Chapter 51—Fear
Millions Bound by Fear—Millions of human beings are bound
down under false religions, in the bondage of slavish fear, of stolid
indifference, toiling like beasts of burden, bereft of hope or joy or
aspiration here, and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. It is the
gospel of the grace of God alone that can uplift the soul.—
The Desire
of Ages, 478
(1898).
Distrusting God They Have a Thousand Fears—Many neglect
to lay up for themselves a treasure in heaven by doing good with the
means that God has lent them. They distrust God and have a thousand
fears in regard to the future. Like the children of Israel they have evil
hearts of unbelief.
God provided this people with abundance as their needs required,
but they borrowed trouble for the future. They complained and mur-
mured in their travels that Moses had led them out to kill them and
their children with hunger. Imaginary want closed their eyes and hearts
from seeing the goodness and mercies of God in their journeyings, and
they were ungrateful for all His bounties.
So also are the distrustful, professed people of God in this age of
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unbelief and degeneracy. They fear that they may come to want, or
that their children may become needy, or that their grandchildren will
be destitute. They dare not trust God. They have no genuine faith in
Him who has entrusted them with the blessings and bounties of life,
and who has given them talents to use to His glory in advancing His
cause.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:656, 657
(1871).
Through Fear Satan Attempts to Rule—God never forces the
will or the conscience; but Satan’s constant resort—to gain control of
those whom he cannot otherwise seduce—is compulsion by cruelty.
Through fear or force he endeavors to rule the conscience and to
secure homage to himself. To accomplish this he works through both
religious and secular authorities, moving them to the enforcement of
human laws in defiance of the law of God.—
The Great Controversy,
591
(1888).
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