By: Margaret Brown
THE PRESENCE of evil throughout the world is undeniable and Satan is to Christians the antithesis of Christ.
This fallen Angel was recognised in Ezekial 38 of the Old Testament as either Gog or Magog – by Jewish tradition one of a group set to destroy Israel, only to fail and to be imprisoned by God for 1,000 years.
In Revelation 20 of the New Testament, Gog and Magog represent the nations in the ‘four corners of the Earth’ which, under the evil influence of a freed Satan shall come together to attack Israel in apocalyptic battle.
While the allegorical nature of both Old and New Testaments is recognised and the symbolism may seem over the top today, they contain a historical record dating from before 1100BC. As history is known to repeat itself, both these books demand our attention.
If records are to be believed, there have been cycles of good and evil throughout the ages and, once again, it seems that satanic influences are at work.
War, terrorism, persecution and deprivation know no boundaries and a battle is in progress between ordinary, decent people everywhere and the Great Deceiver. Whether among the rubble of Baghdad or the raised farmsteads of Zimbabwe, the streets of Britain or the slave masters of the 21st century, the evidence is there for all to see.
Somehow Christians and members of other faiths must work together from the grass roots upward, restoring the family to its proper function, teaching civilised behaviour to the young and setting them the right example day by day.
As Christians we have a job to do in reaching out across the religious divide. It is there in the New Testament: Christ’s Great Commission according to Mathew’s Gospel Chapter 28 vv 16-20.
