John Hagee , The 7 Secrets” (unlocking genuine greatness)

wydawnictwo Charisma House (Lake Mary, FL, USA), 2004

Rozdz. 5 How to overcome worry ?

Many people should have a Ph.D. in worry. They worry despite the fact that worry can’t
change the past. They worry not realizing that worry will ruin the present. Worry will get
them to only one place ahead of time: the c e m e t e r y. People worry about things they have
and things they don’t have. They worry about things they’ve said and things they’ve failed to
say. They worry about what they’ve done and things they’ve failed to do. Some worry
because they are not married, and others worry because they are married.

Worry pursues every class of people – the intelligent an the illiterate. The young worry, the
old worry, people in debt worry, and people with excess money worry. Worry is your
personal irritation with God because something is going on in your life – or you fear
something may happen in the future – that God has permitted, and you can’t control.

Since Jesus Christ commanded: “fear not”, therefore w o r r y is a s i n ! The Bible says
(2 Tim. 1:7): God has not given us a spirit of fear. According to America’s finest physicians,
w o r r y is t h e m o t h e r of (a) cancer ; (b) heart disease ; (c) high blood pressure , and
(d) ulcers. Worry fills your face with wrinkles and apprehension. It paralyzes the mind so that
it cannot work well. It sends millions of people to the cemetery long before their time !

W o r r y is utterly useless. Jesus said (Matt.6:27-28): “Which of you by worrying can add
a single hour to his life ?” Don’t worry about tomorrow: it’s in the hands of God. W o r r y is
i n t e r e s t p a i d on t r o u b l e that never happens. Whatever you are going through right
now, recognize that God is on His throne, and everything is going to be all right. Don’t be
anxious about your health because Jesus Christ is the great physician. Don’t be anxious about
your finances because your Father supplies all your needs. Moses said it well (Deut. 8:18): “It
is He who gives you power and wealth”.

Don’t worry about your children’s future. King David said (Ps. 37:25): “I have not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging for bread”. The same God who cared for you
will care for your children. Don’t worry about your feeling of insecurity because (1 John 4:4):
He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” When you accepted Christ, you
joined a nation of kings and priests unto God, and the royal blood of heaven flows in your
veins. When you walk out of your house, angels go before you and behind you.

B e g f o r y o u r l i f e, Preacher

On December 23, 1971 five years after John Hagee became the pastor of Trinity Church, a
madman invaded his church with a loaded gun during the Wednesday night Bible study. He
walked up the outside aisle, roaring like a wild animal, swearing and cursing at the top of his
voice. At first people thought this was an illustration of the sermon – until the air was filled
with vulgarities and they saw the gun. What happened next was a study of spiritual maturity.
Some people dove under the seats, screaming in terror. One man who was a weightlifter and
went to the gym everyday began to crawl down the middle aisle on his hands and knees in
total panic. However, several gray-haired parishioners pointed their fingers at the shooter, and
rebuked him in Jesus name. Most of them were woman. As the invader approached the front
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of the church with his gun extended, he commanded me to beg for my life. “I have come to
demonstrate that the power of Satan is greater than the power of God”, he screamed in
demonic rage. I responded: “No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper” quoting
Isaiah 54:17. The gunman was even more infuriated by my response. “Get on your knees” he
yelled, and “beg for your life because on the count of 3 I am going to kill you” he shouted.
“I am in authority here, and I will not bow” I answered. The shooter lied. He started shooting
at the count of 2 and emptied his gun at me from a distance of 8 feet. As he was firing, I did
not move to the right or to the left. Then several men subdued the gunman. The police were
called, and the shooter was taken to Rusk Hospital for the criminally insane. 90 days later a
board of psychiatrists judged him to be sane and mentally fit to resume his position in society.
The day he was released, he climbed the highest tree in his backyard, and hung himself.

In order to master out tendency to fear, we need to understand the difference between the
emotion of fear and the spirit of fear. God gave us emotion of fear to help us respond to life-
threatening situations. However, spirit of fear was given by Satan in order to harm us.
Diseases have killed their millions, but the spirit of fear has killed its tens of millions. Your
greatest crisis will come from the fear of trouble, not the presence of trouble. Psychiatrists
describe the spirit of fear as phobias, and they have identifies 75 different phobias that
produce abnormal, irrational, and mind-crippling fear. This spirit of fear will destroy your
defenses, and disarm you in the day of battle.

Regardless to your profession of faith, if you live with the spirit of fear, you are a
practicing atheist. Where was the spirit of fear born ? In the Garden of Eden. At first Adam
walked and talked with God in the garden as a child talks to his earthly father. After he
sinned, A d a m heard the voice of God and h i d i n f e a r. The spirit of fear continues in
men today because sin continues to rule their lives. Sin creates fear, and sin sustains fear. Like
a virus, fear invades the soul, looking for filth upon which it may feed.

A n t i d o t e s to w o r r y

How to get rid of worry ? It is not by getting into an ideal situation because there is no such
thing. There is no ideal marriage or ideal family. No ideal church or ideal business. No ideal
university or ideal professor. Woman say “marriage will make me feel happy!” Wrong! You
carry happiness into marriage, but you don’t find happiness in marriage.

Several key verses in Philippians 4 are an antidote to worry. Apostle Paul wrote (Phil. 4:8):
“Whatever is true (to be found in God’s Word), whatever is noble (honorable, worthy of
respect), whatever is right (just), whatever is pure (morally clean and undefiled), whatever is
lovely (pleasing or amiable), whatever is of good report (repute), if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise – meditate on these things, … and the God of piece will be
with you.”

In other words, don’t listen to TV news and do not watch movies overloaded with nega-
tive pieces of news and stories, but meditate on noble, just, morally clean, amiable and worthy
of praise stories.

Just 2 verses earlier (Phil. 4:6-7) Paul counseled: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”. And
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding (comprehension) will guard your hearts
and your minds through Christ Jesus”.
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4 H a r m f u l C o n s e g u e n c e s of the Spirit of F e a r

(1) Fear can attack your mind. The strongest men in the Bible suffered from fear.
David was the champion who killed Goliath, yet the Bible says that when David was
in battle he “waxed faint” (2 Sam. 21:15). Elijah sat under the juniper tree, hiding
from Jezebel and shaking from fear. He was so afraid he cried out to God “Lord, take
my life. It is enough” (1 Kings 19”4). Peter was terrified of an 18-year old girl the
night Jesus was crucified. He swore “I know not the man” (Luke 22:60).

(2) Fear can be contagious! A man in a Midwestern town started running down the
street, screaming “The dam has broken”. Men in the barbershop heard him and
instantly joined in the panic, running into the street screaming “The dam has broken”.
Woman shopping in the supermarket heard the mob and joined them. The police and
firemen joined the mob. Soon the street was filled with people screaming “The dam
has broken”. One old man run as fast as he could and suddenly he sat down on the
curb for a moment and thought, “I have lived here all my life. What dam?” The truth
was there was no dam in this town! There was no danger. There was only contagious
fear! After a few minutes, the red-faced citizens came shuffling back into town,
embarrassed by their collective response to fear. The spirit of fear spreads on the
wings of doubt and destroys like a plaque. Let one church member say “miracles
don’t happen any more” and the spirit of doubt will snuff out faith in an instant.
W h e n s p i r i t of f e a r k n o c k s at y o u r d o o r, s e n d f a i t h to
a n s w e r, and no one will be there.

(3) Fear can become a self-fulfilling prophesy! Job said (Job 3:25): “The thing I greatly
feared has come upon me. The man who constantly fears for his health, who lives with
his fingers on his pulse, will die years before God intended. A man named Nick who
was a strong, healthy rail yardman got along well with his fellow workers. Yet, Nick
had a deep fear that he would be locked in an isolated, refrigerated boxcar. One
summer day the train crews were told they could quit an hour early. Right after the
other workmen left the site, Nick was accidentally locked in a refrigerated boxcar,
which was in the yard for repairs. He panicked! He shouted and banged on the walls
until his voice went hoarse and his fists were bloody. He believed the temperature in
the car was zero degrees (in the Fahrenheit scale). He thought: If I don’t get out of
here, I will freeze to death. The next morning the crew slid open the boxcar’s heavy
doors and found Nick’s body. An autopsy revealed that he had frozen to death. But,
the car’s r e f r i g e r a t i o n unit was …b r o k e n. The temperature inside was
never lower than 61 degrees! Nick’s fear became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

(4) The spirit of fear can rob you of your spiritual inheritance. Moses sent 12 spies
into the promised Land. 10 of them said (Num. 13:33): “We were like grasshoppers in
our own sight”. Joshua and Caleb said (Num. 14:7-8): “The land we passed through to
spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us
into this land and give it to us”. Unfortunately, Israelites believed the majority report.
And God let every man and woman in Israel from the age of 20 years up die in the
wilderness. Fear destroyed their spiritual inheritance. Are you letting it destroy yours ?

Fear comes through unbelief. Apostle John wrote (Rev. 21:8): “The cowardly, unbelieving …
shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone. Unbelief makes God a
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liar. Unbelief is a treason against God. Millions of Christians who sit in churches every
Sunday singing “Faith I the Victory” are numbered in heaven with “fearful and unbelieving”.