“By Grabthar's hammer... what a savings.” Alan Rickman’s dead pan deliverance of that line in “Galaxy Quest” is one of the funniest movie scenes ever. A spoof of “Star Trek” it tells the story of a group of washed up actors living off their groupie fans who hire them for conventions and store openings. Rickman, known more for his role as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies, played the part of a man pretending to be an alien. His signature line was “By Grabthar’s hammer…”, which he hated with a passion.

Whatever Mr. Rickman thought about any role, his time in this life is over. Known for playing villains, Rickman succumbed to the ultimate villain death when he lost his battle with cancer. Both he and singer David Bowie were ripped from this life by the ruthless killer cancer in the same week at the same, relatively young, age of 69. When people die like this there’s a tendency to search for a reason. Was it their lifestyle? Did they do drugs? Did they eat meat? (Yes, some people ask that.) However, we probably will never know the specific cause and it’s really not relevant. They were sinners, now they’re dead, and that’s sad.

We’ve been reading from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and learning about the evil kings of Israel during the days of Elijah and Elisha. One of those evil kings was Jehoram of Judah who, having married the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, was as evil as his in-laws. His sin was blatant and public so his judgement was blatant and public. His conduct was so bad that God’s judgment included the captivity of his children and a slow painful wasting death for him (2 Chronicles 21:16-20). Please read the text, it was an awful way to die, even for an absolutely awful man like Jehoram.

When we read of people dying in horrific pain there’s a tendency to wonder if it was deserved. We shouldn’t think like that because there’s no way to know, unless God tells us. Besides, what’s more important for us to consider is that regardless of the manner of death, it comes for all of us. No matter how we lived in this life, whether excessive or just “moderate” sinners, we all need to be saved before we die.

And don’t try to sneak in a “salvation moment” just before you die. God wants real repentance. He isn’t fooled by “Just in case” repentance after a lifetime of defiance. Don’t wait. Turn to God now because an eternity of separation from God will make Jehoram’s suffering seem like nothing. We have little to no control over how we will die, but we have a choice in where we will spend eternity. And if it is away from God, then that’s just sad.