Read: 1 John 5:18
C S Lewis wrote a book called ‘The ScewTape Letters’ in which a senior demon (Screwtape) talks to, or corresponds with, a junior demon (Wormwood) and tries to pass on what he has learned.
As we read through a couple of quotes, we need to remember that two demons are speaking and the Enemy refers to God! Enjoy some quotes and be challenged by Lewis’ insights of spiritual warfare from the perspective of a demon.
"We want the Church to be small not only that fewer men know the Enemy but also that those who do may acquire the uneasy intensity and the defensive self-righteousness of a secret society or a clique." -- P.34
"Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made all the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable." -- P.41-42
"Talk to him about 'moderation in all things.' If you can once get him to the point of thinking that 'religion is all very well up to a point,' you can feel quite happy about his soul." -- P.43
"The Enemy's demand on humans takes the form of a dilemma; either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy. Every since Our Father's first great victory, we have rendered the former very difficult to them. The latter, for the last few centuries, we have been closing up as a way of escape. We have done this through the poets and novelists by persuading the humans that a curious, and usually short-lived, experience which they call 'being in love' is the only respectable ground for marriage; that marriage can, and ought to, render this excitement permanent; and that a marriage which does not do so is no longer binding." -- P.81
"There are things for humans to do all day long without His minding in the least -- sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. Everything has to be twisted before it's any use to us. We fight under cruel disadvantages. Nothing is naturally on our side..." -- P.102
"The pleasure of novelty is by its very nature more subject than any other to the law of diminishing returns. And continued novelty costs money, so that the desire for it spells avarice or unhappiness or both. And again, the more rapacious this desire, the sooner it must eat up all the innocent sources of pleasure and pass on to those the Enemy forbids." -- P.117
Here’s a truth worth knowing. Satan cannot harm us! He cannot take away our salvation. He cannot undo the Grace of God that has been lavished in our lives. But read this very carefully: He can distract us. He can fill our lives with distractions. He can lure us into less important, less eternal things and pursuits!
Activate your faith by reading Colossians 3:1-2 and be seeking to set your heart and mind in the heavenlies for the entire day/week/month/year.
Prayer Points:
> Chris & Judy Ayers, Poland. We need prayer for the general coordination an direction of ministries the structure and function of church leadership and our role in all of the above.
> Pray for our Polish pastor who just announced his engagement.
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