September 25, 2024 • 26 mins
Ever wondered about the intricacies of spiritual warfare? Get ready to embark on a thought-provoking analysis of the final letter in C.S. Lewis's novel, The Screwtape Letters. Dive into a world where demons interact with humans, and learn about their hierarchies. We've pulled apart the threads of this fascinating narrative to give you a deeper understanding of Satan's activities.
Being a follower of Jesus Christ isn't always a smooth journey, but it's one filled with hope and victory, even in the face of trials and tribulations. We reaffirm the importance of serving God rather than the enemy, and how your decision to follow Jesus can lead to triumphant outcomes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kara (00:18):
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is a prolific author
and speaker, sherry Swalwell.
How are you today, sherry?
Cheri (00:33):
I am doing great and you know you are as prolific as I am
, so everything that you sayabout me gets turned right back
to you.
Seriously, your books touch somany people's lives and I just
want to encourage people to goout there and pick up the
Habakkuk series and you willtruly, truly be blessed.
Kara (00:57):
Oh, thank you Again.
This is the Cheer Up podcastand, for those of you who are
new to joining us, Sherry and Iare the hosts of this podcast,
but we are also both Christiannovelists, and Sherry also has
several, many, many books ondevotions excuse me, many
(01:19):
devotional books, I should sayincluding various topics,
parenting being one of them andbeing a caregiver being another
one of them, and there are somany.
So please go to her website andshe will be giving you that
information at the end of thisepisode to be able to go there.
(01:41):
And we just want to thank youguys for joining us again and
thank you for all of ourreturning listeners, our
faithful listeners, who havebeen with us from the beginning,
and we just want to know wethank you, we appreciate you.
You have no idea how much wetruly, truly, truly appreciate
(02:02):
you.
And for those of you who arenew to the podcast, you can find
us on all major podcastingplatforms.
So, and if you do, pleasedownload, subscribe, like
whatever they ask you to do,because if you subscribe, then
you'll be able to find out everytime we have a new episode, and
if you download it, that'll letthem know that you like the
(02:24):
episode as well.
So, and if some of them, Ithink you can click a like or
you know, or something like that.
So if you do all of that, itreally helps get the word out,
spread the word about thepodcast.
Okay, for those of you, as youknow, we this is the very last
(02:45):
episode of our.
We started off as our summerseries, so it kind of moved into
the fall and we're wrapping up.
This is the very last episodeof it and since June 7 to now we
have been covering a book, anovel, by talk about a prolific
(03:09):
author, cs Lewis.
A lot of people may know himfrom Chronicles of Nornia, lyon,
swip and a witch and a excuseme, lyon Lyon, witch and a
wardrobe.
Am I saying this, sherry?
Am I saying that right?
If you feel like I got the note, the Lyon the witch and the
wardrobe.
Okay, thank you, okay.
(03:30):
Okay, philip, I kept feelinglike I'm one of those folks have
S on it and it didn't Okay.
So, yes, you may know him fromthe Chronicles of Nornia, the
Lyon, the witch and the wardrobeand other books that he has
written, and this one he haswritten he also wrote.
It is called the screw tapeletters, and the book is
(03:53):
essentially exactly what thetitle insinuates.
It is letters that screw tapewrites to his nephew.
What makes this book differentand unique is that Uncle's screw
tape, who's writing the letters, is a demon and he is writing
these letters to his new, noviceyoung nephew, wormwood, who is
(04:21):
also a demon.
Uncle Screwtape is much higherin hierarchy of demons than
Wormwood is, so he's kind oftaking Wormwood under his.
He's kind of tutoring him ormentoring him I guess you could
say in demon ship when it comesto that.
And so these are the 30, thebook the Screwtape letters are
(04:42):
31 letters that Uncle Screwtapethe demon is writing to his
nephew, demon Wormwood, and he'spretty much instructing him on
how to handle his very firsthuman, and that is what the
whole book is about.
And so the whole book is reallyabout spiritual warfare.
(05:06):
So, but if you're askinghierarchy of demons.
Kara, what are you talkingabout, or?
demons really Are they real?
We really encourage you to go,if you listen to this episode,
to go and listen to the June 7thepisode where we definitely we
talk about all of that, talkabout why we're covering the
(05:28):
Screwtape letters, the relevanceit has in our lives today and
every day as Christians andbelievers and nonbelievers alike
, and we also talk about whatthe Bible has to say about
demons and we answer a lot ofquestions.
Well, the Bible answers a lotof questions about demons and we
go through those scriptureslike the hierarchy of demons Can
(05:49):
demons possess someone or canthey do things to people and can
they do things to animals?
And so we kind of go throughthat in a very first
introductory episode ofScrewtape Letters and I believe
that episode was on June 7th.
So if this is your first timejoining us, you definitely are
you kind of caught in at thelast couple of letters, but you
(06:11):
didn't quite get the beginning.
I would definitely go back tothat June 7th episode.
It really kind of lays abiblical foundation about the
book that we are discussing.
All right, we are on the verylast letter that Uncle Screwtape
is writing to his nephewWormwood.
Just to catch you up reallyquick, wormwood was assigned his
(06:36):
very first human and the wholepoint for Wormwood was to get
that human to end up in hell.
Right, he was to direct himaway from God, jesus or anything
like that in every way possible.
But he has not been successful.
(06:58):
Every time he tried to get hishuman entangled into something
that would distract him or causehim issues or cause him
problems.
And, believe you me, he tried.
Little Nephew Wormwood tried.
It was his first human and hewas definitely trying everything
he could to, under hisinstructions from his Uncle
(07:19):
Screwtape.
He was trying everything hecould to get this human to fail
to end up in hell.
And but, oh, it's veryimportant to remember that this
was written.
The book was written in 1940sand 1941, I believe it to be
(07:40):
more exact.
But so his human is male,around 30 something years of age
, I think, and he is lives inEurope.
So it's 1940s.
He's a young male in Europe andwar has come to his hometown
(08:00):
Very much so.
In the last couple of episodeswe hear how he reacted during
the air raids and everythingelse, and so, but the whole time
, from beginning to end,wormwood has tried to take this
man through all sorts of stuffyou know, to try to secure his
place, you know, in the pit, andeverything he's tried so far
(08:21):
has been successful.
And what has really upset hisuncle screwtape is that one
would let his human fall in lovewith a very devout Christian
girl and who comes from a verygood family, very strong faith
(08:42):
in the Lord, in God, strongprayer life, to the point where
he even describes like how couldyou even let him like getting
contact with this girl, becauseshe's exactly who we want to
steer him away from.
I mean, like her whole familyis this way.
So, yeah, we can't let him staythere.
(09:02):
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Well, things don't end well,okay, so now we're in letter 31
and I am just going to read justa few, and this is the very
last letter, so this is the onewe'll be covering in this
episode and I'm just going toread some clips from the letter.
(09:27):
This is the uncle screwtapetalking to his nephew Wormwood
and he is incensed, to say theleast, with what has happened.
And he says to Wormwood he'slike you have let a soul slip
(09:47):
through your fingers.
The howl for that law threeechoes at this moment through
all levels of the kingdom.
How well, I know what happenedat the instant when they
snatched him from you there wasa sudden clearing of his eyes,
was there not?
As he saw you for the firsttime and recognized the part you
(10:09):
had had in him and he knew thatyou had it no longer.
So, basically, this is sayingthat the human that Wormwood had
been assigned has now died.
He has now died and that iswhat he is saying like you have
let the soul slip through yourfingers, and he is very upset
(10:30):
about that.
And when he is saying and Iknow what happened at the
instant when they snatched himfrom you by they he's talking
about angels.
And he's also saying that therewas a clearing of his eyes, was
there not?
When he saw you for the firsttime and he recognized who you
were and that you, that you,have been a part of him, but you
(10:51):
no longer a part of him, nolonger.
So that's, that's what Scrutateis talking about.
And then he continues.
He says just think and let thisbe the beginning of your agony
just think what he felt at thatmoment.
He felt as if a scab had fallenfrom an old sword, as if he
were merging from a hideousshell like tether, as if he
(11:13):
shuffled off for good and all.
As if he shuffled off for gooda defiled, wet clinging garment
by hell.
It is misery enough to see themin their mortal days taking off
dirty and uncomfortable clothesand splashing in hot water and,
giving little grunt of pleasure, stretching their ease limbs.
(11:34):
What, then, of this finalstripping, this complete
cleansing away from the hideousshell that they that he was
living in?
Oh, wormwood, he got through soeasily.
There were no gradualmisgivings, no doctor's sentence
, no doctor's diagnosis, nonursing home.
(11:55):
No, no operation, no operatingroom, no false hopes of life.
None of that.
None of that, wormwood.
It was just sheer,instantaneous liberation.
One moment it seemed to be allour world the scream of the
bombs, the fall of the houses,the stink and taste of high
(12:17):
explosives on the lips and inthe lungs, their feet burning
with weariness, the heart coldwith horror, the brain reeling
and their legs aching.
Then, the next moment, all thiswas gone, gone like a bad dream
, never again to be of anyaccount.
Did you mark how naturally thisearth-born vermin entered into
(12:39):
the new life?
Do you know that as he saw you,he also saw them?
He's referring to the angels.
I know how it was.
You reeled back, dizzy andblinded, more hurt by them than
he had ever been by bombs, thedegradation of it, that this
thing of earth, and flying tostand upright and converse with
(13:01):
spirits before whom you, anotherspirit could only cower.
He had no faintest conception,till that very hour, of how they
would look.
He even doubted their existence.
But when he saw them he knewthat he had always known them
and he had realized what parteach one of them had played at
many an hour in his life.
(13:23):
Now he could say so was you allthe time.
He's referring to the mantalking to the angels and he
continues he said recognitionmade him free of their company,
almost before the limbs of hiscorpse became quiet.
Only you were left outside.
(13:45):
He saw not only them, he sawhim.
That's what the capital H, thisanimal, this begotten thing in
a bed, this thing that wasbegotten in a band, could look
on him with a capital H.
What is blinding, suffocatingfire to you is now a cool light
(14:08):
to him and it's clarity itself.
And he wears the form of a man.
And then he goes on to talkabout how warmwood is going to
pay for his mistake.
Um, and he's going to paydearly and Wormwood is no longer
going to exist.
(14:28):
There are no more lettersbecause Uncle Screwtape is going
to make sure that warmwood,even though he's a spirit, he is
going to be fed to him and theother spirits and he's like you
failed, this was an utterfailure.
I am going to rather, you know,I am rather, rather than this
Lee, anticipating eating youalong with the other spirits
(14:50):
down here, um, and Wormwood begsfor his life.
He's like don't you have anycompassion for me?
I'm your nephew, you know, andall this other type of stuff.
And he's like no, no, no, no,no, no, wormwood, there will be
hell to pay.
So in this last letter and Ididn't go into detail on it but
(15:13):
the human, he was, uh, blownaway it sounds like by a bomb
and it wasn't pretty and Ididn't go into that part of it.
But as he was dying, he sawangels and he also saw Wormwood
and he saw Wormwood power beforethose angels and he saw them.
(15:37):
He wasn't even sure that thisis the human, he wasn't even
sure that he completely believedin angels.
But now he's like you're real.
So you are the one who helpedme through this incident.
You were the one who helped mewith that.
You were the one who did this.
You were the one when I was alittle child who did that.
And now they're going to usherhim into heaven, but not before
(16:00):
he gets to see him.
Right, and that's what UncleScrewtape, you know, is really,
really upset about.
He's like the, the, the, the,the, him, him, him, you know.
He gets to see him.
This, this, this thing that wasgotten in a bed, how made of
earth and slime.
He gets to see him, like yeah,this is what you've done.
(16:24):
Wormwood, like he gets to seehim.
You know, and only you cancower and hide because you're
powerless.
When he is on, when he is, youknow around, but yet this, this
thing, gets to see him and hegets to be embraced by him, and
he gets to be ushered intoheaven and welcome into his arms
.
And, oh, wormwood, you aregoing to pay for this mistake.
(16:48):
Not only has he died, butyou're going to die as well.
However, a spirit can die, okayso, but you can tell from the
letter that him and the otherdemonic spirits ate him.
So what are your thoughts onall of that, sherry?
Cheri (17:09):
I think you explained it so well.
You gave such a great, vividpicture of it and it's kind of
like what we were talking about.
I think it was last week, maybeit was two weeks ago where I
truly believe that God is goingto well.
He promised to never leave usor forsake us, so when it is our
time to go, if we are abeliever, if we are His follower
(17:31):
, we will be.
He will be right there with usfrom our last breath to our
first breath, and that actuallyreally excites me.
Kara (17:40):
I know right, and you know , scuteb also talks about how he
had a smile on his face.
Now this man has, you know, Idon't know if he was running
from the bombs, running to savesomeone, trying to do something
right, but he was killed in amidst of whatever he was doing
and he's taking his last breathwith a smile on his face.
Only believers will be able todo that.
(18:03):
That's the short and whatSherry and I are telling you
that if you don't know the LordJesus Christ of Nazareth as your
Lord and Savior, reallyconsider doing so, because if
you're not serving God, thenyou're serving the enemy.
And, as Sherry made clear inthe past two or three episodes,
(18:24):
why would you want to servesomeone who's never happy, whose
only goal is to steal, kill anddestroy?
And it is one of those things,one of those decisions that we
all have to make.
It doesn't, as we learn throughthese letters, it doesn't make
(18:44):
us immune from what's happeningin life.
It doesn't make us immune fromthe trials and tribulations that
are happening.
This man, he had become a fullfollower of the Lord of Christ
and he has surrounded himselfwith people who served, who had
the same fervor, and but yet hewas a victim, a fatal victim, in
(19:06):
a war that he probably had nosay so, in that people way above
his pay grade had decidedneeded to happen or was going to
happen regardless.
And yet he was caught in themiddle of it.
He was a casualty of it, but hedidn't lose.
He didn't lose.
He still became victoriousbecause in the end, he went to
(19:31):
his eternal home.
And that's what's really,really important, and I'm going
to let you wrap it up, sherry,from there.
Cheri (19:41):
Carrie couldn't have said it any better.
We all.
The whole reason why Carrie andI decided to do the screw tape
letters was because we hadgotten into a conversation
ourselves about the slipperyslide of Christianity and how
people.
I think that there is sometimesa mindset, and I know that when
(20:05):
I was growing up, when I was alittle kid, the mindset was if
you pray the prayer, then it'syour get out of health free card
.
But that is so not true.
He says in Romans 10, nine andgive me one second, because I'm
going to find it for you righthere.
I want to read it straight fromthe word of God.
(20:26):
So God tells us in Romans 10,nine.
He says, sorry, my mouth isfaster than my fingers.
Here we go.
He says if you confess withyour mouth Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that Godraised him from the dead, you
will be saved.
So it's more than just prayingthe prayer.
(20:47):
It's believing it in your heart, it's surrendering your life.
Yes, that is the beginning of arelationship with Jesus Christ.
So, like Kara said, justbecause you pray the prayer,
you're not tempted anymore.
You're not going to live a lifefree from tribulation.
(21:09):
We've been talking about thatevery single week.
John 1633 tells us we will havetribulation in this world, but
we want to live serving themaster who loves us, who wants
the best for us, who helps us,who gives us the Holy Spirit
living inside of us to help us,to give us the strength to do
(21:30):
the things that we need to do.
Or do we want to serve a masterwho is selfish and whose only
goal is to come and kill, stealand destroy us individuals?
So, if you are at thatcrossroad, if you have been
thinking about it and if youwant to make that decision today
, if you want to pray and speakwith your mouth but also believe
(21:52):
in your heart that Jesus isyour Lord and Savior, I have a
prayer that I would love for youto pray with me.
So, as I pray it, or as I sayit, repeat it after me and God
says in Romans 10, 9, that ifyou confess with your mouth and
believe in your heart, you willbe saved.
Oh Heavenly Father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
(22:16):
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're seated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI have done wrong and I choose
to forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
I am yours in Jesus' name.
(22:36):
Amen, amen.
Jesus, if you prayed thatprayer, we want to say welcome
to the family and we want toencourage you that this is just
the beginning.
Like I just talked about a fewminutes ago, this is not a get
out of health free card.
This is the beginning of awonderful relationship with the
Holy Spirit, with God the Fatherand with Jesus Christ.
(22:58):
We want you to grow in thatrelationship and we want you to
learn how to grow in thatrelationship.
Part of my heart, or a lot of myheart, is to encourage people
in their personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ.
That's why I started the Jesusin the Everyday Membership.
(23:19):
If you had head over to mywebsite, you can check it out
and see.
It's 365 days of encouragementin your inbox.
It's prayers, it's worshipsongs, it's devotional.
It's things to just set yourheart right and set your mind on
Jesus every single day.
(23:39):
It's a way to jump start aconversation with him and a way
for you to see how he isinvolved in every single area of
our lives.
I call him Jesus hugs, butbasically it's just seeing God
in our everyday and seeing himand how he answers our prayers
and how he just loves on us.
(24:00):
Maybe you have an amazingmarriage and you have a husband
or a wife who meets every needof yours, who just knows you so
well and just loves to lavishtheir love on you.
Take that to the hundreds,thousands, millions degree and
that's what Jesus wants to doevery single day of your life.
(24:20):
I just want to encourage youthat this is the beginning, and
it's the beginning of somethinggreat.
Head over to Kara's website,karaarhuntcom, and another way
that we can fill up and anotherway that we can grow our
(24:41):
relationship and learn biblicaltruth is through fiction,
through biblical fiction.
Kara has an amazing series, theHabakkuk series, paper Dolls.
You will love it and I'll tellyou what these are realized
people with realized situations.
Turning to God, it's basicallyjust having another friend in
your life.
(25:01):
Check those out as well.
If you need prayer orencouragement, or if you prayed
this prayer and you want toshare it with us, email us at
wwwkiraapodcastcom.
Or head over to Facebook.
Join our Facebook group, cheerUp Podcast and join that
community as well.
We are so glad that you're here.
(25:24):
Next week it starts a new month,next week is October and we're
going to start talking aboutrest and the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is something thatGod talks about in Exodus, he
talks about it in Deuteronomy,he talks about it throughout the
Bible, and it's a command thathe gives.
What is the Sabbath?
Is it something that we shouldstill be observing?
How do you go about doing theSabbath?
(25:46):
Do you have to do it on acertain day?
Do you have to do it a certainway?
Is everybody the same?
What exactly is the Sabbath,why do we have it and what are
we supposed to do with it?
We're going to be tackling allof that next month and I'm
really, really excited.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Have a great rest of your weekand we will talk to you next
(26:08):
week.
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up podcast.
I am your host, kara R Hunt,and with me is a prolific author
and speaker, sherry Swalwell.
How are you today, sherry?
Cheri (00:33):
I am doing great and you know you are as prolific as I am
, so everything that you sayabout me gets turned right back
to you.
Seriously, your books touch somany people's lives and I just
want to encourage people to goout there and pick up the
Habakkuk series and you willtruly, truly be blessed.
Kara (00:57):
Oh, thank you Again.
This is the Cheer Up podcastand, for those of you who are
new to joining us, Sherry and Iare the hosts of this podcast,
but we are also both Christiannovelists, and Sherry also has
several, many, many books ondevotions excuse me, many
(01:19):
devotional books, I should sayincluding various topics,
parenting being one of them andbeing a caregiver being another
one of them, and there are somany.
So please go to her website andshe will be giving you that
information at the end of thisepisode to be able to go there.
(01:41):
And we just want to thank youguys for joining us again and
thank you for all of ourreturning listeners, our
faithful listeners, who havebeen with us from the beginning,
and we just want to know wethank you, we appreciate you.
You have no idea how much wetruly, truly, truly appreciate
(02:02):
you.
And for those of you who arenew to the podcast, you can find
us on all major podcastingplatforms.
So, and if you do, pleasedownload, subscribe, like
whatever they ask you to do,because if you subscribe, then
you'll be able to find out everytime we have a new episode, and
if you download it, that'll letthem know that you like the
(02:24):
episode as well.
So, and if some of them, Ithink you can click a like or
you know, or something like that.
So if you do all of that, itreally helps get the word out,
spread the word about thepodcast.
Okay, for those of you, as youknow, we this is the very last
(02:45):
episode of our.
We started off as our summerseries, so it kind of moved into
the fall and we're wrapping up.
This is the very last episodeof it and since June 7 to now we
have been covering a book, anovel, by talk about a prolific
(03:09):
author, cs Lewis.
A lot of people may know himfrom Chronicles of Nornia, lyon,
swip and a witch and a excuseme, lyon Lyon, witch and a
wardrobe.
Am I saying this, sherry?
Am I saying that right?
If you feel like I got the note, the Lyon the witch and the
wardrobe.
Okay, thank you, okay.
(03:30):
Okay, philip, I kept feelinglike I'm one of those folks have
S on it and it didn't Okay.
So, yes, you may know him fromthe Chronicles of Nornia, the
Lyon, the witch and the wardrobeand other books that he has
written, and this one he haswritten he also wrote.
It is called the screw tapeletters, and the book is
(03:53):
essentially exactly what thetitle insinuates.
It is letters that screw tapewrites to his nephew.
What makes this book differentand unique is that Uncle's screw
tape, who's writing the letters, is a demon and he is writing
these letters to his new, noviceyoung nephew, wormwood, who is
(04:21):
also a demon.
Uncle Screwtape is much higherin hierarchy of demons than
Wormwood is, so he's kind oftaking Wormwood under his.
He's kind of tutoring him ormentoring him I guess you could
say in demon ship when it comesto that.
And so these are the 30, thebook the Screwtape letters are
(04:42):
31 letters that Uncle Screwtapethe demon is writing to his
nephew, demon Wormwood, and he'spretty much instructing him on
how to handle his very firsthuman, and that is what the
whole book is about.
And so the whole book is reallyabout spiritual warfare.
(05:06):
So, but if you're askinghierarchy of demons.
Kara, what are you talkingabout, or?
demons really Are they real?
We really encourage you to go,if you listen to this episode,
to go and listen to the June 7thepisode where we definitely we
talk about all of that, talkabout why we're covering the
(05:28):
Screwtape letters, the relevanceit has in our lives today and
every day as Christians andbelievers and nonbelievers alike
, and we also talk about whatthe Bible has to say about
demons and we answer a lot ofquestions.
Well, the Bible answers a lotof questions about demons and we
go through those scriptureslike the hierarchy of demons Can
(05:49):
demons possess someone or canthey do things to people and can
they do things to animals?
And so we kind of go throughthat in a very first
introductory episode ofScrewtape Letters and I believe
that episode was on June 7th.
So if this is your first timejoining us, you definitely are
you kind of caught in at thelast couple of letters, but you
(06:11):
didn't quite get the beginning.
I would definitely go back tothat June 7th episode.
It really kind of lays abiblical foundation about the
book that we are discussing.
All right, we are on the verylast letter that Uncle Screwtape
is writing to his nephewWormwood.
Just to catch you up reallyquick, wormwood was assigned his
(06:36):
very first human and the wholepoint for Wormwood was to get
that human to end up in hell.
Right, he was to direct himaway from God, jesus or anything
like that in every way possible.
But he has not been successful.
(06:58):
Every time he tried to get hishuman entangled into something
that would distract him or causehim issues or cause him
problems.
And, believe you me, he tried.
Little Nephew Wormwood tried.
It was his first human and hewas definitely trying everything
he could to, under hisinstructions from his Uncle
(07:19):
Screwtape.
He was trying everything hecould to get this human to fail
to end up in hell.
And but, oh, it's veryimportant to remember that this
was written.
The book was written in 1940sand 1941, I believe it to be
(07:40):
more exact.
But so his human is male,around 30 something years of age
, I think, and he is lives inEurope.
So it's 1940s.
He's a young male in Europe andwar has come to his hometown
(08:00):
Very much so.
In the last couple of episodeswe hear how he reacted during
the air raids and everythingelse, and so, but the whole time
, from beginning to end,wormwood has tried to take this
man through all sorts of stuffyou know, to try to secure his
place, you know, in the pit, andeverything he's tried so far
(08:21):
has been successful.
And what has really upset hisuncle screwtape is that one
would let his human fall in lovewith a very devout Christian
girl and who comes from a verygood family, very strong faith
(08:42):
in the Lord, in God, strongprayer life, to the point where
he even describes like how couldyou even let him like getting
contact with this girl, becauseshe's exactly who we want to
steer him away from.
I mean, like her whole familyis this way.
So, yeah, we can't let him staythere.
(09:02):
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Well, things don't end well,okay, so now we're in letter 31
and I am just going to read justa few, and this is the very
last letter, so this is the onewe'll be covering in this
episode and I'm just going toread some clips from the letter.
(09:27):
This is the uncle screwtapetalking to his nephew Wormwood
and he is incensed, to say theleast, with what has happened.
And he says to Wormwood he'slike you have let a soul slip
(09:47):
through your fingers.
The howl for that law threeechoes at this moment through
all levels of the kingdom.
How well, I know what happenedat the instant when they
snatched him from you there wasa sudden clearing of his eyes,
was there not?
As he saw you for the firsttime and recognized the part you
(10:09):
had had in him and he knew thatyou had it no longer.
So, basically, this is sayingthat the human that Wormwood had
been assigned has now died.
He has now died and that iswhat he is saying like you have
let the soul slip through yourfingers, and he is very upset
(10:30):
about that.
And when he is saying and Iknow what happened at the
instant when they snatched himfrom you by they he's talking
about angels.
And he's also saying that therewas a clearing of his eyes, was
there not?
When he saw you for the firsttime and he recognized who you
were and that you, that you,have been a part of him, but you
(10:51):
no longer a part of him, nolonger.
So that's, that's what Scrutateis talking about.
And then he continues.
He says just think and let thisbe the beginning of your agony
just think what he felt at thatmoment.
He felt as if a scab had fallenfrom an old sword, as if he
were merging from a hideousshell like tether, as if he
(11:13):
shuffled off for good and all.
As if he shuffled off for gooda defiled, wet clinging garment
by hell.
It is misery enough to see themin their mortal days taking off
dirty and uncomfortable clothesand splashing in hot water and,
giving little grunt of pleasure, stretching their ease limbs.
(11:34):
What, then, of this finalstripping, this complete
cleansing away from the hideousshell that they that he was
living in?
Oh, wormwood, he got through soeasily.
There were no gradualmisgivings, no doctor's sentence
, no doctor's diagnosis, nonursing home.
(11:55):
No, no operation, no operatingroom, no false hopes of life.
None of that.
None of that, wormwood.
It was just sheer,instantaneous liberation.
One moment it seemed to be allour world the scream of the
bombs, the fall of the houses,the stink and taste of high
(12:17):
explosives on the lips and inthe lungs, their feet burning
with weariness, the heart coldwith horror, the brain reeling
and their legs aching.
Then, the next moment, all thiswas gone, gone like a bad dream
, never again to be of anyaccount.
Did you mark how naturally thisearth-born vermin entered into
(12:39):
the new life?
Do you know that as he saw you,he also saw them?
He's referring to the angels.
I know how it was.
You reeled back, dizzy andblinded, more hurt by them than
he had ever been by bombs, thedegradation of it, that this
thing of earth, and flying tostand upright and converse with
(13:01):
spirits before whom you, anotherspirit could only cower.
He had no faintest conception,till that very hour, of how they
would look.
He even doubted their existence.
But when he saw them he knewthat he had always known them
and he had realized what parteach one of them had played at
many an hour in his life.
(13:23):
Now he could say so was you allthe time.
He's referring to the mantalking to the angels and he
continues he said recognitionmade him free of their company,
almost before the limbs of hiscorpse became quiet.
Only you were left outside.
(13:45):
He saw not only them, he sawhim.
That's what the capital H, thisanimal, this begotten thing in
a bed, this thing that wasbegotten in a band, could look
on him with a capital H.
What is blinding, suffocatingfire to you is now a cool light
(14:08):
to him and it's clarity itself.
And he wears the form of a man.
And then he goes on to talkabout how warmwood is going to
pay for his mistake.
Um, and he's going to paydearly and Wormwood is no longer
going to exist.
(14:28):
There are no more lettersbecause Uncle Screwtape is going
to make sure that warmwood,even though he's a spirit, he is
going to be fed to him and theother spirits and he's like you
failed, this was an utterfailure.
I am going to rather, you know,I am rather, rather than this
Lee, anticipating eating youalong with the other spirits
(14:50):
down here, um, and Wormwood begsfor his life.
He's like don't you have anycompassion for me?
I'm your nephew, you know, andall this other type of stuff.
And he's like no, no, no, no,no, no, wormwood, there will be
hell to pay.
So in this last letter and Ididn't go into detail on it but
(15:13):
the human, he was, uh, blownaway it sounds like by a bomb
and it wasn't pretty and Ididn't go into that part of it.
But as he was dying, he sawangels and he also saw Wormwood
and he saw Wormwood power beforethose angels and he saw them.
(15:37):
He wasn't even sure that thisis the human, he wasn't even
sure that he completely believedin angels.
But now he's like you're real.
So you are the one who helpedme through this incident.
You were the one who helped mewith that.
You were the one who did this.
You were the one when I was alittle child who did that.
And now they're going to usherhim into heaven, but not before
(16:00):
he gets to see him.
Right, and that's what UncleScrewtape, you know, is really,
really upset about.
He's like the, the, the, the,the, him, him, him, you know.
He gets to see him.
This, this, this thing that wasgotten in a bed, how made of
earth and slime.
He gets to see him, like yeah,this is what you've done.
(16:24):
Wormwood, like he gets to seehim.
You know, and only you cancower and hide because you're
powerless.
When he is on, when he is, youknow around, but yet this, this
thing, gets to see him and hegets to be embraced by him, and
he gets to be ushered intoheaven and welcome into his arms
.
And, oh, wormwood, you aregoing to pay for this mistake.
(16:48):
Not only has he died, butyou're going to die as well.
However, a spirit can die, okayso, but you can tell from the
letter that him and the otherdemonic spirits ate him.
So what are your thoughts onall of that, sherry?
Cheri (17:09):
I think you explained it so well.
You gave such a great, vividpicture of it and it's kind of
like what we were talking about.
I think it was last week, maybeit was two weeks ago where I
truly believe that God is goingto well.
He promised to never leave usor forsake us, so when it is our
time to go, if we are abeliever, if we are His follower
(17:31):
, we will be.
He will be right there with usfrom our last breath to our
first breath, and that actuallyreally excites me.
Kara (17:40):
I know right, and you know , scuteb also talks about how he
had a smile on his face.
Now this man has, you know, Idon't know if he was running
from the bombs, running to savesomeone, trying to do something
right, but he was killed in amidst of whatever he was doing
and he's taking his last breathwith a smile on his face.
Only believers will be able todo that.
(18:03):
That's the short and whatSherry and I are telling you
that if you don't know the LordJesus Christ of Nazareth as your
Lord and Savior, reallyconsider doing so, because if
you're not serving God, thenyou're serving the enemy.
And, as Sherry made clear inthe past two or three episodes,
(18:24):
why would you want to servesomeone who's never happy, whose
only goal is to steal, kill anddestroy?
And it is one of those things,one of those decisions that we
all have to make.
It doesn't, as we learn throughthese letters, it doesn't make
(18:44):
us immune from what's happeningin life.
It doesn't make us immune fromthe trials and tribulations that
are happening.
This man, he had become a fullfollower of the Lord of Christ
and he has surrounded himselfwith people who served, who had
the same fervor, and but yet hewas a victim, a fatal victim, in
(19:06):
a war that he probably had nosay so, in that people way above
his pay grade had decidedneeded to happen or was going to
happen regardless.
And yet he was caught in themiddle of it.
He was a casualty of it, but hedidn't lose.
He didn't lose.
He still became victoriousbecause in the end, he went to
(19:31):
his eternal home.
And that's what's really,really important, and I'm going
to let you wrap it up, sherry,from there.
Cheri (19:41):
Carrie couldn't have said it any better.
We all.
The whole reason why Carrie andI decided to do the screw tape
letters was because we hadgotten into a conversation
ourselves about the slipperyslide of Christianity and how
people.
I think that there is sometimesa mindset, and I know that when
(20:05):
I was growing up, when I was alittle kid, the mindset was if
you pray the prayer, then it'syour get out of health free card
.
But that is so not true.
He says in Romans 10, nine andgive me one second, because I'm
going to find it for you righthere.
I want to read it straight fromthe word of God.
(20:26):
So God tells us in Romans 10,nine.
He says, sorry, my mouth isfaster than my fingers.
Here we go.
He says if you confess withyour mouth Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that Godraised him from the dead, you
will be saved.
So it's more than just prayingthe prayer.
(20:47):
It's believing it in your heart, it's surrendering your life.
Yes, that is the beginning of arelationship with Jesus Christ.
So, like Kara said, justbecause you pray the prayer,
you're not tempted anymore.
You're not going to live a lifefree from tribulation.
(21:09):
We've been talking about thatevery single week.
John 1633 tells us we will havetribulation in this world, but
we want to live serving themaster who loves us, who wants
the best for us, who helps us,who gives us the Holy Spirit
living inside of us to help us,to give us the strength to do
(21:30):
the things that we need to do.
Or do we want to serve a masterwho is selfish and whose only
goal is to come and kill, stealand destroy us individuals?
So, if you are at thatcrossroad, if you have been
thinking about it and if youwant to make that decision today
, if you want to pray and speakwith your mouth but also believe
(21:52):
in your heart that Jesus isyour Lord and Savior, I have a
prayer that I would love for youto pray with me.
So, as I pray it, or as I sayit, repeat it after me and God
says in Romans 10, 9, that ifyou confess with your mouth and
believe in your heart, you willbe saved.
Oh Heavenly Father, I come toyou in Jesus' name.
(22:16):
I believe you died on the crossand that you rose again and
you're seated on the throne.
Jesus, forgive me for all thatI have done wrong and I choose
to forgive all others.
Come into my life today andforever.
I am yours in Jesus' name.
(22:36):
Amen, amen.
Jesus, if you prayed thatprayer, we want to say welcome
to the family and we want toencourage you that this is just
the beginning.
Like I just talked about a fewminutes ago, this is not a get
out of health free card.
This is the beginning of awonderful relationship with the
Holy Spirit, with God the Fatherand with Jesus Christ.
(22:58):
We want you to grow in thatrelationship and we want you to
learn how to grow in thatrelationship.
Part of my heart, or a lot of myheart, is to encourage people
in their personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ.
That's why I started the Jesusin the Everyday Membership.
(23:19):
If you had head over to mywebsite, you can check it out
and see.
It's 365 days of encouragementin your inbox.
It's prayers, it's worshipsongs, it's devotional.
It's things to just set yourheart right and set your mind on
Jesus every single day.
(23:39):
It's a way to jump start aconversation with him and a way
for you to see how he isinvolved in every single area of
our lives.
I call him Jesus hugs, butbasically it's just seeing God
in our everyday and seeing himand how he answers our prayers
and how he just loves on us.
(24:00):
Maybe you have an amazingmarriage and you have a husband
or a wife who meets every needof yours, who just knows you so
well and just loves to lavishtheir love on you.
Take that to the hundreds,thousands, millions degree and
that's what Jesus wants to doevery single day of your life.
(24:20):
I just want to encourage youthat this is the beginning, and
it's the beginning of somethinggreat.
Head over to Kara's website,karaarhuntcom, and another way
that we can fill up and anotherway that we can grow our
(24:41):
relationship and learn biblicaltruth is through fiction,
through biblical fiction.
Kara has an amazing series, theHabakkuk series, paper Dolls.
You will love it and I'll tellyou what these are realized
people with realized situations.
Turning to God, it's basicallyjust having another friend in
your life.
(25:01):
Check those out as well.
If you need prayer orencouragement, or if you prayed
this prayer and you want toshare it with us, email us at
wwwkiraapodcastcom.
Or head over to Facebook.
Join our Facebook group, cheerUp Podcast and join that
community as well.
We are so glad that you're here.
(25:24):
Next week it starts a new month,next week is October and we're
going to start talking aboutrest and the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is something thatGod talks about in Exodus, he
talks about it in Deuteronomy,he talks about it throughout the
Bible, and it's a command thathe gives.
What is the Sabbath?
Is it something that we shouldstill be observing?
How do you go about doing theSabbath?
(25:46):
Do you have to do it on acertain day?
Do you have to do it a certainway?
Is everybody the same?
What exactly is the Sabbath,why do we have it and what are
we supposed to do with it?
We're going to be tackling allof that next month and I'm
really, really excited.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Have a great rest of your weekand we will talk to you next
(26:08):
week.
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