Please read “E1. Meaning to the Meaningless” before reading any of my other articles on Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 8:8 “As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.”

Those who practice wickedness are in Satan’s army. We do not want to believe that we ever fought on evil’s side. The truth is, anyone living a life of willful disobedience is doing the devils work. The world is at war. It is a war between good and evil. Many would like to believe they are neutral. They want to be like Switzerland in the middle of WWII. They want life to be normal. They want to live well, to continue working and to prosper. I do not believe it is possible to stay neutral. I know for sure, beyond the shadow of the doubt, that if we are not on the side of right, we are on the losing side.

The writer of Ecclesiastes made the observation that once you begin to take an active part on the side of wickedness you are in the fight for the duration. As he said, there is no discharge in the middle of a conflict. My mother used to put it this way, “sin will take you farther than you want to go, and keep you longer than you want to stay.”

“Wickedness will not release those who practice it” is a proverb; therefore, it is not a guarantee, but a very strong probability. Once a person begins to practice evil, freedom is hard to achieve; most never do. The outlook for anyone who lives under the sun and is practicing wickedness is not good. As children of God, we live under the Son Jesus Christ. He told us, “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) We do not have to remain in Satan’s army; Christ is holding our discharge papers. All we have to do is believe, and receive. We begin to practice righteousness, because we are in the Lord’s Army now.