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The Methods of Evil
The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy warning him about events that will occur before the second coming of Christ and describing how evil will manifest itself:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth (1 Timothy 4:1–3 NIV84, emphasis mine).
Paul tells us that the evil ones are liars. They use disinformation, propaganda, falsehood, distortion, and every manner of distraction and obfuscation to prevent people from seeing the truth. They get people to focus on words rather than deeds, claims rather than outcomes, proclamations rather than evidence, declarations rather than facts, made-up rules rather than testable design laws—all of which lead to fantasy, fiction, myth, and superstition, rather than intelligent beings who live and operate in a reality based upon truth.
Yes, evil people, inspired by evil spirits, lie and deceive. But they also use other methods to advance their falsehoods, their evil empire, their corrupt characters, and their sinful selves—they use imposed rules, made-up laws, and coercive enforcement to advance their beliefs. The righteous do use imposed rules, made-up laws, and coercive enforcement, but only to restrain evil—to hold in check the actions that cause others harm; however, the wicked use them to promote evil—to coerce and force others into actions that cause harm.
Notice and contrast the difference in method between the evil and the righteous. The Bible is filled with counsel on marriage and diet, yet the Bible method that Paul advances is to recommend, to persuade, to present the truth, the evidence, the rationale, the reasons—and then leave every person free to decide for themselves. Paul does not forbid; he does not order compliance.
When controversies arose in the early church about foods and days of worship, Paul wrote, “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5 NIV84).
When counseling regarding marriage, Paul did not command, did not forbid; he wrote:
Now, concerning what you wrote about unmarried people: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy of trust … (1 Corinthians 7:25 GNT, emphasis mine).
Then Paul goes on to give counsel regarding the stress and burdens of marriage and relationships with the hardships the believers were going to encounter as they faced persecution, and he presents his rationale for his advice, but then he writes:
I would like you to be free from worry. … I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not trying to put restrictions on you. Instead, I want you to do what is right and proper, and to give yourselves completely to the Lord’s service without any reservation (1 Corinthians 7:33, 35 GNT, emphasis mine).
Notice Paul’s method is to present the truth, his counsel, in love, but to leave people free to decide for themselves. The method of the evil ones is to seek to deceive, but if they can’t get people to believe their lies and thereby foolishly choose to participate in what is destructive, then the evil ones use the methods of force, imposed law, coercion, requirement under threat, and the infliction of punishment.
Consider the methods we have seen employed with COVID—outright lies, claims without evidence, proclamations known to be untrue, coupled with the use of imposed laws with threats of punishment and coercive pressure to get people to comply.
Consider the methods of the woke agenda—they lie, using all kinds of propaganda and falsehoods. (See our magazine Critical Race Theory: Exposing the Lies While Advancing the Gospel for documentation.) And their lies are coupled with all kinds of coercive pressures, including deplatforming, defunding, vilification, loss of job, public ruination of reputation, physical threats, loss of licensure, etc. They are unable to present their views and leave people free because their views are contrary to what is healthy and true; thus, the woke intimidate, harass, attack (verbally, professionally, physically), and interfere with the free speech of others, while seeking to control laws to force people to comply with their demands.
For instance, one of the principles upon which the United States was founded is the freedom of conscience, that each person is to be left free to not only believe in God as they understand Him but to practice their religion without restraint—as long as it doesn’t affirmatively harm another person (e.g., no human sacrifice). However, in multiple states across America, those who are advancing wokeism have sought to force Christian mental-health professionals to provide same-sex couples therapy or so-called “gender-affirming care” to children. If a Christian practitioner instead seeks to refer such individuals to other licensed professionals who share the patient’s values, the referring practitioner is threatened with loss of their license. In some jurisdictions, professional societies and licensing boards bring pressure to require Christian practitioners to provide care that not only violates a practitioner’s conscience, but which the practitioner believes is harmful to the patient. Additionally, academic professional bodies are pressuring Christian colleges and universities to teach godless philosophies, and if they do not comply, they are threatened with losing their credentials, which means their graduates cannot sit for licensing boards. The goal is to use these imposed and arbitrary rules to filter out of professional society all beliefs and practices in Jesus Christ and the methods and principles of the God of the Bible.
In Canada, these godless forces have advanced laws that require physicians to participate in killing their patients. It is called medical assistance in dying (MAiD), and physicians are required to provide lethal prescriptions to patients who ask for them, or they will have their licenses revoked. These same forces are attempting to make this the standard in America as well. You can read more about this abuse of human rights promoted by those who no longer value the God of the Bible at https://www.cardus.ca/research/health/reports/from-exceptional-to-routine/.
One bullet point from the article states: “The number of Canadians dying prematurely by ‘medical assistance in dying’ (MAiD) has risen thirteenfold since legalization. In 2016, the number of people dying in this way was 1,018. In 2022, the last year for which data are available, the number was 13,241.”
The Signs of the Times
Right now, today, we are seeing the events prophesied in Scripture that are to precede the second coming of Christ. We are seeing the rise of globalism, the integration of government and corporate forces to pass global rules that coerce consciences. We are seeing a rise in godlessness. We are seeing the rise, through social media, the internet, and technology of information filtering that make it ever harder for people to get reliable information upon which to make informed decisions. In other words, the liars are becoming ever more proficient in their ability to deceive.
As things continue to unfold, the evil will present all kinds of data, information, opinions, perspectives, and perhaps even what appears to be scientific studies. These are designed to intimidate, confuse, incite fear, and interfere with individuals thinking for themselves. It is designed to get people to surrender their thinking to the various “authorities.”
But you do not need to be deceived by things being too scientific, technical, or simply too much information to filter through. All you need to do is simply watch the methods being employed. The righteous always use the methods of God, truth, presented in love, often with strong recommendations as Paul did, but always under the umbrella of the freedom of conscience. Those who love truth do not censor; they invite inquiry and investigation because they want their ideas, studies, and theories to be purified by truth. The righteous will respect those who disagree and will not seek to silence them. They will not accuse them. But the wicked, the evil, do not have truth, so they will always seek to limit investigation, shut down debate, and accuse the truth-seekers of being racist or sexist or wanting to harm others. They will use methods of inducements (bribes and payoffs), intimidation and coercion, and, ultimately, the power of the state through various means, legislation or policy police, to coerce and force their way.
I encourage you to understand the methods of God, truth, love, and freedom and recognize the difference between the corrupt practices of human governments and imposed laws. Understand God’s laws are design laws, the protocols reality is built and functions upon. And realize that imposed laws are the domain of this sinful world. And while the righteous may use imposed rules to restrain evil (stop a predator from walking free)—the righteous never use imposed rules to advance righteousness (require belief, worship, or violate conscience). It is the evil who try to advance their false version of eutopia through imposed law and external punishment.
So, think for yourself, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and practice God’s methods in all that you do.
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