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Fear in the Last Days
By Tom Brown
 Shocked and stunned describes what I felt about the catastrophe in New York.
The image of the World Trade twin towers collapsing are forever etched on my
mind. I will never forget it, and neither will you.
Jesus
anticipated events such as these. He said, "When you hear of wars and
revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the
end will not come right away" (Luke 21:9). Prophecy teachers
undoubtedly are using these events to signal the coming of Christ. I
believe Christ is coming, however, Jesus never made wars and revolutions
the signal for His return. He said when you see these things the end
will not come right away. These signs are only the beginning of birth
pains.
 The emphasis Christ made when we see these events is to make sure we do
not give way to fear. Do not be frightened was His message. He
emphasized the need to keep away from fear.
There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various
places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)
He warned about fearful events. Just because an event is fearful
does not mean we have to be fearful. He continues to warn us about the
last days.
Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the
world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. (Luke 21:26)
 Imagine hearing that a comet is headed to the earth, and there appears
to be nothing the human race can do about it. How will you react? If you
are having a hard time with the World Trade Center catastrophe, then you
are not ready for what will take place in the future. It will get worse,
according to Jesus—even the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
Matthew’s gospel adds something:
"Immediately after the distress of those days" ‘the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will
fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ (Matt
24:29)
There is no way to minimize the fearful events Jesus proclaimed would
happen. Stars will fall from the sky. It sounds like comets or
large meteors. He even says that these events would take place after
the distress of those days. As if the distress of those days were not
enough, He warns about worse things happening—so bad that men will
faint from terror.
Dissipation
"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation,
drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you
unexpectedly like a trap. (Luke 21:34)
We not only have to watch out for fear but we have to be careful about dissipation,
drunkenness and the anxieties of life. I know most people do not know
what the word dissipation means. It means overindulgence. It
refers also to overeating because of worry. Do you have a tendency to
overeat when you are nervous? That is what He meant. It also means
overspending. It is incredible how people deal with worry. Some overeat,
some overspend, others just overindulge in other things—maybe they
saturate themselves in their work; others just stay in bed and oversleep.
At any rate, these are the not the ways to handle catastrophes.
So how should we handle cataclysmic events? Jesus gave us the answer:
Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all
that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the
Son of Man." (Luke 21:36)
 Praise
God! It is totally scriptural to pray that you may be able to escape
all that is about to happen. Some people think is it inevitable that
earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and wars will harm all the people on
the earth. It won’t. The book of revelation only mentions that one-third
of the people will be harmed in the great tribulation. That leaves most of
the people free from disaster. We can pray to get rapture or if you
believe you will go through the tribulation, you will be protected from
the things that will happen.
We need to have faith for the last days. Jesus said, "When the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). Jesus is
interested in whether or not we have faith when He comes—not if we have
the right eschatology. He wants us to have faith. The opposite of faith is
fear. So many believers are running in fear. They do not know what will
happen to their lives.
What should we do when horrible things are taking place on the earth?
We should preach the gospel to all nations, and that is when the end will
come. Yet, many are fleeing from the cities and building barricades and
saving stockpiles of food. How is that going to fulfill the great
commission? The final sign of the end of the world will not be a comet
hitting the earth, nor will it be the third world war. Jesus told us what
would be the final sign:
The Final Sign
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matt 24:14)
When will the end come? When the gospel is preached as a testimony to
all nations. The word testimony means undeniable evidence. In other
words, the gospel must be preached with the evidence of signs, wonders,
and miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The greater the tribulation,
the greater will be our testimony. It won’t happen, though, if we give
into fear. We can’t hide ourselves in our homes and be afraid to go out
and preach the gospel.
 "But
what about the disasters that can happen to me?" You can pray that
you will escape all that is happening. Use your faith and confess
protection. God is still in the business of keeping His Word, even if it
is the last days. God does not change simply because the last days are
here. Peter said, "In the last days, God will pour out His
Spirit." God is pouring out His Spirit like never before. However,
you must trust Him for protection and that He will empower you to preach
the gospel with signs following. Listen to the Psalmist:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains
fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the
mountains quake with their surging. Selah (Ps 46:1-3)
No matter what tragedies may come, we will not fear!
Why is Fear Dangerous?
Why does the Lord caution us about fear? After all the most often
repeated command in the Bible is "Fear not." The reason
fear is dangerous is because fear brings upon itself what it fears. A
famous president once said, "You have nothing to fear but fear
itself." It is true: fear is the thing we must avoid.
Fear is not just a distressing emotion; it is the spiritual force of
Satan’s kingdom. Faith is the force of God’s kingdom. We are saved by
faith, we are healed by faith, and we move mountains by faith. Faith
attracts God’s blessings to you, yet fear attracts Satan’s curses to
you. Fear is a force. Remember when Peter walked on the water. He did fine
until he was afraid. His fear sank him. Fear is the opposite of faith.
"And whatever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). Fear is a
sin.
According to the Revelation 21:8, the fearful will be cast into the
lake of fire. Fear is that serious! We have to resist it like we would
resist any other sin. Yet, many Christians do not even consider it a sin.
Yet it is!
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. (2 Tim 1:7, KJV)
Fear is called a spirit. It is a demon. No Christian wants to have a
demon, and yet when you operate in fear, you are demonically inspired.
Wow! I know you may not like to hear that, but it is true. How do you
overcome fear? There are three forces that help us overcome it when we
realize it is present within us. The forces are mentioned in the above
verse: power, love and a sound mind.
Power, Love and a Sound Mind
Let us ask an important question: why do we fear? We are afraid because
we feel powerless. We feel that we can’t change something. We fear
because we feel helpless. As long as you have power to change some evil,
then fear cannot take over.
 The
Bible says that we have power to resist the devil, and he will flee from
us. We can heal the sick. We can call on our angels for protection.
Listen, we do have power. We can overcome evil with good. When you
recognize that you have power, then fear cannot stay. Fear cannot coexist
with power.
The Bible also says that we have love. The Bible directly shows the
correlation between love and fear.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because
fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in
love. (I Jn 4:18)
Fear and love cannot coexist either. You either have love or fear. You
cannot have both. In this passage, John shows that the person who fears
doubts God’s love for him. When you know that God loves you, then you
know He will help you, not harm you. We often fear because we believe we
deserve punishment. We think God is out to get us. Yet He is out to help
us.
Many sermons have given the impression that God causes trouble in the
believer’s lives. Why do many think that God punishes His children? The
reason is because many do not believe in God’s love for them.
I can’t speak for you, but I know God loves me. I will not fear that
God will punish me. I know the punishment for my sins had already occurred
at the cross. God so loved me that Jesus took my place of punishment. I
believe my sins have already been punished. So I rely on God’s love for
me—that He will reward and bless me. You need to believe this, too.
Wired for Faith
The one area that fear will attack is the mind. This is why Paul said
that we have a sound mind. God did not create your mind to handle
fear. Your mind is not wired for fear anymore than you are wired for
electricity. Stick a fork in an outlet, and you will discover your body is
not wired for electricity. Neither is your mind wired for fear.
I read the story about an underclassman, which went through an
initiation for his sorority. They blindfolded him and tied him to the
railroad tracks. What he did not know was there was another set of tracks.
All he heard was the train coming. As it approached closer and closer he
screamed for help. The other men just laughed. Finally after the train
passed by, the men went to untie the man, but they found him dead. He died
of a heart attack.
Jesus said, "Men’s heart’s will fail them for fear." You
may not die as quickly as this freshman did, but you will experience
another kind of death. You will begin to lose courage. Without courage you
will never be able to win over your battles. Isaiah prophesied what fear
could do. "Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a
pit" (Isa 24:18).
God told Gideon to send home all the men who feared. God knows that
fear will bring failure. It’s time that you purpose to live fear-free.
Whenever you notice fear in your life, then resist it by quoting the Word
of God.
 Our heart goes out to the victims
and families of the 9/11
tragedy. We are praying for them.
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