SKIP TOOMALOO POST - The Ends Thereof

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 16:25

It is hard to escape the fact that there are men in the world who think nothing of murder. Murder is somehow glorified as a means to a satisfactory end. To kill someone is a matter of relief or release. The secret that will not be found out; the child that will not be born out of guilt and shame; the witness to the crime unable to testify in court; or the dictator that is enabled to retain his power; leaves satisfaction in the heart of the killer while the usually innocent life is forfeit.

Sin satisfies sinners. All ways are right and true. Everything is permitted even should there be no direct civil law against the act. As long as any particular person can be happy with the result, any action should be allowed. In sin, all the ends are “ways of death”.

It isn’t easy to explain to a sinner why his or her particular sin is detrimental. Sinners rarely are in the mood to listen to anything that causes them to think apart from the pleasure they derive from their choices. Alcoholics and the drug addicted sometimes need direct intervention to save them from destructive behaviors. Pedophiles and rapists need to be found out and arrested; tried and convicted before facing up to the wrongness of their actions.

All men are capable of deceiving themselves into accepting a way that “seems” right. Some men look for the easy dollar with gambling or direct theft. Others extort money through blackmail or “con” or “scam” then satisfy their guilt believing the victim “had it coming”. All of that is deception. Workmen are to be worthy of their wage.

Human selfishness leads to all manner of sin. Ultimately, that is what sin is; a selfishness that doesn’t allow any debate or rebuke. The sinner is always right.

Satan once believed he was better than God and attempted to take over the heavens out of his pride and selfishness. He had everything he desired with one exception. He was not God nor would he ever be God. In his own world and mind he was God. The heavenly throne rightfully belonged to him.

He was wrong.

But Satan was able to bring that mindset into the world of humans. He was able to entice Adam and Eve with the promise of godhood and he uses the same tactics even to this age of men. The most current of men who believed themselves a god above all law found himself dead at the end of a rope for his arrogance against the laws of humanity and civility.

Yet, as long as other men seem to prosper in sin there will never be true peace for the world. As long as men continue to believe they are smarter and better than God they will discover new ways that lead only to death.

Jesus said very plainly: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”

That is a simple statement, stated simply. Even the most ruthless and deceived of men can understand that no matter what choice they make, if Jesus is not in the core of that choice, the ends thereof are the ways of death.

The day Jesus returns to the earth will not be a good day for mankind. Men will finally see their worthlessness in the face of the worthy. They will shrivel in their pride and they will have no words left to describe their objections against God. They will bend the knee and admit they were wrong and they will be too late. Their ways will be revealed as the ways of death.

There will be sheep among the goats though. Jesus will separate the herd from the flock and bless the one into his kingdom. The remnant of men who believed and received the truth; the men who did not follow so much their own ways as the ways laid out by the true God; those men will find that God knows how to keep a promise. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Originally published in www.useless-knowledge.com under my pseudonym Skip Toomaloo January 28, 2007. (The thoughts are biblical and therefore timeless.)