Conspiracy Theories in Isaiah and the Book of Mormon

When truthers in the world warned against dubious measures implemented against the kind of plagues prophesied to occur before Jesus’ coming to reign on the earth, many inside and outside the church cried “conspiracy theory!” Persons who declined to become “good global citizens” by complying with injurious procedures were shamefully mocked and persecuted.

But when scientific data formerly labeled “conspiracy theory” began verifying what was not, in fact, a conspiracy theory but the truth—and people’s eyes began seeing past a monopolized media’s controlled narrative—that narrative’s focus quickly changed to other agendas lest it be implicated in the heinous hoax that had begun compromising and claiming countless lives.

Relevant were Lehi’s words to his wayward sons that echo a Heavenly Father’s lament: “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe” (2 Nephi 1:13).

Wasn’t a day indeed foretold when “the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and works of darkness” (Mormon 8:27)? And didn’t Isaiah see end-time conspirators at play: “Woe to those who contrive to hide their schemes from Jehovah! They work in the dark, thinking, Who will see us? Who will know?” (Isaiah 29:15)? Warned Moroni,

“The Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you. . . “For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people” (Ether 8:24–25)

Jacob testified of “secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations” among us, even of attempts to set up a king in the land (2 Nephi 10:11–16). And yet, amidst today’s evils asserting themselves in your face, cries of “conspiracy theory!” continue against truthers. Even if a “conspiracy” proves to be a fact, those voices will already have found new objects of derision.

Thus occurs the prophesied “great division” (2 Nephi 30:10). Likened to wise virgins “at that day, when I shall come in my glory,” those who “have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day” (Doctrine & Covenants 45:56–57).

Whether fact or fiction, conspiracies are nevertheless not to be feared. Says Isaiah, “Do not call a conspiracy all that these people call a conspiracy; be not afraid or awed by the things they fear. But sanctify Jehovah of Hosts, making him your fear, him your awe. And [to you] he will be a sanctuary” (Isaiah 8:12–14). The Book of Mormon teaches us this “pattern in all things.”