When one declares evil or a face of evil, a “decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires” a defense of such terms. It seems the only place to start this is—in the beginning:

 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:1-4, 21^st Century King James Version)

Did you notice the unformed earth included darkness and its perfect Creator took immediate perfect corrective action; He created light! He saw the light. It was good. God divided the light (good) from darkness (evil). Barely into the first page of the Holy Bible we have been presented with good and evil. Let us press on to the fall of mankind from God’s perfection. Genesis 3:1-5:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’” And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” 

These verses are a serious dilemma for many as questions slip silently into each person’s mind. Questions like, “Is there any rational basis to believe this?” Or, “A snake—talking? Come on, get serious.” Or, “This is just silly. How can this affect me?” Many turn away from the Holy Bible at this point. Others reason that they can pick and choose among the passages of the Bible. This leads to rationalizing that there cannot be evil; a good God would never allow it. They are on the road to being “as gods” judging for themselves what is just. The prophet Isaiah puts his finger right on it:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that count darkness as light, and light as darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! —Isaiah 5:20-21

That is what we face in our world and country in this present darkness. Governments, institutions and corporations are run by those who are self- righteously wise and prudent in their own eyes. You have already thought of examples. One example is killing little babies and calling it, “women’s rights.” Killing little babies is wrong. It is evil. Perhaps the greatest example is the rampant massive violation of the commandment, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” We cannot even conceive the corrosion that has descended on our culture. Taking one persons property and redistributing it to others is not equity; it is stealing. This is evil.

Evil is usually not as stark as these examples making it easy to drive by or step over without comment or even notice. But when those verses above are carefully considered, there are not “50 Shades of Grey” (E.L. James) nor are there three shades of grey. There is light and darkness. Good and evil. Period.

In the past two generations, a pernicious and insidious false principle has been imposed on the American culture by those who are wise in their own eyes. It is Political Correctness. We must not let political correctness tie our hands and our tongues. We must commit this day to proclaim the goodness of God’s gifts, and beginning this day, to call evil by its name.