Slavery to the Fear of Death

Richard Beck’s words in a recent blog post seemed to me meme-worthy. Here is the quote (with a little extra, to show that it is worth clicking through to read the whole thing) – the meme is at the end of the post below…

And as the fear of death falls upon us so does the power of the Devil.

Gripped by fear our capacities for love, compassion and hospitality quickly dry up and evaporate. Perfect love, battling hard to cast out fear, goes on life-support. If it’s not already dead and flat-lined.

And the words “cast out” are prophetically appropriate. Again, in the words of Hebrews fear is the power of the Devil. And America is in dire need of an exorcism.

There are no guarantees with love. That doesn’t mean you act recklessly or foolishly. But it does mean that doing the loving thing, the compassionate thing, the humane thing involves facing down legitimate fears and a willingness to live with very real risks.

The fog of fear, rooted in concerns over safety and security, is the dark spell the Devil casts to bewitch the Children of Light, the diabolical alchemy that transforms gentle and kind people into the Children of Darkness.

Sheila Kennedy made a similar point when she referred to fear as “the demagogue’s friend.” See too Richard’s post about not obeying the sermon on the mount, John Erickson’s post “Welcome to the Resistance,” and Zack Christensen’s post about loving enemies.