Threats

A family visiting Yellowstone National Park learned a valuable lesson: bears are smart. While driving in the park, they spotted a black bear on the side of the road and decided to take a few pictures from inside their car. Something they didn't think about? Locking their car doors.

The bear approached the vehicle and "managed to grab ahold of the door handle." Amidst the screaming of the kids in the backseat, the father managed to shut the door, "but not without effort."

Thankfully, no one was hurt—but stories like these are helpful reminders that sometimes, even when we feel safe, the dangers surrounding us are more complex than we can understand. Peter tells us that we should "be alert and of sober mind," because our "enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8).

Chapman University recently completed its 10th annual Chapman Survey of American Fears (2024). Each wave of the survey focuses on what Americans fear, the potential causes of those fears, and the consequences of fear. In addition, the comprehensive survey includes extensive background information about respondents, allowing for examinations of how fears vary by different groups.

Here are the top ten fears for 2024 (check the Chapman Survey for American Fears for new yearly top fears):

1. Corrupt Government Officials 65.2%

2. People I Love Becoming Seriously Ill 58.4%

3. Cyberterrorism 58.3%

4. People I Love Dying 57.8%

5. Russia Using Nuclear Weapons 55.8%

6. Not Having Enough Money for the Future 55.7%

7. US Becoming Involved in Another World War 55.0%

8. North Korea Using Nuclear Weapons 55.0%

9. Terrorist Attack 52.7%

10. Biological Warfare 52.5%

Regarding the number 1 fear, Corrupt Government Officials, the survey added this comment:

Our analysis of the data also shows that Americans perceive corruption at all levels of government – local, state, and Federal. Whereas some might suggest that perceptions of corruption are driven by mistrust of national politicians and the executive branch of government, our findings show that, although Americans perceive somewhat less corruption at the local level, all levels of government are generally perceived as compromised. And despite the intense partisanship that surrounds public discussion of corruption, we found that Americans are fearful of corruption across lines of party and ideological identification.

For parents of young children, few things are as precious as a good night’s sleep—both for their child and for themselves. Yet many parents struggle with getting their little ones to bed and ensuring they get the rest they need.

A poll from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital sheds light on the sleep habits and challenges of children aged one to six years. Perhaps of greatest concern is that nearly one in four young kids struggle with anxiety at bedtime.

The poll, which surveyed a national sample of parents with kids under seven, found that the vast majority (90%) have a bedtime routine for their child. These routines often include:

Brushing teeth (90%)

Reading bedtime stories (67%)

Taking a bath (54%)

Praying (31%)

Talking about their day (23%)

But bedtime struggles are common, with 27% of parents describing the process of getting their child to bed as difficult. The poll identified that 23% of children were worried or anxious at bedtime and had trouble falling asleep. Once asleep, some children:

Wake up upset or crying (36%)

Move to their parents’ bed (43%)

Insist that a parent sleep in their room (31%)

A reporter from The Wall Street Journal spoke to several people about the economy. One was Kristine Funck, a nurse in Ohio, has won steady pay raises, built retirement savings, and owns her home. The other was Alfredo Arguello, who opened a restaurant outside Nashville when the pandemic hit, now owns a second one, and employs close to 50 people.

Economists are noticing that while economic measures are improving, Americans are feeling gloomier. “Unstable” is how Arguello describes it. Said Funck: “Even though I’m OK right now, there’s a sense it could all go away in a second.” There’s a striking disconnect that has puzzled economists and business owners.

But press Americans harder, and the immediate economy emerges as only one factor in the gloomy outlook. Americans feel sour about the economy, many say, because their long-term security feels fragile and vulnerable to wide-ranging social and political threats.

Interviews with Americans across the country—some affluent, some just scraping by; some with advanced degrees and others with blue-collar jobs; some Republican, some Democrat—show they are weighed down by fears of an unpredictable world in which no one in government or business is competent to steer the nation through precarious times.

“You could argue unemployment is 3.7%, but who cares with this level of uncertainty?” said Arguello. “Because that’s what people are feeling. They’re not feeling hope. They’re not feeling one country. They’re feeling a divisive, divided United States of America.”

The Financial Times had a story on a fascinating study showing that our language has been growing more pessimistic. Whereas at the time of the scientific and industrial revolutions there was a shift towards a language with more frequent use of terms related to progress, in recent years there’s been a shift towards words associated with caution, worry, and risk.

The author John Burn-Murdoch writes:

[Researchers] found a marked increase in the use of terms related to progress and innovation starting in the early 17th century. This supports the idea that “a cultural evolution in the attitudes towards the potential of science” [to promote the industrial revolution] and its economic take-off.

[But] extending the same analysis to the present, a striking picture emerges: over the past 60 years the west has begun to shift away from the culture of progress, and towards one of caution, worry and risk-aversion, with economic growth slowing over the same period. The frequency of terms related to progress, improvement, and the future has dropped by about 25 percent since the 1960s, while those related to threats, risks and worries have become several times more common.

In 2019, David and Ina Steiner were running a newsletter called CommerceBytes. The newsletter reported on a lawsuit by online retailer eBay alleging that its rival Amazon had poached many of its third-party sellers. The Steiners probably knew the story would anger officials at one or both of the tech companies, but had no idea how far they might go to retaliate. As it turns out, they went too far. Way too far.

The intimidating harassment included bizarre and unexpected deliveries of items to the Steiners’ home, including live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath, and a bloody pig mask. U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said, "eBay engaged in absolutely horrific, criminal conduct.”

James Baugh was eBay’s senior director of safety and security at the time. Prosecutors called him the ringleader of the harassment, citing an email where he called Ina Steiner “a biased troll who needs to be burned down.”

The company announced in January it will pay a fine of $3 million to resolve criminal charges levied against several of its employees in connection with a campaign of harassment against the Steiners.

The CEO of eBay, Jamie Iannone, called the employee behavior “wrong and reprehensible.” He went on to say, “since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company, and eBay has strengthened its policies and training. EBay remains committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics and to making things right with the Steiners.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Uncontrolled anger and a thirst for revenge can lead to many costly mistakes, both in the business world and in a person’s private life.

The Glamour magazine YouTube channel has 4.43 million subscribers. It covers a wide variety of lifestyle topics. The one entitled "70 Men Ages 5 to 75: What's Your Greatest Fear?" has over 84,000 views.

Here are there top 8 fears, listed in ascending order of times mentioned:

8. End of the world due to climate change

7. Clowns

6. Heights

5. Evil people causing me harm

4. Being alone/Dying alone

3. Spiders/Snakes

2. Death of loved one

1. Failing to live up to my potential (most often mentioned)

You can watch the video here.

In 2021 Chapman University surveyed adults on 95 fears. It turns out that the majority of Americans suffer from tremendous fear. Many–perhaps as high as 85 percent of the population–live with a sense of impending doom. (This is) a classic sign of clinical anxiety.

The survey follows trends over time and identifies new fears as they emerge. The survey is a nationally representative sample that gives us insight into what terrifies America. Fears are ranked by the percent of Americans who reported being afraid or very afraid.

Top 10 Fears of 2022 % of Very Afraid or Afraid

1. Corrupt government officials 62.1

2. People I love becoming seriously ill 60.2

3. Russia using nuclear weapons 59.6

4. People I love dying 58.1

5. The U.S. involved in another world war 56.0

6. Pollution of drinking water 54.5

7. Not having enough money for the future 53.7

8. Economic/financial collapse 53.7

9. Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes 52.5

10. Biological warfare 51.5

A general overview of America’s top 10 fears in the 2022 survey suggests that Americans’ fears center on five main topics: corrupt government officials (number 1), harm to a loved one (numbers 2 & 4), war (numbers 3, 5, & 10), environmental concerns (numbers 6 & 9), and economic concerns numbers 7 & 8).

When Shandle Riley was stopped outside the home of her ex-mother-in law late at night for a traffic infraction, it’s possible she might’ve silently prayed for deliverance. But surely, she didn’t expect what happened next.

Deputy Daniel Wilkey found marijuana during the traffic stop. But Wilkey also told Riley that God was talking to him. In addition to citing her for possession of a controlled substance, Wilkey told her that she wouldn’t go to jail if she agreed to be baptized. Not by a pastor at a local church, but by Wilkey himself. At his prodding, Riley went inside to get some towels saying, “I guess I’m fixing to get baptized.” They drove to nearby Lake Soddy, where Wilkey baptized Riley, who remained fully clothed as she was submerged in the water. Another deputy, Jacob Goforth, witnessed the event and recorded footage on his phone.

Riley later filed suit against Officers Wilkey and Goforth. During her deposition, Riley testified of the baptism, “it had nothing to do with God ... or being a good person.” Rather, “it had something to do with power and control.”

Back in 2019, a judge dismissed the claims against Goforth, but still allowed the rest of the suit to proceed. Judge McDonough said, “No government interest is furthered by the baptism of a detainee by an on-duty law-enforcement officer.”

Riley died from an accidental drug overdose in April of 2022. However, Riley’s attorney said that her case will still go forward. The attorney said, “Baptism by a police officer in the line of duty, in exchange for leniency in a criminal case is beyond the pale.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Authority figures who exploit the vulnerable in the name of Christ bring dishonor to the faith.

A retirement village in Palm Beach was the site of a golf-related shooting. On the evening of April 24, 2022, authorities say Robert Levine fired five shots at Herbert Merritt because Merritt was walking his dog too close to the golf course. Merritt was wounded in the ankle and fell to the ground after being shot. Levine then grabbed a golf club and struck Merritt at least four times. Several residents who observed the attack called 911.

Local resident Terry Eichas said, “This is something that does not happen around here. Everyone is a bit on edge. People are very much aware of what happened, but it could have happened anywhere.”

Merritt told deputies that he was walking his dog when Levine, who he’d never met before, complained about the dog’s presence. After Levine approached in his golf cart, an altercation ensued, concluding with Levine pulling out his weapon and firing at Merritt, who was in full retreat by that time.

Levine was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm in public.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Violence should never be a way of resolving interpersonal conflict. God’s blessing is on the peacemaker (Matt. 5:9).

New York City has the largest Ukrainian population in the United States, a community of about 150,000. Thousands had come to the United States as Christian refugees, most of them Baptist or Pentecostal, under a special asylum for those fleeing Soviet religious persecution.

As President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert, some took to the streets to join the protests against Putin’s aggression. But mostly, these followers of Jesus gathered in the churches to pray, weep, lament, and sing to God. They called their praise songs “weapons of war.”

As the nuclear threat escalated tensions, people in the service were in disbelief about how quickly the situation had spiraled. One church leader told Christianity Today, “Our minds fail to understand: How is this possible in this day and age? God allowed this to happen, and we do not know why. But we know God is sovereign, and he is on his throne. There are people who think if they kill someone it will accomplish a goal.”

A worship leader said, “Our hope is in the Lord, the one who holds things together. No matter how things fall apart, the Lord created this world, and he holds things in his hands.” He played music and led worship in tears. But he also told his church family, “Even if a nuclear attack happens, the hope we have is we go home. And we will be together with Jesus, the one we know will help us.”

One of the ways that Meredith Holt-Caldwell stays in contact with her 80-year-old mother Denyse Holt is through their newest daily ritual, comparing scores in the popular online word game Wordle. So, when Denyse didn’t send her word grid one morning, and didn’t respond to any of her text messages, Meredith grew concerned.

As it turns out, she was right to be concerned. Authorities say that early that morning, a man presumed to be mentally ill, broke into Denyse’s home and threatened to harm her with a pair of scissors. She told reporters, “I didn’t think I was going to live. I was in shock. I was trying to survive.”

Denyse’s silence prompted Meredith to call police in the area to request a welfare check, which escalated into an hours-long standoff with local law enforcement. Eventually, a SWAT team broke through the door and subdued Davis with a stun gun, taking him into custody. Davis was eventually charged with home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated assault against a peace officer.

Despite being held in captivity for over 17 hours, Holt was uninjured upon rescue. “I’m very lucky,” she said.

Possible Preaching Angle:

God can use even trivial things to help engineer our rescue from life-threatening dangers and troubles.

In the depths of World War II, Swedish authorities decided their citizens needed to know what to do if the fighting finally arrived on their doorstep. Though they maintained neutrality, it was hard to believe they could continue to do so—especially as their Nordic neighbors got caught in the tides of violence. So, they decided on a handy pamphlet, delivered to households across Sweden. Roughly translated to "If War Comes," the pamphlets offered tips for how to interpret sirens and what to take along in the case of evacuation.

The pamphlets didn't end with the war. For more than four decades, Sweden distributed these little bits of instruction on catastrophe—until the end of the Cold War seemed to diminish their usefulness and they were discontinued. Now, Sweden is bringing them back.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is organizing a reboot of the pamphlet, this time augmenting its advice on conventional warfare with tips on how to grapple with threats of this era: terrorism and cyberattacks, pandemics, misinformation campaigns, and crises related to climate change.

The agency expects to deliver these pamphlets to 4.7 million Swedish households. A spokesman for the agency said, “Back then the focus was only on war; today society looks totally different. There are considerably more complex threats. People need to learn more and know more about how to handle … their own and their nearest relatives’ fundamental needs for a while.”

So, you’re trying to sleep, and it’s well after bedtime. But you’re tossing and turning and unable to get comfy. You notice you’re replaying the same scenario in your head. Some vision of tomorrow, of what might happen, how a hope could be dashed. If you’ve had this experience, you’re far from alone.

Researcher Lucas LaFreniere, Ph.D. said, “This is what breaks my heart about worry. It makes you miserable in the present moment to try and prevent misery in the future. For chronic worriers, this process leads them to be continually distressed all their lives in order to avoid later events that never happen. Worry sucks the joy out of the ‘here and now.’”

In his study on worry, participants were asked to record their worries and how they caused distress and interfered with their lives. Each night at 10 pm, they reported how much time they spent thinking on each specific worry throughout the day. Then, 20 days after that period, they reviewed each entry and reported whether any of the worries had become true.

The good news is, LaFreniere’s study found that in his survey of worrisome people, 91.4 percent of their worries never actually happened.

Worrying caused only more misery and did nothing to help the worriers handle whatever they had been worrying about. This is mainly because the hotly anticipated events never transpired. Remember what Jesus said: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-34).

Possible Preaching Angle: The only true antidote to worry is to trust in our “Heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need” (Matthew 6:32) and “to cast all our worries onto him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Bill Buckner, spent 22 years as a first baseman and outfielder in the major leagues. He passed away at the age of 69 in 2019. Buckner led the league in doubles twice and finished in the top 10 for stolen bases twice as well. Buckner was the National League batting champion in 1980 and was an All-Star in 1981. Yet there is perhaps no player in MLB history whose career was defined more by one mistake than Buckner.

It was the fall of 1986. The Red Sox had a 3-2 series lead over the New York Mets. But in the top half of the 10th inning of Game 6 the Mets’ Mookie Wilson hit a roller to Buckner at first base that trickled through his legs and into the outfield.

The Mets scored on the play to win Game 6, and then won Game 7, as well to win the World Series. Buckner’s error at a clutch moment catapulted him atop the list of sports’ worst-ever blunders. After his playing days, he even had to move away from the Boston area to Idaho due to the explosive rage of those around him.

Hard feelings between Buckner and Boston fans lasted for decades, but things began to change when the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004 and 2007. The power of forgiveness was on full display in 2008 when Buckner returned to Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch of the home opener. He received a standing ovation that lasted nearly two minutes and brought tears to his eyes.

Buckner leaned on his strong Christian faith to help him overcome the past he couldn’t avoid. Buckner said, “I’m a person of faith. It’s life, and everybody has to deal with something. You’re talking about cancers and those things that are much more important than baseball. Spiritually that helped me. I’ve had a lot of people call me and thank me for giving them directions to make it through.” His family said, “Our hearts are broken but we are at peace knowing he is in the arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

In horror movies, the monster is scariest before you actually see it. For one local woman, that principle extended into the interior of her home. Washington County Sherriff’s Office responded to a 911 call from a woman who reported hearing a burglar locked in her bathroom. She saw shadows shifting under the door, and after officers appeared on scene, they heard a persistent rustling under the same door.

So, after issuing several commands to come out, and having brought in a K-9 unit for backup, they finally opened the door. "With guns drawn, deputies open the door to encounter the suspect … an automated robot vacuum," the sheriff's office said. “We entered the bathroom and saw a very thorough vacuuming job being done by a Roomba vacuum cleaner," Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Rogers said.

The suspect was not taken into custody, however its likely to be sentenced to several months of continuous domestic servitude.

Potential Preaching Angles: In the eyes of God, the things we are afraid of are insignificant. Fears don't just make us scared, they can inhibit us from living out our calling. God commands us not to be afraid because nothing exists outside of God's control and God's enemies are impotent in comparison.

Whereas the conventional wisdom calls for killing your neighbors with kindness, resident Bryan Stewart took the idea to its literal extreme.

According to the Pensacola News-Journal, Stewart was approached by neighbors about unpleasant yelling and other noises emanating from his home. Stewart responded by exiting the house with his hand in a strike position, wielding a machete with the word “kindness” scrawled across. One of the neighbors stepped in to block the oncoming blow, and in the ensuing fracas, suffered a cut on his left hand.

Police eventually responded and arrested Stewart, who was booked on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon without the intent to kill.

Potential Preaching Angle:

Kindness, rather than a weapon to be wielded literally or figuratively, is the default posture we are to have if we want our enemies to become our friends.

When farmer Bruce Grubb saw what he perceived to be a potential threat to the people and animals on his farm, he acted decisively. Only in hindsight did he realize his fears were unfounded.

Police in the area received a frantic call from Grubbs, explaining that there was a tiger on the loose on his property, which he noticed on his way to check on his pregnant cows. "I got the fright of my life," Bruce Grubb said, adding later: "I was worried it was going to eat all my cows before police managed to shoot it."

Grubbs call prompted authorities to send armed officers, also checking in with a local wildlife agency to ensure there had been no recent tiger escapes. After a 45-minute standoff, officers realized that the life-size tiger was, in fact, stuffed. They later returned with the tiger in tow, to be used as a workplace mascot.

Besides enduring some teasing on social media, the farmer took the episode in stride. "I drove up to it with my truck, and that's when I knew it was a toy," said Grubbs. "I feel a bit silly for calling the police, but I thought it was a real emergency."

Police inspector George Gordiner gave a gracious final word: "Our ultimate aim is to protect the public and keep our officers safe when faced with uncertain situations. Until you know exactly what you are dealing with, every option has to be considered … we appreciate that it was a false call made with genuine good intent."

Potential Preaching Angles: Don't be fooled about who or what your true enemy is. The enemy of our souls has no power over us. Don't be fooled by false teachers with illusions of authority.