Evil's Facade...

"... [Y]ou hate all evildoers" (Psalm 5:5, ESV). "... I will fear no evil..." (Psa. 23:4, ESV).
"The fear of the LORD is the hatred of evil..." (Proverbs 8:13, ESV).
"What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).
"Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good" (Romans 12:21, ESV).
"Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight" (Psalm 51:4, NLT). "Will those who do evil never learn?" (Psalm 14:4, NLT).
"There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing evil..." (Rom. 2:9, NLT).
"... 'All who belong to the LORD must turn away from evil'" (2 Tim. 2:19, NLT).
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5, ESV). (According to St. Augustine: Man has the inability not to sin before salvation or non posse non peccare in Latin.)

Man is not basically good, but inherently evil to his core and is radically corrupt through and through and must be redeemed by God to be able to do anything good; in his fallen state, he cannot do anything but sin and evil. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9, ESV). Isaiah 1 says: We are to cease to do evil, and learn to do good! ("Depart from evil, and do good..." (Psa. 37:27, ESV).

Evil doesn't advertise or promote itself by that moniker but tries to convince one of its good intentions to bring about the greater good as the end result. Remember Satan is the counterfeiter!  If something is not done God's way, it's the devil's way. God is able to work with evil and tolerates its existence because He can turn it into good (like curses into blessings), and there is a lot more evil to work with! What evil is, is not what people would suppose: It's goodness without God in the picture or the equation (like humanism that deifies man and makes him the measure of all things, the starting point of the equation, and dethrones God as dead and no longer relevant. God turns evil into good results: "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (cf. Gen. 50:20). There is no yin/yang or an equal balance of good and evil; however, Satan masquerades as an angel of light (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).

We must become familiar with our common foe, or we will become like him, a do-gooder, who is trying to save humanity his way. There is only one person who is good, God. We do not have the power to harness the power of evil for good, like in Star Wars where they use the powers of the dark side. Christ annihilated evil and defeated it in toto at the cross and we are only here to proclaim His victory and to claim His authority. There is no such thing as pure evil, for evil, depends on good for its very existence; it's the privation of good; the deviation from good; the negation of goodness; and the perversion of goodness.

Satan was once good with no evil, but then pride was found in his heart and he fell and was booted out of heaven and his place of authority. Satan is not coequal with God, such as a yin/yang type working arrangement, but only a servant of God who must obey. There is now a cosmic battle or angelic conflict going on between Satan and his minions, and Christ, the church, and the elect angels on the other side. He is a defeated foe! 

We all have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in a sense, and are not innocent in God's eyes and are responsible for the light we have to be faithful and fruitful. It is good to be innocent of evil as much as possible and to be wise to what is good. Don't practice the occult nor magic arts and don't experiment with evil in any way, shape, or form. These are entry points and open the door to further evil.  

It all started when Satan challenged authority and asked Eve, "Hath God said..?" By her own volition Eve took of the forbidden fruit and the result of the so-called proverbial apple saga still goes on as it epitomized all sin in that one act of obedience (the prototype sin)--they only had one rule to obey and couldn't do it!

Today's youth are concerned more about what works than what's true, and they believe the test of an idea is not its truth value, but its results. The sorry result is that something can work and not be true or good, e.g., Yoga, or TM. These are not forbidden activities in Scripture, but nevertheless evil in that they circumvent the goodness and wisdom of God. Christianity is not true because it works, it works because it's true! Youth are concerned if something works for them and is practical or pragmatic, while God demands obedience and loyal faithfulness not to experiment with other religions or philosophies.

For example, to the innocent bystander or outside observer, Yoga may seem innocent enough but Yoga is a Hindu art that means union with God, and you learn to get in touch with one of their gods. People are lured and enticed into Eastern or New Age philosophy and religion, by such innocent-like practices that have mass appeal to man as being "good."

Heed the following caveats of 1 Thess. 5:22 (ESV), Job 28:28 (ESV), 1 Pet. 3:12 (HCSB); and Rom. 12:9 (ESV) respectively: "Abstain from every form of evil"; "...'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding'"; "... BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL"; "... Abhor what is evil; hold fast what is good." Soli Deo Gloria!