What’s behind the escalation of evil we’re seeing?

Evil has been with us from the beginning of time – ever since Cain killed Abel out of jealousy for having done the right thing. As horrific as it was for a brother to be killed at the hands of his own brother, it didn’t stop there.  

With each new generation, the level of evil only got more sophisticated and advanced to where God, Himself regretted ever creating mankind. That was the reason for the great flood in the time of Noah – to start fresh with a new and improved version of what had so quickly been corrupted.

The problem is that it didn’t exactly work out that way, and after centuries of bloody wars, heinous crimes of all types and endless hatred, leading to the worst outcomes, nothing has been learned. 

Rather than becoming introspective, willing to challenge ourselves to see how we can do a better job of caring for one another, the opposite is happening.

Take, for example, the events over the past few days.  It began with the news that a shooter was on a killing spree at yet another campus, this time, Brown University in Rhode Island. That tragedy ended with the death of two and the wounding of nine. 

Just as we were trying to wrap our heads around the senseless loss, reports came in from the other side of the world where a Chanukah lighting ceremony was taking place at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Two gunmen, a father and son, indiscriminately sprayed the area with bullets, leaving 16 dead and another 40 wounded.

How do you process such events, within the span of two day? The image of two defenseless women on light rail trains, one being stabbed and the other being set on fire by two monsters is still fresh in our minds.

But then, to make sure that we got a full dose of evil in our time, we woke up to the news that Hollywood director Rob Reiner, along with his wife, were bludgeoned to death by their son.  

The news doesn’t get worse than that if you still have any semblance of a heart, a soul and a working conscience. It’s enough to make anyone realize that we can no longer keep up with the intense level of depravity to which we, as a species, have sunk.

There is something terribly wrong with the trajectory of where we’re headed, forcing us to confront the people we have become. How much more of this can we take before completely imploding as a human experiment?

We are already at the tipping point of utter collapse. As we have allowed ourselves to disintegrate into the worst impulses, betraying our Creator by taking on the nature and character of evil, we more resemble the demons who were banished from heaven after rebelling against the Almighty.

We are witnessing a comprehensive portrait of what we become when we reject God. The picture is so disturbing and horrendous that we are unable to take it in without feeling immense pain to our souls.

And yet, even after confronting the ugly truth about ourselves, we are incapable of making a collective U-turn, in order to abandon the vile acts which lead to the carnage we’ve caused.  

Sadly, as each new tragedy unfolds, almost no one thinks that things will miraculously get better, since they couldn’t get any worse. Quite the opposite!  

Many of us instinctively know that we haven’t even seen anything yet when it comes to the depths that society will fall. Which leads to the question as to how we will survive the further onslaught of profound evil and degradation that is coming.

Even for people of faith, it is truly getting more challenging as we try to remain positive, knowing that God has all of this in control. Nothing is catching Him by surprise, and He has the ultimate say!

But, it makes you realize that the unfolding plan, as hard as it is to watch, will all turn out for good, despite what we see with our eyes. And the only way we know that is because it’s been promised in the scriptures.  

The deluge of antisemitism, flooding society, to the point where individuals are acting out their wish to annihilate Jewish people, is the telltale sign that Israel is so much more central to God’s plan than anyone can imagine.

In a recent podcast, featuring Tucker Carlson and political commentator Matt Walsh, they both expressed how each of them cares nothing about Israel. In the fuller context, they made those comments based on their shared belief that Israel is not of interest or relevance when it comes to greater world events, with America being on the top of the pyramid. 

How short-sighted of both of them, because not understanding the pivotal role of Israel is to completely miss the picture of what we are fighting and how it will all play out.

While it’s true that all of today’s evils do not emanate from antisemitism, but from the dark schemes of men’s hearts after rejecting the only one who can restore them back to the way they were meant to live, Israel still stands in the forefront of God’s plan.

That is because they were the people intended to be the instruments of world redemption.  Without that hope, man can only slip into further degeneration. Knowing this tendency, God chose the Jewish people to be the messengers of the antidote to the evil which is flooding the world. 

Israel was meant to be the “light to the gentiles (nations) to be God’s salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) 

Consequently, unbeknownst to Carlson and Walsh, Israel holds the key to all that is happening. For them, the scripture stated twice in Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2 which says, “the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” is of no importance, not even a blip on their screen.  

But without Jews, mankind cannot be saved from their own destruction.

So, if you’re wondering how Israel and the Jewish people fit into all of this, they are the major player in the only answer which can save us all. God’s plan will unfold, starting with the restoration of Israel, which will then spread throughout the rest of the world.

And that is the reason that evil is working harder than ever!