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Day 1 | Monday, October 4 | Matthew 4:1

Do you believe in evil?

A devotion by Pastor Brooks

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Matthew 4:1

Recently I was watching a British documentary called Clarkson's Farm. It's about a British celebrity who decides to try out farming. At one point in the show, as he is casting a grand vision for a small pond designed to attract wildlife, he spreads his hands wide and proclaims, "I will be like Moses.” His assistant interrupts him mid-sentence and asks, "Who the @#%^ is Moses?" Clarkson told the story of Moses and the farm hand said, "That's bull..." The farm hand's question and response illustrate the West is no longer a Judeo/Christian society. 

How do you bring up spiritual conversations to people who do not have a biblical worldview? How do you discuss Jesus with people who don't believe in God or the concept of sin? How do we adapt? For starters begin with prayer. Second, we need to do a lot less talking and a lot more listening, and when you do talk, ask questions. 

Let’s say your friend brings up the latest atrocity and laments the condition of the world. 

Do not say, “Well that just goes to show you that mankind is by nature and choice sinful. That's why we need Jesus.” All true, but you just lost them. Instead, ask them what they think, "Why do you believe the world is the way it is?" 

Modernity believes that their fellows are by nature good. Ask them why these good people do bad things. Andrew Delblanco, a self-described secular liberal, wrote The Death of Satan. He explains that our culture has no way of dealing with evil. In his book, he quotes Officer Starling's question to Hannibal Lecter in the book Silence of the Lambs. “What could have made you like this? What happened to you that you’re like this?”

Dr. Lecter responds, “Nothing has happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. Nothing has happened to me. You can’t reduce me to a set of influences. You’ve given up good and evil for behaviorism, Officer Starling. You’ve got everybody in moral-dignity pants. Nothing is ever anybody’s fault. Look at me, Officer Starling. Can you stand to say I’m evil?”

Your friends and co-workers may not believe in God, the concept of sin, or know anything about Jesus, but I bet they know evil when they see it. Ask them why good people do bad things. Just ask the question and get the conversation rolling.