John Chrysostom Homily IV Romans 1:26-27

HOMILY IV.
ROM. 1. 26, 27.
"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one towards another."
ALL these affections then were vile, but chiefly the mad lust after
males; for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and more
dishonored, than the body in diseases. But behold how here too, as
in the case of the doctrines, he deprives them of excuse, by saying
of the women, that "they changed the natural use." For no one, he
means, can say that it was by being hindered of legitimate
intercourse that they came to this pass, or that it was from having no
means to fulfil their desire that they were driven into this monstrous
insaneness. For the changing implies possession. Which also when
discoursing upon the doctrines he said, "They changed the truth of
God for a lie." And with regard to the men again, he shows the same
thing by saying, "Leaving the natural use of the woman." And in a
like way with those, these he also puts out of all means of defending
themselves by charging them not only that they had the means of
gratification, and left that which they had, and went after another, but
that having dishonored that which was natural, they ran after that
which was contrary to nature. But that which is contrary to nature
hath in it an irksomeness and displeasingness, so that they could
not fairly allege even pleasure. For genuine pleasure is that which is
according to nature. But when God hath left one, then all things are
turned upside down. And thus not only was their doctrine Satanical,
but their life too was diabolical. Now when he was discoursing of
their doctrines, he put before them the world and man's
understanding, telling them that, by the judgment afforded them by
God, they might through the things which are seen, have been led as
by the hand to the Creator, and then by not willing to do so, they
remained inexcusable. Here in the place of the world he sets the
pleasure according to nature, which they would have enjoyed with
more sense of security and greater glad-heartedness, and so have
been far removed from shameful deeds. But they would not; whence
they are quite out of the pale of pardon, and have done an insult to
nature itself. And a yet more disgraceful thing than these is it, when

 even the women seek after these intercourses, who ought to have
more sense of shame than men. And here too the judgment of Paul
is worthy of admiration, how having fallen upon two opposite
matters he accomplishes them both with all exactness. For he
wished both to speak chastely and to sting the hearer. Now both
these things were not in his power to do, but one hindered the other.
For if you speak chastely you shall not be able to bear hard upon the
hearer. But if you are minded to touch him to the quick, you are
forced to lay the naked facts before him in plain terms. But his
discreet and holy soul was able to do both with exactness, and by
naming nature has at once given additional force to his accusation,
and also used this as a sort of veil, to keep the chasteness of his
description. And next, having reproached the women first, he goes
on to the men also, and says, "And likewise also the men leaving the
natural use of the woman." Which is an evident proof of the last
degree of corruptness, when both sexes are abandoned, and both he
that was ordained to be the instructor of the woman, and she who
was bid to become an helpmate to the man, work the deeds of
enemies against one another. And reflect too how significantly he
uses his words. For he does not say that they were enamoured of,
and lusted after one another, but, "they burned in their lust one
toward another." You see that the whole of desire comes of an
exorbitancy which endureth not to abide within its proper limits. For
everything which transgresseth the laws by God appointed, lusteth
after monstrous things and not those which be customary. For as
many oftentimes having left the desire of food get to feed upon earth
and small stones, and others being possessed by excessive thirst
often long even for mire, thus these also ran into this ebullition of
lawless love. But if you say, and whence came this intensity of lust?
It was from the desertion of God: and whence is the desertion of
God? from the lawlessness of them that left Him; "men with men
working that which is unseemly." Do not, he means, because you
have heard that they burned, suppose that the evil was only in
desire. For the greater part of it came of their luxuriousness, which
also kindled into flame their lust. And this is why he did not say
being swept along or being overtaken, an expression he uses
elsewhere; but what? working. They made a business of the sin, and
not only a business, but even one zealously followed up. And he
called it not lust, but that which is unseemly, and that properly? For
they both dishonored nature, and trampled on the laws. And see the
great confusion which fell out on both side. For not only was the
head turned downwards but the feet too were upwards, and they
became enemies to themselves and to one another, bringing in a

pernicious kind of strife, and one even more lawless than any civil
war, and one rife in divisions, and of varied form. For they divided
this into four new, and lawless kinds. Since (3 Mss. whence) this war
was not twofold or threefold, but even fourfold. Consider then. It was
meet, that the twain should he one, I mean the woman and the man.
For "the twain," it says, "shall be one flesh."
(Gen. ii. 24.) But this the desire of intercourse effected, and united
the sexes to one another. This desire the devil having taken away,
and having turned the course thereof into another fashion, he thus
sundered the sexes from one another, and made the one to become
two parts in opposition to the law of God. For it says, "the two shall
be one flesh;" but he divided the one flesh into two: here then is one
war. Again, these same two parts he provoked to war both against
themselves and against one another. For even women again abused
women, and not men only. And the men stood against one another,
and against the female sex, as happens in a battle by night. You see
a second and third war, and a fourth and fifth; there is also another,
for beside what have been mentioned they also behaved lawlessly
against nature itself. For when the Devil saw that this desire it is,
principally, which draws the sexes together, he was bent on cutting
through the tie, so as to destroy the race, not only by their not
copulating lawfully, but also by their being stirred up to war, and in
sedition against one another.
"And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which
was meet." See how he goes again to the fountain head of the evil,
namely, the impiety that comes of their doctrines, and this he says is
a reward of that lawlessness. For since in speaking of hell and
punishment, it seemed he would not at present be credible to the
ungodly and deliberate choosers of such a life, but even scorned, he
shows that the punishment was in this pleasure itself. (So Plato
Theaet. p. 176, 7.) But if they perceive it not, but are still pleased, be
not amazed. For even they that are mad, and are afflicted with
phrenzy (cf. Soph. Aj. 265-277) while doing themselves much injury
and making themselves such objects of compassion, that others
weep over them themselves smile and revel over what has
happened. Yet we do not only for this not say that they are quit of
punishment, but for this very reason are under a more grievous
vengeance, in that they are unconscious of the plight they are in. For
it is not the disordered but those who are sound whose votes one
has to gain Yet of old the matter seemed even to be a law, and a
certain law-giver among them bade the domestic slaves neither to

 use unguents when dry (i.e. except in bathing) nor to keep youths,
giving the free this place of honor, or rather of shamefulness. Yet
they, however, did not think the thing shameful, but as being a grand
privilege, and one too great for slaves, the Athenian people, the
wisest of people, and Solon who is so great amongst them,
permitted it to the free alone. And sundry other books of the
philosophers may one see full of this disease. But we do not
therefore say that the thing was made lawful, but that they who
received this law were pitiable, and objects for many tears. For these
are treated in the same way as women that play the whore. Or rather
their plight is more miserable. For in the case of the one the
intercourse, even if lawless, is yet according to nature: but this is
contrary both to law and nature. For even if there were no hell, and
no punishment had been threatened, this were worse than any
punishment. Yet if you say "they found pleasure in it," you tell me
what adds to the vengeance. For suppose I were to see a person
running naked, with his body all besmeared with mire, and yet not
covering himself, but exulting in it, I should not rejoice with him, but
should rather bewail that he did not even perceive that he was doing
shamefully. But that I may show the atrocity in a yet clearer light,
bear with me in one more example. Now if any one condemned a
virgin to live in close dens (qalomeuomenhn), and to have
intercourse with unreasoning brutes, and then she was pleased with
such intercourse, would she not for this be especially a worthy
object of tears, as being unable to be freed from this misery owing to
her not even perceiving the misery? It is plain surely to every one.
But if that were a grievous thing, neither is this less so than that. For
to be insulted by one's own kinsmen is more piteous than to be so
by strangers: these I say (5 Mss. "I consider") are even worse than
murderers: since to die even is better than to live under such
insolency. For the murderer dissevers the soul from the body, but
this man ruins the soul with the body. And name what sin you will,
none will you mention equal to this lawlessness. And if they that
suffer such things perceived them, they would accept ten thousand
deaths so they might not suffer this evil. For there is not, there
surely is not, a more grievous evil than this insolent dealing. For if
when discoursing about fornication Paul said, that "Every sin which
a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication
sinneth against his own body" (1 Cor. vi. 18); what shall we say of
this madness, which is so much worse than fornication as cannot
even be expressed? For I should not only say that thou hast become
a woman, but that thou hast lost thy manhood, and hast neither
changed into that nature nor kept that which thou haddest, but thou

 hast been a traitor to both of them at once, and deserving both of
men and women to be driven out and stoned, as having wronged
either sex. And that thou mayest learn what the real force of this is, if
any one were to come and assure you that he would make you a dog
instead of being a man, would you not flee from him as a plague?
But, lo! thou hast not made thyself a dog out of a man, but an animal
more disgraceful than this. For this is useful unto service, but he that
hath thus given himself up is serviceable for nothing. Or again, if any
one threatened to make men travail and be brought to bed, should
we not be filled with indignation? But lo! now they that have run into
this fury have done more grievously by themselves. For it is not the
same thing to change into the nature of women, as to continue a
man and yet to have become a woman; or rather neither this nor that.
But if you would know the enormity of the evil from other grounds,
ask on what account the law-givers punish them that make men
eunuchs, and you will see that it is absolutely for no other reason
than because they mutilate nature. And yet the injustice they do is
nothing to this. For there have been those that were mutilated and
were in many cases useful after their mutilation. But nothing can
there be more worthless than a man who has pandered himself. For
not the soul only, but the body also of one who hath been so treated,
is disgraced, and deserves to be driven out everywhere. How many
hells shall be enough for such? But if thou scoffest at hearing of hell
and believest not that fire, remember Sodom. For we have seen
surely we have seen, even in this present life, a semblance of hell.
For since many would utterly disbelieve the things to come after the
resurrection, hearing now of an unquenchable fire, God brings them
to a right mind by things present. For such is the burning of Sodom,
and that conflagration! And they know it well that have been at the
place, and have seen with their eves that scourge divinely sent, and
the effect of the lightnings from above. (Jude 7.) Consider how great
is that sin, to have forced hell to appear even before its time! For
whereas many thought scorn of His words, by His deeds did God
show them the image thereof in a certain novel way. For that rain
was unwonted, for that the intercourse was contrary to nature, and it
deluged the land, since lust had done so with their souls. Wherefore
also the rain was the opposite of the customary rain. Now not only
did it fail to stir up the womb of the earth to the production of fruits,
but made it even useless for the reception of seed. For such was
also the intercourse of the men, making a body of this sort more
worthless than the very land of Sodom. And what is there more
detestable than a man who hath pandered himself, or what more
execrable? Oh, what madness! Oh, what distraction! Whence came

 this lust lewdly revelling and making man's nature all that enemies
could? or even worse than that, by as much as the soul is better than
the body. Oh, ye that were more senseless than irrational creatures,
and more shameless than dogs! for in no case does such
intercourse take place with them, but nature acknowledgeth her own
limits. But ye have even made our race dishonored below things
irrational, by such indignities inflicted upon and by each other.
Whence then were these evils born? Of luxury; of not knowing God.
For so soon as any have cast out the fear of Him, all that is good
straightway goes to ruin.
Now, that this may not happen, let us keep clear before our eyes the
fear of God. For nothing, surely nothing, so ruins a man as to slip
from this anchor, as nothing saves so much as continually looking
thereto. For if by having a man before our eyes we feel more
backward at doing sins, and often even through feeling abashed at
servants of a better stamp we keep from doing anything amiss,
consider what safety we shall enjoy by having God before our eyes!
For in no case will the Devil attack us when so conditioned, in that
he would be laboring without profit. But should he see us wandering
abroad, and going about without a bridle, by getting a beginning h@
ourselves he will be able to drive us off afterwards any whither. And
as it happens with thoughtless servants at market, who leave the
needful services which their masters have entrusted to them, and
rivet themselves at a mere haphazard to those who fall in their way,
and waste out their leisure there; this also we undergo when we
depart from the commandments of God. For we presently get
standing on, admiring riches, and beauty of person, and the other
things which we have no business with, just as those servants
attend to the beggars that do jugglers' feats, and then, arriving too
late, have to be grievously beaten at home. And many pass the road
set before them through following others, who are behaving in the
same unseemly way. But let not us so do. For we have been sent to
dispatch many affairs that are urgent. And if we leave those, and
stand gaping at these useless things, all our time will be wasted in
vain and to no profit, and we shall suffer the extreme of punishment.
For if you wish yourself to be busy, you have whereat you ought to
wonder, and to gape all your days, things which are no subject for
laughter, but for wondering and manifold praises. As he that admires
things ridiculous, will himself often be such, and even worse than he
that occasioneth the laughter. And that you may not fall into this,
spring away from it forthwith. For why is it, pray, that you stand
gaping and fluttering at sight of riches? What do you see so

 wonderful, and able to fix your eyes upon them? these gold-
harnessed horses, these lackeys, partly savages, and partly
eunuchs, and costly raiment, and the soul that is getting utterly soft
in all this, and the haughty brow, and the bustlings, and the noise?
And wherein do these things deserve wonder? what are they better
than the beggars that dance and pipe in the market-place? For these
too being taken with a sore famine of virtue, dance a dance more
ridiculous than theirs, led and carried round at one time to costly
tables, at another to the lodging of prostitute women, and at another
to a swarm of flatterers and a host of hangers-on. But if they do wear
gold, this is why they are the most pitiable, because the things which
are nothing to them, are most the subject of their eager desire. Do
not now, I pray, look at their raiment, but open their soul, and
consider if it is not full of countless wounds, and clad with rags, and
destitute, and defenceless! What then is the use of this madness of
shows? for it were much better to be poor and living in virtue, than
to be a king with wickedness; since the poor man in himself enjoys
all the delights of the soul, and doff not even perceive his outward
poverty for his inward riches. But the king, luxurious in those things
which do not at all belong to him, is punished in those things which
are his most real concern, even the soul, the thoughts, and the
conscience, which are to go away with him to the other world. Since
then we know these things, let us lay aside the gilded raiment, let us
take up virtue and the pleasure which comes thereof. For so, both
here and hereafter, shall we come to enjoy great delights, through
the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
Whom, and with Whom, be glory t.o the Father, with the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. Amen

Denying the Power

 Amazing Polly did an interesting video using Scott Peck's book "People of the Lie" as a catalyst to try to create a bridge in understanding in people who are given to the cold rationalizations of "Science," and in that cold rationalization have been emotionally and spiritually stunted to the point that when they act on inhumane science, they think they are doing good. I find this premise woefully inadequate to account for the MEGA picture of the obscene condition of Western Civilization. These dupes operate on such a low spiritual level that they believe their actions, based on "humanism and secular liberalism," are good. They are merely the tools of brilliant evil, and humanity is not its origin or source.

In light of what we know of the Three Paths of Theology/Spirituality, we know that such people operate upon second path spirituality, either by mild or demonic pride in their own rationalism, creating illusion and delusion or their own unchecked emotional passions, which also creates illusion that quickly becomes demonic delusion. Psychology/Psychiatry has no answer to this, as Scott Peck proved in his writing.

Peck, in his book "The Road Less Traveled," he does a Jordan Peterson-level call to The Disciplines of
(1) Delaying gratification: Sacrificing present comfort for future gains.
(2) Acceptance of responsibility: Accepting responsibility for one's own decisions.
(3) Dedication to truth: Honesty, both in word and deed.
(4) Balancing: Handling conflicting requirements through the discipline of the first three.

You have to admit this is rather Jordan Peterson-esk, without the whiny voice and manic presentation.

One powerful lesson Peck taught in the first book was the understanding of Kathexis and Katharsis, which was an attack on the brainwashing power of romantic love, that in Second Path, rationalism, and emotionalism have significantly damaged the institution of marriage and the family in Western Civilization, making the central focus what is actually a psychosis (falling in love) and painting that psychotic episode over relationships of all kind, claiming that love wins. Actually, true love was all but banished many years before the psychotic substitution of romantic love came to rule and debase marriage and family. Just as Jordan Peterson's extreme wisdom and manic presentation arrived from an addiction to drugs, Scott Peck's wisdom about Kathexis and Karthesis was lost in his own life where while married, he bounced from one romantic relationship to another and even divorced his wife and married "the love of his life" about a year before he died. Despite the lack of discipline Peck himself displayed his call to discipline was worthy of note, and his attack on the culture of Romeo and Juliette-style psychosis was needed. The extreme hormonal reaction to the opposite sex and the process of Kathexis is simply a little trick in the makeup of humanity designed for the species' survival. Not meaning to be crude, but it corresponds to the mammalian trait of going into heat. The media feeds us a constant dream world, beginning with the romantic plays of the Elizabethan era, to the romantic novels of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to the onslaught of so-called "chick films" of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Let me briefly explain Kathexis and most honest people will relate to having experienced some form of it. This is true even of Romantic Religionists, but that is a story for another time. When two people meet, and there is a natural and powerful attraction on the part of both, this is classic Kathexis. People look on and say, "What does she see in him?" or the opposite, "What does he see in her?" Many parents of teenagers have silently asked this question when being introduced to "the love of her life," etc. This phenomenon causes the two lovers to be blind to each other. They have experienced Kathexis, having taken into their own ego circle not the reality of the other person but a romanticized idol of the other person, a model of their own ego's creation plastered over the image of the other person.

We've all heard the saying, "Love is blind." Deep love, true love, is not in the slightest way blind, and never projects its own ego upon the other person, but instead sees them, takes the time to discover how different from them they indeed are. It searches for the truth of the person, warts and all. But for the person who has experienced only the psychosis of Kathexis, they have instead absorbed the person and projected idealized perfection upon them. When the actual person begins to act in surprising and unexpected ways, then comes considerable pain. You see, if you picture that idol taken in as a foreign object inside one's ego boundary, the result is painful swelling and even infection. In other words, that person begins to struggle for the health of their own identity against the assault of the foreign object.

As that real person bounces around in the psyche of the other, it causes pain. "Why would you do that?" "I can't believe you would say that!" "I can't believe you would do that." "I thought I knew you!" "How could you possibly think . . . act . . . do . . . be, etc."  I don't even know you anymore."  This is the language of Katharsis, as the idol is removed from their psyche, as the person painfully comes to sanity, realizing that their previous knowledge of the person was false. "How could you do that to me?" "I don't even know you anymore." For young honest people who fall in love, the reality of the love, or lack thereof, between them only happens when the Kathexis becomes so painful they expel each other, removing the romantic blinders and then asses if they can have a future with the other, and in fact, will they be strengthened or weakened by the relationship, whether the relationship increases their health and life experience, or whether they are headed down a suicidal path. Now, I'm painting in stark terms, and we know this experience has myriad degrees.

Every ordinary "user/controller" who makes victims of so-called romantic interests operates on the principle of Kathesis while immune to it. The ugly, exploitative, and enslaving relationships happen when one side thoroughly understands the hormonal, psychic, and spiritual reality of Kathexis and uses it to ensnare—every prostitute in love with her pimp witnesses this fact. Every widow enamored of a handsome man and bilked out of her life savings is also a witness to it.

In this sick culture of Romantic love, people float through life on an endless cycle of experiencing the ecstasy of falling in love, only to grow disappointed and break up. Scott Peck's exposure of this common psychology was beautiful. Another form of this is the married person constantly looking outside the marriage for the "thrill of romance." This is different than just the pursuit of lustful sex, but the addiction to Kathesix.

So back to Amazing Polly's use of Scott Peck's work, "People of the Lie." I read this book exactly forty years ago and used it in ministry many times, especially with people who seemed to be their own worst enemy and had no comprehension of evil. Peck's book had much more cultural meaning forty years ago when the entire culture refused to recognize the possibility of any influence of evil. Peck nudged people to accept the idea of "human evil," which was a thoroughly inadequate proposition, as his own life demonstrated. Not to disparage the contextual good Scott Peck did, and he did accomplish much good; using his material, I saw it create a step some people could take, ON THE WAY, but it was not THE WAY. Scott Peck was ultimately deceived, believing, as he articulated, that all evil was, in his final analysis, a character and personality disorder. After all, the full title of his book was "People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil."

I've used that title many times in conversation and writing as an example of the near-total delusion of the mid-twentieth century consciousness, as evil wreaked havoc and blind people could not see the evil that was in plain sight. What is wrong with this idea of mere human evil? Well, it is based on the anthropology of Ape-ostology, which is the divorce of the human from the Creator and Redeemer God, Truth who walked among us and taught us; the removal of mankind from the grand cosmic spiritual battle as is witnessed in this world and a surrendering of spiritual power, severed from the wisdom of Christian Tradition, which includes the Holy Scriptures. In that false paradigm, evil is merely human failure and can be solved by psychological "science." Good luck with that.

Now, Scott Peck's experience of "human evil" led him to investigate further, ultimately leading him to the sure knowledge of Satan's existence. Peck related in "People of the Lie" that he had believed, as did "99% of psychiatrists and the majority of clergy" at the time (Peck, 1983/1988, p182), that the devil did not exist, but after starting to believe in the reality of human evil, he then began to contemplate the existence of spiritual evil. Eventually, after having been referred several possible cases of possession and being involved in two exorcisms, he was converted to a belief in the existence of Satan.
That statement is like saying, "Having witnessed several people run over by a dump truck, I came to believe in the laws of momentum, kinetic energy, gravity, and mass.

Amazing Polly uses excerpts from the Ebook to outline Peck's teaching about the common characteristics of evil people, and it is insightful. Remember, I used to buy this book ten copies at a time and used it in spiritual therapy with great success. But this is kindergarten spiritual understanding, and it risks simplifying a very complex and "creative" structure of evil expression and temptation. This is a cartoon to use, not a complete picture.

Peck says the evil person
is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection

deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception

projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets (scapegoats) while being apparently normal with everyone else ("their insensitivity toward him was selective" (Peck, 1983/1988, p 105[8]))

commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others

abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion" (Peck, 1978/1992, p298[7]))

maintains a high level of respectability, and lies incessantly to do so

is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)

is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim (scapegoating)

has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury

In People of the Lie, Peck does a decent explication of the dangers of human possession, that is, being possessed (controlled) by another person.

Amazing Polly concludes that "evil people cause all our troubles" and admits that those same evil people would accuse her of "scapegoating." And guess what? The evil people would be right. Yes, evil people create chaos, lawlessness, carnage, and, as we are experiencing, even GENOCIDE. But these acts of wickedness happen in a world where so-called good people have abdicated their responsibility. Right down to the most personal levels, cowardly people would rather be liked and get along than stand in Truth and confront the obvious evil in front of them.

Again, how do we participate in the sins of others?
Most people can't even name the Cardinal Sins, the unnatural result of Fallen Human Nature.

Let's name them:
PRIDE: The lack of humility befitting a creature of God.

GREED: too great a desire for money or worldly goods.
LUST: impure and unworthy desire for something evil.

ANGER: unworthy irritation and lack of self-control.

GLUTTONY: the habit of eating or drinking to much

ENVY: jealousy of some other person's happiness

SLOTH: laziness that keeps us from doing our duty to God and man.

These sins take horrible and diabolical forms, and what we have stated is a cartoon not the entire ugly picture. So how do we participate in the sins of others?

By counsel

By command

By consent

By manipulation

By provocation

By praise or flattery

By concealment

By partaking

By silence

By defense of the sin committed.

This is Christian moral principles 101, and without God, there is no ethical or moral basis for suggesting any of these principles have merit, much less force. In the world AFTER GOD, we can say that Sodomite Sex is a Moral Good, and why not? We can say, as many have, that billions may be killed for the benefit of millions, and why not? What right do we have to object? Babies may be ripped from the womb; children may be zombified via vaccine poisoning and nano-technology; our food may be rightly poisoned, our water polluted, our skies chem-trailed, our children brainwashed by trans-demons, women driven from their own identity, lives, and society by trans-monsters. And NO ONE, not one person on the planet, willing to accept the "scientific materialism of the Enlightenment has the foundation to rightly object. For if one does, the only foundation is that of a third grader saying, "Just Because." "Why did you break that lamp?" said the shocked parent, "Cause" comes the all-purpose and only answer.

Ultimately Polly does not address the reality of diabolical evil; that which IS chaos, that which IS death, that which IS lawlessness and is proud of it. She ends by talking of those who, as Scott Peck pictured, do all to cover up their faults, failings, and sins. This does not address the malevolent evil that roams the earth seeking whom he may devour. It does not address the evil angelic and demonic powers capable of deception, whose only motive is the destruction of the human. This level of evil is very real, and psychology cannot address it.