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Do you believe in evil spirits? Do you believe there is a devil? Do you believe there is a battle going on behind the scenes, in the spiritual world? Have you witnessed the results of a specific battle between good and evil? Are you in the battle? How can you defend yourself? What is your defense? How can you go on the offense against the powers of the dark world?

Paul reminds us here that our battle is not with other people but the Evil One. God has given us both a defense and an offense. Defensively he has given us truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation. Offensively God has given us His words in the Bible and prayer.

C.S. Lewis wrote about this battle and the devil's strategy. "Like a good chess player he is always trying to maneuver you into a position where you can save your castle only by losing your bishop".

The "Screwtape Letters" is a great short fictional book by C.S. Lewis that gives us a glimpse of what it might look like "behind the scenes" in the evil spirit world. What might the strategies of the Evil One look like? Lewis does a great job of creating reality in a subject that for many is hard to imagine is real. He paints a very real picture of the unseen world.

Below is a short excerpt from the book. The book is setup as a series of letters from Screwtape, an experienced evil spirit, to his nephew, Wormword who is another evil spirit learning from his uncle Screwtape. When he writes of the "Enemy" he is of course referring to God and the "patient" is the human they are working on. Their main goal assigned to them by the "Father Below" is to keep separation and distance between God and the humans they are assigned. In other words help the humans maintain their broken relationship with God. Here is part of the first letter in the book.

"My Dear Wormwood, I note what you say... read more of this letter