Society's Phobias

One attribute of the ungodly is that they are generally guilty of the very thing of which they accuse others. This characteristic is most apparent in the use of the term Islamophobia. Those who want to confront Islam and hold Muslims accountable for inspiring terrorists are called Islamophobic as if they are the ones with the irrational fear. But what is really more fearful, dealing with the root cause of a problem or trying to appease evil doers in the hope that they will change their ways?

Those who seek to shut down the voices of people speaking the truth about Islam by calling them Islamophobic say they don't want to incite a backlash against Muslims. But this only masks their own fear that the terrorism will get worse if the Muslim religion is publicly criticized. Despite the growth of Islamic terrorism, there has been no significant backlash against Muslims. Most people understand that the vast majority of Islamists are cultural Muslims who are just trying to get by in this world and have no desire to get too serious about following the literal tenets of their religion.

The ideologues accusing others of being Islamophobic are generally the same ones calling those wanting to preserve traditional marriage of being homophobic. Followers of Christ don't fear being among sinners because we too still struggle with our old sin nature and while we are forgiven and thus no longer of the world, we are still in the world to make disciples of all the nations. The ungodly accusers of homophobia fear God's Law and seek to squelch followers of Christ because they fear anything that reminds them of God's Law.

Intelligent conversation about immigration is shut down by calling those who oppose open borders of being xenophobic. Followers of Christ don't fear being among people from other places who are not like us. Indeed, we welcome this because it makes it easer to reach the nations for Christ when they come to us. But we do fear the loss of what makes this country attractive to people of the world when we throw out our due process of law. One of the things that made America great was having a tradition of following the law which was developed with appropriate Constitutional checks and balances. Increasingly, our rule of law is being replaced by rule of man which changes with the wind. Those yelling xenophobia are fearful that conservatives will dampen their globalist aspirations which calls for collective human achievement, the same spirit behind the Tower of Babel.

The common thread in accusing others of some sort of phobia is political correctness which is all about not offending people. Now this sounds good because no one wants to be offensive to others. But the spirit behind political correctness is to further a narrative that can only be sustained when the truth is suppressed. So accusing the opposition of being insensitive shuts down the conversation. The ungodly fear the truth and cannot allow a free exchange of ideas because the truth has an uncanny way of making itself known. Among the birth-pang signs Jesus gave us indicating His soon return was this: "many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another" (Matthew 24:10, NKJV). Certainly political correctness institutionalizes people being offended and this tactic is growing in power as a tool of the ungodly.

Fear is generally growing in the world as God removes His restraint of evil which foreshadows the Tribulation (2 Timothy 3:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:7). There is a growing sense that something is very wrong in this world even among the biblical illiterate. Peace between the nations is elusive and there is nuclear proliferation occurring in the most irrational of regimes. The economy has multiple indicators of serious sickness despite the media narrative that all is well. The ruling elite try to channel the growing fear into other areas such as a fear of guns and global warming in order to further their globalist agenda. The persistence of the globalist visionaries set the stage for the Tribulation and thus will make steady progress to have their day because there will be a ruler where, "authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation" (Revelation 13:7).

The soon coming Tribulation is when fear will reach its peak, "there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21:25-26). It will be hard to deny that supernatural events are occurring during the Tribulation. These prophetic developments will be very fearful as people who have taken the mark of the beast realize they have committed themselves to the wrong side. And that will be most of the people in the world during the Tribulation.

While fear is often irrational and immobilizing, it can be helpful if it is channeled in the right direction. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). The healthiest fear is the fear of God. It is a good thing when our fear leads us to the Savior for deliverance. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10).

While fear is useful in driving us to Christ, it dissipates once He breathes life into our human spirits and we begin trusting Jesus as our Savior. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (1 Timothy 1:7). The presence of the Holy Spirit who indwells all believers gives us courage in the face of an increasingly fearful world. And God can use that to attract people to Christ. A great way to lead people to Jesus is to help them see why we do not fear the trajectory of this world.

"Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).