PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 132: DO YOU HATE EVIL?

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 132: DO YOU HATE EVIL?

Evil is so abhorrent to God that He sent His only beloved Son to die on the cross to take the judgment of our sins upon Him. God hates evil, and He wants His people to hate evil. He also hates injustice, which is an abomination to Him.

I found 20 different verbs that God wants us to do about evil. Come on in and find out what they are.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Blessings to you today, each one who is listening! I'm back to my second session about talking of all the different words that God gives us in His Word about what we are to do about evil. Last week, we mentioned number one, depart from evil.

 1.    DEPART FROM EVIL (Check last week’s transcript).

 2.    ABHOR EVIL

Romans 12: 9: “Abhor what is evil; cleave to that which is good.” Now the word “abhor” is also not a word that we use a lot today. It's a very powerful word. In the Greek, the word is apostugeo. I hope that's how you pronounce it. It means “to shudder with horror, to detest evil.”

I wonder whether we really, really have the attitude that God wants us to have about evil. I wonder whether I do. I mean, we can get used to evil, can't we? But God wants us to absolutely abhor it. That means to shudder, to actually shudder.  It makes us shudder. We're just so appalled.

Abortion should make us shudder. I mean, what is abortion? We get used to

 the word. And yet it is the murdering of a precious life being created by God in the womb. That should make us shudder!

Especially the fact that we have politicians who want babies to be murdered right up to the time of birth! Even this person who wants to be president, Joe Biden, he believes in murdering babies up to the time of birth, and afterwards! If they have been designated for abortion, and they survive, well, they'd better be killed! I mean, doesn't that make you shudder?

How can there be Christians who would vote for this?  Or who did vote for this? It's rather unbelievable. Well, let's move on.

3.    REJECT EVIL

We are to reject evil. Psalm 36:4 tells us how the wicked do not reject evil. That means if we're righteous, we will reject it.

4.    HATE EVIL

The word means “to hate violently.” I'll give you just a few Scriptures. Once again, there are so many.

Amos 5:14-15: “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”

Now, ladies, look at the three promises that we will receive when we hate evil.

Number one: Justice will be established in the gates of the city and the nation. We don't have that at the moment. We don't have justice. What does it say in Isaiah 59, yes, verses . . . Let's see, where will we start? Maybe verse 12.

“For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them. In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backwards, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street. And equity cannot enter. Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.”

We are seeing this today, even in our, this election. I mentioned it last session, and I must mention it again, because this is exactly what is happening. Truth has fallen in the street. Justice is afar off.

We are currently facing a fraudulent election where they have sought to steal it. There have literally been hundreds and hundreds of people who have come forward to expose the fraud. There have been literally hundreds and thousands of votes that are illegal. Votes from dead people . . . I saw one YouTube of this guy, and he was showing one of the voting things and said, “Look, here it is, here's the person. Here's their voting card. OK, here's their death certificate. They died in 1984.” And that was just one of hundreds! In one state, there were 200,000 illegal votes!

I mean, what does God think about this? You see, God is a God of justice. Justice surrounds His throne. He is justice. This is what God talks about, things like this election. In Deuteronomy 25:15,16. It says: “But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (That's a good promise for long life, isn't it?) For all who do such things, and all who do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God”

See, this is how God sees injustice. He says that when we hate evil, and when we hate injustice, that justice will come back to our gates! The gates speak of where our laws are made in our cities, and in the nation, in Washington, DC. These are the gates.

So we've got to get back. We can't just turn a blind eye and say, “Oh, well, this has happened. It's just, you know, it'll all pan out.” No! We have to have the same attitude God has, to see it as an abomination.

2 Chronicles 19:7 in the New Living Translation says: “The Lord our God does not tolerate perverted justice.”

Proverbs 11:1: “A false balance is an abomination to the lord, but a just weight is his delight.” And so, when we hate this kind of thing, God says, yes, that He will establish justice in the gates. Don't we long for that?

And secondly, the God of hosts, the Lord of the armies of heaven, will be with us. And thirdly, He will be gracious to us, and show us His favor. All because we hate evil!

Even in the church, evil has been allowed to mix amongst the people. There are people sitting in churches who are actually living in adultery. They're in idolatry. They're doing all kinds of different sins, and the church is allowing it. It's not speaking out against things. We're not hating evil.

Talking about this injustice, I came across this beautiful passage just the other day. It's in 2 Chronicles 19:4-11. I'd love you to read it later, when you get a chance. It's talking about King Jehoshaphat, who went through the land to bring the people back to God. Then he appointed judges throughout all the cities, and then he told them how God wanted them to judge. So, here we get principles of the way God wants us to judge.

Now this is important for every judge who is a judge in any court. In a little town, or a big town, or a city, or in the land, and up to the Supreme Court judges. All judges must judge according to these principles.

And also us, as parents. Did you know, dear mother, that we also are to be judges? Well, we do it every day! We're judging our children. We are seeking to have justice in our home. In fact, if we don't, well, we won't have a very peaceful home! You only have peace when you have justice.

Let's look at these things, shall we? Number one. Oh, before I do, yes, I want to take you to a Scripture, because I'm saying how this relates to us as parents, too. Let's go to Genesis, Genesis chapter 18. This is speaking about Abraham, who was the pattern father.

Verse 18 says: “Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him.” Did you notice those words? Abraham commanded his children, and his household after him. He didn't leave them to, “OK, just whatever seems right, you do it. I can just trust you.” No! He commanded! He took control.

“And they shall keep the way of the Lord.” And what is the way of the Lord? To do justice and judgment. So this is how Abraham conducted his household. He commanded them in the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.

So dear ones, because God is a God of justice. He wants us to parent our children with justice. Now that's not all religiosity and law. It's with fairness, and just balances, and just measures, and that which is right. And so, we have to seek the Lord for that which is right and begin to judge righteously.

So OK, here we go, for these points. These are for judges, and for us, as parents.

Number 1: You must take heed to judge according to God's judgment, not man's.

Number 2: God is involved with you in judging, for God is a God of judgment. Judgment ultimately belongs to Him.

Number 3: You must judge in the fear of God. Two times, in that passage, it says, “In the fear of God.” All these points are coming from this passage in 2 Chronicles 19.

Number 4: You must take action on the verdict, and don't let it slide. Now, that's a wake-up for us, as parents, isn't it? Sometimes we can, we can just let things slide. We don't deal with them. And when we don't deal with them, what happens? They just get bigger and bigger, and then we've got more to deal with! The Scripture says: “Take heed and do it!”

Number 5: You must not have respect of persons in judgment. Never show partiality.

Number 6: You must not take bribes. Deuteronomy 16:19, in the New Living Translation says: “Never accept a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise, and corrupt the decisions of the godly.”

Number 7: You must judge faithfully.

Number 8: You must judge with a perfect, undivided heart.

Number 9: You must warn the guilty not to sin against the Lord. If you fail to do this, God will be angry with you.

Number 10: You must judge courageously. That's good, isn't it? Sometimes it takes courage to execute the justice that we know that we should. We hold back. We don't want to do it, but we must have courage. The Hebrew words for this phrase are asah chazaq; asah meaning “to do” and chazaq meaning “to be strong, courageous, valiant.” And so we put them together. We are to do valiantly.

Now, those are all the points in that one passage. But there are more principles in the Word of God, so let's carry on and find them in other places.

Number 11: You must judge righteously (Proverbs 31:9).

Number 12: You must judge fairly (Deuteronomy 1:16.)

Number 13: You must not be afraid of the face of man (Deuteronomy 1:17). That's a good one, isn't it? We're not to fear man. We fear God because He's the God of justice. We fear Him. We do what He wants us to do and we don't fear the face of man, and what they think.

Number 14: You must never twist justice (Deuteronomy 16:19).

Number 15: You must pursue justice (Deuteronomy 16:20). You have to run after it, to chase after it.

Number 16: You must investigate thoroughly before making judgment. That's a good one, isn't it? We have to do that with our children too, don't we? Have you found that someone will come, and they'll tell on the other one? But then you've got to find out, really, who did it, and why, and what happened. We have to investigate thoroughly. We read about that in Deuteronomy 13:13-15 and chapter 19:18.

Number 17: You must judge according to God's judgment, and the statutes in His Word (Ezekiel 44:24).  .

Number 18: You must bring justice to all who are oppressed.

So there were 18 points about justice. Let's move on. Oh, no? We're going to give you a few more Scriptures about hating evil.

Psalm 97:10: “He that loves the Lord hates evil.”

Proverbs 18:13: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil”

Oh, Psalm 101 is an amazing psalm. Read the whole psalm sometime, and you'll understand how David looked upon evil. So many things he says that he hates in the psalm. Let's read it from the New English Translation. David says: “I hate doing evil. I will have no part of it. I will have nothing to do with a perverse person. I will not permit evil. Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land, and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.”

Wow! Did you get what he's saying there? Wow! You can hardly believe it. Here's David . . . he gets up every morning. This is what he says every morning. “I will go out, and I will destroy every wicked person. I will get rid of every evildoer from the city of my God.”

Wooo! We couldn't imagine anyone doing that today! Well, they would never get away with it, would they? But that's what David did because he hated evil, and he wanted the city of Jerusalem to be a city of holiness.

But I believe we can take that Scripture, because when we read the Scriptures, we read them literally, but we also take them spiritually. This is a type of the attitude that we should have toward evil.

So every morning when we get up, if there's any evil thing in our hearts or in our minds, we don't go through the day with it. What do we do? We get rid of it! We destroy it! We remove it from our minds! We come against it in the Name of Jesus. And we resist the enemy, and we resist evil.

So that's the attitude we should have. And if there's any evil lurking in our home, or any evil that's crept into our home without our realizing it, and we become aware of it, we will deal with it. We'll cast it out of our home. We will deal with wickedness and evil.

So even though we would not do what David did, go round killing off every evil person, we're going to kill off every subtle evil attitude. That's the attitude we should have toward evil, the kind of hatred we should have.

5.    TURN BACK FROM EVIL

2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my Name, shall humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways (here we've got it. This is what we do this time) “Turn from their wicked ways.” It's a turning away from, and a turning back to God. That's what the word means.

The Message Bible. Some people don't like to read the Message Bible, it's more like a paraphrase. But many times, it says such powerful things. It says in this translation: “turning their backs on their wicked lives.”

So that is part of our getting revival in the nation. Yes, we've got to humble ourselves. We've got to pray, which I trust we are all doing. I'm sure you are also praying every day against this fraudulent election. You're crying out to God to bring truth, to bring clarity, to expose the evil, and that which is an abomination. So we need to be praying for these things.

How we need a revival in our nation, a turning back to God! Oh, there is such evil, and we need to have such a turning back. But when we do that, not only pray, not only humble ourselves, but turn from our wicked ways, then God says, “He will hear from heaven and will heal us, and heal our land. “That's what we long for, isn't it?

6.    AVOID EVIL

Proverbs 4:14-15: “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” And so, when we encounter evil, we need to, well, when we see it, we're not going to get involved in it. We're going to avoid it. We're going to pass from it, turn from it.

That reminds me of these Scriptures in Proverbs. Proverbs 13:20 says that “He that walks with wise men will be wise: but a companion of fools will be destroyed.” What a powerful Scripture! And it is so true! I raised my children on this Scripture. I raised my teens on this Scripture. They all knew it by heart. Because it is so true, isn't it, ladies?

I find, especially as our children get into the teen years, that it's their peers that have such influence upon them. Teens love to have friendships. They love to get in the groove and hang out with friends. It is so important that they hang out with the right company, with friends who are wise, and who are godly, and who are walking in the ways of the Lord.

Pray much about the friendships of your children, dear mothers. It's such a powerful, important thing. I have seen many young people go astray, even from godly parents, and you wonder, wow, they were godly parents, how did their children go astray?

Well it wasn't the fault of their parents; it was the fault of their peers. Well, maybe their parents allowed them to get in with those peers. Dear parents, this is one of the biggest things we have to watch is who our children are hanging out with.

I think it's very important to get into a good church fellowship. It doesn't have to be a big church, but make sure it's a church where, hopefully, you can find other families with children round about the ages of your children, so they can establish those friendships, even while they are young. So they go into their teen years with these friendships from other godly families. That's a very beautiful thing.

I had that blessing with our children. We were pastoring in New Zealand when our children were growing up. There were so many beautiful godly families with children the ages of our children. And I fostered those friendships. We showed so much  hospitality. We would invite these families into our home. The children became friends.

Often, they would stay at their home, or they would come and stay at our home, because we trusted these families. It was such a blessing for our children. They grew into their teen years with these friendships. These were who they hung around with. They didn't have to get pulled away by evil friendships.

Another thing we have to watch is if children are in the public school system. Oh, my. This is another area where they can find these ungodly friends. We have to watch that. That's one of the great blessings of home schooling, that you are taking them out from that influence of ungodly influences. And many have been pulled away, just because they've been in public schools, and got into the wrong company.

Of course, I mean, it can happen, even in homeschoolers. You've got to watch. It's not just, “Oh, they're homeschooling. They'll be fine.” No, you have got to get to know the families of the children your children associate with.

You have to know their parents. You have to be part of their lives. It's not just, “Oh, I know them.” No. Do you really know them? Have you sat around their table? Have you invited them to sit around your table? There are many times they've sat around your table. You've opened your home, and had barbeques, and you've had celebrations, and they've been part of it. And so you've got to know them.

Get to know the parents of the children your children are friends with, because it's so true. “He that walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed.” Yes, destroyed. They can be totally destroyed by wrong company.

Even we as adults, we are influenced by our company. And therefore, we should always be seeking out godly company, that we inspire one another, and encourage one another. There's so many Scriptures in the Word of God. Maybe I'll have to, oh, I think I have done a session with you about all the “one another’s,” and how we're to love one another, and be kind to one another, and show hospitality to one another. That's all part of a real, living lifestyle, the lifestyle that God wants us to live in. We are, as we're doing that, our children will be blessed, because they'll be growing up in that lifestyle of godly friendships, which is such a blessing.

Proverbs 14:7 says: “Go from the presence of  a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.” Teach your children these Scriptures. Make them memory verses. Teach them. You know, if they find they're in the presence of other young people, they may even be homeschoolers, they may even be children or young people who are in the church, but if they perceive that they don't have wisdom, and they don't have the lips of knowledge, and they're not walking in righteousness, well, you remind your children, “You leave. You go. You don't stay hanging out with them.”

7.    PURGE OUT EVIL

We're going to the New Testament here. 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump.” Back in the Old Testament, at the  time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and of Passover, the first thing they had to do, the mother would go through the house to check if there was anything leavened, if there was any leavened bread. That means bread that's made with yeast. Because yeast speaks of sin. It's a type of sin. Because when you put yeast in bread, it makes it spread and puff out, and that's what sin does. It never stays on its own. It always spreads, and that's why we have to get rid of it.

And so, God had them do very tangible things so they could understand truth. So they would go through the house, and if there was any bread lying around made with yeast, or even if there were any crumbs, they would have to gather them up and get rid of them!

In fact, in Jewish families today, the mothers will put breadcrumbs around the house. Then they will take the children with them, and, oh, when the children see the breadcrumbs, they will bring them into the little pan. So they're going to throw them away. It speaks of getting rid of the leaven of sin so there will be no sin in the house.

So here Paul is writing to the Corinthians because they understood what he was talking about. They were used to doing this every year. He says to them: “Purge out (it just means to clear out, get rid of) the old leaven, that there may be a new lump.” So we have to keep getting rid of the old stuff. Amen?

8.    ABSTAIN FROM EVIL IN EVERY FORM

Now, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 in the KJV says: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” Although most translations say: “Stay away from every form of evil.”

Or “Steer clear of evil in any form.”

The Amplified says: “Abstain from evil, shrink from it, and keep aloof from it, in whatever form, or whatever kind it may be.”

So these Scriptures bring out the fact that it doesn't matter what form it is, you've got to stay away from it and steer clear of it.

But in the King James, it says: “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” I think that is an important fact also, because sometimes you may not be doing anything evil, but it could give the appearance of evil.

That's why I am against young people who go out and they get apartments. They will . . .  maybe they're at college, or something like that, or working in a different city. And they'll get an apartment, and they'll get others in to help them pay the rent. And they are not using wisdom in only having the same sex, but a guy may get in some girls, or a girl may get in a guy. That is wrong.

Now there may not be anything sinister going on behind the scenes, but it has the appearance of evil. If a guy and a girl are living in the same apartment, well, what do you think? I mean, it gives the appearance of evil.

And as the people of God, we don't want to give any appearance of evil. We don't want to give any room for the enemy at all, to say anything derogatory against God's people. And so we have to teach our children these things.

I remember when we were first married, Colin and I actually went out full time for God when we were engaged. And then from there we were married, and we went into fulltime, well, OK. I'll start there. While we were engaged even, and then, yes, when we were married, we were blessed to be part of Tell New Zealand Crusade, taking the Gospel of John to every home in the nation, and then later, Tell the Nations Crusade, going out to the Philippine Islands.

But we were blessed that the leader of this vision was a man named Campbell McAlpine, a very godly man. He was a man that when you were around him, you didn't just talk lightly. You were aware of the fear of God. It was a great blessing to know him and to be part of his vision.

I remember him speaking to those who were involved in our mission, because there were many involved, and saying how important it was (he spoke to the men particularly, as those who would be leaders in God's service, and say), “Now never counsel a woman on your own. It may be completely fine, you have no problem with it, but others can look on and see. You are behind closed doors with a woman who is not your wife, and it also can lead to temptation.”

And he said, “You may be walking down the street. It is pouring with rain. Someone from your church stops. It's a lady. 'Hey, get in, get a ride!'” He says, “No, don't accept the ride. What if someone sees you riding in a car with another woman? Now, you may have had no kind of ulterior motives, but others can see things. It's an appearance of evil.”

So he gave these very important things to look out for, throughout our lives. I must close this session, but I must let you know, there were others who listened to those same godly words of advice. And didn't hear them. I think of one man, a beautiful couple that were working with us. He didn't listen to those words. As the years went by, he did counsel women. He was a counselor. He counseled women on his own. And he fell into adultery.

I am thankful that my husband has always kept to these words of advice, because although they can be a sacrifice to make sure you don't do them, they avoid the appearance of evil. If we are people who truly hate and abhor evil, we won't even want to give the appearance of evil.

Well, time has gone again. So let us pray.

“Dear Father, we love You. We thank You that You are so concerned about our lives. You want us to live lives of holiness. And Lord, You show us what we are to do about evil, because evil only brings destruction.

“And Lord, You want to save us from evil, because all You want is our good. You want us to live a long life, and a good life.

“And, Lord God, we pray that, as we are looking at all these different verbs about what we are to do about evil, we pray that You will help us to take action. And that You will put in us, Lord, these attitudes, that we will not condone it, and we will not get used to it; but we will truly hate evil, and abhor it, Lord God. And avoid it, and resist it, and cast it out. We ask this in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

Continuing the rest of the points next week.