What's Wrong With Eating Of The Tree of Good and Evil?

 You mean: “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” That’s important to point out. It was simply wrong to disobey. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with the tree or its fruit nor even the knowledge that it would impart. God may have intended to let them eat of it at some future point after they passed His test of obedience and love just when children grow up when don't become evil automatically. The forbidden fruit merely represented a test of obedience love can not be forced but not have some test of faithfulness or obedience and loyalty.

Adam and Eve obviously were innocent in that they were unaware that there was an evil alternative to good and its threat to peace with God. They were as children before the age of accountability for their evil in God’s eyes. They had to decide which side they would be on—for or against God. The fruit wasn’t obviously a proverbial apple but something that did delight to the eyes and had natural appeal or temptation.

Their sin of eating of it was the prototype sin that represented all sins to some sense of the word in this sense: spring God’s grace, contradicting His truths, rejecting His authority, disputing His wisdom, repudiating His justice, and resisting His grace. What Adam and Eve sought was their own will, delight, plans, and wisdom while rejecting God’s; and we do the same today when we do our own thing and do things our way instead of God’s way according to God’s will or even seeking it—we still think we know better or more than our Maker. A believer actively seeks God’s will and submits to it

Doing Something About Evil...

 "... [F]or they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account..." (Jeremiah 9:3, HCSB).
"... If you do not stand firm in the faith, then you will not stand at all" (Isaiah 7:9, HCSB).
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (cf. Genesis 18:25).  
"In fact, if the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?"  (1 Cor. 14:8, HCSB).   
"What's wrong with the world?  I am.  Sincerely yours,  G. K. Chesterton
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."  --Edmund Burke


God ordained the institution of government to keep evil at bay, but there comes a time when those in the know have to stand up for what they believe either in civil disobedience or engaging in public discourse to disseminate the truth, as Francis Schaeffer said that there comes a time when this is not only a right but a duty!   We see this today manifest in peaceful demonstrations and protests.   But we must beware lest we assume that the government is always the problem or the solution, and the other extreme:  "My country, right or wrong!"

If we don't stand for the faith we have, it's worth noting, and we don't really stand at all.  If you won't stand for your faith, is it of value?  And if faith weren't a challenge or difficulty, it would be worth little.  We are representatives of God's righteousness as well as ambassadors of the kingdom of Christ.  Ultimately, it matters whether we have a faith we can live with, or one we will fight or even die for!  That's because infidels and the ignorant are seldom convinced by debate or argument and the faith we have is the faith we show!

Our do-goodery may win them over yet and perchance they may see Christ at work in us.  But we must first become introspective like G. K. Chesterton was:  "What 's wrong with the world?  I am, sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton."   He realized that true faith expresses itself and there's a difference between bogus faith or the mere profession of faith and the reality of faith.   We must first know what our faith is and what we do believe and this is the weak link in the chain of uninformed believers:  "Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own," said German famed playwright and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe over two centuries ago!

We need to end the doubting and commence to doubt our doubts and believe our faith, translating it into deeds, practicing what we preach, and preaching only what we practice.  Then we become a fidei defensor or a defender of the faith!   Note that there does come an opportunity and time in each person's life to prove what side he's on and to take a stand for right versus wrong and to fight the evil in the world:  God did something about evil; He created you and me!  This is the opportunity to throw down the gauntlet much like Martin Luther did on the door of the church at Wittenberg (All Saints Church) in 1517 with his Ninety-Five Theses to end the Dark Ages.

He knew what he was doing and this took grit and fortitude but crossed the Rubicon despite this:  Challenging the entire establishment much the way that Jesus was an antiestablishment figure and upset the religious apple cart.   He had the necessary dynamic for living and courage:  He knew what he believed and much more importantly, like Paul in 2 Timothy 2:12, he knew in Whom he believed.   Jeremiah was in a similar situation and was considered unpatriotic because he prophesied against Jerusalem and he said in Jeremiah 9:3 that "they refuse to stand up for the truth."  Jerusalem had become unfaithful and was supposed to be a city on a hill, as it were.  There's a limit to patriotism though:  We don't put country above God! 

Irish playwright and Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw noted pertinently that "no nation has survived the loss of its gods."  And John Adams quipped that our Constitution "was made only for a religious and moral people."  Yes, I want to mention in passing that we have many issues and causes in our society and have found many questions, but it's now time to search for the answers and that means we need visionaries who can rightly interpret the times and have a Christian worldview so that they are not deceived by the prevalent Secular Humanism and the newfangled Postmodernism that is creeping into our schools and institutions that are simply "anti-Christian," a sort of militant atheism that wages war on Christendom. That's why it's called a "Truth War."

All the other worldviews agree on this one point:  They're all opposed to "dangerous" Christianity.  But the only truths that are irrelevant are the Christian ones!   And we must not let Christ be eradicated from the public square and open marketplace of ideas, even the social media but must fear not to exercise our First Amendment rights. There is no social gospel to preach but we do have a social commission to complete to be salt and light for social justice, as Cicero called Rome a city of light.

In sum, we are not to parade our righteousness, wear it on our sleeves, nor even to flaunt it, but we never should privatize it, being ready to stand up for Jesus and fly and declare our Christian colors, which means we are declaring war on the enemy, knowing that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one or wickedness and its "isms." (cf. 1 John 5:19).   (Relevant is the saying that everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it!)   

CAVEATS:  WE ARE NOT CALLED TO USHER IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM, NOR TO LEGISLATE "CHRISTIAN SHARIA LAW," NOR LEGISLATE OUR FAITH.    Remember:  The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke).   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Freedom To Choose

"I know, LORD, that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps."  (Jer. 10:23, HCSB).
"A man's heart determines his way, but the LORD determines his steps" (Prov. 16:9, HCSB).
"A man's steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24, HCSB).
"For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose" (Phil. 2:13, HCSB).  

NB: GOD COULDN'T HAVE GIVEN US FREE WILL WITHOUT HAVNG THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE EVIL AND REBEL AGAINST HIM.  

Life is full of choices.  We've all heard the order by Joshua:  "Choose this day whom you will serve!"  If there were no choice, we'd have no freedom!  Deut. 30:19 says, "...Now choose life...."  Our life is full of choices or decisions if you will:  "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley decision!  For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision," (Joel 3:14, NIV).  Most people balk at making the big decisions in life (career path, marriage, buying a home, college to attend, but especially becoming a member of a religion and more specifically becoming a Christian).  We should be hesitant at such climactic times that could make or break us!

Now, why were we given this faculty of choice in the first place?  Adam had the power not to sin and the power to sin, after the fall, he had the inability not to sin, and after salvation, the ability not to sin and the ability not to sin again.  But Christ has the inability to sin!  He is fully incapable of sinning, while the natural man is fully incapable of not sinning!   As the Bible does reveal, there was a rebellion in heaven and the devil was cast out for his pride and revolt at doing God's will.  The issue is why does evil exist and there is no simple answer.  To say that it just shows who the bad guys are is too simplistic.  If we had no choice (i.e., free or independent will or our own) we'd be automatons or robots or puppets on a divine string pulled by God!

God never created evil; He created its possibility! (No choice to make means no real free will to obey).  If people weren't free to disobey Him, they'd be robots without a free will or faculty of choice.  With the existence of objective good comes the necessary existence of objective evil!  When you have equality, inequality will exist, whether realized or not, at least in concept.  We must see evil as a parasite on good and not its opposite, though.  It couldn't exist apart from good.  For example, we have inequity, injustice, unrighteousness, lawlessness, unfairness, un-sportsmanship, et cetera! But the good news is that good triumphs over evil and there will be a final end to its influence in the world in the Day of the Lord.   But God just chooses to let it run its course--that's His way of defeating it and showing that it cannot win no matter what. 

And so, the freedom of choice or free will cannot exist without a choice to be made or the existence of evil as well as good.  And we did eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we are all are involved in this battle against evil and its influence on the world. What we lost at the fall was the inclination to do good and inherited the inclination to do evil. And so we haven't ceased to be human, just to be good!   There is no outside force to influence us (that would be coercion or determinism), but God is able to work with our will to accomplish His will (cf. Rom. 9:19; Prov.16:9; Prov. 20:24, Jer. 10:23; Prov. 21:1).

We can only see good in light of evil!  There must be something to compare goodness to!  God is the Supreme Good you might say and we compare all goodness to Him.  Evil is the absence of good, therefore, and that's why we are evil because we lack perfect goodness in God's eyes and are sinners!

But our wills are enslaved to sin and need salvation just like the rest of our evil hearts.  We don't need free will to be saved, but wills made free--we are not born free but the slave of sin and in bondage!  As Augustine said, we are "free but not freed."  That is, we've lost our liberty like being a man in prison who still has a will of his own!

In a sense, everything is determined, even as it was written of Judas to betray our Lord, but God is not deterministic, that is to say, there is no determinism or coercion to do what aren't wont to do, but act fully voluntarily.  You may say that we act according to our nature or upbringing, (nature vs. nurture), but God determines both!  The vulture and dove eat according to their nature in a voluntary manner, because of their nature.   We cannot change who we are, but God can transform us into new creatures in Christ.

"... Now choose life that you and your children may live"  (Deut. 30:19, NIV).  To have no choice to make is inhuman and foreign to freedom and will.    
   Soli Deo Gloria!  

A Sense Of Oughtness

"Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good"  (Rom. 12:9, NIV).
"Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good"  (Romans 12:21, ESV). 




We are all born with an innate conscience capable of discerning right from wrong and applying abstract laws and rules to specific and concrete situations.  Romans 2:15 says our conscience either excuses or accuses us:  We all know God's law (natural law) but we flaunt it!  Knowing better we still do wrong:  "I know the better things and I approve them, and I follow the worst" (Ovid, Roman poet). Paul said, "...Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"(Rom. 7:24).   "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing"  (Rom. 7:10, ESV).  None of us satisfies or fulfills our own expectations and standards--we all stand self-condemned.  There are as many systems of ethics as there are worldviews, but basically, the Christian one assumes man is not basically good, but inherently evil and needs revelation and salvation from God to be convicted of right and wrong.



There is no such thing as perfectionism, or reaching a state of sinless perfection (cf. Prov. 20:9; Ps. 119:96). We all do things that we should've known better not to do!  The law of Moses was given to convict us and show we cannot meet God's standards of righteousness, not to be a code of conduct to live by and earn salvation by merit.  The requisite for salvation is to realize you cannot save yourself by good behavior and you need a Savior because of your sin, that you have fallen short of God's glory and standard.




Ethics with a capital E is nebulous for those who deny God--they dodge the no-absolute-truth thesis: "The absurd is, sin without God," said Albert Camus.  Dostoevsky said that without God all things are permissible!  Immanuel Kant said that God is necessary for ethics to be possible.  The Nazis justified themselves socially and didn't think we had the right to try them for war crimes, but the allies appealed to "natural law."  In academia, they teach you that ethics is about the good press (spin) and not getting caught!   Social studies and psychology teach you to have good reasons for what you do and to have responsible decision making, as you make your own choices in life.



In antiquity, might made right and there was no universal ethic, and that is why Pilate asked, "What is truth?"  Jesus claimed to be the epitome or embodiment of truth and also the way and the life to live. Postmodernists dodge the ethics issue, by saying there is no absolute truth and it is a nebulous thing to have one standard for everyone, as it evolves with society and situation (ethics).  In other words, ethics are only relative!  Today most students judge the usefulness of an idea, by its consequences or results, not its truth value--is it practical?   Christians are urged to "overcome evil with good," and as the summation of ethics:  "Follow Me [Christ]!" We are held to a higher standard and are the witness of Christ in the world as lights in the darkness and salt to preserve it and add flavor.

Christianity is not a list of dos and don'ts, nor a system of ethics; it's a living relationship of knowing a personal God.  Ethics is the application of right doctrine and living it out by faith as our duty to God and man (cf. Gal. 5:6, NIV, which says:  "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.").  The faith you have is the faith you show!  The law is written in all men:  "The work of the law written in their heart, their conscience"  (cf. Romans 2:15).  People try to make up their own voluntary initiatives or codes of conduct to live by, but they are always ones they think they have kept or can.  Christian ethics is based upon the exemplary, unequaled personality of Christ as the one to emulate, and He has no flaws--what a standard!



We all need a moral compass, and Humanists insist that they can have ethics without God, but Humanism is precisely that: Being as good as possible without God--which is a definition of evil. New age people will tell you to listen to the inner voice and to be in touch with yourself, and tolerance is the key, so don't be judgmental; if it feels like the truth to you, it is!  the codes of conduct range from the Golden Rule (cf. Matt. 7:12), to the Brazen Rule of reciprocity or tit for tat, to the Silver Rule of not treating others the way you don't want to be treated--a negative Golden Rule, to the Iron Rule of treating others as a bully, where might makes right, and the survival of the fittest or social Darwinism is the rule.  Most nonbelievers design their own ethics and don't adhere to an absolute standard of morality.  Something they can comply with to their standards.



In the final analysis, the only true morality or ethics is when the motive, as well as the end result or goal, is pure and good: the means to the ends must be right, because the means do not justify the ends; and utilitarianism, or the greatest good for the greatest number, is another evil that has justified the murder of millions in communist countries.  The premise that secular worldviews have is that man is basically good and can redeem himself, or lift himself up by his own bootstraps.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

PERTINENT VERSES TO PONDER:

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." (Gen. 50:20, ESV).  
"But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks [gets their attention] to them in their affliction" (Job 36:15, NIV). 

"God left him, to try him, that he might know all that is in his heart," (cf. 2 Chon. 32:31) 
"[F]or he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men" (Lam. 3:33, ESV).
"I create the light and make the darkness.  I send good times and bad times..." (Isa. 45:7, NLT).
"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).  
"... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10, NIV).  

"He speaks to them in their affliction." (cf. Job 36:15, NIV).
"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tried you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10,  ESV).  
"... 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God'..." (Acts 14:22, NIV). 
"... But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering" Romans 8:17, NLT).
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28, NIV).  
"Who best can suffer, best can do."  --John Milton

Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the book, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?  Note:  There are many quick answers:  There are no good people!  In the book Robinson Crusoe Friday asks why evil isn't destroyed:  "What about you?" Robinson replies.  And so why do good things happen to bad people?  What is good and what is bad then, if there is no God?   When we call something good or evil, we are referring to some standard or Supreme Good, which was seen as God by Plato.  Ponder not about debating good but wondering where the idea of goodness came from, if not God?

In short, God is love, but we must see the big picture of what God is doing for His glory and also not forget that God is one of justice, wrath, vengeance, vindication, and judgment.  God will surely fulfill all His attributes.   Also, justice delayed is not justice denied!  We see no justice, but God lives in eternity and sees the big picture.  When we say that it's not fair for innocent people to suffer, how we do know of their innocence?  And if God were to eliminate all evil in the world, what about the evil in us--Jesus said that only God is good!  We must have faith that God is working for the greater good and short-run evil will result in long-range good.  Likewise, we must praise God for the opportunity to do good when we see evil.  Instead of asking where God is, we must realize where the devil is!

The point is that we only see good in light of evil and evil is not God's fault!  God didn't create evil, but only the possibility of evil, which was necessitated because of free will!  This would make no sense if no one turned evil and rebelled against God; therefore, evil exists and must be reckoned with and judged.  Remember, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they come as a package: we can distinguish them and separate them, but evil exists only as a parasite on good.  If mankind had no choice of good or evil, there would be no love or hate in the world; we'd be robots, puppets, automatons, or animals with no free will or opportunity to know and love God.  Don't break faith because we all have to pay our dues.  God simply couldn't create a world of free people who have a chance to obey Him and then have none disobey or do evil!

We talk of injustice, intolerance, inequity, et cetera.  How could there be injustice without justice?  If there were no good, there could exist no evil!  Mankind was created good and went terribly bad, even Satan was once good!  But, fortunately, God is able to turn evil into good and His glory and wisdom will be shown in the end.  Most people just object to evil when it happens to them, but don't realize they are part of the problem too if they don't know God.  The point is that God sends good in envelopes of affliction to make us grow in our faith.  In the final analysis, we ought to celebrate the opportunity to see good in light of evil and to turn evil into good and to have the opportunity to do good when evil seems so certain and unavoidable to everyone to some degree--no one goes through life trouble-free.

Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered (cf Heb. 5:8) and didn't exempt Himself from suffering, nor guarantee we would lead a life in a bed of roses or in a rose garden.  "Jesus was honest enough to tell us we'd have tribulations" and that life was a test of our faith.  Would you believe in a Savior who wasn't sympathetic to suffering and had experienced none first-hand?  But God is the great Sufferer and when we break God's laws, we break God's heart.  When bad things happen, people act differently: some become bitter, some better!

Therefore, it is by adversity in life that we build character and learn the lessons of life to become mature.  And the existence of Satan, evil, sin, death, and adversity is not an argument against God, but for Him.  The ultimate question should not be:  "If there is a God why is there evil?" but the opposite:  "If there is no God, why is there so much good?" God is able to make "the wrath of man to praise Him" (cf. Psa. 76:10).

Faith is a choice and we must decide between good and evil. If faith were easy, it wouldn't be worth anything!  There is no easy answer to the existence of suffering, but it's just as likely to produce sincere faith as to destroy insincere faith; in a way, it's a litmus test!   There is no smoking gun evidence for or against God, so it takes faith both ways.  It isn't a matter of faith versus reason, but faith versus faith--which set of presuppositions you want to accept;  Faith in man and science, or God and His Word as the revelation.  Most people don't have enough faith to be atheists!

We must decide to believe and be willing to do God's will for our eyes to be opened to the truth.  God will authenticate Himself to us if we are willing.  God will not force someone to believe against their will, though He can make them willing (a paradox).  Faith can only be valid and of value, if it's difficult to attain!  That's because God is all-powerful or omnipotent and can overpower someone's will and make the unwilling willing--no one can reject His will (cf. Jer. 20:7; Rom. 9:19).

In sum, upon salvation, we enroll in the school of suffering, which is a given, and we must celebrate it as a red badge of courage that gives us braggadocio as it were and the right to say, "Been there, done that!"--this is Reality 101 and no one escapes it! God owes us no explanations:  "He is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and too wise to make a mistake!"  We answer to God not the other way around!  We are not to second-guess God: John Wycliffe tenet says, "All things come to pass of necessity."  We ought not get a martyr's complex, thinking the more we suffer, the more holy we are, but everyone is called to go through the school of hard knocks at times.

God knows that in our affliction, we will seek Him (cf. Hosea 5:15) and we should know that He gets our attention by affliction (cf. Job 36:15).   "People are born for trouble as sure as the spark flies upward" (cf. Job 5:7, NLT).  In the final analysis, one must acknowledge the fact that there are no easy answers as God didn't even explain Himself to Job.  God is too deep to explain Himself, too kind to be cruel, and to wise to be wrong or mistaken.  No religion, philosophy, or faith has the complete answer!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Trouble In Paradise

Paradise (as it's called in the Septuagint)  means "pleasure," and the word is from the Persian for Eden. There is lots of trouble in Hawaii, also called Paradise, but this was indeed a perfect environment with no pitfalls, drawbacks, or downside. Everything a man could want was there--even the perfect job--horticulture at the time the first profession.  Even his marriage was made in heaven and Eve was designed to be a perfect helpmate and partner.

But things didn't go as planned, even as it seemed God had planned.  Adam was meant to live forever and to eat of the tree of life, but he ate of the wrong tree, the one that was off-limits. Why he hadn't yet eaten of the tree of life is a mystery.  Evil and trouble had already made their debut in heaven as Satan was kicked out and cast down to earth for his sin of pride and rebellion with his legions of demons or minions.  God had made one simple test to see whether Adam would want to obey Him or Satan.  Adam had no inclination to evil, and wasn't prone to disobey--he had the ultimate free will--(he was free to sin and free not to sin; he had both capabilities) and there was nothing internal or external compelling him to sin--he simply chose to, uninfluenced by an outside force. Actually, it seems he took of the forbidden fruit because his wife had and he was on her side!  But by his one simple act of rebellion, the human race was all reckoned to be in sin (called original sin).  Eve had listened to Satan unwittingly and ignorantly, even innocently, but Adam listened to his wife and knew what he was doing in a better light.  He chose willingly to be a partner in crime!

Eve was the one to watch!  She was obviously naive enough not to know that serpents don't have the power of speech and also that she had power and authority over all creatures.  But she was curious enough to talk to a serpent.  Curiosity can lead to sin!  The first act of defiance against God was a prototype sin in manifold ways--we all confirm and verify this sin in ourselves to show we would've done likewise.  We all display solidarity in Adam.  It is said that Adam and Eve spurned God's grace, contradicted His truth, violated His law, rejected His authority, disputed His wisdom, repudiated His justice, and resisted His grace--that just about covers a rebellion against the complete nature of God--the prototype sin.  The proverbial apple or forbidden fruit was the entree into the ways of the world and to find one's own wisdom, discernment, pleasure, truth, and will.

Satan had said that they would be "as gods" (knowing good and evil) and this was a way to be independent of Him--she might have doubted God's goodness or suspected He was holding out on her. Not that this knowledge was necessarily bad, but it wasn't in God's timing for them to know it yet--perhaps later.  It is true that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave them cognizance of what evil was--they already had experienced God's goodness but now they questioned it--doubt entered the equation.  Now they knew evil first hand!   Eve also displayed "bad purpose" to know good and evil, legally showing corrupt intention and desiring to be equal with God and independent. 

We also see good in comparison to evil.  Evil is the distortion of good and they knew good but now they knew evil and its consequences--shame and guilt, resulting in embarrassment and sinful self-consciousness.  In other words, good must first exist for there to be evil--it's not independent of the good and couldn't exist on its own without there being a good to pervert or imitate.  We only see evil in light of good.  Now they reasoned they could be good without God and make a name for themselves, I suspect. Adam followed suit and decided to take his chances with his helpmate and partner and partner in crime in partaking of the "forbidden fruit."

But what happened after the fact is the rest of the story.  Adam and Eve displayed "consciousness or cognizance of guilt" (legally showing culpability).  They were indeed responsible for what they had done but they immediately pointed their fingers at someone else and played the old blame game.  This culminated in Operation Fig Leaf, the first religion of good works to try to gain the approbation of God and make oneself righteous and acceptable apart from grace and mercy.  They didn't realize that God only made one simple command or rule, not a suggestion!  It wasn't just good advice!  They couldn't keep one simple rule!

Noteworthy is the fact that they didn't even ask for forgiveness, showing more guilt!  Maybe they felt too guilty to seek forgiveness like Judas, not thinking it was forgivable.   An insult to God's nature of goodness!  They must not have known God very well not to know He is one of grace and mercy; however, God was merciful and delayed his death sentence by nearly 1000 years.  But they had experienced the death of being separated from God's fellowship and communion. But note that they didn't even apologize or say they were sorry!  But they apparently did have a guilt complex though and tried to hide their shame by putting on aprons made of fig leaves, noticing their nakedness made them feel vulnerable and exposed their feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

And it's a wonder that they had only one simple rule to obey and blew it!  And yet they did it in a perfect environment to prove to us we cannot blame our sin on our upbringing or background. We must trust God's wisdom in knowing what we are capable of knowing for our own good, perhaps God would've revealed the difference between good and evil after Adam and Eve had matured in their evening walks with the Lord.  Sin is universal:  we are born into it, we choose it, and it's our nature known as the old man Adam.  But worst of all is that we all confirm Adam's sin by duplicating its acts in other manifestations and following suit showing solidarity and the universality of sin.  Thank goodness, God made for them coverings of skin to hide their shame and show forgiveness and reconciliation.         Soli Deo Gloria!

God Works In Mysterious Ways

"Truly, O God of Israel, Our Savior, you work in mysterious ways" (Isaiah 45:15, NLT).
"Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?  or where were the righteous cut off?  (Job 4:7, KJV--Eliphaz to Job).  

God brings good times as well as bad times (cf. Isaiah 45:7, NLT).  "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things."  (Isaiah 45:7, ESV). God "doesn't willingly grieve or afflict the children of men" (cf. Lam. 3:33, ESV). Job questioned God's justice after his suffering and God never explained Himself to him, but only humbled him by revealing Himself to bring him to repentance.  Jesus was asked if a disaster that happened was because the victims were eviler than others, but Jesus admonished them to repent lest they likewise perish.  Just because someone is suffering we are not to conclude that he is being punished by God.

Job was written to partly answer why the godly suffer, but there is no complete answer to this dilemma and we are left with the challenge to trust God for who He is and His providence working for the overall good in the end (cf. Rom. 8:28).  They ask why does evil happen to good people? There are no good people!  The question might as well be re-phrased, "Why does good happen to evil people?"  Because Jesus said that only God is good!  God is the source of all good (cf. James 1:17) and evil is just the perversion, waste, and shortchanging of good, or evil under the guise of good--humanism is merely goodness without God in the equation.  Yes, one might well echo the words of the famed hymn by William Cowper:  "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."

Job was told by Zophar in Job 11:7, ESV, "'Can you find out the deep thing of God?...'"  As the Latin phrase goes:  "finitum non capax Infinitum."  This means the finite cannot grasp or contain the infinite!  The KJV asks if we canst "by searching find out God." The answer is an emphatic "No." Caveat:  God is too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself, a sage has observed. God doesn't owe us an explanation and isn't accountable to us; contrariwise, we owe Him an explanation and are accountable to Him!  We must not be armchair quarterbacks and second-guess God!  We must expect trouble in this life:  "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble"  (Job 14:1, ESV).  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalm 34:19, ESV).

We must be encouraged to continue in the faith and to bear our cross, which pales in comparison with Christ's passion, for "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (cf. Acts 14:22, ESV).  Remember that trials, tribulations, temptations, sufferings, tests, and adversities must inevitably come; however, Christ will be with us as we pass through the waters and the fire (cf. Isaiah 42:2).  "[W]e rejoice in our sufferings," according to Romans 5:3, ESV.  Remember, Christ didn't exempt Himself from any type of suffering but suffered in all similar manners and yet without sin (cf. Heb. 4:15).  Christ isn't asking us to do anything He didn't do Himself!

We must not ever judge victims as being somewhat less worthy, holy, or righteous than us and believe they deserve what befalls them, as if they were suffering karma or the natural consequences of evil as Job's comforters assumed of him:  "As I have seen, those who plow trouble and sow iniquity reap the same"  (Job 4:8, ESV).  They told him that no one innocent ever perished!  Their presupposition was that the only reason trouble comes is because one is not right with God; God blesses the good and punishes the evil.  Their calculus was an oversimplification, for they had not reckoned God's goodness into the equation and His profundity, that we cannot figure God out or put Him into a box.

One reason evil exists is that we see good in its contrast.  God works evil into good and turns the wrath of man into His glory (cf. Psalm 76:10). Why does He work with evil?  Because there's so much of it to work with!   God can take the most diabolical events and turn them into good results, and we must not break faith in God that He knows best and what He is doing.   Look at what Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (cf. Gen. 50:20).   Acts 2:23, ESV, says that Jesus was "delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God."  Someday Jesus will answer all our questions and we will know even as we are known (cf. John 16:23, ESV, "In that day you will ask nothing of me....").   Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Does Evil Exist?...

"The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good"  (Prov. 15:3, ESV).

God didn't create evil but did make it possible for it to exist by virtue of giving the gift of free will to innocent sentient creatures and to Adam and Eve.  Evil entered the human race via the Fall instigated by Satan.  There are many who wonder why doesn't God eliminate evil; Robinson Crusoe answered that question to Friday:  Why doesn't God get rid of you?  The point is that God is in the process of doing something about evil--He made you and me!

God has no hands to help but ours; no mind to think with but ours; no voice to speak through but ours; and finally no heart to love through than ours.  The dilemma of God being almighty and good poses the question of why does there seems to be no justice and why do the good suffer.  First of all, there are no good people--we are not basically good, but evil in God's estimation.  Second of all, why do good things happen to bad people, not why do bad things happen to good people?  Without evil in existence, or its possibility we all would be automatons with no will of our own to choose to obey or disobey God freely.

God did give man a chance in the Garden of Eden and he blew it--Adam represented all of mankind and we would've done the same thing (the original sin prefigures all sin and is a denial of God's attributes one by one.  The proverbial apple showed the entirety of the sin question:  Adam rejected God's authority; he doubted His goodness; he disputed His wisdom; he repudiated His justice; he contradicted His truthfulness; he spurned His grace (source unknown).

 Edengate, as it has been dubbed as the very first cover-up and God didn't hide from Adam, but Adam from God in shame, because he knew he had done something wrong and felt guilty.  God cleansed their guilt and wiped it away by clothing them in skins.  This was the prototype sin and we should all see ourselves as doing ditto.  Adam sought his own goodness, delight, and wisdom, having rejected God's.  That's the epitome of sin:  man's declaration of independence from God!

When asking why do the good suffer, the real question should be why are they blessed?  God gives man less than he deserves punitively.  God is good and so there is a standard of Supreme or Ultimate Good (per Plato) and God is omnipotent, almighty, and plenipotent. God is also just, kind and good; so why do we suffer?  There is an invisible conflict between good and evil (evil has been dethroned at the cross and Christ reigns), but the mop-up effort and consummation are in process. In the end, God will turn the wrath of man to praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10).

In the meantime, we find ourselves in the enemy-occupied territory--the devil's turf or domain!  We fight evil from the vantage point of victory, not for a victory--Christ already won the battle!  Evil must exist and it's not the counterpart of God nor it's opposite, but a parasite and perversion of good (it couldn't exist in its own right).

Without God, there can be no evil or sin and without the possibility of evil, there can be no good expressed, for we only see and behold goodness in contrast to evil and sin.  Someone said that one might ask:  Do you see the evil and say "why?"  Or do you see the good and say "why not?"  We see good in light of evi; we have the opportunity for good with evil; we endure short-term evil for long-term good; realize that there can be no objective evil without objective good.   In the final analysis, we must not lose faith in the fact that God will someday settle the score and mete out justice at Judgment Day; justice delayed is not justice denied!    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Age Of Innocence

 "Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there, to them I will give it, and they shall possess it"  (Deut. 1:39, NKJV).  
 "For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good..." (Isaiah 7:16, NKJV). 
"... 'Yes. Have you never read 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?'...." (Matt. 21:16, NKJV).

John Locke, father of modern empiricism, said that children are born tabula rasa, or with a blank heart or slate, that is impressionable and innocent!--thus all knowledge is learned by experience and we don't inherit any.   The Bible clearly says that we are conceived in sin and that we err from birth, telling lies (Psalm 58:3, NKJV, says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies").  This native tendency is called original sin and is the effect of Adam's sin.  We aren't sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners, theologians say.  We sin, precisely because it's our very nature and we act according to our God-given nature.  God chose our nature, whether sanguine, choleric, melancholy, impetuous, or happy-go-lucky!

We are not born free, but in bondage to sin, and must be set free (As John 8:36, NKJV, says, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed").   We don't need free wills, but wills made free.  The will is depraved to and is not in a state of neutrality able to weigh the pros and cons of following Christ--we need to be wooed into the kingdom (cf. John 6:44, 65) and convicted of our sin and brought to faith by regeneration (cf. 2 Thess. 2:13, which implies that regeneration precedes faith!).

Our nature is determined by God, just like a dove's nature is to eat seed and a vulture to eat carrion, we act according to the nature God gave us, and we are true to nature and to the character that God didn't even ask us our permission before giving it to us.  What if you had been born in India, do you think you'd be a Baptist?  What if you had been born in abject poverty in the Horn of Africa, what would've been your chances of surviving, or what if you had been born in a Muslim nation and had virtually no freedom or opportunity to be anything except Muslim?

God recognizes that children don't know good and evil, though they are still sinners.  Jonah was told that there were 120,000 in Nineveh that didn't know their right hand from their left!  After the spies had come back from Canaan, Joshua was told that the nation would suffer for forty years in the wilderness due to cowardice and a whole generation would be punished--except those who were "innocent" as Deut. 1:39 says.  Basically, God had mercy on all those under twenty years old, even though Jews consider the right of passage into adulthood at about 13 for boys and 12 for girls.

Some teach that God sends children to hell if they're not baptized, but there is no place in hell for children.  Isaiah 7:16 says that there is a time when children don't know to choose the good and reject the evil before adulthood, and God has mercy on them accordingly.   Jesus, Himself, said that the kingdom of God belongs to the children of the world, and we are to receive them, even someone who accepts them in His name accepts Him.  Woe to those who cause a child to stumble in the faith, because their angels constantly behold the face of the Father in heaven.

We have a lot to learn from children, who have not reached the age of accountability yet, because Jesus said that God has ordained praise from their lips (as Matt. 21:16, says, "... 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?"),  and we can see the love of God in their hearts  (cf. Psalm 8:2).  Saint Augustine said that it was the voice of a child saying, "Take and read, take and read," that was his spiritual wake-up call and motivated him to repent of his lascivious and debauched lifestyle.

Yes, God does speak through children and they can utter wise statements that are timely.  Yes, forbid them not, as Mark 10:14 says to suffer them not, for such is the kingdom of God.   Soli Deo Gloria!     

You Meant It For Evil

Joseph told his brothers that God meant their evil deeds for the overall good in Gen. 50:20.  Yes, God manipulates evil for the greater good of man and glory of God.  Why?  There's so much evil to work with, why not? God turns the wrath of man into praise per Psalm 76:10!  You may ask, "Why does God permit evil?" Friday wondered the same question in Robinson Crusoe:  If God were to wipe it out right now, who would be left that isn't besmirched or tainted with evil through and through?  God directs events, but some He only permits or allows to happen indirectly--but God is still in charge.

God is holy and cannot bear the sight of evil nor allow it in His presence; He cannot countenance any sin or iniquity (cf. Hab. 1:13).  Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil (cf. Isaiah 5:20).  God has a purpose for everything, even the wicked for the day of evil (cf. Prov. 16:4).  God will ultimately judge it and bring everyone to account for their deeds, whether good or evil (cf. Eccl. 12:14).   Point in fact:  God already did something about evil; He made you!

God is not the author of evil, but if good didn't exist, there would be no evil--it's not an independent force a la yin yang--and it only exists as a parasite on good, because it's a perversion and distortion of good (note:  it's not the opposite of good and couldn't exist but for there being good to counterfeit without God), and we wouldn't know what good was without there being evil; would a fish know what dry air is like?  We have tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and innocent children are unaware of it until the age of accountability (cf. Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:16). If God were good, but not just and almighty, evil would be able to take over and corrupt all, but God restrains it and will judge it; justice delayed is not justice denied.  If there were no hell, God would be neither good nor just nor almighty.  We live in the day of grace and the Day of the Lord and of Judgment will eventually come to pass.   The mature believer discerns good and evil and is able to avoid evil and even hates it (cf. Heb. 5:14).  The fear of God is, therefore, to hate evil according to Proverb 8:13.

The whole point of allowing evil is to bring glory to God in the end result:  evil makes good shine all the brighter; during a disaster, Good Samaritans show forth the love of Christ in relief efforts.  You may ask, "Where was God when 9/11 happened?"  I say, "Where wasn't He?"  Some people see evil and say "Why?" while others see the good and say, "Why not?"  God is everywhere, this is known as ubiquity or omnipresence.  God is both transcendent or separate and removed from creation, but also immanent or close by, in that He is fully everywhere, and not partially anywhere.  God created the time/space continuum and can use it and isn't defined nor confined by it.  God is, therefore, able to guide by providence whatsoever takes place--every event and every creature's activity under the sun.

We don't blame God for evil, because man willingly does it, and not by compulsion.  Evil originated with Satan's pride and fall from heaven, and our evil had its origin in the original sin of Adam, which is imputed to our account and we are born into: we are sinners by nature, by choice, by birth, in fact, we have our solidarity in Adam with no more inclination to good, but we are not compelled nor impelled to sin, but inclined and predisposed to evil or sin, but we are not inclined to good, which was lost in the fall.

In the end, God doesn't owe man an explanation (He's too kind to be cruel, too wise to make a mistake, and too deep to explain Himself); we owe God an explanation!  God does as He pleases in all creation (cf. Psalm 135:6).  "But once he has made his decision, who can change his mind?  Whatever He wants to do, he does"  (Job 23:13, NLT).  No one can ask Him what He's doing and why (cf. Daniel 4:35; Job 9:32).  God says, "...Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish"  (Isaiah 46:10, NLT).

God rules He doesn't just reign like the do-nothing monarch of the UK.  "He rules over the nations, and dominion belongs to the LORD (cf. Psalm 22:28).  God is able to turn the heart of the king like water of a river (cf. Prov. 21:1).  Man can make his plots, but the Lord overrules and frustrates the evil of the nations:  "The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes"  (Ps. 33:10, NLT).

Indeed, note that "We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps"  (Prov. 16:9, NLT).  Man doesn't "get away" with evil, but will be held accountable at Judgment Day and he will reap his recompense.  Job was a man of integrity who shunned evil:  "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding"  (Job 28:28, NKJV).  Man ponders as to why bad things happen to good people without wondering why good things happen to bad people!

In sum, we must claim the promise of Romans 8:28, KJV, that says, "And we know that all things work together for good [turning proximate evil into long-term blessings] to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Flirting With Satan

"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil"  (Heb. 5:14, ESV).
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..." (Isaiah 5:20, ESV).

Some Christians think it's cool to dabble in the occult and experiment with its luring temptations. The most popular and largest segment of the occult is astrology, which has been around for at least 4,000 years, as an adventure into supernaturalism.  It seems "innocent" enough, but it opens the door to satanic activity in your life, such as using Ouija boards, palmistry, Yoga, TM, crystals, seances, tarot cards, or channeling.

Paul encountered sorcerers in Ephesus in Acts 19 and, when they repented, they brought all their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. Remember, Simon the Great had been a sorcerer and, after believing, sought to buy the gift of God with money, and today this heresy is known as simony.   King Saul sought advice from the witch of Endor, a medium, and was punished with death with his sons as a result. 

Of course, they don't see the harm, but a mature believer realizes that this domain belongs to the devil and will steer clear of it--it's no joke!  You cannot partake of the Lord's Table and the table of demons!  The Bible clearly condemns astrology and any type of star worship in Isaiah 47:13 as follows:  "You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you."

Contrary to popular thought, the magi were not astrologers but noticed a sign in heaven and knew the Scriptures were being fulfilled from a prophecy of Jacob.  Nowhere does God condone astrology and a believer in Christ is disobedient to lend it any credence.

Why is this so serious?  Even if you don't take it seriously and are just playing around, your testimony is jeopardized and it speaks of your lack of faith in God.  Also, you have a responsibility to obey Scripture and not to do anything that makes your brother stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12).  We don't play around with Satan but take him seriously as our adversary.  Anyone who is into occult practice, such as consulting the stars for advice, is doing the work of the devil and in league with him, and will be judged--i.e., we are not to call evil good (cf. Isa. 5:20).  If you don't worship God, you'll still find something or someone to worship--it's our God-given nature!  Soli Deo Gloria!

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 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.  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:  "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.

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.

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--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 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!

Who's Holier Than Whom?

"Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding"  (2 Corinthians 10:12, ESV).

God rebuked Israel for having the so-called "holier-than-thou" attitude in Isaiah 65:5.  The right frame of mind is "such were some of you..." (1 Cor. 6:11, ESV).  George Whitefield saw condemned men sent to the gallows are remarked:  "There but for the grace of God, go I."  We see this haughty and complacent phenomenon today in "holiness" churches, such as the Neo-Pentecostal and Methodist, that teach "entire sanctification," or that a second salvation experience renders a believer incapable of "willful sin" or even destroys the sin nature, rendering him "holy."

It is true that Scripture does say that "without holiness, no man shall see the Lord," but all Christians are holy--there are no degrees of holiness this side of eternity, and it is not by grading on the curve, but a pass/fail basis that God uses. "Since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Pet. 1:16, ESV). Sometimes saints are referred to as "pious" and this is a reflection of our devotion to God, whose prime attribute, and the one that best describes Him is holiness (Isaiah 6:3, ESV, boldface added:  "... Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts").

There is no caste system in the faith--no elite or clergy, as opposed to laity--we're all ministers of reconciliation and messengers of the gospel.  We are all "one in Christ" and no part of the body has a right to deny the need for another part--it's not what gift you have, so much as the spirit you use it in.

(The sum total of God's attributes is His holiness and it's defined as "otherness," purity, or being set apart for service, like silverware set apart for special occasions. God's holiness is the attribute of attributes and regulates all the attributes.)

What is our righteousness then?  It is as filthy rags according to Isaiah 64:6 and, like the wind, our sins sweep us away.  Our righteousness and holiness are extrinsic and the gift of God, not our own working--we have nothing to boast of; our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to Him.  We have no inherent worth or righteousness, that we can offer God and it is entirely imputed to us by Christ on our behalf, by virtue of the atonement on the cross, which enabled the Father to be both just and the justifier.


There is no "second work of grace" to seek, once saved, and believing one is entirely sanctified leads to an inflated opinion of one's achievements.  Martin Luther taught that the believer is at the same time just, and a sinner (cf. Gal. 2:17).  Proverbs 20:9 destroys the premise of sinlessness:  "Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin?'" At salvation we are justified and declared righteous, not made righteous--in God's eyes, we are sinless. There are no saints walking around who have overcome their sin nature and don't sin willfully.  Our righteousness is imputed, not actual. Don't overestimate your spirituality, because there are no shortcuts or easy roads to sanctification, apart from growing in Christ.


We must look into the matter of what holiness is:  Christianity isn't a catalog of rules; neither is it legalism and adhering to certain taboos or rules, or lists of dos and don'ts; neither is it a philosophy or collection of religious ideas; it is not giving up something for God to make you feel superior or smug, either. When you dedicate your life to Christ (He wants you, not something you have, as we present ourselves to Him), and then you become holy, because holiness means being set apart for the service of something.  All believers are vessels of honor and set apart for God's service.  Holiness is essentially manifest in sanctification, and we cannot be saved apart from also being sanctified--a growing process from the point of salvation.


We are to accept all believers, regarding each other as better than ourselves, and to have an attitude that is humble and not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. The business of the Christian life is the pursuit of experiential holiness or of becoming more conformed to the image of Christ--letting our minds become transformed and renewed.  We cannot reach a state of perfection, and perfectionism, as taught by Methodists, is erroneous.  John did say that a Christian cannot sin, but he meant to continue in its practice without conviction and discipline--because God corrects his wayward children per Hebrews 12:5-7.

There is a limit as to how sanctified we can become because our ultimate sanctification is in our glorified state in heaven--even Paul didn't claim to have attained unto it yet (cf. Philippians 3:12, ESV:  "Not that I have already attained this or am already perfect...."   The psalmist in Psalm 119:96 says that he had seen the "limit of all perfection" (ESV). This is interpreted to imply that no one's perfect and to err is human, as the cliches go. We have no right to judge or look down on our brother because "to his own Master he stands or falls." We are all "works in progress," and we must ask people to be patient with us because God isn't finished with us yet--we may even be cantankerous, but how much more we would be without Christ!  We are not what we ought to be, but thank God, we are not what we used to be!

We are not to get into the "let's compare" mindset and to "look unto Jesus, the Author, and Finisher of our faith." We all look like saints compared to Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler, but perfection (Christ himself) is the standard, and direction is the test: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect"  (cf. Matt. 5:48).  Note well that God is the moral center of the universe, and it's unwise to play the "let's compare" game.  Being in Christ we are holy positionally, and only God is holier than us by virtue of His very divine nature!   We share in His holiness--we have none of our own!  Only in achieving this God-given state of holiness do we solve the problem of our sin nature and find the way out of our dilemma.  It would be vain to hand us a set of rules or guidelines to adhere to--we couldn't keep them--what we need is a Savior to change our nature, not a lecture to make us feel guilty.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Grip Of Sin

Before salvation we are subject to a sin nature that we have no power to defeat; in fact, all we can do is sin and we are unable not to sin. Roman poet Ovid said, "I know the good and approve it, but I follow the worst."  Paul summed up the plight of man in Romans 7:24 (ESV) as:  "Wretched man that I am.  Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jeremiah 13:23, ESV).  "All our righteousness is as filthy rags"  (cf. Isaiah 64:6) and counts as nothing compared to the purity of God's standards, which are manifest in Christ's person.

All we need to know of righteousness is exemplified and personified in Him, the exact replica and image of God (cf. Col. 1:15). Our good works, done in the flesh, count for nothing at Judgment Day and are praiseworthy by our fellow man, who gives us his kudos and; however, they count for nothing in God's eyes, namely because they were done with the wrong motives and God takes this into consideration (cf. Proverbs 21:2)--most men do good deeds simply for the applause and acceptance of man and to ingratiate himself in God's eyes; however, there is nothing we can do to gain God's favor or to "brownnose" God.

We are all in the same boat and lumped together (cf. Rom. 3:23), regardless of our own assessment or appraisal, or of what others think considering their evaluation and estimation of our worthiness. What is esteemed in men's eyes is despised in God's eyes; for man admires high self-esteem and self-respect, not God-esteem and God-respect, and even individualism and independence--"lift yourself up by your own bootstraps," which is a do-it-yourself proposition common to all religion, on good works to gain the approbation of God. We couldn't be worse off in God's estimation of man--note that our total depravity of heart, will, and mind is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man. The grip of our sin nature or depravity must be solved threefold:  its ignorance by virtue of Christ the Prophet, its guilt by virtue of Christ the Priest, and its dominion by virtue of Christ the King.

God is not against good works per se, for they benefit us and we all owe a lot to so-called good men who have contributed to our well-being, but they are not good enough to gain entree into God's heaven or for salvation itself.  But God is indeed against good deeds done in the power of the flesh, by man's own effort and strength, as opposed to those done in the power of the Spirit, of which are worthy of reward at the bema (Greek for judgment seat) or tribunal of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10; Romans 14:10-12).  Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing..." (cf. John 15:5).  God must give us the power (cf. Phil. 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ...") to do works in His name (cf. Isaiah 26:12 says:  "...[You] have done for us all our works"--only that which is done by the power of the Spirit and in His name is worthy of reward, and this goes for believers as well, as 1 Cor. 3:15 indicates that some of their works are only "wood, hay, and stubble" and will burn up in the fire of judgment and the believer will suffer loss of reward, though he is saved as if by fire.

Cain was warned by God in Genesis 4:7 that sin "crouches at the door" and waits to destroy him and we must all realize this:  We are still subject to our sin nature as believers and must constantly renew ourselves in the filling of the Spirit--it's not a one-time event, but a continuing experience of  being filled [cf. Eph. 5:18].  Even Christians can and do backslide, but God can heal them of this tendency, inclination, and weakness--He will heal the backslider (Hosea 14:4 says, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely"). "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh"  (Gal. 5:16, ESV).   Hosea says that "sin has been your downfall."  Yes, we still have sin in us as believers and this is the old man or old sin nature, the result of Adam's sin which we inherit as original sin.

We are no longer inclined to do good but must walk in the Spirit to overcome the evil one.   Many Christians do live defeated lives and have never learned to walk with the Lord in fellowship, even as Enoch and Noah did.  We must all realize our area of weakness--the sin which so easily besets us, according to Hebrews 12:1--and admit our shortcomings and failures to God--to come clean in repentance.  We have no one to blame but ourselves, for we are our own worst enemy and shouldn't be blaming the devil-like they say, "The devil made me do it!"  We have no one to blame but ourselves for our failures, because God is on our side and, as believers, we have power over sin and to overcome the sin nature.

Unfortunately, some believers are recurrent backsliders and God says to them:  "... Your sins have been your downfall!"  (Cf. Hos. 14:1, NIV).  We are not punished for our sins, nor for our parents' sins--we are punished by our sins, and God doesn't deliver us from their natural consequences because we still sow what we reap and take responsibility for our own behavior--just because a thief is forgiven, doesn't mean God is going to keep him from jail time.

The only way to be set free is to know Christ:  "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed!"  (Cf. John 8:36).  Unbelievers have no power over sin and act according to their nature, though everyone isn't equally as bad, they are all as equally bad off--we cannot save ourselves nor do any pre-salvation work!  We are all totally depraved in all of our being and nature, though we are not utterly depraved or as bad as we can be.  It has been said by theologians that we are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners!

Man is only acting naturally when he sins just like Satan is acting according to his nature when he lies, for he is a liar and the father of liars, and there is no truth in him.  The sequence of salvation is that at conversion we are set free from the penalty of sin, in time from the power of sin, and in eternity from the presence of sin.  In other words, we have been saved from sin, we are being saved from sin, and we will be saved from sin (our position, condition, and expectation).

The whole point of the Christian life is a changed life or a conversion experience--although some regard this as an acceptable way to have a nervous or mental breakdown now, it is an experience to be reckoned with and that is as dramatic as a cowboy changing hitching posts because of his change of attitude and no longer visits the brothel or saloon, and instead attends chapel.  We learn to hate sin as God hates it and to love righteousness as God does, and as we get to know God and love God, we want to be like Him.  We are all works in progress, but there is a dramatic change that occurs as a testimony of the conversion experience.

Therefore,we must learn to be patient with other believers because God isn't finished with them yet!  God is working on us like a silversmith purifies his silver:  When he sees himself he is done!  God wants to see Himself in us and won't stop working on us till He does: "Christ in you, the hope of glory"  (cf. Col. 1:27).  God is like a sculptor who makes a figurine out of a slab of marble and does it by taking away everything that doesn't resemble the figurine. Some people are just more challenging and have a further way to go, by virtue of less virtue or faith, but God is determined to make all of us in Christ's image.

Man is no free spirit (however, he's a free moral agent) that can do as he wills and come to God in his own power and free will, God must woo him and draw him to the cross and do a work of regeneration in his heart of repentance and faith--no one would come to Christ of their own power; it is totally of grace and Soli Deo Gloria, or to God alone be the glory.  It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Christ alone, with the Scripture as the authority alone, and God alone getting the glory.  It is summed up in the monergistic (not cooperative) and not a synergistic (co-operative) phrase of Jonah:  "Salvation is of the Lord."  It is not a cooperative venture, whereby we get a little of the credit, but God works it in us and sovereignly saves us totally by grace and not merit of any kind. There are only three possibilities:  Of man alone; of God and man; or of God alone.

The first is religion, the second is legalism, and the third alone is total grace.  As Paul says in Romans 5:21 that "grace reigns through righteousness."  God's grace is irresistible and efficacious or does what He intends--make believers out of us and change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26). God's grace always works the desired result (cf Romans 5:21), unlike man's work, and is never in vain--you can resist the Holy Spirit and harden your heart, but not God's gracious work in your heart, no more than you can resist the woman of your dreams.

It is an ill-conceived to think we are "born free" and have "spiritual" free will--we must be set free! We aren't saved by an act of the will:  "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:16, ESV).  "[F]or it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure"  (Phil. 2:13, ESV).  We don't need free wills to be saved, but wills made free (even our wills our stubborn, rebellious, and depraved and incapable of pleasing God without God quickening of faith in them--we were dead in trespasses and sins (cf. Eph. 2:1) and God made us alive, and a dead person can do nothing to please God!

We had no inclination to come to Christ and no desire for Him until God worked this grace in us and granted us the privilege of coming to Christ: "No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him," and "No man can come to me unless it has been granted of the Father" (cf. John 6:44).  These are hard sayings and many believers stumble over them and cannot accept that God is ultimately in charge of our destiny--they like to think they are in control of things; however, God is sovereign over all and what kind of God would He be if He weren't?  Note Romans 9:19 (ESV) that says, "... 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'" "Christ is the Captain of our soul and the Master of our fate."

Man's so-called free will doesn't limit God's sovereignty, and God is the one who made the final choice as to whom He would save--called His elect in Scripture.  It is an important point of doctrine that Romans 8:30 (ESV), which says :  "[A]nd those whom he predestined he also called...," militates against the prescient view that God elects us because we believe, but God elects us unto faith, I repeat, not because of our faith! He can make a believer out of anyone if it's His will (Tyre and Sidon would've repented had they seen Christ's miracles!).  But people are still responsible for rejecting God and are personally accountable at Judgment Day because God didn't impel nor compel them to reject Him--they rejected whatever light they had.

We all have feet of clay or weaknesses not readily apparent and we cannot be good until we realize how bad we are or how bad off we are, and we will never realize this unless we attempt to be good and find out the power sin has over us as a master.  We never ceased to be human who can make choices, but we ceased to be good with any inclination toward God--no inherent goodness (we are not basically good!).  In Reformed theology, man, left to himself, will not choose God, and we didn't choose Him, He chose us (cf. John 15:16).  As Blaise Pascal said:  "I would not have searched for Thee if Thou hadst not found me."

We can be glad though: God doesn't grade on a curve and we all fall short of His holiness, and He sees through the veneer to our solidarity in Adam.  It's not that we are good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation!   Of course, if the run-of-the-mill sinner compares himself to Adolf Hitler, he would think himself a saint, but the standard we are held to is Christ, and He doesn't grade on a curve! Indeed, we must recognize that we are bad, but not too bad to be saved!  Caveat: Freedom in Christ is not permission to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit!   And remember we have nothing to boast:  "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? ..." (1 Cor. 4:7, NIV).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Maintaining Our Integrity

Robert Mueller III says, "If you have your integrity, nothing else matters; if you don't have your integrity, nothing else matters."

The context of Job is the premise that God always rewards good and punishes evil.
But we know that God prospers the wicked as well as the righteous, and the righteous suffer.

Job did just that in Job 31 where he delineates just how "righteous he is."  He actually doesn't think he deserves all this torture, suffering, and trials he is undergoing without knowing why.  His friend says he isn't getting less than he deserves and Zophar says, "...Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves" (Job 11:6, ESV).  He sounds blunt and cruel but none of us get what we deserve if God meted out justice.  He restrains Himself in mercy to all and awaits eternity to demand payment for sin. Self-righteousness is one of the sins that repels God and Job was full of it, actually challenging God to come up with a case against him.  He stood fast to his personal integrity and fell into Satan's trap of pride that wouldn't let him admit he was wrong.

The problem with his friends was that the popular doctrine was that all suffering was caused by sin and we only got what we deserved in life, good or bad (sort of a belief in karma).  The purpose of the story is to justify the ways of God to man and show that God doesn't have to explain Himself or answer to us, but we to Him.  God never answered Job's queries and made Him realize that what mattered was that He is God and Job is a man.  Job also realizes no one, including him, has a monopoly on wisdom and he has a lot to learn. There are behind-the-scenes reasons for suffering and God doesn't have to reveal His ways to us ("The secret things belong to the LORD our God..," says Deut. 29:29). The closer we get to God the more we become aware of our shortcomings and sins and see how unworthy we are (as Job finally confessed in Job 42:6). Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a lively sense of sin, the more the sense of sin the less sin.

Job suffers the consequences of challenging God and gets humbled, but we must all realize that we are not getting what we deserve and God is only showing mercy to us in sparing us the suffering we deserve.  We are only ready for the grace of God once we have experienced the reality of mercy and put in our place, knowing that we don't want justice but mercy and grace.  The reality of God's economy is that the way up is down and that we must confess with John the Baptist in John 3:30 saying, "He must decrease, I must decrease."  James 4:8 says that "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

Job's spirit was broken by his trial and sometimes it takes a breakdown or coming to the end of ourselves to find God ("O that I knew where I might find Him," he says in Job 23:3).  When we start thinking we deserve something or God owes us, we are no longer grace-oriented and lost track of God's grace that everything we have is from God and we are only stewards of his bounties.

Job teaches us we that adversity builds character in the crucible of life because the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay and with the same event one becomes bitter and another better. Man's highest good may come from his deepest suffering.   When Job asked,"Why?" God only answered "Who?" and revealed Himself to him.  We are to have faith in God, and this pleases Him, not to second-guess Him and try to figure Him out or wonder why something happens.  All suffering is providentially allowed and must be to God's glory, and have our best interests in mind and nothing can happen to us without His permission because there is a hedge of protection around us to protect us from Satan.

To conclude:  God is the causa prima or sole primary cause of the universe and we are all His vessels, either of honor or dishonor.  Satan and his subservient minions are subject to His Lordship and command and serve God too and cannot do independent mischief.  They are merely his unwitting pawns doing God's will. God is not evil, but uses evil vessels as second causes to accomplish His will.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Taking Our Stand And Making Judgments

We must realize when we became Christians that it might cost us something; salvation is free but not cheap.  We will have to take stands when the truth or testimony of Jesus is at stake; it is the coward who stands by and stays neutral. Remember, Christians are on Satan's hit list and can even use believers for evil by inspiration or enticement.  Christ calls us to be advocates and come to the aid of each other. God can deal with someone willing to take a stand, even if wrong, but not cowards who are really weak-willed and wishy-washy.  ("Stand up, stand up for Jesus!")  Recall Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the affair.   Jesus rebukes the Laodiceans in Rev. 3:19 because He doesn't know where they stand.  We cannot be on both sides of an issue. Christians must defend each other and come to their aid when an adversary comes in aggressive attack mode.

What Satan specializes in is mind-games and psychological warfare--he likes to mess with our minds! He accuses but doesn't convict--the Holy Spirit will perform an open-and-shut case without a doubt of a sin, not just try to make you feel bad or guilty.  Does Scripture have a basis in the judgment or not?  Our judgments are not to get personal and not related to the Word by way of criticism.

Sometimes we can be right but say it in the wrong way.  Methodology is important to God ("Quench not the Spirit"), and He looks at the heart and not at the appearance as man sees--is the heart in the right place, not whether he made a mistake or did something in error.  One of the worst sins is betrayal or squealing on someone or to get personal revenge or get even--fight your own battles and if you hold something against someone, keep it between you and the person in question.  If someone is not part of the problem or of the solution it can become gossip.  If we don't stand up and defend the truth, our friends, and even what we believe in, what makes us think we will stand up for Jesus.

When we do judge we are to make sure we are right and do it in the Spirit of love ("Speak the truth in love" according to Ephesians 4:15--what is our motive?).  Remember also that Jesus also said, "When you judge, judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). When we are called to show a brother his fault or the error of his way we should avoid labeling ("You theologian!") or any insults and name calling--we must resort to Scripture and how it applies.

God will judge those who are outside the church,  but judging per se is impossible to avoid because then we would show no discernment and fall prey to the devil and be under his condemnation. If a man claims to be a Christian and is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness (cf. Gal. 6:1).   If we are too strict or harsh in our judgment (in the measure we use it shall return to us), God may hold us accountable.  Above all, we must practice what we preach and not condemn ourselves by judging someone and doing the same thing in turn as hypocrites.  If you tell someone to repent, for example, you are required to make sure you need no repentance and are righteous in God's eyes (righteousness consists in having a right relationship with God and being at peace with man as far as it is possible with you).

We must not justify our own sin (one psalmist said that the people loved their sin too much to detect it). "For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated" (Psalm 36:2, ESV).   We all have a sin which easily besets us (cf Heb. 12:1), but when we sin we show our slavery and don't demonstrate our freedom.  If you are a slave to sin, how can Jesus be Lord--"For sin shall have no dominion over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace."  "His name shall be called Jesus because He shall save His people from their sins."  Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death (cf. Romans 8:2).  Christ sets us free from our old sin nature at salvation (the old man) and restores us with a new nature in His likeness.

We are all works in progress (cut some slack!) and must realize that God isn't finished with us yet. The goal is to win him over not to alienate him or sever the relationship.  Scripture exhorts us to make allowance for each other's faults and to accept one another even as Christ has accepted us. Most believers should be willing to take any admonishment if done in the Spirit and not resent it or do unto them as they have done unto you (the "iron rule").  We conquer evil with good and refrain from reviling or insulting in return.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Selfishness And Its Consequences...

"Now the way we live is based on the Spirit, not based on selfishness. People whose lives are based on selfishness think about selfish things, but people whose lives are based on the Spirit think about things that are related to the Spirit.  The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace.  So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God.  It doesn't submit to God's Law, because it can't. People who are self-centered aren't able to please God"  (Romans 8:5-8, CEB).

One of the worst insults you can assign someone is that he is selfish.  Albert Schweitzer said that the only people that are happy are those who have learned to serve.  Jesus said that the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the one who humbles himself the most (like a child).  To be great in God's kingdom you must be willing to be the servant of all;  for didn't Christ come "not to be served, but to serve..." (Mark 10:45)  Where would civilization be without selfless people who dedicated their lives to something that will outlast it, something greater than themselves--a legacy indeed!  The secret of happiness is to think of Jesus first, others second and yourself last (J.O.Y.).  If Christ hadn't arrived on the scene and taught selfless love for our fellow man, it is doubtless we would have orphanages, hospitals, universities, and charities as we know them.  Christ changed the course of history, thinking outside the box, and turned the world upside down (even seeing women as equal to men).  We could not have a civilization if everyone thought only of themselves and looked out only for good old "Number One." The old Darwinian idea of the "survival of the fittest" is non-Christian and we are not to live "each man for himself," and not be "altruistic" (a characteristic unknown to animals and sets us apart as human and in God's image).

They say that the capitalistic system works and it is based on greed; well this is an imperfect society and that is not ideal and is certainly not part of "God's economy."  In heaven, we will not be primarily concerned with bottom lines, but effort and faithfulness and the blessing of God in what we do--not giving ourselves the glory.  But of course, when people come up with ideas like the proposition that we need to learn to be "selfish" to get ahead and be a "success" they don't realize that this is nothing new:  "There's nothing new under the sun."  What amazes me is that most people don't recognize evil when confronted with it, but have itching ears that hear what they want to hear without any discernment.

Only the mature in Christ according to Hebrews 5:14 are able to discern good from evil.   When we see evil we have the opportunity to take our stand and stand up for Jesus and truth and not let the devil have his wicked way in the world.  Just thank God for all the sacrifices people have made before us to give us the culture and civilization we have and their selfless love and commitment to the welfare of others.  In conclusion:   Don't let evil be unchallenged and unanswered and remember to conquer evil with good (cf. Rom. 12:21).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Christians Be Blind To Evil?...

"Before he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right..." (Isa. 7:15). Even Jesus' mind had to develop and as Christians, the writer of Hebrews says that mature Christians are those who are "trained to distinguish good from evil"  (Heb. 5:14).  We don't see clearly right from wrong just because we are born again--we must mature and grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).

[I'm not going to be definitive and answer all the questions, but many may be raised and I hope this doesn't just open a can of worms.]

It is a loose use of the word  (people today have watered down its meaning by overuse) that gets people in trouble and we must define terms to continue, so you know what I mean.  According to R. C. Sproul,  "Augustine sought to define evil in purely negative terms.  Evil is a lack, privation or negation of the good.  Only that which was first good can become evil...  Evil depends on good for its very definition."  In other words, evil is a corruption of good or masking of it for the wrong reason or motive.  Doing something that is moral consists not only of the right motive but a right end.  Doing the right thing in the right way, for example.  Case in point:  claiming to do good or saying it is good when it is really evil.  Evil is basically anything that is wrong and not according to God's plan or economy:  e.g., homosexual matrimony masked as a good thing.   ("Woe unto those who call evil good, and good evil," says Isaiah.)

 Evil usually masks itself, like the so-called "nanny-state" that some people think is "good."  They say sincerely:  'Let us help you" (like putting you in the hospital and "curing' you of your illness).   The government has rights, responsibilities, and duties just as individuals do and God sets those limits.  The communists believe, for instance, that the end justifies the means and they are only seeking the "higher good" at the expense of the individual. Another fallacy is seeking the greatest good for the greatest number and doing it by any means possible.  

We, Westerners, believe in the inherent worth of the individual and of personal rights which are paramount and trump the states rights (this goes back to the Magna Charta he signed by King John in A.D. 1215).  Sproul cites an example:  the Antichrist depends on Christ for his identity, he says.  When we call someone evil (and many people rightly think of Hitler as the paradigm of evil if there is such a beast), we are making a "value judgment" that refers to our standards of right and wrong.

There are many less strident and innocuous ways of speaking without being inflammatory or alienating.  We hear of partisans "demonizing" each other and by this, they mean that the blame the other side and think they are right and the other is wrong and they won't compromise with "evil."  The Bible says to "put away the pointing of the finger" (cf. Isa. 58:9) and to realize the "we" are the problem:  start humbling ourselves is the exhortation of 2 Chr. 7:14 saying, "If my people shall humble themselves ... I shall heal the land."  We should be "delicate" in our talk and not offensive if we can help it because words not only have denotations from the dictionary but connotations that we may not intend and imply something else.  What you call evil, I may say isn't.

To solve the problem, in politics, I think it is more tactful to say they believe some politico is "wrong" and not "evil."  If you say a leader is evil (and I admit some are, Adolf Hitler, for example) you are labeling those who support that person as evil by the "guilt of association."  I'd more readily and  much rather admit I was wrong than evil, and there is nothing inherently bad about admitting we are wrong-no one has a monopoly on the truth and is right about everything, including the pope, who claims "infallibility."

 We shouldn't "jump to the conclusion" that a leader (and our duty is to pray for them and honor and obey them in the Lord as much as possible) is evil just because we disagree with part of their agenda or policies.  Name-calling and labeling are uncalled for and un-Christ-like--since we are to be examples in our behavior, speech, and views.  We mature believers may have a more sensitive awareness of good and evil, and we have all tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,  and we should be patient with those "less enlightened" ones that need to be edified about a Christian worldview:  We not only need to do like Christ would, but talk, think, and believe the way we ought-- having a sense of "ought" you could say.  I am appalled at the evil in the world and deplore the fact that most Christians can't even pray, but they sure can judge, condemn, complain, and criticize--this ought not to be so.   Soli Deo Gloria!