Evil is Real

Currently, streaming on Netflix is a limited series called “Dahmer.” It chronicles the story of American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. I remember this awful story breaking when I was a teenager. It was actually too much to believe. Could such things really be true? It sounded more like a horror movie. Surely, the events were exaggerated in order to sell papers and get ratings. Sadly, that was not the case. As one discovers watching the program, between the years of 1978 and 1991, Dahmer murdered seventeen young men in truly horrific ways. Rape, dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism were all parts of his modus operandi.

Why speak of such things in a food for thought? Well, it is a reminder of the existence of evil in this world. Most of us are familiar with the story of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi’s, and the holocaust. But evil certainly did not begin or end there as Dahmer readily proves.

I know these things are uncomfortable to talk about, but we must not stick our heads in the sand and pretend they do not exist. Evil is real and it is all around us. Twelve militant Islamicists killed three thousand Americans on September 11, 2001. Ten years later in Norway, Anders Behring Breivik killed seventy-seven people. Here in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed twenty-six people. Twenty of whom were children between six and seven years old. In 2017, Stephen Paddock shot and killed sixty people attending an outdoor music concert in Las Vegas. This past May, an eighteen-year-old gunman killed nineteen children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. And just last week, here in Bristol, Connecticut, three police officers were lured to a home under the false pretense of a domestic dispute only to be ambushed. Two of the officers died.

You know I could go on like this for hours. I only mention a few examples. Why? As I said, to remind us that evil is real. This is a fallen world full of fallen people and Satan and his demons operate freely in it. I know we like to blame a lot of other things in order to try and make some sense of it, but the truth is as Paul says in Ephesians, “…we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world” (Ephesians 6:12).

Pray against any evil creeping into your own life. Any temptation or desire that would lead you away from following God. Not all wickedness rises to the level of getting a Netflix series, but it is no less evil. However, fighting a spiritual enemy requires a spiritual weapon! So, as Paul says, “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17). With God’s armor on you cannot lose!        

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