Fear is a good thing. It alerts us to potential harm, activates our defense responses and, if harnessed properly, motivates us to timely, appropriate self-preservation behavior. It keeps us Alive. This is true not only in the physical realm but also the Spiritual.
Alternatively, Fear can be a bad thing. It can blind us to reality, cloud our analytic processing and, if not harnessed properly, send us into paralysis, inaction and further vulnerability. In short, it can lock us into a Death Spiral.
The "Fear Factor" is an opportunity, and also a dilemma. The choice between the two remains within our grasp. Grasp onto "living Life" too freely or casually, and we end up foolishly encountering Death prematurely. Grasp onto "preserving Life" too earnestly or analytically, and we miss the opportunity to Live Life to its fullest. This predicament presents itself throughout our daily activities and responsibilities: at work, leisure, pleasure, exercise, diet, education, decision-making, communication, social interaction, spirituality, Christian living, ministry and our eternal destiny.
Yes, it impacts our final destination... Forever.
When Fear is harnessed properly, it is first and foremost focused on our Creator. After all, if we don't Fear God, how can any other Fear even be relevant in the final analysis? Only with the Wisdom of God can we effectively thread the varied needles of Fear in the tiny eye we call "Life". God Himself has declared...
"The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction."
When Fear of God is maligned or ignored, it doesn't go away. It cannot. It exists and must settle somewhere. That Fear simply mutates into a Fearful Life. It becomes what the Bible calls "fear of man."
"The Fear of Man brings a Snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be Safe."
A Snare. A trap. Stifling Life and setting it on a sure course of inactivity, paralysis and Death. It's happening to Ministers and Ministries all over the world. While pastors and people pontificate over how, when and whether to "reopen" their churches on Sunday, we miss the Spiritual Reality hidden in plain sight: Christianity is in a Death Spiral. Like an airplane that has lost "lift"...plummeting precipitously with precious little opportunity to dodge disaster. To continue our circular conversations about churches reopening is to miss the main point:
we are not "doing" Christianity. The "works", the "fruit", the eternal "purpose" of the Christian Life amounts to much more than Sunday services. The Enemy knows that. But we act as if we don't.
Having promoted a Pandemic of Fear in the masses, the Enemy has redirected our focus from Fear of God to fear of man. It was cunning, stealthy and quite ingenious. But now that Christian ministry is in the crosshairs of cultural irrelevance, what should the "church" be Doing? Struggling to reopen Sunday services? That would be like replacing professional Nascar Racing with virtual video "races" online. Sounds absurd? That's exactly what they did. And with it, they began the certain Death of actual "in-person" Nascar racing. How about replacing Christian ministry with images and voices on a digital screen every Sunday? Things that make you go "Hmmm."
Christian "Life" and Christian "Ministry" go far beyond Sunday's holy huddle. As people bark and banter about restrictions on Sunday services, they blindly miss the open eradication of Christian works: counseling, visiting orphans and widows, feeding the hungry, door-to-door evangelism, open air evangelistic crusades, nursing home/ hospital/hospice visitations, prison ministry, chaplaincy, grieving and honorably burying the dead, discipling anyone, leading by example, helps ministry, teaching (let alone making) New Believers, marriage, baptism, communion, missionary endeavors, mission trips, reaching the unreached, reaching the digitally unconnected (42% of the world have no access to the Internet!), etc. The list goes on and on. These are not optional side dishes in a buffet of Christian Ministry. These are commands and imperatives from the mouth of God. Christianity cannot be reduced to Sunday service, much less a digital imitation of it. Touchless, virtual ministry has become the golden calf. An idol that keeps the money flowing, the congregation "seeing" and "hearing"...and subtly anesthetizes us from obediently "Doing"...
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
"Whom shall I send. And who will go for Us?" Then I said. "Here [am] I! Send me." And God said, "Go. and tell this people: 'Keep on Hearing, but do not understand: Keep on Seeing, but do not perceive.' (This) make(s) the heart of this people dull. and their ears heavy, and shut(s) their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears. and understand with their heart, and return and be healed." Then Isaiah said. "Lord, how long?" And God answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. The houses are without a man. The land is utterly desolate, The Lord has removed men far away. And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land:'
We can easily imagine that "Fear of God" can coexist with "fear of man". It cannot. They are mutually exclusive. And so, we are called to press forward into the vast imperatives of Christian Life with one Fear: Fear of God. It is high time we get back to the Christian "Life" before the possibility of participating passes us by. God does not need us to accomplish His work. Rather, He grants us the divine invitation to co-labor with Him. This will cost us dearly. It will divide communities, churches, ministries, homes, friends, marriages and loved ones. Make no mistake about it. The "days" are upon us.
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring Peace but a Sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law': and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his Life will lose it. and he who loses his Life for My sake will find it."
The DSM Bible Schools are up and running. Indeed, because of corona virus restrictions, we are now teaching more days per week than ever before (to comply with "social distancing" mandates). This has led to an INCREASED ENROLLMENT! In fact, we cannot even process New students because of the overwhelming response from current and prior enrolled Pastors and Ministry Leaders. "Life" is being proclaimed on the hilltop!
But more important is what our Pastors and Ministry Leaders are Doing. They are marrying the unmarried. They are baptizing believers. They are partaking in communion services. They are evangelizing door to door. They are visiting the widows, the sick, the elderly, the shut-ins, the disabled and dying. They are counseling face-to-face. Most, if not all, of this is illegal. Some of our Pastors have been tracked, apprehended and imprisoned. I cannot provide specifics without furthering endangering them and others. But suffice it to say, their Fear of God has enraged kings and kingdoms of this world. The Christian Faith is being tested worldwide.
And the Faithful and Faithless are quickly being sorted and sifted.
Our most pressing need is for your Prayers. Fervent prayers. Faith filled prayers. For our Pastors and Ministry Leaders.... to courageously "Do" the Will of God; for the Bible School Ministry...to boldly continue Discipleship through the Ministry of the Word of God; for Fear of God...to suffocate any and all Fear of Man in us.
The time for Christ-like Courageous Ministering is Today. Lest we dare to presume we even have tomorrow.
