Ephesians 2:2 "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience..." and John 12:31 "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."So for a time the world belongs to Satan. He's the temporary ruler and just as most bad rulers in history, he will be deposed! Satan's modus operandi is evil! Soon Satan will be cast into the fiery pit. His days are numbered! Why in the world would we align ourselves with rulers whom we know are going the way of Hitler and Sadam Hussein? Any rational person would turn their backs on purveyors of evil.
President Bush used the expression "evil doers" in condemning Islamic terrorists. Although they certainly are aligned with evil, most of the world is too! What is evil? It's "wickedness" which on the Christian scale, is behavior or activities God deems wrong. Simply put evil is hateful behavior. One might ask "How is infidelity and homosexuality hateful behavior?" It's disobedience to God. By failure to disobey God's dictates sinful humans show disdain for God. Those sinners in "victimless sins" hate God because God tells them not to do things their rational mind tells them is okay. They do it anyway!
Pain always go with evil. The effects of evil-doing is suffering, injury, or destruction. It may not happen right now, but sooner or later, evil leads to pain. If nothing else evil-doers, without repentance, suffer eternal suffering. AIDs is a consequence of sinful behaviors. Herpes and syphilis are diseases associated with infidelity, but even if participants miss that joy (sic), psychological pain still occurs. People get depressed when relationships go awry. People are suicidal because of infidelity! There is no such thing as "victimless sin"!
Evil is when we yield to temptation. It could be for pleasure, power, prestige or money, but in the end, evil is the result of people looking for pleasure! Of course there are benign pleasures, but when pleasure supersedes worship, then there's a problem! Many Christians put pleasure over praise. There are many pleasures I enjoy, but I don't live for them. God allows me to have pleasure because I place God first in my life! How is that done?
2 Thessalonians 3:3 "But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil."How is the Lord faithful?
Timothy 2:13 "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself."He's always ready for our repentance. God takes no vacations. Whenever our heart submits, he's always there! He has to be because he said he would be! He said that a long time ago and God's true to his word. He's faithful:
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."If God isn't there as he promised he would be, when using Jeremiah as a mouthpiece, then he denies himself. God always speaks truth and is unchanging. He can't say one thing one time and not another, and he can't say he'll do something then not do it! That's the faith of God!
Then he will "stablish" the faithful. That is an antiquated word which means that God will establish us in the faith. Faith will become a walk
2 Corinthians 5:7 "(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)"This is a great verse and it's a promise! I laugh when I visualize this. I see myself with dark glasses and a cane shaped in the form of a cross. As I walk I lean on the cross and use it to feel my way through hazardous traffic. The cross is reliable. It keeps me from harm. It even takes the stupidity out of my actions which I would have if I use my own sight! Sometimes we go ahead and take risks when we see, but when we lean on the cross, God protects us from harm. I'm protected from harming myself because I'm walking in faith without the interference of sight!
Walking blind and leaning on the cross is the faith he establishes in me! With that faith comes divine guidance. The hazards which God helps me with are evil and evil-doers. Life is an obstacle course and this blind man is led through the potholes by faith; leaning on the cross of God. I avoid evil because I have faith. Faith is a work, but it's a gift of God too! It then happens that God bestows faith on me and I walk in that faith, and with faith, I'm protected from evil! Isn't that a great plan? God did good again!
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