Doctrines of Demons, from C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – Part 2

The following points are from notes I took while reading C. S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters. The book is a compilation of thirty-one letters from a demon named Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood. In it Screwtape gives instructions to his nephew on how to seduce and take down certain humans, mostly new Christians. I think it is an excellent manual on the doctrine of demons (but of course, it is according to one human’s perspective, C. S. Lewis; hence, we can’t be sure it is perfectly accurate).  The following points are ways the demons will draw a person over to the evil path.

• (p 36) They know that it is during the low periods (more than the high periods) that we will grow.
• They know that our prayers offered up in a state of dryness are those that most please God.
• They realize that we learn to walk in the Lord when God takes His hands off us—and He is pleased even when we stumble. (But He will not let us be cast down, Ps 34:24).
• (p 40) They know that the low periods in humans provide an excellent opportunity for sexual temptation.
• They realize that humans are stronger when they read more (keep knowledge flowing).
• (p 49) They say consisting scoffers are progressing toward Satan. They are glad when we do this.
• As for humor, they encourage virtue as funny and ridiculous.
• (p 53) They will introduce a change of direction in the young believer—but they do not want him to suspect where he is headed—downhill!
• They will encourage him to dislike any religious duties and prayers.
• They know that pleasure temptations cut off real happiness.
• They seek to have him waste his time doing menial things for long periods of time: TV watching, etc. They want him to avoid healthy and outgoing activities.
• They want him not to do what he likes to do.
• They want to steal away a person’s best years.
• They know that the best thing they can do is separate the human from the enemy (God).
• (p 57) They recognize when humans repent and are renewed, and they are discouraged by it.
• They know that there are times when they can’t get through—due to the fact that God is directly present with them.
• (p 58) They count it a defeat when the human reads books they enjoy and does things they enjoy, like nature walks, etc.
• They count it a defeat when the human abandons his self-will.
• They will try to eradicate from a person his personal hobbies—all things he enjoys, because they will be a source of innocence and humility and self-forgetfulness. They will endeavor to force upon them more “important things”, more “righteous things,” things that if not accomplished will be a great source of guilt and an entrance for sin.
• They are in favor of getting the human to not apply things that they read—to keep it out of his will. They are in favor of keeping them from developing habits.
• (p 62) They hate it when we stop thinking of our virtues—thinking of how good we are becoming. They want us to think of how humble we are, how wise we are, so that we become proud. They love to see us become proud.
• They want us to endlessly think upon ourselves.
• They know that God wants us to think of all humans as glorious and excellent, so they try to remove this truth from us. But they may try to get us to think too much of ourselves and putting ourselves above others.
• They want us to continually think of our sins—how bad we are, instead of thinking of the Saviors love and forgiveness.
• (p. 67) They want us to be tortured by fears.
• They know that God wants us to live in eternity or in the present. For in our meditation with God in the present, time touches eternity and God brings us in union with Him.