Into the Darkness: The Evil Behind ISIS

Deep inside of every person is the desire to live, it’s the only way to explain how people from the most extreme parts of the world fight to survive in the midst of famines, poverty, crime, terrorism, and severe persecution. While God is sovereign and controls everything in this universe, He has also given each person a soul and a spirit. We are spirit beings who possess eternal souls and therefore have an inborn desire to survive. My heart breaks for my Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq as they suffer at the hands of Satan and the wicked evil of ISIS. However, I also rejoice that many are experiencing glory at this present time in heaven with Christ. But how can anyone not be moved with compassion when they see the videos of children being slaughtered. I find it hard to even enjoy myself in my comfortable home as the emotions from having watched an ISIS video flood back into my mind, and perhaps this is the way the Lord wants it to be. I am also praying that the Lord will crush ISIS and remove them from the face of the earth. I pray this knowing that only He can accomplish this since “our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:12). It’s not my intention to expound on the armor of God or the sword of the Spirit that Paul speaks about in the verses following, however I want to educate all believers on just how wicked Satan is and how wicked he will become as tribulation draws closer. Kent Hughes wrote that “Satan has no conscience, no compassion, no remorse, and no morals. He feeds on pain and anguish and filth.” In fact our human minds can’t even comprehend how wicked and evil Satan really is.

However, may we never forget the amazing faith of believers such Romanus from Antioch who was martyred around 285 AD. On the day of his glorification, Romanus was tied up, scourged with whips, his sides were slit open with knives until his bones showed through, his teeth were knocked out, his face was beat, his beard pulled out, and his cheeks were gashed with knives. Romanus never cursed God or renounced his faith in Christ, instead he sang psalms to all who would listen and thanked the Roman prefect for allowing him to suffer for Christ. In Romanus’ last moments he was cast into a fire, but a storm arose and extinguished the fire, so they pulled his body from the fire and strangled him until he took his last breath. Standing firm in the face of death is what genuine faith looks like. 

Satan and his demons are real and the warfare they wage is real despite existing in the invisible. Nevertheless may we never forget “our light affliction is but for a moment because we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18).