A Call for Prayer for this Nation-Day Seventeen
"Evil." For whatever reason, the passages of Scripture that I have been reading over the past day and a half, touched on "evil." The assigned theme in the textbook that I used for my Sunday School class this past Sunday, was the reliable "good vs evil." I guess "evil" wants an airing, so I am going to discuss "evil."
As children, "evil" took the form of the bogeyman, clearly identifiable by his scary appearance. How did we know that he was a scary person, with the capability of harming us, having never seen him except in our fertile imaginations? We just knew.
The bogeymen of adulthood are not so easily identified. Sometimes they wear an outer shell of sophistication. They skillfully make utterances that make butter seem coarse. Their expressions are so carefully nuanced that they can appear to be all things to all people, in the same sentence. They convince us that we thought of their own ideas, ourselves.
How do we identify these sweet-talking, good-looking bogeyman, especially those in the arena of politics? We identify them the same way we identify the angels among us....by their deeds. It is going to be very important come November 4, to identify the bogeymen and their policies.
If the words and the deeds of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are not good enough for them, and they ignore or actively conspire against those words and deeds, they are bona fide bogeymen. If they confiscate your hard-earned money for pork projects such as a bridge to nowhere, they qualify. If they make laws for you to follow, and from which they exempt themselves, give them a passing bogeyman grade. If their policies and words result in you as a citizen, becoming marginalized in your own country, and those who are not citizens, end up with more rights than you can even dream of, you got it. If you recognize by their words and actions, when they want to add to the fifty million or so unborn babies who were denied their chance to become future American citizens, by supporting laws that give unborn babies the "right" to be murdered, your bogeyman radar is off the charts.
Let's see what the spokesmen of God had to say about "evil," and its practitioners.
Job 34:21-30
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead. 25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
Proverbs 28:1, 4-6, 9-10, 15, 18, 25-28
1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
4 They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
5 Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.
6 Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
10 Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
18 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.
26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
27 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.
Proverbs 24:1-2 , 12
2 For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.
12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
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