When I was a kid I got pretty fed up with some of the toxic stuff I saw going on among "Church members".... Fortunately for me I had gotten my self kind of adopted by a family that knew things were not smooth at home for me.... I was always welcome to hang out while waiting for things to cool down at home.

I never felt any pressure to attend Church but did get a chance to visit with some good people one of whom suggested I might like a C S Lewis book, The Screwtape Letters. It's a satire written as a correspondence between a head demon and his minion assigned to keep a human "patient" from Salvation and when that fails to rob him of as much joy and contentment as possible.

It was a kind of paradigm shift in my view of religion. The presence of posers and clearly unrepentant jerks inside a Church were no longer an instant deal breaker I'm out of here kind of situation. The basic 10 Commandments stopped seeming like an annoying device to keep me from having fun but rather guideline to keep me from being consumed by a wicked predator…. I don't see myself a prey or food for the darker forces.

I found an annotated version free online here..... I first read this 45 years ago.... I still think about it fairly often.....

https://allnovel.net/the-screwtape-letters.html


Storyline:
A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life from the vantage point of Screwtape, a senior tempter in the service of "Our Father Below." At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C. S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging and humorous account of temptation—and triumph over it—ever written.
Now, for the first time, The Screwtape Letters is presented with its full text alongside helpful annotations provided by Lewis enthusiast and dramatist Paul McCusker. The notes include literary, theological, and biographical information to enhance Lewis's core themes and demystify complex ideas. McCusker also guides readers to concepts and references from the beloved author's other treasured volumes to deepen and enrich this timeless classic. The annotated edition is the ultimate guide for understanding the heavenly truths buried in these epistles from below.


The Screwtape Letters

To
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
"The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn."
- Luther

"The devill . . . the prowde spirite . . . cannot endure to be mocked."
- Thomas More

PREFACE
I HAVE no intention of explaining how the correspondence which I now offer to the public fell into my hands.
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. The sort of script which is used in this book can be very easily obtained by anyone who has once learned the knack; but disposed or excitable people who might make a bad use of it shall not learn it from me.

Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true even from his own angle. I have made no attempt to identify any of the human beings mentioned in the letters; but I think it very unlikely that the portraits, say, of Fr. Spike or the patient's mother, are wholly just. There is wishful thinking in Hell as well as on Earth.
In conclusion, I ought to add that no effort has been made to clear up the chronology of the letters. Number XVII appears to have been composed before rationing became serious; but in general the diabolical method of dating seems to bear no relation to terrestrial time and I have not attempted to reproduce it. The history of the European War, except in so far as it happens now and then to impinge upon the spiritual condition of one human being, was obviously of no interest to Screwtape.
C. S. LEWIS
MAGDALEN COLLEGE


July 5, 1941

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