Recognizing Evil

Recently I posted an article called "Recognizing the Truth" and from that stream of thought it occurred to me that recognizing the truth also means recognizing evil.

Let me explain. The only way you can have truth is by having a lie to oppose it. The same way light can only exists through the opposing darkness. As strange as it sounds you cannot have light without darkness, you cannot have truth without a lie.

This is not limiting to God or anything of the such but it is simply how He has designed the world to operate. Imagine if there were no darkness, we simply would not perceive the light. If there were no lies we would have no need to seek out the truth because there would be nothing but truth and therefore truth would cease to be truth in our understanding, in effect there would be no more truth.

A physical example is a coin. A coin simply cannot exist with only one side. No matter how thin the coin gets the moment it ceases to have two sides is the very moment that it ceases to exist. Imagine good and evil, truth and lies, and light and darkness as all being two sides of the same coin. Once either side is removed the other ceases to exist. Again this isn't something that places God in a box and limits him. He is the almighty, it is his construct, we are the ones in the box not God.

So, as we see the good we also begin to perceive evil and that is what I would like to discuss now.

If I could ask you, what do you think about when you imagine the Devil? Would you say that you imagine a guy with horns, a goatee, forked tail and red skin sitting on a throne with flames shooting up all around him?

Would you visualize him touting sins such as murders, robberies and adulteries? Well, to be sure, those are all evil but that is evil that is easy to see. Looking behind the veil however, what can we see evil as?

First, the Devil or Lucifer is not an ugly looking guy sitting in Hell on a flaming throne of fire. No, Lucifer is beautiful. His name means "the light bearer". At his creation, he was set as one of God's highest angels and was perfect in all his ways before he fell.

Now when he fell he didn't turn into a red guy with horns, he is still beautiful. (Please don't misunderstand. He can present himself in many forms so this article is not trying to argue that evil cannot ever seem to be ugly.) Evil can manifest in many, many different ways. I simply want to look at one form today, a form that I believe is most deceiving.

Part of why the Devil fell in the first place is because he thought his ways were better than God's ways. God says that He, the I Am, must come first and that all other concerns in your life should become as if you hate them in comparison. The Devil tells us to love the children first, love your family first, love your country first.

Do you see what I am trying to say here?

The Devil doesn't just show up with murders, robberies and adulteries. No, he shows up with what seems like very noble and good ideals. After all who is going to argue against loving your families?

It shouldn't be surprising to us that he does these things. The Bible tells in 2nd Corinthians chapter 14-15:

"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

There are many, many people who would tell you that their "family" comes first. There are even more that would say their children come first. This ideal seems so pure, good and wholesome that they would never see anything wrong with it. It seems almost as an absolute good. As I said who would stand against the idea that you should love, and put first, your families, children, country... etc.,

God, that's who.

Now God doesn't want us to hate anyone outright but He does demand that He comes first and everything else comes second and I am not talking about a close second either. I am talking about a distant second, a second that is so far back that it doesn't even register on the same chart. A second place that isn't even in the same race if you can hear that. A second that loses so badly that it garners a form of hatred.

So, when we set the two theories side by side what do we see? On one hand we have someone who is jealous, demanding and controlling. On the other hand we have a guy who tells you to put your children first, love your "families" and love your "country". He might even use the phrase "God, country and family" (as if country and family were somehow a close second and third.)

If you didn't know that we were talking about God and Satan here and you saw this comparison who would you be tempted to follow?

Unfortunately for Satan, God has created everything and he makes the rules. He is worthy of all praise, He is worthy of all honor, He is worthy of all glory. Through him flows all love and goodness and without him there is no love or goodness.

It is strange but by putting Jesus first you actually are putting your families first, children first and country first. If you try to put them first without Christ then they actually end up being last.

Luke 17:33 says "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it."

This quote might not at first seem to follow along with my point but in reality it is the exact same thing. Many people in addition to their love of family, children and country have one remaining thing that they love more than all these.

That thing is themselves.

They lust after money and power for themselves and much of the so-called "love of children" and "love of family" and "love of country" is in reality the "love of your own worthless carcass" which also gets tossed on the dungpile.

So there you have it, your own life is also counted as dung, as if you hate yourself in comparison to your love of God. As Christ's disciple every element of your existence becomes in comparison to God as if you hated it and to those who achieve this (as in the story of Job) they are granted in return, everything.

As it is said "whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it".

Glory to God!

I hope I have helped you see more clearly that the sins we should avoid are not just the big ones but also the seeming "little ones", the ones that are so cleverly constructed that we even believe them to be righteousness.

2nd Timothy 3:12 says "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

Maybe now we can understand better why we suffer those persecutions because when you tell people these things they get mad. Most will not hear it, some will come against you and you will suffer persecution.

May God give us truth and understanding.