Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to ask you, are you someone who projects your goodwill and your good intentions onto others? We all tend to do this to some extent. Now, I am concluding a brief series on evil.

Well, what concerns me as a pastor is that so many well-meaning people assume in their hearts that the rest of their fellow men in the halls of power and in the streets of everyday America want what is good for their fellow Americans, in fact, their fellow human beings throughout the world. Doesn't everyone want what is best for his neighbor? Don't we do the things we do so as to benefit ourselves and others, or at least to minimize the damage to others as much as possible? We may disagree on how we get to the destination of happiness at the end, but we all want everyone to get there, right? Oh, dear listener, wrong.

Au contraire. I think that one of the great blind spots on the retina of most people's souls is that they project the good intentions of their own hearts onto everyone else. We say something like this, I feel this way and therefore everyone else must feel this way too. That is the operating principle with which Americans operate on a day-to-day basis. And it works most of the time, right?

There are some basic premises, though, that we must work from if we are ever to deal adequately with the evil that surrounds us in these days of demonic delirium, as we have been articulating for the past few weeks. So let me list four of them for you, some four basic premises. First of all, the phenomenon of projection blinds us to the true nature of evil. The phenomenon of projection blinds us to the true nature of evil.

Well, daily life and interaction depends upon the working hypothesis that the other guy with whom we deal, whether in a complex business deal or picking up a morning latte even, what he wants for the best for himself and others around him, for the most part, right? We project our goodwill towards the brother onto others. The Latin word for good is bene, and the Latin word for will is volant. Together they form the compound word benevolent. It means one who has goodwill towards another.

We assume the one across from us with whom we are dealing feels the same way. But this, I think, is dangerously naive in days of demonic delirium, in which we presently find ourselves. In reciting the evil that Israel indulged, God said, these things you have done and I have been silent, you thought that I was one like yourself. You thought that I was one like yourself. Well, we think the government bureaucrat, the world leader on our TV screen, the congressman at their microphone, the billionaire activist at a climate convention, we think that all of these are one like ourselves.

We project our common humanity shared by countless others in humanity onto men we naively assume share this common humanity, right? The climate change activist is really good at heart. He wants the best for humanity by destroying our energy infrastructure. He is sincere, though sincerely wrong. Or the politician who implements unrestricted illegal immigration into our country is really good at heart.

He wants the best for the immigrant, the best for America. He is sincere. He's just sincerely wrong. Oh, as long as this fallacy rules the mentality of our humanity, we are doomed. There is a reason for this dark foreshadowing, dear listener, and that brings me to point number two.

What we must keep in mind, point number two is that the evil man is not like you. He is intentionally evil. Oh, the evil man is not like you. He is intentionally evil. Oh, most human beings want to do good.

The evil man wants to do evil. Proverbs chapter one tells us that the evil, their feet run to do evil, and they make haste to shed blood. Oh, when we see entire communities burned to the ground, like the California Palisades fire in January of 2025, we recoil in horror and wonder, how could people like Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass let this happen? Are they so incompetent that billions of dollars of property were lost, dozens of people died, and thousands of people burned out of their homes and fortunes? Oh, well, no, I submit to you, dear listener, we mistake how we would feel if it were us that were responsible.

We would be ashamed that we were so negligent, so incompetent, so stupid as to let decades of brush and dry overgrowth pile up as fuel and let the fire system reservoir run completely dry so the hydrants didn't have any water and then send home firefighters just as the fire breaks out. Oh, we would go before the cameras and apologize and resign for what we'd done or worse, what we had not done, right? But not the evil. And make no mistake about this, dear listener, Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass are evil people. It was not incompetence and negligence or stupidity that ruled.

Each and every one of these circumstances was deliberate, and more, the evil was planned and executed intentionally. Now, the way is clear after these fires, right? The Palisades fires in Los Angeles, California, some of the most expensive property in all the earth was located there. And now, since it's burning, the way is clear for big corporations to buy up this formerly high-end property for dimes on the dollar and then rebuild it as a smart city, a model for the Great Reset. That millions will suffer because of their actions matters not a wit to the evil.

In fact, as we'll see momentarily, they take delight in the misery of others. This is just one example. The evil around us, and they are increasing by the day, are not accidentally causing misery and suffering for the rest of us as they rule in an incompetent fashion. No, they are deliberately, even skillfully intentional about it. The Palisade fires, whatever you may say about them, were skillfully manipulated.

Oh, another, other examples abound, though. The evil in the Biden administration willfully brought in vicious Venezuelan gangs like the Trende Aragua to inflict upon the American public. These cold, murderous gang members did not sneak in unawares to Health and Housing Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. No, who innocently thought that everyone crossing our border was a simple peasant who wanted a better life. No, the drugs, the death, the barbarity, are knowingly, deliberately imported in order to bring down America as we know it.

They are evil. Mayorkas was an evil HHS secretary. Also, the evil ones in our country who have brought in countless hundreds of thousands of children who have subsequently been sold into sex slavery or used in satanic rituals or worked to death in sweatshops. And don't be naive, dear listener. Children have been used for all of these purposes.

They have not done so. These evil have not done so naively thinking they're bringing poor disadvantaged youth to a better life. No, the evil use of children is cynically, intentionally deliberate. And thereby fortunes are made as children are bought and sold as merchandise and twisted desires are satisfied by the evil like Hunter Biden. If we are ever to deal with problems like these effectively, we must first acknowledge that the evil are not like us.

They are evil intentionally, not incidentally. The psalmist David is very clear on this point. He says in Psalm 36, transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. There is no fear of God before his eyes. He plots trouble while on his bed.

He sets himself in a way that is not good. He does not reject evil. Dear listener, Mayorkas, Biden, Pelosi, all of them and more plot trouble while on their bed. Do not be a naive, brainwashed Pollyanna. The evil are different.

They are not like the rest of us. We must see how they think and how they operate if we are ever to rid ourselves of them. Oh, it's so daunting. It's ugly. It's nasty.

I feel soiled putting myself in their place. And it's dark and depressing being around evil people too, isn't it? But we must face our enemy squarely and we must tighten our belts, stand up and destroy them, destroy the evil. Thirdly, a third thing we must keep in mind. The evil man is not so reluctantly, but he delights in doing evil.

This is a step up, a ratcheted up level, if you will. The evil man is not so. He is not evil reluctantly, but rather he delights in doing evil. Many well-meaning people feel that others are dragged into doing evil against their will, when in reality, the evil man rejoices. He delights in doing evil.

Good people are often incredulous at this thought, incredulous at the thought that some people love and delight in not only doing evil themselves, but also indulging others in it as well. Solomon characterizes the evil man as one who, as he says, walks in the ways of darkness, who rejoices in doing evil and delights in the perverseness of evil. Solomon got it. The Bible gets it straight. Oh, the evil rejoice in doing evil, and they delight in the perverseness of evil as well.

They are like their fathers, the evil one, Satan, the adversary.

Dear listener, do you really think, do you really think that Nancy Pelosi, as she drives through the streets of San Francisco in her limousine, or Gavin Newsom, as he moves through the trash-strewn streets of Los Angeles in his governor's entourage, or that Bill Gates, as he is chauffeured up and down the streets of decaying Seattle, and all of these see the homeless tent culture that stretches to the horizon, and the lost lives doing drugs on the streets, and the crack whores looking for the next fix, or the needles and feces that cover the sidewalks of their cities, or the burned-out buildings and abandoned storefronts, and the empty grocery stores that also, incidentally, create food deserts for the poverty-stricken people in our cities?

All of these things and more. Do you really think that their hearts are touched with compassion at the site, and they are further resolved to fix things like they so passionately tell us? Well, if you think that, then you are a naive, brainwashed Pollyanna. These people love what they see out there. They take great satisfaction in what they've done in creating suffering and misery for others.

They have an air of superiority which they project over others, and these scenes of suffering and misery confirm that in them. They are better than you, and the fact that they are living lives of comfort and luxury while you are desperately miserable, that proves it to them. The evil people who rule over us take pleasure in creating evil in which to live. Oftentimes, you will see such a person make a show of caring for others, of wanting to do the right thing by them. This is an absolutely requisite skill for the politician who aspires to power.

He must persuade you of his good intentions, so he will fawn, and he will weep, and he will passionately lay out a program that will ostensibly help you. But in reality, other motives are at work. As the Marxist mayor of New York now, Mamdani promises a whole catalog of free stuff and plenty for everyone, he will inevitably plunge his constituents into abject poverty. That is the course of Marxism. He is creating evil, and he will take delight in the suffering of New Yorkers as well.

Or as the communist governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, as he champions with pretending compassion the trans community and the advocates for, and he advocates, excuse me, for LBGTQ causes, right? And he tugs at our heartstrings for understanding and love. When he knows full well, tampon Tim, right? For putting those tampon boxes in boys' locker rooms. Tampon Tim pleads for understanding and love when he knows full well that those very lives he's championing their causes for will be destroyed.

And that that community, the trans community, the LBGTQ community, they will be left disillusioned and shattered in their psyche and mutilated in their bodies. And their suffering will be delightful to him and his ilk. Make no mistake about this, dear listener. Or we see former United States Attorney General Merrick Garland and his team of prosecutors when they were in power wrongfully threw thousands of January 6 protesters into prison where they suffered brutally at the hands of sadistic guards and miserable condition and rancid food. Ah, make no mistake about this.

It is evil behavior in which the evil take delight. They relish the suffering that they can met out. It makes them feel powerful and fulfilled. The evil are not like us. Ah, dear listener, George Orwell, well, in his classic novel, 1984, he puts a quote on power into one of his most evil characters' mouths.

He says, and I quote, we are not like that. That is, well-intentioned politicians, well-intentioned leaders, well-intentioned rulers that have the good will and common will of those that they rule at heart. No. He says, we are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.

Power is not a means. It is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution. One makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution.

The object of terrorism is terrorism. The object of oppression is oppression. The object of torture is torture. The object of murder is murder. The object of power is power.

Now do you begin to understand me, he says. Orwell put it so eloquently, did he not? And that is indeed what we face today in our own world and those that rule over us. Increasingly, I am persuaded that this is precisely the attitude and the heart bent, the heart shape of those who rule over us. Behold, your American rulers, dear listener, they indeed practice and live and seize power with those precise objectives.

The object of persecution is persecution. We are enduring it now, are we not? The object of terrorism is terrorism. Terrorism is no coincidence, dear listener. The object of oppression is oppression.

Indeed, they seek to oppress us. The object of torture is torture. Just ask the J6 prisoners. The object of murder is murder. Just ask those who murdered Charlie Kirk.

The object of power is power. Yeah, just look at the unprincipled seizure of power by Democrats. Now you begin to understand me, he says. Do you now begin to understand those who rule over us, dear listener? They are evil?

Furthermore, we see finally number four. The evil man does not practice his evil alone, but with other evil men. Yes, there is a camaraderie, a brotherhood of evil, is there not? Nothing that reinforces repetitive behavior more than encouragement and participation in that behavior by others. The Bible reflects on this.

Proverbs chapter one talks about those who throw in the thievery. They say, my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason. Like Sheol, let us swallow them alive and whole like those who go down to the pit.

We shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse and on and on the evil, entice others into evil. Do they not?

Such has it always been among the evil and such shall it always be. Indeed, there are evil groups, evil men among us. If you do not believe that there are indeed conspiracies, then you are a naive, brainwashed Pollyanna, dear listener. Ah, I do not consider myself a conspiracy theorist. No, I am not a conspiracy theorist.

I am a conspiracy therapist, and I hope that we can apply therapy to those who are naive, brainwashed Pollyannas. Indeed, the evil have conspired in the past. They are conspiring now, and they always will. For example, we have among us those who intend to impose the great reset upon us our evil. And indeed, that is a worldwide conspiracy of sorts, where indeed the idea of resetting the human basis is underway to reset it to indeed their own selfish and evil principles.

There are also those who impose the COVID lockdowns upon us and the mRNA shots and the whole nine yards there with the COVID hoax, part of the great reset, if you will. There are also those among us who traffic in human slavery. They operate in the shadows, but we're finding out more and more about what is going on there. Slavery, as Catherine Austin Fitz has made this point over and over again, slavery has never been more ubiquitous in the world than it is today. Slavery all over the globe, in particular right under our noses here in the United States of America.

And there are also those who practice evil in rituals, in the cults of Lucifer and Baphomet, for example. There are also those who dabble in pagan worship and pagan practices and witchcraft. All of these are indeed groups that conspire and work together to practice evil in our culture. Well, dear listener, what are we to do? Is there any way that we can help to fight this?

Indeed, we must, and we must gather together to do this precisely. And we must do it with a right heart attitude. However, as Paul says, and I will be succinct here, Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12, let love be genuine. We, instead of hatred, must love. Paul says, let love be genuine.

Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Find the good, dear listener, and cling to it and practice it. Paul goes on to say, love one another with brotherly affection. Love is the proper antidote to the hate of the evil.

Learn to practice love towards one another, towards one another's brother and sister. And be wise to be as wise as serpents and, or be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. And Paul goes on to say, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Learn the good, dear listener, and practice it and overcome the evil we find around us with good. And then, as the Apostle Paul also tells us, be aware that the physical world you see around you is not all that there is.

There is a spiritual realm out there as well. We must be aware of it and fight in that realm. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, put on your armor. Dear listener, as a Christian, we face daunting times. It won't be pretty. It'll feel pretty ugly at times, but you have the Lord at your side.

You have the Lord dwelling within your heart. And take Paul's advice to learn to love in Christ. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good.

Love one another with brotherly affection, and do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Now, we meet in love, brotherly love, one for another. We meet on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information or some feedback.

Give me some feedback on this message. Be glad to take it into consideration. Or more information, you can call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.