Wood Avenue Church of Christ CAAYP

Recap
Screwtape Letters is a book written by C.S. Lewis that contains letters written from a senior demon (Screwtape) to his inexperienced nephew (Wormwood) regarding the best ways to secure the failure of faith of an unsuspecting young man. They cover a variety of topics that challenge us as Christians and reveal the various strategies Satan uses for exploiting human weakness and pride.

Letter 5 Summary
Wormwood is ecstatic a European war has started. He is thrilled at the prospect of so much human suffering. He is also drinking headily of the wine of his patient's anguish over the war. Indulgent about the pleasures of all this, Screwtape nevertheless calls Wormwood back to the business at hand—undermining faith and keeping the man from becoming strong in virtue.

War is only something to be used for devilish purposes, that is all. Instead of enjoying the suffering caused by the war, the devils do better to think how to use it for their ends. War is not necessarily good for Hell. It may make human beings turn to God; it makes them sacrifice themselves for higher causes and beliefs, and for one another.

It causes us to think and search for a higher meaning or higher power.

There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them

Why would the devils want us to be preoccupied more with the future than the present?

You know the disciples were troubled in their heart and that is exactly why Jesus tried to comfort and reassure them. They knew that Jesus was going away so we can understand their sorrow and their deep concern about that. Jesus tries to settle their hearts by promising them that there are many rooms in the Father’s house awaiting them, that Jesus was going to “go to prepare a place” for them, and that He “will come again and take [them] to [Himself so] that where [He is, they] may be also.” What a great and precious promise. That promise is for us today, at least for those who have been born again (John 3:3).

One can therefore formulate the general rule; in all activities of mind which favor our cause, encourage the patient to be un-self-conscious and to concentrate on the object, but in all activities favorable to the Enemy bend his mind back on itself. Let an insult or a woman's body so fix his attention outward that he does not reflect "I am now entering into the state called Anger - or the state called Lust". Contrariwise let the reflection "My feelings are now growing more devout, or more charitable" so fix his attention inward that he no longer looks beyond himself to see our Enemy or his own neighbors.

REFLECTION CHALLENGE: Our far sighted and near sighted dilemma. Which one am I most often guilty of?