My parents live five minutes from The Covenant School, and my daughter attends high school ten minutes away. Her high school was on high alert when the killing started.

Evil has always been part of our experience because an angel rejected the Father. That angel convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and she convinced Adam to eat the fruit as well. Evil fully bloomed because God told them not to eat from that tree. We’ve been disobeying God ever since. Disobedience to God is called sin. Murder is a sin. I wish that shooter had made the choice not to murder three children and three adults. Had that human being chosen not to murder those people she would also be alive, but because she was determined to murder, a police officer had to use deadly force to stop her from murdering other innocent people. Satan is the name of that angel, and I would imagine the forces of evil are celebrating their most recent destruction in Nashville.

The forces of darkness are more powerful than us. They know how to manipulate and leverage situations to their advantage. They’re cunning, persuasive, and they know how to wait. The unhuman agents don’t have to sleep and eat, and they can appear in human form, so they are master liars. They are not more powerful than the forces of light who align themselves with those of us who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus knew how to interact with every life form be they supernatural or natural. Angels are supernatural among us. Some are good, but some are bad. There are also demons among us, and demons can enter and control human beings. That’s why interventions and exorcisms are necessary.

Evil will not rest until it is destroyed in the second coming of Jesus Christ. That’s why those who believe in good must get serious about protecting those who are susceptible to evil ways. What the shooter did on Monday was evil, but what she did on Monday was a culmination of year after year of giving into evil. You are what you repeatedly do, and if you repeatedly allow negativity and evil into your heart and mind then you will harvest destruction upon yourself and others.

The Bible is the infallible word of God, and it is essential in our battle against the forces of darkness. Satan is here to kill, steal and destroy. He is the mastermind behind every evil thing that happens. He’s not omniscient nor omnipotent like God, but something tells me he knows what this perpetrator did on Monday morning in the buckle of the Bible Belt. We are up against something much bigger than Adolf Hitler or the worst terrorist in the middle east. We are up against something that has boots on the ground in every country and and every town and city. His business card is murder. His office is opening new franchises everyday teaching them to strip people of their God-given identity, and he works around the clock deceiving person after person.

Please don’t be the next one. The Father can be trusted, and he’s as real as the blood in your veins.