It is truly remarkable how many Bible verses admonish us to “Fear not.” These verses begin with God speaking to Abram in Genesis 15:1, and continue through Jesus telling John “Fear not” in Revelation 1:17. In between, the gospels are overflowing with admonitions from Jesus to eschew fear, such as: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27. Just maybe God knew something about His creation — that we would be prone to fear.
The source of fear was identified in 2 Timothy 1:7, which tells us that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Some fear is reasonable, and some serves a useful purpose. After all, we live in a fallen world and face opposition from a real and powerful enemy. But fear must be kept in check. The Biden Administration is helping Patriots understand another verse: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.
Why is it so important not to be fearful? Fear defeats logic and reason. It can make us timid rather than bold, as we speak of being “paralyzed” by fear. It can cause us to call a man “she” just because someone tells us to do so, thereby denying the truth of God’s creation. Some fears can develop into phobias which can totally control lives. Fear creates anxiety and stress. The number of people suffering from anxiety is astonishing, and the solution is not pharmaceuticals, but faith and confidence in our Creator God.
So how is fear used by Tyrants? Fear is one of the most powerful weapons available to government. When the People are fearful, we can be manipulated, and Tyrants can grab more and more power. For some reason, we believe that government has our best interests at heart and can make us safe. We want government to protect us. When an attack was suffered on 9/11, first at the World Trade Center, and then the Pentagon, and then the anthrax scare, Americans didn’t know what would come next. We were fearful, even in a state of panic, and the government took full advantage of that fear to gain new powers with the Patriot Act. The question is, will we fall for the trick again — and cede even more power to the State?
This problem did not begin with 9/11. The American People were manipulated by fear into supporting the creation of the Federal Reserve. See Eustace Mullins, The Federal Reserve Conspiracy (Omni Publications: 1971) and G. Edward Griffin’s The Creature from Jekyll Island, 5th edt. (American Media: 2010). Now, we are being told that climate change will cause the earth’s destruction unless we grant more power to government. See Lawrence W. Newman, The Climate Change Hoax; Pathway to Socialism (Silver Millenium Publications: 2019). That is not to say that all fears are misplaced. For example, it is not irrational for a person to fear his own government considering the astonishing fact that a person is more likely to be killed by his own government than by another government in war or other attack. SeeR.J. Rummel, Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900 (Routledge: 1997).
Chapman University conducts a periodic Survey of American Fears and publishes the top 10 fears in America. The Spring 2023 survey demonstrated that many of these fears are quite reasonable. The number one fear was: “Corrupt government officials — 60.1%.” That shows that some Americans are waking up to the fact that government is not our friend. The number two fear was “Economic/financial collapse — 54.7%.” Again, a very real fear, as Republicans in Congress join with Democrats to spend our nation into oblivion.
In 2022, a documentary called “Doomed to Repeat It” was released. The documentary makes the case that the number one tool that “tyrannical, power-hungry individuals use to gain power, increase their power, and oppress people … is fear.”
Psychologist Dr. Joe Lipetzky explains that Tyrants benefit even when people do not fear the Tyrant — just as long as they fear something.
[T]yrants have to “keep society in a certain level of stress” and high emotion to fulfill their aims in getting people [to] act in ways they never would if their minds were calm. Part of this process involves differentiating and labeling the “good guys” and the “bad guys” while creating rivalry between them. [Emphasis added.]
In the 2020 election cycle, Democrats turned COVID news coverage into what pollster John Zogby labeled “fear porn.” Historian and philosopher John Leake noted that when Tyrants make large segments of society fearful of the Tyrant’s targeted person or group, it is not long before “the scapegoating phenomenon [will] emerge and become very virulent. An idea will catch hold and it’s very rooted in primitive emotion, anger, fear, resentment, and it starts to spread like a contagion, like an infectious disease.” Manipulating fear, Tyrants can mobilize large segments of their population to help control dissenters — such as those who did not believe Anthony Fauci’s lies about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Mattias Desmet, a professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University in Belgium, explains how Tyrants can exploit a phenomenon that has been discussed widely in the aftermath of the COVID-19 panic — Mass Formation Psychosis. It is described as: “a kind of broad scale hypnosis that causes large groups of people to band together to fight a common enemy with complete lack of concern for the loss of individual rights, privileges, and even well-being.” In addition, it: “can be the first step toward totalitarianism and the commission of atrocity in the name of collective welfare.” [Emphasis added.]
Scientists who study dictators note that “dictators are able to spread fear among their people, and place themselves as their only salvation.” Joe Biden’s September 1, 2022 speech in Philadelphia is a classic example of this tactic of tyrants. Accusing his opponent, former President Donald Trump, of wanting to be a dictator, he called the 2022 midterm elections a “battle for the soul of the nation.” Biden claimed loudly that “MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people.” Former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany described the scene: “Standing in front of a hellish red background Biden called half the country, the MAGA Republicans ‘threats’ & ‘clear and present dangers.’” Former Trump Treasury Department spokesperson Monica Crowley offered this: “The imagery there was almost Satanic, with that blood-red lighting and the two Marines behind him. It was just insane.”
Truly, “the fear of man bringeth a snare.” Proverbs 29:25. Fear destroys the “sound mind” which citizens need to defend liberty. Tyrannical leaders will continue to try to stoke fear in our hearts, but when we know their tactics, we are better able to refuse to be manipulated.
Editor’s Note: To read the articles in this series, please click here.
