~ by Tom Holste

This article originally appeared in SGN Scoops, October 2009.

My dear Wormwood,

Really, your excitement over this whole affair is quite juvenile. Of course, there are many things about the current situation which can be used to our favour, but there is truly no point in singing the praises of one of these bipedal creatures—what did you say this one was named? “Brown”?—as though his tireless work for Our Father Below puts him in some kind of special standing with us. Make no mistake, Wormwood. This creature is just as disgusting as any of those in the Enemy’s camp, and one day he will be food for us like so many others, if we play our cards right.

At least this Brown fellow’s guardian devil has got it into Brown’s head to excuse everything he does by calling himself a “Christian.” And when real Christians protest his use of this label, we have our other patients refer to the believers as “narrow-minded,” as if somehow it could be narrow-minded to observe that an animal that walks on all fours and barks is not a duck.

At any rate, as you noted, this is an excellent time to stir up dissension as much as possible. Treemold will be working on your patient’s closest non-Christian friend, getting him to see the movie and walk away as though everything he has seen and heard is fact. Of course he will make the little worm feel too busy to actually bother to look anything up and verify its truth or falsehood, but he will feel that he has learned something valuable through the way the actors speak with such conviction about these “facts.” Note, too, the game we can play with them: since your patient is a believer, when he objects to any of the content of the movie in front of the non-Christian friend, the friend will repeat the mantra that we have drilled into his head: “But it’s just a movie.” Yes, these creatures will on one hand gladly accept indoctrination from their entertainment, and then dismiss anyone else who takes it seriously in the very next breath. Our use of jargon for propaganda has been one of our greatest triumphs of the last century.

And, naturally, Treemold and his fellow tempters will make sure to point out anything that their patients happen to come across that seems to reinforce what the movie told them. Sometimes no actual facts are needed; simply repeating the same lie over and over will give the lie credibility in the creatures’ minds. But if there happens to be some fact in the film that is actually verified to the bipeds, that fact will have the effect of making everything else in the story seem all the truer. Mixing a small amount of truth within the lie has been one of Our Father Below’s best tactics: remember, the creatures in Eden did become more like God after they ate the fruit—in a manner of speaking.

We have discussed external attacks that will come upon your patient. Now let us discuss the internal. Is your patient more likely to read too much into what he sees, or too little? If the former, make him not only abstain from seeing the film, but also harshly judge anyone within the Enemy’s camp who doesn’t do likewise. You see, some within that camp may see the movie in an attempt to be more informed about the film and to be able to answer their critics better. If they abstain or if they watch with discernment, this is good for the Enemy and dreadful for us, provided it is done with the intention of giving Him glory. But as much as possible, provoke your patient into doing something that is strictly forbidden to him, that is, judging another man’s servants.

While making him an Abstainer will have several good effects, it is even better for our cause is if you make him a Glutton. An Abstainer is at least attempting to use reason and so might eventually see the other person’s point of view. But the Glutton rejects reason altogether. Here you can use a bit of Scripture to achieve our ends (as Our Father Below did so brilliantly during the Enemy’s forty days in the wilderness, although sadly without the intended results). During his reading time, point his attention to all the scriptures that remind him of his freedom as one of the Enemy’s creatures and away from any scriptures that extol the virtues of self-control and cautiousness. Soon he will be watching many movies that are not healthy for him and accepting them as truth, and engaging in other dangerous behavior in the name of “enjoying his freedom.”

Of course, the Spirit will be prompting his conscience to turn back, and his Christian friends will likely try to talk to him about his lifestyle. You need not do anything at this time; his own guilt will make him greatly defensive against any arguments, and he will likely throw himself into his activities with even greater abandon in order to quiet the nagging voices in his head. How many in the Enemy’s camp have we prevented from being great warriors for His name by binding them to alcohol and various lusts! Their whole lives are wasted chasing after that which chains them, all in the name of greater “freedom.”

One final note. Never let it occur to your patient to pray for this Brown fellow or any of the others associated with this piece of cinema. Awakened charity and compassion can be disastrous for our cause; teach him to maintain an “us vs. them” attitude, as he does with sports and at his place of employment. Let him think of his ideological opponents as his “enemies” that he must defeat with his intellect (by which he will really mean his nasty, sarcastic streak) rather than seeing them for what they really are: drowning people, just as he once was, in desperate need of a hand reaching out from the lifeboat.

Another reason that prayer for Brown and the other bipedal bugs is bad for us is that these prayers can in fact be quite effective in turning around a human soul. Remember, the best way of tempting any soul to hell is the quiet and subtle route, without signposts. Sometimes the loudest and most passionate fighters for our side show equal passion when turned to the Enemy’s side. Remember the Damascus incident?

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape