One of the most frequent commands of Scripture is the command, “Fear not.” By my count it occurs 190 times. Fear of anything but the Fear of God is disobedience to God.
It is instructive to see how the enemy of our souls cultivates fear in our hearts. For example, on January 11th, 1944, the 32nd President gave a State of the Union speech in which he said:
“As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights [secured by the Bill of Rights] proved inadequate to assure us equality …We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence… We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all… Among these are:
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The right to a useful and remunerative job
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The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
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The right of every family to a decent home;
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The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
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The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
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The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security.”
So he promised that he would create government programs that would dispel the fears of old age, sickness, and accidents. What are those fears? Financial want, inadequate medical care and lack of employment. This is the same President whose first inaugural address included the sentence,
“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” He proposed that civil government itself was the answer to our greatest fears.
When you examine his policies, you will find he was a socialist to the core and his New Deal wasn’t anything new at all; it was what the old standard tyrannical governments throughout the centuries have offered – legalized plunder. With the support of the majority they would steal from those who have, to redistribute that wealth to those who the government favors. As many have discovered as of very late, that New Deal was a Raw Deal for America. It has left us 100 trillion dollars in debt, a debt that will be paid by our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, perhaps endless generations. It is a policy that has made Americans debt slaves.
With justice I think we might call FDR the great manipulator; he used fear and economic distress to sell the American people into debt slavery.
What has been the result? Has fear been eliminated? Today more people fear the civil government than ever before. They know for example, the IRS, without any evidence of wrong doing on your part, can steal your bank account, your paycheck, and your car without you ever having stood trial before a jury of your peers and been pronounced guilty. Businesses know that they can be ruined in an instant by a completely unaccountable gang of wicked bureaucrats at the EPA whenever they choose to concoct a new set of standards everyone must abide by.
We have been sold down the river by a set of tyrants far more wicked and evil than King George III ever dreamed of being. All of this has been done using fear as a tool to manipulate us into debt slavery.
Now fear is a powerful emotion. But it is rooted in our perception of what is real. We call someone who has irrational fears, delusional. They believe something to be true that is actually false. By not seeing the truth, they react with fear to something which is not there. There is however another type of irrational fear that is less recognized, it is a fear based upon a partial grasp of reality.
Let me give you an example. 2 Kings 6:14-18 is a scene where the king of Syria wanted to arrest and likely kill God’s prophet Elisha.
“Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?”
The servant of Elisha saw the trouble they were in, surrounded by a powerful army on all sides. No option for escape, certain arrest and probably death awaited not only Elisha but his servant as well. But was this a realistic evaluation of the situation? You might say of course it was, and his fears were rational. But look at how Elisha answers his servant.
“And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”
Now we might respond, what are you talking about Elisha? Can’t you see the reality of the army from that great super power Syria arrayed against you?
“And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”
And that blind army could do nothing to Elisha nor his servant.
Yes, fear is a natural response to threatening circumstances, but it is rooted in our perception of what is real. To believe something to be true that is actually false is delusional. By not seeing the truth, they react with irrational fear. A far greater problem is a fear based upon only a partial apprehension of reality.
When we leave God out of the picture, we have an unrealistic fear. And this is what FDR preyed upon – if you leave God out of the equation, if you turn aside from His Holy Law as it addresses each of the fears FDR manipulated, then of course you will turn and bow down to the idol FDR was erecting; the Socialist State which promises to provide for you from womb to tomb. What we see today is that the New Deal was a Raw Deal, manipulating our fears it has sold us into debt slavery.
*** David Whitney *** is a Life and Liberty News contributor, Pastor and radio personality. He has appeared in the Washington Time, on Voice of America, Fox, ABC, NBC, CSPAN and BBC. He is a Senior Instructor with Institute on the Constitution, and serves as Pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church of Pasadena, Maryland.
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