The Purpose of Evil

Matt.6:13 -...but deliver us from evil
Evil can loosely be describe as the opposite of holiness. As holiness is the very essence of Almighty God, so evil is the essence of Lucifer, the chief fallen angel also called Satan. It is by no means to be considered equal with holiness and thereby give the impression that God and Satan are equals at different ends. No, God created Lucifer and Isaiah tells us God created evil. God created everything. We are sure that God created the potential for evil and hence the truth that God created evil. On the "last day" it will become eternally evident that God's power was and always will be the greatest power in the created universe and that all other "powers" were counterfeit and mirages.
But evil has a purpose in this world and especially in the souls of men. The bottom line purpose of evil is to damn the souls of men and women so that they will spend eternity separated from God in hell. Clean it up any way you want, put it on the back burner, make it sophisticated, strip it of the justified fear that should accompany its truth, make it fit in 2006 as a church doctrine that never sends anyone running toward God to see if they are "in the faith", but in the end the truth of damned souls being cast into a lake of fire is the overarching purpose that evil is sent to accomplish. That is Satan's "purpose driven" life. It is a complex and powerful force that entwines itself in the hearts and minds of men with lies, doubts, suggestions, confusion, half truths, pride, and a "connect the dots" logic that began with "Hath God said?"(Gen.3:1) and will finish in the lake of fire.
I know, it sounds like a narrative that is loosely based on symbolic passages of the Scriptures but it is in supernatural reality a prophetic story in which everyone has been given a "lead" part. We sometimes get wrapped up in petty battles as if they were the war, but the universe is at war - real war! In an unseen world there are millions upon millions of angels and demons warring over power and influence in countries, cities, all the way down to an AIDS infected 8 year old little African girl - the war rages! Now Satan will even orchestrate a battle to appear as though we are fighting him when sometimes we are spinning our wheels(to his delight). He even gets us to overemphasize areas of Biblical truth in order to create chaos, division, and ineffectiveness within the body of Christ. The vast majority of Christian television, which of course God desired to use to spread His Word, is now mostly relegated to appeal to the earthly life of American Christians. They even have cooking shows and the supposed "prophets" of God hawk nutritional supplements on time purchased by people who gave to further God's Word but now instead of the Gospel they can buy "God's pill". These preachers have their reasons($). Ditto the church. But every intricate strategy is wickedly woven, like an eternal spiral of damnable DNA, to produce living creations of God that will be separated from Him and be forever sentenced and punished - simultaneously.
"The Philistines are upon you" was shouted to Samson, and as he got up to fight them Samson did not even realize that "the Lord had departed from him". Brothers and sisters, evil is upon us, the church, as in no other time in history. Like Samson, the church has found a wife of the Philistines(The World) and we have loved her and as in the 16th chapter of Judges we have "told her our whole heart"(Jud.16:18). Evil is a Spiritual narcotic whose spellbinding power becomes stronger and more disguised over time until like Samson it chains us into bondage while actually deluding us into believing our strength from God remains, and in some cases we believe our strength comes from God through Delilah. But eventually this friendship with the Philistines will lead to total Spiritual blindness(Jud.16:21), chains(Jud.16:21), ridicule(Jud.16:26), and finally powerless, or worse, camaraderie. This isn't some kind of game that seeks to "gatcha" in the competitive sport of Christian separation, this is all there is and eternity will one day unfold like a time lapsed photograph of a blooming rose and all of us will have pangs of remorse that we didn't do more because we didn't believe more.
Whenever and however evil entered into God's perfect universe is a mystery, but its poison continues to spread. We love to illuminate the sins of the flesh and even the sins of the spirit, but don't be fooled into thinking that those manifestations are the visible evil. No, this massive evil force looms invisible and has found its home in the being called Satan, or Lucifer, or the Devil, or many other names that refer to this hideous and butcherous Spiritual entity. Evil can be ugly and evil can be beautiful. Evil can be a child molester or evil can be an elementary teacher. Evil can manifest as Satan worship or evil can manifest as Christian pageantry. Evil can ridicule the Bible or it can preach. Evil can kill the poor and evil can feed the poor. Evil can cause war or evil can produce peace. Evil can plague or evil can heal. All these infinitely shaded areas that evil can masquerade in are a continuing fabric throughout man's history, and its patient objective is to attempt, relentlessly, to discredit God by dragging the souls of mankind into the Bottomless Pit. But even hell will glorify God and His justice.
So the next time you see on TV, or read in the paper, or hear a sermon that correctly identifies sin, remember, there lies behind those sins an incalculably vicious power of evil that is right at that moment overseeing a world-wide war against the Lamb of God, and you and I are targets! Watch evil, like a worldwide mudslide, coming ever so close to the day of judgment already written into the prophetic calendar of Almighty God. To speak of such things in today's Spiritual climate makes people think you are a madman, but on that final day, before the Great White Throne of God, no one will be considered a madman. No, on that day, we will all stand in stupefied amazement, wondering how we could have been so emotionless and timid about the event that we are now witnessing, yet verbally professing we believed it. On that day the disheveled man holding up a "turn or burn" sign on a street corner will look in hindsight much closer to the truth than the seeker sensitive message ever was. On that horrible day all the imagery and fantasy will be removed and the stark, chilling event will be completed before our presence. You and I, by God's grace, will watch as millions of others are cast into the lake of fire. Mothers, fathers, children, Hitler, Mao, Mohammed, preachers, deacons, healers, popes, theologians, church members, and a long, sad line of souls whose prayers are empty now; whose repentance is unavailable; forgiveness has been lost; some crying, some screaming, some accusing, some cursing, some saying good bye to recognized loved ones, some shouting blasphemies at the Great White Throne itself. And then everyone who had died without Christ was gathered together in front of the Great White Throne and a holy hush filled the heavenly universe as we watch the lost souls, in preparation for their final judgment, bow down on one knee and like a great thunder they all said "JESUS CHRIST IS LORD TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER". And while they were still kneeling, with the sound of a million tornados, and a million freight trains, and a million earthquakes, and a million thunders ... they are all cast into the lake of fire, never, ever, ever able to be retrieved again.

Evil will have completed its purpose...