Screwtape Letters: Letters 1-3
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Has everyone had a chance to read the first 3 chapters of our book, The Screwtape Letters? Let me ask another question, does everyone have a copy of the book, yet?
Has everyone had a chance to read the first 3 chapters of our book, The Screwtape Letters? Let me ask another question, does everyone have a copy of the book, yet?
For those who have read either the book, or at least, the first 3 chapters, how do you like it?
Although this is a fictional book, it has some amazingly great insight into the schemes and wiles of our enemy, the devil.
As C.S. Lewis said in the opening preface of the book, “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. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Lewis’ point was that people can develop the mindset that there is actually no spiritual enemy, or they can take the opposite side of the spectrum, where they believe there is a devil and demons and by this, they develop an unhealthy fascination in them and what they can gain from this belief.
Both of these thought processes are completely wrong and they will both end in destruction.
And the enemy equally embraces people in adopting either one of these mindsets!
The Bible clearly warns us of our adversary and of how we are to keep our eyes and focus on the Lord and not upon the devil.
There are people in churches each and every week, who live their daily lives, completely oblivious to the enemy and the spiritual warfare that goes on 24/7 around them!
Choosing to disbelieve part of God’s word and accept other parts, is to choose to not believe it at all. You either take His Word as complete and accurate in its entirety, or do not believe it at all!
Let me give you a few verses real quickly that back up the thought processing behind The Screwtape Letters.
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10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
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3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
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3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
The Bible clearly lets us know that there is very much a real battle that is taking place around us; that is the kingdom of heaven is at war with the kingdom of darkness and the principalities and powers of this present darkness!
And the enemy of our souls leads the helm of this present darkness. The Bible warns us not to be ignorant of him, or his devices, as tells us,
11 To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.
Here are a few verses that mention our enemy, the devil and of us his schemes and of his intentions towards us.
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9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
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31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out.
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4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
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8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
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2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
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11 Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
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13 These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
The devil is a deceiver, he is the accuser of the brethren, he is the god of this world, the ruler of this world, he blinds the minds of the unbeliever to not believe, he is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, he is a murderer and a lier and he disguises himself as an angel of light to fool us!
There are other verses that describe the devil, but these get the point across that he is our enemy and he is out to destroy us and our lives and our families and our church families!
So, enter stage right C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters and we get a glimpse of all of these characteristics of our enemy, put into realistic and relatable scenarios that most of us can relate to as they pertain to human lives engaging in the spiritual war!
So, enter stage right C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters and we get a glimpse of all of these characteristics of our enemy, put into realistic and relatable scenarios that most of us can relate to as they pertain to human lives engaging in the spiritual war!
Tonight, we begin with the first three letters and we meet the prime characters, Screwtape, Wormwood and the Patient. (Although other figures are introduced throughout the letters, these are the prime characters that remain in focus throughout the book.)
Screwtape - Screwtape is a very formidable demon and an undersecretary in hierarchy of the enemy’s army. He is subtle, smart, arrogant, clever, hate-filled and vicious with no love or regard for human beings. His job is to provide guidance and direction to young tempters out in the field. He is an experienced, older demon who understands a great deal about human nature and would love nothing more than to corrupt and damn man to an eternity of suffering and misery, apart from God!
Wormwood - Wormwood is Screwtape’s incompetent nephew serving under his tutelage. This young demon’s job, to whom all the letter’s are written, is to condemn the patient he has been assigned to an eternity with their father below (a.k.a the devil).
The Patient - The patient is an ordinary man living in England during the tumultuous years of World War II. His contemplation of Christianity and subsequent daily actions and thoughts are the subject of the letters between Screwtape and Wormwood.
The patient could be seen as a representative of humanity, as it pertains to our engagement with the enemy is this spiritual war over our souls!
Letter One: (summary) - In this letter, we learn that Wormwood has been making sure that his patient spends plenty of time with his materialistic friends. Wormwood believes that by using reason and arguments he can keep the man from belief in God. Screwtape does not disagree that it is good to influence the man’s thoughts, but he reminds Wormwood that his main job is to keep the patient from thinking too deeply about any spiritual matter. Instead he should use ordinary everyday distraction to mislead the man.
Letter One: (summary) - In this letter, we learn that Wormwood has been making sure that his patient spends plenty of time with his materialistic friends. Wormwood believes that by using reason and arguments he can keep the man from belief in God. Screwtape does not disagree that it is good to influence the man’s thoughts, but he reminds Wormwood that his main job is to keep the patient from thinking too deeply about any spiritual matter. Instead he should use ordinary everyday distraction to mislead the man.
Highlighted thoughts and statements:
“The trouble with argument is that it moves the whole struggle onto the Enemy’s own ground; He can argue too.”
My thought - The devil constantly presents us with weighty arguments for the obvious and what is right in front of us; the natural mind-set, so that the supernatural seems to be only a myth and a lie. God, however, simply presents us with the TRUTH and doesn’t beg us or try to persuade us of His existence and His power and love for us. His creation and His Word do that for Him!
tells us, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
And Jesus said, in , “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”
READ QUESTION NUMBER 5 AND ANSWER
“Remember, he is not like you, a pure spirit. Never having been a human (Oh that abominable advantage of the Enemy’s!)”
READ QUESTION NUMBER 6 AND ANSWER
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14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Screwtape said, “Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things. Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can't touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don't let him get away from that invaluable "real life. But the best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is "the results of modem investigation".
Letter Two: (summary) - Screwtape begins this letter by rebuking Wormwood for letting his patient escape him and become a Christian. However, all is not lost. If he can cause the man to become disillusioned with the church highlighting the strange habits and hypocrisies of its members, Wormwood still might succeed. Keep the patient focused on the physical church for these annoying details of people will erode faith instead of establishing it. Screwtape tells Wormwood to attack the man’s spiritual immaturity in an effort to win him back.
Letter Two: (summary) - Screwtape begins this letter by rebuking Wormwood for letting his patient escape him and become a Christian. However, all is not lost. If he can cause the man to become disillusioned with the church highlighting the strange habits and hypocrisies of its members, Wormwood still might succeed. Keep the patient focused on the physical church for these annoying details of people will erode faith instead of establishing it. Screwtape tells Wormwood to attack the man’s spiritual immaturity in an effort to win him back.
Highlighted thoughts and statements:
In talking about the disappointments and the anticlimax that the patient will potentially feel after being a “churchman” for the first few weeks, Screwtape says, “The Enemy allows this disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavor.”
My thought - God gives to us the gift of free will and choice and He allows us to walk the path that we want. It is His will and desire for our lives, to submit to His will and not our own, so that we will grow into mature and seasoned followers of Jesus and be able to withstand the lies and attacks of the enemy!
says,
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
READ QUESTION NUMBER 1 AND ANSWER
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1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
READ QUESTION 3 AND ANSWER
Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.”
READ QUESTION 5 AND ANSWER
At the end of letter 2, Screwtape says to Wormwood, “He has not been anything like long enough with the Enemy to have any real HUMILITY yet. What he says, even on his knees, about his own sinfulness is all parrot talk. At bottom, he still believes he has run up a very favorable credit-balance in the Enemy's ledger by allowing himself to be converted, and thinks that he is showing great humility and condescension in going to church with these 'smug', commonplace neighbors at all. Keep him in that state of mind as long as you can.”
Throughout this letter, the sin of pride and self, is openly shown to be effective in keeping someone from ever coming to a true and lasting relationship with the Lord.
Paul reminds us in ,
7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
Letter Three: (summary) - Screwtape questions Wormwood regarding the relationship between the patient and his mother, encouraging Wormwood to sow discord between the two. The goal is to build upon small annoyances within the relationship, and draw the patient’s attention to these annoyances during his times of prayer. Hopefully this would continue to the point that the patient is no longer praying for his mother, rather he is praying for an idea he holds of his mother, an ideal person removed of everything he finds irritating. The patient’s time is wasted, for he is not really praying for anyone, nor is he praying that his mother be bettered, for it is not her good that he seeks, rather his comfort.
Letter Three: (summary) - Screwtape questions Wormwood regarding the relationship between the patient and his mother, encouraging Wormwood to sow discord between the two. The goal is to build upon small annoyances within the relationship, and draw the patient’s attention to these annoyances during his times of prayer. Hopefully this would continue to the point that the patient is no longer praying for his mother, rather he is praying for an idea he holds of his mother, an ideal person removed of everything he finds irritating. The patient’s time is wasted, for he is not really praying for anyone, nor is he praying that his mother be bettered, for it is not her good that he seeks, rather his comfort.
Highlighted thoughts and statements:
“Keep his mind on the inner life. He thinks his conversion is something inside him and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the states of his own mind—or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. Encourage this. Keep his mind off the most elementary duties by directing it to the most advanced and spiritual ones. Aggravate that most useful human characteristic, the horror and neglect of the obvious. You must bring him to a condition in which he can practise self-examination for an hour without discovering any of those facts about himself which are perfectly clear to anyone who has ever lived in the same house with him or worked in the same office.”
READ QUESTION 3 AND ANSWER
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15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
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3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
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6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
READ QUESTION 4 AND ANSWER
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23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
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5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.
What things did Screwtape suggest to Wormwood that he should do, to keep “mutual annoyances” and “daily pinpricks” going between the patient and his mother?
Keep the patient’s mind on his “inner life”. He tells Wormwood to encourage the patient to consider only his inner thoughts, highly spiritual things, so as to turn the man away from his regular thoughts. (A hyper spiritual view of himself!)
Render the man’s prayers for his mother innocuous. The patient should be encouraged to pray for her soul, rather than her rheumatism. A by-product of this will be that he concentrates on her sins, which with a little suggestion can be made to include any action she takes which bothers him. (Look at and focus on the speck in her eye!)
Exaggerate the annoyance that the patient receives from the woman’s mannerisms. “When two humans have lived together for many years, it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other.” Wormwood should concentrate his patient’s attention on these minor things. As a result, it will further distance him from his mother.
Alter the patient’s perception such that normally harmless phrases are rendered insulting or annoying. The patient should have a “double-standard” where his own expressions are judged at face value, but he over-exaggerates his mother’s comments based on context, tone, and “suspected intention”.
Wormwood and Glubose (the demon in charge of the patient’s mother), are to ensure that the patient and his mother operate around each other with this “double standard”, so that when they walk away from each other, they are quite
convinced of their own innocence.
READ QUESTION 14 AND ANSWER