Evil is Real

Dear Trekker,

A lead sentence of an op ed piece caught my eye a few days ago… “If the truth sets you free, we’re not quite born again yet.” This was a comment on our culture in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech tragedy! There is some truth here trekker… let me explain.

Our politically correct culture would say there is no such thing as sin in the world… perhaps mental illness, emotional sickness, deprived psychopaths, etc. But no sin, and therefore no inherent evil, propagating or initiating bad deeds. It even takes a tragedy of monumental proportions to bring us around to ‘dealing with’ evil in our world. One would think that evil in the hearts of men, too often rampant and a force with which to be reckoned, would be as recognizable in the moral sphere of life as gravity is in nature. Unfortunately, this obvious truth has escaped us!

I was reading the morning after the brutal murders in Virginia these words from the Apostle Peter: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the word are undergoing the same kinds of sufferings.”

Trekker, I have some bad news for you. The devil is real. He is public enemy #1 and has been since the beginning of time. Would that he were in fact a lion that we could see, then we might be able to deal with him more effectively. This young man, barely 23 years old, was devoured by the devil and committed the acts of the Evil one. John said it well in the beautiful metaphor of the good shepherd: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Life was stolen a few days ago for far more than 32 persons who were intentionally killed and destroyed.

Trekker, I don’t think we can explain much of the suffering and pain in the world apart from the very real existence of evil. Unfortunately, evil, like good, is often measured in relation to how it impacts us personally. But judging evil solely by its consequences to one’s self is inappropriate and invalid. Evil is much more subtle, with many pleasing faces. The evil one, Satan, is the great deceiver, so subtlety and disguise are a necessity to enable him to creep up close. Once within our acquaintance, evil goes to the heart to expose the bounds of our integrity. Evil reconnoiters our life to discover our needs, appetites and desires to determine how they might be exploited. The knowledge of ‘need’ provides evil forces with a powerful tool to exploit our ‘sinful’ nature’, which is a product of Adam, and ends up in ‘kissing off’ God just as Judas kissed Jesus in the garden. God’s creative, declarative word is questioned, and the force of Evil conspires to pick our moral pockets clean. The wish of a desire fulfilled will lure many of us into destructive and damaging circumstances and behavior. (I know; I am a fellow sinner!) And perhaps the worst execution of evil is to steal a person’s hope.

Evil is! We must recognize it, resist the perpetrator of it, the Devil, and restrain those acts of evil in the world which will occur frequently in direct proportion to our inability to be self-controlled and alert. Individually our happiness and well-being in this life does not consist in the absence, but the mastery of our passions. Corporately, a function of government is to restrain evil in the body politic, protecting the innocent, and restraining and punishing the guilty. This is the challenge of any justice system in a free society. Yes, in the name of freedom, we tolerate deranged people; but in the name of justice, a government must effectively restrain and seek to neutralize evil. This is the challenge, or there is no ‘general welfare’ to be achieved. One of my favorite quotes used before, by Edmund Burke: “What is liberty without virtue? It is madness without restraint. Men are qualified for liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.”

Evil seems to win often, and is the ultimate alternative lifestyle in the world at large. National columnist Cal Thomas said this past week: “Our problem is we try to control evil from without when, in fact, it resides within us. Having abandoned the teaching of right and wrong, and accountability for one’s actions, we have unilaterally disarmed ourselves against evil. We don’t need more gun control, we need more self-control.” In truth, we may need both. We need all the help we can possibly get in this battle against evil.

Trekker, I am certainly not suggesting a resignation to the ravages of evil, but a conscious and responsible participation as soldiers in the ongoing battle between Good and Evil. What we must do is fight evil and suffering, knowing if we resist, the Evil One will flee. He is a defeated foe; that is what the resurrection, celebrated this month, was about. But we must all trek up the mountain in the Spirit, knowing that as we do, we will not fulfill the lusts of our sinful nature, which perpetuates our suffering and that of our neighbors. Check out Gal. 5:16, 17.

We must be courageous. Jesus said so succinctly, “In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. ” Indeed He has. “And if the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in our mortal bodies, we too will be raised to a new quality of overcoming, abundant life by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead that first Easter 2000 years ago!” (Rom 8:11, my paraphrase). Chuck Colson cautioned well this week, “But failing to call evil evil, misleads us about the world we live in and our need for God’s grace, the only real reason and hope for any of us.” Amen to that! Evil, sin and death have been conquered. But we must receive the appropriation!

One word of caution, Trekker. Don’t get off on a detour wondering why a good God, if he exists, would tolerate such evil as committed in Blacksburg! God‘s attitude is perfectly expressed by Jesus in the Parable of the weeds. (Matt 13:2443.) God tolerates weeds among the wheat and to a degree we must as well in a free society. At harvest time, His time, He will separate the wheat by pulling the weeds. In the meantime, we have a part in this process, by sharing the goodness of Christ by deed and word, planting the wheat.

Trekker, let’s band together and fight the good fight against evil and injustice in our world. We can win this battle, individually, for greater is He who is in us, than he that is in the world. And together, we can make a difference.

Trekkin with you and the Lifegiver,

Jim Meredith