Join the Resistance

Resistance Against Evil.

A war greater than any we’ve fought in human history is upon us. It is a war between love for God and resistance to evil.  This individual war is fought in your mind and your heart. It can be called, “The war against evil.” As it affects the individual, it affects the predominant way of the world. Every person has a choice to invoke love or surrender to doing evil. Since it is apparent the way of the world is evil, obviously many people have surrendered to evil.

We have become accustomed to living in a corrupt world of evil things. The problem of evil is so great that any thought of a solution seems cynical. All we can hope for are small victories against evil things. Victories that are quickly reverted by the world’s denial of love for God. However, ending all the evil in the world is not impossible. There is a solution. It lies in the life of Jesus Christ.

Resistance is the solution to Evil things

There is a resistance dedicated to ending all suffering, injustice, and evil. The members of the resistance are not soldiers, but ordinary people. Their strategy is not to fight, but to rescue people one by one. Resistance is the only way to deal with the problem of evil right now. When you have an evil thought, shake it out of your head and think about the life of Jesus. When you find yourself in an evil situation, start talking about God’s love. Resist the evil and embrace a love for God (James 4:7).

There was a time when the world was not as corrupt as it is now. When God created the world, He created it perfectly and called His creation “Very Good” (Genesis 1:31). There was no suffering, death, or evil. None of those things existed until the first man, Adam committed the first act of disobedience against God.

One Law of Resistance

God gave Adam one law. Do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned Adam that the day he ate of that tree, he would die (Genesis 2:17). But Adam disobeyed, and the price for his disobedience was death.

God’s standard is perfection. Before Adam disobeyed, God would come to visit man in the garden (Genesis 3:8). After Adam disobeyed God, he lost his perfection. To have a relationship with God, man would have to call out for Him (Genesis 4:26).  God departed, and his life-sustaining power went with Him. Without God’s life-sustaining power, every living thing began to die (Genesis 3:19).

Resist Evil to choose God?

How could God have allowed Adam to disobey? If God is all-powerful and the source of all goodness, wouldn’t He have known what Adam would choose? If God knew that one man’s disobedience would cause the suffering and death of every living person who was yet to come, why didn’t He prevent such tragedy? The answer is that God wanted us to have free will and learn how to exercise it. Today we must choose between a love for God or the evil world.

If God did not want Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why didn’t He put a fence around it? Why put the tree in the garden at all? God could have made it impossible for Adam to have access to it. Doing so would have destroyed Adam’s free will. If Adam had no choice but to have fellowship with God, his love for God would be artificial. It would be like claiming your son is your favorite child when he happens to be your only child, or pulling the string on a doll that can only say “I love you”. God valued Adam’s free will because he wanted Adam to choose to love Him freely. The tree represented more than just fruit that God didn’t want Adam to eat. The tree was Adam’s way out if he no longer wanted a relationship with God. To the shame of humanity, Adam chose evil things.

Resist because we are not perfect.

That’s how we ended up here. We’re all born into a world where we must compete and fight over limited resources. We’re all born with selfish instincts that compel us to seek our well-being, even at the expense of others. We must fight against these instincts every day. Those who lose the fight, give in to their selfishness. Like criminals who take what they want, they only value objects more than the lives of the people they take from.

Most people who see the world in the corrupt condition it is in, wonder why God doesn’t do something. They wonder why the almighty God can’t snap his fingers and fix the world. But they haven’t considered just how high and perfect God’s standards are. His standard is perfection. If God snapped his fingers and removed everyone less than perfect, who would be left? You see, we have a serious problem because one day, God has a plan to do just that (Revelation 21:1).

Resisting in thought.

The Bible tells us that at the end of the world, every person will stand before God and give an account of how they lived their lives. Too often, people think that just means God will judge the actions we have physically done. But Jesus said, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36). Another scripture says, “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” (Psalms 94:11). That means God will judge not only our actions but also our words and our thoughts.

Resisting in the heart.

Jesus raised the stakes when He told us, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28). We sin against God with even our thoughts because our thoughts are evidence that our heart desires to do evil things even if our self-control prevents us from doing them. For God, the condition of our hearts is what condemns us, and according to God’s law, we are all guilty before Him (Romans 2:19).

Resistance is not hopeless

Every person is guilty before God Romans 3:19. Not only are we powerless to undo the evil deeds we’ve committed already, but we continue to sin against God with our actions, words, and thoughts with each new day. That would be like trying to clean an oily rag with dirty water. The oil on it would not come off and the areas where the oil hadn’t touched would become dirtier. Similarly, we have no hope of fixing our relationship with God by trying to make ourselves perfect. Imperfection does not produce perfection.

Why has God given us this time though? If there’s nothing we can do to become right with God, why doesn’t He just get judgment day over with already and purge the world of all the evil in it, including us? If our situation is hopeless, it seems only cynical that God would give us the time of our lifespans to impotently try to reach him and only further condemn ourselves. But it’s not hopeless. Jesus started The Resistance.

God knows who will resist

God knew Adam would choose to disobey before he ever created him. It was never a part of God’s will for us to be separated from him, so God made a way for us to be reconciled to him. Think about our oily-rag example. God knew the rag couldn’t clean itself. The only way to get something clean is to remove its dirtiness with something that is already clean.

The Master of Resistance.

2000 years ago, God was born into humanity as a man called Jesus. Because he was God, he was able to live a perfect life with no sins of his own. When he told the religious people of Jerusalem that he was God, they didn’t believe him and nailed him to a wooden cross and he died. But three days later, he proved he was God by rising from the dead.

His death was a substitution for the death we deserve for our sins. The most famous verse in the bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Another scripture says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9). If you ask Jesus to save you, he will.

The relationship with God that was broken when Adam disobeyed in the Garden of Eden will be restored if you ask for it to be so. Jesus will come into your life and give you credit for the perfect life that He lived. On judgment day when you give an account of your life, God will see the perfect life of Jesus in you instead of your own sinful life. When He sees Jesus, you will be innocent before him. Once you have asked Jesus to restore his relationship with you, you become a peaceful soldier in the fight against evil. You have joined The Resistance.

The strategy of Resistance.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). One day, God will put an end to all the world’s evil, including everyone who has not accepted the sacrifice of Jesus. But because God loves everyone, he is patiently waiting for us to join his side. The only way others can be saved is when we go out and plead with them to join the resistance. This precious time won’t last forever though. Now is your chance! Will you join the resistance?

God can restore you if you want to. All you must do is admit your need for him. You must understand you are guilty before God. You have broken His laws and cannot do anything by your actions to clean yourself up. Then, simply ask Jesus to come into your life and forgive you. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

You can be saved right now. Pray a simple prayer like this one, “Dear God, I know I have broken your laws and am on my way to Hell. I believe you sent your Son to die on the cross to save me from my sins. Jesus, please forgive me for my sins and come into my life as my savior. Amen.”