Doctrines of Demons, from C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters – Part 3
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.
They (the demons) make it their business to get us away from the eternal present and into the past or the future; both of which will cause us anxiety.
(p. 72) They say that if a human can’t be cured of church going, send him to other churches more lacking in faith and that are more party churches. The more lukewarm he is the better.
On gluttony. They desire that the belly dominate the whole life of the human.
In gluttony, they say that excess of food is less powerful than wanting (lusting after) certain tastes of food. They say that this is a good preparation for attacks on chastity.
They feed us the lie that “being in love” is the only ground for marriage and if lost the marriage will no longer be binding.
They will try to persuade a Christian to marry someone who will be difficult.
They may try to persuade a single human that chastity is unhealthy; and they will try to use unchastity to land a desirable marriage.
(p. 93) They will try to direct men to more desirable (sexual) woman.
They will prepare the human for sexual temptation by darkening his intellect (fill it with deceptions).
They will fill the human with ideas that “my time is my own.” And when anyone invades his time he is angered.
They fill men’s beliefs with false ideas that they “own” their bodies.
(p. 101) They are revulsed at the pleasures that God gives His own, especially young couples in love.
(p. 107) They want believers to treat Jesus only as a great man, but not someone who is divine. This will destroy their devotional life.
(p. 110) They will continue to haunt a good person until they find a chink in their armor—to create in them pride or bitterness or lust.
(p. 115) They want a Christian to be of a mind of “Christian and.” That is, to add something to their faith, like psychology, or faith healing, or vegetarianism, etc.
Instead of asking the question: “Is it righteous, or is it prudent?” they would rather we ask, “Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time?” As a result, they have a better chance to bend our thoughts to what they want for us.
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.
Doctrines of Demons, from C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters
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, in three parts, are ways the demons will draw a person over to the evil path.
They (the demons) want us to stay clear of arguments (or debates) because they will awaken reason; they prefer jargon.
They prefer we read about and speak of experiences over teaching—that is, the demons will try to draw a person into stories rather than sound teaching in order to convince a person to go the wrong way.
They prefer casual talking over science.
(p 11) They want to keep our mind hazy, not to have a clear mind, esp. for the new converts.
They want to keep us disappointed in ourselves.
They want us to depend on our emotions, so we will be easier to tempt.
They want us to be wondering what other people in our church are like, and what they do secretly.
They want us to think of ourselves as very religious and humble, better than most.
They will try to produce in people mutual annoyances.
(p 16) They want us to pray not about bodily pain but over sins—so to remind us of our sins.
They work on things that irritate—tone of voice, twitches, things that the other dislikes.
(p 20) They want to keep us from serious prayer.
They would rather we pray our childhood, parrot-like prayers.
They would rather we not pray directly to God but to our soul to have a “spirit of love.”
Instead of true prayer, they would rather we try to produce in ourselves certain desired feelings—that we try to feel forgiven.
Instead of praying to God in heaven, they would rather we pray to a picture of Christ or to a cross.
(p 24) The goal for them is to secure the soul of humans to the devil.
Their business is to undermine faith and to prevent the formation of virtues.
Their refreshment is to produce any fear and suffering, but in the end it must also bring their soul to the devil.
They may reason that it is better (for the dark side) for humans to die in costly nursing homes that to die in wars.
(p 28) They want us to be filled with uncertainty and contradictory pictures of the future.
They want our prayers to be drawn away from the Father and unto ourselves.
They want our mind to go toward itself and to insults, or to a woman’s body (to lust).
(p 32) Their policy for now is to conceal themselves.
They say that they are helped when they are perceived as comic figures.
They want religious meetings, pamphlets, movements, causes, to matter more for us than our prayers.
To start this section, it is important to know that though commercial Babylon is different in that it deals not so much with religion, but with commerce, it is still linked with the old fallen religious Babylon and still has a strong foundation in its immorality and idolatry. I think we may capture this reality best by looking at what the angel said about the coming fallen Babylon in verses two and three.
And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
I think John MacArthur comments well on these verses, pointing out the differences between the two Babylon’s.
Religious Babylon (chap. 17) lures the nations into spiritual drunkenness and fornication with false gods (17:2, 4); commercial Babylon (chap. 18) seduces the unbelieving world into a materialistic stupor so that the people of the world will become drunk with passion because of their relationship with Babylon.7
As for this Babylonian system of commerce; how is it run? Well, even before the Antichrist appears on the scene, the Scripture tells us that there will be ten kings with ten kingdoms. We don’t see this yet, but I think we will see it soon. And then, just as these kingdoms are put in place, a very powerful leader, who is the Antichrist, will come into power, and he will give authority to the ten kings. And with them, and with his prophet (the false prophet) leading, he will set up a government system by which no person on earth will be able to buy or sell anything unless he has a certain mark, a mark of the beast, on either his right hand or his forehead (Rev. 13:16-17). Hence, this Antichrist will control all commerce.
But even before this control system comes about, and even before the ten kingdoms are installed, we will see many global organizations come together in an effort to form a global government—and this will bring about these ten kingdoms and the Antichrist. But we don’t have to wait long. Most of these organizations are already in place and are making global plans with each other. There are probably over one-hundred of them, but here are the top seven.
1. United Nations (UN). It was established in 1945, and its mission is to ensure international peace and security.
2. United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It was established in 1945. Its mission is to promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, science, and culture.
3. World Health Organization (WHO).It weas established in 1948. It is an organization that specializes in international public health.
4. World Economic Forum (WEF). It was established in 1971. Their stated mission is to improve the status of the world by engaging commercial, governmental, intellectual, and other leaders of society to influence global, regional, and industry agendas.
5. International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was established in 1945. Its mission is to promote global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world while relying on the World Bank for resources on a periodic basis.
6. World Bank. It was established in 1944. This international agency lends and gives money to governments in low- and middle-income nations to fund capital projects.
7. World Trade Organization (WTO). It weas established in 1995. It is a multilateral organization that regulates and supports international trade.8
Most of these organizations on the surface look very good and helpful to the world’s people However, when they are used under the Antichrist system of government, they will be used for a evil.
One of the things that is progressing rather quickly is the idea of having digital currency dan a new cashless society. And it will be a currency that is programable by its leaders. In other words, we will be forced to buy and sell only the things that the Antichrist system approves of. They will control what we buy and sell.
But do not think that these things are ideas way down the road. There are actually many organizations that are presently discussing and working on these things. There is an organization called Digital Currency Governance Consortium, which is composed of 80 organizations to discuss these things. And this is all under the global organization World Economic Forum. And there are several of these groups that are promoting digital currency. Here are a few titles you should be aware of: Central Bank Digital Currency, The Digital Dollar Project, MIT Digital Currency Initiative, A New Era of Digital Money-IMF F&D. I think there is almost too many of them; too many ideas.
Big businesses will also be tied into the new Babylonian, Antichrist system. There will be nothing small anymore—no small businesses. It will be much easier to control big businesses. I’m sure that their executives will have no problem taking the mark of the beast and engaging in his evil system.
In Revelation 18:11-13 there is a list of all the “cargo” that the merchants of the earth are mourning over after Babylon falls. But that list should be updated and modernized for today. I have a list before me of one-hundred of the biggest global companies, having ten different categories (or sectors) of goods (“cargo”). Here is my revised tabulation, organized first by the ten sectors, then by the top three companies.
Sectors
Top Three Companies
Technology
Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet
Consumer Discretionary
Amazon, Tesla, Walmart
Health Care
United Health Group, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly
Energy
Saudi Aramio, Exxon Mobil, Reliance Industries
Financials
Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America
Industrials
Visa, Mastercard, Accenture
Consumer Staples
Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Philip Morris
Telecommunications
Cisco, T-Mobile, Verizon
Basic Materials
Linde, BHP Group
Utilities
Nextera Energy
I noticed, according to verses 11-13 that this list of companies is in no way complete. There doesn’t seem to be a category for animals, vehicles, or slaves and human lives. Yes, apparently the slave trade will reappear in Antichrist’s commercial system!9
First, I will define what I mean byThe Evil Powers. Chiefly, it is Satan, the devil. Under him it is all the demons—the evil fallen angels. Then under them it is the evil people that follow and are controlled by Satan. They call themselves the “elite.” Most of them are billionaires. And they are always pushing for more money and more power. They are that group that is calling for the “Great Reset,” which will ultimately develop into world control by one leader.
Also, the reason why my title is on “America” instead of the world is because America is now the focus. And that is because they (the evil powers) reason that in order to control the world they will have to reduce the power of all nations; and that means that America will have to be knocked down a few notches—reduced in power and influence, until they are ready to be controlled.
Now here is what inspired me to write this post. I have been seeing so much evidence lately of things happening that would suggest that evil powers are at work to destroy our freedoms and our strength as Americans. Here are a few.
All things related to Covid-19
Oh, The Evil Powers were all over this. And if they didn’t cause Covid-19, they certainly knew how to use it to their advantage. We have seen how Dr. Fauci and others have set the Covid rules and put us all under a cloud of fear. And most of our governors have fell right in line with it, some telling us that mask wearing will be a permanent thing. And many are using their position of power to close small businesses—while the large businesses are allowed to remain open. And the most tragic thing is that churches have been forced to restrict the size of their congregation; and some have had to close.
The thing that bothers me most is how the media keeps advertising all the Covid deaths every day on TV. This is all for a purpose: to keep us under a cloud of fear, and to condition us to be controlled, so that we will be more and more submissive—submissive to a future dictator!
The Chauvin trial
I constantly ask myself the question: why is this so news worthy? It is always on the front page of the newspaper. And now the trial is on every major TV channel. Ironically, I don’t think that most people are that interested in watching it. Most people are sick of it. So why is it advertised so much? It is because The Evil Powers want it on. They are pushing it. They want Americans to watch it. Why? Because they know that it is inspiring racism and a hatred for the police—which will ultimately break down America’s power structure and morality.
Books
Americans have always been readers of books. And the Evil Powers know that. I like to browse the book stores in search of books I would like to read. And I have been noticing lately that many of the good books of truth are disappearing off the shelves and are being replaced by books that are lying to us.
Let me give you one example of this. Just a few months ago during the Trump administration I would see so many good, truthful books about the good side of Donald Trump and also books on the “Hoax.” Now all that is reversed. You will see almost none of those books, but instead the shelves are packed with books telling lies about Trump and also so many books on the Obama’s and the smiling Harris. So, you get the point. And it is interesting that whenever you see an Obama book or a Harris book or a _____ book on the shelves, it’s not just one or two of them. The book stores will put out a dozen or more. Why? Do they think the public really wants to read that book that much? Well, it is my guess that they put out the books they want you to read, not because they think you are interested in reading them. Conversely, they are removing the books they don’t want you to read—the books that are true.
But the book store people—the owners and the managers—are controlled by The Evil Powers. And they control what books they want you to read. And don’t you know that they don’t want you to know the truth. They want you to believe a lie. They want to deceive you and control you. And one of the best ways to do it is through what you read.
Be on your guard Americans.Look and see what is happening. Be on your guard against what is false and what is true. And the best book to read for truth is the Bible. Don’t let the devil fool you. Be filled with the Spirit—He is the Spirit of Truth.
This is our third study on this topic. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. We will begin our study for this post in Matthew 9:32-34
Matt 9:32-34
As they were going out, “a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”
Observations
What happened to the man was clear and undeniable. Jesus drove a demon out of the man and he was healed. He could speak. And the crowd was amazed at what happened.
But what was puzzling is the response by the “righteous” Pharisees. They said that the reason he was able to cast out demons was because he called on “the prince of demons.” (the devil).
First of all, that makes no sense. Why would the devil want his demons to be cast out? His kingdom would not stand if he went about casting out his own forces (read what Jesus said in Matthew 12:25-30).
I think the real reason the Pharisees said what they said was because they hated Jesus and they were jealous of what he was able to do. So, they had to say something to discredit him.
Applications
This text reminds me of the former U.S. administration, with Donald Trump as President. He did so many good things for the country and yet the media and the Democrats were so jealous of him and hated him. And it didn’t matter what he did, they always found a way to discredit him. I have heard many times that he could have found a cure for cancer and they would have found a way to discredit it, or give the credit to someone else.
I think we see so much of the Pharisees in the Democrat party and the Democrat media. Watch how they act: so self-righteous; and Nancy Pelosi, how she was praying for everyone. But also notice how she could not give President Trump praise for anything, and publicly tore up President Trump’s State of the Union Speech.
Stephen Nielsen 