WHEN EVIL PEOPLE DIE

God never rejoices at the death of an evil person. It is a loss to the Kingdom of heaven. And that we (Christians) are of the Kingdom of heaven, we pretty much share in all that grieves the same and do rejoice when it rejoices. For if God were to rejoice over the death of any "evil" person, then He should have been doing so over the death of all of us, because we are all evil.

Christians are ambassadors of the heavens (2Corinthians 5:20), (Philippians 3). We represent the heavens on earth. And upon this, we must not fail in our ambassadorial duties.

We must work as tirelessly as we should to reach as many people as we can so to bring them to the Kingdom of the heavens. If we do not do this, or do it but not as well, then we have terribly failed and we are equally accountable (Ezekiel 3:18-20, 33:1-11). Christians must influence society in the most positive way.

While we live, we all have lively opportunities to change the course of things both literally and spiritually. We have the opportunity to repent and reconcile with God. The most dangerous thing is to die when you have changed nothing about yourself or in society in a positive way. For upon death, whatever it is, is what it will always be. 

So, if an evil person dies, we can do nothing to help them (when they have died) because God designed it that all has to be put right from here. Jesus came to help us put our lives right with God. Upon this, it was a requirement that He had to come on earth because there is no other way He could have helped us minus dressing in human flesh and showing up on earth.

In this, the requirement that Jesus had to dress up in human flesh and show up on earth is pretty proof that everything that be is rectified from here, or else, you are ruined.

For when we depart from earth (death), there is no opportunity left to put a thing right. Upon this, if an evil person dies (in that evil form), it so is that there is no any slight hope of ever saving them. It is rather a deal done and sealed (John 3:18), (Luke 16:19-30).

Who is an evil person

There could be many sorts of definitions of who an evil person is, (in regard from one culture to another, one religion to another), but in all these, you realize that there is an agreed universal moral standard. Say for example, no society will accommodate a thief, or a murderer.

Categories of evil

Moral evil 

These are offenses committed by one person against another person. These would include offenses as murder, theft.These are also social offenses.

Cultic sins or sin against the person of God

These are offenses aimed directly against the deity. Such sins would include: blasphemy, idolatry.

Cultic values are addressed in the first four of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-11), (Deuteronomy 5:7-15). 

Jesus also defines the  "Great Commandments" along the same view (Matthew 22:37-40), (Mark 12:30), (Luke 10:27).

Then the ethical law is considered in the last six of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12-17), (Deuteronomy 5:16-21) and in the "Great Commandment" (Leviticus 19:18).

Source (origin) of evil 

The source of evil is sin (disobedience).  For there was a tree in the middle of the garden of Eden in whose fruit was the knowledge of good and evil, and upon which if eaten, it would lead to condemnation (Genesis 2:9). So, upon this, God instructed Adam not to eat of the same (Genesis 3:2). For it was not for man to distinguish between good and evil. Or if it was, it would have never been the right time to.

When Adam did eat of the fruit of this forbidden tree, he indeed died. For he did not become "like God" (because he was not to be God), he rather died (Genesis 3:5).

Now that Adam and Eve had become "like God" (knowing good and evil), yet they were not God, they had to be stopped from perpetuating evil from a position of God's person. They were thrown out of the garden accordingly. God would have eventually instructed them on evil but now they had learned of it by experience, something God did not intend.

From the time Adam and Eve disobeyed God evil spread everywhere. Not that it was being taught, but that since Adam had committed evil, so it is that Satan  bred evil in Adam and his offspring. For Cain killed his brother Abel because evil had descended to him from his father Adam (Genesis 4:1-16). 

This kind of situation grieved God and He regretted why He had created man. For evil carried on in and through man (Genesis 6:5).

The knowledge of good and evil

The knowledge of good and evil is the ability to discern good and evil. Yet to man, the knowledge of the same meant conceiving evil because he (man) was not guarded against evil.

When Satan was tempting Eve to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, he told her that God had forbidden them (Adam and Eve) from eating of such fruit because He (God) knew that the moment they ate of it, it would make them to be "like" God.

The message in this is that God had the knowledge of good and evil, but Adam and Eve did not. So, that if Adam and Eve ate of such fruit they would be like God, was that they would also acquire the same knowledge, and it so happened.

What is good?

Good in the divine sense is what is correct, excellent and virtuous. It is absolute that God is the standard of what is good since goodness is His nature.

Nevertheless, being good can be at the human level, but it is also at the divine level. Divine is God and divine good is therefore exclusive to God.

That God created man in His own image may imply that man had shared in being good like God is good. And man was meant to conceive it that way. But he (man) was not to have the knowledge to discern and conceive evil. Rather man was to conceive good but not evil.

What is evil?

Evil is a supernatural force which operates in a person and drives them to commit wickedness and depravity.

So, if we define evil in this way, we pretty agree that it is not of a person's choice to be evil. For there is a supernatural force which orchestrates the actions thereof.

That God didn't want Adam and Eve to have this knowledge pretty much suggests that God was shielding them from conceiving evil because if they did (just as it was), the devil would use this route to find his way in them (Adam and Eve).

Since evil is a supernatural force, they would have never been able to resist practicing it when they conceived it. And having conceived it, it meant that they had given it space in their lives. And it so happened that when they did conceive it, it automatically orchestrated them into practicing evil. Adam and Eve did not have what we may call the divine mental stability to fend off evil.  

Why only God to have the knowledge of good and evil

God is supreme to everything. God has all the attributes that He is God. He is not subject to any human flaws. He is divine. Scripture also defines God as Spirit. God is Spirit and in this, He is Omnipresent and Omniscient. 

Adam and Eve had nothing of the attributes of God of their own. If they had any of a divine attribute, it was so because they shared it from God. But apart from this, God knew that they (Adam and Eve) did not have the divine mental stability to shield them from practicing evil had they had the knowledge of it. The moment they knew evil, it was only a way the devil would have them to practice it. And so it was, and so it is.

The devil wanted it that man eventually practices evil. But God is not like man. For God knows evil because He is God. God (unlike the gravely vulnerable man) can not conceive and later alone practice evil. Yet once Adam and Eve knew good and evil, they could not help practicing it. 

Just as we have said above, evil is a supernatural force which can't be literally resisted. There is only power and the mechanism to resist evil in God and not in the ever vulnerable human beings. Thus, everyone needs Jesus if to overcome their natural weaknesses. 

Why practice evil

Part of the reason why man continues to practice evil is because that is what is recorded on his mind. For it is one thing to have the knowledge of something, and it is another to practice what you know. Yet man can't resist practicing evil once he has knowledge of it. 

Our brain or mind for that matter must be recorded with the matters of God if to resist evil practices. There is a very thin line between one knowing something and doing or not doing it. For everything we do begins with the knowledge of it. How can you know unless you have been told? We do evil because the devil tells us to. And we do good because God tells us to, unless for evil pretense.

What God was to do

God was not to allow this pandemic of evil from sin go on unabated. For after the flood, Noah offers a burnt sacrifice which was so pleasing to the Lord. And it is then that God swore never to do the same albeit man carried on with an evil heart (Genesis 8:21).

Evil is in two ways: 

• Man's view of evil 

• God's view of evil 

Man's view of evil

The literal definition of evil

• Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.

• Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful

• Characterized by anger or spite; malicious: an evil temper.

• That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction: a leader's power to do both good and evil.

• An evil force, power, or personification.

God's view of evil

God's view of what is evil or not pretty much differs from what man decides is or is not. For society decides what they perceive to be in their best interests. But we ought to note that it is not about what society does or doesn't decide on, but what the revealed will of God declares.

So, whether cultic or moral evil, all evil is against man much as it is against God. For if you commit murder, it is no less than idolatry or blasphemy. Evil is everything that is against God and His will. For even the Moral law is God's own law which is but for us to live in peace with each other.

In this, there may not be grounds to distinguish the moral law from the cultic law. For natural evil is termed so basing on what we know God loves and dislikes.

So, upon this, we pretty do agree that God is the definer of what is good (2Samuel 10:12), (Mark 10:18), (Luke 18:19 ), right (Genesis 18:25 ), and just ( Job 34:12 ). So, God hates evil and He will avenge judgment upon all those who practice it (evil) ( Psalms 5:6), (Isaiah 31:2), (Micah 2:1 ).

In general terms, evil can be defined as disobedience to the revealed will of God. It (evil) is disharmony with fellow humans and God.
 

How to change the course of things

How do I change the course of things? One will ask. This is a million dollar question, yet not short of answers.

For each one of us have their own wishes. But thus goes the saying: "if all wishes were horses, everybody would be riding". Everybody seek to do things their own way, but which is the approved way? Or which is the way of God?

What am I to do?

We are Christians because we believe and follow Christ (Acts 11:19-30). Jesus Christ is our model. We do what He does and we dislike what He dislikes. Jesus is our perfect example. Everything He tells us to do, we should do without asking a single question because it is truth.

There is none in any of Jesus' teachings when He tells us to rejoice over the death of evil people. After all, it is this kind of people He came for (Matthew 9:13), (Mark 2:17), (Luke 5:32). Jesus did not curse anyone, no matter how much He had been provoked into such a situation.

Jesus did not condemn anyone. He gives everyone opportunities to change their course. Sometimes, some of His disciples would be overwhelmed by events and circumstances, but Jesus never allowed to be overtaken by any of such (Luke 9:54-55). 

In this same spirit, this our Lord and Master Jesus Christ gives us the greatest commandment and that is to preach the word of the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 28:19-20), (Mark 16:15-16), (Luke 9:2, 24:46-47).

When Jesus commands us to go into the world and preach the gospel, teaching people all things that He told us to and thereby making them disciples, He was directing us how we can influence peoples' lives in a positive manner and bring them to the heavenly fold. And upon this, there are thousands of testimonies of people who have been touched by this gospel of change, love, reconciliation, healing, peace etc.

Many of us who are proud Christians today were once termed as evil. But we have made use of this abundance of the numerous opportunities that Jesus gives us so that we can change the course of things. It only is in Jesus that a murderer can become a saint. In all measure, Saul who became Paul was evil. But he is now Paul the saint.

Our Lord and Master never rejoiced over the death of any soul, neither did He ever teach us to. It grieves God when it so happens that an evil person dies (in their evil form). So it should grieve us as well. For we must be one with Jesus. We must love what He loves and we must dislike whatever He dislikes. 

Recall that according to the Biblical definition of who an evil person is, or what evil is, it so is a proven fact that everyone is evil (Romans 3:23). Adam and Eve became evil because they disobeyed God. And we are the offspring of the same. So now, it is not of one's choice to say whether they are or not evil. 

That we perceive some of us to be evil is the human setting in which the devil operates and wants us to understand things. And in this way that the devil wants us to  understand things, we are kept in the evil setting. Then we feel sweet viewing others as evil because we falsely think we are not. No one of us is inexcusable (Romans 2:1-3). Yet God's Kingdom is not about who is wrong and who is not. The Kingdom of God is about righteousness, love, healing, peace, joy, etc

Who am I?

The good of me is not that I perceive myself good. It is not the good that people say I am. The good of me is that I should recognize the evil in me.

A way to be able to overcome evil is first to recognize its existence and its presence in us. For the devil just wants us to falsely wish that we have no evil in us. Yet this is simply his (devil's) way to keep us within his perfect reach. Upon having known this therefore, I must be yearning to guard my spirit, but not to guard the false perceptions of myself, or what I falsely appear to others that I am, yet I am not.

In all this, we all qualify as evil. We can only live in false denial. So, much as it so is true that Hitler or Bin Laden, or Stalin are evil (in every sense of the human setting), we must recognize that the evil in one of us is potentially in everyone.

For evil is not only what one literally does, but what they are in the heart. Evil proceeds from the heart and not from outside into the heart  (Mark 7:20-23). If everyone literally practices what they harbor in the heart, there would not be a bit of peace in this world. Everyone is just restrained. But the potential to do anything is in everyone.

How to get rid of evil

It is not up to me and you that there is evil in us, yet the repercussions of being evil gravely affect each one of us. For we just found ourselves in such a state by way of being the offspring of Adam.

If it was of a choice, to be or not to be evil, no one would love a bit of evil in them. So, upon this, God's issue with us is not that we are evil, but that we refuse to listen and submit to Him so He directs us how to overcome evil. God wants us away from the sinful image of Adam into the righteous acceptable image of Jesus Christ.

In the spirit of helping us to overcome this gravely consequential evil, God has provided Jesus who stands blameless and free from all the flaws of man that in Him (Jesus), we can be replenished and restored to God. That is that in Jesus we are pretty accepted of God. Upon this, everyone who is not in Christ is pretty evil and condemned.

But if we deny Jesus, that gravely consequential evil remains in us, and upon this, we are pretty condemned. Only Jesus has the materials and the mechanisms to iron out the evil in our hearts and minds and make us presentable to the holy and righteous God.

So, in all this, God wants us to commit to Christ only in whom we are justified. For we need the righteousness of Jesus, but not that which is made by the works of the law (filthy righteousness). We can only receive the righteousness of Jesus when we commit to Him. In all this, God is not judging us basing on how evil we are, but basing on having or having not denied Jesus Christ (Isaiah 46:13, 56:1), (Romans 1:17, 4:5, 10:4), (2Corinthians 5:21).
  

God's position when evil people die

It pretty grieves God when evil people die. Upon this, God has commissioned a grand project to provide a way that each one of us can repent of their evil. The heavens rejoice when a soul repents of his evil ways (Luke 15).

When a sinner turns away from evil and chooses the path of holiness and righteousness, it is then that it is work done. But when the evil die in their evil form, then it is a loss to the Kingdom of heaven. For Jesus came to save and not to destroy (Luke 9:56).

Nevertheless, God has given us the power of choice. Rather God does not impose Himself on us, albeit He does not give up on His mission to redeem and set us free from the evil forces. 

So, as a Christian, I must blame myself if I have not reached out to a soul. And if it so happens that that soul dies, (in that evil from), then I must have it ringing in my mind why I did nothing when I have had the opportunity to.

But if I have reached out to that soul, but he denies Jesus Christ, then I have nothing to blame myself for and the blood of that person is upon him.

In all this, my utmost interest as a Christian must not be that an evil person dies, my utmost interest should rather be that if I get the opportunity, I should reach out to that person and bring them to the fold of Jesus Christ.

And if the issue is about to or not to rejoice over the death of an evil person, if a person has given their lives to Christ, and have changed from their evil ways to the ways of Christ, in this way, I can rejoice that I have been used by God to touch a soul away from hell.