Dear Wormwood

Dear Wormwood,

Congratulations. I hope you see what you have done through that little stunt in Utah. Thought you would put an end to an annoying voice, did you? Ten thousand tongues have been unloosed in its place, formerly timid men now newly emboldened. Their own Book predicted it, as you’d know had you bothered to read Paul’s prison letter: “Most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (Philippians 1:14).

People who had never heard of that saccharine little sock puppet immediately rushed to their phones and typed “Charlie Kirk” to scroll through his speeches. And what did they find? Everything we labored to hide. They looked for hate and found agreeableness and reasonableness, without even a cuss word or two. He was too clever for that, even while other prominent media influencers of his ilk had given in to the worldly fashion of dropping the F-bomb (such childishness).

Consider the damages: Legions of so-called Christ followers who lived in compromise, lackluster faith, and fear of naming Christ are suddenly ashamed and repenting. Instead of the pleasingly generic “God,” which offended no one, they say “Jesus.”

Remember the hilarious deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, which had the immediate result that “great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things” (Acts 5:11). People cleaned up their acts momentarily. To be sure, there is always a slouching back into mediocrity; revival has no grandchildren, only children, but at least we enjoyed a pleasant respite.

What did you learn in demon school, where I presume you studied their books to avoid repeating our former mistakes? When we incited the stoning of Stephen, did it go well? The second-order effect was more rampant spread of the gospel. Does no one consider second- and third-order effects anymore? Assassination, imprisonment, vilification—it all plays into the Enemy’s hands. Kirk’s own wife, whom you managed to only strengthen, said as much in her pathetic eulogy: that what we intend for evil will only fortify the good.

It’s always the same. Do away with Joseph, and there he is elevated to viceroy of Egypt, leading to the long-term disaster of an exodus from slavery and a homeland for the Semitic Habiru tribe. The Enemy plays the long game, Screwtape. He does inscrutable things, so that even His children wonder what in the world He’s up to.

There are verses in those magic books of theirs that come alive only when a little shaking is applied, such as your fecklessness enabled at the campus rally. These verses are like geodes that do not impress from the outside, but must be cracked open to reveal amethyst or agate crystal.

For example, one housewife read in her Bible the next day: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5), a statement which for years was wonderfully opaque to her. She suddenly understood that Light is more powerful than Darkness and will not be overcome, or comprehended, or controlled by it. (The Greek is katalambano, but I don’t imagine they even teach you languages anymore in demon seminary.)

Another Pennsylvania woman texted her grandson in college, with whom she hitherto had scant contact, and asked if he had heard of Charlie Kirk. It opened up, for the first time, doorways to conversation about ethics and the meaning of life. Conversation is never on our side, Wormwood. It is dangerous, always carrying the possibility of veering close to truth.

Turn on any news channel and everyone is talking about God these days, politicians and journalists alike. It is the handwriting on the wall for us. Even the Europeans, whose minds we have more successfully shrouded in Materialism, are surely bemused. I fear that you will get them thinking too.

Two thousand years ago we pierced the Enemy’s own Son (more delightfully gory and prolonged an anguish than the quick-and-done Utah event), and no one has stopped adulating Him since. You will pay the price of your obtuseness, you dim-witted demon. But until I have my way with you, you must pursue your duty with undimmed alacrity, and henceforth with more cunning.

Your profoundly disappointed uncle,
Screwtape.