Understanding the Concept of Evil

Let's tell you a bit about the devil first,

so that you've got a clear picture in your mind of what we're praying against.

First of all, the Bible does not paint him as a horned

creature with a forked

tail.

That's the sort of thing that makes us laugh at him,

take him less than seriously.

See, the Bible says he's a real person.

The Bible never calls the devil it, always he.

Next, the Bible says that he has a heart and a mind and a will,

and if a heart and

a mind and a will don't make a personality, I don't know what does.

It talks about the devil's feelings, talks about his thoughts, and it talks

about his motives,

and that means to me a person. So the devil is not just a,

a kind of vague word to sum up all the forces of evil in the world.

No, he is a person in his own right, and if there were no human

beings at all, Satan would still exist.

Now, Jesus himself took Satan desperately

seriously.

He never made a joke about him. He never laughed at him.

He never caricatured him.

Here are some of the titles that Jesus gave Satan.

He said he is the prince of this

world.

When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, Jesus did

not say, "They are not yours to give,"

because he knew perfectly well they were Satan's to give.

And it is a, a horrible thought, if you really realize it,

that the world in

which we live is ruled over by Satan.

He is the prince of this world. But let's take it a step further.

Do you know that another title Jesus gave to Satan, he said he's not

only the ruler or prince of this world, he is the god

of this world. The only other person beside his Heavenly

Father

to whom Jesus ever applied the word god was Satan.

He said, "My Heavenly Father is God of everything, but of this world,

Satan is god," which means very simply not only that Satan controls

this world and is able to manipulate science and

education and politics for his own ends.

More than that,

Satan is actually the real god whom most people on Earth

worship,

whether they know it or not.

That behind so much religion, behind so much activity,

Satan is the one who's being worshiped.

He's the person,

and even by some who go to church and chapel on Sunday, in reality,

he's their god,

for they worship the things that he offers them.

They want the things of the world that he belongs to and rules over

rather than setting their mind on the things that are above, where Jesus

is.

And if you want this world, and if you want the things of this world,

then I give

you a piece of advice. Make Satan your god.

If you want this world, he's a wonderful god to have because he'll

give it to you.

There's always a price to pay.

When the bill comes in, you may not be quite so happy,

but he'll give it to you.

He can give you money. He can give you fame.

He can give you anything you want

because it's his to give. "Where have you been,

Satan?" says God in the Book of Job. "Well, I've been patrolling the Earth.

I've been looking around my estate."

And he had.

Now, let's get this clear. That doesn't mean that God

is helpless in this world.

It does mean, and we've got to think this through,

that God is allowing

Satan to be prince of this world and god of this world.

He's allowed it,

and people say, "What does God think He's doing allowing

that?" Well, I would just

say my only answer to that one is, what's He doing allowing you to be like

you are?

Why should you blame Him for allowing Satan to rebel when He allowed you to?

The answer is very simple. He's a father, and He will not force

any of his creatures to go His way,

and He gives you freedom to rebel.

And we can't grumble about Him giving the angels freedom, though they have

superior intelligence and strength,

because He gave us the same freedom, and we've used it in the wrong way.

Do you know there are two books in the Bible

that the devil hates more than any

other two books in the Bible? Out of all 66, there are two that say

more about him than any others, and it's these that he has attacked more

than any others. They are the one at the beginning

and the one at the end,

Genesis and Revelation. And do you know why he hates them?

Because Genesis describes his devices, and Revelation

describes his doom.

And he hates those two books,

and there has been more scholarly attack on the Book of Genesis than any other

book, and more attempt to turn it into myth

and legend and away from

fact than any other book in the Bible. Why?

Because Satan doesn't want you to believe that Genesis 3 ever happened.

He doesn't want you to know how he got hold of Eve.

He doesn't want you to believe that he said what he did to that first

married couple,

and he attacks the Book of Genesis.

But the other book which he hates more than any other

is the Book of Revelation

because as you read through that book, you come to a point where it says that the

devil himself will be cast into the lake of fire.

Do you know that Jesus told us to pray every day about the devil?

Do you know that? The original prayer that He taught His disciples

when they said, "Lord, teach us to pray," He said,

"Pray like this.

Say, 'Dad in heaven.'

Then pray for the things He wants,

His name,

His will, His kingdom."

Then He said, "Pray for the things you need.

You need food.

You need forgiveness." Then He said, "Finish by praying this,

'Deliver us from the evil

one.'"

We've turned evil into a thing in our thinking. It's not a thing.

It's a person. There's no evil anywhere in the universe

apart from

persons. Evil is an intensely personal thing.

There's no love in the universe apart from persons who love.

And so evil is personal, and Jesus said, "Pray daily,

'Deliver us from the evil one.'"

Start your prayer by thinking of your Dad in heaven, but end your prayer by

thinking of the devil on Earth, and go out to face him.