The Enemy?

I think my friend Bob McAlister has it about right here. It's so easy to explain away behavior that, in our hubris, we all assume we'd never engage in. I do not mean to dismiss mental illness, which is just as real as any physical illness. But isn't it also true that even people who appear to be "good" sometimes do bad things? We want to always understand people who do wrong. Sometimes that keeps us from condemning the real sin, as if understanding allows for an excuse. In 1994, after Susan Smith drowned her two children, Bob and I had a short chat. We agreed, as I recalled, that there is a powerful force, hidden but obvious, which sometimes grabs people and leads them astray. None of us are completley immune from the Devil's clutches, and who are we to say how the Devil would manifest himself in us. I hold that we only have one permanent saving grace to keep us from being fallen, and that's faith in Jesus.