Will the Heart-Sick Church Find Strength to Crush This Pandemic of Fear? by JOHN BURTON for Charisma News
Fear has been an unwelcome yet dominant spirit in the church over the past year.
According to Northwestern Medicine, fear is physical. Blood actually flows away from your heart and into your limbs, making it easier for you to start throwing punches or run for your life.
This is what we have witnessed in this year of fear, the life-source flowing away from the hearts of Christians. Punches have been thrown as the fight or flight response has overtaken many who previously were known as people of faith.
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When our hearts are compromised and focus shifts to protecting self, wickedness of all sorts has an entry point into our lives. What seems like common sense and wisdom is often the manifestation of the spirit of fear. One has to wonder which emotion is stronger, fear of COVID or fear of vaccines. Both are actually a manifestation of a fear of death.
Isn’t it interesting how crafty the enemy is, taunting and haunting us with the threat of death while dividing us over the issue at the same time? Anti-vaxers and pro-maskers both tremble over the threat of dying.
Fear is evidenced in many ways such as the impending doom that surrounds a loss of our American freedoms, churches being shuttered, elections being lost and our way of life being put at risk.
No matter which side people are on, punches are thrown as they furiously fight for their cause. It seems most everybody is threatened, whether it’s from a piece of cloth that covers our mouths or the loss of freedoms in the midst of lockdowns.
The Fear Is Clear
Will the heart-sick church discern how a spirit of fear has infiltrated and infected the body, or will we continue down this path of reactionary, fear-based response to crisis in our nation?
I propose the lesson has not been learned yet. It’s only going to get worse, and the church clearly is not ready yet.
Personally, my greatest sadness from the pandemic is the response of many who have been highly regarded people of faith. Fear, not faith, has been the driving force of their lives over the past year, or so the fruit of their lives suggests.
