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Evil produces the erroneous concept of "brotherly love."
The whole idea of government trying to abolish sickness, mental
illness, economic problems, frustrations, and human problems by
legislation and human solutions is Evil.
The world's problems can never be solved apart from Bible doctrine
and the laws of divine establishment.
Evil also includes:
*Social action
*Restriction of human freedom for the greater good
*Distortion of law to solve social and economic problems
*Interference of government in business and free enterprise
*Government quotas
Satan: The Originator of Evil
Evil originated and existed before human history. The means by
which it was transmitted from previous creature existence to human
history is Satan himself.
The origin of Evil is Satan's genius to devise a system to oppose
God.
Evil originated in angelic creation in the greatest creature to
ever come from the hand of God.
TOPIC: SATAN; DEMONS; ARMOR OF GOD
Satan controls most of Christianity through his cosmic system.
The thing that makes people function in the cosmic system is arrogance.
TOPIC: ARROGANCE
Satan's plan is related to beating Christ to the Millennium with
his own attempt to produce a perfect world. The more the world
follows his plan, the greater the degeneracy which occurs.
Satan's plans always look good to the stupid, but it always results
in degeneracy.
Refer to L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, pp.
100-101, 108-111.
1 John 3:8, "When anyone commits a sin, he has become the
agent of the devil."
*The sin nature is usually the source of temptation; volition
is the source of sin.
*Your decision to sin puts you immediately into the cosmic system,
making you the agent of Satan.
*The works of the devil can only be destroyed by functioning inside
the plan of God. We are the products of our own decisions; therefore,
we bring disaster on ourselves.
Biblical Conclusions About Evil
*The mature believer should be able to distinguish between sin
and Evil.
Matt. 6:23, "But if your eye is Evil, the entire body
is full of darkness [cosmic involvement]."
Matt. 15:19, "For out of the mind come Evil thoughts."
*"Love" refers to the spiritual love which is the fruit
of the Holy Spirit. Personal love can think Evil, but impersonal
love, a function of the royal family, cannot think Evil.
1 Cor. 13:5 Love does not behave dishonorably, is not preoccupied
with self, is not hypersensitive, does not think Evil."
*God protects the believer who is occupied with Christ and who
has positive volition to doctrine.
Prov 12:21, "No Evil happens to the righteous."
Ps 37:17 "But the Lord sustains the righteous."
Ps 91:10, "No Evil will befall you; you who love the Lord
hate Evil. The Lord preserves the souls of His mature ones; He
delivers them from the hands of the Evil one."
Ps 121:7, "The Lord will protect you from all Evil; He will
guard your soul."
Prov 2:11-13, "The wise sees the Evil and hides himself,
but the stupid goes on and is punished for it."
*A believer who walks in the cosmic system can expect to be frustrated
by Evil.
Rom 7:19, "For what I desire I do not do, but what I do not
desire [Evil], this I keep practicing."
*The believer is warned to beware of those who practice Evil,
Phil 3:2. Not tavern owners and drug dealers, but the respectable
...
Even legitimate things are mutilated or distorted. To beware does
not necessarily mean to avoid but to understand.
*Sincere do-gooders are the major practitioners of Evil. The more
involved you are in sincere human good crusades, the more you
intensify your Evil.
3 Jn 11. "Beloved, do not be imitators of the Evil but of
the good."
*Those who are under the influence of Evil always have a price.
It is a dangerous temptation to any poor believer to chase after
money so as to neglect Bible doctrine. Actually, this verse applies
to the love of any detail of life.
1 Tim 6:10, "The love of money is the root of all Evils."
*Influence by Evil explains why prayers are not answered.
Job 35:12, "There they cry out, but He does not answer because
of the pride of Evil men."
This explains the pattern of saying "no" to truth, building
callous on the soul, intensifying arrogance into self-pity, self-righteousness,
and guilt, and therefore coming to believe the lie.
*Believers are often led into the cosmic system and Evil by their
Christian friends.
1 Cor. 15:33, "Evil companions corrupt good morals."
2 Thess. 3:2-3, "That we may be delivered from perverse and
Evil men, for all believers do not have doctrine; but the Lord
is faithful and He will strengthen you and protect you from Evil."
*The attitude of the mature believer toward Evil is stated in:
Ps 84:10. "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand
days in the cosmic system. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of My Lord than to dwell in the tents of Evil."
*Submission to the authority of establishment prevents Evil and
the influence of Evil, Eccl 8:2-5.
*The laws of divine establishment are designed to protect the
citizens of the nation from Evil.
Rom 13:3-4 implies that the unbeliever can function successfully
within divine establishment when he follows establishment truth.
"Do you desire not to fear the authority? Therefore, keep
on doing the good and you will have recognition from it. For it
[government] is a minister of God to you for the purpose of good.
But if you do Evil, be afraid. For he does not wear the sword
for nothing."
*By protecting against Evil, the laws of divine establishment
give freedom and protection for evangelization and for the teaching
of Bible doctrine. The only limitation on crime is humility and
respect for authority. Micah 1:12 teaches that our failure to
cope with Evil leads to destruction of the nation.
Amos 5:14-15, "Hate Evil, love good, and establish justice
in the court; consequently, the Lord God of the armies will be
gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
*Evil is distinguished from war and disease, Jer 28:8. Sin and
Evil occur in war, but war as a category is not Evil. War brings
national freedom. War is not sin; it is inevitable and a necessity.
Disease in itself is not sinful, though sin and Evil are associated
with disease. Not all people who are sick are being disciplined
by God.
The Relationship of Evil to Arrogance
*Mental attitude arrogance is anything related to preoccupation
with self to the point of sin, human good, or Evil. It is satisfaction
with self and dissatisfaction with others and with God.
*Negative volition arrogance is related to preoccupation with
self and causes apathy toward doctrine. The authority of the pastor
or the message of the Bible is rejected.
*Impulsive arrogance is any abuse of authority.
*Blind arrogance is the arrogance of legalism. In this a person
is partially divorced from reality (sociopathic rather than psychotic).
This includes self-righteous arrogance, in which a person fails
to see in himself what he criticizes in others.
*Arrogance toward institutions is rejection of the authority,
policy, and purpose of a bona fide organization.
*Conspiracy arrogance follows institutional arrogance and results
in a conspiracy to overthrow the purpose, policy, or authority
of an organization.
*Criminal arrogance seeks to solve problems through violence.
It is totally divorced from reality. It includes terrorist and
revolutionary activities.
*Crusader arrogance is the self-righteous arrogance of trying
to straighten out the world. A person places his personal standards
above the law or any form of establishment or authority. When
criminal arrogance interlocks with crusader arrogance, there is
terrorism or revolution.
*Psychotic arrogance is total divorcement from all reality. It
is a result of bad decisions, not genetics. It is intense concentration
on self. It is the emotional control of reason.
*Sexual arrogance is preoccupation with sex and self-gratification.
It is preoccupation with the body to the exclusion of the soul.
*Genetic arrogance is assuming that greatness in life is inherited.
Parents who seek recognition through the achievement of their
children have this type of arrogance.
*Political arrogance is a result or companion or crusader arrogance.
It tries to offer human solutions to life's problems. Liberals
and conservatives both suffer from political arrogance.
*Client nation arrogance emphasizes the laws of divine establishment
and the function of government leadership in terms of arrogance
versus humility.
Client nation arrogance is the failure of our elected representatives
and arrogant bureaucracy to control the government.
Client nation arrogance is the collective arrogance of a people
living in Satan's world.
Monarchy is the rule of one man in the interest of the common
good. Under arrogance this becomes tyranny, i.e., the rule of
one man for his own advantage.
Aristocracy is the rule of a group in the interest of the common
good. This degenerates to an oligarchy, which is the rule of a
group for their own benefit, as the cosmic system influences the
nation.
A republic is the rule of the better part of the people in the
interest of common good. But when arrogance comes, it degenerates
into a democracy, which is the rule of the worst part of the people
for their own benefit.
*In authority arrogance, the individual fails to make the most
difficult transition of temporal life, which is going from the
authority in the home to freedom in life. The home is organized
humility. The parents' authority is enforced humility, and child's
response to enforced humility produces genuine humility. Rejection
of overt authority in life results in rejection of inward authority
of the soul, and that destroys a person's self-discipline.
*Arrogance of Ignorance. Genuine humility is necessary for the
transition from authority in the home to freedom in life and from
ignorance at salvation to wisdom at spiritual maturity. Genuine
humility is teachability to make that transition. The arrogance
of ignorance is the failure to make that transition from ignorance
to cognizance in the Christian way of life.
*In the arrogance of unhappiness, self-centeredness eliminates
any capacity or possibility for happiness. Involvement in the
world guarantees unhappiness and leads to erroneous ideas about
what constitutes happiness. This means you expect others to make
you happy. Entertainment and marriage is for people who are already
happy. But with the arrogance of unhappiness, you have a martyr
complex which results in trying to control people by giving them
a guilt complex. This is how the weak control the strong.
*The arrogance of morality is the self-righteous arrogance of
superimposing false standards of morality on others. People major
in one moral thing so they can rationalize and say they are better
than everyone else in that area. This is superimposing a false
standard of morality on others or taking a true standard out of
its context, e.g., salvation. Morality is designed to protect
human freedom.
*The arrogance of emotion is irrationality. Arrogant people stop
thinking and so their emotion becomes their substitute for thought.
This is total preoccupation with self related to emotion. Knowledge
is the environment for thinking. Bible doctrine is the environment
for decisions. Emotional arrogance fantasizes and therefore collapses
under pressure.
*In the arrogance of pseudo-generosity, a person gives because
of a desire for attention, approbation, or to buy friendship or
happiness. 2 Cor. 9:7-11 teaches that the function of genuine
generosity is found in the mind.
*Arrogance of Christian service. Loss of momentum comes from rejection
of doctrine and substituting Christian service for spirituality.
Christian service becomes a distraction to momentum. Production
is a result of growth, never the means. Perpetuation of Christian
service while in the cosmic system is the arrogance of Christian
service. Arrogance mistakes Christian service for growth and momentum.
*The arrogance of discouragement is preoccupation with self under
pressure and testing. Unexplained disaster tempts the believer
to feel sorry for himself. Being maligned, treated unfairly, or
facing the death of loved ones are the kinds of disaster or pressure
that bring this on.
Matt. 26:58
1 Kings 19:10.
*Arrogance of Lust. When legitimate desire is linked with arrogance,
it becomes lust. Inordinate desire is lust. Desire is not wrong,
but lust is. Lust is arrogant preoccupation with one's desires.
*Pseudo-intellectual arrogance is the superimposition of human
I. Q. over spiritual IQ. Arrogance rejects divine viewpoint. It
glorifies human speculation to the exclusion of Bible doctrine,
or seeks to reconcile Bible doctrine with false philosophical,
psychological, and scientific speculation; e.g., gnosticism.
The Results of Negative Volition to the Word of God
Negative volition to doctrine. A person resists doctrine because
he is antagonistic to truth, to God, and to the things of God.
He is the enemy of God's plan. Evil, before it ever becomes a
function or action, is a thought or motive. People are degenerate
because of the way they think, not because of what they do.
You have to be preoccupied with yourself before you can be negative
to doctrine. This is characterized by antagonism toward everyone
associated with the Christian life. There are three categories
of negative volition:
*Negative volition at God-consciousness. This is the point
of accountability which occurs at different ages depending on
the culture. God-consciousness can occur in a number of ways.
-Teleological thinking says a structure demands a designer.
-Cosmological thinking says the intuitive law of cause and effect
demands the existence of God.
-Ontological thinking says that since the human mind possesses
the idea of a perfect Being, such a Being must exist. There must
be an absolute which gives character to the relative.
-Anthropological thinking says that man's soul possesses both
volition and conscience with an urge to choose right rather than
wrong, and that the structure of society is based on the recognition
of virtue and truth.
-Theological thinking says that God must exist because men universally
believe in His existence. Heathen are heathen because of negative
volition at God-consciousness or Gospel hearing, Rom 1:18-25.
*Negative volition at Gospel hearing. Rejection of Jesus
Christ leaves a person outside of God's plan: 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor
4:3-4; 2 Pet 2:20-22.
*Negative volition to doctrine. The believer immediately
enters this area when he rejects the communicator or the message.
Emotional arrogance is a big reason for this.
2 Cor 6:11, "You are hindered by your own emotions."
The negative Christian becomes selective in what he thinks, thus
rejecting anything resembling truth. Then he leans on his emotions
for pleasure, thereby misusing emotion, Rom 16:17-18.
Worldly (cosmic) degeneration occurs hen a Christian becomes antagonistic
to truth and enters into a state of degeneracy. Degeneracy is
in the mind long before it is in actions. Rom 1:24-27 illustrates,
"they who exchange the doctrine of God for a lie."
Anti-establishment activity occurs when the soul is antagonistic
to the laws of divine establishment and authority. 2Tim3:2-3 teaches
that this begins in the home with "disobedience to parents."
This is ingrained antagonism toward authority.
Rom 1:28-32 is the best illustration of anti-establishment thinking
and activity.
Panaceas are Man's attempts to improve the world and are always
sponsored by Satan. Any solution sought apart from divine truth
is a cosmic panacea. A cosmic panacea is an Evil (Satanic) solution
which tries to keep the Lord Jesus Christ out of the picture.
The world's panaceas reject any salvation by grace or spirituality
by grace.
Instead of freedom, there is the demand for equality.
"The end always justifies the means," is the motto of
the believer participating in this. He believes in redistribution
of wealth, over-taxation, legislation to solve all problems, sameness
in life, big government and little people where citizens are slaves
of the state, regulation of private enterprise, confiscation of
private property, and utopianism.
Cosmic panaceas lead to violence, terrorism, and revolution under
the principle of social engineering.
The state trains the children to be obedient to the dictates of
the state rather than to parents. There is a total rejection of
freedom and authority.
Religion is Satan's counterfeit of the plan of God. Christianity
is not a religion, but is a relationship with God through the
person of Jesus Christ. Religion is man by man's efforts seeking
to gain the approbation of God. 2 Cor 11 describes religious
leaders. 2 Tim 3:7-8, "these religious types oppose doctrine,
are men of depraved mind [degenerate], disqualified from blessing
with regard to doctrine" See also 2 Pet 2:1-3.
Demonism. See Topic: DEMONISM
Anthropocentric (man-centered) academic speculation is motivated
by pseudo-intellectual arrogance. This is the attempt to reconcile
philosophical and scientific speculation with doctrine. When this
can't be done, the person rejects doctrine and seeks a substitute.
The more arrogant you are, the more you are attracted to academic
speculation.
Grace Versus Evil.
Every generation has to choose between the grace policy of God,
represented by the cross, and the Evil policy of Satan. This issue
has never left the human race. The genius of God has perpetuated
the issue of volition throughout human history and throughout
the human race.
Therefore, the issue before the royal family is: are you influenced
by doctrine or by Evil? Our parents in the Garden faced this same
issue.
Grace is the means by which doctrinal principles are elucidated;
Evil as Satan's policy is the means by which false doctrine is
inculcated, Prov 11:18-19, 14:22, 15:3, 16:6, 22:3, 24:1-4; Eph.
5:16; 2 Thess. 3:2-3.
These passages present some of the following principles.
*Divine omniscience provides discipline for Evil and blessing
for doctrine.
*Thinking you are an island unto yourself is in itself Evil.
*The ultimate result of the pursuit of Evil for the believer is
the sin unto death. This is the most suffering any believer can
ever endure, but he deserves every bit of it.
*Now, just as in the beginning, when you partake of the "forbidden
fruit" of Evil, you receive tremendous divine discipline.
Just as what you eat from a tree becomes a part of you, so when
you partake of Evil it becomes a part of you. And simply by being
filled with human good and Evil, you bring on yourself a whole
system of self-induced misery and divine discipline.
*Eph 5:16 summarizes all these principles of Evil found in Proverbs.
You redeem time by the filling of the Spirit and maximum doctrine
in your soul, which at the same time kills off Evil.
Knowledge of the Word of God neutralizes Evil in the soul, Ps
54:5; Rom 12:21.
Once under the influence of Evil, the only possible recovery comes
from learning doctrine.
Grace does not come through when you are under the influence of
Evil.
It is impossible for any of God's attributes to be Evil. He is
minus all the Evil things Satan does all the time. That there
is no Evil in God indicates the great dividing line in the angelic
conflict
Protection from Evil.
The believer in fellowship is protected from Evil.
Satan wants you to drop your guard and go negative toward doctrine,
Ps. 21:11, 23:4; Prov 12:12,20,21; Gen 48:16; Gen 50:20, "They
meant it for Evil, but God meant it for good."
There is no coexistence with both Evil and inner happiness. However,
sin and happiness can coexist. Do you know anyone happier than
David, or anyone who lived better than David? You can be happy
living in your sins.
There is divine protection from Evil for the positive believer:
Ps.37:16-19, "They [positive believers] will not be ashamed
in the time of Evil; in the day of depression they will still
have abundance."
Ps. 91:10, 97:10, 119:101, 121:7; Prov. 2:10-14.
Prov 1:33, "He who listens to Me shall live in security,
and shall be at ease without fear of Evil."
Prov 16:6, "By occupation with the Lord, one avoids Evil."
Prov 19:23 teaches that there is divine protection from Evil all
around.
The more doctrine you have in your soul, the more you will love
the Lord and the more you will hate Evil. All thoughts in life
are actually fighting over your soul, Prov 3:7.
The negative believer immediately finds a great deal against which
he can react, and he moves into the stages of reversion. Remember
that Satan offers him a pseudo-maturity status and pseudo prosperity.
Satan is capable of rewarding as the ruler of the world.
So the constant intake of doctrine is the only insulation from
Evil, because doctrine goes where Evil would reside; i.e., in
the mind, and there doctrine combats Evil.