Staying sane down the rabbit hole

Or, how not to get obsessed with 'alternative' news

Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash

When you can’t explain things rationally, you start to look deeper to make sense of what’s going on. This happened to me during covid: I couldn’t explain the pointless restrictions, the almost religious fanaticism over the vaccines, the constant promotion of face masks and so on. It all seemed so contradictory and irrational. I started looking into it, and all of a sudden things started to make sense from a whole different perspective. From what I can tell, a lot of people have been on the same journey as me — covid was what opened a lot of our eyes to things which had previously been hidden.

Since covid, I’ve continued to go down the rabbit hole and I’ve discovered that there’s a whole world which I simply wasn’t aware of. And what I say a whole world, I mean it: It’s big in here, really big. One of the things I’ve realised is that the rabbit hole goes as deep as you want it to, and in fact you can never really get to the bottom of it. To take a few examples, just over the last few months I’ve been made aware of the reality of ‘illuminati’ families in the music industry, potential Masonic connections with various ‘conspiracies’, how you could see 9/11 as a black mass, and so on. All the kind of stuff which I once would have considered crazy but no longer do.

Another thing I’ve noticed since joining the club is how easy it is to get obsessed with it. It’s addictive trying to find out what’s really going on, trying to work out the truth behind the lies. And I use that word ‘addictive’ intentionally: I think it is possible to overdo it. I’ve noticed that a lot of the people in this community are really into it, constantly watching videos and podcasts and finding alternative perspectives on the mainstream narrative. It strikes me that it’s not healthy to be continually immersed in trying to discover the truth behind the lies.

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece:

Being 'awake' without fear or depression

There, I argued that we need God to help us make sense of all the craziness that’s going on without falling into fear or depression. What I’d like to do in this piece is to come at the problem from a different angle. Can we be aware of the truth without obsessing? Can we act in a way which is life-affirming and keeps us sane?

Once again, I believe that we can — but we need God. Let me offer up some thoughts.

The truth will set you free

These are some of the most famous words in John’s Gospel:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31-32

Jesus told his followers that they would know the truth, and the truth would set them free. But notice he didn’t say “you will know the truth about world events and who’s really in charge.” The truth Jesus was talking about was to be found in his “teaching”. In other words, the truth is the Word of God (the Scriptures - later on in John’s Gospel, Jesus says “your word is truth”, John 17:17), which lead us to Christ.

The important point is that truth and freedom are ultimately found in Jesus Christ, and nowhere else. This is why I am baffled and disappointed in those who are part of the so-called ‘truth community’ who nonetheless continue to reject Jesus Christ. If people continue to reject Jesus, I believe it shows that they are not really concerned with the truth.

Note: I believe that the converse is also true — those who know Jesus Christ should be open to the truth in other areas, as I explain in this piece. Christians who dismiss people as ‘conspiracy theorists’ without searching out the truth are not honouring Christ.

One important implication of this is that the simple Christian who holds firmly to Jesus has more truth and freedom than someone in the ‘truth community’ who rejects Jesus. The ‘truther’ may know more about, say, 9/11 — but they will not know the One who is truth.

This is hugely liberating, because it means that we don’t have to know the truth about everything in order to be set free. Being set free is not about knowing the truth behind every world event and every shadowy group pulling the strings behind the scenes; the truth is about knowing Jesus and living in his ways. This leads on to the second thing.

Truth and action go together

One of the reasons I didn’t look into conspiracy theories very much prior to covid was because they didn’t affect me personally — at least, it didn’t seem like that to me. Why would anyone, for example, make a big noise about the moon landings being faked and risk alienating themselves from their family and friends? Why make a fuss about something which doesn’t affect you personally?

Note: I’m not arguing I did the right thing — Christians should be concerned with injustice even if it doesn’t affect us personally. For example, many families affected by 9/11 have been seeking justice for years, and I should have taken more time to look into what they had to say. I owe a big apology to people who I had previously dismissed prior to the last few years.

Obviously, when covid came along it affected all of us, and it was no longer possible to ignore. As I said at the start, that was the moment when the lights started to come on for me. But I think it’s worth asking the question — would the outcome have been any different if I had simply followed my instincts, trusted God, but not sought out any alternative sources of information?

Let me give a few examples:

• Masks — it was obvious to anyone that they were a nonsense. From the fact that we were told for the first few months it wasn’t worth wearing one, to the fact that the ‘first wave’ went away all by itself without the need for masks, to the fact that it just made no logical sense e.g. wearing one in a restuarant until you sat down… If I’d been following my instincts, I shouldn’t have worn one from the get-go. The evidence only confirmed what I already knew from experience.

• Closing churches — as I’ve studied the Bible, I’ve come to believe that governments do not have the authority to close churches. A government that oversteps its God-given authority becomes tyrranical and should be resisted — as we see, for example, with Daniel or the Apostles in the Bible. This is a principle which is true regardless of whatever else might be going on in the world.

• Avoiding singing — again, I do not believe it is right for churches to stop singing even in the midst of a deadly “pandemic”. This principle would apply regardless of investigating just how deadly singing actually is (I actually can’t believe I just wrote those words — prior to 2020 it would have been virtually unthinkable!)

The point that I’m making here is that if someone followed the Christian principles of putting Christ first, trusting him, and trusting his or her own judgement and senses, the outcome would have been the same: a resistance to what happened, regardless of knowing how deep the rabbit hole went.

I think this is a highly important point to make: people who truly know Christ should have good, godly instincts which will serve them well when they don’t know all the facts. If we are asked to do something wrong, it will seem wrong. God gave us our consciences for a reason, and we should listen to them. I believe a big part of the problem over the last few years has been caused by people ignoring their consciences and looking the other way when asked to do things they know are wrong.

Part of the problem which caused Christians to do this has been an almost child-like naivety about governments and authorities. This, again, is something which should not have happened if Christians were reading their Bibles properly.

What we need in leaders

It should be obvious to any Christian in the country that we do not have Christian leaders. Keir Starmer is a self-declared atheist, so we know his religious beliefs — but I can think of very few MPs who are actually public about being Christian.

However, all one needs to do is look at what is actually happening to Christians in public life: Tim Farron, for example, was hounded because of his views on marriage and homosexuality. Jacob Rees-Mogg was vilified because of his Catholic views on abortion. The law is increasingly being used against Christians to silence and exclude them — see the work of Christian Concern for lots more about that. You don’t have to be a crazy “conspiracy theorist” to see any of this — it’s out there in the public domain. In fact, you don’t even have to be a conspiracy theorist to experience it — if you’re a Christian and you stand up for Christ and traditional Christian values in your school, college, workplace, or the like, you will almost certainly encounter strong opposition.

What I’m trying to say here is that any Christian who truly knows Christ and wants to walk in his ways should sense the darkness around.

Plus, any Christian who knows their Bible should know that kings and rulers generally do not want to follow Christ. I’ve spoken before about Psalm 2, for example, and also my series on the book of Revelation which speaks of the ‘beast’ and how governments will try to take the place of God in our lives.

The point of all this is that, regardless of knowing the specific details, Christians who are reading their Bibles and seeking to follow Christ should be well aware of the spiritual temperature of the nation and should be primed to be cautious of anything that comes down from on high. The fact that many Christians were not (and, tragically, remain blind to these problems) says to me that many Christians have no interest in really following their Bibles and living by faith. This has led me to speak about why it’s becoming important to separate from churches and Christian groups who bury their heads in the sand about the reality of what is happening:

Church and the need for separation

The endless cycle

There are so many ‘alternative’ news outlets now you could spend your entire day simply watching and reading them. From the Lotus Eaters to Off Guardian to the New Culture Forum to the Corbett Report… everyone produces regular content, and it’s difficult to keep up with it all.

I find more and more that I just want to turn off the majority of it. This is partly because many ‘alternative’ news sources are merely commentary — they don’t give any new information, they just give you their perspective on it. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but there’s a limit to how many perspectives you really need to hear. And, frankly, I’m getting bored of hearing the same old story about the problems with the country, especially immigration. This is not to say I disagree with them: of course migration is a huge issue, we all agree that the eye-watering amounts being spent on asylum hotels is scandalous, and so on. But do we need a weekly podcast to say the same things week in week out?

It’s similar with other big events, like 9/11 for example. Once you know that 9/11 was an ‘inside job,’ everything else is just detail. You can carry on going over and over it with a fine tooth comb — and I’m glad that there are some people who have made it their mission to do that — but, generally speaking, I’m not interested in finding out more unless there is something genuinely new to say.

Part of the problem in this world is that all of us have limited time — we can’t ever dedicate as much time to things as we would want to. Every moment spent watching or reading these kinds of alternative media is a moment you don’t spend doing something else. And this is what I wanted to finish with — what IS life about?

Forgetting to live life

One of the things I came to understand a few months back was that I was spending all my free time watching these ‘alternative’ news sources, and it was making me really depressed. All it ends up doing is reinforcing the fact that there are rich and powerful people who are unaccountable and seemingly unstoppable in their plans. They care nothing for us. Melchett’s words from Blackadder seem apt: “As private parts to the gods are we — they play with us for their sport.”

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, says one sentence which is one of the wisest things you will ever hear:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

We should think about things which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and so on. In other words, we should be filling our minds with good things, not with evil things. That doesn’t mean we should look the other way about conspiracies, far from it — the first thing Paul mentions is what is ‘true’. At the same time, we do also need to keep these things in proportion: is it really helpful to watch that other video or read that other article with another perspective on something you’ve read a hundred pieces about before?

Personally, I find that I have started to tune out from the relentless doom-cycle of the alternative media — I want things which will lift me up, rather than depress me even further. For example, I like James Corbett’s #SolutionsWatch series — the other day he was talking about why we should be using XMPP, which I found a really helpful piece.

I also like to get out of the news altogether: over the last few months I’ve started producing songs for Understand the Bible, and I’ve started to get into music producer videos. There are also some videos I really like of people trying to recreate songs from the 80s and 90s, which I really enjoy. I like watching these videos because I don’t want them with a sense of dread, but I genuinely enjoy it and find they increase my general happiness rather than make me depressed!

The overall point here is that we need to remember what life is all about. It’s so easy to get caught up in the alternative media that we just get depressed about everything. I think a lot of people in that space are pretty depressed about what’s going on at the moment.

At the same time, we need to remember that life is for living! If we allow the powers that be to get into our heads and stop us enjoying life, they’ve already won. They will have made us just like them, something I talked about on the podcast last year. In my view, the best way of fighting back is:

• Develop your relationship with the Lord — pray and read your Bible regularly, especially the Psalms;

• Build stronger relationships with other people, especially other Christians, and meet regularly;

• Be aware of the news but don’t be obsessed with it;

• Find things you love to do and put time aside for it where you can.

This is what I have been trying to do over the last few months, and I hope they will be helpful to you as well.

Closing thought - Psalm 75

Just now I said that we should prioritise reading the Bible, especially the Psalms. Why are the Psalms so important? Because the Psalms constantly proclaim God’s victory over evil, even if we don’t see that at the moment. Just this morning I read Psalm 75, and it struck me how appropriate it is for these days. Please do read the whole thing, it’s not long at all, but I will quote a short extract:

You say, “I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge with equity.
When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak so defiantly.’”

Psalm 75:2-5

God is the one who chooses the appointed time. He is the one who will bring down those who are full of pride and arrogance, who speak defiantly against heaven. We will see that happen in his timing. But we will also see God lifting up the lowly, those who humbly trust in him.

It’s hard to be downcast when we know we have a God who judges the earth and who will not allow what is evil to continue for too long!

If you use Telegram, do join the Sacred Musings channel.

If you appreciate Sacred Musings, you can help me out in a few ways: 1. Becoming a subscriber - free or paid; 2. Sharing Sacred Musings on social media or with anyone you think might like it; 3. If you’d like to contribute to help keep this running but becoming a paid subscriber is not the right option for you right now, you can give one-off via PayPal. Thank you so much!