Christians should not spread fear. Unfortunately, more and more believers today are letting headlines and fearmongers control their lives.
The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. (Isaiah 8:11-13)
Can a Christian Spread Both Love and Fear?
This is an important question to answer for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. Especially in the world we are living in today.
To be transparent, the first draft of this article was sterner and more confrontational. I knew the tone wasn’t what I intended but I couldn’t understand why it was coming across the way it was.
But then I realized: I was aiming at the wrong audience.
I do have real anger – and I believe appropriately placed, righteous anger – towards those who, in the name of Christ, are spreading messages of fear and conspiracy. I believe like the Pharisees of old, they are actually responsible for causing others not to enter the kingdom of Heaven with their fearmongering (Matthew 23:13).
However, I think chastising these people has a low chance of success towards making a change. So I am taking a different approach.
Instead, I am reaching out to the believers who are being affected by conspiracy talk, supposed “insider” knowledge of how prophecy will be fulfilled, and the spreading of fear. Christians should not spread fear.
I am not talking about the legitimate study of Bible prophecy. Rather, I am talking about chasing after the opinions of men.
I am asking you to consider the harm that you are inflicting upon yourself by giving credence to these people. And rather than tempting yourself to repeat it, I’m asking you to focus your energy elsewhere.
Because Christians should not spread fear. We should be spreading hope, love, and the good news of Christ our Savior to the lost and dying.
God’s Temple – You
The Bible is filled with encouragements and admonishments about how you treat your body. Keeping it pure and holy and caring for it because God dwells in it (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Filling your mind with conspiracies, esoteric “truth”, and prophetical boogeymen will do much harm to your soul. You will quit seeking after God and begin seeking your own safety, or hysterically warning others of impending doom.
As believers we are to focus on true, honorable, right, and pure things (Philippians 4:8). We are to guard our thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) and renew our minds as we submit to Christ (Romans 12:1-2).
We know these things – I am referencing some of the most well-known verses even among Christians who have marginal knowledge of scripture. And yet we set them aside for fear when we focus on headlines, panic-driven social media, and people we know who have been blinded by fear.
Why do we do it? There could be many reasons, but rather than focusing on the reasons, let’s cut to the chase. Christians should not spread fear. And if you participate in this kind of thinking for long, you will join those who do.
So refuse to participate. Quit exposing yourself to it and tell others you’re not interested in hearing it. Instead, spread what we are called to spread as believers.
How to Really Save People
Christians should not spread fear; they should spread the Gospel. Christ’s last command to us was to make disciples, not terrorize people.
Like with many deceptions, I think there are well-intentioned people who have been roped into spreading fear for what they think is a good reason.
I believe that some Christians sincerely see it as a form of witnessing. After all, if they are warning people about the fulfillment of end times prophecy, and Christ is coming back soon, those are important things to share, right?
But here is the litmus test; how many people have they gotten down in the trenches with and shared the actual life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ? Not driven by fear, but by a sincere love for the lost? Rather than weaponizing the truth, we should treat evangelism as the privilege it is.
Christians should not spread fear, but I think some who claim to follow Christ have convinced themselves this is the “brave” thing to do. Rather than bravery, it is shirking their duty to seek out the lost. To share Christ crucified and the need to repent of sins and turn to Christ in obedience.
Many of the same people who fill social media with the latest “sign of the end” or conspiracy theory would not dare to live in a country where living openly for Christ can get you killed, and only after being persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured.
Do you live in fear of your country becoming like that? Then stop focusing on the fearmongering and start fearing the “Lord of Heaven’s Armies”. Even if someone kills your body, they cannot touch your soul, but God can – He can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).
The Danger in Spreading Fear
Folks, this is important to me. I need you to see the fearmongering for what it is. Christians should not spread fear. It is so harmful. I know because for a long time, I succumbed to the world of conspiracy theories.
Even before I woke up to repentance, I understood the harm it was doing to me to expose myself to theories and knowledge hidden in the shadows.
And then once I began my faith journey in earnest, I had to set up rules for myself on social media so that I would not allow my brain to be poisoned by fear.
As I have started to branch out to bring exposure to the Abiding With Christ website, I waded back in those waters – and I am here to say the fearmongering among those who claim Christ is many times worse than it was just a few years ago.
So, if I am reaching you in any way, let me say I am convinced of this: I think any believer, exposed to such ways of thinking for long enough, will not be able to resist being overcome by them. So please flee from such ways of thinking while you still can.
If you have been exposing yourself to such thinking, or worse, perpetuating such thinking, please understand the harm you are doing to yourself and others, repent, and turn from it.
Instead, walk in holiness and submission to Jesus Christ. Spread the Gospel, not fear. The Bible does not say they will know Christians by our fear, but rather by our love.
More verses about fearing God instead of man:
Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 8:13; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Romans 8:38-39; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Peter 3:13-17
