Included in the fundamental ministry of the Holy Spirit, though not directly mentioned, is His ability to stop a social media post dead in its tracks.
It seems that in recent days, I have experienced this fruit of the Spirit more and more frequently. Social media has become a necessity for so many aspects of connection and community in our day. I have expressed my discouragement and frustrations with people about the divisions, hate, ignorance, and the multitude of other issues that bother me. No, bother isn't the right word. "Bother" is a Winnie the Pooh word, and that is not sufficient. Even broken seems out of its weight-class in describing it. It's like having your soul sucked out of you through your thumb as you swipe on a tiny screen. It is exhausting and heart-crushing; like seeing a loved one in danger and running to save them, only to realize you have been running on a treadmill while you watched them perish.
I have shared this with others and they have said, "Just get off social media!" Unfortunately, the culture and world we live in are best connected through these means. Our ministries, businesses, schools, activities, events, and various aspects of our lives are, in many cases, only social via social media. In every case, we are all in a community of social media. It has become in many ways, a necessary grievance.
Our churches, small groups, families, schools, and so much more are all available in an instant. And have you seen The Crazy Russian Hacker or Saxsquatch? In recent days especially, social media was and is a lifeline to the church in times of distance and difficulty. It's not all bad, and I know that. Maybe it's my gaze that catches the light the wrong way, or maybe it's my geography and the social makeup of my timeline. Whatever it is, I am grateful for my spiritual Editor in Cheif who keeps me in check. The personal covenant I made was simply to encourage, edify, and point to Christ and the Gospel. If it didn't do those things in some way, I did not want to post it, share it, or waste my time with it at all.
WHICH FINALLY BRINGS US TO WORMWOOD:
C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters are a fictional collection of 31 letters are written from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape is a highly ranked and strategically placed soldier in Satan's army of demons, tasked in spiritual the spiritual warfare of humankind. In an attempt to mentor his nephew, Screwtape sends letters to instruct the inexperienced, and at times inept Wormwood, on how best to distract, discourage, and by all means, prevent the "Enemy" from reaching humans with His message and power.
Beyond Screwtape and Wormwood, there are other critical characters mentioned in the letter. Part of my friend's confusion came from the mention of these important figures.
First, we have The Enemy: The enemy of Screwtape and Wormwood is of course God and His only begotten son, Jesus. Remember, Screwtape and Wormwood are demons.
Next, we have The Patient: The patient is the human that young Wormwood is charged with guiding towards destruction and devotion to our the next character mentioned...
That being, Our Father Below: This of course is Satan, the devil himself.
Screwtapes letters serve as not only advice to Wormwood, but for the reader, they are a brilliant study in human life with its temptations and pitfalls, all seen from the viewpoint of the "Lowerarchy" of hell. In addition, Lewis' imaginative approach gives brilliant insight into the timeless tactics of mankind's real enemy and how spiritual warfare is fought in the heart and minds of people day-by-day.
Despite Wormwood's effort and Screwtape's instruction, the "Patient" becomes a Christian after the second letter. It's here that Lewis begins to paint the picture of Satan's attacks and methods in a Christian's life in this fictional and imaginative, yet biblical and accurate depiction. Notice Screwtape's first letter after the "Patients" conversion:
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian... There is no need to despair; hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemy's camp and are now with us... One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me... the Church as we see her spread but through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners... But fortunately, it is quite invisible to these humans... When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours... You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like "the body of Christ" and the actual faces in the next pew... You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy's side...
Your Affectionate Uncle,
Screwtape
From here Screwtape builds on principles of distraction, discouragement, and dissent from the Enemy. While the reader never hears from Wormwood, we discern his desired tactics from Screwtape's responses in his letters. Wormwood seeks to destroy the patient with massive attacks of sin and depravity, while Screwtape insists on a more subtle approach. In his 12th letter to Wormwood, Screwtape says:
“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
Screwtape paints the clear difference between the Father Down Below and the Enemy throughout the letters. In doing so, Lewis gives a clear picture of not only the tactics of our real enemy but the stark and clear differences in the message of the Gospel. In his 8th letter, Screwtape writes:
We want cattle who can be food; He (God) wants servants who can be sons...
While I cannot say that I would theologically agree with C.S. Lewis in all points or even most points, I can say that The Screwtape Letters is not only an incredible piece of literature, but a timeless reminder to the believer of how our enemy works, and who our enemy really is.
MY POINT:
So what is my point? Last night I posted the following selection from Screwtape's 7th letter:
Dear Wormwood,
... All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged... Let your patient begin by treating the Patriotism as a part of his religion... Then quietly and gradually nurse him on to the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the "cause", in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the effort...
Your Affectionate Uncle,
Screwtape
While all of my posts are lengthy, I really intended for this one not to be. But in total transparency, my normal ability to disconnect from the constant tide of social media chaos has been severely impaired. I see scripture being fulfilled day after day. I know what to expect. But in my own heart and in the hearts of my brothers and sisters, I am genuinely puzzled by what I see. Even though these letters are fictional in its narrative, its as if I am seeing Screwtape's methods fulfilled day after day.
I see scripture being fulfilled day after day. But in my own heart and in the hearts of my brothers and sisters, I am genuinely puzzled by what I see. Even though these letters are fictional in its narrative, its as if I am seeing Screwtape's methods fulfilled day after day.
The selection posted from the 7th letter is specifically regarding advice to Wormwood about how to influence the Patient in the midst of World War II. The specific kinds of extreme passions Screwtape advises Wormwood to promote in the Patient are extreme patriotism or extreme pacifism. Screwtape tells Wormwood that it does not really matter whether the Patient is for the war (a patriot) or against the war (a pacifist). All that matters is that the Patient’s attitudes about the war be out of proportion with his present circumstances.
Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Choose your side! Stir up passion or fan the flames of complacency. Specifically, stir up a patriotic passion or create apathy from the chaos. Both are lethal because, as Lewis so rightly said of our God and Screwtape's Enemy: "All extremes (patriotism, pacifism, political and social causes, etc.), except extreme devotion to the Enemy (our God)" have been the goal of our real enemy since the beginning. Man had perfect fellowship and access to God and our real enemy insists that there is something more to be had. All you have to do to attain it is to rebel, to give yourself to it, to desire it more than your relationship to God, and your desire for God Himself.
These extremes have infested our cultures as we would expect. But for the believer, this is a deadly trap. When the child of God begins to treat "Patriotism as a part of his religion" eventually his faith and relationship with Christ is nothing more than another bumper-sticker or page like. His religion is just another box, or "merely part of the 'cause'". Do we not see this being the case in so many instances? If we aren't aligned politically, we are enemies and certainly not Brethren. In the end, faith and fellowship with Christ have become something like a membership to a social club with benefits, or sponsorships to tie onto our Party Platforms for endorsement. In other words, "Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favour of the effort (political cause, argument, side of the aisle, etc.)."
I've been chastened for my views and verbalizations on the matter. I get it. The country is in a mess and someone will lead. "It's up to us" they say to make sure the right person is leading. I won't get into the biblical case for the inaccuracy of such statements (concordance search: sovereign, sovereignty), but I understand the weight and responsibility many feel in their civic obligations. What I do not understand is unfettered, immoveable support or allegiance of believers to anyone or any kingdom other than Christ and His Kingdom. I cannot rationalize compromising doctrine, truth, and Gospel principles in support of a platform. I have tried to make sense of the scale and balance that enables a regenerate person the liberty to endorse and exalt an individual for any reason, much less for political reasons. To be clear, I start plainly with the exaltation of any man or woman, period.
I have heard believers speak of candidates (please note the plurality) in ways that I rarely hear them speak of their God. I have heard followers of Christ attest to the character and godliness of individuals that they not only have no personal knowledge of but further have an abundance of evidence to the contrary nature of their character. Believers have excused, dismissed, and looked over behaviors in these exalted figures that they would, and have ousted their friends, family, and fellow believers for the very same actions. Why? Why does this happen? In my conversations, I am told it is because the alternative is much worse, or because they know their candidate isn't a Christian, but the candidate supports Christians. Historically, and Biblically, neither of these arguments has held water or worked out for the good of believers.
So what then is it? If we get to the heart of it, what is it? I don't know. But I know that my enemy isn't flesh and blood. I know that his tactics are spiritual and subtle. I know that a divided church is a defeated church. I know that a Christian devoted to the kingdoms of the world is a Christian who is of no use to the Kingdom of Christ. I know that all the political clout and power stacked on your side means nothing in the end. I know that a distracted Christian creates a damaged world.
I want to be clear. I can't support the slaughter of innocent babies any more than I can support the murderous heart behind racial bigotry. I can't support the decline from social liberalism that leads to gender confusion and the destruction of Biblical marriage any more than I can support the demeaning of women, the handicap, or the dehumanization of immigrants and fueling of xenophobia. I can't support liberal agendas that would cause millions of people to suffer or lead to the historically proven economic downfall of society any more than I can support nationalism of any kind that insists my absolute allegiance to any king or kingdom but Christ.
There will be those who say, it's not that extreme. I have been told that supporting a candidate or a party isn't allegiance to the world. I know there is a difference. We are commanded to invest in our communities while we are in exile as pilgrims. We are commanded to submit, support, and pray for those whom God has placed in authority over us, thereby submitting to God. I am not talking about civil investment. I am talking about ignoring the authority of Scripture, Gospel mandates, and your call to Christ as a believer by "extreme devotion" to anyone or anything but Christ.
A Christian Worldview demands a Biblical Worldview. The way we see everything is shaped by the absolute authority of Scripture. In days like these many feel like they are simply choosing between the lesser of two evils. Charles Spurgeon said that when faced with that choice, "choose neither." But Scripture doesn't allow for such a choice. We are to resist evil. We are to make choices based on wisdom from above and guidance given through the living Word, by the living Spirit, in submission to Christ, the living Head. When choices are made this way, they are choices that bring honor to God and lead to honor from God. A nation is blessed when the LORD is their God, not when a party, an agenda, or a candidate is. It's Christ First. That is the Christian Campaign Slogan. It's His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. There is no place for anyone or anything else to be first.
It's Christ First. That is the Christian Campaign Slogan. It's His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. There is no place for anyone or anything else to be first.
I started this entry around 1:00 AM and will finish around 8:00 AM. At some point, I may share it. I don't have the answers and I don't know the outcome. All I do know is that I am bothered. I am discouraged. The truth is, thankfully, not many will read this post. Because if they did, I would more than likely be unfriended. I don't know what I would do if that happened. All I can say is if our climate and culture are any indication we do not have much time left. Yes, God is indeed putting all the pieces in place, including the person he would have to lead. Brace yourself, just like He did with Barak Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Joseph Stalin, and Adolph Hitler. He is not just sovereignly working when your candidate is in office. That reality calls us to humble and willing submission to Him. It calls us to joyful acceptance of what may come. "All extremes" are encouraged by the enemy. Apathy and indifference are as dangerous as allegiance to Satan himself. But our call is to make our God known. Our call is submission to His command and commission of proclaiming His name and glory among the nations. Make Him great, and preeminent in our lives and our land until He comes.
May God help us to do just that as we live as pilgrims, waiting for the day of Christ.
Your Affectionate Neighbor,
TT
P.S. For your convenience I have included a link on how to unfriend someone from Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/help/172936839431357
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