God does not shy away from addressing evil with stark clarity in His Word. He identifies and condemns what is wrong according to His intent, and when evil is committed or touches people, it results in harm. The Hebrew word ra' describes not only evil deeds but also inner attitudes of pride, lust, and revenge that manifest in rebellion against God. Some kings of Israel and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, their inner attitudes leading to idolatries, child sacrifice, wars, adulteries, and other acts that brought disaster and dishonor upon themselves and their nations. In the New Testament, the Greek word poneros signifies active rebellion against God, a heinous form of evil often associated with satan, the wicked one, reflecting the extent and activity of such evil. Even after long periods of conversion, as seen in the apostle Paul's struggles, an evil inclination remains within us, a carnal tendency that battles against our desire to do good, pulling us toward sin.

A standard description in the Old Testament is that a particular person or group did evil in the sight of the LORD. This description is critical because the people did not consider their deeds evil. In their view they were harmless acts. Nobody was getting hurt and nothing detrimental occurred that they could see so they did not consider their behavior to be evil. But what they did was evil in God's sight. Israel and Judah justified blatant idolatry and even child sacrifice by saying that they were not doing any harm or that the harm it might do to the child was insignificant compared to the greater good that they believed would come from the sacrifice. Israel did not consider temple prostitution harmful either but in the eyes of God the only eyes that see objectively what they did was evil. It was wicked not just in terms of going against God's intent. It went against God's intent because it was injurious to those involved even though they could not see it. The haunted house mentioned above is an excellent example of this. Halloween is nothing short of the glorification of evil. Its roots extend back to the Celtic meaning Israelitish festival of Samhain the lord of the dead. It was a boiling mixture of drunkenness revelry licentiousness vandalism treachery superstition anarchy and rank demonism. Today this festival is dressed up in a creative costume and dubbed fun for the kids but its essence is the same. The world calls it harmless fun but it is evident from Scripture that it is evil in the sight of the LORD. The seed from which Halloween grew was paganism really just a softer term for demonism and if the seed is evil the fruit will also be evil even if presented in a fun way. Yet modern Israelites enjoy this annual dose of witches vampires and werewolves. They have no problem indulging in the occult if only in their imaginations. However Proverbs 8:13 says that those who fear God instinctively and earnestly loathe those things that harm life and liveliness even if the harm is not immediately apparent. The elements of Halloween no matter what guise they take are contrary to eternal life with God.