Where does evil come from?

A lot of people have the image of God being up in heaven with a big club just waiting for them to stumble so He can whack them one. We blame lack of money, sickness, deaths and other evils on the angry God who willed it to happen in our life, or if He didn’t will it, He still allowed it to happen.

We don’t fully understand why God did it, or allowed it, but we have been told by tradition that it was for our own good or to teach us something. I’ve heard it taught that the flood that took out the corn was God getting His ten percent. Concerning a 17 year old girl that had died, it was explained that we couldn’t see how her future would have turned out - but God could. The implication was that God took the young girl to save her from the bad future she would have had here on earth. Hmmm, what about all those promises of an abundant life? In another case a young boy was killed in a car wreck and his parents were saved at the boy's funeral. This pastor claimed that God took the boy to reach the parents. Wow, God might kill your child! I'll use that one the next time I'm inviting someone to church and trying to tell them about God's love.

God said in Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee…  The situations I just described do not sound like God’s kindness to me. So somebody is in error here. Either God didn’t tell the truth when he said his kindness shall not depart from us, or situations like I described earlier are not caused by God. I tend to believe what God says and not what certain traditions say.  Thank God that good can come out of a bad situation but it was never God’s will for it to happen that way to begin with. I mean, what do you want, worse out of bad situation?

Let’s read Psalm 91.

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--
10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

After reading this how can anyone suggest that the trials and tribulations of life are from God? I’ll tell you exactly how. They take Old Contract accounts of how God sternly, but justly, dealt with someone and they apply that treatment to modern day life. I can’t explain all the Old Contract dealings between God and man, only a few. But one thing I know, it doesn’t matter because those dealings or judgements can’t and won’t be applied today under the New Contract. Remember what we read earlier: Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. God calls the New Contract the covenant of his peace, not the covenant of his wrath. God is a god of war and his wrath is unimaginable. I would not want to be his enemy. I very much want to live under the New Contract of his kindness, peace and mercy.

So if the evil in the world is not coming from God then what is its source?

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.

Jesus is referring to Satan here as the thief. The stealing, killing and destroying of peace and life are coming from the devil, not from God. Let’s look at some more scriptures concerning the source of evil.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Notice the Peter didn’t say God is waiting to devour you but that it is your adversary, or enemy, the devil.

If you are under attack you are in a hopeless situation of defending yourself if you don’t know who it is that is attacking you. You must know the source of your attack so you can direct your effort in the right direction to resist it. If an attack was carried out against the United States, we wouldn’t just blindly attack Canada. No, we would find out who it is that’s attacking us and counterattack them. In this way we would be directing our forces in the right direction. The more you know of your enemy’s tactics the stronger your ability will be to defeat him.

If you think that an evil situation has come from God, possibly for your own good, and that it’s His will for you to be in it, then you will definitely not mount an attack against God. No, you will not mount any kind of spiritual counterattack because you have been deceived by the master of deception, Satan, into thinking that it came from God. Satan is who you need to mount the spiritual counterattack against. The strange thing is that people that believe the situation is from God almost always war against it in a worldly manner such as a doctor or counselor. Well if you believe it came from God then why are you trying to get rid of it? If it came from God do you think a doctor or psychiatrist can outsmart him? Of course not, but your own soul, your very intellect and thoughts, tell you that the situation is bad and undesirable and that you should try to get rid of it. I’m all for the doctor and counselor but first understand the source of the situation, the devil, and then you will be able to do something in the spirit realm to get rid of the situation. Once we realize the source of the evil, the devil, there is good news waiting.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

All of this passage is important but I want to emphasize verse 12, which states that our struggle, or evil situation, is not a worldly fight but a spiritual one. And verse 16, which states that we can win.