Being Kind to Evil Only Produces More Evil
The world has become so hopelessly overrun with acts of evil, I wonder just how long we can keep descending down this path. I would be absolutely horrified if an angel from God appeared to me and said I had to endure another decade of this insanity.
I think a key reason why the world is being overrun with evil is that people think a kind-hearted approach will make things better. Liberal groups would have us following cheerful biblical advice like one given by Peter:
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9 NIV).
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is commonly known as “The Golden Rule.” Rather than doing to others what they have done to us or giving them what they may deserve, we are to treat them the way we want them to treat us. The Golden Rule does not involve letting the wicked do as they please. If we don’t resist evil people, they will naturally seek to destroy us.
Jay Austin and his partner Lauren Geoghegan had idealistic views that the world was a wonderful place filled with beautiful people. A year ago, they started a bicycling trip to ‘vindicate their belief in human kindness.’ They started their journey in Africa and it came to a tragic end in Tajikistan. On July 29, a carload of ISIS terrorists spotted them and promptly killed them and two other tourists from Europe.
Crime is growing out of control in many U.S. cities because our cops have been told to be kinder to the criminal elements of society. Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark recently welcomed a group of new recruits to the city’s police force. As he sent them out, he told them to use “lightness” in dealing with the public. “We need you to protect us, our community, our children and our families,” said Baraka. The mayor also warned the recruits that “people will talk to you and harass you and they will even jump on your car.”
A few days later several Newark police officers took Mayor Baraka’s advice to heart. They stayed in their squad car while 18-year-old Altahriq Aulston jumped on a total of five cars, doing over $5,000 in damage. When a video of the teen jumping on one of the cars went viral, two Newark police officers were suspended for their lack of action.
Everyone wonders how 50-60 people are now shot on an average weekend in the city of Chicago. President Trump, guns, the weather, and a code-of-silence are regularly blamed for the violence; but the media never asks about the people pulling the trigger. If they did, they would find Chicago is being overrun by evil people who have no regard for life.
The most shocking example of how evil is being allowed to run wild is in the nation of Sweden. The Muslims are only a tiny portion of the population, yet they are the root cause of a crime wave of rape and murder. A couple weeks ago, gangs of Muslim youth went on a rampage, mashing and setting dozens of cars on fire in a dozen cities. More than 100 cars were “burned or damaged” in and around Gothenburg, the second-largest city in Sweden. When a reporter asked a police spokesperson what they were going to do about the attack, she said they are not going to make any arrests. They are just going to talk to the parents.
The only real concern on the part of the press is how these attacks can be used by right-wing groups in the upcoming election. The Sweden Democrats have suggested freezing out asylum seekers and reducing the country’s immigration budget. The polls show the Sweden Democrats are still in third place because there is no alarm on the part of the public.
The most important reason why we need to be vigilant about evil is that we have an enemy that never rests. Satan takes great delight when nations underestimate his ability to cause corruption. Because most people don’t even realize how evil the world has already become, it should be clear to true believers that the end is very near.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).
–Todd
Perilous Times Traitors
The Apostle Paul’s “perilous times” prophecy is becoming more manifest by the hour. Perusal of the news at any given point in the news cycle during daily life should make that abundantly clear to spiritually attuned eyes and ears. We are living at the very end of this dispensation known as the Age of Grace or Church Age, if this is the case.
Perhaps a closer look at Paul’s foretelling in 2 Timothy juxtaposed against news unfolding around us presently will establish the point.
As the title of this commentary implies, we will look at a particular term found within that end-times prophecy. That term is “traitor.”
Paul begins the familiar prophecy: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1).
The apostle is inspired by God the Holy Spirit in this Scriptural verse to forewarn of a special period of time that is yet future. When the Lord forewarns us, the thing of which He forewarned about represents a danger “on steroids,” as we like to verbalize things that are expressed in the vernacular of our day. These times that Paul has been inspired to call “perilous” are well beyond the normal troubles we face during the course of moving throughout life.
When going through these “perilous times” indicators in 2 Timothy 3, we can, in my view, discern the souped-up nature intrinsic within each.
Paul says further: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:2).
I have written before about the first of these, “lovers of self.”
I still can think of no more profound example of this “perilous times” indicator than of the forum we call Facebook and of the photographic phenomenon of our time called the “selfie.”
Facebook, I realize, is popular–and, no doubt–used ubiquitously by those who read these commentaries. I realize, too, that many, including those in my family, interact within this forum to keep up with friends and to enjoy other communication-type activities. So, I might be on tenuous footing in bringing this up.
However, studies have shown and continue to show that in cases of far too many the forum is a less than beneficial interactive technology. It can create in some instances alternative realities that present psychological dangers. I maintain that, in some narcissistic instances, it can do great spiritual damage. People can become “lovers of their own selves” to the point of pushing God completely out of the picture. Facebook and selfies can become encapsulated, egocentric universes in which some people become their own gods. These, then, become tools the devil truly uses to bring about his purpose–to separate forever men, women, and children from their Creator.
In my opinion, forums such as Facebook and Twitter are presently being used to try to manipulate culture and society. Satan wants life transformed into an existence he considers more conducive to one day serve the new world order he intends to create–the platform upon which to build the coming Antichrist regime. America, of course, is prime testing grounds for this manipulation, and we are seeing this in our news each day. The young–earth’s future populace–are the most vulnerable, the most prone to fall victim to the dangers within these technological communications forums.
Paul’s perilous-times forewarnings thus frame perfectly, I think, the effects on today’s youth–the Millennials and younger. Again, Paul prophesied that people at the end of the age will be: “covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:2).
Any honest observation of what is going on in the world of social media will convinced the spiritually attuned observer that there is more there of an evil nature than of a godly nature. Hollywood–the entertainment media–inculcates the youth (and even those not so young) with ungodliness that reaches the souped-up sort of ungodliness of which Paul forewarns.
It is ungodliness with which the evil one–Lucifer the fallen–wants to infuse all of humanity. He is determined to permeate God’s creation called man with thinking and with actions that move us ever farther from the God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die and resurrect in order to redeem us.
Again, the spiritually attuned observer can discern this insidious work by the devil in our breaking news.
Paul wrote that in the last days, men would be: “traitors” (“having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”).
The characteristic “traitors” pervades our highest levels of government in America. While the current president is being assaulted with being called a traitor and with every other invective one can imagine, it is, in my observation, those accusing him of these things who are the traitors–traitors to him, personally, traitors to our nation as founded, traitors to the Lord of Heaven with their lies and accusations.
“False accusers” are streaming across our minute-by-minute news feeds. These accusations are particularly virulent within social media, which more and more is letting these vicious falsehoods proceed, while doing all within their power to ban opposing viewpoints. These believe themselves to have the moral high ground–a form of godliness that gives them the right to ban the speech of the ideologically unfit.
The perilous-times characteristics of “traitors” and “phony godliness” are prominent while we pass through our hourly increments of life on earth. They constitute a sure sign that we are approaching the moment when Christ will suddenly intervene in the wicked affairs of this world.
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).
–Terry