THE FACE OF d-EVIL

Hello fighters of EVIL. Do you recognize the enemy? Do you know when you're looking into the face of EVIL? I always found it interesting that when you add a little d to the word evil...you get dEVIL (with a little d). Take the little d out...and turn evil around and you get LIVE.

One of my favorite movies...is a wonderful little B-Movie starring one of my favorite Professional Wrestlers by the name of Rowdy Roddy Piper. He would always make a grand entrance into the ring...wearing his kilts to the sounds of bagpipes. He played it to the hilt. He was tapped by John Carpenter (horror/sci-fi movie maker)...to star in a movie by the name of THEY LIVE. The promo on the movie poster reads:

You see them on the street.
You watch them on T.V.
You might even vote for one this fall.
You think they're people just like you.
You're wrong. Dead wrong....THEY LIVE.

The story line of this 1988 classic (well...classic in my mind)...is a drifter by the name of John Nada...comes into town riding the rails...looking for a job. Through a series of events...he stumbles on an underground group who are convinced that aliens have taken over...and are eating, living, working amongst us. The only way you can tell the real people from the aliens...are to put on a special pair of sunglasses.

When you put on the sunglasses...what you thought was real and normal... turned out to be unreal and deceptive. Not only would you see people for who they really were...but even billboards...and magazines...T.V. Newscasts were spewing out subliminal messages...only revealed by the sunglasses.

It so easy for us to identify the OVERT evil in this world. We know that child molestation is EVIL and WRONG. We know that SERIAL KILLERS are EVIL
and WRONG. The problem is that the line between EVIL and LIVE is becoming more and more blurred.

On the surface things may look good, nice, non-evil...but on the inside...things are dark. I for one...am pretty good at putting my best foot forward. I can put on the mask...I can cover up my intentions and motives where you can see me on the street...watch me on T.V...vote for me...look like people like you...BUT when you put on the SUNGLASSES OF THE WORD...what once was hidden is now revealed...and it AIN'T pretty.

A sweet, cute, little ole granny...can have a hardened heart. A man of God may have a dirty ring around his collar. The average Joe Shmoe may show up on a show about child predators.



Let's put on the sunglasses of the Word of God...and see REALITY about EVIL.

"And he who swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For yo tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have NEGLECTED THE WEIGHTIER PROVISIONS of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done WITHOUT NEGLECTING THE OTHERS. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the OUTSIDE of the cup and of the dish...but INSIDE they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees, first CLEAN THE INSIDE of the cup and of the dish, so that the OUTSIDE of it may become CLEAN also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like WHITEWASHED TOMBS....which on the OUTSIDE appear beautiful...but INSIDE...they are FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES and ALL UNCLEANNESS." (Matthew 23:22-27)

Jesus is speaking to those "religious leaders" who do things that should be done...but neglect doing the "weightier provisions". They LOOK GOOD ON THE OUTSIDE....but are DEAD BONES on the INSIDE.

Now...it is easy to cluck our tongues...shake our heads....and thank God that we are not like those RELIGIOUS PEOPLE...but the same principle applies to us common folk. If Rowdy Roddy Piper showed up on our doorstep...with a pair of special sunglasses...what would he see....a normal, average person...or hidden aliens? Would there be...whitewashed sepulchers...or dead bones or both? What kinds of words would he see revealed...hidden, subliminal messages...or the Word of God alive in our lives?

What we need to do...is not to wait for someone with a pair of trick sunglasses to reveal who we are...BUT...we need to submit our INSIDES to the SEARCH LIGHT of God.

The battle cry for the resistance force in the movie...was THEY LIVE...WE SLEEP.

"Therefore...do not be partakers with them (sons of disobedience)...for you were formerly DARKNESS...but now you are LIGHT in the Lord...walk as CHILDREN OF LIGHT...for the fruit of the light consists in all GOODNESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS and TRUTH...trying to learn WHAT IS PLEASING TO THE LORD. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead...even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things BECOME VISIBLE when they are EXPOSED BY THE LIGHT...for everything that becomes VISIBLE...is LIGHT. For this reason it says...awake, sleeper...and arise from the dead...and Christ will shine on you."
(Ephesians 5:7-14)

In the golden days of the Jesus Movement (late 60's and early 70's)...Nancy Honeytree had a song called SEARCHLIGHT. The lead guitar player was a guy by the name of Phil Keaggy. It was based on Psalm 139:23-24...as the Psalmist (David) yielded to inspection by God to search him from the inside out.

"Search me...O God...and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me...and lead me in the everlasting way." (Psalm 139:23-24)

Again...David sings for examination by the Lord.

"Vindicate me O Lord...for I have walked in my integrity; and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. EXAMINE ME....O Lord and TRY ME...TEST MY MIND AND HEART." (Psalm 26:1-2)

The young beloved John...now John the seasoned veteran encourages us to have something in common with one another....THE REVEALING LIGHT.

"And this is the message we have heard from Him...and announce to you...that GOD IS LIGHT...and in Him there is NO DARKNESS at all. If we say that we have fellowship (something in common) with Him...and yet WALK IN DARKNESS...we lie and do not practice the truth; BUT if we WALK IN THE LIGHT as He Himself is in the light...we have fellowship (something in common) with one another...and the blood of Jesus His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN (from the inside out)" (I John 1:5-7)

The FIRST STEP to being CLEANSED from all sin...is to allow the light to reveal what is INSIDE. The second step is to allow the BLOOD OF JESUS to deal with the sin. The third step...is to CONFESS (come into agreement with God about what is revealed). The cause and effect is found in I John 1:9..."If we confess our sins...He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins...and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

No longer will we be whitewashed on the outside...and dead bones on the inside. DEM BONES GONNA RISE AGAIN!

In the movie...THEY LIVE...Rowdy Roddy Piper...would put on the SUNGLASSES...and then eliminate those who were aliens. When we step into the LIGHT....we can eliminate the sin effectively by THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

"They" may think they "live"...but because HE LIVES...d-EVIL LOSES.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY!

Everybody turn to page 106 in your Hymnals (songs about Him...so that would be HIMnals)...and sing loudly....loud enough to raise the dead as we sing HE LIVES (with a Tip O Da Hat to Pastor Bruce)

I serve a risen Saviour...He's in the world today
I know that He is living...whatever men may say
I see His hand of mercy...I hear His voice of cheer
And just the time I need Him...He's always near

HE LIVES...HE LIVES...CHRIST JESUS LIVES TODAY...HE WALKS WITH ME AND TALKS WITH ME ALONG LIFE'S NARROW WAY...HE LIVES...HE LIVES...SALVATION TO IMPART...YOU ASK ME HOW I KNOW HE LIVES....

HE LIVES WITHIN MY HEART!!!!

Love and Rowdy Kisses
Rodney "HE LIVES" Boyd