"He introduced me to my downfall."

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I was listening to a friend talk the other day. She was describing her years of bondage. The prison she'd lived in. Its slavery. The wandering and wallowing so long in her pigpen. The places it took her. The things that it robbed. The devastation it left. The people it hurt in its wake. 


And then, she went back to the beginning. Of how and when and 'who' it all started. She told me about Bill. And how Bill had introduced her, she said, to her downfall.


Woe!


Woe, at the visual! 


Woe, at the impact of how those few words hit me! 


Can you imagine being the one that made the introduction? Woe, that we could "introduce" another to a something that will forevermore be a battle against them without even knowing the scheme and the plan of the enemy of what we've just introduced them to. That we would introduce someone to something that the enemy plans to use to steal, to kill, and to destroy them. And woe, too, to those that introduce us to ours!


Wow, at how often we don't at first recognize something as our "downfall"... or see it as our future "stronghold"... when it's first introduced. Usually, it looks appealing, enticing, interesting, fun, exciting. It promises adventure. Satisfaction. Excitement. Fulfillment. But, instead, it brings bondage. It robs. It hurts. It wounds. It kills. It might thrill for a moment, but its purpose is to devastate and cause havoc and chaos and bring destruction for a lifetime. It means to be our undoing and land us in ruin. Its hope is to defeat us and wreck our lives, and those lives of our loved ones around us.


"He introduced me to my downfall."


It could be drugs. Or drinking. Or smoking. Or a person! A website. Gambling. Or.... well, anything that a person can lose control over. An introduction to anything that will one day cast a strong hold over them that will be almost impossible to one day break loose from. 


It all starts... with an introduction!


The introduction can be by sight... or a smell... and sometimes (a lot of times!... maybe most of the time!) by a word spoken.


I heard someone once say that the affair that started between him and the girl that he fell for started with her nonchalantly saying, "Wonder what it would have been like if we had married." He'd worked with the girl for years. He'd never been attracted to her. Never thought of her romantically. Never considered such. It had never entered his mind. BUT! Once the "introduction" was made with those simple words... he said, it was like the gates of hell burst open and all of the devil's army came up against him. He was held fast immediately.... and he couldn't pull himself away from the enemy's snare until he bottomed out and was totally broken. He lost his wife, his children, his home, his business, his family, his character, his reputation, his influence, his respect. Before it was over, the downfall / the stronghold robbed him of everything.


And again, wow... it all started with a mere introduction.


As horrible as that is... especially when it's US that's doing or has done the introducing................ how about this? On the flip side of all that, this is a zillion times better! Speaking of "introductions".... what about when we are the vessels used to introduce another to their Savior and it leads to their salvation! For after all, when you think about it, we're all always introducing something of some sort to someone!
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