Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. — Isaiah 5:20
One of the things that deeply displeased God about His people in the days of Prophet Isaiah, was how they had begun to blur the lines between good and evil. They started calling good evil and evil good.
These were the very ones He had set apart for Himself, the people He had declared to the nations: “Touch not My anointed” (Psalm 105:15). He had lavished them with love, defended them with His own integrity, and marked them as His priceless possession.
Yet, despite all of this, they drifted into corruption, blending in with the godless, no different from those who perished in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. As a matter of fact, it was for this very reason that cities like Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. But here were God’s own people engaging in the same things.
This sin echoes the one sin Jesus described as unpardonable; blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28-29). In Matthew 12:24, the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. In response, Jesus sternly warned them that they were dangerously distorting the truth and misrepresenting God.
Though the Israelites in Isaiah’s time may not have explicitly called God evil, their actions spoke volumes, their compromise was just as grievous.
Does this sound familiar?
Believers today, tongue-speaking, Spirit-filled Christians, are increasingly justifying actions that are clearly displeasing to God. Some even indulge in these behaviors themselves and excuse it with statements like, “This is just how I am,” or “This is how God made me; I can’t help myself.” We see men and women engaging in relationships that directly contradict God’s design, justifying it with phrases like, “We are no longer under the law.”
But let’s be honest, while it may feel like they truly can’t help themselves, and indeed they may have been so sadly plagued by the devil that it seems like they are helpless, is this true? Or have they just not come to a place where they admit that what they are doing is a sin and that they desperately need help? I believe the real issue is that they haven’t honestly surrendered that part of their lives to God.
Some don’t even try to hide it anymore. They go as far as twisting doctrines to accommodate sin, leading many astray. These people are just like those Isaiah spoke about in Isaiah 3:9, where he compared the people of Judah and Jerusalem to Sodom: “The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.”
In Genesis 19:4-5, we see how deeply normalized sin had become in Sodom, all the men, from the young to the old, participated. When they attempted to rape the angels that were in Lot’s house, even after being struck with blindness, they still didn’t stop; they kept trying to break down Lot’s door.
But before we rush to judge them, let’s take a step back. How many of us, as believers, are truly innocent of this?
We may not personally engage in these acts, but if our words or actions give them a platform, we are no less responsible.
Enabling sin is not far-fetched; it looks like this:
- When we remain silent instead of speaking the truth wisely at every opportune time.
- When preachers give prophetic words or sermons that encourage people to stay on destructive paths instead of calling them to repentance, are they not misleading souls?
Jeremiah 23:16 says: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.’” - When leaders in positions of authority pervert justice for personal gain, through bribery, favoritism, or fear of public opinion, aren’t we reminded of Pilate, who sentenced Jesus Christ to death even though he knew He was innocent?. Luke 23:20-25 shows how Pilate caved under pressure and released a murderer instead. Proverbs 17:15 says: “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—the Lord detests them both.“
Entertainment
Back in my first year in university, precisely when I had just come out of secondary school, I was like fresh bread straight from the oven, naïve as they come, completely oblivious to a lot of things.
I remember coming home one day and seeing a disk lying around. It was a horror movie. At that time, I could count on my fingers how many movies I had seen. This CD was my introduction to horror movies. I picked it up, inquisitive. I saw blood, machetes, and just gory images all over the disk and thought, Hmn, this should be interesting. Initially, it was cringy, but as I continued watching, my eyes stayed fixed on the screen with rapt attention, I couldn’t stop.
After a while, I truly began to enjoy it, looking forward to the deaths, the screams, the bloodshed. Victim after victim, I found myself supporting the one perpetuating evil, thinking of ways he could escape being caught or even better ways to execute his plans.
Just like that, I couldn’t stand any other movie. If there wasn’t shooting, if there weren’t deaths, I just wasn’t interested.
Over time, I began to see the effects of this indulgence in my life. The lenses through which I saw and judged wrongful deaths or killings were so skewed that I found myself justifying the actions of killers, excusing their deeds, and even sympathizing with them rather than recognizing the evil in what they had done.
Fear crept in, paranoia followed and all their other siblings, let’s not even talk about how it seeped into my dreams. Whew! I am just grateful that God helped me break free from that addiction quickly. I lost my taste for it and for movies in general. For about three years after breaking free, I simply didn’t watch any movies. When I eventually started again, I stuck to comedies, with all my senses up and alert even while watching those.
Guard Your Eyes and Ears
When we consume movies, music, and conversations that normalize what is wicked, we slowly become desensitized to sin. This is why you must guard jealously what goes into your soul through your ears and eyes because it will most definitely influence your views on life, sin, and everything in between, unknowingly drifting away from God’s truth.
Think about this: a Christian watches a movie with a same-sex couple and starts feeling sorry for them, rooting for their love story, hoping they can “overcome” society’s disapproval. Or they enjoy a show where a witch or wizard is portrayed as the hero, using magic “for good”, before long, they admire and even desire those supernatural abilities. It happens gradually, but make no mistake, this is how the enemy conditions minds to tolerate, then accept, then embrace sin.
Whether we realize it or not, many have stumbled in their faith because of what we tolerated, endorsed, or refused to correct. This is exactly why God warned His people not to marry outside their own community. It wasn’t about race or nationality, it was about protecting their faith, keeping them from the Eastern civilisation. (Isaiah 2:6) The cultures around them were steeped in sin and idolatry, and God knew how easily His people could be influenced. The shift doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a slow, gradual process, one small compromise leading to another. Before long, even a man as wise and beloved as King Solomon found his heart pulled away from God. With every new wife came a new ideology, a new god, and little by little, they turned his heart away from God, accepting evil.
As believers, we are called to love what God loves and hate what He hates (Psalm 97:10). Time after time in Scripture, particularly in Paul’s letters, we are reminded that some things are absolutely not okay among believers. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 12:2).
We are told to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10).
We must be watchmen on the walls, boldly standing for righteousness, lest we, too, become guilty of calling good evil and evil good.
Take a moment to reflect: have you become desensitized to things that displease God? Are there influences in your life that subtly reshape your view of sin? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to you and give you the grace to reject what grieves Him.
