Evil

This is definitely not my favorite subject! I haven’t liked horror movies since my 17 year old sister took her 8 year old, one and only, brother to a double feature of Dracula and Frankenstein back in the early 60’s (that’s 1960s). I was terrified and had nightmares for years. The only other horror movie I’ve voluntarily watched since our date was The Exorcist and that sealed my determination to avoid horror. When I think of evil my mind immediately goes to gory looking alien monsters who nest their young in the chest cavity of human incubators until they have grown enough to eat their host to obtain their freedom. Gory is evil, but is evil always gory? I don’t think so!

It does give the creator of evil a huge advantage making people believe that evil is ugly. I agree that evil always ends ugly, but I’m not enticed to become a pimp working the streets with his voluptuous slave labor. Nor do most teen age girls aspire to be prostitutes. Our "better" choices that end in disaster are much more appealing. Life is fragile and full of twists and turns in the road! A decision to go to a party and enjoy an evening out with one’s friends can end up being 20 years in a State prison for drunken manslaughter. Dracula sucks blood, but so do Rolls Royce driving bankers and corporation executives who plunder retirement funds of the working class poor. We should be afraid of them.

The life of the rich and famous looks a lot better through sun glasses from a comfortable lounge chair sipping lemonade on a yacht deck than it does to the sweat shop indentured servant who makes the goods that paid for the love boat. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not beating any political drum, but I am saying that evil can be very attractive depending on one’s access to its luxuries. The single common denominator that evil has in all forms is that someone always gets hurt. There is always a winner and a loser. And don’t think for a moment that the winner looks like a hideous monster. I would say that the worst evil happens in luxurious mansions where filthy rich people plot the exploitation and demise of the more vulnerable. People making decisions to start wars, manufacture drugs, traffic sex slaves, traffic forced labor, and bring down governments for their own profit. To me understanding evil can be reduced to people using other people for their own gain. God loves people and uses things, but evil loves things and uses people.

On a grand scale there is a much greater evil plot going on in another dimension . . . a spiritual plane. Against humanity stands one of the most beautiful and powerful creatures ever to exist, sitting on a stolen throne, conspiring the death of every individual he can get his hands on. He started a war in heaven where he spread his lies, but when he planned and orchestrated the death of God he lost most of his audience.

That left him only one place to set up his headquarters. Earth . . . where he still has a sympathetic ear! His goal was to dethrone God, but if you remember my article called Heaven, where is the place that God dwells? Where is His throne? In the Most Holy Place of His creature’s minds who have been created to be aware of and live in God’s Presence. So every earthling who has ever rejected God by believing Lucifer’s lies has cast God off the throne of their hearts and become a venue for this devil to rule. They do Satan’s bidding. They are Satan’s hands and feet. They worship him by doing all the evil he can imagine.

If you believe for one minute that there is such a thing as secular you have already been doused with Satan’s lies. There is no neutral ground in this war. There are only casualties and victors. There is no ruling third party such as yourself! There are only two masters competing for the throne of your mind. There is no field, no job, no relationship, no conversation, no entertainment where we are not either serving one or the other master. There is no middle ground where we are safe, no mind where the battle isn’t raging, and no physical body that isn’t being murdered in this war. Death is inevitable for those who choose either side, but there is a resurrection into eternal life for those who choose to believe in and put their trust in God. He has promised that he has already won the victory for us and defeated the Evil One.

And just exactly how did God do that? He presented all the evidence, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the complete transparent disclosure of His character and of the character of His accuser and proved him to be a liar and a murderer. All of Satan’s finger pointing has turned back toward himself. And God accomplished the victory through His advocate, His representative, Jesus! Those who believe the evidence Jesus submits are given the power to kick Satan out of the throne room of their minds and let the rightful King sit and reign.

The battle is over and many have thrust off the chains of the enemy, but there are many who were born into this war who haven’t heard the good news. Even now they are held captive to the power of Satan’s lies and they are still being tortured by evil. In spite of everything, they believe God is the enemy. Even when the evidence is presented many men stay loyal to Satan because they have been bribed with riches and luxury. Some remain his slave because they don’t believe they are slaves and they’ve been convinced of his cause. Many love sin, love pride, love to hate, love power, love to manipulate, love to use people, love to hurt others, and their characters have melded with evil. Others repel the offer of freedom because they don’t believe God has the victory.

But for those who believe Jesus; their eyes are open to see God in His fullness and they learn to trust Him. Evil, in all its ugly forms, loses its grip and lives begin to change. God sends His Holy Spirit to become their constant companion guiding them through the healing process. One addiction at a time is dealt with and God is a master at tenderness and love. The Apostle, Matthew, watches as Jesus travels through the land of Israel healing, teaching, raising the dead, and comforting the broken hearted. He saw this as a fulfillment of a prophecy that Isaiah was inspired to make concerning the coming Messiah hundreds of years earlier:

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.”

Know God’s tenderness and mercy. Feel His love and compassion. Don’t take part in hurting others for your own gain. Don’t be tricked into giving evil a place to reign in your minds. Put away everything that entices you to do evil. Know the real character of God by knowing Jesus. Let God love you.

- Scott Bennett

References: Revelation 17:3-5, Revelation 18:10-16, Isaiah 14:12-14, 2nd Thessalonians 2:4, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Ephesians 6:12, 1st Peter 5:8, Revelation 12 and Matthew 12:18.