- C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
It's easy to take over someone's soul. You simply make sure the path they walk is easy and fun. You make sure that they are focused on themselves. Feed them what they want to hear and before long, they believe it enough that they will no longer need me to guide their path to eternal damnation. The problem comes in when something sudden happens that makes them ask questions. It wakes them from the drunkenness of themselves and it's most serious form, allows them to realize that it is not about them.
I saw the daylight flickering in his eyes. He was waking up and recognized me as his enemy instead of his friend. I wasn't out of options though... not by any means. The realization of what I'd led him to do was the fuel, all I had to do was ignite it with a steady stream of guilt and shame. When a person wakes up, there is the possibility that you can lull them back to sleep. Not so with this one. The speed in which the Enemy was closing in on him was startling, and I knew my best chance was to end his life. So I reminded him of the gun cabinet and how easy it be. Over in less than a second and he would never have to bear the weight of consequence. Though he held the barrel beneath his chin, I was unable to get him to pull the trigger.
Unable to speak to anyone, he cut himself off from everyone but his mother and brother who convinced him to come stay with them. I should have had many opportunities to finish him off, but my Enemy had arrived and held me back. He (the man) was in a trance - he could not hear either of us nor respond. He simply went through a series of automatic motions and my Enemy guided him to his family. He tried to explain what happened and in doing so, opened his mind back up. I took my chance and invaded it. I tortured him to the point of causing physical pain and exhaustion. He could only stay awake for a few hours each day because of the toll it took on him. When he would sleep (and it would be as much as 16 hours every day), I planted nightmares and forced him to relive the Temptation and how he succumbed to it. He would wake up panicked and sweating, face streaked with tears from the terror that it was real all over again.
This was a very effective tactic and I had him where I needed him. It should have been natural to turn him to addiction or even back to self-righteousness, but he was around followers of the Enemy. Not the ones you find in church on Sunday, staring down judgement on sinners, but ones that had a real and lasting relationship with the Enemy. The Enemy was not winning the Battle for his Soul in his heart and mind, so he used others to get in where I had blocked. He recognized that I was inside him and even referred to me in his writings, but my grip was strong. He began to pray to the Enemy and his Father that he would be released from me. This was the turning point of the Battle. He had not experienced the presence and beauty of the Enemy to that point, yet he put his hope that the Enemy was real and would respond to the promises written in the Book. It is curious to watch a man have faith and hope where he has no real belief. In most circumstances, it would result in nothing but disappointment. Yet at that moment, the Enemy was given permission to enter and though he could not pray effectively for himself, the Enemy Himself interceded on his behalf.
All I could do was redouble my grasp and hope to take him with me. To remove me means to remove one's selfish ambition with it. It can be enough to kill or drive a man insane. Those that survive the ordeal become formidable enemies themselves, but it was my only chance. As the Enemy ripped me from his soul (you cannot take me gently, for then I can hold on), the raw, open flesh of his soul was revealed and he felt pain like never before. The magnitude of his sin hit him like a person staring into the sun with dilated eyes. He could not bear it. But now that I was out, the Enemy showed his gentle, kind, and loving nature. He stood between us, arms folded. Though he spoke quietly, it resounded like thunder: "This one belongs to me. He is under my protection and you will no longer control him." He cried tears that said what no words ever could. He could not fathom that the Enemy would claim him as His own knowing that he had committed crimes against the very One now standing there. Yet, there He stood and there was no longer anything I could do about it. .
It is easy to think that the Battle would end there, but I am a crafty one and being held to no moral standard has its advantages. You see, he had children and they had not yet been claimed by the Enemy. So I attacked them, causing fear and confusion. I whispered that their father did not love them and that it was their fault he was gone. They believed me but when word of this reached him, he confidently called on the Enemy through his tears of anger and fear. The Enemy gave him strength and comfort,removed me once more, and set His angels at the doors and windows so that I might not enter that home again. I attacked him again and again through the process of divorce and had an excellent agent working with his former wife. Yet he recognized his weakness and ran back to the Enemy who comforted him, reminded him of the cost that was paid for him, that he was loved, and that He would protect him to the end.
I had failed. Though I tore apart his family and his life, he entered into communion with the Enemy. I still test his defenses frequently, but his confidence in the Enemy's faithfulness grows with each attempt. He now shares the Enemy's victory over sin and death and over me with greater and greater fervor. I fear he may now reach others that I have my grip on and will make more like himself. My job is much easier when being Christian means that you go to church, follow the rules, and sit on the sidelines like good boys and girls. It is easy when they let those on my path define what it means to be a Christian. There are too many that now see truth through the eyes of the Enemy and who study His Book. My hope is that by using the religious and non-religious alike, that I can make their condition seem undesirable and at least contain the spread.
*********************************************************************************
Romans 8:26 - "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
Romans 10:13 "For everyone that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
No comments:
Post a Comment