Needful Things is a story by Stephen King and was made into a movie starring Ed Harris and Max von Sydow as Leland Gaunt. Mr. Gaunt comes to the small town of Castle Rock to open a very special shop. The things for sale are not available on Amazon and the store does not accept Visa, MasterCard, or Amex. It does not even accept cash.
Some of the choice items available are a mechanical horse racing game which predicts the winners in actual races. An amulet removes arthritic pain in the police chief's wife. Of course we know who Mr. Gaunt really is and why seemingly good people start doing very bad things. Even the town's two religious figures are not immune.
The spooky part is that I am no different than the people in King's story. There are things I desire that would make an offer from Mr. Gaunt almost irresistible. Remember, not all the desires of the townspeople were evil. A baseball card, or the relief of pain are not things one naturally associates with evil.
The battle against evil isn't fought in the battlefield or the political arena. It is fought in the heart. We don't even have to commit a sinful act. Once the heart is compromised, the Enemy has won. The problem is how even "good" things can unknowingly undermine our relationship with God
No comments:
Post a Comment