The Desire to Go: A Missionary Screwtape Letter

‍C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters has helped thousands of Christians see battles against temptation from a different perspective. Many have taken Lewis’ concept to write similar works to expand the application of this unusual view on more topics than in the original book. Here we apply this literary frame to the missionary world. Specifically, the temptations and trials placed onto a cross-cultural worker endeavoring, with the Lord’s provision, to reach an unengaged language group; deep outside of any Christian worldview or influence. This is the first letter of three, the latter two will cover topics of living on the field and initially sharing with unbelievers.

For the sake of familiarity, this letter is written to and by the same fictitious characters that C.S. Lewis invented in his original work. The tone and style of Lewis’ letters is also preserved as much as possible. However, the patient here is set in the contemporary world and therefore faces modern temptations. We pray this article will be helpful for your scriptural meditations and bolster you against common temptations seen by missionaries. 

My Dear Wormwood,

It is both concerning and, dare I say, tantalizing, to read in your most recent letter of your patient’s burgeoning desire to pursue that most deplorable of occupations: missionary. And not just any missionary, mind you, but one who aches to see the Enemy’s dreadful “light” dawn upon the remotest souls—those very peoples not even conscious of the Enemy’s name or access to His scribbled down dogmas.

This is concerning, of course, because if he were to act on this fledgling desire and be used by the Enemy, then he could very well dismantle some of our most fortified strongholds—our precious dominions where the Enemy’s repulsive utterances have yet to infect the souls under our control. You must not let this occur. Such a development would be nothing short of catastrophic for you and would surely guarantee your swift and humiliating ruin. You have already been absent minded with permitting him to stumble into the company of those who speak of missionary exploits with nauseating reverence, recounting their victories of dragging souls into the Enemy’s clutches. It is baffling how you failed to divert him from such stories; even a flicker of curiosity in that direction can be deadly.

And yet there is potential here, my dear nephew. A tantalizing opportunity, if only we wield it to our advantage. Some of our most effective pawns—even though they are securely within the Enemy’s hold—have emerged from precisely such circumstances. The zealous missionary, the one whose intentions burn with apparent sincerity, can be molded into a weapon for our cause. Furthermore, the business of forging this instrument is blissfully simple. We need only to plant within your patient an intoxication for expediency, the notion that because so many souls are dying within our care today that he must charge forth at once. This frantic hastiness alone will not bring about our desired results, but it will allow us to subtly nudge him away from the preparation he needs to truly be effective for the Enemy. For if your patient were to pause—if he actually considered the enormity of the required task—he might well see how ill-equipped he is. He has never learned another tongue– indeed, he scarcely manages to articulate the Enemy’s daft message within his own!– and he might discover, if given even the slightest uninterrupted reflection on the task, the scope of toil and suffering he is to face. These realizations might well prompt your patient to cast aside such grueling ambitions—or, far more perilously, prod him into seeking proper training, counsel from more experienced comrades, and (worst of all) a deepened reliance upon the Enemy Himself. However, if let go unprepared, he stands little chance of completing the task, no matter how noble his intentions, just as the majority of the Enemy’s messengers are known to do today.

Should your patient go to some far off country on the heels of this zealous rapidity, we shall find him exquisitely primed for our purposes. In that fevered state, he can be persuaded that any half-uttered echo of the Enemy’s nauseating “good news”—however fragmented—amounts to a rousing success. This subtlety of our craft, as you well know, is that even a perfect articulation of the Enemy’s message seldom takes root with a single hearing. It often requires persistence and perseverance for the evasive evangelist to unravel our carefully seeded confusions in the listener. But your would-be missionary, if he can be driven onward by his own haste, might scarcely trouble himself with the language or cultural intricacies of those he presumes to rescue. Even if he should enlist interpreters to transmit the Enemy’s odious proclamation, he will remain unable to confirm true comprehension or respond to any challenge that might arise. From there, our agents need only offer the illusion of agreement—the appearance of genuine excitement in the listener—and the missionary shall depart in blissful ignorance, congratulating himself on work he imagines done in the Enemy’s name. Never shall it occur to him that he would demand far more than such tepid gestures before declaring a soul converted from among his own countrymen.

Even should these listeners, by some mischance, catch enough of the Enemy’s dreadful notion to desire crossing over to His side, it remains laughably simple for us to pluck the message free from their thoughts—or better yet, to twist it altogether. We need only encourage the unwitting convert to simply add the Enemy—ideally a small figurine of his incarnate self—within the preexisting rituals and beliefs we so long ago created with their ancestors. The Enemy’s demands for total obedience stand little chance of truly taking root when our cultural entanglements remain neatly undisturbed by these expedient missionaries. I confess I have never fathomed why the Enemy, in His infinite presumption, would make His message so prone to misinterpretation, especially by creatures whose minds are already enslaved toward our will. Perhaps He could learn a lesson or two in pragmatism from our exploits. No matter, this oversight plays to our advantage and I need not consume your time with my musings. 

I almost desire you to shove your patient headlong into this lofty occupation, purely to have a new plaything at our disposal. Yet, alas, I must advise you against this fantasy. For, from what you have shared with me, it seems that your patient is disturbingly apt for this work. He has already absorbed too much in those retold stories of our past failures when the Enemy’s agents evaded our propositions of past in favor of much more regrettably permanent methods. You may wish to review our case files on those your patient has already digested, the dandiprat Hudson Taylor and that lackwit Jim Elliot. Let them serve as a foreboding caution to you. Since your patient is already inoculated I fear he will question any clumsy attempt to hurry him into ill-prepared action. Therefore, I must advise you not to frivolously play around with him. You must stifle every opportunity he might seize to fortify this particular ambition. Turning him from action should be child’s play—even for one as green as you—if you remain vigilant and extinguish every flicker of genuine resolve before it bursts into flame.

Our first order of business is to immerse your patient in every conceivable worldly diversion. Let him be so inundated with pleasure that such a desire to forsake all these things would look positively foolish to any man—whether suckled to the Enemy or not. I’ll see to it that he is granted a raise in salary at his employment, he will surely require extra means to indulge in these enticements.

Next, I’ve already initiated correspondence on your behalf to the demon overseeing your patient’s wife. As you well know, she has also toyed with missionary aspirations but struggles to think herself suited for the task. This bodes well for us and I am advising her tempter to magnify such insecurities and awaken in her a keener appreciation for the comforts she would abandon were she to join her husband’s ambitions. Their delightful home, the myriad little interesting undertakings that fill her days, and above all, her children—whose upbringing she envisions to be superior if only she stay by her church and family. Her gaze will be directed away from any eternal perspective and fixed instead on the so much more presently visible ornaments of the “American dream.” Be prepared, my nephew, to exploit your patient’s awareness of his own competence, so that when he sees his wife’s growing reluctance—so neatly planted by us—he will resent her, as a captain chafes against an anchor that refuses to be hauled aboard. We must never miss opportunities to rend what the Enemy has unified.

Relying on these comforts alone often smothers any impulse to venture where such luxuries might be scarce. Yet you must stay vigilant lest your patient become aware of the pernicious generosity the Enemy lavishes upon His decrepit offspring when they abandon their worldly wants and invest themselves in His service. What the Enemy offers far exceeds the worth of any worldly possessions your patient could ever have access to, and he could have this indulgence whenever he wishes. Thankfully, the inherent paradox of it all renders this easy enough for us to twist—provided your patient does not stumble upon that deeper truth. Should he grasp it, he will gain a stubborn motivation we may well find virtually unassailable. For, I have heard the whimpering whispers of brethren who have failed in this way before their just destruction, that should a patient be fully used by the Enemy in this way he experiences a gladness far exceeding any phantasms we can conjure, leaving him hardened to our most cunning efforts. Heed this warning, my dear nephew.

Finally, steer him towards isolation with his newfound desire. There is a deliciously reckless notion within the Enemy's ranks that individuals can respond to His “call” without the slightest need of counsel or external authority. Certainly, the Enemy has employed less to propagate His wretched message, yet even to us, this behavior of a lone missionary or missionary family is blessedly naive. Keep your patient estranged from his fellow inmates, thereby reducing the prayers they might offer on his behalf—and forestalling the practical assistance that so often surfaces when the Enemy’s camp functions in unity. A solitary soldier is far easier to neutralize than a well supplied infantry.

Under no circumstances should you allow him to feel as though he should listen to his church’s leadership. Regrettably, I know those men to be deeply rooted in the Enemy’s forces, as evidenced by the senior over-demons assigned to their care. They would certainly steel your patient towards the path of our ruin. Persuade him, instead, that they are meddling busybodies or stodgy relics of a bygone era. Let him believe that he knows better than they do—that his private revelations and internet ingestions are more significant than their collective wisdom.

Follow my guidance, and once your patient scuttles back into his ordinary routines—without these present daydreams—we will have yet another opening for our stratagems. Countless members of the Enemy’s camp once yearned to do something grand with their lives, only to be drawn away by our persistent presentations of worldly possibilities. How we revel in the regret and despair that follow these missed chances! Your patient’s dismay will be all the keener for knowing he might truly have succeeded. The Enemy’s commission to topple our fortifications is, most regrettably, not restricted to a select few—indeed, many of His progeny could be used by Him (especially those of your patient’s age) if only they placed their trust in Him instead of their own comforts and safety. One of our sweetest triumphs lies in diverting the potentially devastating force of the Enemy’s camp—especially in the wealthy West—into the cramped confines of self-interest. And I must confess, Wormwood, I feel a small thrill of anticipation for your part in this endeavor. Take care and stay alert, for our Enemy is particularly vigilant over cases such as yours.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape