The Battle Rages On

There is a spiritual war raging on all around us. Once you see it, it’s impossible to deny.

Think back to when the COVID-19 pandemic began. We were all in a state of confusion. What was going to happen? How bad was this going to get? Each day felt longer than the last. Finally, the dominoes began to drop. People were advised to stay home. We isolated ourselves from one another. People wore masks, covering up our smiles and innate ability to share emotions with one another.

Human connection was all but lost. Fear had replaced it.

At that time, and for years prior, I was an adamant atheist. I was anti-God, anti-religion, and especially anti-Christian. My basis was simple: how could anyone believe what can’t be proven? An unshakeable confidence flowed through me as it seemed that anyone who thought otherwise was either uneducated or naïve.

In the midst of the pandemic, however, everything changed. Through all the darkness and isolation, I realized that evil is real. Pure, spiritual evil, like an invisible force acting on the world at all times, affecting each of us to varying degrees.

Evil was the only word that could accurately describe what was happening. It finally clicked. Judging the world merely through the faculties of our brains, and thus the limits of our humanity, no longer sufficed. How else could you explain the entire world changing seemingly overnight? How else could you explain the strangleholds that fear, disconnection, and anger had over millions of people?

Was it enough to say this was simply an unprecedented event? That this was the natural conclusion of an unknown virus?

Or was this simply only one part of the story?

Years have passed since then as I’ve watched the thread of evil weave its way and make itself known time and time again.

Ask yourself… if evil isn’t real, how do you explain Epstein’s Island? How do you explain P-Diddy’s crimes? How do you explain that almost all those involved have yet to face any sort of justice, while the victims continue to suffer among us?

If evil isn’t real, how do you explain the victims of horrible hurricanes receiving nothing but $750 from our own government, while that same government continues to send billions of dollars to strangers overseas?

If evil isn’t real, how do we explain the endless wars that currently ravage the world, with no end in sight if the powers that be have any say in it?

How do we explain that over 20 million people are trafficked every year?

How do we explain child abuse and domestic violence?

How do we explain the unexplainable?

The shroud of evil exists all around us. The veil has been lifted. Yet, this realization also awoken me to another, more important, more fundamental truth.

If evil is real, so, too, is its opposite: love, truth, faith, goodness…

God.

The earth is a planet filled with imperfect humans. When you study history, you understand two things: we humans are capable of the vilest acts imaginable, but we are also capable of the most gracious, charitable, and loving acts, too, and everything in between.

This is the battle between good and evil. This is the world we find ourselves in. Our indifference to this reality can make us prime candidates for corruption, leading us down a path to hell regardless of whatever our intentions may be. Ignorance is not bliss. On the contrary, it is our awareness and acceptance of these stakes that bring with it both a sense of humility and responsibility. Humility in that we are not perfect, and we must rely on a power greater than ourselves, namely God, to help us be better than we were before. Responsibility in that even though we are not perfect, it is our duty to strive to be.

We are gifted with free will. We have the freedom to make choices that lead to a better version of ourselves, and thus a better world, and the freedom to do the opposite, ushering in the evil that has become so apparent. The battle is waged right at home, right within us, every single day.

When I turned 28, someone asked me: during my time on this earth, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned?

I didn’t have an answer then, but I do now: know God. Know Truth. Your life depends on it.