I’ve been working on the idea that the Devil has shown up to wreck our democracy and get us to turn against one another. I don’t believe that, but the more I read about the Devil, the more it fits.

In Eden (Genesis 3:14–15): God curses the serpent (traditionally identified with Satan): “upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life,” and he promises enmity between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s, which Christians often read as the first prophecy of the Messiah.

Rather than creating a human body, the devil was said in ancient times to possess humans and control their minds and deeds. They often were just mad. The clearest old biblical examples involve Satan entering individuals directy and taking over their minds.  In Luke 22.3, John says that Satan entered Judas before he betrayed Jesus.

I see the evil spreading in our country, and it is new and shocking to me. I’m not sure yet where it comes from.  Much of it seems inhuman, and more and more, something awful has entered many people’s minds.

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Zip likes to lie and sleep right in the middle of the flowers I am photographing. It’s a beautiful thing sometimes. Like today.

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