Knock Knock

I was watching a program last night and the word “wormwood” came up. It made me think of C.S. Lewis and The Screwtape Letters.

"The Screwtape Letters" is a novel, first published in 1942, written in the form of a series of letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood.

Wormwood is a “junior tempter”.

The letters offer advice on how to tempt and corrupt a human soul. The story is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of human nature, morality, and the Christian faith, and it remains one of Lewis's most popular and enduring works. (Although, The Chronicles of Narnia are my favorite)

Wormwood is also the name of a plant and of the bitter-tasting extract derived from it.

But in the Bible, "Wormwood" is mentioned in Revelation, described as a star falling from heaven and making the waters bitter, causing many people to die:

"The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter." Revelation 8:10-11 ESV

In Christian interpretation, Wormwood is often associated with calamity, suffering, or divine punishment. I find it interesting that Mr. Lewis chose such a name for his junior demon.

Let’s take a peek.

“…I once had a patient, a sound atheist, who used to read in the British Museum. One day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go the wrong way. The enemy, of course, was at his elbow in a moment. Before I knew where I was, I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter.

If I had lost my head and begun to attempt a defense by argument I should have been undone. But I was not such a fool. I struck instantly at the part of the man which I had best under my control and suggested that it was just about time he had some lunch.

The enemy presumably made the counter-suggestion (you know how one can never quite overhear what he says to them?) that this was more important than lunch, at least I think that must have been his line for when I said, “Quite. In fact, much too important to tackle at the end of a morning”, the patient brightened up considerably; and by the time I had added “Much better come back after lunch and go into it with a fresh mind”, he was already half way to the door.

Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a no. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true.

He knew he’d had a narrow escape and in later years was fond of talking about “that inarticulate sense for actuality which is our ultimate safeguard against the aberrations of mere logic”.

You begin to see the point? Thanks to processes which we set at work in them centuries ago, they find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things.

Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defense against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable “real life”.

But the best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is “the results of modern investigation”.

Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

In this original excerpt from "The Screwtape Letters," Screwtape describes manipulating an atheist by diverting his attention from logical pursuits to more mundane activities. He believes this simple act will undermine his faith in Christianity. Sadly, he is correct in that regard for most humans.

Satan, uh, that is to say uncle Screwtape, takes advantage of the human tendency to gravitate to what is familiar and tangible over what is unfamiliar and intangible. I see similar tricks being used still today.

We have secular ideas, the whole consumer-culture thing, peer pressure, pushing folks to chase after material things, making people doubtful about anything that is not concrete and proven. That can, and usually does, make people forget about spiritual or deep thinking.

Friend, all we need to do is turn toward Jesus; look full into His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim; in the light of His glory and grace.

Jesus is coming soon. Don’t let Satan distract you with things that are not important. Enter into that saving relationship with God today.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 ESV

by Jeanette Stark – Wednesday, February 7, 2024