SEPT 2026. Blues Vol 42 No.9

WORDS OF FAITH

WORDS OF FAITH Chaplain's Corner THE EVIL AMONG US If you are a Chaplain for your department, or know a Chaplain who would like to contribute an article for The Chaplain’s Corner please contact our office at: bluespdmag@gmail. com You don’t have to look far to see incidences and reports of evil things happening all around us all the time. This month’s edition of The Blues contains several articles that exemplify this fact. So, this may cause you to ask, “Where does evil come from, Satan, right?” While that is a commonly held and believed answer it’s incorrect. Before we clear this up, our more seasoned readers may remember the comedian Flip Wilson and the character Geraldine that he portrayed on the TV show, “Laugh-In” One of Flip’s favorite lines for Geraldine was, “The Devil made me do it!” And yes, Satan can and does serve as a conduit for evil, but only to the extent that God allows him to. You see, Satan is not God’s adversary, he is God’s servant. The first chapter of the book of Job in the Old Testament makes this clear: “Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD - and Satan also arrived among them.” (Job 1:6 New English Translation) You see, God called his heavenly servants to come before Him and they did; Satan included! If God and Satan were equal but separate adversaries you can bet that Satan would have given God the one finger salute and gone about his business, but he didn’t. God called, Satan came. So you say, fine, but you still haven’t told us where evil comes from. The answer 16 The BLUES SEPTEMBER ‘26 to that question, straight from the Bible, will shock some of you, make some of you mad, and quite possibly cause some to stop reading at this point. Just remember, these are God’s Words, not mine. The Lord says in Isaiah 45:7, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (King James Version) Did you get that? The Lord Himself tells us plainly in his Word that He creates evil! Now, if you’re still with me and haven’t switched over to text our Publisher that you think the Chaplain has gone crazy let me tell you why He creates it: contrast. That’s right, if there was no evil in the world, only good, we wouldn’t know what good was and what it looked like. Let me illustrate with an analogy. Let’s say I have a white dry write board and I have a white marker that is the exact same color white as the board. Now, if I draw or write something on that white dry write board with that white marker it won’t be seen because there’s no contrast. I could tell you that I’ve drawn a pretty picture on the board, but you would not be able to see it. So, while it seems illogical to us that evil even exists it enables us to see and recognize good. And evil was not an afterthought on God’s part nor is it something that slipped into the world somewhere in time. No, it was here from the beginning: “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9 King James Version) And by the way, it was fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God told Adam and Eve to not eat and as we know from Genesis Chapter 3, they did. The theology of evil and sin entering the world is beyond the scope of this article to develop but know this: the first two human beings, Adam and Eve, did not know evil or sin in the Garden of Eden until they disobeyed God. And they did not need contrast before their disobedience because they lived in the presence of the thrice Holy God Himself, who is everlasting goodness and righteousness. His goodness couldn’t not be seen. So then, what hope do we have against evil and those who practice it? God has provided that answer: “Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people, for the evil person has no future, and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. (Proverbs 24:19-20 New English Translation) And lastly, let me leave you with my wife’s favorite Scriptures: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own estimation; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7 New English Translation)

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