August 6, 2025 • 40 mins
LOVE, WAR, AND WHIFFS OF BRIMSTONE: THE DEVIL’S BEST-LAID PLANS BACKFIRE
The demon Wormwood is in free-fall, God is closing in, and Wormwood's demonic uncle Screwtape is preparing for the final reprimand.
In this episode we discuss how the senior demon barks out his feverish counter-strategies: how to poison humility, warp it into vanity, and how to make their human charge prayers smell of brimstone. Yet every plot backfires and Wormwood’s hellish future grows clearer with every page.
To listen to this episode, click or copy and paste the below link into your favorite browser -
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“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
—Romans 12:21
For a richer understanding of demons and their relationship with humans, we recommend revisiting our April 23rd, 2025 episode, where we discuss, in depth, the Scriptures that covers those topics -
https://cheeruppodcast.buzzsprout.com/1633087/episodes/12990069-do-you-have-a-demon-assigned-to-you-an-encore-episode
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the lovely and
lively and absolutely brilliantSherry Swalwell.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you doing today, Sherry?
You are seriously way too niceto me I don't know if anybody
else who ever decides to me theway you do, but you sure do make
a person feel fantastic.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I made every word of it.
You know how are things goingon, this Well at least.
Well, it's a misty day, but youknow I'm not upset about it.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, we actually, which is really weird because
you and I usually have the sametype of weather, but today it is
like the sunshine is so brightit is actually almost blinding
me and I am not.
But, we have had the bestweather.
I cannot complain whatsoever.
So yeah, I am very happy thismorning.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, and it's.
You know, misty weather is justkind of like oh, what's the
word I'm looking for?
It's kind of like an in-betweenmood, right, like the weather
is like, yeah, it's not going tobe sunshiny, it's not going to
be stormy, but you know, justkind of here I am and it's.
(01:51):
Isn't it intriguing, though,how many movies, books and
things like that take place inmisty weather.
I think it adds something tothe plot.
Maybe, or just add something tothe scene.
That's it, the mist.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You just got me thinking.
I never talk about weather inmy books.
Maybe I need to start changingthat up.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh see, it's like, yeah, the weather is like misty,
and you know it's just funnybecause you know it's almost
like a oh, I think they call itlike a red herring, so like, if
you know they're in a scene andare walking down the street and
it's really kind of misty andrainy out, you kind of suspect
(02:40):
something's going to happen,right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, there we go.
My books must be pretty boringbecause I never talk about the
weather.
It happens in a.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, all of you who are justtuning in, welcome to the Cheer
Up podcast.
And for those of you who do notknow, sherry and I are both
authors, we're both Christiannovelists and she also writes
devotionals, and she was justreferring to incorrectly
referring to her Christiannovels, where she was somewhat.
(03:17):
They're boring.
I have read them.
They are not.
You will be blessed.
Okay, so you will be blessed,but it's just amazing, you know,
when you just think about thesethings, you know.
So, sherry, I can't wait,because I am pretty sure now
you're going to add a mistyscene, a thunderstorm or some
you know crackling lightning orsomething.
(03:41):
So it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Absolutely absolutely .
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Oh my gosh.
Well, welcome again to theCheer Up podcast and those of
you who are faithful listeners.
We just want to thank you somuch for tuning in every
Wednesday or throughout the week, whenever you can, to listen to
the Cheer Up podcast.
We acknowledge you.
(04:07):
We want to thank you.
You mean so much to us and, forthose of you who are new, thank
you for giving us a shot andfor joining in and becoming a
part of Cheer Nation.
And it is based on thescripture of John 1633.
And Sherry will get into moreat the end of this episode.
And we're just glad that you'restarting your day, your evening
(04:32):
, your afternoon, your nightwith us and we're just so, so
glad you're here.
We are in our third season andfor the past one, two, three,
four months is it From June toSeptember?
Okay, we have been covering thebook by CS Lewis LEWIS called
(04:59):
the Screwtape Letters and inthis book is pretty much what
the title talks about.
The Screwtape Letters is aboutletters that a demon screwtape
is writing to his nephew,wormwood, and who is a new demon
.
He's a new young demon, oryoung temp tour, as his uncle
(05:24):
Screwtape likes to refer to him,but they're both demonic
spirits and his young nephew,wormwood, has been assigned his
first human to snag him intohell.
Pretty much, and so far, inUncle Screwtape's letters to his
nephew Wormwood, he is notpleased with the way Wormwood
(05:46):
has been handling his human.
He is not pleased at all andthere is a.
It is 31 letters altogether andtoday in this episode we're
going to be covering we're nearthe end.
We're going to be coveringletters 28, 29, and 30.
And we're just going to betalking about some of the topics
(06:09):
that is covered in the book andpretty much at this point.
Just a quick recap for those whohaven't seen.
First of all, I want to say, ifthis is the very first episode
you're listening to, please,after listening to this episode,
please go back and listen tothe June 7th episode.
(06:30):
This is the introductoryepisode about why we're doing
Screwtape letters and we answerlots of questions.
Well, we answer what the Biblehas to say about demons Are they
real?
Can they have?
What type of thing do they haveon humans?
What can they do, what can theynot do, and that would give you
a like a more foundation intowhere CF Lewis is coming from
(06:55):
with this in regards tospiritual warfare.
And again, we're nearing theend.
It's only 31 letters and we'regoing to talk about the topics
covered in 28, 29, and 30.
Letters 28, 29, and 30.
And for, if you remember, in aprevious episode, the previous
two episodes, uncle Screwtape isvery upset with his nephew
(07:17):
Warnwood because he has messedup royally, because he has let
his assigned human fall in lovewith a girl who's on fire for
the Lord, and not only is she onfire, her whole household is on
fire for the Lord.
They're just really goodChristians, they have very
strong faith, so much so thatwhen people come into their
(07:40):
house for the weekend that youknow they leave changed, you
know, in a good way.
And so Uncle Screwtape hasreally, really been, has really
been, upset with his nephewWarnwood for allowing this to
happen, especially in the midstof a war, because the book was
written in the 1940s and so andWormwoods human is a male, I
(08:10):
believe he's in his 30s and theyare in Europe.
So it's 1940s Europe and he's ayoung man in Europe and there's
a war brewing.
It's like literally at hisdoorsteps right now at this part
of the book, and he and screwtape is just trying his best to
(08:32):
get Wormwood to reverse whathe's done.
He's like you've let her fallin love with this girl.
You've let him fall in lovewith this girl.
Not only is she a Christian,she's the kind of Christian that
we definitely want him to avoid, definitely not our family and
definitely not her friends, youknow, because they're all alike.
And he's been just trying totell Wormwood different tactics,
(08:55):
different strategies to use toeither pull him away from this
girl or get him distracted orsomething.
And so in letter 28, hecontinues his attack on Wormwood
about how much he's failed.
(09:16):
You know, at this point, andhe's really mad at Wormwood now,
because he's like Wormwood,you're showing too much
enthusiasm over the potentialfor human fatalities due to war.
And because the patient is aChristian, the last thing screw
(09:36):
tape wants is for this man todie.
So because then they have losttheir grip on him.
He's not going to be a newresident of hell, you know and
everything else.
So he's just asking, remindingand demanding for Wormwood to
(09:59):
just continue his evil attacksand to persevere until he sees a
change in a man's walk withChrist.
He's like you've got topersevere, you know, and just
keep drawing in distractions.
And you know and everythingelse, because at this point, you
(10:20):
know, if we lose him like we'velost him, you know, and he's
like you're so ecstatic aboutthis war.
But then he goes on to say doyou not know that bombs kill men
?
Or do you not realize that thehuman's death at this moment is
precisely what we want to avoid?
(10:42):
He has escaped the worldlyfriends with whom you tried to
entangle him.
He has fallen in love with avery Christian woman and is
temporarily immune from yourattacks on his chastity, and the
various methods of corruptinghis spiritual life which we have
been trying for so long have sofar been unsuccessful.
(11:03):
At the present moment, as thefull impact of the war draws
nearer and his worldly hopestake a proportionally lower
place in his mind and his mindis full of his defense work and
full of the girl, and he's beenattending to his neighbors more
than he ever has done before andhe is liking it more than we
(11:25):
expected him to.
So he says he's dailyincreasing in his conscious,
dependent on God.
He will almost certainly belost to us if he has killed
tonight.
This is so obvious that I amashamed to write it.
This is the letter he's writingto his nephew, wormwood, he's
(11:46):
like.
But so, whatever you do, keepyour patient as safe as you
possibly can during this war.
So isn't that an interestingtake, sherry, because a lot of
times, as Christians, we, Ithink we kind of have the
opposite effect, right, you know, like thinking that, no, the
(12:09):
enemy wants us dead, butsometimes he just wants us alive
, because if we die he, you know, while we're Christians, he
really doesn't benefit.
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You're right, I never really thought about it that
way, but it's so true and Ithink I figured out why.
I think I figured out.
So I'm a people pleaser andthis screw cape cannot be
pleased for anything.
No, so why do you want to servesomebody who is never happy
(12:42):
with you?
Like seriously, that is whatwe're doing, like that is what
he has Lewis is pointing out isthat when we choose not to
follow God, we are choosing tofollow somebody who is never
going to be satisfied.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Never.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So you're down there with him, Right?
And even then he's not going tobe satisfied with you.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
He's going to delight in torturing you, so why do you
want to follow that?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Why.
That is a question for the agesright and actually a question,
and how did I think about itthat we need to ask ourselves
every day, because how manytimes have we tempted to do
something that we know weshouldn't do, but someone has
pushed us a little bit too far,you know?
(13:34):
We're just like, hi, anna, andit's like, okay, nope, don't
fall for the bait, Don't takethe bait, don't fall into the
trap, you know, because when youdo it it's a never ending cycle
.
Right, it's a never endingcycle.
And then the enemy is like, ohgood, they took the first step,
(13:54):
so now I can really bring theminto a spiral.
But it's all a situation.
So, yeah, it's just.
It's very interesting that hewas just writing.
He's writing one was saying no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
because of all your otherfailures and because you've let
him fall in love with this girl,which was a huge, monumental
mistake and everything else,like the last thing we want him
(14:17):
to do is die at this moment.
So you need to keep him safebecause you have failed so far
and I'm trying to help you avoidthe ultimate failure.
So you keep him safe, no matter, you know you do the steps
that's necessary.
And so that was his first oneof his next things for Wormwood
to do.
And in his next letter he isrecommending that.
(14:42):
He is telling his nephewWormwood that he, now that war
is there it is like at his frontdoor he says you know, I
recommend you defeat thepatient's courage, I need you to
make him a coward.
(15:05):
So, instead of him wanting to dobrave and heroic things not at
these foreign troops or in hisland, probably coming to his
door make him a coward, make himafraid.
Definitely don't make him doanything heroic, because human
beings will feel shame and guiltover cowardice and we can use
(15:26):
that this is pretty much aschool tape is saying to one
would because humans feel shameand guilt over that.
We can continue to use that.
We can continue to use that todrive him away from God, because
that fear and his shame ofbeing a coward and not being
courageous and not being heroicand not standing up and
(15:50):
everything else would eat himalive.
It would eat him alive becausehumans are just made that way.
He's gonna constantly feelshame.
He's gonna constantly feelguilt.
What kind of man are you?
How could you let this happen?
You're responsible for yourmother.
Still, how could you let themtake her?
How could you let them do thisto her?
How could you let them do thisto your girlfriend?
(16:10):
How could you let them do thisLike?
Take away his strength, takeaway his heroic thoughts and
make him a coward, make himshimmer and shake in his boots
so that because then we can workwith that, because we can use
all that guilt and all thatshame when everyone is looking
(16:31):
at him like you yellow, yellowcoward, you know, and we can use
all of that to draw him awayfrom God.
What are your thoughts on that,sherry?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I think you said it, I think you nailed it, nailed it
, yeah, and that is a crazyplace to be right.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
What a crazy place to be, especially when you're in a
situation.
So our bodies are wired rightFor fight or flight and freeze.
From what I understand, right,when we are in situations like
that, it's like are you gonnafight or are you going to flee,
(17:15):
or are you going to freeze indanger with situations?
And I think a lot of thatdepends on our personality,
right?
Like, I think a lot of itdepends on the situation.
I think a lot of it depends onour personality and a lot of it
(17:38):
depends on how dangerous, howpotentially dangerous, the
situation is.
And I'm now, if a person was tocome up and attack me, I know
from past experience, I knowmyself to know that I'm gonna
(17:59):
fight, right, probably in thatorder fight, then flee.
You know that type of thing.
But and I was having adiscussion with one of my sons,
for some reason we were we weretalking about bobcats, I don't
know what had been seen in ourarea, you know, or something
like that but and I'm like thatis very scary to me because I'm
(18:20):
like if I'm just out walking anda bobcat crosses my path and
he's looking at me and I'mlooking at him, I'm like there's
no fight in me.
You know Cause I'm terrified.
I am absolutely terrified andpetrified of being ripped apart
by a mountain lion or whatever.
(18:41):
It is right.
And it's like and besides, whywould I fight?
It's not like I can win.
How can I win?
Again, I mean, I don't know howmuch they weigh, but I just
don't see that as a fight that Icould possibly win.
And I'm like and I can't runeither, so I can't flee because
(19:02):
they can climb trees.
I can't even climb a tree toget away from them, so if I
climb a tree, they can follow me.
If I run through the woods,they can outrun me and overtake
me.
And I'm like so probably Iwould freeze in that moment.
So doesn't it?
Have you ever been faced insituations like that, sherry, to
where you're just you're?
Some where you're sure how youwould react, and then some where
(19:24):
you're probably like, yeah, Ican see me like cowering,
completely turning yellow inthat situation?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, it's interesting because we've had a
few instances in our livesbecause I have always considered
myself someone who would justflee or freeze.
But I've had some situationswhere I've surprised myself that
I've had the power of the HolySpirit come over and I'll be
(19:52):
like was that me?
Did I really say that?
Did that really happen?
And I'm like thank you God,because I couldn't have done
that on my own.
So, yeah, I mean I just praythe power or the protection of
God every single day because Iam not.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
yeah, yeah, because it's like, and as I'm thinking
about that situation, if I'm infront of an animal that I know I
can't outrun or out, hide oroutmaneuver, I'm frozen but I'm
praying.
You know I'm like Lord.
You have shut the mouths oflions, right.
(20:31):
So, intervene divinely.
Let me be able to walk awayfrom this situation, because I'm
no match for this animal Kitty,kitty, kitty, kitty, here,
kitty kitty.
Wouldn't that be awesome,though, when I talk about a
testimony right.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yes, but if he did it , you know, for Daniel, he could
do it for us.
He's the same guy yesterday,today and tomorrow.
The only question would be,when I listen to God, when he
say, oh, you're fine, Just sayhere, kitty, kitty, here, come
to you and you're able to walkalong, you know, you're able to
walk through the woods with themand everything.
That would be the only question.
(21:14):
It's like well, I've been ableto freeze myself long enough to
be able to obey, but it's soeasy for us to say no, I would
never be a coward, no, I wouldnever do that, no, I'm not going
down like that.
I'm going to go down fightingno matter what the situation is,
no matter what.
And I believe that there arepeople like that, and I believe
(21:36):
they make the best soldiers andwarriors, physically, when it
comes to war.
Amen, and those are the onesGod called, like David in the
Bible right, yeah, I was justthinking about him.
Yes, and I was like David.
Those are the ones like.
He's like what you coming at mewith this man Like, but the
same God who helped me with thelion and the bear and all those
(21:58):
other things is going to help metake him down.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And then the birds are going to eat you, right?
He was like so confident.
He's like look, I don't carehow big you are, how tall you
are, how you're growling at meor whatever.
Goliath Like this is a, Ialready got the victory.
Okay, so you're already goingdown.
You don't know it yet, butyou're a dead man walking right.
(22:24):
Yeah, you know, and he's likeand of course they laughed,
right, the Philistines laughlike this little puny guy.
He think he's gonna take on biga lion, you know, and Not only
was their side laughing, but his, the people on his own data
side, were a cowarding.
Right, they were so.
(22:45):
But God has made those type ofpeople.
They are just like, yeah, no,this ain't happening.
You know, and I believe and I'mso thankful for those people,
because those are the people wedefinitely want on our front
lines.
You know, and and like you said, sherry, sometimes we surprise
ourselves.
Right, you were talking abouthow you always thought you were
a plea or freeze moment, but ifyou were out with your child and
(23:08):
a small there's.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
How much you want to bet you're gonna fight.
Oh, I did, and that's the funnything.
Like I mean, god was like rightthere, in Nothing about it is
my son and I were just talkingabout it yesterday.
I was like.
We were talking about Just allkinds of different things and
and I said to him I said, well,you know what I said.
God already protected us fromthat, remember?
(23:31):
And I Reminded him of it and Isaid God was right there with us
through the whole thing.
I said we had nothing to worryabout.
He showed us that he was rightthere and that we, he, would
take care of us.
I said so he would do it againif he had to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Oh, Absolutely, Absolutely.
You know and it's you know whatdo they call they like with the
mama bear in us comes out rightwhen we never even knew we had
a mama bear inside of us.
And that situation happens,right, and we've all heard
stories of people who haveshowed significant physical
strength.
And then the situation's likewhen a car has built on a child
(24:10):
or something and the mom or thedad is able to lift up the car,
right, they're like where didthat strength come from?
Like, I never knew I had that,right.
But when someone we love andcare about is in danger, we it's
amazing how God strengthened usto react and how he gives us
the physical strength we need,how he gives us the guidance we
(24:31):
need to get out of thatsituation quickly.
You know, and it's just, it'sjust amazing.
And and the next letter screwtape to his uncle Excuse me, to
his uncle.
Screw tape to his nephewwormwood.
I get, these are demons.
And it goes back to what yousaid earlier, sherry, about how
a screw tape, the head demon,just cannot be pleased.
(24:53):
There's nothing he do, but heworks for someone who can't be
pleased, right, so right.
He works for the father oflives who can't be pleased, so,
and Now he's pretty much Callingwormwood his nephew, his demon
nephew wormwood, and utterfailure.
And he continues to scold himfor his incompetence and then he
(25:18):
threatens his existence as well.
He's like you either bring usfood down here or you will
become food.
It's up to you.
How do you, how do you wantthis to end?
You know?
And he's because now screw tapeis upset, because the the, the
human that wormwood has beenassigned, is Very afraid and he
(25:43):
has become cowardly, just likeuncle screw tape recommended
Wormwood do.
But in spite of his fear and inspite of his cowardice, he has
behaved well during an air raidthat was on his town as good.
I think this is very upset.
He's like you haven't made hima coward enough, because when
(26:05):
air raid came, he was, he was.
He turned out to be very heroic.
Like, what are you doing?
You know like you need tocontinue to pound him and pound
him, and pound him.
You know, and he's like youknow you've got to let this war
wear him down and he's like yougot.
He's a right now.
He's tired.
This air raid has happened andhe's been doing this, he's been
(26:28):
doing that, they've been doingthis, he's been doing that for
him himself and people aroundhim.
He's like.
So he's tired, but he hasgetting ready to sit in and Now
I want you to use that, becausenow that he's tired and he sees
everything that's going on, he'sno longer just a spectator,
he's active in this war andeverything else we need you to,
(26:52):
we need you to jump on thatfatigue and weaken his resolve.
Because you weaken his resolveby manipulating his emotions
About everything that's going on.
Sherry, like how can, how muchcan we relate to that?
Right?
How many times where we havebeen in a situation has been so
(27:13):
overwhelming to a lot of ourmental, physical, spiritual,
sometimes financial, emotionalstrength?
And we're just done, we justcan't do anything else and we're
exhausted.
And he's telling one would like, when humans are in that place,
(27:34):
when they are tired, when theyare fatigued, when they've just
seen the worst of the worst orthey've been through the worst
of the worst or they just beenthrough a very chaotic situation
, use that to manipulate theiremotions.
And how many times have we beenin situations like that?
And you know we're tempted tojust, you know just think oh, my
(27:55):
goodness, this is never goingto end, it's never going to get
better.
It, no matter all my efforts,no matter everything I've done,
I still got to fight the goodfight.
What does it ever end.
Have you ever been in asituation like this, sherry?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So where the?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
amateurs manipulate your emotions regarding that
when you're tired.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I think all we got to say for that is COVID-19.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Oh absolutely the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yes, yes, Because I was talking to somebody the
other day and I was saying howin the past, pre-covid, people
would have pop, people wouldhave, you know, life would
happen, but the entire world wasnot experiencing the chaos, the
(28:41):
mental, physical fatigue,spiritual fatigue, overwhelm.
At the same time, covidintroduced at the same time and
there was no recovery period.
There was no one person who isdoing okay, able to strengthen
and carry those who are not,because even believers and I'm
(29:05):
not saying that those of us,well, I'm not saying that we
were without hope during thattime.
I'm just saying it was a hardtime in general.
Overall, yes, right For theworld.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So totally yes.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So we were filling up with God and had hope.
They were still tired Peopleare still tired and there hasn't
really been at least in myopinion, there really hasn't
been a recovery period, becausewe've gone from the COVID to a
lot of people are dying, and sothen we have the grief on top of
(29:41):
the everything else.
And so, yes, kara, I haveexperienced that and I think you
have too.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh, absolutely, you know, and I think that's why
what's the word I'm looking for?
I think most people will callit self care, but actually it's
(30:09):
more of like I'm caring for theother person, and what I mean by
that is when I am in a, when Iam in a vexed mood, right.
But whatever the situation is,whatever happened, and I'm tired
, I'm tired of the situation,I'm tired of the people involved
in the situation, I'm tiredtalking about the situation, I'm
(30:33):
tired of thinking about thesituation, I'm tired of all the
emotional stress that has comefrom the situation and I just
become vexed, right.
And I have told people like myhusband.
He will say, hey, you knowwhat's wrong.
And I say you know what?
I can't talk about it right now.
I'm very upset, I just need tobe alone.
(30:56):
And so, in a lot of you know,in that self care, right, but
I'm also letting him know thatyou don't want to be around me
right now, you know, because Iam not in a good mood and you
may say something extremelysweet and super nice and I may
just roar, you know, because I'mjust tired, I'm fatigued, I'm
(31:20):
just.
There's so much going on and asituation has me so upset that I
really just need time alone.
I need time between me and God,because if I don't, then the
enemy will use that, you know,and instead of me calling out to
God for help, like, oh Lord,you know how tired I am of this,
you know how upset I am withthese people, you know how
(31:41):
draining this situation has beenfor me.
Help me, give me clarity.
Be a bomb, a place of bomb onmy heart, my emotions, because
it's just been so hard.
I have to do that because, ifnot, it's exactly what's
grudtate was telling NirmwoodWernwood.
You get to manipulate theiremotions when you do that, you
(32:02):
know if you don't, and you getto use them and bend them to
your will because I could easeit instead of calling out to God
.
Be like that person.
How dare they?
Who do they think they are?
Do they not know who they'remessing with?
Flim, flam, flim, flam, flim,flam, flam, right and just rant
and rant and rant and roar androar and roar.
(32:23):
But what is that doing?
That's deepening the root ofwhat the enemy wants me to do,
because it builds up againunforgiveness, bitterness and
rudeness.
You keep playing everythingthey said or everything that
happened, or you know what thatsituation did and it just
becomes a repeat videotape inyour mind, you know, and it's
(32:47):
like after an hour or so myhusband would come back and he's
like you okay, and I'm likeokay, at least I can talk now
without spitting venom.
So, yes, you know it's like meand God had a conversation about
it and you know we've, you knowhe's calmed me some because I
was just spitting mad, right,and so a lot of times, you know,
(33:07):
I think sometimes it's justgood to just get away and be
alone.
Have you ever had those timeswhere you've had to do that To
where you're just like I need tobe by myself right now?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh, absolutely, and those are the times when I make
sure to keep my mouth shut.
I think what I'm going to do isI'm just going to buy you and
me a t-shirt and we're going toit's the I'm done people in
t-shirt, yeah, and we'll wear iton those days, and then our,
our husbands and our kids willknow oh day, way for mom, today,
not a good day.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah, it's not a good day.
Just don't add shirt, andthey'd be like, hey, are you in
there?
And they're just like, okay,never mind, I'll come back in an
hour or two.
Yup, yup.
It's like you know, cause Ihave to decompress.
I am not one of those peoplethat can keep stuff in, you know
, and just simmer on it.
I'm either going to rant andrave and screaming y'all or I'm
(34:00):
going to have to talk to Godabout it.
And it goes back to what yousaid why?
Why give the enemy a foothold?
Because he's only going to useit to destroy you further, right
, and the relationships and thefriendships you know and
everything else that may beinvolved in a situation or the
circumstance.
He's just going to use that asas fodder, right, um, you know
(34:24):
future and you know, and it'slike I really need to talk to
God.
So I don't pick up the phone,and you know, and yell at people
, yeah, cause I'm like I don'twant to do that, cause then, you
know, god's going to, then I'mgoing to have to apologize later
, right, cause I spoke in a heatof anger, right, or whatever
the situation is, it's like it'sit's.
(34:47):
You can either rant and rave andscreaming, yell and um and
everything and just let thatcontinue to take root.
Or you could take it to God.
So, and the scriptures alwaystells us to cast our burdens on
him and um, no-transcript.
That does us more benefit thanI think we realize, right?
(35:07):
Because not only is your moodimproved because you've lessened
the burden that you're carrying, but you can think clearly now
because your mind's not soclouded.
You've talked it over with God,you've shared how you felt, you
shared your frustrations, youknow, and everything else, and
just because we have a good,good father, by the end of that
(35:27):
conversation you feel so muchbetter.
Am I right, sherry?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Amen and amen, yes, and like I'll start out and I'll
just yell at him, like I'm notyelling at God, I'm yelling
towards God, and I'll be like,look, this is what so and so did
, and I think it's really unfair.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
And.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I can't believe that somebody so and so talked to me
like this and I can't believethat this actually really
happened and blah, blah, blahand can you believe?
It.
You said that, lord.
And then by the end of it, he'svery gently saying okay,
daughter, but this is where youneed to change.
I'll deal with so and so.
I'm doing this now, and thenI'm like okay, father, you're
(36:09):
right, I'm sorry.
I'm yes, and then and then, bythe time I'm done with it, I'm
at a place where I'm like, okay,I was wrong, they were wrong, I
was wrong, we need to, and it'sI don't know.
He de-escalates yes.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
He de-escalates it.
And which ends in what Peace?
Yes, right, which ends in peace.
And that is exactly what theenemy of our souls does not want
, and I'm going to leave it atthat, sherry.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Well, it all still ties back to John 1633.
Do you?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
see yes.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
But in me you may have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer.
I have overcome the world.
You know, when we live oppositeof what our carnal nature or
our fleshly desires are, we dohave peace.
When we swim against the tide,when we swim upstream, when we
(37:14):
choose to do things opposite ofwhat feels good, we end up
feeling so much better.
If you need prayer orencouragement, please reach out
to us at cheeruppodcastcom.
We would love to pray with you,we would love to stand beside
you and we really do love people.
It's so.
(37:34):
I'm not, I'm done peopleing,it's just a Every once in a
while thing.
We truly do love people and welove them.
Yeah, we're so glad that you're.
We truly are.
In fact, we're going to bedoing a whole episode on
self-care in November, so staytuned for that as well, and
(37:55):
we'll get the biblical way toself-care.
So anyway, having said all that, please head on over to Kara's
website, k-a-r-a-r-h-u-n-t dotcom and check out her Habakkuk
series.
She has Pretty soon Lydia'sgoing to be out.
It might not be out yet, butI'm pretty sure you can
(38:15):
pre-order it.
So look into that.
Lydia is fantastic.
So it starts with paper dollsand she introduces all seven of
them.
When it is kite or paper dollskite, then it is paper dolls
Priscilla, and then paper dollsLydia.
And, trust me, you willabsolutely be blessed if you
pick up her series and read it.
(38:35):
You can head over to my websitealso.
I have fiction and nonfictionbooks that you can check out
over there, sherry Pwellwell dotcom, c-h-e-r-i-s-w-a-l-w-e-l-l
dot com.
And, more importantly, I have amembership, and the membership
is to help you grow closer toGod.
It's to build your relationshipwith Him personally, in your
(38:59):
own way and in your own pace,and it's really the heart of who
I am.
I want nothing more, and I knowKara feels the same way.
We want nothing more than tointroduce you to our Heavenly
Father and to help you find waysto grow your relationship with
Him personally.
It's a personal relationship,and the closer that you get to
(39:20):
Him, just the more joy he fillsyou with.
It doesn't mean that life isperfect by any means, but it
means that he is right therewith you as you're facing the
different trials andtribulations that you're going
through.
So check out that.
It's called Jesus in theEveryday.
It's on my website.
It's $9.95 a month, and thereason I do that is because I
(39:43):
think that it's really good toinvest in your own spiritual
growth.
If it doesn't cost anything andif it's easy to get, then
sometimes we devalue it, wethink that it's not important
enough.
But if you pay a little bit,then you're investing in
something, and there's nothingbetter than to invest in your
(40:05):
own spiritual growth, in yourown spiritual journey.
So that's why I do it the waythat I do it.
So come back.
Next week we are going to wrapup the screw tape letters.
I cannot believe that we'realmost done with them already
and it has just been a delightit always is and I'm looking
forward to next week too.
So have a great week and wewill talk to you next week.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is the lovely and
lively and absolutely brilliantSherry Swalwell.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you doing today, Sherry?
You are seriously way too niceto me I don't know if anybody
else who ever decides to me theway you do, but you sure do make
a person feel fantastic.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I made every word of it.
You know how are things goingon, this Well at least.
Well, it's a misty day, but youknow I'm not upset about it.
How about you?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, we actually, which is really weird because
you and I usually have the sametype of weather, but today it is
like the sunshine is so brightit is actually almost blinding
me and I am not.
But, we have had the bestweather.
I cannot complain whatsoever.
So yeah, I am very happy thismorning.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, and it's.
You know, misty weather is justkind of like oh, what's the
word I'm looking for?
It's kind of like an in-betweenmood, right, like the weather
is like, yeah, it's not going tobe sunshiny, it's not going to
be stormy, but you know, justkind of here I am and it's.
(01:51):
Isn't it intriguing, though,how many movies, books and
things like that take place inmisty weather.
I think it adds something tothe plot.
Maybe, or just add something tothe scene.
That's it, the mist.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You just got me thinking.
I never talk about weather inmy books.
Maybe I need to start changingthat up.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Oh see, it's like, yeah, the weather is like misty,
and you know it's just funnybecause you know it's almost
like a oh, I think they call itlike a red herring, so like, if
you know they're in a scene andare walking down the street and
it's really kind of misty andrainy out, you kind of suspect
(02:40):
something's going to happen,right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, there we go.
My books must be pretty boringbecause I never talk about the
weather.
It happens in a.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, all of you who are justtuning in, welcome to the Cheer
Up podcast.
And for those of you who do notknow, sherry and I are both
authors, we're both Christiannovelists and she also writes
devotionals, and she was justreferring to incorrectly
referring to her Christiannovels, where she was somewhat.
(03:17):
They're boring.
I have read them.
They are not.
You will be blessed.
Okay, so you will be blessed,but it's just amazing, you know,
when you just think about thesethings, you know.
So, sherry, I can't wait,because I am pretty sure now
you're going to add a mistyscene, a thunderstorm or some
you know crackling lightning orsomething.
(03:41):
So it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Absolutely absolutely .
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Oh my gosh.
Well, welcome again to theCheer Up podcast and those of
you who are faithful listeners.
We just want to thank you somuch for tuning in every
Wednesday or throughout the week, whenever you can, to listen to
the Cheer Up podcast.
We acknowledge you.
(04:07):
We want to thank you.
You mean so much to us and, forthose of you who are new, thank
you for giving us a shot andfor joining in and becoming a
part of Cheer Nation.
And it is based on thescripture of John 1633.
And Sherry will get into moreat the end of this episode.
And we're just glad that you'restarting your day, your evening
(04:32):
, your afternoon, your nightwith us and we're just so, so
glad you're here.
We are in our third season andfor the past one, two, three,
four months is it From June toSeptember?
Okay, we have been covering thebook by CS Lewis LEWIS called
(04:59):
the Screwtape Letters and inthis book is pretty much what
the title talks about.
The Screwtape Letters is aboutletters that a demon screwtape
is writing to his nephew,wormwood, and who is a new demon
.
He's a new young demon, oryoung temp tour, as his uncle
(05:24):
Screwtape likes to refer to him,but they're both demonic
spirits and his young nephew,wormwood, has been assigned his
first human to snag him intohell.
Pretty much, and so far, inUncle Screwtape's letters to his
nephew Wormwood, he is notpleased with the way Wormwood
(05:46):
has been handling his human.
He is not pleased at all andthere is a.
It is 31 letters altogether andtoday in this episode we're
going to be covering we're nearthe end.
We're going to be coveringletters 28, 29, and 30.
And we're just going to betalking about some of the topics
(06:09):
that is covered in the book andpretty much at this point.
Just a quick recap for those whohaven't seen.
First of all, I want to say, ifthis is the very first episode
you're listening to, please,after listening to this episode,
please go back and listen tothe June 7th episode.
(06:30):
This is the introductoryepisode about why we're doing
Screwtape letters and we answerlots of questions.
Well, we answer what the Biblehas to say about demons Are they
real?
Can they have?
What type of thing do they haveon humans?
What can they do, what can theynot do, and that would give you
a like a more foundation intowhere CF Lewis is coming from
(06:55):
with this in regards tospiritual warfare.
And again, we're nearing theend.
It's only 31 letters and we'regoing to talk about the topics
covered in 28, 29, and 30.
Letters 28, 29, and 30.
And for, if you remember, in aprevious episode, the previous
two episodes, uncle Screwtape isvery upset with his nephew
(07:17):
Warnwood because he has messedup royally, because he has let
his assigned human fall in lovewith a girl who's on fire for
the Lord, and not only is she onfire, her whole household is on
fire for the Lord.
They're just really goodChristians, they have very
strong faith, so much so thatwhen people come into their
(07:40):
house for the weekend that youknow they leave changed, you
know, in a good way.
And so Uncle Screwtape hasreally, really been, has really
been, upset with his nephewWarnwood for allowing this to
happen, especially in the midstof a war, because the book was
written in the 1940s and so andWormwoods human is a male, I
(08:10):
believe he's in his 30s and theyare in Europe.
So it's 1940s Europe and he's ayoung man in Europe and there's
a war brewing.
It's like literally at hisdoorsteps right now at this part
of the book, and he and screwtape is just trying his best to
(08:32):
get Wormwood to reverse whathe's done.
He's like you've let her fallin love with this girl.
You've let him fall in lovewith this girl.
Not only is she a Christian,she's the kind of Christian that
we definitely want him to avoid, definitely not our family and
definitely not her friends, youknow, because they're all alike.
And he's been just trying totell Wormwood different tactics,
(08:55):
different strategies to use toeither pull him away from this
girl or get him distracted orsomething.
And so in letter 28, hecontinues his attack on Wormwood
about how much he's failed.
(09:16):
You know, at this point, andhe's really mad at Wormwood now,
because he's like Wormwood,you're showing too much
enthusiasm over the potentialfor human fatalities due to war.
And because the patient is aChristian, the last thing screw
(09:36):
tape wants is for this man todie.
So because then they have losttheir grip on him.
He's not going to be a newresident of hell, you know and
everything else.
So he's just asking, remindingand demanding for Wormwood to
(09:59):
just continue his evil attacksand to persevere until he sees a
change in a man's walk withChrist.
He's like you've got topersevere, you know, and just
keep drawing in distractions.
And you know and everythingelse, because at this point, you
(10:20):
know, if we lose him like we'velost him, you know, and he's
like you're so ecstatic aboutthis war.
But then he goes on to say doyou not know that bombs kill men
?
Or do you not realize that thehuman's death at this moment is
precisely what we want to avoid?
(10:42):
He has escaped the worldlyfriends with whom you tried to
entangle him.
He has fallen in love with avery Christian woman and is
temporarily immune from yourattacks on his chastity, and the
various methods of corruptinghis spiritual life which we have
been trying for so long have sofar been unsuccessful.
(11:03):
At the present moment, as thefull impact of the war draws
nearer and his worldly hopestake a proportionally lower
place in his mind and his mindis full of his defense work and
full of the girl, and he's beenattending to his neighbors more
than he ever has done before andhe is liking it more than we
(11:25):
expected him to.
So he says he's dailyincreasing in his conscious,
dependent on God.
He will almost certainly belost to us if he has killed
tonight.
This is so obvious that I amashamed to write it.
This is the letter he's writingto his nephew, wormwood, he's
(11:46):
like.
But so, whatever you do, keepyour patient as safe as you
possibly can during this war.
So isn't that an interestingtake, sherry, because a lot of
times, as Christians, we, Ithink we kind of have the
opposite effect, right, you know, like thinking that, no, the
(12:09):
enemy wants us dead, butsometimes he just wants us alive
, because if we die he, you know, while we're Christians, he
really doesn't benefit.
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
You're right, I never really thought about it that
way, but it's so true and Ithink I figured out why.
I think I figured out.
So I'm a people pleaser andthis screw cape cannot be
pleased for anything.
No, so why do you want to servesomebody who is never happy
(12:42):
with you?
Like seriously, that is whatwe're doing, like that is what
he has Lewis is pointing out isthat when we choose not to
follow God, we are choosing tofollow somebody who is never
going to be satisfied.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Never.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
So you're down there with him, Right?
And even then he's not going tobe satisfied with you.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
He's going to delight in torturing you, so why do you
want to follow that?
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Why.
That is a question for the agesright and actually a question,
and how did I think about itthat we need to ask ourselves
every day, because how manytimes have we tempted to do
something that we know weshouldn't do, but someone has
pushed us a little bit too far,you know?
(13:34):
We're just like, hi, anna, andit's like, okay, nope, don't
fall for the bait, Don't takethe bait, don't fall into the
trap, you know, because when youdo it it's a never ending cycle
.
Right, it's a never endingcycle.
And then the enemy is like, ohgood, they took the first step,
(13:54):
so now I can really bring theminto a spiral.
But it's all a situation.
So, yeah, it's just.
It's very interesting that hewas just writing.
He's writing one was saying no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
because of all your otherfailures and because you've let
him fall in love with this girl,which was a huge, monumental
mistake and everything else,like the last thing we want him
(14:17):
to do is die at this moment.
So you need to keep him safebecause you have failed so far
and I'm trying to help you avoidthe ultimate failure.
So you keep him safe, no matter, you know you do the steps
that's necessary.
And so that was his first oneof his next things for Wormwood
to do.
And in his next letter he isrecommending that.
(14:42):
He is telling his nephewWormwood that he, now that war
is there it is like at his frontdoor he says you know, I
recommend you defeat thepatient's courage, I need you to
make him a coward.
(15:05):
So, instead of him wanting to dobrave and heroic things not at
these foreign troops or in hisland, probably coming to his
door make him a coward, make himafraid.
Definitely don't make him doanything heroic, because human
beings will feel shame and guiltover cowardice and we can use
(15:26):
that this is pretty much aschool tape is saying to one
would because humans feel shameand guilt over that.
We can continue to use that.
We can continue to use that todrive him away from God, because
that fear and his shame ofbeing a coward and not being
courageous and not being heroicand not standing up and
(15:50):
everything else would eat himalive.
It would eat him alive becausehumans are just made that way.
He's gonna constantly feelshame.
He's gonna constantly feelguilt.
What kind of man are you?
How could you let this happen?
You're responsible for yourmother.
Still, how could you let themtake her?
How could you let them do thisto her?
How could you let them do thisto your girlfriend?
(16:10):
How could you let them do thisLike?
Take away his strength, takeaway his heroic thoughts and
make him a coward, make himshimmer and shake in his boots
so that because then we can workwith that, because we can use
all that guilt and all thatshame when everyone is looking
(16:31):
at him like you yellow, yellowcoward, you know, and we can use
all of that to draw him awayfrom God.
What are your thoughts on that,sherry?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I think you said it, I think you nailed it, nailed it
, yeah, and that is a crazyplace to be right.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
What a crazy place to be, especially when you're in a
situation.
So our bodies are wired rightFor fight or flight and freeze.
From what I understand, right,when we are in situations like
that, it's like are you gonnafight or are you going to flee,
(17:15):
or are you going to freeze indanger with situations?
And I think a lot of thatdepends on our personality,
right?
Like, I think a lot of itdepends on the situation.
I think a lot of it depends onour personality and a lot of it
(17:38):
depends on how dangerous, howpotentially dangerous, the
situation is.
And I'm now, if a person was tocome up and attack me, I know
from past experience, I knowmyself to know that I'm gonna
(17:59):
fight, right, probably in thatorder fight, then flee.
You know that type of thing.
But and I was having adiscussion with one of my sons,
for some reason we were we weretalking about bobcats, I don't
know what had been seen in ourarea, you know, or something
like that but and I'm like thatis very scary to me because I'm
(18:20):
like if I'm just out walking anda bobcat crosses my path and
he's looking at me and I'mlooking at him, I'm like there's
no fight in me.
You know Cause I'm terrified.
I am absolutely terrified andpetrified of being ripped apart
by a mountain lion or whatever.
(18:41):
It is right.
And it's like and besides, whywould I fight?
It's not like I can win.
How can I win?
Again, I mean, I don't know howmuch they weigh, but I just
don't see that as a fight that Icould possibly win.
And I'm like and I can't runeither, so I can't flee because
(19:02):
they can climb trees.
I can't even climb a tree toget away from them, so if I
climb a tree, they can follow me.
If I run through the woods,they can outrun me and overtake
me.
And I'm like so probably Iwould freeze in that moment.
So doesn't it?
Have you ever been faced insituations like that, sherry, to
where you're just you're?
Some where you're sure how youwould react, and then some where
(19:24):
you're probably like, yeah, Ican see me like cowering,
completely turning yellow inthat situation?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, it's interesting because we've had a
few instances in our livesbecause I have always considered
myself someone who would justflee or freeze.
But I've had some situationswhere I've surprised myself that
I've had the power of the HolySpirit come over and I'll be
(19:52):
like was that me?
Did I really say that?
Did that really happen?
And I'm like thank you God,because I couldn't have done
that on my own.
So, yeah, I mean I just praythe power or the protection of
God every single day because Iam not.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
yeah, yeah, because it's like, and as I'm thinking
about that situation, if I'm infront of an animal that I know I
can't outrun or out, hide oroutmaneuver, I'm frozen but I'm
praying.
You know I'm like Lord.
You have shut the mouths oflions, right.
(20:31):
So, intervene divinely.
Let me be able to walk awayfrom this situation, because I'm
no match for this animal Kitty,kitty, kitty, kitty, here,
kitty kitty.
Wouldn't that be awesome,though, when I talk about a
testimony right.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yes, but if he did it , you know, for Daniel, he could
do it for us.
He's the same guy yesterday,today and tomorrow.
The only question would be,when I listen to God, when he
say, oh, you're fine, Just sayhere, kitty, kitty, here, come
to you and you're able to walkalong, you know, you're able to
walk through the woods with themand everything.
That would be the only question.
(21:14):
It's like well, I've been ableto freeze myself long enough to
be able to obey, but it's soeasy for us to say no, I would
never be a coward, no, I wouldnever do that, no, I'm not going
down like that.
I'm going to go down fightingno matter what the situation is,
no matter what.
And I believe that there arepeople like that, and I believe
(21:36):
they make the best soldiers andwarriors, physically, when it
comes to war.
Amen, and those are the onesGod called, like David in the
Bible right, yeah, I was justthinking about him.
Yes, and I was like David.
Those are the ones like.
He's like what you coming at mewith this man Like, but the
same God who helped me with thelion and the bear and all those
(21:58):
other things is going to help metake him down.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And then the birds are going to eat you, right?
He was like so confident.
He's like look, I don't carehow big you are, how tall you
are, how you're growling at meor whatever.
Goliath Like this is a, Ialready got the victory.
Okay, so you're already goingdown.
You don't know it yet, butyou're a dead man walking right.
(22:24):
Yeah, you know, and he's likeand of course they laughed,
right, the Philistines laughlike this little puny guy.
He think he's gonna take on biga lion, you know, and Not only
was their side laughing, but his, the people on his own data
side, were a cowarding.
Right, they were so.
(22:45):
But God has made those type ofpeople.
They are just like, yeah, no,this ain't happening.
You know, and I believe and I'mso thankful for those people,
because those are the people wedefinitely want on our front
lines.
You know, and and like you said, sherry, sometimes we surprise
ourselves.
Right, you were talking abouthow you always thought you were
a plea or freeze moment, but ifyou were out with your child and
(23:08):
a small there's.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
How much you want to bet you're gonna fight.
Oh, I did, and that's the funnything.
Like I mean, god was like rightthere, in Nothing about it is
my son and I were just talkingabout it yesterday.
I was like.
We were talking about Just allkinds of different things and
and I said to him I said, well,you know what I said.
God already protected us fromthat, remember?
(23:31):
And I Reminded him of it and Isaid God was right there with us
through the whole thing.
I said we had nothing to worryabout.
He showed us that he was rightthere and that we, he, would
take care of us.
I said so he would do it againif he had to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Oh, Absolutely, Absolutely.
You know and it's you know whatdo they call they like with the
mama bear in us comes out rightwhen we never even knew we had
a mama bear inside of us.
And that situation happens,right, and we've all heard
stories of people who haveshowed significant physical
strength.
And then the situation's likewhen a car has built on a child
(24:10):
or something and the mom or thedad is able to lift up the car,
right, they're like where didthat strength come from?
Like, I never knew I had that,right.
But when someone we love andcare about is in danger, we it's
amazing how God strengthened usto react and how he gives us
the physical strength we need,how he gives us the guidance we
(24:31):
need to get out of thatsituation quickly.
You know, and it's just, it'sjust amazing.
And and the next letter screwtape to his uncle Excuse me, to
his uncle.
Screw tape to his nephewwormwood.
I get, these are demons.
And it goes back to what yousaid earlier, sherry, about how
a screw tape, the head demon,just cannot be pleased.
(24:53):
There's nothing he do, but heworks for someone who can't be
pleased, right, so right.
He works for the father oflives who can't be pleased, so,
and Now he's pretty much Callingwormwood his nephew, his demon
nephew wormwood, and utterfailure.
And he continues to scold himfor his incompetence and then he
(25:18):
threatens his existence as well.
He's like you either bring usfood down here or you will
become food.
It's up to you.
How do you, how do you wantthis to end?
You know?
And he's because now screw tapeis upset, because the the, the
human that wormwood has beenassigned, is Very afraid and he
(25:43):
has become cowardly, just likeuncle screw tape recommended
Wormwood do.
But in spite of his fear and inspite of his cowardice, he has
behaved well during an air raidthat was on his town as good.
I think this is very upset.
He's like you haven't made hima coward enough, because when
(26:05):
air raid came, he was, he was.
He turned out to be very heroic.
Like, what are you doing?
You know like you need tocontinue to pound him and pound
him, and pound him.
You know, and he's like youknow you've got to let this war
wear him down and he's like yougot.
He's a right now.
He's tired.
This air raid has happened andhe's been doing this, he's been
(26:28):
doing that, they've been doingthis, he's been doing that for
him himself and people aroundhim.
He's like.
So he's tired, but he hasgetting ready to sit in and Now
I want you to use that, becausenow that he's tired and he sees
everything that's going on, he'sno longer just a spectator,
he's active in this war andeverything else we need you to,
(26:52):
we need you to jump on thatfatigue and weaken his resolve.
Because you weaken his resolveby manipulating his emotions
About everything that's going on.
Sherry, like how can, how muchcan we relate to that?
Right?
How many times where we havebeen in a situation has been so
(27:13):
overwhelming to a lot of ourmental, physical, spiritual,
sometimes financial, emotionalstrength?
And we're just done, we justcan't do anything else and we're
exhausted.
And he's telling one would like, when humans are in that place,
(27:34):
when they are tired, when theyare fatigued, when they've just
seen the worst of the worst orthey've been through the worst
of the worst or they just beenthrough a very chaotic situation
, use that to manipulate theiremotions.
And how many times have we beenin situations like that?
And you know we're tempted tojust, you know just think oh, my
(27:55):
goodness, this is never goingto end, it's never going to get
better.
It, no matter all my efforts,no matter everything I've done,
I still got to fight the goodfight.
What does it ever end.
Have you ever been in asituation like this, sherry?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So where the?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
amateurs manipulate your emotions regarding that
when you're tired.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I think all we got to say for that is COVID-19.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Oh absolutely the pandemic.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yes, yes, Because I was talking to somebody the
other day and I was saying howin the past, pre-covid, people
would have pop, people wouldhave, you know, life would
happen, but the entire world wasnot experiencing the chaos, the
(28:41):
mental, physical fatigue,spiritual fatigue, overwhelm.
At the same time, covidintroduced at the same time and
there was no recovery period.
There was no one person who isdoing okay, able to strengthen
and carry those who are not,because even believers and I'm
(29:05):
not saying that those of us,well, I'm not saying that we
were without hope during thattime.
I'm just saying it was a hardtime in general.
Overall, yes, right For theworld.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So totally yes.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So we were filling up with God and had hope.
They were still tired Peopleare still tired and there hasn't
really been at least in myopinion, there really hasn't
been a recovery period, becausewe've gone from the COVID to a
lot of people are dying, and sothen we have the grief on top of
(29:41):
the everything else.
And so, yes, kara, I haveexperienced that and I think you
have too.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh, absolutely, you know, and I think that's why
what's the word I'm looking for?
I think most people will callit self care, but actually it's
(30:09):
more of like I'm caring for theother person, and what I mean by
that is when I am in a, when Iam in a vexed mood, right.
But whatever the situation is,whatever happened, and I'm tired
, I'm tired of the situation,I'm tired of the people involved
in the situation, I'm tiredtalking about the situation, I'm
(30:33):
tired of thinking about thesituation, I'm tired of all the
emotional stress that has comefrom the situation and I just
become vexed, right.
And I have told people like myhusband.
He will say, hey, you knowwhat's wrong.
And I say you know what?
I can't talk about it right now.
I'm very upset, I just need tobe alone.
(30:56):
And so, in a lot of you know,in that self care, right, but
I'm also letting him know thatyou don't want to be around me
right now, you know, because Iam not in a good mood and you
may say something extremelysweet and super nice and I may
just roar, you know, because I'mjust tired, I'm fatigued, I'm
(31:20):
just.
There's so much going on and asituation has me so upset that I
really just need time alone.
I need time between me and God,because if I don't, then the
enemy will use that, you know,and instead of me calling out to
God for help, like, oh Lord,you know how tired I am of this,
you know how upset I am withthese people, you know how
(31:41):
draining this situation has beenfor me.
Help me, give me clarity.
Be a bomb, a place of bomb onmy heart, my emotions, because
it's just been so hard.
I have to do that because, ifnot, it's exactly what's
grudtate was telling NirmwoodWernwood.
You get to manipulate theiremotions when you do that, you
(32:02):
know if you don't, and you getto use them and bend them to
your will because I could easeit instead of calling out to God
.
Be like that person.
How dare they?
Who do they think they are?
Do they not know who they'remessing with?
Flim, flam, flim, flam, flim,flam, flam, right and just rant
and rant and rant and roar androar and roar.
(32:23):
But what is that doing?
That's deepening the root ofwhat the enemy wants me to do,
because it builds up againunforgiveness, bitterness and
rudeness.
You keep playing everythingthey said or everything that
happened, or you know what thatsituation did and it just
becomes a repeat videotape inyour mind, you know, and it's
(32:47):
like after an hour or so myhusband would come back and he's
like you okay, and I'm likeokay, at least I can talk now
without spitting venom.
So, yes, you know it's like meand God had a conversation about
it and you know we've, you knowhe's calmed me some because I
was just spitting mad, right,and so a lot of times, you know,
(33:07):
I think sometimes it's justgood to just get away and be
alone.
Have you ever had those timeswhere you've had to do that To
where you're just like I need tobe by myself right now?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh, absolutely, and those are the times when I make
sure to keep my mouth shut.
I think what I'm going to do isI'm just going to buy you and
me a t-shirt and we're going toit's the I'm done people in
t-shirt, yeah, and we'll wear iton those days, and then our,
our husbands and our kids willknow oh day, way for mom, today,
not a good day.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Yeah, it's not a good day.
Just don't add shirt, andthey'd be like, hey, are you in
there?
And they're just like, okay,never mind, I'll come back in an
hour or two.
Yup, yup.
It's like you know, cause Ihave to decompress.
I am not one of those peoplethat can keep stuff in, you know
, and just simmer on it.
I'm either going to rant andrave and screaming y'all or I'm
(34:00):
going to have to talk to Godabout it.
And it goes back to what yousaid why?
Why give the enemy a foothold?
Because he's only going to useit to destroy you further, right
, and the relationships and thefriendships you know and
everything else that may beinvolved in a situation or the
circumstance.
He's just going to use that asas fodder, right, um, you know
(34:24):
future and you know, and it'slike I really need to talk to
God.
So I don't pick up the phone,and you know, and yell at people
, yeah, cause I'm like I don'twant to do that, cause then, you
know, god's going to, then I'mgoing to have to apologize later
, right, cause I spoke in a heatof anger, right, or whatever
the situation is, it's like it'sit's.
(34:47):
You can either rant and rave andscreaming, yell and um and
everything and just let thatcontinue to take root.
Or you could take it to God.
So, and the scriptures alwaystells us to cast our burdens on
him and um, no-transcript.
That does us more benefit thanI think we realize, right?
(35:07):
Because not only is your moodimproved because you've lessened
the burden that you're carrying, but you can think clearly now
because your mind's not soclouded.
You've talked it over with God,you've shared how you felt, you
shared your frustrations, youknow, and everything else, and
just because we have a good,good father, by the end of that
(35:27):
conversation you feel so muchbetter.
Am I right, sherry?
Speaker 2 (35:33):
Amen and amen, yes, and like I'll start out and I'll
just yell at him, like I'm notyelling at God, I'm yelling
towards God, and I'll be like,look, this is what so and so did
, and I think it's really unfair.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
And.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I can't believe that somebody so and so talked to me
like this and I can't believethat this actually really
happened and blah, blah, blahand can you believe?
It.
You said that, lord.
And then by the end of it, he'svery gently saying okay,
daughter, but this is where youneed to change.
I'll deal with so and so.
I'm doing this now, and thenI'm like okay, father, you're
(36:09):
right, I'm sorry.
I'm yes, and then and then, bythe time I'm done with it, I'm
at a place where I'm like, okay,I was wrong, they were wrong, I
was wrong, we need to, and it'sI don't know.
He de-escalates yes.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
He de-escalates it.
And which ends in what Peace?
Yes, right, which ends in peace.
And that is exactly what theenemy of our souls does not want
, and I'm going to leave it atthat, sherry.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Well, it all still ties back to John 1633.
Do you?
Speaker 1 (36:48):
see yes.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
But in me you may have peace In the world.
You will have tribulation, butbe of good cheer.
I have overcome the world.
You know, when we live oppositeof what our carnal nature or
our fleshly desires are, we dohave peace.
When we swim against the tide,when we swim upstream, when we
(37:14):
choose to do things opposite ofwhat feels good, we end up
feeling so much better.
If you need prayer orencouragement, please reach out
to us at cheeruppodcastcom.
We would love to pray with you,we would love to stand beside
you and we really do love people.
It's so.
(37:34):
I'm not, I'm done peopleing,it's just a Every once in a
while thing.
We truly do love people and welove them.
Yeah, we're so glad that you're.
We truly are.
In fact, we're going to bedoing a whole episode on
self-care in November, so staytuned for that as well, and
(37:55):
we'll get the biblical way toself-care.
So anyway, having said all that, please head on over to Kara's
website, k-a-r-a-r-h-u-n-t dotcom and check out her Habakkuk
series.
She has Pretty soon Lydia'sgoing to be out.
It might not be out yet, butI'm pretty sure you can
(38:15):
pre-order it.
So look into that.
Lydia is fantastic.
So it starts with paper dollsand she introduces all seven of
them.
When it is kite or paper dollskite, then it is paper dolls
Priscilla, and then paper dollsLydia.
And, trust me, you willabsolutely be blessed if you
pick up her series and read it.
(38:35):
You can head over to my websitealso.
I have fiction and nonfictionbooks that you can check out
over there, sherry Pwellwell dotcom, c-h-e-r-i-s-w-a-l-w-e-l-l
dot com.
And, more importantly, I have amembership, and the membership
is to help you grow closer toGod.
It's to build your relationshipwith Him personally, in your
(38:59):
own way and in your own pace,and it's really the heart of who
I am.
I want nothing more, and I knowKara feels the same way.
We want nothing more than tointroduce you to our Heavenly
Father and to help you find waysto grow your relationship with
Him personally.
It's a personal relationship,and the closer that you get to
(39:20):
Him, just the more joy he fillsyou with.
It doesn't mean that life isperfect by any means, but it
means that he is right therewith you as you're facing the
different trials andtribulations that you're going
through.
So check out that.
It's called Jesus in theEveryday.
It's on my website.
It's $9.95 a month, and thereason I do that is because I
(39:43):
think that it's really good toinvest in your own spiritual
growth.
If it doesn't cost anything andif it's easy to get, then
sometimes we devalue it, wethink that it's not important
enough.
But if you pay a little bit,then you're investing in
something, and there's nothingbetter than to invest in your
(40:05):
own spiritual growth, in yourown spiritual journey.
So that's why I do it the waythat I do it.
So come back.
Next week we are going to wrapup the screw tape letters.
I cannot believe that we'realmost done with them already
and it has just been a delightit always is and I'm looking
forward to next week too.
So have a great week and wewill talk to you next week.
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