Evilgreen

There are iconic characters that have captivated imaginations. Among them is George Lucas’ Yoda and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. Both of these creatures are green and are polar opposites that appeal to the optimist and pessimist, the naughty and nice in children. Yoda is the Jedi Master who is omniwise and powerful, while The Grinch is Ebenezer Who who hates Christmas and cheer and tries to stop it from coming. What is most alarming is in both cases children get attached to a green alien figure, and few parents may be aware that the devil, the archenemy of our faith, was green. Before he was depicted as ashen black and in Brahmin red skin, the evil one in the middle ages was depicted as green being that tempted and sought to lead astray saints. It is interesting that the basic alien is a little green man, who kidnaps people. 

According to the Prophet Ezekiel, the devil had many green precious gems upon his outfit: 

“13 You were in Eden,

    the garden of God.

Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone—

    red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,

    blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper,

    blue-Green lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—

all beautifully crafted for you

    and set in the finest gold.

They were given to you

    on the day you were created.

14 I ordained and anointed you

    as the mighty angelic guardian.” (Ezekiel 28:13-14). 

It is well known pagans would use woodlands of green to worship their false gods: 

“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.” (Deuteronomy 12:2) This verse raises renewed concerns about the Xmas Tree. 

Thus while our Lord God the Trinity created green and has good allusions to its color (Revelation 4:3), it is no coincidence that evil paganisms usually use green as their color and symbol. In fact, evil is still often depicted in green hues, take a look at the Green Ranger who was tasked by Ursula the Witch to destroy the Power Rangers, the Witch in Sleeping Beauty becomes a green and black dragon, Monster from Black Lagoon is green, Godzilla which was originally a horrific monster is green, and etc. Worse is cutesy green deceptions of Yoda who teaches New Age, Teenage Mutant Turtles who teach Zen Buddhism,  and Hulk who teaches kids to embrace anger for power. Beyond thus is Zombies which are usually green and whom the Lord describes not as fun to play as, but as enemies: 

“This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.” (Zachariah 14:12) 

I am not calling for boycott of green as a color. Our Lord Jesus created all colors. But beings in fiction and mythology that are green should give us pause and cause for concern, because these green characters usually are bearing a evil philosophy. Evilgreen is real, and so lets be discernful about what we let “little eyes see, and little ears hear.” Lets emphasize Christ and stop letting pointy eared wizards and Zen turtles take our youth by the ear. Amen.