Pastor Kim made a comment to me that has stuck with me, and frankly it has seriously shaken me. He told me that the biggest adjustment in moving back to the States, was leaving a country where everyone was at least coming to the table with an agreement that there is a God (even if we don’t believe in the same God). But here in the US, that foundational truth is not a given. Think about that for a second. Most countries in the world at least acknowledge the existence of a higher power and authority.
It’s not the part where so many here deny the existence of God that shook me. (That just made me incredibly sad.) It is the next truth that must be assumed that so greatly disturbed me. If we live in a society that does not believe in God, the embodiment of true justice, goodness, and love, then the opposite must also be true. We live in a society that also does not believe in the existence of Satan, the embodiment of evil and corruption.
We are all capable of evil. Every single one of us. But as believers, we know to be on guard. Scripture is filled with caution to turn away from evil, because when we aren’t on guard, it is easy to succumb to an evil nature. Luckily, we are also given tools to help us. Psalms 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”. We also know, as believers, that through Jesus we have a pathway back when we do stumble (2 Timothy 1:9).
But when our society as a whole has rejected the existence of a higher power, what does that do to us all? How has our society been shaped and affected? How much must Satan delight in not just our societies denial of the one true God, but also our denial of him? How much have we tolerated because we deny the existence of evil? How much have we explained away, rationalized or ignored or even accepted because we deny Satan’s existence? How much easier have we made Satan’s work by denying his very presence? For neither God nor Satan need our acknowledgment to carry out their plans.