There seems to be some difficulty with those who are saved by the grace of God, at least with the majority of them, in discerning just exactly what evil is. I believe they tend to see it in the actions of murder, rape, incest, and those crimes which most generally call for the greatest punishment by the authorities of a particular geographical area on the planet, but not in the telling of what they would consider a “white lie,” in running a stop sign, in words meant to inflict emotional harm.
Evil to most is demonic possession, not disregarding the Almighty as if He does not exist, it would be the organized group that call themselves Satanists, but not the folks at the R rated movie. There are very few accounts of Satan being evil in the Scriptures in this accord, demons did, and still do possess individuals, yet it is only that singular person that is severely adversely affected, beyond perhaps those that may come into contact with them, there are, as far as my recollection of the Scriptures go, not many, if any accounts of Satan killing millions, his job title, as it were, is the Father of Lies, (John 8:44) and lies are only useful when they are believed.
Evil, at its root form, at its base, its foundation, is direct, willful disobedience to the will and Word of God. When Eve was tempted in the garden, and fell to that temptation, she performed an evil act, and her husband did the same, they had both been given clear instructions, and they both disobeyed. Evil is both an action and an inaction, the action would be direct and willful disobedience to what the Lord has spoken to us, the commandments that are quite clear in His Word, the Holy Bible. By doing those things that we are commanded not to do, we are committing an unholy act, an evil act.
The inactions of man to disregard those same commandments is wickedness, and “The wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36) Sin is the same as wickedness, it is the same thing as evil.
There may indeed be varying degrees of punishment awaiting those who will enter into hell, and eventually the Lake of Fire, John 19:11 states that “Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin,” but sin is sin, and all sin requires punishment from a Holy and Righteous God.
Man’s moral concept of evil is skewed in this area, even those nations that do not serve the Lord, even in just their minds, and that is most of them today, have set in place laws that vary in degree according to the offence, murder is worse than adultery in their books, embezzlement is based upon the amount stolen, there is a regard to what their moral constructs are based upon, a man who murders children cannot be placed in the general population of a prison, even cons have a moral construct.
There are those individuals who claim salvation in Christ who curse and swear on a regular basis, yet not in church on Sunday morning, there are people who enjoy pornography, but that part of their lives is kept hidden. There are adulterers sitting in the pews with you. “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numb. 32:23)
Satan tempts, he lies, he coerces, but rarely, as far as we are told, has he been a mass murderer, he simply suggests these things to mankind, and then lets our sinful, wicked, evil ways take it from there. Each act, and inaction that we perform by our own free will, with intent against the knowledge that we have of the Word of God is considered evil, it is wicked, and unless it is repented of, it will be judged, harshly. “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16)
