Why are *so many* people affiliated with evil? (And how can you tell those who are affiliated with good?)

Many serious Christians have noticed that they know of extremely few people, as a proportion - and indeed in absolute numbers - who are Not aligned with evil. 

That is the case whether you accept the broad validity of the Satanic litmus tests as an indicator of spiritual affiliation, or if you simply go by those who accept the truthfulness, virtue and authority of the Global Establishment.

But if it is trivially easy to see that most people of whom you know are on the side of the demons; how can you discern those who are on the side of God, Good and creation? 

Well, for a start, there are several things which do Not work:

It does not work to look at what people say about such matters - evil people lie. Whereas - apparently - in the past it was not possible for demons to speak the name of Jesus or recite the Lord's Prayer - that does not apply now. Demon-servants will spout orthodox theology, and swear on the Bible that lies are true. 

And 'good' behaviour is not a useful discriminator either - indeed most of the most well-behaved (law-abiding, decent, kind) people are very obviously on the wrong side. Conversely, God-affiliated Christians will certainly be sinners - and will know they are sinners; having recognized and repented their sins - although we may not know this. Indeed, it is quite likely that those on the side of God will - in worldly terms - be worse-behaved on average than those against God. 

On the other hand; a serious Good-allied Christian will not consistently deny or advocate sin. Yet he may do so when under duress, from weakness, or in dark moods - since mortal Man is a fragile and changeable being... 

In other words, perhaps nobody is on the side of God 24/7 without any doubts or lapses. But this is not a cause for despair, because the fact was perfectly explicit from the very beginning of Jesus's ministry. And, after all, the core of Christianity is about what happens after we die, rather than in this mortal life; so any mortal life behaviours can only be proxy correlates of that spiritual choice.  

How, then, can a Christian tell an ally from a foe? The answer is: by the intuitive discernment of the heart. 

This works very well (if we let it) in real life personal relationships - where we can infer if this particular person really wants (here and now, at the time of evaluation) to follow Jesus through death to immortal resurrected life in Heaven. 

Such a person may change their mind in the future, such is the nature of human agency - but we can know about Now. 

And when it comes to evaluating people we have not met, who are not in our environment; it is (here and now, in 20201) easy to discern that nearly-all such public figures are evil-affiliated - because they make that fact very clear indeed. 

...And will support each other in their evil - while ganging-up to attack and (in some way) destroy any of their own who make any single or slight statement in support of truth, virtue or beauty. 

Yet those who are thus attacked for 'hate facts' are nonetheless nearly-all themselves unrepentantly evil affiliated - so we cannot use that as a way to identify those aligned with Good.

I personally look for the virtue of courage, as a preliminary way of identifying those who are affiliated with God - in particular self-sacrificing courage - so long as that sacrifice is genuine (and not a media trick, as so often). 

In a world of mass demotivation and cowardice, courage stands-out as being possibly sustained by God - so long as this type of courage can be distinguished from psychopathic-selfish recklessness. 

The greatest courage is, perhaps, the courage to behave (by choice) such as to be humiliated and regarded as a dangerous-fool by those with the most power, wealth, status and influence. The greatest, because this is a genuinely dangerous situation. 

Not much can sustain a person in such a situation except that courage which comes from faith in God and trust in Jesus Christ as saviour; therefore it is unlikely that anyone would place themselves in such a situation unless they were on the side of God. 

 

However, even self-sacrificing courage can be simulated for public consumption; so in the end we must rely on the thinking of the heart - on that intuition which combines our own inner divine nature with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. 

We make a discernment (and this may need to be swift): and then make our commitment. 

We must and will judge; and act on our judgment - and be prepared to repent our judgment if it turns-out to be mistaken. 

But let us not feel crushed or intimidated! 

With light and high hearts - with warm hearts - let us embrace the necessity to discern our allies, make the right choices, and accept the consequences with courage.

(...Whatever those consequences may be; and that, Nobody knows.)