Pure Evil
Dan Kunz
If any of you have had the opportunity to travel to some of the remote, hard-to-access, beautiful locations in the world, you may have thought the world is a pretty nice place, created by God for his children and you don’t mind being here. Unfortunately, those “good vibes” only lasted until you returned to civilization. Once back home, you realized although God created it to be a wonderful place, sin soon marred it and it became an evil, wicked place, full of the Devil’s traps and snares. Watching the news any day of the week will underscore that dozens of times. This past week was no exception.
Many Americans were not fans of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, while he was in power. The list of atrocities during his tenure is a lengthy one. That being said, what has happened since he was forced out of office and out of the country, may be worse. Now several factions are all fighting for control and, it seems, “old scores” are being settled. According to many news reports, over one thousand people have been killed in the past week, many of them Christians. Describe it as ethnic cleansing, jihad, or any other term for extermination, it is pure evil.
If you are a resident of Wisconsin or a consumer of conservative news, you may have seen or heard about the Bernie Sanders “rally” at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside this past Friday. You may agree with the ideology of Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, or not, but you can’t ignore the message sent by the so-called “entertainment” for the event. Laura Jane Grace, a transgender punk rocker, sang the most blasphemous, disgusting, over-the-top song most people have ever heard. It was pure evil. To be honest, I’m surprised the earth didn’t open up and swallow her (check out the story of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in the book of Numbers).
As Christians, we should never be deceived into thinking the world isn’t so bad. What God created was good, the sinful world is not. Good, decent, God-fearing people do exist, but so does pure, unadulterated evil, as shown by the two examples above. Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts and plans they formed in their hearts were only evil every day.
So what do we do about the evil in the world? First and foremost, expose it for what it is. Christians should never simply sit by and allow evil to grow bold because of our silence. Secondly, we need to pray for God’s relief and God’s judgement. Protect us from the attacks of the Devil, personally, locally, and world-wide. Whenever possible, confront evil with the truth. This may be uncomfortable and maybe even dangerous at times, but with the courage of the shepherd boy, David, when confronting the blasphemous giant, Goliath, God will, ultimately, see his will carried out. Finally, remember who’s in charge and who holds the final say. Although it may seem, at times, the “bad guys” are winning, they will have to answer for the wickedness by which they’ve lived on the Last Day. Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap.
A friendly reminder: The Christian Leadership Experience will be held on June 13-14 at the LaCrosse Center. The “Early Bird” discount is scheduled to end on March 31, so please go to our website, www.ChristLead.com and register soon, if you haven’t already done so. We look forward to seeing you and enjoying a faith-impacting conference with you!