The Rise of Evil
As I am writing this essay it is the first day of 2020, the start of a new decade with something bold and exciting just around the corner. You would hope this fresh new opportunity would bring us peace upon the earth with goodwill to all mankind. Though wishful thinking is good if we do nothing to alter our current course… nothing will change. Society will only get darker as the forces of evil feed upon itself. Deranged individuals will become more emboldened as they attempt to overshadow the last bad actor. Until we identify the root cause of our problem we cannot fix what ails us. Placing a bandage on the situation will not fix it… it only temporarily stops the bleeding, while the wounds are still festering just under the bandage.
The rise of evil is becoming increasingly more prevalent on a global scale. If it were only isolated to a particular geographic region perhaps it would be easier to diagnose, but with such a worldwide contagion we have to address the matter on a grander scale. The battles we face are not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil emanating from the heavenly realms. This was the warning issued in a letter to the Ephesians nearly two thousand years ago by apostle Paul. The evil that mankind is facing, he noted, comes from the dark side of the heavenly realm. It penetrates through our world and infiltrates vulnerable human beings. Without the assistance of a watchful Creator, mankind would constantly sink deeper into the abyss and slide further down into the dungeons of hell.
This warfare cannot be fought using conventional weapons made by mankind. We would need God’s armor to protect ourselves along with His weapons in order to defeat this immortal foe. Unfortunately, if there is no awareness of there being a problem, there would be no urgency to fix something that you are not aware of needs fixing. The nature of spiritual warfare is its invisibility. You can’t see spirits but only sense the effects they cause. Only those who study such things or whose eyes have been opened spiritually are intimately aware of this occurrence. Therefore it would be difficult to get society to take precautions when they neither see nor perceive there to be a problem. The thought of a war going on in the spiritual realm would sound like rubbish to most laymen.
When I was a young boy there was this threat of the end times coming upon us. It was during the last world war with a rash of evil that circled the entire globe. Imagine the dark satanic power Hitler emanated at that time. The world had to come together to fight back against a very dark spiritual power. Evil was building to a climactic point whereby world powers were forced to work together. After World War II ended, things changed around the globe. Righteous people learned how to join forces in order to defeat a common enemy. Even though evil wasn’t totally defeated, it was squashed out of the forefront of society awaiting the next opportunity when mankind would let down his guards. Rarely would an enemy attack while guards are watching over things. Only when the guards fall asleep does the enemy come in. He set up traps, landmines, and unlock security doors in preparation for unleashing an arsenal of vile maneuvers at the most opportune time. It appears we are currently facing such a moment in time… right here, and right now!
During the course of our entire history, there have been ebbs and flows of this kind. Mankind falls asleep, evil comes in and sets up his frontal attack, evil is unleashed, mankind suffers, mankind awakens in order to mount a defense against evil, then evil submerges back into the hole from which it resides until the next optimum opportunity. This is not a new occurrence. It is as old as the history of the world! This pendulum swing was happening long before we started keeping historical records and it continues the same today.
The problems we face today are nearly identical to the ones our ancestors faced. It is an outright attack from the same enemy; the dark forces of evil from the heavenly realm. One major difference we have today that was not available during times past is the ability to communicate on a worldwide scale. Technology has shrunk the planet making it more assessable for both good and evil forces. The issue is… which wolf are we feeding the most because the one we feed the most is the one that holds the most power: either the forces of evil or forces of righteousness.
People are the determining factor that causes the pendulum needle to swing. The leaders are the ones that control the people. Therefore as we choose our leaders we also choose our fate. Corrupt leaders can only lead a corrupt society, while righteous leaders can only lead a righteous society. If the people allow themselves to fall asleep then corruption spreads like wild weeds in an open field unchecked. On the other hand, it requires taking a positive stand for righteousness in order to develop into a well-manicured garden. People need to awaken and put the Gardener back in control of the gardens He made.
As worshipers, we have a moral responsibility, a moral imperative to both ourselves and the world in which we live. You might not realize the power you have as a single voice crying out from the desert, but once you combine your voice to the full body of God’s people it connects to the Almighty Power that IS God. No power on earth or in the heavens can withstand such power. What is bound upon the earth will be bound in heaven. Even though it might not appear that we alone can make an impact upon the totality of things… that is not how God sees it. Even a single drop from the ocean changes the total complexion of the entire body. Our single spirit here on earth changes the entire dynamics of the people. To us it seems insignificant, to God it is monumental.
So what are we to do? Do we just buckle in and resign to defeat? Is this world worth fighting for? Is it our responsibility to defend or protect something that we alone were not responsible for creating? Why should I care?
On the contrary, it was from one seed that many were produced. God put something very special in a single seed that was capable of being the genesis of all to follow. Though you might not see yourself is such a divine light, neither do you know the mind of God and how He does things. He can take the most insignificant thing and turn it into the most significant. The last shall become first and the first shall become last. No eye has seen and no ear heard what God has in store for this world that has become so wicked. He knows when a single blade of grass is crushed, the death of a single fruit fly, a doe that falls prey to a ferocious lion; all were creations of His hands. All played a significant role in His plan. Nothing that God does is in vain. Rarely do God do things in a manner that our minds can comprehend. So if God cares about a single blade of grass, I tiny gnat or fruit fly, or a beautiful young doe, what more do you think He cares about a human beings created in His image and likeness. In you, yes even you contains all the elements of God Almighty. We are all part of His body. Evil can only rise when we cease to protect the individual cells that make up the totality of God.
