So, have you heard about the pan-dogs? Or we could call them the panda-dogs.

The pictures are cute. Apparently, there is a shortage of panda bears to show in zoos, in China, so some zoos have found a solution. They disguise Chow Chow dogs to look like pandas, with hair cuts and dye jobs, but zoo visitors are not easily fooled. Panda bears don’t bark, and pant, and wag their tales like dogs. Only dogs do that.

Recently, one zoo has admitted that they committed panda fraud, and the pandas on exhibit are fakes; dogs with hair cuts and dye jobs. The story about fake pandas in zoos was considered just another conspiracy theory; just another fake accusation that should be ignored.

When we stop laughing, there is a question we should consider: What happens when lying becomes normalized? What if some wild conspiracy theories are actually true?

This panda story is about a public institution that collects money from the public, and provides a public service for a price. This one conspiracy theory just flipped and became reality that cannot be disputed. Now, apparently, crowds are flooding into the zoo to see the painted dogs.

The lie has become a tourist attraction.

If you are interested in conspiracy theories, the list is endless, and the accusation can be useful slander. If we can can attach the label “conspiracy” to any idea, we can make it unbelievable.

That is a useful propaganda weapon.

If you do an Internet search for “conspiracy theories” we should be ready for a flood of ideas:

• READ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracy_theories

I am writing as a Christian, and we should all be warned that Christianity will someday be labeled as a collection of false conspiracy theories.

Imagine if some of those Bible conspiracy theories actually came true. And imagine this, the Bible tells us that we are coming to a time in history when people will believe lies, as long as the lies suit their own “passions.” Something like many religious cults are promised for us, probably in the near future. And that could be dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

(2 Timothy 4:3 and 4)

So, can we trust the Bible? Was Jesus a real person? Do those preachers just want our money? Is God something that people invented to control other people?

Are those real or fake pandas? Can I believe what my doctor tells me? Should I buy that new model of … ? And don’t get me started on COVID …

Clearly, without truth, life cannot continue; and we have a way of dodging the truth. We were told that in the Bible.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8: 32)

Imagine the opposite. What will happen to us if we do not know the truth? What is the opposite of freedom?

We live in a world where public zoos simply lie about the animals in their cages. The story is funny, and those animals are cute, but “the truth will set you free.”

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

(Psalm 86: 11)