THE UNRAVELING OF THE SOUL

August 2011 THE UNRAVELING OF THE SOUL

From time immemorial, the three great enemies of the soul have been “the world, the flesh and the devil” and they work in concert. The devil is a master at using our fleshly desires to entice us into a love for the world and thus separate us from God (1 John 2.15-17). In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis uses an imaginary dialog between an old, experienced demon and a young tempter to shed helpful light on some of the devil’s schemes. Read slowly and ponder below, and see if you can identify any that are at work in your life:

The long, dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it—all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is “finding his place in it,” while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old. The truth is that the Enemy, having oddly destined these mere animals to life in His own eternal world, has guarded them pretty effectively from the danger of feeling at home anywhere else. That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth. While they are young we find them always shooting off at a tangent. Even if we contrive to keep them ignorant of explicit religion, the incalculable winds of fantasy and music and poetry—the mere face of a girl, the song of a bird, or the sight of a horizon—are always blowing our whole structure away. They will not apply themselves steadily to worldly advancement, prudent connections, and the policy of safety first. So inveterate is their appetite for Heaven that our best method at this stage, of attaching them to earth is to make them believe that earth can be turned into Heaven at some future date by politics or eugenics or “science” or psychology, or what not. Real worldliness is a work of time—assisted of course by pride—for we teach them to describe the creeping death as good sense or Maturity or Experience.1

As one of the old Puritans said, “The devil is a master fisherman: he baits the hook according to the appetite of the fish.” If none of the above are at work in you, what else might there be that is unraveling your soul from God and knitting it to something (or someone) of the world? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

Is the Devil Real?

A good article from the C. S. Lewis Institute.......

A FIGMENT OF THE IMAGINATION?

o you believe the devil is real or just a figment of the imagination? According to pollster George Barna, “the notion that Satan, or the Devil, is a real being who can influence people’s lives is regarded as hogwash by most Americans. Only one quarter (27%) strongly believe that Satan  is real, while the majority argues that he is merely a symbol of evil.” Were C.S. Lewis alive today, he would regard our disbelief in the devil with dismay. “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.” Lewis’s understanding of the devil was shaped by Holy Scripture. There we see that Satan deceived and seduced Eve to disobey God (Gen. 3), inflicted great harm upon Job and his family (Job 1-2), tempted Jesus (Mt. 4), and later inspired Judas to betray him. Knowing all of this, Peter urges believers to “…be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith…” (1 Pe. 5:8- 9). And, Paul urges us to “put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”(Eph. 6:11). “No reference to the Devil or devils is included in any Christian Creeds, and it is quite possible to be a Christian without believing in them. I do believe such beings exist, but that is my own affair. Supposing there to be such beings, the degree to which humans were conscious of their presence would presumably vary very much. I mean, the more a man was in the Devil’s power, the less he would be aware of it, on the principle that a man is still fairly sober as long as he knows he’s drunk. It is the people who are fully awake and trying hard to be good who would be most aware of the Devil.” Do you believe the devil is real? Are you fully awake to his schemes? Do you know how to resist his attacks? We could all benefit from more awareness of our enemy. Indeed, our spiritual health depends on it. C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters as a practical tool to help believers recognize and resist the devil’s schemes and attacks. Another excellent resource is Powers of Darkness, by Professor Clinton Arnold (InterVarsity Press), which provides a sound biblical theology that is very helpful. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand  firm against the schemes of the devil. EPHESIANS 6:11 (NASB)

Pursuing True Spirituality

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

The true spirituality that heals us is rooted in the fact that God is transcendent. He stands outside and apart from His creation. God is holy and just, and He is sovereign over all that He has created. He is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent One who loves us unconditionally and who desires fellowship with all humankind. But He relates to us on His terms, not on ours.

Therefore, we experience true spirituality only through God’s Spirit, who indwells a person as he or she responds in faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. This is the exact opposite of shadow spirituality, which contends that the “god within” merely needs to be awakened and coaxed into actualizing activities. When the superficial, feel-good emotions are stripped away, though, one quickly realizes that New Age thinking is not new at all. It is the oldest of all philosophies, dating back to the Garden of Eden, where the first man and woman thought they could be like God. Indeed, they sought to be God.

True spirituality shows us the tragic consequences of this path. All of us are born with a missing dimension caused by the sin of wanting to live independently of God. This sin separates us from Him. The only way to fill that void is through repentance of sin, faith in Jesus Christ, and the indwelling power of God’s Spirit. This is the spirituality that makes us whole.

It is only when God’s Spirit opens our blind spiritual eyes that we truly begin to understand ourselves and recognize our own darkness and moral corruption—in other words, our sinfulness. True spirituality helps us recognize that our desperate inner longing is not a need for independence, but rather a consuming need for dependence—dependence on the Savior.

Biblical spirituality leads us to know the light of the world, Jesus Christ, and makes it possible for us to experience wholeness of body, mind, and spirit in becoming like Him. This healing comes only as the Holy Spirit of God is invited to do His ongoing work of transformation in our lives. We are made whole when we reflect the “character-likeness” of Jesus Christ.

Will you ask the Lord to reveal to you the true answer to your inner longing, and to help you understand that your heart is made whole the moment you receive Jesus as the Savior of your soul? Will you ask God to help you walk in the light of His Son through all of life’s challenges that you are facing?

Prayer: Lord, because of Your great love for me, You made me alive in Christ even when I was dead in my sin (Ephesians 2:5). Father, thank You for sending the light of the world, Jesus. I pray in His name. Amen.


“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).