Evil is as old as creation. It showed up in the Garden of Eden the day Eve was enticed and beguiled by the serpent. At that time, she and her husband Adam had no knowledge of good and evil, but that was about to change. Their disobedience to God opened up their eyes to the knowledge that both good and evil was real. From that point on, not only did they learn about these two opposite entities, but we (those who followed) learned and experienced them also.

Scripture reports the first documented occurrence of evil was jealousy between two brothers, which led to murder. Then the surviving brother lied; he was exiled from his family, and he was a marked man for the rest of his life.

When evil visits our homes, our families, our jobs, our schools, our neighborhoods, or our nation; as it has done too many times to list; it can come in many variations. In the Garden it came through the cruelty of jealousy, whose objective was to administer pain-think about bullying today and other forms of jealousy.

Evil is an entity defined as morally bad causing harm or injury to someone. Evil can show up as a thief. Thefts of property and assets whether material or immaterial can be devastating. Loss of money, intellectual properties, inventions, and witty ideas; they all have their source and origination from evil. An experience of robbery leaves its victims frustrated, fearful, or often injured-whether physically, emotionally or psychologically. The scars of this evil act can be permanent and life altering.

Regardless of the evil acts man has succumbed to, at the helm of those acts is an unseen force called "that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world" (Revelations 12: 9).

Scripture bears out the fact that the serpent who was in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 1-5) talking to Eve and enticing her to disobey God's commandment was none other than Evil himself-who later became known as the Devil and Satan. For example; 1 Corinthians 7: 5 says, "Satan is a tempter; 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, Satan seeks to take advantage of us; 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, Satan can transform himself to appear as if he is an angel of light and not an angel of darkness; 1 Thessalonians 2:18, says Satan hindered the work of Apostle Paul; 1 Timothy 5:15 lets us know that Satan has followers who turn aside after him; and Zechariah 3: 1, Psalms 109: 6, and 1 Chronicles 21: 1 all declare that Satan stands on the right hand of some people, especially ministers and those doing the work of God.

So in the thesis on this topic of Evil, the objective is to prove scripturally that Satan is its originator. But more importantly, I want readers to entertain the notion of what happens when Evil visits your zip code. What is, was, or will be your response? What's been the experience of others who've had such an unwanted and devastating experience? Can we learn anything from their experiences? And what example, testimony or positive reaction can we provide to those coming behind us, who will certainly have to face something or someone evil during their lifetime?

I purport that there are a variant of ways to handle an evil experience. I too have faced some evil occurrences during my life; some of them I handled negatively and some I handled positively. In other words, there were times I reacted to the Evil with evil and at other times, I reacted to Evil with good.

I'm often reminded of how the nationally acclaimed organization; Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) was birthed. It was birthed out of a painful and devastating experience of a mother's worst nightmare-losing her child. In this case, a mother lost her 13-year-old daughter in a car crash, driven by a drunk driver. Instead of becoming angry, bitter, depressed and despondent, she channeled her anger and grief into something positive. In 1980, she founded MADD, an organization that's now internationally known and has helped millions of people, and became a catalyst to change drunk driving laws in the United States. Its mission is to end drunk driving, help fight drugged driving, support the victims of these violent crimes, and prevent underage drinking. MADD is a perfect example of how Evil visited this mother's zip code. Instead of responding with hate, malice, spite or vengeance, she did good. I commend her. Many others have taken negative circumstances and turned them into positives ones that benefited countless others.

During visits of Evil, we can turn the other cheek; we can do good to those who have harmed us or our loved ones; we can forgive them; or we can seek to administer the same pain they (Evil) unleashed upon us, by retaliation and say, "An eye for an eye."

There are countless recorded cases of retaliation where someone's loved one was murdered, so they murder the other person's loved one; someone is given a sexually transmitted disease (STD) such as Aids, herpes, etc .; so in retaliation the victim purposely transits the STD to others in retribution for their pain and suffering. No matter the punishment, the intent is evil for evil. But we should take the high road and take time to cleanse ourselves from the hurt, the pain, the grief, the remorse, the anger, the rage, the bitterness and become better and not bitter; all of which is a lengthy process-I would imagine-but healing is possible.

Evil is real. Evil has been around and on the rampage; walking to and fro throughout the earth seeking whom he may devour since creation. Yes I've personalized Evil because I agree with Scripture that purports the source of ALL evil as being from that old serpent called the Devil and Satan. For instance, if you put the D + Evil together, it equals the Devil.

As mentioned earlier, Evil started in the Garden of Eden, disguised as a serpent. Because he [Evil] is known as a deceiver, it implies he can take various forms to perpetrate his deception. So, once the D + Evil gained a following of earthly subjects, in some cases by entering the hearts of men, or entering some through possession of their bodies, or through their thoughts; Evil's goal is to influence them to carry out his evil acts.

Scripture takes a definite stand and position on good and evil. Some of those references on how to react to evil are recorded in Romans 12:17 which says, Don't do evil for evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 states let none of you give evil for evil. Romans 12:21 says, we overcome evil with good. Ephesians 4:31 tells us to let all bitterness, anger, wrath, malice, and evil speaking be put away from you.

Inevitably, Evil will visit us or our loved ones at some point in our lives. My hope is that you'll be prepared to fight evil with good and not do evil for evil because you can never win by fighting "fire with fire," but you can have positive outcomes of overcoming evil with good.