Somehow, categorising people as bad has somewhat become a protection from explanation.

“Why did you break up with him?” “He's a bad guy.”

“Why did you stop being friends with her?” “Uhm… she's not a bad person, but she's a bad friend.”

“ Why did you stop attending the gathering?” “ The atmosphere is not good for me.”

Imagine when you were little you were not convinced that strangers are bad, you would have probably been more curious as to why you couldn't associate with them(at least I would).

And like that, we've used the word as a cover when we do not want to explain, when we want to justify, and even when we do not want to expose our own flaws. We also believe that every “bad” person should not be allowed the same amount of peace, love and happiness that good people enjoy.

I mean, how can we prove that people are actually bad if they're not behind bars, in the hospital, or have their life in shambles.

I watched a movie recently that made me have to write this article. So, in the movie, a well-to-do lawyer was married to a painter who decided (solely) that she did not want to have a child, so they were raising a dog together. She even went as far as getting an abortion without informing her husband that she was pregnant.

After some years, the wife asks for a divorce, claiming that the marriage was now loveless, and she could no longer live with him. The man was still very much in love with her, so clearly he broke down and lost his spark.

Fast forward to some years later, the man is single and sad, while his ex-wife is remarried to his childhood friend, and she is now even pregnant.

That was highly unacceptable! Why was she happy and the man unhappy? Where was the part where her new husband abandoned her? Where was the part where they found out that she had complications and could no longer have the child. I found myself wishing deep down that she would lose her baby or her marriage would flop. But that would have only made the storyline cliché. So, as uncomfortable as it was for me, I had to accept the fact that the woman was simply not going to suffer even after I had termed her evil, selfish and inconsiderate.

In life, there are people who do wrong things and end up hurting others, either out of ignorance or as a mistake. Does this automatically make them innocent? But even ignorance is not an excuse under the law, so does that make them evil people?

Humans are designed to care about themselves and, as a result, a lot of people make selfish choices, be it an individual, a corporation, or even a nation at large. Imagine a company owner who is at the edge of going bankrupt and has to make a hard decision of laying off his workers. This makes him a bad person to them, but in reality, he simply had a responsibility to protect what he has worked for. Does his reason make him good, or does his decision make him bad and worthy of suffering?

Similarly, a mother would go to lengths to protect her child, even at the expense of another person's child. Does her reason make her good? Or do her actions make her bad?

And finally, the kind of impunity that hurts people (including me) the most – seeing evil people live freely in Society. Again, the definition of evil depends on our point of view and what the law interprets it to be.

I watched house of David, and I was able to feel how gruesome the actions of Doeg were. He was deceitful, treacherous, and was a murderer. As a matter of fact, he was a psychopath that was responsible for a lot of mishaps during the reign of Saul.

Despite never having heard or read of his punishment in the bible, I deeply wished that the storywriter would make some changes and create a scene where he was rotting away in pain (I do not have murderous intents, I promise; my imagination is just wild).

It made my blood boil that such a despicable human never got due punishment, at least not on earth. And this made me realise that perhaps the golden rule about no sinner going unpunished is actually less about justice, and more about the gratification it brings to see them suffer.

I had an argument with a classmate when I was in Basic 5. We had the same colour of pen, so it was mixed up and her pen cap got misplaced. I was sure that the pen with the cap was mine, but she cried about the pen being her dad's and it was given to her. I hated the judgment, so later on when she lost the pen, I was happy ( I did not steal it o). That showed that it was not about justice, but gratification.

Till today, we have very little power in determining evil and it's consequences, except if we are also willing to become evil to fix our perception of evil. But then we become blind to our own evil ( just like I had malicious thoughts toward the woman that left her husband).

The law today recognises mitigating factors for huge offences, including murder. The recognition of these does not fix the identity of the culprit towards the victim, or their family. The victim still wants the culprit to be punished, not regarding who is at fault.

There are situations where we are wronged, and if we check, we were never at fault. But the people who wronged us do not ever get punished or “suffer.” It is quite a hard pill to swallow, but life actually is like this sometimes.

You can meet a high school bully later in life, and they're doing so well that their children would not be at the risk of being bullied. An armed robber that caused a thrift collector to commit suicide could eventually become a Minister, without being visibly punished.

The truth is even I am confused about this matter, so I decided to bring it to you guys. I wonder why a witch that has killed many people can become saved, without having to still suffer, but then I rememberI am only living under God's grace.

I might have been a bad person to my Basic 5 classmate, and she might have suspected me of stealing her pen, but would that ever make me deserving of suffering?

Dearest gentle readers, I would love to read your opinions. Do you think every bad person should suffer?

Comment

I've always believed I could cast out demons, or at least I would someday. I knew it was locked up somewhere on the inside of me.

But one thing I thought was that you had to at least fast for forty days and forty nights, or at least get to a certain stage.

Just so you know, I was attending MFM at some point, and we were killing a lot of demons, whether I believed it then or not.

Whenever any such prayer was raised, I didn't open my eyes, not even by accident. I could not afford attracting another person's demons.

So, back to my point. I thought casting out demons was not children's business. I just simply did not have enough spiritual strength.

The problem was not with whether I believed I could but when I thought I finally could

And it felt right until…

It was a Monday morning, and my sleep had just been interrupted by the sound of my alarm. I checked the time on my phone.

“5:02, it's still early. I'll just wake up by 5:30.” I decided and went back to sleep.

By 5:13, I woke up again, but not because of my alarm this time.

The room suddenly went cold (no, chilly!).

The nightmare felt so real that I started to doubt if I awake just 11 minutes ago. Don't worry. I won't scare you any further by narrating.

The dream was scary, but nothing prepared me for the ominous atmosphere that followed. It felt as though there was an unclean spirit lurking around my corner.

I did what any other spiritual person would do in that situation. I prayed.

I prayed those prayers that I felt I was too immature to pray. Those casting and biding prayers, but it did little in eliminating that chilly presence I was feeling.

I picked up my phone to play a song, and somehow, Father of Spirits by Theophilus Sunday came up.

I kept on praying, while deep down, I doubted if I was not too weak to be praying those prayers. But then, not by power, not by might. But by the spirit of the living God.

While I kept on praying, a bible verse dropped on my heart: Mark 16:17. Memories of my JSS 2 days cane running to my head, when we had to recite Mark 16:17-18 as our test.

And I started to quote it.

But then, there was a great nudge in my spirit to open my bible and read. It was as though the Holy Spirit intentionally was saying “read it as it is written.”

I obeyed immediately. I hurriedly opened my bible and went to the verse.

I didn't have to read it more than once. It was as clear as day. A bible verse that had been living rent free in my head, same letters, same words, same meaning, but now it help much deeper revelation, or perhaps I was just seeing it.

The words were clearer than ever. Jesus said “those that believe;” not “those that have fasted for forty days and forty nights;” not “they thay have reached 30.”

They that believe!

I could actually just stop here, cause you've gotten my message, but no.

True spiritual strength comes from faith. Jesus has compassion, but most people he healed in the bible were people that had faith.

Now, this is not me undermining the power of fasting and prayer. Those are the tools needed for spiritual growth, alongside the study of the word. But of what use is it if you don't believe the things you pray and fast for or about?! What use is it if you do not believe the word you read?!

After Jesus said, “these signs shall follow they that believe,” the next thing he said was “ in my name shall they cast out demons.”

Notice how the first thing is not speaking in tongues. This means that before you started speaking in tongues, you already received power to cast out unclean spirits. But this power can only be accessed by faith.

As a matter of fact, the acceptance of Jesus in your life, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life already nullifies the power of every devil. This is why as much as I could feel that dirty presence, it could not harm me. All that was left was to believe it and then bid it gone.

Power of life and death are in the tongue. Jesus performed every Miracle by speaking.

With this knowledge, I began to pray again. This time, not for the sake of it, but because I now had understanding.

I let the Father of Spirits take over. He gave me utterance, and I could not feel the sickening presence anymore.

When I said I cast out a devil, I meant it. Not from a person, but from my space.