Beside the Still Waters

One of CS Lewis’ most intriguing novels is in the form of a collection of letters from a well-seasoned, veteran demon named Screwtape, written to his nephew Wormwood—a younger and inexperienced demon apprentice. In one letter, Screwtape exhorts Wormwood to not focus so much on temptations that might lead to dramatic wickedness. “The only thing that matters,” says Screwtape, “is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy.” To Screwtape the Enemy is God Himself. In Dr. Kennedy’s message today, he highlights three major shifts in the press of life that tend to keep us separated from God. We can find a hint of what they are in another of Screwtape’s exhortations, where he says: “Indeed, the safest road to hell, is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” But there is an exit ramp off this road to oblivion, as Dr. D. James Kennedy shares in his message: “Beside the Still Waters.”