Evil ≠ stupid

I was lied to by cartoons as a kid. On every cartoon—from GI Joe to Looney Tunes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—the bad guys, despite their self-assured brilliance, were always complete nincompoops. Cobra Commander always blew it. Wile E. Coyote always blew himself up. Shredder always found a way to throw himself into another dimension just as he was about to defeat a bunch of overgrown amphibians (which are actually reptiles).

If only evil were like this in real life.

But it’s not. Evil is not stupid. The perpetrators of evil are not stupid, either. People like the young men and women from Europe and North America who are running off to join ISIS (as soldiers and brides) and purge the Middle East of any trace of its history, including Christianity. Like the lawmakers who’ve turned their backs on the Lawgiver to do what is right in their own eyes. Like the men and women who make their living perpetuating a culture of death in organizations like Planned Parenthood. And like the Christians who say nothing in the face of these atrocities—or worse, celebrate them.

These are not stupid people. Many of them are quite brilliant, in fact. They are university students, authors, lawyers, doctors, judges, pastors, entrepreneurs, politicians… They are many things: They are blinded by sin. They are deluded into thinking they’re actually doing the right thing. They are so certain, in fact, that they fail to see that what’s right in their eyes may well be, as one noted lesbian feminist described, the beginning of the fall of western civilization.

But stupid they are not.

Now, I am not as pessimistic as some, but make no mistake: a society that murders its own children in service to the god of self may be lost. And society that cares little for history (beyond being on what they perceive as the right side of it) is teetering on the brink of disaster.

And we have to wonder, who profits from this? Not the activists who’ve worked diligently for the last 40 years to completely change how westerners view same-sex relationships. Not the terrorists who may yet succeed in their goal of wiping out all evidence of Christianity from the cradle of civilization. Not even the executives who profit from the deaths of untold millions of babies each year.

There is only one who ultimately profits: the enemy of our souls, the devil, the usurping prince of this world. And he is most assuredly not stupid. Unoriginal, maybe, but not stupid.

We’ve seen it countless times throughout history—in the Bible, we see mankind’s seemingly endless cycle of faithfulness and apostasy. We worship our creator, we reject and deny him, we worship ourselves, we nearly destroy ourselves. We watch as our champions pummel each other for sport. We bow down before idols of gold, silver and wood. We throw our children into the fire.

Second verse, same as the first.

No, evil isn’t stupid. The devil isn’t stupid. But he is defeated. Christ has already won. What we face now in these “last days” until Christ’s return are the final gasps of a cornered, but beaten, enemy. One who will viciously attack at every opportunity, knowing that while he cannot win, he can at least hurt his opponent.

Soon that will all be done away with. Soon the cycle will end. Evil will be thrown into the lake of fire. The devil’s schemes will join him in the second death. The world will be made new. The blood of Abel will no longer cry out for justice, for justice will be done. Every tear will be wiped. Every knee will be bowed. The kingdom will have come, finally and fully!

But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier in the meantime. Yet still we wait. We groan. We weep. We pray and fast and plead and beg and suffer and die. But we do not lose hope because Jesus has overcome the world. He will surely do all he has promised.

Evil is not stupid, but it is defeated.