Thursday, May 03, 2012

"As One Devil to Another' and a free book

“AS ONE DEVIL TO ANOTHER” by Richard Platt. Tyndale Publishers This book is a fictional correspondence, after the tradition of CS Lewis book “Screwtape Letters”, between one senior devil, ‘Slashreap’, and his underling ‘Scardaggar’.

 The senior devil is instructing his underling how to defeat and discourage his Christian ‘client’, a university postgraduate student.
In chapter 2 he discusses the 7 demonic virtues: cowardice, excess, injustice, lassitude, doubt, despair and arrogance. The author gives some keen insight into issues such as mentoring, suffering, technology, television, art etc. and ways in which the devil uses these things to hinder our relationship with God.

Some good quotes from the book are: the devil “centers our attention on brick-making that we have made them virtually incapable of becoming architects” p.18
Pushing directly against the purposes of God is so draining that“the best we can manage is a push from the side to deflect His purpose” p.46
In reference to physical beauty and sexuality the devil “has mastered the Dark Art of transforming physical beauty into spiritual ugliness” p.54
In talking about doing good works, “Perfect service to Him (God) creates, ultimately, a mind-set which is utterly indifferent to recognition. The central point is not who has done Good Work, but that Good Work has been done” p.66
In referring to natural beauty, “We teach them to see a desert while standing in a garden” p.114
I love this quote, “Our specialty for millennia has been the manufacture of complete fools” p.82

My favorite and most thought-provoking chapter was on ‘political-correctness’. The author uses the examples of calling ‘cripples’ ‘handicapped’ and calling homosexuality a alternative lifestyle to show how we have lost our ability to sympathize and even pray for those with physical liabilities and weaknesses to sin. This was a good book full of things to provoke thought and to apply for living in a fallen world.

The publishers have given me a coupon for a free book. Let me know if you are interested and it is yours.