A couple months ago I bought a book for my
six year old son called Phobiapedia. The
book teaches and illustrates the various phobias humans struggle with like arachnophobia
(fear of spiders) and acrophobia (fear of heights). My son and I were both fascinated as we read
together about koniophobia (fear of dust) and xanthopobia (the fear of the
color yellow). We then had a discussion
about our own fears. Kameron fears sleeping
alone…I don't really think so, I think this is his way of trying to con me into
staying longer after story time. I
shared with him my fear of bees after having attacked by a swarm of yellow
jackets when I was about nine years old.
Our short study on fears caused me to
think more broadly about how fear affects our society. Many, many people are trapped in lives of
fear. We demonstrate our fear of
terrorists by refusing to use the airlines or if we do fly, we are subjected to
the humility of going through airport security where fear of terrorism has
driven TSA officials to insanity. They
don't look for people, they look for things.
They search us for tooth picks and aerosol cans. They their fearful irrationality by frisking 90 year old women
and strip searching 9 year old children.
We are fearful of the criminal element
in our society. Some live behind doors
that have five or six dead locks installed in them. Gun sales are skyrocketing because people are
feeling insecure. Fear is driving us to
arm ourselves.
We have become obsessed with our health
or our lack thereof. Millions are
preoccupied by one diet after another and millions more spend most of their
non-working hours in gymnasiums trying to defy the aging process and delay that
which is certain for all, death. I'm
sure you know a few hypochondriacs in your circle. Many are disillusioned by their fear of
disease. They seek treatment for a
disease when they actually suffer from an anxiety disorder. More than 50% of Americans are taking a drug
to treat some chronic condition. (Medco Health Solutions) Fear can cause us to become dysfunctional or
non-functional.
In a recent decade (1994-2005) the U.S.
population increased 9% while the number of medical prescriptions increased
71%. At a time when American scientists
and physicians are making tremendous advances in medical knowledge and
technology, in a time when we are learning the latest treatments that have made
us to be some of the healthiest people in history, in an age when we are being
educated about what is harmful and unhealthy, ironically, we are addicted to
prescription drugs. What part is fear
playing in all of this?
Let us be reminded that all fear is not
bad. I want to feel fear when I am
walking on the peak of the roof or when I come face to face with a rattle
snake. Fear is a protective mechanism
that may very well save our lives many times over.
But I believe destructive fear is a
controlling spirit released from hell by the Father of Lies to torment us. There are no boundaries to what we can be
fearful of. We can even be fearful of
fear itself. This is called phobophobia. We fear darkness, we fear pain, and we fear
vomiting. Some people walking on the earth
today are fearful of looking up so they walk with their heads downward. We fear germs, dirt and dentists. The fear of making decision is called decidophobia. Many suffer from snakophobia and I have
taught many high school students who have suffered from testophobia. Some of our church pews will be empty next
Sunday because some people suffer from ecclesiophobia, the fear of church.
We are a culture saturated by fear. Fear has become a slave master to some of us,
controlling our every thought and action.
The spirit of fear is nothing new for there is nothing new under the
sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) John addressed the issue over 2,000 years ago
when he wrote, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God…"
(1 John 4:1) We can conquer our
fears by recognizing the source of all destructive fear. It is Satan himself. This is no threat to those who are Christians
because John also said, "You, dear children, are from God and have
overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in
the world." (1 John 4:4)
Fear cannot be overcome with fear. It must be overcome with boldness. It may be necessary to courageously confront
our enemy. We must first realize that
Satan is not a fictional character, he is real.
Christians discover fearlessness when they realize that Satan is a
defeated foe. Christ assured us of his defeat: "And having disarmed the powers and
authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the
cross" (Col. 2:15)
We need not be paralyzed by our fear "for
the battle is the LORD's" (1 Sam. 17:47)
When fear creeps in to haunt us there is a place for you to run where
you will find protection and security.
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it and is safe."
(Prov. 18:10)
Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.
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