The Plight of Phobias

"The only thing to fear, is fear itself." -FDR

John MacDuff, very consoling
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Do not be afraid, for I am with you!

(James Smith, "The Believer's Companion in Seasons of Affliction and Trouble" 1842)

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you!" Isaiah 43:5 

The presence of a friend in trouble is cheering and consoling. But it is too often the case, that our friends, like the friends of Job, prove to be miserable comforters. They do not enter into our troubles--or they cannot help us. The advice they give at times--only aggravates our woe, and adds to our distress. 

But, believer, your God says, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you!" What a thought is this! God, the great, the glorious, the omnipotent Jehovah--is with me!
With me to help me, 
with me to comfort me, 
with me to sanctify me, 
with me to save me, 
with me as a kind benignant Father,
with me in every place, in every trouble, in every conflict,
with me through all my journey and for evermore, 
with me on the bed of sickness,
with me  to hold communion with me,
with me to listen to my sighs,
with me to number my tears, and
with me to secure me from all injury! 

Appearances may be very dark; the night may seem very long; and your pains, weakness, and fears may be many and great. Still, if the Lord is with you, you may sing, "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty--yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!" Habakkuk 3:17-18

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We have published J.R. Miller's insightful short article, "The Blessing of Quietness".

The word phobia added to a word means "morbid fear of." For instance, if you are sensitive to sunlight, you have photophobia: xenophobia, fear of other countries: claustrophobia: fear of small spaces. It is truly amazing what words can do to add to or subtract from ones vocabulary. One political campaign, some years ago, the opponent hired a man to stand at the edge of each of his opponents speeches, and just say these words, "You know that he is an octogenarian." Of course it only meant that the man is 80 years old, but, to the un-initiated, everything is obscure. And the man lost his race because everyone thought he was a pervert of some type. The word fear is used 365 times in Gods word. The 1189 chapters of the bible, the chapter just halfway, Psalm 1:18, the mid verse of the entire bible, " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." All god requires of us is trust. My question, always, how does anyone live in this world, without being able to trust in God? You certainty cannot trust in anyone else. If you have one friend whom you can trust completely, you are a very blessed person. This writer has always been a loner, perhaps, and because, I learned early in life the heartbreak of betrayal... The fact that I found so few people with whom I could put any trust. You could put your feet under the same eating table with family members your entire life, and still find that you cannot trust them. Particularly when it comes to the division of your parents estate. You can sleep in bed with a wife or husband, and learn later, what real hatred is all about when you go to the divorce court. Or the custody of children.

Even Jesus bride here on earth, his kingdom, his Church, mostly grows with addition and often subtraction, multiplying by dividing. Some of the worst comments I ever heard from people who are supposedly created in the image of God, came from the members of dividing Churches.

For those of us who are disabled, who must depend on others just to stay alive, life's greatest disappointments involve caretakers to whom you pay good money, whom you trust, pilfering through your property and taking your things. For the blind, you never realize your losses. We must cling to the "blessed insurance" that the God we serve is able to take on our fears, just as he is able to take on our needs, that he is able to subtract from the thieves, as well as add to those who have been harmed by theft.

Fear probably adds more stress to the homeostasis of an individual, that any other neuron stimuli. I am convinced that most strokes, most cancer, most heart-attacks, cripple and kill because of stress, and that stress because of fear. Most of the things which we fear, fire- vehicle or plane crashes- heights- depths- starvation- etc, never happen. The Christian, of all people, should not have such fear. He tells us that he knows every sparrows fall, that the very hairs on our head are numbered.
"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin" (Matthew 6:28). ^" Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:26).

Perhaps it was like that with Alexander The Great, or even those troops with General Joseph Stilwell. There is no fear like battlefield warfare. It is beyond my comprehension that parents will spend the time and money, give the loving care which they give to their sons and daughters, and then send them to useless wars, which give great financial profit to the elates who keep them going. These young people, mostly just old enough to get a drivers license, not old enough to drink alcohol, often away from home the first time in their life, never having been exposed to the harshness- brutality of mankind or even animal life on any level, see their friends battered- bruised- butchered, right in front of their eyes. Many are often physically battered themselves, but if not physically disabled, mentally and psychologically disabled for the rest of their lives. And then, the talking heads, people who make more money in one month, than most Americans make in a lifetime, cry great crocodile tears about veterans, and what they have given to their country. The Veterans Administration is the greatest fear of every veteran, the family of every veteran. The most inept agency of federal government it laments about veteran suicide. Face the facts; the VA would like to see every veteran commit suicide... Get them out of the way. It is far, far cheaper for VA and the government to bury every veteran in a cheap casket with a cheap flag, than to give every veteran healthcare and a pension. Believe me, I know. This old blind veteran never got so much as a white cane from the VA. Found my white canes at junk stores. It took 50 years for VA to send me a machine that could read books to me.

The fear for you, the public, your treatment is on the way.

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