The Scheme

Today I’m just going to look at the introduction, or what the author calls “The Scheme.” Here he sets out the basic premise behind the book: “If Satan can get us to insert inferior interests and motives into our worship, then the Conspiracy will accomplish its goal” (10). And, in short, its goal is to defeat God (10). In order to accomplish this, it “plays upon our blind spots. All of us are vulnerable” (10).

Of course, one has to wonder: can God be defeated? And I suppose that would depend on how you view God and God’s providence. Perhaps another way to say this is: Can God’s will be thwarted, or does God always get God’s way? Or to narrow it down even more: Do humans really have free choice? Does creation have freedom to choose? If we answer that ‘yes,’ than God’s will can be thwarted, and in that sense God can be defeated. Think of it this way: every time someone chooses against God, God suffers a defeat. So in this way God can be defeated; and that is the goal, Truesdale says, of the Baal conspiracy. And “[t]o achieve its goal, it tries to enlist the people of God—those of us who sit in church on Sunday morning or Saturday night—as its agents” (10).

He brings us to Elijah, and how easily Israel became beguiled by the conspiracy. After all, it is what “passed for advanced agricultural science” of the day (12). It explained how things grew, why crops flourished. It helped farmers increase their yield, offering “the key for success in everyday life” (12). Seems innocent enough, but in fact it had a deleterious effect.

Truesdale purposes in the 10 chapters that make the body of the book to expose the nuances of this conspiracy and how subtle it finds its way into the church. He will do so using a sort of historic fiction, bringing us into the lives of the people who made up the events of the Old Testament.

What I would really like to emphasis, though, is his “Word of caution.” We can either read these chapters with a fatuous confidence, noting how these words describe so well everyone else. Or we can read these words in a way that serves to examine our own lives, helping to drive out those furtive idols that linger in our own blind spots. Personally, I want to engage the book in this way and I hope you do as well.