The fear of man brings a snare , but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
Proverbs 29:25As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.… There is no fear of God before their eyes. ”
Romans 3:10-12,18 (emphasis mine)And Jesus [repeatedly and expressly] charged and admonished them, saying, Look out; keep on your guard and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod and the Herodians.
Mark 8:15 AMP
As we’ve just read, Jesus described the fear of man in the Gospel of Mark verse as the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. Let’s explore each of them in turn.
The Leaven of the Pharisees
Not only do we see this demonstrated by the Pharisees, but also by the Sadducees and scribes throughout the Gospels where they are either afraid to act against Jesus or answer His questions “for fear of the people.”
The modern-day equivalent of those folks are pastors and spiritual leaders within Christendom (the institutional expression of Christianity in the earth) who fear the worldwide revival now in progress as well as the supernatural signs, wonders, and miracles resulting from it. Such critics are terrified of disappointments (what if it doesn’t work for us?) and the resulting aftermath (people will abandon our church/ministry!). To protect themselves from such repercussions, they abandon hope (biblically defined as the joyful anticipation of good) and retreat behind walls of false doctrines piously labelled as “wisdom” and “sound doctrine.”
Tragically, in their unbelief, they are also walling out what God is currently doing, thereby excluding themselves and their followers from participating in and benefiting from it. As with worrying, Satan is more than happy to reinforce their position with lies masquerading as wisdom, prudence, and doctrinal orthodoxy.
Their constant mantra of “What if it doesn’t work?” coupled their concerted efforts to distance themselves by attempting to discredit its participants through labelling them as heretics are both prima facie evidence of this very attitude. This is also the primary driving mindset of social media “heretic hunters” who love to bash whoever opposes their personal take on religious orthodoxy.
In almost every case I’ve encountered, such folks are are deeply rooted in traditional non-charismatic denominations founded centuries ago during prior moves of God which have become lifeless hulks of their former selves over the ensuing years. Just sayin’…
The Leaven of Herod
This flavor of the fear of man occurs wherever worldly politics are the primary focus. Here are 3 examples found in the Gospels and Acts:
- Herod feared the people, so he refrained from executing John the Baptist until his wife Herodias and step-daughter Salome put his back to the wall with no escape for fear of the opinions of those present at the banquet.
- Pilate crucified Jesus because of he feared Cæsar’s possible reaction to his displeasing the Jewish leadership.
- When Herod executed Jesus’ disciple James ben Zebedee and saw his actions pleased the people, he next went after Peter in Acts 12
We see this fear of man evidenced everywhere in modern politics and pop culture. There’s an old insult about unprincipled politicians which goes, “They’re like kites. They go wherever the political winds are blowing” because whatever passes for their ethics are dictated by results obtained from public-opinion polls and focus groups rather than any sense of right and wrong coupled with common sense.
Nowadays politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and so-called “Internet influencers” alike are castigated and their careers/businesses/reputations destroyed by the Thought Police and/or the Racial Grievance Industrial Complex and/or the Alphabet Mafia for making even a single statement appearing to deviate from the woke agenda.
Let’s say for example that someone expresses a common-sense reality such as “a typical man is physically stronger than a typical woman. Therefore men, regardless of how they view their own gender identity, should not compete in women’s sports.” From the moral outrage and virtue signaling which immediately follows, you would think that person had publicly tortured and executed someone’s week-old puppy on national television. Spineless “offenders” immediately fall all over themselves in how rapidly they can cravenly express elaborate apologies for daring to speak — much less imply — an inconvenient yet politically incorrect truth.
This terror of negative public opinion has also impacted corporate leaders, newscasters, educators, modern so-called science, and tragically, even certain pastors and other church leaders. Let one of them stray even slightly from the “party line” and the Internet trolls are all over them like a school of piranha on a wounded capybaran trying to wade a river.
Corporations are falling all over themselves to rank well on a “woke compliance index,” the precise name of which escapes me for the moment. Scientists are fudging papers and studies to support ideology rather than reality. Schools have become indoctrination camps where children and young adults are taught what to think rather than how to think. Whole denominations have abandoned the clearly expressed tenets of Scripture to embrace the Siamese-twin false idols of “diversity” and “tolerance” so they can appease the pop-culture mob by being “inclusive.” The Untied Methodists are losing members literally by the millions as they abandon the doctrinal orthodoxy the Wesley brothers founded it upon.
As we have already discovered, Jesus found that whole schtick completely repugnant. Our stand on what is moral should be in rock-solid agreement with God’s Word no matter where it leads or what it costs us. That being said, how we express those stands should be loving, compassionate, and gracious rather than arrogantly rude and hatefully judgmental no matter how repugnant the views we oppose (e.g., abortion, etc.) may be.
Thanks for reading!
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