Christians are commanded to cast out devils, or evils. Does this include the evil called violence? Christ Jesus cast out this evil when he healed a violently insane man.See Mark 5:1-20.
Jesus showed us that when an individual accepts and follows Christ, Truth, the errors—or darkness—in thought are destroyed. Then the individual is free. That particular belief in and experience of evil has ended for him. The destruction of all evil and violence must come through such individual actions of believing, accepting, and living Christ. Each demonstration of divine power opens the way for others until ultimately the whole earth is full of light.
To help in freeing humanity from violence, we begin by watching and praying for Christ to enlighten and govern our own thought. When I was first praying to see the action of Christ eliminate violence, I had some difficulty addressing the issue, for I found violence abhorrent and I would turn away. I persisted in my prayers until I began to think in a Christian manner about the people who acted violently. By "in a Christian manner" I mean that I stopped looking at physical misdeeds, and I looked instead for some glimmer of goodness or love in these individuals. Christianity encourages us to look for and see evidence of the activity of God, good, in human lives.
