Part of an ongoing web serial perhaps inspired by The Screwtape Letters. Unless otherwise noted, “the Ex-CEO” refers to God, “the opposition” to the side of the angels, and so on.
Read the previous installment here.
To: Deception, Overseer of Ekron Initiative (American Evangelical Division)
From: Malice, VP of 8th Circle of Hell (Global Initiatives Branch)
Date: [Exact Date Redacted, Circa 1972]
Subject: Developing Categories
Deception,
In this message, I will explain a strategy that my colleague Arrogance likes to call “The Mail Pile Principle.”
You’ve no doubt noticed that when these humans receive mail, they immediately separate things into two piles: “important mail” and “junk mail,” junk mail being advertisements, free publications, things of that nature.
Here, you will convince your targets to apply this technique to a very different field. Suggest to them that everything they do can be broken into two separate piles: the things they do for their master (“sacred”) and the things they do in their everyday life (“secular”).
We know (and it makes these bags of flesh so difficult to handle) that the Ex-CEO can take anything they do, more or less, and make it into something that grows his business. It’s a well-documented fact that even the most unimpressive careers – such as a lifetime wiping baby bottoms in Calcutta1 – can, by some trick our enemies call “the power of God,” influence millions to join the opposition.
Fortunately, you can misguide them into believing that only a very few actions can truly build the Ex-CEO’s business. Make them focus on actions that fit their idea of “true work for God.” These ideas usually coincide with faintly nostalgic images of how past practitioners served their master. For example, many targets associate “true missionary work” with something like preaching to cannibals in Africa. Keep them from thinking about how those missionaries probably saw preaching to cannibals as simply their calling, not something that provided “bonus spiritual points.” Make people believe only actions which seem similar to that image are “real missionary work,” and that everything else is mundane.2
Others may associate “true work for God” with actions that bring immediate results. Distract them from the fact that those spectacular results (e.g. thousands flocking to the altar in salvation calls, or former criminals declaring their lives were totally changed) are usually rare. Lead them to believe that anything less than spectacular results wastes their time. Urgency must in all cases be preferred over contemplation. Efforts to cultivate depth must be replaced with reminders that “God can’t steer a parked car” and other quaint phrases that encourage targets to pursue the ever-active life.3 With efficient effort, we can ensure they neglect to consider that exploring many things during one’s life does not equal examining one’s life.
Ultimately, you want to lead targets to the place where they reject anything that doesn’t smell like “full-time ministry” to them. Their faith will largely consist of organizing everything into important mail or junk mail, to use Arrogance’s analogy.
You may be wondering at this point how this strategy applies to artists. The answer is simple. Once your targets have reached this place, where they classify everything as either things that serve God or mundane things with no eternal significance, they will work incredibly hard to make their art reek of holiness.
If their master can only use art that is saturated with religion, then “good Christian art” cannot be like most good art. It must be like sermons. It must be loaded with spiritual adverbs. It must be simple to suit short attention spans. It must have clear and obvious messages, so all recipients know exactly what they are supposed to do. Above all, it must end on happy, conclusive notes that leave no room for lifelike complications or interesting conflicts.
By the time you’re through, these artists will believe it’s impossible for their master to use artwork about everyday life. Well-made art that doesn’t have obvious spiritual takeaways will seem as secular as beer commercials.
I look forward to seeing your results.
Infernal Regards,
Malice,
Vice President of the 8th Circle of Hell
(Global Initiatives Branch)
Editor’s Notes:
1. Apparently a reference to Mother Teresa (1910-1997), founder of Missionaries of Charity.
2. For more on evangelical views of sacred vs. secular activities, see chapter 4 of Imagine by Steve Turner, and chapter 5 of You Lost Me by David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins.
3. Mark Noll argues in chapter 1 of The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind that a primary problem with evangelical efforts is “the urgencies of the moment” dominate actions instead of “broader or deeper intellectual efforts.”
Cover Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
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