“I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds… Satan is quite aware of the power of silence” – Jim Elliot
“Satan will always find you something to do,” — Hudson Taylor
“Hurry comes from the Devil” — a Spanish Proverb
In this fictional satire, the senior demon Haughtyhide counsels and mentors his nephew and junior tempter, Follyscourge, in the art of subtle deception.
My dear Follyscourge,
It’s been quite a while since I’ve looked back at your case with the university student. Frankly, I’ve been held up with matters going on outside in the greater world. After all, the small campus bubble you call home is just a speck in the grand scheme of our military efforts. That is to say, I have not been “ghosting” your letters out of spite. Rather, I simply have more pressing matters to attend to than yourself. No hard feelings, Junior.
Seeing your recent letter, however, makes me question whether I have made a mistake in trusting you to handle this task alone. In the short time your student has been part of his campus fellowship, not only have you allowed him to grow in love and gratitude, but you’ve also failed at keeping that growth to himself.
Now, (to your great shame) he no longer attends merely for the social stimuli or because of his friends. Instead, he has even begun to serve the fellowship — and not for his own reputation at that, but for the good of others! Could you be doing any worse?
To make up for your shortcomings, you say that you plan to dissuade him from serving and reduce his involvement. Nephew, I need to stop you right there. While I understand your simple mind in wanting to impede his progress, this is not the way to do it.
Fortunately, there is still darkness at the end of this tunnel. You mentioned that he has been very busy, did you? Packing his schedule with responsibilities and other “productive” things?
Oh this, Follyscourge, we can work with.
Friend or Foe?
From ages past to the modern day, the hectic schedule has always been a point of contention between us and the Enemy. Combined with the distracted mind and the preoccupied heart, the hectic life can serve as an excellent catalyst for effective misleading.
Wielded by an expert, the weapon of busyness can be used to efficiently keep the vermin from finding any real rest. This leaves them with anxiety, discord, and distress — a pleasing aroma to our Father below.
On the other hand, however, busyness can also go terribly wrong. When the vermin engage in focused, diligent, and purposeful work (along with that cursed rest that the Enemy gives), they begin to fulfill the Enemy’s wretched designs, and our grasp over them loosens.
Remember, Nephew, our goal is not primarily to have our prey stumble into sin after sin (however delightful that may be), but ultimately to keep them from the Enemy. To that end, it often serves us better to convince our prey to live as “Marthas” rather than “Judases” — if you know what I mean.
So long as they miss what Mary found, we still hold the high ground.
How the Traps Are Laid
Now, before I explain any further, let me make things clear.
We hate the diligence of the hardworking and cheer on the sluggard in his laziness — that has never changed. It is never a good sign to see the pests striving to make the most out of their limited time. Our preference has always been for them to stay docile, “coasting through life” while wasting their hours.
Unlike our Foe, we welcome the stewards who hide their talents in the dirt.
Out of their negligence of eternity, we find for ourselves the path of least resistance. The easiest prey, Follyscourge, are always the ones that suspect no danger.
While all of this is good and true, my fear is this, that you (in line with your namesake) would foolishly befuddle two matters which we hold in high priority: busyness and rest.
You would not believe the degree of ignorance that the vermin have regarding these, and that is not by accident. Our forces have worked tirelessly over the years to obscure the Enemy’s designs for both, such that they would remain ever-clouded and handy for misleading.
Take this as proof of our labour. Over the ages, our counterfeits have been fooling an increasing number of them:
- Instead of the life-giving rest that the Enemy offers, we prescribe to our patients sloth and laziness (we have made great strides in this realm through the invention of digitalized entertainment, video games and social media).
- Instead of purposeful industriousness, we offer unfulfilling toil and workaholism (has any generation been more comfortable than this one? Yet we have them more anxious and concerned about their careers than ever)
“Take a break…” “Work harder…” both suggestions do well. Whether they busy themselves or not, we always come out on top. Do you see the genius?
We’ve layered on the illusions so thick that the spawn can hardly tell the difference between getting rest and letting themselves rot. Even when they momentarily see through the fog, it only takes a nudge for them to lose their way. Simply brilliant.
My only qualm now is with junior tempters like yourself, who get confused from time to time on how to capitalize on such easy opportunities. A Hunter fumbling over his own traps? Now that’s embarrassing.
Wielding the Weapon
Busyness is a double-edged sword, Nephew, and you need to learn how to wield it. Let’s get back to the matter at hand.
You mentioned your student’s newfound zeal and eagerness to serve, how he’s “taken up numerous responsibilities and commitments in the fellowship”. You rant about his desire to help as he’s taken on role after role. From how it sounds, it seems as if you think we’ve lost the battle and are on the defensive.
No, you fool. This is where the real war begins.
Although the tide may seem like it is in the Enemy’s favor, the leverage is on our side. That busyness which has saturated your patient’s schedule can sour quickly for him, and your job is to start the infection. All you need to do is direct your attacks carefully while you keep him busy. Let me emphasize that last part. Make sure he stays busy.
You see, busyness is a handy tool that prevents our prey from stopping or slowing down. You can liken most hectic vermin to unintelligent bulls, charging forward with their eyes closed. Before they start, they might catch a glimpse of their target. But once they start rushing forward, it becomes easy for them to lose their sense of direction. This is where you come in.
Subtly and steadily, your goal is to alter his trajectory, one nudge after another. So long as he remains unaware, you will have free rein to redirect his course entirely. Let me show you how it’s done.
For your student, encourage him to keep going and to finish strong. He agreed to, didn’t he? What would his peers think of him if he went against his word? Don’t fight the current, junior. Guide it.
Reassure your patient that it is an honorable thing that he is doing, as he takes up commitment after commitment — good and righteous labor. He is filling a need; taking hold of an opportunity; stepping up where no one else is — who would do it if he doesn’t? Appeal to his “rationality,” you’ll spark less opposition this way.
Yet as you stir him on, this is your focus: permit him no quiet. Allow him no time for reflection, no room for introspection, and no mind-space for meditation.
Let the quiet whispers of His alleged Lord go unheard over his boisterous calendar.
Next, make sure you refuse him any sustenance. Keep his time in the Enemy’s Word short and efficient. You may even wish to help him check the box, so long as he goes no further. The moment he opens his Bible, fill his mind with the tasks ahead so that he has little time to chew — let alone swallow — his daily bread. Let none of the Enemy’s nourishment enter his soul. Hurry him along so that the food falls out of his mouth as he scampers. Your goal is to starve the ox as it treads the grain. Drive your cattle so fast that you won’t have need for a muzzle.
As your patient starves, ensure that he remains unaware. Disguise his malnourishment with “dry seasons” where the Enemy “feels distant” — yes, have him blame the Enemy, He is the one that is absent and unwilling to commune.
Direct his attention forward, anticipating the next “spiritual” (but actually, emotional) high. Confuse his own self-sabotage with “trials from the Lord,” this season will pass as long as he perseveres. Let his discontentment and doubts fester, yet remain under the surface. Familiarize him with the experience of empty devotionals so that he expects (and soon desires) nothing more.
In this manner, continue choking his faith. Outwardly, have him remain productive and competent. “Fruitful” according to all fleshly measures. Yet under the stony soil, we will watch as his roots shrivel up and wither.
The Heart of Corrupting Busyness
This is the epitome of masterful devilry. By the very fire of your student’s passion, we chill his affections towards his master. Through the same innocent zeal that started his good works, we bring hardness to his heart. In the very service for his savior, we cultivate forgetfulness for his first love.
There is no sweeter victory than this: seeing our patients privately abandon the same Lord they proclaim publicly.
To achieve this result, we need to foster callousness in your patient’s heart. We need to ferment a loveless burden to keep up the moral deeds and a joyless duty to persevere. Of course, this won’t be hard when your student is spiritually starved and deprived of true rest. If you keep him in that state, he will eventually learn to prize the work (and its rewards) over relations with the Enemy.
When the unsatisfied soul finds no rest from above, it will — without fail — turn its hungry gaze down below. It works every time.
If the fruit of his wearisome toil produces nothing but the candies of fame, self-satisfaction, and pleasure, then that will become his diet. His appetite will inevitably be for the flattery and the exaltation of others, not the approval of his Maker. He may never even come realize it, but gradually, he will start to hunger for our feed. Eventually, his provider and sustainer will no longer be the Enemy as he boasts or believes.
Instead, my apprentice, WE will be his shepherd. And with our addictive slop, we will fatten him for the slaughter.
Hate the Saint, but Love His Works
Now, before anyone catches you drooling, let me conclude with this reminder.
Oftentimes, our most fatal attacks are not the manifold temptations to obvious sin, but rather the subtle suggestion to choose the lesser “good”. We can bear leading our victims to even moral decisions (however begrudgingly) if it will land them a few steps short of the Enemy.
Think back to Martha, our diligent and responsible, yet ever preoccupied role model. If a long list of chores will keep her from the dining table (and thus away from Him)— then make sure you have her cleaning every spot in the kitchen.
If all goes according to plan, this is how things should play out. Your student will steadily develop a no-tolerance policy for unexpected interruptions. He will have little time or priority for people around him who don’t yield tangible results. Things like watching the sunset or gazing at the stars will be quickly deemed “not useful.” And most importantly, he will be too busy to go deep into prayer, or even to pray at all.
Slowly but surely, his indignance towards “extravagant acts” like these will grow to mirror that of our favorite betrayer. In the face of true worship for our Enemy, he will furrow his brows and ask “Why this waste?”
By virtue of your incompetence, your patient may be further from our grasps than when he first started on campus. But until he finishes his race, we still have time to change his course.
Bring him to our finish line, Nephew, away from the Enemy’s gates. There, we will await him with open arms.
Your eager uncle,
Haughtyhide
