Creflo Dollar - Eliminating the Bondage of Fear
If you'll go back to our New Year's Eve message, I prophesied that there was gonna be an event that would take place that would show us clarity and where we all stood. And as I go through these Scriptures, my objective today, I'm teaching from this book I wrote, "Overcoming Fear: Eliminating the Bondage of Fear", and I'm gonna share with you some of the things that, you know, it's one thing to be dealing with the virus. It's another thing to be dealing with angry people at the grocery store, people surrounding the gun stores to get ammo, and while all that's been going on, there has been an invasion of locusts in Iran and Kenya so thick you can't even see, eating up all the crops.
Somebody say, "What you got to say about that"? "Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly". But we're gonna get in the Word because the way you combat fear is through the promises and the faith that you have in the Word of God. Either you believe it or you don't, amen? I choose to answer for you: "I believe it". Let's begin and I'll let these Scriptures speak for me. Let's begin in Romans chapter 8, verse 15, and we're talking about uprooting this epidemic of fear. Uprooting the epidemic of fear. When you announce a pandemic, you also create an epidemic of fear. And there is a domino effect that takes place when people are terrorized by fear.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 15. Let's read it out loud together. Ready, read, "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby you cry, Abba, Father". So according to this Scripture, there are a few things to note about fear. First of all, it's something that has to be received from the outside. Fear is something that's gotta be received from the outside, which means it is not a characteristic of our reborn spirit. It's something that comes from the outside. Fear is not something that's gonna come from within you. It comes from something on the outside of you.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1 and 7. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and 7. We're gonna break down the anatomy of fear. Now, notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and 7: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear". So notice, fear does not come from God. I said fear does not come from God. I said fear does not come from God. And yet the whole world is inundated with the spirit of fear and it didn't come from God. So God does not want the blame. Don't blame God for the fear, fear doesn't come from God.
Now, if fear doesn't come from God, where does it come from? Well, let's get plain, it comes from the devil. Fear is of the devil, Satan is fear. He said, "God has not given you the spirit of fear". That spirit is Satan. Satan is fear. And he has to have it to operate and dominate and bring about bondage in the earth. Notice, the Scripture makes it very clear that when fear shows up it brings with it bondage. And it doesn't matter, listen, somebody says, "Well, a little fear won't hurt you". That's just like saying a little murder won't hurt you. A little adultery is all right; that won't hurt you. No, we must not tolerate fear in any degree or any capacity. You must not tolerate fear. Are you listening to me?
"God hadn't given us the spirit of fear but he gave us", what? Power. He gave us what? He gave us what? With which we are to govern our lives. We govern our lives by a sound mind, by love. We do not govern our lives by fear. Fear should not be the governance of your life. So, it's something we have to receive from the outside in. So what does it mean to be in bondage then? Well, if you just picked up just even a Webster's Dictionary, it would define bondage as, listen to this, the condition of being involuntarily subject to a power, a force, or an influence. To be in bondage, it means being involuntarily subject to a power, to a force, or to an influence. And this is exactly what happens when you yield to fear. Fear shows up and then when you yield to it, then you're open to that bondage.
Now look at Hebrews chapter 2:15 and look what it talks about this. It's not okay to walk in fear. Fear is not okay. The worldly therapists and people will tell you one thing. Please understand, let's get this straight. You are in this world but you are not of the world. You are in the world but you are not of the world. You don't just accept fear to be okay. You are believers. You know what that makes us? We are holy. You know what it means to be holy? It means not to be common with the world. While they're in fear, you're in faith. While they're in bondage, you're in liberty. While they're in some bad attitude, you've got a good one.
This is now a perfect time to see where you stand. I am holy. I will not subject myself to fear of any kind. Why? Because that's what worldly people do. I'm in the world but I don't operate like y'all. I don't act like y'all. I operate like what the Word says. Hebrews 2:15: "And deliver them who through fear of death", notice what happened, "they were all their lifetime subject to bondage". All their lifetime subject to bondage. People get into bondage to all kinds of things that stem from fear. Whether it's the fear of people's opinion or the fear of flying or the fear that is designed to attack people's minds, subjecting those people to negative power of the devil.
It's important to remember that any kind of fear, regardless of how insignificant you think it is, it will put you in bondage. Regardless of how insignificant you think it is, fear of any kind will put you in bondage. All you gotta do is look around. If you went to the store and tried to get bread, you know what I'm talking about is true. If you understand that, say, "Amen". Now, I want you to go to 1 John chapter 4:18. This is interesting. Because when fear is present, Satan now has a platform to try to cause torment. And I am saying to you, "Don't accept the torment". Don't accept the torment.
Now notice what it says here. 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear". Why? "Because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love". Fear has torment. I've been talking to people all over the world. Some of have been in prison and there's nothing wrong with them. It's tormenting. It's tormenting people. It has torment. "Yeah, but still you got to obey what they're saying". I can wash my hands without having to wash my hands in fear. I can say to people, "Excuse me if I don't shake hands", without having to do it in fear. But when you do what you do in fear and motivated by fear and because of fear, there's torment there.
I mean, if you just remove this particular virus away, the first thing I'm gonna do is tell you, "Oh, I didn't start doing this before the virus came. If you showed around me, sneezing, I'm like, 'Whoa, I don't want those germs'". Just act the same way. "Oh no, I don't want those germs". See, because to me, I gotta trust God because even if I try to follow the whole protocol, I'm gonna get tormented for that because when I go to store I dunno who touched the milk before I touched the milk. When I get the buggy, I don't know who touched the buggy or did they forget to wipe this buggy off or when I went and smelled the flowers and, "Oh, that's a pretty flower", did somebody breathe on the flower before I touched the flower?
I don't know who sat where I sat. I don't know who went where I went. It'll drive you crazy. I can't do that. I gotta trust Jesus. As holy people, I'm uncommon with what you're going through. I'm not insensitive to what you're going through, but that's not me. I am a believer. You ain't got no big fear that, you know, when you come round, folks say, "Achoo", you go, "Ohhh Lord". Y'all pray for me. Y'all pray for me. I got up this morning and I'm ready to bust the devil wide open. I'm ready, and the way you do that is you expose him with the light of God's Word. Worldly folks are not thinking like this, but those of us who are of Christ and those of us who know the promises of God are thinking, "We can't let this slip".
The devil been trying to kill folks for a long time: Ebola, bird's flu. Yeah, he been trying to kill for a long time. We've always had to stand. The devil's always trying to kill, steal, and destroy. I got to trust God. I gotta trust God. I can't be just going stupid and be in torment. I've gotta trust God. I will not accept the torment. I'm not gonna do that. "Well, you know, Creflo Dollar, he's a little, you know, off a little bit anyway". Say what you say. You can call me Batman if you want to. You throw a ball, I'm gonna hit it and knock a home run, praise God. Say what you say. I believe God. Through meningitis, I believed God. Through cancer, I believed God. Going around the world in all kinds of situations, some of 'em epidemic, I had to believe God. Hugging a man who had leprosy, I had to believe God.
There's something about a Christian that can believe in his God that if sickness or disease were to touch your body, it dies instantly because you are a carrier of his glory. You are a carrier of his power. You gotta speak for yourself. I'm convinced. I'm persuaded. 1 John 4:18: "There is no fear in love", right? "Perfect love will cast it out: because fear has torment". Think of that. Fear has torment. Fear has torment. Sometimes it amazes me how we put up with different things in our immediate world, but when it comes to the harassment of the devil, we sit idly by while he takes us for a ride.
For example, if there was sexual harassment going on in your workplace, you won't tolerate that, or somebody threatening your family, you wouldn't tolerate somebody threatening to bring harm to your loved ones. But if you have ever been in either one of these situations, you know how quick we are to speak out and to take action when such behavior appears in our lives. But somehow, we tend to be less aggressive and less proactive when Satan brings fear to our doorstep. This gotta change. And like Jesus, we must open our mouths and declare what is written in the Word. Open your mouth and declare what's written in the Word.
As Christians, we are in a battle. It's a battle for your mind. It's a battle for your mind. Satan knows that if he can infiltrate a person's mind with fear, he can control his or her life and that's what's happening right now. If I can get you to walk in fear, I can control you. If I can get you to walk in fear, I'll control you and snatch your liberty away from you. And all I got to do is get you to walk in fear. Look at Isaiah chapter 54, verse 14. It's a battle for your mind. Who's got your mind? If I can get your mind and get you to submit to fear, I can control you. Look at what's happening around the world. Being controlled by fear. Being controlled by fear.
Look at Isaiah 54:14: "In righteousness shall thou be established". Boy, that's a promise. Somebody shout, "I'm the righteousness of God". Say out loud, "I'm established in righteousness". Not because of what I do but because of what Jesus has done, I am established in righteousness. So how many of you agree that now that you're born again, you are established in righteousness? All right, now look at the promise. For those of you who are established in righteousness and you believe it, "Thou shall be far from oppression". Well, why are you gonna be far from oppression? 'Cause you're not gonna fear. When you're established in righteousness, you don't fear. "You're far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and you're far from terror".
Fear brings terror, and when you don't fear, you're far from terror; "for it shall not come near you". It shall not come near you. The oppression and the terror, it shall not come near you. Why? Because you will not fear. Now, if you flip that over, when you fear, you give way for terror and oppression to come your way. And you'll also begin to doubt your righteousness. I'm established in righteousness. I will not fear. Therefore, terror and oppression shall not come near you. Do you understand that? It can't come near me. Somebody say, "How"? I'm the righteousness of God. I've had to stand on my righteousness all these years. I'm the righteousness of God. It can't come near me.
Imagine you opening your mouth up and establishing that over your life today. "Father, I give you praise. I'm getting ready to walk out this house as the righteousness of God. I will not fear, therefore oppression and terror shall not come near me". Glory be to God. This is a answer and a promise to every believer who has ever battled fear of any kind. It is a promise from heaven that you can stand on. I mean, tell you now, I was looking at the book, I said, "It is so relevant for right now, today". Now, go with me to the book of Job chapter 3 and 25. We do not have to be subject to fear. Say out loud, "I do not have to be subject to fear". In fact, the choice is entirely up to you. Just 'cause fear is present you don't have to be subject to it. The choice is entirely up to you.
While fear and terror may be on the rise in the world and may even try to come against us, they are powerless against persons who has confidence in God's Word. And it keeps it at the forefront of his or her thinking at all times when you get the Word of God and you keep it at the forefront of your thinking at all time, then fear is powerless against you. Then it's not what you're thinking about. It's not what you're focused in on. Whatever you give your attention to is what will become a large part of your life. It becomes large. It becomes big in your life. What are you attending to the most? It becomes big in your life.
Listen, if you keep going home every day and spending five hours a day listen to the news, talk about the virus, that's gonna become big in your life. And it's gonna start terrorizing you. It's gonna become big in your life, all right? So you know about it, you understand it, praise the Lord. But does that mean, "Let me get the latest update". Do you hear what I'm saying? If you allow fear to dominate your thinking by giving attention to your fears, those things will actually increase in your mind and in your heart. If you never counteract those negative thoughts and feelings with the Word of God, they will begin to frame the way you see things and, ultimately, begin attracting the very thing you are afraid of. They will keep you in bondage and torment you day and night, and fear is an absolute disruption of the peace of God.
Desires for every Christian who walks in this peace, fear wants to disrupt it. It wants to cancel the peace in your life. So we have to make a decision to keep our minds focused on what God says all the time. So your spiritual battle is I've heard clearly what they say. Now I'm gonna go and focus on what God says. 'Cause if you don't, you... listen, some of you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you will just find you ain't even coming out the house. And fear will introduce new fears. I got a fear of the epidemic, now I got a fear if I'm gonna be able to pay my bills, and I got a fear that, you know, I'm not gonna be able to have money to do this.
Now I got a fear of, you know, this and then another fear coming up and then I gotta go get me some bullets 'cause I'm fearing people are gonna come in and I gotta go into self-preservation which is based in fear and then I move from self-preservation based in fear to now I'm worried about is, you know, God said he'll take care of me, "I'll supply all your needs according to your riches in glory", but then fear says to doubt that. Fear says, "Don't believe that. Do you really believe God gonna take care of you"? And you're going through all of this and you ain't even left the house. And besides all of that, one of the greatest ways to lower your immunity is to start worrying and get stressed out. Wake up.
Look at Job 3:25: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me". Job even knew, "I gotta stay away from fear", 'cause fear is the faith of the devil. Fear is the faith of the devil. Fear tolerated will contaminate your faith. And he said, "The thing I was greatly feared, that's what's come upon me. And that, the thing that I'm afraid of, man, I see it right now". I remember when I had this fear of my wife going out alone. We had just moved to New York and she's catching cabs and I'm, like, "Where are you"? "Oh, I just took a cab and I just went down to Macy's", and I'm, like, freaking out, like, I'm not with you. Like, I can protect her more than God. And my wife ain't never been that kind of folks to announce, "I'm doing this", and follow. It's like, "I'm there". "Where you at"?
And I remember that day specifically. The Lord spoke to me. He says, "If you don't get your fear under control concerning your wife, you may one day have to accept some of the responsibility for what happens in her life". And I said, "Lord, forgive me". And from that point on, I'm like, "Uh-uh". And every time I'd sense it coming on me, I'd fight against it. How did I fight against it? I opened my mouth and I'd say, "The angels of God watch over my wife, and God loves her much more than I do, praise God. So she's in good hands. Praise the Lord". And I'd have to speak to myself to let that fear know you cannot enter in and have place in my thinking, all is well.
Well, that came from a fear of a relative of mine who went to get some stuff from the store and never came back, and ended up dead in the trunk of a car. I never dealt with that. And you have to deal with those things in your life that continue to be, you know, something that will propel fear in your life. It's not okay. I had to come to the place and say, "It is not okay". I'm not dealing with it from a therapeutics sense. "Well, you know, everybody has a little fear, har, har, har". It ain't okay. It ain't okay. I'm a believer. It's not okay. I know more than the world knows so I'm not gonna do that. Well, I got a fear of getting on the elevator at the Peachtree Plaza when they first built it and there was an elevator on the outside. I'm like, I ain't getting on that thing.
And I decided, that's a fear. I'm gonna have to deal with that. If I don't deal with that little seed of fear, it'll come back and deal with me. I had to get on the elevator and I stood as close to the window as I possibly could. And I'm like, uh-uh, I will not do it. And I'm fine now, but I had to deal with that fear. I had a fear of flying so I took pilot lessons. And in the first course of pilot lessons, you have to do a stall. That's when you take a 172 up, and then you do a stall and hold the nose up as far as it come, and then the engine goes off. Some of y'all say, "Hallelujah". And then that thing fly and instructor the whole time says, "Trust the laws, trust the laws". And I say, "Come on, Jesus. Come on, Jesus. Come on, Jesus".
Then it is just say, and I say, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus". But I have to deal with every seed of fear or it will grow and deal with me. Fear is not okay. Say that out loud, "Fear is not okay". A fear-filled mind will believe the ideas and the lies of the enemy. And when people try to put fear in you through their actions or their words, show Satan you mean business by refusing to move from your stance on God's Word. Fear calls comes up, you stand on God's Word. Fear comes up, you quote, you say out loud God's Word. You stand on it no matter what. So, that means you're gonna watch your words, amen. When you're fighting fear, watch your words.
Look at Proverbs 18:21. Now, we've taught from Proverbs 18:21 that before you are concerned about saying the right words, make sure you believe what Jesus has already done. They believed, and they also spoke. We believe, and we also speak. And so, our speaking comes from what we believe. We believe in Jesus, and we believe in the finished works of Jesus Christ. What does he say here? He says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof".
So, the worst thing you can do in a pressure situation where fear-filled emotions are trying to overwhelm you, the worst thing you can do is to speak negatively and agree with the fear you feel on the inside of you. That's the worst thing you could do. I guarantee you the number-one conversation in the world today is, "What do you think about that virus? What do you think about everything that's going on"? And I'm talking about, what do you think about how fear is tricking everybody? And what are the consequences for operating in the ignorance of fear and not understanding what happens when you become the source of promoting fear? I understand information, but what happens when you become the source of promoting fear? What are the consequences? What are the domino effect when you look up one day and the virus is all gone, but now there's an epidemic of fear? How do you deal with that?
"Well, I don't know if I believe". Well, you better hurry up and figure it out because this thing is becoming very, very simple. God or Satan, heaven or hell? And you going around talking about what you believe and what you don't believe. I tell you what, you keep walking in that fear and let something get you and then you die, your whole doctrine gonna change. This is a serious time right now. Locusts invading the earth, crops being ate up, epidemic worldwide, fear. Satan's just laughing. I finally got a platform to execute whatever I want to execute on the planet because they're ignorant of my operation, and Christian people can't be ignorant. You are the righteousness of God. You have a covenant of God.
Proverbs chapter 4:23, look at this. Guard your mind. Guard your mind. Why? Verse 23 says, "Keep", that word "keep" means guard. "Keep your heart with all diligence", why? "For out of it are the issues of life". The issue of life, the issues of your life. Another translation says the forces of your life. So, it says guard your heart, for out of your heart comes the issues of life. Your issues come out of your heart. So, if you're gonna guard your heart, you gotta guard your eye gate, your ear gate, and your mouth gate. Whatever gets in your heart comes through your eyes, your ears, and your mouth. What are you watching? What are you hearing? What are you saying? Has the potential of entering into your heart and the issue of your life comes out of your heart.
How many more sick people are we gonna have as a result of the issue that came out their heart? How many folks are gonna contain some kind of crazy disease because of the stress and the pressure of fear? I tell you, boy, the government need a preacher that know the Word. What's the domino effect? What's the domino effect?
You know, when people go to the doctor and they hear that they have cancer, in some cases, the cancer doesn't kill them. It's the stress of it. They end up dying of a heart attack or something else. That's what I'm trying to get people to see. I am not against your little practical things you do, but you, you got to get the fear under control. They're creating what do they call that, something to combat the virus? A vaccine. And Jesus gave you a vaccine against fear. The Word of God is your vaccine against fear. And in this case, you don't have to take a dose of fear in order to get rid of fear. For we walk by faith. What we meditate on in abundance will eventually overtake and overwhelm our lives. What are you meditating on in abundance?
Look at 2 Corinthians 10:5. 2 Corinthians 10:5. Some say, "What you all doing attending church"? I'm trying to get you drunk on the Word. I want you to so full of the Word when you walk out of here this morning, you gonna walk out like a giant like, "What's up? What's up"? You're gonna like, "You want some of me? Come on, you want some of me? You want some of me? Bam, shut up. You want some of me"? Now, this is not a person we're doing that to, it's fear that we're doing that to. Go home, "We arrested many people from World Changers because they went out and start, just start slapping people".
You remember that movie with Bernie Mac going down there, he's just slapping people, bam. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. Now, watch this. How do I combat the fear thought? In other words, I'm watching the news and these thoughts of fear are just in my head, and I'm trying to get my head right. The Bible says, "Casting down imaginations. Cast down every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing into captivity", what? "Every thought to the obedience of Christ". You mean, we can capture thoughts? Yeah, you can capture every fear thought and make it obey what the Word says, but you do not capture thoughts with thoughts. You capture thoughts with words.
So, if you're thinking all of the fear thoughts, you gotta open your mouth up and speak what the Word says. Notice what he says. He says, Every thought, bring it to the obedience of Christ. Make it subject to the things of Christ, make it subject to the Word of God, and you open your mouth to do that. You speak to that fear. You speak what? You speak what the Word says. You speak the promises of God concerning that fear. And when you cast that imagination down, those thoughts will not be able to build in your life. Now, 2 Corinthians 4:4, you're familiar with this. There's a devil loose. There's an enemy that we have, and that enemy has a very clear objective. Get rid of you who believe, who may believe, who thought about believing, get rid of them. "In whom the god of this world", small g referring to Satan.
Now, notice what he does for people who don't believe. The Bible says he blinds the minds of them which believe not. There are a lot of blind people in earth right now. Dear God, we cannot afford to fall in that trap. God's depending on us. There's a lot of blind people in earth right now. It's so easy to talk Jesus, and talk how much you love him, and talk how much faith you got, and then when a real issue show up, we gonna see sheep and goat. When the real issue show up, that's what I'm saying.
There's some preachers that are afraid to even say what I just said. "Well, what are you trying to say"? You know what I'm trying to say, you blind. You can't see. Glory be to God. But we who believe can see 'cause you don't understand the greatest accomplishment Satan has ever made is to get you not to believe in it. Satan ain't trying to get you to believe in him. He can work a lot better when you go around saying, "I don't believe in Satan. I don't believe in Satan. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in heaven. I don't believe in nothing". Satan like, "Ooh, I'mma tear you up, you don't even know it". 'Cause you don't believe nothing, you don't believe nothing.
And Satan says, "What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take those who believe not, and I'm gonna blind their minds so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who's the image of God should shine unto them". He says, "I don't want them to hear this gospel because if they hear this gospel, I gotta blame their mind. I gotta blind their mind". The people you know that walk around blind, they don't have a clue. And my faith is not in men. My faith is in God because I'm not gonna be going crazy trying to figure out who touched that, who didn't touch that, or, you know, how many times they wipe.
Now, we're responsible, whatever you want to say. If you go to our Internet, we got a whole list of all the things that are going on in this facility, how it's been wiped down, how it's been disinfected. We use the Georgia Facility Code to make sure we do all we need to do. Your seat's gonna be wiped down, everything gonna be wiped down. We're gonna keep doing it. We using the right kind of stuff that's supposed to kill this and that, and we wiping, and we wiping, and we wiping. You good while you're here, but I don't know where you going after you go here. I don't know, but I'm gonna make sure you ain't gonna be able to say, "I got something here". Got hand sanitizer everywhere. Children wiping themself all over the place, and everybody just wiping themself down good.
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't trust in horses and chariots. I trust in the only one that can help me right now, and what's his name? So, there's a God of the world. You have a enemy, you have a devil that's loose. And what does he come to do? John chapter 10:10. I want you to see it. I know you know it, but I want it to go through your eyes, and your ears, and then come out your mouth, praise God. I'm trying to get you drunk in the Spirit this morning.
You come out say, "What'd y'all drink"? We drunk some new wine this morning. Praise the Lord. The thief, so he calls him a thief. The thief cometh not, but for to, what? Steal, and to what? Kill, and to what? Destroy. But he says, "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly to the full until it overflows". Jesus says, "Don't blame me for the killing, stealing, and destroying". I don't want to hear nobody talking about that the Lord must have wanted to come down and pick some lilies out of his garden and bring them out, and that's what happened. No. He says, "I ain't got nothing to do with that. I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly".
But there is a devil that's loose, and he wants to kill, and he wants to steal, and he wants to destroy. Sometimes we act like God's the only one in the movie. There's some supportive actors. You, Satan, your decisions. No, I believe God. I'm gonna trust him. I'm gonna trust him. How many times have you had to trust God in situations that were rough? How many times have you had to trust him? And how many times did he bring you out? And how many times did he lift you up? And how many times did he take care of it? And how many times did he have your back? Is this any different than any of those times?
You need to count your blessings, hallelujah. You need to name them one by one. You need to have a flashback and look at what he's already done. I'm not talking about those who don't believe, but I'm talking about those of you who've experienced him. I'm not here trying to be politically correct. Leave that up to the politicians. I'm not a politician. I am a, I am a Holy Ghost, sanctified, Bible-believing, tongue-talking preacher, and I am preaching to those who believe. I am not trying to be politically correct. There is a God that sits high and looks low. There is a God that's given me a promise. There is a God that I have a covenant with. That's what I'm talking about. And I just happen to believe him.
I believe God. I might not be able to change your mind, but I'm here this morning to try to get you to wake up and say, "Wait a minute, there's no need to be afraid. You have a mighty God. You have a God that saves, a God that heals, a God that delivers, and a God that protects". He's Jehovah. That's all I'm trying to say. Hallelujah. Look at Psalms 103. Psalms 103, verses 1 through 7 talks about benefits. The Bible says that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. It also says that our lives are redeemed from destruction.