Fear-based Christianity no longer aligns with the message Jesus actually taught, and the New Testament makes that unmistakably clear.
This video challenges a belief system many inherited but never examined. Fear was once tied to distance, sacrifice, and incomplete understanding—but Jesus permanently changed that relationship. What replaced fear was love, access, and adoption.
This message explores how religious fear stunts spiritual growth, why reverence is not terror, and how relational faith produces transformation instead of anxiety. Christianity was never designed to be lived under threat. It was designed to be lived in trust.
If your view of God has been shaped by fear rather than closeness, this message offers clarity, peace, and biblical truth grounded in the life and words of Jesus.
00:00You know, talking to my wife, how did this frustrate me this morning?
00:06How did I get to the point where this is what I was going to talk about today?
00:11I was sitting at the kitchen table and having some tea.
00:16And I went on social media, you know, I post the previous day's video across eight or nine platforms every morning.
00:24That's my routine.
00:25And I post videos so everybody gets an opportunity to listen to the word.
00:33And I guess I subscribe to quite a few groups on Facebook that are, you know, they talk about Jesus.
00:44I get some ideas from the conversations that are going on there.
00:48But one trend that just seems to dominate, fear the Lord.
00:58You know, we are God-fearing people.
01:01I'm not.
01:02I am not God-fearing.
01:04But you know what?
01:05I was thinking this morning.
01:07For generations, people have been taught that faith begins with fear.
01:12Fear the Lord.
01:14Fear his wrath.
01:17Fear his judgment.
01:19Fear making a mistake.
01:21Fear stepping out of line.
01:23He's tracking everything you do on a list.
01:25And when you die, that list is going to be presented to you and you are going to be shamed.
01:31What?
01:31I mean, I feel like I'm in a tent by a river down south with some preacher screaming fear-based things at me and telling me, fear the Lord, but if you give me $20, everything will be cool.
01:46You know, that's kind of what it is.
01:48That's the way it works.
01:49And that still works on people today.
01:51You know, Benny Hinn, all those other fear-based preachers that, hey, if you give me $1,000, God will multiply it by seven and you'll go to heaven.
02:03I was like, what?
02:05What are you talking about?
02:06Or shop at our gift shop.
02:08I went to one church.
02:10They had a screen they pulled down.
02:12And on the screen, they had QR codes you could scan to buy their trinkets.
02:19And I'm like, what is this?
02:21And it's all fear-based.
02:23If you don't buy it from us, well, you know.
02:27No, and I don't know.
02:30And that's the whole thing, you see.
02:31Because that message has been handed down so long that many people assume it must be true simply because it's old, I guess.
02:41But age does not equal accuracy.
02:45Tradition does not equal truth.
02:48And repetition does not equal revelation.
02:54Listen to me for a moment.
02:56What most people don't realize is that fear-based faith didn't originate from Jesus.
03:03It actually predated him.
03:06Let's go back.
03:07It came from a world without the cross, without resurrection, without grace fully revealed.
03:15It came from a time when access to God was supposedly limited, mediated, and distant.
03:24Now, God sees how we're handling his word and not handling the relationship because, as always, men have manipulated the word of God, have tried to control the relationship with God.
03:39But the moment Jesus, you know that guy, the moment Jesus steps into history, the entire framework collapsed.
03:51Because Christianity does not begin at Sinai.
03:55It begins at the empty tomb.
03:58And the biggest mistake people make is reading the New Testament through the emotional lens of the Old Testament, without recognizing that something seismic happened in between.
04:15God stepped into humanity.
04:18And that fact changed the relationship forever.
04:23You see, fear made sense when people believed God was distant.
04:29Fear made sense when the veil still stood.
04:34Fear made sense when sacrifice was incomplete.
04:39But fear makes no sense after the cross.
04:44Now, follow me here.
04:46Let's talk about what fear the Lord actually meant.
04:50And why it no longer means what people think it means today.
04:57In ancient Hebrew culture, fear often conveyed awe, reverence, or deep respect, not terror.
05:07It was closer to standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon than hiding from an abusive authority.
05:14But even that definition was limited by a human understanding.
05:20The Old Testament, well, the Old Testament reveals God progressively.
05:25The New Testament reveals our God personally.
05:32You see, Jesus doesn't clarify fear.
05:36He replaced it.
05:38When people encountered God in the Old Testament,
05:41they fell down in terror because holiness was perceived as dangerous,
05:47or was presented by man as dangerous.
05:55But when people encountered God in the flesh through Jesus,
06:00they didn't run away.
06:03He said, follow me.
06:05And they followed him.
06:07They ate with him.
06:09They touched him.
06:10They asked him questions.
06:12They trusted him with their lives.
06:16That alone should tell you something had changed.
06:20You see, if fear were God's desired response,
06:25Jesus would have cultivated that.
06:28Instead, he dismantled it.
06:32And over and over again,
06:34Jesus opens his ministry with the same phrase,
06:39Do not be afraid.
06:41Not once does he say,
06:44You should be terrified of my father.
06:48He says things like,
06:50Come to me, all who are weary.
06:53Follow me.
06:56Remain in me.
06:58I call you friends.
07:01You see, friends do not fear punishment.
07:05Children do not fear abandonment.
07:08Loved people do not fear rejection.
07:14That's why the New Testament draws a sharp line between religion and relationship.
07:21You see, your religion uses fear to control your behavior.
07:26Relationship uses love to transform your heart.
07:31Religion says God tolerates you if you behave.
07:38What a bunch of crap.
07:41The gospel says God loves you before you change.
07:45And this is where fear-based theology begins to fall apart psychologically,
07:51spiritually, and biblically.
07:54You see, fear produces compliance, but not intimacy.
08:00Fear can force outward obedience, but it creates inward distance.
08:07It teaches people to hide their failures, suppress their doubts, and perform holiness instead of becoming whole.
08:17That's why fear-based faith produces so much burnout, guilt, and anxiety.
08:24People are trying to please God they secretly believe is disappointed in them.
08:30That couldn't be further from the truth.
08:34But the New Testament, if you read it, you don't know.
08:39If you read it, you won't understand it when you read it the first time.
08:43But if you continue to read it, I promise you, regardless of your skill at reading,
08:50it will begin to make more and more sense the more you go through it.
08:54And as you go through it, you're going to understand that the New Testament does not portray a disappointed God chasing people with wrath.
09:05It portrays a father running toward prodigals.
09:11Jesus tells a story where the son deserves punishment and instead receives a robe, a ring, and a celebration.
09:21That's not anger.
09:25That's not wrath.
09:27That's a God who became human and understands our struggle.
09:33You see, that story is not symbolic fluff.
09:36It's a theological declaration.
09:40If fear were the correct response, the father would have scolded the son.
09:45Instead, he embraced him.
09:48Now, listen to the most devastating statement against fear-based faith that has ever been written.
09:58It is said,
10:00There is no fear in love.
10:02But perfect love casts out fear.
10:06Because fear has to do with punishment.
10:09Now, that sentence from the New Testament alone dismantles the entire fear-based framework, in my opinion.
10:16Fear is connected to punishment.
10:19Love is connected to relationship.
10:23And God loves you.
10:25If punishment has been absorbed by Christ, then fear has no place left to stand.
10:33The cross does not say,
10:35Be afraid.
10:37The cross says,
10:39It is finished.
10:39And yet, people still cling to fear because fear feels familiar for them.
10:47Fear feels serious.
10:49Fear feels holy.
10:52And fear, to some, feels like commitment.
10:57But let me straighten that out for you right now.
11:01Fear is not faith.
11:03Fear avoids God.
11:05Faith draws near.
11:07Fear says,
11:09What if I mess up?
11:11Faith says,
11:13Even if I do,
11:14I am not abandoned.
11:17You see, Romans makes this crystal clear.
11:20It says,
11:22You do not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
11:26but a spirit of adoption.
11:30Slaves, well, they fear punishment.
11:33Children,
11:34children of God,
11:35We trust love.
11:38And if your faith makes you feel like a slave,
11:41you are not living in the gospel.
11:44You are living in a misunderstanding.
11:48You see, God is not asking you to walk on eggshells.
11:52He's asking you to walk with him.
11:55And this is why the old model persists.
12:00It's easier to control people with fear
12:03than to disciple them in love.
12:09Fear is simple.
12:11Relationship is demanding.
12:14Relationship requires trust.
12:16All fear requires is your obedience.
12:21But Jesus did not die to make people obedient robots.
12:26He died to reconcile our hearts.
12:29And that's why the New Testament consistently reframes God,
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