The Plowman

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our goal is to use this classic fiction by C. S. Lewis is to excite the imaginations of our students to help them see the reality of the spiritual warfare that exists in the Christian walk described in Ephesians 6:12: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)." If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary:
asphyxiating: to kill by depriving someone of air.
touchstone: a standard by which something is judged.
palming: to conceal in the hand, usually in order to steal.
irony: to make a point by using the opposite of what you mean.
tedium: boring or lacking any interest.
trumpery: showy but worthless
vermin: wild animals, usually rodents, which are harmful to man.
tripe: literally animal intestines prepared for food, figuratively to signify nonsense or worthless talk.
twopence: a British copper coin of very small value, similiar to a penny.

Lesson:
For quite a number of the previous letters, things have not looked very promising for the new Christian, or the "patient", as Screwtape calls him. It appeares, by Screwtape’s telling, at least, that the demons are making gradual, steady progress, and are very likely to win in the end. Screwtape appears very content to let the situation grind on at a snail’s pace. The best way, in fact, is not to get in a rush and "let sleeping worms lie.", as he says in letter twelve.

Here in letter thirteen, things take a dramatic turn, and Screwtape is not at all happy with his nephew. let’s look at a bit of his opening statement.

The long and the short of it is that you have let the man slip through your fingers. . . .A repentance and renewal of what the other side call "grace" on the scale which you describe is a defeat of the first order. It amounts to a second conversion - and probably on a deeper level than the first.

Obviously this does not square with God’s word. A time of repentance and rewewal, no matter how dramatic, cannot be considered a second conversion, because the God who saves initially also keeps His children from falling away (Romans 8:31-39). I don’t think this is an instance of bad theology on the part of the author; simply a depicting of the bad theology of our tormentor Screwtape.

As a preliminary to detaching him from the Enemy, you wanted to detach him from himself, and had made some progress in doing so. Now, all that is undone.
Of course I know that the Enemy also wants to detach men from themselves, but in a different way. Remember, always, that He really likes the little vermin, and sets an absurd value on the distinctness of every one of them. When He talks of their losing their selves, He means only abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.

Our God is not an impersonal force in the universe. He cares for what he has created. The Bible tells us that He causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine on all mankind, even though none of us deserve anything (Matthew 5:45). More than just a general care for His creation, God cares for us individually: Isaiah 40:26, Matthew 6:26, Matthew 10:29-31. God, as He saves us, weans us away from ourselves, giving us the command to be like our Savior (Philippians 2:5-7).

You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the "best" people, the "right" food, the "important" books.

These lines can best be understood in light of peer pressure. Our surroundings, friends, neighbors dictate what is "best" or "right" or "important. We most often get inot trouble when we begin to worry about what others think about our taste in things. Enjoy being who God made you to be, and enjoy the God’s gifts to you and be thankful.

It remains to consider how we can retrieve this disaster. The great thing is to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance.
The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.

Inactivity is just as useful to the devil as thoughtlessness. Repentance is more than just feeling sorry, it involves a turning away from sin and turning to obedience in God. We are commanded in James to take action with our faith after we hear (James 1:22).

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our goal is to use this classic fiction by C. S. Lewis is to excite the imaginations of our students to help them see the reality of the spiritual warfare that exists in the Christian walk described in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12, ESV).

If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary:

• revocable: Something capable of being canceled.
• communicant: A person who receives Holy Communion. In the context of Lewis’ book this is in the Anglican church.
• roistering: The act of enjoying one’s self in a noisy or boisterous way.
• labyrinth: A complicated irregular network of pathways and passages in which it is difficult to find one’s way.
• cumulative: increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additions

Lesson:

We know that we have introduced a change of direction in his course which is already carrying him out of his obit around the Enemy . . . He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Nothing ever is, and such is the case with a growing coldness to God. This week’s lesson looks at the gradual nature of growing cold towards God.

This dim uneasiness, . . .increases the patient’s reluctance to think about the Enemy.

The more distant one travels from God the harder it is to make the turn and start heading back. It is simply the nature of mankind, kind of like intertia. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:4-10, ESV)

As this condition becomes more fully established, you will be gradually freed from the tiresome business of providing Pleasures as temptations.

Here we see the principle that is so obvious in life. The more we strive to grow in grace, the more we struggle with sin and temptation. When we are not striving, often times we are not so tempted. Dead fish float down stream with no difficulty at all. Those that would swim up stream to the source must press constantly against the flow.

The Christians describe the Enemy as one “without whom Nothing is strong.” And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man’s best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, . . .

Look at the things that capture your attention, your life. It is not that so much of what we do is evil, but that just about everything we do does not have God as its center.

Murder is no better than cards if cards will do the trick. Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft under foot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

What a tragic ending to this letter, much like is found in previous letters. There are people all around us in this condition, strolling calmly down the lane toward eternal death and darkness. It reminds one of Jesus warnings about Heaven and Hell, that the way to life is narrow and hard with few finding it, and the way to death and darkness is broad and easy, with many finding it.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13,14, ESV)

I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
(Proverbs 24:30-34, ESV)

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our goal is to use this classic fiction by C. S. Lewis is to excite the imaginations of our students to help them see the reality of the spiritual warfare that exists in the Christian walk described in Ephesians 6:12. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary:

Flippancy: not showing a serious or respectful attitude.
pretext: a reason given to justify a course of action that is not the real reason.
witticisms: a witty remark, sometimes involving a play on words or some type of humor.
opaque: not able to be seen through, not transparent, but not without some light coming through.
austerity: extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance.
incongruity: not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings or other aspects of something.
lasciviousness: a feeling or revealing of an overt and offensive sexual desire.
tedium: a dry, dreary routine, or a state of dull uniformity.
twits: silly or foolish persons.

Lesson:

All these, as I find from the record office, are thoroughly reliable people; steady, consistent scoffers and worldlings who without any spectacular crimes are progressing quietly and comfortably towards Our Father’s house.

This is how Screwtape describes “the patient’s” new-found friends in the opening lines to letter eleven. Consider how very much this description describes the people in your neighborhood, those you work with, go to school with, and perhaps this describes your friends. In this letter, as in a number of the others previously studied, we see this same allusion to people progressing quietly and comfortably towards hell. As Christians we need to wake up and be aware of what is going on around us. We need to realize that decent though they be, with out the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ, there are multitudes around us on this same quiet, comfortable journey to hell. We need to have the attitude of our Lord:

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4, ESV)

“I divide the causes of human laughter into Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and Flippancy.” Beginning in the second paragraph Screwtape analyzes laughter, declaring the first two pretty much harmless, for his purposes, that is. The last two he delves into with more interest finding usefulness in the cause of keeping people at a safe distance from knowing and serving the true and living God. In the second paragraph, Screwtape confesses an ignorance as to the source of true joy.

What that real cause is we do not know. Something like it is expressed in much of that detestable art which the humans call Music, and something like it occurs in Heaven - a meaningless acceleration in the rhythm of celestial experience, quite opaque to us. Laughter of this kind does us no good and should always be discouraged. Besides, the phenomenon is of itself disgusting and a direct insult to the realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell.

In discussing the Joke Proper - which he explains works as it “turns on sudden perception of incongruity” - Screwtape differentiates between two uses of Jokes or Humour. There is that use which is indecent or bawdy, and then there is that use which is operates as “the all-consoling and (mark this) the all-excusing, grace of life. Hence it is invaluable as a means of destroying shame.” What Screwtape is saying is that one of the ways we excuse our sin is to make light of it. We try to laugh it away, by not treating it and viewing it as God views it. The word of God is full of references to the seriousness of sin, the fact that sin earns death for us all (Romans 6:23), but none should fill the lost with dread like passages that refer to God’s anger with the unrighteous:

God is a righteous judge,and a God who feels indignation every day. (Psalm 7:11, ESV) In the King James: “…angry with the wicked every day.”

Flippancy is regarded by Screwtape as the most useful of all causes of human laughter. Look at how Lewis concludes this letter:

Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it.

The Bible speaks often and harshly in regards to the flippant, which God calls scoffers or the scornful, and is closely associated in scripture with the simple, or uneducated:

“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride (Proverbs 21:24, ESV). See also Prverbs 1:22, Proverbs 3:34, Proverbs 21:24, and Psalm 1.

My Dear Wormwood,

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. These posts are comprised of study and preparation on my part before class, with discussion that occurred during the class being added afterwords. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary:
belittling: the act of making someone seem unimportant
vanity: pride in one’s own achievements
exploiting: to make full use of something
urbane: of a person being well refined, well mannered and courteous
mammon: riches, in the sense that it is regarded as an object of worship
bawdy: dealing with sexual matters in a comical way
blasphemy: speaking irreverently or without proper respect in matters relating to God.
priggish: self-righteous, moralistic, holier-than-thou

Lesson:

I was delighted to hear from Triptweeze that your patient has made some very desirable new acquaintances and that you seem to have used this event in a really promising manner.

Very desirable, indeed! Obviously Screwtape doesn’t have the patient’s best interest at heart in this opening statement to letter 10. In this letter we find some of the pitfalls of having non-Christian friends. How is a Christian suppose to navigate in this fallen world? We are told by our Lord to be salt and light (Matthew 5:14-16), and to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19). We are also commanded to keep ourselves unstained by the world (James 1:27), and not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). How can we have contact without contamination? After all, we are told that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33).

What we have here is a tight-rope act, a walking on the razor’s edge. If we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, then we should long to tell our fellow man about our God and Savior. So how do you befriend those lost whom you work with, go to school with, live next door to? In the course of class discussion, we looked at the following passages:

• Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV). First of all, we need to be concerned primarily with what God thinks, not man.
• Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16, ESV). In this passage we learn that we must both study the Bible, so that it will dwell richly; and we must share it freely with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:14,15, ESV). We must persevere in the faith, using God’s word to remind us of what we believe, the truth of the Gospel.
• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2, ESV). The battle is ever and always in the head and the heart. We must, by constant vigilance, strive to take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16, ESV). Our purpose while here on earth is to reflect the glory of God in our lives. This means living a careful life for Him, not because it saves us, but because we have been saved and redeemed from every lawless deed (Titus 2:14).

Other passages: 1 Timothy 4, 1 Corinthians 15, the Proverbs.

Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape

My Dear Wormwood,

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary
exploited: to take full advantage of, but in an unfair, selfish way
innocuous: not harmful; perfectly harmless
drab: dull; lacking any quality to invoke interest
perversions: to alter something from its original meaning or use
concomitants: a phenomenon that naturally accompanies or follows something
anodyne: a pain-killing drug or medicine
expansive: free of speech, very willing to talk openly
redolent: strongly reminiscent or suggestive of something
ardours: enthusiasm or passion; (British spelling)
desponding: to become dejected and lose confidence
acquiesce: to accept something reluctantly but without protest
proposition: a statement or assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion
patronising: to treat someone with kindness, but with an obvious air of superiority
antithesis: a contrast or opposition between two things
adolescent: that age or development between a child and an adult

Lesson
Last week in letter eight, Screwtape explains and defines the law of undulation. As we look at letter nine today, Screwtape instructs his nephew on techniques to exploit the “Trough” periods that take place in this undulation of the human soul. He begins letter nine by declaring that these low times “provide excellent opportunity for all sensual temptations, particularly those of sex.“; the reasoning being that, first, his powers of resistance are low, and, secondly because his “whole inner world is drab and cold and empty.” This last reasoning implies that man feels that he has a right constantly to be entertained, constantly to be on an adventure. The problem runs much deeper, as we discover later in this letter.

Screwtape makes an interesting observation about human pleasures: “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.” Paul tells Timothy that God richly provides us with everything to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17), and so we must realize that this world is not inherently evil. What makes it evil is what sinful mankind does with it, which is usually make the good things in the world to be our gods, which amounts to idolatry.

In addition to a lowered resistance during these low times, Screwtape points out several other avenues of exploitation. They all have their root in the reoccurring theme of keeping the patient from thinking too much: As always, the first step is to keep knowledge out of his mind. So it doesn’t matter, in the final sense if the low times lead you to despair, or to think that Christianity was just a phase you were going through, or to cause you to accept mediocrity as the norm for living the Christian life. The devil has won the battle from the very start if you fail to use your mind, and the means to grace that involve the mind, such as prayer and meditation and study on the word of God. As is the case in so many of these letters, their aim is to make us use our minds. That is what God’s word is for; to remind us of the promises of God (Acts 2:21, Hebrews 7:25), that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20); of the commands of God, to love Him with all our hearts (Matthew 22:37); to see the story of redemption, especially the price that was paid for our great salvation (Hebrews 12:2, Philippians 2:5-11).

Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape

My Dear Wormwood,

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)
Vocabulary:
hybrid: a thing made by combining two different elements; a mixture.
phenomenon: a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen.
propaganda: information of a biased or misleading nature used to advance a point of view.
appalling: awful or terrible.
loathsome: causing hatred or disgust.
ignoble: not honorable in character or purpose.
incentives: a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.

Lesson:
“Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?” In this first of a twin-letter set, Screwtape defines and explains the law of Undulation to his young nephew, Wormwood. In letter nine, he will proceed to show Wormwood how to take advantage of this most curious phenomenon, “which“, he says here in letter eight, “will do us no good unless you make a good use of it.”

Screwtape defines the law of Undulation in the following sentence: “As long as he lives on earth, periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty.” Isn’t this true of every one of us. This emotional roller coaster has many causes, most of which can be attributed to sin. Each of us crave all kinds of things most of the time, as James points out in James 4:1, 2. If we have to, we bite and devour to get what we want. When we cannot obtain what we crave, then we become dejected. Even if we do get what we sinfully crave, it fails to satisfy for any length of time, and that too brings us down. This is not a picture only of the lost, but of God’s people too. It is only by God’s graciously wooing us that we return to Him for full and lasting satisfaction and contentment.

The bulk of our class time was spent discussing ways Christians can minimize this “law of Undulation”, as Lewis puts it. Here are some of the Scripture passages around which the discussion revolved:

• Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5, ESV)
• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2, ESV)
• Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1-4, ESV)

Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape

My Dear Wormwood,

Vocabulary:
dilemma: a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made
sceptic (skeptic): someone who doubts all that is standard and accepted.
Psychoanalysis: a system of psychological theory aimed to treat mental disorders by bringing the sub-conscience to the surface.
patriot: someone who vigorously supports and is willing to defend their country.
pacifist: someone who believes that any form of violence for any reason is unacceptable.
complacent: self satisfied.
coterie: a small exclusive group of people with shared interests.
faction: a small organized dissenting group within a larger group.
sect: a group of people with somewhat differing views from the larger group they are a part of.
temporal: relating to worldly rather than spiritual matters; having to do with time and space.

Lesson:

This week’s lesson from Screwtape letter #7 focuses on four questions, which were the basis for discussion:
1. What is the difference between forces and spirits? This opening paragraph to letter seven illustrates what the author points out in his preface, that there are two equal and opposite errors that we fall into. The first is that we do not believe in the devils, and the second is that we do and place too much interest in them. The Bible tells us that Satan and the demons are real. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7, ESV)

2. What are the effects of divisiveness in the Church? Screwtape states that the “subordinate factions within [the Church] have often produced admirable results”. How do denominations, and even strife within denominations limit the effectiveness of the Church’s purpose on earth?

3. How should we view conscientious objection and the Just War theory? How should we approach military service, and armed conflict. This issue can be complicated, but God’s word can help us as we begin to sort out the issues behind the role of the military, and domestic law enforcement:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1-7, ESV)

4. What are the effects of combining other things with religion, or confusing other things as a part of, or vital to Christianity? Notice the next to last sentence: “the more “religious” . . . the more securely ours.”What effect does a diluted or absent gospel message have on the purpose of the Church? For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2, ESV) Also read Philippians chapter three.

Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape

“My dear Wormwood,”

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)

Vocabulary:
tribulation: great trouble or suffering
fortitude: courage in the presence of tribulation
hypothetical: something not necessarily true or real
periodicals: a magazine or newspaper published weekly or monthly
vindictive: having or showing a strong unreasoning desire for revenge
milksops: someone laking courage or decisiveness
benevolence: showing kindness or helping someone in need
circumference: the edge of or distance around something, usually a circle
pernicious: having a harmful effect in a gradual or subtle way
concentric: two or more circles, of different sizes with all sharing the same center

Lesson:
We turn again to issues of faith, fear, and doubt in letter 6 of The Screwtape Letters,which were begun in letter 5. We conclude the letter on the subject of loving one’s neighbors and enemies.

The use of the word cross in the first part of this letter employs a device known as allusion, in which a well-known literary or historical event, person, or object is used to draw comparisons or contrasts to something in the story. In this letter, Screwtape uses cross to refer to those things that make our lives uncomfortable, or worry us. In history, the cross was that instrument on which the Romans put Jesus to death. It was the electric chair, or the gallows of his day. Notice in Mark 8:34-36 that even before He was crucified on a cross, Jesus referred to his disciples taking up their crosses.
And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? (Mark 8:34-37, ESV)
Note the different ways the word cross can be used, in Jesus’ execution, in Jesus’ teaching, in our common use every day. In this last usage we should be careful not to trivialize its meaning.
Fear of the present is no sin, but to fear the multitude of possible happenings off in the future is. Screwtape points out the fact that Wormwood needs to work on the patients forgetting the fact that all of his fears cannot possibly happen, since they are incompatible. Remember from last week’s lesson the verse emphasizing God’s concern for the well being of His children.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6, ESV)
Screwtape wraps up his letter to his nephew by giving him good advice concerning hatred. Hatred for the Germans, whom the British were presently at war with, was no real big deal, since they were mostly far away. Screwtape advises Wormwood to direct the patient’s malice toward those near to him, and his benevolence toward those who are far away. This brings to mind how Jesus responded to the lawyer in Luke 10:29, who asked “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus’ reply within the story of the good Samaritan basically was anybody whom you happen to come across is your neighbor, whether he be a family member, a close friend, or a dreaded foe.

“Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape”

“My dear Wormwood,”

(Editor’s note: These posts on the Screwtape Letters are the result of the high-school Sunday school class that my wife and I teach at Trinity Baptist church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If any of this material would be useful to anyone for a similar purpose, please feel free to use it, modifying it in any way you feel necessary. If you have any suggestions, comments, or observations, I invite you to please post them here. This is a work in progress, looking for any honest and sincere help you might offer.)
Vocabulary:
draught: a single act of drinking or inhaling; (a British spelling of the word draft)
chalice: A large cup or goblet, usually used for drinking wine, often connected with the Lord’s Supper.
patriot: a person who vigorously supports and defends his country
ardent: enthusiastic or passionate
pacifist: the belief that any violence, including war, is unjustifiable under any circumstances
temporal: limited by time and space; the physical world
barbarous: savagely cruel; exceedingly brutal
sophistical: clever but fallacious reasoning
unchastity: Lacking self-control, self-restraint, especially in, but not limited to the sexual realm.
partisans: A strong supporter of one side.
diffused: Spread out over time.
bereavement: the state of having been deprived of a loved one, usually through death

Lesson:
In this letter we will look at the factors of suffering in the life of the Christian, and its effect on his walk of faith. In this letter we find that World War II has begun, and Wormwood is ecstatic because of the various sufferings that it is causing his “patient.” Screwtape warns him in this letter not to be overly optimistic because suffering often drives Christians closer to God, not further away. Note first one passage which reveals some incorrect theology:
If, on the other hand, by steady and cool-headed application here and now you can finally secure his soul, he will then be yours forever - a brim-full living chalice of despair and horror and astonishment which you can raise to your lips as often as you please.
When Jesus comes back to judge the world in righteousness, Satan and the demons will not be rejoicing over the “gains” they had made up to that point. Hell will not be a place where Satan reigns, it will be a place where Jesus reigns.
and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:10-15, ESV)
The devil’s business is to try to shake our faith:
So do not allow any temporary excitement to distract you from the real business of undermining faith and preventing the formation of virtues.
We have way too many promises in God’s word to loose heart when trials come. Let us cling to them in all hope:
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:1-18, ESV)
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20, ESV)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6-11, ESV)

“Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape”

“My dear Wormwood,”

Vocabulary
supplication: To ask or beg for something earnestly or humbly.
superficial: not thorough, deep, or complete
subtle: so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe
cynical: distrustful of human sincerity or integrity
luminosity: being filled with light, so as to shine from within
puerile: childishly silly and trivial
subjective: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

Lesson
1. “The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether.”
A. Most Christians have this long-standing common belief that standard, or prepared prayers are not real, as in prayers memorized and “said” in childhood. Prayers read out of a book cannot be genuine. Is this true?
B. The flip side of this is to opt for “something entirely spontaneous, inward, informal, and unregularised“, thinking this style is somehow more real, more sincere. Is this true?
C. Screwtape says that we are animals and “whatever [our] bodies do affects [our] souls.” How does this relate to praying with eyes closed, head bowed, and/or on our knees? Does it really make a difference.?

2. When our prayers attend to someone other than God there is a misdirection of our prayers. With this approach our prayers are really aimed inwardly, as we attempt to pray in such a way so as to produce a desired feeling or emotion. Feelings and emotions are very much subject to a multitude of external factors such as health, rest, and stress, just to name a few. So when we pray we need to be careful to pray with God in mind, with his interests at heart - namely, to and for His glory and honor, and not our own. How do we do this?

3. “Whenever there is prayer, there is danger of His own immediate action He is cynically indifferent to the dignity of His position, and ours, as pure spirits, and to human animals on their knees He pours out self-knowledge in a quite shameless fashion.” God is indeed generous and gracious when we come to Him humbly and in sincerity. How do we pray to God in this manner?
For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. (2 Chronicles 30:9, ESV)
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says,“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6, ESV)

4. “You must keep him praying to it - to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him.” We have a bad habit of making God in our own image, or praying to an idol of our own making, and thus our prayers go as far as the ceiling, and no further. It could be that our view of God contains too much of the incarnation of Jesus, and not enough of the exaltation of Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father. How do we pray “to the Person who has made [us]“, and not just “the thing [we have] made”?
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in* blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16, ESV)
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

“Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape”