“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him!”
Is Christ warning us to fear the Devil or God?
We must remember that fear of God is a GIFT of the Holy Spirit (one of the 7 gifts). Christians are entitled to atleast one gift. Some are more rare than others. Fear in God seems to be a more common one. Some refer to it as a ‘holy fear’ in God.
One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not as easy to tell as it should be. Many might come accross very prideful, arogant, etc. but have a holy fear of the Lord within them. It’s harder to tell online.
In my experience a ‘tell’ sign of those who fear the Lord tend to not discuss the Holy Ghost specifically. Just me typing that has me afraid and second guessing whether I should have said that. I’m speaking in the context of online discussion, chats, debates. Remember there is one blasphemy that wont be forgiven. I also find that when discussing the above mentioned, there is too much mystery and opinions involved to be constructive and for some reason pride takes over… it’s hard to explain. Nothing helpful comes out of it. Actually now that I think of it, isnt the schism on this very topic? The ‘louder’ someone is on the topic of the above mentioned, I notice the less they tend to have a fear of God. Also the more someone ‘fears the Bible’ have it misplaced and tend not to fear God. This is just my own EXPERIENCE over the years and my two cent persoanl opinion which shouldnt be taken for anything.
Let me finish with this. The other night I brushed over the Annanias and Saphirra in Acts 4 and watched some Youtube videos on the subject. Clearly few took it serious which is to be expected from American Evangelicals. But to those who fear the Lord, think to Our Lady Of Fatima and the priest who was shown a vision. He passed away later that night in an instant with an automobile full of whitnesses. Our Lady verified that he was indeed taken. If I remember she said he was in heaven. So yes God can take what belongs to Him (although this is a complex topic).
There’s also Jesus and others in the NT referring to God as ‘him’ or ‘he’ which many translations capitalize the H or just insert the word ‘God’ in where it does not exist in the Greek. I believe this DOES have major significance, but its the type of private teaching we’ll never realistically get our hands on. I will say that only God and the Jews are ‘feared’ in the Bible. I could go on.
But PERSONALLY I fear both, albeit in much different ways of course. Each have a ‘role’ in sending my soul to hell. Sure our Lord is just in his judgement, however he will indeed judge our soul and we should have fear on him for this reason. The anti-Christ wanders the earth and is united at all times - they have one purpose - to do the will of THEIR Father (Jn 8:44). They seek to destroy Christ on earth (his Church) in any way possible. Good baptised Christians spend their whole lives under their dominion on earth. Many are souls are claimed by their false light of righteousness and quite frankly their witchcraft. They work daily attempting to influence you and take your soul. If not they will persecute you. These people should be feared in a different way. Special attention should be given to those who outwardly deny Christ as Messiah for they are of Anti-Christ and enemies of the Gospel. He should be feared because he can also send you to hell.
