Screwtape: Ruining the Race by Steven Lee 

This Sunday see the release of the tenth and final letter of Screwtape: Ruining the Race written by Steven Lee, who is one of our preaching team. It is being released one chapter at a time over a period of ten weeks. This is designed to encourage people to think, reflect on and even discuss the points raised in each chapter - rather than galloping through the booklet in a single sitting. Previous chapters can be found on the St John's Website - What we do - Retired But Not Out! - Screwtape: Ruining the Race. 

The premise of the book is that Screwtape is an experienced devil. His nephew, Wormwood, has had a bumpy start to his demonic career but has been given a new opportunity with a group of recently retired Christians.   Screwtape’s advice as to how to plot the ruin of these humans is contained in a series of letters.

Steven does not claim to know the Devil’s mind but writes about the temptations, opportunities and challenges that he finds in retirement.
 
The tenth letter of the book is as follows....
 
 
 
10
My dear Wormwood,
You may have been surprised to have found this waiting on your desk when you arrived. I made my personal secretary, Toadpipe, hand deliver it. By the time you read this I will be hunkered down in a hiding hole I prepared long ago. I will be far away from the clutches of our infernal, internal security as this storm blows over. 
Our correspondence has been leaked, you incompetent fool! There has certainly been no leak from my end. Worst of all, my letters to you have ended up in the hand of those very humans we are sworn to deceive. Some deception we have sown, when all is now laid bare. How could you let this happen?
There will be all hell to pay. It is a disaster that the humans should be so aware of our schemes. Things that should for ever have remain hidden, or at the very least obscure, have now been brought out into full daylight.
No doubt a major incident will be declared and our forces marshalled. But the cat is out of the bag. Many of the humans, being more aware of our activity, will be ‘putting on the armour’ as they gleefully call it. Our counter attacks will be blunted.
Can you not envision the pathetic humans freshly examining their lives, being spurred on to action, expectant of the Enemy at work in and through them, increasingly becoming like Him? Who knows what the impact will be on the local church of people actually living out such things as godliness with contentment? All that work of fostering ‘lukewarmness with anxiety’, down the drain. Having them properly ‘running the race’ most definitely jars with your office poster of a person sitting with their feet up doing puzzles in the departure lounge.
What will be the effect on their contacts who were, until now, safely in our camp? If our forces’ efforts at containment should fail then this could spread to other churches. At times they can be a veritable plague these vermin; and the ideas you have let loose certainly have the danger of proving highly infectious.
You think I overstate things. He whose name is unmentionable was not blustering when He talked of the church and said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Were the veil to be lifted they would see that they need not cower away from us but rather that we should flee from them. Our best hope is that the humans won’t really realise what they have got hold of and that we can pass it off as some sort of fad which will soon blow over. But you and I will shudder knowing that it has the potential for so much more.
Don’t even think of trying to pass all the blame for this onto me. Be warned, I have my counter measures ready.
Your infuriated and now absent uncle,
 
SCREWTAPE


 
A limited number of printed copies of this letter will be available on Sunday and the booklet will appear chapter by chapter on the Running the Race pages of the Church Website. At the end of the ten weeks printed copies of the whole booklet will be available if you wish to give them to friends whom you think might find it helpful, or you can direst them to the church website.