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On Tuesday, April 20, 1999 two teenage boys burst into their Colorado high school and unleashed horror upon the occupants.
Laughing and jeering, filled with intentions of pure evil, they threw dozens of bombs and fired bullets into the screaming crowds. After it was over, 12 young people and a teacher lay dead around them. Coming on the heels of several other similar tragedies, this event underscored the growing problem of wickedness and its consequences. In one television interview after another, helpless experts of every stripe admitted that something devastating has been happening to the minds of our youth. Our society is in upheaval, and the results are anything but positive.
No one has to tell us anymore that there is evil in the world. Every day the headlines are full of heartbreaking news of death, destruction, and loss. Through television we have come to see a side of human nature that we were shielded from in many prior generations. As Ravi Zacharias puts it, "mothers butcher their own children, inside and outside the womb; rapists, killers, and thieves prowl our streets, many of them mere children, while law-abiding citizens live behind barred windows." Now we approach one of the most difficult aspects of this study; for we must now find a way to unmask the evil around us.
In order to deal with evil in the world around us we must begin by looking within ourselves. Ravi points out that to change the world, we must first take the cross of Christ and apply its transforming power to our lives so that we may be equipped to move into the world. Through His indwelling presence, we are empowered to recognize and confront whatever is contrary to God's sovereign will and, at last, defeat the dark mystery of evil around us.
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