Fear as a Manipulation Tactic in Cults (bE+)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; 

all those who practice it have a good understanding.     

His praise endures forever! – Psalm 111:10

When I was growing up, I didn’t really learn that much about the fear of the Lord, but that’s not true of some of my friends, especially those who grew up in cults. The fear of the Lord is often wielded as a weapon in high-control groups, but what the Bible describes as the fear of the Lord isn’t supposed to be used to harm or control; rather, the fear of the Lord should be life-giving and rewarding. Let’s talk about fear, the fear of the Lord, and how high-control groups use fear to manipulate followers.  

Fear and the Bible

I used to be afraid of flying, and what that meant for me was that I had a very particular routine I did every time I flew: get to the airport early, get coffee before I board, look into the cockpit to see who is flying the plane before I get to my seat, and then pray before take-off. Flying has gotten easier the more that I’ve done it, but there’s still this little speck of fear that enters the plane right before the wheels leave the ground. I’m sure you can either relate to that fear, or you’ve got something else you fear: spiders, the dark, snakes, heights, clowns, enclosed spaces, death. We can easily identify earthly fears, but what does fear mean biblically?

One interpretation is dread, and this aligns with some of what we see in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 2:25, God tells the Israelites, “This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.” Dread. Tremble. Anguish. Those words paint a less-than-lovely image. In this context, God was telling the Israelites that other nations would be terrified of them. So, does “fear of the Lord” mean that we should dread the Lord? Maybe.

Let’s be honest – God, the Creator of the entire world, is all-powerful. He can do anything that is logically possible, and we’ve certainly read of His righteous anger against the likes of Sodom and Gomorrah and with the flood. Humanity is sinful, and while God is just, He is also merciful. Yes, there are eternal consequences for our sin if we do not accept forgiveness through Christ, who said, “‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6). Eternal separation from God is something to be feared. We should dread something that awful. But fear means more than that, especially when we look at Scripture.

In addition to dread, fear can mean awe and reverence. This goes hand-in-hand with “revering the Lord as holy,” which we find in 1 Peter 3:15. In other words, this isn’t a negative connotation; it’s a positive one. God is awesome. He is holy. He is amazing. And as Christians, we should see Him that way. Not only that, because we know He is all of those things, we should want to walk according to His instructions, obeying Him in all things.

“Fear of the Lord”

So, what about “fear of the Lord”? “The fear of the Lord” appears in the Bible a lot. For example, we find the phrase in Deuteronomy 10:

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

For context, Yahweh had just instructed Moses to create new tablets of the law after the Israelites broke the first ones by creating and worshipping a golden calf. Old Testament scholar Richard Hess notes the importance of the covenant between Yahweh (God) and His people in the Old Testament:

The “fear of Yahweh” occurs eleven times [in Proverbs], more than in all the other books of the Bible together. This fear of Yahweh is the proper attitude to have when approaching Yahweh and his covenant. With this attitude, wisdom is possible (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). This respect for God and his covenant (as well as a fear of God’s wrath for flippancy) adds length to one’s life (10:27; 14:27; 19:23). It is better than wealth (15:16) yet can bring one wealth and respect (22:4).[1]

In other words, fearing the Lord yields positive results. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 19:23 says, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” Walking with the Lord brings us peace (2 Thess. 3:16). Don’t confuse this with some sort of prosperity gospel. This isn’t “fear the Lord and everything will go right in your life.” Instead, this describes the reality that trusting the Lord, revering Him as holy, results in everlasting peace and true wisdom only the Lord can offer. We don’t have to earn it by doing good works—those are a natural outpouring of our faith in Jesus.

How Cults Misuse Fear

Fear is a powerful and necessary factor in a cult. Podcaster Stephen Mather explains that cults cause all kinds of fears out of members: “Fear of losing God’s approval, fear of being killed at Armageddon, fear of losing a relationship with friends and family and fear of being cast outside the good graces of the group itself, are just some of the ways [fear] is wielded.”[2] We’ve seen these fears play out in some of the worst ways:

• David Koresh taught his followers in Waco, Texas, to fear the end of the world as prophesied in the Bible (Armageddon). He also taught them to fear outside influences like the government.[3]

  
  

• Jim Jones taught his followers in Jonestown, Guyana, to fear him. They were not allowed to question him, or they would be sentenced to manual labor or a Thorazine injection that would incapacitate them.[4]

  
  

• Marshall Applewhite of Heaven’s Gate taught his followers to fear, among other things, sex, so several of his followers were castrated.[5]

  
  

• David Miscavige, the current leader of Scientology, instills fear in members by threatening to disclose private information about them publicly.[6]

If cult leaders can use fear in these ways, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that cults misuse the phrase “fear of the Lord” to manipulate and control followers. They often teach their followers to dread God in the worst ways, not so that they will fix their eyes on Jesus, but so that they will fall into line and never leave. They often hear a lot about hellfire and brimstone as a threat that they will suffer the wrath of God if they don’t do as they are told.

Cult members won’t hear a lot about grace. They have to earn their forgiveness. This is a fear tactic, and it’s unbiblical. We could never do enough to save ourselves; we need a Savior, and His name is Jesus. Cults will also often conveniently forget to tell their followers that ultimately, God is love:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:7-10)

Further, God is strong and righteous. Consider Isaiah 41:10, which says, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” We can trust Him to protect us and keep us safe, even from the “wages of sin” (Romans 6:23).

God doesn’t encourage fear in His followers, not in a dread kind of way. We should fear separation from God, but God gave us a solution; He gave us hope: Christ. In other words, we do not have to fear separation from God if we believe Christ died and was physically resurrected for us.

Ultimately, God is powerful…He is all-powerful. Knowing this about Him may instill fear (the dread kind), if only because we recognize that He could do anything at any given moment. However, this power should instill respect and gratitude more than anything else. We should not dread it. God chose to use His power to create us in His image. Indeed, He created the whole world. God has chosen to love us completely, and because of that love, He sent us Jesus. Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we could have fullness of life in Him. Thus, while we could dwell on fearing God’s power, instead, we should rest peacefully knowing that He uses His power for the good of His creation. No cult leader can show you the same grace, love, goodness, or power. No cult leader deserves the respect, gratitude, and reverence the Lord deserves. He is a God of hope and joy, not dread or manipulation. Find peace for your weary heart in Him today.

[1] Richard Hess, The Old Testament: A Historical, Theological, and Critical Introduction (BakerAcademic, 2016), 471.

[2] Stephen Mather, “How Cults Keep You Motivated,” Medium, December 9, 2021, https://medium.com/@SteEvilSheep/how-cults-keep-you-motivated-3d1eced8344c.

[3] Gary Cartwright, “The Enemy Within,” Texas Monthly, June 1993, https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-enemy-within-2/.

[4] Julia Scheeres, “Heat, Hunger and Fear: How Jim Jones Kept his Followers in Check,” Newsweek, November 3, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/jonestown-revisited-part-3-heat-hungry-tired-1644838.

[5] Elizabeth Yuko, “American Cult: 5 Spiritual Groups That Went Too Far,” Rolling Stone, September 12, 2017, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/american-cult-5-spiritual-groups-that-went-too-far-202224/the-peoples-temple-1955-1978-202246/.

[6] See Leah Remini with Rebecca Paley, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology (Ballantine Books, 2015), introduction. Remini opens her book with a list of things she’s done in her life like lying and cheating because once her book was released, she said Scientology leadership would “spend an obscene amount of money running ads, creating websites, and trotting out celebrities to make public statements that their religious beliefs are being attacked—all in an attempt to discredit [her] by disparaging [her] reputation and that of anyone close to [her].” It happened just as she predicted, too: https://www.leahreminithefacts.org/.