How bad is bad? We use the word ‘evil’ to describe something really bad. Can people become evil? Evil seems to have an energy of its own. It has been demonstrated that a man who is sure he will receive no punishment, will do the most terrible things to other men.

One week after the first atomic bomb was tested, it was used to destroy a city. No one was punished for killing all those people. Some were vaporized. It was justified that it ended a terrible war. Men made a bomb and carried it across the world and dropped it on an unsuspecting city.

Do you know that the people involved with creating this weapon never wanted it used again. We still talk about it. We want it not to be used. No country has used this weapon since then.

This is about a weapon of great power. People are wondering if someone will use such a weapon again. People don’t even want it tested anymore. We know it works.

But the question is really this: Is someone so evil that they would use this weapon? We know of people using smaller weapons to kill strangers. We know there are men who will go out and kill people. But do you ever wonder where all this killing of men by other men started?

If you read a really old story, you find the first man born on this earth ended up killing his brother. Maybe he used a rock. Maybe he used his bare hands. But he introduced murder to the earth. He made himself evil to do it. He made his heart hard until he didn’t care about anyone else.

Evil is homemade in the human heart. Goodness, on the other hand, cannot be manufactured within a person. When the best man I can think of was called ‘good’ he said, “No one is good, just God.” And Goodness will not invade a man’s heart. He must choose The Good to benefit from that Good, which may be another name for God. The good God, the only source of goodness is a Person.

But he is invisible. No one has seen Him. True. A disciple of Jesus asked him a direct question one day. Show us God. Jesus had said before that he always did what God said. Now he replied, “If you have seen me, you have seen God.” The man later believed this so much that he called Jesus his Lord and God. We call that man Doubting Thomas. He said he had to be convinced that Jesus was alive again. He became convinced by Jesus himself.

It can be the same for any person. Ask God to convince you that he is real and that he is good. Wait a minute. This is ‘faith’, right? Maybe. Or put it like this: God, convince me of what is Truth.

Pilate was trying to find out why some people in his city wanted Jesus dead.

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others said it to you about me?”

“I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and your chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

“My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would fight to prevent me being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But now my kingdom is not from here.”

“So you are a king!”

“You say that I am a king. I have been born and have come into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

“What is truth?”

Did Pilate want to know what was truth?

I always thought his answer was sarcastic. Like he stopped believing in truth a long time ago. But some think he was sincere.

But what about you? Do you want to know the truth?

What did Jesus say?

“I have been born and have come into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

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Is this headline hard to believe? One day all people will silently agree that there remains only one way for men to live well.

Evil is result of choosing wrong. Freedom in choosing is important because good must be a choice. The evil that comes from choosing wrong has a good purpose though. It is to horrify us as we see the fruit of choosing wrong. Yes, it is sadly true that people suffer a lot because of the choices of others. But one day suffering will cease and goodness will fill the earth.

All will see it. No one will be able to stand and say that another way would have worked. Why? Because all other plans will complete a history of failure at that time. A failure of men under every other plan.

First, there was innocence but with one choice to ruin it.  What about life with no rules? Living by conscience was allowed without even one rule to guide us. It failed very badly. So badly that the earth was purged with a flood.

But a new start with Noah and family was granted.

Man was given authority to judge other men. If a man did murder, it was men who would judge and punish. Violence against the weak would not be tolerated. This was codified into laws by men to make it plain. And laws were given by God to a group of people hand-picked by him. But under good laws, the men failed to become good.

God himself brought a example society to a certain land with great miracles. But this people with God as their leader wanted a man to be their king. The golden age of kings lasted maybe 100 years but the wisest king knew no matter what he did, his sons might ruin everything.

This happened. The times of this people were all recorded carefully. From this people, a man came to make all things right. He was a prophet and king. He also began it all. Centuries of preparation came to this: He was rejected by those who were to watch for his coming.

After this, the message of mercy went out to all men. This good news shook the world. But many men insist on living in God’s world and counting him an absentee landlord who can be ignored.

But men will solidify their rejection of Gods Man and choose another man to lead them. Then the earth will be judged for all the evil done by men. The great suffering of that time will be limited in duration.

After all the ways men tried living without God have failed, the man who was send by God will return and take his place as leader of all. All will know who he is and he will bring peace to the earth at last. Can it be that men will rebel once again? It will happen. Men will reject him again and side with his enemy who was incapacitated for that time. But this rebellion will be short lived.

All things will be changed and a new earth will replace the old. A new capital city will be placed on this new earth. Only those prepared will be allowed on this one. A new beginning that will have no possible failure. No evil will have any place in it.

It can become your hope. No one will be rejected who come to God through his Christ. No other plan will do. Only God’s plan will succeed after men have failed in every situation. That is why no one will have anything to say. All other ways will be known to have ended in failure. And only God’s way will be seen by all as able to make men good.

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People were not intended to die but to live on and on. They had the Tree of Life always near. The first two listened to another voice. That was bad. God wants greatness for people but only through free cooperation with him. But God had a Plan B.

The Plan B came down to redemption brought by another man. This man would be fully tested and always choose the right choice. After he revealed himself to a few men, he was killed.

But how? He was the liveliest of all men. Men wanted to kill him several times but were unable to do it. He did not want to die. But he decided to let men kill him. This was part of Plan B. This was a good man, the best man ever. He agonized over this decision.

He became resolved to allow evil men to do whatever they wanted to him. The light of the world would now step into darkness. The Prince of Life would allow men to kill him. He called it a cup. A cup that he could never want to drink. But he did drink it.

People have given different reasons for his death. But consider this: this was when religious men got the government to kill someone they hated. The governor reluctantly agreed to give permission for this to happen.

This was an example, no, the example of men acting together to do their worst to a good man. A man that no one could even give one example of a selfish act ever done by him. This was evil against good.

We can now choose sides. Do we want to side with those who hate God? Or do we want to imitate the man who returned from death. His method of living was doing that best action called the Will of God. If we do join his side, he gifts us with his best gift. He can’t even explain it to his friends. He just says, “Wait for what is next.”

Somehow the Spirit of God can work with us to do stuff like Jesus. This is how we can prepare for what is next. We choose, as new hearted people, to do what God wants us to do. We embrace our new life when we walk as he walked. Doing what God wants you to do is best for everyone else in your life. But it is also best for you. You will become like someone who eats fruit from the Tree of Life.

Be Fruitful

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