No Fear!

NO FEAR!

By Pastor Jim May

How many of you are into fads? One fad that is popular right now is the line of clothing called “NO FEAR”. I suppose the clothes, shoes and accessories that you can order with the “NO FEAR” brand on them, are supposed to give you an “air of confidence” so that you can hold your head up high and not “fear” the ridicule of the “in crowd” of the fashion world. I’m sure that even if you don’t own anything with this name brand on it, you have probably seen it on car window decals and the clothes that other people are wearing.

It would really be nice if such “gimmicks” could really remove the fear that grips the heart of this world, but I don’t think that it will really remove any fear at all.

People are afraid of so much in our day and time. We can see prophecy fulfilling every day as we read the newspapers and watch the TV.

Luke 21:25-27, "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

I dare say that the signs are there already and yet there are many more to come before it’s all over. The world is ripe for the rise of the Antichrist even now and it is very possible that he is alive on planet earth right now and is becoming the man of sin that the Bible describes him to be. When the time is right, after the rapture of the church, he will step forward and be received as a hero by all of the people of the earth. He will seem to be a man of peace at first, but it won’t be long until his true nature comes forth and then his presence will strike fear into the heart of mankind so that they dare not defy him.

The kind of fear that he will have to control the world is similar to that found in the Communist countries of the world, especially during the Cold War.

During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. "You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?" "Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, "Now you know why."

There is a story from the late 1800’s in the Old West that typifies this same type of fear.

Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims. His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.

Some of us can easily identify with the this story of “Little Johnny”:

5-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother was preparing supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. "It’s dark in there and I’m scared." She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, "It’s OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and barely opened it very slowly. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once he had an idea. He said: "Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?"

And then there’s the story of “Little Suzy”:

One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking Little Suzy into bed. Her mother was about to turn the light off when Suzy asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave her a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear. I have to sleep in Daddy’s room." A long silence followed after mom walked out and turned the light off. At last the silence was broken by small, shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"