“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
― Edmund Burke.
No one wants to openly talk about the evil around us. It's unpopular because believers tend to be lazy. They don't like to be woken up to their need to live differently or to engage in the battle. Pastors don't want to lose their jobs, so they stay silent even when they know it is their job to address it. They preach softly to a flock with ears that like to be tickled instead of hearts that need to be challenged.
Ignoring evil does not make the problem go away. In fact, ignoring it is the nurturing evil needs to grow. Each generation grows more wicked because each previous generation allowed evil to cultivate unchecked.
We live in a time where evil is especially apparent. Our culture is obsessed with darkness. It is in front of our faces on t-shirts, magazines, and hidden in company logos. It's all over television programming and in music. Children are being preyed upon openly, and this is even celebrated in the open in some venues. There is a restaurant that serves human meat for consumption. Frauds posing as religious leaders have dark and sinister dealings. Scientists are tampering with things they should leave alone.
Evil isn't worshipped in hiding any more. It's brought on stage and done right in the open in front of the masses who choose to ignore it or make excuses for it rather than stand up to it. Instead of turning from it and going to war on it in prayer and action, Christians are being seduced into singing and dancing along. They mimic what they see in how they talk, dress, do their hair and makeup, and in how they live.
I could give many examples, but these things are very easy to discover if you are paying attention. Most people don't want to be honest with themselves and prefer to pretend they don't see it. Denying it is there is easier than admitting it and responding to it Biblically. Waking up to the great evil in this world is a choice each person has to make for themselves.
Evil in the open is the physical manifestation
of a greater spiritual depravity in hiding.
If you do not know the Lord, I encourage you to take time to learn who He is today. It's time to make a choice--God or satan. One is upfront and direct with His Word which will challenge you to the core. The other is the father of lies who will help you relax your standards until you are depraved. One promises you life. The other will seduce and lead you to death. Which one will you serve?
I John 5:9 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
I John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word,love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
I Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Luke 10:27 He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
