The Snare of Fearing Men
Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.
The return of Jesus to earth is actually the return of the light of life back to earth. The whole earth is made to live in the light of God, which is full...infinite...light. That is very bright. The earth needs to be made ready for this event, and that is why God has established a process to make the earth ready. That process is described in the Book of Revelation and to be made ready is to be made HOLY...to be more and more like Jesus.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ (the correct full name of Revelation) is describing the "dawning" of the light of God back on earth. God is merciful in the way he does things. This morning, in a merciful process, God is allowing the dim light of the sun to gradually awaken the earth. God doesn't make the transitions between night and day sudden, like the flipping of a switch, but rather gradually, so we can all adjust to the beginning of the new day. Revelation is describing the transition of the earth into a time of great light that will happen with the return of Jesus. All of the first disciples understood this:
I Timothy 6:11-16 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
The transition the earth is coming into is a GOVERNMENTAL CHANGE. That means the existing power structures are going away. God wants His people to adjust to, and actually bring that change, in advance of the return of Jesus. It will happen in a hidden way because it first happens in our hearts as we decide to live under a new power structure before it arrives. Our allegiance to Jesus is what will create His government! He is enthroned on our praise! This happens from within:
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The leadership of the earth is changing from a very dark system controlled by men and demons, to the perfect leadership of Jesus. The change is wonderful...the earth desperately needs a change in leadership...but the change itself will be very intense and disruptive. You must be ready for the change, because if you aren't, you run the risk of being offended, which will drive you to rebel against the change.
Every time Jesus spoke of this change, He said: watch, pray, and/or be ready. You need to do all three, because the change will ILLUMINATE dark places in your heart, and that is very painful. If you aren't ready for that to happen, the enemy will use that disruption to steer you into rebellion!
That is why the Bible says "the fear of man is a snare." The power systems that have existed for a long time are based on pleasing people in order to advance in life. This old system is going away.
If you try to establish your position in life on planet earth by managing what other people think of you, you will be ensnared in the inheritance of the earth, which is destruction! If you want to establish yourself NOW, before the new government comes, then you will get what the current world system is going to get: destruction! That is what is PROMISED to the current power structure of the earth:
Isaiah 28:21-22 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
This passage is describing the Tribulation...the physical evidence of the change in leadership of the earth. Jesus is coming to literally change the governments of the earth..all of them...from the presidency of the largest country all the way down to the way the PTA works! Jesus' government will be entirely based on the truth that He gives and takes away wealth and power. The increase of His government (the places it touches) will know no end:
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Anyone who tries to resist this change will be seriously disrupted:
Psalms 110:5-6 The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.
Right now, the world system is mostly a "top-down" power structure. It relies on the fear of man to work. Fear-of-man based systems trade power for loyalty. I do what you want, even though it might compromise what I really want for a minute, with the goal that you will eventually give me what I want. Much of the world works this way...even much of the church works this way. What this produces are numerous "snares" in the lives of people who give in to this system.
All of these snares are produced by trying to manage what other people think of you... these are satanically designed to entrap people. The promise of rewards like position, money, reputation, anointing, ministry... these are mostly used to get people lower down on the food chain to do what those higher want. This is the fear of man.
The fear of man is a trap. Its a lie. Its a trap and a lie because the people we are tempted to be afraid of are also afraid of someone...this goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve, instead of fearing the consequences of disobeying their loving creator who literally has the power of life and death, instead feared what they might lose if they didn't eat the fruit of death!
God is the only safe person to fear, because he is the only person truly free of self interest and fear himself!
Fearing anyone less than God enslaves both the "kings" (those currently endowed with resources and power) and the "people" (those who want what the kings might be able to give them) because it sets them all up under a lying system that says you need people to give you what only God can give perfectly. Trusting someone else to give what God wants to give you enthrones that person over God in your life! That is bad.
God appoints people to places of authority. Those who are willing to trust Him find themselves in positions no man controls and appointed in ways no man can...but YOU get the leader YOU want. God honors your choice of who to fear! If you fear man, you get man's fallen leadership to positions that must be maintained by pleasing the person who put you in power. This literally enslaves people by fear of loss by believing the lie that people have something better for you than God does. This enthrones the father of lies, satan, over God.
God loves the kings AND the people. He longs to establish all of us as His children. That is a very good inheritance! God wants us all to be free of this slavery of fear and come into the realty of sonship. Anyone can be a son of the Father...the Ancient of Days who made and owns everything. VERY soon, His government will be literally operating on the earth. From that point forward, HIS opinion will be the only one that matters. Fear His opinion NOW, and you will be much more established then.
The change in leadership of the earth is going to disrupt the "fear of man" relationships by letting them blossom and bear their real fruit, which is slavery...a snare! This is how God judges sin: He let's it blossom into the death it really is. He let's the fire of rebellion "come from within" and consume the rebel...this is how satan fell:
Ezekiel 28:14-18 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
Satan established his own fallen little kingdom by "trading." Satan was the very first "redistributor of wealth." He promised a bunch of angels lower than Him (he was a cherub who covered others) a better position in his new government if they would give him their allegiance. This was a sly sleight of hand, because satan wouldn't have a government UNLESS someone would give him their allegiance!
Satan needed the angels to rebel to even get a government! He needed the demons more than they needed to him...without the rebellion he would have still been just a cherub. One third of the angels believed this lie! Just for the hope satan would give them a better deal than God, they risked everything God already had given them! That is how powerful greed is. What they will all get in the end is NOTHING! Satan and the fallen angels made a very bad bet.
Created satan could never usurp uncreated God. No fallen system that removes God as the source OR the reward giver can last for long, but the lie that it might is VERY powerful. Right now many are driven by a fear of disappointing someone with more power, or they are clamoring to get a little closer to someone who has what they want. We should be driven by the smile on God's face for us, not by trying to maintain or increase favor with men. We should be clamoring to get close to God, not worry that the important person near us is noticing us!
The fruit of these man-fearing relationships is slavery! Jesus' coming is going to intensify these man-fearing relationships in order to expose them. This is what happened the first time Jesus came, too! Herod was the top of the food chain in the time Jesus came. He was driven by the fear of man:
Matthew 14:3-5 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
The whole governmental system worked this way in Herod's day, just like it does now. The Pharisees...who were supposed to be leaders in helping the people fear the Lord...feared men. The religious leaders wanted to maintain control, rather than trust that God had established them, would defend their positions, and give them much more than they were trying to hang onto. They rejected God and crucified Jesus and chose to fear a king who they assumed had more real power:
John 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
God gave them the king they wanted, and less than 40 years later, Caesar destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel. Those religious leaders got their wish, and their wish was their own destruction.
Those who truly love Jesus love Him more than they fear what other people might give them, or what people might take away:
Acts 5:26-29 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
Jesus' return includes the judgment on the fear-of-man based systems in, and out of, the church. For 42 months, the antichrist is going to be very successful in trading power for loyalty...redistributing wealth just like satan:
Revelation 13:5-8 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The people of the earth won't worship the antichrist for love...they will fear what he threatens to take away: position, wealth, reputation, safety...
Fearing this man is the world's biggest snare, but if you are afraid of less powerful people now, in the easy time, you will be very weak to resist this snare when the antichrist threatens your life, livelihood, and your children's future if you won't bow to him.
Right now, as the light of Jesus is dawning on the earth...as the intensity of the hour is increasing, the light of glory is illuminating both the bright and holy parts of our hearts, and the dark man-fearing places of our hearts. We need to respond by repenting of giving in to the fear of man.
As zeal is increasing, as anointing is released, it is tempting to start worrying about OUR role. How do I fit in God's end time plan? How do I find MY place? It is easy to look to people, and try to manage our relationships to get favor with people that we think can help us walk into God's plan for us. This is a dark snare. You find your place by getting closer to God. Jesus said "seek my kingdom first, and all the rest will be added."
God is coming. He brought you to this time for a reason. He is more committed to you agreeing with His plans than any man could be. Getting closer to God is the point of the end times. Now is the time to put to death every fear of man while it is easier. Much more intensity is coming.
The antichrist can't threaten to kill something that you are already dead to. Jesus is establishing a church free from power trading. Now is the time to start agreeing with Him about this. The truth is you don't need anyone to guarantee your position, your reputation, your anointing, or your provision...you simply need to fear the Lord who establishes all these in a way no man can. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.
The return of Jesus to earth is actually the return of the light of life back to earth. The whole earth is made to live in the light of God, which is full...infinite...light. That is very bright. The earth needs to be made ready for this event, and that is why God has established a process to make the earth ready. That process is described in the Book of Revelation and to be made ready is to be made HOLY...to be more and more like Jesus.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ (the correct full name of Revelation) is describing the "dawning" of the light of God back on earth. God is merciful in the way he does things. This morning, in a merciful process, God is allowing the dim light of the sun to gradually awaken the earth. God doesn't make the transitions between night and day sudden, like the flipping of a switch, but rather gradually, so we can all adjust to the beginning of the new day. Revelation is describing the transition of the earth into a time of great light that will happen with the return of Jesus. All of the first disciples understood this:
I Timothy 6:11-16 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
The transition the earth is coming into is a GOVERNMENTAL CHANGE. That means the existing power structures are going away. God wants His people to adjust to, and actually bring that change, in advance of the return of Jesus. It will happen in a hidden way because it first happens in our hearts as we decide to live under a new power structure before it arrives. Our allegiance to Jesus is what will create His government! He is enthroned on our praise! This happens from within:
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The leadership of the earth is changing from a very dark system controlled by men and demons, to the perfect leadership of Jesus. The change is wonderful...the earth desperately needs a change in leadership...but the change itself will be very intense and disruptive. You must be ready for the change, because if you aren't, you run the risk of being offended, which will drive you to rebel against the change.
Every time Jesus spoke of this change, He said: watch, pray, and/or be ready. You need to do all three, because the change will ILLUMINATE dark places in your heart, and that is very painful. If you aren't ready for that to happen, the enemy will use that disruption to steer you into rebellion!
That is why the Bible says "the fear of man is a snare." The power systems that have existed for a long time are based on pleasing people in order to advance in life. This old system is going away.
If you try to establish your position in life on planet earth by managing what other people think of you, you will be ensnared in the inheritance of the earth, which is destruction! If you want to establish yourself NOW, before the new government comes, then you will get what the current world system is going to get: destruction! That is what is PROMISED to the current power structure of the earth:
Isaiah 28:21-22 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon— That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
This passage is describing the Tribulation...the physical evidence of the change in leadership of the earth. Jesus is coming to literally change the governments of the earth..all of them...from the presidency of the largest country all the way down to the way the PTA works! Jesus' government will be entirely based on the truth that He gives and takes away wealth and power. The increase of His government (the places it touches) will know no end:
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Anyone who tries to resist this change will be seriously disrupted:
Psalms 110:5-6 The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.
Right now, the world system is mostly a "top-down" power structure. It relies on the fear of man to work. Fear-of-man based systems trade power for loyalty. I do what you want, even though it might compromise what I really want for a minute, with the goal that you will eventually give me what I want. Much of the world works this way...even much of the church works this way. What this produces are numerous "snares" in the lives of people who give in to this system.
All of these snares are produced by trying to manage what other people think of you... these are satanically designed to entrap people. The promise of rewards like position, money, reputation, anointing, ministry... these are mostly used to get people lower down on the food chain to do what those higher want. This is the fear of man.
The fear of man is a trap. Its a lie. Its a trap and a lie because the people we are tempted to be afraid of are also afraid of someone...this goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve, instead of fearing the consequences of disobeying their loving creator who literally has the power of life and death, instead feared what they might lose if they didn't eat the fruit of death!
God is the only safe person to fear, because he is the only person truly free of self interest and fear himself!
Fearing anyone less than God enslaves both the "kings" (those currently endowed with resources and power) and the "people" (those who want what the kings might be able to give them) because it sets them all up under a lying system that says you need people to give you what only God can give perfectly. Trusting someone else to give what God wants to give you enthrones that person over God in your life! That is bad.
God appoints people to places of authority. Those who are willing to trust Him find themselves in positions no man controls and appointed in ways no man can...but YOU get the leader YOU want. God honors your choice of who to fear! If you fear man, you get man's fallen leadership to positions that must be maintained by pleasing the person who put you in power. This literally enslaves people by fear of loss by believing the lie that people have something better for you than God does. This enthrones the father of lies, satan, over God.
God loves the kings AND the people. He longs to establish all of us as His children. That is a very good inheritance! God wants us all to be free of this slavery of fear and come into the realty of sonship. Anyone can be a son of the Father...the Ancient of Days who made and owns everything. VERY soon, His government will be literally operating on the earth. From that point forward, HIS opinion will be the only one that matters. Fear His opinion NOW, and you will be much more established then.
The change in leadership of the earth is going to disrupt the "fear of man" relationships by letting them blossom and bear their real fruit, which is slavery...a snare! This is how God judges sin: He let's it blossom into the death it really is. He let's the fire of rebellion "come from within" and consume the rebel...this is how satan fell:
Ezekiel 28:14-18 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
Satan established his own fallen little kingdom by "trading." Satan was the very first "redistributor of wealth." He promised a bunch of angels lower than Him (he was a cherub who covered others) a better position in his new government if they would give him their allegiance. This was a sly sleight of hand, because satan wouldn't have a government UNLESS someone would give him their allegiance!
Satan needed the angels to rebel to even get a government! He needed the demons more than they needed to him...without the rebellion he would have still been just a cherub. One third of the angels believed this lie! Just for the hope satan would give them a better deal than God, they risked everything God already had given them! That is how powerful greed is. What they will all get in the end is NOTHING! Satan and the fallen angels made a very bad bet.
Created satan could never usurp uncreated God. No fallen system that removes God as the source OR the reward giver can last for long, but the lie that it might is VERY powerful. Right now many are driven by a fear of disappointing someone with more power, or they are clamoring to get a little closer to someone who has what they want. We should be driven by the smile on God's face for us, not by trying to maintain or increase favor with men. We should be clamoring to get close to God, not worry that the important person near us is noticing us!
The fruit of these man-fearing relationships is slavery! Jesus' coming is going to intensify these man-fearing relationships in order to expose them. This is what happened the first time Jesus came, too! Herod was the top of the food chain in the time Jesus came. He was driven by the fear of man:
Matthew 14:3-5 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
The whole governmental system worked this way in Herod's day, just like it does now. The Pharisees...who were supposed to be leaders in helping the people fear the Lord...feared men. The religious leaders wanted to maintain control, rather than trust that God had established them, would defend their positions, and give them much more than they were trying to hang onto. They rejected God and crucified Jesus and chose to fear a king who they assumed had more real power:
John 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
God gave them the king they wanted, and less than 40 years later, Caesar destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel. Those religious leaders got their wish, and their wish was their own destruction.
Those who truly love Jesus love Him more than they fear what other people might give them, or what people might take away:
Acts 5:26-29 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.
Jesus' return includes the judgment on the fear-of-man based systems in, and out of, the church. For 42 months, the antichrist is going to be very successful in trading power for loyalty...redistributing wealth just like satan:
Revelation 13:5-8 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The people of the earth won't worship the antichrist for love...they will fear what he threatens to take away: position, wealth, reputation, safety...
Fearing this man is the world's biggest snare, but if you are afraid of less powerful people now, in the easy time, you will be very weak to resist this snare when the antichrist threatens your life, livelihood, and your children's future if you won't bow to him.
Right now, as the light of Jesus is dawning on the earth...as the intensity of the hour is increasing, the light of glory is illuminating both the bright and holy parts of our hearts, and the dark man-fearing places of our hearts. We need to respond by repenting of giving in to the fear of man.
As zeal is increasing, as anointing is released, it is tempting to start worrying about OUR role. How do I fit in God's end time plan? How do I find MY place? It is easy to look to people, and try to manage our relationships to get favor with people that we think can help us walk into God's plan for us. This is a dark snare. You find your place by getting closer to God. Jesus said "seek my kingdom first, and all the rest will be added."
God is coming. He brought you to this time for a reason. He is more committed to you agreeing with His plans than any man could be. Getting closer to God is the point of the end times. Now is the time to put to death every fear of man while it is easier. Much more intensity is coming.
The antichrist can't threaten to kill something that you are already dead to. Jesus is establishing a church free from power trading. Now is the time to start agreeing with Him about this. The truth is you don't need anyone to guarantee your position, your reputation, your anointing, or your provision...you simply need to fear the Lord who establishes all these in a way no man can. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!
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