Evil Continually
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 6:15-16
Another horrible day for a lot of folks. In Genesis 6:5, just a few generations from the creation of man, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Evil began when Satan tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, and it began to grow after that with the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. In the thousands of years since that time, evil has continued to manifest in all sorts of wickedness among men and women who have no fear of God nor of eternal punishment. Scripture tells us that in the latter days “some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; have their conscience seared with a hot iron”(I Timothy 4:1-2). Paul, in Romans 1:21, wrote that those who are evil have minds that are empty of good judgment and reasoning, and their heart is so dark and black, void of a conscience. They are unable to love because they do not have the love of God in their hearts.
There were people in Adam’s day, in David’s day, and in Paul’s day who were evil. However, most of the mass killings were in wars and battles between Israel and a multitude of her enemies. God allowed His people to suffer death and destruction because of their idolatry and abandonment of Him. They had been warned over and over again to repent and return to Him or they would suffer because they broke His covenant with them. Jesus came to earth to teach men and women a better way to live and to pay the penalty for sin, but people would not accept Him and therefore killed Him. Today, people kill at random, people who have done nothing to provoke the killer. He kills because he is evil personified. The news media will not admit the truth which is those who commit mass murder must be possessed by Satan. They have, as Paul described in I Timothy and Romans, no fear of God, no fear of the consequences of their actions, and no conscience. They are so far from reality that they seem to believe killing innocent people will somehow bring them some sort of glory or peace to their troubled minds. They see others do these horrible crimes and somehow believe that if they also kill, then their names will be memorialized. This is how far from reality they are.
I expect the politicians will politicize this horrible tragedy as they always do, but they never get to the root of the problem, the sin which is inherent in every human heart. The government might be able to take away guns, but they have no power to take the evil out of the human heart. Matter of fact, they actually promote evil in the laws that they pass. Everyone is desperately shocked and saddened by the loss of life of these little children as they should be. But even as they mourn and grieve over another senseless tragedy, many politicians and citizens who support abortion have no problem with killing babies in the womb. One can’t have it both ways. The murder of anyone, be it an adult, a child, or an unborn baby is a tragedy that should never happen. Young people today have grown up in a nation which promotes the killing of the unborn, thus what does that do to the minds of impressionable youth? The right to abortion, the presentation of murder, violence, and evil of all sorts in movies, television, and video games all contribute to lowering the threshold in the minds of not only teenagers, but children and adults as well, of evil. Right now, it seems that Satan is winning the battle over the minds and hearts of many.
But thanks be to God, all is not lost. Paul wrote in Romans 5:18 that because of Adam’s sin, people are born with a dead spirit under condemnation. That refers to all of us. The only way to truly come alive is by the grace of God shining the light of Christ upon those dead spirits, speaking life and calling them to repent and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Rather than stumbling around in the darkness of sin, merely existing with a body devoid of real life, the sinner can be brought out into the light of the knowledge of Christ, receiving His righteousness in exchange for sin, renewing the mind to thoughts of peace and purity, and receiving the reward of eternal life with Christ. According to Romans 1:28, those who reject God are given by Him a reprobate mind, which means that there is very little chance that they will ever come to know the truth and be saved. I would think that those who commit these mass murders have forfeited their opportunity to be forgiven, particularly those who also die in the event. That is nothing to celebrate, rather we should be saddened that a young man would throw away his life in that manner. The good news is, though, that we still have hope for many who do not yet know Christ, that the Holy Spirit would convict of sin, and the sinner would come to repentance and be saved. That is the only thing that will cause righteousness to flourish and evil to diminish. However, time is growing short.