Fall 1986

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Church leaders have it easy; they deal only with nice people. At least that is the common assumption.

But pastors encounter evil-twisted personalities and sorry situations-with regularity. Churches attract troubled people, and pastors are called into dark situations.

So how do you tackle the effects of evil? LEADERSHIP talked with four leaders whole experienced spiritual warfare:

-Harold Bussell, dean of the chapel at Gordon College and preaching pastor of First Congregational Church in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

-Mark Erickson, a physician with mission experience in Africa and pastor of Eastbrook Church in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

-Earl Palmer, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California, who has also served pastorates in Seattle and the Philippines.

-Timothy Warner, who served as president of Fort Wayne Bible College after a missionary career in Sierra Leone, and is now director of professional doctoral programs at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

Leadership: Where do you see evil at work?

Earl Palmer: On two levels. One is bad choices. Choosing is part of the genuine freedom, within boundaries, God provided us, but through our bad choices we become alienated and experience the evil of garden-variety sin.

The other level is the Evil One tempting us to distrust God. Think of the biblical language for the Devil: the Twisted One, Slanderer, Accuser, even the Destroyer. Spiritual evil tempts me not only to distrust God but to distrust God's will toward me.

Harold Bussell: There's a tremendous propensity for self-preservation in evil. The Evil One tempts us not only with unbelief but also tries to convince us we're in danger when we get near to God.

Timothy Warner: The issue, as I see it, is ...

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