Don’t Allow Your Enemy to Define You
“Fear and intimidation is a trap that holds you back. But when you place your confidence in the Lord, you will be seated in the high place.” (Proverbs 29:25 TPT)
“The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that.”
(Proverbs 29:25 MSG)
“The fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the Lord will be protected.” (Proverbs 29:25 NASB)
Yesterday, we talked about the devastating effects of “the fear of man.” Other descriptive words and phrases for this snare are the fear of human opinion, intimidation, people pleasing, and political correctness. Yielding to this desire for social acceptance and lack of conflict has produced compromise and cost the American church immeasurably. Here in America, we have lost 3 generations to humanism and progressivism. Details and statistics were given in yesterday's post.
Today, let’s take a look at some of the ways those on the left use “the fear of man” to “trap” and silence their opposition. Some of the more obvious tactics are:
Threats of force: These threats are made to individuals, businesses, the police, judges, legislators, lawyers, voters, private citizens, and more.
Violence: This includes riots, burning and damaging buildings and cars, vandalizing churches and pro-life organizations, etc.
“Lawfare”: the weaponization of law enforcement, the courts, the IRS, and other government agencies (against those who oppose election fraud, parents who object to the grooming of their children, and others who oppose leftist ideologies.
Censorship: a ploy used by the Biden administration, governors, other government agencies, social media platforms, schools, and others to silence those who disagree with them.
Boycotts: used against businesses, states with conservative values, sports teams that don’t support liberal causes, and others.
Rejection: used especially toward youth, causing peer pressure and compromise; it is also used in subtle ways against the church - “If you preach or teach certain portions of Scripture, I won’t attend your church or accept your gospel.”
This list could be expanded or broken down into more categories, but you get the point. The left is skilled and clever at these forms of control and manipulation. They are vicious; their cause is more important than the well-being of those they damage or destroy. And lying is not a deterrent to them - truth lost all relevance when humanism was espoused in the '60s and '70s. The “golden rule,” kindness, civility, and other values once honored, have also been sacrificed in their desire for control. If we are to restore America, we must resist the fear and intimidation intended by these and other methods.
Another successful method used by the left to intimidate and control the right is dishonest “labels.” They apply negative terms and phrases to us, “branding” us in ways that simply aren’t true. No one wants the stigma of these labels, and many conservatives back down in order to avoid it. The liberal media assists in this, of course. There are numerous examples:
Homophobe: Those who agree with the Bible’s teaching that homosexuality is a sin are now labeled as “afraid” of it, as “fear-mongers” and “hate-mongers.” Nothing could be further from the truth, yet many have embraced this lie, especially those who hear it at school/college.
Transphobe: Ditto.
Xenophobe: The “fear of foreigners” is now ludicrously used to label those who want only legal immigration into America.
Misogynist: Those who are pro-life are now called “women-haters.”
Mean-spirited/Bigot/Intolerant: All of those labeled by the above terms are also referred to with these terms. In reality, however, the most giving, loving, kind people I know are Bible-believing Christians.
Racist: Anyone who disagrees with or criticizes a person of another ethnicity, regardless of the reason, is called a racist by the left.
Religious zealot/Extremist/National terrorist: those who believe the Bible are now considered extremists, as are true patriots, and considered threats to freedom. The military now considers the Appeal To Heaven flag as a symbol of national terrorism. These are lies, and they know it.
American nationalist; Dominionist: those who believe God raised up and created America for His purposes are called heretics by many inside and outside the church. They’re considered arrogant and accused of believing God loves Americans more than other people, which is preposterous. The “dominionist” term is used to accuse Christians of wanting to force their beliefs on others. Of course, it is the left that actually does this.
Christians and conservatives must stop allowing these lies to influence us. When we yield to them, we weaken our cause. We must NEVER allow the left to define us. No one likes to be criticized, but it is impossible to stand for truth without being persecuted - period.
Many leaders in the church today will not mention certain sins due to the fear of man. We should never use a condemning, accusatory approach when addressing sin. But if God - who is love personified - condemns an action in His Word, shouldn’t it be appropriate to discuss it in our church services? The argument that the church should only preach about salvation, endeavoring to get people saved, is beyond ludicrous. That would mean we must ignore 90% of the Bible. Probably more. This fear-of-man-induced cherry-picking of God’s Word has produced three generations of Americans who do not believe all of Scripture. And why should they - their pastors don’t?
Not only do many pastors shy away from moral issues, but they also steer clear of governmental issues and elections. Never mind the fact that:
God began speaking about government in the first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 1:26-28);
He IS government (Isaiah 33:22);
The war which began in Genesis is all about who will rule the earth (Genesis 3:1-7);
Jesus referred to His body as His Ekklesia (Matthew 16:18-19).
Bowing to this heretical view that government shouldn’t be discussed at church, produced by a fear of the IRS and of offending people who may not want to hear it, has robbed America of her salt and light. The soul of our nation has spoiled, and we are wandering in darkness, led by evil men and women. (For more info about the separation of church and state, see this previous post.)
Scripture calls the gospel, “The gospel of the Kingdom,” which is the “Good news of Christ’s Kingdom rule and reign” (see Mark 1:15). It is the good news that Jesus conquered satan, delivered us from his dominion, restored us to God’s family, recovered the dominion on earth that Adam lost, and delegates it to us once again in His name. That is the gospel. Yes, a more complete manifestation of this victory will one day occur, but this does not mean the only part of His victory relevant for today is being forgiven of our sins and one day going to heaven.
It is time for the church to reject the fear of man. We must make the decision that God’s Word will always be our final authority, that we will never be ashamed of it, nor will we be intimidated by those who don’t believe it.
Pray with me:
Father, we often fall prey to the strategies of those who oppose You. One of those strategies is to allow our self-worth to be determined by what they think of us. How absurd. This has conformed us to their ways, defiled our message, and weakened our resolve. And it has no doubt offended You, as we have refused to honor Your Word and ways. Like Saul’s Israel, we allow the giants to intimidate us.
We ask You to break this spirit of intimidation and its fruit of compromise off the church. Align us with Your plumbline of truth, which never has and never will change. Cause leaders in the church to fall in love with Your Word again, to have a renewed allegiance to it. Give us integrity enough to acknowledge how our neglect of Your Word has helped destroy our nation.
Awaken us! Whatever it takes, awaken us. Shake, convict, release holy fire, pour out Holy Spirit. We need a course correction, a reset. Bring this, we pray. You have said America will be saved. We believe it, we decree it, and we thank You for it.
In Yeshua’s name. Amen.
Our decree:
We decree that in the church, the fear of man is being transformed into a fear of the Lord, bringing the promised wisdom.
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