This thought has been running around my brain for about a week and a half. I've wanted to write about it, but it's so important that I don't think I'm qualified. It's been written about for centuries, but in spite of Biblical advice to the contrary, tales of doom and woe have prevailed for centuries, and mankind has sought out not comfort, but strife, not peace, but fear, missing what I believe every soul truly desires, often without knowing it-perfect love.
Years ago when I was about the age of my granddaughter, Bella Grace, I remember walking across the front lawn of the Old Christian Church on Kentucky Avenue. I couldn't stand to be inside any more because I felt so ill I thought I might vomit. Mama quietly got up and followed me out of the church with concern. I didn't have to tell her what was wrong. She just knew. I was frightened to, not death, but illness by the hell fire and second coming message of the visiting preacher. Mama comforted me and reminded me of my verse she had taught me to shield off fear, "What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." She talked about uninportant things and got my mind off the message still swirling around the sanctuary, and soon my breathing eased. I realized I was O.K. for the moment, but the fear lingered and the words haunted me for days.
I remember another fearful event, I was in third grade, and I was not allowed to watch Theater X because it gave me bad dreams and sleepless nights, but I went to the neighbor's house and watched pods being put under beds and hidden in houses and people falling asleep only to be cloned into some creature that replaced them. I couldn't sleep that night, so I went into Mama and Daddy's bedroom and just stood by the door knowing I would be in trouble if Daddy knew I watched a scary show. Being in trouble by Daddy was not about spankings. It was just about causing him displeasure. That was enough punishment for me and one I worked hard to avoid. Daddy woke up, as he always did when I stood quietly by their bed, and immediately knew I had watched a scary movie. Instead of comforting me, he threatened to spank me and told me to go back to my room. I was crushed and so badly frightened. I finally fell asleep from heavy tears and exhaustion. The movie haunted me for days and especially at night.
I could write several personal tales of fear. Some could have or had dire consequences while others were due to an overblown imagination. It doesn't matter. The feeling of fear is the same from bad dreams to scary movies to cancer to physical threats, and on and on. The physical feelings of fear are intensely uncomfortable, yet humans are drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Why is that?
There's a phrase I love used over and over throughout the Old Testament, "Be strong and courageous."
We are also reminded to, "Fear not, for lo I am with you always." In the Bible,we are encouraged often not to worry. I love the verse in Psalms that states succinctly, "Do not fret; it only leads to evil."
If New Testament Christians believe in the Bible in its entirety,why are so many "Christian" leaders in both church and media pandering fear to manipulate congregations and viewers? What ever happened to "Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report?" Something is out of balance, and it appears that fear mongers drawn to the physical addiction, to the feeling of fear and understanding deeply mankind's love-hate relationship with fear, are deliberately pushing us to the brink of fearful outcomes that have been speculated upon for centuries. I can't make the connections of their behavior to the God I know and love so deeply, who gave his only son for the world. Those voices toll bad report and doom, annihilation and hatred. I understand that all encompassing energy force I call God, to be love, and I believe, if I remember correctly, "Perfect love casts out fear."
Years ago when I was about the age of my granddaughter, Bella Grace, I remember walking across the front lawn of the Old Christian Church on Kentucky Avenue. I couldn't stand to be inside any more because I felt so ill I thought I might vomit. Mama quietly got up and followed me out of the church with concern. I didn't have to tell her what was wrong. She just knew. I was frightened to, not death, but illness by the hell fire and second coming message of the visiting preacher. Mama comforted me and reminded me of my verse she had taught me to shield off fear, "What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." She talked about uninportant things and got my mind off the message still swirling around the sanctuary, and soon my breathing eased. I realized I was O.K. for the moment, but the fear lingered and the words haunted me for days.
I remember another fearful event, I was in third grade, and I was not allowed to watch Theater X because it gave me bad dreams and sleepless nights, but I went to the neighbor's house and watched pods being put under beds and hidden in houses and people falling asleep only to be cloned into some creature that replaced them. I couldn't sleep that night, so I went into Mama and Daddy's bedroom and just stood by the door knowing I would be in trouble if Daddy knew I watched a scary show. Being in trouble by Daddy was not about spankings. It was just about causing him displeasure. That was enough punishment for me and one I worked hard to avoid. Daddy woke up, as he always did when I stood quietly by their bed, and immediately knew I had watched a scary movie. Instead of comforting me, he threatened to spank me and told me to go back to my room. I was crushed and so badly frightened. I finally fell asleep from heavy tears and exhaustion. The movie haunted me for days and especially at night.
I could write several personal tales of fear. Some could have or had dire consequences while others were due to an overblown imagination. It doesn't matter. The feeling of fear is the same from bad dreams to scary movies to cancer to physical threats, and on and on. The physical feelings of fear are intensely uncomfortable, yet humans are drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Why is that?
There's a phrase I love used over and over throughout the Old Testament, "Be strong and courageous."
We are also reminded to, "Fear not, for lo I am with you always." In the Bible,we are encouraged often not to worry. I love the verse in Psalms that states succinctly, "Do not fret; it only leads to evil."
If New Testament Christians believe in the Bible in its entirety,why are so many "Christian" leaders in both church and media pandering fear to manipulate congregations and viewers? What ever happened to "Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report?" Something is out of balance, and it appears that fear mongers drawn to the physical addiction, to the feeling of fear and understanding deeply mankind's love-hate relationship with fear, are deliberately pushing us to the brink of fearful outcomes that have been speculated upon for centuries. I can't make the connections of their behavior to the God I know and love so deeply, who gave his only son for the world. Those voices toll bad report and doom, annihilation and hatred. I understand that all encompassing energy force I call God, to be love, and I believe, if I remember correctly, "Perfect love casts out fear."
Fear of darkness is a perception that can be changed with one new thought. God casts out fear.
Peace. Love, Linda
