[Warning: Reading today’s Catch may be hazardous to your fear.]
Worldview #1: The world is our enemy. Satan is hiding out for us behind every bush. Secular humanists are conspiring to influence our children and take over our country, and everything we believe in and hold dear is being threatened by the culture around us. Better hunker down and wait out the rapture.
Worldview #2: This is our Father’s world. Every bush is ablaze with the glory of God. The Holy Spirit is behind the past and current events of history, and no force on earth, heaven or under the earth can do anything outside of the will and knowledge of God Almighty who lives in us. Time to get out into the world, find God and love people.
To be sure, the Bible does warn us of Satan’s wiles, but not for the purpose of keeping us in fear. The actual passage is 1 Peter 5:8, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Peter’s admonition to us in this regard is to resist him and stand firm (vs.9), and we do this by being self-controlled and alert (vs.8). And the admonition immediately prior to this warning is 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety [that would be fear] on him because he cares for you.”
No looking behind any bushes here. And no putting us in positions of power, either. “Humble yourselves…”
Worldview #1 has served the Christian community for far too long. And yes, “served” is the right word. It has funded Christian ministries, mobilized boycotts and marches, even put people in the White House. It is a worldview that has turned Christians into a social force to be reckoned with. But for what purpose? We’re here for the gospel. Remember? The gospel? What’s the gospel? No one in the world would know because we haven’t told them. We’ve been too busy trying to gain power.
Mark my word, with Obama in the White House, WV#1 is enjoying new life as American Christians terrorize their fellow-believers spreading hate and fear daily around the Internet. I can’t believe the stuff I’m receiving. It’s as if Christian leaders think they can’t control people, motivate them, or mobilize them without keeping them sufficiently afraid.
It’s time to stop it. NO MORE FEAR. It’s time for a different worldview. (Check out WV#2 above for starters.) It’s time to do what we should have been doing all along: spread the good news of God’s love everywhere.
John Fischer The Catch 
This could not have been received at a better time. A “Constitution” seminar is planned to be held in my former church on Saturday by those spreading hate and discontent. When finding out about it informed church leadership that it was diametrically opposed to everything I believe and for me, “No more.”.
Was told, “Oh, they are only renting our church, but in the bulletin it said, “Make your checks payable to GBF or directly to Mr. Cowan.”. Paul/Barnabas situation and left many friends behind, but have drawn closer to other believers, felt the pain, shed the tears and moved on.
Thank you, John, for your sensitive heart towards God’s nudging.
I’m glad.
Hi John,
This morning’s catch was so refreshing. THANKS! I think for many, fear is something of a perverted self entertainment. Another observation is that, I believe, many simply want to believe the stuff thats floating around out there rather than looking for truth.
~ Bob
“perverted self entertainment”… I love that! I do think it has a lot to do with power. Trusting worldly power instead of the Holy Spirit.
Have to add a big Amen to your message brother John, I believe I have a pretty good idea of what you’re talking about this: “… Obama in the White House, WV#1 is enjoying new life as American Christians terrorize their fellow-believers spreading hate and fear daily around the Internet. I can’t believe the stuff I’m receiving. It’s as if Christian leaders think they can’t control people, motivate them, or mobilize them without keeping them sufficiently afraid.”
To me it’s like, Oh my don’t u know God is still in control and no matter what others believe or even don’t believe, it’s my job, or honor and joy is still to let them know God loves them, or better yet I love and care about them – Amen, right Marti…. 🙂
Mr. Fischer,
This “Catch” is timely in my life as I struggle with fear of situations versus trust that my God is watching over me in my situations. So thank you for your obedience to our Lord to publish this when you did.
But I must ask a question. You have frequently spoken out in slight opposition to the growing Christian sentiment that tends to take things to the extreme. Halloween for example: you advocate getting out in the streets and meeting people versus locking our doors and turning out our lights to avoid the appearance of celebrating a pagan holiday. Okay, here comes my question: what does having Mr. Obama in the White House have to do with the “new life” of WV#1? Isn’t God still in control? Aren’t we to step out and evangelize to the world regardless? Hasn’t Mr. Obama stated that he is a Christian? How can you single out one man as being partially responsible for the strengthening of WV#1? Should we fear this one man? Is he the enemy?
Forgive me, but that paragraph in your “Catch” appeared to come from left field and changed the tone of your entire message; at least for me.
Thank you for your ministry. God Bless,
Joe
Obama is not responsible for strengthening WV#1. I was only observing that simply having him as President would create a reaction. It’s the reaction I’m talking about, nothing Mr. Obama is responsible for. I happen to like the man.
Amen!!!! If we Christians stand up and spred Gods love by reflecting Gods love to everyone in our daily lives we will defeat WV #1.
And this fear mongering has driven a lot of people right out of the church! I love what you’re doing. Check in the mail for the Isaiah House…$100.
Great job!! Charlene P., 4 the Isaiah House I am sure your help will be put to good use. 🙂
Thank you!
Amen. Thanks. Wow, just when I thought my wife and I were the only two Christians in the world who didn’t buy into a variation of “World View 1”. If I hear another home-schooling pastor who has removed his family’s witness from public schools preach another sermon on the evils of “those people” removing God from the public schools, I think I’ll gag. The drive within churches to jump on board every conservative social agenda (e.g., let’s use the season of Lent to picket an abortion clinic) is creating a new 600-some Pharisaical rules of political correctness that every Christian is expected to observe or bear the scorn of the majority. This “fear” tragically cuts in other directions too! For instance, I am asked to invite non-believers to church with me as a form of outreach, but I’m forever in unfortunate fear that they will be offended by some social agenda item that may pop into a sermon or teaching. I’m better off sharing Jesus with them one-on-one. What ever happened to the day when a Herbert Hoover Republican and New Deal Democrat could sit in the same pew together, united in the Gospel message?
well said.
Amen to World View #TWO(2) Living Holiness means loving and forgiving even those who hurt us.
I kept reading, and going, yes, yes, that’s it… fear.
Amen, thank you for making this clearer for me today. There has been a rub recently, in what I have been hearing and feeling and I kew it was the Spirit, but I just couldn’t figure it out. This is what it is.
Thank you for writing this today.
Blessings to you and yours, Janet
Amen! Amen ! The devil must be thrilled at the divide he is causing among US citizens. I’m amazed how seemingly intelligent, rational people get caught up in the fear mongering and proliferate it. I’ve found that I am distancing myself from friends and loved ones who seem focused on the message of fear because that is all they talk about…and frankly, I’m just tired of hearing that message. So not only is the division happening on a national level, it is starting to unravel the close knit fabric of families and friends. I celebrate differences of opinion and rational, friendly debate — but this has turned into something entirely different. Oh, but those that are fostering and nurturing this culture of fear are quite keen, I must say…they have learned that angry and fearful citizens dish out more money to them than the intelligently, fully informed citizens !
You nailed it. Fear pays.
Thank you John, for having the cahonies to tell the truth in The Catch. I have several friends who will surely “unsubscribe”, after reading todays Catch. They will stay in thier “doom bunker”. I have left it.
That’s too bad.
Thoughts from Father Richard Rohr especially the starter prayer:
CHRIST, COSMOLOGY,
AND CONSCIOUSNESS
The pre-existent Christ existed from all eternity, within what we Christians call the Trinity. There is dynamism, a loving flow, a God who is movement itself, a God who is much more a verb than a noun. No static or anthropomorphic definition of God is ever complete or adequate. God is totally beyond us and totally within us at the same time, fully divine Spirit and yet “at home” in our material bodies (John 15:4, Romans 8:9). Only non-dual (“contemplative”) consciousness can allow both of those to be true at the same time. The rationalist will choose one side or the other—and lose out!
Christ Consciousness “reminds us” (John 14:26) that we have an inner organic animating principle, which Jesus will call the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel, Jesus says it is absolutely necessary that he must go, or this Spirit cannot come (John 16:7). In other words, if we totally idolize the outer image we never get to the inner image—and that is the point! Jesus leaves so we can internalize the whole process. Picture Christ not above history and sitting on a throne, as most Christian art and music deoicted, but within all things and unfolding all things from inside like a gracious ticking time bomb. If they had understood the Holy Spirit, Christians should have been the last ones to doubt or deny evolution.
Adapted from Christ, Cosmology, and Consciousness (CD, DVD, MP3)
Starter prayer:
May I see Christ in all things
and all things in Christ.
This is fascinating.
AmenAmenAmen&Amen! I get so weary of the fearmongering going on in our beautiful country. Hardly a week goes by when either my wife or I do not lovingly guide some of our well meaning friends to the snopes, politifact, or factcheck websites hoping to slow done the incredible amounts of misinformation circulating in cyber space. I always point to the book of James and enourage us all to “tame or tongues.” These things are nothing more than electronic gossip. Shame on us.
WELL DONE. KEEP IT UP!
Why does it have to be either/or? Why can’t it be World View 1 AND World View 2? God is the God of the paradoxical. It is not God’s sovereignty or free will – it’s both. It’s not us or “them” – it’s both. It wasn’t God or Satan who tortured Job, it was both. (God was the initiator and Satan was the agent.) It wasn’t God or the Jews or the Romans who crucified Christ, it was all. (God was the initiator, the Jews took responsibility for it – e.g., “his blood be upon us and our children” – and the Roman soldiers were the agents who carried it out.) The answers to most questions, and most conflicts, are not either/or, but both/and, and I think that is the case here as well. Examining other scriptures in addition to [here’s the both/and principle again] just I Peter 5 would reveal this. But thank you for initiating this discussion!
I sure hope the hate-mongers themselves read this … and that those driven away from the church see that this is what Christ is all about. As for looking for demons … if you look for a demon behind every tree, you miss the ram in the bush!
Acdtually, the scripture says that if you look for demons, you will find them. It even goes as far as to say look for evil and it will come get you! (Proverbs 11:27)
You are quite right on the “fear” part. I would caution you to rethink that “hate” part. Certainly, there are some people who seem to be motivated by hatred. But that’s rare, and when you toss the word “hate” back in their faces (as in, “You just hate people”), it’s just as ineffective as their fear.
And I fear (pun intended) that you may have overstated WV#2 a bit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is working in and through events, but the way you stated it is, I think, too strong. Just as WV#1 seems to lack faith in the sovereignty of God, WV#2 (as stated, mind you, not necessarily as applied) is rather close to denying even the presence of Satan. (Please understand, I’m merely sounding a caution on the summary you wrote in the paragraph beginning “Worldview #2,” since that seems to be the oversimplification that counters the oversimplification of WV#1.)
My point (not being stated very well, I sense), is that neither oversimplified worldview is adequate. Yes, God is in control and will win. But yes, there are things for us to do that aren’t all sweetness and light, there are things to avoid, things to watch out for, things to run from, even (a few) things to condemn. When we confuse the United Stated States of America with the kingdom of God, that’s a huge problem – whether it manifests itself by the thinking “we’ve got to take back this country for God and stop all the wrong things happening” (WV#1), or by thinking “God’s in control, let’s just go with the flow” (WV#2 “gone to seed”).
The solution, in other words, to a pendulum swung too far one way is not to swing it back too far the other way – it’s to find the balance that (usually) lies in the middle.
I’ll agree in finding a good balance is an answer to a lot of things…
“Great is the work of God, exquisite in all that He wills, such that, in a manner wondrous and ineffable, that is not done which is contrary to His will, because it could not be done if He did not permit it. Nor does He permit it unwillingly, but willingly. Nor would He Who is good permit evil to be done, were He not omnipotent to bring good out of evil.” St. Augustine
Well done.
Thank you, John. I, too, have been the recipient of the hate mongering going on. I’ve even started to see it in my church, which is deeply disappointing to me. And, when delivered in the conversations, it’s designed to leave one feeling guilty or “less than” in your faith, if you don’t blindly agree!! If there was ever a time for Christians to reach out in love, mercy and grace toward everyone – now is the time. It’s what Jesus did!
Just what i had happen. Sad. 😦
Preach it, Jackie!
Amen and Amen, John!
I too am so tired of the hatred and fear that is being spread by so called “christians”. I can’ believe the lies they tell about Obama and others; or how they think this country (US) is supposed to be “God’s Country”.
It appears to me that they are all about power and control, not freedom and grace. They attack others who disagree with them in manners that make satan smile. I fear he is winning within our churches right now.
Your comment; ” with Obama in the White House”, has me wondering just what you do think of him though. I sense there is some thinking behind that comment that you don’t approve of him; or don’t think he is a christian. I hope I am wrong in this. While I don’t agree with all his policies, I also know he is not to blame for the mess he inherited.
You are wrong in your assumption. I meant that with Obama in the White House he would be a lightning rod for the religious right. He is my President and I pray for him and stand behind him. I elected him and he has my support, and I believe every citizen of this country should be able to say that whether they voted for him or not. We–all of us–elected him. For an American to remove his/her support from a President under the pretext that they didn’t vote for him is a denigration of democracy.
AMEN!!
Anyone who purports to tell you the truth by making you afraid is a liar.
Thank you for having the courage to stand against this fear-mongering that is frequently done “in the name of” Christ, even though the power of Christ isn’t found in such words.
It may be that a combination of the two Worldviews that you posted today is in order. We need to be aware of what is against us but recognize that “If God is with us who can win against us”. We can’t hide our head in the sand but we must show that we are true witnesses for Jesus Christ and profess our faith to others.
World View #1 -The world is our enemy (maybe not the whole world, but Satan is definitely out there trying to block our way).
World View #2 – This is our Father’s world (he is our creator and the creator of the world and we should be a strong witnesses everyday, to everyone, that Jesus Christ is our Lord. We should not just be passive that God is love and will take care of us without us doing anything to share in the responsibility) – get out of the boat!
Oh my goodness, this is good! This is great! World view # 1 is one of the reasons we left the church. We HAVE church everyday with people we encounter.
In the Catholic tradition we usually begin and end prayer with the sign of the cross. But I like the idea of beginning morning prayer with the sign of the cross and then just letting the rest of the day be a continuation of that prayer, so that I would then make the sign of the cross, not at the end of morning prayer, but at the end of the day – at the end of evening prayer.
In order to overcome the use of fear as a means of manipulation, it seems to me that we must allow the truth of God’s Word to hold us in its grip:
“My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.”
1 John 4:7-10 (The Message)
And, I might add, the damage done to relationships by those who like to influence through fear and shame.
I think it is instructive that whenever an angel appear on the scene in the Bible, the first words generally spoken are, “Fear not.” !!
You forgot to mention that gay people were going to destroy the family.
One of the hardest things I had to listen to was my pastor tell me I had a demon on me and He had to protect the church from my family and me.
Not because I am gay or anyone in my family is. I know of no family members in our immediate family who identifies as such.
The beginning of a bible study group that openly accepts everyone regardless of how they might identify their sexual orientation gave our pastor the evil he needed to fight.
Then I found ‘The Catch” and felt like loving others without judging them or fixing them wasn’t such a radical idea.
Anyone should feel welcomed and loved in my presence. Church had become a Republican club and as you mention, “a social force to be reckoned with”.
I’ve never felt the love of God during a boycott.
This was the first time I have read any of John Fischer’s posts. I have no quarrel with the general point he is making, and in fact, it resonated with me until a quote from the end of his posting caught my eye:
“Mark my word, with Obama in the White House, WV#1 is enjoying new life as American Christians terrorize their fellow-believers spreading hate and fear daily around the Internet.”
This comes after a long encouragement to stop fear mongering and to return to the task Christ has called us to – to proclaim the Word of God. That one line in which a swipe is taken at the present administration in Washington, has the effect of immediately alienating a large segment of the Christian community. Why can’t Americans understand that politics and Christianity are at serious variance with one another on a variety of issues. When you stop politicizing the ‘Message’, only then will you begin to appreciate the true power of the Word, and bring unity to the Christian community.
Apologies to John Fischer; I have reviewed the comments (something I should first have done), and note what he stated with regard to support of the President. My other comment still stands – that there needs to be a separation of Church and State!
Or there will be separation between the church and the people. Google “Hitler and the church”. What is happening is dangerous and evil.