DELIVER US FROM EVIL

. . . above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16).

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil . . . (Isaiah 5:20).

And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

What is evil?  Evil is more than the absence of good; maliciousness is a characteristic of it as well.   Webster includes these descriptions: arising from real or supposed wickedness, what is morally wrong, what hinders the realization of good.  When Peter, with good intentions, told our Lord that his death on the cross should never happen, Jesus recognized the true source of those words and replied, Get behind me Satan!  You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men (Matthew 16:23).  In this satan was attempting to sabotage God's plan of redemption.  Peter's words arose from a malicious, wicked personality who desperately wanted to destroy God's plan of redemption for humanity.  It should be noted too that Peter's words simply reflected common Jewish thought about the Messiah.  This means that the source of human philosophy which conflicts with the word of God is the devil.

At least since Darwin, modern thinkers have attempted to minimize evil by reducing it to mythology.  They insist that the bad things that happen in the world are explained by ignorance and natural causes but: Evil is much more than the absence of good--it is not explained by the absence of education, "enlightenment," good nutrition, clean air, and nurturing love for every child--for evil is present when all of the above grace human culture.  The most evil acts in history occurred in recent times in the twentieth century, with humankind presumably in its most advanced stage when technology, medicine, psychology and philosophy had reached never before dreamed of sophistication (Dr. Bruce Parmenter, Hiller Lectureship, North American Baptist Seminary, 2001).  Evil exists, it is everywhere and it is malignant, seeking to destroy everything that is good.  It is necessary to recognize the pervasiveness of evil so that it can be understood that even in the best of times one must always be on guard, ready for the devil's schemes.

Grace&Peace,
Tom