By: Tim Woods, M.Min. | December 15, 2024
Editor’s note: This article shares two imaginative letters, one from a senior demon (Spoliator) to his underling (Beguiler), and one from a senior angel (Sarap) to his protégé (Malak). The subject of the letters is the unseen battle over John, a young Christian. The idea for these letters draws upon the fiction of C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. (The photo used for the article is by Unknown Author and licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.)
The Darkness Speaks
My dear Beguiler,
I’m very displeased and quite concerned about your inability to keep this mere mortal away from our Enemy. You have tried countless times to lure him away. Our Enemy keeps reminding your patient of grace and humility. Such thoughts are vile to me…and should be to you. Nonetheless, time is still available; however, this current moment cannot be wasted.
The attacks on your patient must now be direct but subtle. You must attack from within to gain his soul for our Father Below. Attack his mind, attack his time, and attack him from within the comforts of our Enemy’s Church. While we may never topple the whole Church, we can sidle off and destroy local congregations. Make your patient’s congregation your ultimate goal, and use him to get to them.
You may wonder how to accomplish this. Consider that times have changed, but not entirely. As in years past, there is much good for our goals in meaningless conversations, mindless games, or simply nothing with any purpose other than letting the moments pass. To attack your patient’s mind, seduce him into wasting his time. Keep him involved in nothing. The game is the same, but the tools are very different. The idea is still a direction change.
To capture his soul, we need to dull not only his mind but the entire being. The more time he gives attention to meaningless activities, the more we can access the mind. Never let him believe that he is to redeem the time (as that deplorable Paul once wrote). Rather, give him the sense that there is a benefit to aimlessly scrolling on social media or playing round after round of those wonderfully addictive video games, and you can access his mind and eventually his soul.
Pay attention, my protege, as you might think these suggestions are merely reproducing our tactics from centuries ago, but they are very different. When technology falls into our hands, the seconds turn into minutes, and the minutes turn into hours to the point where the precious gift of time is fading away and soon gone. Once we have his time, the mind will quickly follow.
The mind becomes dull to the point that he is easily led to second guess everything of significance, even his vile and revolting religion. Then we strike with seeds of doubt. We gain a foothold for our Father Below when that seed is planted into his unguarded mind. Then, when access to his mind is gained through this seed of doubt, we attack his sense of importance to and need for our enemy’s pathetic local congregation.
Don’t mistake my disgust for his faith community. I’m quite pleased that he attends where he does. This may be how we secure your patient’s soul for our Father Below. Beguiler, I want you to devise such a lie that he believes it is the truth, and encourage him to spread it so that it infiltrates his church as a “new” truth. Guide him to become unstable, hostile, and critical.
Keep him and those who will listen to him in the mindset of “Christianity and…” Christianity and politics, Christianity and social media, Christianity and the latest crisis. I think you understand. His so-called church won’t be able to defend what they believe and soon will clamor for his “new” truth.
As you work on him and his church, keep the lies in the forefront of his mind. Make your patient feel like giving up. No matter how hard he tries, tell him it will never be good enough. Let him fall into perfectionism and become fatigued. Let your patient believe he can fix his problems and distract him from our Enemy. Increase your patient’s pride, minimize legitimate problems, rob intimacy within his relationships, and fuel hypocrisy. Remember, the best lie will mix in a bit of truth.
Trick your patient into believing he deserves happiness. Lead him into the lust of his flesh and this world. Allow him to think that our Enemy only wants him to be happy. That our Enemy only exists to serve him and make him happy. As his heart grows dark, he’ll turn his back on our Enemy and blame our Enemy for not being happy. Hopefully, your patient will give up and walk away. Not only might our Father Below gain his soul, but we can bring down his church with him.
Your watchful teacher,
Spoliator
Holy Protectors
My dear Malak,
I am genuinely concerned about the attacks from Beguiler on “his patient.” Let me be clear, he is not his patient, his name is John, and he belongs to our Heavenly Father. Our Father knows him by name because John was created in His image. He turned to Messiah and is a born-again believer. However, John’s faith is weak due to all the attacks from Beguiler under the guidance of his mentor Spoliator.
They are trying to dull his mind and keep his time occupied with meaningless things. They want to infiltrate his mind with lies and plant seeds of doubt regarding truth. John is being set up to be utilized as a tool to incorporate these lies into the church. They want him to fall into perfectionism, allowing John to become fatigued turn to an insistence that God’s primary concern should be his happiness. Beguiler is trying to rob him of the intimacy of genuine relationships while helping him to fuel this hypocrisy.
Just as Paul instructed Timothy to be an example to the believers, John also needs this example. Place a hedge of “Timothys” around him. The result of positive spiritual truth taught by the lives of others is a most powerful counter to Beguiler’s false teachings and lies. These “Timothys” need to portray an example of godliness in everything they say and do. They need to wrap him in love. From a pure heart encourage them to be an example of true faith in his life while being confident and diligent. They must show persistence but maintain patience.
This is not just an attack on John. As I mentioned they want him to influence the church with these lies. John is a very impressionable young Christian; his church needs strong leaders who will fight this spiritual battle alongside him. Surround John with a pastor and teachers unafraid to preach and teach according to Scripture. Encourage them to be bold as they prune away the false teachers in his life. Give them the courage to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only truth.
Teach John to only abide in the words of Jesus Christ. He will then know the truth, which will free him. A slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. If Jesus makes him free, he shall be free indeed.
Your fellow servant to the Saints,
Sarap
About the Author
Tim Woods lives in West Frankfort, Illinois, where he serves as Director of Student Ministries at First Christian Church and Jr. High/High School Teacher and Chaplain for New Covenant Christian School. Tim earned his B.Min. in Discipleship and M.Min. in Biblical Studies from Veritas Theological Seminary and is currently working toward a D.Min. He is the author of the forthcoming (2025) book, Battle for Souls (Illative House Press).
