World Affairs

Evil for Good, Darkness for Light, Bitter for Sweet

by Zeal Clark
04/02/16
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     Although it may be hard to accept for many of those who strive to live according to God’s Word, we now live in a society where a form of “replacement” theology or ideology is rapidly advancing and threatening to become the normal. This movement is threatening the core of our belief structure and, now that its roots seem to have become firmly imbedded in our business and political worlds, it has now infiltrated a large segment of the Christian community. But while it’s understandable that this level of dishonesty would spread throughout the secular society, since it has proven to be successful in deceiving so many unsuspecting victims while resulting in significant profit for those who engage in this deceit, it’s discouraging that so many who claim to rely on God’s Word for their sense of direction would be so susceptible to this deception.

     Many Christians have been conditioned to recognize that the intent of satanic forces is to bring deceit and confusion within the Christian community. But many others seem to have no understanding of this satanic goal, and therefore are easy prey for being deceived in this manner.

     The issue here is substitutions and the apparent goal of this deceptive initiative is to substitute what is acceptable to God with that which is against the Will of God. Of course, success of this depends largely on deceit, in concert with the desires of those being deceived to find a more advantageous or profitable means of accomplishing their goals instead of utilizing means that are acceptable to God. This means substituting Godly principles with principles that are contrary to God’s Laws. 

     In order to accomplish this deceptive maneuver, Satan’s trick has been to convince as many as possible that evil is sometimes good, darkness is sometimes light, and bitter is sometimes sweet. Of course, that “sometimes” would be whenever it’s advantageous in order to accomplish whatever is in the best interest of those being deceived. But the primary principle is that there are times when it becomes necessary to redefine “good”, “darkness” and “bitter”, and since there is such a high demand for success in our culture, many are eager to be deceived in this manner.

     Our culture is now saturated with this concept. Beginning with our own government officials, where once we were able to expect and even demand that they adhere to standards of right or wrong, legal or illegal, or truth or lies, we are now forced to accept that few of them can be trusted for morality, legality, feasibility or truth. Instead, we are expected to accept, without complaint, when being repeatedly lied to or faced with their apparent disregard for the laws that were established to ensure they consider and respond to the wishes of the people who elected them into office.

     Therefore, it’s only natural that this concept would then saturate our entire culture. Following the model presented in our government, the people have perfected these same tactics of deceit, by attempting to make evil appear as good, darkness appear as light and bitter appear as sweet for those who are unsuspecting or particularly gullible. And, unfortunately, it has also become quite common in the Christian community and taught by some church leaders.

     But in order to accomplish this slick maneuver, it’s necessary to either disregard Scripture, or to twist the meaning of Scriptures such that it appears that what is written has been previously misinterpreted or misunderstood. It’s necessary to convince others that some of the Scriptures don’t really mean what they seem to indicate and that their revised definitions are more accurate than what was previously believed. Therefore, they present their own justifications for accepting wrong as being right, sometimes even suggesting or declaring that God ordains this twisting of Scripture.

     But the problem with this deceptive maneuver is that not only is it contrary to Scripture, but it was even anticipated and warned against, as shown in Scripture. One example is found in Isaiah 5:20-23:

        20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for     darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

        21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

        22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

        23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! NKJV 

      Here Isaiah makes it clear how God feels about the twisting of Scriptures to accommodate the deceit of others by camouflaging their evil to make it appear as good. God’s Word declares what is good and what is evil, and no amount of twisting can change any of that. God’s Laws do no change to accommodate our desires or our culture. Although He is fully aware of those who wish to alter His Word, He stands by what was originally written.

     Here He goes further and declares “woes” to those who attempt to substitute evil for good, darkness for light and bitter for sweet. The listed definition for woe is, “a condition of deep suffering from misfortune, affliction, or grief; ruinous trouble; calamity; affliction.” In other words, God is declaring that those who engage in this deception will be rewarded with the afore-mentioned calamities.

     Particular attention should be given to the, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!”, as this is usually the basis for the entire problem of this subterfuge. Those who are wise in their own eyes are the most likely to use such tricks or deception as a strategy in order to conceal, escape or evade detection of what would normally be considered unacceptable activity.

     Then there is the Word particular to those in our government who are guilty of this strategy, “Those who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man!”. In addition to the problem of the extensive bribery, deceptively called “lobbying” and other cover-up labels, there is the issue of the justice that is being taken from the righteous. Most recent examples of this include the punishment being imposed on Christians who, by honoring their religious beliefs refuse to participate in or assist with ungodly activities, such as same-sex marriages. This type of punishment is also reserved for Christians who dare speak out against abortion, homosexuality or other acts that are in direct violation of Scriptures.

     Any punishment for those Christians who stand up against these activities amounts to taking away justice from the righteous.

     But for the consolation of the righteous, remember that God will have the last pronouncement for those for whom these “Woes” have been declared.

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