First we overlook evil. Then we permit evil. Then we legalize evil. Then we promote evil. Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still call it evil.
This description of the progression of evil in society has been making the rounds in social media. I hope people are giving it serious thought because it is exactly what happens.
Nazi Steps
Think about the Nazis. First, people dismissed Hitler. They put him in jail for an attempted coup, but for only a year because they thought that would be the end of that. However, he used his time in jail to write his manifesto Mein Kampf, and right after his release went back to building the Nazi party.
So he was overlooked for a time, but then his evil was permitted to grow until the Nazis were able to take control of the German government. Then Hitler was able to legalize all kinds of evil including arresting his opponents, deporting Jews and “deviants” to death camps, and euthanizing the disabled and infirm.
Hitler even had a Minister of Propaganda to promote his evil. The Nazis celebrated their principles in mass rallies — occasions of fanatical hysteria that furthered the commitment of the German people to a belief in Aryan superiority, world conquest, and genocide. Nazi ideals were preached as admirable goals based on truth. Anyone opposed to this evil was persecuted as an enemy of the state.
Modern Evils
One could compare this pattern to several modern-day evils like euthanasia and find the same progression. In slight variations, the pattern repeats for casual sex and the disintegration of marriage. Abortion is also an obvious example.
First, we overlooked the abortionists who worked under the radar. Then we permitted abortions under this circumstance or for that excuse, always overlooking the evil and doing nothing more than whispering about who and where until it became an overt national discussion and demand.
That’s when we legalized evil in 1973. Even though that federal ruling has now been overturned, the evil of abortion is so entrenched that we are having to fight, state by state, to eliminate the practice.
Celebration of Evil
This effort to reclaim a culture of life is very difficult because abortion is promoted as good, as necessary, as a mercy, but not as an evil. It is even celebrated. Think of when New York’s Governor Cuomo lit up the World Trade Center in pink to celebrate the passage of a radical abortion-promoting bill.
In regards to abortion, we are, without a doubt, into the stages of celebration and persecution. A flagrant celebration of abortion will occur on March 7, 2024, at the State of the Union Address before Congress. President and Dr. Biden have invited Kate Cox to be their special guest in the gallery.
This Texas woman gained fame for seeking to abort her daughter Chloe, who had Trisomy 18. Cox claimed that she would suffer serious health complications without an abortion, but the court did not find that she had a life-threatening condition. (See: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/musingsfromthepew/2024/01/unasked-unanswered-the-kate-cox-case/) In the end, Cox went out of state to have her viable baby torn to pieces in a D&E abortion.
Yet this horrific evil will be celebrated by the Bidens for “her courage in sharing her story and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas.” Hitler’s propaganda minister would have delighted in such a twisted view presented as heroism instead of the evil it is.
I hope all pro-life organizations and political leaders will loudly object to this invitation. We cannot applaud the intentional killing of a disabled child, or any child.
Persecution
The last phase of persecuting those who decry evil can be seen in the FBI invasion of the home of a pro-life sidewalk advocate, in the lengthy legal prosecution of David Daleiden for exposing the sale of fetal body parts, in the graffiti painted on churches and Pregnancy Resource Center walls, in the violent responses to pro-life information on college campuses, and in the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), which has been used for multiple arrests of principled activists.
This persecution is designed to create enough fear in otherwise good people to keep them from standing up against evil; to keep them silent. However, in the words of Eric Metaxas, author of Letter to the American Church, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”
Standards
If we witness evil, God expects us to stop it where it starts. Do not allow evil to make its progression, step by step, throughout society. Be wary of thinking, “No one will know or care; It doesn’t matter; I’m not harming anyone; Maybe just this once.”
Ideals, standards, and rules exist for a purpose: to keep evil at bay, to protect people from harm. Satan never lets up, and neither should we.
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