Fear Factor - What is real fear?

Feb. 18, 2009 - PRLog -- Let’s talk about real fear. I looked fear in the face. I sneered at fear. I laughed at fear. Then I started to cower, realizing my fear was real… a fear stalking me, creeping up on me. I stood my ground as I looked around; realizing the fear that challenged me was as real as it gets. How do I face this fear? How do I conquer this fear?

I gave that fear a smirk and decided to do what I did as a child: I turned the television on manually.

An emptiness feeds fear when we loose our remote control.


Some laugh, others can relate, yet only a few have faced such fear and retained their sanity. Most know the magnitude of such fear… a fear driving mere mortals half crazy, yet we do not want to reveal the hidden truth behind remote controls and the power they yield.

And to lose that power?

Fortunately, I remember a period of time before the remote control. Yes, I know you would prefer such a barbaric time never existed. As hard as it is to believe, it did exist. There was a time when we actually got out of our chairs and turned the television on or changed the channels manually. Some more advanced families had children do it, but the verbal orders were never the same as pressing a button.

The power is in the button.

So as I turn to the television to find the unfamiliar controls (located behind a flip-up door and masked with such alien words as “MANUAL POWER”, “MANUAL CHANNEL SELECTOR”, or “MANUAL VOLUME CONTROL”), I am forced to accept my power is lost for awhile. Without this power, I realize my next move requires a crucial decision on my part – I must find a channel I will be content to watch unless I want to get out of my seat and walk across the room again.

I have lost my ability to “surf”. The following uneasiness far outweighs the earlier fear. I am truly powerless. And, yes, as you are guessing, I am pitiful.

The real truth behind the remote control is we prefer to be in control of what we hear and see. When the programming does not suit our needs, wants, or desires, we want to be able to make changes until we find something suitable to our tastes.

Could that be what Paul was warning Timothy about in the Bible? (Oh come on, you knew I was eventually going to get to something Biblical!)

Paul explains in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.”

This is a warning there will come a time when people will not endure sound doctrine or Biblical teachings,  but instead will go from teacher to teacher – or from church to church – until they find one that will not insist on getting rid of sins or sinful pleasure. Having “itching ears”, there will be a desire to find speakers who will “satisfy their itch” by providing an excuse for their passions in the name of religion.

I find it easy to say I will never turn away from the truth, yet how easy is it to turn to fables and false religions that pamper flesh and condone sin? How easy is it to ignore a preacher making me uncomfortable, or a teaching cutting to close to home? How easy is it to lock the doors to my house and pretend sin only exists outside of my home?

I find it easy to say I will never turn away from the truth, yet how difficult is it to accept? Do I use that mental remote control for my mind and change my thoughts to another channel or line of thinking? Do I turn to another teacher, perhaps one that is inside that pretends to know what is best for me?

Or do I leave my finger off of that powerful button?

Glenn Sasscer
www.glennsasscer.com