Author: Joe
Last saved by: PJD
Company: GDC

99-02-21-B.JSH-102 / 

©℗ 1999  Joe Griffin	Joshua

The Doctrine of Fear: Definition; Principles on the Escalation of Fear, 1-5
38-	At this point we want to stop and study three doctrines:
1)	The Doctrine of Fear: Joshua is commanded by the Lord to avoid fear, panic, and dismay.  The alternative is:
2)	The Doctrine of the Faith-Rest Drill: It begins with the claiming of promises and, fully deployed, becomes the spiritual life of the dispensation of Israel.  When Joshua and the Israelites encounter the inhabitants of the land they must also apply: 
3)	The Doctrine of the Royal Law: This demands the absence of anger, bitterness, vengeance, and the holding of a grudge against one’s adversaries and the application of the two foremost laws espoused by God which are (1) personal love for Him and (2) unconditional love toward man.

THE DOCTRINE OF FEAR
A.	Definition:
1-	Fear is a mental attitude sin which can escalate to the level of panic and terror in a dangerous situation.
2-	Fear is produced by the emotional complex of sins and is aroused by impending danger or disaster.
3-	Fear is characterized by several emotions:
1)	Apprehension: anticipation of something adverse; fearful of what may be about to happen [OED].
2)	Dread: extreme fear; apprehension or anxiety as to future events [OED]; adds to the idea of fear an intense reluctance to face or meet a situation [W9NCD].
3)	Panic: A sudden and excessive feeling of fear usually affecting a body of persons, originating in some real or supposed danger vaguely apprehended, and leading to extravagant or injudicious efforts to secure safety.

A condition of widespread apprehension in relation to financial and commercial matters, arising in a time of monetary difficulty or crisis, and leading to hasty and violent measures to secure immunity from possible loss, the tendency of which is to cause financial disaster [OED].
4)	Terror: A state of being frightened; intense fear or dread [OED].  The most extreme degree of fear [W9NCD].
4-	Since emotion is designed to respond to thinking, then fear and its associated sins represent the absence of thinking under pressure.
5-	Thinking doctrine under pressure results in rational analysis, confident decision making, and courageous application of problem-solving devices.
6-	Consequently, emotional sins associated with fear produce irrational thought, decision, and action.

B.	Principles on the Escalation of Fear:
1-	The more things you surrender to fear the more things you fear.
1)	The more you fear the more irrational you become.
2)	As a result you are transformed into a different personality from the one that distinguished you while under the influence of biblical truths.
3)	Consequently, you lose our spiritual identity characterized by a loss of capacity that causes you to be afraid of life.
2-	The extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater is your capacity for fear.
1)	Capacity for life is transformed into a capacity for fear.
2)	As a result, fear controls more and more of your life.

3)	Increasing fear in your life means an increasing sense of insecurity.
4)	Insecurity means no happiness.
3-	The greater the capacity for fear, the more you increase the power of fear in your life.
4-	The more you increase the power of fear in you life, the greater your failure to execute the mechanics of the spiritual life.
1)	The greater your capacity for fear means the more you become preoccupied with yourself.
2)	Preoccupation with self enters you into the three arrogant skills of self-justification, self-deception, and self-absorption.
3)	The greater the power of fear in your life the greater the self-induced misery that you bring upon yourself.
5-	Fear is an emotional sin and therefore has no true courage but rather produces cowardice.
1)	Arrogance takes on the façade of a false courage in time of prosperity but under pressure it is transformed into cowardice.
2)	Fear and cowardice remove the Word of God as top priority in life and destroys the function of the spiritual life.
3)	When emotion replaces the spiritual life it converts reality into unrealistic expectations, denial, and projection.