The War Against Wickedness

THE WAR AGAINST WICKEDNESS

I think we would all agree that our world is filled with wickedness. It is not something new to our world or our time or this generation even, the world has been filled with wickedness for as long as we have recorded history. The word translated “wickedness” is found throughout both the Old & New Testament. Its’ meaning simply refers to sin, to evil that is both planned and carried out.

The number of abortions carried out in our country just this year is well over 300,000. Many states are working to pass legislation to allow homosexuals to be married, getting the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples. Almost 1 out of every 2 homes in America claim that pornography is a problem in their home. 60% of the world’s illegal drug market is in the United States which has only 6% of the world’s population. Political corruption from Watergate to Monica Lewinsky show that wickedness is not immune to our leadership, and with Enron and the corporate wickedness we have seen on the news it is easy to see that there is a problem with wickedness in our world today.

Of course, according to the evil we are speaking of, it is not just about the evil we see in the headlines of our local news. There is a multitude of wickedness we don’t speak of very much, such as gossip. Three ministers went out on an outing together. As they shared the afternoon they began to confide in one another. Thinking that confession is good for one another, the first minister told of his addiction to pornography. The second minister confided that he had cheated on his taxes. The third minister said, “Well guys, I struggle with gossip and I can’t wait to get back to town and tell everyone what I have discovered today.”

And with gossip as one of those sins we cover by saying that we are just sharing our concerns, there is always prejudice. Now I believe that when I speak of prejudice we all think the same thing, a judgement we make based of the color of a person’s skin. But, folks prejudice is so much more, and something I believe that all of us, myself included are guilty of at some time in our lives, (if not on a regular basis.) When we make a judgement about someone without going more than “skin deep” we are guilty of prejudice. The truth is, that the Bible tells us that only Jesus has the right to judge, He alone KNOWS all, we do not. Prejudice happens when we feel we know the circumstances of a persons’ problems without really knowing all the facts. This is part of a wickedness that dominates our society and our world. Perhaps one of the greatest sources of wickedness comes in the form of greed, the Bible tells us that the ROOT of all evil is the love of money. A lust for money and power is something prevalent in our world today. The “need for greed” is plastered in our headlines and seen in our cities, towns and businesses throughout our great country.

One day a man called the church office and asked the secretary, “Little lady, let me talk to the chief hawg of the feeding trough.” The secretary said, “Sir if you are referring to the pastor, I will have you know he is a decent man of God and does not deserve to be called such things.” The man replied, “I am sorry if I offended you little lady, I was just hoping to make a donation to the church in the sum of 50,000 dollars.” “Hang on sir, I see that fat pig coming now.” Greed is a source of wickedness.

If you have you Bible with you please turn with me to the book of Jonah. This prophet also dealt with the wickedness of the world and we can learn so much from this book that applies to our world today.

JONAH 1:2-3Jonah 1:2-3 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

PRAYER

The first thing I see in this scripture, is something we probably look over because we have read, and been told this story, so many times that we miss some of the finer points in this great story. Jonah was directed to preach AGAINST Ninevah. WHY? Because the Lord said that its’ WICKEDNESS had come up against Him. Today the world’s wickedness comes up against the Lord and it is the responsibility of Christian soldiers to preach against it. To lead by example, to stand up and be heard, to fight the war against wickedness.