WHAT IS EVIL?
What is evil exactly and how can it control one's mind? The American Heritage Dictionary defines evil as: 1. morally bad or wrong; wicked; malevolent; sinful; an evil tyrant; 2. causing an undesirable condition, as ruin, injury, or pain; harmful. In summation, what we have is "an evil tyrant causing ruin, injury and pain". Evil can come in many packages. Anyone who has the state of mind of a tyrant and is going about causing pain, ruin and injury could be defined as evil. In this world, we are all subject to moments and times of behaving in such a manner.
With most of us, this kind of behavior is the exception to the rule. In general, we are kind, considerate, helpful, forgiving and capable of giving in love. We usually become evil in manner when something existing outside us has the means to really upset us. We go through an experience that proves to us to be ugly and disconcerting and the remnants from the experience find a way of getting inside our very make up and remaining inside our head. This will tend to cause us to react rigorously in time from the inside, and/or to explode aggressively from the outside. We might go home and kick the dog.
It is with these types of internal conditions that we all become capable of becoming quite defensive, controlling and hostile. We can be filled with hatred and meanness and are capable of becoming violent and destructive. The question we intend to answer is, "Where exactly does all of this irrational and illogical behavior come from?"
The obvious answer is it comes from you. Are you not responsible for your behavior? Are you not able to choose your course of action? Of course you are ... but, then there is that bit of "something" from outside you that stimulates that bit of something inside you. At times your reactions to it all seems to be beyond your control. When this condition is really severe, we may call it a compulsion or an addiction. Sometimes you may find yourself asking, "Am I just crazy or what?" The answer again is "of course you are" but in limited degrees. You are not alone!
Enter Satan. The dictionary defines Satan as: The devil; and defines the devil as: The major spirit of evil, ruler of hell, and foe of God. A rather precise description I think. The New King James Version of the Bible says of Satan: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." And there we have it; Satan competing with God in his worthiness.
Since Satan has fallen from heaven, never to return, it appears that he can only have access to a planet like earth to have dominion over. Satan wants to be like God. Since you exist in competition with him in attaining power on planet earth, he sees you as one of his enemies. His goal is to eliminate you from having any chance at all.
When I refer to Satan, I am not talking about a bull-like creature that stands upright; with two horns sticking out of his head, a long tail with an arrow-like-tip at the end of it and one who breathes fire. Again, I am not Good vs. Evil ... Overcoming Degradation through the Love and Brilliance of God talking about such a creature! What I am talking about is pretty much in line with the dictionary's definition: "The major spirit of evil, ruler of hell and foe of God." Add to the end of this definition the statement "put into a continuous motion of action against you" and you have what I call "the mechanical workings of the spirit of evil" in the world that is known to us as the spirit of Satan.
As for me, Satan represents the perpetual workings of evil that is working through automated processes in our world in order to promote a living hell in the life of man. Much of the working of evil is about cause and effect. We become the effects of our bad choices. Satan exists in a spiritual realm and his continuous workings are designed to get inside your mind and he does so from your earliest beginnings.
Just as you can't see God in Spirit, you can't see the spirit of Satan. Just because you can't see either one doesn't mean they don't exist. They do exist but they exist in a spirit of universal proportion and as such they have vast powers of creativity. They have created things that were far beyond the workings that have been known to man. We can perceive their workings in that we can perceive the laws of the universe. As an example, take one of Isaac Newton's laws: "For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction". This is a universal principle and can be shown as a working example for things that are good and for the things that have transformed from good to bad. The principles of evil work in a like wise fashion when the things that are good are made to be bad.
The laws of our universe were in place long before we knew about them. We eventually discovered them, learned about them and then we learned to talk about them with authority. But in no way did we have anything to do with their creation. Universal laws are God's creation and His domain. We can simply cooperate with His laws from that which is good and experience positive consequences or we do not from out of our ignorance and/or neglect. And when we are out of line with them, we are made to suffer from out of our own expense. And all of the universal laws that are working for good or for bad will continue to exist whether we know of them or not.
Likewise, Satan exists whether we are aware of him or not. He has been operating in this world since the beginning of time and the results that come from his manipulations is the destruction of our lives. We have given him easy access to our minds and it is through the mind that he has gained at least some control over our lives. This is largely due to the fact that we have not known about him and his operation. We need to know him up and personal because he has been operating in our lives since day one and we haven't had a clue. It is through his hiding and through his cunning and deceit that he has taken control of at least some portions of our mind perpetuating our demise.
You now have the opportunity to discover his modes of operations that he operates under. The base of all his operations is built on lies. You will be able to learn all there is to know about the lies. You are going to be able to verify what you learn and you are going to be able to talk about the various modes of operations with knowledge and authority. Through this new awareness, you are going to be able to choose to cooperate with that which is good. Or if you should still desire, choose to knowingly cooperate with that which is evil. But then at least you will be prepared for that which will come of it.
Your newly acquired knowledge is going to make all the difference in the world. You can choose to continue to cooperate with the deviant operations and continue to suffer the consequences that will follow or you can choose to reject them outright as you will come to recognize that they will only lead to more pain. In rejecting them, you stand to regain the control of your mind and your life in a step by step procedure. By choosing correctly, knowingly and wisely, you are going to have the opportunity to regain all that has been lost and become all that God intended you to be. Through study and your newly acquired awareness of the Spirit, you are going to regain control of whom and what you really are. Let's get started!
The cunning and deceit of evil ... who controls the mind? Jesus refers to Satan as "The Father of lies" in the book of John. Why is that? How did Satan come to acquire this name and recognition above all other liars known through out the history of the world? I believe it is because he has been telling the longest and the greatest lie ever told and has been re-telling it and having it believed by people like you and me since the beginning of time. Today we believe it with just as much conviction as we did when man began believing it in the beginning. And it has always been and will be a tremendous lie.
Believing in the lie has caused mankind exorbitant amounts of pain, suffering and loss. For the most part, we go on believing it today because we don't have a clue that we are in fact doing so. We are clueless as to how we go about buying into the longest and greatest lie and why we would want to do so in the first place. We live with this lie as if it was "the truth" and all of mankind has done so throughout our history. The effects from the lie have plagued us with wars and abominations from our earliest beginnings and up through today. As if it were the truth, we are still willing to kill each other in order to support the six different parts that make up the longest and greatest lie.
Wow! What could Satan possibly have told us that could be so devious and create so much turmoil? Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve? The lie begins there. Remember what God told Adam and Eve? "You may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden you shall not eat it nor touch, lest you die." Satan said to Eve, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
The promise made by Satan was "you can become like God", or, in summation ... you will have more and be more and your value and self worth will increase tremendously. Satan promised Eve that she could be a winner and have it all by becoming a god. The need to win is the beginning of the longest and greatest lie ever told.
Did Eve buy into the lie easily? She bought into the lie quite readily in fact. Of course she did! It appeared to offer so very much! To become like God! The offer was irresistible and it seemed so right. The problem was that once she went into agreement with the lie she gave up identifying with her actual essence in identity (as to her being a child of God in spirit) for the pursuit of the false life that was based on what could never be attained. And she took up the pursuit of becoming equal to God from her own efforts.
There is and will always only be one God! The pursuit of being your own self-made god will only lead to your inevitable destruction and despair. The inevitable fall will be based on your continuous run and focus on maintaining the longest and greatest lie ever told. It begins as a lie but we buy into it as the truth. All of your energy will be based on you trying to uphold the lie as if they were the truth. This is equivalent to you trying to turn scrap iron into gold. Try as you will it will never happen. Many others will be made to suffer from the pursuit of those who are transfixed on upholding the lie as the truth.
Eve, like all mankind, was created from the Spirit of God. As a child of God she was already god-like in her gifted essence of being. There was no room for improvement as she was already made perfect from His love. Satan, in his cunning and deceit, convinced her that she needed to be more and have more and promised her she could have it all and more if only she would dare to bite into the apple. Not realizing whom and what she fully was, she committed to taking the bite and immediately crossed over into an agreement with the lie.
In going into agreement with Satan, she unknowingly bought into a whole new, false reality about herself (the false self). Unfortunately, this false self would forever be working against her. She was now destined to believe she would have to be more and have more in order to feel worthy from within the lie.
If you remember what God had said regarding the "fruit of the tree", "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, least you die". The first thing Eve died to was the "truth" about her innocence as spirit. What she bought into was the beginnings of a false realty about herself as to being her body, her mind and her enlarged pride. The story continues with, "She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened; and they new they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings".
What actually happened was their eyes were open to their differences as to what the self looked like and they immediately saw themselves as being their bodies. It was only natural for them to think about their nakedness and they immediately began to confuse the false self with the idea of being themselves and this idea was promoted through their minds. And when they chose to cover themselves from out of their newly formed vanity, they re-identified with the image of their body as to being their false self.
Do we easily and quite readily believe in a similar package of lies today? Sure we do! The appeal of the things of this world, the conditioning we go through in just living our life and the appearance of the pay off in believing in the lies is just too irresistible. The apple and all that is promised from the eating appears to be an extremely powerful reality. And in not knowing the truth about whom, what and why we really are it has proven to be an irresistible package.
So what is the package of lies (the offer being made with the apple) that Satan is using today to gain access over the control of our minds. The control of our minds? You may be saying to yourself right now, "This isn't really possible ... at least not for me! How could that be? Don't I have the freedom to make my own choices? Aren't I capable and successful at making my way in life ... not needing to answer to any man? Isn't he talking about those other people, those losers ... the ones who have nothing to do with me? There is no way he could be talking about me." I understand you're thinking perfectly ... but please read on.
The truth is Satan will attempt to attack every man, woman and child at every turn. Satan even attempted to attack Jesus as stated in Matthew. Jesus had just spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and Satan tempted him three times with his cunning and deceit and through an attempt at his pride. However, Jesus was too wise for him. In knowing the word of God and not being tempted by all the kingdoms of the world, He was able to announce the truth and drive him away when He said "Away with you Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve."
Satan is there to tempt everyone and at every turn. Are any of us equal to the capacities of Jesus Christ in our wisdom and resolve? Do you really believe you could never be conned through temptation and the art of manipulation and deceit into giving access to the workings of Satan in your mind?
Every man is born to a particular "self image" he longs to live up to. The self image is easy to see when looking in the mirror's reflection but I'm talking about something more than a mirror image. The self image I'm talking about is the reflection a man sees of himself when looking out on the world as he measures himself against the other human beings that exist in his environment. How does he measure up to the other human beings that he knows? Is he doing better or worse? Is he getting more or less? Is he leading or following? Is he being admired or being looked down upon by his peers? "Who is in control and how can I have it?"
On and on this goes and then we have to consider this less than perfect self image is being developed in him over the course of his whole life. Most of you have 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years of being conditioned into all that was based on the lie. This measuring and conditioning begins in us as infants.
At a much younger age, all of the measuring we are constantly engaged in leads us to create what we know as the "ego". Our egos are like snowflakes! From a distance they look the same but are actually somewhat unique. All egos are similar in that they are all striving to reflect the perfect self image. It is our thinking about the things that we want that constitutes the perfect self image. From there, it is the decisions we make as to our beliefs and desires that make each ego unique. And it is through the ego you seek to keep yourself balanced and prolific; in the front of the line; ahead of the class and totally in control. You created the ego but given enough time the ego takes on a life of its own and can begin to run the things in your life right into the ground.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Good vs. Evil ... Overcoming Degradation through the Love and Brilliance of God by Jerry Davis Copyright © 2010 by Jerry Davis. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Overview
There are laws that pertain to the universe. These laws cannot be broken without creating...