Screwtape Abbreviated

See Andy Naselli's post offering a one-sentence summary of each chapter in the classic work by C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.
.

What Demons Believe

The resounding point in chapter two of the Letter of James is that authentic Christian faith is a dynamic reality, that it "works."  If we claim to have faith in Jesus but there is no meaningful expression of that faith in our actions, the claim lacks merit.  Faith without works is dead (vv 17, 26)--lifeless, useless, meaningless.  In other words, "faith" that does not lead to changed living is not true Christian faith.  And the heart that says "I believe Jesus died for me so now I can just live as I please because I'm forgiven and heaven's a done deal" is a heart that lacks genuine faith in Christ:  it is the heart of an unbeliever.  That's because real faith involves trust in and admiration for and a readiness to follow in the steps of the One we trust, the living Lord Jesus Christ.  Faith involves not only knowing truth but loving the God of truth.  No, that doesn't mean real Christians practice their faith perfectly--James is aware of that error too (3:2; cf. 1 John 1:8, 10).  But it does mean that true faith simply cannot be bottled up in the brain:  it must get out and get hands and feet and words--it must "work."


The folly of "faith without works" is driven home vehemently in 2:19:  "You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe—and shudder!"  Notice that affirming truth does not add up to biblical faith.  If we say we "believe" that the Bible is true, and if we believe that there is just one God, one great creator God, and if we go on and affirm the doctrine of the incarnation and the deity of Christ and the truth of the sin-bearing work of the Son of God on the cross on behalf of sinners (etc.), that kind of mental assent, valuable as it is, does not save.  In fact, it does no more than what the demons do.  Satan and his vile cohorts acknowledge true information about God--his oneness, even his awesome majesty (note that they "shudder" at the thought of the true God).  But "believing" the facts is not enough, and that's because "believing" the facts is not what it means to have faith.  Authentic Christian faith involves trust, admiration, devotion, and praise; genuine faith necessarily engages the heart and arouses the will, but it is never be content just to sit in the mind affirming abstract information to which we tip our hat.
.

Prayer Is Hard

Prayer is difficult! Sound strange to say that? How hard is it just to talk to God—to tell him your concerns? You don’t have to yell or speak some fancy language or have lots of merit points to talk to God: just pray, talk (out loud, silently—or even “talk” with your posture, with your eyes, from the heart). Prayer is simple.

Okay, true enough. But acquiring and preserving the inclination to pray is hard. The longing and readiness to make time to be still before the Lord are easily destroyed. Why is this? There are several reasons.

First, Satan never opposes Christ-followers more than when we pray. After all, we’re no threat to his evil schemes on our own—that would be laughable, we’re like a fly to his bulldozer. But when we call out to the Almighty, Satan cringes. So if you mean to pray, be assured that Satan will come against you fully armed! Prayer is hard because prayer is war.

Second, prayer is hard because we’re proud. We want to be applauded as bright, successful achievers who can say, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” But prayer is that place where you fall flat on your face and see with painful clarity that your work is not what counts: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor 4:7).

Third, prayer is hard because we’re pragmatic. This outlook asks, “What works?”: we act, plan, organize; we live to check off the “to do” list. Pragmatists love visible, tangible, temporal effects—like numbers, dollars, bricks and mortar. But this fixation on human action and earthly results pushes soul-probing prayer down the list of priorities to a place where it shrivels up.

Fourth, distraction also ruins prayer—multi-tasking, busy-ness, frenzied lifestyles, the inability to quiet down and sit still. Our culture values maximum juggling of activities (email – work – text – shop – errands – study – clean – write – call…). Juggling is “in,” and yet how much can you really concentrate on each ball that’s in the air? But God says “Be still” (Ps 46:10). Jesus says, “Come and rest” (Mt 11:28-30). Are we willing to go against the current of a busy culture?

Fifth, we also find it hard to pray, of course, if we’re harboring sin in our hearts. Any time known sin is allowed to linger or (worse yet) is nurtured in our twisted hearts, we effectively put a lid on our own prayers. For example, God commands husbands to treat their wives with loving consideration “in order that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7): sin torpedoes prayer. Failing to fight sin is an attitude—whether we admit this or not—that says we don’t take God seriously and we don’t really care to speak with him in prayer.

So, watch out for these spiritual land mines—they’re deadly!

But having said that, take heart: God invites and commands us to pray (Matt 7:7; 1 Thess 4:17), and he’ll help us. Remember, greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Draw near to him, and he’ll draw near to you (Jas 4:8). The Lord is at work among his people “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). And he’s able to do far more than we ask or imagine for the sake of our spiritual progress and his greater glory (Eph 3:20-21)!

.

The Tiger Woods Drama

Of all the adjectives used to describe the Tiger Woods mess, maybe the most apt is simply “sad.” Sad all around—for Tiger and Elin and their children, for their families and friends and his fans. For everyone.

But notice what the media isn’t saying. They’re not claiming it really doesn’t matter if married men fool around. They’re not saying Tiger’s reputation has to do entirely with his golf skills while his “personal life” is no one else’s business. They’re not suggesting we’ll all still cheer at his fist-pumping victories and buy Nike and Buick (etc.) just the same.

In fact, today’s media is oozing with morality: we as a people know—deep down we know this—that those who cheat on their spouses commit a grave offense. It’s not a question open for debate; no one’s out there arguing Tiger should really just feel free to set up a harem. The subtext of this whole frenzy is our world’s blaring cry that marriage matters, fidelity to your wife matters; wedding vows are profound and breaking them is dead wrong. Period.

How do people know this? Because God built us to respect his design for marriage: “What God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matt 19:6). He’s wired people to know that the marriage covenant is sacred. If you’re married, you and your beloved both said “I do.” But it wasn’t the two of you who formed the union, nor was it the minister who officiated. “What GOD has joined together…” At a deep level, people know this.

So on this gray day of dismay and disillusionment in which a “hero” has fallen (more accurately: when we’ve found out a hero had fallen), don’t miss the cloud’s silver lining: God’s image within us shines through!

Allow me to caution followers of Christ about how to respond to this debacle. 1) Don’t hate Tiger for his perverse hypocrisy—hate isn’t Jesus’ way (Matt 5:43-44). 2) Don’t congratulate yourself because you’ve done better (read Matt 5:27-30 and Luke 18:9-14). 3) Don’t say “Boys will be boys” and shrug it all off (but then again, above we’ve noted that we just can’t bring ourselves to do this). 4) Don’t say you can’t believe he was so stupid (Satan is very devious and he deftly lures otherwise intelligent people into sin and its misery; resisting sin isn’t just about brains).

Instead: 1) PRAY for Tiger and his family—to meet Christ, find mercy, and get a life! 2) Realize your vulnerability (“There but for the grace of God go I”; and see 1 John 1:8; James 4:7-8). 3) Make sure you’ve got Christian support and consistent accountability to help you say no to Satan’s seductive lies. 4) "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" (Eph 6:11).

.

Soul Food

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, ESV).

“More to be desired are they [i.e., God’s words] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

The Word of God is a priceless gift we have in our hands: do you cherish it? Do you go to the Scriptures for soul food? Do you study and meditate, do you listen to the Lord and respond in prayer? Is the Bible sweet to you—is it treasure? There is more to the Christian life than joyfully diligent Bible study, but never less!

Satan is always at work tempting us to bypass God’s Word:

• "There’s no time for serious Bible study in my schedule"
• "I’m no scholar—it’s too hard to understand"
• "The Bible doesn’t inspire me—it’s not relevant to my life"

Satan has a lot of lies, those are just a few. And people fall for them! I hope you don’t. You make time for food, right? Skipping the Bible leads to spiritual starvation. The daily news is relevant, right? How much more pertinent to your life and eternal joy is the news of God’s greatness and grace?

The bottom line is that authentic Christianity involves trusting in Christ—we’re saved by faith (Eph 2:8-10). How is faith gener­ated and sustained? “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Reading and wrestling with the Bible is how we grow in faith; as we spend time with Jesus Christ via the pages of Scripture, the Lord arouses faith / trust / devotion in our hearts. By contrast, failing to dig deep in God’s Word and study it carefully destroys faith.

Let’s be candid: Does the Bible receive your undivided, eager attention on a regular basis, and are you involved in groups or classes that help you dig deep into the treasure of Scripture? Or are you walking away from Christ? It’s one or the other.

.

How To Sabotage Your Prayer Life

"My dear Wormwood," writes the senior demon in The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, as he broaches "the painful subject of prayer.... The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether.... If this fails, you must fall back on a subtler misdirection of his intention. Whenever they are attending to the Enemy Himself we are defeated, but there are ways of preventing them from doing so. The simplest is to turn their gaze away from Him and toward themselves" (pp. 19-23).

In keeping with the model of Screwtape, allow me to offer fourteen ways to divert, distract, disconnect, and otherwise sabotage your prayer life:

1. Pray only when you feel like it. Disregard any biblical talk of praying "day and night" or "without ceasing."
2. Try to impress God with pious prayer performances to win maximum spiritual points.
3. Pray publicly in order to exhibit your "spiritual maturity" for others to admire.
4. Let your prayers degenerate into mindless repetitions. Recycle those same old phrases even when your mind is far away.
5. Imagine that it taxes God's abilities to meet your needs and respond in the best possible way to your prayers.
6. Convince yourself that God doesn't really care about you and your silly little struggles and trials and tears.
7. Pretend that God doesn't like to be bothered, and that he's "put out" by your numerous cries and appeals.
8. Think of prayer as a way of putting God's arm behind his back: prayer as leverage.
9. Demand instant results. Dismiss the idea that God would have you persevere in prayer.
10. Imagine that prayer won't make any difference anyhow.
11. Reduce prayer to and equate it with asking. So when you pray, bypass all that extraneous praise, confession, and thanksgiving and go straight to important stuff: requests.
12. Reserve the worst hours of your day for prayer. This way you can give to God what has the least value to you.
13. Think of prayer as doing God a favor.
14. Reduce prayer to a kind of mental exercise, a kind of self-therapy to put the mind at ease, and in this way remove God from the picture entirely. Imagine that, prayer without God!

.

Brazen Lies

The Bible is crystal clear that Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). In fact, one of the Enemy’s nicknames is “the deceiver” (Rev 12:9), and he’s ready and eager to launch all kinds of disinformation in your direc­tion. Through deceptive propaganda, Satan promotes all kinds of insidious falsehoods. Imagine what some of his grand lies might be:

· “There is no God” [but see Gen 1:1; Ps 14:1; 53:1].

· “‘The devil’ isn’t real” [Matt 4:1-11; 1 Pet 5:8-9].

· “You’re worthless” [Gen 1:27; Ps 8:5; 1 Cor 6:19-20].

· “You have to work harder to get God to love you” [Rom 5:8].

· “This life is all there is” [Matt 25:46; John 3:16; 1 Cor 15:19].

· “Busy-ness is good—go, go, go” [Ps 46:10; Matt 11:28-30].

· “Prayer is a waste of time—not productive” [Luke 11:8; Jas 5:16].

· “If you suffer, God’s failing to do his job” [Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28].

What about some of Satan’s lies related to finances:

· “You need more money to be happy” [Heb 13:5; Phil 4:6, 11].

· “The more you make, the more you should elevate your lifestyle” [Eph 4:28; 2 Cor 8:2; 9:7].

· “Wealthy people are more important than others” [Luke 16:19-31].

· “You’re the true owner of all your possessions” [Ps 24:1; 50:10-12].

How about in connection with sexuality:

· “No harm just looking” [Mt 5:27-30; 6:22-23; Job 31:1; Prov 6:25].

· “If everyone else is doing it, it must be okay” [Matt 7:13-14].

· “Sex before marriage is no big deal” [1 Cor 6:9; 1 Thess 4:3-5].

And in the area of outreach and evangelism:

· “No need to talk about Jesus, just be kind” [1 Pet 3:15; Mt 28:18-20].

· “Sharing your faith is rude” [Acts 8:30-38; 16:31; 17:16-33].

Let’s pray for discernment so we’re not taken in by Satan’s deadly lies!

.

"If God is for us..."

C. S. Lewis says people fall into two opposite errors regarding Satan and his demons: disbelief and obsession (Screwtape Letters, p. 3). Either extreme is fine with the Enemy; he wins big-time either when people snicker at the claims for his existence, or when demon-mania fills the minds of people who ought to be dwelling on the wonders of Christ.

The Word of God helps us avoid these extremes. First, the fact of Satan’s existence is acknowledged over and over by Jesus Christ. The wilderness temptation (Matt 4:1-11) isn’t shadowboxing; there’s a real opponent. Further, on numerous occasions during Jesus’ public ministry he’s confronted by broken souls disturbed or possessed by demonic powers. In one instance a “legion” of demons has driven a man out of his mind (Luke 8:30—in the Roman military a “legion” was a division of 6,000 foot soldiers). Of course, Jesus’ betrayal by Judas transpires with Satanic inspiration (Luke 22:3). You simply can’t read the Gospels and take them seriously without admitting the reality of Satan.

What’s more, the all-too-real Enemy is powerful, stealthy, and malicious: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith,…” (1 Peter 5:8-9). Satan is a clever, patient and devious foe who seeks to ruin your faith. That’s the hard reality.

But, if you know Jesus—if you’re trusting in Christ for his saving, sanctifying grace in your life—you need not live in fear of Satan. The Word of God speaks comfort: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The Son of God came into the world to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8). Christ triumphed over the “principalities and powers” of this world at the cross (Col 2:15). Does the prowling lion strike fear into your heart? Then “Cast all your anxiety on him [God] because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). The Lord is my light and my salvation! Whom shall I fear? (Ps 27:1).

So where does this leave us? Satan is real and dangerous: stay away from him; resist the devil and he will flee from you (Jas 4:7-8). But Satan is no match for the almighty Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Rest in his care, depend on his grace, be assured of his power to forgive and protect. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear” (Ps 46:1-2a)!

.

"God meant it for good"

The breathtaking story of Job drives home the point that affliction is not necessarily a punishment for sin (1:1; see also John 9:1-3). Nor is it helpful to say that Satan caused the pain, since Job spoke correctly (1:22) in stating, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away…” (v 21).

Isaiah 53 prophesies of God’s Servant, the Substitute who would bear the guilt of sinners: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (53:6). This, of course, anticipates the sacrificial death of the Son of God who “gave his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Was Christ’s death the grim result of sin? Yes (Acts 3:15). Was it owing to the insidious schemes of Satan? Yes (Luke 22:3). But there’s more to say: at root, the cross was God’s doing. Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…” (so too Acts 2:23).

In both cases of extreme affliction, ultimately it’s God’s hand we see in action. Same with Joseph (the guy with the coat of many colors). His jealous brothers abused him and sold him as a slave, and he ended up wrongly imprisoned in Egypt for years—all undeserved. But God was up to something—God, the key Actor behind the scenes; God, the initiator of good plans even though they lead through dark valleys. The Lord maneuvered Joseph into an influential office in Egypt in order to save countless lives from a coming seven-year famine.

This good end is recognized by Joseph (eventually!). In Genesis 45:5-9 he says four times that it was God who sent him to Egypt. Now, of course he remembers how his nasty brothers had shipped him off with traders. But he’s looking beneath the surface: who was really at work in all those years of pain? It was God. Same in 50:20, where Joseph says to his penitent brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” All that misery he’d gone through was intended by God to take place and (of course) lead eventually to God’s good goals.

There’s no shortage of pain and trauma to go around today, what with economic turmoil, crime, family breakdown, disease… The Lord is stretching our faith: are you willing to trust him to weave a beautiful fabric, in his time and in his way, even when it includes the black strands of your pain and suffering? Are you willing to let God be God, and to leave it to him to put things right in time or eternity?

.

Bibliolatry?

What about this idea that Bible-based evangelical Christians are really worshipping The Good Book and thus committing “bibliolatry” (i.e., making an idol of the Bible).

In keeping with the example of the Berean Bible study superstars, we need to engage in vigorous, eager, careful exam­ination of the Scriptures (the Bereans did this “daily,” and we should do the same, Acts 17:11). Receiving and proclaiming the Word of God is the way to shut down itching ears and the false teaching they crave (2 Tim 4:1-5). Flipside: failing to preach and receive the Word faithfully is a great way to unleash unsound, dangerous messages in the church. Want to mess up the body of Christ and ransack people’s souls? Then let itching ears dictate the message; preach what is popular; avoid disturbing anyone with God’s bold truth.

So does a high respect for the Bible compel Christians to commit bibliolatry? Not at all. In fact, committing bibli­olatry is a sure sign that one has not taken the Bible seriously enough. Because if you read and meditate on and truly take in the message of the Scriptures, you’ll see clearly that a zeal for truth without a love for the One who speaks ultimate truth is utterly unacceptable. The only way a professing Christian could practice bibliolatry would be by failing to really know and follow what the Bible says—and that failure would be grave indeed.

Don’t get me wrong: the risk of bibliolatry is real, and the Enemy takes a certain devious delight by infecting church people with this twisted satisfaction. If we love study, ideas and possessing know­ledge but don’t really love Jesus; if we savor facts but don’t revel in the company of Christ … that would be deadly. But don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! We’ll still love the Bible if we love Christ, and we’ll still love the Bible if we worship God alone! Because the Bible is the “place” the Lord speaks to us—it’s his voice! How could we possibly not long to hear from the One who has forgiven and adopted and loved us? How could we fail to cherish his Word—the lamp that lights our way (Psalm 119:105)?