The Terror of Evil

by Gene Shelburne

Our minds were stunned, our lives shaken, and the civilized world horrified as terrorists committed wholesale murder and destruction in New York City    and on the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C.

Though I believe God abhorred that act even more than did we, I doubt he was shocked by the degree of evil that was vented through the terrorists. God knows just how evil evil can be. He is acutely aware of the potential for human depravity.

The good earth God created has a long history of suffering due to bad choices made by its inhabitants. The human race, which he created in love, has devoted an inordinate amount of energy to hate.

God intended for us to be noble, honorable, and virtuous. But we have too often dealt instead in   that which is ugly, wicked, and perverted. God gave us minds that are capable of creative, constructive, wholesome activity. He did not intend for us to tear down and destroy, nor for us to be rebels.

We were created to have fellowship with our Maker, but too often we have avoided the glory of God’s presence and have flirted with the kingdom of darkness. We live on friendly terms with sin. If the Prince of Evil has become the popular god of choice, should we be shocked if he flexes his muscles in terrorist-induced pandemonium?

This is a time of testing for our nation. We all know that the outlaw terrorists of the world are not alone in calling good evil and evil good. We need to focus on the splendor of God’s goodness as contrasted with the hellishness of evil. And though we are appalled at and reject the gross evil of terrorist mass-murderers, at the same time we feel the call for personal introspection and repentance. We as individuals, and as a nation, need to examine our relationship with God.

God witnessed evil as it slithered its way into his garden. He grieved over it in the days of Noah. Yes, the evil of September 11, 2001, occurred two millennia following an evil act perpetrated near Jerusalem on the day we call Good Friday, but he remembers the day it hammered nails into the hands and feet of his Son. Evil holds no surprises for God.

Through his Son, God will ultimately eradicate evil. This was assured on the cross and by the Resurrection. In the meantime, let us flee evil in all its forms and pray that others will do so.