What Is Evil?

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

We may be hard-pressed to come up with a universally accepted definition of evil, but most of us know evil when we see it – or at least we think we do. For example, most (but not all) would say the gas chambers of Auschwitz were evil, as were the U.S. institution of chattel slavery, the serial murders of Ted Bundy, the packaged explosives of “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and the domestic terror of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.  

God has placed in every human heart a conscience, which not only helps us discern right from wrong but universally testifies of a divine moral law giver (Rom. 2:14-16). And so, we know intuitively what evil is, and therefore we know who ultimately judges us for it. Or we should. The problem is, sin has knocked every human being’s moral compass off magnetic north.

Evil is not so much the opposite of good as it is the absence of good, or the perversion of good. Just as darkness may only be described in contrast to light, evil is only understood in relation to good. And that’s the rub, because all human beings, though made in the image of God, are evil. We all sin, and our sin separates us from an eternally and unequivocally good creator (Rom. 3:10, 23; 6:23). 

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“The Same Way” of Christ’s Return

This is the 14th in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com. 

In the last column, we explored several defining attributes of “this same Jesus” (Acts 1:11). Now, let’s consider what the angels may have meant when they told the apostles Jesus is returning “the same way” they witnessed his departure. 

First, Jesus himself is coming. 

When Jesus returns, he’s not sending a prophet, apostle, angel, cherub, hologram, selfie, MailChimp marketing blast, or any other substitute. He’s coming himself. Further, Jesus isn’t appearing as a theophany – a flame in a desert thorn bush, a pillar of cloud and fire, a rider on a blazing chariot-throne, or a voice in a whirlwind. He’s coming as the same resurrected Son of Man who ascended physically into heaven in the presence of his apostles (Acts 1:9). 

The return of Jesus always is portrayed in personal terms. Jesus tells his disciples, “I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). 

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Satan: The Most Evil

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

Who would you say is the most evil person in history? Leading candidates include:

Adolf Hitler, Germany’s chancellor from 1933 to 1945 and Fuhrer of the Nazi Party. Intelligent and creative, this talented young artist became the figurehead of a brutal regime whose actions, including the Holocaust, resulted in the deaths of more than fifty million people.

Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. The former robber and assassin reigned with terror and violence, killing friends and enemies with impunity. He once said, “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is simply a statistic.” Even so, he was twice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula. He reigned as prince in Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1462, and he managed to kill one in every five persons he was sworn to protect, mostly through sadistic means that ended with impaling.

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This Same Jesus

This is the 13th in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon.com. 

Reading Acts 1, it’s hard to imagine the apostles’ thoughts as they gaze upward, watching Jesus ascend from the Mount of Olives and then vanish from view. Jesus had come unassumingly, born to a teenage mother in a Middle Eastern village. He lived his life humbly, refusing to be crowned king on numerous occasions, hiding his identity as Messiah until just the right moment, and then surrendering his life on a Roman cross. 

Jesus’ resurrection three days later proved his messianic claims and sealed his identity as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). He culled dozens of disciples until there were only twelve close followers – one of them a betrayer, as Jesus well knew. And he sought to prepare them for just this moment, when he returned to the Father and passed the gospel torch to his newly commissioned apostles.

But now he’s gone, his glorified body rising into the air, enveloped in a heavenly cloud, to assume his place at the Father’s right hand. The apostles still have questions, doubts, and apprehensions. They aren’t ready to be left alone. And that’s how it must have felt – left alone – with Jesus bidding them farewell. 

They know it isn’t quite like that. Jesus had assured them he would always be with them (Matt. 28:20). And he promised to send the Holy Spirit – another counselor, comforter, and advocate just like him. But would they really see him again? If so, how soon? And how would they carry on an earth-bound ministry with Jesus in heaven?

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Satan: Chief of a Global Enterprise

The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

The apostle John writes: “So the great dragon was thrown out ​— ​the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him” (Rev. 12:9).

Finally, we see the scope of Satan’s work as deceiver. John watches the cosmic battle between Michael the archangel and the great dragon. Michael prevails, and the dragon and his angels are cast down to earth (Rev. 12:7-12). We addressed this passage in greater detail in Chapter 2. For our purposes now, however, we focus on Satan’s role as chief executive of a sinister global enterprise. John writes that the evil one “deceives the whole world.” But what does the apostle mean by this?

As we explore in future posts, the Greek word often translated “world” (kosmos) may be interpreted in a number of ways, from the planet Earth to the world system under Satan’s control. But John uses a different Greek word here: oikoumene, which occurs fifteen times in the New Testament and, for the most part, refers to the entire inhabited earth.

In this sense, the gospel is to be proclaimed to all the world (Matt. 24:14; Rom. 10:18). Christ is to judge the world at the end of time (Acts 17:31). Other general references to the world as the inhabited earth include: Luke 2:1 (Caesar’s whole empire); Luke 4:5 (kingdoms of the world Satan shows Jesus); Acts 19:27 (the world that worships the goddess Artemis); Hebrews 1:6 (the inhabited world into which Christ is born); and Revelation 3:10 (the whole world that faces a time of testing). 

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