"And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." ~ Revelation 12:9-12 (KJV)
What a terrifying thought! The devil, and all of his great army of demons, are here on this earth! Not only that, but as Revelation 12 points out, they want nothing other than the destruction of the church, who is represented by a beautiful woman in the text. C.S. Lewis wrote an intriguing work called the Screwtape Letters in which he makes this great threat real to the church by recording a fictional correspondence between the devil Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood.
In the twelfth letter of the collection of letters between the two devils, we get a glimpse of a diabolical strategy that is far more subtle then one might get the impression of when reading I Peter 5:8; "...your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:..." I quote the following from the Screwtape Letters:
"As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognized, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately."
The devil Screwtape goes on to describe to his nephew that this state of the "patient" who is being tempted by Wormwood will lead him into further and further sin (taking small steps) to the point where the patient will develop an overwhelming sense of guilt which will cause him to despise anything that points to God. At this point, Wormwood's job becomes easy, because the patient has been separated from God.
Now, I believe we need to look at this carefully. I think that Lewis does an extraordinarily good job in demonstrating the kinds of thoughts and communications that occur among the devils. However, we must not think that a devil can truly separate one of God's sheep from His care. As the prodigal son, we believers may stray away and carelessly indulge in the corruption of this world for a time, but if we are God's elect, then He will stir us up to repentance by His spirit. What I love about this letter, is that it gives an honest perspective of the devil. If we believe that devils are little imps traipsing a about in the fires of hell carrying a pitch fork, then we have truly been duped. There are devils keeping watch over the shoulders of all who are manifest Christians at all times, doing their utmost to thwart the sovereignty of God over their lives. What I believe the point of C.S. Lewis is, is that we ought to be aware of this, that we fall not into sin, but rather out of love and thankfulness to God work that which is good in His sight!
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