The Reconstructed Narrative

When the Northern and Southern Kingdoms split after Rehoboam chose to listen to the young and foolish instead of the old and wise in 931 BC, Jeroboam, the Northern King, feared the people would make pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem.

Jeroboam essentially settled on a conspiracy that he sold the people. There in the desert at Sinai, the people had chosen the false religion. The real religion was the Aaronic religion, complete with golden calves. There was no real reason to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem. That was all part of control and power. Instead, Jeroboam set up golden calves as Bethel and Dan, and the people worshiped there.

Priests rose up to tell the kings of the North what they wanted to hear. The priests of the living God were killed. Soon, the people mostly forgot about the temple, the law, and the true living God — instead comfortably spoonfed a religion of their own design.

They prospered.

In fact, Israel was far more prosperous and successful than Judah, which remained mostly a farming community. Israel made alliances, fought off Judah, and attracted others to it for its success.

When Amos headed north, the first of the prophets, he called on Israel to repent. He told them God had given them plenty as a form of mercy to show he loved them and call them home. He had given them hardship to try to pull them back. Then he had allowed them to prosper again.

Instead, Amaziah the priest told Amos to head on back to Judah. The priests up north were cashing in and had a good living. They didn’t want Amos to cut in on their good life. “And Amaziah said to Amos, ‘O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.’” Amos 7:12-13.

Amos responded that Jeroboam would be cut down by the sword and as for Amaziah

“‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
    and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
    and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;
you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
    and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’” Amos 7:17

But Israel continued in its sin until its destruction. It claimed to worship God, while mocking the things of God. It claimed a commitment to truth and would despise any who called its people to repent. They claimed righteousness while sinning. The abused the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the refugees. Amos told them they would be destroyed for those things.

They hate him who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor him who speaks the truth.
Therefore because you trample on the poor
    and you exact taxes of grain from him,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not dwell in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
    and turn aside the needy in the gate.
Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time,
    for it is an evil time.

Seek good, and not evil,
    that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
    as you have said.
Hate evil, and love good,
    and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
    will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:10-15

Israel saw that it was winning and had prosperity compared to the hicks and rubes of Judah so not only did it continue its behavior, it expanded it behavior. It believed the lies and bought the conspiracies and abandoned the truth and hated anyone who called them to truth.

Christian — and I am talking to the believers, not the unbelievers — let me show you a line.

The arrow points to the moment I said whether you like it or not, Joe Biden would be President-Elect. The dip is the measurable number of people who unsubscribed from this email after doing so.

We like to think of ourselves as morally superior. We convince ourselves God is with us and the other side is bad, lives in a bubble, and cannot accept truth.

Viewers are in open revolt against Fox News because it called Arizona too soon — nevermind that Joe Biden actually won Arizona. Fox News had the audacity of being right too soon.

In Georgia, Republicans are tearing apart their unity, their party, their state, and handing the Senate to Chuck Schumer because the Secretary of State isn’t willing to embrace a bunch of lies about the election.

Anyone who points out conservatives are believing conspiracies and lies has to be shunned, condemned, or purged. In Pennsylvania, the President’s lawyers retracted all of Rudy Giuliani’s outlandish claims about the 686,000 voters. But the President says his lawsuit continues and don’t believe the lies about the lawsuit. You can read the lawsuit for yourself. Here is a screenshot showing you they deleted their first and chief complaint. You can see the withdrawn allegations yourself.

But conservatives have chosen to worship the golden calf instead of the truth. Conservatives are the ones asking, “What is truth.”

God is in charge. He has a plan. And if part of his plan is for conservatives to spend the next four years realizing they decided to put their trust in politicians instead of the creator of all things, that won’t be a bad thing.

Turn your nose up all you want at people trying to tell you truth. Believe the Sidney Powell allegations all you want despite no evidence being put forward under oath in court.

Believe what makes you sleep well at night.

Just don’t conflate that with the truth. For for years a lot of conservatives decided they had license to behave just like their leader. They decided the other side was godless and had a lot of preachers telling them to carry on. The grifters cashing in on conspiracy and reconstructed narratives get the ear of the leaders, telling anyone who points out the truth to head on back to Judah.

Maybe it won’t be a bad thing for conservatives to realize they need to trust the Lord.