Evil is a reality. It became a reality for us in the Garden of Eden when Adam, acting on our behalf, committed the Original Sin – the act of rejecting God’s blueprint for our well-being and happiness. In its place Adam tried to substitute his own version of the good. But instead, he reaped a life of toil and despair. With that, time began and the devil was let loose to prey upon man and his best intentions.
The reality of evil is illustrated in the Book of Job. “And the Lord said to satan ‘whence do you come?’ Then satan answered the Lord ‘from roaming the world and patrolling it” (Job 1:7). The attempt to make it exclusively on our own led to societies based upon dominion, power, addiction, and cruelty – man’s inhumanity to man.
The propensity to rebel against the laws of God is passed on from generation to generation. The sins of the father are visited upon the son. The frustration of trying to make it on our own leads to obsession, addiction, anger and rage. Our good intentions are thwarted by our propensity to do the opposite – we are trapped in the unending cycle of resolution and failure.
The Diabolical Lie
The inability to overcome evil by our own efforts gives the devil the opportunity to spread the diabolical lie – that we are no good and will never achieve our hearts’ desires. The devil reminds us of our sins and failures, and he suggests that the battle cannot be won. He even suggests that there is no such thing as sin – that there is no objective Truth and that any one lifestyle is as good as another.
Jesus Christ the Redeemer
In the Old Testament a Redeemer was promised who would release us from the unending futile efforts to free ourselves from the power of the devil. The promise was realized in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who liberated us from the power of darkness by virtue of His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. It was on Good Friday that man’s freedom from the power of evil was purchased. By believing in Jesus Christ and accepting His saving grace we can overcome the diabolical lie and begin a new rewarding life in the spirit. The potential of the abundant life that Christ promised becomes a reality for us (John 10:10).