The apostle Paul is famously quoted, 

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  (Ephesians 6:12, NIV)

Profound, poetic and too readily dismissed.  We accept that there is evil all around but don’t quite know what to do with it.  Before we put on the armor of God, we need to understand the enemy.  

Evil is perverse.  

It is difficult to deny that “evil” is real.  Even a skeptic can acknowledge “evil” as a concept.  As with most ideas, we can understand one proposition by introducing a contrary one.  Up begs down.  Dirty begs clean.  Hungry begs stuffed.  Love conjures hate.  “God is real” posits “there is no God.”  We can dress up the ideas with metaphors and similes and such, to make them seem literary, but once good is defined, evil can simply be defined as “not good.”  Consequently, good-and-evil can be reduced to the mere whims of men.  

This is all very philosophical, and useful when arguing in support of our social norms, cultural values or prejudices.  But constructing a contrary to a proposition is logically trivial; it proves neither.  And it gets worse.  

Perversion goes beyond the words when evil becomes action.  The discussion moves from conceptual to moral. Consider murder.  God says, “You shall not commit murder.”   The contrary would be “You shall commit murder.”   The evil here is the committing of murder, or murdering.  That’s how not-murdering becomes good.  Perversely, murdering can be argued into “good” with the addition of qualifying circumstances.   We’ll get back to this.  Whew!

Perhaps this is why the Commandments are expressed with “thou shalt …”  As behavioral prescriptions rather than definitions for terms, they disable conceptual manipulations and activate moral imperatives.  In the first Table, God affirms that we must promote the Lord’s unique power and authority (one holy God, no graven images, no vain use of His name, sabbath rest) and honor our parents.  In the second Table, God prohibits committing murder, adultery, theft, slander or coveting,  Either way, promoting or invoking immoral action is perverse and that is exactly what evil does!       

Evil is personal.  

Perversity could be accepted as just part of the human condition, until it becomes personal.  The first instance of this is found in the Garden.   Immediately after creation, God warns that good and evil are real and can be known (the tree) which can be deadly, “don’t eat of it.”   Then Eve meets a person, a talking snake, who (1) contradicts God’s prohibition about the danger of eating from that tree, (2) misrepresents God’s intentions in creating mankind, and (3) slanders God’s character as selfish, prideful and malicious.   “Go ahead, the fruit is as tasty as it looks.  Don’t listen to Him.  Eat and enjoy,” so saith the snake.    

The Scriptures go on to present evil as a person throughout.  He has names like Satan, the devil and Beelzebub.    In the Hebrew Scriptures, Satan incites David to take a forbidden census.  He sits in conference with God discussing the merits and destiny of Job.  He stands accusing Joshua while himself receiving the Lord’s rebuke.  He makes an appearance as Lucifer in Isaiah (14:12) trying to exalt himself over the Lord.  

There are more than 50 New Testament references to the Evil one in both the Gospels and the Epistles.  Most personally, he challenges Jesus in the wilderness with fortune, fame and power.  Jesus admonishes us to pray for deliverance from the Evil One.  Jesus is everywhere it seems, casting out demons, some of whom plead with Him for mercy before being dispatched.  Evil spirits make one sick and crazy.  Pharisees tried to credit Beelzebub with Jesus’ power to heal and deliver.   Satan is often referred to as the adversary, the tempter, the destroyer and the like.  He masquerades and prowls and devours and blasphemes.  He impedes travels.  He has followers and dwelling places.  He deceives with powerful signs and wonders.  And my favorite, Satan is the father of all lies (John 8:44).  Now that’s personal!  

Evil is Purposeful.

As a person, Evil knows what he is doing and why.  His willfulness is strategic!  All the lies and distortion, the misdirection and disruption, the torment and intimidation, are means to an end.  It is more than just disputes over relative values or differences of opinion.  It is more than a personal struggle with our own perversity.  As Paul explained to the Ephesians, this is war!  Our Enemy is powerful on earth, a prince, with authority in “high places.”  

So, what is his purpose?  The answer starts in Genesis and reels through Revelation:  To take the Lord’s place in our lives and deny us our place with Him!  They are at war and we are the spoils.  

Evil is powerful.

    We know who wins this war in the end, but the extent of the casualty is ongoing.  In the meantime, we must not underestimate what Satan is capable of.  Knowing how Satan works is our first defense.  This discussion will be continued in the next article as we examine how Evil creates the dysfunction which lands us in counseling.  In the final article we will look more closely at how deliverance from Evil works.