Pastor Bo WagnerI have long surmised that everything that people say and do in these days is somehow secretly being recorded and taped and held for some eventual nefarious purposes. So when the news broke last week of President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, secretly recording confidential conversations with him and then making them public, my suspicions only increased.
And then came the email ads. Do not tune me out; this is essential.
My wife and I were lying in bed recently, and she said, "Where is that music coming from?"
Perplexed, I wondered if perhaps the angels were coming for her, since I heard no music whatsoever. But then our daughters came in to ask about it. They heard it too. It was then that I confided to my wife that for a few years now, whenever I lie down at night, I hear a high-pitched ringing in my ears that tends to drown out certain other sounds.
The very next day for the first time ever, there were ads for tinnitus medications popping up on our email account. Coincidence? Perhaps. But then one watches the news and hears of data mining, wire taps, electronic devices listening to us surreptitiously and NSA programs that look for key words in emails, texts, posts, messages and kindergarten "I love you, do you love me, check yes or no" notes, and one begins to wonder.
I confess that, just as a test, I have from time to time inserted random phrases into ordinary sentences just to see what would happen.
Even such "innocent, wholesome" entities such as Chick-fil-A seem to be part of the conspiracy.
Whisper, ever so softly, where no one could possibly hear, "I really would like a refill of my tea to wash down these scrumptious waffle fries," and before you finish the word "scrumptious," they are already standing there with it saying, "It's my pleasure."
No wonder people wear tin-foil hats.
In all seriousness, though, our every word and deed is being recorded. In fact, it goes much deeper than that; even our thoughts are daily laid bare.
Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good."
Luke 12:2 says, "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known."
Hebrews 4:12-13 speak of the word of God discerning even the thoughts of our heart, and says "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight."
People routinely try to hide what they do and what they are. But everyone will be just as big a failure as Adam and Eve and their Fig Tree Ltd. disguises. The God who made it all and knows it all is the one who said, "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.
This, all by itself, ought to tell us the only safe manner of living. It is fairly pointless trying to hide anything; we simply need to live in such a way that we have nothing to hide.
Mind you, I am not letting sleazy backstabbing lawyers and overbearing intelligence agencies off the hook for their illicit taping and uber prying and daily leaks that would soak through a Depends undergarment the size of a Hollywood ego.
I am, though, saying that everyone from the president to a preacher to a parsnip harvester to a pauper ought to live by one inviolable rule: Always do right even if you think no one is watching or listening.
In the meantime, small unmarked bills, militia, Assange was right, and Dimitri and Vlad have the password.
Bo Wagner is pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, North Carolina, a widely traveled evangelist and author of several books available on Amazon and at www.wordofhismouth.com. Email him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.