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Approaching God One Thought At A Time

To fear God, is one of the first and greatest Duties of his rational Creatures.
- Charles Inglis

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Jesus On Fear

As noted in GB's Virtue of Fear, the word “fear” appears 457 times in Bible including being used 104 times in the New Testament. Fear of God, far from being the anathema reported today, is more often than not commanded of the faithful as a vital component of living faith.

Scripture clearly reveals the New Testament authors agreed with their predecessors that the fear of the awesome and awful God is not only the "beginning of wisdom" but the mortar that holds the bricks of faith in place. The question naturally arising is did they glean this view from the Old Testament alone or did Jesus reinforce and/or further develop this often spurned meta message?

Christ, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared.

- Hebrews 5:7 KJ21


Fear appears 44 times in the Gospels. Often the usage denotes the sentiment of those interacting with Jesus. At times the disciples fear is aroused by circumstances and even more so by the miraculous intervention by Christ:

  • “Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:23-25

  • “Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:26-27

In such passages the quantum nature of Jesus' teachings simultaneously dispel and create fear in His disciples. At times He rebukes their fear of circumstances as evidence of a lack of faith. Other times He comforts them, assuring the disciples of His presence. Jesus often uses fear to reveal the following:

  • The frailty of human emotion.

  • The majesty of God and His only begotten Son.

  • The power of the miraculous to demonstrate and authenticate Kingdom Truth.

  • The hypocrisy of the Church of His day, in both leadership and laity.

  • What and/or whom not to fear and why.

  • What and/or whom to fear and why.

  • The ramifications resulting from lack of Godly fear.

The teaching of Christ on this subject no doubt greatly influenced His Apostles. This was true prior to the birth of the Church at Pentecost and doubly so after. Jesus, even as 1st trimester fetus, influenced Mary to extoll the Virtue of Fear in her Magnificat:

  • “And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” Luke 1:46-47

Before His disciples and a massive audiences, in perhaps His most exhaustive handling of the subject, Jesus addresses several facets of fear:

  • By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “Watch yourselves carefully so you don’t get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town. I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands. What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels. But if you pretend you don’t know me, do you think I’ll defend you before God’s angels? If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance, that can be overlooked. But if you’re knowingly attacking God himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won’t be overlooked. When they drag you into their meeting places, or into police courts and before judges, don’t worry about defending yourselves—what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words when the time comes.” Luke 12:1-12 MSG

In such verses, depending on translation, Christ references fear in various ways. He also uses several terms (fear, beware, woe, hypocrites) to highlight whom and/or what to fear or not fear. Ironically, throughout modern Christianity we frequently fear what we shouldn't and fail to fear those things we should...



Observations on the passage:

1. "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Jesus warns the people of God to fear being mislead by their leaders. This warning is as valid to Churchianity today as in the 1st Century.

2. We are warned to fear the exposure of secret actions and words. Scripture warns we will give account of every deed, every idle word and every thought (example: lusting in one's heart).

3. Friends of Christ are warned not to fear men who can only kill the body. In reality, this was then and still is today, a leading cause of religious hypocrisy.

4. All are warned, in the clearest most emphatic way, to fear God, who after killing can cast into Hell. While Jesus and all His Apostles emphasize this repeatedly, modern Christianity emphasizes the practical equivalent of it's opposite through false doctrines of unconditional love and eternal security.

5. Believers are warned not to fear being forgotten by God who remembers each sparrow. Important yet unresolved issues with God account for much of the apathy in the Church today, as well as our disobedience, worldliness and Me-ism. The Bible repeatedly warns against this kind of dualistic double-mindedness among believers.

6. We are encouraged to confess Jesus before men. Churchianity, while at times appears to be confessing Christ, offers at least seven different gospels and thus many versions of Scripture and Christ. Furthermore we recklessly and continually resist if not deny His authority over that which is far more important, such as lifestyles and resources. The intrinsic problem of serving two masters is pandemic throughout 1st World Christendom and is particularly obvious in our inappropriately intimate modern worship.

7. We are warned to fear denying Christ, particularly under persecution. Few indeed give this a seconds thought. Yet our unpreparedness is sadly demonstrated by the lack of Christian disciplines during the best of times, including the lack of serious prayer, memorization of Scripture, activism etc...

8. We are warned to fear blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as an eternal sin. Today, the most prevalent teaching promoted by the Church is Christians are to fear nothing but fear itself.

9. We are commanded not to fear persecution by the Church (of any day) or governmental authorities. This fear, so prevalent in the world today, is best demonstrated by the Churches lack of demonstration or concern (sins of omission), not to mention the high rate of participation in (sins of commission) such as immorality and the Mega-Holocaust of Abortion.



Sadly most modern believers would rather simply embrace the concept of “peace, peace” even “when there is no peace” than diligent discern the difference between the story we tell ourselves and the hard truth of Scripture. This long standing tradition among the people of God is warned against by such notables as Ezekiel and Jeremiah:

  • “Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash…” Ezekiel 13:10 NIV


  • “Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth. My people are broken—shattered!—and they put on Band-Aids, Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’! Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage? No, they have no shame. They don’t even know how to blush. There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom and there’s no getting up. As far as I’m concerned,  they’re finished. God has spoken.” Jeremiah 6:13-15 MSG

In the case of “good old church goin’ folk” the reason for the disconnect from both Scripture and reality is an often well meant yet foundational mistake regarding to whom, how and why the “exceedingly great and precious promises of God” belong. By and large believers today are taught to view Biblical warnings and condition through the rose colored lens of presuposing they possess the promises of God. Unfortunately, as is too often the cases, Scripture teaches the exact opposite. The promises of God are received and kept not by presumption but by heeding the Bible’s warnings and conditions.

The current permissive mindset is the result of Churchianity being caught in the dangerous riptide of the original sin of entitlement popularized by various forms of Me-ism. Billions have and continue to reason that surely modern Christians enjoy favor and forgiveness through the love and mercy of God, not to mention the costly atonement of Christ. While having a ring of truth, such a vast over simplification of Scripture omits the clear and concise instruction of at least half the Old and New Testaments, including such unpopular topics as conditional salvation and additions to faith, presumption and the fear of God to name just a few.

All these points and more are reinforced by the risen and glorified Christ in Jesus’ judgment of His seven churches, and/or church ages, recorded in the Bible’s final Book of Revelation prior to John’s account of the mid-tribulation Rapture which takes place towards the end, not before the Great Tribulation. Yet another reason to be busy working out our “salvation with fear and trembling.”

A vast number of the 468 times in Bible the word fear is used is as an injunction to the Church. Fear, it seems, is the inertia that keeps honest and genuine faith’s orbit from decaying into presumption.

 We would do well to heed the advice we have been given. Additionally we have Jesus' example in the matter. In rare glimpse into the private life of Christ and the style of His prayers, we are told regarding Christ:

  • "Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." Hebrews 5:7-8 NKJV

If Godly fear, manifest by "prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death" was practiced by Jesus, the Son of God and God the Son, it comes highly recommended and deserves the greatest of considerations.


Update 2022

For my part I've spent 40 years strategically seeking and serving God with a single focus:

1. Is Modern Christianity and/or Churchianity working?
2. If not, why?

As a Charismatic minister, with better than average understanding of Biblical truth, the journey led me to the following inconvenient truths

1. 1/3 of my doctrine was accurate.
2. 1/3 of my doctrine was in error.
3. 1/3 of the Bible's most crucial points were either undervalued or missing altogether.

Furthermore, I've found this sad equation is far more often the rule rather than the exception.

With this in mind I've sent over a decade developing a topical Biblical commentary entitled, Quantum Christianity, showcased on my site GodBlog.net.

This was all long before 2020...

If there was ever an acceptable time to confuse Christianity with a pleasure cruise, rather than a Battleship, those days are past.

As Paul warned: “And if the [war] bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle?” 1 Corinthians 14:8 AMP

It should be abundantly clear things changed substantially in 2020. Nationally and globally, the world has never scene the like of even the following short list:

1. Covid-19 and variants, of questionable origin, mandates promoting and/or requiring untested and dangerous MRNA “vaccines” and “boosters” with negative efficacy and even deadly side effects revealing unprecedented control of healthcare and politics by the collusion of pharmaceutical companies and bureaucrats. To the point of threatening the removal of medical licenses of physicians prescribing safe and reliable treatments proven effective against respiratory and other illness. Example: In 2015 Ivermectin won the only Nobel Prize award for treatments of infectious diseases since six decades prior. Also report by Fortune Magazine (not right wing magazine) reveals that a simple home remedy of saline solution used for "Twice Daily Nose Flushing Can Reduce Covid Hospitalization and Death Researchers Find" by 85%. This study was conducted Fall 2020, and could have helped prevent 3/4 of Covid deaths.
  • Sample Daniel Horowitz: "Twice Daily Nose Flushing Can Reduce Covid Hospitalization and Death Researchers Find" by 85%
  • Sample Link: Steve Deace **9/15/22 Circumvent Medical Cartels with Dr. Harvey Risch** Simple straight talk from preeminent honored immunologist and cofounder of The Wellness Company TWC.health
  • Sample Link: **Ivermectin Nobel prize** In 2015, the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, in its only award for treatments of infectious diseases since six decades prior, honored the discovery of ivermectin (IVM), a multifaceted drug deployed against some of the world’s most devastating tropical diseases. Since March 2020, when IVM was first used against a new global scourge, COVID-19, more than 20 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have tracked such inpatient and outpatient treatments. Six of seven meta-analyses of IVM treatment RCTs reporting in 2021 found notable reductions in COVID-19 fatalities, with a mean 31% relative risk of mortality vs. controls. During mass IVM treatments in Peru, excess deaths fell by a mean of 74% over 30 days in its ten states with the most extensive treatments.
  • Sample Link: Daniel Horowitz: **The Risk of Cancer from Both the Shots and Perpetual Mask Wearing with Guest: Dr. Colleen Huber | 6/3/22** “Clot shots. Poisoning of Americans (World) beyond belief, as they prepare to stick babies as young ad 6 months old. HOW IS THIS NOT THE ISSUE OF OUR TIME? That it perpetuates the virus, destroys the immune system, and causes every ailment known to man… And yet to this day, it’s like it doesn’t exist. It’s a complete lockout…” “If you don’t get it you have your career destroyed. If you do get it you have your body destroyed. And then everything they plan on doing there on down with it. And everything it represents, with biomedical state, track/trace, transhumanism... Dr. Colleen Huber: Neither Safe Nor Effective: The Evidence Against the COVID Vaccines (Cancer Researcher/Get eBook).

2. Economic and institutional, social and quarantine lockdowns crippling businesses and institutions, education and families, from the elderly to children.

3. Individual mandates, social distancing and mask and "vaccine requirements restricting interaction, breathing and health.
  • Sample Link: Steve Deace: **A Clarion Call Go On The Offensive** Interview with Dr. Peter McCullough
  • Sample Link: Steve Deace: **8/24/22 The jobs/Dr. Ryan Cole**Excellent interview with Dr. Ryan Cole who has treated over 500,000 Covid patients and has impeccable credentials explaining the clot shots are extremely dangerous and genetically mutating.

4. BLM and Antifa’s spreading of widespread rioting and looting, violence and lawlessness in the name of blatantly FALSE narratives such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and systemic police brutality. Both undermining the foundations of society by “calling good evil and evil good.” All the while elevating career felons like George Floyd to sainthood status while ignoring the plague of black on black violence and murder, particularly within liberally controlled inner cities like the Obama’s Chicago.

5. Campaigns of disinformation and destruction by the emerging Iron Triangle of liberal governments, legacy media and global corporations influencing and poisoning the hearts and minds of billions.
  • Sample Link: **Crimes or Cover Up** Glen Beck Exposing The Worlds Most Dangerous Lie: History of C19 conspiracy with dates and facts.

6. Wokism’s ridiculous and dangerous plandemic of social engineering’s impact on lower and higher education, spread by the super carriers mentioned above.

7. The impact of Transgenderism’s incoherent and devilish reversal of truth and goodness on genuine science and health care, parenting and morality, teens and children.

8. Political attack on democracy, particularly in the U.S. by election fraud, boarder crossing and registration tampering.

9. Worldwide manipulation and control of all the above, as well as governments and economies, national budgets and banking, healthcare and communication, goods and services… by global elites implementing a Great Reset thus instituting a New World Order.

10. Conservatives and Christians fail to appropriately respond:
Such atrocities, and more, have been researched and documented, warned against and explained in detail by reliable professionals in related fields. For just a few examples see sample links above.




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