The Screwtape Letters: A Study on Spiritual Warfare (INTRO)

OPEN WITH THE VIDEO, “CONSPIRACY” (Based upon the premise of The Screwtape Letters)

So, I talked with Teresa yesterday, and seeing that many of you do not yet have copies of the book that we are starting our study on by C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, I felt that it would counterintuitive to begin an actual study on something that many people had no knowledge of.

We have ordered copies of the book, and some have already come in. They are $5/copy, (as we bought them used, to try and be mindful of people’s finances and help save everyone over $6 per copy).

That being said, the books are not mandatory for this study, but I think that everyone would benefit from reading this book.

Having said that, let me preface this study by saying that this is not replacing or overriding the Bible and I am not saying that you must read this book by C.S. Lewis in order to be able to understand spiritual warfare and the wiles of our enemy!

But, the level of insight that Lewis had when he wrote this book and had it published, all the way back in 1942, was astounding!

And even today, the literary world applauds and hales, The Screwtape Letters, as a great work of literary satire, but even more so, the Christian world applauds it as a great tool for apologetics ministry and a great reminder of the how and why we need to, daily, renew our minds and stay focused on the Word and the will of God for our lives!

Because, as reminds us,

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The devil has had to step up his game, since the playing field changed, some 2,000 years ago.

Upon these earthen vessels becoming the living, breathing temples of the Spirit of almighty God, the devil had to reroute his tactics some.

Prior to Jesus Christ going to cross and paying the ultimate sacrifice for our sins with His pure and spotless blood, mankind was lost.

No matter how many sacrifices they took to the temple for the priests to offer for them and their sins, they were lost and had no eternal hope!

And the devil knew this, as he knew that the struggle was more external vs internal.

What I mean is this, before Jesus came to this earth, everything was focused upon religious acts and different series of sacrifices to God and trying to appease, what many believed to be, an angry and vengeful God!

So, everything was externally focused.

The playing field changed for us and for the devil when Jesus went to the cross and arose from the tomb, because the devil lost his authority and right to us and the way that he attacked us had to change, somewhat.

Although the attack upon man, has always been to get us to revolt and turn from God and His commands and thus, sin, there was always before, a chasm, a gulf that existed between us and God and this chasm made man feel more removed from God and not as aware of His presence and without any lasting intimacy.

The devil knew this great divide was there and he acted accordingly and made his attacks fit the present circumstances.

Before the cross of Calvary, the chasm between God and man was immense, it was impassible and thus no person could make it over.

So, the devil had to only keep mankind focused on the chasm and the reminder that they were eternally separated from God. The devil also lured and tempted mankind, through works and religious liturgy and external idols that man could create and approach directly when they desired, instead of being able to come directly to God!

After the victory at the cross, the devil had to begin to “create” chasms in our minds, that made us feel isolated and far from God.

However, when mankind was bought and saved, through the shed blood of the lamb of God, something drastic happened.

The chasm, the gulf, that great divide, that separated man from God, was closed for all time, and there now existed a personal intimacy with the creator of heaven and earth.

As tells us,

Hebrews 10:19 NLT

19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.

An intimacy that mankind had never known, since the fall of creation in the garden!

And because of mankind gaining access to the Holy of Holies, through the Jesus Christ, our great high priest, the devil had to attack at a continual and more internal focus.

He had to start, more than ever, finding new and intriguing ways to avert our attention and our hearts and minds from hearing and listening to Holy Spirit, as He speaks to our spirit and mind.

And because the devil is not omniscient and he doesn’t know the thoughts of people and he doesn’t know the private prayers that come and go through us and the more intimate prayers that are offered up, via Holy Spirit for us and on our behalf, as tells us, he has to act upon what we say and what we do and monitor our emotions as we respond to his temptations and attacks!

After the victory at the cross, the devil had to begin to “create” chasms in our minds, that made us feel isolated and far from God.

And it’s at this level, that the battle for the hearts and minds of all people takes place, and thus the war rages on. The spiritual war that we are engaged in, every minute of every day of our natural lives.

And it is here, that C.S. Lewis paints for us a picture of the enemy and how he uses our minds and our thoughts as a battleground for our very souls!

Lewis, for this particular book, was given an amazing insight into the schemes of the enemy and into various ways that the devil derails our thoughts and our attention, in order to allow his thoughts that he plants inside of our minds to germinate and grow into unhealthy, ungodly fears and temptations and sin and ultimately, death!

This is the war that we engage in and it is here, that the Word of God strives to prepare us for and warn us about.

It is the thoughts that the enemy speaks into our minds that we wage war against constantly!

It is for this very reason, that the Apostle Paul warns us in ,

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 NLT

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 6 And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NKJV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

The devil creates thought patterns in our minds of what is real and what is fantasy and through the works of modern authors and cinematography, we have diluted views of real and fictitious fantasy, when it comes to the spiritual realm.

Movies that came and challenged the minds of the public, like The Exorcist, made people unnerved by the demonic and yet intrigued all in the same breath!

Intrigue with the enemy is a VERY dangerous and deadly game. Movies, books, tools such as tarot cards and ouiga boards and music and many other things that draw the morbid intrigue of man to the enemy, leads down a spiraling path to destruction!

And when people are desensitized to the enemy and his presence and his tactics, then they are easy prey for the roaming lion, who seeks to destroy them and bring eternal separation between them and God!

Much in the same way as people became more preoccupied and interested in angels than God, the enemy created unholy thoughts and interest into the spiritual realm that captured people’s thoughts and minds and pulled them into all directions, except in the direction of God!

Yes, we are in a spiritual war with very real and powerful spiritual beings, but our attention and our focus and interest, is never to be upon those entities!

The mind of a Christian is be ever attentive to God and His word and His Holy Spirit active in our lives.

And when we allow the cares and concerns for this world to become more active and louder in our hearts and minds, than that of Holy Spirit, we are in grave trouble!

I would go so far as to say, that most all of the divorces that have come through Christian marriages and the broken homes that resulted from them, could have been saved, if one and/or both of the spouses involved, were listening to Holy Spirit and the Word of God in their lives and not that of other people and the voice of the enemy that seemed to them to be like shrewd wisdom, as he spewed lies into their hearts and souls!

Many, many people that call themselves Christians in this nation, either scarcely believe in, or have no real belief at all in the demonic and that of the devil!

And as much as it is very dangerous to have an unhealthy interest in the spiritual and demonic realm, it is equally dangerous to have NO belief or understanding of our enemy and of how he is actively attacking in our lives!

Many people say, “I have never seen a demon manifest, or a possessed person before in my life as a Christian!”

And as true as their statement may be, perhaps there is a reason ,why this is SOMETIMES the case.

If a person is so shallow and weak in their walk with God that they have no spiritual discernment and faith, then the enemy may not bother with them, period!

We are to walk in all faith and wisdom of Holy Spirit and when we encounter a demonic presence, Holy Spirit will warn us of it, IF we are in tune with Him and know His voice!

In we read of the following example,

Acts 13:8–12 ESV

8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Paul received a word of knowledge, a warning, that this man had a demonic spirit about him and he instantly reacted to it and spoke as Holy Spirit directed him to do so.

If you do not have intimacy and faith and belief in God FIRST and then a healthy belief that there is very real and present enemy of your soul, then you will be ineffective in this spiritual war that we are engaged in!

And it is this subject of spiritual warfare and the tactics and strategies of the enemy that are used against us, that we will begin looking at, as we go through C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Screwtape Letters”.

It is here, on this subject of the devices and ploys of the devil

In this book and in this study, you will NOT read about, nor learn about, specific demonic hosts that attack us in our lives. In other words, this book was not written as the “whos’ who” in the demonic realm and it was not written as a defense manual for the Christian. (That is what the Bible is for, as the Word of God is our sword against the enemy!)

What this book is, is a very introspective look into the tactics and various ploys of the enemy and how he comes against us, to cause the separation and detachment that happens to millions of believers, every day, that I mentioned a few minutes ago.

This book, although, fictitious in nature, is a very real understanding of how the devil and his minions move against us!

And just as God gave me the word and the message a few years ago, about “attrition warfare” and what it was and how it is used against us, so also, was C.S. Lewis lead and directed about the tactics of the enemy for this book!

In fact, listen to what Lewis said of this book, himself, sometime after he was finished writing it, he said, ““Though I had never written anything more easily, I never wrote with less enjoyment. “It almost smothered me before I was done.”

In other words, Lewis was given the understanding of what he wrote about for this account, supernaturally, so that it flowed effortlessly, but at the same time, he felt the weight of it and the very real engagement of the enemy, as he was writing it and coming under attack by the very means of which he was writing about!

Lewis made this statement about spiritual warfare, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

In other words, some people find the devil behind every tree while others deny the reality of the devil and the forces of evil.

The Screwtape Letters, was written to help us recognize some of the very real strategies that the enemy employs as he attacks us.

And although this book was written in the 1940’s and is based upon that time frame, you will find that the techniques and methods that he mentions that the demons use, are still just as valid for today, as they were then. Even some of the most basic ones, such as the following exert from the book, in the very first chapter.

READ FROM “The Screwtape Letters” pages 2-4.

This book is written in a series of 31 letters, from Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood. Each letter is around 4-5 short pages in length. So, I think reading 3 letters per week and taking notes about these letters, would be best.

Each letter can be read in around 5 minutes, or 10, if you read at a slower pace. And then you can re-read them throughout the week and really begin to lay the concepts alongside of your own lives and see if you can spot some of these tactics and strategies of the enemy that you have personally witnessed in your life or someone else’ that you know personally!

Then each week, when we come back, I will have tried to parallel some verses with the particular letters, so that we can discuss each letter and what the Word has to say about each letter, or the summation of the three depending on the overall theme of the letters!