An Evil Under The Sun

"This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead."

-- Ecclesiastes 9:3 --

The assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10th was absolutely horrible! But it did not surprise me. Those who hate God will perform acts of evil because they "are full of evil and insanity in their hearts."

Jesus said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

I am quickly approaching the age of seventy-three and have lived through the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (I was eleven years old) followed by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Senator Robert (Bobby) F. Kennedy. I will never forget the attack on our country and the massive loss of life on September 11, 2001. In fact, the first words I spoke when the second airliner struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center were "We are at war." I'm starting to get a little emotional again thinking back on that day. I served my country in the United States Navy (1970-1983) and would have reenlisted to fight in this war if I was young enough. But I fought it in a different way - as an engineer developing new systems and software for the Army, Navy, and Marines. NOTHING BUT THE BEST WAS GOING TO LEAVE MY DESK!

An evil born out of sheer hatred.

Although the assassinations I grew up with and the attack on 9/11 were acts of evil, what transpired this past Wednesday was far beyond any evil I have ever encountered in my lifetime. It was an evil born out of sheer hatred, an evil propagated by the far left wing that has been allowed to express their utter hatred of this country for far too long, all under the umbrella of "Freedom of Speech." I took an oath on July 14, 1970, the same oath that countless numbers of other veterans took: "to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Freedom of Speech is in the First Amendment to our Constitution. I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend your right to the death to say it. Freedom of Speech comes with responsibility. It does not give you the right to demonize and murder those you disagree with. It also does not give you the right to burn the American flag, the flag that is wrapped around coffins of those who give their life's for this country. It will one day be wrapped around mine.

Changing the culture is not going to stop evil.

If God (Jesus) and His word (the Bible) are left out of the equation, then, regardless of your efforts to change things culturally and politically, you are still left with unchanged hearts that are full of evil and insanity. Couple this with the control that Satan, "the god of this world," has on the minds of the unsaved.

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

Trying to fix people with evil hearts, who are blinded by Satan himself, through culture change is like trying to stop a Category 5 hurricane by standing on the shoreline and pleading with it to go away. It's not going to happen regardless of your well-meaning intentions.

There is only one remedy.

The LORD said, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds" (Jer. 17:9-10). If I didn't learn anything else in my nearly seventy-three years of living, I learned this: I may be able to convince you to change your mind, but I cannot change your heart. This is something that only the one and only eternal and sovereign God can do. He created us and knows our hearts. He is the only one able to search deep into our hearts and change them. He does this through His word, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).

It is only "through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23) that an unbelieving, unregenerate soul can be born again and come to genuine saving faith in Christ. The word of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18), the gospel of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4), "is the power of God." There is no other way.

"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:1-4).

I came to saving faith in Christ by hearing the gospel and reading His word, the Bible, for the very first time in my life (I was twenty years old). It completely changed me from the inside out, and it continues to transform me everyday by the renewing of my mind (Rom. 12:2).

"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:14-17).

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations cited in this post are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

John Gandiello is the author of "Know Your Theology - Understand Why You Believe What You Believe."

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