One of my daily “watchman” activities is to check out a number of Telegram channels. One is that of Laura Aboli (click here for her Telegram channel). Something she wrote, touched me to the core …

They label us ‘tin hat wearers’, ‘conspiracy theorists’, ‘lunatics’, ‘anti-vaxxers’ ‘climate deniers’ ‘anti-science’ and even ‘terrorists’! But who are we really?

We are the ones that care more than others think it’s wise, the ones that risk more than others think it’s safe, that dream more than others think it’s practical and expect more than others think it’s possible.

That is who we are. That is what separates us from the rest. And it all starts with the fact that we care…

We care that we’re being lied to by an entire system created for that purpose. We care that through the lies they have manipulated us to accept and perpetuate our own enslavement. We care that innocent people suffer daily because of this. We care that children are being mentally and physically abused. We care that we are being poisoned through the air, the food and the water. We care that medicine was hijacked by Big Pharma drug lords for making money, instead of healing. We care about human trafficking and child exploitation, in fact we care so much, it breaks our hearts daily.

We care about saving others, we care to want to change things, we care to dream of better alternatives and we care to pray each day that we may turn things around for our children’s sake.

We care for justice, we care for freedom, we care for what is right and we care enough to do something about it.

Caring is what drives our courage, it’s what makes us dream big and what pushes us to demand better.

So never stop caring, it’s what makes us who we are. It’s what separates the asleep from the awake, the righteous from the immoral, the courageous from the cowards, the strong from the weak and the faithful from the hopeless.

Never stop caring my friends… It’s the beginning of all good things.

Let me explain why what Laura wrote, not only resonated with what I have been thinking but it did so strongly …

I can’t say when exactly but let’s say it was ten years ago, soon after I became officially retired, and one of my regular activities was to blog and upset people on Facebook. It was at that time I added “watchman on the wall” to my “gospel preaching, community activist” mantra, since I resolved to use these avenues to write about what I was see to be significant that was happening in the world.  

I never meant it this way but it wasn’t long before I too got stamped with that ‘tin hat wearers’, ‘conspiracy theorists’, ‘lunatics’, ‘anti-vaxxers’ ‘climate deniers’ ‘anti-science’ and even ‘terrorists’ label. It led me to being put in Facebook jail for the best part of a year and being ridiculed and shunned by those with an axe to grind against those folk they put into these categories (like me), and this included goody-goody, leader, mover, shaker Christian types, the “useful idiots” the cabal use and sometimes even friends and family.

I made mistakes such as ignoring the advice of the wisest man ever (see meme above) about when to open my mouth, being less than gracious and patient with those who didn’t see what I saw, accepting as true certain outrageous claims that cannot be proven or later were to be shown false and being so obsessed in exposing the nefarious agenda of the evil cabal that run planet earth or the words of the Unholy Trinity (media, politicians, elites) that lead to many being deceived that is appeared that little else mattered in life. Instead, I might have done better to not cast my pearls before swine, do further research before venturing a view (mindful there is much we cannot be certain of in these days of false flags and misinformation), maintain peaceful equilibrium and not forgetting the Great Commands to do with loving God and our neighbour.

I am mindful of different responses to thoughts like these, such as those put out by two of my friends in the past day: “I care that people are crazy enough to invent imaginary evil when there’s enough real evil around already…” and “what about a theory that some conspiracy theories are false trails which are superficially plausible but being laid deliberately, to distract Christians from noticing what’s really going on”. In another chance meeting with an old friend, who has a similar take as me when it comes to figuring out what is going on in the world, I was impressed with her wise philosophical yet practical response that, while we may not be able to turn the tide when it comes to some of the evil goings on that get fellow “conspiracy theorists” fired up about, and since we can bring healing to others, that is what we can do.

It got me thinking about my own response in the light of my past mistakes, my limitations in terms of knowing what is really going on around me and, even if I did know, what I can do about it, and the realisation that I need to prioritise what I do and not spend all the hours God has sent researching this or that latest conspiracy theory/fact. I mention “fact” in the same breath as theory given three people I check out from time to time: Charlie Ward, David Icke and Alex Jones, while being held up as examples of conspiracy theorists, often come up with claims that are later proven to be true. But as with all things, the key is balance. I refer to an article I wrote a little over a year ago, titled “Advice to conspiracy theorists and how I became one”, as this suggests a way forward for those who like me believe that not only are we being misinformed on all manner of fronts, but want to know the truth and act in accordance.