By: Mike Kelly, Retired Pastor
My friend, Kent Hardy, wrote several Facebook posts that caused me to think, so, with his permission, I am using them as the template for my messages in November.
Today’s post comments on the reality of evil and the way evil is seen in our liberal worldview. We often see our struggles in life as the result of flawed strategies rather than the result of our captivity to and cooperation with evil.
We don’t give enough space to the Evil One, whose entire existence is set on destroying us. Remember John 10:10a “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy (us)…”.
Has it ever occurred to you that something you wanted and sought was taken from you by the forces of evil and not bad timing or poor planning or some mess up on your part?
It’s as if the Evil One has no power on earth. In Daniel 20:13, we read one of God’s angels saying, “But the prince of the Persian kingdom (a mighty fallen angel) resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”
The evil warrior slowed things down 3 weeks. Do you believe that he has ignored you all these years? Not likely! He’s been active in causing you pain, sorrow, trouble, and grief.
I’ve heard it said that the Devil and his demons are toothless lions but the New Testament disagrees: “…Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.) 1 Pet 5:8b.
New Testament scholar N. T. Wright says,” The story the Gospels are trying to tell us is a story which evil and its deadly power are taken utterly seriously, over against the tendency in many quarters today to cling on to an older liberal idea that there wasn’t really much wrong with the world or with human beings in the first place.”
Satan and his demonic forces are real and alive and have a limited power in this earthly life we live. They should not be ignored when we face opposition and trials. Always look for the enemy’s possible interference in your life and take it into account in your prayer life.
If we are to properly understand Jesus’ cross, we must not diminish the reality of evil, nor the capacity of all creation to sin. Humankind is not getting holier or more perfect. It’s clear that man is cycling the drain.
If we understand that, then we understand the need for and the power of the Cross. If we fail to see evil and God’s judgment of it as serious realities, then we fail to see the cross as the good news that Christ redeemed us from sin and death.
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” Col 1:22-23
Jesus’ death and resurrection are seen as final proof of his authority and evidence that we ought to take his teachings seriously. And we certainly should! But for many, the meaning of the cross ends there.
But we need to remember that Christ’s death on that cross was not just about our spiritual lives. It was about our whole life: political, social, cultural, personal, moral, religious, physical, and spiritual.
Every part of our living on earth was impacted by Christ’s victory on the Cross. Col 1:19-20 “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself ALL THINGS, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.