Scare Tactics

What this episode covers

I love a good psychological thriller like The Sixth Sense and The Quiet Place. Something that makes my heart race and my palms sweat. For most of these movies the key factor is the slow build up of our anticipation. While many of us find these kind of movies entertaining, we would hate to face them in real life. That’s what the FX show Scare Tactics tried to do. It aired for five seasons between 2003 and 2013. The premise was essentially a smashup of a psychological thriller with a hidden camera prank show. Someone would set up a close friend who is then faced with a terrifying situation. As Nehemiah and his volunteers near the end of their work, the external opposition raises their heads above the wall again, attempting to disrupt it. In each scene of this passage there is an attempt to strike fear into the heart of Nehemiah in order to get him to stop the work. The enemies of God are persistent in their efforts to destroy the kingdom of God through deception. The perseverance of the saints involves the consistent dismissal of the enemies scare tactics. Read Nehemiah 6:1-14. False Intentions (1-4) Everything except the doors in the gates has been completed. All the breaches of the wall have been closed in. Only the final touches remain. Nehemiah’s enemies had failed to put a stop to the work, so now they seek to neutralize him. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were persistent in their opposition. Previously, we have seen them employing mockery, anger, and threats of war to put an end to the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Now they keep their harmful intentions hidden, but Nehemiah can see that they’re up to no good. Four times they sent the same request asking for a meeting in Ono, a walled city located twenty-seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. Ono was at the uppermost tip of the border of Judah and Samaria, where Sanballat governed. Some believe it was within Judah’s precincts, while others believe it was in a neutral territory between Ashdod and Samaria. Regardless, it seems the purpose was to lure Nehemiah away from the protection of Jerusalem into a region more hostile to his presence (Fensham). In addition, it would have taken Nehemiah away from his work for several days. At this crucial juncture in the project, he did not have time to spare for undefined meetings. Each time Nehemiah rejected their request because of the “great work” that he did not want to leave. The finishing touches at the end of a long project are oftentimes the hardest to complete. I’ll speak for myself here. The flooring in our home is installed, but the baseboards are still at Lowe’s. We completely redesigned the backyard sprinkler system, but the sprinkler wires are still dangling loosely from the ceiling. It is when the bulk of the project is done that my energy seems to be the most drained. After putting in so many long hours of manual labor, I can’t find the time to put in another second. This also happens to be when my will power is at its weakest point. I simply don’t have the desire to pick up the tools. If Nehemiah is anything like me, then this temptation to “stop the work” and go to an important leadership meeting seems to arrive at the best possible moment. A break would certainly be justified. Perseverance will involve consistently guarding against the schemes of the evil one. We cannot be sidetracked from the “great work” God has called us to accomplish. But we also need to realize that perseverance won’t look the same for everyone. There are a seemingly infinite number of ways in which the enemy can distract us, but the tactic that is highlighted here is the dripping faucet approach. Repetitive bumper sticker slogans become so ubiquitous that the vast majority of people think resistance is futile. This can happen on a small or large scale. The later approach has been taken by government authorities around the world for almost two years now. Do I even need to mention the kinds

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.