{"id":33377,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/stockholm-syndrome\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"stockholm-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/stockholm-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stockholm Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/18779.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">For 21 years, elder Ted Childress was a member of the\nFederal Bureau of Investigation, specially trained as a hostage negotiator.\nHe&#8217;s lectured on this topic to the members of the Bureau and to other groups as\nwell. I&#8217;ve asked him to give the introduction to my message on the Stockholm\nSyndrome.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> &#8220;The\nStockholm Syndrome first occurred in 1973 at an attempted bank robbery in\nStockholm, Sweden. A man tried to rob a bank, and the police caught him. He\ntook three female hostages and one male hostage and held them for 131 hours.\nDuring this time he terrorized them, firing his Russian automatic assault\nweapon at them and threatening to kill them. He put nooses around their necks\nand threatened to hang them, but when it was all over, he hadn&#8217;t harmed any of\nthem. When he finally surrendered, something unusual happened. We expected the\nhostages to be antagonistic toward the hostage taker. Instead, they said they\nfeared the police more than the hostage taker. They also said they didn&#8217;t hate\nthe hostage taker. They refused to testify against him. One of the ladies\nactually became engaged to him. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;The FBI has analyzed thousands\nof hostage situations since that time. We found this happens frequently. So we\nasked psychologists, &#8216;What happened? What causes this?&#8217; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;They said in hostage situations, with a high level of\nlife&#8209;threatening stress and positive human interaction, people&#8217;s ego&#8209;defensive\nmechanisms come into play. They deny what is happening and regress to a\ndifferent emotional state. The hostage will eventually begin to transfer his\nhatred&#8212;<em>This guy doesn&#8217;t really want to\nhurt me<\/em>&#8212;and begins to hate the policemen. Something else begins to happen;\na love relationship forms. This love relationship is like that between a child\nand its mother. The mother protects the child from the terrifying world and\nprovides all its needs. This love relationship occurs both ways.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;One of the most outstanding examples occurred in\nHolland in the seventies. A group of terrorists captured a whole trainload of\npeople. They made demands on the Dutch government. The Dutch government did not\ncome through, so they began to murder people. They murdered two on the first\nday, and the second day, they selected a man by the name of Garrard Votters.\nThey brought him out and said, &#8216;Say your prayers. You&#8217;re going to die.&#8217; He\nsaid, &#8216;Okay, but before I die, there&#8217;s a man here that knows my family. I&#8217;d like\nto give him a message.&#8217; Of course the South Moluccans wanted to listen in. He\nsaid, &#8216;I feel my life has been a failure.&#8217; He wanted to tell his wife he was\nsorry. He went on and on about his problems. He became a real human being\ninstead of just a symbol to be executed. The Moluccans were unable to execute\nhim. I&#8217;ve seen it happen many times.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Thank you, Ted.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> Sue\nwent off to college last fall. She was active in her church. She came from a\nstrong Christian home. As soon as she got there, she was rushed by the\nsororities because she was an attractive, talented girl. After she pledged one\nof the best sororities, some of the fellows began to date her. The\nextracurricular activities and sports and parties caught her attention, and for\nthe fall term she was completely swept away by the university environment.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Her father and her pastor had recommended a church near\nthe university and she went the first Sunday, but never went back again. She\nfound life was one great whirl. The Christmas holidays came along, and Sue\nreturned home. She had changed. She was indifferent toward her parents. She\nspent hours on the phone with her university friends in different parts of the\ncountry. She did make a reluctant appearance in church on Christmas Sunday, but\nshe yawned at her rather unsophisticated friends. By the time her first year of\ncollege was over, Sue was a different person. She had been taken hostage by the\nworld.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> Jim,\na Christian businessman, did well at the company he worked for and finally\ndecided to hive off on his own. The situation was opportune, and his business\nbegan to take off. He began to make money and get caught up in it. He threw\nhimself into it with increased vigor&#8212;12 and 14 hours a day. He had to drop the\nSunday school class he&#8217;d been teaching because he didn&#8217;t have time to prepare.\nHe wanted to be conscientious, he said. Then he found he could only make it to\nSunday morning worship service, and after several months he wasn&#8217;t very\nfaithful in that. His business made many demands on him, and often he had to\nplay golf with friends on Sunday or go out of town.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Soon things began to change at home. His attitude\ntoward his wife and children became indifferent, and he had less time to spend\nwith them. His wife remonstrated him, and he got angry and bitter at her. When\nshe talked about going to church, he was critical of the church and then didn&#8217;t\ngo at all. When his wife again remonstrated gently, he said, &#8220;Oh, they&#8217;re a\nbunch of hypocrites. They don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on in the world. I haven&#8217;t\ngot anything I can learn there.&#8221; Jim had been taken hostage by the world.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\nThere&#8217;s a story about a man like that in the Bible. When Paul was in Rome and\nin prison the first time, he wrote several books. He mentioned that one of the\nmen helping him there was Demas. He sent greetings from Demas to all his\nfriends back in what we now call Turkey. Then Paul was released from prison,\nand we assume Demas and the others were part of his team as they traveled.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In his second imprisonment, Paul wrote several books as\nwell, the last of which was his letter to Timothy, one of Demas&#8217;s peers. In the\nlast chapter of 2 Timothy&#8212;the last paragraph that Paul ever wrote as far as we\nknow&#8212;there is one tragic sentence: &#8220;Demas has forsaken me, having loved this\npresent world.&#8221; He was taken captive,\ntaken hostage, and lost to the cause of Christ.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A great tragedy is taking place in the evangelical\nchurch today. Our numbers are legion and we&#8217;re a large minority in American\nculture. But the Stockholm Syndrome has crept into the church and altered many\nChristians&#8217; viewpoints on reality. We&#8217;ve begun to believe a lie. We believe our\nenemies are actually our friends, and our former friends are our enemies. The\nloyalty we once gave to God we now give the world.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Let&#8217;s look at the spiritual Stockholm Syndrome that\ngrips much of the church today in the light of our text, because that&#8217;s what\nthe old apostle John is talking about. He said, &#8220;My little children&#8221; was\ngiving them a serious warning out of the richness of his experience &#8220;love not\nthe world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.&#8221;\nThe world is your enemy, not your friend. Don&#8217;t love it. The tragedy of the\nStockholm Syndrome is that hostages&#8217; fear is gradually replaced with a love for\nthe very enemy that enslaves them and may well kill them. &#8220;The world is passing\naway,&#8221; John says. &#8220;Only he that does the will of God abides forever.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The first question to ask in\nloving not the world is: Who are our enemies today?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>I want to ask and answer four questions about the\nStockholm Syndrome and loving not the world. The first is: Who are our enemies\ntoday? <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Years ago, Dwight L. Moody, the great evangelist, said,\n&#8220;We have three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. And we have three\nfriends: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Do you know what the Bible says about the Devil? First,\nit says the Devil is real. There&#8217;s a Devil, just as there is a God. Secondly,\nhe said he&#8217;s the god of this world; this world has been ceded to the Devil as\nhis area of sovereignty under the sovereignty of God until Christ returns. So\nin Ephesians 1, Paul says when we&#8217;re converted, we are translated out of the\nkingdom of the world&#8212;the kingdom of the Evil One&#8212;into the kingdom of God&#8217;s beloved\nson. Everyone born into this world system and living under it, apart from the\nredeeming grace of God, is under the sovereignty of Satan. John says in the\nthird chapter of his little letter, &#8220;The whole world lies in the Wicked One.&#8221;\nThat&#8217;s aptly paraphrased in the Living Bible: &#8220;The whole world is under the\ndomination of Satan.&#8221; There&#8217;s no other explanation for the progressive\nproliferation of evil. The world is our enemy. So Paul categorizes all non&#8209;Christian\nmen in Ephesians 2:2 as obeying the prince of the power of the air. People\noutside of Christ are obeying the Devil in what they do.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>Jesus said the Devil is disguised like an angel of light.\nHe&#8217;s deceptive, and he&#8217;s our enemy. The world is his sphere of sovereignty.\nHe&#8217;s talking about the world here in the same way Jesus talked about it in John\n3:16. It&#8217;s this conglomeration of created men, who apart from Christ are\nfollowing their own selfish desires and ambitions. Paul says, &#8220;Don&#8217;t love this\nworld of men that have corrupted themselves in their society. If you love this\nworld, the love of the Father is not in you.&#8221; <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Why do Christians succumb to this spiritual Stockholm\nSyndrome? If you&#8217;re reared in non&#8209;Christian surroundings, you&#8217;re alien to\nGod. God is not God, the Bible is not authoritative, sin is not even sin to\nyou. Perhaps the church and Jesus Christ are your enemies. I read of a\nuniversity professor who observed rather sagaciously (according to his own\nopinion) that the Christian movement is the greatest tragedy of history. A lot\nof people agree, though they&#8217;d never say it. Why? Because the Christian\nmovement and the Word of God are threats to a worldly lifestyle. It&#8217;s a threat\nto what John talks about here: &#8220;the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye\nand the pride of life.&#8221; It&#8217;s a threat to total devotion to selfish indulgence.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The second question to ask\nis: Why do Christians succumb to worldliness?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">So, why do Christians succumb? Let me suggest four\nthings. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">First, Christians succumb to naivete. A lot of\nChristians, particularly those born in the Christian culture of the Old\nSouth, have a naive view of the world. They think the world is an attractive\nplace. Sue, when she went to college, suddenly burst into the world, and it was\nall glamor to her, all sequins and spangles and music. A lot of Christians are\nnaive about the world until they come to a tragic crisis, often too late.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The world looks good because Satan makes it look that\nway. He came to Adam and Eve in the garden and said, &#8220;Why don&#8217;t you eat of that\nbeautiful tree?&#8221; He made sin attractive. They succumbed to it like many\nChristians do today&#8212;the world isn&#8217;t evil; sin isn&#8217;t  and sex and\nalcohol and &#8216;re just missing out on life. We&#8217;re naive about what&#8217;s\nthere.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Secondly, Christians succumb to the Spiritual Stockholm\nSyndrome because of spiritual laxity. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> A\npastor had a tour group going to the Holy Land who was forced to land in Athens\nthree days after TWA 847 was hijacked. America had invoked sanctions against\nGreece because of the laxity of their security. Three days later this pastor\nsaid, &#8220;The security in Athens wasn&#8217;t any better then. There were a lot of\nsoldiers standing around. Their weapons were often lying on the ground. They\nwere lax when we went through the security control.&#8221; A worldwide tragedy, and\nthey were lax in their security. They&#8217;re just like Christians, aren&#8217;t they?\nThey&#8217;re just like the church so often. We&#8217;re lax in our security. We&#8217;ve failed\nto realize that we&#8217;re in danger. Paul says, &#8220;Take heed lest you fall.&#8221; Don&#8217;t be\nlax in your security against evil. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A third reason that Christians succumb to the spiritual\nStockholm Syndrome is ignorance of Satan&#8217;s devices. Paul says, &#8221; Don&#8217;t be\nignorant of those devices&#8221; (1 Cor. 2).\nSatan does not approach us as a devil with horns. He approaches as the angel of\nlight more often than not. He approaches us through seductive attractions. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The fourth reason Christians succumb to this syndrome\nis simply spiritual immaturity and lack of Christian conviction. A lot of\nChristians don&#8217;t have a conviction that sin is sin, that worldliness is\nensnaring, that the Devil is alive. They&#8217;re immature to the degree that they\ndon&#8217;t recognize when the appeal and temptation come: when John says, &#8220;Love not\nthe world,&#8221; they think John&#8217;s a deceived old man. The world is attractive,\nbeautiful, satisfying, fulfilling, and good. We lack conviction about the\nexistence of evil in the world. John says, &#8220;My dear little children, beware the\nspiritual Stockholm Syndrome. Love not the world, neither the things that are\nin the world.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The third question to ask\nis: How are Christians deceived and enslaved?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The third question is: How are Christians deceived and\nenslaved? John says, &#8220;The things that are in the world are these: the lust of\nthe flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.&#8221; The word <em>lust<\/em> is powerful, and it&#8217;s not a\nmistranslation there. But it&#8217;s a far more embracing and inclusive word than we\ntend to think. It doesn&#8217;t have to refer to some gross drunkard lying in the\ngutters, given over to satiation with whiskey. It doesn&#8217;t have to refer to some\nfoul adulterer. It can be attractive. A better translation in our culture is\nthis: any inordinate desire of the flesh; any inordinate desire of the eye; any\ninordinate pride of life. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">How does this happen? How do Christians get trapped?\nFirst, because we&#8217;re immersed in the culture of our affluent, materialistic,\nsecular society. Consequently, we soon lose consciousness of the fact. We are\nso saturated that our guard is down. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> You\nknow the old story of how to boil a frog. You don&#8217;t just put him in a pot of\nboiling &#8216;ll jump out before he&#8217;s injured. So you put him in a pot of\ncold water, and he&#8217;s perfectly comfortable. Then you put him on the stove, and\nlittle by little the water gets warm. It&#8217;s pleasant at first. Then it gets to\nJacuzzi level, and he becomes a little alarmed. Finally, when it&#8217;s boiling,\nit&#8217;s too late. We Christians are like that, aren&#8217;t we? We find the world so\npleasant at first. Then it gets a little warmer, and it&#8217;s pleasanter yet.\nHere&#8217;s Sue at the university and Jim in business for himself. One day we wake\nup and realize the danger: &#8220;This is going to kill me, and I haven&#8217;t the\nstrength to get out!&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The second thing that happens in this culture is\nbrainwashing. Take ads: they try to brainwash you to believe if you use the\nright deodorant and the right shampoo, if you wear the right jeans and drink\nthe right beer that life will be glorious. You&#8217;re being brainwashed that\nhappiness, joy, and fulfillment are going to come of what you have on your face\nor in your stomach. Now, that&#8217;s a lie if there ever was one! Some of the most\nmiserable people in the world and some of the most prominent suicides&#8212;take\nMarilyn Monroe for example&#8212;are people who had it all. They wore the right jeans\nand deodorant and perfume and shampoo, yet their lives were tragedies.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We&#8217;re brainwashed by dramas. What do the dramas in the\nmedia tell us? They tell us that extramarital sex is natural; that no two\npeople ever get together without breaking out the drinks; that pot and abortion\nand homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle ought to be legalized. They&#8217;re\ntelling us in a dramatic form (which is far more compelling than most sermons,\nunfortunately) that all these things are good, and kids take it for granted.\nAdults take it for granted when they&#8217;re immersed in a secular culture and their\nguard is down.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The third reason Christians get trapped is that we&#8217;re\nseduced by apparent kindnesses. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Illustration:<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> In\nBeirut one night, the Muslims put on a banquet for the hostages in a luxury\nhotel on the Mediterranean. The people threatening to kill them if the United\nStates didn&#8217;t bow were treating them kindly. So a number of the hostages\nexpressed sympathy for their viewpoints. That&#8217;s a common characteristic of the syndrome.\nWhat do you find happening in the church today? People make apologies for the\nworld. &#8220;Well, the world is good. Don&#8217;t condemn this. Don&#8217;t condemn that. Don&#8217;t\nbe negative.&#8221; What a beautiful phrase that is! How good that makes you feel:\n&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to be a negative Christian.&#8221; Well, you better be negative about\nsin; you better be negative about adultery, and thievery, and lying, and\ndishonesty, and taking God&#8217;s name in vain. The Ten Commandments were not ten\nsuggestions abrogated with the new generation; they&#8217;re God&#8217;s law. We&#8217;re being\nseduced by the apparent kindnesses around us.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Finally, one of the reasons we fall is fear of losing\nour lives. Jesus anticipated this. He said, &#8220;He that seeks his life is going to\nlose it. But he that loses his life for my sake and the Gospel shall find it\nunto life eternal.&#8221; We may lose a little popularity; we may lose a little\nstatus. Some people have lost jobs by remaining true to Jesus Christ. We&#8217;re\ngoing to find life in the  and  experience of life. We don&#8217;t\nlet fear of losing things take us captive. Christians, as a result of these\nthings, adopt their captor&#8217;s viewpoint. You&#8217;ll find Christians taking up for\nthe world. What are we doing? We go over to the enemy&#8217;s side. We sell out to\nthe enemy&#8217;s lifestyle.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Jesus said we&#8217;re in the world but not of it. Most\nChristians today are of it, with it, for it, and love it. We&#8217;ve got to watch\nout.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Christians are to be different. Salt is to purify,\nseason, and change what it touches in the world, not be changed by it. Jesus\nsaid we&#8217;re to be light in the world. He said, &#8220;Don&#8217;t let your light be covered\nby a basket. Christians ought to shine out in the middle of a dark world,&#8221;\nJesus said. People know they&#8217;re there and they&#8217;re different. Beware of the\nStockholm Syndrome.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The fourth question to ask\nis: How can we be liberated from our captivity?<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">How are we going to be liberated from captivity if we\nhave truly been seduced by the spiritual Stockholm Syndrome?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">First, we&#8217;ve got to be redeemed. Remember how the\nprisoners got out of Beirut? The United States made a quiet deal with Israel.\nIn return for those 37 hostages, 800 Muslims were released. They made a deal;\nthey were redeemed. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ redeemed us from all\niniquity that he might purify unto himself a people for his own possession.\nWhen Christ died on the cross, he was buying us out of the enslavement of our\nenemy, that we might become the people of God&#8212;Christians. Have you let Christ\nredeem you out of this world? Or are you still part and parcel of this world\nsystem that Jesus Christ died to save and redeem?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Second, if we have been redeemed, our primary loyalty\nhas got to be to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, &#8220;Nobody can serve two masters. You\nlove the one and hate the other. You can&#8217;t serve the world and God at the same\ntime.&#8221; That&#8217;s why John says, &#8220;Love not\nthe world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.&#8221;\nNow many Christians are trying it, and they&#8217;re failing God. They&#8217;ve been\nseduced, brainwashed, captured, and bound by the system in which we live. The\nsalt has been destroyed, and the light has been covered.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Third, resist the Devil. James said, &#8220;You don&#8217;t play\nwith the Devil,&#8221; like Faust tried to do in Goethe&#8217;s immortal tragedy. You don&#8217;t\nplay chess with the Devil and think you&#8217;ll win. You&#8217;ll lose your soul.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The fourth thing we do is return to our first love,\nJesus Christ. Let&#8217;s say you were one of those 37 hostages from Beirut. Hourly\nyou&#8217;re living in fear. You appeared deserted by your own country. You were threatened\nwith death. One day they told you to be packed up and ready to go to Syria;\nyou&#8217;d be released. You&#8217;re all ready to go, and they said it&#8217;s not going to\nhappen. Finally, you go to Damascus. You see that plane out on the airstrip and\nyou board it. You are still afraid. You remember you were in a plane before,\nand there were terrorists with grenades ready to blow you up. Finally you see\nthe last Lebanese face disappear, the door is shut, and the plane leaves the\nground. How do you feel? Were they saying, &#8220;When are we going to get back to\nBeirut?&#8221; No. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to be home!&#8221; That&#8217;s what they were talking about all\nthe way to Frankfurt.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"subhead\">Conclusion<\/span>\n    <\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Dear friends, the enslavement of the Stockholm Syndrome\nupon a Christian is drastic. We can be deceived and brainwashed, seduced and\nenslaved, and think we&#8217;re happy for a while. But Paul has a trenchant phrase in\nRomans 8:21: &#8220;the glorious liberty of the sons of God in Christ Jesus.&#8221; The world will lull us to sleep with its\ntranquilizing slogans and tempting attractions, but let the glorious liberty of\nJesus Christ be our attraction in this life: freedom from the fear of death;\nfreedom from the bondage to evil habits that enslave us even while we&#8217;re\nconscious of it; freedom from the effects of sin; freedom from futility and\nfrustration. He gives you the freedom to develop your talents, your abilities,\nyour career, your life, and your family, unfettered by hostile influences\nwithin. He grants you freedom from shame and guilt. You don&#8217;t have to run\naround all the time troubled by your conscience, when you know you&#8217;ve disobeyed\nGod.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The glorious liberty of the sons of God is the freedom\nto enjoy pure love and true friends, to breathe the clean air of high values,\nto the see the lofty ideals of Christian faith, and to enjoy the stimulating\nfriendship of Christ and his church and the warm embrace of a truly loving\nfamily where God is first. Enter, Paul says, &#8220;into the glorious liberty.&#8221; The\nsons of God break free from the enslavement of the world.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">John is really saying in these verses, &#8220;You can live\neffectively, successfully, and triumphantly in the world. The trouble comes\nwhen you take the world into you, when you let the things that characterize the\nworld&#8212;the lust of the eye and the flesh and the pride of life&#8212;characterize you.\nYou can live in the world and not be of  you take the world into your\nown heart.&#8221; Then you&#8217;re sunk. You&#8217;ve got to put it out this morning. Break\nclean. Come out into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Donald Hoke has pastored\nfour churches in his lifetime, has served as a career missionary, and has\nwritten several books on missions. He currently resides in Fort Myers, Florida. <\/span>\n      <\/em>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\"> Donald Hoke<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"subhead\">Preaching Today<\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"subhead\"> Tape # 30<\/span>\n    <\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/span>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A resource of Christianity\nToday International<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n\n\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">For Additional <em>Preaching Today<\/em> Resources:<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">www.preachingtod<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">a<\/a>y.com<\/span>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Perfect\nweb site for pastors! Get \nsermon illustrations, relevant articles, preaching tips, and more!<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodayAudio.com<\/span>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\naudio library of today&#8217;s finest sermons and workshops. Listen to streaming\naudio, download MP3 files, or order CDs.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">store.yahoo.co<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">m<\/a>\/cti<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">\/<\/a><a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">p<\/a>react<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">o<\/a>dbact.html<\/span>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Listen to the best in preaching on convenient\ncassettes &#8212; each classic <em>Preaching Today<\/em>\naudiotape has 2 sermons and a workshop on a variety of topics!<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">store.yahoo.com\/<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">c<\/a>ti\/pr<a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">e<\/a>actodansu.html<\/span>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Order\nthe newest <em>Preaching Today<\/em> audiotapes\n&#8212; a new one delivered to your door every month!<\/span>\n    <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[306],"tax_ctp_authors":[1425],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[4435,4883,4900,5302],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33377","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-donald-hoke","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-materialism","tax_ctp_tags-satan","tax_ctp_tags-secularism","tax_ctp_tags-worldliness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Stockholm Syndrome - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/stockholm-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Stockholm Syndrome - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For 21 years, elder Ted Childress was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, specially trained as a hostage negotiator. 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