If you have a biblical worldview, then you accept that there are two antagonistic forces at war: God and His kingdom of love, truth, freedom – which is at war with Satan and his kingdom of fear-driven selfishness, deceit, and coercion.

From the beginning of Satan’s rebellion in heaven, he not only put his methods into play, but he also attempted to ascend to the universe’s highest position in order to rule over the other beings (Isaiah 14:13, 14). But “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death” (Philippians 2:5–8 NIV84).

Notice the contrast: Satan’s method is to rule over and dominate others, requiring the masses to serve him; God’s method is to give of Himself to uplift His creation. This essential truth has been obscured by the power-over-others methods embraced by the religions of the world.

The three major monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) have all been infected with the idea that God functions like Satan and sinful humans – a god that makes up rules (often called “laws”) and uses power to force his way, punish the disobedient, and kill his enemies. But the truth is that God is the Creator and His laws are the protocols upon which reality operates (gravity, physics, laws of health, and the moral laws). Jesus showed us what God is truly like: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 NIV84). He revealed that God is our loving, tender Father, who seeks to heal and save.

Sinfulness (also called sin) is the condition of being out of harmony with God and His design-laws – those protocols upon which life is built to operate. It is a terminal condition that naturally leads to death. Thus, the Bible teaches that we are “dead” (terminal) in our unhealed sin condition (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13). The acts of sin are driven by fear and selfishness, which is the opposite of love.

However, evil is more than mere sinfulness; it is the choice to act in violation of love; it is to purposefully exploit, abuse, dominate, control, and hurt others for some selfish purpose. It is the opposite of love, which sacrifices self to bless others.

Sinfulness – fear and selfishness – unhealed and unopposed results in the development of character and actions that are evil. Sin is instinctual to the fallen nature – the weaknesses with which we are tempted and struggle – the survival-of-the-fittest drive, the lusts and addictions, and our general brokenness.

Sin harms, damages, and injures the sinner, warping the character, hardening the heart, and if not remedied will result in the destruction of the sinner. “Sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15 NIV84). “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction” (Galatians 6:8 NIV84).

Sin is what God can cure us from, heal the damage of, and wipe away for all who trust Him. Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NIV84).

Sin also corrupts all of nature. As Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, all nature groans under the weight of sinfulness. Thus, even animals instinctually behave in harmony with the sin-motive, the survival drive, killing to survive – but nature and animals are not evil. In the earth made new, animals will no longer kill each other; the sin problem will be wiped away – cured, purged – by God.

Again, evil is not merely the sin condition: struggling with fear, selfishness, addictions, and lusts. Evil is the intentional and purposeful choice to exploit, abuse, injure, harm, and dominate others. It is recognizable as actions that thwart other people’s paths toward growth, development, enlightenment, and ultimately entering into a saving and eternal relationship with God.

Thus, activities of Satan and those influenced by him have the impact of demoralizing, degrading, injuring, harming, and undermining others – with the effect of one person or group dominating another person or group. In other words, satanic agencies seek to destroy the image of God in humans such that we become less capable of self-governance (the last fruit of the Spirit) and, thus, put us in need of external oversite, control, or being cared for by others.

Satanic agencies will always attempt to destroy individuality, thinking, reasoning, and autonomy in order to mold people into fear-driven, thoughtless hordes that are willing to subject themselves to the control of others they view as stronger, wiser, or in some way more capable or worthy.

By contrast, God’s methods always seek to uplift the poor, the downtrodden, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the neglected, the beaten, the enslaved – those the world considers of little value.

When God’s principles are active, people gain autonomy, ability, and capability. The principles of truth, love, and freedom lead people to think for themselves, grow in insight, wisdom, and understanding; in exercising their own ability to think and to do; in developing their God-given individuality to become thinkers, not mere reflectors of other people’s thoughts.

It is evil to destroy the image of God in people, to take actions that undermine the ability of people to grow, develop, advance, and experience the fullness of growing up into sons and daughters of God (Ephesians 4:13).

What is even more evil than destroying the image of God in people is doing so while purporting to be helping them. For example, it is certainly evil for a husband to batter and beat his wife – but it is more evil to do so while convincing her that such beatings are how love functions.

Most people recognize the selfish (sinful) immaturity and struggles of the rude person who verbally offends when they don’t get their way, but they fail to see the evil in the otherwise kindly priest who molests children – at least until the priest is unmasked, which often takes quite some time. 

Applying Cosmic Methods in Human Governance

With these two methods – domineering others for self-advantage versus sacrificing self to bless and build up others – in mind, we can examine the impact that various governments and their policies have upon people in order to identify throughout history where God has and is acting and where Satan has and is acting.

Godly activities will be evidenced by people gaining autonomy, self-mastery, wisdom, and godlike loving concern and care for others; whereas satanic programs will be evidenced by people having their individuality eroded, families broken, ability to care for themselves destroyed, love diminished, selfishness increased, and people becoming either ever-more infantilized and in need of being cared for by others or more exploitive and abusive of others.

It can be mature and healthy for individuals to give up some freedoms as long as the result is advancement in autonomy and individual development. It’s possible to organize healthy societies in which individuals surrender some freedoms to group authority in order to experience reduced risk of harm and, thus, greater opportunity for development and growth.

One example is that we give up the absolute freedom to drive our cars any way and anywhere we want, choosing to cede such freedom to traffic laws and to participate in a society that recognizes the authorities that enforce those laws. Such surrender protects us from accidents and physical harm and, thereby, increases our health and ability to develop and grow.

Other examples of the same principle exist regarding food and water regulations, as well as having a standing army for common defense.

But human history is replete with the practice of an elite ruling class holding power over and exploiting the masses: ancient Egypt with its Pharaohs, China with its emperors and empresses, Japan with its shoguns eventually leading to its emperors. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome with their kings, emperors, and popes leading to the nation states of Europe with their divine right of kings and centralized arrangement of power in one head to rule over the masses. These authoritarian forms of governance were made more destructive by merging the state power with religious beliefs that were often superstitious.

How were these cultures able to maintain power in the hands of a minority ruling elite? By activities that injured or damaged the image of God in people; they prevented individual development and autonomy and used force to compel and coerce. Specifically, the following methods have been used to keep the masses under the control of the few:

• Denying education – multiple cultures throughout history have done this, and some continue to do this today.
• Control of education to indoctrinate into conformed thinking
• Falsehoods and propaganda – such as divine right of a few to rule the many or superstitious teachings like the fear of hell, with religious authorities possessing the power to send people to heaven or hell, or lies like one group or class of people are inferior or subhuman.
• Control of the media to promote false narratives and propaganda
• Enslaving, imprisoning, and killing
• Control of resources – such as food, water, housing, and healthcare
• Structured impoverishment – high taxes; laws limiting ownership of property to the elite; feudal systems in which homes were owned by the aristocracy and the peasants worked simply to have food and shelter with proceeds going to the landowner; coal and railroad barons in the early U.S. history; sweatshops for illegal immigrants today.
• Practices that keep wages low

Throughout history, government-sanctioned evil has sought to dominate others, exploit others, and have others sacrifice for it, while it gives nothing for the welfare of the masses. The population is viewed as a resource to be exploited for the benefit of the few. And throughout human history, every society and government that moved beyond tribal status (and many tribal cultures) have exploited the many for the benefit of the few.

Ironically, socialism and communism arose in direct protestation of the abuses of the aristocracy, but these forms of government – in every instance – removed one ruling class only to replace it with another that continued to exploit and abuse the masses. (Whether Soviet Union, Communist China, Nazi Germany, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, in every instance an elite ruling class exploited the masses.)

Only one government in the history of the world was established with the express purpose of preventing an elite ruling class from dominating and controlling the masses, a government in which the articles of incorporation were constructed to not only give the power to the people but to obstruct any attempt toward an aristocracy arising that would dominate the masses – the United States of America. (Of course, since its inception, other governments have arisen that model themselves in some fashion after the USA.)

With the rise of the United States, a radical new form of government was formed. Its constitution was specifically structured to protect the individual citizens and states from a centralization of power into the hands of a few ruling elites. It was designed to protect the individuals – the masses. This is exactly opposite of the exploitive methods of Satan. And ever since its creation, the U.S. Constitution, with the liberties contained within, has been under attack by those who wish to establish a government in which a minority of elites rule the masses.

What makes the U.S. Constitution specifically hated by ruling elites are the following:

• Decentralization of power into three equal branches (legislative, executive, judicial)
• The limitation of congress to remove the president except for specific listed crimes (treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors). The framers did not want the U.S. government to be parliamentarian, as in Britain, in which the prime minister serves at the behest of the parliament and can be removed for political reasons at any time with a majority vote of the parliament.
• Use of the electoral college rather than simple majority vote, which is another way to decentralize power and protect the rights of the minority.
• The separation of church and state – having seen the abuses in Europe when religious institutions controlled the power of the state, the framers specifically sought to limit the power of religions to control state agencies in order to enforce religious dogmas.
• The right of the citizenry to carry and bear arms – purposefully written into the constitution as a means for the citizens to protect themselves from threats, including those of an abusive government.
• The right to a free and independent press, intended to investigate and expose corruption in government so that the people could act via their power to vote to bring about change.
• The right to privacy, including no search and seizure without a warrant – again, giving power to the citizen and requiring the ruling authority to have legitimate justification to overrule individual liberties.
• The right to not self-incriminate. During the Inquisition, if an inquisitor asked you, “Did you steal from the church?” and you refused to answer, it was considered the same as an admission of guilt. The framers took power from the state and gave it to the individual.
• An educated citizenry who could read and write in order to be informed and to think for themselves and understand the processes involved to help elect qualified leaders.
• The requirement of elections every two years for the house, six years for the senate, and four years for president, thus, ultimately putting the power into the hands of the electorate and preventing an elite minority from ruling over the majority
• High hurdles to change this system written into the constitution.

The USA, with its constitutional protections specifically designed to limit the power of the ruling class, is the most significant obstacle in the world today to the ruling elites who seek to implement a world body to control the nation states. This is quite significant to the informed Christian who understands that before Christ returns, a global-coalition governance will form to subjugate the masses. This is one reason why Satan hates the U.S. Constitution – it obstructs his method of power over the masses.

Understanding these dynamics, we can assess the impact on people of various policies or propositions and determine whether they build up individuality and help people become autonomous, develop their full potential, become thinkers rather than reflectors of others, with a mature Christlike character interested in blessing others – or whether policies result in the degradation of people who, with the destruction of individuality, become less capable of reasoning, thinking, and becoming autonomous. Further, do the policies over time strengthen or weaken liberties founded in the U.S. Constitution.

Godly and Ungodly Government Policy

I propose that policies and actions that promote the development of people are godly, whereas actions that destroy the development of people are evil.

I want to be clear: I am not advocating for a specific political party, politician, policy, or the enactment of a specific law. Rather, I am illustrating the complexity of working through morally and ethically complicated issues and applying godly principles to our understanding, seeking to expose, by the effect upon people, whether specific actions are restorative or destructive – and, thus, whether they are in harmony with God’s methods.

Slavery, for example, is obviously evil and serves as a good example of the destruction of individuality; the methods employed to dominate masses of people for self-profit – using methods of control such as denying education, misusing of religion, creating falsehoods (such as human “races” having different moral values), using coercion and force – expose its satanic underpinnings. And the principles established in the U.S Constitution eventually lead to the end of slavery. 

Now let’s examine various policy options and decide for ourselves whether they are working to develop the image of God in man – and, thus, are the best policies to support – or are working to destroy the image of God in man and are best to oppose. Additionally, consider whether such actions work to uphold the liberties of the U.S. Constitution or work to undermine them.

• What impact does an unregulated border have on a society?Do wages for those with the least education, least social connections, and least skills rise or sink? Would suppressing wages result in people developing and advancing – or would it result in them becoming dependent on those with resources and power (either wealthy people, corporations, or government) to provide for them? Would social resources, such as Medicaid, low-cost housing, mental-health treatment programs, social support systems, student aide, etc., be more available or would those systems be overwhelmed and, thus, those with the least resources find themselves with less opportunity to get assistance to develop and advance?What if such open borders also allowed in immigrants who were from cultures that did not value the principles of the U.S. Constitution, but rather believed in having a supreme leader who would direct and govern the masses?If immigration was unregulated and migrants could enter freely without conditions, what impact would it have upon the countries they are fleeing? Would the people fleeing be those persons most content in their countries of origin or those most likely to seek change? And if the critical mass of people who want change is constantly siphoned off by migrating to another country, does this prevent the overthrow of abusive governments? Do we, by allowing open borders, thereby perpetuate the abuse and exploitation of the masses in other countries? Would the original nations and their people ultimately be better off by forming governments modeled after the USA or by the continual removal from their society of those who would bring about positive change?

• What impact would educational policies have that pass students to the next grade level who haven’t achieved the skills of their current grade level? Would it create an under-educated working class and an under-educated voting class? And what impact would that have on autonomy, individuality, and the ability to develop and advance? Would such practices contribute to an under-educated group vulnerable to propaganda, which thereby threatens the liberties contained in the constitution? Would it create a dependency class to be governed by elites who control the reins of power? Would it be better to pass along those who cannot read, write, and do basic math or to hold them back until they gain the skillset? Which does them the most good, and which does society the most good?

• What about policies that permanently imprison people for a few non-violent crimes (drug possession, theft), such as the three-strike rule, rather than programs designed to offer pathways to individual development, autonomy, and good citizenship?

• What about policies that financially incentivize breaking up of families – greater government subsistence for single parents than for two-parent households?

• What about policies that create large groups of people dependent upon government subsistence without real opportunity for personal development, advancement, employment with a living wage, and ultimately autonomy?

• What about policies and laws that prevent families from getting their loved ones with serious mental-health problems (psychoses and life-threatening addictions) involuntary treatment? Currently in the USA, such policies and laws have contributed to more than four million seriously mentally ill homeless people. Because they are not an immediate threat to themselves or others, families and state agencies are powerless to initiate treatment. Is it compassionate to leave them in this disorganized and functionally impaired state? Is the image of God in them being restored by such laws and policies? Is society being benefited or being cheated of their constructive contributions?

Remember, love seeks to build-up, lift-up, restore the image of God in people so that they can develop the fullness of their God-given abilities. But strength and development require exertion – it is the law of exertion. If you want something to get stronger, you must exercise it – if you don’t use it, you lose it. Policies purported to help but actually prevent individual exertion of abilities (“handout” policies) actually harm and prevent advancement and, thus, work to perpetuate evil, even if those who promote them mean to do good; the person who believes they are helping may not be evil, but the practices that destroy another are evil.

Passing students to the next grade because we don’t want to hurt their feelings, undermine their confidence, or cause them social stigma may be intended as a blessing, but, in reality, it is a cursing – to the student and to society. It is part of the evil that perpetuates a dependency class of low-skilled laborers to be exploited by ruling elites, who depend upon votes to maintain their power. Many who support such practices may have good intentions and, thus, are not themselves evil in character, but their intentions don’t change the destructive and degrading consequences these policies have on others. While those who remain ignorant of the damaging consequences of such practices are not choosing to be evil – in fact, they may be choosing to be compassionate – those who do know yet promote such practices are choosing evil.

For years, doctors prescribed tobacco to treat lung disease.[1] These doctors were not evil – they were ignorant. But their ignorance of the toxic nature of tobacco and their desire to heal didn’t change the damaging results of using tobacco. Later, the tobacco industry knowingly and willfully hid the evidence of tobacco’s health damaging effects and purposefully presented fraudulent information denying tobacco’s health destroying impact – this was evil.

Throughout all human history, Satan has been working to destroy the true image of God in humanity, to have a ruling elite dominate, control, abuse, and exploit the masses. God has been working, not to reform human governments – as no human government represents the government of God – but to restore in people His image. Thus, God is working to restore His methods in how we treat others using His principles of truth, love, and freedom. Godly people will work to establish public policies, laws, structures (like the U.S. Constitution) that create the healthiest environments, in which individuals have the opportunity to advance, grow, and experience the restoration of the image of God within. But individual growth requires individual choice, application, and work. Individual growth, development, and advancement cannot be given; only opportunity can be given. Thus, the Declaration of Independence voices our God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But happiness is only experienced by the healing of our hearts and minds as we come back into harmony with God and His design laws for life. This requires our enlightenment and willful participation. When we do this, we become thinkers capable of discerning right from wrong, truth from error, and exercise authority in the governance of self. We are able to differentiate between platitudes, promises, and verbal proclamations to what is actually true, how reality works, and, thus, will not be duped into knowingly participating in programs that undermine the principles of freedom that are necessary for health and growth.

I invite you to become a thinker and not a mere reflector of other people’s thoughts – to question why you hold whatever position you hold; to examine the evidences for it and consider whether it is something you have believed without much thought, perhaps because it just “feels right?” If so, always ask, “Why does it feel right?” Is it because of your deep fear and self-interest and the policy makes you feel safe? Or is your attraction to it growing out of love for other people and understanding the laws upon which reality works, thus seeking to actually uplift and heal others?

A battle still rages between Christ and Satan; between the forces of love, truth, and freedom and the forces of fear-driven selfishness, deceit, and coercion; between practices that heal, restore, and build up and practices that injure, destroy, and tear down. The question for you is: For which side will you fight?