David W. Cloud's Advice to Christians Further Discourages Me from Returning to Conspiracy Theories

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I was thinking about my mix of Fundamental Baptist, Reformed Baptist, and Presbyterian sources. I use some King James Only sites, I tend to be King James Only yet I embrace non-KJV Only brethren too, and that I actually do still read through David W. Cloud's Way of Life website. Although I usually drop by Grace to You (and Cloud probably gave John F. MacArthur a good rebuke at one point) - I also drop by the fundamentalist site Way of Life for what I'd call useful insights from a fundamentalist. Why Phil Johnson considers it "bad theology" is something I'd disagree with. Is it because Cloud is in some way KJV Only? I don't think moderate KJV Only is bad theology but only a preference. So far, I tend to use the KJV for my Bible studies though I would seldom use the English Standard Version (ESV) and New International Version (NIV) for my Bible studies. Cloud has some articles about the Coronavirus which are making more sense than David J. Stewart's. 

One of his articles called "Conspiracies, Conspiracies, Conspiracies" was written during the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Here's an excerpt from the said article that actually got me to think about my need to resist to return to conspiracy theories in several of my junked articles which I don't intend to rewrite and never made a backup copy of:
The U.S. government created the coronavirus; England created it; it was created in a Canadian lab; China or the CIA created it as a bioweapon; Bill Gates owns it, is making money from it, or is using it to kill off a large percentage of the population as a eugenics project; Bill Gates plans to vaccinate everyone on the planet and track them with “digital certificates”; a vaccine already exists and is being nefariously withheld; the “deep state” released it to stop Trump; it was introduced so that big pharmacy can profit from a vaccine; if you can’t hold your breath for 10 seconds you have coronavirus; quinine is extremely dangerous; megadoses of vitamin C can help ward off coronavirus (and almost every other sickness); the virus is linked to 5G internet technology (conspiracy nuts are setting fire to 5G equipment in England); the virus can be cured by drinking bleach...... 
Some people are drawn to this type of thing like flies to honey, and nothing can convince them to stay away from it. They love to stay in a tizzy about this or that conspiracy. They live to re-broadcast conspiracies from their own little social media publishing forum. 
There is always some truth to a conspiracy theory. In fact, sometimes there is a lot of truth. But for what it’s worth, I’ll give you four of many reasons why I don’t pay attention to the constant stream of conspiratorial pandering and why I have zero attraction to web sites and social media pages that specialize in them. 
First, they aren’t ultimately provable. 
Second, I couldn’t do anything about them even if they were true. 
Third, it is mentally distracting and discouraging for no good reason. 
Fourth, I want my focus to be on God and His control of things. I intend to keep my mind focused on the fact the times overall (Da. 2:21) and my times in particular (Ps. 31:15) are in God’s hands, not in the hands of the the government or the United Nations or a deep state cabal or Bill Gates or the Bilderbergs or whatever. I want to be constantly in mind of the fact that as a born again believer in Jesus Christ, I am foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified (Romans 8:29-30) (all in aorist tense and therefore accomplished facts in God’s eyes). As the called according to God’s purpose and as a lover of God by redemption, I know that all things work together for my good, and that is what I intend to focus on, and I will not allow anything to interfere with that confidence.

A conspiracy theory is just like a broken clock. It sure can tell you the right time sometimes but it doesn't make it reliable. A scheming con artist may sometimes tell you the truth but can you trust that person? A conspiracy theorist is usually built on half-truths, sometimes cleverly built on well-planned lies (which is different from compulsive lying because we're all fallen), or make exaggerated claims that are too fantastic to be true yet people believe them. I haven't changed my stance on rock music as inappropriate for church music, rock stars are exposing themselves to be satanic, and the words themselves are worldly. However, the myth of backmasking must be disposed of and I don't think all rock stars undergo some kind of ritual before the performance. A lot of these conspiracy theories are just after the money because they sell. I think one reason why the "Alberto" comics by Chick Publications sold well was because of the fascinating stuff and intrigue rather than the truth. Why didn't "Catholicism: Crisis of Faith" get a comic book format? There's some truth in it but it's often mixed up with lies. You can't use lies to promote the truth. It's like promoting a whitening toothpaste while the salesperson has rotten, decaying teeth.

Why don't conspiracy theories arouse my interest any longer? I would say it's all about growing in grace. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 says:
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Childish would be translated as "childish ways" as the English Standard Version. Conspiracy theories are like stories that will arouse a child but an adult mind would seek to think things rationally. It's almost like I ask questions like if something is too good or too fantastic to be real. Right now, I even dump all the 9/11 "truth" movement or the current Coronavirus conspiracy theories. Cloud may have done a few mistakes like David J. Stewart did like when he ended up discussing some shows such as Disney movies, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings which should just fall away by God's grace. Also, being judgmental is being childish. Can I immediately determine a person is an apostate because he or she watches Harry Potter or plays violent video games? I would confess that I was into conspiracy theories, declared Harry Potter was satanic, all the while I ended up exposing myself to be hypocritically enjoying media far worse than Harry Potter during that time. I can't really be the real judge of that. I could give a friendly private rebuke but focusing too much on those areas is also childish. Vigilant Christian Mario on Youtube should be dismissed as quackery as well. Spending too much time analyzing music videos and video games is like spending too much time snacking on junk food - it's just as bad as doing nothing but watching them.

His best advice can be found here as to why I'm now going to be more focused on writing about God's Word and why I shouldn't return to conspiracy theories:
If you are conspiratorially-minded and find yourself in a “tizzy” these days, I would recommend that you take a complete break from social media and conspiratorially-oriented web sites and blogs and immerse yourself in Bible study and meditation on Scripture.

See also: