Six hundred years before Christ, there was a man named Zoroaster who founded a religion named after him. Zoroaster taught that there were two gods ? a good god and a bad god who were at war with one another. He encouraged people to join the fight on the side of good. Sometimes, modern day Christians are in danger of assuming these ideas.

Satan is sometimes seen as God?s evil counterpart, locked in combat with God over the souls of men. And so we are called on to choose between these two mighty beings who are present everywhere and active. But this is not a Biblical view at all. Satan is not as powerful as God, nor is he anywhere close. He is a created being, and can be squashed like a bug at anytime. Remember that Satan had to get permission from God to harm Job. Satan is only able to do what God allows him to do. Nothing more. In Job 1:7,

?The LORD said to Satan, ?Where have you come from?? Satan answered the LORD, ?From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.?

Satan is not omnipresent. He can only be in one place at a time. We need to be careful when we blame this or that on the work of the Devil, that we aren?t giving him too much credit.

Satan is not pure evil either. There is no such thing as pure evil. Evil is not an equal independent force, opposite of good. God existed before evil did, and he will exist after it ceases. Goodness is rooted in God. Evil, however, is simply a corruption of good. Biblical images of evil, point us back to good. Evil cannot exist independently of good. It only exists, by limiting or corrupting goodness. The Bible calls evil darkness, which is the absence of light or good. The Bible refers to sin as choosing the wrong path, which can only be done by turning off of the right one. The Biblical word for ?sin? means to ?miss the mark?. To miss you must have a mark, a standard of goodness. Evil is referred to as weeds and thorns which are only defined against desirable plants.

That evil only exists as a corruption of good can be clearly understood when one thinks about those things that we consider the most evil. Those things that are the most horrible are corruptions of powerful and good gifts that God has given us: the innocence of children, a mother?s love, sex, leadership etc? When these great good things are twisted, they are very evil. But evil has no independent creative power. It can only corrupt good that already exists.

Perhaps you have heard of the problem of evil. It?s true that the Christian has to come to grips with the existence of evil. But the one who denies God has an even bigger problem. The Christian can at least explain where goodness comes from. And evil is defined as the corruption of goodness. But the atheist can?t explain the existence of good or evil.

God did not create evil. But he did create free creatures who chose to turn from his goodness. That is the origination of evil. But God?s greatest work, the work of salvation through Jesus Christ, is the story of how he will defeat evil once and for all. The cross was God?s answer to evil. God issued both judgment on evil, and mercy to those enslaved by evil through the cross. A sinner transformed into a child of God (2 Cor. 5:17), is a microcosm of what he will one day do for the entire universe. The great hope that we have through Christ is that one day evil will be eliminated once and for all.

?Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away? (Rev. 21:3-4).