James H. Cagle
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The Bible (KJV) says, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Lk. 21: 26). And, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1: 7).
A phobia is “an irrational persistent fear or dread.” Fear is an emotion, a feeling of dread, that something might happen that will actually put us in a place where we have to face that which we fear. Living with this constant fear exerts constant pressure on the heart, and causes men to die of heart failure.
A phobia is a fear of people, places and things. “The English suffixes -phobia, -phobic, -phobe (from Greek φόβος phobos, “fear”) occur in technical usage in psychiatry to construct words that describe irrational, abnormal, unwarranted, persistent, or disabling fear as a mental disorder.” The phobias or fears listed are more than 300. People are afraid of a lot of things.
People fear open spaces (agoraphobia), close spaces (claustrophobia), crowds (enochlophobia), solitude (isolophobia), sermons (homilophobia), Satan (satanophobia), and everything in between.
Satan is a fear-monger that stirs up and spreads fear everywhere. He wants us all to be phobic and afraid of everything, or at least of something. But God can deliver us from all our fears if we’ll put our trust in Him. “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps. 34: 4).
As phobias are things’ people fear and run from, para-philias are things people delight in and run to.
Suffixes with the common part -phil- (-phile, -philia, -phily, -philic) are used to specify some kind of attraction or affinity to something. They are antonymic to suffixes -phob-.
Phil- (philo-) may also be used as a prefix with a similar meaning.
The suffix and prefix are derived from the Ancient Greek word philia (φιλία), “love, affection”.
A “philia,” is something we’re not afraid of but rather love and take pleasure in. A philia is also called a “fetish,” which is “an object whose real or fantasied presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification.” A fetish is a name given for a philia with a specific erotic interest. The philia’s or fetishes listed are about 150. People are in love with and fascinated with all manners of perversion.
People have an interest in and are actually aroused in being on stage or camera (autagonistophilia), being in life-threatening situations (autassassinophilia), tears or crying (dacryphilia), stealing (kleptophilia), hair (trichophilia), animals (zoophilia), and, once again, everything in between.
If we were to look at the complete list of both phobias and philias we would see how sick and twisted mankind has become. We have inordinate fears and inordinate loves.
Paul tells us that this would happen in the last days, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves” (2 Tim. 3: 1, 2a).
Mankind is sick with sin because of man’s self-love and no love for God, and has sought out many inventions to express and gratify themselves. It’s devilish what sort of fantasy a person can imagine and will work to make them a reality.
It’s just as it was in the days of Noah. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6: 5).
There was great demonic activity on the earth in Noah’s day (Gen. 6), and there is great demonic activity today, influencing man to fear and love everything but God.
We are commanded to fear and love God with all our heart, (Jer. 10: 7; Rev.15: 4; Mt. 22: 37, 38; et al.). Fearing and loving God with all our heart and walking according to His will would put an end to all our inordinate fear and love and our many evil inventions.
Phobias and Philias
There are phobias and philias,
To use some technical terms,
To label those things we fear and love,
That bring us delight and make us squirm.
A phobia is a fearful thing,
That we always try to avoid,
A fear of people, places or things,
That we wish were null and void.
The list includes 300 of these,
Phobias, of which we speak.
The very mention of their name,
Makes us tremble and makes us weak.
We’re afraid of open spaces.
This is called agoraphobia.
And we fear close spaces,
This ones called claustrophobia.
We’re afraid it seems of everything,
And we live our lives in fear.
But when we put our trust in God,
He delivers us from all our fear.
A philia is a lustful thing,
That brings one pleasure and delight.
An unnatural love and fascination,
An inordinate love that isn’t right.
A philia awakens and excites us,
In a very unusual way.
There’s 150 on the list,
Of perverted love we know today.
There is a love for stealing,
This is called kleptophilia.
And then a love for hair,
And this ones called trichophilia.
This crazy love that’s going around,
Really amounts to nothing.
They’re trivial and sinful,
And leave us looking still for something.
That Something is the Lord,
Who we alone should fear and love.
For if we fear and love the Lord,
We have nothing to be afraid of.
James H. Cagle
