Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
It seems like the amount of evil in the world is exponentially increasing, and maybe it is. Or maybe because of our advanced communication and media technologies, we are just more aware. Evil has been in the world since a jealous and angry Cain killed his brother Abel; ... Am I my brothers keeper? (Genesis 4:9)
There is little debate that evil is prevalent in our world. The question is why and can we remove this evil? To answer these questions we need to understand what the bible says is the source of evil. First, the world, meaning all people in the world except true born again Christians, are being blindly influence and deceived by Satan; ... the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19) Jesus prayed to His Father for all of us who would believe in Him (Christians) that we would be protected from the power of Satan; I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)
Secondly, we know that everyone is born with a sin nature that is capable of all kinds of evil; As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10). The truth is that people are not born basically good. Rather, we are born with a sin nature that, if left unrestrained, manifests itself in all kinds of evil acts.
Unfortunately, the bible tells us that evil will continue to increase in the world until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even then, people will be born with a sin nature, but at least their evil will be restrained by the Lord and their judgment will be swift. Until then, by faith, we continue to trust that the Lord will keep and protect us from the evil one; In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:16) Lord come quickly! Maranatha!
