Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours-and the more "religious" (on those terms) the more securely ours.
Or so says Screwtape to Wormwood in C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, Chapter 7. But is it true?
If you have never read the Screwtape Letters, I would highly recommend it. The book contains a series of imaginative letters written by a senior demon (Screwtape) to his apprentice, Wormwood. Typical of C.S. Lewis' writings, the letters are closely aligned to biblical truths, with each chapter addressing a particular problem of Christian life. Screwtape and Wormwood are trying to keep people from serving Jesus.
Read the opening paragraph again now, this time in context:
Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours-and the more "religious" (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here,
Your affectionate uncle
Screwtape
Have you met people who are involved in "churches" but they are totally focused on programs, good works, social justice, political agendas or petitions? These things can be good but if they are done in the wrong way, with the wrong heart or for the wrong purpose, they are useless. In fact, they are worse than useless because they actually work against the very business that we should be about - building Jesus' church. But building the "church" must be numerically based; that is, numbers into the eternal Kingdom of God, not people sitting in pews, filling church office roles or promoting programs in order to increase giving.
So what is the application for us as well-meaning, sincere evangelicals who want to serve God? Firstly, one application is to be aware of the enemy and guard our hearts:
Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Pet. 5:8-9Secondly, recognise the solution: you can resist the devil and his schemes by standing firm in your faith (that is, faith in the blood of Jesus).
Finally, look for those who Screwtape calls the "religious" folk. They might even be lurking in your church circles! Help them to recognise that religion is based on works - man trying to get to God (which man can never achieve) but that true faith - Christianity - is God coming down to man. Help them to understand that salvation is through faith alone, by the grace of God.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph. 2:8-9
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jn. 14:6
Image from http://existenceofgod.org/screwtape-letters-real-life-dont-let-him-ask/