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SEEMS THE United States has now become the lead-ers of the “United Asso-ciation of “Phobia.” The definition of a phobia is,

“extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.” In the United States, the accusation of someone being a phobic has become a politically weaponized tool to intimidate any opposite viewpoint to be silenced. The root of such nonsense is the spirit of offense that is generated by a self-absorbed secular media on jour-nalistic steroids who believes their radi-cal leftist views are socially correct and those opposing them must be intimidated into silence. The terms of intimidation include calling the opposition racists, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic or numerous other phobic titles. While conservative Christians who love Biblical truth are tagged with all sorts of phobias, most media moguls suffer from two undi-agnosed spiritual diseases: ecclesiophobia, the fear of church, and Christo phobia, fear of Christianity and Christ’s followers.

To understand this media Christian bias, we must acknowledge that publicly expressing Biblical truth makes agnostics, atheists, unrepentant sinners, and car-nal people uncomfortable. God’s uncom-promised Word is designed to confront the sin nature in men, convicting them through the Holy Spirit, and leading them to repentance. Rejection of both Bible truth and God’s conviction power leads to an internal or public confrontation, as was true with Moses and Pharaoh, Jesus and the Pharisees, and Paul with the Sad-ducees. Those who resist the truth will often overcompensate their resistance by demeaning the ideas of others whom they consider their enemies and will go on the attack against the Bible hoping their radi-cal views replace what they deem archaic views no longer permissible in the public arena.

Most prophetic ministers focus on strange cosmic signs, numerous natural disasters, and the negative activities in the nations pointing to Christ’s return. Jesus however, inserted another often-over-

Welcometo the PhobicAssociationof America“And many shall be offended, and shall betray one another and shall hate one another… And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” – Matthew 24:10, 12

B Y P E R R Y S T O N E

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looked warning, indicating that a spirit of offense would be unleashed, coincid-ing with the timing of the Gospel being preached around the world (Matt. 24:10), which without a doubt is this present age.

During my forty years of ministry, I have never observed such an unleashing of a “spirit of offense” overshadowing this generation like a lowering storm cloud darkening the atmosphere, lingering like the smell of rotten food. The secular me-dia now feeding a spiritually anemic so-ciety is not a journalistic haven for truth seekers. Instead of reporting news, the power-hungry networks attempt to per-suade viewers to follow a left-leaning opinion, and anyone who is opposed to their radical extremism is immediately la-beled as some type of “phobic,” or if you align with any conservative leader, you are immediately labeled a “racist.”

These strategies include “intimidation by false associations.” If you speak out against Islamic terrorism, you are tagged “Islamophobic.” To the radical left by sup-porting traditional marriage, you prove that you are “homophobic.” These irra-tional thinkers have more “phobia” titles than America’s car manufacturers have names for the cars they produce. The goal is to silence the majority through name calling and intimidation. In some parts of America, it has become dangerous to your physical security to wear a certain hat or t-shirt or having a “Make America Great” bumper sticker on your car. Freedom of

speech, for the opposing side, is only per-missible if it favors their views.

CALLING THEM OUT It is time to give these individuals a dose of their own medicine. We who are Con-servative Christians should be calling out the secular media; both the bobbing heads of repetitive chatter, who lie, deceive, and make far-out conspiracies each time their mouths open, along with the kingpins of America’s printed page as being “Chris-tophobic!” A Christophobic who carries this spiritual syndrome will immediately become emotionally unstable, mentally irrational, and verbally assaulting the moment a Christian being interviewed answers any question using the Bible as a source of moral accuracy and inspira-tion. The newest “bad phrase” to ban from public expression is “Judeo-Christian” values. These ancient, proven moral and spiritual regulations are poo-pooed by the present-day news propaganda machines, whose brains were high-jacked years ago as students in America’s distinguished Ivy League classrooms.

Christians should be asking the anti-faith interviewers, “Why are you so Chris-tophobic,” or “Theophobic” (Theos being a Greek word for God). Too often Chris-tians spend useless time trying to butter up individuals that Paul warned have al-ready been given over to reprobate minds (see Romans 1). You cannot expose light to a blind man or preach truth to the deaf

who are unwilling to see or hear. Rational arguments are futile in this environment. In the eyes of radical Christ-haters, you as a Spirit-filled Bible believer are the prob-lem and removing you, and anyone who believes like you from influence in local, state or federal levels of leadership is their ultimate goal.

PREACHING UPSETS THE REJECTORSBefore you condemn my strong words, consider how John the Baptists, Jesus, and Paul confronted the two-faced hypocrisy among the people in their day. John the Baptist identified the Pharisees and Sad-ducees as a “generation of vipers” (Matt. 3:7). Jesus called the same group “evil,” and also used the metaphor “vipers” add-ing they could not escape the “damnation of hell” (Matt. 23:33). At Corinth, a young man was committing fornication with his stepmother. Paul went as far as to use his Apostolic power to, “turn the young man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,” hoping it would lead him to repen-tance, which it did (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 2:6). If John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul had been living today, they would not have been invited to minister at the majority of America’s best “seeker” churches, as the pastors would be in fear that they would say something negative that could offend some of their followers, running them off. To offend someone just for the purpose of offending or offending to force a specific response is the wrong spirit. However, solid truth is difficult to swallow when an eater prefers sweet milk over strong meat. Observe that Jesus was not fearful of “of-fending” people with the truth.

In John 6, Christ preached on “eating his flesh and drinking his blood,” a ref-erence to the future covenant he would establish, and an allusion to the Lord’s Supper where the bread and fruit of the vine represented his blood and his body (John 6:53-56; 1 Cor 11:25-26). During this unique message, Christ observed the reac-tion of his audience and asked them, “Does this offend you?” (John 6:61). After this “hard saying” we read, “And many of his

“YOU CANNOT EXPOSE LIGHT TO A BLIND MAN OR PREACH

TRUTH TO THE DEAF WHO ARE UNWILLING TO SEE OR HEAR. RATIONAL ARGUMENTS ARE

FUTILE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT.”

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disciples went back and walked no more with him” (John 6:66). This one “strong message” ran off an entire congregation of followers. Jesus did not call for a publicist to create a press conference apologizing and asking people to forgive him for mis-understanding his sermon.

My first sermon in Gorman, Maryland was not that great. I honestly would be given a “D” or an “F” by any professor teaching, “How to Communicate in Pub-lic!” Christ’s first public message was at his hometown in Nazareth. His first public sermon was so controversial that his home-town crowd rose up during his preaching, forcing him out of the syna-gogue, intending to shove him off a cliff! When your disciples (all but twelve) walk out of a service never to return, and your friends want you dead after your first mes-sage, maybe you should return to seminary and take a course on how to build positive relationships, and after years of success, write a best-seller “Your Best Ministry Now!”

PROTECTING SHEEP FROM OFFENSEThe contemporary church has built large congregations on the foundation of being

“seeker sensitive” emphasizing preaching nothing to offend, convict, or lead to an “emotional conversion.” There are certain aspects of having a spirit of excellence in your approach to ministry which is valu-able to hold the new people who seek out a “good church.” The Queen of Sheba vis-ited Solomon and was impressed with his servants; specifically how they dressed and how they served the ministry. The decor, the music and soundstage, greet-ers and parking attendants should have a spirit of excellence and care for the mem-bers and visitors needs. However, being overprotective and avoiding what you view as unpleasant truth (preaching on Hell, the Tribulation or the judgments) is not wisdom. You can unintentionally cre-ate an “offense sensitivity,” keeping them at a dwarfed level of spiritual knowledge. At the first sign of something they do not like or approve of, they will complain and eventually walk out.

It is possible to provide weak Biblical nourishment having too much milk and toast. Believers do not know how to en-gage in spiritual warfare or deal with a major crisis when they strike. From a pro-phetic perspective, some know nothing

about what the Bible teaches concerning the future and may be caught off guard when major signs begin emerging.

Is it possible with our weak preaching and sugar-coated messages that we are maintaining a generation of spiritual in-fants who are becoming “offendophobics?” As ministers, we must preach the full Gos-pel without compromise and allow the Holy Spirit to perform his work. He has been effective for thousands of years and knows how to minister when we get out of the way. Never allow a phobia accusation to intimidate the message or the messen-ger. Truth will always prevail. Paul’s final words to Timothy sum up my message:

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not en-dure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” - 2 Timothy 4:2-5

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Blessings and battles are both progressive. Blessings are a result of promises and breakthroughs, while battles move in various dimensions and are also progressive in their flow. Once a victory is won, there will be a new, often different type of battle to encounter. This is a subject I have been connected to for some time and is a very important point to understand. In spiritual warfare, “Ignorance is not bliss - it can be deadly.” Arm yourself with spiritual knowledge that can be applied in practical living. Preached in Maumee, Ohio

THE PROGRESSIONOF PRESENT-DAY WARFARE

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