine years, claims the princess revealed to her that the Royal Family were “reptilian aliens, and that they could shapeshift.” Another source alleges that former president George W. Bush is also a shapeshifter. David Icke, a former BBC reporter, has sold thousands of books claiming, “that humanity is actually under the control of dinosaurian-like alien reptiles who must consume human blood to maintain their human appearance.”
Roswell is home to E.T.
And where did these lizard people come from? TV’s The X Files claimed, “The truth is out there,” and the “truth” is that the secret Air Force base exists for, and I quote, “the storage, examination, and reverse engineering of crashed alien spacecraft (including material supposedly recovered at Roswell), the study of their occupants (living and dead), and the manufacture of aircraft based on alien technology.”
September 11 terrorist attacks orchestrated by U.S. government
Believers claim the World Trade Center towers were taken down by a controlled demolition and that no steel building before or since the 9-11 attack has collapsed as the result of fire. Others claim a cruise missile, not a commercial aircraft, crashed into the Pentagon. All this was covertly carried out by the United State government to galvanize support for the war on terrorism.
But wait, there’s more . . .
Other popular books, radio shows, websites and secret meetings of survivalists warn of “The Illuminati,” which apparently rules that part of the world not under lizard rule (or—take your pick—Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Trilateral Commission, the New World Order or Yale’s Skull and Bones society).
Then there are Scientologists who control Hollywood; global pandemics; massive asteroids hurtling toward earth; the U.S. Army’s purchase of 30,000 guillotines to execute domestic trouble-makers; and my personal favorite: the “Zombie Apocalypse.”
“Doomsday prepping” is big business with survival supplies from freeze-dried food to—and I quote—”Z-Max bullets specifically designed to vaporize zombie varmints.” Meanwhile, the United Nations and member governments are spending billions of dollars to prepare for environmental threats that may not materialize.
Of course, trying to refute shape-shifting lizards in leadership, terrorists within the U.S. government, etc. only proves that there is a vast conspiracy to hide the truth from everyone in the world except the truly enlightened theorists.
The truth is out there
There is no scientific evidence of “shape-shifting” lizard people—although Washington politicians do a great job trying! Roswell is actually a secret military test site and the crashed alien ship was a spy weather balloon. Numerous government and independent studies have concluded that at high temperatures, the World Trade Center towers could indeed collapse upon themselves without a well-planned operation to booby-trap the buildings with controlled explosives on each floor.
Responding to conspiracy theories
The prophet Isaiah (circa 700 BC), has a timely warning for those “doomsday” prophets on conservative talk shows and in liberal governments (Yes, there are “red” and “blue” wolf-criers!):
Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe” (8:11-14 NIV)
So, here’s my point—and I do have one. Well, actually three:
• Pray that believers in Christ will not “call everything a conspiracy.” Credibility in government and in our personal lives is so vital. (Click for my spiel on urban legends.)
• Pray for “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies” to protect the world’s population and to provide wisdom for leaders to address real challenges—not imaginary ones. Real answers to genuine needs are vital.
• Pray that world leaders will not govern out of dread of fear#151;or out of their own arrogance and agendas—but reverent fear of the One who should make them tremble. Confident, yet humble leaders are vital!
So, I can spend my time fearing lizard people, secret societies, and UFOs bent on conquering earth. Or I can spend my time trusting the God who created it all and rules over it all. I’ll choose the latter—and steer clear of Buckingham Palace.
Let the record show that Jim Watkins is not a shape-shifting lizard or blood-thirsty zombie, but an author, speaker and former newspaper columnist.
© 1999, 2009 James N. Watkins. Updated in 2013 for The Presidential Prayer Team.
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