“My dear Wormwood,
. . . I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.”
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Chapter 7
The author, Uncle Wormwood, is writing to his nephew Screwtape, a lower demon tasked to keep Screwtape’s “patient,” a human, from accepting their “Enemy,” Jesus Christ. Why advise Screwtape to hide instead of terrorizing his patient into submission? As Graham Cooke says, the enemy, the devil, has a limited budget, so it uses the costly direct stuff for more significant threats. For the rest of us? It is more than enough to wound us, whisper accusations, and keep us trapped in our own self-despair or self-hatred.
So, you ARE saying that demons and devils exist. This is 2017. Science rules them out.
If Satan were not real, why are we told in 1 Peter chapter 5 to:
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”
If you accept scripture, then let’s discuss Satan’s simplest strategy.
Keep hidden, so the only ones left to blame are someone else, God or me.
If we fail to see who is prowling around, it wins, causing us to lose faith in God, to feel shame and guilt, or some combination of the two. It lights the fire, we suffer, we blame or shame, and it cackles.
Your first step? Realize you have an enemy. When situations arise, “be of sober spirit” [stay thoughtful], “resist him” [in the name of Christ I command you to leave], and stand “firm in your faith” [rest in the truths of the gospel].
Perceive that someone else is in the room, intentionally de-escalate the scenario, and replace anguish with hope and peace. This will give you a fighting chance. Your difficulty may be hard enough by itself. Why allow the devil to make it worse?
Get good at this, and you’ll bring light into dark places. It also totally messes with Screwtape and its friends. Check the next post for what this can look like in real life.