Where does evil flee?

In my last post, Your Staff is Broken, I didn't go far enough. I didn't read far enough, until I read it again. Yes, Gandalf speaks efficaciously: like God He speaks and it happens. But what happens next?

“Go! said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away. At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf's head, it smote the stair in which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed; it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up."

The evil influence, the palantir through which Sauron tempted and tormented Saruman, leaves. It flees Saruman when he is no longer useful, as evil flees us--when we're free or when we're dead.

The palantir rolled--shot--away from Gandalf's Godly command. It fled and sought another it could influence: Pippin. It didn't go gently, either. The evil influence, the tempter, fled and sought another, and the best defense was as it always is: do not touch it. Don't even touch it. Don't even touch evil for a moment, if you want to be free of it.

But what if you do? And so many of us do.

Evil flees when we are free or when we're dead. That's the lesson, isn't it? Get free now. And that takes us back to the previous post. What's the best, fastest way to be free?  The best and fastest way is to have efficacious words spoken, as Gandalf spoke them. Your staff is broken. Go!  Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.