What is this Evil?

A couple decades ago, I was still doing some work in the Federal Corrections system. In my off time, after work, I was doing a lot of reading about satanism. Well, one of the guys that I was working with was pretty - um - spooky, creepy, unbalanced more than the norm, and the norm was pretty unbalanced. Anyhow, I had never spoken of what I was reading to anyone. I doubt that my wife even knew (we have very different tastes in reading material so her pile is her pile and mine is mine) and if she did notice what I was reading she never had any contact with anyone who could have told this guy. Long story shorter, this guy comes into the office and after a bit of small talk he says, “You're studying about satanism aren’t you?”

The problem with involuntary facial movements is that they’re, well, involuntary. Noticing the twitch of my eyebrows he said, “I have powers and I know how to use them.”

Evil, has fascinated me for a long, long time. Evil as an entity, evil as a personal agent, personal, social, governmental evil - that kind of stuff. I’ve been fascinated with how we as humans give ourselves willingly to evil and thereby become its slave. After all, if evil is a real entity, like information or logic or matter or energy, and if you are obsessed with attaining power (as is everyone in the prison system (and I mean everyone)) then why in the world would someone want to be on the side of the created (satan) rather than on the side of the Creator?

According to the Bible, God created human beings to bear His image; to possess and display to a limited degree His mercy, grace and love. God created humans to use their intelligence and creativity to manage the earth and walk humbly with their God.

The invited entrance of evil into the cosmos changed everything. Yet, God’s plan for a healed, forgiven and intimate relationship with His creation has not ended. While the presence of evil temporarily adds tension to that plan, that plan itself will not be halted, only delayed.