HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 116
page A114
Evil continued
the side of evil. But God has given us very powerful spiritual weapons and armor to fight
against the forces of evil (read Ephesians 6:13-18). If you want to be a mighty warrior
and consistently overcome evil attacks, you must learn to use these weapons! The Bible
teaches you what all these weapons are and how to use them.
Where does evil come from?
• DA NI E L 7 :2 5 | “He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High.”
Evil is the by-product of Satan’s work in our universe, which is often to oppress and wear
down believers until they are led into sin. This gives Satan pleasure and greater power over
the earth.
• E Z E K I E L 2 8 :1 2 -1 7 | “You were the model of perfection. . . . You were in Eden, the garden of
God. . . . I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. . . . You were blameless
in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. . . . And you
sinned. So I banished you in disgrace. . . . I expelled you, O mighty guardian. . . . I threw you
to the ground.”
Evil began in the heart of Satan, once a mighty angel warrior in heaven. When he sinned
against God, he was expelled from heaven and now roams the earth, causing great evil by
tempting mankind into sin.
• R O MA NS 3 :2 3 | For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
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• R O MA NS 7 :2 1 -2 3 | I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is
right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another
power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that
is still within me.
Since Satan first convinced Adam and Eve to sin, all people have been infected and born
with a sinful nature. We are all literally born with a spiritual disease that causes us to sin—
the desire to go our own way instead of God’s way. The proof of this is that no one has
ever lived a perfect life (except Jesus, who is God). So while we can work to sin less and
to keep sin from controlling us, we can never—on this earth—eliminate sin altogether.
Thus we can never hope to eliminate evil on this present earth.
• J E R E MI A H 1 7 :9 | “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately
wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”
Your own heart, polluted by sin and selfishness, becomes a source for evil thoughts and
actions.
• E PH E S I A NS 6 :1 2 | For 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,
and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Cosmic forces of evil, led by Satan, are engaged in a deadly rebellion against God and
against you personally if you claim allegiance to God.
If God is good, why does he let people do evil things?
• G E NE S I S 2 :1 5 -1 7 | The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and
watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in
the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are
sure to die.”
Genuine love requires the freedom to choose. From the beginning, God desired a loving
relationship with you, so he gave you this freedom. But with ability to make choices
comes the possibility of choosing your own way over God’s way. Your own way always
leads to sin, because all people are born with a sinful nature (Romans 3:23). This breaks
God’s heart, but the alternative for God would be to make people as robots, not humans.
And what kind of a relationship can you hope to have with a robot? But because of our
sinful nature there is sin, and sin leads to evil. We are all prone to do evil things, but you
can choose to do right most of the time because God gives you the power to do so. And
when you do so, God is greatly pleased, good prevails, and Satan loses ground.