Evil has a beautiful side

 

Rev 20:2

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Mentioned here are a few of the names used to identify Lucifer – dragon, serpent, devil, Satan. (Dragon in Hebrew most often refers to a great sea serpent). By association, these names therefore refer to something extremely evil. And with each of these names there is a strategy to lessen the impact of them on our children.

If we focus on dragons, we know that descriptions of them often have an uncanny resemblance to the dinosaur skeleton remains that have been unearthed so far. In fact, the word ‘dinosaur’ was not coined until the mid-1800’s – up until then these types of creatures were called dragons. Although they were dangerous animals (as are crocodiles, lions, etc.), there is nothing inherent evil in them. But the dragon referred to here in Revelation is far removed from any earthly animal created by God – it describes the evil entity called Satan in his end-time form.

It is no coincidence that there has been a surge of books and films about dragons and taming your dragon lately. In the film version, the lead character discovers that dragons, who were always considered our enemies, are actually our friends. Children are conditioned to see dragons in a good light - they are portrayed as cool and fun, and no mention is made of the evil it represents in the time we are living in. As it currently is also the Chinese Year of the Dragon, followed next year by the Year of the Snake, expect quite a bit more of the same. Many dragon art drawings are found on the internet, also colour-in pictures for children, colour-in books, and video games - collectively influencing young impressionable minds to embrace the word dragon as representing something non-threatening and acceptable. Certainly not evil.

Then there is the American custom of Halloween, which regrettably has blown over to South Africa in recent years. Children are dressed up as the devil, complete with horns and a three-pronged fork, for the occasion. Who on earth needs to be on their guard or careful around a little devil running around on the night of 31^st October, asking for trick or treat? Certainly not the dressed-up child or his friends who trust their parents to guide them into embracing truth – if my parents think it is the right thing to do, then it is, isn’t it?

Cartoons with the devil as main character have been around for some time, depicting a small devil kid still in diapers. Too cute to be evil, right? These have since morphed into cartoons for adults, with really dark themes.

Evil has to present itself as beautiful and enticing, or innocent people would not be lured into participating in it. And children are easy targets, because they rely on the perception of the adults in their lives concerning what is evil or not. Once they are hooked into the occult, even innocently, they can be desensitised step by step into going deeper into the darker side of things.

It is time for Christian parents and teachers to awaken to the fact that there is an evil agenda out there against our children, an all-out war for their souls. Search out the source of all widely accepted children’s entertainment, the time has come to be extremely vigilant!

Points to ponder:

Nothing which depicts demons, devils, monsters, ancient serpents, dragons, and the like should be allowed into our homes, onto our children’s clothes, as stickers on their possessions, as toys, as video games – nothing. Heed Ps 97:10 “O you who love the Lord, hate evil…” - hate means not entertaining and inviting it into your life, on any level. Ever!

Hate evil