THOMAS
Shouldn't sinners be respected there?
A person who goes to heaven after death will receive a reward from God. And whoever ends up in hell, doesn’t he deserve, if not a reward, but at least moral support from its inhabitants? We came across this question on one of the social networks. And, despite a certain amount of irony in its formulation itself, they decided to look into this issue with all seriousness.
The bewilderment of the author of the question would be completely fair if there were two equal centers of power in the world - God with His angels, ruling the “light side” of the world, and the devil with his demons, ruling the “dark side”. This is roughly how the world, black and white, was imagined by followers of some Eastern religions - for example, Zoroastrians or Manichaeans. Such a world is also depicted by some modern science fiction writers - for example, Sergei Lukyanenko with his “Watches” series.
In a world where there are two rulers and each has his own scale of values (one with a plus sign, the other with a minus sign), one would indeed expect that each of the rulers would reward or punish his subordinates depending on how they succeeded in their business, “light” or “dark”. This is what happens in Lukyanenko’s stories. Employees of Light receive awards from their boss for preventing disasters and saving human lives, while employees of Darkness are promoted for the opposite “achievements”: inciting conflicts, quarrels, sowing temptations, etc.
But Christians know that the real world works differently. He has only one Lord - the Lord God. He Himself says about Himself: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me" (Isaiah 45:5). And there is only one scale of values - set by God.
The struggle between good and evil occurs, but not on a global scale, but in the heart of every person. And its outcome has been predetermined since the Savior, the Son of God Jesus Christ, came into the world two thousand years ago. Good won once and for all - for the sake of this victory, Christ allowed Himself to be crucified on the Cross, died, rose again and founded His Church. To a person who has been baptized into Christ and become a member of the Body of Christ - the Church, the devil can no longer dictate anything; he decides who to listen to and who to follow.
So Bulgakov’s Woland, of course, can consider himself a useful part of the evil force, without which and against the background of which good would not be good. But this is a deception, like everything that comes from the devil. Christians know very well that goodness in itself is absolute and does not need devilish support. Evil is just the absence of good, and not an independent and equal force with God.
How do Christians know how the world works?
First of all, from the Revelation of God Himself, which is contained in the Holy Scriptures. The very first commandment that Moses received from God reads: “I am the Lord your God... thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20: 2,3). From the prophet Isaiah we read: “I am God, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me” (Isaiah 46:9). The Epistle of the Apostle James says: “There is one Lawgiver and Judge, able to save and to destroy” (James 4:12). All biblical books are permeated with the idea that the universe was created by One God and is governed by the laws established by Him. Both physical and moral.
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In the modern Christian world, there are different opinions about immortality, about hell and heaven, about reward immediately after death, about judgment, about the eternal torment of sinners in hell throughout endless eternity, and all this will happen in front of the redeemed, saved righteous. We will not talk about purgatory at all, since this concept is anti-biblical. In this regard, any serious reader of the Bible will involuntarily have a number of questions: 1. What is the character of God in this case, if He has prepared eternal , endless terrible torment in hell? Is God then fair at all?
2. Where will hell be in the new heaven and new earth? Probably for a hot and hot hell, God will separate a decent piece of the new earth and place billions of sinners there?
3. When does reward occur for the sinner and the righteous, immediately after death or after resurrection?
4. If reward is immediate after death, when was the judgment of this person?
5. Why then do so many passages of Scripture talk about the coming judgment, where sinners will be judged and about subsequent reward, if people have already received reward immediately after death? And many other questions. Let this not seem to you, dear friends, a mockery or mockery of what you may believe in, these are sincere and true questions, we have heard them more than once from many serious, thoughtful people who kept these questions to themselves in their subconscious. It is clear that these issues require serious study and this is not a matter of one day, but gradually this is possible. Do not think that we deny the punishment of sinners after the judgment in the lake of fire, no, but the Bible denies that these torments will be endless. It would be quite reasonable to say that these topics are not the most important for our salvation, but without correctly understanding these topics and the character of God, we will certainly come to such errors that will affect the possibility of getting into eternal life. Let's take a little look at the issue of eternal torment and eternal fire,
what does the Bible say about this. The result of the Fall, sin and sinners, the devil himself as the root of everything and branches i.e. sinners, there will be complete destruction “as if they did not exist,” “neither root nor branch will remain.” Is there really nothing left? You ask, what about eternal torment and eternal fire, which we have heard about many times? We have never been against biblical truths, namely biblical ones, if you have any doubts or questions, you can safely ask them and we will think about it in a prayerful spirit and mood. According to the Word of God, there will remain the memory of the Fall and the great love of God and the wonderful plan of salvation carried out by the Son of God and this smoke of torment i.e. memories of torment (life without God is not life, but sheer torment; without observing the commandments of Christ there cannot be a full life) and the teaching of God’s incredible love for some and justice and deserved retribution for others, will be in the consciousness of the redeemed and all the inhabitants of the Universe to the fullest. endless eternity. The texts below talk about the end of all the wicked, along with Satan
and death as a result of sin. Malachi 4:1: “For behold, the day will come, burning like an oven; Then all the arrogant and those who do wickedly will be like stubble, and the coming day will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” Isaiah 25:8: “Death will be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and will take away the reproach of His people throughout all the earth; for thus saith the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:54: “When this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Ezekiel 28:18-19: “By the multitude of your iniquities, in your unrighteous trade, you have defiled your sanctuaries; and I will bring fire from among you, which will consume you: and I will turn you into ashes on the earth in the sight of all who see you. All who knew you among the nations will be amazed at you; You will become a horror, and you will not exist forever.” Rev. 20:12-15: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged according to what was written in the books, according to their deeds. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them; and each one was judged according to his deeds. Both death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 21:8: “But the part of the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death." The Word of God cannot contradict itself. There are several texts in the Holy Scriptures that speak of the “eternal” torment of sinners; we propose to place them in the corresponding meanings of the word eternal. The word eternal has three meanings. One meaning implies without end, the next two meanings imply temporary or limited by time, the word eternal comes from the word age. 1. Never ending, endless. 1 Timothy 6:16: “He alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. Honor and eternal power to him! Amen." Exodus 15:18: “The Lord will reign forever and ever.” Isaiah 40:28: “Don’t you know? Have you not heard that the eternal Lord God, who created the ends of the earth, does not become weary or faint? His mind is unsearchable." Jeremiah 10:10: “And the Lord God is truth; He is the living God and the eternal King. The earth trembles because of His wrath, and the nations cannot withstand His indignation.” Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; and see if I am on a dangerous path, and direct me to the eternal path (this means there is a path that is not eternal, it turns out like this).” 2. Limited by some time. Psalm 39:5-6: “Tell me, O Lord, my end and the number of my days, what it is, so that I may know what my age is. Behold, You have given me days as inches, and my life as nothing before You. Verily, every man who lives is complete vanity.” Mat 18:8-9: “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you: it is better for you to enter into life without an arm or without a foot, than to have two hands and two feet and be cast into everlasting fire; and if your eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, than to be cast into fiery hell with two eyes.” (in heaven there will be no cripples with one leg and an arm and an eye... these are symbolic expressions meaning the fight against carnal thoughts and deeds, accordingly, fire in this text means the wrath of God for the sins of man in the lake of fire, but this will not be eternal, but will have its end). Mat 25:41,46: “Then He will also say to those on the left hand: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.” Jude 1:7: “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, like them, committed fornication and went after other flesh, being subjected to the punishment of eternal fire, they were set up as an example -” It is written of eternal fire, but it has not burned for a long time, if we take these and similar places. In such passages we are talking about the immutability of God's sentence towards unrepentant sinners, and His sentence is eternal, God does not change and He will never change His attitude towards sin. 3. Eternal from the word age - 100 years The word eternal in the Bible often means immutability, immutability, immutability, for example, of a sentence, even in a positive sense, even in a negative one. 2 Samuel 23:5: “Is not my house with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, firm and immutable. Doesn’t all my salvation and all my desire come from Him?” 1 Chronicles 16:15-17: “Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded for a thousand generations, which he commanded to Abraham, and which he swore to Isaac, and which he made to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,” we subsequently We see how this covenant was broken by the people of Israel and the Lord made a new covenant with them, St. Paul put it this way, Hebrews 10:8-9,16-18: “Having said before that “neither sacrifice, nor oblation, nor burnt offering, nor sin offering,” which are offered according to the law, “You did not desire I did not deign,” then added: “Behold, I come to do Your will, O God.” Cancels the first to establish the second. ... This is the covenant that I bequeath to them after those days, says the Lord: “I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them in their minds, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is no need for an offering for them.” If we collect all the passages of Holy Scripture that mention the ending of the story of the Fall on our earth, the ending of the devil and sinners and analyze in harmony the entire Bible, based on the Wise and loving character of the Lord God, then we come to one conclusion that does not contradict any aspect of Scripture, this is that when we read the Bible and see the mention of the word eternal in relation to Satan and sinners, it has a limited, temporary meaning, but when applied to God and the redeemed, it has the meaning of infinity, just as our Lord and Savior is eternal and infinite. If you try to apply the meaning of infinity to sinners, questions arise with the above texts, which say that there will be no root or branches left and it will be as if they never existed, etc. To understand the question of immortality, hell and heaven, judgment and reward more Objectively, we need to examine the history of the Fall from the very beginning. Here is the beginning of the story briefly... Genesis 2:8-9,15-17: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had created. And the Lord God made out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt die.” Here we can highlight the prohibition for Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in case of eating, the wages of sin is death. Read on... Genesis 3:1-5: “The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: You shall not eat from any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent: We can eat fruit from the trees, only from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God said, do not eat it or touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, “No, you will not die, but God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” Here we see the deception of the devil, who presented God as a deceiver. Here are the results and conclusions...
Genesis 3:22-24: “And the Lord God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and also take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. And the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken. And he drove out Adam, and placed in the east by the garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life.” From these texts there is only one conclusion: eternal life with God was conditioned by obedience and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a means of testing their obedience, since the Lord set Cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the path to the tree of life, so that Adam, who had sinned, would not continue to enjoy the blessings of God and would not taste and did not live forever, they say that there are no eternal sinners and there never will be, such is our Lord and such are His rules always and today, for obedience to Him comes blessing, and for disobedience the consequences of which are grief, groans, tears and torment and, ultimately, self-destruction , what we see every day around us, the wrath of God, which is dictated by His great love for His creations, so that they do not suffer forever. In this case, we will consider God as a merciful and just Judge with a capital J, who prepared for everyone according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad, a slave who has never heard of Him and did not have the opportunity to hear may not receive punishment, but it will simply be as if he didn’t exist, or maybe the Lord wants to give him eternal life, it’s up to Him to decide. Satan will receive accordingly both for himself and for everyone, because he deserved it, and the priest who took the Bible in his hands and lulled the conscience of his parishioners with non-binding sermons, instead of teaching them the commandments and calling them to repentance, as they did all faithful servants of God will also receive a worthy reward. James 3:1: “My brothers! not many become teachers, knowing that we will be subject to greater condemnation,” this list can be continued, but there is no point, it’s not a matter of fantasy, but the point is that with such an understanding everything falls into place, God is very reasonable, everyone will receive ACCORDINGLY, but not tormented throughout endless eternity. The word fire in the Bible also has different meanings, which we will certainly talk about. In some texts we see that fire means the wrath of God and man. Exodus 15:7: “By the greatness of Your glory You have brought down those who rebelled against You. You sent Your wrath, and it burned them up like stubble.” Deuteronomy 32:22: “For fire has kindled in My wrath, burning unto the lowest hell, and consuming the earth and its produce, and consuming the foundations of the mountains.” 2 Chronicles 29:10: “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that he may turn away the flame of his wrath from us.” Deuteronomy 29:27: “Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the land, and He brought upon it all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book;” Deuteronomy 29:20: “The Lord will not forgive such a one, but immediately the wrath of the Lord and His wrath will be kindled against such a person, and all the curse of this covenant that is written in this book will fall on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.” Exodus 32:12: “So that the Egyptians should not say, He brought them out to destruction, to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth; turn away Your fiery anger and cancel the destruction of Your people;" Exodus 32:21-22: “And Moses said to Aaron, “What has this people done to you, that you have caused them to commit great sin? But Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord be kindled; You know these people are violent." Numbers 25:3: “And Israel cleave to Baalpeor. And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” Eternal “fire”, synonymous with the lake of fire, Gehenna of fire, which Jesus Christ mentions in the previously cited texts has a literal meaning, it is the fire of punishment, justice and justice of God, God’s reward, eternal here means limited by time, until The fury of the wrath of God will not be satisfied until everyone receives according to what he did while living in the body, as it is written, Eze 5:13: “And My wrath will be fulfilled, and I will satisfy My wrath against them, and I will be satisfied; and they will know what I, the Lord, have spoken in My jealousy, when My wrath is finished upon them.” Malachi 4:1: “For behold, the day will come, burning like an oven; Then all the arrogant and those who do wickedly will be like stubble, and the coming day will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” Christ said, I am the root, and you are the branches, now it becomes clear who the root of the wicked is, of course it is Satan. The word “eternal” fire can also be used in a symbolic sense as the fire of remembrance and it will burn in remembrance in the hearts of the saved throughout all eternity and will forever remain in memory as a sign of how God views sin, as it is written, Isaiah 66:22-24: “ For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will create, will always be before me, says the Lord, so will your seed and your name be. Then from month to month and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh will come before Me to worship, says the Lord. And they will come out and see the corpses of people (corpses are like the story of the Fall, remembering this will not be easy and not always pleasant, just as any literal corpse is unpleasant) who have retreated from Me: for their worm will not die (the redeemed will never forget the terrible story that they experienced on themselves and the worm of contempt for sin will not disappear and their fire will not be quenched (the fire of remembering the justice of God over sinners), and they will be an abomination to all flesh (sin and sinners will forever become an object of disgust and warning for the saved).” Ps 36:9 -11: "For those who do evil will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will inherit the earth. A little while longer, and the wicked will be no more; you will look at his place, and he is not there. But the meek will inherit the earth and will enjoy the abundance of peace. " How great and wonderful is Our Lord. Hallelujah! Dear friends! We have written what we have achieved with many tears and prayers over many decades and are always ready to listen to any other arguments and if they are consistent with the Holy Scriptures we will certainly accept them. Suggest if there is something more solid, we will only be glad, we We have not found any better explanation for this issue that does not conflict with other Scriptures. When you try to understand these issues differently, a number of conflicts arise with other passages of Scripture, but in this understanding there are no conflicts. Sincerely!
Yes, that's what it says in the Bible. But there are other books too...
What is written in the Bible is confirmed at every step by reality itself. The scale of good and evil is literally implanted in each of us. And it makes itself felt even in people who seem to have sunk to the very bottom of human society. There are many examples of this.
For example, the remarkable Christian writer and confessor Sergei Fudel (1900-1977), who spent 12 years of his life in prisons and camps, recalled how criminals who found themselves in the same cell with him and in ordinary times kept to themselves, united “when the offender was beaten in theft of bread rations." This behavior, of course, does not deserve praise, but it is very indicative. Criminals severely punished thieves in their own environment so as not to become victims of theft themselves. Many of them allowed themselves to break laws, but it never occurred to them to live as if these laws did not exist in principle.
Moreover, criminals usually do not consider even the offenses they themselves committed to be heroic deeds. Philology teacher Tatyana Shchipkova, sentenced to three years in 1980 for introducing students to the Gospel, recalled that her unfortunate friends who were serving sentences for criminal offenses generally did not challenge the fairness of the sentences. Even when the terms clearly exceeded the degree of their guilt. “When talking to such women, I always asked if they felt they had been treated unfairly. “Of course, fair. She killed a man, which means she has to serve time. Well, I'll sit it out. But she cleared the paths of life for the children.”
Even the most inveterate scoundrels, murderers and rapists realize: there is only one moral law, and although you can try to ignore it, it is impossible to doubt the very fact of its existence. There are no awards, promotions or “orders of honor” for murder, theft, or rape in the human world. Even among criminals.
Heat of Hell
The Almighty says:
“And those who are on the left side... Who are those who are on the left side? They will find themselves exposed to the scorching wind and boiling water, in the shadow of black smoke, which brings neither coolness nor good” (Quran 56:41-44).
In this world, cool air, water, shade save us from the heat. They will be of no use in Hell. The air of Hell is hot, the water is only boiling water. The shadow does not bring coolness, but only black smoke, as the verse says:
“...in the shadow of black smoke” (Quran 56:43).
In another verse the Lord says:
“For the one whose scale of Libra turns out to be light, the Abyss will be his refuge. How could you know what it is? It is a hot fire" (Quran 101:8-11).
The Almighty tells how the shadow of hellish smoke rises above the fire. It will bring neither coolness nor any shelter:
“Go to the shadow with three branches. It is not shady and does not remove the flame, for it throws sparks like a castle like yellow camels” (Quran 77:30-33).
The fire will not leave a single thing untouched. It will burn the skin, reach the bones, the heart. It will melt your insides. The Lord speaks about the power of heat:
“I will throw him into the Underworld. How could you know what the Underworld is? It does not spare or abandon, it burns the skin (Quran 74:26-29).
The Prophet of Islam, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reported:
“The fire that we know is one seventieth of the fire of hell” ( Sahih Al-Bukhari) .
Hell's flames never subside:
“Taste it! We will not add anything to you except torment” (Quran 78:30).
“...As soon as it subsides, We add to their flames” (Quran 17:97).
The torment will never end, and the infidels will not have even a small break:
“...Their torment will not be eased, and they will not be helped” (Quran 2:86).
But maybe such rewards are provided for in hell?
Let's first understand what hell is.
To ordinary consciousness it may seem like a place where Satan and demons rule the roost. But this idea stumbles over the very fact that we said earlier: in the world there is only one Ruler and Lawgiver - the Lord God. And it is impossible to “run the show” apart from Him. Even in hell.
There is no place in the entire universe where God is absent, where the laws He established do not apply. God does not have any adversary, at least somewhat commensurate with Him... Satan is just a creation of God, alas, a rebellious one, who chose the path of opposing his Creator (in Hebrew, “Satan” precisely means “adversary”). Without God's permission he cannot do anything. In the Old Testament part of the Bible there is a story about the righteous Job, whom a fallen spirit dooms to terrible suffering - but only after the Lord agrees to this, Who knows that Job will withstand these tests with honor and become stronger in faith, and his faith will forever remain a model for all people (Job 1:6-22, 2:1-10). Another example is from the Gospel: evil spirits, expelled from two demoniacs, ask Christ to send them at least to the pigs (Matthew 8: 28-32); of their own free will, these spirits are not able to enter anyone, even animals.
In the entire world created by God, there is only one place in which God limited His omnipotence. This place is the heart of man. Man was originally created with free will, freedom of choice is our daily experience. And freedom presupposes that a person can choose life without God. In this case, after death, his soul is sent not to heaven - God does not force His company on anyone - but to a special place where souls stay who do not want to meet God. This place in the Bible is called differently - a place of torment (Luke 16: 28), a prison (1 Pet 3: 19), hell fire (Matt 5: 22, etc.), a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev 20: 10), outer darkness (Matthew 22: 13)… The Greek word Αΐδης - Hades, in the Russian version “hell” - means the underworld, the underground kingdom, in which the dead languish without hope of ever emerging into the light...
Hell is not punishment, much less God’s vengeance on those who reject Him. This is simply the only place that God can provide to His creatures who do not want to be with Him, and where they themselves retire.
And hell is not a concentration camp at all, and its inhabitants are not prisoners given over by God to the devil and other fallen spirits for punishment. Over the souls who have enclosed themselves in this place, God still rules, Who, according to the testimony of the Apostle John the Theologian, is love (1 John 4:16). The problem is that souls who do not love God perceive His love as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The Monk Isaac the Syrian said wonderfully about this: “Those tormented in Gehenna are struck by the scourge of love.” What is the effect of this scourge? Here we can only make assumptions. Perhaps the souls in hell, deprived of God’s grace that strengthened them in earthly life (no matter what), will finally be left solely to themselves - and to the passions that torment them. And that can be really scary.
This is how the English writer and theologian Clive Staples Lewis saw it: “The saved go to a place prepared for them, and the lost go to a place not prepared for people at all... When they go to hell, they drop out of humanity. What is thrown (or thrown) into the darkness is not a person, but his “remains”. In a full-fledged, whole person, passions are subordinated to the will, and the will is devoted to God. The “former” person’s will, apparently, is completely focused on himself, and passions are completely beyond its control... He is no longer a sinner, but some kind of dump of sins hostile to each other.”
Evidence for the Existence of God
You can also ask yourself, if not God, then who controls our lives, is it really man himself. But as the classic said, for this you need to have an action plan for although not a very significant period, some 1000 years. However, a person cannot do this in any way, because he cannot even really say how he will spend tomorrow.
And even if a person began to manage and dispose of everyone, and, so to speak, get a taste for it, then the unexpected could happen to him - lung sarcoma and the person no longer exists. And then those around him will understand that he is no longer of any use and the one who was everything yesterday has become nothing today or, so to speak, has turned to dust.
Christians have the realest proof of the existence of God - the descent of the Holy Fire on Orthodox Easter, which is truly an inexplicable miracle. And are people really able to believe that genius could have been given to them by someone other than the Almighty? And one cannot but agree that it is impossible to argue with this fact. And who then invented the languages of all nations and made it possible for people to understand each other? Only the Highest Mind could do this. If there is a God, then Hell and Heaven also exist.
But, if sinners are together with the devil in hell, why don’t they support each other there?
It is no coincidence that the Apostle Paul calls Satan and the angels he seduced spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). Malice is the defining characteristic of these creatures. Christ calls the devil “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). Over the thousands or millions of years that have passed since the moment he fell away from God, Satan has completely destroyed in himself all the grains of good that were in him before, and since then he has been all hatred and malice in their pure, unclouded form. He, of course, is not able to harm God Himself, and therefore he is gnawing at a passionate desire - to destroy God's creation and his crown - man.
It is very difficult to destroy what God has created, especially man created in the image of God. But Satan is inhumanly smart and cunning, so he does not act directly, but by deception. No wonder Christ calls him a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). The devil slanderes God to a person (this is precisely what the Greek word διάβολος means) and offers various tempting thoughts that at first glance may seem reasonable, kind, and fair. But the devil has only one goal - to bring a person to death, to force him to finally renounce God, to push him to the edge, beyond which there is an abyss, where there is no longer any way to escape.
To expect any support from the murderer Satan means to be cruelly and fatally deceived.
What happens to a person's soul after death
When a person dies, his soul first of all experiences his entire earthly life again. And she realizes that not a single action of hers will be hidden from God’s eye. Then the social status of this person ceases to matter and he is judged only for his deeds. He is also shown how those people whom he managed to harm suffered, so that his conscience awakens in him. And for his kindness and good deeds, a person will feel rewarded, because he will see what he has done and how he has helped others.
