Screwtape's Missing Letter

I would have kept this to myself, but I want the Christian world to know this. I have unearthed the following letter. I am not at liberty to tell you where I got it from, my purpose here is only to pass on the contents (I have had to clean up the foul language).

Dear Wormwood

Hope the preparations for our Day are going well. Nice to see all those young idiots fooling themselves that dressing up as devils and witches is a bit of harmless fun. soon we’ll have millions of them bowing down to our Lord and Master. Keep working on those school teachers - remember, reaching the young through respected leaders is our top priority. I just hope those agents of the Enemy keep to themselves this year. They were relatively harmless with their 'alternative Halloween parties'. But just watch out for any who get serious about prayer or, worse still, those who give evil literature out at the doors.

Anyway. On to other stuff. And Wormwood. Get this. These are some of the most important words I am going to write to you, so don’t lose this letter!!! It caused a lot of damage when that bunch of letters got in to the hands of that Enemy agent in 1942.

You asked about enemy propaganda. What those filthy believers call evangelism. As you know, there is nothing I hate more than when the enemy gets serious about it. And a few of them are. I have quite a few diversion tactics to give you so that they stay as harmless as possible. Here are a few pointers.

-Convince each of them that evangelism is a ‘ministry’ like teaching or prophecy. And that it’s someone else's job

-Convince them that the extrovert types are the best evangelists. And keep the extroverts badly informed.

-Convince them that their kids will be great evangelists at school. Then get them to our best schools where we can really get some control over them!

-Divert them into what they call 'social action'. Then keep their mouths shut!

-Keep the office of Evangelist off the agenda, as we have successfully for years. Church workers - poorly trained ones - are pretty harmless. Keep them diverted into pointless, time-consuming and expensive activities to make them think they're being useful. And above all, keep their mouths shut!

-If they get really keen on spreading their filthy propaganda, keep them inside their buildings! Do everything you can to keep them off our streets. We’ve got almost total control over our towns and cities now. Don’t let the enemy spoil it.

-Finally, if they really must must speak, keep them on safe stuff. Harmless

I lost the final part of the letter. However, there is enough here to have a look at how our enemy is keeping the church from effective evangelism.

See you later.

McM