Fear: Sin's Greatest Tool

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18

One of my favorite movies of all time has a quote about the topic that we are looking at, “Fear will keep the local systems in line.”  This was spoken in Star Wars: A New Hope by Grand Moff Tarkin. Within the empire he was most likely the third most powerful man. This statement is one that has been quoted most commonly as “Fear will keep them in line.”

These words are words of control. How are they going to keep control with Fear. Why does this work? Charles Stanley says it this way:

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation.”

Fear has been with us longer than nearly any other emotion that we have today. We look back to when Adam and Eve first sinned; they hid themselves because they were scared. As we have gone along humanity has learned how to use this as a tool for oppression and tyranny. If people are afraid then they need someone stronger than them to protect them.

Fear comes from many places, ignorance being one of the strongest of these places. Today we are crippled as a society in fear. We can look at the news and become terrified at how horrible our world has become. People live in gated communities to help them feel safe. People are so afraid of people that we will not extend a helping hand.

We are too afraid to answer the pleas of a woman that is escaping her rapist. We are too afraid to answer the door to a dying man and furthermore call the police and state that someone is trying to break in and hurt you. We do not answer to help anymore. We do not answer the calls of people in panic. Forget the parable of the Good Samaritan; we are so much worse than that now.  We are afraid that the man lying in the ditch is going to hurt us.

Do any of us remember what FDR was talking about when he said the quote, “The only thing wehave to fear is fear itself.”? It was 1933 we were at the end of the Great Depression. Unemployment was at 33% and things were looking very grim for the United States.  Fear is what was keeping us from coming out of it, or so FDR stated.

Fear is crippling to the spirit. It is only as strong as we allow it to be though.  Perfect love casts out fear. All through the Psalms we hear about how we have nothing to fear, well except God’s wrath if we anger him. The news has made their mark on the modern culture by scaring us into accepting what ever laws will protect us.

There is a long history of media being used by the leaders of countries to convey propaganda. It’s been happening for as long as media has been in existence. Fear has led to man-kinds greatest follies in my opinion. The Holy Inquisition, slaughters around the world. We fear our neighbors so we make war with them. You can see these themes in movies, books and in history. Well we were scared so we attacked or ran.

So I would like to focus on a couple of non-political things with this message and you can take it where you wish from there. In Charlotte there was a man who had ahorrible car accident, he was lucky to survive it. He goes to the nearest house that he could see pleading for help. The people in the house called the police and told the police that there was someone trying to break into their house. Police arrive on scene and the nearly dead man runs to them for help. The police officer panics and shoots the guy 10 out of 12 times.

Second, a rape victim escapes a car where she had been raped for a while. She runs nearly naked to a house to get help. As she pleads to the couple inside to help her saying that she had just been raped, they call 911 refusing to let her in because of fear. A representative of the police department had this to say, “unfortunately fear dictates the response anymore not knowing if you’re being set up for other criminal activity.”

The man in the first story lost his life. The woman in the second story was saved. But in both instances we were too afraid to help someone. Now let us look to God and ask if this is what he intended for us. It is not. We were supposed to be freed from the chains brought upon us by sin. Fear was introduced first with sin and with freedom of sin also comes freedom of fear.

So what else does Fear prevent us from doing? Jesus gave us two commandments which were rewrites of the original 10. Love God with all that we have and Love others as we love ourselves. If we are afraid of our neighbors we cannot love them, thus we cannot uphold the Lord’s commandments. Fear is keeping us right were Satan wants us. We are crippled in fear. Fear is an embodiment of darkness. Love is am amplification of light.

Darkness cannot exist where there is light. Fear cannot exists in a heart of pure love. We are still imperfect beings in bodies of sin, so we must tell our bodies no and stand against fear. We cannot become the people God wants us to be so long as we allow fear to dominate our lives, minds and cultures. We cannot destroy terror by weapons. Only through love will we conquer fear and terror. War is not the answer, it never has been. We cannot stand as one nation under god so long as we fight those that are different from us.

God is for Jew and Gentile alike. The love of God is for us all and we are given command to go into the world and spread the good news, not the bad news. Go into the world and love these neighbors near or far as you would love yourself. Today, if you do nothing else, say something positive or help someone just because. Love someone even if you have to start with yourself. Only then can you start shaking off fear.

If you are Christian, talk to someone that is not of your faith. Ask a Muslim to tell you of their faith ask them why they chose to walk that life. Who knows this may open a door for God to use to build a bridge in your life. If nothing else it will help you affirm your belief in God and show love to someone else who might need it. Or even more it may start changing a perception that Christians are war mongering hate machines. Funny, how many Christians would be taken back if they knew that’s what others see us as.

The thing that you fear the most, learn something about it. Do not let the voice of hell shape your worldview by creating misconceptions of what people really are. Just get up and get out… shake off the bondage of fear. So many of us are crippled and just as Jesus told many crippled and dead, “Get Up, Stand.” That’s all you have to do, stand and take a few steps for God. For all that God has done for you, how can you deny him the one thing. Spread his message and love someone. It’s not as hard as you think.

“Every adventure begins with the first step.” JRR Tolkien, the Hobbit.

Won't Back Down

Have you ever had those moments that struck very powerfully in your mind. Today I had one of those moments. Standing in church singing and praising the Lord with all the horrible sounds that I could muster, when I closed my eyes to pray as I sang along. A line from another song came to mind and an image stood clearly in my mind.

The song was “Won't Back Down” by Tom Petty. The line of course was, “You can stand me up at the gates of hell and I won't back down.” Powerful words, but paled in comparison to the image that joined it. A truly scary image, scary for what it symbolizes.

I saw myself standing in that dark cavern that I have traveled through in my mind so many times in my past. Standing there at the threshold, at the gate was myself standing in chainmail with a very large white shield with the red cross on it. Cross helm and white sir coat with the always known red cross. Standing there I plunged a flag into the ground with and stood very strong and proudly. It was so impressive looking so large and strong and powerful. I looked as if I were a human wall with a look upon my face so sure that nothing held behind that gate would get past me.

Images similar to these have not been too far from my face in recent days. They come in different forms and shapes, but still with this power and strength that I do not possess. That is what is so scary about this image, the strength that one would have to have to stand there like that knowing what horrors await. Strength that no mortal possess. It is so humbling to see these images for me.

The Lord makes all thing possible, this truth I know. I have walked through those fires and seen their faces and know their names. Through this darkness they too know my face. My name. They know the pride, the anger that once was held within me. They know the weaknesses of my flesh. They know my lusts and desires, they know me better than I know them. They know that I once toasted a glass to their honor and their power, and stood as opposition to God.

In the end their promises of power were without ground. They could provide temporary strength, only for periods of time that God allowed. Through my own desires to be more than a human, my body mind and soul were torn asunder. I look at who I was then and do not recognize that face. They made a monster out of me and I relished in it. My faith in them was strong, so strong that I thought, no I believed that I could walk into heavens gates and tear God from the throne.

Talk about delusional. They do not have this power and they cannot give it to any man, woman or child. And now with this image in my mind. I was too weak to stand that vigil for the demons of hell. This is the same flesh, the same bones and the same blood. How can God expect that of me?

God knows my heart and he knows the good that I would love to do. He knows that I weep over the hurt that I have caused in the past. Even though I am forgiven for it, I still weep knowing all those lives that I helped destroy. The pain that I have caused to my family, friends and those that looked to me as a leader. They looked to me to guide them and give them strength. I lead them only to destruction, the same road that I was going down.

How then, in such a short amount of time, can I stand so strong for the Lord? Am I strong enough to do this? Only God knows. That is the message here. It is not about me and my past, but know this. Through all the bad that I have done, God is now getting the Glory just as he will. God's hand was the only one that could reach down and pull me out of the flames. Only his grace in good enough and strong enough to break my heart. He wrestled me and made me give it all to him.

Do I have the strength to stand at the gates of hell and not back down? Do I have the strength to stand vigil as someone to bring hope and courage to those that have none? Do I have the wisdom to know what to say to those that are going down the road I traveled? The answer is simple, No.

No, I do not have this strength. My flesh is weak and is built in sin, there is no strength in these bones, blood and mind. That is where the wicked fail. They believe that these temporal forms can bi given the power to combat things that are eternal.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” Romans 6:5-11

Only through Faith in Christ Jesus shall we know the strength and power that God will grant. That power is through knowing that we stand with the one true God. Through his grace mercy and peace will we be empowered to do things that are far beyond what we may do. This is not a cry to say that if you want power become a Christian. No on the contrary, through realizing how weak we are, we learn that the power of God through Christ is insurmountable.

Will I stand so vigil? With the Lord of Heaven and earth beside me, behind me and in me. Of course I will. So long as I don the armor of faith and stand on the pillar of faith that is the foundation of all that we are. God is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, he became flesh in the Son Jesus Christ, whom lived the perfect life and sacrificed himself for those that could not live perfect.

Even Aristotle said that perfection is akin to a force that cannot exist here in this world even for a second. This world is broken and to be perfect you will transcend to something more and beyond all that we know. In our lives we will see these moments within ourselves for only seconds when we stand beside ourselves in disbelief. In those moments, Praise Lord that you have received the grace and glory to do his work in all you do.

I stand in opposition of what the demons in hell wished for me. If they had their way, I would probably be with them now, dead. Through that death my soul would forever be lost and held beneath. But God pulled me from that hell, and placed me here. He redeemed me and Justified my actions and made me upright. Not perfect, just as flawed and broken, but upright. There is a difference.

Those of you that feel as if you are being swallowed by the flames of hell. Know that I have stood in those flames. I willingly walked into those fires and am being prepared to possibly do the same, with a different agenda. Only God knows what he has in store for me. But I will stand with you if you ask of it. Give me your hand and together we can find a road back to more solid ground. I'll walk with you for a while, until I can get you to someone that can take you the rest of the way.

The fires became a home for me once and I stand against them now. Lord give me the strength that I do not possess. As you prepare me for what is to come, help me become more able to stand with those that are hurting. Guide me to know what to say or where to go, so all those that have lost their lives around me can have a little more hope, and find peace in you. Too many have died not knowing your love or feeling abandoned by the world, or their pride kept them from reaching out. Lord you know my heart, I know you are preparing me, I know that you will use me. Lord give me the strength that I do not have.

I leave with the prayer for the full armor of God:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ~Ephesians 6:10-17