the screwtape letters

The Screwtape Letters are a collection of letters from Uncle Screwtape, a senior demon, to his nephew Wormwood who is a novice demon in training. Wormwood is assigned the task of keeping the patient, a recent convert to Christianity from making advancements for the Kingdom of God (in this particular case, the Enemy). As I read through the book this week, I started musing at what a letter from Uncle Screwtape would say to today’s woman.  

Disclaimer: I am not trying to be the next C.S. Lewis, so humor me, ok?

My Dear Wormwood,

I note with grave concern that your patient has recently begun attending Bible study; this is definitely not a victory for our camp. While all is not lost, winning her back to our side has now become more difficult and it is of the utmost importance that you not take my instructions so naively this time.

You write that her particular area of weakness is her feelings of inadequacy, so it is imperative that you immobilize any advancement in this area. You must continue to encourage her to compare herself to others as this will feed her insecurities about her own abilities, if she feels she is incompetent moving forward for the Kingdom of the Enemy will become almost impossible because of her fear of rejection and failure.

Since He actually loves the little vermin and wants to have a deep connected relationship with them keep her busy doing good works for the Enemy, this may sound counter-productive, however keeping her busy thinking she must earn His love and acceptance will limit her time spent with Him out of her desire to do good deeds to prove her worthiness.

She has arsenal of past mistakes that you can use as weapons of mass destruction against her. Continually remind her of these mistakes and inevitably her shame will become too much for her handle and will negatively impact her relationship with the Enemy out of fear of not being good enough because of these mistakes.

As she continually works to prove herself worthy, corrupt her thoughts with her failures and shortcomings and remind her that she is too far gone to be of use to Him. Continually work to make her believe that the Enemy finds her unimportant and that she is unworthy of His love, this will cause her work harder trying to prove herself but ultimately she will grow tired and give up. She may still attend Church and her Bible study group but she will become so paralyzed in her fear of failure and inadequacy that further advancements will be impossible.

Of course a full extraction from these activities is our ultimate goal and will have to be closely monitored but if you follow my instructions closely I anticipate she will become frustrated and give up and drop out on her own without any further work on our part. I trust your next letter will be a pleasing report on the progress you are making.

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

If you think you can’t do something

If you think you are too far gone to be of any use to Him

If you think you have made one too many mistakes

Chances are you are the perfect person for the job

He came for people like you, He died for people like you, He loved people like you, He healed people like you, He used people like you.

He took the least likely and made them likely, He took the insignificant and made them significant

Chances are you are exactly what He is looking for.