Resist not Evil!

Within the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes this declaration, “…resist not evil.” His focus here is to redirect the generational notion that it is justifiable to return an egregious act against oneself upon those who committed the act. Jesus refers to it as “eye for an eye” which was defined in the Mosaic Law. The entire corpus of the Judeo-Christian justice system is built on this premise of retributive justice. The best that anyone can hope for is mercy – not grace – when confronted with a conflict.

Yet, there is an important principle here that many completely miss. A principle which underlies the entire understanding of the kingdom of God and His grace. Before I expound on this principle allow me to offer another verse which provides us with a similar condition which has been highjacked by the religious establishment too.

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

If you have been in any church service, there is the inevitable call to “fight the good fight of faith.” Many a pulpiteer will tell you that a “good fight” is a fight you win. There will be many a prodding to do just what the verse in James says by resisting the archenemy of every Christian. This will secure the victory during the long-term battle of faith. But isn’t the counsel in James a contradiction to the declaration of Jesus?

The Only Power

Every sermon preached today, across all denominations, will have relinquished our birthright to the influence of another power, the power of evil. Yes, many will extol the virtue of the power of God to restore and judge the unjust, but this is only because there is an acceptance that humanity has been captured and enslaved by an evil power and its kingdom, commonly depicted as the devil or satan. This avatar can cause any who cross its path to sin leading many to their destruction and eternal damnation. Hence, according to James, we are urged to resist the influence this avatar projects upon us.

But isn’t God omnipotent? I know that this is a big word, but omnipotent simply means all powerful. Not some power or a power limited to certain areas, but ALL. So just how much power does this “other” kingdom have? If it has any, then it would have had to have received it from the source of ALL power. Is that possible? Of course not! Then what is going on here?

The knowledge of good and evil is an invention of mankind. Jesus said that there is only one good, and it is the Father. This response came after someone tried to claim that Jesus was good, a value placed upon him by a human, possibly someone who would claim him to be evil enough to be crucified sometime later. Herein lies my reasoning for how good and evil is an invention of mankind: What is claimed to be good today can, and often is, be redefined as evil tomorrow.

This duality creates a power structure which people rally around attempting to defeat the opposing side which in their eyes is the “evil one.” Yet, there is no power in the illusion called evil unless we give it power over us. God is all the power in the universe. Jesus told Pilate that he would have no power over him unless it had been given to him from above. This could mean that Pilates power came from those over him, or Jesus meant by His Father. I’d bet that Jesus, knowing there is only one power in the universe, was representing the omnipotent nature of His Father which Pilate also recognized.

Enforcing an Illusion

To call out some item, some person, some event as being evil is to cast an illusion, a mental mirage over reality. Consider how all of creation, both seen and the unseen, was made, and is held together by and through the Word of God. This creation was then declared very good. There is not a single thing which has been created which hasn’t been declared good. Only mankind has the ability to assert a thing as evil. This assertion can in no manner override the divine nature of its being good. Evil is simply an illusion.

I know that many of you will balk at this claim and bring up any of a number of incidents or people who are “verifiable” evil. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the concentration camps, the killing fields, child sex trafficking, your favorite political nemesis, on and on the list grows. I am not ignoring how any of these people, deeds, or things are abhorrent. I am simply stating that their original divine nature is good. Yes, ignorance about this nature will create a pathway in life which allows influences to shape and shift the character and actions of a person or thing diametrically opposite from its divine purpose, but evil is not what this is. It is wholly the ignorance of good.

Evil Among Us?

For most of my life I have been an enforcer of the illusion of evil just as you have. Generational and cultural traditions culled out certain stereotypes where evil was the only acceptable category available. As a novice adherent, I too labeled those whose lives and actions were against the status quo. Unknowingly and unwittingly, I pushed certain people and their actions into boxes without ever having to actually interact with them. The very notion that these groups were divinely good never once crossed my mind.

My introduction to my ignorance came during a political cycle where my prayer group and I were feverishly assailing the gates of heaven to rid the earth of the evil presented by a particular bevy of candidates. As we in unison zealously prayed for a move of God in this matter, I heard the Spirit of God reprimand me. “Shut up! You have no idea what you are doing or saying.” It was clear and concise as only a divine communication can be. I was thunderstruck and immediately stopped all of my praying, listening to the droning of my unaware compatriots. Thus began my introduction into a nature of grace I heretofore had never encountered.

You see, I had resisted evil like every person has been instructed to do in every religious setting. But ALL those teachings were not the TRUTH. They were the enforcement of an illusion, a mental mirage created generations ago designed to control the populace in some capacity. Where Jesus said, “Resist not evil,” my eyes missed completely the word “NOT.” I, like James, resisted the devil. In both cases of these directives, I had missed the point and it is possible that multitudes had missed it too.

Consider that while it may appear that both of these passages contradict each other, they are speaking truth that most have overlooked. As I stated previously, evil is a mental construct of mankind, not of God. That construct only exists when attention is focused upon it. Ignore it and it dissipates. Don’t put any effort into resisting it and it evaporates. IT only thrives when our mind is transfixed on an event or person which our perception deems to be outside of our norms.

I realize making this claim is easier said than done. So, what is the action step which must be undertaken to redirect our thoughts. Enter the passage from James. If your focus is on the resisting part, then you’re no further along than when you began reading this. The critical part is actually the first statement, “Submit to God.” Submit your thoughts to God, on God, about God and you’ll not have any desire to view things as evil. Here is the unique thing which happens when you do this small act: You are resisting the devil and it flees. Any time you focus your thoughts on God whatever was occupying you previously seems to just vanish just like the mirage that it is.

The next time you feel compelled to identify someone or something as evil, don’t take the knee-jerk reaction of fighting or resisting. Submit the thought to God. Goodness, secured with grace, simply returns.