But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. Isaiah 57:20-21 (AMP)
“I am a person who loves death. . . . I would like to be killed by the bullet.” This was the boast of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and numerous others. His perverted wish was granted when his life recently ended with bullets to the head and chest.

Osama bin Laden is just the latest in the long list of evil persons who met with a violent end. Osama knew that his life was threatened everyday. One look at his fortified homestead gives us a glimpse into the fear this man lived with daily. Reports indicate he never went outside and rarely had visitors, there was no telephone or internet connections. Osama’s compound was surrounded by concrete security walls topped with barbed wire. He obviously felt the need to hide. What a way to live life -holed up in a walled bunker.

For someone who talked big, and acted so tough in videos and audio tapes he died a coward. Among the items American forces pulled out of the terrorist leader’s compound last week are videos of Bin Laden, wrapped in a blanket, watching himself on television. ABCNews reports, the warlord is seen to be “a vain pathetic old man.”  And what Osama wanted to see was not just himself, but a younger, improved version of himself. American forces confirm that Bin Laden was dying his beard, to manage his image in attempts to appear more vibrant to his supporters around the world.

The nature of evil, ultimately, is narcissism. And the end result of narcissism is always evil. Sometimes that evil shows up in preening and boasting. Other times it shows up in the ease with which one takes offense. Sometimes that offense even morphs into a crusade or a jihad, around the world.

Essayist David Brooks has noted that for the narcissist the self-image is “the holy center of all that is sacred and right.” “If someone treats him slightingly, he perceives that as a deliberate and heinous attack,” Brooks writes. “If someone threatens his reputation, he regards this as an act of blasphemy.”

Because of this narcissism America is supposed to walk around on egg shells in order to not provoke a jihad by offending the fragile sensibilities of Muslims. Apparently these tough jihadists have very thin skin because everything seems to offend them. Cartoons, books, newspaper articles, satirical works, art, music, well just about anything. If someone disagrees with them they threaten to blow something up. Well there is one less offense in the world Osama has been laid to rest at the bottom of the sea.

God does not take any delight in the death of the wicked but prefers a person accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior thereby making them a new creature, but to a narcissist there is no god but himself. A narcissist see’s themselves as god of all. They feel their viewpoint is the only one that matters as Brooks pointed out in his work. This puts the narcissist in conflict with God and all that is holy and right. Therefore by their own positioning they have made themselves enemies of God. Osama bin Laden lived and died by the sword, the sword of his own making, the sword of offense that he himself forged in his own hatred for God and God’s people.

A better end to this sorry story would have been if Osama would have had an encounter with Jesus and repented of all his evil ways and went about making restitution for all the evil he had wrought. But that was not to be and he now lies amongst the dead awaiting his final judgment before the very God he despised while living. Do not rejoice in the death of this wicked man but rather reflect because his sins are no greater than yours or mine. Unless we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our righteousness we too shall face the same end as Osama bin Laden because the wages of sin is death. It may not come at the hands of the Navy SEALs but death and God’s judgment are ours none-the-less.

It is far better to walk about humbly and reverently in fear of God then to think all is well and you have no need of a savior.

And that is this week’s tail feather. Think about it! What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. _{Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)}

Along for the journey